Natural Health Journals

by Donna Coco

NO OFFENSE TO MY MOTHER, but if I could have a companion in the kitchen to help me make healthy meals, it would be Andrew Weil, M.D. He’s been researching nutrition and experimenting in his own kitchen for more than 30 years, so I trust him–as do the millions of Americans who have read his bestselling books, watched him on television, listened to his tapes, and improved their health by following his advice.

Weil emphasizes the importance of making healthy choices and eating a balanced diet (50 to 50 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent fat with no more than 10 percent saturated fat, and 10 to 20 percent protein). But he doesn’t expect anyone to subsist on a monastic diet of tofu and brown rice. Weil relishes good food, and so he doesn’t forsake taste for health. Rather, he weaves the two together, as in his new book, The Healthy Kitchen: Recipes for a Better Body, Life, and Spirit (Knopf, 2002), co-written with Rosie Daley, previously Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef.

Of course, I can’t keep Weil captive in my kitchen. So I interviewed him instead to find out his essential cooking dos and don’ts. I plan to tape these tips to my refrigerator. The next time I ask myself “What would Weil do?” I can look up the answer–and so can you.

Fruits & Vegetables

• DO buy organic fruits and vegetables whenever possible to avoid pesticides and their potential health risks. “I don’t buy conventional strawberries ever,” adds Weil, because they are heavily sprayed with pesticides. Buy only organic if using the peel of a fruit.
• DON’T select limp or overripe produce. It’s past its prime and won’t taste good. If he had to choose between a nice-looking head of conventional lettuce and a limp head of organic lettuce, Weil would buy the conventional one. Peel any nonorganic produce, or wash it in a weak soap-and-water mixture.
• DO purchase frozen produce, but only if fresh isn’t available. Fresh tastes best, Weil says, although he makes a few exceptions: “I keep Cascadian Farm frozen organic strawberries in my freezer. If I want strawberries when they’re not in season, I use those. The only frozen vegetables I use are edamame [whole soybeans] and corn–the supersweet corn that you can get frozen, which I use in soup. That, I think, is terrific. Otherwise, to me, frozen vegetables just don’t taste nearly as great as fresh vegetables.”
• DON’T buy canned produce, except for organic canned tomatoes. “It’s the quality,” says Weil, who considers canned fruits and vegetables “mushy.”
• DO select lots of different mushrooms, like maitake, oyster, porcini, portobello, and shiitake. They’re good sources of protein, B vitamins, and minerals. And research shows they contain components that may fight cancer and enhance your immunity, notes Weil. Even basic button mushrooms appear to have anti-cancer benefits. Dried mushrooms are as good as fresh, says Weil, and “it’s a convenient way to [buy and store] them.”
• DON’T be duped into using raw mushrooms in dishes, thinking it’s all right because you see them in salad bars. They contain natural toxins that only heat destroys. “Mushrooms should be really well cooked,” Weil says. “In the West, people are in the habit of frying mushrooms or preparing them in a lot of cream or butter. The Asian methods of preparing them–in soups, grilled, or barbecued–are much superior. I think they’re much healthier that way.”
• DO be choosey about sprouts, especially if you want to eat them raw. “I’m very opposed to eating raw bean sprouts,” says Weil. Raw bean sprouts, such as alfalfa, chickpea, lentil, and mung, have natural toxins that are only broken down by cooking. If you like raw sprouts, Weil suggests buying radish, sunflower, and buckwheat sprouts, which don’t contain such toxins.
• DON’T boil vegetables to a mushy state. “A lot of the vegetables that I never liked growing up, [I later discovered that] I’d never had them prepared well,” Weil says.
• DO steam vegetables, removing them from the heat while they’re still crunchy. “I do a lot of what I call steam frying,” says Weil. “I put a little bit of oil with some flavoring in a pot and add the vegetables and a little bit of liquid–water, stock, or wine. And then I steam them until they’re just crunchy-tender.” Another easy method is to quick-steam vegetables in the microwave with a little water and covered with wax paper. (Never use plastic wrap, even if it doesn’t touch the food; Weil isn’t convinced that using wrap in a microwave is safe.)
• DON’T be afraid to grill and roast vegetables. Just don’t heat them so hot that they start to smoke, don’t inhale the smoke, and don’t char them, because the smoke and blackened parts are carcinogenic, cautions Weil. “My preference is to use a gas grill,” he says. “I think they’re cleaner, although some chefs say they don’t give as good results. But I think they’re fine.” If you use a charcoal grill, don’t start the coals with lighter fluid or use automatic lighting briquettes, Weil advises, because you’ll introduce chemical residues to your food. Instead use a fire chimney, a large metal cylinder that you fill with crumpled paper and then charcoal; you light the paper, and it ignites the charcoal.

