Books

Chicken or turkey broth recipe

December 1, 2014 By Trudy Scott 22 Comments

poultry

I hope you had a fabulous holiday weekend – we did! If you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal the chances are high that you have left-overs and bones so here’s a simple bone broth recipe to make good use of all those turkey bones. If you’re not in the USA and don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, just use this any time you’ve cooked turkey or chicken. Growing up in South Africa, we didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving but roast turkey was almost always on the menu on Christmas Day in South Africa.

Chicken or turkey broth recipe

Bones from 1 whole free-range or organic chicken (or turkey – see note below)
4 quarts filtered water (almost 4 litres – South African spelling!)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 large organic onion, chopped
2 organic carrots, peeled and chopped
3 organic celery sticks, chopped
1 bunch of organic parsley

Place chicken (or turkey) pieces in a large stainless steel pot with water, vinegar and all the vegetables except parsley. Let stand for about 30 minutes to get it all to room temperature. Bring to a boil and remove the scum that rises to the top. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 6-24 hours. The longer you cook it the richer and more flavorful it will be. Add the parsley about 10 minutes before the end of cooking (this provides additional minerals). Strain and put into the fridge until the fat rises to the top and congeals. Skim off this fat (to use or discard) and keep the broth/stock in covered containers in your fridge or freezer.

If you use the bones from a free-range or organic turkey, you may need to double all the above ingredients, depending on the size of the turkey.

I typically start cooking mine early in the morning and leave it simmering until just before bedtime which provides around 15 hours of cooking. You could also use a crock-pot.

You can use the broth/stock as a base for soups, stews and to cook grains. It will add a yummy flavor and provide a nutrient-dense source of minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium as well as a wonderful source of gelatin.

Adapted from the Chicken Stock recipe in Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

Sally has just co-authored a new book with Kaayla Daniel and it’s all about broths – Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World. It’s on my list to get!

Coconut-Lemon-Garlic Cauliflower recipe

November 21, 2014 By Trudy Scott 19 Comments

cauliflower-1

Cauliflower is in the Brassicaceae family of vegetables together with broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage. It’s one of my favorite vegetables!

Enjoy this yummy recipe that I adapted slightly from a recipe from Nourishing Meals: Healthy Gluten-Free Recipes for the Whole Family.

by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre, MS, CN. I always seem to do this with recipes 🙂

1 medium head of cauliflower (i.e. a whole one)
1 cup of full-fat coconut milk
½ cup of chicken stock or water
1-2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice (the original recipe called for lime juice which I didn’t have so I used lemon juice and it resulted in a great taste)
6 large garlic cloves, crushed (the original recipe called for 2, I love garlic so added more!)
1 teaspoon powdered ginger spice (the original recipe called for 1-2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger – I didn’t have any on hand but will try it with this next time)
½ teaspoon sea salt
Garnishes: sliced green onions and chopped cilantro

Cut the cauliflower into small pieces and place in a food processor fitted with the “s’ blade. Pulse until it’s coarsely ground. If you don’t have a food processor, just chop it as finely as possible.

In in large pot, heat the coconut milk, chicken stock or water, freshly squeezed lemon juice, crushed garlic cloves, powdered ginger spice or grated fresh ginger and sea salt, over medium heat. Once the mixture is simmering add the cauliflower pieces.

Stir together and simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes or until the cauliflower is cooked to your liking. Garnish with sliced green onions and chopped cilantro. Serve hot.

Yields 4-6 servings.

Some of my favorite foods are coconut, garlic, lemon and ginger, and the combination of these ingredients with the cauliflower is just superb! It heats up nicely the next day and is actually delicious cold too so could serve as a “salad.”

I’m looking forward to trying other recipes in this book written by Tom and his wife Alissa. You may recall Tom’s interview from the Anxiety Summit: toxin exposures promote anxiety. We talked about the detox and health benefits, anti-cancer effects of sulforaphane in broccoli. And in my closing talk, I discussed broccoli sprouts and this study: Sulforaphane treatment of autism spectrum disorder. Well, cauliflower is a great source of sulforaphane too! So eat up and be sure to chew well.

What’s lurking in your food: book review of The Pantry Principle

August 1, 2014 By Trudy Scott 10 Comments

mira-exhibittable — The fun and enlightening quiz Mira did at the Weston A. Price conference

There is so much lurking in our food and The Pantry Principle: How to Read the Label and Understand What’s Really in Your Food does a wonderful job educating us about all the nasty stuff that can make us anxious and sad, affect our digestion, give us ADHD symptoms and so much more.

