The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet (50 page)

Phlegm-Fixer Tea (Lotus Root Tea)

I drink this when I have a cough or any kind of congestion in my chest. It’s also good for asthma symptoms, allergies, and sinus conditions because lotus root dries up excess fluid and helps you to breathe easy. This drink is thick and creamy. Drink it as soon as it’s made, while it’s still hot.

SERVES 1

1 medium lotus root

Fine sea salt

Few drops of ginger juice (grate 1" fresh ginger root and use your fingers to squeeze out the juice, optional)

Using the finest grater you have, grate about
¹
/
₂
cup of lotus root onto a plate to catch any excess lotus root juice. Gather the grated shreds and squeeze the juice into a measuring cup. Discard the squeezed pulp. Add an equal amount of water to the juice in the measuring cup. Add the salt, and pour the lotus juice mixture into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Flavor the drink with a few drops of grated ginger juice during the last minute of cooking, if you like.

Variation: Lotus root is in season between September and February (cold season!). If you need this tea at other times of the year or can’t find fresh lotus root (often found in better health food stores or Oriental markets), Lotus Root Tea Powder also exists and can be ordered through Goldmine Natural Foods and the Kushi Institute Store.

Appendix: Further Reading

The China Study
by T. Colin Campbell. Perfect for the scientifically minded people in your life.

The Food Revolution
by John Robbins

Any book by Dr. Neal Barnard: They include
Food for Life, Foods That Fight Pain
, and
Eat Right, Live Longer.

My Beautiful Life
by Mina Dobic. Inspiration for anyone fighting illness.

Mad Cowboy
by Howard Lyman. Lyman was a rancher and carnivore himself who got a firsthand look at the meat industry.

The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics
by Jessica Porter. A friendly, funny macro primer with recipes.

The Real Food Daily Cookbook
by Ann Gentry and Anthony Head. Try the nachos!

Babycakes
by Erin McKenna. Try the cinnamon buns and the cookie sandwich!

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Hope Romero, and Sara Quin.

The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to Be Fabulously Green
by Starre Vartan

Conscious Style Home
by Danny Seo. A beautiful book about decorating your home in environmentally friendly ways.

Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals
by Karen Dawn. A groovy, hip book for anyone who loves animals and wants to help them.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff—and It’s All Small Stuff
by Richard Carlson. A lovely collection of thoughts on what’s truly important. It would be bathroom reading, but on the Kind Diet, you don’t need bathroom reading.

The Joy Diet
:
10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life
and
Finding Your Own North Star
by Martha Beck

Organizing from the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life
by Julie Morgenstern

End notes

CHAPTER 2

1.
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EzineArticles.com
,
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.

2.
ActionPA, “Dioxin Homepage,” managed by ActionPA.org,
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.

3.
Arnold Schecter and others, “Intake Of Dioxins and Related Compounds from Food in the U.S. Population,”
Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A,
63:1-18, 2001,
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.

4.
Nutrition Scientists with The Cancer Project, Media Report, August 24, 2005, “New Report Names Five Worst Foods to Grill: Chicken Tops the List with the Most Cancer-Causing Chemicals,” The Cancer Project,
http://www.cancerproject.org/media/news/release_grill.php
.

5.
Neal Barnard, MD,
Foods That Fight Pain
(New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998), 16.

6.
Laurie Barclay, MD,
“Diet May Influence Relapse in Ulcerative Colitis,”
citing a University of Newcastle (UK) study, Medscape Medical News,
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.

7.
Debra Wood, RN, “Diverticulitis,” Aurora Health Care,
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.

8.
American Cancer Society News Center, “Eating Lots of Red Meat Linked to Colon Cancer,” American Cancer Society,
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.

9.
Hyon K. Choi, M.D., Dr.P.H. and others, “Purine-Rich Foods and the Risk of Gout in Men,”
New England Journal of Medicine,
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.

10.
From Medscape Medical News, December 12, 2004, “Too much red meat linked to increased risk of RA,” citing a University of Manchester (UK) report, Medscape,
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.

11.
W. G. Robertson, M. Peacock, P. J. Heyburn, et al. “Should recurrent calcium oxalate stone formers become vegetarians?”
British Journal of Urology
51 (1979): 427–31.

12.
Julie Vorman, “Raw ground beef often tainted with E. coli, “ Organic Consumers Association, March 1, 2000,
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.

13.
Division of Foodborne, Bacterial, and Mycotic Diseases, “Campylobacter,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/campylobacter_gi.html#2
.

