Everyday Foods For Natural Detox

Transcript:

JOLENE: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness, a nutritional company where our goal is to help clients learn the practice of eating real whole foods and avoiding the processed prepackaged foods for better health. Recently, we've had a lot of clients make appointments because they are frustrated or tired of the pandemic pounds they've put on. The pandemic really hurt all of us, and it was hard to maintain a good, healthy diet. Many people fall into the fallacy that they can do a quick detox formula to lose those extra pounds. And with everything, it sounds really good, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Real health takes time. Detoxification is a, a process that our body already has. Our body has a superb detoxification process in house. What we want to talk about is how to detox naturally. How can we support our body's natural detoxification system and not fall into those detox diets that may actually do more harm than good?

So today we have a very exciting show. We're going to talk about the everyday kitchen foods you need to help support your body's natural detoxification system. Today's podcast or radio show is a team effort. You might recognize my voice. This is Jolene Carlson. I'm a licensed nutritionist, and I love raising my own food and looking at nature's foods to help support my own detoxification processes.

We also have Kristi Kalinski, who is a registered and licensed dietitian, who loves teaching clients of all ages the importance of eating real food for good health. She has clients from teen to their nineties and works with all of them to support their own detoxification systems. We also today have chef Marianne Jurayj from The Cook's Cure to join us and share personal recipes and cooking techniques to help us get on the real food detox plan. I'm excited for the show and I'm excited to share with you listeners, how you can support your own detoxification pathways and then some delicious recipes that you'll be able to leave with. Good morning, ladies.

MARIANNE: Good morning.

Fad detox cleanses are not recommended

KRISTI: Good morning. Hi Jolene. Hey Marianne. I'm excited for you, for us to do the radio show here today together. I know many of you guys listening to our radio show today probably known friends or coworkers or family members, or maybe even yourself that have done some type of juice cleanse or some other type of expensive detox program. And they promised results like removing toxins or losing weight, or just living healthier.

It's actually probably going to surprise you as you listen to the show today that your body is well equipped to get rid of the toxins you accumulate and that you don't have to buy these expensive detox formulas. In order to support your liver in the detoxification process, it, it just requires eating real food like vegetables. Real foods, meaning foods you can find naturally like on a farm, not ones in a factory, those are the kinds of foods we're talking about that enhance your body's natural ability to detox.

JOLENE: Such a great point, Kristi. I think both of both of us can think about many clients, and like you said, especially this time of the year that are talking about, hey, I read this detox, you know, diet works or that one works. And it often costs money, like you said, but it also just causes you to usually take on some sort of methods that are depriving you some other essential nutrients.

KRISTI: Yep.

JOLENE: Because they’re restricting something.

KRISTI: Exactly.

JOLENE: In most, in most cases.

KRISTI: Mm-hmm.

Excess estrogen is common among many people

JOLENE: So we, we want to help you detox. We know that's your goal, but we want to do it in a way that's truly going to support our own detoxification system. One of those toxins that we find build up so easily today in everybody: men, women, everybody, is estrogen. Many people think, well, I need estrogen or we right away think about the sex hormone, estrogen when we say estrogen, but estrogen is also found in the environment or in products that we're exposed to every day.

So this could be through our beauty products. This could be through food. This could be through medications. And so we end up, this estrogen looks a lot like the estrogen that people think about, the sex hormone, estrogen, but it's actually a toxin and it can really build up in our bodies. And if we have a healthy liver or detoxification system, we can help eliminate this excess amount. Too much estrogen could show up as cancer, autoimmune disease and or inflammation disorders. It's very much a health risk and we want to really pay attention to how we can support our detoxification to make sure we, we keep this risk at bay.

What are some signs and symptoms of excess estrogen?

So some signs and symptoms excess estrogen could be acne along the jawline, PMS, PCOS or any of the signs and symptoms that go with PCOS, hot flashes, weight gain in the hips and thighs, uterine fibroids and infertility. So it's really a syndrome that can show up in lots of different ways when we have excess estrogen.

KRISTI: And I know I've got a lot of clients that complain of a lot of these different problems.

JOLENE: Exactly. Mm-Hmm.

Cruciferous vegetables help detox excess estrogen

KRISTI: And we actually do have some control over this excess estrogen risk factor because there are certain everyday vegetables that help us metabolize and get rid of those bad estrogens that we're exposed to in our environment. One of the vegetables that has that power to detox and remove those bad estrogens is broccoli. Another one is Brussels sprouts. So both of those vegetables fall into the cruciferous vegetable family. Some other cruciferous vegetables that can help detoxify that estrogen besides the broccoli and the Brussels sprouts, think cauliflower, kale, collard greens, turnips, and arugula. All of these cruciferous vegetables contain a magical ingredient called DIM, or what DIM is short for is diindolylmethane. That's kind of a mouthful.

