Fresh Flour

My whole life, I've never given much thought to flour. You just buy it at the store and put it into whatever you're cooking. I always thought it was basically idiot proof. Recently, I learned that the amount of gluten in the flour makes a huge difference in how it should be used. Bread flour should really be used for making bread, and cake flour should be used for making light fluffy baked goods. Still, all that information is basic mostly idiot-proof information that is readily available on the internet.

A stand at my local farmer's market has started selling fresh ground flour. I bought some after my friend E had tremendous success with it, even though it's more expensive than what you buy in the store. This is the sort of flour that requires a good sifting (or even two) before you use it to get the larger hulls out. It is worth every extra penny, and the extra work of sifting because holy crap, it makes the most delicious baked goods ever. Apparently, flour goes rancid after a few weeks if you don't freeze it. It doesn't taste bad, but it stops tasting amazing, and it becomes harder to digest. It also loses qi pretty quickly. The stuff available in the grocery store was probably several weeks (if not months) old before it even left the processing plant. What shows up at the store is perfectly functional, bland, uninteresting, difficult to digest, but easy to use flour.

When you use fresh flour, it turns a good recipe into a phenominal recipe. I made whole wheat bread in my bread maker - something I do on a regular basis. I used bread flour from a bag because I didn't have fresh bread flour. In place of my usual whole wheat flour, I used fresh flour. The recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, so I didn't think it would make that much difference, but I don't think I can ever go back to using regular flour again. I have also had the same success with pancakes and muffins. Having this flour makes me want to bake. I think I'm going to have to try making cookies with this stuff.

Mmm, Mozzarella

Yesterday, my friend E and I made mozzarella together. Making cheese sounded like it would be a challenging but fun activity. It was certainly fun, but it was soooooo easy. There were 4 ingredients: whole, pasteurized, organic milk, salt, citric acid, and rennet (the citric acid and rennet came in a cheese-making kit that E bought). The process took about half an hour for 3/4 lb. of cheese (about 2 balls approximately the size you would get at the grocery store). Aside from the fact that it's delicious, it's wonderful because I know exactly what went into it. There are no additives, and the milk came from a cow that was pastured and grass fed. I really want to try making other cheeses now. Apparently ricotta is even easier than mozzarella, which is hard to believe.

The recipe book had all sorts of yummy sounding recipes to use the whey in (cheese is made of curds, and a byproduct is a watery substance called whey) including pizza crust. I'm imagining eating pizza in the summer with homemade crust and cheese, and garden tomatoes, basil, and other vegetables. Mmmmmm. I'll admit that most of the vegetables would probably come from E's garden - she has a yard with plenty of space for a big garden and a passion that far exceeds mine for food (I will have planter boxes on my balcony), but I know she will share.

You Are What You Eat

Everyone knows that food is the fuel that keeps our bodies running. If you think about eating well, you probably think about making sure you get enough of the essential nutrients that our bodies require: vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. You probably haven't spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not your food has enough qi to keep your body running at maximum efficiency. All living organisms have qi - it is the energy that keeps us alive. Plants get it from the sun, animals get it from plants and other animals that they ingest.

Once you remove something from the mechanism that provides it with qi (whether that's picking fruit from a tree or ending the life of an animal), the qi will drain out over time. It's pretty obvious when food is fresh and when it isn't. Fruits, vegetables, and animals have protective barriers (skins or peels) that slow the rate at which qi drains. Just look at an apple that has been sliced. It turns brown quickly, and it becomes inedible days (and in some cases, weeks!) before it would have if the skin had remained in tact. The fresher your food is, the more energy it has, and with a few exceptions, the tastier it is.

Processed foods lose huge amounts of qi in their preparation. In some cases, they lose virtually all of it. Just look at the Twinkie. The ingredient list includes eggs, flour, and corn syrup, among other things that were once part of healthy, energetic foods, but the Twinkie itself is completely devoid of any nutritional or energetic value. Most processed foods contain processed ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, and partially-hydrogenated oils. The further away from nature you get, the worse the food is for you. It is possible to live on a diet that has almost no qi. Vitamin supplements can help to provide your body with essential nutrients, but being processed themselves, they offer no qi. People eating diets composed of mostly processed foods are going to be lethargic and unhealthy. Without enough energy, white blood cells aren't exactly going to have the power needed to fight off diseases.

I realize that it isn't practical for people to cut all processed foods out of their diets. It's just important to make sure that you get plenty of whole foods in your diet.

