Antioxidants

Get Fresh with Antioxidants
Chef Wendell

www.chefwendell.com

‘Hard-Wired’ meat and potato groupies struggle to cuddle with fresh produce. Clearly, over decades of smart bomb marketing, malleable Americans have became hard-wired to disdain fresh produce from God’s Apothecary. Peculiar when one reflects humans were genetically designed to eat fresh produce.

TV was invented to sell TIDE. Face it, since its invention, powerfully influential TV advertisers circumvented food products that did not come from a cold, financially lubricated assembly line. Madison Avenue avoided promoting earthly delights simply because anyone could grow the nutritious gifts in their back yard. Instead, agribusiness preferred Americans to become reliant on a cannery or frozen, bagged versions. My compliments to the scientist!
There is a rumor the 12th Commandment Moses dropped coming down the mountain top, bespoke, ‘Thou Shalt Not Alter My Creations for Earnings”.
Renewable, sustainable organic produce is profitable to the small farmer who supports the local community; an unattractive concept to the Jolly Green Giant. Instead, agribusiness, bankers and semantics buoyed American ideals to depend on diminished, albeit, lucrative versions of ‘fresh’. Today, grocer’s shelves groan from the mass of food stripped of the healing force of Gods apothecary. It’s transparent why disease is pandemic. Americans are malnourished.
Before the Industrial Revolution, Americans were hunters and gatherers. After the industrial revolution, fresh took a back seat to convenience. During this time, influential health authorities informed citizens these accumulating chronic diseases were simply a ‘natural’ progression of aging. What a mound of steaming cow pies! The universe wishes it’s creations to flourish and be healthy well into advanced age.

Fifty years ago the feds began the systematically dismantling of the family farm; the backbone of America. Over half the people living in America at that time were happily living rurally or on a farm providing local villagers with life-sustaining plant foods. It is no coincidence that incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity were much lower before the birth of processed foods and agribusiness.
Spanking fresh, antioxidant-redolent produce in its divine form supplies health-supportive phytochemicals needed to repair, rebuild, defend and support the temple. Antioxidants are nutrients in plant foods which prevent and slow oxidative damage to the temple. When cells use oxygen, they naturally produce free radical by-products which cause damage. Antioxidants act as "free radical scavengers" preventing and repairing their damage. Health troubles such as macular degeneration, accelerated aging, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s are all worsened by oxidative damage.
A recent study by researchers from London found that 5 servings of fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of stroke by 25 percent. A serving is one-half cup. Antioxidants also enhance immune defense and therefore lower the risk of H1N1 infection. If one were to eat raw, wild blueberries they’d be eating one of the most antioxidant rich foods on the planet. Cooking them in a pie or eating them in a Pop Tart destroys their magical antioxidant mojo.
To obtain and preserve delicate, soft skin, thick, shiny hair, long, smooth fingernails, clear, bright eyes and a brilliant, gleaming smile, one needs to feed the temple from within with fresh raw, unprocessed plant foods. By eating old or genetically altered foods, Americans are missing out on antioxidants. This charter member of the phytonutrients family is the #1 defense against chronic disease.
Smell what I’m not cookin’?

Pizza for Kids-Healthy Too!

WISH TV-8-22-09
Kids in the Kitchen

‘Kid Friendly' English Muffin Pizza

Chef Wendell

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/living/recipes/Chef_Wendell_Kid_Friendly_English_Muffin_Pizza_20090828

As well as keeping them healthy and happy, homemade pizza is a delightful way to create happy memories in the kitchen with the kids.