JOLENE: I like DIM better. Let’s use that.

KRISTI: I do too. That's a lot easier to say. So DIM helps us reduce those estrogen levels and it supports phase one of the estrogen detox. So DIM, what it does, it creates that better internal estrogen balance and it decreases the unwanted side effects of extra estrogen in our body, like those fibroids you were talking about Jolene or the hot flashes or in even infertility.

JOLENE: Yeah. That's, that's a great way to explain it. And so when you said phase one of detoxification that implies, and it, and there are different phases of detoxification.

KRISTI: Yep.

JOLENE: There's three phases and we got to start at phase one. And so that's where you want to focus on these cruciferous vegetables. I love that, that word cruciferous. It's just fun to say. That could be our word of the day maybe.

KRISTI: Yeah.

JOLENE: Instead of DIM, you know. So as nutritionists and dietitians, we know that those cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, turnips, arugula, are all sulfur rich foods. And that's kind why they might kind of smell in a way, those are sometimes the vegetables that, that are smelly or kids might be like, oh, what's that cooking?

KRISTI: Yes.

JOLENE: And it's like broccoli, you know, but that smell is, is nutrients.

KRISTI: Right.

JOLENE: And it doesn't necessarily feel that way. Sometimes it might not smell good to you, but those nutrients are what we're looking for; that sulfur rich food containing DIM. And like you said, Kristi, that's going to reduce those high estrogen levels and support phase one of detox. And what that does is it helps our body kind of bind to those toxins, including the estrogen. And when our body combines to those, with those foods, we can start the phase one breaking down of those toxins. And then that helps facilitate; phase one facilitates phase two, which then facilitates phase three. And then you're friendly to your liver. Love your liver and your liver will take care of these toxins for you. Marianne, I am so excited to hear about food. I mean, obviously we all love food here. That's why we work here.

KRISTI: Exactly.

JOLENE: We're dietitians and nutritionists. We love to eat. We love good food and you have so many amazing recipes that you do, so many amazing classes. I know people love them. So yeah. Will you just tell us a little bit about how you use some of these cruciferous vegetables in cooking that then will help support this phase one detoxification?

MARIANNE: Absolutely. Wow, I, first of all, thank you for letting me come in on this conversation, cause it, these are some of my favorite, the, the brassica family. I love, love, love, cruciferous vegetables. They're fantastic. And so, so in our class we do a lot of cooking classes. It's sort of where the rubber hits the road. You know, we all sort of have these recipes in our head and this is, we really break down those recipes. We talk about tips and tricks that can help people really get more of those cruciferous vegetables into their day. And so, so we were talking about Brussels sprouts and one of the questions I often ask the participants that take the class and I'll, I'll ask them if there's a vegetable they really don't like, and I will tell you Brussels sprouts often bubbles to the top.

KRISTI: Mm-hmm.

MARIANNE: And so I think it's because the way they ate these Brussels sprouts as kids, they were probably boiled, whole and just flavorless.

JOLENE: Slimy. Yeah.

MARIANNE: Slimy like little cabbage that were just boiled.

JOLENE: That’s not appetizing. I get it.

KRISTI: Yes, exactly. Yes. In our cafeteria at school for lunch in elementary school.

JOLENE: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm excited for you to tell us more about Brussels sprouts and the recipes. Let's go to break. When we come back, we'll talk more about Brussels sprouts. You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. For over 25 years as a nutritional company, we have been encouraging clients to eat real whole foods full of nutrients for weight loss and wellness to give up those quick fix, low calorie, nutrient depleted plans. Today, our show will help illustrate why eating vegetables instead of processed foods like crackers, bread, pasta, and sweets will help you detox toxins like estrogen, and from that have natural weight loss. Marianne will share quick and easy recipes for delicious tasting vegetables.

BREAK

KRISTI: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. If you gained weight during the pandemic, you're not alone. In April many, joined our in-person Nutrition for Weight Loss classes and they are on their success path. But you may have been concerned with the safety of being in a small group and perhaps you're ready to feel better in your clothes. We're offering in person classes now at all six of our locations. And we offer them every couple of months. Many clients enjoy the classes so much that they'll actually take them again. Sometimes it takes practice and time to change bad habits. And we understand that. There's no judgment and no shame involved. These are stressful times. Call and talk to us to help you understand the plan and how we can help you feel better. Our number is 651-699-3438 or send us an email and we will get back to you.

