Does Anti-Aging Sell?

Yes, I think it does, but for all the wrong reasons.  For youthful skin?  Yes.  For a better sex life? Yes.  For tighter abs?  Yes.  That's all on the outside, but what about the inside?  Anecdotal evidence, of which there is plenty, strongly suggests that our insides can benefit from anti-aging foods if only we could break our addiction to meat and bread.  The Earl of Sandwich did not do us any favors when he came up with the sandwich, nor did Oscar Mayer with the launch of lunch meats.  And how about all those quick service fast food chains who serve up meals that consist of refined flour, sugar and meat...the all American hamburger.

Since switching to my diet of 60 to 70% alkaline producing foods, I have produced an environment in which my body has dramatically slowed the cellular aging process.  For those of you new to this journal, you can go back to the beginning in the archives and read how this all came about and see for yourself what a diet based on what I refer to as anti-aging gastronomy can do.  Just quickly for the newbies, it reduced my blood glucose from 109 to 85 in just a few months as well as correcting my thyroid and ridding me of the stiffness and joint pain that I dealt with all through middle age and into my fifties.

But, anti-aging only seems to sell if it improves the outside of the body, not the inside.  I say this because I have been trying unsuccessfully to get someone to notice my monumental efforts to launch a restaurant in  Anderson, SC in which the menu is based on entrees that are at least 60% alkaline producing food, eliminates added sugar, refined grains and bad fats, and loads up the plates with vegetables and proprietary fresh sauces.  I have been trying to market it as an "eat smart" bar and restaurant in order to raise funding to launch what I think is a most worthy project---an eatery offering Americans who now eat out more than at home, a reasonably priced alternative to the massed produced bad food that leads to age related chronic disease such as diabetes II.  A restaurant that even I would go to, not a health food, whole food or true food restaurant.

I have a dream to open a restaurant in Anderson, SC, a place where Americans are most in love with pig barbecue, hot dogs, deep fried oysters and fried mac n cheese---a restaurant that offers anti-aging gastronomy, not health food, just reversing the proportion of good and bad foods, eliminating sugar, refined grains and bad fats.  It is as easy as that.  I have a dream that I can teach there.  I have a dream that I can offer an incubator for others in the food industry to produce "eat smart" packaged products to help the busy homemaker.  I have a dream that my restaurant will be a footprint for more to spread around the nation so that families can learn to love and even crave good food.  I have a dream that young adults and homemakers will learn from my book series, Cooking Skills for Life, what good food can do, how to prepare it and embrace it with enthusiasm, creating the first generation with fewer diabetics.  The second in the series called Good Food Bad Food will  be available in September.


Yes, I have become an advocate, a zealot for anti-aging gastronomy.  I am because I know first hand that it is the key to our longevity and good health.  It will solve the obesity problem, stop the epidemic of diabetes appearing at a younger and younger age, and make the how to fix our healthcare and health insurance systems arguments go away.  My solution is this:  change the palate of Americans beginning with this generation by offering good food choices where they eat most of their meals,  restaurants.  

The US and SC state government programs (based on US mandates) created for the purpose of eliminating obesity and chronic disease have failed.  Their efforts to educate have failed.  And their new programs to put farmer's markets in the inner cities and make whole food more easily accessible to low income families and welfare mothers will also fail.  It will not put a dent in the metrics.  Americans are hooked on fatty meats, sugar and flour and until the American palate is changed they will walk right past the farm store and into sandwich and ice cream shops, the hamburger chains and meat and three's and step up to the soda machines.  Our tax money is being spent on programs that DO NOT WORK!

I need $ 40,000 to take the first step for America---the first step toward fixing our failing health.  I have
$ 20,000 of my own funds which I have set aside for that purpose.  I just need to match those funds and thus far I have been unsuccessful.  I have been declined for conventional bank loans, SBA guaranteed loans, Angel investors, SC "eat smart" grants, federal grants, went unnoticed on kickstarter and have tried to sell every asset I have without success.  These are hard times for all Americans and Europeans, and I get that.  I want to know from you, my readers in Russia, England, Canada and the U.S.who I know are out there according to the Google stats.

Here is my question, if I list this project on Indiegogo (again), will you contribute $ 20 to help me fund my dream?  If not, I want to know why?  This is not rhetorical, please respond in a comment below.  

Here is a sample menu for you to see what I mean by it is easy to eat smart, America!


.   Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB

      https://www.facebook.com/ChefAngelaB

In celebration of the fact that I no longer am dependent on a daily anti-inflammatory dose of ibuprofen, I am making a special dinner for two, my husband, me and my loyal companion dog, Digger.  Oh, I guess that makes three.  Here's what I have planned for our celebratory menu, full of anti inflammatory foods and yummy surprises as well.

Appetizer

Lentil Rollups

1 cup lentils, brown
4 cups chicken stock, made in house
1 teaspoon garlic granules
1 each lemon, zest and juice
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, finely ground
1 each scallion, thinly sliced on the diagonal
3 each bay leaf
sea salt to taste
4 ounces sour cream fraiche
4 ounces seasoned oil
8 each lettuce, romaine leaves or similar

Bring lentils to boil in a frying or saute pan in chicken stock and bay leaf and crushed black pepper, cover and cook about 30 minutes 

Fold in garlic granules, cumin, zest and juice of lemon, and scallions

Continue to cook, uncovered, until liquid evaporates, and lentils are tender
Let cool to room temperature

Fill each leaf with 2 oz of lentils, 2 per plate

Garnish with additional scallions 

Paint plate with sour cream fraiche and seasoned oil

Soup
Cucumber, Avocado and Cilantro
No need for recipe, just combine as much of each as you want and blend.