Mira Dessy is a certified food educator, is known as the Food Ingredient Guru and is a Real Food Advocate. We are colleagues and I was honored to have been asked to do an advance review of her book for inclusion on the book cover. This is what I said:

“Mira Dessy’s book, The Pantry Principle is a real gem! If you eat, this book is a must-read – so you really know what’s in your food. It is a user-friendly, comprehensive, well-researched and eye-opening resource. I look forward to recommending it to all my clients!”

I work with anxious, stressed, overwhelmed women and I do now recommend it to my clients. It’s a perfect companion to my book The Antianxiety Food Solution for taking shopping and eating to the next level.

Initially I wondered how relevant it may be since I recommend real whole food to my clients, rather than packaged foods. I found out very quickly that is it very relevant!

Here is a great example of the relevance even when you are eating real whole foods:

a possible new coating for bananas which will delay the ripening process by up to two weeks
the product is made from chitosan, which is in turn made from shrimp and crab shells.
as Mira says: “this could present serious problems for those with high-level seafood allergies.”

I really do like that it contains the most current information. The banana coating information is from a 2012 report. I also really like that I learned about things I had not heard of before! I’m a nutritionist and I learned new facts!

And Mira keeps us up to date with this ever-changing world via social media and her great blog called Grains and More.

It is also quite provocative. Just wait until you read about castoreum and other surprises you will find in your food! Mira mentions castoreum in this blog post about shellac and candy: shellac is:

“confectioner’s glaze,” “confectioner’s resin,” “candy glaze,” or even simply “natural glaze.”

It’s essentially the insect version of castoreum. Harvested from trees where the female lac bug lays down cocoon-like secretions, it is scraped off the trees (often along with bark and insect parts) and heated until it liquifies. It’s strained and then allowed to cool in thin sheets. This is then reconstituted with denatured alcohol when manufacturers are ready to use it to give foods that shiny coating.

Here is a sampling of what Mira covers in the book:

How to read a nutrition label
Understanding Additives
Artificial colors
Sugar and where it’s lurking
Fake fats
Packaging
A GMO ingredients list and much more

You can see the complete table of contents via the Amazon preview and buy your copy of The Pantry Principle via my Amazon link.

Mira will be exhibiting with me at the upcoming Integrative Medicine for Mental Health conference next month so if you’re at the event come on by and meet her and get a signed copy of the book.

Mira was also one of the guest experts on the recent Anxiety Summit. Her topic was “How Additives in Your Food Can Make You Anxious” and it was a great interview (you can check out the other speakers here.

Please ask questions below. If you have already read this book do share some of your favorite tips in the comments below.

9 Steps to Calm the Anxious Mind: Nourishing Hope Support Club

February 21, 2014 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

The Nourishing Hope Support Club is led by nutritionist Julie Matthews and created to help support families of children with autism and ADHD to understand how to apply food and nutrition choices based on each child’s individual biochemistry. She has extensive experience on how food compounds such as salicylates, oxalates, glutamates, and food proteins affect learning, mood and health.

Once a month, Julie discusses emerging research, shares her clinical experience, answers your questions, and interviews special guests. These monthly talks help parents learn to make the most of food and supplement choices, identify possible pitfalls, and stay on track toward improving the health and learning potential of their child. Each month brings content-specific learning topics about how various special diets (gluten-free, GAPS, Paleo), nutrition concepts, and supplements help children with ADHD, autism, sensory processing disorders, and learning and developmental delays.

I am pleased to announce that, this month, I will be the guest presenter on the Nourishing Hope Support Club with Julie Matthews. I will be speaking on “Food and Mood: 9 Steps to Calm the Anxious Mind.”

Guest Speaker: Trudy Scott, Certified Nutritionist
February 26th, 5:00 pm, PST

There is much recent evidence supporting the powerful food-mood connection and there are some very exciting recent studies that support this for both anxiety disorders, stress and other mood disorders. I use a comprehensive 9 step approach with my clients to help them overcome their anxiety, depression, emotional eating and sugar cravings. It is, of course, customized to their unique biochemistry, and includes:

Real whole traditional food, including quality grass-fed red meat and 4 unique antianxiety food solutions
Why and how to quit sugar with no willpower required and how to control blood sugar swings
The effects of caffeine
The importance of optimal digestion
The bad-mood effects of gluten
How to balance brain chemistry with individual amino acids to improve mood and stop cravings in their tracks
How to correct social anxiety / pyroluria with zinc and vitamin B6
The effects of other nutrients (such as low vitamin D), hormones and medications
Simple lifestyle changes that include sleep, exercise and yoga

In preparation for the call, I shared some of the recent research with Julie:

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the very powerful connection between food and mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. Dr. Felice Jacka, is an Australian researcher who is one of the lead researchers on food and mental health.

