Dharma Feast Cookbook (52 page)

Mr. Grescoe goes on to say that:

Wild and farmed salmon have similar levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, but feed makers are increasingly bulking up the pellets fed to the fish with soy, which increases the ratio of omega-6 fatty acids. A disproportion of omega-6 fatty acids promotes chronic inflammation, which has been associated with everything from heart disease and cancer to Alzheimer’s and depression.

Analyzing two tons of salmon bought in stores from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Seattle, Washington, a team led by Ronald Hites, PhD., of Indiana University, found that farmed product contained up to ten times more persistent organic pollutants (POPs) than the wild variety. The chemicals in question are among the most toxic known to man such as the dioxins from herbicides (the most infamous being Agent Orange) and the polychlorinated biphenyls used in paints and pesticides, among other things. All are suspected carcinogens; most cause behavioral, growth, and learning disorders.

It’s better to eat wild-caught than farmed fish, but even labels in supermarkets can be misleading. In an undercover operation across America,
Consumer Reports
found that 56 percent of salmon labeled “wild” was actually farmed.

For constantly updated information on healthy fish choices, go to Seafood Watch, which is part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website (www. seafoodwatch.org). The Aquarium is one of the most respected aquatic research facilities in the world. They offer a printable wallet-sized list for easy reference while shopping and a safe-choice card for sushi as well. Their website offers information on dozens of fish with extensive notes on why each variety is listed as Best Choice, Good Alternatives, or Avoid. They do recommend farmed fish, but these would be from closed-containment farming systems, which Mr. Grescoe recommends as well.

The section titled Seafood Watch on the Monterey Bay Aquarium site presents a separate category labeled
The Super Green List,
which “highlights products that are currently on the Seafood Watch ‘Best Choices’ (green) list. These are low in environmental contaminants and are good sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. This effort draws from experts in human health, notably scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).” Also, look for the seal of approval of the Marine Stewardship Council (
www.msc.
org) on packaging, menus, and advertising for products. They are the most reliable sustainable-fisheries certifier in the world.

Meat

As we noted above in the section on Fish, while we don’t include meat recipes in the
Dharma Feast Cookbook,
we believe you should know as much as possible about anything you intend to eat.

To get the healthiest meat we need to know what the animals have been eating. Cows, sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens naturally eat grass, not grain. Chickens should get as much as 30 percent of their nutrition from greens. In the United States these animals are fed “junk corn”
that is not fit for humans and often genetically-modified. These animals then require growth hormones because they do not reach maturity on this diet. They are also given antibiotics on a regular basis because a grain diet makes them vulnerable to disease. Their meat, eggs, and milk are contaminated with hormones and antibiotics.

A grass-fed cow or chicken grows naturally. They are raised outside in the sun, which provides vitamin D in the meat in a form we can absorb. The green grass they eat puts nutrients and vitamins, as well as omega-3 fatty acids into their meat. In the U.S. buy grass-fed meat.

The following information will give you a sense of what is happening in the commercial beef industry, at least in the United States. There are equally disturbing stories from other countries.

On the website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an article entitled “Preliminary FoodNet Data on the Incidence of Infection with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food” states “foodborne diseases remain an important public health problem in the United States.” Every year we hear about outbreaks of illness and the recall of plant and meat food products due to contamination of food sources. The outbreaks can be caused by a number of different organisms.

A virulent strain of bacteria commonly called E. coli, found in feces, makes tens of thousands of people sick each year. Most of the infected people will recover, but some will die and others will have life-changing injuries. The most common food source of this bacteria is hamburger. But, even though the cuts of meat used in hamburger are from areas of the cow that are most likely to be contaminated by feces, there are no federal requirements to test for E. coli.

Ground beef is not produced by grinding one piece of meat; at least not in the United States. Instead, a single portion of hamburger meat often consists of various grades of meat from different parts of different cows, possibly from different slaughterhouses that may not even be located in the same state or country. Since this meat is not tested there is no traceable chain of accountability.

In addition, in the article “E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection” by Michael Moss, in the October 7, 2009 issue of
The New York Times,
says that fatty trimmings, which are 50 to 70 percent fat, are turned into “fine lean textured beef” through a process that warms the trimmings, removes the fat in a centrifuge, and treats the remaining product with ammonia to kill E. coli. U.S. Agriculture Department regulations allow this fine lean textured beef to be added to ground chuck and ground sirloin as long as it comes from the same place in the cow as these cuts. It is also used in hamburger meat sold by grocers and fast-food restaurants and served to children in the U.S. through the National School Lunch Program.

If you intend to serve hamburgers at a barbeque or other special occasion, we recommend, if possible, buying ground beef from a local butcher you may trust; or buying grass-fed beef and having the butcher grind it, or grinding it yourself.

Gluten

Gluten is the sticky protein in wheat, barley, spelt, rye, and oats that are not certified to be gluten-free. It makes dough stretch and sauces thicken. Gluten is used in most bakery foods as well as everything from ketchup to salad dressing to ice cream. It is found in almost all processed foods in ingredients like maltodextrin (if derived from wheat), seitan, gelatinized starch, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, modified food starch, barley malt syrup, soy sauce, and vegetable starch. Up to 95 percent of meals in restaurants contain wheat in one form or another. It is also found in the inactive ingredients in many medications.

The problem with gluten is the effect it has on our immune system. Ordinarily the immune system recognizes whole food as a non-threat, but the gluten protein triggers an immunological response whether we show symptoms or not. Many studies have documented this fact. The effects of eating gluten are worth looking at because, if we haven’t removed it or reduced it in our diet, there is never a time when we don’t have it in our bodies, so the immune system is triggered ongoingly.

