Food For Health

Chicken Curry

Note: As alternatives, pastured beef, lamb, pork, wild caught shrimp, tempeh or tofu can replace the chicken.

• Sauté ¾ cup diced celery in 1 tablespoon ghee or avocado oil on medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
• Add 1 pound raw organic chicken thigh or breast, cut into bite-size pieces. Cook until no longer pink.
• While browning, add 1 tablespoon coconut aminos or gluten-free tamari and 1 tablespoon organic chicken or vegetable broth.
• Add 2 cups additional broth, 1 diced banana, ½ cup raisins, currants or dates, 1½ tablespoons curry powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon allspice.
• Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 10 minutes.
• Add 1 diced apple and simmer 5 more minutes.
• Add 1 can full-fat organic coconut milk or raw milk.
• Serve over organic white basmati rice or riced cauliflower.

Quick Veggie Stir Fry

• Sauté ½ cup finely diced yellow onion or celery in 2 tablespoons avocado oil, ghee or coconut oil on medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Lower heat to medium-low. Add 1 cup diced mushrooms, 1 cup sugar snap peas and 1 cup bite-size broccoli florets.
• Add 1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari or coconut aminos and sauté 10 more minutes.
• Add 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil if desired.
• Serve with roasted potatoes and steak, chicken or tofu if desired.

Ramen Bowl

• Prepare organic Shoyu, Miso vegan ramen or organic rice noodle ramen according to package directions.
• While the water is boiling, add 1 or 2 cloves minced garlic.
• Add about 1 tablespoon organic tamari or coconut aminos.
• Add about 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger.
• Add about ½ cup protein, such as organic pastured chicken, grass-fed beef or lamb, wild caught seafood, tofu or tempeh.

Basic Smoothie

Feel free to mix and match depending on your preference.

• 1 to 2 cups filtered water, spring water or coconut water.
• 1 to 3 bananas and/or fresh mango and/or fresh papaya.
• Organic spirulina, ideally from Hawaii.
• 1 tablespoon organic psyllium husk, flaxseed powder, hemp seeds or acacia fiber.
• Whole milk yogurt or full-fat coconut yogurt.
• A few dates and/or dried figs.
• About ½ cup raw milk, unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk.
• 1 to 3 stalks organic celery or another favorite vegetable.
• Fresh or frozen berries, such as organic wild blueberries.
• Optional: 1 teaspoon organic local raw honey.
• Blend ingredients in your blender.

Saffron Rice With Golden Crust

• Rinse 2 cups rice five times, then soak for at least 7 hours. Drain in a rice strainer.
• Place rice in 5 cups water with 1 tablespoon sea salt and ½ tablespoon cardamom. Boil 6 to 10 minutes.
• Drain rice and rinse with cold water until room temperature.
• Mix 2 cups rice with 1 to 2 tablespoons yogurt, ¼ cup melted ghee, ⅛ cup water and a few drops saffron water.
• Coat the bottom of the pot with this mixture. Pile the rest of the rice on top like a pyramid.
• Cook 10 minutes with lid on over medium heat, then turn to low/simmer.
• Mix ¼ cup water and ⅛ cup melted ghee and pour over rice. Pour remaining saffron water over evenly.
• Cook 70 minutes on low heat with the lid on.

Pancakes

• Combine 2 cups flour with 2 cups buttermilk, kefir or whole milk Greek yogurt. Allow to soak 12 to 24 hours.
• Add 2 pastured eggs, ½ teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 2 tablespoons melted butter.
• Mix together well.
• Prepare a stainless steel, ceramic or cast iron pan with coconut oil, butter, ghee or a combination.
• Cook pancakes on low to medium heat until golden brown.
• Serve with organic butter or coconut butter, fresh or frozen fruit, crème fraîche or coconut cream, maple syrup and/or raw honey.

