Rebuild from Depression Blog

Soy is high in a substance called called phytic acid which binds to minerals in your digestive tract and keeps your body from absorbing those minerals. In many foods, the phytic acid content is reduced by soaking (in the case of beans, soaked porridge, and bread during rise time). But the phytic acid in soy is recalcitrant. You can soak and soak and still have phytic acid.

A 1985 study by Sutardi and Buckle tested the level of phytic acid in soy after different stages of preparation. I provide many of those stages in the figure above. Keep in mind that the activities I list in the figure are successive: the researchers boil the beans, pour off the water, soak them again, dehull them, steam them, drain them, and cool them. The phytic acid levels change very little with all of this effort.

It is only when they ferment the beans in the form of tempeh that the phytate levels reduce to about 45% of the levels of the soaked soybean. Fried tempeh is an improvement still, but if the tempeh is stored for two weeks at 5ºC and then fried, the researchers reached the optimal (but not perfect) reduction of the phytic acid. A 2003 study also found that the phytic acid level decreased by only 31% by fermenting soybeans (Egounlety and Aworth 2003).

Keep these results in mind as you shop for soymilk and tofu. Soybeans in soymilk are soaked, strained, and cooked. Tofu has an additional step - a coagulant is added. Both of these products retain nearly 100% of the phytates according to the results of the research I present. Eat tempeh for a soy fix, but eat it sparingly if you do not prepare it yourself and do not know that traditional preparation methods were used.

When you look at your tub of tofu and see that one of those 12 ounce tubs has 100 milligrams or so of magnesium, keep in mind that you would only absorb about 10% of that magnesium. You would likely triple that absorption in a fermented soy product. If you rely on legumes for iron and zinc, keep in mind that these minerals are also bound by phytic acid. (Read the food iron ebook or the phytic acid ecourse on this site for more on increasing your iron absorption.) In the meantime, enjoy some miso soup as the weather cools here in North America.

When I need air and am not under a big deadline, I bring my laptop and lunch here for the day. I start my work time with a hike on the Trail of a Hundred Giants, work until my battery is out, and take another hike. The road to the Trail will close any day now, so I took this photo on my last trip up there to have a nice memory of my favorite workspace. Though today it is so beautiful here that I may have to go one more time. Living in the middle of nowhere has its advantages. Of course, it's easy to forget the advantages when you want to go to a movie or order out for Thai food.

Life has been full of travel lately. When I am absolutely unprepared with food but do not want to go to restaurants, I hit Trader Joe's or a market for prepared salads. But I discovered another super easy option: vegetables and dip.

I make a meal much like that displayed in my post about To-Go Ware in which, basically, I mix sour cream, canned fish, and salt or an herb mix (to taste). Clams are a super source of iron; salmon a great source of Omega 3 fatty acids. These are my top picks, but I am still making my way through the canned seafood world, so we'll see where I end up. You really can't go wrong with your dip, though some herb mixes may be better than others.

When I hit the road, I bring and/or buy the following items:

• Sour cream
• Canned seafood (clams, salmon, etc.)
• An herb mix
• Washed and cut vegetables for dipping
• Can opener
• Food storage container

Sometimes I have all of these items at home and can put them in the cooler. At other times, I buy most or all of these on the road. (We keep a couple of herb mixes we should post recipes for that work in this instance.) On the road, I mix the sour cream, seafood, and herb mix (to taste). I use the food storage container in lieu of a bowl. Any extra stays in the cooler nicely.

It makes a great meal for me and I don't end up feeling like I have been eating out too much. If I could pack a gym into the cooler and then actually use the equipment, I would really be set.

That's the To-Go Ware in the picture below, a nice option for carrying this very dish.

I went to the supermarket the other day and spent $70 on almost nothing. Foods prices are climbing with fuel prices. If we want good food, we are going to have to start getting creative. One easy way to start if you haven’t done so already, is to join or start a food co-op.

There are companies around the U.S. that are distributors of foods and they will sell them to you at wholesale prices if you make a minimum order. Minimums are typically in the range of $500.

What you need to do:
1) Find a company near you who will sell to you.
2) Acquire the catalogue.
3) Do a pantry analysis with their catalogue in hand.
3) Find enough friends to meet the minimum order
4) Place your order
5) Pick up your order, sort it, and distribute it among friends

Find a company

Here is a list of companies in various regions of the U.S. If you know of a similar company in or out of the U.S., leave a comment.

• United Buying Clubs, Eastern and Midwestern United States
• United Natural Foods, Incorporated, in certain parts of the United States
• Azure Standard, Northwest United States and Southern California

  Call the company and ask about minimum orders and pick-up locations.

