Sautéeing without Oil

One of the greatest culture shocks for newcomers to the plant-based kitchen is cooking without oil, in particular when it comes to stir-fry, but once you start, you will be wondering why you ever did cook with oil, as literally everything tastes better.

Here is a beautiful demonstration of stir-frying without oil:

As a practical matter, you can make your life even easier by freezing some plant broth in an ice cube tray. Instead of a spoon of broth, I measure in terms of cubes.

March WFPB Supper at Packsun

We had yet another dinner at Packsun, consisting of:

• a spicy cucumber salad (with whole chilis)
• brown basmati with wild rice, 
• a yellow lentil sauce with malabar spinach, 
• a dish of steamed green cauliflower, with onions, garlic, turmeric etc.
• and as a surprise, a delicious soup of Eddoe, with onions, garlic and spices, pureed.

 

Of course, I was not fast enough, and the meal was half-eaten before I thought of taking a picture.

There were some people at the next table partaking of our meal also. 

Learn How to Heal Yourself Event in the Bronx

Phenomenal Event last night with Bronx City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Dr. Robert Ostfeld as keynote speaker. The occasion was the introduction of the #banthebaloney bill in the City Council and the introduction of meatless Mondays in the Bronx. The background was the presentation of the Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet as the alternative.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams told the story of his own complete healing from a disastrous diabetes diagnosis with complications, and subsequently the complete healing from diabetes of his 80-year old mother, who had been an active diabetic for 40 years.

The story of city Councilman Fernando Cabrera was almost more powerful than that, for when he was hospitalized, he was given 24 hours to live and he recovered completely with the whole foods, plant-based diet.

Both recognize the issue that school lunches establish bad habits for life and are introducing the #banthebaloney bill in the NY City Council to get processed meats out of school lunches, as they are no classified by the World Health Organization as a class 1 carcinogen, along with plutonium, tobacco and asbestos.

 Dr. Robert Ostfeld discussed the full range of health conditions that are improved dramatically by the Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet, more so than by any drug known to man:
ALS,
Dementia,
Stroke,
Depression,
Skin Appearance,
Ear Infections,
Periodontal disease,
Acid Reflux,
Laryngeal cancer,
Lung disease,
Breast cancer,
Heart disease,
Obesity,
Hypertension,
Diabetes,
Inflammation,
Colon cancer,
Constipation,
Lower back pain,
Sexual Function,
Osteoporosis,
Athletic performance,
Arthritis

In other words, what else do you need to know? Well maybe the following table, comparing the level of nutrition that you get on a plant-based diet versus an animal foods based diet.

The differences are laughable:
                                           Plant-based versus Animal-Based
                                           (Nutrition per 500 cal consumed)   

Cholesterol (mg)                0                             137
Fat (g)                                4                              36
Protein (mcg)                    33                            34
Beta-carotene (mcg)         29,919                     17
Dietary  fiber (g)               31                            0
Vitamin C (mg)                 293                           4
Folate (mcg)                     1168                         19
Iron (mg)                          20                             2
Magnesium (mg)              548                           51
Calcium (mg)                   545                           252

As I said: What else do you need to know?

Dr. Ostfeld also made mention that the results from the #WFPB diet for diabetics are 3x better than from a standard ADA (American Diabetes Association) diet, as documented recently by Dr. Neal Barnard in the new release of his book, Dr. Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes.

The therapeutic value of cooking, especially #WFPB

(Note: An expanded version of this note can be found here: https://hippocratessays.com/let-your-hands-do-the-talking/)

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. (Zen saying)

One thing I have noticed in the transition to #WFPB is that food preparation becomes more important if you're eating more plants. Interestingly, when my girlfriend and I compared notes about our favorite moments of 2017, they were both in the kitchen. Hers was when we cut up a 60 lb jackfruit together and froze most of it, spontaneously working in perfect sync. Mine was when we were peeling some fresh beans together spontaneously after I brought them home from the local green market. I had been sitting in the kitchen peeling the beans and she saw me and joined in the fun.