Nutrition 4 Weight Loss program

I know before we left to go to break, we were talking about Brussels sprouts. So I remember as a kid walking into the cafeteria and everyone would get that awful look on their face and we would see that they were serving Brussels sprouts that day and they would boil them. They didn't smell good. They did not look appetizing. I honestly don't know anyone that would even touch them. So I think I had a bad, bad experience as a kid and never really wanted to be open to it until I went to a restaurant a couple years ago and saw that they were frying them with bacon. And I thought, oh, oh. I'm like, maybe I'll give it a try if it has bacon in it.

MARIANNE: Yes.

KRISTI: Because bacon makes everything taste so good.

MARIANNE: It does.

KRISTI: I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it. And now Brussels sprout actually are a staple in my diet.

MARIANNE: Oh yeah. They're they, they really are wonderful. So, and, and yes, everything, everything with bacon tastes better. But I will caution people. I know Brussels sprouts are sort of having their day on a lot of restaurant menus. You look at the appetizer menu and hey, we can have Brussels sprouts with some kind of sauce. Chances are those Brussels sprouts are being deep fried in a really terrible denatured oil.

KRISTI: Mm-hmm.

MARIANNE: So I would also always ask how, how do you prepare your Brussels sprouts? They might be roasted. Chances are they're deep fried and you probably want to steer away from them cause unfortunately it's, it's undoing all the good that the Brussels sprout could have.

KRISTI: Yep.

MARIANNE: …when you do it that way. But we're going to talk about how you, you might change the shape of your Brussels sprout. So, so sort of revisit a vegetable and change its shape and it really does have a profound, it changes the taste profoundly when you when you change the, the shape.

What are some delicious ways to prepare Brussels sprouts?

So just like riced cauliflower, that's kind of having its day. And so the, really the trick to Brussels sprouts is shaving them. And if, thankfully the grocery store does a really good job. You can buy them in a bag. They're already shaved. In those sort of clamshell type containers in the deli section, they're already shaved. So, so if you don't want to do it yourself, although it is super easy to do yourself. Cut them in half, just give it sort of a flat surface. And then you know, you just cut it like you would a cabbage really thinly. And you know, typically Brussels sprouts are a late summer and fall vegetable. That's really when we think of them. We often think of them during the holidays, but, you know, thankfully we can get things pretty much year round now, which is lovely. So a really simple crowd pleasing way to do this is so what I do is I, I use my cast iron skillet. I love cast iron.

JOLENE: Oh yes. It's always a good way to go.

MARIANNE: Yes. It gives a nice sear to everything. So I, I would cook some bacon and it's going to render some of that fat. Take the bacon out and leave about two tablespoons of that fat in the pan, and then add all of those shaved Brussels sprouts and cook them up. I kind of like them crisp tender. Throw, obviously you're going to season it with salt and pepper. You could do dried herb, whatever you have in your in your spice drawer. Throw the bacon back in and then give it a little squeeze of an acid like lemon juice, or maybe a couple teaspoons of apple cider vinegar. And that really brightens that flavor. It's going to balance out the fat of the bacon and it just brings out all the wonderful flavors of those Brussels sprouts. And you know what? You can eat it for breakfast. Think about that. Put a nice “jammy” fried egg over that. And it's delicious.

JOLENE: Is that, and this is a culinary question since you're here. I just feel like I need to ask this question.

MARIANNE: Absolutely.

JOLENE: But I hear often with some of those more, you know, bitter type of vegetables, maybe bitter's not the right word. Maybe just the sulfur rich ones, that adding that that citrus, you know, at the end really does help neutralize taste. Is that kind of a rule of thumb for a lot of those?

MARIANNE: It does, yes.

JOLENE: Okay.

MARIANNE: It will help. And, and because you have that, the fattiness of that bacon. So you're kind of getting this trifecta of… delicious, the other great way to unlock that sulforaphane is there's a, there's a synergistic relationship between mustard seeds and any cruciferous vegetable. Throw in some whole mustard seeds when you've got the, the, your bacon fat, and then throw in your Brussels sprouts and you're going to unlock so much more of that sulforaphane.

JOLENE: Oh, that's great. And it's, it's almost counterintuitive because you think like bitter, bitter or, you know, whatnot, but it really does compliment each other. That's a really great tip.

KRISTI: Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. I actually, the, the Brussels sprout recipe you just shared. So we were fortunate enough to get your secret recipes ahead of time.

JOLENE: Lucky us.

KRISTI: Yes. So I actually made this Brussels sprout recipe yesterday and I paired it with some leftover steak for dinner. And then I had the rest of it this morning for breakfast with some eggs. Oh my gosh. It was absolutely delicious. I had only ever roasted Brussels sprouts in the oven and doing it with that cast iron skillet. Oh my gosh. What a difference that made. And then I added thyme.

