fast foods and kind of foods that aren't
healthy for us right so it takes a
couple days but after those few days you
actually start to be attracted to foods
that you your body actually really needs
this is what I mean about gaining a new
sense of thyself the boiling is pulling
out some of the bitterness really
addicted to leak I use it a lot of
things you can use the rocking method
and pretend you're a real chef now I'm
sticking in my dandelion greens I felt
mixing them up with the leak No now
we're going to throw him my chard I'm
going to add a little bit more oil on
top and I'm cooking it three so I'm
cooking a little below medium not that
high I don't like to lose one ounce of
my dandelion green because I love them
so much if you don't want to overcook
your greens and how beautiful are these
right look amazing hey born welcome back
to high-intensity health radio it's mike
munsell here and we're in the home of
Dina Mendes and she's the author of some
really great books she's a cancer
survivor and today we're going to talk
about how to cook healthy spring
vegetables using dandelion greens leaks
and charge so Dina thanks so much for
coming on thank you thank you for having
me I'm happy to be here a lot of people
are you know turned off by dandelion
greens because they can be very bitter
so but they're so good for us and right
now its liver season as you know talk
about that a little bit what does that
mean for people well so automatically
our bodies are brilliant machines
smarter than we are thank goodness they
automatically really start to detox
whether we want to or not so a lot of my
patients will call me little notes say
to me I'm broken out I have a rash my
eye is twitching cuz liver rules the
skin the largest organ in the body and
the eyes so if you have that little eye
twitching in the spring it's like your
liver is kind of waking up and I like to
describe it and I describe it in my book
as the liver kind of wakes up like act
like a bulb like a flower out of the
dirt of hibernation and shakes off its
dust and just
okay good morning I want to be detoxed
and so automatically start to crave
different types of foods we can start
looking more to fresh vegetables more in
seiza things like are in season and
spring now I'm in Chicago so it's still
cold so and it's tough because I'm very
thin I'm small and you know yen and so I
still need to make my vegetables hot and
warm and cooked if I started to do raw
now when yesterday was 30 degrees and
there was actually snow flurries here I
would be freezing and constricted and
too cold so I know my body and this is
the other thing I talk about my book a
lot is know thyself and gain a new sense
of thyself so are you you know a big
gregarious guy ruled by the Sun and you
run hot great you can have more raw at
this time of year even if it's a little
chilly but for people like me and little
girls little Yin girls were cold and I
run very cold so I want to make more
soups and stews still until it gets hot
hot which I'm my joke as it doesn't get
hot in Chicago until June eleventh so
before we get into the cooking and all
that let's kind of talk about your book
in your journey because your cancer
survivor I think multiple cancers over
time so cuz share with us a little bit
about that okay here's the book I'm very
proud of the book because it's been 20
years of kicking cancer's blank kicking
cancer's butt am I allowed to say ass on
the show will bleep it up okay so yes I
was diagnosed and I think I've said this
before and of course it's the biggest
thing in my book I was diagnosed I had a
pea sized precancerous totally
encapsulated tumor in my right breast
and I had actually slammed my breasts in
a car door so I had a trauma-induced
tumor doesn't run in my family i'm not
i'm not you know bracha so i know the
gene but and so it's a hundred percent
of her to New but what happened was the
doctor didn't do a frozen section
and that's the key right there is when
you go in to remove any tumor which I
believe in I think you know cherry pluck
remove remove remove and then go look at
why our body is producing that and so
whether it's emotional components or
physical components whatever those are
but he didn't get it all didn't do a
frozen section called me five weeks
later oops I didn't get all of your
totally encapsulated precancerous p and
he basically opened up a can of cancer
worms so it went into my long bone brain
neck all over for 20 years and i noticed
i started noticing like I could eat
greens and healthy and the right way
forever which I do but the emotional
components for me which were a big deal
and I had a lot of the kind of anger
frustration resentment from the liver so
all the different organs and what they
represent your own anxieties the kidneys
grief my brother had passed away which
was long so I got it in my lungs right