Ingredients:
1 English muffin, whole grain, split
About 1/3 cup of shredded skim-milk mozzarella cheese (use a different cheese, or even more than one cheese at a time)
Sliced garden tomato or 2 Tbs. tomato or pizza sauce
Fake Sausage, chorizo or mock pepperoni
Toppings: lightly sautéed spinach, mushrooms, green peppers, onions or fresh pineapple chunks.
Directions:
After fork-slicing the English muffin, place the sliced tomatoes or sauce and then the mozzarella cheese on each half of the English muffin.
Apply the sauce with a spoon or add fresh tomato slices. Go edge to edge.
Now’s the time to sneak in some ground flax seeds. They’ll never know.
Next, add a meat substitute or leave them plain.
Add chopped vegetables. (Try lightly sautéing spinach then hide it under the cheese)
Top with cheese. (There are marvelous soy cheeses on the market. Give them a try)
Place your completed 'pizza' on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F or in a toaster oven.
Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how crispy your child likes his pizza, or until the cheese is a golden brown color.
Add some fresh basil, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and enjoy.
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As well as keeping them healthy and happy, homemade pizza is a delightful way to create happy memories in the kitchen with the kids.
Yes, pizza is a charming national treasure. No one disputes it tastes mighty good. However, did you know ‘to-your-door’ prepared pizzas can sabotage family health? Excessive fatty cheese in the bottom and the crusty trim combined with white flour pizza dough, salt and greasy pepperoni or sausage is a formula for obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and diabetes. One piece accompanied with a garden salad is cool, but who eats just one.
A whole grain English muffin pizza is a healthful way to get some extra fiber, calcium and veggies into your child's diet. There are many meat substitutes on the grocery shelves. Just be lovingly sneaky when making the switch. Adding more vegetables will build up the little tyke’s immune response to fight off H1N1.
One (1) slice of pepperoni pizza contains 400 calories. To put this in perspective, a majority of candy bars have 230 to 249 calories. 4-8 year olds only need 1400-1600 calories a day.
One slice contains a whopping 1000 mg of salt. Their average daily needs 2400 mg. A normal child aged 4 to 8 typically needs only 1,200 milligrams per day, but the typical child consumes at least 2,800 per day.
One slice contains:
40% daily saturated-fat quotient
8% daily cholesterol
6 grams of sugar

The refined white flour crust stresses the pancreas
But, who eats just one slice? When you do the math, you’ll see how quickly it can ad up. Finally, when you factor in the dipping sauces, there’s trouble a-brewing. Garlic dipping sauce has an additional 150 additional calories, 17g of fat and 310g salt in each 1.5 oz cup. 911-911 Thud!
Good News! All this can just go away if moms and dads adopt the tradition of preparing home-made pizza. Let kids choose their own toppings and put the muffin pizza together by themselves. As an added bonus let them bake it themselves in an Easy-Bake Oven.Yes, pizza is a charming national treasure. No one disputes it tastes mighty good. However, did you know ‘to-your-door’ prepared pizzas can sabotage family health? Excessive fatty cheese in the bottom and the crusty trim combined with white flour pizza dough, salt and greasy pepperoni or sausage is a formula for obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and diabetes. One piece accompanied with a garden salad is cool, but who eats just one.

A whole grain English muffin pizza is a healthful way to get some extra fiber, calcium and veggies into your child's diet. There are many meat substitutes on the grocery shelves. Just be lovingly sneaky when making the switch. Adding more vegetables will build up the little tyke’s immune response to fight off H1N1.

One (1) slice of pepperoni pizza contains 400 calories.
To put this in perspective, a majority of candy bars have 230 to 249 calories.
4-8 year olds only need 1400-1600 calories a day.
One slice contains a whopping 1000 mg of salt. Their average daily needs 2400 mg.
A normal child aged 4 to 8 typically needs only 1,200 milligrams per day, but the typical child consumes at least 2,800 per day.
One slice contains:
40% daily saturated-fat quotient
8% daily cholesterol
6 grams of sugar
The refined white flour crust stresses the pancreas

But, who eats just one slice? When you do the math, you’ll see how quickly it can add up.
Finally, when you factor in the dipping sauces, there’s trouble a-brewing.
Garlic dipping sauce has an additional 150 additional calories, 17g of fat and 310g salt in each 1.5 oz cup. 911-911 Thud!

Good News!
All this can just go away if moms and dads adopt the tradition of preparing home-made pizza.
Let kids choose their own toppings and put the muffin pizza together by themselves. As an added bonus let them bake it themselves in an Easy-Bake Oven.

Food Coloring & Aggressive 'Bully' Behavior

Published August 13th, 2009

By Wendell Fowler

"Pass me those freakin’ M&M’s or I’ll rip off your face!”
Sound familiar? “Every day my child kicked, spit, hit, bit and punched. He had sudden, alarming mood changes accompanied by a spacey look, dark eye circles and bags under his eyes. When I stopped feeding him artificially colored foods at home and began packing him a brown-bag school lunch, once again he became my sweet, normal child.”

