Staying Alive

      A writer's first priority is to stay alive...

     Every week, I do an hour's serious but fun exercise three times with weights and core routines. For years and years, I used to jog or walk every day for an hour, but it's important to keep up with exercising enough since writing is such a quiet private and sedentary activity.
     To prevent heart disease, I've been influenced by my doctor and the book "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell, which encourages a strict Chinese diet of rice and vegetables for better health, and banishes meats and dairy products. Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr.'s book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" espouses a strict heart-wise diet. It goes even further than The China Study and bans meats and dairy, and even oils. These are the books that former President Clinton turned to after he had serious heart issues. And both are essential to read if  heart disease runs in your family.
     To keep my glucose levels down, I've just banned high-glucose foods from my diet. Of course, this is ideal, and we'll see how permanent. Yesterday, I cleared my kitchen of almost all healthy grains and brown rice because it isn't enough for weight loss if I simply switch to vegetables, grains, fruits, and salmon for omega-3s a few times a week.
     Here's a delicious easy non-starchy recipe I created for a Mediterranean tomato-eggplant dish. It does use tomatoes, however, so won't be suitable for those are avoiding the nightshade vegetables. (Warning: some writers say these vegetables, the tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, and cabbage-family vegetables and sweetener cause inflammatory arthritis pain.)

Set the oven timer to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Total cooking time: 90 min. Total prep time: 5-10 min.

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, sliced

3-4 red peppers, slice into large cubes

16 oz. tin sweet tomato sauce or fresh tomatoes in a sauce

8 oz. prepared tomato sauce

optional: garlic, thyme, marjoram to taste

Place sliced eggplant on the bottom of a flat pan. Slice the red peppers and place on top of slices of eggplant. Layer canned or fresh tomatoes in a sauce on top of this, and for flavor add a thin layer of your favorite tomato sauce. I used a prepared sauce with seasonings and a little olive oil. And you can add fresh garlic and your own favorite spices such as thyme and marjoram to taste if you like. It's very similar to ratatouille, and cubed or sliced zucchini could be added to the peppers on top.

Cook for half an hour at 325 degrees, reduce to 275 degrees, and cook for another hour.

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