The Goods (Recipe) - Pan Steamed & Sauteed Broccolini

Broccolini (aka Broccolette) is a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale.  It is mild flavored, nutritious, and a great addition to any meal.  Ingrid and I just started cooking with Broccolini and started with a simple recipe.

Shown with the roasted garlic spread

8 stalks Broccolini
1/4 c. Water
3 tbls. Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

1 tbls. Lemon Juice (optional)
Roasted Garlic Spread (optional)

(1) Place water and broccolini in a pan over medium heat.  Cover with a lid but leave a small opening for the steam to escape.

(2) When the water has almost boiled off completely, remove the lid and add the olive oil to the pan.  Sautee over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the broccolini starts to brown.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add garlic spread or lemon juice, if using, stirring to incorporate, then turn off heat and serve. 

The Alternative Road - Meditative Breathing

Learning to breath properly was a foreign concept to me a few years ago.  In fact, I hadn't given it any thought until Dr. Berkoff recommended that I consult with a biofeedback expert.  Though I was excited at the prospect of a new therapy with scientific basis, I was very curious as to how biofeedback worked.  Biofeedback is a generic term for equipment that measures the body's response to normal functions (like breathing) or external stimulus.  In this case, Dr. Berkoff recommended that I see Dr. Gevirtz, a specialist in biofeedback for meditative breathing.  I had heard of meditative breathing - even dabbled in it while doing Yoga.  But I didn't understand the connection between breathing and health.  Wasn't breathing innate and self-regulated?  The answer to that question was yes.  So wouldn't it follow that we would naturally breath for optimal health?  The answer to this question surprised me.  It was a big fat resounding NO... or at least not all of the time.  

Meditative breathing has been practices by yogis, swamis, Buddhists, and various other practitioners for millennia.  These practitioners have been able to control bodily functions (such as heart rate) that are not typically thought of as controllable.  It is only recently that science has begun to look into and understand these phenomenons and their connections with breathing.

The science revolves around something called heart rate variability (HRV).  You are probably familiar with your resting heart rate, normally taken at the doctor's office and given to you as a single number somewhere between 50 and 80 beats per minute.  This single number is actually an average heart rate.  For the most part, when we exhale, our heart beats slower than when we inhale.  HRV is a measure of the pace between heart beats over time.  Erratic HRV is associated with stress, fatigue, and an overactive parasympathetic nervous system.  A regular or even HRV is associated with a balanced autonomic nervous system and good health.

Below are actual screenshots of my HRV using a program and attachment produced by a company called Heartmath to show you the difference between an erratic HRV and a regular HRV. 

Erratic HRV - Adam Hoch

Notice the uneven spacing between the vertical red lines, indicating erratic breathing and providing for poor HRV.  Compare that to the evenly spaced vertical red lines, indicating regular breathing and excellent HRV in the figure below.

Regular HRV - Adam Hoch

According to Dr. Gevirtz, the research shows that meditative breathing for only ten minutes per day a couple of times per week can have a noticeable impact on health.

IF YOU ARE SUFFERING
If you are suffering from any symptoms that could be attributed to stress, anxiety, or an unbalanced autonomic nervous system, including dry mouth, poor digestion, anxiety, etc., meditative breathing may help.  The goal is to find your optimal breathing rhythm and to practice breathing for at least 10 minutes four times per week.  I have found three avenues for finding your optimal breathing rhythm as discussed below.

1. There is a free app called My Calm Beat that you can download to your smartphone.  It is a fairly basic program but allows you to input your optimal breathing pace (mine is 6 breaths per minute to give you a benchmark) and pace your breathing.
2. For those who are interested in tracking their HRV a little closer, the company mentioned above called Heartmath has developed an instrument that clips to your ear and connects to your smartphone.  The display can track your heart rate variability to provide a visual of your HRV.
3. Alternately, you can schedule an appointment with someone who specializes in this type of biofeedback, like Dr. Gevirtz.  Click here to read more about Dr. Gevirtz and his work.

The Depths of Illness - Sun Sensitivity

Shortly after getting off of the Appalachian Trail in 2005 with a diagnosis of Lyme's Disease, I took a job installing solar panels in the northeast - in Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York.  Day in and day out I was on roofs or on the ground in high sun exposure areas.  I wore sunscreen but the sun felt different than I remembered.  Instead a pleasant warmth, the sun light burned.  The feeling reminded me of lighting my finger on fire (a brief obsession in high school).  The trick was to spray a high-alcohol breath mint spray onto my finger and then set it ablaze with a lighter or match.  The heat became unbearable just about the same time the alcohol burned off  and the fire extinguished (although I remember putting the fire out with a shake of the hand most of the time).  This almost unbearable heat - as if my skin had just been set ablaze but had not yet registered the full fury of the fire - was how the sun felt on my skin.  I put on more sunscreen.  It didn't help.  Shade, clouds, and night became well-loved friends.

