Thanksgiving holiday will soon be upon us.  Families will be gathering while others look forward to a nice four-day weekend.  The central theme of Thanksgiving is the celebration of the abundance provided to us through the year.  And this abundance seems most of the time to be experienced in the form of food.  Yes, the Thanksgiving feast is just around the corner.  I felt this was a good time to replay some helpful resources to make your traditional feast a little more healthy.

It is a given that we will eat more than we can actually digest, so eating good healthful foods will help us really enjoy the abundance of the day rather than groaning and moaning about the abdominal distress overeating generally causes.  Towards that goal I thought I would play with tweaking the menu a bit to make the traditional delights just a bit healthier.

What adjustments to recipes would support a healthier menu?  The biggest shifts are the same shifts for every meal.  Cut out any polyunsaturated oils from seeds that get heated as that makes the oil rancid in about 5 seconds.  Switch to using olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil.  Avocado oil is the best for cooking as it can tolerate temperatures up to 500 degrees.  Avocado and refined coconuts are also the most neutral in taste.  Sometimes the coconut flavor is a plus, in which case you would want unrefined coconut oil.

The next big step is to reduce the simple sugar and carb load.  Dr. Dave sugar makes an excellent replacement for most any sugar need you might have without having any blood sugar impact on your system.  So when you are using it to make the holiday pies, remember Dr. Dave sugar is twice as sweet as regular sugar - so only use half of what your recipe calls for.  I use the SuperSweet Drops to make lemonade, root beer, and cola by adding it to two liter bottles of club soda along with the lemon juice, root beer extract, or cola flavoring.

The third big step is removing the gluten from the meal.  Although only about 30% of the population has the genetic profile to be gluten intolerant, the larger reality is that gluten irritates the gut of everyone.  There are so many different ways that gluten can be a problem that no one is spared from being damaged by it.  Fortunately the awareness of this problem is generating a whole host of gluten- free alternatives.  Nice quality gluten free ready-made piecrusts are available and much easier than creating a homemade GF version.  For bread replacement and for making stuffing, most folks I know think the best choice is Udi's bread.  They also make dinner rolls, baguettes, buns, bagels, etc.  Here is a link for their store locator - Udi's

A similar challenge for the hors d'oeuvres is getting rid of the dairy milk products.  The protein in milk has many of the same effects that gluten has, so milk, cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, cottage cheese, kefir, and other dairy foods cause a lot of digestive trouble.  Most people can tolerate real butter as the milk protein has mostly been removed.  If you need to be very strict you can clarify the butter to remove all traces of milk protein.  The best cheese replacement I have found is under the brand name Daiya.  They make a delicious pepper jack and cheddar both as a solid block and grated.  Here is their store locator link:
Daiya Foods
I like them because most cheese replacements out there put the casein cheese protein in their product so it will melt nicely.  I don't get it.  Why would you make a cheese replacement and put cheese protein in it?  Most of them do; check the ingredients.

An excellent cream replacement is the canned coconut milk.  I like the taste of Chaokoh brand which I have in the office.  There are many good milk replacements.  My favorites are almond milk and coconut milk from the grocery store.  The rice milk has too much sugar in it and soy milk is not for human consumption in my opinion.  There are also excellent cashew soft cheeses in our area that make a nice replacement for the cream cheese dips for the hors d'oeuvres.  Hummus and guacamole are also nice dips that do well without any dairy in them.

To reduce the general carbohydrate overload that is traditional at Thanksgiving, I use this little trick.  Instead of having mashed potatoes, I have mashed cauliflower.  I steam a head of cauliflower until just tender, not mushy.  I put the head into a high power blender along with some black pepper, two tablespoons of avocado oil, a tablespoon of butter or bacon grease if I have it, two tablespoons of fish sauce, and blend the heck out of it.  It comes out thick and creamy and truly delicious.

