Food for Thought Healthy Cooking Club - Issue 6 – October 28, 2018 Page 1

Food For Thought Issue 6 October 28, 2018

Contact: Dany Raymond – 0417408736 Email: danyraymond@gmail.com

Certified C.H.I.P Facilitator & Certified Depression Recovery Program Director “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers”.3 John 1:2

elcome to the Food for Thought Healthy Cooking

Club ☺. We meet once a month for a cooking demonstration or workshop, and to share a healthy meal or snack and learn about the benefits of a wholefood plant-based diet. All recipes are free from animal products and refined sugar. If you have any special dietary requirements, please let me know… Cost: $10 per person per session, unless otherwise mentioned. Please pay on attendance.

ntroduction to Sugar—Affecting the

Body and Mind Author: Jean Handwerk

Publish date: Jun 26, 2009

Like refined grains, Refined sugar is considered one

of the most harmful foods consumed today.

In 1915, the national average of sugar consumption

per year was 15 to 20 pounds per person. On

average, we now consume our weight in sugar each

year, plus over 20 pounds of corn syrup. Some

people consume much less than the average figure,

which means that there is a percentage of the

population that consumes a great deal more refined

sugar than their body weight each year. This large

amount of refined carbohydrates causes

considerable damage in the body.

HOW SUGAR IS REFINED

Sugar is refined by a process of

extraction or separation. Refined

sugar, such as white table sugar

or confectioner’s sugar, is

commonly made from sugar cane

or sugar beets. Through heating

and mechanical and chemical

processing, every nutrient is

removed until only the sugar

remains.

The sugar cane and sugar beets are first harvested

and then chopped into small pieces. Then the juice

is squeezed out and mixed with water. This liquid is

then heated and lime is added. Moisture is boiled

away, and the remaining fluid is pumped into

vacuum pans to concentrate the juice.

At this point, the liquid starts to crystallize and is

ready to be placed into a centrifuge machine where

any remaining residues or byproducts, like molasses,

are spun away. The crystals are then boiled and

passed through charcoal filters. After the crystals

condense, they are bleached—usually by the use of

pig or cattle bones.

During the refining process, 64 food elements are

destroyed. All the potassium, magnesium, calcium,

iron, manganese, phosphate, and sulfate are

removed. Vitamins A, D, and B are destroyed.

Amino acids, vital enzymes, unsaturated fats, and all

fibre are removed.

All refined sweeteners such as syrups undergo

similar destructive processes. Sometimes processing

itself leaves harmful substances in the finished

product. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been

found to contain heavy metal residues from

processing.

W

I

Summary: Refined sugar is

addictive, destructive, and devoid

of any nutritional value. Why does

it continue to be a staple food

across the world?

Food for Thought Healthy Cooking Club - Issue 6 – October 28, 2018 Page 2

FOOD OR POISON?

In 1957, Dr. William Coda Martin tried to determine

when a food is a poison and when it is a true food.

Here is his definition of poison:

Medically: Any substance applied to the body,

ingested or developed within the body, which

causes or may cause disease.

Physically: Any substance which inhibits the

activity of a catalyst which is a minor substance,

chemical or enzyme that activates a reaction.

And the Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives this

definition for poison: “a substance that through its

chemical action usually kills, injures, or impairs an

organism.”i

Dr. Martin classified refined sugar (a refined

carbohydrate) as a poison because it has been

depleted of its nutritional co-factors. He wrote that

what is left after the “refinement” process, our

bodies can’t use, because we can’t digest it.

Your body needs the vitamins and minerals that are

stripped away when sugar is made. Without those

co-factors, your body cannot safely use refined

sugar.ii Refined sugar is “more of a pharmaceutical

drug than it is a nurturing food.”iii

REFINEMENT’S THEFT

Sir Frederick

Banting, who

discovered insulin,

noticed in 1929

that sugar

plantation owners

in Panama who ate

large amounts of their refined crop commonly had

diabetes. The hired cane cutters got to chew only

the raw cane, with no incidence of diabetes among

them.iv

When we eat refined sugar—or refined

carbohydrates in general—our bodies take nutrients

from healthy cells to metabolize this incomplete

food. However, the body is not designed to store

extra minerals, enzymes, vitamins, and proteins.