MARIANNE: Oh, delicious.

KRISTI: Was the herb that I had in there and then some fresh lemon. Oh my gosh. It was so good.

JOLENE: It is good. And it is such a good suggestion because so many of our clients are, they, they always ask how do we get vegetables in a breakfast?

MARIANNE: Yeah. And I know there's, that is tough one.

JOLENE: It is. But that is one that I always do is I use cabbage or something that's already shredded: Brussels sprouts. Like something that's not so maybe big.

MARIANNE: Or maybe a slaw mix.

JOLENE: Yeah, you could just put that with your eggs, your bacon and really anything. You could just do the leftover meat, like you said, you know, that protein, and it really just makes it a delicious balanced meal and you get your veggies.

MARIANNE: Exactly.

KRISTI: Exactly. So in addition to the recipe that Marianne just shared about the Brussels sprouts you can also find various vegetable recipes in, we have a Weight and Wellness cookbook that you can buy or you can go online. We have a lot of great recipes on there as well. It's weightandwellness.com. For this particular show and podcast, we asked Marianne to dig a little bit deeper into that library of recipes that she has that you don't see on the website, or they're not in the cookbook. And she wants to share those with the listeners today. So if you guys would like a copy of those special estrogen detox recipes that she's going to share throughout the show today you can have it sent directly to your email. All you have to do is just go to our website. Or click Get The Detox Recipes Here. Just enter your email, and then we'll send these recipes right to you.

So you don't have to sit and try and scribble them down, or if you're in the car driving, and you're trying to remember them in your head, you can just have them right at your fingertips. Our goal basically is just, we want you to find a way to cook these types of vegetables and actually enjoy them, you know, and make them a, a staple in your diet. And these recipes are at no charge. So I know I always enjoy finding new ways to cook vegetables.

I get in a rut and I do it the same way over and over. And I don't really think to research or try different things. So then when we got this recipe packet from Marianne ahead of the show, I'm like, oh, yay. This is exciting that I can try new and different things. It just prevents boredom when you're eating.

MARIANNE: Absolutely. I think you're not alone on that. You know?

JOLENE: And so much of vegetables is how you cook them.

KRISTI: Right.

JOLENE: You know, kind of like you go back to your cafeteria story. No, nothing looks appetizing when it's in like water and mushy and doesn't have any color and smells gross.

KRISTI: Yep. Yeah. Yep.

JOLENE: And, and I just want to encourage listeners, like, you might be a person right now being like, well, I don't like Brussels sprouts. I don't like cauliflower. I don't like broccoli. And what we've learned is that your body does like these things and appreciates them. And if you keep giving your body that exposure and that chance to eat them in different ways, you will like them and probably even crave them.

MARIANNE: Absolutely.

JOLENE: Your body responds so well to them. So just, just have patience with it. It does take a little time, but you'll love it and your body will love it too.

KRISTI: Yep. And just get out that comfort zone and, and try some new things. Right?

JOLENE: Right. Yeah. So we did Brussels sprout. So cauliflower Marianne. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

How can we prepare cauliflower in delicious ways?

Yeah. You know what, one of my favorites, and there's so many ways you can make cauliflower and, and so a show stopper is roasting a whole head of cauliflower: super easy. So there's not even, you know, barely any chopping, mincing and dicing. So nobody can use that as an excuse.

JOLENE: Which many of us do including myself.

KRISTI: So you're talking the whole head.

MARIANNE: The whole head.

KRISTI: You don't even cut it up.

MARIANNE: So you're, you're going to buy the head, you know, you, you're going to take the, the sort of the woody end off the bottom.

KRISTI: Sure.

MARIANNE: Although most of that that core and even the leaves are absolutely edible. So you're really just taking that sort of, that, that woody end off. And you're going to take the whole thing. Now you could use your cast iron again, but you could also do this in a roasting pan or a, a parchment lined sheet pan. And here's what I do. So I take a little bowl and I mix up, you can use avocado oil. If you're your oven temperature’s at 375 or below, you could certainly use olive oil here. And but we can finish this recipe here. Why don't we go to break? And we'll finish that recipe when we come back.

JOLENE: You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. I thought I would share some nutritional pearls this morning. Here is a pearl everyone knows. After years of being told that a low fat, low cholesterol diet is healthy, obesity, type two diabetes and heart disease cases have soared, telling us that we really need to go back to real nutritional dense food. Toxic environmental waste and estrogens are stored in fatty tissue. And the breast is the primary fatty tissue in women. Something to think about about the rate of breast cancer and toxins or excess estrogen is that one in eight women now get breast cancer. And lastly, with a high stress life, especially the last couple years, our nutritional needs skyrocket and remain higher than normal. Whatever your stress is or whatever you're experiencing, nutrition is the key to protecting your body from this damage. We need to eat high nutrient dense foods.

