Food Is Medicine
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Published by the P-Patch Trust SUMMER 2013 Food is Medicine Article by Ilene S. Ruhoy, M.D., Ph.D., indoles; orange represents carotenes and pressure but my love of cabbage is due tomatoes contain key vitamins such a B1, Photos by Grete Martinson xanthophylls; red represents lycopene and to its ability to stimulate glutathione. B2, B3, B5, B6, K and minerals such as anthocyanins; blue represents resveratrol Glutathione is an important antioxidant potassium, manganese and iron. Twelve Most of us look around at our garden and anthocyanins; and white represents that plays a role in liver detoxification. percent of the calories in a tomato are from and rejoice at the wonderful vegetables and allyl sulfides and anthoxanthins. So if A detoxed liver is a healthy liver and is protein content. Tomatoes are important fruits the soil brings us. Perhaps we think your daily diet has many colors you are better equipped to remove fat-soluble to reduce cancer risk, cardiovascular risk of the delectable additions to our meals sure to be getting a variety of nutrients toxins. Cabbage can also be useful in acute and overall inflammation but also regulate this bounty will provide. But I invite you and vitamins. But knowing the impact of treatments of migraines. neurotransmitters such as dopamine, to redefine your paradigm on our fruits and specific foods on our health is important so serotonin and norepinephrine. vegetables and instead view them as the let’s briefly review some that are popular LETTUCE Lettuce gets a bad rap as medicinal foods they are. amongst the P-Patch gardens. the supporting player of a salad. But is Long before our current health care should have a starring role. For my more system, where providers are too quick to KALE One of my favorites because it helps anxious patients, I recommend the dark, offer pharmaceuticals as treatment for what strengthen bones, fights inflammation, bitter lettuces as it contains lactucarium, a ails us, plants were the go-to prescription. lowers cholesterol and balances traditional herbal sedative. It can help calm Indeed, many Asian countries still practice excess estrogen. It is high in calcium, the nerves for those who are engaged in this way and, importantly, there is a magnesium, folate and vitamin K and is high-stress lives. current trend in the United States amongst full of chlorophyll. It is best for just about SPINACH I highly recommend spinach practitioners who want to more often resort anything. I often tell patients to increase for bone health and to ward off fractures to natural remedies. consumption of kale to help balance pH as it contains a substantial amount of Food IS medicine and our health and and counteract inflammation. It is also vitamin K, a bone protector. In addition our lives can be exponentially improved if particularly important for our bones as we to vitamin E, it is also a pretty awesome we embrace this notion. There is a long list age to ward off osteopenia and osteoporosis. CUCUMBER With its high water content source of antioxidants, which help reduce of ailments that can be treated or at least and its easily absorbable vitamins and overall cancer risk. I also suggest this leafy ameliorated by food. These range from bad electrolytes, cucumbers are an important vegetable to patients with elevated LDL, skin to cancer and everything in between. part of the summer diet. Yet it is also aka “bad fat,” as spinach can reduce the Anecdotally, I have treated patients with important during the rest of the year as it risk of deposition of this fat in the arteries, diabetes, hypertension, adrenal fatigue, helps maintain kidney function, wards off thereby reducing risk of atherosclerosis. depression and headaches successfully constipation, and contains phytoestrogens, DANDELION Dandelion is a superfood with a prescribed diet. Scientifically, the which can reduce risk of various cancers. and is excellent for liver detoxification last 10 years has shown an explosion of ZUCCHINI AND OTHER SQUASH and protection from viral infections. It is research and studies providing evidence Underrated in my opinion, zucchini packed with antioxidants and vitamins and for the therapeutic effects of different contains more vitamin C and potassium has mild diuretic and laxative effects. What foods and nutrients. Plants are foods than other squash that also contain beta- I like are the roots, which contain inulin, a and foods are plants. We are gardeners carotene, phosphorus and folate. This carbohydrate that is an effective pro-biotic first and foremost and I am choosing to vegetable is important for men with and can aid in nurturing healthy gut flora devote this article to help us recognize enlarged prostate, or even for those without and aid in digestion. that what we grow is what we need for our an enlarged prostate, and is