Linda Kordich Wellness Newsletter with Video/Podcast #3

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7/25/2024

My Podcast https://on.soundcloud.com/gnKZg2Y1cC6UAoMG7

My Video https://youtu.be/cFHF2uQLTUs

Here's what I'll be speaking about this week:

1. The Healing Power of Apples and Pears

2. Living Kitchen Principles (storing/buying)

3. Video from my Kitchen with a favorite Summer Salad

Part 1: The Healing Power of Pears

I Love Pears. Yet most people just don't eat many of them. Perhaps some of us don't know their great value. So today I'm going to share some of what I've learned about Pears along my life's journey.

Today I am going to share with you, 'why' we should be eating, blending or juicing pears. We can also freeze them did you know this?

I think for most of us, thought, we get locked into buying a small range of fruits throughout the year, especially during Wintertime. However, even during summertime, I have noticed that most of us buy bananas, apples and strawberries. These are the most common fruits because that's what the internet says, however... for many decades, I've found myself looking at people's carts in grocery stores. That's when I noticed people really do buy banana and apples, and sometimes oranges.

One of my goals for this Podcast/Newsletter is to help inspire all of us to eat more fruit. And there's significant reasons why.

However, millions of us have endured, over the last 15 years, a tremendous amount of negative publicity about consuming fruits. In my mind, it seems like a sin to tout fruit as being full of sugars, when in fact, they're so much more than 'full of sugars.'

Since we will be speaking about Pears, let me first share a story with you!

When I first married Jay back in 1981, Jay was a massive fruit eater. His skin showed it and his incredible endurance showed it as well... and he was 58 when I first married him. Most of us, by our late 50s struggle with energy including struggling with a body that is not limber, or not in pain.

In my last newsletter, that I shared with you, he would eat several pounds per day, yes it's true! Mostly in the summertime it was stone fruits, watermelons, melons, tangerines, grapefruits and oranges, and guess what else? Pears, pears and more pears.

Here's the most important reasons why we should be consuming pears weekly, if not every other day:

Pears are what we like to call; water rich
Pears stimulate our bowels naturally*
Pears are high in Fiber, Potassium, Boron, Vitamin C and K
Pears are wonderful for our digestion
Contain carotenoids, flavonoids, and anthocyanins (special antioxidants)
They help lower cholesterol
Great for glowing skin
Helps regulate blood sugar**

**Red Pears

All pears work wonders for good elimination when eaten at night before bedtime and contain a plethora of fiber. Not just any kind of fiber... but fruit fibers which work perfectly for superior, yes, superior digestion.Here's the best Pears (nutritionally) from best to last

Asian Pears

Red Pears (Bartlett)

Bartlett

Comice

Honey Crisp

Fuji

I recently found a study that showed 200,000 people's diabetic challenges were lowered by 23% when consuming 5 pears per week. Isn't that interesting, when the internet is riddled with bad information about fruits, when here, we can see that some fruits actually help lower blood sugar in (type 2) diabetic patients. Amazing, but it's not surprising to me, because I've been eating fruits all my adult life. If anything, fruit can be a little fattening when consuming a lot... that's been the only challenging experience for me. I have to be careful not to do more than a few pounds of fruit per day, otherwise I can gain weight, especially in the summertime when I'm so tempted. lol...

Asian Pears are truly touted to be the #1 Pear. It's got a large amount of copper which helps form good blood cells which in turn creates good iron in us. And helps regulate healthy nerve cell production.

Important Information to know:

Pears have a plethora of what very few people talk about: soluble fibers and insoluble fibers. Explaining this could take another 30 minutes, but suffice it to say, soluble fibers are by far more valuable to consume than insoluble fibers. Read this:

Soluble fiber:

Dissolves in water to form a gel-like substance in the gut. It can help lower blood cholesterol and glucose levels, reduce blood sugar spikes, and slow digestion. Soluble fiber is found in oats, barley, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas, apples, citrus fruits, carrots, and psyllium.

Insoluble Fiber:

Insoluble Fibers are known to bulk up to help healthy stool function. Jay has also consistently said, protein bulks up our stools, which also has a plethora of insoluble fibers in them... and he goes on further by saying that insoluble fibers are indigestible for us humans. Cellulose is a type of insoluble fiber which is a primary component of plant cell walls. Insoluble fibers are also known as roughage and don't dissolve in water. Humans cannot digest cellulose, and cellulose does not have any value nutritionally as well, but experts tout the benefits of insoluble fibers because they can act like a broom for the large intestine so that we have proper bowel elimination.

For me, personally, I am not sure about all the benefits from eating a plethora of fruits, because I have learned, through aging, and being in this genre of knowledge, that we are always learning more and more and more... Only 30 years ago, doctors finally began to understand the incredible benefits of fruits and vegetables, by starting to define them as having what we now call: Phytochemicals and Antioxidants. Even though we now know the definition, it does not make these healing fruits and veggies any different. In fact, there's more to learn about the healing values of Mother Nature's great gifts to us, or if God's gifts to us. Scientists are continually learning more and more.

Just Do It and Just Juice It~!:)

Our motto is just do it! Eat these beautiful, colored fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs and some grains. Let's not wait to see what the research says. Those who were doing it in the 60s,70s,80s and 90s are all benefiting from it in their elder years. ALL of these beautiful natural foods are great gifts to us, so let's add more and more into our diets, while eliminating more and more dried, devitalized, overly cooked and colorless foods!

A Powerful Juice Therapy Remedy (for one)

3 (semi hard) Pears (preferable red) and 3 Apples

Juice with a juicer. Not recommended to blend.

