With all the superfood talk we have today, artichokes should be right there in the top 10 list. Artichokes are one of the most abundant sources of nutrition, filled with phytochemicals such as lutein and isothiocyanates; vitamins such as A, E, and K; amino acids; and enzymes. They are B12-enhancing stars, wonderful for bringing balance to the gut.
Artichokes are also dense with minerals such as silica, which is one of the foundational minerals of our bodies that’s critical for our existence. Artichokes’ magnesium content gets attention, and rightfully so. There’s a bigger picture to what gives artichokes their sedative qualities, though: In addition to magnesium, artichokes contain sedation phytochemicals that calm all body systems, as well as a compilation of calming minerals. This mineral denseness corresponds with the dense organs and glands (such as the liver, spleen, pancreas, brain, adrenals, and thyroid) that artichokes nourish. Deep within these organs, we have foundational nutrient reserves, and artichokes are one of those foods that replenish our reserves to promote longevity.
Artichokes are incredible for the pancreas, making them an ideal food for people with diabetes, hypoglycemia, and other blood sugar imbalances. They are also one of the best foods for reducing kidney stones and gallstones, as well as calcifications and scar tissue inside the body. Artichokes are remarkable for protecting the body from the radiation of X-rays, cancer treatments, dental treatment, and common exposure.
Artichokes are meant to be taken seriously in our lives, and should be considered medicine—a medicine that tastes earthy, sweet, and delicious. Many people don’t bother with fresh artichokes, because they find their appearance off-putting and don’t know how to deal with them. Once you learn the art of preparing and cooking an artichoke, though, you’ll be bringing an amazing nutritional dish into your life.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing artichokes into your life:
Diabetes, hypoglycemia, kidney stones, gallstones, calcifications, internal scar tissue, shingles, osteomyelitis, thyroid disease, insomnia, carpal tunnel syndrome, bone fractures, cirrhosis of the liver, endocrine system disorders, fatty liver, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, interstitial cystitis, liver cancer, Lyme disease, optic nerve conditions, pancreatic cancer, stomach ulcers, systemic lupus, low reproductive system battery, mystery infertility, Achilles tendon injury, blood cell cancers such as multiple myeloma
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing artichokes into your life:
Blood sugar imbalances, food allergies, canker sores, rib pain, sleep disturbances, abnormal Pap smear results (i.e., abnormal cervical cells), food sensitivities, urinary urgency, bone density issues, bone loss, brittle nails, dysfunctional liver, electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), emotional eating, inflamed colon, liver congestion, nerve pain, stomach pain, mineral deficiencies, enlarged spleen
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
For anyone who is dealing with heart-related emotions—those who are downhearted, brokenhearted, ill-hearted, or coldhearted—artichokes are critical. Eaten on a regular basis, artichokes have the power to open up the heart chakra, and to ignite healing through this sacred channel.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
Sometimes we put up armor in order to protect ourselves. Each experience of being hurt or taken advantage of adds another layer between the core of who we are and the outside world. It’s a necessary act that we learn from nature—a survival tactic. Just like the artichoke, though, if you take the time to peel back our armor, you’ll find that we all have soft, sustaining hearts underneath. Artichokes teach us that while connection doesn’t always come easily—sometimes it takes work to peel back the spikes—it is worth the work to get to the tender, true, and loving centers of ourselves and each other.
TIPS
STEAMED ARTICHOKES WITH
LEMON-HONEY DIPPING SAUCE
Makes 2 to 4 servings
Preparing artichokes can seem daunting. All it really requires is hot water and some patience. When steamed until tender, artichokes are just waiting for you to pull them apart and dunk them into a luscious sauce of honey, olive oil, and sage.
4 artichokes
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup honey
¼ cup lemon juice
3 sage leaves
Prepare the artichokes by cutting off the top quarter of each and removing the stem. Using scissors, cut the remaining tips off of each of the leaves. Fill a large pot with 3 inches of water. Place the artichokes in a steamer basket inside the pot. Steam the artichokes for 30 to 45 minutes, until the leaves are tender and easily removed.
To make the dipping sauce, combine all the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir continuously until the sauce begins to thicken slightly, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately alongside the cooked artichokes.
Throughout history, people have been searching for the fountain of youth. Far and wide they’ve traveled, seeking that magical spring flowing from the ground that will preserve good health. This source of youth is no myth, and it does come from the earth . . . it just happens to be readily available at the grocery store, too. That anti-aging wonder is asparagus.
When were you at your strongest? When could you run effortlessly, swim in the ocean without tiring? Was it 10, 20, 30 years ago, or more? Maybe it was yesterday, or this morning. Connect with your best moment, whenever it was, that time when you felt your full life force coursing through you. That’s the same power that a spear of asparagus contains in its first few weeks aboveground. If you think about it, every piece of asparagus that we eat was once on its way to becoming a small tree. While every vegetable has its value, most of them can’t claim that same hidden potential. When we eat young asparagus shoots, though, their propulsive energy is transferred to us. Not only does that energy keep us young, it helps with recovery and prevention of neurological disorders and symptoms.
Asparagus contains phytochemical compounds such as chlorophyll and lutein that act as critical organ cleansers. They get deep into organs such as the liver, spleen, pancreas, and kidneys, scrubbing out the toxins they find there. Chlorophyll bonded to amino acids such as glutamine, threonine, and serine provides an avenue for heavy metal detox.
What’s more, some of the phytochemicals found in asparagus are toxin inhibitors (a fact as yet unknown to science). This means that once toxins such as DDT, other pesticides, and heavy metals have been driven out of the organs, these specialized phytochemicals stay behind and repel new toxins from taking up residence there. This toxin inhibition makes asparagus an amazing tool for battling virtually every variety of cancer.
When we’re under immense stress, we tend to lose B vitamins very rapidly. Asparagus, which is high in very easily absorbable B vitamins, helps us reestablish our proper levels of these key nutrients. Also high in silica and trace minerals such as iron, zinc, molybdenum, chromium, phosphorus, magnesium, and selenium, asparagus is one of the most adrenal-supporting foods in existence and excellent for bringing you back to life when your adrenal glands have been pushed to the max. And we can’t talk about asparagus without mentioning how valuable it is at alkalizing the body by flushing out unproductive acids. We live in a very acidic environment, and if we want to remain free from disease, we must constantly work to keep ourselves alkaline with help from trusted friends like asparagus.
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing asparagus into your life:
Multiple sclerosis (MS), sepsis, Parkinson’s disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), bladder cancer, breast cancer, bone cancer, transient ischemic attack (TIA), gout, kidney stones, lung cancer, liver cancer, migraines, vertigo, Ménière’s disease, neuropathy, diabetes, hypoglycemia, adrenal fatigue, shingles, Lyme disease, anxiety, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/mononucleosis, osteomyelitis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves’ disease, thyroid cancer, low reproductive system battery, infertility, sleep apnea, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), acne, bursitis, celiac disease, connective tissue damage, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), heavy metal toxicity, herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2), hiatal hernia, fibroids, anemia
SYMPTOMS
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing asparagus into your life:
Twitches, spasms, tingles and numbness, ringing or buzzing in the ears, slurred speech, body odor, fatigue, hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, pins and needles, neuralgia, weight gain, weight loss, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms, lack of motivation, listlessness, loss of libido, loss of energy, abdominal pain, menopause symptoms, urinary urgency, back pain, joint pain, neck pain, rib pain, adhesions, abdominal distension, canker sores, chronic loose stools, constipation, enlarged spleen, ovarian cysts, leg cramps, muscle spasms, muscle stiffness, inflammation
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
Asparagus is a very helpful food if you struggle with shyness, self-consciousness, concern over what others think of you, fear of breaking out of your shell and exposing yourself, or dread of venturing out in public. If you truly need help in these areas (as opposed to if you’re just a natural introvert who’s comfortable with who you are, despite others’ misguided opinions that you should act more like an extrovert), asparagus will come to your aid and give you the confidence to rise up and claim your place in the world.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
When we harvest asparagus, it’s really just a sprout on its way to becoming a much larger plant. If we were to let asparagus fern out and go to seed, though, it would become woody and inedible. Over time, humans have learned to recognize when a spear of asparagus is at its peak for consumption. It’s a lesson that transfers to our own lives. Sometimes people push circumstances too far, aiming for more and more growth, trying to see something through to the bitter end. We don’t always have to let a full cycle play out. We can learn to recognize when a project, meeting, or conversation has reached its best moment, and to gracefully end it at that point, harnessing the power of that peak time for the best ultimate outcome.