also great for GREEN BEANS Instead of iron bodies. A whole-food approach allows the CHARD Oh chard! It contains cancer- the eyes, not only because of the beta- supplements, I recommend green beans multitude of vitamins and nutrients to work preventative antioxidants, bone-building carotene but also because of nutrients in to patients complaining of fatigue and synergistically to promote good health and, vitamin K, calcium, magnesium, vitamin E the skin of the vegetable, namely lutein decreased energy as this vegetable has to be sure, variety is the spice of life. and inflammatory mediators. I recommend and zeaxanthin. Indeed, research suggests more iron than spinach and can help ramp It is important to eat a rainbow of patients with diabetes to include chard in those who eat more squash are less likely up the delivery of oxygen to tissues as well foods because the colors imparted by their meals at least once a day because it to develop macular degeneration. as improve energy production by the body’s nature represent critical phytonutrients contains an important flavonoid that helps TOMATO This powerhouse fruit has cells. Green beans are also an excellent that are necessary for a multitude of control blood sugar levels. major carotenoid content: alpha- and beta- source of zinc, which can help ward off colds. biochemical processes. As a rule of thumb, CABBAGE With its diuretic properties, carotene, lutein and lycopene. Lycopene green represents lutein, chlorophyll and it is a natural means to regulate blood can help with depression. In addition, Food is Medicine continued on page 9 P-Patch Post 1 Summer 2013 Introducing the Beacon Food Forest Article and Photos by Morgan Wright Nine months ago, the bare grassy slope on the western border of Jefferson Park in Beacon Hill was just that—a bare grassy slope, as it has been for the last several decades. Today, however, the southern-most 1.75 acres of that land have a renewed face. Over the course of several years, dedicated community members and volunteers, in partnership with the Seattle Department of Neighborhood’s P-Patch Program, have transformed the 1.75 acres into the Beacon Food Forest. The lower slope of the Beacon Food Forest is planted with 30 young fruit and nut trees, and is home to two honeybee hives and an expanding on-site nursery of perennial herbs, trees, shrubs and more. Soil preparation for the terraced community P-Patch plots on the upper slope began at the work party on June 15th, and will be ready for allotment in January. By the end of the summer, six beautiful educational signs will be installed throughout the garden, illustrating the ecological and community processes at work in the Beacon Food Forest. In the last several weeks community members have come together in the newly completed gathering plaza to eat, drink, and enjoy the transformation of Lunchtime at the July 15th work party, in the brand-new gathering plaza on this public land and celebrate the work that has gone into making it happen over the last the Upper Bench. several years. The list of partnerships that enrich this project grows longer every week—Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Seattle P-Patch Program, Seattle Parks Department, Seattle Department of Planning and Development, City Fruit, the Urban Bee Company, the Sustainable Path Foundation, the University of Washington Design Build program through the College of Built Environments (thanks for the gathering plaza—it’s perfect!), the Jefferson Park Alliance, the Beacon Hill Merchants Association, and many more. None of this would be possible without these relationships with community partners, city programs and grants, and nonprofit organizations that have contributed so much to the project. Interest surrounding the Beacon Food Forest also grows at an amazing rate, with the volunteer leaders hard-pressed to keep up with the groups and individuals requesting information, tours and the like: “Can I come and see what you are doing? How can I make this happen in my own city?” The diversity and enthusiasm volunteers bring to the monthly work parties is inspiring and is vital to the mission of the project—to design, plant and grow an edible urban forest garden that inspires our community to gather together, grow our own food and rehabilitate our local ecosystem. This summer, we look forward to building soil in the community P-Patch space, caring for and planting the plants in the nursery, and continuing to inspire our community to grow food here on public land. For more information and to stay updated on work party dates and recent developments, visit the Beacon Food Forest Facebook page or the Volunteers sheet mulching using salvaged cardboard on the Lower Bench at our website www.beaconfoodforest.org. Happy Summer! May work party. Ray’s Corner: Water Article by Ray Schutte foot plot with half an inch of water is the crops.