Today I send warm thoughts to everyone on this anniversary of a painful day in our world’s history, especially for anyone who lost someone. Or even for survivors who may sometimes wonder what we’re here for, and if we’re doing justice to the gift of life that was taken from someone else. Peace to everyone.
Today we are going to have a comforting dessert that will have its health benefits, especially since we only have ice cream occasionally. Ice cream (frozen yogurt, etc.) has sugar in it, and sugar is bad for you – it’s really like a poison. But if you start this blog from the beginning, it will be 140 days since you’ve had processed white sugar, and you’ve had very few other sweeteners, so one day with ice cream will be OK.
On the positive side, dairy products (and meat) from pasture-raised cows contains three to six times more (depending on the source) conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than those from factory cows. Studies have found CLA to prevent the development, growth, and spread of breast,[1] prostate, and gastrointestinal cancers.[2] It’s also an inhibitor of heart disease[3] and, in certain doses, showed a reduction of body fat in overweight people.[4] And that’s just the benefits of the ice cream! Now add in the berries full of flavonoids, an antioxidant shown to reduce rates of cognitive decline in older adults,[5] and the nuts. Remember nuts are cholesterol-lowering healthy fats that have now been shown to reduce deaths due to cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease.[6]
I bought my ice cream at the farm near my house, but you can find ice cream from grass-fed cows at organic-focused markets, and you can also get coconut milk frozen desserts at most grocery stores if you’re dairy free – even the Food Lion by my house is increasing their dairy-free and gluten-free selection. The flavors of ice cream I picked were Salted Caramel, Lemon Poppyseed, and El Corazon, which is a blend of blood orange, passion fruit, and pomegranate.
The berries were in the freezer from last time I picked and it was nice that they were frozen because they held together when mixed.
I said this somewhere along the way but will repeat it since it’s the moral of this blog: if you eat real food, you can celebrate everything you eat, and know that your body is using it to its very best advantage to help make you the best – healthiest and happiest – you can be.
Ice Cream Sundae – measurements are approximate J
2 cups of ice cream
½ C berries
¼ C pecans or walnuts
1 T sliced almonds
Mix the ice cream, berries, and nuts together and top with slivered almonds and a sprig of mint if you like. This makes two servings as shown.
[1] “Conjugated linoleic acid isomers and mammary cancer prevention,” C. Ip, Y. Dong, et al., Nutrition and Cancer, 2002;43(1):52–8.
[2] “Antimutagenic and some other effects of conjugated linoleic acid,” D. Kritchevsky, The British Journal of Nutrition, 2000;83:459–65.
[3] “Conjugated linoleic acid isomer effects in atherosclerosis: growth and regression of lesions,” D. Kritchevsky, SA Tepper, S. Wright, SK Czarnecki, TA Wilson, RJ Nicolosi; Lipids, 2004;39:611–6.
[4] “Conjugated linoleic acid reduces body fat mass in overweight and obese humans,” H. Blankson, JA Stakkestad, et al., Journal of Nutrition, Dec. 2000:130:2943-8
[5] “Dietary intakes of berries and flavonoids in relation to cognitive decline,” EE Devore, JH Kang, MM Breteler, F Grodstein, Annals of Neurology, July 2012;72(1):135-43.
[6] “Association of Nut Consumption with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality,” Y. Bao, J. Han, Frank Hu, et al., New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 2013.