I found out from my father that sun sensitivity was a side effect of the antibiotic I was on, Ciprofloxacin, for the Lyme's disease, which gave me hope that my new aversion to the sun was a temporary state.  It was not.  Within a few months Ingrid and I moved to San Diego, which is in the top ten US cities for average hours of sunshine each year.  The feeling of burning while in the sun forced me indoors.  I sought apartments on the north side of apartment buildings or sheltered with trees.  The apartments were dark, damp, and cold - which I preferred but Ingrid did not.  I made excuses to stay inside while Ingrid went out to explore, to play beach volleyball and enjoy other sun-exposed activities.  The few times that I indulged in activities in the sun, I suffered the consequences - skin that burned while outside and radiated heat for hours afterward, headaches, and irritability.   

Why I Speak

When my health issues first began, I fully trusted that western medicine would ferret out the cause and prescribe a treatment.  It did not happen.  I had doctors, including my father, who were willing to explore every possible defined cause for my ailments (even those that were possible but extremely unlikely) and try treatments for possible but unconfirmed illnesses.  I also had doctors who advised me that my symptoms were a natural part of the aging process.  It took a number of years for me to understand that western medicine did not have all of the answers, which was when I turned to alternative medicine.  I speak to those who have reached the limits of western medicine

Back in 2006 my grandmother died from a stroke.  The stroke was the culmination of a long stint of illness, irritability, depression, and nausea.  When my grandmother stopped eating, the family intervened - convinced her to see a doctor.  Her doctor essentially told her that she was getting old and suggested that in lieu of eating she drink Ensure to get sustenance.  I am quite sure that my grandmother's doctor's apathy toward her situation helped to seal her coffin.  I speak to those who are being ignored or diminished by the system.

When my grandfather died a few years later, his cabinets were full of powdered herbs and tonics - supplements he was experimenting with to improve his quality of life.  I speak to those looking for guidance on improving their quality of life.

Every structured alternative therapy claims to have an approach to every ailment - but having an approach to an ailment does not equal having an answer.  Sifting through numerous approaches looking for answers has been a long and mostly frustrating journey.  I hopped blindly from one alternative therapy to another, looking for snippets of wisdom that might help .  While I ran into many alternative practitioners who genuinely wanted to help, I ran into few who actually could help.  Each plausible therapy (therapies with overwhelming anecdotal evidence, solid theories, and/or scientific evidence) that I've tried offered a unique perspective and insight into health, some providing evidence for pieces to what I now believe is a complex puzzle that facilitates chronic illness.  I speak to share what I have learned.  I am not a practitioner beholden to one approach to chronic illness, I am someone on the journey aggregating my experiences and trying to organize them into useful information for anyone looking for help. I speak to those looking for answers. 

I speak because I have learned that it is possible to rise from the shadows of chronic illness.  There is hope.  If you are suffering and do not see specific guidance in this blog for your ailment or symptoms, write me a comment letting me know and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.       

The Goods (Recipe) - Low Amine Chili

I was looking around the internet for a good ground beef recipe the other week and ran across a low-amine blog with a night-shade free chili (an oxymoron, I know).  I have dabbled with a nightshade-free Cincinnati chili recipe (not quite ready for posting) and was very interested to try someone else's recipe to get more ideas on how to mimic the chili flavor without using any chilies or chili powder.  I am not quite caught up on the amine allergy/intolerance but this recipe is allergen-free and worth the time to make (though next time I would make it without the beans).  You can find the recipe at this Low Amine Blog.

Warning: Science Ahead - Autoimmune Diseases

I ran across this video on Khan Academy discussing how the immune system knows the difference between actual danger and perceived danger.  A good video to understanding the biological basis for autoimmune disease.

The Goods (Recipe) - Roasted Garlic Spread

Roasted garlic spread adds an unparalleled level of garlic flavor to your pantry.  Use it as a topping for steak, hamburgers, broccolette (broccolini), spinach, or a variety of other meats and vegetables.  I have been known to eat a spoonful of the raw spread for good measure on occasion. 

5 Heads of Garlic
1/4 c. Olive Oil plus 1 tbls.
Salt
Pepper






(1) Turn oven to 400 degrees F.

(2) Slice garlic heads in half - through each clove - and place in a line on aluminum foil.  Sprinkle with salt and 1 tbls. olive oil.  Close foil around garlic and crimp to keep all moisture inside the foil pack.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool to touch.

(3) Once the garlic has cooled to touch, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the skin and into a bowl.  Add the remaining olive oil, salt, and pepper and mash with a fork.