How busy hands can alter our brain chemistry

Even at the busiest times in my life, cooking was always a favorite activity, and for twenty years I was married to a woman who could barely boil water, so that was a great motivation. I ran the kitchen, while she volunteered for clean-up detail.

Presently, however, my food preparation is becoming both more professional and more fun. For one thing, my current kitchen is probably 1/3rd the size of what I was used to and space efficiency counts. But, I also teach classes now.

Lately, I have been on a tour of new appreciation of simple kitchen tools. For one thing, lots of gadgets are unnecessary if you keep a good set of knives.
Also, I am finding out that sharpening knives is particularly satisfying if you learn to do it properly with whetstones. These days I am finding out that cutting up veggies with a super sharp knife is immensely satisfying, beginning with cutting up an onion without tearing. It becomes a really enjoyable craft.

And then CBS Sunday Morning recently aired a piece on how that satisfaction in manual work can work wonders for you: How busy hands can alter our brain chemistry. Suddenly, it all made sense.

Food addiction and conditioning

We are starting to understand a lot about food addiction and how we are conditioning even young kids with dairy and sugar to become addicts later in life. We now know from Dr. Neal Barnard's book The Cheese Trap, how cheese is naturally addictive. But in the packaged food and fast food business, foods are routinely engineered consciously or sometimes unwittingly for addictive properties, all in the pursuit of higher sales. It all results in a permanent state of nutritional deprivation which is the perfect setup for addictions of all sorts later in life. Often times the addictions start via the medical route. Fortunately these days there is growing awareness in the nutritional field that nutrition has a lot to do with breaking addiction. One program that is working in this area is Dr. Keith Kantor's N.A.M.E.D. program, which boast vastly improved recovery and significantly lower relapse rates in treatment of many addictions.

Medical Collusion

Sometimes consciously and sometimes unwittingly, the industrial medical complex is the perfect enabler of this type of malnutrition and nutritional deprivation, for it will sell you the drugs that allow you NOT to ever address your bad nutritional condition you are in. Thus starts the vicious circle that leads to drugs and ever more drugs, and eventually to chronic illnesses which makes you the drug industry's favorite milking cow. The diabetes pandemic is pharmageddon's best friend, and so is the cardiovascular disease complex, starting with baby aspirin, viagra, blood pressure medicines and cholesterol-lowering drugs. Each and every step gets you deeper into drug dependency and allows the disease to progress in the meantime, thus insuring that you will keep coming back.

Nutritional uprising: Whole Foods, Plant-Based diets

Currently, the Whole Foods, Plant-Based nutritional revolution is becoming almost a popular uprising against the industrialization of food, which sacrificed convenience for nutrition. In one fell swoop it is also eliminating the use of supplements and prescription drugs, as well as over the counter drugs. Plus on the whole, this new enjoyment restores the natural high that comes from great food, and from simply feeling healthy - which beats the alternative.
I recently wrote about the iThrive program, which is organized by a lay person, Jon McMahon, who is himself recovering from food addiction, diabetes and morbid obesity.
The stories abound. In a way it all started with Dr. Esselstyn and his original group of heart patients who had all been given less than a year to live by their 'expert cardiologists,' as Esselstyn refers to them, all the while taking plenty of medications. Of the eighteen, one strayed and died, but the other seventeen were still alive twenty years later, having dropped their meds, and adopted a healthy diet instead. Of course, as Esselstyn and others have pointed out, ED is just the canary in the coal mine of Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD), and prescribing Viagra is a way of suppressing the symptoms, and allowing the disease to progress unfettered, because the cause, bad diet, is never addressed. The same can be said for baby aspirin, statins, and blood pressure medications. Suppressing the symptoms in the short run makes for repeat customers later on. The population is now starting to rebel, however. Better food is something you can do yourself.


