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High Fiber Cooking - An integrated lifestyle approach!

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Eat your way to health by incorporating high fiber cooking into your lifestyle.

Get healthy! Lose weight! Unspackle your colon!
A simple lifestyle change will change your life!
Shop smarter, live better!
Tasty, practical, cheap recipes!
Find tips, tricks, links to resources below.
We believe passionately that this is a real solution for many who have not yet succeeded in their weight loss and health-improvement goals.
And - yes - you can eat fat (in moderation)! Butter! Cream! Goose fat! Chicken fat is good for you!
Control portions and food density for better results... exercise - and
Learn the art of high fiber cooking!

High Fiber Cooking on Wellsphere

Hey, they've added this blog, and feature us! Yay!

High Fiber Cooking on Wellsphere
Wellsphere added us and made us a Top Blogger!

here's my badge...

Here's the research "Smoking Gun" to support our lifestyle approach!

It's the fine grinding of cereal and grains that makes them "too accessible" to the metabolism. Whole cereals and legumes control blood sugar, the onset of insulin resistance (pre-diabetes and diabetes), and cholesterol!

This research shows definitively that eating legumes (beans!) and whole cereal grains controls blood sugar and helps prevent the onset of diabetes... and that the insoluble fiber found in natural food structures is more effective than fiber supplements.
Research Abstract on Fiber and Diabetes
"This review examines the evidence for the role of whole grain foods and legumes in the aetiology and management of diabetes" - from the first line of the abstract
Barley Lowers Cholesterol
The authors experimented with an isolate from barley, and it lowered cholesterol and caused weight loss.

Fat is GOOD for you

There is actually an INVERSE relationship between dietary intake of saturated fat & cholesterol - and serum cholesterol levels!

The so-called "lipid hypothesis" has been debunked by extensive further research and population studies! Butter is good for you! Margarine is BAD! There are good fats, we need them, they are essential, and some populations with the lowest rates of heart disease and diabetes have the highest rates of fat consumption!

And here's the research to support our "controversial" claim about fat...

Knowledge is power - and can be tasty, too!

We have a large food industry in this country, and we are seeing all these studies all the time reported in the media. A good question to ask is - who paid for this study? What could their motive be? Public policy has been based time and again on research provided by industry-financed institutions... "the best science money can buy." Read the linked research below, and be prepared to enjoy whole milk, butter, eggs, meat, goose and chicken fat with your whole grains! Put that sausage in the chili!
The Truth about Saturated Fats
Renowned nutrition researchers Mary Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon lay it out here - the unvarnished truth! We've been lied to here in America.

Is there a pattern? We drink sodas sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. We've been told saturated fats are bad, and instead we should use "healthy" margarine made with hydrogentated corn oil! And, now, we even are supposed to fill up our cars with ethanol-laced gasoline, made from - you guessed it - corn!

Meanwhile, the price of food is skyrocketing because of shortages of corn feed... and our children are obese! Yes! Good going, Agribusiness lobbyists!
The Goose Fat Information Service
Get a load of this - goose fat is one of the best fats you can eat! It actually LOWERS cholesterol! (and it tastes great!)

Portion Size and Food Density make a difference. Water is good, as are high-water content foods

What is "full?" There's a connection here.

There is research that shows that people tend to feel "full" when they come to the end of the portion that's in front of them. Solution? Control portion size.

There is also research that shows that food can be "diluted" with water or high-water-content foods to improve satiety with reduced caloric density.

Moderate amounts of added fat content can improve the satiety effect of smaller or lower-density portions.

People who drink a lot of water are healthier!

Want to have fun losing weight?

A whole new approach to eating using high fiber cooking

It's a simple principle. Eat whatever you want (within reason! Easy on the sugar, sodas and ice cream!) - but add tasty high-fiber foods to every meal and snack!

You can do this at home - AND if you're eating out. You only need to know which readily available foods have high fiber content - and be sure to include those as part of your meal... foods like beans, nuts, whole grains, pears, prunes, dates, walnuts, chick peas, lentils, broccoli, peas, carrots... all you need to do is incorporate foods like these - at every meal! It's easy, tasty and fun!