In this 2010 study in The American Journal of Psychiatry, lead author Dr. Jacka, found that a “western” diet of processed or fried foods, refined grains, sugary products, and beer was associated with a higher risk of anxiety and depression in women. The “traditional” diet or real whole food diet was associated with a lower risk of anxiety and depression. This real whole food diet did include grass-fed red meat and she believes following the recommended weekly intake of red meat could boost our mental health.

Dr. Felice Jacka is also the lead author in a 2011 PLoS One paper that found that diet quality in adolescents was associated with a lower risk of mental health issues. They found that “improvements in diet quality were mirrored by improvements in mental health over the follow-up period, while deteriorating diet quality was associated with poorer psychological functioning.” The author stated that this “study highlights the importance of diet in adolescence and its potential role in modifying mental health over the life course.”

You can read the rest of the article here on the Nourishing Hope site.

I hope you can join us! I’ve known Julie for years and admire her immensely. She is truly a trailblazer in the world of nutrition for autism, ADHD, and other developmental delays.

Here is her bio: Julie Matthews is a Certified Nutrition Consultant specializing in autism spectrum disorders. She provides dietary guidance backed by scientific research and applied clinical experience. Her award winning book, Nourishing Hope for Autism, has helped people around the world to make food and nutrition choices that aid the health, learning, and behavior of those with autism, ADHD, and other developmental delays. She presents at leading autism conferences in the US and abroad, and is the Nutrition Editor of the Autism File magazine. She is on the advisory boards of the US Autism & Asperger Association and Autism Nutrition Research Center. Julie has a private nutrition practice in San Francisco, California, and supports families and clinicians from around the world. Visit http://NourishingHope.com

To learn more about the Nourishing Hope Support Club and join the call, visit: http://nourishinghope.com/support-club/

The Virgin Diet by JJ Virgin: book review and webinar

February 12, 2014 By Trudy Scott 15 Comments

virgin-diet-book-NYT

Food intolerance is a big factor and something I look at with all my clients. Other than weight gain it can cause a host of other issues ranging from inflammation to aches and pains to fatigue and even anxiety and depression. In fact, over 80% of my anxious clients do better mood-wise on a gluten-free diet.

I’m a little behind the times because JJ Virgin wrote this NY Times bestseller book late in 2012: The Virgin Diet: Drop 7 Foods, Lose 7 Pounds, Just 7 Days (Why Food Intolerance is the Real Cause of Weight Gain).

With her new recipe book coming out I decided it’s time to do a review!

These are the 7 foods JJ wants you to drop: corn, eggs, peanuts, dairy, gluten, soy, and sugar (including artificial sweeteners).

I have to admit I was skeptical about eggs because they are such a wonderful protein source, such a great start to the day and so handy for a snack. I used to eat a lot of eggs until I recently discovered that I have an egg intolerance! I’m hoping it’s going to be a short-term problem and that I can eventually reintroduce them because I LOVE my soft-boiled pastured eggs. [UPDATE 2015: I am now able to eat eggs again!] The message is this: even a healthy food like eggs may be an issue for you.

You eliminate the above 7 foods and see how you do and then add them back and see how they affect you (sugar and artificial sweeteners stay out for good, and possibly gluten too). There are 3 cycles that the book walks you through:

Cycle 1: Elimination
Cycle 2: Reintroduction
Cycle 3: The Virgin Diet for Life

The book goes into a great more detail about the following:

what food intolerances are
insulin resistance – a condition in which the body produces insulin but does not use it effectively leading to weight-gain and blood sugar issues
leptin resistance – leptin is the hormone that signals satiety or fullness and when you have resistance you feel hungrier and have more cravings
zonulin – a protein that is affected by gluten and loosens the tight junctions in the gut contributing to leaky gut and more food intolerances
the dangers of GMOs and soy
the autoimmune connection – and much more

The book has great sections on healthy proteins and fats, quality produce, sugar and artificial sweeteners, exercising, meal planning, eating out and recipes. I’m looking forward to her follow-up book which launches on Feb 18^th – her recipe book The Virgin Diet Cookbook: 150 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Lose Weight and Feel Better Fast

We do have a few differences of opinion. 🙂

I’m not a big fan of coffee and JJ admits that she fights her fellow-nutritionists on this one!
I find that my clients with adrenal issues need to eat more frequently than every 4 to 6 hours
Pea-rice protein is the protein powder recommended and would not be suitable if you need to eat grain free or have issues with peas so adjust accordingly
I’m not terribly fond of the 3-bite rule where you get to splurge on desserts. JJ has a great sense of humor and says “share your dessert with someone who has a faster fork!” But I think you can get to the point where you no longer have a sweet tooth.