after my brother passed away every time
I had him on some kind of an emotional
upheaval or something catastrophic I
tumor would pop out so that showed me
okay now with my patients so I'm like my
own guinea pig right now with my
patients not only do I work on the food
piece but I bring in the emotional
components of our disk and then you're
using food to help entrap some of these
stored emotions potentially is that what
we're turning well I use food I also use
a technique an ancient ancient tai chi
or Qi Gong technique call it beating so
like I know so I'll be here so when
people come to me actually with like
pneumonia and it stressed stuck in their
lungs I'll beat them and I teach people
how you know ancient chi gong masters
beat themselves with sticks to dispel
old stock among
physical and emotional toxins both and
so the your liver you work on your liver
I'm like you know beat your liver live
longer so liver spleen our lungs ah I do
this in the shower and beat my lungs my
kidneys especially if I'm feeling like
that kind of stock anxiety fighter
flight which is the kidney thing I do
the I do breath work a lot I work a lot
with people so do combining the breath
and the tapping and the beating and now
everyone's doing tapping and my joke is
tapping is for wimps I beat Ozzy I know
cuz Wayne Dyer is doing like me and
that's called emotional freedom
technique and that's a little different
that it's actually a big difference then
this chi gong or Tai Chi tapping and
beating and what this does the beating
actually like works on the Nadi's the
meridians all the meridians of the
organs and what do we hold an adipose
what do we hold an adipose thompson's
toxins and chemicals so the biggest
problem for women is the belly and what
stores in belly fat msj glutamates which
are found in 20 other things right not
just called msg but you know on the wax
of your own organic apple is msg so
glutamate and chemicals from sugar fruit
mm-hmm our gum is a big culprit so all
that stores so i will literally teach
people beating beating the belly beating
beating out of it the reason i have not
an ounce of cellulite is what's i'll eat
did bowls of toxins stuck in the adipose
mm-hmm right so it's interesting I mean
it's fascinating how the body really
works and people will start to itch as I
be there like oh my gosh I'm itching I'm
like right cuz all those toxins are
being released and coming out and you
don't want those to stay stuck you want
to get rid of them mm-hmm sophina mouth
hey that's a big deal and actually I
mean for folks that aren't not as
familiar with like you know Chinese
medicine and meridians and so forth
there's a lot of research on lymphatic
flow and let that
stagnation and how that drives
inflammation so these processes now
however you want to look at it right if
you want to look at from the Western
standpoint length you know very like
objective or if you want to look at it
the energetic standpoint it both makes
sense the same way right I think that's
really bad and I do go to a lymphatic
drainage guy and I he's part of my dream
team I in my book I talk about my dream
team that I had to kind of compile
together to help me to kick cancer's
butt so I used him and he's amazing love
it sound so where do things stand now
with your own health if you don't mind
me asking you kind of share with people
it's great um I'm in really good shape
and I'm cancer-free after all these
years but if literally like I could feel
the minute something will pop up like
even a tiny little tumor will pop up and
I in my neck or here I've had to neck
dissections so I have had surgeries to
help assist and you know getting rid of
but doctors will always say to me the
same thing when I show up at the officer
like you're still here really um yeah so
it's I'm one of the longest patients I
think that my doctors have so he's
always you know surprise but I was I was
actually with a client yesterday
teaching a beading class at chi gong
yoga class and the woman teaching with
me was also my client my patient and she
had brain tumor and she said she we both
go to same doctor and the doctor said
whatever Dina does do that so at least
doctors are starting to be a little more
on board of saying what they'll say to
me my dad my regular doctors is you know
we don't know we don't study this but
you apparently do so do whatever you're
doing right if it's working yes and I
combine you know I combine mm-hmm so
very much so cool and I know a lot of
what you do starts right here in the
kitchen eating healthy food so I like
this because like you said earlier when
we first kind of introduced this podcast
was dandelion greens people are scared
enough because they're really bitter and
I've never cooked a lot of Ross hours
with denying greens I've never cooked
with them I shouldn't say we cooked we