BREAK

KRISTI: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. Here's a quote from Dr. Hans Selye. I think of him as the father of stress research. He said, “Stress, no matter what the source will cause the body to use vitamins and minerals in great amounts beyond the normal needs.” Many women I work with want to lose weight, but they're tired of white knuckling another weight loss restrictive, stressful diet, and that they're pleased to learn that they can lose inches and actually reduce their fat cells by eating real whole foods full of nutrients.

They experience weight loss, better hormone balance, and maintain their energy and good moods. We don't promise you 30 pounds in 30 days, but we promise you lasting changes and a road to better health. So let's talk. Call 651-699-3438. And I know before we left to go to break Marianne was talking about roasting a whole cauliflower either in a cast iron skillet or in the oven. So I'm excited to learn more about this.

JOLENE: It's almost like a wives' tale. Like, could this really be true?

MARIANNE: It is true. And you know what it's and the presentation is spectacular.

JOLENE: I bet.

MARIANNE: So if you really want to impress your family or guests it is really a lovely way to do it and it's super simple. So as I was saying, I take a little bowl and I mix olive oil or avocado oil; depends on your, your oven temperature. You don't want to really go above 375 if you're going to use olive oil, cause it's got a low smoke point. But take your favorite dried herb. Maybe you have a nice dried herb mix, your Italian spices or herb de Provence would be lovely. I've done this with coriander and cumin seed. And grind that up. And so you're going to almost make a paste with it and you're going to season your, your season it with salt and pepper and take this out of the bowl.

I use my hand and I just massage it all into that whole head of cauliflower, which actually looks like a brain. You're just massaging it into the, into the cauliflower and then you're going to roast it whole depending on how you like it. I like it sort of crisp tender. So I do, you know, 30, 35, 40 minutes. It depends on how big that the head of cauliflower is. And the reason I do it at 375 and not 400 is I want to be able to cook that cauliflower all the way through.

And then you bring it to the table and you cut it into four wedges and it just opens up like a flower, like a lotus. And it's beautiful. And people are, you know, you get the “ooo’s” and the “ah’s”. You can even do it on the grill. You can set it right on your grill grates. You can take your cast iron skillet, preheated in your grill and do it exactly the same way. So in the summer you're not heating up the kitchen.

KRISTI: I love that.

MARIANNE: Yeah.

JOLENE: Well, I I'll have to say I tried this recipe because I admittedly do not love cauliflower. I'll do like cauliflower rice. I'll combine it in things, but I was, it took me a long time to just eat…

KRISTI: Eat it plain.

JOLENE: Eat it plain, or just go grab some raw cauliflower. But I, I will say Marianne with this one. It was beautiful. It was delicious. It was you know, that whole roasted taste that you get, like you said, the texture was kind of like the crunchy and the soft and then the flavors of the seasonings. I did a little bit of a more spicy type of mix.

MARIANNE: Yeah, yeah.

JOLENE: Just cause that's what I was craving. But I could see how you could do whatever the flavor is you want.

MARIANNE: Absolutely. Any flavor profile you want. If you want, need to get rid of some of those old spices in your drawer, you know, I encourage you to go through those. They do have a shelf life. And yeah, use them up and oh, it's so delicious. I love it.

KRISTI: So how did you make it spicy? What did you use? Like some hot pepper flakes?

JOELEN: Yeah, exactly. So I used red pepper flakes and then just pepper, salt. What else did I use in there? I think I did do some cumin too for just kind of that, that flavor as well. I put cumin in a lot of things. It's good.

MARIANNE: Delicious.

JOLENE: Yeah. I think I might even put with the oil I might have put little hot sauce in there too.

MARIANNE: Yum.

JOLENE: Just to give it, you know, the liquid a little bit more taste too, but it was, it was, it was spicy. It was definitely, you know, if you don't want spicy, it's probably too spicy for some people, but I felt like I needed more flavor not knowing how I'd respond.

MARIANNE: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

JOLENE: You know, to the cauliflower, because I'm not used to it and, but I mean the cauliflower tasted great and I'm sure next time I could be more subtle and I would still love it just as much.

MARIANNE: Absolutely.

KRISTI: I love that. And you can use your creativity that way too, right, and try different things. You're not just boxed into a recipe on a piece of paper and just experimenting and trying different things. I think that's, that's great. Another way to just add variety.

MARIANNE: Absolutely. It's a template that you can, you can go a million different ways.