One study done in Japan, published in December 2005 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, showed that eating “gluten hydrolysates,” or wheat protein processed with enzymes (found in every processed food that uses wheat), significantly increased NK (Natural Killer) cell activity even though there are no other physical symptoms. NK cells are a major component in the immune system, responsible for killing tumors and cells infected with viruses. They are usually tightly regulated because of their potential to turn against our own cells and tissues. They require an activating signal and the gluten protein mimics this signal. The more frequently they are activated, the more of a chance there is they will begin attacking the body they are designed to protect.

The New England Journal of Medicine
published a review paper in January 2002 which listed dozens of auto-immune diseases that can be caused by eating gluten: arthritis, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, colitis, Crohn’s disease, dermatitis, eczema, fibromyalgia, hepatitis, irritable bowel syndrome, Lou Gehrig’s disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type-1 diabetes. We aren’t recommending that everyone stop eating gluten, but even if we don’t take gluten completely out of our diets, it’s worth making an informed decision about how much we consume.

It’s becoming more common for people to eat “gluten-free,” and there are many gluten-free products available. But they are also highly processed, so again, those with as few ingredients as possible are best. Watch out for artificial ingredients and sweeteners. We’ve included some gluten-free recipes for baked goods in the Recipes section of this book.

If processed foods aren’t labeled as “certified gluten-free,” they may contain gluten even though it isn’t listed on the label. For instance, wheat flour can be added to dried herbs and spices to prevent caking, and it isn’t listed. Also, gluten can be present if a food was made in a facility that also makes wheat-based products. Many labels will indicate this.

When a recipe calls for flour, other types can be used—unbleached almond meal or flour, coconut flour, brown or white rice flour, garbanzo bean flour, and teff flour are a few. Usually a couple of these flours need to be combined with each other or with guar or xanthan gum to get a similar texture to wheat flour.

One cup of gluten-free flour does not necessarily replace one cup of wheat flour. Go to http://
www.csaceliacs.info
for instructions on flour mixes for general and specialty baking. Click on “Recipes” and then “Gluten Free Flour Formulas.” Another good website is http://www. gluten-free-diet-help.com. Click on “Recipes” and scroll down to “Miscellaneous.” Click on “Gluten Free Flour Blends.” For a mini-education on the different gluten-free flours and thickeners used to make blends, go to
http://www.theglutenfreelife-style.com.
Scroll down and click on “Ingredient Treasury for Gluten-Free Baking.”A good gluten-free cookbook, such as
Gluten-Free Baking with The Culinary Institute of America
by Richard J. Coppedge, is invaluable for experimenting. There are also gluten-free pre-mixed flours in the baking section of the grocery store. Bob’s Red Mill,
Arrowhead Mills, and King Arthur’s All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour are recommended brands.

Wheat pastas can be replaced with rice, quinoa, or buckwheat pasta. If you have an Asian market in your town buy rice noodles there.

Food Additives and Prepared Foods

As the natural food movement began to gain momentum in the 1970s, the definition of “natural food” was food in its natural state, such as brown rice, beans, nuts, seeds, and unprocessed oils. Over the last forty years this definition has become distorted, in part, because many of the small companies from the early days of the movement became big companies, and were bought by much larger ones. The end result is that all sorts of synthetic ingredients have been added to “natural foods” that make them not so natural anymore. Just because a food is labeled “natural” (meaning it was originally found in nature) doesn’t mean that it is good or safe for us to eat. If we wouldn’t be able to pick an ingredient from a field and maybe aren’t even able to pronounce it, we should think twice about eating it.

Avoid

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
A neurotoxic food additive. See
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
in this list below.

Many other
neurotoxic food additives
such as sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate, artificial colors, and preservatives are found in processed foods. It is best to avoid them all.

Refined sweeteners
See
Sweeteners
in this chapter. In addition to being used in food, artificial sweeteners are used in products such as toothpaste and prescription and over-the-counter medications including those for children. Read labels or, in the case of medications, ask your pharmacist or read the product insert, which lists the “other” or “inert” ingredients.

Toxic metals and additives
Most baking powders, commercial salt, aluminum cookware and antacids, along with antiperspirants, contain aluminum, which again has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Lead
is found in some cookware and glazes and is especially dangerous to children when they are still growing. Lead poisoning can lead to brain damage, behavior problems, anemia, and damage to the major organs. Inorganic iron additives, found in processed foods like commercial white flour, are toxic. Cadmium is in the pesticides used on non-organic fruits and vegetables, and is highly toxic and carcinogenic.

Prepared, extruded breakfast cereals
When extruded under high temperature and pressure, the proteins in grains are transformed into neurotoxins.

Fluoride
Fluoride is in most drinking water that comes out of the tap in the U.S. While many claim fluoride is beneficial, there is much contradictory evidence. One thing is certain: fluoride is listed with the FDA as more toxic than lead. Tom’s of Maine has several fluoride-free toothpastes.

Fortified or enriched
Vitamins and minerals added to foods are synthetic. We are unable to absorb them. For more information, see Supplementation in this chapter.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the most widely-used flavor enhancer in the world. People commonly associate it with its use in Chinese food but MSG and MSG-containing substances are added to processed food, fast food, and nearly all canned and frozen foods. Prescription and over-the-counter medications may also contain MSG.

There are many claims that MSG occurs naturally and so is not bad for us. What is true is that glutamate, an amino acid, is found naturally in all living cells, especially seafood, which use it to survive in a salty environment. Glutamate is essential for thinking and remembering and is why fish is called “brain food.” It is one of the five basic tastes along with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. We are evolutionarily hard-wired to like how it tastes, which is why the chemically-made form is added to so many products—it makes us crave them.