ASPARAGUS SOUP
Makes 2 to 4 servings
This creamy soup is perfect for those spring nights that still have a bit of chill in the air and yet give you hope of all the renewal the season has to offer. And when fresh asparagus is unavailable, it’s the perfect comfort food to make with frozen asparagus instead. Either way, it’s a hit that’s sure to win fans from the moment they smell it cooking on the stove.
5 cups chopped asparagus
½ yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup almonds
Black pepper to taste
Place the asparagus, yellow onion, and garlic in a saucepan. Add 2 cups of water; cover and bring to a simmer. Steam the asparagus for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Remove from heat. Drain off any excess water and transfer the mixture to a blender*. Add all the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Allow steam to escape the top of the blender as you go.
*You may also use an immersion blender, if desired. Leave the asparagus in the pan and add all the remaining ingredients before blending.
Celery is one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory foods, because it starves unproductive bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, and viruses that are present in the body and flushes their toxins and debris out of the intestinal tract and liver. Pathogens like these are so often the underlying cause of inflammation—in their absence, your body is much better able to handle whatever life throws your way. At the same time, celery helps good bacteria thrive.
Consuming celery is the most powerful way to alkalize the gut. That’s in part because celery (which is technically an herb, not a vegetable) is high in bioactive sodium. It also contains cofactor micro trace mineral salts as yet undiscovered in research. These are varieties of sodium and other trace minerals (more than 60 of them) that are present in celery and work symbiotically and systematically with each other and with celery’s regular sodium to raise your body’s pH and rid toxic acids from every crevice of your body, including your gut. This process is ideal to cleanse and repair intestinal linings.
At the same time, celery offers enzymes and coenzymes, and it raises hydrochloric acid in the stomach so that food digests with ease and doesn’t putrefy. This helps prevent a multitude of gastrointestinal disorders. Adding celery juice to your diet is the best way to resolve ammonia permeability, an unrecognized condition in which ammonia gas seeps through the intestinal lining and causes health issues such as dental rot and brain fog. (You can read more on ammonia permeability and the misunderstood leaky gut syndrome in my first book.)
While celery may seem to some like a bland, boring food, it is anything but. In addition to the above, celery improves kidney function, helps restore the adrenals, and can even bring ease to one’s mind and thought patterns, with its mineral salts feeding electrical impulse activity and supporting neuron function, which is key if you suffer with ADHD, brain fog, or memory loss. When it comes to celery, think electrolytes. It hydrates on a deep cellular level, lessening your chances of suffering from migraines. Celery is ideal to address each of the Unforgiving Four factors, plus it offers stress assistance and also repairs your DNA. I could go on and on about the benefits of celery juice for all manner of ills. It is one of the greatest healing tonics of all time.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing celery into your life:
Acne, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, eczema, psoriasis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), leaky gut, infertility, Lyme disease, migraines, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), thyroid diseases and disorders, low reproductive system battery, diabetes, hypoglycemia, adrenal fatigue, anxiety, sepsis, urinary tract infections (UTIs), kidney stones, kidney disease, pancreatic cancer, pancreatitis, fatty liver, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, lupus, Sjögren’s syndrome, Addison’s disease, rosacea, lipoma, bladder cancer, interstitial cystitis, Crohn’s disease, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), thrush, hyperglycemia, hypertension, depression, apnea, thyroid cancer, bacterial vaginosis, edema, injuries, parasites, yeast infections, insomnia, mold exposure, bacterial infections, viral infections, ammonia permeability
SYMPTOMS
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing celery into your life:
Intestinal spasms; cysts; low hydrochloric acid; sluggish liver; low cortisol; high cortisol; brain fog; food allergies; acidosis; hypothyroid; hyperthyroid; blurry eyes; joint pain; headaches; bloating; gas; abdominal pressure; abdominal distension; chronic dehydration; eye dryness; frozen shoulder; acid reflux; inflamed gallbladder, stomach, small intestine, and/or colon; rashes; nausea; white film on tongue; Candida overgrowth; anxiousness; memory loss; high blood pressure; food sensitivities; swelling; inflammation; muscle spasms; leg cramps; fatigue; mineral deficiencies; brain inflammation; sleep disturbances
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
We tend to hold a lot of fear in our guts. Nervousness causes those sensations we know as tummy flips or butterflies in the stomach, and anxiety can run deep through the nervous system, putting our guts in knots. Celery restores the entire digestive system. Use it for its calming effects when you are feeling frightened, panicky, shocked, fretful, nervous, threatened, unsure, afraid, or defensive.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
All too often, we make life more complicated than it needs to be—or else we oversimplify what’s truly a complex issue. This push-and-pull happens in all areas of life, especially health. In one approach, people overthink health problems and throw all kinds of potential solutions at them. In the other approach, people take a health challenge that’s actually a delicate interplay of many factors and try to make it seem like it’s just a simple case of the body going haywire out of the blue.
For true healing to occur, we have to embrace a balance of the simple and the complex—and celery teaches us this. Drinking celery juice is the simplest of measures, so simple that people often write it off as too easy to make a difference in how they feel. They figure that adding several other ingredients to their green juice will add that many more nutrients. While green-juice blends can be very healing (see the recipe on the next page, for example), there is nothing that equals the simple power of pure celery juice. It is as healing, transformational, and life-changing as it gets—and that’s due to its complex nutritional makeup, which needs to be left undisturbed to work its magic. It’s an important reminder for other areas of life. Where else do we need to have an intricate understanding of a situation to conclude that the simplest approach is the best?
EASY GREEN JUICE
Makes 1 to 2 servings
This green juice is clean and sweet, making it an easy way to get in an extra dose of greens. It’s the perfect way to start off any morning, and you may be surprised that the kids in your life will love it, too.
1 head of celery, stalks separated
1 large apple, sliced
1 lemon
½ bunch parsley or cilantro
4 sprigs fresh mint
Run all the ingredients through a high-speed juicer. Pour into a tall glass and enjoy immediately.
Foods such as cabbage, collard greens, broccoli, broccoli rabe, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, arugula, and mustard greens belong to the cruciferous family. Cruciferous vegetables are like the most charismatic of people—those individuals who have sparkling personalities and who also bring out the best in their companions. That’s because in addition to the amazing properties of crucifers you’ll read about below, they also have the undiscovered miracle ability to ignite hidden cleansing and healing abilities in other foods when eaten in certain combinations. (See “Tips” for details.)
This group of foods has gotten negative attention lately due to misinformation. If you’ve heard that these foods are “goitrogenic” and therefore bad for the thyroid, rest assured—this couldn’t be further from the truth. (For more on this, see the chapter “Harmful Health Fads and Trends.”) Cruciferous vegetables are a thyroid’s best friend—they pull out radiation from the thyroid that’s gotten there from dental and medical exposure. They also protect against the viral explosion that’s behind so much of thyroid disease.
