Antioxidant tea bread
Lucius is going into hospital for a hip replacement next week. A friend mentioned someone she knew who had recovered in double-quick time, surprising his surgeon, by eating lots of antioxidants. Sounds interesting and worth trying, although I'm out of my comfort zone here, so I'd appreciate any advice or tips anyone can give me.
I'm making a start with this teabread, from the Carrs flour website. (I should say that this is a bread machine recipe, but it could easily be adapted by hand bakers.)
Antioxidant blast
1 tsp fast action dried yeast
500g strong white flour
1 1/2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sunflower oil
350ml cold black tea
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
50g dried blueberries
50g dried cranberries
20g sunflower seeds
Make the tea strong, and leave to infuse for five minutes, and let cool. My usual tea is Lapsang Souchong, so I couldn't just use the end of a pot, I had to make it specially, so I made it stronger than usual.
Mix the berries, seeds and spices. I used more blueberries and less cranberries, but only because I didn't want to be left with a uselessly small amount of blueberries. These go into your raisin dispenser, unless you have to add them by hand later.
Put everything else into the bread machine, and switch to wholemeal bake/raisin setting, large loaf. Five hours in my machine.
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7 comments:
Oh, this is not nice. My dad had a cardiac infarct fice years ago. he recovered in half the time as well... He basically quit eating meat for a while, and instead ate lots and lots of fresh veggies and nuts (that I force-fed him). Nuts (almonds!!!, walnuts, flaxseed) are full of omega-3-fatty acids and minerals the body needs.
Plus I was feeding him at least one large cup of FRESH squeezed orange juice a day. And other fresh berry/fruit smoothies.
A negative example: my husband one had an accident and ended up in hospital. In his room was another guy, heavy smoker. He had had an operation two weeks ago and STILL couldn't leave the hospital cause his wound wasn't healing.
So it is really the small things that matter.
Try to get him to eat as few animal products as possible (for only a few weeks), and try to feed him as many fresh fruits and veggies as possible, many of them raw. Try avoiding sunseed and too much grains.
It is a proven fact that animal products contain inflamatory agents. The operation is going to cause the body to produce enough inflamatory substances. Omega-3-fatty acids and vitamins (particularly C and E) counteract this. Google for "inflamation, diet, omega-3, prostaglandins..." and just read. or check out this:
http://heartspring.net/heart_healthy_diet.html
If you have questions, you can always email me. We have arthritis in our family, so I've done much much research on anti-inflammatory diet.
All the best
Anke :-)
The tea bread sounds lovely! Lots of antioxidants can only be a good thing before and after surgery.
I swear by Arnica tablets, I've had two caesareans (one of which was a bit of a hatchit job!), and I really do think they helped me to heal more quickly. Lots of people say how good it is.
Wish him well, I hope he makes a speedy recovery.
oh ouch!
some wonderful advice here already.
i have to second the arnica, my mom just had her knee replaced and that really helped. another friend had a ton of face work done and took loads of arnica and the doctors coulnt believe how fast he healed.
Lovely tea bread. I used to drink Lapsang Souchong all the time. Wonder if I can find any green Lapsang Souchong. Green teas are great for antioxidant!
Green teas contain lots of selenium -- a little is good but a lot is NOT good. Don't be deceived about the 'healthiness' of green teas, drink only small amounts.
"Regular" teas WITH caffein are the healthy ones. If flavored teas are preferred, they must be 'regular' and not 'decaffinated'. "Herbal teas" are NOT teas in the strict sense; as herbs contain powerful chemicals that are used in, or fabricated to be used in pharmaceuticals, herbs should be used very carefully, not by people who have not done their homework because overdosing on the powerful chemicals is possible.
Plain old Lipton, Red Rose, or other grocery-store teas promote health via their phytochemicals!! You don't have to spend a fortune, or buy expensive 'special' teas.
A related story: "Brazil nuts contain selenium"
Well, yes, but only the ones with the shells, which are grown in selenium-rich soil.
And what's the daily dose? ONE NUT ONLY, per day!
Does that mean ONE CUP ONLY of green tea? I wouldn't have more than that. Overdosing on selenium can cause nerve damage, and a consumer cannot tell how much selenium may be in each cup of green tea.
And also, the n6 fats in "animal products" (do you mean meat?) are from the grains the animals (and poultry, and fish?) are fed.
Grain feeds promote n6 fats in animals, birds, and fish -- that means that grains promote inflammations, which are the bases of most health disorders.
The meat of browsing animals that browse only on fresh grass (especially early spring grass that is more nutritious) contains higher levels of n3 fats than animals fed grains. Probably true in birds and fish also but I have no confirmation of this.
Grains are promoted as 'healthy' (by grain growers using their puppets as USFDA), but to be 'healthy' they must be SOAKED for at least 4 hours (and better is 12 hours) in cold water with seasalt added (seasalt with all its minerals) to encourage enzyme development and to rid them of phytic acid, an antagonist of many nutrients that we need for human health (i.e., life). The grains should be cooked in the soaking water over low hear or on low in crockpot.
Grains are used as animal feeds because they FATTEN the animals. They fatten people too, so use even soaked grains judiciously.
Processed grains (flour, pasta, cookies, biscuits, dumplings, crackers, cakes, etc.) are not healthy foods. They are empty calories, contain no enzymes, no fiber, no healthy nutrients, and mostly no flavor either. They are bad bad bad for us, so why are they on our grocery store shelves? Because their ingredicnets are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. Use your common sense about all grains including processed cereals, "healthy" or not. The highest level of 'healthy' grain ingredients is in the unprocessed kernels.
The best foods are fresh foods unprocessed and only lightly cooked -- foods your grandparents, great-grandparents, and God would recognize.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/a/arnic058.html
Check out the warnings at this botanic website -- 'causes' inflammations, 'highly poisonous'
Anon, thanks for this long comment, you are singing my song. I've never drunk green tea, because I don't like it - and the idea that we all start drinking it because it's supposed to be good for us is plain daft. I'm absolutely with you about ingredients .... and that's why I make all our bread as well as virtually all the other foods we eat.
Anon 2 (perhaps you're the same person), thank you for taking the trouble to provide this link, which I'll explore in a day or two
Joanna
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