How to Become Smarter (57 page)

Research suggests that the sodium cation, rather than the chloride anion is primarily responsible for the salty taste of sodium chloride [
532
]. You can replace table salt with plant products that have naturally high sodium content and have a slight salty taste: celery, celery seeds, dill, parsley, spinach, wheat germ, or a combination thereof. This approach is not going to restore the full saltiness of your customary food and will add the spicy taste, which may not always be desirable. Nonetheless, this approach may be better than completely unseasoned food. Keep in mind that celery and spinach are a common source of food allergies. In order to get the most saltiness out of these foods, it is best to chop them finely and add them at the beginning cooking, such that these products are boiled long enough to release the maximum amount of sodium into the solution. For example, if you are cooking soup, add chopped parsley and dill at the beginning of the boiling procedure rather than at the end. If a recipe does not involve thermal treatment of food (e.g., a salad), then the saltiness of these plant products can be maximized if you pass them through a meat-grinder. My experience suggests that you have to add about one-tenth to one-fifth amount of the “salty herbs” (by weight) to a dish, in order to obtain an appreciable salty taste. This is a lot and may not be appropriate for every recipe. In addition, there are animal products that are rich in sodium and have a natural salty taste: beef liver, sea fish, lobster, shrimp, and scallops. These are less convenient as a substitute of salt, but you may still consider including these products in some of your recipes in order to avoid or minimize the use of sodium chloride. Keep in mind that pregnant women should not eat large amounts of fish because it can contain unsafe levels of mercury as a pollutant.

It is currently unknown whether consumption of high amounts of natural sodium (in the form of the aforementioned plant or animal products) will have the same negative effects on health as high consumption of pure sodium chloride (table salt). My own personal observations suggest that consumption of large amounts of naturally salty foods, such as green juices, liver, and seafood will not cause thirst, in contrast to foods supplemented with large amounts of sodium chloride. Supplementation of food with sea salt does cause thirst. In theory, the sodium naturally present in foods should be harmless, same as sucrose that you consume in the form of fruit. Further research is needed to either confirm or refute this hypothesis. In conclusion, it is possible to make food sufficiently tasty without using artificial ingredients such as table salt and refined sugar.

Allowed cooking procedures:
grinding, blending, and mixing of foods in any combinations; boiling and steaming.

Disallowed cooking procedures:
any thermal treatments where temperature exceeds the boiling point of water: frying, baking, roasting, grilling, microwaving (the latter is allowed for thawing and heating of food), that is, any type of cooking that causes charring or browning of food.

As you can see, these requirements are not too restrictive and allow for a great variety of recipes. If you have some experience with the Paleolithic diet or Atkins diet, you will notice that you either can use some of your pre-existing recipes or will have to modify them slightly. If you have never followed any diets in your life, adjusting to the proposed style of nutrition may be difficult but not impossible. With some creativity, you may be able to modify the recipes that you regularly use such that the taste does not deteriorate. The list of my own recipes starts on the next page.

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Boiled meat.
Using a microwave oven, thaw out one kilogram (roughly two pounds) of ground beef or other red meat (15-25% fat). Alternatively, thaw out 0.5 kilograms (a pound) each of ground beef and ground chicken (or another type of poultry, 7% fat or higher). Cut the blocks of thawed ground meat into cubes approximately 5 centimeters (2 inches) wide. Bring 0.5 liters (a pint) of water to a boil in a saucepan. Put the meat in the water, set the timer for 5 minutes or so and wait until the mixture boils again. Reduce the flame and continue cooking for 3-5 more minutes, with occasional stirring to make sure that all meat is cooked through. Let the soup cool down and do not add anything to this dish (such as salt or spices). Do not discard the fat, most of which will float to the surface. The dish can be stored in the refrigerator for several days and it will congeal upon cooling. You can gradually consume the boiled meat by mixing it with other types of food, such as cooked vegetables or boiled grains. Although this dish is not filling and it is easy to eat one or two pounds at one sitting, you shouldn’t eat more than 150-250 grams (5-8 ounces) of boiled meat per meal on a daily basis. If you need to eat large amounts of meat, my advice is to ingest 100-150 grams (3-5 ounces) five times a day. This dish may seem bland at first, but if you get used to food devoid of any artificial ingredients, boiled meat will start tasting like the most delicious food in the world.