  Acquire the catalogue

I have a secret formula for getting through the holidays. I can maintain my energy with all of the seasonal pressures on me and I come out of the season feeling good rather than feeling deeply exhausted. The secret is dried beef liver tablets (desiccated liver) or Brewer’s Yeast.

My first pick is the dried beef liver because it is loaded with vitamins and minerals, notably vitamins in the B vitamin family. It apparently has an “anti-stress factor” that helps your body deal with stress. My friend Joanne at Nourished Magazine wrote about the anti-stress factor a couple of months ago. But the idea was popularized by Adelle Davis, the nutritional icon that my own mother read back in the late 60s when mom was busy having my sister and me. Mother Adelle recommended that in very busy times we load up on desiccated liver or brewer’s yeast to give us additional energy to make it through.

Brewer’s Yeast has the anti-stress factor as well and provides a vegetarian option. I used it to get through my dissertation defense. (I actually used beta blocker as well for the defense itself but that’s really not a top-notch health story.)

So what I have started this season is consuming the equivalent of about two ounces of liver a day. (Look for a desiccated liver product from cattle on grass. There are many products made from cattle from Argentina or New Zealand which should fit the bill.) My mom is taking a scoop of “de-bittered” brewer’s yeast three times a day (whatever “a scoop” is). We are both spreading our doses throughout the morning and early afternoon. Neither of us are taking our supplements after about 2 p.m. because they can interfere with sleep. And my mom warns that if you find yourself making sugar cookies at 1 a.m. on this regimen, you are taking too much.

Adelle Davis warned against taking very large doses for extended periods of time because you can wear yourself out. There is a fine line apparently between taking enough to get a bit of a boost and taking enough to give you superwoman powers. The superwoman thing would have been somewhat appealing to me had I not already “been there, done that” this fall and am in a long recovery state as a result.

So how much should you take to get a boost but not be left with a bit too much energy? It just depends. Some of us are probably so deficient in B-vitamins that high doses will only shave the edges off of our depression and fatigue. Some of us may get a huge energy boost on a small amount of these supplements. So you’ll have to experiment and use your judgment.

Stress takes nutrients out of us. Be proactive and put some back into your body. Early January could look a lot better.

Lamb and mutton are popular foods around here and very easy to access. Most commercial lamb is raised on grass, as are these here near Earlimart California. Most don’t get to vacation next to an electrical facility as these girls and boys are doing.

Lamb is on the list of depression buster foods for its high vitamin and mineral content. It also has a favorable ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids, much like grass fed beef does. Mutton did not make the list, but it’s pretty good fare too and easy to find in some ethnic grocery stores.

I watch for sales on lamb at the supermarket. You might keep your eye open too.

Omega 3 fatty acids are critical in the depression fight. The fatty portion of our brains are made up largely of Omega-3 fats. Depressed folks tend to be low in them. (Actually all of America tends to be low in them.) Clinical trials show that these key fats alleviate depression.

There is a lot of information on this site on Omega 3s and depression, it’s just hard to find. I also plan to add more any day (or month) now. :) In the meantime, I put together a round-up article on the main site to help you access the information on this site a little better.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids, Food, and Depression

I was reading several articles in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition a few weeks ago about Omega 3 fatty acids and brain health. Research comes out weekly on the importance of these fats for our brains, but some words stuck with me in this particular AJCN editorial on Omega 3s.

The editorial points to other articles in the issue about the link between Omega 3s and brain health. One article studied people in their 70s and looked at the relationship between cognitive performance and fish intake. The participants with the best cognitive skills ate more fish. In another study, people with high blood levels of Omega 3 fatty acids experienced less cognitive decline.

The studies are not about people already suffering from a cognitive disease, but rather about the decline of brain function as we age. It would appear that Omega 3 intake can prevent disease or at least prevent the speed of decline in cognitive function. The editorial points to the need for more research on prevention of disease.

The words of the author have stayed with me are:

We are well aware from previous work at Oxford that the time frame over which dementia develops and brain volume shrinks can often be measured in decades.

Just for some good repetition:

Our brain volume shrinks over decades.

Omega 3 fatty acids may well be a key to reducing that shrinkage. Read the editorial.

Young or Old: Your Action Item

Younger folks among us may assume that youth is protective from processed and junk food. Indeed, young folks tend to get away with a lot more than they will as those years march on. However, young people need to appreciate the long game they are living with the food choices they make every day. You may be decades away from old age, but this current decade will affect your health four or five decades from now.

