Monthly Archives: September 2020

Soul Food

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I am interrupting my nutritional blogging to highlight some wonderful food for the soul.  It is the story of a kettle that is passed down through generations.  Will Ford tells the story of the kettle.  The kettle story goes back a number of generations and weaves its way from plantation to Lee’s last battle to Appomattox and all the way to Martin Luther King.

The story of the kettle alone is fascinating, but even more fascinating is how a descendant of the slave owner comes to hear the kettle story.  This story is so miraculous that it cries out that God’s hand has been on the kettle throughout its existence.  

I first heard about this story on an Eric Metaxix Show podcast.  When you hear the men tell their story, it is obvious that they themselves are amazed at the events that have occurred.   So I bought their book, The Dream King, and  it was even more miraculous to read.

If you want to be encouraged and uplifted……it you want to learn some very interesting history…..if you want, perhaps, to see a glimpse of a future where black and white people are truly brothers and sisters and love each other as they were created to do….then explore this story!

TWO WAYS

Listen to the The Eric Metaxes Show Podcast (encore presentation) – August 27 featuring Will Ford and Matt Lockett

OR

Read THE DREAM KING – how the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. is being fulfilled to heal racism in America by Will Ford and Matt Lockett

And when you are finished being amazed, pass this information on to all your friends.  I think they will thank you.

PROCESSED FOOD

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I talk to my patients a lot about negative aspects of processed food.    But I’m realizing that the term “processed” is not very specific.  It can mean a lot of different things.   So, for my own sake, as well as others, I need to be more specific.

Processed food just means that a plant or animal product has been altered in some way.  Wheat from the field, for example, is not very useful until one grinds it into flour.  Then it can be mixed with some salt and yeast to make some delicious bread.  Therefore, processed food is not necessarily bad. It all depends on the type of processing.  How has it been changed?  What has been added or removed?

In general, I tell patients that if God made something and that something is pretty tasteful on its own then it is best to eat it in is most natural form.

For instance, let’s consider an apple.

A small apple picked fresh from the tree has about 77 calories and 3.6 grams of fiber.  The skin is mostly insoluble fiber and the flesh of the apple is mostly soluble.  This soluble fiber is largely pectin, a fiber that can bind cholesterol…and therefore lower your cholesterol level.  Hence, the “apple a day keeps the doctor away!”

But now consider one cup of unsweetened applesauce.   The apple has been processed by having it’s skin removed.  A cup of applesauce has about 100 calories but only 2.7 grams of fiber.  It is still good for you, just not quite as good for you as the apple.

Now consider one cup of unsweetened apple juice.  It has 116 calories and only 0.25 grams of fiber.  Nothing bad for you …just not as good.  So processing can take a food from “GREAT” TO “GOOD” TO “OKAY” for you to eat.

And in modern America it can even become something bad for you — just look at some juice boxes for kids and how much added sugar is in them!

Of course, you can take the processing even a little further — in the form of an apple pie.  But honestly in the old days it wasn’t the apple pie that make a farmer unhealthy.  They had worked in the field all day.  Plus the if they used a home made crust, cut down the sugar, skipped the ice cream and kept the portion small — well then they did not gain weight.

 So the moral of this blog is you can make your pie and eat it too —provided you are careful with how you process things.