If you eat significant amounts of meat daily and prefer to spend as little time as possible on cooking, you can boil 2 to 3 kilograms of ground meat (4-6 lbs.) in a large saucepan and store the meat along with the broth in the freezer in plastic containers (0.5 liters or about one pint per container). You can then thaw the containers in a microwave at regular intervals.

You can boil beef liver, preferably the sliced and deveined variety, in a similar fashion. It is not tasty by itself, but can add flavor to salads and soups, in which case you need to cut the boiled liver into cubes about one centimeter (half an inch) wide. Liver contains a wealth of nutrients, including vitamin B
₁₂
. Use a relatively small volume of water when boiling liver because otherwise you will dilute its natural salty taste. You can also boil organ meats other than liver (heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain) and use them for preparing highly nutritious and delicious meals.

Steamed chicken thighs.
This is my most favorite food. Buy frozen chicken thighs or chicken hind legs in a grocery store. Skin and fat should not be removed. Pour approximately 8 centimeters (3 inches) of water into a mid-size steamer. Put three frozen hind legs or four thighs onto the grid. If the frozen hind legs do not fit into the steamer, then break off the boney ends using a wooden hammer. Close the lid, put the steamer on the stove, and when the water starts boiling, set the timer to about 45 minutes. If the meat was thawed when you put it in the steamer, then 30-35 minutes of steaming should be enough. When the dish is ready, don’t discard the broth: you can use it in soup recipes. I do not recommend boiling pre-existing broth because the formation of carcinogens and mutagens is much higher the second time around (since broth is thicker than water, it burns more easily when you try to bring it to a boil than newly made broth). You can freeze broth in plastic bottles and add it to other dishes after they are done, i.e. after you turn off the stove. Do not use any seasonings or spices with steamed chicken legs; they are tasty even if you are not accustomed to unseasoned food. This dish is not filling and it is possible to eat a tremendous amount and still feel that your stomach is empty. My advice is to combine the chicken thighs with boiled grains or cooked vegetables and to not eat more than one chicken leg per meal. Incidentally, frozen fish can be steamed in much the same way.

Boiled grains.
If you buy whole grains at a supermarket, a convenient recipe for cooking is usually listed on the package. The following is a convenient way to cook shredded wheat (made from whole-grain wheat). Avoid shredded wheat that is light yellow in color: they do not make it from whole grain. You need shredded wheat that has a brownish grey color. Bring 4 liters (a gallon) of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Pour 650 grams (one and a half pounds) of shredded wheat into the boiling water and mix well. Reduce the flame, leave the lid slightly open and set the timer to 3 minutes. It is important to avoid burning or charring of the cereal at the bottom of the saucepan. Stir the cereal every three minutes. The total cooking time is approximately 15-20 minutes. When you are stirring the cereal, if you notice that the shredded wheat started sticking to the bottom of the saucepan (but there is no charring yet), reduce the flame further. If you sense the smell of burning or notice black particles (burnt wheat) in the mixture, then the procedure failed and you will have to discard this dish or feed it to domestic animals and to start all over. If no charring occurred, then during the last 5 minutes of cooking, you can turn off the stove and close the lid. The dish is ready. If you eat a lot of boiled grains daily, then you can save some time on cooking by using an extra large saucepan to make about 8 liters (2 gallons) of boiled grains at once.