With Jon McMahon and iThrive it is the turn of the diabetics. The standard medical protocol means an average life expectancy of ten years less than of non-diabetics, and a living hell of medications and medical interventions at tremendous. Of course there had been many doctors active in this area, such as Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Neal Barnard and others. But iThrive is making it into a popular movement, and again the stories abound of people dropping hands full of medicines. If you look at the FaceBook group for iThrive, there are regular stories of diabetics getting off of insulin sometimes in a month or less, and in other cases it may take a little longer, and many drop all medicines soon after that. These were the drug industry's best customers, who are now getting their get out of jail free card, courtesy of the Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet.

Dr. Saray Stancic is adding Multiple Sclerosis (MS) to the #WFPB vocabulary as well and again, patient are dropping hands full of meds and reversing an incurable disease.

Well-being, being well and Healthy Living

It is all coming together now that health and well-being are a decision one must make. On the one hand, it is true that seven out of ten out of the leading causes of death can be prevented or reversed by changing to a Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet. This change will tend to increase life expectancy, but more importantly a better overall health will make us more resilient. A better functioning immune system will help us resist a lot of diseases, or if we do have an illness, recover faster. Sports figures are reporting in growing numbers that the Plant-Based, Whole Foods diet helps them recover from injuries quicker.

Chop wood, carry water

In the end, cooking and food prep becomes an almost meditative practice and a welcome balance to all the running around we do in our lives. In and of itself the act of cooking is therapeutic, and specifically focusing on the Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet becomes a wonderful example of day to day handiwork that becomes an almost meditative practice and in and of itself a healing process.

The pharmaceutical industry has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams in making legal drug dealers out of doctors, but the patients are now rebelling to the disguised death sentence of this type of medicine and choosing a healthy lifestyle instead. The answer to the healthcare crisis lies here.

Our 3/17 Suppers/#WFPB Communal Meal Prep at St. Helena's

Point number one is, we had a great time! And, since it was St Patrick's day, I wore a Shamrock on my face!

That's me at the CB9 Mental Health fair,
with my St. Patrick's day decoration.

The table with full results on display

Recipes

Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1 average sized organic Hokkaido pumpkin,cut into chunks (de-seed but don't peel) - We used Kabocha Squash instead, which worked fine.
2 onions chopped
3-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1-2 inch piece of ginger sliced, or ginger powedr
2-3 pieces of turmeric sliced, or turmeric powder
pint of vegetable stock
1-2 jalapenos, seeded
2-3 small green chilies, sliced
2 table spoons of whole wheat flour

Preparation

1. brown the onions with garlic, chili and jalapeno, and gradually add some veggie stock, and the whole wheat flour.
2. gradually add all of the soup stock, and let it boil for a while
3. add the pumpkin and let it boil about 20 mins.
4. Allow the soup to cool down a little then pour into a blender and blend at high speed till smooth and creamy, or use an immersion blender to achieve the same result.

Mixed Green Salad with Mushrooms & Radish

Ingredients:

Mixed greens, e.g. red leaf, green leaf, baby kale, baby spinach, radicchio, etc.
One red onion, cut up fine
Red or yellow pepper, cut in strips
Tomatos, cut in 1/8th pieces
Box of white mushrooms, sliced
Radishes, sliced thin
a cup of parsley leaves, chopped
optional: some olives, capers

Dressing:

3/2/1: 3 tbsp balsamic, 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard, 1 Tbsp Maple syrup
Juice of one lemon
optional: one or more garlic cloves, crushed and chopped up.

Potato Salad with Purslane (Sp. Verdolaga, Bengali: Meti) 

Ingredients

1 lb. fingerling potatoes, or young potatoes scrubbed and halved (or quartered if very large)
1 red onion, cut up fine
Braggs liquid aminos
3 tbsp balsamic. 2tbsp mustard, 1 tbsp maple syrup
Juice of 1⁄2 lemon
1⁄4 teaspoon (or more, to taste) piment d'espelette (or substiture 1 tsp paprika with a pinch of cayenne pepper)
3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
1 cup purslane leaves (reserve stems for another use)

Preparation

Put the potatoes in a large, heavy saucepan and just barely cover with water (the water should come up no more than 1⁄2 inch above the potatoes). Add a pinch of kosher salt to the potatoes and turn the heat up to high.
When boiling, reduce to a high simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart (when you pierce them with the tip of a knife you will meet no resistance). Cooking time will vary greatly with the kind of potato you use and how large they are. Start checking after about 10 minutes and keep a close eye on them to avoid mushy potatoes.