Crucifers help stave off a variety of cancers, including breast cancer, reproductive cancers (such as ovarian, uterine, and cervical), brain cancer, intestinal cancers, and lung cancer. They’re especially good for lung health; because of their sulfur-rich nature, every single vegetable in this family restores and stimulates the growth of lung tissue. Sulfur is one of the only minerals that branches out into other forms of itself—a chemical process that science has discovered at a surface level and has yet to tap into in its full meaning. Cruciferous vegetables contain two types of sulfur, one in macromineral form and the other as an accompanying micro-sulfur trace mineral. Together they permeate lung tissue to help stimulate growth, regeneration, and healing, and they also restore and recover lung scar tissue. Crucifers are also rich in vitamins such as B vitamins and A, C, E, and K.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the individual crucifers:
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing cruciferous vegetables into your life:
Hepatitis C, cirrhosis of the liver, connective tissue damage, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves’ disease, nutrient absorption issues, nodules on bones and glands, breast cancer, reproductive cancers (such as ovarian, uterine, and cervical), brain cancer, intestinal cancers, lung cancer, adrenal fatigue, macular degeneration, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, mold exposure, hypertension, depression, herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2), HHV-6, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), low reproductive system battery, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), diabetes, hypoglycemia, migraines, acne, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, eczema, psoriasis, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/mononucleosis, shingles, urinary tract infections (UTIs), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
SYMPTOMS
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing cruciferous vegetables into your life:
Weight gain, aches and pains, scar tissue in the liver, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms, food allergies, joint inflammation, joint pain, knee pain, scar tissue in the lungs, hypothyroid, sluggish liver, liver congestion, hyperthyroid, histamine reactions, hot flashes, hives, inflammation, menopause symptoms, leg cramps, loss of smell, nerve inflammation, shortness of breath, snoring, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, tingles and numbness, ringing or buzzing in the ears, heart palpitations
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
Cruciferous veggies are great at supporting anyone who is mired in confusion. If you know someone who seems baffled, bewildered, befuddled, or confounded, sit down with her or him over a salad of kale and red cabbage, some cauliflower soup, or a side dish of broccoli or brussels sprouts. Even if all you have time to do is drop off one of these ingredients at your friend’s house, it will make a difference in her or his emotional state.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
Have you ever lovingly taken care of someone, looked out for her or his needs, provided nurturing, given everything you had and more, supported and believed in and protected that someone, only to be betrayed in the end? Have you ever felt stranded and alone, with the very person you once coddled now spreading false rumors about you?
If so, you’ve got a friend in the cruciferous family. These vegetables have recently been disgraced and shunned on the false premise that they harm the thyroid, when in fact, it’s just the opposite. They’ve been supporting the thyroid all along. For decades to come, misinformation will cause people to turn against the food source that would most help them—until someday, the misguided theory of goitrogenic foods is finally proven wrong.
Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and all their cousins teach us to make room for patience and thankfulness in our lives, for ourselves and others. If you’ve been the one whom others have turned on, sustain yourself with the knowledge that you are not alone, and that adversity does not diminish your truth. We must remember also to have respect for others who have devoted time, energy, love, and guidance to our lives, even if we didn’t see their efforts, honor them, or if we quickly forgot what they did for us. Just as the cruciferous family has been looking out for us, keeping us safe by protecting us from illness, hold a candle in your life for those who have worked hard for you.
TIPS
Makes 2 servings
The best thing about this salad is that it just keeps getting better as it sits in the fridge and the flavors combine. Make an extra-large batch, and you’ll have an awesome lunch waiting for you for up to two days afterward. The trick to kale salad is to roll up your sleeves and massage the kale until it is really tender. It will be well worth the effort when you take your first bite!
¼ cup raw tahini
¼ jalapeño, seeds removed
¼ cup lime juice
1 garlic clove
½ cup cilantro leaves
2 dates, pitted
2 cups peeled cubed zucchini
2 heads of curly kale, chopped
1 cup shredded red cabbage
3 scallions, chopped
Sesame seeds (optional)
For the dressing, blend the first 7 ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add water only if needed for a smoother consistency. Massage the mixture thoroughly into the kale leaves until the kale is well softened. Top with the red cabbage, scallions, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds, if desired.
So many people go through life with chronic dehydration, with no idea of the negative effect it’s having on their health. Cucumbers are the perfect antidote. They have a fountain-of-youth effect, hydrating us at the deepest cellular level possible. Plus, cucumbers’ cooling effect makes them excellent at rejuvenation and especially effective at cooling a hot, stagnant liver. When eaten on a daily basis, cucumbers can reverse liver damage, dialing back 10 to 15 years of toxin exposure (including from heavy metals and pesticides such as DDT) and poor diet. It makes this vegetable (really, a fruit) a particular ally in reducing bloat.
Fresh cucumber juice is the best rejuvenation tonic in the world. It contains electrolyte compounds specifically geared toward nourishing and cooling down overused adrenal glands and kidneys that are struggling with their task of filtering out toxic debris and getting overheated from toxic uric acid. If you have kidney disease, are on dialysis, or you’re missing a kidney, drinking cucumber juice every day can be extremely beneficial. Cucumbers’ cooling effect on the glands and organs also makes them wonderful fever reducers for both children and adults. Juicing cucumbers unleashes their magical anti-fever compounds and agents that help calm a fever like water on a fire.
Cucumbers’ traces of the amino acids glycine and glutamine, combined with their extreme and highly active content of enzymes and coenzymes, plus their abundance of more than 50 trace minerals, make them an excellent delivery system for neurotransmitter chemicals. This is great news if you’re dealing with anxiety or other neurological conditions. Cucumbers provide other critical nutrition, too, such as chlorophyll in their skins that’s bonded to B vitamins and vitamins A and C. And cucumbers support digestion; they contain undiscovered coenzymes that will one day be called talafinns. Alongside enzymes that have been discovered by medical research (such as erepsin), talafinns help the body’s protein digestion process so you can get the most out of everything you eat.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing cucumbers into your life:
Kidney disease, kidney failure, missing kidney, adrenal fatigue, anxiety, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/mononucleosis, diabetes, hypoglycemia, migraines, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), eczema, psoriasis, transient ischemic attack (TIA), mystery infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), low reproductive system battery, colds, influenza, cytomegalovirus (CMV), HHV-6, shingles, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), dysautonomia, sepsis, yeast infections, E. coli infection, Streptococcus infection, sunburn
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing cucumbers into your life:
Fever, dandruff, bloating, gastric spasms, stagnant liver, dehydration, headaches, dry and/or itchy skin, hot flashes, weight gain, menopause symptoms, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms, anxiousness, neuralgia (including trigeminal neuralgia), food sensitivities, inflammation, blood toxicity, acidosis, back pain, all neurological symptoms (including tingles, numbness, spasms, twitches, nerve pain, and tightness of the chest), low hydrochloric acid
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
There’s a reason we use the expression “cool as a cucumber.” If you or a loved one are dealing with an anger issue, bring cucumbers into the diet. Offer cucumber slices to anyone who you know can be easily infuriated, disgruntled, crabby, cranky, irritated, heated, or downright hostile.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
Because they’re green and we eat them in salads, we often think of cucumbers as a vegetable. When we open one up, though, we remember that all those little seeds mean a cucumber is truly a fruit. It’s a powerful reminder that outside appearances and the boxes other people put us into don’t make up the full truth of who we are. Very often we, too, have a talent, quality, or gift that someone couldn’t guess just by looking at us. Cucumbers teach us to look deep inside ourselves and each other for the miracles we all contain.
TIPS
Makes 2 servings
This clean, cool noodle bowl will leave you feeling light and refreshed. The Asian-inspired flavors of lime and sesame are tossed with cucumber, carrot, and cashews in a beautiful mix of color and crunch. This nice, mild dish can easily be made spicier by adding extra red pepper flakes at the very end to find your perfect flavor. You’ll end up with a bowl that is just as beautiful as it is delicious.
