A Taste of Vitality

General Notes:

NUTRITION

- This cook blog iz named as "A Taste of Vitality" bcoz purpose of thiz blog iz foods which provide the body to create and maintain an active life style. By choosing "strong" foods, your body is provided with the needed protein, carbohydrates, fats, nutrients, vitamins, mineral, phytochemicals, isoflavones, essential fatty acids, and anti-oxidants it needs to be energetic (especially energy-enhancing vitamins and mineral such as magnesium, zinc, and vitamin B6). water is also important.

"Weak" foods and foods to which a person is allergic can drain energy. "Weak" foods are discussed below. The most common food allergies are citrus, wheat, corn, milk, soy, dairy products, yeast, and eggs.

"Strong" foods include (examples in parentheses):
+ unrefined non-gluten grains (brown rice, quinoa);
+ nutrient dense vegetables including:

* cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts);

* sea vegetables (nori, arame);

* leafy greens (kale, collards);

* yellow and orange vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots, winter squash);

* other (snow peas);
+ beans (adzuki, black, lentil);
+ minimally processed soy products (tempeh, miso);
+ whole fruit (apples, citrus, plums);

"Weak" foods included:
+ refined foods including:

* refined grains - especially glutinous grains like wheat (most common form is white flour, often called
wheat flour since it is made of wheat berries, albeit very refined wheat berries);

* refined sweeteners such as white sugar and confectioner's sugar (most candies and sodas contain refined
sweeteners);

+ caffeine from coffee, tea, cola and chocolate;

+ nutrient poor vegetables including:

* mushrooms;

* eggplant;

* celery, fennel;

* cucumber;

* summer squash (zucchini, yellow summer squash);

* pale greens (iceberg lettuce);
The "weak" foods simply take space in a diet, dont provide necessary nutrients, and only crowd out good,
nutritionally foods (the "strong" foods above).

- thats why, to promote a healthy  lifestyle, the emphasis of thiz blog is on cooking with foods that are:
+ vegan (i.e., free of all animal products, including free of honey);

+ whole and unprocessed (e.g., whole grains such as quinoa and whole-unrefined bean products such as
tempeh - not refined/processed foods like white rice and white/wheat flour);
+ nutritionally dense (high in vitamins and minerals) (e.g., leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, and Brussels sprouts -
not eggplant, cucumber, and summer squash);
+ non-glutinous (e.g., grains like quinoa, millet, amaranth, rice - not wheat, barley, rye, or corn).

These are life-sustaining, providing the body with essential nutrients which are important to maintaine an active lifestyle. The recipes will occasionally call for "weak" foods (i.e., foods with little or no nutrition) like mushrooms and celery, but these are used with the understanding that they are not the main part of a dish (i.e., used in small amounts) and are primarily used for flavor. Also, many of the desserts call for flour (which is processed due to the grinding), but I do this to create the best desserts, and the recipes call for exclusively wholegrain flours. Additionally, in the desserts, I almost always use non-glutinous grain flours (like brown rice, millet, amaranth, and teff flour) with finely ground tapioca and ground flax seed for extra binding due to the lack of glutinous grains. This gives the dessert a more diverse/complete nutritional profile, which provides more energy to the body, while maintaining a traditional form, taste, and texture.