Highly reliable news sources on TV and radio report increased violence and aggression in children and adults. The bully syndrome occurs from the playground to the factory floor and into corporate boardrooms. No one likes a bully.

The morally famished fat-cats operating the food industry have known for decades that shoppers gravitate towards vibrantly colored foods, such as Skittles, Fruit Loops, M&M’s, psychedelic birthday cakes, orange farm-raised salmon, packaged red meat and pre-cut tuna steaks and cheese. Chicken, eggs and salmon are often artificially tweaked to appear appetizing. Plump chicken sitting on the supermarket shelf is likely to have been fed canthaxanthin, a pigment added to chicken feed to enhance poultry’s yellow color and make it look palatable. Egg-laying hens are also given dye with their feed, making egg yolks vary from light yellow all the way to bright orange.

Shoppers perceive these deceitful products as fresh and oh-so-tasty, but at a rather high cost to health. What food scientists don’t want known is the physiological consequences these man-made compounds cause the temple. Well, I do, because of the endless buffet of science supporting ADHD can be caused and worsened by artificial food colorings.

For example, The Oregonian reported European countries had already seized dozens of tons of farmed salmon from Chile contaminated with malachite green — a fabric dye banned in the U.S. as a suspected carcinogen. Pellets of orange dye are fed to otherwise grey-fleshed farm-raised salmon. The universe weeps.Dr. Andrew Weil continues, “The danger is the chemicals used to create color are energetic molecules, many of which are capable of interacting with and damaging DNA. Anything that damages DNA can injure the immune system, accelerate aging and increase the menace of cancer. Indeed, many synthetic food dyes once considered safe have turned out to be carcinogenic.”

Sadly, children whose precious little bodies are still developing are often the most vulnerable to the “smart bomb” marketing assault of artificially enhanced snacks, beverages and desserts which are the most likely to contain artificial color. Remember green ketchup?

Many parents swear dietary changes have helped their ADD child, yet most doctors and researchers deny food allergies or sensitivities can cause the behaviors associated with ADD or ADHD. Their conclusions were supposedly based on studies. Ritalin is highly profitable and often abused.

For those of you preparing for the return of H1N1, food colorings suppress immune function. Dr. Weil explains it has to do with the inhibition of movement of white blood cells to locations in the body where they are needed to fight infections. Read labels and do your best to avoid these pernicious colorings. You know what petroleum is? Well, that’s what artificial colors are made of, in addition to acetone and oh-so-mouth-watering coal tars. Oh, yeah, these colors are approved by the FDA.

FD&C Blue #1

FD&C Blue #2

FD&C Green #3

FD&C Red #3 (Erythrosine)

FD & Red #40FD&C Yellow

#5 (Tartrazine)FD&C

Yellow #6

Children's Nutrition-Parental Role Modelling

Be a Role Model When Eating with Your Children
By Chef Wendell Fowler, author of “Eat Right, Now!”

Helping precious children maintain healthy bodies and minds doesn’t need to be a dreaded topic. The perfect time to begin influencing children by example is when they’re impressionable, before outside influences become way of life.
Your negative or positive eating rituals can and will sway a child’s eating habits. Chances are, if you have a healthy diet and maintain a healthy weight, you will your offspring.

Here are a few tips to help you be the role model you want to be when it comes to your kids and eating:
Resist the temptation to use food as leverage. Withholding food as punishment or giving it as a reward sends out a confusing message. Food should be associated with fun, adventure, staying fit and fending off the flu and cold bugs.
Eat meals as a family. Flying out the door to get to work or school? Set the breakfast table the night before so everyone can look forward to breakfast. At dinner time, shut down the TV and Facebook to establish dinner-time conversation and share the day’s activities.
Let’s your kids help in the kitchen. Children are more prone to eat what they've prepared. Spending quality family time washing, chopping, cooking and serving creates loving family relationships and memories.