Beans, Grains, & Nuts

• DO choose dried beans over canned whenever possible. “It’s not that hard to soak them overnight and cook them,” says Weil. “I make hummus a lot, and I always start with dried chickpeas. I think it tastes better.” But if you like the convenience of canned beans, go ahead and use them, he says, because their nutritional values are similar to dried. However, canned beans sometimes contain a lot of sodium, so read labels. (You only need about 1 g of sodium daily, says Weil.)
• DON’T buy a lot of foods made with white flour, like most breads, cereals, and baked goods. White flour has been stripped of its fiber and nutrients, Weil explains, and your body converts it too quickly to sugar, which can lead to a number of health problems, including weight gain. “I don’t eat a lot of bread,” says Weil. “The bread that I eat, my favorite breads, are sour-dough and whole-grain rye bread. I like grainy, chewy bread. But I think that I eat a fraction of the flour that most Americans eat.” If you buy flour, make sure it’s organic, Weil says, because wheat is heavily sprayed with pesticides.
• DO enjoy pasta, says Weil, but choose organic durum wheat (semolina) varieties or Asian noodles like udon, soba, and cellophane (which don’t contain white flour). And don’t smother noodles with heavy cream sauces.
• DON’T overcook pasta. Cook it to al dente, which means slightly firm. Al dente pasta is healthier, Weil says. Because it takes your body longer to digest firm noodles, your blood sugar levels will be lower than if you eat softer pasta.
• DO buy unrefined grains, whole and cracked, like wheatberries, black rice, and quinoa, suggests Weil. They’re a nutritious, delicious, and filling source of complex carbohydrates and a good source of energy. Boil grains until they’re tender and then mix them with cooked vegetables, recommends Weil, or use them in cold salads dressed with a vinaigrette. (For great grain recipes, see “Summer Salads that Satisfy,” page 92.)
• DON’T pick roasted nuts over raw. “Raw nuts last much longer. Once nuts have been heated, they’re going to spoil much quicker,” explains Weil, who adds that you can easily roast nuts yourself. “I like some roasted nuts. I like roasted almonds, but I also like raw almonds. There are some nuts that I really prefer raw, like cashews and pistachios.”
• DO be choosy about where you buy your nuts. “I think [the supermarket chain] Trader Joe’s has really good-quality nuts. They turn over fast. I usually buy my nuts there–usually raw, unsalted nuts that are sealed in packages,” says Weil. “If I’m going to buy nuts from a nut bin, I smell them.” If you detect a linseed oil or oil-paint smell, they’ve gone bad. And always store nuts in your refrigerator.

Fats & Oils

• DO purchase extra-virgin olive oil and use it for sauteing. (Well buys organic oils whenever possible.) Most of the fats in this plant oil are monounsaturated, which helps to lower your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and raise your HDL (“good”) cholesterol. And it doesn’t oxidize when heated. Oxidized oils contain free radicals, which are dangerous to your health. However, never heat any oil so that it starts to smoke, cautions Weil, because then it will also begin to oxidize. Exposure to light and air will also speed the oxidation of oils.
• DON’T buy peanut oil. It contains less monounsaturated fat and more unhealthy artery-clogging saturated fat than olive oil, Weil says.
• DO saute and bake with organic grapeseed oil if you find the flavor of olive oil too strong. “I really like grapeseed oil, and there is actually some good data on its health benefits,” notes Weil. And now and then, Weil will use organic, expeller-pressed canola oil.
• DON’T reuse oil. “That’s really common in the older generation,” says Weil, “but I don’t think that’s a good thing to do. When you heat oil, you’re also exposing it to air and light, and the [free radicals] build up more quickly.” So fight the temptation to keep and reuse oil. Throw it out.
• DO enhance cold salads or already-cooked dishes with nut and seed oils like hazelnut, walnut, and sesame. They’re low in saturated fats and high in flavor. Don’t saut6 with them, however, because they will oxidize. “I use dark sesame oil for flavoring, usually in soups or at the end of cooking,” says Weil. “I also use some hazelnut oil and walnut oil. They’re very delicious in cold dishes.” Store these oils in your refrigerator.
• DON’T buy oils in large containers. Buy bottles that you can finish in a month. Smell oils to detect rancidity (indicated by an oil-paint smell) before using them.
• DO choose butter over margarine, which contains partially hydrogenated oils and trans fats. Eating trans fats raises your risk for heart disease. If your diet is otherwise low in saturated fat, Weil says it’s okay to eat butter. “I don’t keep butter in the house,” Weil says. “I used to love it, but I don’t so much like the taste of it anymore. If I have really good sweet corn, I like it without butter. Whereas when I was growing up, I used to just pour butter on it.”
• DON’T use solid shortenings like Crisco, which also contain partially hydrogenated oils, when you’re making a pie crust. “Lard is better,” says Weil, who thinks indulging in a piece of pie on the occasional holiday is fine. “You could also use Spectrum Spread,” he adds.