chopped up raw salads for dinner
Ingrid's so really curse is he like how
this whole yeah you whip up I always say
come on won't go whip it up in the
kitchen my thing with people is I'll
whip them through whole foods I chom
alternatives and then I show them quick
fast easy healthy stuff in the kitchen
I'm like let's go whip it up in the
kitchen quick fast and easy why because
nobody wants to spend a long time in the
kitchen you showed your bone soup on
that it was so daunting because it's
like hours it takes our like everybody's
like really nobody wants to spend hours
so my patients always like really I have
to be in the kitchen I have to cook I'm
like I'm telling you by the time I'm
done showing you and this is why I hold
their hands through it once I show them
and show them how great it tastes
they're like oh my gosh i love this I've
been making it every day so I'm going to
put this on top of some unbelievable
delicious wheat and gluten free pasta
and yeah it's really yummy it's all on
this seasoning by the way too let's talk
about the green so what you hear what
I'm going to do is just cut up so I'm
going to just cut off like the stems
here I'm going to cut these stems off
and then I'm going to just cut these
basically in like three so if they don't
have to be that small but and then what
we're going to do is we're going to
stick them in water a little bit of
water so there's not much in who there's
maybe a cup of water in the bottom of
your pot and I'm going to stick these in
here and we're going to steam boil steam
boil them basically you don't need a
fancy steamer or you don't need and by
the way I always say to people my
favorite piece of equipment in the
kitchen is this lemon squeeze the my
lemon squeezer I love her but I always
cook for people and tell them this is
the real deal kitchen I have no
measurement cut like I don't have like
fancy although knives are important to
sharpen your knives okay so now we're
going to steam this so with Sun and I'm
going to just cover a little bit it's
going to literally take two minutes to
three minutes that's it so okay and
then in the meantime what we'll do is
we'll get these ready what I like to do
is mix my greens so mm this is Swiss
chard and it's rainbow chard this is
rainbow chard and I like to mix oh I'll
even mix with like four different kinds
of greens like I'll do broccolini kale
Swiss chard and dandelion I the more the
merrier I always say it's in the
seasoning that's a big deal sea salt
obviously is a given not regular salt
sea salt is actually art when our bodies
are in perfect balance so the exact same
mineral content as the see a lot of
scientists have said that so sea salt
our body can absorb we actually need
some sea salt it's good for us the other
thing I really like this herb aamir it's
from whole foods and then this i get
from bologna italy and actually get it
online I found it while I was actually
traveling through Italy and it's made
from sea salt and herbs and it's amazing
so a lot of my clients love that ok so
now I'm going to cut up the chard and
again you know doesn't need to be
perfect you could actually wit you know
rip these apart you don't even need to
cut them and I like the stems because I
look I love these but a lot of people
you know take the stems off because
they're a little more chewy and they're
kind of just more work yeah but I like
them I like to I know I that's why I'm
saying like leave him in there don't
bother i am the goat so i used it when i
first learned to cook healthy for my
first natural Doctor Who I talk about my
book the only thing I knew how to make
was boneless breast of chicken the organ
and there was only raised ranch market
in Arizona there was no Whole Foods
hopefully this didn't exist that's how
old I am so I would make that I would
make brown rice and if I got real daring
i dead barley and I would make spinach
and I'm the go Capricorn so I like like
the dirt still in the roofs and I eat
just the roots oh my gosh and so I've
always been a green lover but when i
leave i always say to people your taste
buds are jaded from living on packaged
foods and fast foods and kind of foods
that aren't healthy for us right so it
takes a
full days but after those few days you
actually start to be attracted to foods
that you your body actually really needs
this is what I mean about gaining a new
sense of thyself so the what the boiling
is pulling out some of the bitterness
it's still not going to be have you ever
had horta in Greek restaurant with where
they do the oil all over in the lemon
I'm always like light on the oil in just
olive oil nothing else but yeah it's um
pulling it out and then what I'll do is
I'll actually drink the water as a tea
okay so this is basically done because
we don't want it the other thing is you
don't want to kill it you don't want to
