Not Your Grandmother's Cole Slaw

Diamond organics came through with some greens to remember, and, among many other tasty treats, we had a special Asian slaw for lunch. I snuck almond butter into this peanut sauce to give a better fat portfolio as well as some added creaminess and protein. The almond butter is sweeter and mixed well with the dash of maple syrup, fresh ginger, water and soy sauce. With about three tablespoons if almond butter and a tablespoon of peanut butter, it was a rich and satisfying sauce and was in keeping with our complete aversion to good ol' American mayo. We julienned some granny smith apple and thinly sliced red onion to go with the cabbage-based salad.

High in manganese, vitamin E, magnesium and tryptophan, raw almond butter makes the slaw into a meal. Almonds are high in monounsaturated fat, just like olive oil, and are linked to lower heart disease rates, possibly because they have been shown to lower LDL, the cholesterol related to heart problems. The antioxidants in almonds are also at work to stabilize blood sugar, and eating almonds with a sweet or high glycemic load food helps minimize the unwanted spike in blood sugar. Interesting fact: the vitamin E combines with the flavonoids in the almond skin to create a synergistic effect decreasing free radical damage, reducing LDL and reducing C-reactive protein, the marker for inflammation in the body. One study cites a decrease in C-reactive protein on par with statin drugs.

But the best news on almonds is they help with weight loss. There are many reasons for this. First, tryptophan makes people full and happy, boosting serotonin and decreasing overeating. Also, the manganese, copper and riboflavin (vitamin B-2) in almonds provide an energy boost giving people the energy to expend and burn more calories. Almonds protect glutathione (through B-2) from oxidation so that the energy produced in the cells does not result in any oxidative damage to the heart or other tissue.

The downside thing to mention is that under relatively new laws, almonds must be pasteurized unless they are being dry roasted or otherwise cooked. Some scaredy cats in the government are more afraid of a raw almond than a g.., but don't get me started on that. The steam pasteurization used to meet the minimum requirement might leave a few live enzymes but probably not as it is designed to ward off salmonella, a bacteria that is generally not found in almond fields but a one time outbreak led to concern. Raw almonds can be sold within 100 miles of the grower in small portions not for resale but I don't live near a grower so I am as of now out of luck...unless I can find a bootlegger and I actually think there are some...