4 cucumbers
2 large carrots
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
Lime juice (from about 2 limes)
Red pepper flakes (optional)
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ cup chopped basil
½ cup chopped cashews
Cut the cucumbers and carrots into thin strips using a julienne peeler, knife, or spiralizer. In a large bowl, toss the cucumber and carrot “noodles” with sesame oil, sesame seeds, lime juice, and red pepper flakes, if using. Just prior to serving, top the mixture with chopped cilantro, basil, and cashews. Enjoy!
When we hear the advice, “Eat your veggies,” we often think of classic dinnertime side dishes like carrots, broccoli, peas, and green beans. Leafy greens, on the other hand, are often written off as boring and lesser—the base of a salad in which all the other ingredients are much more interesting. Really, leafy greens such as lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, mâche, and watercress deserve accolades for the power they hold to restore your health. (Numerous other leafy greens have made it into this book too: for kale, collard greens, mustard greens, and arugula, see “Cruciferous Vegetables”; for radish greens, see “Radishes”; and for dandelion greens, parsley, and cilantro, see their individual write-ups.) Far from blasé, salad greens are vegetable royalty.
One common misunderstanding is that eaten raw, these greens, labeled “roughage” are difficult to digest. On the contrary, leafy greens are practically predigested and therefore require very little work on the part of your digestive system. What does occur is that these leaves scrub and massage the linings of your stomach, small intestine, and colon, loosening old, trapped yeast, mold, and other types of fungus, along with debris and pockets of waste matter, so they can be carried out, making elimination very productive. Discomfort from eating raw salads is usually due to sensitive nerves or inflammation in the intestinal tract, or the simple sensation of fiber doing its job to “sweep out the chimney.” If this describes you, add butter leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, and/or spinach to your daily diet in small amounts.
Over time, leafy greens are wonderful healers of intestinal disorders. They help create a more alkaline stomach composition by raising beneficial hydrochloric acid levels, which in turn kills off the unproductive bacteria that create the bad acids responsible for GERD and other forms of acid reflux. One of the specific types of bacteria that leafy greens reduce is H. pylori, which is often responsible for stomach ulcers.
Leafy greens create true alkalinity in the body systems, especially the lymphatic, which can become the most acidic system due to a barrage of chemicals, acids, plastics, pesticides, heavy metals, and pathogens constantly entering the lymphatic passages. Medical communities are unaware that alkalinity of the blood, organs, endocrine system, reproductive system, and central nervous system hinges completely on the lymphatic system being alkaline. Leafy greens help to expel, purge, and drain the lymphatic system of these toxins so that it can remain alkaline. This is where these greens really have a critical role in our healing process.
Leafy greens also hold precious and vital mineral salts, partially composed of a group of cofactors associated with sodium, such as trace bioavailable iodine, chromium, sulfur, magnesium, calcium, potassium, silica, manganese, and molybdenum, which are critical for neurotransmitter and neuron support, and are also the fundamental basis of building electrolytes. On top of which, leafy greens are high in enzymes, vitamin A, B vitamins such as folic acid, healing alkaloids (plant compounds that fight disease), micronutrients for restoring the endocrine system, and forms of chlorophyll and carotenes that are specific to these vegetables. This unique group of nutrients works together to feed all organs and body systems, making leafy greens a foundation of our health. Leafy greens are antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-mold—and great for staving off every one of the Unforgiving Four. While they don’t have carbohydrates to sustain our energy, they cover the other side of the equation necessary to keep us alive, and to stave off disease and chronic illness.
If you worry about getting enough protein, fret no more. Leafy greens have the most bioavailable and assimilable proteins you can find, readily available for your body to take up. Leafy greens help reverse all protein-related diseases, such as gout, kidney disease, kidney stones and gallstones, gallbladder disease, hepatitis C, lymphedema, connective tissue damage, osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and heart disease, which all arise from protein sources that are not breaking down or assimilating, and are instead causing deterioration of the body.
The next time you hear someone refer to a salad as “rabbit food,” remember what you’ve just read. Leafy greens are anything but a joke.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing leafy greens into your life:
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), thyroid disease, celiac disease, diverticulitis, gallbladder disease, gallstones, gout, kidney disease, anemia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), kidney stones, peptic ulcers, heart disease, H. pylori infection, hepatitis C, osteoporosis, osteopenia, osteoarthritis, low reproductive system battery, lymphedema, dyspepsia, skin disorders (including eczema and psoriasis), nodules on bones and glands, mold exposure, endocrine disorders, adrenal fatigue, insomnia, acne, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, infertility, Lyme disease, thyroid cancer, migraines, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2), pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), diabetes, hypoglycemia, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/mononucleosis, shingles
SYMPTOMS
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing leafy greens into your life:
Heartburn, acidosis, iron deficiency, constipation, mineral deficiencies, trace mineral deficiencies, swelling, fluid retention, inflamed liver, weakened kidneys, low hydrochloric acid, stomach upset, muscle cramps, food allergies, spasms, bone loss, receding gums, stagnant liver, joint pain, inflammation, weight gain, menopause symptoms, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms, hormonal imbalances, acid reflux, dry skin, scaly skin, calcifications, low platelet count, abdominal cramping, arrhythmia, heart palpitations, balance issues, blisters, body aches, brain fog, cavities, chest tightness, dandruff, dizziness, earwax buildup, enamel loss, jaw pain, knee pain
When your body is filled with toxins on a physical level, it can lead to toxic buildup on an emotional level. So many people feel stuck, stagnant, confined, lost, or otherwise held back in life. Leafy greens are a way forward. Just as they flush out physical debris, they loosen stored-up toxic emotions and guide them out of your life. Adding more leafy greens to your diet can be an incredibly freeing experience, helping you to feel clean and clear again—your rightful state of being.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
How many times have you missed a window of opportunity? Time can slip by so fast, and before we know it, the birthday wishes we’re sending a friend are belated, or we’re getting to the beach when the tide is too high to enjoy it. Leafy greens teach us to seize the moment. Their short shelf life means that the earlier we eat them after they’re picked, the better they are for our health. Getting in tune with this awakens us to the other fleeting moments of life—the other opportunities to nourish ourselves on every level if only we have the presence of mind to recognize what’s in front of us.
LEAFY GREEN SALAD
WITH LEMON DRESSING
Makes 2 to 4 servings
This simple salad is full of flavor and perfect for lunch at work. Just keep the dressing separate until right before eating, and you can enjoy a delicious, vibrant lunch right at your desk. Make sure to look for raw pistachios if you can. They’re tender and absolutely perfect alongside the sweetness of the strawberry and the brightness of the lemon.
½ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons raw honey
8 cups leafy greens
2 cups sliced strawberries
½ cup unsalted raw pistachios
For the dressing, blend the lemon juice, olive oil, and honey until smooth. Toss the leafy greens with the dressing in a large bowl until the greens are evenly coated. Divide the salad into individual bowls. Top with the strawberries and pistachios.
Leeks, chives, ramps, scallions, red onions, yellow onions, white onions, shallots, and any other type of allium you enjoy are nature’s antibiotics. Unfortunately, people don’t often eat a high volume of onions—maybe just a wedge in soup once a month, or a slice once a week on top of salad. To truly benefit from onions’ antibacterial qualities, we have to make them more central to our lives.
Some people complain of digestive distress when they eat onions. Contrary to popular belief, though, onions are not irritants. Rather, they’re highly medicinal. An upset stomach from onions is an indication that someone has an elevated level of unproductive bacteria in the digestive tract. The onions are working to eliminate that bacteria, and the resulting die-off can translate to temporary discomfort.
One particular condition that many people deal with these days is SIBO, which is largely a mystery to the medical field. What’s usually responsible for this small intestinal bacterial overgrowth are Streptococcus A and B, various strains of E. coli, C. difficile, H. pylori, Staphylococcus, and/or different varieties of fungus (excluding Candida, the natural fungus that we need to survive). Onions are one of the most accomplished foods on the planet for keeping down bacterial overgrowth in the body, making them a star for anyone who deals with SIBO. This quality also enhances the body’s production of B12. If you avoid onions because of a sensitive digestive tract, try adding them back into your diet in very small amounts at first. Over time, their cleansing effect will enable you to tolerate larger servings of them.
