Newsletter #6: 3 pink recipes, lower-carb hummus, and trusting YOURSELF on health
🥑 Good food & 🔄 Good swap - Pink recipes for Love Day, swap food coloring for natural colors
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, which means PINK FOODS GALORE, each made with LOVE! Read on for 3 pink recipes and the biochemistry of why they are healthy! (AND, one of my favorite tips to make hummus MUCH lower carb…) 💓
First, let’s get something straight… When I say “pink foods” I do not mean “add red food coloring.” I mean using naturally red and pink whole foods like organic beets, beet powder, strawberries, and raspberries to add both nutrients and color to your love-day meals (and all year round)!
Before we get into the good stuff, let’s talk about the swap: We’re swapping Food coloring for naturally pink foods.
With that… I’m excited to share: CHEESY CAULIFLOWER TOTS (recipe below), a grain-free whole-food cheesy snack for game day that won’t spike blood sugar and is filled with pro-metabolic nutrients.
Standard food colorings are toxic. Do not use them.
The easiest way to make your food bright pink is to simply add organic beet powder or organic roasted beets to otherwise neutral colored foods. Strawberries and raspberries are also great for sweeter recipes like smoothies.
Never use standard food coloring drops from the grocery store or colored gels/pastes (like icings) and never buy foods that have ingredients that include the words “Red,” “Yellow,” or “Blue.” These are toxic ingredients often made from petroleum that have links to mental illness and behavioral disorders, cancer, DNA mutations, amongst other health issues. With one in two men (and one in three women) now developing cancer in their lifetimes, I’m doing everything I can to avoid potential carcinogens. In an absolutely sickening study, researchers found that over 43% of packaged foods they examined that are marketed to children have these artificial dyes. And then we scratch our heads when cancer rates are skyrocketing amongst young people 🤦♀️ . Here’s a short summary article from the Environmental Working Group on the health issues, and I’ll let a few quotes from the research papers speak for themselves:
Food colorings cause cancer in animals and mutates DNA. Read your labels, always!
These ingredients are in a huge swath of common packaged foods from children’s yogurts to Froot Loops. These colorings should be banned, as many European countries have (like Norway, Finland, France, Austria and the UK).
The GOOD news is that a tablespoon or two of organic beet powder makes nearly anything bright pink, from hummus to smoothies to frosting, and has a fairly neutral taste.
Betalain and the science of polyphenols and antioxidants
Part of what makes beets a powerhouse food for health is also what makes them red: a class of plant compounds called betalains. Betalains are vibrant pigments found in beets that contribute to their deep red or yellow coloration. Consuming beets, rich in betalains, has been associated with various health benefits, including anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective effects. Betalains are part of the class of healthful plant chemicals called polyphenols, most of which exert antioxidant effects and therefore can physically neutralize damaging free radicals in the body by binding to unpaired electrons that would otherwise cause trouble in the cell.
The magic of antioxidants in protecting our cells
It is estimated that there are thousands of different polyphenolic compounds found in various plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spices, coffee, cocoa, and tea. (Note: Organic dried spices are some of the highest antioxidant foods on the planet. Use them in LARGE quantities!). When I’m shopping at the farmers market, I’m looking for the most colorful, vibrant array of plant foods, knowing that many of the compounds that make food colorful will transfer that molecular power to my body to FIGHT free radical damage, also called oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress occurs when the production of free radicals EXCEEDS the body's antioxidant defenses, causing cellular damage. Metabolic activity generates free radicals, but the body can typically manage it naturally through the antioxidants that our body produces. However, when there is metabolic strain, chronic inflammation, exposure to environmental pollutants, many pharmaceutical drugs, lack of sleep, and ultra-processed foods, this can contribute to overwhelming free radicals that lead to oxidative stress as the body cannot fully neutralize them.
I think of oxidative stress as bombs going off inside my cells. Antioxidant rich foods AND foods that up-regulate our own antioxidant genes (like Cruciferous vegetables) disarm those bombs.
Diseases known to be associated with oxidative stress include: Heart disease, high blood pressure, arrhythmias, heart failure, neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cancer, type 2 diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, inflammatory disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, wrinkles, obesity, and arthritis, amongst many other. Eat colorful, flavorful plant foods regularly with all your meals → neutralize cellular free radical bombs.