over boil it you know you don't want to
over boil it you don't want to kill it
you want it to be so it's like a
beautiful bright green and this is
pretty well done so you drink it mm-hmm
okay so see and now I'm just gonna leave
these in here I mean one pot stopping
yeah I'm not gonna like mess of a but
there's the water so it's got all that
delicious all for the liver it's its
nectar for the liver because I want to
show you the saute and let you taste
just the just the leak cuz just leak
which is great moistening for the lungs
leek and onion are actually great for
the long so what I'm going to do now is
start this pot again put my olive oil
unrefined first cold-pressed extra
virgin dark bottle that's a big thing
for me my olive oil is very important I
want to cook with really clean really
high quality good olive oil now your
leak I think leak is a little less
obtrusive than onion onions have a
totally different kind of
more obtrusive flavor than leak but I
love leak I'm really addicted to leak i
use it and a lot of things so what I do
is I'll cut I crosshatch it like this so
three way then you can use the rocking
method and pretend you're a real chef
this is probably the longest thing that
you'll be doing in this recipe is
cutting up your leash but it's not a big
deal this is what the leak looks like
okay so I'm going to now put this in
here it's ready to go I'm going to saute
this leak and because you don't want
your food you always want to make your
onion or your leak first because you
don't want your food to taste oniony but
leak pretty much it wouldn't be like I
said it's less obtrusive than onion so
you're never really going to get that
kind of taste where everything tastes
like onion I also want you to try and
taste the amazing taste of just leaked
by itself we can seasoning and how you
can actually just put leak or leak and
goji berry or leak and goji berry with
Indian spices on your quinoa on your
brown rice it's real easy and simple but
I wanted you to taste this mm-hmm
where's good right spices right how good
is that season Ella from Bologna Italy I
ended up in Bologna in Italy one day and
I found that and I was like oh my gosh
and in the middle of summer was hotter
than eight I mean hotter than heck and
you to all of a sudden everybody's
getting ready boo this concert like what
were you doing there wasn't a soul in
the streets cuz it was so hot come out
at night you too is playing in the
middle of the square well it was
unbelievable but anyway I found this
from a little shop there and I noticed
it was really good quality ingredients
with the sea salt now i'm sticking in my
dandelion greens
I thought mixing them up with a leak in
about how many minutes now if you were
just gonna do this what I want you and
the reason I'm doing this separately
everything so separate is I want you to
taste just now the dandelion green with
the lead right isn't that amazing hey no
now we're going to throw him my chard
I'm going to add a little bit more oil
on top and I'm cooking it three so I'm
cooking a little below medium not that
high I don't like to lose one ounce of
my dandelion green because I love them
so much and they're so good for us it's
such an unbelievable natural detoxifier
for your liver and I have through all
that I've been through have my liver
enzymes elevated where I've completely
lowered them through milk thistle
dandelion root teas and eating tons of
dandelion greens and so I typically with
my doctors anytime I have any side
effects of any kind I fix it naturally
okay see now if you look this is just
like almost enough you don't want to
overcook your greens and how beautiful
are these right look amazing so now we
put them in the microwave microwave and
by the way I have a microwave here
because before I moved in it was here
but I I've never used it not one time
Yeah Yeah right we stick it in the
microwave is it too much foot plates in
now you could always poor extra oil now
I have some fresh basil that I'm gonna
put on the top how delicious that's
amazing okay now now you can squeeze a
little fresh lemon cuz lemon typically
when they make Horta in a Greek
restaurant they do it with olive oil and
lemon if you choose you could just do
that without the other greens so you can
put a little fresh lemon on top the ico
get fresh basil so a little bit of fresh
basil and by the way if you're eating
leftovers my motto is you always put a
fresh herb of cilantro or basil or
or you know chives or any kind of you
know parsley to kind of bring back the
living live enzymes I mean obviously
there's tons of living live enzymes in
this but if you were eating leftovers
the next day you want to add your fresh
living live enzymes to bring it back to
life soups you could have for two to
three days I'm not a big leftover fan of
more than two days so phone Appetit