We’d all do well to make friends with onions. The sulfur they contain (including the phytochemical allicin, other organosulfides, and sulfur compounds that haven’t yet been uncovered in research) is part of what makes onions nature’s antibiotic. It’s also responsible for ridding the body of radiation exposure, casting out viruses, and drawing out DDT and other pesticides, herbicides, and toxic heavy metals. The sulfur in onions makes them wonderful for alleviating joint pain, degeneration, discomfort, and for repairing tendons and connective tissue. If you have an iron deficiency, onions are also very helpful, because their sulfur content slows iron loss.
High in the trace minerals zinc, manganese, iodine, and selenium, onions help rejuvenate the skin and protect the lungs. If you’d like your skin to look younger, it’s a great idea to eat onions daily. Same goes if you used to be a smoker, and you’d like to repair some of that damage to your lungs. Onions are very helpful for addressing colds and flus that cause bronchitis, and for bacteria-caused pneumonia. They’re also the ultimate anti-inflammatories for the bowels, helping to heal ulcers, eliminate mucus from the stool, and soothe the intestinal tract.
In old folklore, garlic was used to keep ghosts and ghouls away. Onions should share a similar reputation—for keeping pathogenic ghouls away. Making them part of your diet will give you a powerful immune boost and safeguard against the pathogenic world. The next time you go out to buy cough syrup or decongestant, pick up a few different types of onions at the same time—though they may not be in the same aisle, onions truly are medicine.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing onions into your life:
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD); asthma; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); emphysema; breast cancer; bone cancer; diverticulitis; ear infections; influenza; conjunctivitis; sties; hypertension; leukemia; migraines; prostate cancer; ringworm; rosacea; staph infections; small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO); halitosis; Lyme disease; liver disease; fatty liver; herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1); herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2); HHV-6; HHV-7; the undiscovered HHV-10, HHV-11, and HHV-12; urinary tract infections (UTIs); colds; Epstein-Barr virus (EBV); yeast infections; transient ischemic attack (TIA)
SYMPTOMS
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing onions into your life:
Bad breath, heartburn, canker sores, iron deficiency, joint inflammation, tendon inflammation (particularly Achilles inflammation), eye issues, cold hands and feet, scars, snoring, joint pain, joint discomfort, shortness of breath, all neurological symptoms (including tingles, numbness, poor circulation, spasms, twitches, nerve pain, and tightness of the chest), restless leg syndrome, gastritis, body stiffness, body aches and pains, dizziness, dry skin, enlarged spleen, hot flashes, inflammation, jaw pain, knee pain, tremors, weakness, mineral deficiencies
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
When you’re dealing with chronic frustration, anger, and aggravation—whether toward other people, events, or yourself—it’s critical to bring onions into your routine. Onions purge anger from the body, helping to loosen up resentment, fury, vexation, and disappointment so you can be free to live your life.
Onions are wrongly blamed for bad breath. In fact, the opposite is true—onions help alleviate bad breath. What’s really responsible for halitosis is unproductive bacteria in the gut that rises up to the mouth. Because onions are antibacterial, they help combat this problem, so that your breath becomes sweeter-smelling over time. Right after you eat an onion, there may be a lingering scent—this is just the onion’s natural sulfur, and a sign that it’s doing its job. While we focus on different toothpastes, mouthwashes, and breath mints as the answer for halitosis and scorn the onion as the enemy, it’s really our savior.
Have you ever seen this phenomenon take place in your life, where someone who worked hard to alleviate a problem mistakenly got the blame for creating the issue? It happens so often, from a supervisor at work whom employees disrespect even though that supervisor is saving their jobs, to a parent who gets flak from a child for pointing out a mistake on homework, when learning the right answer will be a key to the child’s success that semester. The next time you’re in a situation where you’re quick to point a finger, keep in mind the plight of the onion, and take a moment to analyze every angle.
Onions Stuffed with Mashed Potatoes and Mushrooms
Makes 4 to 6 servings
These beautiful baked onions look like a restaurant-quality dish and are surprisingly easy to make. They look stunning on any dinner table and worthy of any party occasion. If you don’t enjoy mushrooms, feel free to get creative and substitute the sautéed vegetable of your choice.
8 large onions
8 cups diced potatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
8 cups chopped mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 tablespoons pine nuts
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prep the onions by cutting off the top quarter of each. On the opposite end of each onion, cut off the root so that the onion can rest on a flat surface. Do not peel. Place the onions in a large baking dish and add an inch of water. Bake until the onions are cooked through, checking periodically, 45 to 60 minutes. (Onions are done when they are soft and fragrant.) Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Peel the onions, then carefully remove the inner layers using a fork until only 2 layers remain, forming a cup. Reserve the insides of the onions for later use.
Fill a large sauté pan with an inch of water and bring to a boil. Place the potatoes in the pan, cover, and steam for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally and adding more water if needed to prevent sticking. Place the potatoes in a food processor with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and ½ teaspoon of rosemary leaves. Process until the potatoes are smooth. Set aside.
For the mushroom filling, sauté the mushrooms and garlic in 1 teaspoon of olive oil until the mushrooms are tender and juicy, adding water as needed to prevent sticking. Transfer all but 1 cup of the sautéed mushrooms to a food processor with 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, and 2 cups of the reserved onion. Process until the mixture is roughly combined.
Fill the onion cups with alternating layers of mushroom filling and mashed potatoes. Top with sautéed mushrooms and pine nuts. Serve and enjoy!
Was there ever a time, maybe in your childhood, when you got in trouble for someone else’s mischief—when you were judged as guilty by association? Then you understand the plight of the potato. Potatoes have gotten a bad rap for far too long. As victims of the war on foods mistakenly categorized as “disease-producing,” potatoes have been blamed for ills they never caused. Potatoes are wrongly accused of contributing to obesity, diabetes, cancer, Candida overgrowth, and many other conditions, while in truth these miraculous tubers can reverse these illnesses. That’s right! Potatoes are actually good for people with diabetes, because they help stabilize blood sugar.
One common misconception is that potatoes are poisonous because they’re nightshades. Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and other edible nightshades do not aggravate conditions such as arthritis; you can put aside the worry that potatoes are inflammatory. (For more on this, see the chapter “Harmful Health Fads and Trends.”) Truth is, the toxic oil that potatoes are fried in, the cheese sauce ladled on top, and the butter, milk, and cream mashed in are what have the world convinced that potatoes are bad for us. The frying process and the high-fat/high-sugar content of dairy products are the real instigators of insulin resistance and A1C levels that reach the diabetic zone. This combination of fat plus lactose also feeds every type of cancer. Potatoes don’t cause health issues; the other ingredients served with them do.
We should also be careful not to lump potatoes in with the fear of grains and processed foods. If you’re avoiding “white” foods such as white rice, white flour, white sugar, and dairy products (such as milk, cheese, yogurt, and cream), don’t cut out potatoes! After all, a potato in its whole, natural state isn’t white—it’s covered in nutrient-rich red, brown, gold, blue, or purple skin. This skin of the potato is one of the best nutrition sources on the planet—it’s a miracle of amino acids, proteins, and phytochemicals. Only once you cut into a potato might you see a white interior—which doesn’t mean it’s lacking in value. After all, we don’t think of apples, onions, or radishes as white and therefore useless, even though when you cut into them, they’re devoid of color. And a cultivated blueberry is colorless inside (whereas wild blueberries are saturated with color inside and out); this doesn’t mean it shows up on white food lists. Instead, we picture these foods in their whole forms, which is exactly how we need to start thinking of potatoes.
