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Stay at Home Slaw

In order to curb the spread of coronavirus, we’ve been avoiding trips to the grocery store. When we do go, we stock up on at least 2-3 week’s worth of produce. If you like to eat raw vegetables and salads, this can be challenging. Many salad greens don’t last more than a few days in the fridge, and once they start to go, there’s not a whole lot you can do with them. I also like to prepare food in batches that will last several days. With two of us at home eating all of our meals here, this can also be a challenge. And making our vegetables go a long way so that we’re not eating them all at once is also challenging. As a result, we’ve been eating a lot of soup. But with spring well on its way, my body is craving a wider variety of fresh, raw foods.

Stay at Home Slaw was created out of the desire to eat an abundance of fresh foods during this time of increased limitation:

  •  It’s made with all vegetables that stay fresh for several weeks in the fridge (if not longer).

  • It can be made in bulk and actually gets better as it marinates. (Plus the vinegar in it helps break down the vegetables for better absorption.)

  • It’s beautiful and incredibly nutrient-dense (details below).

I’ve been eating it as a side dish and on it’s own. The recipe below is just an outline – feel free to experiment. You can’t really go wrong!

Servings: 2-3 day’s worth of side salads and garnishes, for 1-2 people

Ingredients:

  • Half of a purple cabbage, diced into small pieces

  • 2-3 medium-sized carrots, grated

  • 2-3 stalks celery, thinly sliced

  • 1 small beet or half of a large beet, grated

  • 1 apple, diced into small pieces

  • 1 bunch parsley, chopped (about 1 cup)

  • 6+ cloves of garlic (I use almost a whole bulb but I like the spicy heat of it)

  • Olive oil and vinegar of choice (I use balsamic)

  • Salt and fresh black pepper to taste

  • Optional: 1-inch piece fresh turmeric, peeled and grated. You might also consider adding fresh grated ginger or lemon/orange zest.

  • Optional: sunflower seeds

Directions:

  1. Combine all fresh vegetables and herbs in a large bowl. Toss to mix together.

  2. Generously drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss again.

  3. Enjoy!

Why eating the rainbow is important:

I’m sure you’ve come across the phrase “eat the rainbow”. This is because the more diversity of colorful foods we consume, the wider variety of nutrients we’re receiving. As you’ve probably noticed, this slaw is quite colorful. It was my intention to make it as colorful and nutritious as I could.

Among other things, the different colors found in foods indicate the presence of particular flavonoids. Flavonoids are strongly antioxidant phytonutrients found in most fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids are also one of the main ways foods get their color. To give you some examples:

  • The color orange may indicate the presence of carotenoids (found in carrots, sweet potatoes, squashes, citrus), curcumin (turmeric), or cryptoxanthins (a type of beta-carotene found in citrus peels and peaches);

  • Yellow may indicate the presence of carotenoids, xanthophylls (a type of carotenoid found in corn, yellow peppers, dandelion flowers), lutein (marigolds, leafy greens), quercetin (onions, citrus peels, apples), or betaxanthins (yellow beets);

  • Bright red may indicate lycopene (tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit) or ripened xanthophylls (red peppers);

  • Dark reds, purples, and blues indicate anthocyanins (berries, grapes, beets, purple cabbage, purple peppers, eggplant, etc.);

  • Green indicates the presence of chlorophyll (dark, leafy greens, green peppers, etc.);

  • And many fruits and vegetables contain several different flavonoids.

Our body requires the consumption of adequate flavonoids just as much as it requires the consumption of adequate vitamins and minerals. This is because vitamins and flavonoids work synergistically together in the body. Furthermore, vitamins have “companion” flavonoids that help them work most effectively.

Generally, vitamins and their synergistic flavonoids are found in the same foods. For example, both quercetin and its companion vitamin C are found in citrus fruits. Eating the whole fruit, however, including some of the peel and pith, provides the widest range of benefit. This is because varying amounts of quercetin and vitamin C are found in different parts of the orange. .

Another common example is beta-carotene. A lot of people think that beta-carotene is vitamin A. In actuality, beta-carotene is a pro vitamin A flavonoid, supporting the synthesis of vitamin A from the foods we consume (vitamin A is produced by the liver). Beta-carotene is found in many orange and yellow foods, all of which support the synthesis of vitamin A.

Nutritional benefits of this colorful recipe:

Purple cabbage is rich in antioxidant anthocyanins and carotenoids, vitamins C (one cup contains 50% of the RDA), K, B6, and provitamin A, Potassium , Thiamine, and Riboflavin. It also contains small amounts of iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, copper, iodine, and zinc. It is generally considered anti-inflammatory and is correlated with all kinds of long-term health improvements (specifically regarding cardiovascular, gut, and bone health). Cabbage is part of the brassica family of plants. Foods in this family contain sulphur which supports phase I and II liver detox processes, as well as cardiovascular health.

Depending on the color, carrots are rich in the flavonoids beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lutein, lycopene, and anthocyanin. Carrots are also rich in fiber, biotin, vitamins K1 and B6, and potassium. They are used medicinally to support eye and ear health, and were traditionally used to treat infections in the lungs, gut, and urinary tract (this is likely through their promotion of vitamin A which supports the health of mucus membranes throughout the body).