You can combine the boiled shredded wheat with cooked meat or cooked vegetables, or you can eat it as a stand-alone dish. It tastes OK when unseasoned. You can add unrefined vegetable oil for taste. Adding finely cut dried fruit (apricot, raisins) during cooking can improve the taste as well. If you have to use salt, add one half of the amount you usually use. This dish is not filling and even if you eat up a large amount of boiled shredded wheat, you may feel that your stomach is empty twenty minutes later. This is normal and should not be a cause for concern unless you start to feel hungry. If you eat an equivalent amount of bread, you will feel fullness and heaviness in your stomach for many hours later. On the other hand, my view is that bread can make you stupid (in other words, can impair judgment), whereas boiled wheat will not, although both can slow you down.

The procedure for cooking of buckwheat is similar, except that you need to stir approximately every 6 minutes. Brown rice and oats need to be boiled longer: 35-40 minutes total, but they still have to be stirred every five minutes or so. You can go about your business while the cereal is cooking and the timer will remind you to stir every five minutes. You can eat most of these cereals with milk, which makes the meal tastier and more filling compared to cereals or milk alone.

Boiled vegetables.
You can buy a frozen mix of cut vegetables at your local supermarket, if it satisfies the criteria listed at the beginning of this appendix. Fill half a saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Put enough of the vegetable mix in the boiling water such that water barely covers the vegetables. Boil for 15-20 minutes. Can add tomato paste (free of additives), dill, spinach, and parsley during the last 5 minutes of cooking. When the soup is ready, you can add chicken broth (see above) and a little sunflower oil for taste. Do not remove fat from the broth. If you have to use salt, add one half of the amount you usually use. You will have to exclude the fats and salt if you are on the fruit-and-vegetable diet.

Nuts.
Many of this book’s diets include raw nuts. Keep in mind that peanuts are not nuts, strictly speaking, they are legumes. The simplest way to eat nuts is to eat them alone as a snack. My advice is to avoid eating whole nuts and to grind them instead, using a manual or electric meat-grinder. This way, nuts will be much easier on your teeth. Unfortunately, nuts cannot be easily pulverized in a blender because they stick to the wall of the blender. If you grind up 0.5 kilograms (about a pound) of nuts using a meat-grinder, you can store this amount in the refrigerator for a week or two. You can eat a heaping tablespoon of ground nuts after a meal as if it were a food supplement and wash it down with fruit juice or carrot juice. You can also add ground or whole nuts to salads.

Fruit.
Fruits rarely need cooking or special preparation aside from thorough washing, peeling, and cutting. Fresh fruit can serve as a snack or an appetizer with every meal.

Carrot juice.
If pasteurized carrot juice (free of additives) is available at your local store, this can serve as an excellent drink or snack. It contains large amounts of simple sugars and you can use it instead of fruit with every meal. In my experience, carrot juice can make your facial skin yellowish if you drink this juice daily. People who know you may start wondering if you have contracted hepatitis.

Dairy.
For someone who is not lactose-intolerant or allergic to cow milk, low-fat milk is an excellent food. You can eat it with every meal or use it as a snack/drink between meals. Unsalted unprocessed cheese (made from pasteurized milk) is another excellent source of protein. People who are lactose-intolerant can drink cultured milk (for example, kefir or buttermilk) in small amounts or special lactose-free diary. Goat milk may be an acceptable drink to people who are allergic to cow milk. These dairy products go especially well with boiled grains. If you consume small amounts of dairy, for example a glass of milk per day, then you do not have to be concerned about the presence of artificial ingredients, such as added calcium or vitamins. On the other hand, if you eat large amounts of dairy, for example, in the context of the antidepressant diet, then my advice is to use milk that is completely free of any artificial ingredients. You need to avoid raw milk because it is unsafe and, in my experience, does not have any advantages over pasteurized milk. We saw in Chapter Four that milk can cause upset stomach in the context of the antidepressant diet. In this case, it is best to drink milk alone on an empty stomach half an hour before a meal. If you get used to diets containing large amounts of dairy, you may stop having digestive problems with milk regardless of how you consume it. I avoid whole milk and dairy fat in general because they tend to promote constipation, based on my experience and some studies [
1006
,
1007
].