Here are some quick substitutions for those less-than-healthy habits that linger in your family. Parents, instead of…
· ice cream; eat probiotic yogurt, fresh fruit, nuts and dried fruit to boost immune system.
· fast food, shop at the grocery.
· pizza; bake whole grain English Muffins with pizza sauce and low-fat mozzarella.
· grilled cheese with butter on white bread; whole grain quesadillas with low-fat cheese, tomato and chicken leftovers.
· soda pop; 2% milk or water.
· bologna & hot dogs; turkey breast.
· mayonnaise; mustard.
· diet-cola, fresh water and pure juices.
· chips: carrot and celery sticks, radishes, red peppers with light dressing.
Show how much you love your kids by practicing healthful eating behaviors. They want and need boundaries, and will love you for them!

Broccoli Bigotry

Broccoli: Imagine there’s No Cancer

Go ahead, admit it. You’re a broccoli bigot.

For decades, society has feloniously asphyxiated broccoli with molten cheese; baked it into oblivion; boiled it into nothingness; drowned it in butter, bespeckled it with bacon, and slandered this bewildered cruciferous vegetable into a stupor.

Broccoli, an associate of the cabbage, lettuce, radish and cauliflower clan, was cultivated in Italy and France in the 16th century. During the 1920s, broccoli was commercially cultivated in the US for the very first time in the state of New York.

The name, broccoli, comes from an Italian word meaning branch or arm, giving the appearance of reaching up, perhaps for a heapin’ helpin’ of artery-detonating Hollandaise. The historical record on broccoli is scant and leaps from the Roman Empire to 16th century France with large gaps in between.

Leave it to ex-president George H. W. Bush to co-mingle politics and produce. He was heard to say, “Just as Poland had a rebellion against totalitarianism, I am rebelling against broccoli, and I refuse to give ground. I do not like broccoli, and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.” So there, neyaah, neyaah!

The American Institute for Cancer Research has shown cruciferous vegetables display the ability to stop the growth of cancer cells in various cells, tissue and animal models.
Especially, broccoli sprouts. So, why in heavens’ name do we vilify broccoli when it’s a life extender? Dunno?

Large human studies suggest the complex systems of enzymes in cruciferous vegetables defend our families against cancer of the lung, breast and colon, speeds estrogen removal, are antiviral, and regulate insulin and blood sugar; a miraculous gift of the universe. Broccoli abounds with plant-chemicals, bio-active chemical compounds possessing health-promoting, disease-preventing or medicinal properties.

The ‘B’; word is one of the world’s healthiest, low-calorie foods virtually exploding with vitamin K, C, folate, B vitamins, fiber, potassium, manganese, and iron.

Has a cure for cancer been in our gardens all along? Yep. If you’ve declared war on cruciferous vegetables, step back and become a peacenik for health.

Clear your mind, treat the body and fear no food. Broccoli’s your buddy. Please, support your local Farmers Market and other Locavore sources, including your own back yard. The vast majority of conventionally grown broccoli lining the grocer’s shelves is genetically modified from its original, heavenly composition. No long term studies have been performed on the effects of eating humanly altered produce, so WE are the experiment. Such madness.

Szechuan Broccoli

Delight your taste buds with this dish. Broccoli brims with anticancer sentries, safeguarding your loving family’s precious health. Stir-frying happens rapidly, so have all ingredients by your side and rock the wok.

3 tablespoons of water
1 teaspoon of cornstarch
2 tablespoons of dry sherry
3 teaspoons of low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce (Chinese barbecue sauce found is most major American or Asian grocery stores)

2 heads of broccoli florets, washed thoroughly!
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon fresh, peeled, minced ginger
3 cloves of minced garlic
Pinch of hot peppers
1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil

In a small bowl, stir together the water, cornstarch, sherry, soy sauce, and Hoisin. Make sure the cornstarch lumps liquefy.
Using a small paring knife, cut the heads of broccoli into small, bite size florets; peel the stems and slice them into circular “coins.” Discard the woodsy, pulpy part.
In a large nonstick skillet heat the oil over high heat. Add the ginger, garlic, hot peppers, and stir with a wooden spoon for 30 seconds. Don’t walk away; keep things moving.
Pull out the ginger. Quickly add the broccoli, stirring until the broccoli is tender, yet crisp, maybe 3 minutes.
Add the sauce and stir-fry until the broccoli is coated. Put in the sesame oil, toss and serve.
-30-
2009