Howdy from Austin y’all! I’ve a mad few weeks preparing for a 3 month stint in the US, beginning with world renown interactive, music and film festival, South by Southwest (SXSW). I’m over in Austin, Texas with Melbourne nouveau yacht rockers The Vaudeville Smash (check ’em out here). Life on the road can be hard on your health, and while partying is a given, me and Big D (aka Daniel) have assumed roles as tour nutritionists to keep us all regular and as healthy as possible.

It’s no secret that I revere breakfast as the foundation of our day. I reckon once you get this right, then the rest of the day (and your digestion) is set up. So the past week we’ve sent the crew off with full bellies, super foods and a kiss on the cheek.

One morning, Daniel cooked up an amazing medley while I lazily stayed in bed, sleeping off the Texas-strong vodkas from the night before (woops!).

Daniel whipped up some garlicy spinach scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes and avocado and marinated feta. Part two was a cinnamon and apple millet crumble drizzled with maple syrup. Simply divine!

While the coconut oil (in the millet crumble) and garlic have anti bacterial and anti viral properties, the fresh avocado, tomatoes, spinach and apple provide fiber and a variety of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients necessary for good health.

It is commonly known that eggs are a good source of protein, lesser known that they treat hoarseness of voice due to their lubricating properties as viewed in Chinese Medicine. Not something you worry too much about in daily life, but ultra important to singers! Also in Chinese Medicine, eggs are a Yin and blood tonic. While the partying and consumption of alcohol is quite Yang in nature, eggs help balance the excesses and replenish what has been depleted. No wonder we crave eggs after a big night!

Millet is known as the ‘queen of grains’ in Chinese Medicine. It strengthens the kidneys and digestion, two incredibly important functions to maintain constitutional energy. It is fluid building, thus moistens dryness that may have occurred from too much alcohol and yang foods such as meat. From an on-the-road perspective this is a great little grain to include in the diet.

Apples are especially beneficial component of this breakfast. Another moistening and cooling food that helps protect the lungs from heating and damage from cigarrette smoke, has a mild laxative effect to keep you regular and expells waste including heavy metals due to the presence of pectin. Drinking that is associated with road life is a strain on the liver. Apples are cleansing to the liver and gallbladder and even help to soften gallstones. On an emotional level, apples help alleviate emotional depression due to low blood sugar levels.

To compliment the dish, adding a light sprinkle of cinnamon adds an warm element balancing the cooling nature of the other ingredients. Adding a dash of maple syrup adds a pleasing caramel sweetness that stimulates the spleen at this time of the day and adds beneficial minerals such as manganese and zinc – excellent for antioxidant action, heart health and immune function.

Earlier we’d shopped up an organic storm at Wholefoods and we whipped up the fancy pants breakfast, adding goji berries into the porridge. I couldn’t find rapadura sugar, so substituted with maple syrup. Since then, Big D and I are making a sweet combo of raw honey, maple and blackstrap molasses, adding a multi-dimensional flavour a whole host of beneficial nutritional properties (including iron in the blackstrap molasses) while satiating the sweet tooth without being too sickly.

Goji berries or the Chinese Wolfberry is known as Go Qi Zi in TCM and are very commonly used for medicinal purposes as a strengthening and longevity food/herb. Goji’s are very yin and enter the liver, lung and kidney channels. The berries are yin and are good for building blood (I discussed about building blood in my previous post here). A good kidney tonic to protect the jing or constitutional qi – especially important while running on jet lag, minimal sleep and road food. Great for the immune system since they also enter the lung channel. In TCM the lungs are responsible for the defensive qi, our immune system. Good strong lung qi will protect the body from picking up a cold or flu.

Big D also made the most nutrient dense smoothie I think I’ve ever had! The ingredients were:

• freshly cracked coconut water
• blueberries
• strawberries
• mango
• cacao
• kale
• almond milk
• bee pollen
• honey

Let me start with freshly cracked young coconut water. Different to coconut milk, coconut water is the clear liquid inside the young coconuts that dries up as the coconuts mature. Besides being the most delicious and alive tasting natural drink, it has a whole host of  enzymes to keep the digestion strong. In fact, I’m told that young coconut water has such strong medicinal properties to alleviate food poisoning or digestive problems while traveling to Asian countries (where fresh coconut water is easily found).

According to Healing with Wholefoods, bee pollen is one of nature’s most completely nourishing foods containing nearly all nutrients required by humans including Vitamin B12 and substances not yet identified! Bee Pollen has numerous health applications and especially considered an energy and nutritive tonic in Chinese Medicine. Whenever you consume bee pollen just be thankful to the little bee; the recommended 6 gram dose takes one bee working eight hours a day for one month to gather!

I wrote about the benefits of almonds in this post here, and even posted a recipe for almond milk. Try it for yourself, so simple while uber effective, tasty and healthful!

Cacao, kale, berries combined contain a truckload of antioxidants, necessary to rid the body of free radicals, which I wrote about here in my post on Virgin Coconut Oil.

My only qualm with this smoothie was that the Big D broke one of the eating principles and used frozen berries and mango which made the smoothie quite cold. Foods and drink that are too cold – especially first thing in the morning – are tough on the spleen, which, in TCM is the primary organ for digestion. In addition, cold is the temperature that correlates to the kidneys and too cold with hinder it’s function. After my first sip I could feel the cold go directly to my lower back. Kidneys are very important to protect, sitting so close to the surface, but also protector of your jing or constitutional qi…especially important to preserve while experiencing late nights and a few too many drinks.

While roaming around Wholefoods Market‘s flagship store here in Austin, I feel like I’m in foodiecure heaven. Here you’ll find the largest selection of biodynamic and organic fresh produce, bulk items, meat, seafood, clothing and personal items among others all in once funky, down to earth friendly atmosphere, where the check out guys and gals have tattoos and peircings, long hair and groovy outfits. This is not only a grocery store, here you can get any type of food to dine in or take away. The self serve bain-marie is charged by the pound so you can pick and choose your own meal from a large selection at any time of day. Dotted about the expansive store are cuisine and diet specific made to order food bars, like islands amongst the harmonious interior design. Food movements such as the raw food diet and veganism are well catered for with a large variety of pre made meals and products to choose from. New to this visit are informaiton kiosks where you can search recipes, health information, dietary advice, vitamin and supplement advice on a computer of which I was able to print out interesting articles. Not all towns sport a Wholefoods Market, but if you’re lucky enough to find yourself on a road tour in the US, make sure you check one out. You’ll know there’s one in town by the locals thronging there at all times of the day to enjoy a healthy quick feed, use the free wi-fi, catch up with friends for coffee or do their grocery shopping.

Sources

World’s Healthiest Foods http://www.whfoods.com

TCM Health Info http://www.tcmhealthinfo.com

Healing with Wholefoods, Paul Pitchford

Wholefoods Market paraphernalia