Celery is high in fiber, considered anti-inflammatory, and supports hydration. It also contains trace amounts of salt and other minerals. Overall, celery is considered to be cooling and can be eaten to calm hot and inflamed conditions.

Beets (both purple and golden) are rich in antioxidant flavonoids, folate, vitamins C and B6, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, and are a good source of plant-based iron. They are used medicinally to support healthy blood pressure and cardiovascular health, and reduce inflammation. In Eastern medicine beets are eaten in combination with carrots to balance menopausal hormones, and on their own to treat liver stagnancy.

Apples are high in fiber, vitamin C, and the antioxidants quercetin (anti-allergenic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral) and catechin (also found in green tea, improves cognitive function). Medicinally, apples are considered cooling and moistening and they may be eaten to balance digestive ailments.

Parsley is considered anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antispasmodic (relaxes smooth muscle spasm), emmenagogic (stimulates menses), diuretic, tonic, and more. It is a nutrient-dense herb, high in vitamins C and provitamin A, iron, calcium, magnesium, chlorophyll and other flavonoids. Parsley inhibits the histamine response and is traditionally used to relieve symptoms associated with seasonal allergies. Due to it’s antispasmodic, emmenagogic, and diuretic actions, it is traditionally used to relieve symptoms associated with PMS. It is supportive to kidney health and lymph clearance. In Eastern medicine, Parsley is eaten to strengthen the adrenals.

Garlic, a popular superfood and herb, has a whole range of medicinal benefits that are most potent when consumed raw. It is considered antimicrobial, antifungal, antioxidant, antispasmodic, carminative (supports digestion and absorption), and expectorant. The benefits of garlic have been studied for several decades now, and its cardiovascular effects are well documented. Garlic is traditionally used to prevent blood clots and reduce harmful cholesterol, it lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of stroke. Garlic up-regulates the production of white blood cells which, when combined with it’s strongly antimicrobial volatile oils (think garlic breath), supports immune function. It’s incredibly warming and stimulating and has an affinity for the lower bronchials and stomach. Consuming garlic may support the respiratory tract to thin and expel stuck mucus, especially when eaten raw. The sulphur in garlic supports phases I and II of liver detox. It’s considered an alterative herb, a class of herbs that normalize metabolism by supporting nutrition or improving the body’s natural mechanisms of detoxification. Because it’s so hot, it can cause gastrointestinal discomfort in some people. It’s best to eat raw garlic to the extent that you can comfortably do so, pair it with other foods, or stick to cooked garlic.

Raw vs. cooked vs. fermented vegetables:

I generally recommend eating a variety of raw and cooked vegetables each day. There are benefits and potential downsides to both. When eaten raw, we benefit from increased dietary fiber, and the antioxidant content of the food remains intact (many antioxidants are damaged by heat). The downside is that depending on the vegetable, the nutrients may be so encased in fiber that we’re essentially unable to break down the cell walls enough to access the nutrients. Raw foods can also be very cooling: some people’s bodies do well with an abundance of cooling foods, and others need more cooked foods to feel in balance.

When we cook fruits and vegetables, some of the antioxidant content is degraded. A general rule of thumb: the more color in a food, the more flavonoids. So if you cook something and it changes color, you may have lost some of the benefits. However, cooking vegetables generally makes the nutrients present in them much more bioavailable – our body is able to absorb the nutrition much more efficiently once the cell walls have been broken down by heat. People with impaired digestion may want to stick to mostly well-cooked, warm foods since eating cooked foods requires less (digestive) effort.

I also recommend eating fermented vegetables each day. Fermented vegetables still contain most of the fiber of the raw vegetables, but the fermentation process makes the nutrients in them much more bioavailable. Because fermentation doesn’t use heat, the antioxidants remain intact, and the fermentation process can actually create new nutrients. There is also the added probiotic benefits.

The microbiome and fiber:

The term microbiome refers to the billions of (ideally) benefical bacteria that live all over the human body. We have so many bacteria living in us that only about 10% of our cells are actually our own. If we could take all of the bacteria in our bodies out and weigh it, it would weigh about 4-6lbs, roughly the weight of an adult brain. The majority of these beneficial bacteria live in the gut, and they play a crucial role in the breakdown and absorption of food. They also support immune function – there are more immune cells in the wall of the gut than in the ret of the body combined – by helping our immune cells identify pathogens, and by preventing the overgrowth of harmful bacteria. The gut microbiome also supports mental health, and several important neurotransmitters are produced by bacteria in the digestive tract.

Fiber is an essential component of any microbiome-friendly diet. Studies looking at the microbiomes of people living in hunter gatherer societies compared to the microbiomes of individuals living in industrialized societies have shown that the hunter-gatherers have a much greater diversity of beneficial bacteria. There are several reasons for this, but two main reasons are the diversity of fruits and vegetables consumed, and the much higher amount of fiber consumed. These individuals also show much lower rates of chronic disease in general.