Millet Heaps

Dear all,

At the moment, my body hovers at a crucial point: I still have to lose a bit of the holiday weight and I need to do it now, before the Christmas and new years celebrations hit again. Do you also know these cycles? Luckily, it is only a matter of a few pounds…

I am always interested in news about weight loss. The number of diets never ceases to amaze me – and the number of people following and swearing on them. In this newsletter I want to have a closer look at two popular diets that have cropped up recently: alkaline and paleo diet.

For the purpose of weight loss I usually turn to high fibre food. In combination with avoiding sugar and alcohol I usually succeed in maintaining my figure.

This month, a friend of mine inspired me because she cured her stomach ulcer with alkaline food. This reminded me of millet, the only grain with alkalizing properties. Recently, I have found organic millet in many supermarkets. What better way than to use it in a healthy snack?

I call this recipe millet heaps because of their look. The added vegetables deliver vitamins and phytonutrients and keep the heaps moist inside. The crunchy exterior is reached by baking them on a cookie tray laced with plenty of olive oil. You can serve millet heaps as a healthy snack, a light meal with a salad at the side or a guilt-free addition to a Thanksgiving dinner.

This recipe ticks all the boxes of the alkaline diet but does little for the paleo lovers. Hard core paleo fans consider millet as poison.

Like always, I listen to my body. I like millet. It tastes great and keeps my insides running smoothly. These millet heaps are so easy to make, you can call them fool proof.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

Millet Heaps

Ingredients (for 20 pieces):

• 1 cup millet
• 4 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 medium carrot
• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 big cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground cardamon
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• salt
• pepper

Method:

Place the millet with double the amount of water and one teaspoon salt into a pot.

Bring it to a boil and let it simmer until the millet has absorbed all the water. This takes 10 to 15 minutes.

Clean and skin the carrot. Wash the zucchini. Grate them into a big mixing bowl.

Add the spices, the crushed garlic, the eggs, the whole-wheat flour and the millet. Mix everything well and season with salt and pepper.

Spread olive oil over a cookie tray and place heaps of the millet mix onto the tray. I use an ice cream scoop for this job.

Place into the oven and bake for 45 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

If you use a gas oven, turn them after half an hour to get them crunchy all around. If you use an electric oven, this might not be necessary. Enjoy.

Amazing legumes

The chickpea – like all other members of the legumes family – offers a lot of proteins, minerals and fibre.  Just one cup of uncooked legumes delivers 14 to 20 grams of fibre, more than whole wheat. Nutrition experts nowadays recommend to eat at least 25 grams of fibre a day, a huge amount for most people.

Fibre helps to stabilize blood sugar levels, making chickpeas an excellent choice for diabetics and people with insulin resistance or hypoglycaemia. A 2012 study of people with type 2 diabetes has shown that eating one cup of legumes a day for three months lowered blood sugar and blood pressure.

Furthermore, fibre traps bile loaded with cholesterol in the digestive tract and helps bowel movement, preventing digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome. Eating legumes regularly also lowers bad cholesterol levels in the blood.

Legumes provide a wealth of minerals as well. For example chickpeas contain plenty of folic acid, manganese and iron needed for healthy bones and blood production. They contain large amounts of the trace mineral molybdenum that flushes out the preservative sulphite from our bodies.

Legumes are also rich in various antioxidants and phytonutrients. At the moment, scientists continue to discover new varieties of these substances all the time. Antioxidants fight free radicals, atoms that miss an electron in their outer shell. In their search for missing electrons they grab them where they can get them and damaging healthy body cells. Free radicals are a normal by-product of our digestion. Smoking, drinking and pollution increase the amount of free radicals in our bodies. Antioxidants neutralise free radicals by providing them with missing electrons.

Brussels sprouts top the charts

This vegetable bursts with nutrition; I don’t even know where to start with my praise. This mini cabbages top the nutrition charts in many regards. They deliver more glucosinulates than any other cruciferous vegetable. Glucosinolates are phytonutrients that our bodies use to produce a variety of cancer-protective substances.
They also deliver a huge amount of vitamins and minerals. One cup of Brussels sprouts has more than double the amount of vitamin K you need daily and more than your daily need of vitamin C. Vitamin K is important for healthy bones and proper blood clotting.  It also has serious amounts of folate, manganese, vitamin B6 and other minerals and vitamins.
The origins of Brussels can be traced back to the 16^th century to a region near Brussels, hence the name. During World War I this vegetable spread throughout Europe. Nowadays, they are cultivated everywhere.

Wholewheat Flour

Atta: full grains ensure complete nutrition

Wheat is an ancient grain, which humans eat for more than 12,000 years. It played a vital role in the sacred rituals of many cultures. Greek, Roman, Sumerian and Finnish mythology had gods and goddesses of wheat.

Although I do not pray to the goddess of wheat, it plays an important part in feeding my family. In my kitchen I practically never use white flour, only whole wheat flour or atta, as it is called in India. This has one reason: White flour lacks the bran and the germ of the wheat grain, the parts which offer the most nutrition. From a health point of view refining flour makes no sense at all. Whole wheat is  a good source of dietary fiber, manganese and magnesium which help prevent many diseases.