Carefully drain the potatoes in a large colander. Put the colander (with the potatoes in it) back over the pot the potatoes were cooked in and drizzle with some vinegar, adding the cutup onion. Let the potatoes sit in the colander for 15-20 minutes to allow steam to escape, and to cool.

Meanwile, make the dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together the 3/2/1 dressing and the lemon juice, the piment d'espelette, the dill and a large pinch of kosher salt. Set aside. Substitute paprika with a dash of cayenne for the piment d'espelette as needed.

To make the salad: in a large serving bowl, add the cooled potatoes and chopped onions and gently toss with the dressing (I usually just use my hands). Taste and correct for taste: add liquid aminos to taste. Gently toss in the purslane leaves. Serve immediately.

Reminder: 

 The whole foods, plant-based #WFPB = WFPB minus SOS diet means:

• Whole foods, never refined foods
• Plant-based with minimal processing (cooking is OK)
• No ADDED Sugar, Oil, or Salt (SOS).

The full discussion can be found on the website of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell.
To check on specific ingredients, to make sure they are consistent with the diet, there is an excellent guide on the Engine2 Website. You can query and individual ingredient and check if it is consistent with the diet.

Nevertheless, there will always be dubious cases, such as Braggs Liquid Aminos, which have 1/3rd the sodium of low sodium soy sauce. Some will say it still has too much sodium. By and large you can prevent using a lot of sodium by using more herbs and spices. Some will definitely accept Braggs as a suitable alternative.

A note about diabetes:

Some in our group are dealing with either pre-diabetes or early stage diabetes. There are great resources available today for the dietary approach, and different practitioners suggest that between 70-85% of diabetics can actually reverse the condition with diet and some can come off all medications within 6 months or so. Rip Esselstyn reports that prediabetics can frequently turn the condition around in a week in his workshop.
An excellent resource is the 7-day rescue diet, and you can either get Rip's book, or you can participate via email from the Engine2 site here: Engine2 Seven-Day Rescue Challenge.
Recently, Dr. Neal Barnard released two new books that can give you all the answers you need in dealing with diabetes with diet - but you should always work with your doctor, in order to make sure your medications are adjusted appropriately. Here are the books:

• Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs.
• Dr. Neal Barnard's Cookbook for Reversing Diabetes: 150 Recipes Scientifically Proven to Reverse Diabetes Without Drugs
  
   

There is also a great book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman: The End of Diabetes

Finally, there is the iThrive series of nine Internet documentaries which is about the efforts by one morbidly obese diabetic, Jon McMahon, to turn his life around with the nutritional approach, and there is much to be learned there. He also interviews all the doctors and nutrition experts in this area. It is an unbelievably stimulating production. I blogged about it here: https://starlingavevegan.blogspot.com/2018/03/ithrive-diabetes-whole-foods-plant.html

In short, anybody who is on medication, should work with their doctor, but you do have options and in a large number of cases, diabetes is proving to be reversible. If your doctor is not interested to support you on the dietary route, then find yourself a doctor who practices lifestyle medicine, by looking them up in the directory of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, here:

https://www.lifestylemedicine.org/Find-a-Lifestyle-Medicine-Practitioner  

There is at least one doctor in our area, Dr. Sharon Wasserstrom at the Montefiore office at 2300 Westchester Avenue.

If you're in the Bronx, and want to stay in touch, please join our FaceBook group, Plant-Based DaBronx, or join our meetup for Starling Avenu Vegan.

iThrive, diabetes, Whole Foods Plant-Based diet and the Healthcare Crisis

The iThrive project is a series of 9 documentaries, supporting materials and online support for recovering from diabetes with the Whole Foods Plant-Based diet. It is an overwhelming project, reflecting one man's journey back from the brink with diabetes. That man is Jon McMahon, and the first episode of the series is the most important of them all, because Jon takes responsibility for his condition by realizing that it was he who shoveled the junk food in his mouth that ultimately caused his condition. No change is ever possible unless and until we take responsibility for our condition. Every psychotherapist knows this, though physicians tend to ignore this issue, because they are stuck in a Newtonian universe.
Subsequently, Jon pursues all avenues that could help him overcome his disease, and he made it into a series of documentaries, whereby we join in his journey of discovery.

