Plant-Based Shopping News - restoring the Starling Avenue Triangle

Ever since I started writing about the Starling Avenue Food Shopping Triangle, things have been changing. In particular one of the three supermarkets that form the triangle, the Pioneer at 1345 Castle Hill Avenue was closed for renovations and when it was almost ready, we had the Covid lockdowns... and now they are open again and they just had their grand opening.

 

I did a quick survey of the aisles from a Whole Foods, Plant-Based perspective and I found some good stuff, so I'll post some of my findings here. I might do more some other time.

 

Massive area for fruits, veggies right when you come in. Breads on the right, was not great. (no Dave's Killer Bread, which is the only bread I buy, short of Ezekiel).

Some more pics:

 

Pretty good selection here...

    Great selection of herbs as well as things like red leaf lettuce, which I love...

And Wasa crackers, which are delicious and totally fat-free.

Tons of berries.

College in broth was on sale at 2 for $5.00 so I nearly cleaned them out.

And a good selection of grains, including Quinoa and so on...

I did not see too much whole wheat pasta, but at least they had some.

And a decent selection of herbs.

 

And, I should not forget, a whole section of Bob's Red Mill products, which is also a welcome addition. Key foods has some, but this is a pretty extensive selection!

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, that is it for now. Definitely worth a visit. In my book the Wasa bread in particular is a great find. Other crackers may be low in fat, but Wasa proves it can be done without fat altogether, and taste-wise it has always been one of my favorites, ever since it started to appear in Holland in the 1960's.

I am happy to see that the Starling Avenue Triangle is restored to its former glory, and this store is a darn sight better than the old one was.

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.

Update on Whole Foods Plant-Based shopping in the Starling Avenue Triangle

This is just a very practical list with some recent items from local stores that are worthwhile:

Chang-Li Supermarket:

Braggs Liquid Aminos on the shelf in aisle 3 at Chang-Li

 

• 4lb Himalayas Blessing Brown Basmati Rice for $8.99. That is a good value.
• Braggs Liquid Aminos. Right now, Chang-Li carries Braggs Liquid Aminos again, albeit only in the 16 Oz bottle for now. I have asked them to stock the 32 Oz bottle again also. I have also asked them for the nutritional yeast.
• Their selection of whole wheat pasta is growing and recently, they also have whole wheat lasagna.
• The fruit and vegetable selection remains great.
• They have some Hodgson Mill Milled Flaxseed, which is a great option if you're in a hurry. Ideally you should mill your flax seed in a Magic Bullet or some such, as flaxseed does lose some nutritional value when it's milled, but sometimes convenience wins out...
• They have quite a selection of Dunya Harvest Organic grains and pulses - including rice, quinoa, lentils, peas, and various beans. And there's another brand, Heartland, which provides some good staples as well.
• Lately they also have raspberries occasionally, which is a great addition to your morning steel cut oats. Sometimes they have steelcut oats from Dunya Harvest.

On of these days, I will do a more extensive survey.

KeyFood on Unionport:

There is a lot to like in this KeyFood, including:

• Steel cut oats: they sometimes carry Bob's Red Mill, and sometimes Quaker Oats. Stock up for it is not always in stock and steelcut oats are sooo much better!
• A great selection of balsamic vinegars, and some good deals!
• A regular supply of great products from Bob's Red Mill, grains and legumes. This section is always worth a stop.
• A great selection of whole grain pasta.
• Often a good selection of berries in the produce section.

Pioneer on Castle Hill:

Supplies at this store can be erratic. One day they have a great selection of whole wheat pasta, and then they are sold out for quite a while before they get restocked. It is a bit of hit or miss.

• Produce dept. is usually worth checking out.
• A small section of organics is worthwhile.
• Whole wheat pasta. In spite of the irregularities noted above, they still have a decent selection most of the time.

  That's it for now. I will periodically do an update on the changing selection. For many of the staples, the Good 'n Natural healthfood store on 2173 White Plains Road by Pelham Parkway is a good option, and there is a great green market across Pelham Parkway also, as well as a well supplied C-Town at 640 Pelham Parkway, and the green market is across Pelham Parkway on Boston Road. Be sure to hit all three when you have to go that far.