Instead, we were given sound minds so that we

would make wise whole food choices! Therefore,

when we eat refined sugars, our supply of nutrients

such as calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium

are depleted in order to make the sugar usable by our

bodies.

It doesn’t take long until mineral deficiencies and

mineral imbalances result, and those problems bring

on physical disorders such as diabetes and

osteoporosis.

Dentist Melvin Page discovered one type of mineral

imbalance caused by eating refined sugar. Appalled

by the widespread occurrence of dental cavities and

jaw bone deterioration in his patients, Dr. Page

began analyzing patient blood samples and found

that those patients who had abnormal calcium to

phosphorus ratios in their blood also had cavities and

bone loss.

GreenFacts Digest, an independent, non-profit

organization that summarizes scientific reports on

various topics for the general public and reports the

consensus, concurs with Dr. Page’s findings about

sugar and cavities:

Sugars are the most important dietary factor in the

development of dental caries. Worldwide studies on

human populations show…a strong correlation

exists between both the amount and frequency of

sugar consumption and the development of caries,

even in countries that use preventative measures

such as water fluoridation. In addition to solid foods,

consumption of sugary drinks also increases the risk

of developing dental cavities. Studies have shown

that starches are generally a much lower risk factor

in developing dental caries than sugars. However,

when starches are cooked or combined with sugars,

the risk is greater.

What about fruit? Does eating fruit also cause tooth

decay?

As part of a normal mixed diet, there is little

evidence that fruit causes caries or diabetes. Animal

studies have shown that when fruit is consumed in

very high frequencies (e.g. 17 times a day) it may

induce caries.v

In the 1930s, a research dentist named Dr. Weston

A. Price travelled all over the world to study

primitive people groups—those isolated from the so-

called advances of civilization. His findings and

photographs were published in his book Nutrition

and Physical Degeneration: A Comparison of

Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects. He

found that many people groups who live in what

some of the world considers primitive conditions eat

natural, unrefined food from their own locale. They

had excellent teeth and wonderful general health.

But physical degeneration became apparent in the

first generation after refined sugar ingestion began.

Dr. Price photographed the before-and-after

consequences in multiple pictures of perfect vs.

Food for Thought Healthy Cooking Club - Issue 6 – October 28, 2018 Page 3

defective dental arches and perfectly aligned vs.

crowded, misaligned teeth.vi

REFINED SUGAR’S ADDED RISK

Often, especially after repeated “stealing” of

nutrients from healthy cells, the body’s cells cannot

digest refined carbohydrates. At such times,

incomplete carbohydrate metabolism is the only

possible result—and it results in the formation of

toxic metabolites such as pyruvic acid.

Pyruvic acid builds up in the brain and nervous

system and affects the nerve cell’s ability to get

oxygen. Cells die as a result, basically suffocating.

When enough of the cells die off, the symptoms of

degenerative disease begin to be obvious.vii

THE FINAL WORD

Sugar gives us brief increases in

energy due to the rise of the blood

sugar level, but the body quickly

releases a rush of insulin, which

rapidly lowers the blood sugar and

causes a significant drop in energy

and endurance and, as a corollary, a decrease in

mental acuity. A degenerative process is initiated

and over time, if not prevented, will likely manifest

in illness.

One woman experienced just such a process. She

wrote, “All of my ailments were caused by the

substances I put into my body … led to a measurable

disturbance of the mineral relationships in my

system. This … made my digestive enzymes

incapable of digesting food properly. I developed

classic allergic symptoms due to the toxicity and the

undigested food, which was wearing out my immune

system. Eventually, this mineral imbalance caused

the build-up of a severe non-functioning calcium

excess in my chest…. This process ended in tooth

decay, pneumonia, bronchitis, and a variety of other

ailments.”