The trick is in the shopping. Have good stuff in your house, ready to eat. Order sides in a restaurant that have good fiber content.

For breakfast -

Have a couple of prunes on your muesli in the morning.

Have high-protein, high-fiber bread with your eggs. Have walnuts or almonds on your oatmeal. Add a little flax seed to your GoLean Crunch cereal. Fry your eggs in butter or goose fat. Add a touch of real cream or butter to your oatmeal or meusli! This muesli here has a little coconut milk drizzled on it...

At lunch,

have some bean salad

or chick peas and a little raw broccoli on your salad (lettuce alone won't do it, sorry!). Eat some protein... smoked salmon, eggs, tuna, maybe a little lunch meat. Sprinkle some walnuts or almond slivers on it, or maybe some Chia seeds or flax seeds. Put a little flax seed oil or some olive or walnut oil on it.

At dinner -

have some lentils or Quinoa or barley as a side

or add lentils to your rice. Have broccoli or greens.. Yams are great, too. Simmer vegetables, grains and meats together slowly on the stove - make chili for the week. Whole wheat pasta is nice with some red sauce, turkey cutlet and vegetables. Use spices! It gets to be cheaper eating high fiber because more of your bulk begins to come from legumes, whole cereal grains and vegetables than from meat and starches.

Hot peppers are good -

they boost metabolism.

You can increase your tolerance for hot peppers gradually - the capsaicin in them is fat soluble and stays in the body for awhile, boosting metabolism and connecting to opiate receptors in the brain. You'll feel better!

They're investigating capsaicin's role in diabetes prevention !

(that's the stuff that makes peppers hot...) and finding some very interesting things!

Canadian researchers believe they have cured diabetes with capsaicin injections into the pancreas
Astonished researchers report capsaicin injections cure Type 1 diabetes in mice
From NaturalNews: A new Canadian animal study published in Friday's issue of the journal Cell found that mice injected with capsaicin -- the chemical that makes chili peppers hot -- were rapidly cured of Type 1 diabetes.
Researchers from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto believe that Type 1 diabetes -- the most serious form of the disease that usually appears in childhood -- is caused by malfunctioning pain nerves that surround cells in the pancreas.

Bet you didn't know...

these oddball but practical fiber facts -

Toasting increases fiber content, as does frying.

Sauteeing is better than boiling for vegetables. Steaming is good, too

Stir-frying vegetables increases their fiber content

Leaving on skins, peels, and seeds all increase fiber content

Size matters...the finer the grind, the more constipating anything is

Beware of Industrial fiber ! Fiber capsules - and wood cellulose fiber added to some commercial breads - are so finely ground that they are more constipating than healthful!

Leave your spices whole

Add nice flavor surprises and - ! - fiber - !

Most of the seeds in the picture are aromatics, and add great flavor to grains and beans that might need a little flavor help. Leave them whole when you cook for little nuggets of tasty...

The flax and chia seeds shown above are taste-neutral, pretty much, but they add a lot of fiber and omega-3 oils, so you can put em in almost anything.

I've noticed that the tastes of these various seeds don't conflict, but only enhance, each in their own way.

OK, Gimme the bottom line! What's the "elevator" on this program?

Fiber and protein, with fresh fruits and vegetables and healthy fats

Less starch, sugar, trans fats. Less pasta and bread - unless it's whole wheat or whole grain. And, (sorry) - watch the ice cream. Very dangerous...

BUT - you can eat anything, if you have a steady stream of fiber entering your system, go easy on the portions, and drink water. Why? Because fiber promotes healthy elimination. Bad things don't linger. Things that get stuck in there have more chance to do damage.

Did you know that the average American has 27 pounds of undigested meat in his colon?

Not if you eat fiber, you don't.

It's that simple.

High fiber cooking!

Are there no-no's? Yes - some things you're better off without

Although you don't HAVE to give up anything to incorporate high fiber cooking into your lifestyle

They've been finding out a lot of stuff - particularly in the study of diabetes. Sodas are bad - the ones with high fructose corn syrup. They cause obesity.

So does hydrogenated vegetable oil. The body is not equipped to metabolize this man-made fat, invented to keep butter from spoiling for soldiers in World War II. The inventors created a culinary monster in the process, because whole industries sprang up around this invention. It's not nice to fool mother nature! These so-called 'trans fats' are evil, industrial food foisted upon us because we love them - they're convenient and tasty and we buy them, thinking that the food companies love us and are looking out for us. (Wrong!! They love their shareholders - and their executive bonuses - more than they love us! Sorry to tell you!!)

The problem is, these things are all over the place in the supermarket. We have to read the labels.

But, it's easy to find stuff that's good for you. You won't go hungry eating right.. as a matter of fact, your cravings for unhealthy food along with your desire to binge (if you have it) will ease as your metabolism itself heals.

OK, How do I do this?

Start by keeping high-fiber items in your home!

Here's a short list of convenient, widely available items that can jump-start your fiber intake that last a long time on your shelf:

Canned beans - red, black, canellini, garbanzo
Lentils
Split peas
Whole-grain pasta
Brown rice
Barley
Flax Seeds
Bran cereal
Oatmeal
Muesli
Almonds
Walnuts
Prunes
Dates
Figs

Look at the label for grams of fiber per serving for the following items (and, while you're reading the label, try to avoid sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils!):
Whole grain bread
Breakfast cereals
Ready-made chili (watch the fat content here)
Canned soups - lentil is great!

With these things living on your shelves, it's easy to start bringing fiber in to every meal. The only other items you'll need to shop for are protein, and produce (if you can find it).

Protein items:
Dairy:
Milk
Eggs
Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Yogurt
Meats or fish, fresh or frozen
Canned fish (tuna, salmon, sardines)

Fresh or frozen vegetables -
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrots
Brussels Sprouts
Green beans
Peas
And - dessert treats - don't deprive yourself!
Fresh fruit
Pears
Apples
Kiwi

If you've made your meal and snacks from these things, made them a priority - make SURE you eat them - then you have a little room for something sweet. A piece of dark chocolate goes a long way toward capping off a nice meal, and it contains many beneficial things.

What do I do with grains? I don't know how to cook them!

Boil them until they've absorbed the water you add.

The basic idea is to get the water to grain ratio close. Exact doesn't matter.

I like to cook grains in the microwave. I usually boil them for up to 5 minutes - kasha and rolled oats take less time, total - then cook as needed for up to a half hour on low power, depending on the grain.

Above is a little chart showing the grain, the ratio, and the cook time.

Here's a hint - try adding spices or vegetables to your grains!

After the first boil, add flavorful seeds, dried fruits, spices and vegetables

Experiment! Try adding coriander, caraway, cumin, or cardamom seeds. Anise seeds taste great with grains... chili powder, cayenne, or smoke powder or liquid smoke is great! Soy sauce is great, too, as are figs, prunes or dates. Adding cut-up vegetables for the low-power part of the cooking makes a complete casserole to accompany a protein dish like chicken, turkey, fish, lamb, veal - or even tofu!

Tofu can be mixed into the casserole, or nut butters.. or serve it with a fried egg on top!

Below are some books published on Amazon. We love this subject, and have been trying a lot of recipes, and are writing our own cookbook and shopping list. We will be back soon with a chart showing which foods have this terrific healing power - right on our grocer's shelves!

Here's THE LIST

...

Here's a recipe for Riff Raff Tapenade

this was made from stuff in my cabinets..

Riff-Raff Tapenade

12 Olives
14/cup chopped Sundried Tomato
3 stalks Fennel sliced
2 stalks Celery sliced
2 Tbsp Raisins
2 tbsp Dried Currants
5 Roast Chestnuts
6 Walnut haves
3 Shallots, chopped

Chop everything as fine or rough as you like and blend, then add
1 tbsp Walnut Oil
Combine
Enjoy!

High Fiber Cooking stuff on Amazon

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Buy your healthy fats on Amazon !

These can be hard to find, but here they are.

Duck fat is very similar to goose fat, and it's available here. If anybody can find goose fat available commercially, please contact me!
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And, coconut and flax oils..

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About the Author

Jon loves to cook, but he's a musician in his other life!

Here is Jon's music project - "A stunning new collection of original songs by bassist-composer Jon Burr, rooted in jazz with a feel of "instant standards" - romantic, slamming, smooth, & gorgeous, influenced by Miles Davis, Tony Bennett, Jobim, Weather Report, Charlie Mingus, Chet Baker, & Billy Strayhorn, this band features passionate vocals and progressive, adventurous improvisation."
Just Can't Wait CD/Live at Birdland DVD

Just Can't Wait CD/Live at Birdland DVD

Amazon Price: $5.25 (as of 02/13/2012)Buy Now

Listen to these songs while you prepare your meals!
:^)
See Jon's website here:
jonburr.com

Recipes on a roll - these are fed from my Wordpress blog

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Give us your tried and your true - we want some postings from YOU!

Visitors, let us all see your favorite high-fiber recipes! See if you can give us something tasty, and hold the flour, sugar and trans-fats, OK?

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  • Reply
    sarah zephynz Aug 23, 2009 @ 12:03 pm | delete
    I've been at a weight loss plateau for about a month now. Have become bored with what I've been eating and my preferred diet falls into this category. I've experimented w/completely vegan, as well as vegan NO fats at all, keeping it high fiber and am still not sure which is best for MY biochemistry (personal theory is we're all a bit different). Have begun using coconut oil, eggs, fish and organic free range meat but something about this has caused this plateau. But I love reading recipes for inspiration. I never, ever follow recipes but reading them are part of the process for me, it's where I get inspired. Then I begin not really knowing how it will evolve. I try to write the good ones down and have a large collection but sometimes I actually forget what I did exactly, even right afterwards cause it's some kind of a flow thing. Hope I remember to get back to this blog
  • Reply
    Auntiekatkat Mar 15, 2009 @ 12:06 pm | delete
    Welcome to The very best of Squidoo Food Lens Fiber is the most essential thing to eat, we are essentially what we eat.
  • Reply
    Zion Feb 3, 2009 @ 9:49 am | delete
    Wow! Your lens is fantastic! I really like it so I gave you 5*. Keep up the god work!..
    Please try to stop by my lens. I would really much appreciate if you could rate mine too!
    Thank you so much!

    Zion
    http://www.squidoo.com/legitimatehome-basedbusinesses
  • Reply
    BigGirlBlue Jan 13, 2009 @ 7:22 pm | delete
    If it works for William Shatner... :) Great lens. It was nice that you included recipes too.
    Best,
  • Reply
    ElizabethJeanAllen Jan 2, 2009 @ 3:59 pm | delete
    Great lens. Adding fiber to our diets is always a good idea.
    Lizzy
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Which book do you like the best?

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Kitchen Doctor: High Fiber Cooking for Health by Anne Sheasby

Kitchen Doctor: High Fiber Cooking for Health by Anne Sheasby

Over 50 delicious recipes for healthy eating that more...0 points

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The Complete Idiot's Guide to High-Fiber Cooking by Liz Scott

The Complete Idiot's Guide to High-Fiber Cooking by Liz Scott

Get healthy with fiber, without sacrificing taste. more...0 points

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High Fiber Cooking (Healthy Life (Southwater)) by Anne Sheasby

High Fiber Cooking (Healthy Life (Southwater)) by Anne Sheasby

At the heart of the book are 50 enticing recipes r more...0 points

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Jon_Burr

Charlie Mingus asked him to sit in on bass at the Village Vanguard at the age of sixteen. Tony Bennett critiqued his lyrics. Chet Baker and Stan Getz played... more »

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