The launch of this effort comes at the same time as updated versions of Dr. Neal Barnard's books on diabetes, one explaining his basic program for reversing diabetes without drugs and the other a cookbook.

This is an updated 2018 edition of Dr. Barnard's book on Diabetes, which first appeared in 2008.The importance of the iThrive project being released at the same time, is that it is the "do it yourself," corollary to the medical findings of Dr. Barnard (and others), that diet should always be the first priority in any protocol dealing with diabetes.
Jon McMahon's commitment and his thoroughness is inspiring. He does not leave a stone unturned, but the essence of it remains what I said above, he took responsibility for his situation and went systematically about the task of finding out what he could do to turn it around. Dr. Barnard also appears in the iThrive series. In the process we find out (in episodes 2 & 3) that the standard medical protocol for dealing with diabetes (type 2 primarily, but not exclusively) is oriented to treating symptoms, not healing the disease and in the end leads to nothing more than a spiraling escalation of drug prescriptions as our condition worsens and produces on average a 10-year shortened life-expectancy.

The key description comes from Dr. Anthony Lim, who is the Medical Director of the McDougall Healthe Center, at 26:50 of episode 2, where he describes the "standard" medical protocol, and how it produces nothing but a slippery slope of medication to suppress symptoms and allowing the condition to worsen, without doing the one thing that would actually reverse it, which only a Whole Foods Plant-Based, low-fat diet would do. Again the outcome is a horrible quality of life with more and more drugs, and on the average a 10-year reduction in life expectancy versus non-diabetics. Evidently, it is as important to realize that the medical protocols are in fact deleterious to your health, as it is to realize with Jon McMahon that you are the one who can change what you are putting in your mouth. The patient becomes the central actor and their conscious desire to change must drive the bus.

Enter Whole Foods Plant-Based nutrition

In episode 2, T. Colin Caldwell delivers a ringing indictment of the fact that medicine has traditionally completely ignored diet. Evidently, this is slowly beginning to change and diabetes and cardio vascular disease are just two areas where this is hugely important. Not only do medical protocols not work, they are often counter-productive: one drug leads to another.
 
We accompany Jon on the journey to the whole foods plant-based lifestyle (#WFPB) and away from the path of the "accepted" medical approach, which does nothing for dealing with the cause of the problem, but just suppresses the symptoms, and as explained above is basically a path of medication and more medication and a 10 year shorter life expectancy for the average diabetic.

Switching to the #WFPB lifestyle deals with the cause, refined foods, and in particular too too much animal proteins, refined (i.e. simple carbs) and too much oil.For diabetics in particular, the impact can be so swift, they cannot do this without medical supervision to adjust their medications, their insulin needs will be rapidly reduced, sometimes to zero. Rip Esselstyn, from his experience with his 7-day immersion trainings with his "7-day rescue challenge" reports that pre-diabetics, who are not on medication yet, frequently can normalize their A1C-level even within the week of his class. By comparison, the traditional low carb diet buys the patient nothing but a delay of execution, it cannot reverse the disease.

