September Meeting at Ocean

As we arrived, we made a bee line for our heart healthy lunch - tuna or turkey sandwich, salad, bowl of fresh fruit, and a special sweet treat - oatmeal cookies. We are very lucky to have such a sensitive, caring Dietary Dept.

Diane JanTausch welcomed us and introduced our guests speaker - Debbie Dobies - RD, Community Education. Her topic was Herbs and Spices and how they can add taste and health benefits to our diets.

Most heart patients are on a low sodium diet. So how can we “spice” up our foods? Very simply, by using spices and herbs. Debbie (and her handout) suggests some very helpful and easy-to-do methods of adding them to our diets. And the good news is that you can grow your own herbs, especially during the summer months. They also make a great gift and they usually have a pleasant aroma.

Spices come from tropical plants and trees: bark (cinnamon), buds (cloves, saffron), seeds (mustard, poppy, sesame), berries (black pepper), and fruit (allspice, paprika).

Herbs are leaves of low-growing shrubs: parsley, chives, marjoram, thyme, dill, oregano, rosemary, savory, sage, celery leaves - used dried (whole, crushed or ground) or fresh.

Spices and herbs can add flavor to foods while helping to cut back on dietary fat, sugar and salt. Some of the other reasons for using spices and herbs are or were as preservatives (before refrigeration), antifungal, improving taste, digestive aid, preventing pain, controlling gas, anti-nausea, anti-cancer (e.g., colon), antioxidant, smooth-muscle relaxant, anti-inflammatory, and soothing irritable bowel syndrome

A partial list of herbs and spices, their history, and their benefits....

Editor’s note: Because Debbie gave this talk at Riverview in July, and we reported it in the August newsletter, the list will not be repeated here.

Debbie provided much more information, her handouts were very informative - and she has a great sense of humor. A suggestion - buy yourself a good reference book about herbs and spices, the background of each, history, which go best with which foods, how to substitute for other seasonings, when to add in the cooking process, how to store and how long to keep.

Herbs and spices are a tasty and healthy way to add zest to our diets. Thank you, Debbie, for giving us so many helpful suggestions and opening our eyes to the joy of Herbs and Spices.