Celery and Blood Pressure

Having previously had borderline high blood pressure for years (it's now down to around 118/74) I've done a lot of searching for ways to naturally lower my blood pressure. So, when I was watching a show with Gillian McKeith on BBC America my ears pricked up when she noted that celery was great for this purpose. A quick Google on the topic confirms this fact, such as this article from http://www.highbloodpressureinfo.org/index.html. Also check out their page on other foods that can help manage your high blood pressure in a healthful range so that you can avoid taking medications.

With this newfound knowledge at hand I started looking for ways to incorporate more celery into my diet, since I know from past experience that I tire very quickly of eating raw celery (though adding some peanut butter and sprinkling with some coconut meat makes a very tasty snack).

Some of our favorite celery recipes include:

Blue Cheese Waldorf Salad
4 large apples, chopped
2 cups red or green grapes, halved
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 Tbsp lemon juice, divided
2/3 cup Miracle Whip or equivalent dressing
1/2 cup milk (add some cornstarch if not using whole milk)
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 Tbsp sugar or honey
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Add 1 Tbsp of lemon juice to the milk. Let stand for 5 minutes. NOTE: this is a substitute for using buttermilk in this recipe.

In a large bowl, combine apples, grapes, celery, raisins and lemon juice.

In a small bowl, combine Miracle Whip, milk, blue cheese and sugar or honey. Pour over apple mixture to coat. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. Sprinkle with walnuts before serving.

Cranberry Waldorf Salad
2 large apples, chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 cup Miracle Whip or equivalent dressing
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Toss everything in a bowl until fruit is evenly coated. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Soffritto
Soffritto is the Italian Holy Trinity technique for sauteing onion, carrots and celery as a base for some incredible one pot meals (the French call this Mirepoix). It's pretty simple - start with equal parts of these three vegetables, sauteing with olive oil over medium heat. From there add the cooked meat of your choice and/or some white beans, whatever spices you desire, some garlic and perhaps add a little wine or sherry. We use this technique a lot in the winter as a means of cleaning out the vegetable bin of our refrigerator, adding cabbage, peppers, zucchini or any other vegetables that sautes well.

To find more great celery recipes, check out Heathly Cooking Magazine.

Best Chicken Marinade

My last post was shortly after I joined the swelling ranks of the unemployed back in February. You'd have thought that I would have had more time for blogging since then, but that hasn't been the case.

Losing one income has forced us to rethink a lot of our expenses, and one of our strategies for saving money has been to reduce the amount of heat that we generate inside the house during the summer, which helps us save money by reducing our air conditioning load. There are three main ways that we've done this - drying our laundry outdoors (we live in the high desert, so this really makes sense for us), running our dishwasher with the "no heat dry" option, and cooking outside on the grill as much as possible. NOTE: The laundry and dishwashing saves us about $15 per month despite having some of the lowest electric rates in the nation, plus our clothes dryer and dishwasher will last a lot longer, saving us even more money in the long run.


Another strategy for saving money is buying bulk packages of meat, despite cooking for only two.


The latter caused us to find ways to tenderize the meat, as we'd be reheating much of it for later meals. So, we tried a number of marinade recipes, especially for chicken. We've found that those that contain a lot of oil can cause flame out and smoke problems, as well as gunk up the bottom of the grill (though we've found several that result in great chicken). Our favorite marinade uses a lemon and yogurt base, which we discovered by trying this great recipe. Though the recipe suggests sauteing or baking, it also works great on the grill, even when using a hot grill, which is often the best way to make bad chicken. The marinade makes the chicken very moist and tender and the spices give it a lot of interest. We've also subsituted Cavender's Greek Seasoning for the suggested spices with great results.


For a four pound package of boneless chicken breasts we use the following base for our marinade, based upon the recipe link in the preceding paragraph:

1 cup non-fat plain yogurt
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried lemon peel or lemon extract, or 2 teaspoons of lemon zest if using fresh lemons for your lemon juice

From there, add your favorite Mediterranean spice combinations. We generally start with a hot grill and turn the heat down to low as we get ready to add the chicken. For our grill, that means about 7 to 10 minutes per side, depending on the size of the chicken breasts. We cut into the center of the breasts to check for doneness before pulling them off of the grill.

Supplements

I've found it necessary to supplement my diet for a variety of reasons, though essentially it's because even the best diet cannot assure that you get everything that you need to function at an optimal level.

My basic supplement recommendations include:
Fish Oil - 4,000 mg/day. This has anti-inflammatory properties and really helps improve mental functions.
Fiber - 1,000 to 2,000 mg/day. Our diet is fairly low in insoluble fiber, so we supplement to avoid getting plugged up. Colon cancers are becoming a bit too common, so this is good insurance.
Vitamin D - 4,000 mg/day during times of the year when we don't get adequate sun exposure. During the summer there should be no need to supplement if you are getting 10 minutes of sun exposure around noon everyday. This supplement amount is based upon a recommendation by the Vitamin D Council. Visit their website to learn more about this important nutrient, as it has tremendous health consequence for everyone.

I take a couple of supplements specifically to improve a condition known as Raynaud's Syndrome. These were recommended on an alternative medicine site and while they haven't cured the disease, they seem to have improved my cold tolerance, allowing me to commute in relative comfort by bicycle at temperatures as low as 8 degrees Fahrenheit for a half hour at a time:
Taurine (an amino acid) - 1,000 mg/day
Magnesium - 250 mg /day
The Magnesium seems to have had the added benefit of greatly reducing the amount of cramping that I used to experience while doing intense exercise in high temperatures. Experts claim that the majority of Americans eat a magnesium deficient diet, so you may want to consider this inexpensive supplement.

And I take a supplement for joint and bursa pain and inflammation, rather than taking "Vitamin I" (ibuprofen, which has some very nasty long term side effects):
Triple Strength glucosamine/condroitin - 2 tablets/day (for joints). This really helps lubricate the joints, but you need to take if for several weeks at an adequate dose to notice any improvement.
In the past I've taken Borage Oil (2,600 mg/day) to also help with hip bursa pain. I wasn't convinced that it helped any more than Fish Oil.

A number of supplements are purported to help lower blood pressure, including Grape Seed , Turmeric and the amino acid L-citrulline. All of them seem to have helped to keep my blood pressure at excellent levels, though increasing my intake of fruits and vegetables has had a more profound effect. I currently only take Grape Seed (200 mg/day) and Turmeric (500 mg/day).

In my cycling and strength training I also use the following:
GABA (an amino acid, 3 g per workout), prior to intense workouts only. In conjunction with intense exercise it has been shown to increase the production of human growth hormone, but this has not been definitively proven. It's an inexpensive supplement, so while I can't know for certain that it works, it's worth risking a few dollars in the hope that it does. I did see very significant performance improvements the first year that I used it.
Alpha Lipoic Acid and Acetyl L-Carnitine (800 & 400 mg/day, respectively) for the purported benefit of increasing the number of mitochondria in your body, a particular problem for aging cyclists. I haven't used this enough to have an opinion of whether it works or how well it works and haven't seen the research that would back up this claim.

I attribute my ability to live relatively pain free and to generally avoid common illnesses to frequent intense exercise, my diet and the supplements that I take regularly. I can't say for certain that the ergogenic supplements that I take to improve my cycling performance are having the desired effect, but at the same time they are safe and relatively low cost supplements, so I find the risk to be worth the potential reward.