Of Aruba, Steelcut Oats and Solving the Healthcare Crisis

Even Happy Cow lists 23 Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurants in Aruba, as we found out during a short vacation... pretty impressive. Still, on an island excursion, we met a couple from Trinidad who were vegetarian and we took our meal together.

Balashi Beer Garden

We were on a tour that stopped for lunch at the Balashi Beer Garden, the restaurant at Balashi Brewery and vegan/vegetarian options were hard to find... their idea of salad was iceberg lettuce. But with a little prodding we got some cooked broccoli and carrots with rice (albeit white rice) instead. There is a lot of educational work needed to get things to change in the restaurant business...

For the most part, we ate in, except for on a few of these excursions.

My girl friend had brought a Zojirushi NP-HCC10 Rice Cooker with her on the trip and we stayed in a timeshare apartment with a kitchen. At first I thought a bit over the top, but I had to admit that it allowed us to eat in most of the time and never have to go to a restaurant.

For one thing, we made one run to the major supermarket Superfoods and that covered us for the week, I found some Dutch nostalgia there, and we loaded up on kale and fruits and other veggies for the week. They even had Lundberg rice (we had brought some with us from the States), and Braggs Liquid Aminos, in other words, next time we go, this market will be our first stop. The selection was awesome, even including Bob's Red Mill products. So the next time we will have less to bring in ourselves. Which brings me to Steelcut Oats... why?

Steelcut Oats are better for you

Finally, Dr. Michael Greger produced a report on youtube on why oats are the best breakfast, and why steelcut oats are even better for you. No wonder that #WFPB people prefer steelcut oats above any other. The work of Dr. Greger is so very helpful in understanding the nutritonal value of every aspect of the Whole Foods Plant-Based diet.

Signs of the Coming Revolution in Healthcare

In another useful video, Plant Based News from the UK put a collage together from various MDs speaking on nutrition at a recent medical conference and relating their experiences and opinions about the Whole Foods Plant-Based diet, and it is very helpful indeed, as always it is wonderful to have sources to refer your friends and family to to at least give them the option of taking control of their health, instead of falling into the trap of pharmageddon.

And in other news: Vegan 2017 was released

Our first #WFPB/Suppers meeting at St. Helena

Today was our first #WFPB Suppers meeting at St Helena's

The idea of The Suppers Program is a communal meal preparation and meal, usually at someone's home, in which there is room for people's personal dietary needs, whatever they are. Our meeting in particular was focused mostly on learning more about the Whole Foods Plant-Based lifestyle. But some of us were selective because of their specific needs and none of that is a problem.

We had a group of 8 people, from eleven to seventy years of age and lots of fun was had by all.

The feedback was generally good and several people want to do it again, and the date will be announced soon on our Meetup site for this program.

The program was rich, for we wanted to emulate a whole day of living with a Whole Foods Plant-Based diet. Lots of people learned new things and folks were excited to discover different ways of preparing food they thought they knew and did not like but suddenly they liked it.

Note: Berries with breakfast are particularly emphasized, and 4-6 "fist sized" portions of green leafy vegetables during the day. It can be cooked kale, collard greens, swiss chard, spinach etc. or salads, but leafy greens are particularly beneficial for epithelial health. Dr. Robert Ostfeld tends to recommend "at least four" portions per day, but Dr. Esselstyn would recommend six.

Recipes: A Day of #WFPB food

For reference the recipes are provided here in order.

Breakfast:

Note: We had Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats.
We cooked some steel-cut oats, and added some finely shredded apple (with a mandolin), some blueberries, some cinnamon, and some raisins. Let it simmer a few more minutes till the apple gets soft and the raisins absorb some of the cooking liquid as well.
We served it topped with extra cinnamon and balsamic vinegar.

A side of cooked kale, dressed with balsamic vinegar.

Notice that the cooking water from kale or any vegetable can be used as is for e.g. cooking grains, or to create a more elaborate vegetable bouillon.

