Menupause

ZOOM with a BOOM LINK:

Friday, June 18^th @ 10:30 am Eat a Rainbow

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89407280194 Meeting ID: 894 0728 0194

One tap mobile
+19292056099,,89407280194# US (New York)
+13017158592,,89407280194# US (Washington DC)Dial by your location
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Meeting ID: 894 0728 0194
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ktC4yXNf4

Photo from the Internet

Notes for Class:

Eat a Rainbow: Cooking with Color

Key Words from the Internet

Antioxidants: Substances that protects cells from the damage caused by free radicals (unstable molecules made by the process of oxidation during normal metabolism). Free radicals may play a part in cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other diseases of aging. (https:.//www.cancer.gov)

Caretenoids: Any of a class of mainly yellow, orange, or red fat-soluble pigments, including carotene, which give color to plant parts such as ripe tomatoes and autumn leaves. They are terpenoids based on a structure having the formula C₄₀H. (Definition from Oxford Languages: https://languages.oup.com)

Chlorophyll: A green pigment, present in all green plants and in cyanobacteria, responsible for the absorption of light to provide energy for photosynthesis. Its molecule contains a magnesium atom held in a porphyrin ring. (Definition from Oxford Languages: https://languages.oup.com)

Nutraceuticals: The term “nutraceutical” is used to describe medicinally or nutritionally functional foods. Nutraceuticals, which have also been called medical foods, designer foods, phytochemicals, functional foods and nutritional supplements, include such everyday products as “bio” yoghurts and fortified breakfast cereals, as well as vitamins, herbal remedies and even genetically modified foods and supplements. (Definition from Oxford Languages: https://languages.oup.com)

Phytochemicals: Chemical compounds produced by plants, generally to help them resist fungi, bacteria and plant virus infections, and also consumption by insects and other animals. The name comes from Greek φυτόν (phyton) ‘plant’. Some phytochemicals have been used as poisons and others as traditional medicine.

Mother Earth loves color! What could be more attractive to birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators than bright red berries, purple grapes, orange pumpkins, and all the other colorful fruits and vegetables (as well as flowers)? If you are familiar with the concept of eating a rainbow, then you may know that the different colors (sometimes hidden under the dark green of chlorophyll) of fresh foods contain nutrients that your body will love and thrive on, especially when the foods are organic, in season, and eaten fresh or lightly cooked.

In The Color Code book by James Joseph, Ph.D., Daniel Nadeau, M.D., and Anne Underwood, the authors design a healthy eating plan based on red foods, orange/yellow foods, blue/purple foods, and of course green foods. They write about nutrients in these foods that they call “pigment power.” These are nutrients over and above their basic vitamins and minerals, and of course important enzymes when uncooked or only lightly cooked.

The phytochemicals in plants are purported to promote health in a number of ways: as antioxidants, as anti-inflammatories, and as boosters to the body’s natural detoxification system. The different colors of foods have protective pigments, according to the Color Code information, so by eating from the rainbow, you are able to garner a full range of these “power pigments.”

Cooking with color becomes a feast not only for your palate, but also for your eyes, which draws people to these colorful dishes, if only to try for the first time. And the phytochemicals that help the plant survive are also beneficial to humans. In addition, if you can, buy organic fruits and veggies, using the Dirty Dozen and Green 15 from the Environmental Working Group as your guide. (www.ewg.org) (See list Below)

In the cooking class on Friday, I will be making a Rainbow Fruit Salad, a Rainbow Garden Salad, and a Berry Nice Green Salad. I checked out the level of acid/alkalinity, which we covered in the May Zoom cooking class, and deliberately chose those foods that are high or medium alkalinity. I used The Acid-Alkaline Food Guide by Dr. Susan E. Brown and Larry Trivieri, Jr. and the list from the Environmental Working Group below:

Here are the 2021 Dirty Dozen: 

1. Strawberries
2. Spinach
3. Kale/Collard/Mustard greens
4. Nectarines
5. Apples
6. Grapes
7. Cherries
8. Peaches
9. Pears
10. Bell and hot peppers
11. Celery
12. Tomatoes

Here are the items on the Clean 15: 

1. Avocados
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Onions
5. Papayas
6. Frozen sweet peas
7. Eggplant
8. Asparagus
9. Broccoli
10. Cabbage
11. Kiwifruit
12. Cauliflower
13. Mushrooms
14. Honeydew
15. Cantaloupe

Hope you can join us on ZOOM on Friday, June 18^th from 10:30 am-about noon (est)

I will post the recipes after the class, but in the meantime, here’s a link to a recipe and information I posted in 2008:

A Berry Buffet: https://www.menupause.info/its-the-berries-june-2008/

Special Notes: Last month’s class focused on eating more alkalizing foods and less acidic foods to represent our cells being more alkaline than acid. The foods I chose for the recipes on Friday are almost all medium to high alkalinity. They are not main dishes, so if you eat acidic foods, such as meat, dairy, grains and beans, the recipes here will help you balance the acid foods with the alkalizing foods. Also, naturally white foods veggies, such as cauliflower, are healthful, even though white is not a color, per se, on the rainbow.

What is white on the rainbow spectrum? Some consider white to be a color, because white light comprises all hues on the visible light spectrum. And many do consider black to be a color, because you combine other pigments to create it on paper. But in a technical sense, black and white are not colors, they’re shades. (www.adobe.com)

White foods are not technically part of the rainbow spectrum, but white foods (naturally grown, not bleached) are also part of a healthy diet.