Older folks might be discouraged by their past bad decisions and wonder if they really can make an impact on their brain health if brain degeneration takes place over decades. But in the context of brain health, there are studies that show Omega-3s slow the progression of mental decline. Someone otherwise “doomed” to some degree of mental decline might make a change today that will lead to more health years in the future even if the outcome is ultimately the same. That is, you may still be able to capture a whole lot more healthy brain years by taking action now.

What strikes me about whatever our age happens to be is that Chinese Proverb someone who reads this blog once sent me:

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today.

So I took the cod liver oil supplement today and made a big Thanksgiving meal pitch to everyone at the table to do so as well. I’ll do the same at Christmas dinner and perhaps will pass out some supplements as gifts. High Omega 3 foods are good options as well. A change in your diet is a critical element in this long-term game. Other food choices you make will affect your need for Omega-3s. Trans fats inhibit your Omega-3 metabolism. A diet high in Omega-6 fatty acids increases your need. You can read a lot on this blog about Omega 3 fatty acids and foods.

I love this time of year in cattle country. The pastures have been empty for months because cattle summer elsewhere, typically high up in the forest. In those months, moms have had babies and they all return to their lower elevation homes for the winter. We see many babies this time of year frolicking in the pastures.

Two of the more notorious pastures in our area are owned by the Vander Eyk Dairy, the organic dairy that lost its certification this past spring. One pasture is in the foothills and another at about 2500 feet elevation, just a ten minute drive from our house. On these pastures the Vander Eyks grazed their heifers and claimed that such grazing met the organic standards for dairy production. The heifers lived in paradise while the cows (doing the heavy lifting for the dairy and actually producing the milk) got to live in an industrial dairy near Pixley.

Ever since the last of the Holstein heifers was moved from the Vander Eyk pasture in June and since the decertification became public, I have wondered if we would see any Holsteins in the mountains this winter. It is pretty unusual to see Holsteins in beef cattle country. After losing their organic certification, there has been discussion that the Vander Eyk dairy might seek recertification. As I said, I've wondered what we would see here this winter. The Vander Eyk pasture land could surely be an indication of its intentions.

My husband Sander checked it out the foothill property last week and claimed to have spotted three Holsteins.

"Sander, but you only got pictures of beef cattle."

"No, there were some black and white cows too."

"Sander, just because it's black and white doesn't make it a Holstein. When you think of Holstein you need to think 'Dalmation' like from '101 Dalmations.' We have the movie in the front room. "

"I know what a Holstein is. I am sure there were three Holsteins there. I got pictures of them."

"All of the pictures are of beef cattle."

"Really? You're right then, the Holsteins were not in the picture, but they are there. I saw them. I saw three of them to be exact."

Before the USDA decided to enforce the organic standard, I expect evidence like Sander's was good enough for certification.

Times are changing. This dairy was decertified in the spring for not meeting the pasture requirement. The USDA is getting tough. A ruminant animal with black and white fur isn't necessarily going to count as part of the herd any longer as much as my urbanite husband insists that it is. And then they really need to be pastured when they are actually milking -- the key part of the law that inspired the decertification of the Vander Eyk Organic Dairy, the removal of one Aurora Dairy from the organic system, and the lawsuits against the Aurora Dairy and its retailers like Wal-Mart.

Holstein Sighting

For about a week, the household joke has been the "Holsteins" that Sander spotted.

"Maybe they were Halfsteins, not really Holsteins," said Sander after I drove by the property twice and saw no dairy cattle.

When our Kindergartener son got involved in the discussion this morning adding "There are no Holsteins there," Sander decided to investigate further.

"Look at my computer screen!"

Thanks to a whole lot of pixels, Sander was able to display something pretty amazing on his computer screen.

"Holy cow! Those are Holstein!"

What has been the household joke for the better part of the week turns out to be on us. There are at least three Holsteins in the foothill area.

To complete the Vander Eyk cow census for December, I should add that I did find one Holstein grazing in the higher elevation Vander Eyk pasture.

I took a picture of the animal as a courtesy to the dairy. When the dairy seeks recertification, this picture can provide independent documentation that they are meeting the pasture requirement. My husband Sander is also available for testimony.

Further Reading:

"I Better Not See it On the Blog"
Holstein Breed Characteristics

Happy Holidays to you.

Rest, exercise, and enjoying family are the theme in the house this week. We head to Philadelphia tomorrow for more of the same, just with different members of the family.

Until the new year, here are Christmas cards for you if you are celebrating. These are beautiful cards from Jacquie Lawson, both of which also provide much entertainment for younger children if you have them. A Christmas jigsaw puzzle and tree decorating.

Take care. I'll see you in 2008. :)