The entire potato, inside and out, is valuable and beneficial for your health: potato plants draw some of the highest concentration of macro and trace minerals from the earth. Potatoes are also high in potassium and rich in vitamin B6, as well as a fantastic source of amino acids, especially lysine in its bioactive form. Lysine is a powerful weapon against cancers, liver disease, inflammation, and the viruses such as Epstein-Barr and shingles that are behind rheumatoid arthritis, joint pain, autoimmune disease, and more.
Potatoes will be your allies if you’re looking to fight any chronic illness—to fend off liver disease, strengthen your kidneys, soothe your nerves and digestive tract, and reverse Crohn’s, colitis, IBS, or peptic ulcers. In addition to being antiviral, they’re antifungal and antibacterial, with nutritional cofactors and coenzymes plus bioactive compounds to keep you healthy and assist you with stress. Further, potatoes are brain food that helps keep you grounded and centered.
As a kid, did you ever do that science project where you stick some toothpicks in a potato, balance it in a cup of water, and watch it sprout on the windowsill? How many other foods can transform and thrive like that, coming to life before your eyes? That’s the power of a potato—a power that’s not to be underestimated—and we witness it firsthand as children. How does it happen that when we’re adults, we’re taught that it’s a weak, empty, ridiculous food, as though we’re supposed to forget the miracle we witnessed way back when? What we should really be saying about potatoes is, “Where would we be without you?” They are that vital to our existence.
Maybe you’ve steered clear of the potato misinformation all these years. If that’s the case, your body thanks you for it—and now you have even more reason to appreciate potatoes. On the other hand, if you’ve been led to believe that potatoes are nothing but starch that will add to your waistline, it’s time to see this root vegetable in a whole new light. If you’re bold enough to overcome the conditioning of popular food culture to appreciate the potato in its unadulterated form, you will give yourself one of the greatest gifts on this earth.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing potatoes into your life:
Heart disease; colon cancer; breast cancer; pancreatic cancer; prostate cancer; liver disease; liver cancer; kidney disease; kidney cancer; hypoglycemia; diabetes; obesity; arthritis (including rheumatoid); peptic ulcers; hemorrhoids; irritable bowel syndrome (IBS); Crohn’s disease; celiac disease; colitis; small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO); all other intestinal conditions; insomnia; depression; Graves’ disease; Hashimoto’s thyroiditis; low reproductive system battery; herpes; endometriosis; mystery infertility; shingles; anxiety; Addison’s disease; all autoimmune diseases and disorders; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); ear infections; eye infections; inflamed uterus, ovaries, and/or fallopian tubes
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing potatoes into your life:
Inflammation; fungus; fatigue; brain fog; difficulty sleeping; dizziness; ringing or buzzing in the ears; diabetic neuropathy; tingles and numbness; malaise; listlessness; hearing loss; hypothyroid; canker sores; restless leg syndrome; food allergies; anxiousness; skin discolorations; frozen shoulder; Candida overgrowth; Bell’s palsy; hyperthyroid; loss of libido; spasms; twitches; cold sores; central nervous system sensitivities; inflamed gallbladder, stomach, small intestine, and/or colon
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
Potatoes offer us foundation and strength when we’re feeling blurred, dizzy, foggy, troubled, or adrift in our lives. If your ego is consuming you, potatoes can tap into the humble confidence within, overriding the toxic emotions that keep you from succeeding in the areas of life that truly matter. Potatoes reorient us, help us to feel pleased and gratified by our experiences, and guide us to make choices not based on ego but out of true grounding and stability.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
Have you ever felt like you had so much to offer, only you remained unseen by those around you? The potato is the ultimate underdog—full of potential, yet perpetually overlooked and trampled on (sometimes literally). Potatoes remind us of all our hidden gifts, our life purposes and talents that get trapped inside, held back, stifled by the earthly traffic known as everyday life.
Potatoes’ humble strength is due in part to how they grow: in clusters, surrounded by other potatoes, like a large extended family. If you come from a small family or had a difficult upbringing, potatoes will energetically pass along the grounding and sense of belonging that comes from being raised with a wide familial support network. If you come from a large, adoring family, potatoes will help you continue your connections. Potatoes come in numbers for a reason: so that, like an army of loved ones, they can fight for you.
When you feel like you’re living by an arbitrary belief system that dictates what you’re supposed to do and who you’re supposed to be, connect with the wisdom and grounding of the potato. Remind yourself that so much of who you are is beneath the surface, that you are supported and witnessed, and that you deserve to unearth your true nature and share it with the world.
Chili-Loaded Baked Potatoes
with Cashew “Sour Cream”
Makes 6 to 8 servings
This chili is the perfect hearty, warming meal for colder months, though it’s great eaten any time of year. While it requires some chopping and a little time, the end result is a nice big batch of chili that will feed a hungry crowd or keep well for meals all week long. Feel free to add more red pepper for some extra spice.
6 potatoes
1 pound black beans or kidney beans, soaked overnight*
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 cups diced onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced mushrooms
2 cups diced red bell pepper
2 teaspoons each cumin, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, and chili powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 avocado, diced
1 jalapeño, minced
¼ cup minced cilantro
For Cashew “Sour Cream”:
1 cup raw cashews
½ lemon, juiced
½ date, peeled, pitted
1 garlic clove
½ cup water
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Pierce the potatoes in several places with a fork. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until tender.
Drain the beans, place in a 4-quart pot, and cover with an inch of water. Bring to a full boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook the beans for 1 hour, or until tender, adding more water as needed to keep the beans covered with liquid. Drain and set aside.
For the chili, heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a large pot; add the onions and garlic. Sauté over high heat until the onions are translucent and fragrant, adding water as needed to prevent sticking. Add the carrots, celery, mushrooms, bell pepper, spices, sea salt, and red pepper flakes, if using. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 15 minutes. Add beans, tomato paste, and tomatoes, stirring until well combined. Cover and continue to simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
For the “sour cream,” blend all the ingredients until smooth, adding ½ cup water slowly (just enough to keep things moving).
Halve the baked potatoes. Serve topped with chili, cashew “sour cream,” avocado, jalapeño, and cilantro.
*You may use 6 cups of salt-free canned beans, if desired.
Radishes are a standout cruciferous vegetable that deserves its own time in the limelight. If the term “food as medicine” applies to anything, it applies to radishes. And what makes radishes unique from other crucifers is that they have two components, defined by different characteristics.
To begin with, there is the root of the radish plant—what we think of as the radish itself. Overall, radishes are an immune-system replenisher. When consumed, the sulfur in radishes repels any type of pathogen and acts as a wormicide to kill off intestinal worms and other parasites. The organosulfides in radishes also keep arteries and veins clean, creating a protective barrier in blood vessels so plaque doesn’t adhere to their linings. Radishes are incredible heart food, excellent for helping to prevent heart disease and other cardiovascular issues in part by increasing good cholesterol and lowering bad cholesterol. Meanwhile, the skin of the radish repels virtually every type of cancer, which makes these little root vegetables a go-to food for helping to prevent the disease. And we can’t forget that radishes are very restorative for the kidney, liver, pancreas, and spleen.
Then there are the radish greens—one of the most healing foods possible, and they’re thrown away. These leaves of the radish are the second most powerful prebiotic there is (next to wild blueberries). Radish greens hold a plethora of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and cancer-fighting alkaloids, plus the greens possess antibacterial and antiviral properties. They repair the colon and other parts of the intestinal tract that have lost the ability to absorb nutrients. Radish greens’ nutrition absorbs into the most dysfunctional digestive tracts, assimilating better than any other food, thanks to their high enzymatic profile; the greens contain various enzymes that are not yet documented by scientific study and that allow for the uptake of nutrients.