Different research studies show that eating frequently whole grains can help avoid type 2 diabetes and the forming of gallstones. Food rich in fiber keeps your colon moving and can help to protect you and your loved ones from breast and other hormone related cancers, colon cancer, childhood asthma and heart disease.

Recently scientists claimed whole grains may be even more beneficial as is known today. According to press reports research methods have overlooked many powerful phytonutrients in whole grains. It seems that for years researchers have only measured “free” forms of phytonutrients, which are immediately absorbed into the bloodstream. The “bound” forms however are attached to the walls of plant cells. They must be released by bacteria in the intestines to be absorbed by the body.

This does not matter so much when you analyze fruits and vegetables, as they have more than 70 per cent “free” phytonutrients. But in whole grains “bound” phytonutrients make up 99 per cent, which so far have been ignored. This may help explain the low risk for colon cancer of populations eating diets high in fiber-rich whole grain.

The colours of nature

Eat the colours of nature

Phytonutrients, the colours of nature, seem to be the hottest discovery of scientists lately. The term is so new that my word-program does not recognize it and I had to add it to the dictionary. Scientists research this subject for less than two decades. Scientifically proven insights so far are still rare, simply because no really long term studies exist.

However, scientific proof is not everything. I believe in my own experiences. After eating a big bowl of mixed salad I feel good, light and satisfied. When I don’t consume any fresh vegetables or fruits for some days, I crave them. For me, this is all the proof I need for the fact that our bodies need vegetables and fruits, as many as they can get.

Phytonutrients, also called phytochemicals, are active substances in the pigments of plant skins – they literally are the colours of nature. Phytonutrients protect the health of plants. Some guard against viruses, bacteria and other diseases. Others repel bugs and predators.

Fortunately phytonutrients seem to help human beings as well. They appear to serve three major functions in the human body: they act as antioxidants; they regulate hormone levels; and they eliminate toxins. It seems they effectively diminish free radicals, a by-product of food metabolism, found in our blood. Free radicals cause cells to become weak and less active. Although phytonutrients work in the same way as vitamins and minerals, they are not. They are a class of substances on their own.

Not all phytonutrients are colourful. Some smell strongly like the glucosinolates found in broccoli, cauliflower and horseradish. These help keep the plant healthy by deterring pests. Other fragrant plant foods like herbs, spices and teas are also rich in phytonutrients.

Experts recommend eating four servings of vegetables a day and two or three servings of fruit. If you don’t reach this goal, don’t despair. We don’t live in an ideal world. Just eat as many different fruits and vegetables in as many shades of the rainbow as possible.

Scientists distinguish the following classes of phytonutrients.

Carotenoids: These are the pigments found in bright yellow, orange and red plants, and include the more familiar names beta carotene, lutein and lycopene. All have antioxidant properties.

Limonoids: A sub-group of terpenes, the same group that contains carotenoids. Limonoids occur most often in citrus fruit peels, and seem to protect lung tissue.

Phytosterols: Found in abundance in the seeds of green and yellow vegetables such as squash or pumpkin, phytosterols block the uptake of cholesterol in the intestines.

Phenols: These pigments give blueberries, grapes, bilberries and other ‘blue’ and violet fruits their colour. They’ve been studied for decades for their disease preventative properties.

  

Flavonoids: More than 1500 flavonoids are found in a wide variety of plants and herbs. Their biologic activity includes action against allergies, inflammation, free radicals, hepatotoxins, platelet aggregation, microbes, ulcers, viruses and tumours.

Isoflavones: This sub-class is found in beans and legumes. They deserve special mention because they appear to the block tumour growth.

Green herbs

Go green with herbs

Green herbs are packed with nutrients. They do not only add taste to any dish, they also bless us with many health benefits. The humble parsley is as widely used in Europe as coriander is in Asia. The word parsley has it roots in the Greek word petroselīnon meaning rock celery. Native to Mediterranean Europe, it was first used as a medicine.
During the middle Ages, cooks started to season dishes with parsley. This herb contains vast amounts of vitamin C, vitamin A and folic acid. Parsley’s volatile oils help neutralise particular types of carcinogens (like the ben­zopyrenes that are part of cigarette smoke and charcoal grill smoke). According to scientific research, eating a lot of parsley helps keep your heart and cardiovascular system healthy and can prevent rheumatic arthritis.

Mint is actually named after a nymph called Minthe. This delightful creature appeared in the Greek mythology as a female that attracted Pluto’s attention. His jealous wife Persephone changed Minthe into a plant. Sorrowful Pluto could not reverse the magic spell, but he gave her a sweet smell. From ancient times, mint is used all over the world. There are more than 25 different species of mint with slightly different aromas.

Mint relieves cramps of the belly because it is able to relax muscles. It is a useful herb in case of indigestion, dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome. Animal studies have shown that the phytonutrient monoterpene in mint stops the growth of pancreatic, mammary and liver tumors and protects against caner in the colon, skin and lungs. However, there are no proper human studies yet.