Tag Archives: eat more plants

We believe in eating as much raw food as possible but certain foods beg to be cooked to maximize flavors. Okra is a great example- when roasted whole with a little olive oil and sea salt; the pods take on a pretzel-like gluten-free taste. We love not only the simplicity of this Roasted Okra recipe but the “l can’t believe how good this is” response from children, husbands, friends, and even northerners who swear they hate okra “slime”.  What a great way to feed your body royally and Eat More Plants in less than 15 minutes!

Not only does okra taste delicious but also it has numerous health benefits including 4 grams of fiber (to aid with weight management) and 2 grams of plant protein per cup. And each cup contains only 40 calories but delivers 44% or the daily value for the potent antioxidant, Vitamin C, and 80% for the fat-soluble vitamin, K.  In addition, this nutritional powerhouse contains Vitamin B6, folic acid, copper, calcium, iron, manganese and zinc.  Okra also contains healthy amounts of the monounsaturated fat, omega-9, that helps reduce high blood pressure, improve cholesterol profiles, strengthen the immune system by reducing inflammation an help with brain function. 

Roasted Okra

Serves 4 as side

1 pound fresh small whole okra (less than 3” in length)
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line large baking sheet with foil and spray with olive oil.
2. In mixing bowl, toss okra with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Roast for 10 minutes or until brown and tender. Turn okra once, after 5 minutes, while roasting.
4. Transfer to serving platter and serve warm or at room temperature.  Adjust salt & pepper to taste.

From Susan O'Brien:

REAL MEN EAT PLANTS?

You’ve heard it over and over again – Real Men Eat Meat! Can’t you
just hear those big husky guys with all those muscles claiming that
they must consume large quantities of animal flesh to grow those
extra large muscles. Really? Must we consume animals to grow
muscles? How about all those grass fed cows out there? They have
huge muscles and don’t eat other animals.

Now you might be asking yourself what does this have to do with
us Modern Moms? Well as moms we want our kids’ fathers to be
healthy right? And how about having enough energy left over at the
end of the day to spend quality (think sex here) time with you too!
Besides as moms, girlfriends and wives, we want to have sleek toned
muscles too right? Believe me girls those Skinny Bitches were on to
something!

If your husbands and boyfriends are over weight, have high
cholesterol and or high blood pressure they MUST decrease the
amount of cooked animal products they consume to lower their bad
(LDL) cholesterol and fight disease like cancer. I’m not saying they
must abandon meat altogether, but their diets must become more
PLANT STRONG.

Did you know that there is a lot of protein in nuts, beans, fruits,
vegetables, rice and grains? Eating a well-balanced combination of
these every day will give you all the protein you will ever need with
out the excess disease causing plaque that comes from cooked
animal fats. Everyone MUST know their cholesterol numbers. Some
of us may have satisfactory cholesterol numbers, but if you were
raised on the typical American diet of cooked animal flesh and
processed foods, chances are you are at risk.

Remember back in my previous blog about raw milk where I said
cholesterol was an essential element in our bodies and we would
die without it. That is very true! What I am talking about here is the
dangerous LDL cholesterol (plaque) that comes from cooked animal
fats, processed foods and overly oxidized plant oils.

Now its time for me to be honest here, I am from Texas and was
raised on bar-b-que and actually love it when it is really good and
made from grass fed beef. The good news is my father was raised
on a farm and my mother was hand’s down the “Best Cook in the
South” (massive prejudice here), so along with those meat meals
we had the most colorful array of fresh vegetables. The vegetables
always outweighed the meat on my plate. SO if your men MUST eat
meat make sure they are eating more plants than meat. A large raw
salad loaded with enzymes would be ideal. I’m not talking about the
small side salad loaded with ranch dressing or the iceberg lettuce on
top of their burgers either.

So I leave you ladies with this to ponder - Why do some men need
Viagra and others don’t? Well, It’s all about the blood-flow ladies.
So if you’re man consumes a lot of animal products and not enough
plants, then chances are he is building plaque and cholesterol in
his arteries and potentially putting himself at increased risk for lets
just say, “flaccid management”. We all became moms due to
more than adequate blood flow and to that I say “REAL MEN EAT
PLANTS”!!