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| Green beans in our garden |
Last week, V and I prepared a low-carb entree of Edamame Spaghetti noodles with asparagus. While it is important to restrict calories every day, intermittent fasting has also been proven to be very beneficial to health.
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| Melon Salad |
Intermittent fasting has been part of almost every culture since times immemorial. Very often, it is done in the name of religion, such as in Ikaria, which is one of six blue zones in the world. (For those who haven’t heard of The Blue Zones, these are the areas in the world with the longest lived people. Veggie Sutra tried a recipe for healthy granola from California’s own Blue Zone a couple of weeks back.) Dan Buettner, the author and researcher behind The Blue Zones Solution says that Calorie Restriction, a way of fasting where the normal amount of calories consumed is restricted, is proven to slow the aging process. The key to calorie restriction is to consume very nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables.
V and I came up with a very simple list of rules for fasting: We would eat three meals consisting of only fruits, vegetables (including potatoes and sweet potatoes) and nuts, using just rock salt, black pepper and fresh ginger for seasoning.
Here’s what we ate on our fasting day – Our breakfast consisted of a handful of nuts and a banana. For lunch, I steamed some beautiful green beans harvested from our garden and seasoned it with raw grated coconut, black pepper and rock salt.
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| Green beans from our garden |
For dinner, I made a simple salad with melon and cherry tomatoes. As we continue fasting, at least once a month, I will post more recipes. Here is the first one, an eye-catching and nutritious salad with melon and cherry tomatoes.
Recipe for a Fasting Fruit Salad: Melon & Cherry Tomatoes with Fresh Basil
[Printable Recipe]
Ingredients:
- 4 cups cantaloupe melon cubes (use any type of melon that is available to you)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (use blackberries or blueberries instead if you prefer)
- small piece of ginger grated
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup, optional
- 1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves chopped (I used basil from the garden, but feel free to use mint instead)
- Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
- 1/4 roasted almonds or sunflower seeds, optional
- Combine the melons and cherry tomatoes with grated ginger
- Drizzle some maple syrup if you like (our melon was really sweet so we did not need this)
- Garnish with basil leaves, sprinkle black pepper on top
- Sprinkle nuts or seeds on top if using and serve
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| Melon Salad |