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Gelato, Ferrara's, Sept. 2009
So my writer/editor friend, Hannah , suggested that I change the name of my blog. "It needs to say "Chinese Dietary Therapy" in the title," she said. When I searched popular search terms on google, however, Chinese dietary therapy, Chinese medicine, or even Chinese herbology were not highly searched terms. I wouldn't mind a name change. The current name is a bit long and of course I would love to be found by millions. Any suggestions on this? Thanks :)
Winter Breakfast 2010
National Osteoporosis Month is in May which is a long way away from now, but winter is the time of the Kidney in Chinese medicine and in TCM the Kidney governs the bones. Osteoporosis affects approximately 44 million people in the United States or 55% of everyone aged 50 or older. The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends exercise along with adequate amounts of vitamin D and calcium to help prevent developing this disease. Though calcium supplementation is a big business the best way of getting calcium (as well as a bunch of other important minerals) is through food. Many people think dairy at this point, but leafy green vegetables also deliver calcium in amounts that compare with dairy.The problem is that this calcium and other minerals are bound up with oxalate making them hard to absorb. Enter the pickle.
Pickles are made with vinegar and vinegar makes the minerals in greens more available. A cup of cooked kale has about 179 mg of calcium and other compounds with a variety of benefits including cancer prevention (search brassica family health benefits). Vinegar in Chinese medicine is warm, sour and bitter. In small amounts it helps move things. The sour flavor guides things to the Liver where the various fragments of compounds are further broken down and reassembled into many usable things like amino acids for example. Vinegar also counteracts toxins.
Pickles - think beyond the cucumber - can be a great addition to a quick saute of greens. Sauteed greens are great for breakfast with a little hot pepper. The kale in the photo above was sauteed with a little garlic, red pepper flakes and Ricks Picks pickled Wasabeans, but you can use any pickle you like - capers, okra, cauliflower. Of course if you really get into pickles you can take a class in making your own at the Brooklyn Kitchen. Other pickle recipes can be found at McClure's Pickles.
Ricks Pickles, Union Square, 2.3.2010
OK National Shape Up with Pickles Week is almost over, and fortunately I discovered Ricks Picks Pickles in Union Square just in time. They were so good I felt compelled to talk about pickles.
All kinds of foods get pickled: cabbage, cucumbers, beets, peppers, green beans and okra are some of the more familiar. Pickles are found in almost every cuisine and are considered by many to have great health benefits. Pickles have no fat and are generally low in calories. A half cup of sauerkraut has 22 and also has lots of vitamin C.
Pickles are often eaten before a meal as a kind of appetizer. This makes perfect sense from a Chinese Dietary Medicine perspective. Pickles, fermented or brined are sour and the sour flavor stimulates the Liver/Gall Bladder. The Gall Bladder, when stimulated, secretes bile which helps with digestion and helps alkalize the body, reducing inflammation in general. There is a reason for traditional pairing of foods like pork chops and sauerkraut. Bile is essential for digesting fats. Even the crunch of the pickles can be thought of as giving the jaw muscles (and related Stomach channel) a warm up for the munching ahead.
Vinegar is warm, sour and bitter. It is often used in Chinese herbology to process herbs for many reasons including directing herbs to the Liver and moving blood. Vinegar as a food substance is used to treat food poisoning and is used to treat hypertension. (Celery cooked in vinegar as well as vinegar soaked peanuts are used for treating hypertension.) Sour has a restraining property. Perhaps pickles should be the snack of choice when things get too out of control. ( Hmmm - I imagine a new marketing campaign - "get some pickles and get a grip".) Vinegar fumes are thought to be antibacterial. Water and vinegar are simmered and the vapors inhaled before bed to prevent the flu and other illness. In the west, apple cider vinegar is thought to benefit a myriad of conditions ranging from arthritis to stomach pain. Many people find that taking a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water eliminates muscle cramping and stomach acidity.
