My First Positive Eating Video!!!!

Hey Guys!

Check out my first Positive Eating video. I plan to do one of these every month just to switch it up a bit! I am so excited. I am still figuring this multimedia thing out. I had to put this on YouTube and then embed it here. So I guess I am on YouTube now as well. Crazy!





Stay Positive,

Matthew

Summer Recipes from Sumner!

Hi Everyone,

I was lucky enough to get an email from my good friend Sumner Fletcher today. She is a great runner, an extraordinary yoga teacher and a positive force no matter where she goes. We both follow each others blogs and this week she was nice enough to send me over a couple recipes she enjoyed with her family over this Fourth of July Weekend. These recipes are perfect to bring or serve at a summer picnic and loaded with a colorful array of incredible vegetables and exciting spices.

The first one features Sweet Potatoes (a personal favorite)

Grilled Sweet Potato & Spicy Vinaigrette

• 2 1/2 Pounds Sweet Potatoes (peeled)
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 Ears of Corn (husked or use canned corn)
• 1 Red Bell Pepper
• 2 Scallions (chopped)
• 1 Cup fresh Cilantro (chopped)
• 1/2 Cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon chipotle chili with adobo sauce
• 1 Tablespoon minced Shallot
• 1 minced Garlic clove
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions:

In a large pot cover potatoes with salted cold water by 1 inch and simmer, covered, until just tender, about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on size of potatoes. In a colander drain potatoes and cool to warm. Cut the potatoes crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

Prepare grill. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and cumin. Brush both sides of the potato slices with the oil mixture. Brush the ears of corn with the remaining oil mixture. Grill the potato slices for 1 minute per side and transfer to a large bowl. If necessary, the grilled potato slices can be halved or quartered into bite-size pieces at this point. Grill the corn for 3 to 4 minutes rotating once a minute and transfer to a plate. When the corn is cool enough to handle, remove the kernels with a sharp knife. Add the corn to the potato slices. Add the red bell pepper, scallions and 1/4 cup cilantro leaves. Do not stir to combine.

In a food processor or blender combine the seasoned rice wine vinegar, chipotle chili, shallot, garlic, lemon juice and remaining cilantro leaves and puree until smooth.

Pour half of the dressing over the vegetables and gently toss to combine. Add the remaining dressing and carefully stir again. Cover and let stand for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to combine.



Here is the next one! This will be a hit at any summer cookout!


Fresh Mushroom and Three Beans Salad

• 10 ounces fresh white mushrooms, quartered (about 3 cups)
• 1 jar (about 7 ounces) roasted red peppers, drained, cut in strips (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 can (about 15 ounces) 50% less sodium cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (about 15 ounces) 50% less sodium red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (about 15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 ribs celery, sliced (1 cup)
• 1/2 cup coarsely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
• 3/4 cup homemade or prepared Italian salad dressing, no salt added
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

In a large bowl combine mushrooms, peppers, and three kinds of beans, celery and 1/4 cup of the cheese. Add dressing and parsley; toss to coat well. Stir in parsley. Serve topped with remaining cheese.


Make sure you check out my friend Sumner's Blog out by visiting the link provided.

Keep enjoy your summer and I will see you next Wednesday!

Stay Positive,

Matthew

The Trans Fat Ban

Just say NO to Trans Fat?

Hi Everyone,

In 2006, the mayor of New York banned trans fat from city restaurants. This is pretty remarkable! There are over 16,000 restaurants in Manhattan, making the restaurant industry the largest business sector in New York. If only they thought to ban greed from the finance industry! Can you imagine what a shiny happy place New York would be?

New York's move to ban trans fat is producing a dramatic domino effect. Minneapolis and Philadelphia have now passed similar legislation and in 2007 California passed a law that will make it our first trans fat free state. Lawsuits filed against both Kraft and McDonald's are causing the fast food industry and even packaged junk food companies to move away or totally eliminate trans fat from their offerings.

Trans Fat is also known as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. I could let you guys know about how fats and oils take on a chemical cis shape in nature and when they are processed in this way take on the trans shape and how this process gives oils and fats a longer shelf life. I avoided taking organic chemistry in school and will spare you the lesson now.

