A Brave New Food World

Happy Labor Day to everyone - included those of you not in the U.S. and more than likely having to go off to wherever you labor. 

Yesterday I went to the store in preparation for the next three days of meals.  After looking at the shopping list I figured I would be much less frustrated going to my local Health Food Store than trying to track down some unusual sounding items at the chain store I usually frequent.  No gas station bill reducing points for us on this trip, I'm afraid.  So, what was so off the usual map about this list? How often have you bought nutritional yeast?  Matcha? Flax meal?  Cocoa nibs?  I thought so.  I can almost count the minutes before my mother in law gives me a call and says she's not reading this crazy stuff anymore.  Sorry. 

Ok, ok, I also know I have some friends reading this that these items are already in their pantry.  Baby steps, people.  Baby steps. 

On this fifth day of the fat blast and our second day in the melt down phase Ani is moving into high gear when it comes to her "Rocket Fuel".  As you recall, yesterday we talked about the fermented foods that have all sorts of wonderful benefits. 

Our second of the four Rocket Fuels are what is known as "Prebiotics".  I've never heard this term before either so don't feel bad if you haven't.  She even admits they are hard to understand and lack a good scientific definition.  Her definition is the types of food components - usually fiber or sugar that promotes good bacteria growth and activity.  The milieu, if you will.  This is not surprising as if you think about things that grow, it is common knowledge that the organism needs several types of support to thrive.  Seeds need dirt, water, sunshine.  It was found that bone marrow transplants did better than just stem cells because the support tissue was transplanted along with the stem cells.  There was better engraftment.  I'm sure you can think of similar examples in areas you're familiar with. 

Where to find the prebiotics to support the animicules doing the heavy work in our gut?  Here's a list from page 38 of Ani's Fat Blast book:

• Bananas
• Asparagus
• Berries
• Chicory
• Burdock
• Flaxseed
• Garlic, onion, leeks
• Honey
• Jicama
• Tomatoes

When you see today's food you will see that we will be loaded up with Rocket Fuel. 

Here's today's menu:

Bright and early this morning we have a lovely banana shake complete with not only a banana but walnuts and some cinnamon. The rocket fuel in this drink - besides the walnuts is "matcha" tea.  Instead of the usual water mixed in to make this a drink the matcha is a powdered, very high quality green tea that is apparently overloaded with goodness of the rocket fuel variety.  I'm sure we'll learn more about this type in the days to come.  This is an incredibly simple yet tasty shake.  Since MSB has a banana for breakfast every morning we always have them around so doctoring them up a bit to make them more of a nutritional power house is quite simple.  I can see this becoming a regular at our house in the future.  Although it doesn't have a knock your socks off taste the appeal and simplicity of this drink warrants an A, I think. 


I have to apologize for the mid-morning snack today.  Ani's creation is called Pomegranate Blueberry Salad.   This concoction of blueberries and pomegranate seeds - already something that sounds oh so delish, is augmented with a smidgen of cinnamon, some flax seeds and OMG cacao nibs!  Where does she get these ideas?  This is no snack.  It is hardly a salad - it is just plain an amazing, want to die for dessert!  So - where's the picture?  Yeah - I forgot to take a picture until I was scraping the bottom of the bowl and wondering if this was on the menu again like in an hour or two.  I wolfed it down faster than my dog goes after the measly amount of kibble we give her.  I'm so sorry but you have to have this - so of course it is getting an A with as many pluses as it takes to get you to eat a bowl full of blueberry chocolate heaven. 

Our lunch is another salad.  I think our days of no chewing are behind us now since I forgot where my juicer is and I'm beginning to remember how to use a fork.  Today's salad is called: Spring Sauerkraut Salad with Thermo Dressing.  Yessss!  More Sauerkraut.  No - I won't post another polka video - but I want to.  Anyway - this is another awesome but simple salad with greens, some seeds or nuts (your choice) and the awesome sauerkraut filling us with all those Rocket fuels she promised.  The thermo dressing is made from scratch but is a simple vinaigrette using EVOO and cider vinegar as well as raw soy sauce and miso.  More rocket fuel.  Aren't you glad we know why she's sticking these ingredients together?  I know I am.  So - in addition to using the menus, reading the book is a good use of our time.  I thought the salad was quite good. I would have liked some other veggies on it - little tomatoes, maybe some carrots.  The strangest thing was despite this being a very large salad I was very, very hungry about 20 minutes later.  This is the first time in a week I've been really hungry and was quite surprised.  It could be just the process of this past week or I should have made a bigger salad.  I just thought it was odd that I'd be more hungry after eating solid food than I've been for a week on just liquids. I'm rating this salad a B.

For our mid afternoon snack we have another very simple shake called Pineapple Protein Shake. This simple shake just has pineapple, some flax seed and a little algae type powder.  This is a nice tasting shake except for the taste of the algae powder.  It was entirely drinkable although not the best tasting shake we've had thus far.  It probably deserves a C+.

Our dinner sounds quite encouraging as it goes by the name Kreamy Dill Delight.  The cashews in this soup makes it quite creamy indeed.  There's dill, of course and I always enjoy that taste.  There is also spinach and broccoli as well as some miso to round out the soup.  Sadly I did not find this soup to be a delight at all.  In fact I found it so distasteful I threw it out after two sips.  I hope you like it better if you try it.  Of course this means we have to award this soup a solid D in the ratings.  :(  Sorry Ani if you are reading this.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend, that your weather was cooperative and that you got to do something fun. I heard from MSB and they had a fruitful screening day Guinea. Apparently over 5000 people showed up and over 3000 were admitted for further evaluation. They saw patients for well over 12 hours. In the heat and humidity of West Africa that is more than a long day - that is a marathon!

Here's your recipe summary:

Ginger Mango Shake	Shake	Fat Blast	four	118		B
Easy Being Green Salad	Salad	Fat Blast	four	133		B
Strawberry Mint Shake	Shake	Fat Blast	four	126		B
Red Pepper Soup	Soup	Fat Blast	four	148		A
Banana Shake	Shake	Fat Blast	five	114		A
Pomegranate Blueberry Salad	Salad	Fat Blast	five	165		A+
Spring Sauerkraut Salad	Salad	Fat Blast	five	138		B
Pineapple Protein Shake	Shake	Fat Blast	five	125		C+
Kreamy Dill Delight	Soup	Fat Blast	five	147		D