Remember the Spice Girls? My all-time favorite spice girls are the grande dames of spices, ginger and turmeric. Popular in Asia for millennia for both culinary and medicinal use, they are rhizomes (technically subterranean stems) and botanical relatives in the Zingiberaceae family. (You don’t have to pronounce the name.) 

I’m often called upon to comment — on longevity foods, brain-boosting foods, cancer-fighting foods — the topics of my books. But, fiber? Not my usual. And not the sexiest food topic! We hear the word “fiber” and think sawdust or dry cereals that taste like cardboard, right?

Because everybody deserves to have sweet in their lives.  I was reminded of this at a conference recently when a colleague, who is truly a grande dame of healthy nutrition if ever there was one, mentioned that when she travels she always packs some gluten free fig newtons. She finds them energizing, comforting and a welcome treat on the road, when she’s speaking to audiences, engaging with participants, in high energy mode. When she gets back to her room for some quiet time, it feels good to have a little something special with a cup of tea.

What are blood sugar regulators? The answer to this first question is pretty straightforward: fat and fiber. Some of the foods you’ll especially want to consider are avocados, almonds, walnuts, flaxseed, chia seeds, sesame seeds, legumes, edamame, cinnamon, peas, and quinoa, along with all of the dark leafy greens. (Dark leafy greens nearly always make an appearance on healthy food lists, don’t they?)

A reader recently asked: what does your plate look like? Great question, and one I can answer in a word — veg-centric.

Quick! What herb comes to mind when I say appetite-stimulating, digestion-aiding, anti-inflammatory, cancer-fighting, heart-healthy, brain-healthy, AND detoxifying? Ok, you guessed because of the title. But did you know all that about dear old humble parsley?

Wondering what kind of fish to eat (and not to eat) and how to prepare?

From a health standpoint, if you are open to eating fish, by all means, do! And if selection and preparation are holding you back from cooking fish, then follow me into my kitchen and let’s dive in :)

“Inflammation” is one of those health words that is bandied about all the time… but do we really know what it means? We think of swelling and the color red… we know it’s not a good thing, and that we want less of it… but the rest is a bit mysterious.

When we cook for ourselves, our friends and our family, everything about our life slows down.It’s like living in a Frank Lloyd Wright home, where the kitchen is right in the middle, comfort and communications central. That’s where everyone wants to be! Aromas emanate, from morning coffee to mouth-watering soups, to veggies roasting, to cookies baking. A place to create, to savor, to taste, to reconnect with our food, our health, our family. Ourselves.

Yesterday 500 guests joined me in my kitchen (the most I’ve ever had!) for my first live, online Kitchen Chat, and it was wonderful.

The topic was Fighting Cancer -- with Food! and we kind of went over a bit, and one hour stretched to an hour and a half... and I think we all could easily have stayed all afternoon, there’s just so much to discuss. And so many questions!

Food has the capacity to bring joy.

Regardless of where anyone is on the continuum of cancer -- metastatic, going through treatment, doesn’t have cancer, has another disease state, or is “healthy,” quote, unquote -- food has the capacity to bring comfort and joy into our lives, sometimes in the middle of painful circumstances, in the smallest and most treasured ways. Food can have a powerful effect on our quality of life, right here and right now. It can be one bite that shifts your life. And we’re not talking about just surviving; we’re talking about thriving!

We humans can fly to the moon, but we still get felled by the common cold or flu virus!

Your immune system is responsible for protecting your body against the invasion of yuck!

It’s designed to detect and ward off disease-causing pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites… all of the things you don’t want! Sure, you can’t see it or taste it, or wrap your arms around it. It’s a bit mysterious! Like your very own invisibility cloak. But we do know that components of the immune system reside in your lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow, lymphocytes (small white blood cells),  thymus, and leukocytes (high white blood cell count), all involved in eradicating unwanted invaders.

But… what’s food got to do with the immune system, anyway?

Feeling bombarded? New Year, New You. Top 10 Exercises for the Perfect Body. Get Glowing! 30-Day Detox. Juicing! Cleansing! Weight Loss Challenge! Another program. Another promise, a whole list of techniques to learn, and a bunch of supplements to ingest. Blah blah blah.

Take a breath!

I always think that Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the people who have made a difference in our lives.

For me, the older -- and hopefully wiser - I get, the more potent the reflections, and the richer the crazy quilt of my life becomes. The people that wander in and out sharing pearls of wisdom are like the threads stitching the the quilt together. Each might have appeared only for a day, a week, a month or a year. Sometimes they are just characters with walk-on parts, with two or three lines that have been game changers for me, or they have guided me in the right direction when I needed it most.

Here we go! The cascade of the holidays starts now.

On Thanksgiving we focus on the traditional feast, our special menu or dish we have GOT to have. 4 days to make, 4 minutes to eat. Whew! But November is about SO much more than that ONE big meal.

What is it about the Mediterranean diet that is SO healthy?

Study after study reveals notable benefits of the Mediterranean diet for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s  -- so many chronic diseases. This breast cancer prevention study zeroed in on olive oil. And while the olive oil is most certainly effective, I’m equally sure that it’s only part of the reason. We Americans always look for the one magic bullet to solve our problems! But the beauty of the Mediterranean “diet” is that Mediterranean cultures have orchestrated the whole health package: diet PLUS lifestyle.

ep·i·ge·net·ics
noun

1. the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself.

I find it empowering to think that the food we eat can have an effect on our gene expression.

Hold on! You mean what I eat… can affect my genes?

Yes, indeedy! Quite an eye opener. Certainly caught my attention. In fact, I believe I am the first cookbook author ever to have a section on epigenetics, in my book The Longevity Kitchen.

Cooking and eating for health is about tilting the odds in your favor -- and I’m going to take a stand right here and say organic food makes a difference.

As a cook, I was initially drawn to organic ingredients because of the flavor! To my tastebuds, organic fruits, veggies, meats and more are always superior. But there are facts beyond flavor that convince.

Are you in fight or flight?

Recently I got an SOS call from someone whom I adore who is quite ill.  She has CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and is recovering from pneumonia. The pneumonia is not a great sign. When someone in my friend’s situation gets pneumonia it’s an indication that the CLL is rearing its ugly head. She has dropped a tremendous amount of weight and she’s starting chemotherapy at the end of the month. The SOS call was understandably...panicked.