For what they offer, radish greens are really a wild food, even when cultivated in your garden bed or a farmer’s field. Radish greens help remove all of the Unforgiving Four from the body. In particular, they cleanse heavy metals to an extreme degree, removing mercury, lead, arsenic, and aluminum from your system—they hold almost as much power as cilantro in this department. Radish greens help stave off every neurological condition, including MS, ALS, and neurological Lyme. By far, radish greens are the most powerful leafy green for someone’s health.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing radishes into your life:
Brain tumors, brain cancer, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), arthritis, breast cancer, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, fibromyalgia, epilepsy, herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2), hypertension, kidney disease, Parkinson’s disease, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), skin cancers, thyroid disease, thyroid cancer, intestinal worms and other parasites, nutrient absorption issues, multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Lyme disease, pneumonia, bronchitis, insomnia, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
SYMPTOMS
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing radishes into your life:
Fatigue, dizziness, brain fog, burning sensations in or on the body, moving pain, joint pain, sleep disturbances, nutrient deficiencies, heartburn, high blood pressure, food sensitivities, inflammation, sensations of humming or vibration in the body, ringing or buzzing in the ears, nervousness, rashes, balance issues, chest tightness, congestion, cough, dark under-eye circles, difficulty breathing, ear pain, frozen shoulder, gum pain, hearing loss, high cortisol, loss of energy, melancholy, neck pain
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
When fail is the key word in how you’re feeling—whether you feel like a failure yourself, or that someone is failing you, or that your body has failed you by developing an illness—radishes are a miracle for lifting you out of the doldrums. Because eating them shows you results so rapidly, radishes get you out of the rut of despair.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
When you grow radishes, you want to harvest them when the greens and the radishes themselves are young and tender. This is when they’re at their peak, offering the most advanced nutrition you can get just about anywhere. Picking radishes at the right moment, before their skin becomes tough, their flesh fibrous, and their greens overgrown, means you have to be in tune with the plants, ready to pluck them out of the ground when your instincts say “go.” It doesn’t have to all be in one shot, though. You can practice succession planting—that is, sowing new seeds every week—so that you have a continuous supply of new chances to get the harvest timing right.
In this way, radishes teach us the value of choosing the right moment for important conversations and decisions. You don’t want to put something off too long and find out that an opportunity to reap a situation’s benefits has passed. At the same time, radishes teach us to persevere. As long as we’re planting new seeds along the way, there’s always another chance to seize the moment.
Radish Salad
Makes 2 servings
This simple salad packs a health punch with the earthy radish and the light cucumber tossed in herbs, olive oil, and lemon juice. Finish it off with a sprinkle of sea salt and what results is a gorgeous dish worthy of any brunch or lunch gathering. Make sure to use the freshest, most beautiful radishes available to make this dish sing—and don’t forget to save the radish greens for use in juice, soup, and other dishes!
2 cups sliced radishes
2 cups sliced cucumbers
2 tablespoons minced tarragon
4 tablespoons minced dill
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ lemon, juiced
⅛ teaspoon sea salt
Place the radish and cucumber slices in a medium bowl and toss with all the remaining ingredients. Allow the salad to chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before eating.
Just like the vegetables they would become if they grew to full size, sprouts and microgreens are packed with nutrients like vitamin A, B vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, disease-reversing compounds, and other phytochemicals. When we eat greens in this early phase of life, though, the digestion process is a fraction of what it would otherwise be to assimilate their powers. The most important role that sprouts and microgreens play is to bring back vitality to people who are always exhausting themselves for others. When you put your heart and soul into everything you do, whether at home or work, sprouts have the unique ability to support you.
Sprouts and microgreens are wonderful reproductive foods. They are one of the ultimate tools for renewing an exhausted reproductive system and revitalizing a new mom who hasn’t been getting much sleep while caring for her baby. Sprouts and microgreens are phytoestrogenic and critical for rebalancing and restoring hormones such as progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone, and for regenerating hormone production of the adrenal glands, thyroid, and the rest of the endocrine system after a woman has given birth.
High in mineral salts that are involved with neurotransmitter chemical production, sprouts and microgreens also support the brain with amino acids and enzymes, pull toxic heavy metals from the brain, and help rejuvenate and strengthen neurons—which ultimately helps the body in reversing Alzheimer’s, dementia, brain fog, and memory loss. Sprouts and microgreens are wonderful for skin repair, and they’re also high in more than 60 trace minerals, including iron, iodine, selenium, zinc, copper, manganese, sulfur, magnesium, chromium, and molybdenum. As antiproliferatives, sprouts and microgreens stave off infection and unwanted cell growth (such as cancer). Further, they are the best possible source of the elevated biotics critical to your body’s production of vitamin B12. And in this early stage of growth, sprouts and microgreens hold thousands of phytochemicals to supercharge your body.
Choosing sprouts is like choosing friends; they all have different personalities. Do you have that friend who you know is a great person, and yet is a little edgy—you can only handle him in small doses? That describes the broccoli sprout. Strong in flavor with a bit of bite, broccoli sprouts are wonderful to strengthen digestion by raising hydrochloric acid levels.
And do you have a friend whom you sometimes hold back from sharing everything with, because you know that her fiery, explosive disposition will mean she’ll leap to your defense before you’re even finished speaking? That’s the radish sprout, which is remarkable for its ability to purge the liver (an organ that’s fiery in its own right in so many of us).
What about the friend who’s very gentle and laid-back, who listens to everything you say and offers words of comfort? This describes the red clover sprout, which is very soothing as it gently cleanses our lymph and blood, removing toxins and purifying our bodies.
Then there’s the friend who’s very emotional and cries very easily, whether happy or sad tears. The fenugreek sprout is all heart and soul, perfect for supporting our emotions and the endocrine system, both of which are tied up in the heart, soul, and brain. Fenugreek sprouts are especially helpful for balancing the adrenals’ cortisol production and regulating thyroid hormone production.
And we can’t forget about that friend with the muscle, the person you call to show up with a pickup truck and help move you out of your house. This is the lentil sprout. Very dense energetically, high in fortifying protein that your body can assimilate with ease, lentil sprouts also give you a carbohydrate base to help propel you through whatever needs to get done. Lentil sprouts love to pass their brute strength on to you. Eating them is like getting the fortification of a Thanksgiving dinner—and yet having tremendous energy afterward, rather than wanting to fall asleep on the couch.
On and on the list goes. Also keep your eye out for mung bean sprouts, sunflower greens, pea shoots, and micro-kale, among other advocates. Just like the people who support you in life, all the different sprouts and microgreen varieties have special qualities that you’ll discover as you get to know them.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing sprouts and microgreens into your life:
Human papilloma virus (HPV), fibroids, all types of cancer, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), low reproductive system battery, depression (including postpartum), jaundice, anxiety, anemia, infertility, miscarriage, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/mononucleosis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, diabetes, hypoglycemia, adrenal fatigue, Graves’ disease, eczema, psoriasis, food allergies, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, nutrient absorption issues, insomnia, herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2), HHV-6, HHV-7, thyroid disease, celiac disease, Lyme disease, strep throat
SYMPTOMS
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing sprouts and microgreens into your life:
Abnormal Pap smear results, fatigue, lack of energy, weight gain, tooth decay, enamel loss, gum recession, hot flashes, night sweats, blurry eyes, bruising, pelvic pain, iron deficiency, memory loss, brain fog, sleep disturbances, acid reflux, all neurological symptoms (including tingles, numbness, spasms, twitches, nerve pain, and tightness of the chest), blood sugar imbalances, belching, bone loss, brittle nails, cravings, fluid retention, gastritis, leg cramps, listlessness, stagnant liver, mucus in the stool, muscle spasms, sweets cravings, sore throat, hyperthyroid, hypothyroid
When you’re feeling a sense of loss, whether grieving for a career, friendship, or an object you’ve lost, sprouts and microgreens are exceptionally helpful. These tiny messengers of hope help you get out of a mindset of mourning and plant the seeds for new life and new opportunities.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
Sprouts and microgreens are highly adaptogenic. They don’t demand the perfect environment. Even though in other circumstances these seeds would be given ample soil, space, sunlight, rain, and fresh air to take root and rise up to their fullest, when they’re cultivated in countertop gardens, they manage to grow crowded together in a jar or tray with just enough light and water to survive. All it takes is a little routine (sprouts need regular rinsing, and microgreens need regular misting), for these shoots to adapt to their circumstances. And they do so happily—if sprouts and microgreens had faces, you’d see a smile on each one.