14.
John Robbins,
The Food Revolution
(Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 2001), 128.

15.
Mitchell Satchell and Stephen J. Hedges, “The next bad beef scandal? Cattle feed now contains things like chicken manure and dead cats,”
US News & World Report,
September 1, 1997.

16.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4037499

17.
Environmental Working Group,
www.ewg.org/reports/farmedPCBs

18.
Ashley Glacel (contact), “Senators welcome endorsements from PHRMA, ADVAMED, ASTRAZENECA, and MERCK of Physician Payments Sunshine Act,” United States Senate Special Committee on Aging,
http://aging.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=298258
.

19.
E. Haavi Morreim, “Prescribing Under the Influence,” The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics,
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/morreim/prescribing.html
.

20.
American Dietetic Association, “How much did your doctor learn about nutrition in medical school?,”
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/nutrition_8555_ENU_HTML.htm
.

21.
www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSBNG12204220090109

22.
www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/business/03medschool.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

23.
Natasha Singer, “Lawmakers Seek to Curb Drug Commercials,”
New York Times
, July 26, 2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/business/media/27drugads.html?scp=5&sq=spending%20on%20prescription%20drugs&st=cse
.

24.
Adapted from Environmental Protection Agency documents, “Climate Change,” August 14, 2002, Almanac of Policy Issues,
http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/climate_change.shtml
.

25.
Opinion, “Killer cow emissions,”
Los Angeles Times
, October 15, 2007,
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/15/opinion/ed-methane15
.

26.
Opinion, “Killer cow emissions,”
Los Angeles Times
, October 15, 2007,
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/15/opinion/ed-methane15
.

27.
Juliette Jowit, environment editor, “UN says eat less meat to curb global warming,”
The Observer
, Sunday 7 September 2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/07/food.foodanddrink
.

28.
Jeff Tietz, “Boss Hog,” Rolling Stone,
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters
.

29.
Joel Achenbach, “A ‘Dead Zone’ in The Gulf of Mexico,”
Washington Post,
July 31, 2008, p. A02,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/31/ST2008073100349.html
.

30.
John Robbins,
The Food Revolution
(Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 2001), p. 245.

31.
Earth Trends Country Profiles, “Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystems—United States,” Earth Trends,
http://earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/country_profiles/wat_cou_840.pdf
.

32.
John Robbins,
The Food Revolution
(Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 2001).

33.
National Corn Growers Association, “Livestock,” National Corn Growers Association,
http://www.ncga.com/livestock
.

34.
National Corn Growers Association, “U.S. Corn Growers: Producing Food & Fuel,” National Corn Growers Association,
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:ba7xFU5lUtcJ:www.ncga.com/files/pdf/FoodandFuelPaper10-08.pdf+%25+u.s.+corn+to+human&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
, p. 4.

35.
DairyBusiness, “USDA forecast: 2009 corn acreage down; soybeans, dry hay acreage up,” March 31, 2009, DairyBusiness Communications,
http://dairywebmall.com/dbcpress/?p=2187
.

36.
Rural Migration News, “US Fruits and Vegetables,”
Rural Migration News,
July 2007 Volume 13 Number 3,
http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/comments.php?id=1231_0_5_0
.

37.
David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel, “Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment,” American Society for Clinical Nutrition,
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
Vol. 78, No. 3, 660S-663S, September 2003,
www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/78/3/660S
.

38.
Tom Gorey (contact), “Fact Sheet on the BLM’s Management of Livestock Grazing,” Updated March 2009, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM),
www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/grazing.html
.

39.
Howard F. Lyman,
Mad Cowboy
(Scribner, 1998).

40.
Newsroom, “Farmed vs. Fresh Fish,” National Cooperative Grocers Association,
www.ncga.coop/newsroom/fish
.

41.
April McKettrick and others, “Rainforest Destruction,” Cal Poly Pomona,
www.csupomona.edu/~admckettrick/projects/ag101_project/html/destruction.html
.

42.
CuringOxygen.com
, “What’s Happening to our Oxygen?,”
CuringHerbs.com
,
http://curingoxygen.com/oxygen_problem.htm
.

43.
Steve Boyan, PhD, “How Our Food Choices Can Help Save the Environment,” EarthSave International,
www.earthsave.org/environment/foodchoices.htm
.

44.
The Nature Conservancy, “Facts about Rainforests,” The Nature Conservancy,
www.nature.org/rainforests/explore/facts.html
.