Cooking & Culinary Medicine

Lavender and honey not only make life sweet, they also can improve your physical and mental health. From helping improve your immune system to regulating blood sugar levels to improving your quality of sleep, these two have a lot to offer. So why not combine them into a lavender-infused honey

Bring out the sweetness, and maximize the health benefits of radishes by roasting this jewel-hued veggie in garlic. Roasting draws out a mildly sweet juice that tempers the peppery flavor of radishes. The garlic and butter (or ghee, if you prefer) blend perfectly with this hidden sweetness, giving the roasted radish

With endless varieties of nut milks lining the grocery shelves, you might wonder: “Can I make my own nut milk at home?” Yes you can—and it’s not as difficult as you might think. You can enhance this basic recipe, good for nearly any nut, by adding fresh berries, coconut, or

Now that we’ve sold you on healthy winter greens, it’s only fair to provide a killer winter salad recipe to go with it. A healthy start to dinner, this winter salad is robust in flavor, color, and nutrition. Cranberries add color and sweetness against the vibrant dark greens and purple

This is a recipe for Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Clusters. Preparation Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 3 minutes Servings: 4 Calories: 108 per serving Ingredients 1 large or 2 medium pomegranates, enough to yield scant 1 cup (8 ounces) pomegranate arils 2/3 cup (4 ounces) organic bittersweet chocolate chips, such as

Who can resist the juicy, vibrant flavor of a sweet and tangy pineapple? Apparently, not many of us—this prickly plant often ranks as one of America’s most in-demand tropical fruits. But beneath its rough exterior, the pineapple is hiding more than just flavor. There are many health benefits to eating

Billberry, blueberry. Two words for the same fruit, right? Not exactly. Billberries and blueberries are too powerhouse fruits to add to your diet but they do have some differences. After reading this article, you should run out to the grocery store and grab both. Read on to discover why. What’s

Known as broccoli’s pale cousin, cauliflower offers just as many fantastic health benefits as other members of the cruciferous vegetable family. Cauliflower is a great source of glucosinolates, sulfur-containing compounds that support optimal functioning of our cardiovascular, digestive, immune, and detoxification systems. Sulfur, the third most abundant mineral in the

Pan-Seared Mahimahi or Halibut with Red Cabbage: When I was creating recipes for my book REFUEL, I focused on simplicity, flavor, and maximum meal satisfaction. This recipe for Pan-Seared Mahimahi satisfies all three criteria, and is a regular go-to for me when some nice-looking fresh fish fillets have caught my eye

I’ve devoted several blogs to the Mediterranean Diet–its affect on cholesterol, on Alzheimer’s prevention, its red wine and palliation near the end of life, and its easy, rustic preparations. The mechanisms of the Mediterranean diet remain elusive: whether it is because of its vascular effects and metabolic effects in preventing cognitive

With all the confusion about what to eat, and with how often nutrition experts seem to change their minds, I thought it was time to go back to basic culinary medicine and see if I could find groups of recipes and actual foods for specific chronic conditions. In other words,

“Corporations cook very differently than people do.” So said Michael Pollan, the author and activist, in “How Cooking Can Change Your Life,” a phenomenal talk given in London in 2013. If you’ve read any of his work (e.g., the fantastic Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, which also

Good diet foods for high blood pressure include blueberries, flax meal, hibiscus or jamaica tea, and beet juice. But high blood pressure management starts with measuring it accurately: I recommend the Omron Series 7 for home. These foods all have very good peer-reviewed medical research that shows their effectiveness in

Everything about food, to someone who loves art, music, nature or sculpture, can be sensual. Food is truly seductive in its textures, colors, aromas, sounds and of course flavors.  And there is a whole section of food photography called food pornog*raphy, which (almost needless to say) features intimate closeups of

Personal Nutrition Expert Doctor Santa Barbara Doctors tend to dismiss nutrition and diets as therapeutic tools, especially for obesity, because we have had so little training in  it.  That’s a hugely missed opportunity for medicine, and now it is about to vanish, at least in hospitals. One group ready to

My colleague Michael Roizen, MD, told me on his terrific YOU the Owner’s Manual Radio Show this weekend that the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Schools of Medicine are collaborating on a new building that will house a culinary medicine program and teaching kitchen. Isn’t that great? Our first ever

Recipe used with permission from Dr. La Puma’s REFUEL: A 24 Day Eating Plan to Shed Fat, Boost Testosterone and Pump Up Strength and Stamina (Crown/Harmony 2014), 

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Preparation Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes Servings: 4 Calories: 200 per serving Percent from Fat: 15% Cusine: Vegetarian Course: Soups – Side, Soups – Meal Diet: Vegetarian Food as MedicineSM Ingredient: Collard Greens Food as MedicineSM Tip When you chop or chew collard greens, you get the powerful,

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