http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/rss Ed Dodge M.D. is a health columnist for the Citrus County Chronicle. The goal for the Passion for Health blog is to guide anyone seeking better health to effective ways of reaching that goal http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/66 My new website is TenSecretsofExceptionalHealth.com and it is also the new host site for my blog. Please look for my blog on the new website, and it will be easy to follow it there. Thank you for your interest! http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/65 We hit the road to Arizona today, making it El Paso, Texas tonight. Driving on 1-10 all day, and still not getting out of Texas made me realize what a huge state it is. Tomorrow we head on to Cottonwood where we will visit my sister Peg Miller this weekend. Today's Food Diary: Breakfast was our usual hearty bowl of hot steel cut oats with all the usual toppings except blueberries. Lunch consisted of a crunchy almond butter sandwich on 100 % whole wheat bread, plus organic carrot sticks and celery sticks. We ate this picnic-style at a rest stop. Carol shared some mixed nuts for a mid-afternoon snack. We stopped for supper an an Olive Garden where we both had Olive Garden's large salad. Carol had shrimp primavera, while I had angel hair pasta covered with finely diced tomatoes. Delicious.   http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/64 Breakfast: A bowl of organic 4 Grain Plus Flax hot cereal cooked ten minutes with raisins, topped with sliced banana, blueberries, sliced organic strawberries, and walnut pieces; 1 glass orange juice; 4 prunes; 1 slice of home-baked whole wheat bread with Olivio spread and organic raspberry jam on it.Lunch: A bowl of organic creamy tomato soup heated on the stove with added veggies and brown rice; one whole wheat tortilla spread with crunchy almond butter, and one orange. Also one tall glass of water.Supper: Baked potato with left-over ratatouille as topping; steamed veggie medley of cauliflower, broccoli, beet, carrots, and asparagus spears; 1 serving of hot collard greens cooked with onion on stovetop; garden salad as previously described; 1 slice home-baked whole wheat bread with Olivio spread; and a bowl of cut up Kiwi and organic strawberries for dessert.   http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/63 Breakfast: A bowl of steel cut oats this morning, cooked with raisins for 15 minutes on the stovetop. The rest of my breakfast was the same as posted on previous mornings.Lunch: a bowl of organic creamy tomato soup (Pacific brand) cooked with frozen spinach; one whole wheat tortilla with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus spread on it; one Texas orange; and a handful of mixed nuts. Supper: One half of a baked Delicata squash (baked at 350 in the toaster oven); steamed carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, beet, and 5 asparagus spears; garden salad as posted on previous days; a slice of home-baked whole wheat bread with Olivio butter spread; and a bowl of cut-up organic kiwi and organic strawberries with walnut pieces for dessert. Comment: The asparagus spears only need to be steamed five minutes, but the other veggies need 15 minutes of steaming. Be very careful when adding the asparagus not to get burned with the hot steam.   http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/62 Breakfast was the same as yesterday's. My breakfast is fairly similar most days.Lunch: I finished the rest of the butternut and spinach soup, but I had organic crunchy almond butter instead of hummus on the whole wheat tortilla. (Crunchy almond butter is similar to crunchy peanut butter, but better.) I had an orange to finish lunch. (No mixed nuts today.) Supper: Leftover ratatouille on organic brown rice, cooked collard greens with chopped onion, steamed carrot and asparagus, and a garden salad like yesterday's, with 1 slice home-baked whole wheat bread with Olivio spread. I skipped dessert tonight. Comments: Lunch is my light meal of the day. When I don't have home-made soup, I get one of several brands of organic soups that come in cardboard containers instead of cans. Pacific brand and Dr. McDougall's brand seem to be the ones we get the most. They are nutritious and delicious, as well as being lower in salt. My veggie and fruit servings came to a total of twelve today.   http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/61 I'm posting a food diary for today, and will do this for a few days, simply to give anyone interested (or simply curious) an idea of what our meals are like. They are usually vegetarian, though we may have fish once a week or so. Following is today's food diary:Breakfast: "Organic 4 Grain Plus Flax Hot Cereal" topped with sliced banana, sliced strawberry, blueberries, and walnut pieces; orange juice, 4 prunes, 1 cup green tea, and 1 slice of home-baked organic whole wheat toast with organic raspberry jam.Lunch: "Organic Butternut Squash" soup enriched by cooking with 1 serving of frozen chopped spinach mixed in; 1 whole wheat tortilla with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus; 1 Texas orange; 1 handful of mixed nuts.Supper: 1 Organic Baked Russet Potato, topped with mildly spicy salsa; 1 baby Bok Choy, chopped and stovetop cooked for 15 minutes; Steamed veggie mix of 2 sliced organic carrots, 1 quartered organic yellow onion, 4 white mushrooms, and 3 broccoli florets; Garden salad of torn organic Romaine lettuce, chopped organic celery stalk; chopped green onions, sliced organic radish, sliced hothouse cucumber, chopped organic red pepper, 4 grape tomatoes, and sprinkling of sunflower seeds, all flavored with 1 tbsp of Brianna's All-Natural Homestyle, Real French vinaigrette; 1 slice of home-baked organic whole-wheat bread with light Olivio buttery spread; and 1 organic kiwi for dessert.Comment: Carol is still at her conference in Orlando, so I prepared the meals and ate them by myself. Even so, this was a fairly typical day's meals for us. There were a total of 15 veggie and fruit servings for the day. As anyone can tell, there is no danger of my going hungry, but I never gain an ounce of weight. As always, I enjoyed my meals thoroughly.  http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/60 Yesterday my good friend, Roy Wernlund, made his transition after three weeks in the Critical Care Unit. I and many others have lost a good friend, but Roy is in a good place today. I've known Roy for about ten years, and have worked on many projects with him at church. Roy was a skilled craftsman, and he taught me much about doing good careful work in every thing he did. He was also a warm, caring person who was head usher and greeter at our church. Every Sunday morning found him at his post by the front door, making sure that all who came were given a warm greeting. He especially made sure that anyone new was made to feel very welcome and special. Many people will miss Roy greatly. Roy was also a great volunteer at the central communication center for Citrus County. He was there every Thursday, and everyone knew they could count on him completely.Roy enjoyed fishing with a neighbor, and every Tuesday that the weather allowed, they went several miles out into the Gulf to fish. He usually caught something, but whether he did or not, the day was a great success.Thank you, Roy, for your friendship.   http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/57 Veggies and fruits are awesome foods. Their colorfulness is a good clue to their being loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. No other foods come close. Go for at least six servings daily!   http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/59 I signed up today to join our church team on the San Antonio CROP Walk on Saturday, March 6th. It promises to be a fun event for a good cause! We'll walk ten kilometers to raise money for hungry people around the world. As with most such endeavors, in helping others we'll be helping ourselves as much as we help them! http://www.passionforhealth.info/passion-blog/post/58 After three days of rain, today turned into a beautiful day in San Antonio. I didn't get my walk in this morning and was busy writing at the computer most of the day. When I went out around 4:45 PM, the sun was warm and bright, and it was pure delight to stretch my legs and joints. Walking in the cold drizzle yesterday was invigorating, but today's walk was really uplifting. There is something about walking outside that is great for the spirit as well as the body, and what a great way to get my vitamin D for the day! For dinner tonight we had couscous plus steamed carrots, beets, onions, broccoli, and mushrooms. Carol made a great salad with Romaine lettuce, celery, radishes, grape tomatoes, olives, avocado, and sunflower seeds. How awesome it is that all these veggies convert sunlight into pure food energy that we can use. What a miraculous arrangement!