Those of you who have to limit your salt intake should look for the low sodium varieties. Check the labels. The salt content of pickles varies greatly. Ricks Windy City Wasabeans have 160mg of sodium for a 1 oz serving. So yes, there's sodium, but you're also getting a lot of other flavors in the package. Remember pickles are a condiment - a little goes a long way. We want to stimulate the Liver/Gallbladder, not provoke them.
Pickle Packers International has more pickle facts than anyone should probably know on their website and Ricks has some interesting recipes on theirs, rickspicksnyc.com.
I was going to put a nice picture of the Wasabeans here, but they're all gone.
Tomato Soup, San Diego, CA, November 2009
February rd was a special day in my parochial school days as it was a day where we got a few minutes break for the annual blessing of the throats in honor of St. Blaise. Saint Blaise, who was martyred around 316 CE, was an Armenian bishop and physician. He is the patron saint of healthy throats and veterinarians.
Regardless of religious affiliation, though, early February is a great time to pay attention to protecting our throats. Here in the Northeast, the winter wind is cold and the interior heating hot and dry. The poor throat gets attacked from every which way. The throat connects with the lung and therefore is on the front line of our defenses against those evil pathogens floating around in the world. The throat is also affected by our emotions, since a branch of the Pericardium, "The Heart Protector," channel goes there - hence the phrase "all choked up."
There are a number of distinct problems that can happen in the throat so I'm going to break this down into a few sections with suggestions for each.
Familiar to all is the sore throat - not just a little scratchy tickle - that's another category. This is the hurts to swallow variety. Here we're looking for foods that clear heat, soothe the throat and encourage circulation. Liquids are essential here and citrus juices are classics. Orange juice can be useful in the early stages of a sore throat, but it is best to mix it with another juice and/or water to cut the sweetness. Oranges may be cooling in nature, but the sweet quality makes things linger and generates dampness. There are things we may want to last forever, but a sore throat is not one of them. Save the sugar for Valentines day. Orange or lemon juice in hot tea is a good option and unless you're an 8 year old recovering from a tonsillectomy stay clear of the ice cream! Star Fruit, peppermint, water chestnuts, strawberries, and even potatoes can also be of help. You might also consider a tomato soup.
The scratchy tickle sore throat requires a different strategy. Here you want to warm and soothe, along with encouraging circulation. Ginger tea or ginger in tea is the classic and you may want to go with a black or oolong here as they are a bit more warming in nature than the green tea. Miso soup with some scallions is also another standard. The Hot Toddy is better with this type of sore throat than the former one.
The dry throat is another variant. Deficiency of Fluids or Yin rather than an external pathogen is the culprit here. Dry heat, exposure to smoke and lack of adequate rest can all prevent us from making enough moisture to soothe mucosal tissues.Tea with honey and warmed pear juice are good choices. Coconut water is also helpful. Some more solid suggestions include, apples, figs, duck eggs, honey, pomegranate and pork. Nuts, especially walnuts, pine nuts, peanuts, and almonds are also good. Clam chowder (Manhattan variety) can work here as well as in the other categories depending upon seasoning.
The hoarse voice can result from any of the above conditions or it can be caused by phlegm stuck in the throat. This is a common one. In fact, phlegm can bunch up in the throat for so many different reasons that we can't begin to cover them all. For now it's best that we think of phlegm as misguided moisture. Our bodies want to make Yin to deal with heat or dryness, but they don't quite get it right and we get Phlegm instead. Phlegm is an entity on a mission: to soothe, to protect - to put the fire out in the case of inflammation - physical or emotional. The problem arises when phlegm takes it's job just a little too seriously. Here again warm liquids would be desirable - think of dissolving the phlegm. Citrus zest as discussed in a previous post is great for this. Mustard greens, seaweed, onions and mushrooms are all good as solid options. Seasoning with thyme is a helpful addition
If your throat is ok now, but you want to take steps to protect it consider slightly moistening foods that protect the Lung. It's a good time for soups, yams, pears, apples and walnuts.
So hopefully with a some of these ideas and perhaps some divine intervention, you'll be protected from all ailments of the throat and every other kind of evil. Happy February!
Throat coat/cat nest February 2010
