A nutritious weed. An ancient storehouse of ancestral wisdom and powerful healing. A symbol of food sovereignty, a powerful connector of peoples and generations. A tiny seed, which also happens to be enemy number one of an immensely powerful multinational corporation that specializes in spreading genetically modified crops, herbicides, insecticides, and general destruction across the planet. A plant worth getting curious about.
I’m not just here to talk about delicious, nutritious food. I care deeply about the medicine of simplicity and connection. I care about stewardship of the land. I care about empowering people to connect with their inherent state of vitality and health.
That empowerment happens through education. It happens when we look to our daily habits to help steer our lives in new directions. It happens when we cultivate a deep appreciation for the sacredness and interconnectedness of all life.
The more we can shine a light on the interconnection between our internal heath and that of our environment ~ the interconnection of all life ~ the better we can understand the context of our choices, and the more empowered we can be to make changes that support the greater good.
In order to find a way out of our current predicament, we have to start thinking differently. We have to be willing to learn and do things in new ways.
The Standard American Diet is high in fried foods, grain-based desserts, processed foods, processed meats, red meat, refined grains (read: lots of flour), and sugar-sweetened beverages, according to this article from fullscript.com.
Dr. Mark Hyman is a leader in functional medicine and nutrition, and someone whose work I admire tremendously. I recently learned this from one of his posts: “Our genetic code evolved at a time when we were eating 20 teaspoons of sugar a year. That means our insulin response can handle vastly lower levels of sugar than the 152 pounds of sugar and 146 pounds of flour, which converts to sugar, we eat on average every year.”
Holy mackerel. That’s ~ too much! And it’s a lifestyle habit that’s hard to break. This article reveals some startling research on how sugar hijacks the brain, and is well worth the read.
This is a heavy, heavy load for our bodies to bear. I believe it takes real curiosity and willingness to go against this grain (!) to overcome the momentum of these alarming patterns of consumption. But it’s 100% doable. I think it comes down to being willing to try new things. Part of why I share what goes on in my kitchen is to show you new things you can try to shift the direction of your own health, and make choices that really set you up to thrive.
I prefer not to have any food be “off-limits,” but I go out of my way to avoid flour and sugar in my day-to-day life, because it’s, well… destroying our health. And because eating in this way swiftly generates cravings to continue those same patterns of consumption. Not helpful.
I prefer to get curious about what my ancestors ate, what thrives in my ecosystem, and what’s in season. I look to the farm stands, the local markets, and my yard for my daily fare. This forms a strong foundation for my regular meal-planning ~ and for my health!
A huge part of this approach involves educating myself about how I can diversify the species I consume, and how they fit into the context of my environment. I’ve learned a lot about edible “weeds,” in the past few years.
I’ve known about amaranth for a long time ~ it is a ubiquitous plant that thrives in all sorts of environments. As it turns out, it is a fascinating lens onto the powerful story of Indigenous communities’ work in reclaiming food sovereignty and revitalizing disadvantaged populations through traditional foods.
“Incredibly adaptable to climate change, herbicides, and urbanization, amaranth is dense in protein, fiber and vitamins,” writes Ungelbah Dávila-Shivers in the Spring 2021 issue of Edible NM. This article tells amaranth’s compelling and inspiring story ~ one which I believe everyone should hear. Please do yourself a favor and read it now.
I found every sentence in this piece to be incredibly moving. Here is one section in particular that really stands out to me:
“In 2013, board president Roxanne Swentzell (Tewa) started the Pueblo Food Experience project, where for three months she and fourteen volunteers of Pueblo descent ate only what their ancestors would have eaten before contact with Europeans. Her goal was to see what would happen if they ate the foods that they had evolved alongside for over twenty generations. What they discovered was that returning to a pre-colonial diet resulted in weight loss, blood sugar control, lowered cholesterol, and even a drastic improvement in one volunteer’s lupus symptoms. In other words, the dietary change mitigated many of the diseases native people have been dying from during the last century.”
This experiment highlights so powerfully how intrinsically entwined our health and the health of our environment is. We can look to our past, our communities, to nature’s abundant wisdom for guidance. We have a choice. And our choices matter, very much.
So ~ long introduction, but very short recipe!
The following is just one way to prepare amaranth. It’s nice and simple, and has been popular in my household as of late. It provides a nice alternative to oatmeal, and certainly to the dreaded flour- and sugar-laden breakfast.
The basic ratio is 1 part amaranth to 2.5 parts water. But I tend to use a few extra splashes of water.
Ideally, soak the seed in filtered water for one to several hours before cooking. In this case, after soaking, rinse and strain, then proceed as follows:
This will make two medium-large servings, or three small ones.
3/4 cup dry amaranth, rinsed
~2 cups water
Salt to taste
Rinse the dry seeds in a fine mesh strainer (very fine ~ these seeds are tiny!) and add to a small saucepan.
Add water (filtered), I tend to do a little extra as I prefer the porridge to be more hydrating which in turn is easier on the digestion. Also because I live in the desert and it’s super dry here.
Bring to a boil, add salt, and turn down to low (The above picture is from having just brought it to a boil, then starting to turn it down).
Simmer, covered, on low, for 25-30 minutes.
We’ve been enjoying this as a substitute for oats, so we add a little butter or ghee and maple syrup. With the slight saltiness, it’s an amazingly tasty combo of flavors. And the cooked seeds make a super satisfying little crunch.
Here is a picture of how it looks when it’s done cooking, before stirring. From here I give it a big stir ~ there may be a little sticking to the bottom of the pan, but I find I can loosen this by scraping a little and it all incorporates well.
I recently decided to try a more savory style, and added some freshly made pumpkin-seed dip to a bowl of cooked amaranth for breakfast. Oh my!!! This was incredibly tasty. And an especially powerful combination in the Southwest, where pumpkin seeds and amaranth have been naturally abundant and their use goes back a looooong way.
The more we can eat food that is simple and real and recognizable by the natural intelligence of our organism, the more empowered we become to make choices that allow our bodies to thrive.
It doesn’t take much time of eating in this way before we start feeling deeply satisfied by real, fresh, simple foods, and we are actually craving that which supports us. Eating in this way in turn is far more sustainable for the planet. It’s a win-win.
And this, my friends, is what food as medicine is all about.