I’d also like to add that these 7 food intolerances are obviously not the only factor when it comes to weight-loss resistance – it’s one of many factors, including thyroid health, environmental toxins, dysbiosis, brain chemical imbalances, poor eating choices, stress (this is a big one!), lack of sleep and not exercising enough or incorrectly. JJ is the pro when it comes to exercise and she is a big proponent of restorative sleep. There are also many other foods that could potentially be an issue for you.

I do love that this book has brought the concept of food intolerances to the masses, bringing awareness of something that had not even been considered before. I commend JJ for this and her big mission to help millions of people lose weight and get healthy! So many people have had such incredible results with her program!

PS. In preparation of the new book launch JJ is hosting a webinar on what you need to know about The Virgin Diet. You can sign up here to get the most up-to-date information. Sign up and get to hear her share her words of wisdom.

30-day Heart Tune-up with Dr. Steven Masley

January 30, 2014 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

steven-masley-susanne-bennett — Dr. Steven Masley and Dr. Susanne Bennett

Dr. Masley is celebrating the release of his new book, “The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up, a Breakthrough Plan to Tune Up Your Heart, Energy, Waistline, and Sex Life.”

I received an advance copy and it’s great! I’ve been a fan for awhile! Who couldn’t love a doctor who is also a nutritionist and chef and shares videos of him doing wonderful cooking demos! I first heard Dr. Masley present on “The Sexy Younger You Summit” and then I had the pleasure of meeting him recently at the Mindshare Summit in Florida.

Dr. Masley is a board- and fellow-certified physician and nutritionist, author, speaker, and award-winning patient educator with over twenty-five years of research and clinical experience. He was recently named a Fellow by the American Heart Association.

And now I have brought him and his passion to you via an interview we just did. We discussed so much and he shared so many gems. Here are some of the highlights:

Why a little bit of stress is healthy and how important love and support is
How romance and a cuddle raises oxytocin and lowers cortisol
How we have disease-care and not health-care and why we must focus more on blood sugar than cholesterol
For every woman who dies of breast cancer, 6 women die from heart disease
His 4 tests for assessing risk for heart disease: (the four Fs to fantastic heart health): fitness, fiber, body fat and food/nutrients. His top advice is to be fit (he has a fitness test in his book) and eat 30g of fiber a day!
The carotid IMT/ intimal medial thickness test (this was new to me!) and the advanced lipid profile
How statins don’t help reduce the risk of heart disease in women and some of the side-effects. I was aware of muscle aches and memory loss but did not know that they lower testosterone levels and raise blood sugar
The five new categories of food that will prevent and reverse heart disease: fiber, lean and clean protein, healthy fats, beneficial beverages and fantastic flavors. I love his last category – herbs, garlic, ginger, turmeric! Yummm!
The top two foods that cause heart disease: Refined carbs/sugar/flour (I recently blogged about No Sugar!) and trans fat/partially hydrogenated oils. Not fat, and not cholesterol!

The wonderful thing is that by following these guidelines, your heart will be healthy and you’ll likely feel less anxious! If you are super-sensitive to caffeine, like me and many of my clients, then just use common sense when it comes to Dr. Masley’s suggestions for dark chocolate, coffee and green tea. We did talk about this during the interview.

I really wanted to interview Dr. Masley because heart disease is the number 1 killer of women, and is more deadly than all forms of cancer combined; and because of the link between anxiety and risk of heart disease: a recent study found that people in the highest third of anxiety symptoms had a 33 percent higher stroke risk than those with the lowest levels.

You can listen to my 30-Day Heart Tune-Up interview with Dr. Masley here.

Dr. Masley is offering a 30-Day Heart Tune-Up Gift Package.

The digital package includes:

Know Your Risks – The Tests You Must Have that Your Doctor May Not Be Ordering
Are You Getting What You Need for a Healthy Heart? Nutrient Guide
Join Dr. Masley in His Kitchen & Whip Up his Favorite, Delicious, Heart Healthy Recipe

I signed up and it’s great information. Great gumbo recipe and super seeing him in the kitchen surrounded by all the delicious ingredients!

Of course, be sure to get a copy of his new book “The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up, a Breakthrough Plan to Tune Up Your Heart, Energy, Waistline, and Sex Life.”