Dharma Feast Cookbook (7 page)

Dairy:
Raw, organic butter, or organic ghee (clarified butter) see
Ghee
in
Recipes,
Chapter 5
.

Dried Fruits:
Raisins, Medjool dates (very sweet, so use sparingly), figs, bananas, mangoes, apricots (the dark ones are the least processed), cranberries (a few make a nice addition to a salad). Watch for added sweeteners and buy non-sweetened, unsulfured dried fruit. Dried fruits are concentrated sugar so eat them in small quantities.

Frozen Foods:
Used on Stages 1 and 2 of the diet. The process of freezing food also destroys enzymes. Fresh is much better, but if we’re using berries in a smoothie, fresh berries can be very expensive. If you have a choice between canned and frozen, choose frozen—these foods are picked and frozen right away, so they are
riper and fresher. We recommend Cascadian Farm organic, Woodstock Farms organic, or any organic choice, preferably locally grown.

Flours:
Baking is an example of processing food. Sometimes we need flour for a special meal or occasion. Whole wheat pastry flour can usually be substituted for all-purpose white flour. If not, use unbleached, organic wheat flour when all-purpose white flour is called for in a recipe. Garbanzo bean flour tastes great and gives a good texture to baked goods. Spelt offers a broader range of nutrients than wheat and has a delicious, nutty flavor. Teff flour isn’t hulled before being ground into flour which preserves virtually all of the nutritional value of the whole grain. Teff is a good gluten-free alternative but makes baked goods drier. To avoid this, after baking, bring to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Other flour options: cornmeal, rye flour, whole wheat flour, almond or other nut flours, or any unprocessed natural flour. See
Gluten
in
Resources and Recommendations,
Chapter 8
, for a selection of gluten-free flours.

Grain or nut milk:
Often a good replacement for milk in recipes such as soups. Eat with hot cereals and granola, use in smoothies, add to tea, or drink as a beverage. Choices include rice, oat, almond, hemp, and hazelnut. Buy unsweetened.

Vitamin D2 is not found naturally in humans and so is not used efficiently. There is evidence that it is toxic at higher levels. We are also generally unable to absorb “enriched” forms of vitamins and minerals, as they are synthetic (see
Supplementation
in
Resources and Recommendations,
Chapter 8
, for further information). So when possible, buy unenriched. Only Rice Dream Original Classic doesn’t have D2 and isn’t enriched. However, many companies are switching from using vitamin D2 to D3, which is the form used by humans. The next best choices are Pacific Natural Foods Oatmilk, Pacific Natural Foods Hazelnut Milk, and Living Harvest Hemp Milk, but these contain D2.

Again, always check ingredients. As always, the fewer the better. You can also make your own grain or nut milk. See
Grain and Nut Milks
in
Recipes,
Chapter 5
, for instructions.

Kitchari:
A delicious dish made from a mix of spices, rice, and red lentils. If you’re following a Stage 2 diet, kitchari can easily be an excellent staple food. See
Kitchari I
and
Kitchari II
in
Recipes,
Chapter 5
.

Nuts/seeds:
Almonds, pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, cashews, pistachios, sunflower seeds, flax seeds (must be ground), sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds. These should be eaten in small quantities, because “nuts can make you nuts.” Nuts and seeds contain oils, so it is possible for them to go rancid. Walnuts will need to be refrigerated because they are high in omega-3 but other nuts can be unrefrigerated. Men may wish to eat a handful of unsalted, hulled pumpkin seeds every day, as folklore says this can help prevent prostate cancer.
Important Note
—Nuts contain enzyme inhibitors which make them very difficult to digest. They are best eaten when soaked overnight in water or in water with a little pineapple juice added. Also, when nuts and seed are toasted, the enzymes are activated, so they are available for digestion. Instructions can be found in
Soaking and Toasting Nuts and Seeds
in
How To,
Chapter 6
.

Seaweeds:
The most popular varieties are dulse, kelp, and nori (the seaweed used in making sushi). Seaweed is the most nutrient-dense food we can eat. It contains more minerals in easily-absorbable forms than any other vegetable and is very high in protein. Spirulina (powdered seaweed) has more protein pound-for-pound than most meats. Spirulina is not used with meals, but rather is used as a food supplement
and can be mixed in juice or water to create green drinks and smoothies. On a macrobiotic diet, seaweed is a part of every lunch and dinner.

Soy:
Tofu (extra firm or firm tastes best, eat only once a week), natto (a fermented bean dish), tempeh (see entry below), miso. Miso has enzymes that are destroyed with boiling, so heat with care. Miso soup makes a fulfilling breakfast food in winter with the addition of a few vegetables. Miso can also be used in salad dressings. We recommend eating miso, natto, tempeh, and tofu (in limited quantities), but limiting or eliminating processed soy food intake (foods which contain processed soy protein, for example)—please read
Soy
in
Resources and Recommendations,
Chapter 8
, for further information.