This cheerful adaptability transfers to us when we eat them. As long as we have the absolute necessities and give ourselves a bit of routine to normalize life, then even in the most difficult situations, we can take strength from our little friends and find a way to thrive.
Sprout-Filled Collard Wraps with Mango-Tomato Dipping Sauce
Makes 1 to 2 servings
These fresh, colorful collard wraps are a great way to fill your day with veggies. It’s a fun lunch option to set out a tray of sliced veggies and let people build their own. Plus, you can make a variety of dipping sauces using some of the other recipes in the book—try the cilantro pesto, the garlic tahini salad dressing, or the nori rolls’ avocado dip.
6 large collard leaves
1 bell pepper, any color
1 avocado
¼ red cabbage
2 medjool dates, pitted
2 cups sprouts
2 cups microgreens
1 cup diced mango
1 cup diced tomato
1 quarter-size slice ginger
¼ inch slice of jalapeño (optional)
Rinse the collard leaves and trim off their stems. Set aside for later use in a soup or smoothie. Slice the bell pepper, avocado, and cabbage into thin strips. Finely chop and mash the dates to form a paste. With the stem side facing you, start at the right side of the collard leaf and fill with the sliced veggies, sprouts, and microgreens. Roll toward the left like a burrito, folding the top of the leaf in as you go. Use the date paste along the left edge of the collard green to seal. Repeat with the remaining collard leaves, filling, and paste.
For the dipping sauce, blend the mango, tomato, ginger, and jalapeño, if using, until smooth.
While the regular potato has been mistakenly villainized, the brighter, flashier sweet potato has gotten some of the acclaim it deserves. As with any of the life-changing foods in this book, though, it deserves more credit than it gets—sweet potatoes and yams are better for us than anyone realizes.
To start with, sweet potatoes promote productive bacteria in the stomach, small intestine, and colon, while at the same time, they starve out unproductive bacteria and fungi such as mold that are camping out there. By keeping these microbes at bay, sweet potatoes are standouts at enhancing the body’s production of B12. Also, sweet potatoes help prevent a condition called megacolon—that is, an expansion of the colon due to proliferation of C. difficile, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, E. coli, H. pylori, Chlamydia, and/or other bacteria. Plus, this superfood helps alleviate narrowing of the intestinal tract due to the chronic inflammation that’s so commonly diagnosed as Crohn’s or colitis.
Abundant in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are especially praised for being packed with carotenoids such as beta-carotene and lycopene, and rightfully so. These phytochemicals are extremely powerful. If you are fair and eat a sweet potato daily, before long you’ll see your skin take on a glow, as if it’s been sun-kissed. The lycopene, combined with sweet potatoes’ abundant amino acids, is a recipe for drawing radiation from the body. On top of which, the anti-cancerous phytochemicals in sweet potatoes help protect you against skin cancers, breast cancer, reproductive cancers, stomach cancer, intestinal cancers, esophageal cancer, and rectal cancer.
Sweet potatoes are also phytoestrogenic and perform the vital function of ridding the body of unusable, destructive, cancer-causing estrogen that interferes with the body’s hormone function. These estrogens come from plastics, pharmaceuticals, food, and environmental toxins, as well as from the body producing an overabundance of the hormone (due to a diet high in estrogen-producing foods). Because it’s more than the body can use, this estrogen becomes inactive and builds up in the organs, negatively affecting the endocrine system. By purging this excess estrogen, sweet potatoes make room for healthier estrogens to take their place. Sweet potatoes are also important for regulating hair growth; they stimulate it where needed and prohibit hair when it tries to grow in the wrong places, as in the condition hirsutism.
If you struggle with insomnia or another sleeping disorder, sweet potatoes are very useful. They provide a critical form of glucose that stimulates the development of neurotransmitters such as glycine, dopamine, GABA, and serotonin, all of which aid in the ability to sleep soundly. Whether you like orange, yellow, white, pink, or purple sweet potatoes, eat up. Each type holds medicinal qualities that will power you through life.
CONDITIONS
If you have any of the following conditions, try bringing sweet potatoes into your life:
Megacolon, hirsutism, colitis, Crohn’s disease, skin cancers, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, stomach cancer, intestinal cancers, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), heart disease, kidney disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), insomnia, alopecia, sunburn, Asperger’s syndrome, depression, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), psoriatic arthritis, epilepsy, hiatal hernia, adrenal fatigue, neuropathy, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, eczema, psoriasis, shingles, urinary tract infections (UTIs), chlamydia, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, scleroderma, lichen sclerosus, celiac disease, social anxiety disorder
SYMPTOMS
If you have any of the following symptoms, try bringing sweet potatoes into your life:
Dandruff, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues, diarrhea, anxiousness, intestinal tract discomfort, inflamed colon, colon spasms, heartburn, scar tissue, muscle cramps, muscle spasms, food sensitivities, heart palpitations, hot flashes, abdominal cramping, accelerated aging, brain lesions, colon spasms, depersonalization, digestive disturbances, abnormal Pap smear results, eye dryness, swelling, age spots, weight gain, scaly skin, intestinal polyps
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
When you need some coddling, there’s nothing more comforting than a baked sweet potato. Unlike greasy, fried, or sugar-filled and processed “comfort” foods that leave you feeling bloated, lethargic, and more depressed, a sweet potato has properties that actually give you the sensation that the world around you has shut down. This is an important function that makes you feel safe and soothed, like you’re getting a hug even if no one’s there to give you one, so that you can draw up the strength to deal with hard times.
SPIRITUAL LESSON
Have you ever baked a sweet potato and seen the natural sugars that bubble up and drip down the sides? A sweet potato in and of itself is as rich as anything you could ask for—and yet that doesn’t seem to be enough for us. Popular sweet potato recipes call for butter, cream, brown sugar, or marshmallows. Even though sweet potatoes are sweeter than sweet and already perfect, we adulterate them, obscure their natural qualities, and overindulge.
Where in your life are you unnecessarily piling on the extra toppings? Sweet potatoes teach us to evaluate other circumstances where we’ve been handed a pure and complete gift, and out of fear or a lack of appreciation, we’ve felt like that wasn’t enough.
Sweet Potatoes Stuffed
with Braised Cabbage
Makes 2 to 4 servings
A great dish for weekly dinners, the components of this dish can be made ahead of time and assembled just prior to serving. Bake sweet potatoes and cook the cabbage in advance and store them in the fridge for up to four days for a quick, easy dinner that takes minutes to prepare. For best results, make the sauce right before serving and ladle it piping hot over the stuffed sweet potatoes.
4 sweet potatoes
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 red cabbage, shredded
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ lemon
For sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
For GARNISH:
4 tablespoons minced parsley
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake sweet potatoes on a baking sheet for 45 to 60 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork.
In a large pan, sauté garlic and onions in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil over medium-high heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and soft. Add the cabbage and sea salt, along with ½ cup of water. Cover and cook over medium heat for 30 to 40 minutes until the cabbage is tender, continuing to stir occasionally and adding a splash of water as needed to moisten.
Split open sweet potatoes and mash each side slightly with a fork. Stuff as much braised cabbage into the openings as possible.
Make the sauce just before serving the sweet potatoes. (For 4 servings, double the ingredients for the sauce.) Add all the ingredients to a small pan. Heat the mixture over medium-high heat until it bubbles slightly. Continue stirring for 1 to 2 minutes until the sauce is well combined and slightly thickened. Pour over the sweet potatoes, garnish with parsley, and enjoy!