KRISTI: Yep, exactly. I love that.

JOLENE: That's so fun.

KRISTI: Yeah. No, and I don't, it's important for me. I try and eat at least one cruciferous vegetable a day. You know, like we've talked the broccoli, cauliflower just because I know it's helping support that estrogen detox in my body. What I like to do with broccoli in particular is I will sauté it in butter in the morning just until it gets, you know, semi soft. And then what I'll do is after I make that broccoli in the pan, I'll throw some eggs in there and then I scramble some eggs and I just eat broccoli and the eggs. And then I've got my healthy fat in there: butter. It, it tastes delicious. You know, so I know I'm supporting my estrogen detox. I'm helping maintain a healthy weight. I've also noticed too, when I eat a breakfast like that with the lower carb vegetables that I actually have more energy during the day too. And I don't get as tired like in the afternoon.

JOLENE: And what about your cravings? I find when I start out the day with adding vegetables, to like my protein and fat, that just don't crave as many of the other sugary or “carby” foods in the day. Like I just, yeah. It's like the energy. And so you just feel better, feel better to eat better kind of for the rest of the day.

KRISTI: Yep. It just sets the day off right. So I'm curious to know about cauliflower rice. You mentioned that I have a bag of it in my freezer and what I do my, tell my clients to do is to add some to their smoothies, because then it kind of almost gives it an icy type texture and they're getting a cruciferous vegetable that way.

JOLENE: Yep.

KRISTI: But I really haven't experimented beyond that with the cauliflower rice to know what else I could do with it. So I'm curious to know Marianne, if you have any suggestions for that.

MARIANNE: That is a, you know, it is funny that people are putting cauliflower rice into their smoothies.

JOLENE: Well, I know I tell them that. I think all of us here tell people that. I don't know. I say the same thing when they're looking for a vegetable and they're kind of like, what do I put in my smoothie? Cause it's so subtle.

MARIANNE: Yeah.

JOLENE: And it's already broken down and if it's frozen, you're getting that cold, you know, refreshing…

MARIANNE: No color.

JOLENE: Yeah. No color.

KRISTI: People get stuck on spinach and smoothies. And it's, I can't think of anything else to add. So that's why I say…

JOLENE: And that's great. Spinach and kale are great too, but it just gives you another option.

KRISTI: Yep. Another, that is fun option. I love it. I'm, you know, I've not tried it in a smoothie and I'm definitely going to do that.

KRISTI: Oh good. I gave you an idea.

MARIANNE: Absolutely. And like, I always always have cauliflower rice in my freezer. Always. It is my, you know, get out of jail free. I, you know, if you've come home from a busy day, if you've got some cauliflower rice, I mean it thaws in no time. You can throw it into the pan frozen; super easy. I pretty much make any of my stir fries: cauliflower rice is the substitute. If you really feel like you need to have a little bit of that rice texture, if you had some cooked brown rice, if you put a half a cup of, and sort of mix it in, but I'm, I'm telling you, you will not miss. I think you will not miss the regular rice using cauliflower rice. It's delicious.

And so, and the nice thing is you like we said, you can get it frozen, but you can also get it in one of those containers. They they'll do it for you in the deli section. I actually sort of like the fresh a little bit better. It has a little more crunch, a little more texture. I don't think I'd probably put that in my smoothie. I would definitely go with the frozen in the smoothie.

But I do like my vegetables to have a little texture, but it is interesting how it is somewhat neutral, even though we kind of say that it, you know, it has that, that sulfur smell, but for some reason when you rice it and definitely in its frozen form, it's it's more neutral, but you can do the easiest things. This again, kind of like with your whole head of, of cauliflower, you can add any flavor. You could simply add like a nice salsa verde. But that that's the green salsa that you might find, you know, certainly look, make sure all the ingredients are, are real ingredients and no denatured oils.

You can throw that; in super easy. To have a Southwest flavor, maybe a little cumin, you can do your Italian seasonings. Maybe if you if you tolerate dairy, you could do a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. It is absolutely the easiest thing. And I think if you feed kids this early on, it will just be the norm for them. And they will love it. I mean, I almost always put a scoop of riced cauliflower at the bottom of a bowl when I'm going to have a soup or a stew and it just warms it up.

KRISTI: That's a good idea.

MARIANNE: It fills that bowl and it's fantastic.

JOLENE: Oh yeah. That is a great idea to get it in there.

KRISTI: Yeah. It gives it a little more substance to it.