Spices:
Dried spices are best used within one year from the time they are processed. Buy in small quantities as needed. Black and white pepper, cayenne pepper (rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes; aids digestion), red paprika, dark and light mustard seeds, cumin, cardamom, coriander seeds, cinnamon, curry powder, garam masala powder, cloves, turmeric powder, caraway seeds, sage, thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, dill, bay leaves, fresh herbs (chives, parsley, dill, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, mint), and salt (use sea salt, which has trace minerals and iodine. The more color the salt has, the less refined it is. See
Condiments for the Table
above for more information on salt.) or a salt substitute such as gomasio (See
Gomasio
in
Recipes,
Chapter 5
). Another good salt mixture is equal parts sea salt, paprika, and kelp. This balances the sodium and potassium in a way that makes salt easiest to absorb.

Sweets:
Sweet is one of the tastes we are genetically programmed to crave. It is not appropriate to remove all sweet tastes from our diet. If we try to do so we will naturally begin to crave them. The Dharma Feast diet allows for many sweets that work, so check the chart in
The 3-Stage Diet
in
To Begin With,
Chapter 1
, and eat these sweets in moderation. Fruits, both fresh and dried, are a good source of sweet, as well as fresh fruit juices. Sweeteners like Grade B maple syrup and honey can be added to foods to satisfy the need for sweet. Stevia is also good because it doesn’t elevate blood sugar. Eating burdock, a root vegetable, can help reduce cravings for sweets. (See
Sweeteners
in
Resources and Recommendations,
Chapter 8
)

Teeccino:
Coffee is not recommended. The coffee substitute Teeccino is alkaline (coffee and chai are acidic).

Tempeh:
An excellent fermented soy food. Because it is made from the whole bean, it has a high content of protein and vitamins. The fermentation process makes it more digestible and removes the health hazards of soy and tofu (see
Soy
above and in
Resources and Recommendations,
Chapter 8
). Tempeh can be eaten as often as you wish. Steam first before sautéing so that it will absorb more flavors. There are instructions for making tempeh in
Wild Fermentation
by Sandor Ellix Katz, as tempeh is expensive. We recommend Turtle Island or Wildwood.

Please also see
The 3-stage Diet
in
To Begin With,
Chapter 1
. The 3-stage chart has more information on foods appropriate for whichever stage you wish to pursue. One of the strengths of the Dharma Feast diet is its flexibility—you get to choose what you will and will not include and you can still be assured you’re eating a healthy diet!

Food Combinations

Food combining guidelines are based on how slowly or quickly different foods go through the process of digestion. For example, sweet fruits digest more quickly than acidic fruits, and all fruits digest much faster than grains, proteins,
and vegetables. We don’t eat fruits with slower-digesting foods because they begin to ferment, causing gas and bloating. Pay attention also when combining starches and proteins.

The four fruit categories are:

Follow these guidelines for starches and proteins.

We realize that some of the combination or “non-combination” suggestions presented here may be a departure from the way you are used to eating. In the spirit of self-education and experimentation that we offer as one of our foundations for this diet, we urge you to explore what your body needs to function optimally. You get to decide how much you want to use these guidelines.

We also know that some recipes in this cookbook have “non-ideal” food combinations, as per this chart. We are convinced that sometimes it is more beneficial to vary from the purest diet in the spirit of enjoyment. What we have found to be most important is to choose and then stick with your choices until something else becomes more obvious. Know the facts and then make your choice.

Food Rotation

We need variety in our diet to get good nutrition. For those of you who want to embrace a right relationship to food and leave no stone unturned, varying your food choices gives you the best chance of getting all your nutritional needs met. For example, you might be in the habit of eating “regular” potatoes, but sweet potatoes (not the same as yams) are actually one of the most nutritious vegetables. They have almost twice the U.S. recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and more fiber in the skin than oatmeal. Another example is greens—there are over a dozen types, so you may wish to go beyond spinach and lettuce and make a dish with kale or collards.

Eating a wide variety of food is also a way to practice being open to new experiences. And obviously we enjoy certain foods more than others. So the recommendation here is to open up and experiment, and try to include foods in our diet that are different than the foods we became accustomed to eating when we were children.

One simple way to bring variety into your meal plans is to eat in color. When you vary food colors you eat a wide range of fruits and veggies, from blueberries, to squash, to peppers, to cabbage. Had anything orange lately? How about red? Or purple? Each color represents a different group of phytochemicals.

Diet rotation involves individual foods as well as food groups. Food groups are foods that are so similar genetically that they are considered the same food. For instance broccoli and cabbage are the same genetically—the only reason they look different is because of selective breeding by humans. See
Food Rotation Chart
in
Appendix.

It’s easy to integrate variety into your diet. Buy Collard greens instead of spinach the next time you’re at the store. Try bringing a new color of food into a meal two or three times a week. Think of your grocery cart as a rainbow—what colors do you see a lot, and which have you not seen for a while? Variety is the spice of life.