Holistic Health Blog
Dr. Cathy Rosenbaum

Roasted Avocado Hummus

Cathy Rosenbaum’s Holistic Health Blog, ,

From Magnolia Journal Issue 18, 2021

Roasted Avocado Hummus

Prep: 10 minutes Roast: 15 minutes

1 medium just-ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, cubed

3 cloves garlic, lightly smashed

3 Tbsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

15 oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 Tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)

1/2 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Crostini or pita chips

  1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place avocado and garlic on a small foil-lined baking pan.  Drizzle with 1&1/2 tsp of EVOO, toss to coat. Roast 15 minutes or until avocado is softened and garlic is roasted.
  2. Combine roasted avocado and garlic, beans, basil, the remaining EVOO, the lemon juice, tahini, and salt in a food processor.  Process until smooth.
  3. Transfer hummus to a bowl. Sprinkle with pepper and, if desired, additional basil leaves.  Serve with  crostini or pita chips.

Makes 1&1/2 cups

 

Delicious Butternut Squash Soup

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Butternut Squash Soup  Serves 4

1 small butternut squash

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

2-3 parsnips – peeled, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

3 garlic cloves – minced

1/2 small onion, diced, sweated in olive oil

2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup coconut milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley or paprika or cinnamon (garnish of choice)

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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Poke squash with a fork in a few places and place on baking sheet.  Roast for 40 minutes – 1 hour until soft.  Set aside to cool. Toss parsnips with 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, spread them on another baking sheet, and roast 20-30 minutes until soft.

Once butternut squash cools, cut open, remove seeds, and scoop out the flesh into the blender.  Add roasted parsnips to the blender. Blend all until smooth.

Heat remaining olive oil in a small saucepan and add diced onions to sweat.  Add garlic.  Sautee garlic 1 minute and remove from heat.  Add onions, garlic, salt, pepper, coconut milk, vegetable broth to blender, and blend together until smooth.  May need to heat up finished soup in the microwave.  Sprinkle parsley or paprika on top as a garnish.  Serve soup with a grilled cheese sandwich or another source of protein.

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This dish is packed with antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin A, and beta-carotene) and fiber to help with cholesterol lowering, immune health, and general health.

Honey – Nature’s Sweetheart

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Honey – Nature’s Sweetheart
DIFFERENT TYPES
·      Raw honey straight from the hive (filtered or unfiltered forms)
·      Regular honey pasteurized, with added sugars
·      Pure honey pasteurized, no added sugar/ingredients
·      Manuka honey from the manuka bush
·      Forest honey (bees feed on tree honeydew instead of flower nectar)
·      Acacia honey (bees feed on flowers of black locust tree)
·      Organic honey (raw or regular)
·      Medical grade honey (topical therapeutic)
CONSTITUENTS
Raw honey contains water, bee pollen (26 amino acids), bee propolis (resin, oil and wax, pollen, amino acids, minerals, sugars, vitamin B, vitamin C and vitamin E, aromatic compounds), antioxidants (flavonoids), enzymes (diastase, invertase, glucose oxidase), minerals (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium zinc), and vitamins (pantothenic acid, niacin, riboflavin).
Raw honey may contain a few more antioxidants and enzymes than pasteurized honey. Pasteurization is necessary to kill any yeast, but may reduce raw honey’s antibacterial action, wound healing benefits, antioxidant value, and anti-inflammatory effects. Don’t microwave raw honey or put it directly in boiling water to dissolve crystals that form over time as this may destroy some of its nutrient value. Organic honey is available as raw or regular, as some manufacturers pasteurize their organic honey.
NUTRITIONAL VALUE
Honey is a carbohydrate that contains 30% glucose and 40% fructose, both of which when broken down by the body may cause spikes in our blood sugar levels. Pure honey has a glycemic index of 58. The type of flowers that bees pollinate to make the honey determine its taste, color, antioxidant and vitamin content. One tablespoonful honey contains 64 calories.
HONEY’S MEDICINAL EFFECTS
UPPER RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS (URIs)
Honey may be a good natural alternative for treating upper respiratory tract infections (Abuelgasim.  BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine August 18, 2020). In this review of 14 studies mostly in children and a few adults with URIs, authors concluded raw honey used to coat the throat was superior to usual care (e.g., dextromethorphan) for improving cough severity, cough frequency, or both.
WOUND HEALING
Honey has a low pH level (acidic) that may kill harmful bacteria in wounds.  As seen in vitro studies, topical therapeutic (medical grade) honey may inhibit bacterial growth due to its high sugar content, acid pH, hydrogen peroxide production within the wound to aid in debridement, and moisture.  Subrahmanyam described a prospective randomized clinical and histological study of burn wound healing in two groups of 25 patients assigned to either topical therapeutic honey or topical silver sulfadiazine.  In the honey treated group, 84% of patients demonstrated epithelialization by day seven, and all of them demonstrated satisfactory wound healing by day twenty one. In the silver sulfadiazine treated group, epithelialization was present by day seven for 72% of patients and by day 21 for 84% of patients.  Regarding histological evidence of wound healing, 80% of patients treated with honey showed wound improvement by day seven compared to 52% of silver sulfadiazine treated patients by day seven. These outcomes continued to improve for both groups up to 21 days of treatment.
Medical grade honey should only be applied with the advice and consent of a physician.  Bacterial susceptibility varies based on length of topical exposure to therapeutic honey.  It is prudent to closely monitor the use of therapeutic honey in patients with all wounds, especially diabetic ulcers due to risk of infection.  Before therapeutic honey is used on an open wound, the wound should be swabbed for bacteria culture and sensitivity to honey determined before treatment if necessary. 
Not all food grade honey is sterile, and Clostridium botulinum can survive in honey, thereby causing a risk of wound botulism when applied to the wound.  Food-grade honey should not be used for wound healing.  Clinicians should consult the honey manufacturer to find out more about the product before applying honey to an open wound.
SAFETY OF HONEY
Using/taking honey by any route of administration is contraindicated in individuals allergic to honey or pollens contained therein, and in children less than one year of age (Abell. Honey for upper respiratory tract infections. Pharmacy Today November 2020). Individuals with diabetes mellitus should monitor oral honey consumption and its effect on their blood sugar levels.
BOTTOM LINE
Honey is one alternative to table sugar or agave for sweetening effects, nutritional value, and potential medicinal use. Please consult with your physician for an accurate diagnosis and direction on how best to use honey for any medicinal purposes.
References
Lusby PE. Honey: a potent agent for wound healing? J WOCN 2002;29:295-300.
Subrahmanyam M. A prospective randomized clinical and histological study of superficial burn wound healing with honey and silver sulfadiazine. Urns 1998;24:157-161.
Cooper R, Wigley P, Burton NF. Susceptibility of multi-resistant strains of Burkholderia cepacia to honey. Lett Appl Microbiol 2000;31:20-24.
Olaitan PB. Honey: a reservoir for microorganisms and an inhibitory agent for microbes. African Health Sci 2007;7:159-165.
Boukraa L. Honey use in burn management: potentials and limitations. Forsch Komplementmed 2010;17:74-80.

