The Chef and The Dietitian- Hockey Pucks

These decadent beauties, created by Chef AJ for Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, are similar to a Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but oh so much better for you! Made strictly with whole foods (of course) you can easily find in any market, this phenomenal dessert will impress any sweet tooth and make you wonder how you ever could ever have enjoyed the original version!

 

Grilled Veggie Wrap and Oil! Jon and Julieanna In the Kitchen

Time to delineate the controversy that surrounds the consumption of oil. Oil is a processed food and consists of 100% pure fat, with no nutrients that we need. It is grossly overused in cooking today, particularly at restaurants. The good news is that it is just as easy to cook without using oil and you lose absolutely none of the flavor.

Much research suggests that people with diagnosed heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity fare better when they eliminate the consumption of oil and other high fat food products (including nuts, seeds, olives and avocados for those following a whole food, plant-based diet, which is the optimal diet for disease prevention and reversal). Proponents of a low-fat, plant-based diet including Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Neal Barnard, and Dr. Dean Ornish have had great success treating their patients and ameliorating their life-threatening chronic diseases.

Jon and I discuss in this video the fact that for the healthy and physically active population, using tiny amounts of oil once in a while is safe. Hence, as we create Jon's Grilled Veggie Wrap recipe, he uses about a teaspoon of oil to grill the vegetables. This minute quantity spread through all 4 servings is approved by me for people not at risk for or already diagnosed with any of the aforementioned chronic diseases. However, with these conditions, grilling the vegetables without the oil will taste just as great but will pose absolutely no health risk whatsoever nor will it alter the cooking process adversely. Another aternative is use raw veggies in this wrap in order to preserve more of the nutrients n the vegetables, add more crunch, and eliminate the need for oil or even a grill! In fact, I do recommend the use of raw vegetables as the majority of a healthy diet.

Jon's Grilled Veggie Wrap is truly delicious and is simple to make. Just add hummus, sliced carrot peels, sliced avocado, grilled vegetables (yellow squash, red pepper, and zucchini, and Jon's dipping sauce (tamari, rice vinegar, spicy mustard, chili paste) to a tortilla. We used brown rice tortillas. Here you have a rainbow of colors and nutrients in a quick and delicious meal! Enjoy!

The Tipping Point

Have we reached the tipping point in the grassroots effort of conveying the medical miracles of plant-based nutrition to the world? I spent two and a half days with Dr. T. Colin Campbell (here I am with him and his beautiful and inspiring wife, Karen), my Guru whom I lovingly and with conviction have named "The Father of Modern Nutrition". He is, indeed, a pioneer who is changing the landscape of health as we have known it for the past century and taking it in a one hundred and eighty degree turn back to Hippocrates original wisdom. "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food" was the dictum he proposed during his lifetime(460-377 B.C.). And yet we have strayed eons from this brilliant thesis in the past millennium. From food to pills and potions...from a holistic perspective to a specified point of reference, focusing on a specific vitamin or hormone responsible for a whole health issue. When will it be that physicians and researchers conclude that our body is infinitely wiser than we give it credit for?

An article came out in the paper today regarding the most popular and utilized osteoporosis medication, Fosamax. It implicated the drug in causing fractures after long-term use even though its specific indication is for (potential) osteoporotic patients. Last week, the National Institutes of Health (the largest biomedical research organization) released a report of their concern for Americans' misunderstanding of lactose intolerance. They pretty much stated that we must do anything it takes to get the dairy into our bodies, ignoring any discomfort, illness or dis-ease it may cause in order to prevent osteoporosis. Ironically, studies clearly state that the countries around the world who consume the most dairy have the highest incidence of bone fractures! Further, we are more obese as a nation than ever before in history. This newest generation is hypothesized to be the first to live a shorter lifespan than its parents. Rates of type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and heart disease are above and beyond the rates corresponding to historical potential. And the age of onset of these diseases is younger than ever before. The statistics are frightening.

And yet, the supplement and pharmaceutical industries are thriving. Restaurants serve larger and more deadly portions of fat, sugar and salt at rates that will scare you back to dead. They have huge panels of scientific experts dedicated to figure out which perfect combinations of fat, sugar and salt will have you coming back for more as much as possible. We have to face it...money talks and we are walking to our graves painstakingly yet surely.

On an optimistic note, however, The Veggie Grill is a restaurant that is only about three years old and has already served nearly one million plant-based meals. This picture is of me with Kevin Boylan, the co-owner of The Veggie Grill. He and his business partner, T.K. Pillan, read The China Study in one weekend and went 100% plant-based immediately following its completion. It was then that they knew what type of restaurant they needed to open.



The trailer for a film that is not even in distribution yet, entitled Forks Over Knives, has had almost 21,000 views on You-Tube posted less than a month ago. Here I am with Dr. Campbell, his lovely wife, Karen and Brian Wendel, Executive Producer of Forks Over Knives, after we screened the film yesterday. This film is the documentary that has the potential to change the landscape of medicine as we now know it, thanks to the brilliant pioneering work of Dr. Campbell and his colleague, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, whom are highlighted in the film.

Ultimately, if we take a step back and observe the changes that are inarguable and omnipresent, it is undeniable that we are reaching a significant fork in the road. Our health is at the nadir of potential. We have no choice but to choose differently. My Father always told me that the definition of "crazy" is someone who keeps beating their head against the wall and expecting a different result. As Dr. Campbell brilliantly pointed out yesterday...we have finally "reached the tipping point"...people are starting to notice and it is a very exciting time!