MARIANNE: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

JOLENE: I know that one thing that I love cauliflower rice for is just like a substitute for other rice kind of in the stir fry is when I do the, the stuffed vegetables. Like if I'm doing stuffed pepper, do cauliflower rice with like maybe some sort of tomato base and, and some good protein of choice, or if I'm stuffing mushrooms, I'll kind of combine it. It just, like you said, it kind of just adds that, that last piece to bring something together very easily.

MARIANNE: Perfect.

KRISTI: Well, good. Now I have new ideas for my riced cauliflower other than my smoothie, and I've never bought fresh. So I'll have to remember to do that.

JOLENE: Well, let's go to break and we come back, we're going to talk about other cruciferous vegetables or detoxifiers. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Today we are sharing a variety of vegetable recipes you can use to detox estrogens. Many women and men have elevated estrogen because of the exposure to the many environmental estrogens found everywhere: cleaning products, personal care products, plastics, flame retardants, and pesticide residue in meat and vegetables. It's important to avoid environmental estrogens and establish a plan to continuously detox and love your liver with good food. You can start this by just adding one or two of the vegetables we talk about today to your daily routine. Please request Marianne's delicious detoxing veggies that we talk about today.

BREAK

KRISTI: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. When I'm preparing meals in my kitchen, I always add a clove or two of garlic because many research studies show that garlic is beneficial to lowering cholesterol, controlling inflammation, boosting immunity, and most importantly, protecting your body from the environmental pollutions and toxins. Nutritional Weight and Wellness is a company that encourages clients to eat real whole foods and avoid processed foods for better health. To learn this cutting edge nutrition plan, set up an individual appointment, or take one of our many classes. Call and let us help you get on a wellness plan: 651-699-3438.

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So before we went to break, we were talking about cauliflower and that is in the cruciferous vegetable family. I would like to switch gears a little bit and talk about a different vegetable that actually is not in the cruciferous vegetable family, but it still really supports the liver detoxification process and that's beets.

Beets support the liver detoxification process

JOLENE: Yeah, we were talking during break; Kristi and I were, that we grew up on beets that weren't so good. Just kind of like your example with the Brussels sprouts, and so a lot of times people hear beets, they might have some of those again, bad memories of maybe things we try tried as a child. But we're going to talk about today as all the amazing ways you can enjoy beets, like every other vegetable when you know how to cook them. I know a lot of people maybe grew up on pickled beets. That was a, a, a big thing. And that's one way to enjoy them. It gives them a different flavor profile. I know that I don't typically eat beets raw. But I do love fermented beets. So you can find fermented beets and a lot of like health food stores.

MARIANNE: Co-ops.

JOLENE: Co-ops yeah. And they are delicious. They have this beautiful flavor profile where you're, I mean, beets are kind of actually a little bit of, in my mind, a little bit of a sweet vegetable. So you have a little bit of sweetness and then that fermentation gives it a little bit of sour with it, or a little bit of bitter. So it's just like a little party in your mouth. And the beautiful thing about fermented vegetables is they offer both a prebiotic and probiotic to your gut, which is just aiding that digestion and those detoxification pathways even more. And so that's why we wanted to kind of hit on beets a little bit. And beets also help with phase two of detoxification. So we hit on phase one with those cruciferous vegetables. And then now we're going to talk a little bit about phase two.

KRISTI: Yeah. And beets you know, besides supporting that detox phase two, it also, they're very rich in antioxidants. They also have great anti-inflammatory properties. And beets are loved by our liver, but again, you know, how often are you cooking and eating beets? We're going to have Marianne actually walk us through how to prepare beets. I know I struggle with beets. It's one of the few vegetables, I'm actually scared of them in the kitchen. I, I don't know what to do with them. And I didn't like them as a kid. You know, they were the canned ones. I think my mom steamed them and I just didn't care for them, but I know if I probably made them the right way, I probably would enjoy them. I've had clients ask me, you know, what's a good size to buy for the beets or how do you peel beets? And I really can't answer that because I just don't usually have them in my kitchen. So Marianne, if you can help our listeners.

JOLENE: It's almost like I wish we had an expert in the room to help us with this.

KRISTI: Oh, Marianne.

JOLENE: Kristi and I are in heaven right now.

Some ways to prepare and shop for beets

MARIANNE: Well, let's talk about, so we're shopping, we're looking, we're in sort of the, the, you know, subterranean vegetable section. Everything's grown underground. And so as far as a good size to buy, I mean, and they're all good. You're going to find smaller ones and you're going to get the, the deep red, you can have the candy striped beets. Golden beets are beautiful. So all of them are, are fantastic and they all have great color. And I'll be honest with you. When I was a kid, I didn't like beets either. And I think I, I only had them as pickled beets. I'm sure that was the only way I ate them as a kid. And I thought that was the only way that you made them. So what did I know? So I actually, I do not peel my beets. So I cut the, if you can get them at the farmer's market, you get them obviously with the greens on, which are super good for you.