Lunch:

• Red leaf lettuce
• Green leaf lettuce
• Some spinach leaves
• Tomatoes
• Peppers in three colors (red, yellow, green)
• some Chia seeds, some ground flax seed (good for those Omega-3's)
• some cooked Quinoa (cooked in some home made vegetable bouillon, made of cooking water from kale with some Marmite or some Braggs Liquid Aminos
• Jane Esselstyn's 3/2/1 dressing: 3 measures of balsamic vinegar, 2 measures of dijon mustard, and 1 measure of maple syrup.
• some olives, some capers, some artichoke hearts in water.

Take Out: Collard Green Roti's

Take a boiled leaf of Collard Green and put a bit of hummus along the stem, add in some rice, add some vegetables, which can be boiled, or sometimes raw.
Today we used some grated carrots, some chopped scallions, some cilantro and parsley, a bit of kimchi. For our rice we used Lundberg's Sprouted Brown Basmati. Roll it up, and I prefer to roll it in a half sheet of paper towel and put it in a sandwhich bag, so I come prepared to every meal.
We also used some nutritional yeast for seasoning.

Oil-free hummus is easy to make. Leave out the tahini, use a little liquid from the can of chick peas, the juice of one lemon, 2 garlic cloves minced, and add a splash of Braggs liquid aminos. Obviously, you can make hummus with various spices, parsley, cilantro, jalapeno, pimento... as you wish the number of variations is endless. A Nutribullet or similar food processor makes it all easy as pie.

Dinner: 

Note: We fudged it a little bit, but the meal plan for the dinner was Rice (Lundberg Sprouted Brown Basmati), with Lentil Stew, and Side dishes of cooked spinach, and Citrus Berry Salsa. In this case, we did not quite make the spinach.

Suppers Breakfast Challenge Lentil Stew
See the full recipe on the link above.

Suppers Citrus Berry Salsa
Again, see the full recipe at that link.

We forgot to make the spinach with the dinner, but it should be noted that generally the #WFPB recommendation is to have green leafy vegetables 4-6 times a day, so normally you would always have a salad with every meal or some green leafy vegetable as a side dish.

In all, with the massive amount of food we had, the bill was only $11.50 per person, good for an $3.50 refund and there were plenty of leftovers.

Interestingly, two of us go to Dr. Robert Ostfeld, the cardiologist at Montefiore who teaches this diet, but one other person had already heard about the diet from a friend in New Jersey, who in turn got it from their cardiologist.

WE had a visit from a journalism student from NYU, and we eagerly await her report as well.

Summary of #WFPB Principles:

The Whole Foods, Plant-Based lifestyle is a new nutritional paradigm, as defined by T. Colin Campbell in his book Whole, and based on the research that was published in The China Study. The principles are simplicity itself:

• Eat only plant-based, whole foods (cooked or raw is fine)
• Do not worry about proteins (protein deficiency does not exist if you follow this program). You need only 5-10% of calories from protein, and even plant-based many get closer to 15%. Overall, circa 10% of calories should come from protein and 10% from fat.
• Do not use added oils or sugar, go light on salt or even oily fruit (avocado, nuts, coconut). Serious heart patient may have to avoid all oily fruits. 
• The only supplement you ever need is B12, which nobody gets in sufficient quantity, usually one every other day is all you will need. All other supplements are good only for expensive urine, unless specifically medically indicated. The #WFPB lifestyle provides an abundance of nutrients, anti-oxidants, vitamins, and aside from B12, supplementation is moot.
• Dieting does not exist in #WFPB. Dieting means tinkering within a dysfunctional nutritional paradigm. #WFPB provides whole nutrition automatically, so eat to your heart's content and you will revert to your optimal weight by default. Start eating garbage and the weight will come back. Of course there are exceptions like food allergies, or simply preferences, but within the paradigm there is no dieting, such as portion control, etc.
• It is recommended you get some berries every day (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries) preferably with breakfast, work some chia seeds and or fresh-milled flax seed into salads, etc. for Omega-3s and 4-6 fist-sized portions of green leafy vegetables, such as kale, spinach, swiss chard, etc. for epithelial health.

Bonus: here is the account of an FDNY firefighter on a plant-based diet: https://www.forksoverknives.com/rethinking-my-health-after-september-11-exposure/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=vegan&utm_term=plant-based#gs.4aqcY_g