Peachy Keen Green

Some supplements we take to support healthy aging and longevity. (See also COVID Digression .) Lifestyle factors important to longevity include healthy diet, exercise , good  sleep , not smoking, not drinking in excess, and staying on top of health issues (like high cholesterol or blood pressure). What do we do? We're  vegan for health reasons , though also glad that it helps animals and the planet. Plant-based diets confer some of the  longevity benefits of calorie restriction , plus we practice intermittent fasting.  Exercise  gets at least an hour/day (walking, cardio, strength). Sleep gets 8 hours in a dark, quiet, cold room with an open window, and no food 4 hrs before bed. In addition, we take some supplements - ones that show meaningful effect sizes in studies and are (importantly) safe. I've included a few research links below; search evidence-based sources like pubmed  and nutritionfacts  for more info. Also, many thanks to my brother  Jeff , a psychobiologist who s

I bought a new instant pot to get the Yogurt button, and made some batches following this  blog post on soy yogurt . (I also tried using soaked almonds processed in my ninja blender which was pretty good but a little gritty and more work;  oat and coconut milk did not work -- it's critical that the milk you use has zero additives). Using soy milk is so easy, but was hard to get it to be as thick as I'd like. Cooking longer - I tried up to 15 hours -- helps, but it's super tangy! Enter my brother Jeff, who perfected it after I sent him home with a jar. He bought an instant pot and did several experiments using combinations of soy milk and thickeners (like soy flour & cornstarch) and syrup for the yeasties to eat. He also dissolved them by boiling them in the milk first. The winning combo: Soy milk, almond flour, and (ginger) syrup, boiled, then add starter and cook in the instant pot with water around the jars to better distribute the heat. This takes almost half the t

One of our favorite restaurants, Cafe Sprout , has a spicy red curry soup that we love -- with chickpeas, tomatoes, carrots, celery, onion, red lentils, and quinoa. Isa also has a  Sweet Potato and Red Curry Soup  that looks good. So I made up a recipe that pulls from both. Larry said it was fantastic! (Originally posted September 2015; updated February 2020 to be even better :) Ingredients 1T canola oil 1 small hot pepper (like serrano), diced 1 medium onion, chopped 3 stalks celery, chopped 3 medium carrots, chopped 1 medium potato, chopped 2-3 cups cauliflower, chopped 1 can diced tomatoes (or 2 cans if big batch) 6 cups vegetable broth 1 lb (16 oz) dried red lentils, washed 1/2 C quinoa (dry, uncooked) 1 can or 2 cups chickpeas, cooked 1/2 to 1 can lite coconut milk 3T fresh lime juice Spices: 2 tsp cumin seeds (or ground & add w/other spices) 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 T fresh ginger, minced 1 T curry powder 2 tsp turmeric 1 tsp coriander 1 tsp salt