Archive for January, 2013

On Stomach Bugs and the Joys of Turkey Pot Pie

Butter up your sour innards with this golden, feel-good dish

If I ever tell you that I just recovered from a bad stomach virus but that on the bright side I’d lost a few pounds, please throw me a dirty look. And if you ever tell me that you suffered with a bug and I say something cheerily like, “well, at least it’s a great way to lose weight!” feel free to kick me in the shins.

Happily, my shins are safe, because I promise not to say anything like that. There are few illness side effects more miserable, I think, than being unable to eat. Throwing up is painful, but not being able to appreciate the taste and texture of food is equally unhealthy. If you need to shed pounds for health reasons, I appreciate your plight; I need to lose weight, too. But let’s agree not to make it a big deal, nor punish ourselves for our enjoyment of food.

A few days after my recent illness, I celebrated my re-emerging desire for food with a rare turkey pot pie feast. The timing was ideal. I’d been yearning for a Sunday afternoon with little or no commitments (besides my late-morning Restorative yoga class), and as I was still tired and wobbly, I had no plans that weekend. My husband had done the grocery shopping the day before, and, hoping that I’d be up to pot pie come Sunday, I’d added the ingredients to our shopping list.

A downside to this dish is the time it requires to prepare. Nor is it politically nor calorically correct. It includes meat, dairy, butter (gobs of it), and if cooked as directed in the original recipe, will yield 850 calories per serving (not bad, actually; a store-bought cupcake can have 600 calories) with generous amounts of sodium, fat, and cholesterol (just to give you full disclosure) to boot.

I think the plusses (veggies, protein, fiber, for starters) outweigh the drawbacks, especially if you only make this recipe occasionally. You can easily reduce the salt and substitute for the butter. And while the steps are numerous, they are basic, requiring no culinary talent nor the use of complicated things like food processors. You can break up the recipe, too: cook the turkey breast one day, make the dish the next.

As you cook, the rewards will reach your nostrils well before the dish is done. Your kitchen (perhaps your whole house or apartment) will smell warm and wonderful. Your cats will be ever by your side in the kitchen as you work, for no other reason than to offer their unconditional love. The finished pot pie will last for many meals, and you’ll have bonus goodies if you use leftover broth, meat, and veggies for soup (I also freeze the broth to use as stock) and/or turkey salad. (The recipe calls for a 4 lb turkey breast, and since I can only seem to find smaller or much larger ones, I opt for the latter to get the extras.)

The post stomach bug pot pie feast felt so soothing that I vowed to make the dish again soon, and did so on New Year’s Eve. Calories be damned–I can’t think of a better dish to greet the new year with thoughts of healing and goodness.

Note: I clipped the recipe from First magazine years ago. My changes are noted for your consideration. If you don’t eat dairy or meat and substitute for these or any other preferences and needs, please let me know your ideas so I can share them here with other readers.

Turkey Pot Pie With Corn Bread Crust

1 carrot (or more, see below)

2 onions

1 turkey breast, 4 lbs

4 sprigs parsley

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper (I skip these and use Adobo instead)

2 lbs yams or sweet potatoes (I use 1 large potato and 1 large yam, and sometimes add 1-2 carrots for more vitamins and pretty colors)

1 lb greens (ie, collards, kale, or spinach)

14 tbs butter (shhh, don’t tell the butter police!)

2 1/2 cups flour

3 cups milk

3/4 tsp dried rosemary

1 cup cornmeal

3 tbs flaxseed meal (optional, but adds an extra bit of crunch and fiber to the topping)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tbs sugar (I never use it; the crust tastes delicious without)

1 egg

Peel carrot and cut into chunks. Quarter 1 onion and put in soup pot with turkey breast, carrot, parsley, bay leaf, 1 tsp salt (if using), 1/4 tsp pepper, and water to cover. Bring to boil. Simmer until turkey is tender, about 2 hrs. Remove turkey. Strain broth and return to pot.

When turkey is cool, discard skin, pull meat from bones, and cut into bite-size pieces. Peel yams/potatoes and cut into cubes. Add to broth and boil until tender, about 15 min. Remove yams; save broth. Trim greens and cut into shreds. Chop remaining onion.

