Recent Health Articles: The Impact of Thinking YES (and a recipe for Steel Cut Oats with Mushrooms and Walnuts

The Impact of Thinking YES (and a recipe for Steel Cut Oats with Mushrooms and Walnuts – YUM!)
It’s not news that adopting a plant-based style of eating offers a bevy of health rewards. Plant-based eaters generally have reduced cardiovascular risk, lower body mass index, and lower total mortality. But, plant-based eating is not just good for you, it’s also good for Mother Earth

It’s not news that adopting a plant-based style of eating offers a bevy of health rewards. Plant-based eaters generally have reduced cardiovascular risk, lower body mass index, and lower total mortality. But, plant-based eating is not just good for you, it’s also good for Mother Earth. Plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, bread, pasta, and whole grains have a lower impact on the environment than foods such as meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs. In essence, animals make inefficient “food production machines,” using lots of feed, water, and fossil fuels to turn plants into protein. To produce 1 calorie from grains requires 2.2 calories of fossil fuels, whereas producing 1 calorie from beef requires 40 calories of fossil fuels.

Consider this: According to the Environmental Working Group, if everyone in the United States ate no meat or cheese for just day a week…it would be like driving 91 billion miles less, or taking 7.6 million cars off the road.

And consider this: Replacing one to two meat meals with vegetarian meals per week is more effective than driving a Prius in terms of global warming.

Also keep in mind that our nation’s meat-loving ways are squandering our precious global food supplies. In our culture of climbing obesity rates, it should be a wake-up call to remember that one billion people around the world don’t get enough food to eat right now. And because of this, environmental experts agree on one important principle: The current national agricultural practices and diet patterns are unsustainable. According to a 2011 study, researchers from Germany, Sweden, Canada, and the United States found that dedicating croplands to direct human food production opposed to growing animal feed could boost calories produced per person by nearly 50 percent.

So while it seems that plant-based style eating has no downside in regards to its impacts on our health and the environment, we are still faced with some challenges. While more and more people are becoming interested in plant-based diets, a particular mindset continues to linger that vegetarian eating is about as hip and tasty as munching on alfalfa sprouts and granola. People have a perception about vegetarian foods they don’t like, such as Brussels sprouts and lima beans; but all it takes is a change in mindset. Encourage others to simply think “yes.” A plant-based diet is more about the foods you can eat, than the ones you can’t. Take a trip to the farmers market or your local grocery store and feast your eyes on the rainbow of plant foods – the options are endless.

Here is one delicious recipe to get you started:

Steel Cut Oats Risotto with Mushrooms and Walnuts
Recipe by Sharon Palmer, RD from The Plant-Powered Diet

On a trip to Italy, I tasted a walnut risotto that was out of this world. At home, I learned that you can make a risotto out of just about any whole grain—which means you’re packing in much more nutrition and fiber in every bite. The steel cut oats in this risotto adds a nutty crunchiness to this savory dish.

Makes 4 servings (about 1 cup each)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup sliced summer squash (zucchini, yellow, or crookneck)
1 cup sliced leeks, green and white sections
2 cup sliced brown mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2-1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup uncooked steel cut oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup packed chopped fresh basil

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the squash, leeks, mushrooms, garlic, and black pepper and sauté for 3minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the broth and wine in a small saucepan over medium heat until warm but not boiling.
Stir the oats and walnuts into the vegetable mixture. Ladle approximately 1/2 cup of the warm broth mixture over the mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the liquid is absorbed. Add another 1/2 cup broth mixture and continue cooking, stirring, and adding more warm broth until all the broth has been incorporated and the risotto is creamy and just tender, about 20 minutes.
Stir in the fresh basil and serve immediately.

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Nutritional Information per Serving: 331 calories, 34 g carbohydrates, 11 g protein, 16 g fat, 51 mg sodium, 7 g fiber

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Sharon Palmer is a registered dietitian, writer and author of The Plant-Powered Diet. Over 750 of her articles have been published in national publications, including Prevention, Better Homes and Gardens and Today’s Dietitian. She is also the editor of the award-winning publication Environmental Nutrition and writes for her blog, The Plant-Powered Dietitian. Sharon makes her home with her husband and two sons in the chaparral hills overlooking Los Angeles.