So don't, don't discard the, the stem or the leaves. They're both wonderful. And so I cut off the top and the bottom, sort of the, the, the rough ends. I give them a good scrub. I have a brush that I scrub my tough vegetables with. And then I just cut them into a one-inch cube. And again, you're going to pull out that sheet pan. You could do this in your cast iron skillet. Line your sheet pan with some, some parchment, and we're just going to roast them. You're going to roast them in a nice hot oven. It's going to mellow them out. It makes them it brings out their sweetness. Adding salt to it also brings out that sweetness. And I feel like they're a whole different, it's a whole different vegetable when you, when you roast them. I'm also going to, and then, and then you can pair it into a salad.

So you're going to take those roasted vegetables, those beets, and mix them with a beautiful vinaigrette. And it's, again, we're going to do that acid is going to really balance that flavor. It's going to be beautiful. The other way that I eat beets, and I'm going to suggest this to you gals since you're not crazy about them, is just taking a raw beet and grading it onto a salad. So you, you often see those composed salads.

KRISTI: Yes.

MARIANNE: And you have that beautiful, bright color. It's so fantastic. And I feel like you barely even know it's a beet. You almost think, you know, is this, what is this? Is it red cabbage? Is it…? And but you know what? It is one of those vegetables in the cooking classes that comes up when we ask when it's, if it's not your favorite, a lot of people say it's too earthy or too, yeah, don't, I don't know, but, you know, and we get sugar from beets so they're definitely sweet. And so good for you.

So I, I encourage everybody to, again, change the shape, shred it raw, cut it up, roast it. That cast iron skillet's going to give a little bit of a char on the edges, which is perfectly good. You don't want to do that with your meat because it creates a compound we don't want. You don't want to create that, but for vegetables you can totally get that little bit of a char.

JOLENE: Yeah, that's such a good point. People think that sometimes, because we always caution against charring meat. The vegetables are great and they don't cause any negative effects with that charred type of taste.

MARIANNE: Yeah. And it's an interesting flavor, I think it's and you know so some herbs that go really well with beets: fresh rosemary, fresh thyme if you can get your hands on it. It's lovely. They're a little bit heartier, more woody and they can take a hot oven. So I encourage you to, but if you use dried also, that's perfectly great. So, so I, I throw mine into a 400-degree oven for 30-ish minutes. Depends on how crisp you want and there you go. That's how I make my beets.

KRISTI: I love it. I'm going to give that a try and branch out.

MARIANNE: And it sounds like she's, you gave such a great transition, Marianne, for all of us that are trying a vegetable that we maybe didn't like or were trying for the first time, it sounds like cutting into small pieces. You can give that example with the Brussels sprouts, like start there, work your way into it, find out how it can be combined.

MARIANNE: Yeah, absolutely.

JOLENE: And then you can kind of work towards, you know including that vegetable more and more. And you're going to share a recipe with the, for a beet salad, correct? Can you tell us a little bit about that recipe?

MARIANNE: Yeah, absolutely. So this super simple recipe, I mean it's, so the vinaigrette has apple cider vinegar. I used olive oil here, little bit of garlic, obviously I'll salt and pepper. So I encourage you, if you can find golden beets, they really are beautiful. I love golden beets. But whatever you can find in the grocery store is going to work. And so this recipe has two cups of red or, or golden beets and they're roasted.

So just as I described, how to super simple on a sheet pan or in your cast iron skillet, and we have some red onion. So really thinly sliced red onion add a half a cup of feta, sort of crumble that over the top if you do dairy. You can omit it if you don't do dairy. And then for a little bit of crunch, add some pistachios. You could also do walnuts would be fantastic here. And then I do a cup of whatever fresh herb. Mint is incredible. Parsley, dill would be lovely. And I, I feel like fresh herbs should be included in everything always.

KRISTI: Well, they really enhance the flavor.

MARIANNE: Yes.

JOLENE: And they're so good for you. They enhance all this detoxification process too. I mean they just they're a win all around.

MARIANNE: Yeah, absolutely. Don't discount that fresh herb. It it's part of the mix here. So yeah. So that's how, it's a super simple recipe and you guys can get that when you go on the website. So I encourage you to do that.

KRISTI: Well, thank you. Now I feel better about beets.

JOLENE: I know I'm excited to try it. It makes me hungry just talking about it. Yeah. Well, today we had so many awesome recipes that, that were shared by Marianne. Our goal at Nutritional Weight and Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It is a simple but powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. Thank you for joining us today and have a wonderful day.