The Hemp Connection:
thiamin

The day after the FDA warning about pistachio nuts came out, I was in a local grocery store. As I walked through the produce aisle, I noticed the produce manager and his clerk with a huge bin; they were emptying out their inventory of pistachio nuts into a huge garbage bin. They had no idea where their pistachios had come from, and they had to throw them away.

I felt sad that so much food had to be wasted.

The day that the FDA warning about pistachio nuts came out, I received a note from Whole Foods Market. They were working to source where all their pistachio nuts came from. A detailed memo was released later in the week regarding the safety of pistachios in their many stores.

Please read this blog post and make your own decisions. But do consider the value in being an informed consumer. If you are judicious about where you shop, it may be worth a little extra investment. If you make a choice to purchase locally grown products at your farmer's market, you're not only supporting a local small business, you know exactly what hands your food passed through before it fell into yours.

There will come a time when pistachios will be considered generally healthy to eat, no matter what the source. And when that comes, keep these pistachio fun facts in mind:

--a one ounce serving of pistachio nuts scores higher on the USDA's antioxidant scorecard than a cup of green tea.
--pistachio nuts can help to reduce bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol
--pistachio nuts are high in lutein and can help prevent macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness
--pistachio nuts are a good source of many vitamins and minerals, including: thiamin, vitamin B6, copper, manganese, potassium, dietary fiber, phosphorus and magnesium
--pistachio nuts are a good source of healthy fats, including omega-3's

My point is…I hope you don't eliminate pistachios completely from your diet because of what you've heard in the news. The pistachio recall was specifically for pistachios from Setton Farms. If you can shop at a store or farmer's market where you can be assured pistachios did not pass through this processing plant, they can be a wonderful addition to your PCOS eating plan.

Here's a recipe for white bean pistachio chili to get you started!

Why would I pick such an esoteric fruit for this blog? I've got several reasons.

1. I have been asked to be part of a committee here in Phoenix that organizes Get Your PHX, monthly events promoting local businesses. Because my specialty is nutrition, I've been assigned the task of finding food for these parties. It's a great opportunity to give my fellow Phoenicians a chance to try some of the principles promoted on this blog--eat a variety of foods, organic and locally grown when possible--and to see that it actually tastes great!

The restaurant I am working with for next week's event is called The Breadfruit. It's a small but very popular joint in downtown Phoenix that obtains quite a few of its ingredients from the farmer's market around the corner. I joined The Breadfruit's Facebook fan page, and Sasha Ottey of PCOS Challenge, who is originally from Jamaica, commented that the breadfruit is a staple of Jamaica. So, for Sasha, I'm highlighting this food.

2. Women with PCOS often cut back what they are eating to just a small list of foods that they've culled from the Internet, at the expense of their dietary variety. I worked with eating disorders before specializing in PCOS, and my observation is that there is a lot more fear about food with PCOS than with eating disorders. I would guess, it has to do with wanting so badly to conceive, or lose weight, or whatever, that (unrealistic) magical powers to help or hurt PCOS start to be attached to certain food. There is no such top ten list of PCOS cure foods. In fact, the more varied your diet, the more nutrients you can get. So I wanted to pick a food that challenged all of you to think outside of that top ten list.

3. Dietary regimens for PCOS take all the fun out of food. It becomes a chore, eating the same foods over and over becomes boring, and eventually the backlash is likely to become a binge on foods that are counterproductive to PCOS. I encourage you all to have fun with food! Even if you're not coming to Get Your PHX next week, if you have an opportunity to try Jamaican food, or Korean food, or Bolivian food…don't pass it up! You might find something you like that you can add to your routine.

Back to breadfruit. What is it? It's a starchy staple of tropical nations around the world. It is typically cooked before eating, and it gets its name from its bread-like flavor. It can also be stored, fermented, and turned into a paste.

In economically disadvanted countries, breadfruit is consumed in large quantities that would not be appropriate for someone trying to balance their carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake. As a side dish, in moderation, it does provide vitamin C, choline, thiamine, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, and a lot of dietary fiber--11 grams per serving! And even though it is starchy, its glycemic index is not high, likely due to its fiber content.

So if you're out having fun, and the menu includes something exotic, don't pass it up just because it's not salmon, broccoli, walnuts, or blueberries. Mother Earth has a bounty of options that are good for you, fun to try, and pleasing to your palate.

It's barbecue season. I don't need to look at the calendar or feel the temperature to know that. I simply have to look outside and see my neighbor Brett making dinner. The other night I stopped to chat and see what he was cooking. He had some corn on the cob, the way I like it, wrapped in foil and set on the back of the coals.

Brett asked me what I knew about corn, because he had been told that it was a food with no nutritional value. I was surprised when I Googled for more information to learn that this is a commonly held belief.

Corn actually has many nutrients in reasonable quantities, including fiber, protein, thiamin, folate (yup, folate), vitamin C, and magnesium. All of these are important for your health!

Corn may get its bad reputation from its oil, which, as you've seen in previous writings here, is pro-inflammatory. However, an entire cob of corn only has 1.2 grams. The problem with corn fat is when it's extracted, concentrated, and used to cook/add fat to other foods (e.g., Fritos). A fresh cob of corn is a great type of carbohydrate to add to a summer barbecue. To change the fat makeup, try one of my grilling favorites: brush with olive oil instead of butter and sprinkle with a bit of rosemary and Parmesan cheese.

One word of advice when shopping for corn: if avoiding genetically modified foods is important to you, be sure you by your corn from a purveyor who can document that their product has not been so altered. That's what you'll find at stores like Whole Foods and farmer's markets. The more we ask for what's best, the less demand we create for these types of products and the more we encourage genetically modified foods to not be sold.

Here are your foods to look out for this week:

fortified whole grains
brown rice
oatmeal
flax
dried beans
fish
sunflower seeds
asparagus
kale
cauliflower
potatoes
oranges
eggs

Looking at this list, I can see where more than a few of you may be deficient. If you're avoiding carbs completely, don't know what to do with flax, and avoid eggs because you think the yolks are too high in cholesterol…you've knocked out some of your strongest thiamine contenders.

Here's a great recipe for a healthy eggplant parmesan with whole wheat panko to get you started. You could easily mix some ground flax into the bread crumbs to pack an even stronger punch.

I'm also thinking kale chips, cauliflower curry, asparagus omelets…this week's challenge is hardly punishment, at least in my kitchen!

Have fun!