By: Jean Johnson for Reflux1“We don’t really think in terms of Asian cooking so much, since our influence around here in the Southwest is more Mexican and American Indian,” said Bob Goforth who resides with his wife Beth in Parks, Arizona. Parks is a small community 15 miles west of Flagstaff nestled in the ponderosa pines at 7,000 feet above sea level. “But I guess we do a few things that are sort of like stir fries with whatever we’ve got on hand.
“I do quite a bit of the cooking, and it usually starts with a little olive oil in the pan,” said Bob Goforth. “Then chopped up vegetables – peppers, sweet ones and green chilies and jalapenos, along with broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage since those things grow well in our garden and greenhouses.”
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Incorporate parts of the Asian diet into your eating style:
Abundance of plant foods
Low in saturated and total fat
Limited dairy intake
Moderate amount of fish
Limited amounts of poultry, eggs and red meat
Tea, wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages in moderation. |
The Goforth’s are in their early fifties and enjoy what Bob calls “decent health.” He’s a quiet man, though, and given to understatement. The couple are at normal weights, have clear complexions, and enough gloss and shine in their hair and eyes to make a 30 year old happy. Also, neither one have ever had heartburn.
While the Asian influence is subtle in their home cooking, the theory of ramping up with vegetables and tuning into grains and beans seems to be very much in play in the large rustic kitchen of the house Goforth’s built while raising two sons. Reflux Data for the Asian Diet
If the reflux statistics for Mediterranean cuisine are impressive, data attesting to the health-giving benefits of the Asian diet are even more so. Forty-two percent of the American population experienced heartburn at least once over a recent six month period, and 38 percent of Northern Europeans and 9 percent Italians citizens did as well.
Contrast those figures with the miniscule rates of heartburn in Japanese and Chinese populations, 7 percent and 3 percent respectively. (We’re assuming that the individuals in the study groups represent those who still enjoy traditional cuisine – not the crowd lining up at the Kentucky Fried Chicken joints that are infiltrating Asian cities, nor those parading through the golden arches for McDonald’s quick fixes of fast food.)
Elements of Asian Cuisine
Asian cuisine rests on a broad foundation of rice, noodles, bread, millet, corn and other whole grains. Added to this solid base are healthy doses of nuts, seeds, and legumes – or bean as they are more commonly known. Bring in a gorgeous array of vegetables and fruits that are sliced, diced, and generally celebrated and we have a distinctively Eastern style of eating.
While the above list of foodstuffs makes up two-thirds of the traditional Asian diet, other goodies are enjoyed in moderation to enhance the cuisine’s flavor, aroma and beauty. Vegetable oils and fish, eggs and poultry, meats, sake, wine, beer, and teas along with some sweets flesh out the remainder of the Asian refrigerator and pantry.
The Asian Diet Pyramid, Oldways Preservation Trust
According to the Cornell University Science News, the Asian Diet Pyramid – unveiled by Oldways Preservation Trust as an alternative to the 1992 U.S. Food Guide Pyramid – “reflects the traditional, plant-based rural diets of Asia, which research increasingly shows to be linked to much lower rates of certain cancers, heart disease, obesity and, in some cases, osteoporosis and other chronic, degenerative diseases than those found in the United States.”
Cornell University on Health Benefits
"The nutrient composition of the traditional rural Asian diet is very similar to the Mediterranean diet in that both are largely plant-based and both pyramids recommend that meat be consumed no more than once a month or more often in very small amounts," said Cornell professor of nutritional biochemistry, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.
Campell also directs the Cornell-China-Oxford Project that surveyed relationships between eating habits, lifestyle and health among more than 10,000 Chinese families in 1983-84 and then again in 1989-90. The project arose after two principal observations in the late 1970s and early 1980s suggested relationships between diet and cancer.
“First, rich Western diets (high in fat and meat, low in dietary fiber) were strongly associated (correlated) with incidence of colon and breast cancer,” states the project Web site. “Second, migrants moving to areas of different cancer risks acquired the risk of the country to which they moved, regardless of their ethnic or genetic backgrounds.” (In other words: The good news is that it’s never too late to make some changes.)
China was chosen as the study country in part because its cuisine is low in fat and high in dietary fiber and plant material – a stark contrast to the rich diets of Western nations. The outcome of the project has been one of the most comprehensive databases in the world on the relationship between disease, diet and lifestyle.
Speaking of the benefits of both Mediterranean and Asian cuisine, Campbell gave a nod to the Asian side of the fence. "The Asian diet, which is significantly lower in total fat, may prove to be an even more healthful diet [than the Mediterranean]."