Low Carbohydrate Diets

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Low carbohydrate diets (~130 grams carbs/day) are popular when attempting to burn off excess fat and lose weight.  Carbohydrates include pasta, bread, cous-cous, potatoes, rice, cakes, cookies, and sugary foods.  Eliminating all carbohydrates from our diets is not safe, especially is one works out on a regular basis.

Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar).  Excess glucose is stored in the muscle and liver as glycogen or, with the help of insulin, converted into fatty acids, and stored as fat in adipose tissue.

If we don’t eat enough complex carbohydrates we may not take in enough fiber and can become constipated.  Our brains need glucose!  Carbohydrates supply energy.

Check with your primary care physician about an appropriate weight loss strategy for your health needs. If you are trying to lose weight,  exercise portion control and keep eating whole-grain carbs along with more veggies, beans, nuts, and seeds.    As always, be sure to drink at least 2 liters of water daily to stay well hydrated. 

Lavender Sugar Cookies

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Lavender Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
4 cups flour
6 Tbsp lavender

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter, Crisco vegetable oil, sugars, then add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Grind up lavender in a food processor. Mix flour, baking soda, cream of tartar. Add lavender. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture. Drop by small spoonsful onto the cookie sheet, then flatten each cookie with a sugar coated fork. Bake 10-12 minutes. These cookies freeze well. Lavender flowers may be ordered from the Frontier Co-Op catalog.

Lavender is a relaxing herb to help calm us during stressful times or before bedtime.

New Blog Series – Sharing Our Favorite Vegetarian Recipes

Cathy Rosenbaum’s Holistic Health Blog, ,

We are starting a new series on favorite vegetarian recipes with educational fun facts about each, and invite you to share yours.  The first is a wonderful light salad that is certain to be a crowd pleaser.  Let us know what you think. We look forward to hearing from you and wish you Happy Holidays!

Holiday Quinoa Salad  (Kroger) – Serves 4

1 cup tri-colored quinoa, rinsed

2 cups water

¾ tsp salt

¼ cup + 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 & ½ Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 orange, zested

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp black pepper

½ cup sweetened dried cranberries

½ cup salted pistachios

4 cups mixed baby salad greens or arugula

  1. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa, water, and ½ tsp salt. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until water is absorbed 15-20 minutes.
  2. As quinoa cooks, make dressing. In large bowl, whisk oil, lemon juice, mustard, orange zest, cinnamon, pepper, and remaining ¼ tsp salt. Add hot quinoa to bowl with dressing and cranberries.  Toss to coat.  Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate up to 3 days.
  3. Just before serving, toss salad with pistachios and arugula.  Serve at room temperature, refrigerating any leftovers.

NUTRITION AND HEALTH FACTS ABOUT THIS RECIPE

Olive oil is composed of good fatty acids (MUFA: oleic acid, an omega 9); (PUFA’s: linoleic acid, an omega 6; and ALA, an omega 3), among others, most of which have anti-inflammatory properties.  Olive oil also contains small amounts of vitamins E and K1.  MUFA = monounsaturated fatty acid, PUFA = polyunsaturated fatty acid.

Quinoa is a seed that contains protein, carbohydrates, MUFA and PUFA fats.  3.5 ounces of cooked quinoa, considered a protein substitute for rice and pasta, represents only 120 calories, 4.4 grams of protein, and 2 grams of fat (palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid).  Most carbohydrates found in quinoa are composed of starch and insoluble fiber, plus a small amount of sugar (maltose, galactose, ribose).  Micronutrients include manganese, phosphorus, copper, folate, iron, magnesium, and zinc.  Quinoa is a source of flavonoid antioxidants.  Quinoa is a complete protein with all nine essential amino acids.  It is best to soak quinoa before cooking it to reduce the small amount of any undesirable plant compounds naturally contained in the seeds.

Arugula is a cruciferous leafy green vegetable that has a peppery taste along with high levels of polyphenol antioxidants, 22 mg vitamin K1, 32 mg calcium, plus a small amount of vitamin C (antioxidant) per cup.  Each cup provides 0.5 grams of protein and 0.13 grams of fat.  Cruciferous veggies like arugula are a good source of glucosinolates that may also contribute to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.