Today I am posting about how to eat 'good' when nothing is 'good' for you anymore. I have always loved the American take on Mexican food. I am the first to admit this is far from authentic.
my premise today s a healthy burrito. I doubt that a burrito is part of the normal plan for a diabetic.
Editor Note
I appreciate each of you taking the time to read. For me the writing is therapeutic and for you, I hope it is enjoyable. There is so much great writing on Substack. I was here long before I had the itch to write. Frequent readers will know I read @Noahpinion and he brought me to Substack. I, like many of you, get TOO MUCH EMAIL so I manage my email box and filter some messages as much as possible. I now, automatically process substack related mail and put it into an archive folder rather than filling my inbox. The solution for me is the Substack reader which is just great at https://reader.substack.com. The result is, if I peek at the reader, I get an organized list of any posts I might have missed that interest me without having to deal with the email one at a time. I encourage each of you to consider the reader. I think my newsletter is cool but there is a lot of great writing on Substack there for the discovery. I think if you take a look you will not be disappointed.
The Inspiration
I am an avowed food lover. These days I have some health challenges and realize that while I love food, lots of food doesn’t love me back. In previous posts, I’ve written about the food of my youth, Buffalo NY food culture, and assorted other food tangents. The book that inspired me to change my approach to eating many years ago is titled “How Not to Die” which I posted about previously. The quotation that ties a bow around the book and its philosophy is “Nothing tastes as good as feeling great”.
The Setup
In a previous post titled “Just Water for Me“ I referenced “The Daily Dozen”. Adopting a largely plant-based diet means your protein needs to come from somewhere besides traditional sources like meat, dairy, and eggs. In a previous post titled “Nature’s Cookbook” I talked about the magic of life and how we manage to get along. In that post, we talked about amino acids and proteins. The wonderful thing about the traditional sources I mentioned is they contain complete proteins which just means they have all the amino acids we need. There are only nine that our bodies cannot make themselves so the search is not that hard in reality.
The nine for the VERY INTERESTED are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Lots of big names, all of them pretty small and simple molecules. We are not built out of complexity. We are built from lots of simple stuff put together just right.
I happen to eat a lot of quinoa these days. For those of you shrugging your shoulders or shrieking yuck, quinoa, like most things is all in the seasoning I think. Seems to me if you don’t work at the seasoning most everything is blah. Anyhow, quinoa is special because it is a complete protein. That means all the benefits of meat, dairy, and eggs without the challenges.
For me, because of the influence of the book I mentioned is three servings of beans every day. Beans have it all (except methionine) so they are super healthy. The challenge, as with most anything is making them tasty and desirable. As a diabetic, mealtime always includes at least a consideration of how many carbohydrates I eat and whether they are simple or complex. After about three years of trial and error, I know that so many of the things I love are simple carbs and my body just doesn’t tolerate them anymore.
Methionine — not a particularly complex chemical and real easy to make spontaneously in nature. Don’t be fooled when someone takes you down the rabbit hole of “irreducible complexity”. Everything that lives is amazing. Its building blocks are simple and prevalent. That is probably why there are so many inspiring examples of plants and animals for us to wonder at. A wonderful world.
The Details
There are only twenty amino acids that our body even knows how to use. The rest I suppose end up in the recycle. Our bodies have evolved (sorry if that is controversial) to be smart enough to make eleven of the twenty amino acids by themselves. The other nine are up to us to get. When I get into conversations with people who wish to lecture me about why eating plants is not healthy, it seems clear to me most do not understand the details. Most of the beans I eat have eight of the nine amino acids my body needs. The tipoff usually includes some reference to paleo, keto, or protein deficiency. In general, most probably don’t know what a protein even is. This is very far afield from my field of study. I chose to explore it rather than join a Facebook Group. The quinoa has all nine of the ones we lack! I am the first to admit that I still love meat and am not a zealot. I have just found a better and more sustainable healthy way for me without it.
The point today wasn’t to preach. Instead, I just set out to talk about one of my favorite things to eat these days. We all love fast food because it is convenient to hold, even while driving! Food that we can hold and eat when we are in a hurry has its merits. I love Chipotle as a guilty pleasure and can easily get something there that I will love. I usually get a bowl. All of us have a Chipotle go-to order. I am no exception. For me, it’s a (1) bowl (2) pinto beans (3) black beans (4) fajitas (5) EITHER Sofritas (shredded tofu) OR guacamole depending on whether I order the vegetarian (5) pico de gallo (6) green salsa (7) corn (8) lettuce and (9) lime squeezed on top. A mountain of food, wonderfully seasoned and sticking with the plan. Hooyah as my son “J” might refrain.
Now, to the reality when I am not in the car and don’t want to spend $9 for a bowl of veggies. Here we go with my home interpretation:
(1) I buy some high quality multi-grain flatbreads with flax. They contain 17g of carbohydrates which is just fine and reasonable since they contain 8g of fiber so only 9g net carbs. The life of a diabetic as I largely don’t eat bread very much anymore. A large tortilla contains about 48g of carbs so 5X the difference. A large tortilla contains about 2/3 of ALL THE CARBS I can have in a day.
(2) I buy organic quinoa at CostCo. Lots of advantages as it is already carefully cleaned and rinsed. About once a week I get out the steamer and one cup of quinoa, two cups of water/vegetable broth, generous shakes of turmeric and a no salt cajun spice I make myself. The result, in 50 minutes is an orange/yellow starch that feels like you are in an Indian restaurant. Very well seasoned and makes anything taste better. Did you know that quinoa is not a grain but rather a seed? About 16g net carbs in a serving (compared to 40g at Chiptotle with white rice so 2.5X the difference.
(3) I make dry beans in a crockpot periodically and freeze them and have them handy in the freezer anytime. I am not a fan of canned beans but they will do in a pinch. I shade toward cuban style black beans and seasoned pinto beans. My beans are not as good as Chipotle but they are in the ballpark. I’m guessing the “secret” ingredient at Chipotle is more oil :) I imagine my practice is similar these days to defrosting meat for the rest of you.
(4) My burritos are easy to make and certainly not the diverse choices of Chipotle. A small scoop of quinoa and small scoops of the two different types of beans. Usually add 1/4 or 1/2 of an avocado (more protein) and finally either green onions or red cabbage on top. I warm all of it in the microwave including the flatbread. My favorite topping is green chile salsa but something else will do (like today because I am out). If I have them I add corn and/or fajitas but none today.
(5) When it is all said and done (1) LOTS of protein (2) NO cholesterol (3) reasonable net carbs (4) tons of fiber (5) tasty (6) filling
today’s fillings. no ripe avocados today :( and out of green chile salsa. This will do just fine. I did end up adding some red cabbage not pictured.
I am far from a master chef but if any of you are interested, I have been very happy with these recipes for dry beans. They are incredibly healthy. I double the recipe and reduce the amount of total liquid by about 25% and reduce the salt in each recipe. They come out great. Pinto Beans and Cuban Black Beans. If you try either recipe tell me what you think. I scoop them into 24 oz containers about 90% full after they cool and freeze them. Leave some room for expansion as we all learned in "Just Water for Me”. That is about 2 cans of beans and these taste like a great upgrade over canned. For me, the biggest challenge of making healthy food world is to make it special.
If you avoid my music like the plague because your taste is not mine, laugh tonight at the expense of this song. It is a lot of fun!
