Vegan Banana Pancakes

INGREDIENTS:

1/8 cup wheat bran

7/8 cup barley flour

1 tablespoon organic light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

1 teaspoon organic chia seeds

2 dashes of Saigon cinnamon

3/4 cup unsweetened nondairy milk (cashew, almond)

1 medium-sized ripe organic banana

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix the wheat bran, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, chia seeds, and cinnamon together.

2. In a different bowl, mash the banana and mix in the milk and vanilla extract.

3. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix well. Add more milk if the batter is too thick.

4. Cook on medium-high heat in a skillet until browned on both sides.

5. Makes about 12 pancakes.

6. Serve with pure organic maple syrup.

gizmo's Gonzo Juice

150  grams organic goji berries
  15  dried lotus seeds
  15  grams dried monk fruit
  50  grams dried red dates
  30  grams American Wisconsin wild ginseng
 1.5  liters mountain spring water

Place all of the ingredients into a slow cooker.
Do not remove the cover during the entire cooking time.
Cook on high for 3 hours.
Switch to low for another 2 hours.

Turn off and let cool for 1 hour, leaving the cover on.

Pour everything out through a colander or strainer into a large mixing bowl.  Using an appropriately sized funnel, transfer the liquid to seal-able glass "milk bottles".

Gently select several red dates and some lotus seeds from the strained ingredients and put a couple of each into each bottle.

Seal the bottles and refrigerate.  Consume within 7 to 10 days.

Inauguration

During a routine visit with my doctor, I asked him what the secret was to getting off the prescription medicine merry-go-round.  I was taking 11 different prescription medicines (insulin being the most critical), and also was using a prescription gel on the joints of my fingers, for a handful of well-known common old-people diseases (excuse my sarcastic humor).  Most of my family, friends, and others in my general age group were on the same merry-go-round.

He said my problem was that I was a meat-eater.

I reminded him that it was HIS diabetes clinic just a few years before that hammered down my throat meat, meat, meat (aka protein).  I had been a strict vegetarian for a dozen years or so (initially sparked by rage from my too many PETA film viewings), and was diagnosed with diabetes in 2011.  I attended several classes and workshops, but not after enduring that horrifying 15 long minutes in the nurse's office for my first self-injection (with saline solution).  [That 15 minute period was one of the most difficult in my life.]  Veggies and cheese … lots and lots of cheese. That had been my diet.

He said their problem was that THEY were meat-eaters.

He pulled a small sheet of paper from the top of his cabinet and asked me to read it.  It was a quote from Bill Clinton, regarding his dramatic change in health.   I told him that I would not believe Bill Clinton if he stood in front of me dripping wet with lightning coming through the windows and he said it was raining outside.  But I read the quote, anyway. The long & short of it:   The China Study 

  

I read it.  It changed my life.

In a matter of just over a year I went from a 40” waist at 189 pounds, with a 13.1 A1C and meter readings of 150+, and no energy …. to a 29” waist at 129-130 pounds, 5.2 A1C and meter readings of 68-to-80.  I have so much energy that I easily hit my daily goal of 15,000 steps and usually get around 21-22K.  My Fitbit tells me I burn between 2,800 and 3,100 calories a day!

Oh yeah … last year my doctor removed me from all prescriptions. I have 3 conditions that would have required surgery but I opted for medicine instead, so for decades I took medicines.  I never had any of the surgeries, but none of the problems bother me at all now.  Blood tests and X-rays show the physical conditions still exist in my body … but I never notice anymore.  The best thing is NO MORE PRILOSEC twice a day!!!  Yeah!!!

The hardest thing to give up was cheese.

I am not on a diet. 

I changed my life by rethinking the concept of nutrition.

What is the relationship between nutrition and a healthy body?   A body that functions efficiently?  I think of the body like we think about machines … cost vs efficiency.   We do not like to waste time or money on non-efficiency.  So I redesigned my attitude about nutrition.  I have a whole long conversation about nutrition.

In a nutshell, this is what I did:  Almost everything I buy is a raw ingredient.  I eat nothing at all of any kind that came from an animal or insect.  I avoid processed foods or ingredients.  Palm sugar vs high fructose corn syryp … guess!  I ditched white rice and white bread.  Black rice (superfood), brown rice, and wild rice.   Whole wheat bread is great.

In no particular order, these are the main inputs I combine for meals:
quinoa, red specifically, plus tri-color
amaranth
millet
kamut
spelt
barley
whole wheat couscous
non-egg pasta: (some take getting used to) whole wheat flour-based, or corn, rice, or quinoa
all the usual legumes (the smaller, the better for me)
So Delicious ice creams (based on almond, cashew, or soy milks)
Gardein meat-free foods (chicken, fish, pork) – the pork will blow you away
Flax seeds (brown and golden) & flaxseed meal
wheat germ
wheat bran
banana flour
hazlenut flour
quinoa flour
almond flour
coconut flour
whole wheat pastry flour
sorghum flour
tigernut flour
oat flour
… enough on flour! I became a vegan baker - I prefer sprouted flours
almond butter
NO VEGETABLE or CANOLA , but OK with sunflower, peanut, pumpkin, sesame, olive oils
garbonzo beans
all herbs fresh (sage, basil, oregano, thyme, rosmary)
coconut oil
all normal veggies that everyone else eats
NO PROCESSED fruit juices
soy milk, also cashew milk and almond milk
chia seeds and poppy seeds … generously on almost everything
egg replacer (non-dairy, like Bob's Red Mill or others)
Bob's Red Mill 10 whole grain pancake mix
Bob's Red Mill buckwheat pancake mix

Bob's Red Mill will become your best friend!

Or … there's always The Matrix Diet: