Getting Old: Ginger Lemon Water, Healthy? Prevent Constipation

Sometimes I feel like I'm counting the days to my next birthday. It's a biggie. What is really on my mind is the health deterioration many people experience between my upcoming birthday,  a new decade, and the following one.

As I pass from middle age into being more "elderly," I have no doubt that my genetic gifts will play larger parts in my health and function. I examine my blood pressure and blood/urine test results to try to guess which parent's genes dominate the "cards I've been dealt." My parents both ended their lives suffering from dementia, though totally different kinds.

There are medical professionals who agree that our genes give a simple "expiration date" for our health and functioning. Of course, it's possible to ruin our bodies, so they deteriorate more quickly. And there are accidents/injuries, environmental dangers and certain cancers beyond our control. It's also possible, though much more difficult, to stretch and optimize our life potential to stay functioning longer and more vibrantly than our genes and family history predict.

From my condition today, bli eyin haraa-not to tempt the Evil Eye, Gd dealt me some pretty good cards. Nobody can honestly call me a "health nut," though I do eat simpler, fresher and healthier foods than most people. The truth is that there are numerous and contradicting definitions of "healthy food." After trying a number of versions, including twenty-five years being a vegetarian and a couple of short tries as vegan and raw food, I now eat a rather balanced, ordinary carnivore diet, on some days rather low in carbohydrates, but I do eat irresistible desserts at least once a week.

Over the years, one thing gets agreement by most or all medical professionals. We have to prevent constipation. Or more simply put:

The "garbage" must be removed daily and best before you eat new food.

Apparently retaining the "garbage*," as I'll call it can slowly poison the system, besides physical/mechanical damage to the affected organs.

My simple prevention is drinking enough water, before bedtime and first thing in the morning. To make the water more palatable and add some vitamins, I add fresh lemon slices and fresh ginger.

To keep the ginger root from going bad, it's stored in the freezer. When I'm home, every night before going to bed I drink two giant mugs of lemon-ginger water and the same first thing in the morning. Afterwards I drink my coffee. And if you're wondering, I rarely wake up to use the bathroom more than once and sometimes not at all.

This works for me. It's also a big reason why I'm on the computer early in the morning. You need a relaxed time after waking for your body to function, get into gear. The necessary relaxation before rushing out is similar to what I recommend to young mothers who are trying to increase their milk. Just the other day, I spoke to a first-time mother, who said that she didn't produce enough milk. I told her to sit in a comfortable chair, put up her feet and either read a good book or watch movies, whatever relaxes.

Besides insufficient water, a big cause of constipation is rushing out of the house soon after waking. My early morning time, drinking lemon-ginger water, answering emails, reacting to facebook messages and blogging is a favorite time of my day. It both energizes and relaxes me. That's not a contradiction. Stressed energy isn't healthy in the long run.

I suggest increasing your water consumption. If you really don't drink any, and teas don't count, then start gradually. Tell me how you're doing. Good luck, and stay healthy. A certain amount of your health is in your control.

*toxins

Sweet Vegetable Soup Sans Sugar

Yesterday was a fast day on the Jewish Calendar, the postponed 17th of Tamuz, which commemorates the beginning of the loss of Jerusalem and destruction of the Holy Temples. It's a daylong/light fast, beginning with the first light of dawn and ending in darkness. Being that (in the northern hemisphere) we're in early summer, when day's are longest, it feels like it goes on forever, and we finally eat after my usual dinner time. I like to break fasts on vegetable soup. And I enjoy spending the last few hours of a fast puttering in the kitchen preparing homemade vegetable soup.

Before I left for a morning's learning in Matan, Jerusalem, I left some chickpeas to soak in boiling water for the soup. Chickpeas take a long time to prepare, unlike lentils. But I figured that the day would be long enough for the chickpeas to soften.

A few hours before the fast ended, I decided it was time to go to the kitchen and turn the chickpeas into a soup. My soups are never the same. I don't measure, and I rarely plan.

Since I knew there was plenty of pumpkin and sweet potatoes in the fridge, I decided to base my soup on those ingredients. In Israel it's very popular to make an Orange Soup, which then gets blended into a creamy sweet soup. But I don't have one of those blender sticks, and I davka like to chew...

I added more boiling water to the chickpeas and put it on the stove to cook. Then I cut up onion and garlic and added them to the chickpeas.

Next I took out the pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, squash and some ginger root, which I store in the freezer.

I cut up all the ingredients and added them, too. Now, I do have a system when it comes to cooking different sorts of vegetables together. There is a big difference in cooking times between carrots and pumpkin, for instance. Carrots take the longest to cook, so they go in first. After that the sweet potato, squash, ginger and pumpkin.

I added some vegetable oil and boiling water, covered and then lowered the heat to a simmer. Once I could see that the vegetables had begun to soften I added a bit of coarsely ground pepper and some coarse salt. That was it.

The soup cooked for about 40 minutes. And then I left it to finish by itself, no flame. It was absolutely delicious, very sweet, not savory.

Just Peachy

The other day I was pleasantly surprised to find nice looking peaches at a decent price in Machane Yehuda, so I bought a few. Once I got home, I saw that they weren't 100% perfect, but they are exactly what I need for my breakfast.

Ginger "scrapings," apples, goat yogurt* and peaches are a great breakfast combination.

I guess summer really has arrived!

*In addition to the peaches, I found a nice supply of my favorite goat yogurt, the one from Susiya, in a grocery store on the same shuq street as the peaches.

Horseradish and Ginger, Two Powerhouses

horseradish to the left and ginger to the right

Horseradish and Ginger. At first glance these two roots look a bit similar, and they'd be even moreso if the horseradish was fresher. I've been eating both everyday recently.

It used to be that we only bought horseradish root before Passover, and then we, or my husband more exactly, would grate* it, add some vinegar and it would be our ceremonial "bitter herb" at the Seder and the condiment for gefilte fish.

During the big Russian (USSR) exodus of Jews to Israel over twenty years ago, new immigrant neighbors discovered that we had freshly grated horseradish and requested portions for medicinal reasons.

Horseradish is a powerful and pungent plant that is connected to a wide variety of health benefits, including its ability to aid weight loss, lower blood pressure, alleviate respiratory conditions, build strong bones, improve immune system health, stimulate healthy digestion, promote heart health, and lower the chances of neural tube defects in infants. Perhaps most notably, horseradish can prevent cancer due to its extremely high levels of glucosinolates. For complete article click here.

One Passover a few decades ago I began putting horseradish on all sorts of foods, even my breakfast omelet, and since then I try to keep a stock all year long.

More recently I've discovered the joys and flavors of fresh ginger root. It adds a totally delicious "punch" to many foods, from fruit salad to chicken to an Israeli favorite, "orange soup." I've been cooking it up in my omelets every morning. Yes, everything seems to go in my omelets.

Ginger Root Benefits
Ginger root (Zingiber officinale) is well known as a remedy for travel sickness, nausea and indigestion and is used for wind, colic, irritable bowel, loss of appetite, chills, cold, flu, poor circulation, menstrual cramps, dyspepsia (bloating, heartburn, flatulence), indigestion and gastrointestinal problems such as gas and stomach cramps.
Uses
Ginger has been well researched and many of its traditional uses confirmed. It is a warming remedy, ideal for boosting the circulation, lowering high blood pressure and keeping the blood thin in higher doses. Ginger is anti-viral and makes a warming cold and flu remedy.
Ginger is a powerful anti-inflammatory herb and there has been much recent interest in its use for joint problems. It has also been indicated for arthritis, fevers, headaches, toothaches, coughs, bronchitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, to ease tendonitis, lower cholesterol and blood-pressure and aid in preventing internal blood clots. For complete article click here.

The ginger root should be frozen for storage. I have a feeling that if I do the same with the horseradish it will keep longer. Enjoy, and tell me what you do with those great healthy and tasty roots.

*Well over forty 40 years ago I bought a simple Moulinex blender which has a coffee bean grinder. Since then, the grinder does the horseradish grating. And during the year, when I want freshly grated horseradish, I use my food-processor.

Craving Compote

The other day I got back from Jerusalem with a slightly upset stomach and a strong craving for apple compote. The craving may have begun a few days earlier when I thought of making baked apple for dessert. In the end I didn't, because the last time I did, my husband wasn't very enthusiastic. If I were to make baked apples, I'd have to supply him with a cake, so I ended up not having the apples.

But then I really found myself seriously needing cooked apple, so I made myself compote.

raw ingredients

There are just three ingredients besides water, as you can see in the photo:

• pieces of apples
• cinnamon
• fresh ginger

While it was cooking I had some nice mild tea, also with a bit of fresh ginger. After smelling that it was cooking, I turned off the flame and waited for at least ten minutes. And then finally I had the Apple Compote, and it hit the spot. Suddenly I felt so much better. I finished every single drop.

PS Correct, no sugar at all. It is so sweet on its own cooked/stewed in minimal water.

Medicinal, Refreshing Jerusalem "Street Food"

There's more to Jerusalem "Street Food" than felafel, shwarma, bourekas and ice cream. One thing I remember from my very first visit here in 1969 was the "freshly squeezed juice" kiosk. Even with the addition of more and more unhealthy foods and 5 Shekel snackbar/restaurants, you can still find an amazing amount of custom juice places with a wider variety of fruits and vegetables for your juice, custom-made.

Way back when it was mostly orange, apple and carrot, but today you can get lots more.

The other day, fighting one of those season-change colds, I decided to lunch on a healthy "medicinal" juice. I went to a kiosk my son recently took me to on Rechov Agripas, just off of King George Street and asked for pomegranate and ginger. The "juicer" -what does one call a person who runs such a business?- told me that with the powerful ginger, I need to add either some apple or carrot juice. I chose the carrot, which is also chock full of vitamins.

I took his largest size cup, which cost me NS25, lots more than I would have spent on a felafel or tuna sandwich. But I wanted something to help flush out or scare away whatever virus had been plaguing my body.

It had a nice powerful taste from the ginger, was refreshing and filling. Just as it was almost ready for drinking, a passerby took a look and asked for exactly the same thing without even knowing what I had in it. Actually, he was an American, and I needed to translate for him. I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did.

Creative Vegetable Cooking

There are many people who have complained about my recipes, because I just can't give exact ingredients, temperatures, times etc. Sorry, for those of you who are too terrified of making "cooking mistakes." I guess that my cooking style would never work in a restaurant, because I pretty much never reproduce any food/dish exactly.

Maybe I'm exaggerating in this, but not by much. In recent years, not even my cakes are measured exactly, and cakes are more like a "chemistry formula" than vegetables. But I've discovered that after decades, pretty close to half a century of cooking, I've developed a "feel" for even my cakes and cookies. And since even the famous 1, 2, 3 cookies my kids adore, are really best and easiest produced with a food scale, I so rarely make them that I haven't replaced my broken scale for years, and I have still managed to make an irresistible version of them sans scale.

Back to my "Creative Vegetable" dishes. They don't need a scale, and you don't have to count, measure etc. All you need is a good covered pan/pot or an oven. I don't have a microwave, but I have no doubt, and would love your reports, that my creative vegetable dishes can just as easily be made in a microwave. 

Recently I've been on a fresh ginger kick. I even slice it into my quick oatmeal. I keep some root in the freezer and slice off a bit with a sharp knife when I want to cook with it. Leave it out for a few minutes to make it easier to slice.

The other day I "sauteed"* it up with onion, carrot, apple, mushroom and cabbage, plus some cooking oil.

When I bake my vegetables, I spread the same ingredients on a baking dish, bake 'n serve ones are fantastic, dribble some oil on top and then bake in a hot oven until seems ready. You may have to lower the oven's temperature, depending on your oven. Ditto about turning off before fully cooked, unless you're cooking more things afterwards.

I'd love to hear your reports of how your versions of my recipes are. So please don't be shy. Comment with reports and questions.

* my concept of "sauteing" is to put the cut vegetables in a good pot or pan, add some oil, cover and cook on low heat until softish. Turn off the stove when almost ready, because the pan's heat will continue the cooking for another few minutes.