Nobody Ever Got Fat by Eating Too Many Vegetables

Probably nobody ever got heart disease or cancer from eating too many vegetables either.   In fact, countless studies and articles suggest that the benefits of eating vegetables may include preventing and reversing long term, chronic illnesses.  Most diet plans even allow for “unlimited vegetables.”

I am constantly reading articles, watching documentaries, reviewing patient’s food journals, and I concur.  Eating more vegetables is related to better health.  Physical and emotional.  It’s also understood that high fructose corn syrup, sugar, trans fats, and refined carbohydrates are not good and can lead to degenerative diseases.   Unfortunately, many Americans’ diets are greatly lacking in the vegetable department.  Personally, I think a good goal is to eat 2-3 cups of cooked, non-starchy vegetables each day.

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A Good Place to Start

If you follow my updates and news articles I post (or are one of my patients), you will notice that although I am not a vegetarian, I promote vegetables.  A lot.  I really do think that if we eat the full spectrum of  variety from mother nature, we will have little desire – and little appetite – to overeat other foods.   Not to mention our body tissues will be exposed to all of the different colors, textures, and flavors that exist naturally, and which many studies suggest ward off disease, promote immunity, and make us look healthy.

I have learned several ways to get more vegetables into my diet.  Although they seem obvious and simple to me now, there was a time when vegetable meant the lettuce and tomato on top of a (fried) chicken sandwich.  With fries.  And a Diet Coke.  Multiple times a week.  My entire diet was beige.  I didn’t even eat ketchup. 

Miso-Tahini Green Beans

Are you looking for a last minute, extremely easy to prepare, gourmet-tasting, and of course, healthy recipe to round off your Thanksgiving spread?

This recipe is from Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen, a cookbook written by some of my favorite teachers, supervisors, and mentors:  Yuan Wang, Warren Sheir, and Mika Ono.

Americans do not consume enough vegetables.  Plain and simple.  Often times when I recommend vegetables to my patients, their first response is:  “I’ll eat more salads.”  For some reason in this country, salads are the go-to health food.  While they do contain healthy vegetables, salads are raw and cold in nature and can be difficult to digest if there is any weakness in the digestive system.

I have found that many of my patients have weakened spleens and stomachs.  According to Chinese Medicine, too many raw and cold foods (salads, smoothies, sushi, etc) are very taxing on the digestive system.  Think about it:  Our body is 98.6 degrees.  If we dump a lot of raw, cold foods into our guts, we must also provide the extra energy needed to warm, break down, and digest them.  With time, over-consumption of these foods can leave the digestive organs tired and sluggish.  Other factors that can weaken the digestive system are:  eating at irregular intervals, eating quickly and on the run, and eating while emotional.