Two Interlocking Paradigm Shifts

 I wrote about the paradigm shifts that are occurring here in an earlier post on this site, but I want to recap the issues here:

1. The first step, the recognition of the massive therapeutic value of Whole Foods, Plant-Based nutrition, means a shift towards the causes of disease. However if we leave it at that we are limiting the matter to a deterministic, mechanistic, and ultimately Newtonian model of man, which is where medicine is stuck. However, if diet is the cause, what then is the cause of us not eating a healthy diet? Etc. This is where Jon's realization that he himself shoveled all that bad food in his mouth is so important, along with the realization that he now has the power to do otherwise... but does he really want to?
2. The direct consequence of this insight is empowerment of the patient to improve their condition, as in fact the change of diet is the single biggest thing anyone can so for themselves. It is more powerful than many medications. Along with it, human resistance moves center stage, so the whole question becomes a matter of the human will. Meaning that the mind of the patient is ultimately the healer. This notion brings us into the domain of Amit Goswami's concept of the quantum doctor: he explains painstakingly in his book of that title how quantum physics implies exactly that. Along with it he demonstrates meticulously how medicine is stuck in a Newtonian model and he discusses in depth the differences of the quantum physical model and its meaning for the practice of medicine.

In the iThrive material, there is valuable discussion of the psychological dynamics of the addictive nature of certain foods, and how and why all of the "comfort food" of various kinds is addictive. In the 6th episode this is more fully explored and it is helpful to understand these dynamics, however the explanation offered still does not go beyond conditioning and evolution and so on, which gets us nowhere, except to the problem of "the child is the father of the man." It is not all behavioral and deterministic, otherwise you could not have two children of the same parents and one becomes a democrat and the second a republican. In other words, we do have a mind capable of transcending and the process of healing cannot ever even start unless we step up to the plate and start taking responsibility. This is why I noted above that this was the single most important concept in this entire series.

In short, the introduction of the Whole Foods Plant-Based nutritional model into clinical practice is a drastic paradigm shift in our concept of what medicine even is, and it restores Hippocrates' notion of "let food be thy medicine," to center stage. Vast amounts of medical treatments and medication will be made superfluous. Too many medications cover up the symptoms and allow us to practice deferred maintenance, and the trouble builds up over a lifetime, and in old age people do nothing else but battling degenerative illness that has resulted from a lifetime of neglect. This is what the Standard American Diet is: nutritional deprivation that leads directly to a whole range of serious degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, MS, Alzheimers, and many others.

However, this shift is only the beginning of the paradigm shift, the second step must follow, for again, it is the patient who stuffs all that bad food in their mouths, and they now have the option to make a change. The quantum mechanical model makes it clear that the body, and it's conditions are a choice of consciousness from the hologram of quantum possibilities, so the chain of causation is from the mind to the body, and the body in and of itself does not cause anything - it is merely an effect.

A new health care model

The realization that it is the mind of the patient that is the healer also has profound implications for the selection of healing modalities. It levels the playing field for the various medical specialties. Certainly, the dominant position of the allopathic medicine practitioners with their obsolete Newtonian model of the human condition is well past the sell-by date and the future must result in greater freedom of choice in this area. For this reason, I proposed an entirely different health care model, in which the primary care physician becomes more of a personal health coach and a medical subject matter expert on a retainer, who can guide us to the most optimal treatment options. For more details, see my earlier post, referenced above.

Health and Well-being: on wanting to be healthy 

The steps we followed above lead us to the idea that it is the mind of the "patient," which is the key to healing, and, contrary to what is often believed, much psychological conflict gets in the way of wanting to be healthy. One very helpful guide that I wrote about recently is Cindy Lora-Renard, in her book A Course in Health and Well-being, where she looks deeply into the spiritual process of finding our way to healing and health and well-being. Doing this inner work in one form or another is the key to the journey back to wholeness, which is what healing is.

The Mysteries of Steelcut Oats

First of all, Steelcut Oats are by far the healthiest, because they are less processed than rolled oats. Primarily, they are much lower on the glycemic index. The cooking time is slightly longer, but that is no problem if you use a rice cooker or an Instant Pot.

So, if it is healthier, I want it and so do all the other Whole Foods, Plant-based eaters.

My standard breakfast is steelcut oats with shredded apple (green apples preferred) a bit of raisins, lots of cinnamon, and whatever berries I can find, usually always at least blueberries, but I love strawberries on top, like I did recently:

Steelcut Oats, with Green Apple, Blueberries, Strawberries, and Balsamic Vinegar

And now for the mystery: shopping for steelcut oats.