Beets also support nitric oxide production due to their high nitrate content. When ingested, these nitrates are converted into nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels, improves blood flow, and can enhance exercise performance.
An image from “Plant polyphenols as dietary antioxidants in human health and disease,” PMID: 20716914
Institute for Functional Medicine’s amazing printout of different colored plant foods and associated health benefits. Eat the rainbow every single day.
With that, here are 3 pink treats I’ll be making this year:
(PDF here of all 3 recipes if you prefer to print!)
1. Strawberry Maca Valentines Smoothie
My Valentine’s Smoothie 💘 🍓 Ingredients include raspberries, strawberries, beet powder, maca powder, and chia seeds. Check out the reel I posted on Instagram here!
Ingredients
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/4 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen cauliflower florets
4 Brazil nuts
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon maca powder
2 teaspoons beet powder
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 scoop of your favorite clean vanilla protein powder (I love Truvani, Be Well By Kelly, Vital Proteins, and Garden of Life Collagen)
Instructions
Place all of the ingredients in a blender with 1 cup water and blend for 30 seconds at high speed, or until smooth. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
2. Beet and Cauliflower Hummus
PINK Beet and Cauliflower Hummus! 💓😋
💡 This recipe includes one of my FAVORITE FOOD IDEAS of adding in a bunch steamed or roasted cauliflower into the hummus (or any bean dip you make) to lower the overall glycemic index by cutting the carb-heavy bean with a lower glycemic vegetable.
I love making hummus at home because it’s SO easy (just blend it all together) and because most store bought hummus options include seed oils or other preservatives. You certainly don’t need those to have an AMAZING hummus.
Ingredients
15 oz can of rinsed chickpeas
2 cups roasted cauliflower (approximately 1/2 of a cauliflower, or you can use 2 cups of frozen cauliflower warmed up)
2 beets, sliced and roasted
1/4 cup tahini
1 tsp salt
2 small whole bulbs of garlic (or 8-10 cloves)
Juice of 1 lemon
1/8-1/4 cup water (more if you want it thinner, less if you want it thicker)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (for topping)
Instructions
First, prepare the beets and cauliflower! Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Using a sharp chef’s knife, slice off the base of each beet to create a flat surface, and slice off the skinny pointy ends as well. Place each beet with its flat side against the cutting board and slice the beets in half, then slice the beets into wedges of even thickness, about ½ to ¾-inch thick on the widest edge. Drizzle with a little olive oil and salt. Roast for 40-50 minutes.
Chop the cauliflower into florets and throw on another sheet pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil and salt. Roast for 20-25 minutes. You could also use frozen cauliflower here and reheat it in the oven or microwave.
Next, once everything has been roasted get ready to make the hummus! In a food processor or blender, combine the chickpeas, cauliflower, beets, tahini, salt, garlic, lemon juice, spices, and water. (Note: to get the roasted garlic out, cut the root base off the bulb so all the cloves are exposed and squeeze the cloves out into the food processor. It’ll be a paste like consistency.) Start with 1/8 cup water and add more as needed until it’s your desired consistency.
Process until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed.
Optional: If desired, add a pinch of cayenne to give the hummus an extra kick of flavor.
Taste and adjust seasoning as needed, adding more salt or lemon juice as desired.
Top with olive oil and flakey salt. Serve with veggies and a nut & seed based cracker like Ella’s Flats or Flackers!
3. Pink Pancakes with Raspberry Compote
Pink Pancakes 🥞💓 with a Raspberry Compote! This is a take on my favorite almond flour pancake recipe, but we added beet powder for that PINK color and because beets are packed with essential nutrients like folate, manganese, vitamin C and fiber.
Ingredients
For the pink pancakes:
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened milk of choice
1/4 cup coconut oil (plus extra for frying)
1 cup almond flour (super fine, not almond meal)
2 tbsp coconut flour
2 tbsp allulose (I use RX Sugar)
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch flake salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tbsp beet powder
For the raspberry compote:
2 cups raspberries (frozen work just as well as fresh ones)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tbsp allulose
2 tbsp basil seeds (or chia seeds)
Water as needed for thinning
Instructions
For the pink pancakes:
Crack eggs into a large bowl and whisk gently.
Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to whisk.
Allow mixture to rest for 5 minutes. If it’s too thick, add a little bit more milk.