Salad
Tomato
Keep it simple, just slice fresh out of the garden tomatoes, sprinkle with canola oil, fresh squeezed lemon, scallions cut on the diagonal and a few sprigs of fresh flat leaf parsley.

Entree
Braised lamb shank in tomato juice and capers, topped with chili sauce
lamb shank (small 16 oz or less will shrink to 6 to 8 oz)  Eat half!
fresh thyme
fresh rosemary leaves and sprigss
tomato juice
diced tomato
garlic clove
sea salt
crushed black pepper
garlic granules
mirepoix of celery, carrots and onion

Smash garlic in salt
Dredge in seasonings  (thyme, rosemary leaves, garlic granules, pepper and salt)
In braisier, sear all sides to caramelize in canola or olive oil
Add diced tomatoes, bay leaf, rosemary sprigs, and enough tomato juice to bring liquid up to 3/4 of the shank 
Cover and bring to simmer
Cook in oven at 425 degrees for 1.5 hours hours  
Add mirepoix, cover and cook  and cook for .5 to 1 hours or until falling off the bone
Serve with mirepoix center of the plate and top with chili sauce on side

For the chili sauce, blend all ingredients to taste:

1 can diced tomatoes with sweet onion, small can
3 each jalapenos, fresh whole, small dice
cilantro, fresh
chili powder
brown sugar  (just a pinch)
cider vinegar
garlic granules
cumin powder

Twice Baked Eggplant with Chevre
2 each eggplant, whole, peeled, cut in half widthwise then 1/4X1X3
trimix, 2 parts sea salt, 1 part white pepper, 1 part roasted garlic granules
canola oil
chevre or goat cheese crumbles
tomato juice

Place eggplant slices on baking sheet in overlapping rows, drizzle canola and sprinkle with trimix
Toss leeks in canola, and trimix and place on a separate baking sheet
Roast both in convection over at 375 for 30 minutes until eggplant is soft 
Cover bottom of a casserole with tomato juice
Place a layer of eggplant, then goat cheese
Add a second layer of eggplant and cover with tomato juice
Add a second layer of goat cheese
Add top layer of eggplant  
Cover and roast at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes

Basmati Mexican Red Rice  
Cook rice then fold in the tomato salsa fresca
For the tomato salsa fresca
Combine the following:
 4 each tomatoes, whole fresh, med, diced 1/4 inch
1 cup corn kernels, frozen
2 each jalapenos, fresh, small, brunois, seeds removed
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons cumin, ground
6 sprigs cilantro, fresh, small rough chop
2 teaspoons chili powder
sea salt to taste

Dessert
4 oz Chocolate pot de creme


I know, I know, this sounds like an awful lot of food and it is, but it is a variety of food of which I will eat small amounts, I promise.  


Buon Appetito e Buona Salute,  Chef Angela B.

For those of you who followed my personal challenge, the reason I started this journal, I have good news.  Two days ago, for the first time in years, I did not have to take ibuprofen for the pain in my right thumb, left knee, ankle, nor did I awake with any of the stiffness or annoying aches and pains to which I had been accustomed upon waking every morning.  It wasn't until the mid-afternoon that I realized that I was pain free and had not taken an anti-inflammatory.

Now, that may seem like a little thing to some of you, but the fact is, I have been taking an anti inflammatory for decades for the relief of joint and muscle pain, 800 mg three times per day.  That is four tablets three times a day.  I have been eating an anti-aging diet for a couple of years now (not always steadfast), and have seen a steady weight loss, but more importantly, less inflammation in fingers, ankles, knees, shoulders and less pain in hips and back, especially between the ribs.  In addition, my annual physical bloodwork has shown a reduction of blood glucose from 109 to 85, better thyroid function, cholesterol and normal c-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation.  But none of these improvements meant as much to me as the sudden realization that I no longer have to rely on ibuprofen every morning to get moving!

I have increased the ratio of alkaline producing food to acid food to 75/25 over the past 3 weeks and it has certainly paid off.  Our garden has yielded a hefty crop of cucumbers which I have been picking and eating right off the vine for the last two weeks, and the yield of tomatoes has been great as well.   Cucumbers in particular are beneficial, not just because they are alkaline producing, but they have a high water content and fiber, assuming you eat the skin.  Eat smart, eat fresh and eat raw vegetables, America!

In addition to the extra vegetables, I have reduced the daily amount of protein and grains.  The protein at breakfast and lunch has been from peanut butter, eggs or vegetables with only 3 or 4 ounces of animal protein at dinner.  Grains have been limited to one slice of whole grain bread at breakfast, and a couple of tablespoons at dinner in the form of brown rice or quinoa, or sometimes a root vegetable instead like white potato with skin on, sweet potato with skin on or none at all if I am eating legumes.  It is true that variety is the spice of life, so I always spice it up with a garnish of parsley, a wedge of lime, a spoonful of blueberry ginger sauce or fresh tomato salsa or pickled onion.

For all of you, especially those of you over 40, who want to be free of the age related stiffness, aches, and pains and for those of you who want to avoid the all to common age related chronic diseases of arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and even the age related skin anomalies like psoriasis and skin abscesses, EAT SMART, America.

Here's my best recipe for pickled red onion, the onions are sweet and sour and crunchy.


1 each onion, red, whole, large, thinly sliced
1/2 cup vinegar, apple cider
1 tablespoon sugar, dark brown, real molasses
12 each jalapeno slices, sliced round, thin
1 each bay leaves, whole, bruised
1/4 teaspoon salt, sea salt
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns, whole balck


Combine all ingredients except onions and stir to dissolve sugar (Yes, I know sugar is acid producing but remember we are always going for 75/25 and look at the rest of the ingredients!)
Add onions and stir to coat evenly.
Place onions and pickling liquid in air tight container and refrigerate overnight.

Buon Appettito e Buona Salute, Chef Angela B