Only after she removed sugar from her diet did her

body heal itself.viii

i. “Poison,” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary,

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poison.

ii. William Dufty, “Refined Sugar: The Sweetest Poison of All." iii. Nancy Appleton, Lick The Sugar Habit (New York: Warner

Books, 1985): 73-74.

iv. William Dufty, “Refined Sugar: The Sweetest Poison of All." v. www.greenfacts.org/en/diet-nutrition/l-2/9-dental-

caries.htm#3

vi. William Dufty, “Refined Sugar: The Sweetest Poison of All." vii. Ibid.

viii. Nancy Appleton, Lick The Sugar Habit (New York: Warner

Books, 1985): 73-74.

_______________________

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Healthy Recipes

HEALTHY LEMONADE

Ingredients

½ cup coconut nectar or coconut sugar

1 cup water

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from

approximately 6 lemons)

4 cups sparkling cold water

Zest of 2 lemons

Preparation:

Add sugar and 1 cup water to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Once boiled, remove from heat and add to a glass pitcher.

Add lemon juice, lemon zest and sparkling water.

Place in the fridge to chill.

Food for Thought Healthy Cooking Club - Issue 6 – October 28, 2018 Page 4

SWEET POTATO ROTI

Ingredients

2 small sweet potatoes peeled, diced, cooked

(1 cup)

1 to 2 cups whole wheat flour (Atta flour)

(depending on how watery the sweet potatoes

are.)

salt to taste

2 Tbs olive oil.

Additional flour for dusting.

Some extra oil for cooking

Preparation:

1. Cook the sweet potatoes until soft.

2. Cool slightly and mash until soft and pulpy.

3. In a large bowl, mix together whole wheat flour and salt then add the mashed sweet potatoes

and knead into a soft dough.

4. Add oil and continue to knead until the dough is soft and not sticky.

5. Divide the dough into small balls.

6. Roll out the balls into roti as thin as you like.

7. Heat a flat pan and place the rolled out dough and cook for a few minutes till small spots begin

to appear and then flip it over and cook the other side too until brown little spots appear on the

other side.

DANY’S VEGE CURRY

Ingredients

1 Onion sliced

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp grated ginger

1tsp turmeric

1 Tbs ground cumin

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 cup sliced mushroom

½ cup coconut cream

1 Tbs massel chicken stock powder

1 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 bunch coriander leaves

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can chickpeas

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Steam broccoli and cauliflower florets for 2 minutes.

2. Heat oil in large frying pan, add onion, garlic and ginger stirring,

3. Add spices and cook, stirring, until fragrant.

4. Add tomatoes and cook until soft.

5. Add the broccoli and cauliflower florets to the curry sauce, then add the carrots

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6. Add the chickpeas and coconut milk.

7. and allow to simmer for a few minutes.

8. Stir in chopped coriander.

9. Season to taste.

10. Serve curry with roti or rice.

DESSERT

CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH DATES

Ingredients:

1¼ cup plain or self-raising flour

½ cup chopped pitted dates

¼ cup coconut sugar

⅓ cup cacao powder

1 Tbs baking powder (aluminium free)

½ tsp salt

1 cup soy milk (hot)

1 tsp vanilla extract

⅓ cup olive oil

2 Tbs apple cider vinegar

Glaze

½ cup coconut sugar

4 Tbs dairy free margarine

2 Tbs soy milk

2 Tbs cacao powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Lightly grease a square baking pan (8-inch) or line pan with glad bake parchment paper.

3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cacao powder, baking soda and salt with a whisk.

4. Add the warm soy milk, oil, vanilla extract and vinegar.

5. Add the dates.

6. Mix the ingredients together and pour in baking pan.

7. Bake for 30 minutes.

For the Glaze

1. In a small saucepan bring the sugar, margarine, soy milk and cacao powder to a boil, stirring

frequently. 2. Simmer for 2 minutes then remove from heat and stir an additional 3 to 5 minutes. 3. Stir in the vanilla extract.

4. Pour the glaze onto cake and let it cool for one hour.

Food for Thought Healthy Cooking Club - Issue 6 – October 28, 2018 Page 6

Sources: Recipes Dany’s Kitchen – Purely Vegan

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” 1 Corinthians 6:19