Melt 8 tbs butter in a saucepan over medium heat. (Note: I use the soup pot.) Add onion and cook until soft, about 2 min. Add 1/2 cup flour and stir until bubbly. Gradually add 2 cups milk, 2 cups broth, rosemary, and seasoning to taste. Bring to boil, stirring; cook for 1 min.

Stir in greens and cook until wilted. Add turkey and yams (and/or other veggies of your choice) and pour into 3-quart baking dish. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt remaining 6 tbs butter. Combine 2 cups flour, cornmeal, flaxseed meal, and baking powder, as well as sugar and salt if using. Beat egg with 1 cup milk and pour into flour mixture with the butter. (I usually add some broth as well, adding more flavor and reducing the milk a bit.) Stir until well moistened. Spread batter over turkey mixture and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

Tags: healing meal, turkey pot pie
Posted in Blog, Body Image, Food | 1 Comment »

Cardiovascular and respiratory effect of yogic slow breathing in the yoga beginner: what is the best approach?

Research paper by Heather Mason, Matteo Vandoni, Giacomo deBarbieri, Erwan Codrons, Veena Ugargol, Luciano Bernardi. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2013, Article ID 743504. doi:10.1155/2013/743504

In this assessment, investigators observed the effects of ujjayi breath and slow breathing on cardiovascular and respiratory variables in yoga-naive subjects. They began with the premise, derived from previous research, that a reduced breathing rate (approximately 5-6 breaths per minute) increases cardiac-vagal baroreflex sensitivity (BRS, a measure of the heart’s capacity to regulate blood pressure in different situations), improves oxygen saturation, and lowers blood pressure. The investigators’ intent was to examine whether ujjayi breath offered additional positive effects to slow breathing alone.

Investigators recruited 17 healthy nonsmokers (8 male, 9 female; average age, 26 to 28 years) who had never practiced yoga. Participants received approximately 10 minutes of training in ujjayi breathing technique prior to testing. Participants were then connected to monitoring devices to measure cardiac and respiratory variables. The testing phase comprised 7 breathing conditions:

Spontaneous breathing (baseline)
Fast breathing (15 breaths per minute, 2-second inspiration and expiration) without ujjayi
Slow breathing (6 breaths per minute, 5-second inspiration and expiration) without ujjayi
Slow breathing (6 breaths per minute, 5-second inspiration and expiration) with ujjayi on both inspiration and exhalation
Slow breathing (6 breaths per minute, 5-second inspiration and expiration) with ujjayi on exhalation only
Slow breathing (6 breaths per minute, 3-second inspiration and 7-second expiration) without ujjayi
Slow breathing (6 breaths per minute, 3-second inspiration and 7-second expiration) with ujjayi on exhalation only

Data analysis showed that fast breathing reduced BRS, while all slow breathing conditions increased BRS vs spontaneous breathing. This increase was significant for all slow breathing conditions without ujjayi, and for slow breathing with ujjayi on exhalation alone, but was not significant for slow breathing with ujjayi on inspiration and exhalation. The authors suggested that the increased respiratory effort required to perform ujjayi, particularly for yogic breathing-naive subjects, might have caused the reduction of BRS benefit.

All of the breathing conditions significantly increased oxygen saturation vs baseline. When ujjayi was added to slow breathing, oxygen saturation increased further. With the exception of slow breathing with equal inspiration/expiration, all slow breathing conditions increased heart rate vs baseline. Overall, ujjayi breathing increased heart rate more than slow breathing alone.

All of the breathing conditions significantly increased oxygen saturation vs baseline. When ujjayi was added to slow breathing, oxygen saturation increased further.

All slow breathing conditions, with and without ujjayi, reduced blood pressure vs baseline. The greatest decrease in blood pressure was seen with slow breathing without ujjayi with equal inspiration/expiration.

Investigators concluded that while ujjayi breathing offered the maximum oxygen saturation of all observed breathing conditions, slow breathing with similar inspiration/expiration times appeared the most effective and simple way to increase BRS and oxygen saturation and lower blood pressure in yoga-naive subjects.

Summary by Louise Fecher