It isn't enough to make sure you get enough qi in your diet - it is also necessary to pay attention to the quality of the qi. A person who is chronically ill has less qi than someone with a cold, who has less qi than a healthy person. Someone who lives under constant stress and in poor living conditions has less qi than someone who lives in a comfortable home and has all of their needs met. The same is true of animals. The majority of animal products - meat, dairy, eggs - available in the US comes from animals that are mass produced. Upon reaching maturity, the average meat cow is sent to live in a tiny pen where it is fed corn, which it can't digest properly. Its pen isn't kept in good condition, so it stands around in its own feces for the rest of its life. Because of its poor diet and unsanitary living conditions, the poor cow is susceptible to all sorts of diseases, so it's pumped full of antibiotics that keep it alive until it's slaughtered. The average chicken (both for eggs and meat) is kept in a cage too small for it to move, packed into rooms with hundreds of other chickens, none of which ever see the sun. If you eat meat from these animals, you'll get the full compliment of essential amino acids and loads of iron, but the qi you get will be sub-par, to say the least. Fortunately, there is a growing demand for animal products that come from animals allowed to live the life they were designed for. You can get grass-fed beef from cows that have spent their entire lives grazing in a pasture, and you can get cage-free chicken. It's more expensive than its mass-produced counterpart, but I think it's well worth the price. I'm eating less meat than I used to, but every bite is from an animal that led a decent life and had good quality qi.

A Brief Introduction

Qi: (also spelled "Chi") Pronounced like Chee. Simply put, in Chinese Medicine, qi is the energy present in all living things that enables them to function. It is sometimes called the "essence."
Gu Qi: Pronounced like Goo Chee (also like the overpriced, Italian designer brand Gucci). Gu qi is the energy we get from food and drink. It is also referred to as "acquired qi."

Why name my blog after a concept that few Americans have heard of? Simple - because of the absolute importance gu qi has in our health and happiness and because of my new-found passion for food.

A year ago, I ate for convenience rather than nutrition. I filled my body with caffeine, high fructose corn syrup, trans-fats, and all sorts of other additives. I could frequently be found at fast food establishments (though I eschewed McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's in favor of Subway, Quiznos, Burgermaster, and Taco Bell. I had standards), or eating pizza, frozen meals, or boxed macaroni and cheese. I drank soda like it was water and ate massive amounts of candy. I drank several beers a week. Occasionally, I would cook an actual meal - usually one involving lots of cheese and simple sugars, with the occasional broccoli, carrots, and salad to make me feel like I was eating well. I exercised a little, and I couldn't understand why I was overweight.

I had been experiencing stomach problems for a while and taking massive amounts of antacids, but in March of '09, I began having stabbing pain in my stomach and lower esophagus that were debilitating. I went to see an acupuncturist who treated me and told me to go to a medical doctor because I could have an ulcer. My doctor told me that I had gastritis, inflammation of the stomach, and that I would have to make drastic changes to my diet in order for it to heal. First and foremost, I had to entirely cut out caffeine and alcohol. He strongly recommended that I change my diet to consist solely of protein, complex carbohydrates, and vegetables, along with some low-acidic fruit. No sugar, no dairy, no spicy foods, nothing carbonated, and no acidic or sour foods. Oy! I had to change almost 100% of my diet, a prospect that was daunting, but my alternative was pain so severe that I could barely function.

The first few weeks were the most difficult, mostly because of caffeine and sugar withdrawal. Once I got through that (the hardest thing I've ever done!), I noticed that I had more energy and felt better. Shockingly, I found that the food I was eating, though it required time and preparation, was more delicious than any of the junk I had been eating before. I learned that vegetables are delicious, and fruit is divine. Who knew? Then the pounds started melting off. People kept asking me what my secret was. When I told them about my change in diet, most of them shook their heads and said they could never make those same changes. They had been looking for an easy fix - not a lifestyle change. Over the course of 9 months, I lost about 50 pounds and dropped three sizes, and I'm still losing weight, though it has slowed down now that I'm in a healthy range. My stomach, while not perfect, feels much better, and I have been able to re-introduce certain previously-verboten foods into my diet (most notably chocolate).

That was just the first step in a drastic change in my relationship with food. I became interested in nutrition and in eating well. My foray into nutrition lead me to a couple of books which have changed my outlook even more. The Omnivore's Dillema by Michael Pollan, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. In addition to what I'm learning as an acupuncture student, these books have made it abundantly clear that I need to make more changes: to eat locally and sustainably grown food.

This blog is a place to share my experiences as I foray into the exciting world of local food, and the connections between food, Chinese Medicine, and spirituality.