Spring and summer food love❤️🍓🥑.
One of the magical parts of this time of year is all of the fresh foods that are available.
BEST is seeking your favorite healthy and hearty spring and summer recipes to share. Feel free to email Kim at kimt@brainenergysupportteam.org. Can’t wait to hear your delicious ideas!
Looking for a healthy and delicious recipe to try this summer? BEST Executive Director, Gloria Kraegel, has some family favorites that serve as go-to recipes all year round. Check out these great eats below!
Have a favorite healthy recipe that you’d like to share? Tell us about it!
Grilled Portobello Mushrooms
4 Large portobello mushrooms
4 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
2 green onions (minced including green tops)
3 tablespoons salted butter
(1) Clean mushrooms and remove stems, reserve for other use. Place caps on a plate with the gills up.
(2) In a small bowl, combine melted butter, onion, garlic. Pour mixture evenly over the mushroom caps and let stand for 30 minutes
(3) Grill over hot grill for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese and garnish with chopped parsley. These are wonderful served with a spinach salad or on a bun as a burger with whatever sides you like. Note: the cheese is optional.
Black Bean & Quinoa Burgers
1 can black beans
1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup bread crumbs (we like Panko Flakes)
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 tablespoons olive oil
(1) Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the
water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.
(2) Roughly mash the black beans with a fork leaving some whole black beans in a paste-like mixture.
(3) Mix the quinoa, bread crumbs, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, hot pepper sauce, and egg into the black beans using your hands.
(4) Form the black bean mixture into 5 patties.
(5) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
(6) Cook the patties in the hot oil until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
This recipe is adapted from AllRecipes.com and is fantastic on a bun with cheddar cheese. Serve with whatever sides you like.
There are many studies to support both the benefits and drawbacks of eating meat. Whether or not people should eliminate meat from their diet will remain one of the most debated and controversial subjects in the field of health and nutrition. Don’t worry, I’m not here to convince you to eat or stop eating meat. I have a better idea in mind.
Instead, I want to share some cooking methods involving meat that could help your brain prosper—or not. Here are a few cooking methods you might want to consider when you’re craving fried chicken or broiled chicken knuckles. By the way, I have never eaten chicken knuckles (and don’t plan on it)!
Frying, broiling and barbecuing meat can be harmful cooking methods if not done correctly. Such cooking methods can result in meat damage called Advanced Glycation End-products or AGE. This damage occurs when the meat is either overcooked, seared or exposed to high cooking temperatures and causes an increase of toxins and poisons.
When the brain is bombarded by food toxins, it becomes inflamed. This inflammation, also known as neuro-inflammation, singes and burns our brain cells. Simply put, the brain is on fire. Neuro-inflammation often is the result of a traumatic brain injury. Common symptoms of existing neuro-inflammation are brain fog, impaired cognitive abilities, mood swings, memory loss and fatigue, among others.
If we’re not conscious of how we eat, the toxins from what we eat could be throwing gas onto the fire already burning inside our heads. This goes back to a recent article I wrote, about how using a wooden spoon was a healthier way to prepare food. Click here to read more.
After suffering a traumatic brain injury, I was aware of the fire burning inside my head. To put out that fire, I had to change the way I prepared meals—particularly meats. Instead of cooking meat in hot grease or prolonged high temperatures, I would bake the meat. I even ate less meat to alleviate digestive stress that is associated with a meaty diet. Digestive stress is a leading contributor to chronic inflammation and can cause lots of damage in our bodies.
The seemingly small changes I made in how I prepared food gave my brain the best chance to heal. And I made a shocking recovery!
Instead of advising someone to eat or not to eat meat, I’d ask them to consider how they are preparing those meaty foods. Once you know the how you start, you will gain a sense of what’s happening inside your head.
And remember, even the small steps toward a better brain can go a long way.
I sure hope this article helps. Do you eat meat? If so, what are some of the ways you prepare your favorite meat dishes? I’d love to know!
Chef Myron Norman is a brain injury survivor, research writer and author of the new release: Lifesaving FAQs of How Food Reversed My Brain Damage. His work has attracted professional athletes, trauma survivors and clients such as Nancy Emerson Lombardo, Ph.D., Founder of the National Alzheimer’s Association and Maria Shriver, Emmy Award Winner and Founder of The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement. Chef Myron welcomes reader comments or questions at www.healthybrainbooks.com
It’s March and Brain Injury Awareness Month. A lot of focus is placed on the cause of injuries, the number of TBIs that occur annually, neurological research, and so many more important-to-know aspects of this “silent epidemic.” At BEST we work hard to change the conversation from “brain injury” to “life energy” and what better way to do that than share a great idea?
Thank you, Lou Nash of the Edmonds Support Group in WA State, for recently sharing a terrific article from the Wellness.com blog; “Meditating for Longevity: Why and How”. This article focused largely on the enzyme “telomerase,” but it made me think of the growing engagement individuals with brain injury are having with yoga and meditation classes across the country. Yet not enough of us understand the immense benefit we can get from even just a few minutes of a daily meditation practice.
The article opens with this statement, “Multiple studies have determined that not only can meditation physically alter your brain for the better, but it will also offer immense emotional benefits that also translate into brighter moods and longer lifespans.” Did you know that there are more than 350 published studies? These have been conducted by medical schools, teams of neurologists and neuropsycologists, and universities such as UCLA, Harvard, Stanford, and many others.
Benefits of meditation include normalized blood pressure, reduced cortisol levels, reduced anxiety, reduced instances and intensity of depression, better moods, and increases in learning, focus, and memory. Meditation also helps with managing anger and behavior challenges.
With those results, why wouldn’t we want to meditate?
So, instead of asking why more of us aren’t meditating let’s assume you want a simple way to cash in on the benefits of meditation yourself.
First, make sure you have 10 to 20 minutes set aside for yourself. This is the time of the day you’ll mindfully, and politely, tell everyone to leave you alone.
Second, sit comfortably in your favorite chair, wearing your comfy clothes, and leave all the demands of the day in the hallway. If you think you’ll want to check the time, set a timer and forget it.
Third, breathe. Yes, bring attention to your breathing. Feel the inhale fill your lungs. Feel the air as it is released through exhaling. Breathe naturally. You don’t have to do anything special. Simply pay attention. Relax.
Now clear your mind. Many say you should empty your mind and have no thoughts, but it’s really about allowing thoughts that flow through your mind to do just that; flow through. Don’t chase them or focus on them. Don’t jump up because you just remembered something (it’ll be there when you’re done). This is especially hard for those of us with memory challenges. We’re afraid if we don’t do it now we won’t remember it later.
While keeping pen and paper on your lap for that “Oh My Gosh! I have to remember this!” moment is discouraged by purists, I keep one with me anyway. I do this because if I write it down in that moment (without jumping up and running to the desk or computer) I am better able to let go of the thought and continue to clear my mind.
Remember to stay relaxed and allow the thoughts to pass through your mind as though you were a kid again, laying out on the grass with the summer sun warming your face while you watch the puffy white clouds drift by overhead.
If you find it easier to think about something rather than letting thoughts drift away, then set your focus on something that is life-affirming, positive, and meaningful to you.
That’s it; Carve out 10 to 20 minutes in the day, relax in a comfortable place, breathe and clear your mind.
And as is the case with any new practice, repeat regularly until it becomes a habit.