He also noted that statistics showed no problems with osteoporosis even though dairy products do not figure significantly into Asian cuisine. "The plant-based, dairy- free diets of much of Asia are linked to a low rate of osteoporosis," Campbell said. "In fact, Western countries, with their calcium largely taken in the form of dairy products, have significantly higher rates of osteoporosis."
In the Goforth Kitchen
Now that we’ve got even the dairy and osteoporosis matter settled, a foray into how to bring more Asian-style cooking into our own homes is in order. Stir fries, of course, come to mind, but patterning one’s eating after Asian cuisine actually goes far a field from adhering to any particular recipe and buying a wok.
Ginger and garlic, hallmarks of Asian cooking, are fairly often present in the Goforth’s dinners, although Bob chuckles and says that the last time he chopped up fresh ginger it went into a batch of ginger snaps. The recipe used whole wheat flour, of course, since the Goforth’s, like so many out of the sixties that broke with processed food traditions, feel most at home in the whole grain groove. The couple even has a grinder so they can enjoy the superb taste of freshly milled flours and meals.
The same theory regarding whole grain applies to their consumption of rice. “Often what happens is that we do a stir fry when we have leftover brown rice,” Goforth said. “White rice is okay, and I even enjoy it when I have it somewhere else. Here at the house, though, we don’t really make anything but brown rice or some other type of whole grain.”
Stir Fry: A Theory That Lends Itself to Creativity Adaptation
Like so many Americans in the know, Bob and Beth Goforth have adapted the idea of having a diet high in vegetables, grains, and legumes to what is in season and available in their area. More, they’ve not felt bound to cook all their vegetables and are hip to the fact that when it comes to fiber, as well as a number of vitamins and minerals, fresh is actually better.
“What happens is that I’ll make a pot of beans for burritos that we eat with some chopped up cabbage from the garden and maybe a little tomato or salsa,” said Goforth. “Then the next night we might make a salad and some rice to go with the leftover beans.” He explains that he recently finished a long greenhouse that abuts their kitchen and living area, and that currently tomatoes still cling to the vine under the expanse of glass. “Unfortunately, even with the greenhouses, we still buy most of our food in town,” Goforth said. “At this elevation and with Northern Arizona’s limited water supply, we’ve only been able to do so much – especially since we both work full-time jobs.”
Whether from the garden or the health food store in Flagstaff, salads – think raw stir fries – at the Goforths usually start out with “mixed lettuces and tomatoes, and carrots and peppers. Then Beth will come along and add things like nuts and cubed tofu. For dressings we like to use Bragg’s liquid amino acids instead of tamari, and Beth likes flax seed oil quite a bit,” Goforth said. “But mainly we keep it pretty basic since most of the time we’re just trying to eat and get to sleep.”
Goforth says he does like getting out a cookbook when he has time and making things like soups and blue cornmeal waffles. He also has a great gravy recipe that uses nutritional yeast. “You toast the yeast flakes in a heavy skillet until they are brown.” Once he has the toasted flakes just right, he adds oil to make a roux and then whisks in enough liquid – water, milk, stock – to make a silken sauce capable of gracing anything from a bean loaf to roasted winter root vegetables to a stir fry. Not what you’d really think of as Asian, but definitely in the same vein and close enough to promote glowing health.
Asian Approach to Health Includes an Active Lifestyle
Bob and Beth Goforth have incorporated more than the diet side of the health equation from the Asian model. The couple also maintains the active lifestyle that those studying Chinese populations have observed to be beneficial. Again, adaptability and variation on the theme seems to be the key.
Goforth’s agricultural pursuits are modest compared to the average Chinese peasant. No terraced hillsides to manage. Rather their two green houses, several garden patches, and enough reliance on organic markets in town leaves the couple with leisure time that Americans prize so.
Instead of falling into recliners in front of the television, however, Goforths have been as creative with their spare time as their have been their cooking. They’ve hiked for years in places like the Grand Canyon, get out during the winter on downhill and cross country skies, and a few years back, even made it up to Alaska to run the remote and lovely Tatshenshini River.
Whether they found the energy to do all that by eating well first is clearly a chicken and egg story. Any way the rice grains fall, though, these two Americans have found a way to maximize enjoyment by taking care of their bodies. In a culture that still places hamburgers and fries and kicking back in front of the tube front and center, it’s an achievement. And undoubtedly the Asian influence has had some influence.