 David's Cucumber Avocado Macadamia Nut Dressing

½ ripe avocado
½ cup avocado oil
½ cup tasty vinegar of your choice
1 cucumber peeled and chopped
¼ cup macadamia nuts
½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. dill weed (dried)
1 tsp. coconut aminos (optional - like soy sauce but made with coconut instead)
2 tsp. dried onion flakes
2 tsp. fish sauce
4 drops Dr. Dave Supersweet Drops

Blend everything on medium until fairly smooth and enjoy! 

And how could it be Thanksgiving without fresh cranberry sauce?  I make up the sauce just as the fresh cranberry package recommends substituting Dr. Dave sugar for the evil white sugar.  Sometimes, if I am feeling wild, I will add a package of fresh/frozen raspberries to the mix.

What about ice cream for on top of the pie I hear you ask?  There are several brands of almond milk and coconut milk ice creams available in stores and even one no sugar coconut milk variety made by So Delicious that comes in five flavors.  Here is their store finder link, but be aware that not all stores carry the no sugar variety:
So Delicious Dairy

What about the main dish - the turkey?  Fortunately turkey is pretty healthy as is.  You can feel good about buying a quality turkey that has not been loaded with antibiotics and that is minimally processed.  I am actually getting one from patients of mine that have been raising a few turkeys here locally organically and feeding them really good stuff.  Roasting that turkey the traditional way does a nice job.  Plus you get all those nice drippings to make gravy with.

So there you have it.  It is easy to replace the toxic ingredients with healthy ones and most of your Thanksgiving dinner guests won't know the difference unless they wonder why they feel so good after the meal instead of bloated and tired.

Happy Thanksgiving,

David 

The holidays are coming and the lemon tree in front of my house is celebrating with a whole new crop of yummy Meyer lemons.  Naturally I take advantage of the bountiful offering by inventing a really intense lemon dessert - healthy naturally.  I am thinking this would make a nice alternative (or additional) treat at the Thanksgiving table.  It is made basically with almond flour and lemon juice so it is chock full of healthy goodness.
First the cake bottom:

3 cups almond flour
¾ cup of Dr Dave's Double Sugar
4 eggs
1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Mix everything together and beat until well blended.  Pour into a greased 9x9 pan.  Bake in the oven 35 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Gelatin soak/filler:
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 Teaspoons gelatin
1 teaspoon lemon extract
¾ cup of Dr Dave's Double Sugar

Put the lemon juice in a pan on the stove and add the gelatin.  Mix in the gelatin until all dissolved.  Turn on the heat and bring to a boil for 30 seconds.  Add the extract and Double Sugar.  (If you were using xylitol or palm sugar you would need to double the sugar amounts.)

With the cake finished baking poke lots of holes into it with a fork, then pour the hot gelatin over the cake.  Let it soak into the cake.  Put the cake into the fridge to cool and set the gelatin.  Once cool it is ready to eat.  For a special treat pour some fresh almond-coconut milk yogurt on top.  Enjoy.

Tuesday afternoons and Fridays

Happier when 'forced to be bad'

In a fun little recent study, researchers found that the guilt response to doing something "fun" was eliminated when the choice to do the fun thing was made by someone else.  For instance the guilt over eating a piece of chocolate cake was eliminated if instead someone insisted on sharing their cake with you.  

 

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Physical activity improves school performance

 

Our address is  9725 Fair Oaks Blvd.

Finding the new location is very easy.  Coming from highway 50 up Sunrise Blvd, you turn left and go up a block.  We are on the right hand side - the building just past the Subway Sandwich shop.  If you are coming down Sunrise from the Mall area then just turn right on Fair Oaks Blvd and up a block on the right.

 

If you are coming from the Roseville area you could come down Sunrise Blvd, but that is a long trek.  It is probably shorter time wise to come down Auburn Blvd - San Juan Ave like you have been for the Sunset office, but instead of turning left at Sunset, keep going straight 3 more lights to Fair Oaks Blvd and turn left.  Go down 2 lights to New York Ave, go through the intersection, and immediately turn into the turn lane once the center divider ends.  We are on the left.

 

About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
Chiropractor

Ellen Flowers FGM
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Jin Shin Jitsu

 

 

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Massage Practitioner

 

 

 

 

 Is there a sweet that is not poisonous?  Yes!


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