Monday, November 18 - Solanum Tuberosum
“Potato, potato!” – a quote from Megamind (the movie) - but a good opening line, nonetheless.
I love, love, love potatoes. The “Carrie” in Jan Carrie Steven is Irish – that might be part of it. My hubs, Laurence, is one-quarter Irish too. His mom’s maiden name was Powell. Between the two of us, we can easily take care of a ten pound bag of potatoes in a week, I kid you not. After all, it’s only about 20 large potatoes.
Here’s what a tuber-teeming week looks like.
Sunday night – Peel and slice a bag of potatoes. Boil with sliced onion. Mash half of them and add a little margarine and soya milk. Eat half of that.
Monday night – Fry up the rest of the mashed spuds with a little olive oil and seasoned salt. Eat.
Tuesday night – Bake the next quarter in a dairy-free creamy sauce. Eat.
Wednesday – Take the final quarter and add some nayonaise to make potato salad. http://www.nasoya.com/products/nayonaise Eat.
Thursday – Take any leftovers, puree with a base of water and miso. Heat. Eat.
Friday – Warm up the remaining soup and serve with whatever else we’ve having. (The health unit might have convulsions, but we won’t. We’re pretty resilient.)
Saturday – Moan the lack of potatoes; buy more. Before I came along, Laur may have tided himself over with potato chips.
Next Week - Repeat.
*****
It broke my heart to listen to an interview with Dr. Perlmutter, the author of Grain Brain. Not only does he think that wheat is the source of pretty much all of our health problems, he also demonizes any vegetables that grow below the ground – including and especially potatoes. He writes, “Carb-derived calories as one might get from things like bread, pasta, potatoes, below-ground vegetables, fruit and fruit juices are really things that you want to do your very best to avoid for a brain-healthy diet.” He asserts that starch dense vegetables (like the potato) contribute to diabetes, and having diabetes doubles your risk for Alzheimer’s disease, the most dreaded form of dementia. Gah!
Thankfully, I subscribe to the Dr. John McDougall school of thought on the potato. He asserts that human beings are physiologically designed to be “starch-eaters,” and I quote, “Because of the ease and efficiency of production, and the superior nutritional qualities, the humble potato is humankind’s best hope for resolving the current worldwide epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, and eventually, thriving in the near future. http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2008nl/may/potato.htm [In other presentations he includes eating veggies – including spuds - as also protective against Alzheimer’s.]
Alzheimer’s disease is ever-present in the minds of Laurence and me. Hmm, let me rephrase that. We worry about Alzheimer’s disease a lot. Laurence’s paternal grandmother and aunt died with it. His uncle and dad currently have it. My paternal grandmother died with it. My dad passed before he hit 80, so I don’t know if he would have gotten it, or not.
As much, we worry that I could get Alzheimer’s first, and Laur would have to look after me while waiting for a nursing home bed to come available. The problem is - I’m a walkaholic. I like to put on my headphones and MP3 and get in about two hours a day. But what if I can’t remember that I’ve walked already? I could easily just keep walking - and with my lack of sense of direction, I could end up who knows where.
Thankfully, there is now an Alert Bracelet program where you can put a GPS tracker device on a person with Alzheimer’s. Should Grannie Jan wander off, my family can contact the provider of the service and they’ll dispatch the police to find me.
Knowing my hubs, he may very well let me escape for a few hours – enough time for him to make his way down to the corner store and back, and indulge in a feast of potato chips…
I love, love, love potatoes. The “Carrie” in Jan Carrie Steven is Irish – that might be part of it. My hubs, Laurence, is one-quarter Irish too. His mom’s maiden name was Powell. Between the two of us, we can easily take care of a ten pound bag of potatoes in a week, I kid you not. After all, it’s only about 20 large potatoes.
Here’s what a tuber-teeming week looks like.
Sunday night – Peel and slice a bag of potatoes. Boil with sliced onion. Mash half of them and add a little margarine and soya milk. Eat half of that.
Monday night – Fry up the rest of the mashed spuds with a little olive oil and seasoned salt. Eat.
Tuesday night – Bake the next quarter in a dairy-free creamy sauce. Eat.
Wednesday – Take the final quarter and add some nayonaise to make potato salad. http://www.nasoya.com/products/nayonaise Eat.
Thursday – Take any leftovers, puree with a base of water and miso. Heat. Eat.
Friday – Warm up the remaining soup and serve with whatever else we’ve having. (The health unit might have convulsions, but we won’t. We’re pretty resilient.)
Saturday – Moan the lack of potatoes; buy more. Before I came along, Laur may have tided himself over with potato chips.
Next Week - Repeat.
*****
It broke my heart to listen to an interview with Dr. Perlmutter, the author of Grain Brain. Not only does he think that wheat is the source of pretty much all of our health problems, he also demonizes any vegetables that grow below the ground – including and especially potatoes. He writes, “Carb-derived calories as one might get from things like bread, pasta, potatoes, below-ground vegetables, fruit and fruit juices are really things that you want to do your very best to avoid for a brain-healthy diet.” He asserts that starch dense vegetables (like the potato) contribute to diabetes, and having diabetes doubles your risk for Alzheimer’s disease, the most dreaded form of dementia. Gah!
Thankfully, I subscribe to the Dr. John McDougall school of thought on the potato. He asserts that human beings are physiologically designed to be “starch-eaters,” and I quote, “Because of the ease and efficiency of production, and the superior nutritional qualities, the humble potato is humankind’s best hope for resolving the current worldwide epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, and eventually, thriving in the near future. http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2008nl/may/potato.htm [In other presentations he includes eating veggies – including spuds - as also protective against Alzheimer’s.]
Alzheimer’s disease is ever-present in the minds of Laurence and me. Hmm, let me rephrase that. We worry about Alzheimer’s disease a lot. Laurence’s paternal grandmother and aunt died with it. His uncle and dad currently have it. My paternal grandmother died with it. My dad passed before he hit 80, so I don’t know if he would have gotten it, or not.
As much, we worry that I could get Alzheimer’s first, and Laur would have to look after me while waiting for a nursing home bed to come available. The problem is - I’m a walkaholic. I like to put on my headphones and MP3 and get in about two hours a day. But what if I can’t remember that I’ve walked already? I could easily just keep walking - and with my lack of sense of direction, I could end up who knows where.
Thankfully, there is now an Alert Bracelet program where you can put a GPS tracker device on a person with Alzheimer’s. Should Grannie Jan wander off, my family can contact the provider of the service and they’ll dispatch the police to find me.
Knowing my hubs, he may very well let me escape for a few hours – enough time for him to make his way down to the corner store and back, and indulge in a feast of potato chips…