“Myth #2: Healthy Food Costs an Arm and a Leg”
Myth: Healthy food costs an arm and a leg.
Fact: Packaged, ready-made, anything-with-a-shiny-wrapper costs an arm and a leg, and will put a real and unnecessary drain on your resources. In addition, packaged, ready-made, anything-with-a-shiny-wrapper is not necessarily healthy.
So how do we make healthy food that is economical? Well, let’s first remember our #1 Starting Place. Ask yourself: Would my great-grandmother recognize this and feed it to her family? If the answer is yes, you are onto something good!
Today’s simple example is a delicious, deeply nourishing, and easy-to-make soup.
Cream of Broccoli Soup
In a big pot, sauté onions and celery in Extra Virgin Olive Oil on a medium flame until translucent. Add in salt and whatever spices you like. Chop up broccoli and potatoes into 1-2 inch pieces and throw them into the pot. Add leftover chicken soup broth from Shabbos (or whenever else you made it). Bring it all to a boil, and then simmer until the broccoli and potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes. Then blend it all up with an immersion blender. Cilantro Lovers, you can add in half a bunch of chopped cilantro to the pot a few minutes before you blend it.
If you want it really creamy, you can add a tablespoon or two of coconut cream to each bowl. Serve with a piece of whole grain bread and you’ve got a complete meal.
The soup freezes well and can be brought out again as a super-fast, super-healthy, super-delicious dinner. This is the kind of ready-made that is great!
So what’s so good about it, hmm?
Onions, broccoli, and potatoes are some of the most inexpensive and most nourishing vegetables. Broccoli is high in carotenoids and Vitamin C and contains B-complex, phosphorus, and potassium. It is also rich in chromium, which protects against diabetes, and indoles, which is a potent anti-cancer substance.
Onions contain carotenoids, B-Complex Vitamins, all-important B6 and Vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sulphur compounds. They improve kidney function, lower cholesterol, have anti-bacterial qualities, and are also helpful in breaking up mucus in the throat, lungs, and nasal passageways. Potatoes provide Vitamin C and B-Complex, potassium, calcium, and iron.
Chicken broth is inexpensive to make (and is sort of free is you are using leftovers that would have been thrown out!) and is a real powerhouse nutritionally. Chicken broth, like other meat stocks, contains the minerals from the bones, cartilage, marrow, and vegetables in the form of electrolytes, which makes them very easy to digest and assimilate in the body. It is also rich in gelatin, which aids digestion and has been used to successfully treat many intestinal disorders including hyperacidity, colitis, Crohn’s disease, and many chronic disorders including anemia, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, and cancer. The amino acids that are released from the cartilage into the broth have been used in the treatment of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. And Rambam and your great-grandmother both prescribed chicken broth as treatment for colds and asthma.
Add it all together and you see that this meal will not cost you an arm and a leg, is delicious, and can be frozen for a quick dinner for when you need it. And is something your great-grandmother and Rambam would be proud of!
By Shaina Kamman, AADP
Shaina Kamman, AADP is a Board Certified Health Coach supporting you to Transform Your Kitchen into a Haven of Health! Whether you simply recognize the value of robust health and prevention, or you have specific health concerns you want to address, Shaina’s individualized program will make your transition easy, fun, and delicious! You can find more information at www.LifeWithin.info or on www.facebook.com/TheLifeWithin. She can be reached at (973)518-3238 or at Shaina@LifeWithin.info. Mention this Community Links article for a 10% discount on your initial consultation!