Preheat a large frying pan and coat it with a small amount of coconut oil (you can also use butter, avocado oil, or ghee here).
Using a spoon or measuring cup, drop small rounds (⅓ – ¼ cup) of batter into the pan.
Cook each pancake for 1-2 minutes or until it begins to bubble. Then flip the pancake and cook on the opposite side until cooked through (another 30-60 seconds).
Once cooked, transfer pancakes to a plate and cover with a towel to keep warm while you cook up the rest of the batter.
Top with your berry compote, seed-oil free almond butter, and Beeya seeds, chia or basil seeds!
For the raspberry compote:
Add raspberries, salt, chia/basil seeds and fresh lemon juice to a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir and crush the berries occasionally as they begin to cook.
Once the mixture starts boiling, stir continuously. Keep cooking and stirring until the compote thickens (5-10 minutes).
Optional: Sweeten with allulose if excessively tart.
Download all three recipes here. 💘
🧠 Good thought - Trust yourself
Studies show that over half of Americans are confused about nutrition and it makes them doubt their choices. Don’t fall prey to this.
I think part of the antidote to this rampant nutrition confusion lies in meditating on who you want to be in this precious lifetime and what qualities you want to embody, and then seeking out foods that possess those qualities.
When I look at my food from the farmer's market on my countertop on Sunday mornings, I think: This is literally my body and brain of next week. And I feel pride and joy.
I encourage you to connect with your food on this level - does the food in front of you possess the qualities you want to embody?
Personally, I want to be colorful, strong, unique, vibrant, complex, full of richness and depth.
So I seek out food like that. It’s that simple. When I see a plate of Goldfish or Oreos or sliced white bread — each piece homogenous and identical to one another, artificial, lifeless and so far removed from nature — I intuitively know that is not how I want to be in this lifetime. I don’t want to take on those qualities into my being. I don’t want to adopt those features. I don’t want to be artificial, homogenous, and far from nature.
Have you seen the metallic-rainbow sharp scales of wild caught trout? The striking variegated color of a watermelon radish? The two toned yellow and green of a summer squash? The tough pink strength of a piece of grass-fed beef tenderloin? It’s astonishing. I want to internalize that color, shininess, and strength!
This type of energetic/spiritual connection to our food should be obvious, but our over-intellectualized system of (highly compromised) biomedical research and total dissociation from how food is grown makes us petrified to trust ourselves and our intuition and our bodies.
Own your power as a nutrition decision-maker with that big, incredible brain of yours. Our brains are cosmic works of art self-assembled from atomic matter that has been traveling through space since the Big Bang. You have more neurons in your brain that stars in the Milky Way, and over 100 trillion synapses. Trust yourself. We can figure out what to eat. You know what's healthy and what's not and you know what's going to hurt your life or support your thriving.
Just look at the food in front of you. Does it make you feel awe and inspiration, or does it make you feel icky?
Don't be a victim to the confusion-industrial-complex of nutrition.
And don’t forget that nearly every industry - including big food and healthcare - financially benefits from YOU being divorced from your common sense, body awareness, and intuition.
With dissociation and distrust from ourselves, we can be sold “solutions” for our existential fear and confusion.
Science is a business. A BIG one. There’s a place and utility for biomedical science, and there’s also a place for using our big, powerful brains to understand what is right for our bodies and lives and what isn’t.
We have the most amazing opportunity right now to live the longest and happiest lives in human history and I think this will require 4 things:
1. Analyzing research with eyes wide open and NOT trusting it purely in face value bc it’s “science”;
2. Using the best of modern tools and tech like wearables and direct to consumer lab testing to take ownership of our OWN health;
3. Exploring the incalculable health wisdom from global traditions and cultures; AND,
4. Developing our own body awareness, SELF-TRUST, and spiritual expansion.
The future of health is owning our own health, not outsourcing it. We are all a spark of the universe. Never forget it.
💓 Happy Love Day,
Casey
👀 In Case You Missed It
Join me for the World Premiere of the Better Brain Blueprint, a NEW documentary series that reveals the science-backed secrets behind protecting, healing, and keeping your brain sharp at any age. Tune in to hear me speak about metabolism and brain health. If you missed any of the episodes, there will be a free replay later in the month. http://tinyurl.com/43rn2fs3
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