This tonic does wonders to help calm down anxiety and also helps us sleep deeper. It also is great for after or before workouts. You can alter this tonic and put the apples and celery in it to help in this direction even more. But I don't recommend the pears, only apples and celery.

Part 2: Our Living Kitchen Principles

Last week, I spoke about some of the little secrets I've garnered over the years that work well, and I mean really effectively - as far as consistently being able to live a plant based lifestyle.

Today I'm going to share with you how we buy, clean and store fruit effectively, so that they last a longer time.

Here's the fruit we will talk about today:

Pears and Apples. Which are better for us?

Well, they're both wonderful. Combined together, they pack a wonderful nutritional/gut punch. Meaning, the gel that surrounds the stomach when eating these two fruits helps create a very healthy biome. Pectin is responsible for the apples and the pears are responsible for the nicely balanced soluble and insouble fibers which helps form stools as well as helps bring more 'water' to the gut so the body does not have to rob itself of water to properly digest foods. This is precisely why eating a water rich diet is incredibly important.

Be Careful when Buying

Pears are highly fragile. Apples can be stored for long periods of time. On the other hand, Pears have more enzymatic activity, as they're thinner skined than most fruits so they bruise easily. According to experts, pears are better for us than apples, interestingly! In fact, when a pear is super ripe, this balance of insoluble and soluble turns more towards the soluble fibers as well as delivering beautiful mineral water to our gut.

How to Buy Pears

First and foremost, please remember that you MUST use the skins of apples and pears, as important nutrients are located in the skins. Secondly, you don't need to eliminate the seeds, ever. Just cut the pears or apples in halves or however you like, and juice them whole. :)

Well, this is kind of challenging because each variety is a bit different. Asian Pears for example will always be firm, and if you buy one that is soft, you'll be in trouble. Soft Asian pears are rancid or bad, so to speak. This can also be said about the Bosc pear. They need to be firm. (see photos). In fact, I always buy my pears (firm) because if I buy them when they're soft at the store, they're bruised by the time I get home! Bartlett (red and green) are infamous for this. Jay always said never buy Bartlett Pears that are fat at the end of the pear. He recommended buying more narrower pears. And he's right! Fatter Bartlett Pears are actually quite dry and mushy. Comice Pears, for example can be purchased a little fatter because they're more of a rounded pear. You can push on the tip of the pear and if it's soft, it's going to be ready to eat in a few days, and also one thing to remember about all Pears is that if they smell sweet, they'll be ready in a few days too. Noticing color is not an indicator that these pears are ripe. And that can be said for all Pears. Now D'Anjou pears can be considered very similar to buying the Bartlett Pear. Bosc pears can be purchased hard, and I would also say not to buy these specific pears with a fat bottom. Try to find them to be a bit on the thinner side. The Bosc pears and Asian Pears do very well in salads as they don't darken as easy as other pears do, and also are firmer than others, so they look better and have a great crunch to them in salads.

How to buy Apples

In the chart in the beginning of the newsletter, I share the best apples to use. Some are best for eating alone or in salads, some are great for juicing, particularly the Red and Golden Delicious apples, as they are the best 'neutral' apples. When juicing very acidic apples, we believe, as juice therapists, they interfere with the assimilation of other vegetables and greens because they are mostly oil based.

Best to buy apples that are hard, and not soft. Apples should never be soft, because if they are soft, that meals they're bruised. Sometimes Golden Delicious apples can be a little softer than most, so be careful to make sure they're not bruised. Second to these two varieties, would be the Fuji apples because they have a lot of water in them and help make heavy veggie juices taste good too.

When buying apples by bulk, always make sure to look at them all before buying. Sometimes (ok most of the time) apple growers will package smaller, more dinged up apples in bags in order to profit. Stores buy them in bags because they're cheaper, and this helps us buy apples at a lower cost too, but check them first.

Lastly, vibrant colors are important when buying apples. Vibrant colors mean they've been blessed by the sun more than others.

Storing Apples & Pears

Always store your apples in the refrigerator. If you live in a colder climate, you can store them outside, for sure, especially if you have an apple tree with an abundance of apples you've just harvested. Just make sure if you have bears in the area, you've got them well protected. This can be said for deer too. If you live in the city, best to store your apples in the fridge, and they'll keep for up to a month! With Pears, yes we need to store them in the fridge too, but not until they are soft to the touch. So I keep them on the countertop until they reach that nice firm but soft feeling, then refrigerate them. They'll last for about a week, max.

Cleaning Apples & Pears

If your apples and pears are organic, you can soak them for a few minutes, no problem, in cold water then dry. Once you get home with your pears and apples, we fill our sink up with cold water, add 2 tablespoons salt, then add 2 tablespoons of Baking Soda or juice from a Lemon. Mix all apples and pears in this solution for 5 minutes then rise well, then store!

Part 3: My Video on a Delicious and Unique Salad!

We eat a lot of fruit in the spring and summertime. Most of the time we always refrigerate our fruits, unless the fruits are super unripe, like Pears can be. For example, with avocados, we wait until they're kind of firm and soft to the touch, then we put them in the fridge and they'll last about 10 days! If you don't refrigerate them, they'll be too soft in just a few days, and soft avocados are not good tasting.

Making fruit salads in the summertime is so much fun. I hope you watch the video and see for yourself how fun they can be, and most importantly, how you can incorporate different kinds of foods with these delicious fruits.

Fruit is the perfect food for us humans! it doesn't mean we should only at fruit. But what it does mean, is that if you can, eat as much as you can, because they're a perfect food for those of us who have stomach issues, indigestion, and gastrointestinal challenges. The gel that coats our stomach cannot be duplicated by any other drug, pill, vitamin or even food. Please remember this!