Traveling with Canned Beans

I absolutely do NOT like eating foods out of cans for the main reasons : the foods are processed in ways that I do not approve ... with additives I do not want in my body, with trace additives that are considered too small as to merit being added to the food (case in point, red pepper is occasionally added to tomato paste in order to achieve a redder color but is considered too small an amount to merit labeling the container - my bro is deathly allergic to peppers of any kind so this is lethal to him!), with the likelihood of contamination by industrial cleaners and factory what-not, contaminated with the aluminum tin itself, and then overcooked under high pressure and therefore killing the nutrients that were originally in the food. Sound pretty pessimistic? Well, maybe it is, but it's also reality.

Anyway, I just had a stopover in Hawaii and figured I could survive on my careful diet if I could just get to a grocery store and get a pile of vegies. I had a knife and vegie peeler packed so I wouldn't have to worry about food preparation, but I only eating vegies doesn't give a person much energy. So I looked around for something, and ... wahlah, I spied a brand of black beans that had no labeled food additives, namely citric acid. Citric acid positively makes me sick, but unfortunately and to my knowledge, almost all beans with the exception of some black beans are processed with citric acid. The evil stuff is in tomato anything, sauces, seasoning salts, yep, just about creepy everywhere. So, it was my lucky day! I left the store with a can of black beans (ingredients: black  beans and salt), a package of tuna with the fewest additives, and tons and tons of vegies! Yum, I made a power salad to go with my washed and dried walnuts and almonds, my stack of black rice waffles (they travel really well), and some quinoa-millet energy bars.

Ah, what a salad!

I had a problem with my diet though. I was in Hawaii for three days and lived off a humungous black bean and vegie salad plus the other items mentioned. But oh no, Something was missing in my diet during that time because I started exhibiting signs of "lack of nutrition". For years (since 1998 for sure) I've noticed my arms get bald when I don't have at least one very good balanced meal a day. I know hair loss is a result of insufficient thyroid activity, and I have had a history of Grave's disease (hyperthyroidism). What I didn't expect was that as the time in Hawaii progressed, I started feeling a bit of tension in my right lower jaw in addition to the hair loss on my forearms. A couple days after arriving home, the tension had gotten so great that I thought I would munch on some Brazil nuts because they are extremely rich in trace minerals and sometimes give me a boost of well-being. I was cleaning my mom's freezer so popped three Brazil nuts in my mouth to chew while my hands were busy.

Oh, oh, oh, what pain! The pain in my jaw had been increasing for the past several days but when I popped those Brazil nuts in my mouth, my right jaw dislocated! It stayed dislocated for the rest of the day and only got better when I really forced myself to bite down, and bite down, and bite down, and gradually and painfully the upper and lower sets of teeth were able to kind of fit back together. What happened? Well, for the next couple of days my jaw would pop in and out and the trend I noticed was based on my diet. I desperately needed something beyond vegetable smoothies. I found that beans and brown rice (a complete protein) were good for easing the jaw pain, and I made some wild salmon dishes and they helped a bit too (not as beneficial as the brown rice and variety of beans but I was trying to get a wide variety of nutrition to eliminate nutritional deficiencies. I never did figure out EXACTLY what it was I needed, but eating a wide variety of green smoothies WITH brown rice or quinoa and some legume did work well.

Snack food for the plane. It's OK to travel with vegies, even internationally, as long as the vegies aren't taken off the plane or taken through immigration. Cabbage slabs travel even better!

Written in hindsight - Even for the next few weeks I would get a bit achy in the right jaw on days when I didn't eat two well-balanced meals. Wow! Whoever heard of a jaw dislocating from malnutrition, but there you have it. That's what happened. The good thing about this experience was I found an awesome chiropractor that is extremely savvy about nutrition. She tried to adjust it but there were difficulties of over-correction because my ligaments were very loose and she said she'd never encountered anything like that before ... and she'd been treating dislocated jaws for years. After she said that, I really paid closer attention to my diet, and then realized the connection between my reduced nutrition intake from traveling and having dietary limitations and how I was feeling. Yikes, my system is very sensitive.

As for chiropractic care with this particular chiropractor, wow, she gave me huge amounts of advice and feedback on candida from a very informed nutritional perspective! I think God was instrumental in coordinating our meeting because she raised my awareness on issues that I hadn't really been addressing (blood pH, the merits of raw organic apple cider vinegar for treating candida) ... but more on those later!

The Naked Chef and Pasta

Jamie Oliver in his book The Naked Chef has some very interesting (gluten) pasta recipes that I want to adjust to make some gluten-free pasta. I bought a pasta press that can press out lasagna, spaghetti and fettucini. I doubt if, with gluten-free pasta dough, the angel-hair attachment will work, but ah well. I also bought a three-size kit for making stuffed pasta as in small fold-over stuffed wraps or the larger stuffed sandwiches/pot-pies. Now, I just need a big kitchen and a lot of time to experiment with pasta doughs and consistencies, but these are the Jamie Oliver recipes that I'd like to convert to gluten-free:

Everyday Quick Basic Pasta Recipe (p 47)

(serves 4)

1 lb bread flour (3 1/2 - 4 cups)
5 fresh large eggs
semolina flour for dusting

Special Pasta Recipe (p 47)
(serves 4)

1 cup bread flour
2 1/2 cups semolina (or bread) flour
2 large eggs
9-10 large egg yolks
semolina flour for dusting

And then here are the variations to make interesting, exotic and/or tastier pastas that are flavored and only need a simple olive oil base with vegies or even a sprinkling of "cheese", spinach and tomatoes.

Herb Pasta

Add 4 good handfuls of finely chopped fresh herbs (one variety or a mix) at the same time the flour is added. Proceed with the basic recipe.

Beet Pasta

Remove 2 of the eggs from the basic pasta recipe and replace with roughly the equivalent amount of beets, peeled and pureed. Proceed as in the recipe, possibly having to adjust the flour to achieve a smooth, silky consistency.

Spinach Pasta

Remove 2 whole eggs from the basic recipe. Add approximately 11oz spinach, which has been blanched, squeezed dry (in a dish towel perhaps) and finaly chopped or pureed. Proceed as in the recipe, possibly having to adjust the flour to achieve a smooth, silky and elastic consistency.

Pepper Pasta

Add 1 level tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper. Proceed as in the basic recipe.

Salads, Salads, Salads

Sprouts Salad (raw)

2-3 cups of sprouts (alfalfa, broccoli, radish)
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes (quartered)
1 avocado (diced)
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons olive oil (optional)
1/3 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

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Spinach Greens (Salad) (raw)

1 bunch of baby bok choy (torn into pieces)
1 medium sweet onion (cut into rings)
1 bunch spinach greens (torn into pieces)
1 cucumber (skinned and sliced)
carrot shavings for color
fresh or frozen cranberries for color

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Garlic & Dill Cucumber Salad (raw)

3 cucumbers (skinned and sliced thinly)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon dill weed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
turmeric (optional dusting on top)

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Garlic & Dill Cucumber Salad w/ Parsley (raw)
(the same as above but add parsley, onion slices and tomatoes)

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Monster Toss Salad (raw)

Several fistfuls of various greens, torn
Several red and yellow cherry or grape tomatoes
Scattering of radish sprouts, garnish
Scattering of cilantro, garnish

Dressing:
1 lemon squeezed and pulped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
sea salt to taste

Cilantro needs lemon juice to activate its full flavor, so after drizzling on the dressing, let the salad stand for 15 or so minutes and the flavors will be fuller.

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Garbanzo Bean Stir-fry Salad

1 medium-large onion (sliced)
1/3 head cauliflower (cut into small flowerets)
1 head broccoli (cut into small flowerets)
5-6 stems asparagus (2" segments)
1 bunch kale/mustard greens/spinach (torn in half)
1-2 cups garbanzo beans (cooked)
1-2 cups garbanzo bean broth
cherry tomatoes (quartered)
green onion (sliced)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
1/2 rounded teaspoon sea salt

Step 1: On medium heat in a large fry pan, put the garbanzo bean broth, cauliflower, broccoli and asaparagus. Cook them enough to soften them and bring out their vivid colors.
Step 2: As vegies are becoming softened, stir in greens briefly and garbanzo beans.
Step 3: Before greens get at their peak of color, add tomatoes and green onions. Cook lightly, perhaps only 3 minutes.
Step 4: Remove from heat. Add salt and lemon juice if using. Serve.

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Green Bean Salad

2 cups fresh or frozen green beans
1 small handful macadamia nuts (soaked 1 hours, soak-water tossed)
5-6 cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
sea salt

Bring the green beans to a light boil and then simmer till soft but still very green. Dip out the green beans and put in a bowl, add macadamias and chopped tomatoes, sprinkled on salt as desired, then drizzle with the lemon juice and olive oil. Very quick and light.

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Green Bean Salad II

2 cups fresh or frozen green beans
2 cups cabbage, sliced thinly
4-5 cloves garlic
1 chunk ginger, grated
5 baby yellow tomatoes, sliced thinly lengthwise
a few stems of parsley as garnish
sea salt

Lightly boil the green beans with the garlic (sliced) and ginger (sliced or grated). Once the green beans are boiled, serve them over a bed of grated or thinly sliced cabbage. Strain out the garlic and ginger pieces and serve with the green beans. Add sliced tomatoes and parley for garnish.


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And then just a great big salad supper (one raw and another with cooked green beans) with a cashew or sunflowerseed based dressing!

An extreme salad supper!

Beanitos & Other Snackerables

Finally I found something in the store that I can eat, even on my ultra-strict candida diet! Beanitos! Black bean crackers! And I really like them. They're a bit heavier than the traditional stone ground corn cracker and with a tad less salt than I like, which prevents them from being addicting I think, but here's the real downside ... they aren't sold in Korea, so I only get them while in the States. Probably better that way because then they will always remain a treat.

Beanitos - available in the US only (sad!)

Brown Rice Crackers and sea salt - available at a health food store in Hoegi, Seoul

Onion Crackers (starchy though - boo) - available at foreign markets in Itaewon, Seoul

Until now, the only store-bought crackers I've considered OK to eat were a brown puffed rice cracker available in Korea at a health-food store in Hoegi, and a tapioca cracker at international market stores in Itaewon. Unfortunately on the latter though is that tapioca is a starch and starch converts easily to sugar so after getting a bit of phlegm build-up in my throat the last couple of times when I nibbled at those delicious Onion Crackers (ingredients: tapioca starch, coconut oil, garlic, sea salt), I decided to exercise great will-power and walk disdainfully (but longingly) past them. Sigh, those were some awesome tasting crackers!

My raw homemade crackers - blended up vegies, sprouts with some whole lentil sprouts remaining

My raw homemade crackers - and ugh, I can't remember what these were made of but all vegies for sure!