Here's what I found:

• Local, at Key Foods on Union Port. Quaker Oats, Steelcut Oats, 30 Oz, $6.19 or 20.63 cents/Oz.
• Downtown healthfood store, in bulk, $1.69/lb, or 10.56 cents/Oz.
• Quaker Oats, 30 Oz/$3.69 in Amazon Prime Pantry
• Bob's Red Mill 54 Oz Steelcut Oats, $15.74, or 29 cents/Oz.
• Bob's Red Mill 4x24 Oz. bags, ranging from $0.15-$0.25/Oz.
• Bobś Red Mill 25 lb bag at $1.99/lb. or 12.44 cents/Oz.

 So, take your pick and enjoy the oat meal. It remains the breakfast of champions.

Amit Goswami - The Quantum Doctor

The Quantum Doctor: A Quantum Physicist Explains the Healing Power of Integral Medicine by Amit Goswami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Crystal clear. The mind of the patient is the healer. As much as that was metaphysically clear to me before from Advaita and Buddhism and later from A Course in Miracles, having Goswami's explanation based purely in quantum physics really helps flesh it out more.
Ever since I've started to live the Whole Foods, Plant-based lifestyle, it is clear to me that while this model 'empowers' the patient, that this is in and of itself futile, and leaves you stuck with no way out, unlerss you knew you had a mind which is capable of making a different decision.
You get no further than the mechanistic reasoning of The Pleasure Trap, which explains nothing, although it makes you more aware of the mechanics of food addiction. Shifting the focus to the mind (and not the brain) really facilitates the realization that the mind can make a different decision, that I don't want to live like that any more. The healing modalities are then a matter of choice. The Whole Foods Plant-Based diet then is just one healing modality, albeit a big one.

Had Goswami really known about it, he would not have had his bypass operation, nor would he have made an exception for allopathy in respect of cholesterol lowering drugs or viagra, since high cholesterol and ED are purely symptoms of the bad diets that lead to cardiovascular disease, and there is no reason not to change your diet once you understand that. He would also have understood the real reason that the genetic angle is largely pointless because of T. Colin Campbell's clear demonstration that cancer is 90% nurture and not nature. In other words, cell damage is unavoidable if you do any living and while it is always good to reduce your exposure to known carcinogens, there is no way to do so 100%. Campbell's research proved clearly that cell damage must be supported by bad nutrition in order to lead to cancer. In a high nutritional state cell damage is less likely to occur, for your body will have plenty of anti-oxidants, but beyond that animal proteins are the fuel that eventually produces cancer, and you now have the ability to avoid them.

The upshot is, for me, that the Whole Foods, Plant-Based lifestyle shifts the action to the mind of the patient. Things like The Pleasure Trap help explain and understand the addiction to bad food, but it is the realization, with Goswami, that the mind is in charge of the body, introduces the meaningful possibility of a different decision. We choose healing, and the particular modalities are then mostly a matter of personal preference, what works for you. The Quantum Doctor is the new paradigm where the mind of the patient is in charge of the healing, and this wipes away the mechanistic, body-centered, and ultimately Newtonian paradigm of allopathy, but it equally wipes away the silly paradigm of naturopathy of mind-body-spirit, which explains nothing. Once we start understanding the primacy of the mind in healing, new things become possible.

View all my reviews

And another WFPB supper at Packsun

At the end of February, we had a great meal at Packsun, and the bottom line is our friend Khokon, the owner, has a secret. How do you cook a great meal? You put your heart into it! That is his answer forever.

As it was, I am guessing a bit about the details of our meal, but it consisted of:

• a simple tomato dish - fresh tomatoes cooked with onions, garlic and some spices.
• a dish of yellow lentils with Malabar spinach (Poi leaves) with turmeric, onions and garlic and bay leaves.
• a dish of cauliflower also with a sauce of onions, garlic, turmeric and other spices
• GABA brown basmati rice

For starters we had a nice and very spicy salad of cucumbers, purple onions, with some chilis, hot, but not too hot - cucumber also cools you down.

Khokon showing off brown basmati rice