Fats and oils become hydrogenated by bubbling hydrogen gas through them at high temperatures. Hence the word "hydrogenated". This is all well and good, but I don't want hydrogen gas in my food and especially not in my fats and oils. I remember sucking helium gas when I was kid from a balloon and thinking it was cool how I would talk funny, but then I got lightheaded and passed out. Ingesting gas is not really my thing.

Trans fat will not make you talk funny..they are associated with headaches, joint pain, arthritis, asthma, skin problems and menstrual problems. They are also a source of chronic disease. This blog is not really about the big nasties of eating. I would rather you try them out for yourself and make your own decisions. Trans fats can be found in the following foods.

• packaged cookies and baked goods
• food that just came out of a fryolator
• margarine
  
• microwave popcorn
• frozen pizza and waffles
• butter that comes in a tub

If you start to talk funny or pass out from eating these let me know.

You could also give fats and oils that still exist in their cis form, the way nature intended, a try. Here are a few of my favorites.

• Olive oil (great for everything!)
  
• butter (in the stick form)
• sesame oil
• peanut oil
• coconut oil (great for desserts)
• sunflower oil
• ghee (clarified butter)
• grapeseed oil

Thanks for checking out this blog post! If you would like the organic chemistry lesson regarding trans fats or more information about the ban on trans fats check out the websites below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat
http://scienceblogs.com/moleculeoftheday/2006/09/trans_fats_kinky_fat.php
http://www.bantransfats.com/whatnottoeat.html

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Summer - The season of mayonnaise

Summer is a great season for eating! Farm stands are starting to offer some early season produce and some locations allow you to pick your own berries! People enjoy eating outside and lots of the food is served chilled to offset the rising temperatures.

Most barbecues feature something cooked on a grill and chilled dishes featuring vegetables covered in mayonnaise. This is a quandary to me. Fresh snappy vegetables are everywhere! Their sweet and succulent delights almost call out to us to savor their colorful splendor. So we take them home, chop them up and dump vinegar and egg whites all over them. You will see this phenomenon at at least one barbecue this summer. With your grilled piece of game you will be offered coleslaw (cabbage and mayonnaise), pasta salad (pasta, little pieces of carrots, onions, celery and mayonnaise) and potato salad (potatoes with mayonnaise) and if they really want to keep in the spirit of the season they will serve egg salad as well(which are eggs covered with an emulsion of themselves alson known as mayonnaise).

Now, there is no need to outlaw mayonnaise, what would a tuna fish sandwich be without it, I am just saying let's cool it just this one time. Let's team up and throw a barbecue this year where the hellman's stays in the fridge. I can picture the colorful array spread out across your picnic table now. Fresh salad greens with freshly picked strawberries and blueberries topped with poppyseed dressing. Fruit salad served in the hollowed out shell of a watermelon. Carrot sticks and celery for the kiddies to munch on (let them dip the celery in some peanut butter they will love it). Maybe some chicken served with a pineapple glaze and grilled pieces of pineapple to go with it. You won't even think about mayo until you find it in the back of your refrigerator, open it up to smell it and then ask yourself for the thousandth time "how long does mayonnaise last".

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream!

Hi Positive Eaters,

If there is a food heaven, Ice Cream most likely inhabits its highest realm. What food makes every part of our being smile more than Ice Cream? Last summer, when talking with a vegan friend of mine, I mentioned that I could probably handle being a vegan...but I would never give up Ice Cream, no matter what. I was then introduced to vegan ice cream, a creamy dessert that does not contain a single ingredient deriving from an animal. To my amazement, this frozen ambrosia that uses coconut milk as a base was absolutely amazing! Creamy, sweet and satisfying (and easy to make)!

Whether you are vegan or eat meat on a stick for dinner every night this is worth a try.

Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream

• 2 cans of Coconut Milk
• 1 1/2 cups Chopped Strawberries
• 1/2 cup of Agave Nectar
• 1/4 cup Strawberry Jam (preferably unsweetened)

Pour coconut milk into an ice cream maker and begin mixing. Slowly add agave nectar and then strawberry jam. Make sure to run a spatula along side of frozen bowl to prevent sticking. Just before mixture becomes thick add strawberries. When the mixture takes on ice cream consistency remove and place in a freezer friendly storage container. This treat is best enjoyed right after making but can be stored in a freezer and enjoyed later!

This recipe is featured in this month's ChiRunning Newsletter!

Thanks for coming back to my blog. Tune in next week for more Positive Tips!

Stay Positive,

Matthew

If someone eats positively and no one hears the chewing did it really happen?

Hello,

While attending to various internet tasks today, I came across a dusty corner out there in my little patch of cyberspace. I blew away the cobwebs and came across my beloved blog Positive Eating! Why was it hidden from my view for so many months? So many positive meals and positive moments passed and we did not get to share them together.

Here we are together again. Positive Eating, a blog for those who wish to make living a positive and healthy lifestyle a fun, humorous and mindful journey. An opportunity for those of you who know me and those of you who don't to form a community based on the idea that we nourish also selves every day with food and experiences. I will be posting to this blog every Wednesday. Check back for recipes, stories and humor. 

If you are out there let me know so I can say hello. 

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Pumpkin Spice Soup

Hello,

With fall well underway it is time to take advantage of the fall harvest. Pumpkin is a magical food (remember Cinderella) and loaded with incredible nutrients. Below is a recipe I adapted to be served thick and warm for the chilly weather that is blowing in. This is the best recipe because it seriously takes only 10 minutes! Let me know how it comes out for you!



Ingredients

1 can of pumpkin puree (use 2 cups of fresh)
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 dash cinnamon
2 dashes ginger powder
1 dash stevia powder
1/4 cup coconut milk (or cow/soy/almond milk)
1 handful of raisins

Preparation

Blend everything together until smooth . Add more spice to taste if desired. Place on stove and heat. Be careful not to heat too long. This is really like a five minute soup!

Serve topped with pecans, and a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg!

A Passion That Lives On....

Yesterday I went to a farm stand with my father, Raymond Germain. He enjoyed picking out local produce and I chatted with two other customers that were milling about the barn. The woman at the barn began telling us how a relative of her's just came off of dialysis and received a transplanted kidney from an anonymous donor. This woman was currently going through dialysis and was on the list to receive a transplant as well. The man who was also shopping related to us that he had been on dialysis for several years before receiving his transplant.

I became struck by the fact that every customer at this little farmstand had kidney disease! My father was born with an adult onset form of Polycystic Kidney Disease. He was diagnosed in 1982 and received his transplant in December of 2002. There was one key difference between my father and the other people in the barn. My father went twenty years without ever needing to be hooked up to a dialysis machine.

Many claim he was lucky. They explain this was a result of a gradual enough cyst formation to sustain him until 2001 when his sister, Sue, was declared a match. There cannot be a more incredible gift than life and that is what his sister was able to give him. My family is quite thankful.

What sustained him for so long? The answer is the inspiration for this blog. My father knew long before his diagnosis that being positive was the key to a vibrant and enjoyable life. This lesson he bestowed on his children and all those who were fortunate to come in his presence. However he began to take an even more active role in sustaining his life. He began to eat in a way that was positive as well.

His loving wife of thirty seven years, Jean, took to the library and began looking at the way food affected kidney function. Incrementally, they began to make shifts that worked for the entire family. This is where I was blessed to be born to such enlightened people. We woke up every morning to fresh fruit before heading off to school or play. In the evening, we came through the door to a fresh salad every night before eating a family dinner.

In addition to adding in more fresh fruits and vegetables, they began to limit foods that taxed kidney function. Sodium was cut tremendously and water intake went up. Cranberry juice became a pretty constant staple around the Germain household and we needed two water pitchers in a fridge just to keep up with H2O demand. Meat and dairy intake was reduced slowly and methodically over a period of ten years. Animal protein produces many acids that are tough on the kidney and the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle favors a person with such a diagnosis. Thanks to this process it became very easy for me to take dairy products completely out of my diet...a transition that is difficult for many.