Jeff’s Delectable Burgers

• Use 1 pound grass-fed ground beef formed into 4 or 5 patties, or substitute high-quality veggie burgers.
• Add 1 diced onion or 2 diced celery stalks.
• Add 2 tablespoons broccoli sprouts or chopped cilantro.
• Add 2 tablespoons diced parsley, 1 diced jalapeño and/or pepperoncini, and 1 diced leek or scallion white part only.
• Add 1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari or coconut aminos.
• Add 1 tablespoon gluten-free Worcestershire sauce.
• Optional: several drops fermented hot sauce and 1 tablespoon hickory liquid smoke for veggie burgers.
• Blend ingredients, form patties and grill on medium-high heat in ghee, coconut oil or both.
• Cook about 5 minutes per side, or 3 minutes per side for veggie burgers.
• Garnish with butter lettuce, radicchio, broccoli sprouts and/or raw milk cheese.
• Serve on a toasted gluten-free bun, real yeast baguette or gluten-free sourdough slices.

Morning Healthy Hot Drink

• Heat 1 cup filtered water or spring water on the stove or in an electric kettle.
• Add 1 teaspoon organic blackstrap molasses.
• Add 2 teaspoons ghee.
• Add 1 tablespoon heavy cream, raw milk or full-fat unsweetened coconut milk.
• Once cooled to sipping temperature, optionally add 1 teaspoon raw honey and/or bee pollen.

Jeff’s Sprouted Nut Cookies

• Use 1½ cups sprouted nuts, such as walnut, almond, cashew or macadamia.
• Add ½ cup date sugar, maple sugar, coconut sugar or raw organic cane sugar.
• Add 1 teaspoon organic vanilla, 1 cup arrowroot and ½ cup softened or melted unsalted butter.
• Optional: add zest of 1 organic lemon, lime or orange.
• Mix nuts into a flour-like meal with a food processor or blender.
• Place in a bowl with all other ingredients and mix well.
• Roll into golf ball-sized balls, about 18 cookies, and place on parchment paper over a cookie sheet.
• Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. At 5 minutes, briefly remove and flatten with a spoon.
• Optional: add a single nut on top or a small amount of organic jam with no added sugar.

Sprouted Nuts

• For walnuts, pecans, almonds, macadamias and pistachios, soak in filtered water with sea salt for at least 7 hours, or overnight.
• Drain and place in a dehydrator at no more than 150 degrees.
• For cashews, soak in filtered water with sea salt for exactly 6 hours.
• Drain and place in the oven at 200 degrees. Watch carefully until dehydrated and crisp.
• Cashews usually take 12 to 14 hours, but may take up to 24 hours.

Dog Stew

• Use 1 cup yams or carrots, or 1 pound organ meat such as liver or heart.
• Add 2 tablespoons kelp powder or other dry seaweed.
• Add 4 to 6 cups water.
• Add ½ cup chopped broccoli or kale.
• Optional add-ons: chopped mushrooms, goji berries and ¼ cup minced parsley.
• Combine ingredients in a large pot or Instant Pot.
• Simmer on low for 4 to 6 hours, or slow cook in the Instant Pot for 4 to 6 hours.
• For pressure cooking, cook for 10 minutes.

Suggested Supplements

If you follow the food principles above, you may not need many supplements, but these may be helpful for a fast-paced and demanding lifestyle.

• Coconut oil: 1 tablespoon per day, alone or added to smoothies, salad dressing, cooking or baking.
• Probiotics: 1 or 2 capsules in the morning.
• Vitamin D: 2000 IU/day, especially in winter.
• Buffered Vitamin C: 1000 mg twice per day.

Spiritual Approaches

Whether you call it meditation, prayer, contemplation, tai chi, Qi gong, yoga, a stretch break or a nature break, Dr. Etemad recommends taking at least 5 minutes, three times per day to work on optimizing breathing patterns.

One helpful approach is to repurpose your smartphone with the free “Inner Balance” app and, if desired, a HeartMath accessory.

The Family Circle

A daily meditation or contemplation exercise can be built around appreciating the love coming in from everyone from whom you feel love. This includes blood relatives, friends and anyone with whom you have a positive loving connection, living or passed on.

Edit Your Cupboard & Eat Like a European

Be constantly vigilant about what you keep in your cupboards. Try to keep food around that is both healthy and good tasting, which is a constant but doable challenge.

The custom practiced in much of Europe and the rest of the world is to eat the largest meal in the middle of the day, which can make good physiological sense.