Eggs & Dairy

• DO eat eggs if you like them. They contain cholesterol, but dietary cholesterol is not as big a factor in heart disease as once thought, Weil notes, and eggs are rich in nutrients. But know that eggs do have some saturated fat, so don’t eat more than one or two a day. (They’re also used in a lot of dishes, so it’s easy to eat too many.) And prepare them in healthy ways that use less fat, like boiled or poached.
• DON’T eat eggs that come from factory chickens. Their diets are poor, and as a result these chickens lay less nutritious eggs, says Weil. Choose organic eggs from free-range chickens.
• DO select good-quality, natural cheeses (without dyes and additives). You can include them in your diet as long as you consider your overall intake of saturated fats. “You can have a certain amount of saturated fat in your diet,” Weil says, “especially if you are eating primarily monounsaturated fats [for example, in olive oil or avocados] elsewhere, and it’s in the context of a diet that is high in antioxidants from fresh fruits and vegetables. So you decide what you want to eat [that saturated fat] as. Do you want ice cream? Do you want to eat it as beef? My preference is to eat it as cheese.”
• DON’T ignore milk substitutes, like soy, almond, and rice milks. They are lower in saturated fat than whole milk, says. Well. They’re also helpful if you are sensitive to the lactose in milk. If you drink milk; buy low-fat organic; conventional milk often contains residues of antibiotics, drugs, and hormones.

Fish, Meat, & Poultry

• DO eat fish, which is low in saturated fat and high in protein. Some fish–like mackerel, salmon, and sardines (one of Weil’s favorites)–also contain high levels of healthy omega-3 fats. If you don’t like the flavor of canned sardines, try them fresh, suggests Weil. “Fresh sardines are very delicious,” he says, and they’re becoming more commonly available in markets.
• DON’T focus a lot of your meals on red meat and unskinned poultry, because they’re high in saturated fat. Weil won’t eat these products for personal reasons, including the negative environmental impact of raising cattle and poultry.
• DO buy free-range, organic meat and poultry when you eat it. Conventional meat and poultry often have traces of drugs and hormones, notes Weil. Also, the unhealthy diets fed to animals on conventional farms produce less nutritious products.
• DON’T grill fatty meats and poultry; the more fat, the more likely it will drip onto the grill’s heat source and produce carcinogenic smoke. And high-temperature grilling of animal protein produces carcinogenic compounds in the meat, says Weil. If you really want to grill, choose leaner cuts and marinate them first. “This is new research,” says Weil, “that marinating flesh foods greatly reduces their carcinogenic potential when they’re grilled–especially [in marinades with ingredients like] citrus juices, tumeric, and garlic.”
• DO consider fake meat alternatives; they’re low in fat and high in nutrients. “I really like soy stuff, so I eat a lot of baked tofu, soy meats. I love tempeh,” Weil says. “I also like gluten a lot. There’s canned Chinese gluten that is really great. It’s such an easy dinner, Sometimes I’ll just steam some broccoli and mix it with a can of braised gluten.”

Donna Coco is the managing editor of Natural Health Magazine. She was thrilled to learn from Weil that olives, one of her favorite snacks, are as healthy as olive oil.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Weider Publications
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