Most importantly, Jean and Ray continued to create and share food together. This act of love may have been the most healing aspect of the entire diet they constructed. Even though they are responsible for everything that drives me to learn, live and teach the positive and healthy lifestyle, they maintain an eagerness to learn more and continue to make shifts that aid their wellbeing.

My passion was born from this. Eating is a positive and fun experience for me but that is just an outward expression of a deep understanding of its true importance. Food truly does sustain us and for many of us without a life threatening illness we forget that it keeps us alive. This is a conscious act of survival and I believe it nourishes much more than our anatomy. This is why food is so interwoven with love. What is sharing a meal with someone? It is the decsion to share with others the very matter that is nourishing our physical bodies, our growing minds and our loving spirits. When we create and share food together we are actually creating and sharing life.

By medical standards I am lucky to have shared as many years with my father as I have. The doctor's at Massachusetts General Hospital are to be regarded as angels and my mother a saint for all they have done to make this possible. We all can do something to sustain ourselves and those around us. The steps we take to actively improve the quality of our lives have a tendency to ripple out and benefit all those that are close to our hearts. The heart beat itself can almost be thought of as the source of this rippling effect. The strength inside our hearts determines how far out the waves will travel. Strengthen your own heart and you will truly affect others.

I wish you strength and well being and hope to hear from you soon!

Stay Positive,

Matthew

"Food is the one thing that is everything"

-David Wolfe

Sweeett!!!

The Corn Refiner's Association and everyone's favorite refined sugar High Fructose Corn Syrup!

A recent campaign by the Corn Refiner's Association (an industrial group that protects and promotes corn based products) is defending the consumption of a natural sugar called High Fructose Corn Syrup or HFCS. This "natural" sugar is created by stripping corn of all its nutrients, separating out the sugar and then chemically treating that sugar so it matches the sweetness of sucrose, also known as table sugar (for a more accurate description of how it is manufactured click here). The ads feature every day people being served sugary treats and being comforted by the fact that corn syrup comes from corn. Other than the general "corniness" of the ads, I became slightly concerned. Over the past several years I have been taking HFCS out of my diet and replacing it with fruits and vegetables. I began to break out in a cold sweat. Did I make a rash decision leaving this wonderfully refined, processed and chemicalized natural product behind? I set out on a quest to find High Fructose Corn Syrup and possibly invite it back into my body.

This was not difficult. I found it everywhere at the grocery store. This sugar was found in breads, salad dressings, cereals, baby food, ketchup, juice and it even made it to the top of the charts on some ingredient labels. Soft drinks turned out to come away with the bragging rights of being the most HFCS power packed product. Later on I discovered that forty five thousand products in the average grocery store contain corn products, six percent of those corn products being HFCS (Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan Page 19). I was relieved. I did not want to be responsible for starting a trend that wiped out an entire denatured carbohydrate from the American diet. High Fructose Corn Syrup was alive and well and if I wished I could make sure it was present in every meal and drink I took in for the rest of my life.

I realized I needed to do more research. What were the potential benefits or potential dangers of consuming HFCS in large quantities? This is important to know, since the corn industry makes sure every single American is provided 78 pounds of HFCS a year. When you take out all the extraneous factors, we are all entitled to half a pound of HFCS each and every day for the rest of our lives (What to Eat, Marion Nestle page 319). I visited two websites launched by the Corn Refiner's Association, sweetsuprise.com and HFCSfacts.com. I was blown away to see what I had been missing. High Fructose Corn Syrup actually enhances the flavor of fruit and spices. What have I been doing eating apples and bananas without dumping refined sugar on them?! My cumin, turmeric and curry powder simply are not enough on their own, they are all begging to be brought out of their flavor prisons and freed by the miracle of HFCS. According to the Corn Refiner's Association, the refined sugar known as High Fructose Corn Syrup does not contribute to rises in obesity or type 2 diabetes. It made me wonder why type 2 diabetes is often called "sugar diabetes", for all the facts about how people develop diabetes click here (for those who want a quick summary it says the more glucose, or sugar, that builds up in your blood the more your body becomes at risk for type 2 diabetes)

