'Green Salad' recipe.

Featuring frozen peas, green bell peppers, avocado; also Thyme seasoned tofu; Vegans need enough protein; & Plant Lectins and D'Adamo's Eat Right 4 Your Type.

‘Green Salad’

-a high protein vegetable salad that could be part of a vegan entree or high protein side dish. Makes about 5-6 cups. It would be good mounded on a small lettuce salad but already has a nice crunch from the green pepper.

‘Green Salad’ - high protein compared to a lettuce salad but still not much. One cup of peas alone has about 8 grams of protein. About 21 grams of protein (3 oz meat equivalent) is recommended for an entree serving. I often add a cup of pumpkin seeds to this mix too. And don’t usually have the avocado. Salad is like soup - you do whatever you want!

• ~ one pound frozen peas, simmer for about 7-8 minutes until tender. Drain and return to the pot. Add the following:

• one green Bell Pepper (has less carotenoids), diced in 1/4-1/2 inch pieces

• about one cup cooked rice, chilled. This batch was made with rosemary, onion and celery so had some flavor.

• half a large avocado chopped in ~ 1/4-1/2 inch pieces

• about a teaspoon of cumin/coriander mix or 1/2 teaspoon of each

• 1/2-1 teaspoon oregano

• 1 tablespoon basil

• a couple tablespoons of olive oil (one serving spoonful)

• about 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (about two serving spoonfuls).

I add salt at the table more than I add it to mixed dishes as we taste the salt that is on the surface of foods.

This recipe would provide protein, folate, vitamin C, luteolin, quercetin, resistant starch, fiber, healthy fats, and other trace nutrients.

A variation of my Pea-laf has pistachios and sumac powder:

Pistachio Sumac Pilaf - recipe

Sumac has similar benefits to pomegranate and adds pretty magenta pink flecks to the salad or it can be served as a hot dish.

I use my rice cooker for more than rice:

Holiday shopping idea - Zojirushi rice cooker.

Singing the praises of fresh green pepper:

Green pepper has about 46 mg of luteolin per kilogram raw, and 29 mg/Kg grilled. Raw is better for vitamin C and quercetin content too. (Durucasu, Tokusoglu, 2007) As a easy food prep when green peppers are in season I chop and freeze the pieces in quart freezer bags and then add some of the frozen pieces to the hot green peas and it thaws the green pepper (or red or yellow - I just avoid the richer carotenoid source). The texture is less crunchy then but still tastes fresh.

Singing the praises of green peas:

The following vitamins and nutrients found in peas help reduce inflammation:

• Vitamin A - it is not really possible to totally eliminate carotenoids. I still have good night vision, so I must have adequate vitamin A, even on a restricted diet.

• Vitamin B

• Coumestrol

• Ferulic

• Caffeic acid - a pom peel winner too - good for weight control

• Catechin - a pom peel winner too

• Epicatechin - a pom peel winner too

• Pisumsaponins I and II

• Pisomosides A and B

  ‘Health Benefits of Peas,’ webMD.com.

The usual caveat - individualize as needed. Peas can be hard to digest for bowel sufferers and I can’t have them when I am doing worse. Organic tofu is easiest to digest when I am flared up, or Great White Northern beans are also mild.

Tofu - more concentrated protein than peas or beans and partially predigested by the fermentation process.

It is like a yogurt version of soybeans when soft and more like an aged cheese version when Extra Firm. It is a source of genistein, a phytoestrogen that might help post menopausal women and excess might be not good for little boy development.

Eight grams of protein in one full cup of peas is not that much protein for the fiber and chewing load. I was hungry still, had another cup, and then I made a chunk of tofu for lunch -

Thyme seasoned tofu (and garlic, onion, olive oil, and Lion’s Mane powder.)

super easy, saute a half onion diced in a little olive oil, couple spoons. Add the drained tofu chopped in chunks, add a teaspoon or half of thyme and a teaspoon of Lion’s Mane powder. Just sprinkle on and stir, try to make the powder dissolve on the tofu. (Lion’s Mane powder doesn’t dissolve well in water either. Adds a nice brothy flavor with a moderate amount, can get strongly flavored with larger amounts.) Cover and steam. The tofu picks up flavor. I am not going for a fried tofu. Too much grease in a serving is not bowel friendly for me. An Extra Firm chunk (dense) had 14 grams of protein in a 3 ounce serving - more concentrated than the peas. No wonder when I am feeling worse the tofu hits the spot for me (has to be non-commercial or I get an autoimmune like flair up - glyphosate residue probably.)

Lectins - re a comment.

On the topic of lectins in plant foods - it is somewhat individual or can be something most people will react to equally, but individually it can have to do with a person’s blood type. So knowing your blood type can help suggest which foods might be more likely to be problems for you or a benefit.

Some lectins - plant protein chemicals - react more with some blood types - blood cell surface marker chemicals - than other blood types. The blackberries that are a super beneficial food for people with blood type A can be a lectin irritant for people with blood type O.

• See Dr. D’Adamo’s work for more information. ‘Eat Right 4 Your Type’ is one of his books. “Lectins and Blood Type”, Peter D’Adamo, Type O, A, B, and AB, are the four. He also gets into other serotyping but I don’t remember many details about the greater minutia.

  • Examples of the four blood type groups and ‘superfoods’ for fighting seasonal allergies vary a little bit with some overlaps: 4yourtype.com/blog/Alleviate Seasonal Allergies with the Blood Type Diet: Eat Right 4 Your Type/

*Individual differences still count most. I can’t use turmeric anymore and it is listed as beneficial for my blood type. This sort of guidance is just general and needs to be considered more specifically at an individual level. I was skeptical at first, then reconsidered as I thought - it is all just chemicals. Of course chemicals would have impacts on other chemicals. And on the Avoid lists for my blood type were several that I had already found uncomfortable to eat for unexplained reasons “just don’t like those” or one that made my tongue itch like an allergy reaction - really didn’t like that even though the food tasted good.

What helped was that I was still inflamed and in pain and the lists helped me pinpoint a few more things to exclude as they did seem to bother me once I paid attention and other new foods to add. When restricting some common foods from your diet it is important to add in similar food category items that will provide similar nutritional value. Also, it is easier to make new habits than to break old ones - substitute the new and stick with it and the old will not be a struggle hopefully.

Vegan pet peeve - EAT ENOUGH PROTEIN. It isn’t easy to get enough and variety is important as beans and nuts/seeds provide different amino acid ratios. While traveling invariably, even at ‘vegan restaurants’, the vegan dishes didn’t have enough protein for a side dish let alone an entree, often. Yet the price could be $14 entree - big plate of veggies or potatoes. Seriously not healthy - especially for prenatal health, very deficient in choline, B12, vitamin D, and can be difficult to get other trace minerals.

I eat vegan plus other restrictions because it seemed like I developed an autoimmune reaction to egg white - albumin is in plasma and in practically all animals, birds, fish, scallops, and even a plant version in hemp kernels, ginger and wheat. Restricting the meat group likely helped me by reducing my vitamin A intake too. Getting healthier was a trial and repeated error exercise that took years, is taking years... ;-)

Disclaimer: This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health guidance.

Reference List

(Durucasu, Tokusoglu, 2007) Inci Durucasu and Ozlem Tokusoglu, 2007. Effects of Grilling on Luteolin (3`,4`,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone) Content in Sweet Green Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum). Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 10: 3410-3414.
DOI: 10.3923/pjbs.2007.3410.3414 https://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=pjbs.2007.3410.3414