There were even leading experts in the field exonerating HFCS, including Dr. Walter Willett from the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Marion Nestle an NYU professor and author of Food Politics and What to Eat and Dr. Michael Jacobsen of the Center for Science in Public Interest. This is where I started to become confused. The website HFCSfacts quotes Dr. Marion Nestle as a friend of HFCS yet in Chapter 27 of her own book, What to Eat, she offers some pretty startling evidence that the increase in sugar consumption can be declared "guilty by association" for the rise in obesity in this country over the last twenty years. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the consumption of HFCS has jumped 1000% in the last thirty years, "far exceeding the intake of any other food or food group" (Sugar Shock, Connie Bennett and Stephen Sinatra page 88) . Dr. Walter Willett even claims that the HFCS does not satisfy our need for sugar, especially when consumed in beverage form, causing us to take in more processed sugar than is healthy for us. His landmark project, The Nurse's Health Study, showed that "women who increased their intake in soda or fruit punch over a four year period gained weight" and "woman who consumed one soda or a glass of fruit punch per day had nearly a two fold higher risk of type 2 diabetes" (Eat, Drink and Weigh Less page 69). I actually receive Dr. Michael Jacobsen's Nutrition Action: Health Letter, where he states that all processed sugar, including HFCS, "undermines our diets because it supplies us with empty calories" (Nutrition Action Health Letter: January/February 2008)

This was all becoming very complex to me. I was diving deeper and deeper into the world of sugar and my intellectual cortex was expanding. I could feel myself becoming tired, cynical and in need of something to eat. On the way downstairs from my personal library, I remembered what Positive Eating was all about. Eating is supposed to be a positive and enjoyable experience and the things we put into our body should be as positive and enjoyable as possible. I grabbed an apple and came upstairs to write this blog post. I decided to look up a picture of High Fructose Corn Syrup and see if it brought up the same feelings of wholeness and goodness I was getting from my apple. This is what I found:

The Corn Refiner's Association is correct. Sugar is a natural occurring substance and the sweet taste was meant to be enjoyed by human taste buds. I enjoy it thoroughly every day...however it looks a little bit more something like this:

Please let me know what your thoughts are. If anyone from the Corn Refiner's Association is out there please send me a bottle of High Fructose Corn Syrup...I am curious of how much it can enhance the flavor of these remarkable tasty farm fresh locally grown peaches I've been eating daily.

As always eat positive,

Matthew

What is Health Counseling?

Hello,

I am so happy to finally post on this blog page again! Things have been pretty incredible making the transition to being a Health Counselor full time. However, I am happily ready to start blogging again. Let's start by telling you what it is I do in this new career.

Health Counseling is about looking at the entire scope of a person and guiding them in ways that will bring more health and vibrancy into their lives. This is a holistic practice in the truest sense. There is really no effective way to teach or preach healthy living. The vast majority of people know that getting adequate rest, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking water and partaking in some form of physical movement are all part of a healthy lifestyle. Even with this knowledge, this country still struggles with many health problems that are completely preventable.

This is not because we are lazy! America is probably the least lazy country on the planet. We work long hours, we make sure our children are given every opportunity in the world and we remain active in our communities. We are actually so busy not being lazy that we leave our bodies on the back burner as we move through this land of opportunity at break neck speed.

Unfortunately, our mind and our spirit is given only one human body in which to travel through life. This is why it is so important to make sure that we nourish ourselves at every level of human experience. Only then can we truly integrate healthy changes into our lifestyle. This is why health counseling is so effective. It allows us to take a one hour break from the marathon we attempt to sprint every single day and take notice of what our body truly needs. My job as a counselor is to recognize those things with you and then develop a plan that will make sure the change is made and accepted by your mind, body and spirit.

To learn more about my six month health counseling program please contact me via my website. I strongly encourage you to sign up for a free initial health history consultation. I look forward to talking to you.

I am excited to be blogging again! Please know that your comments and support are always welcome!

Stay Positive,

Matthew