Moroccan Cooking for Diabetics: Introduction

As you may have guessed this is not a regular cookbook. It is a book about the larger aspects of being human and sharing tradition and finding truth and value in our roots and our spiritual connections to our heritage. It is my attempt to preserve that truth and wisdom to share with the rest of the world. It is coming out from deep in our shared humanity. It is Love. So let this vessel, nourished on traditional Moroccan food, be a voice of love!

I am drunk

I am so drunk

with your love

I am drunk

with you

my love

I feel no earth

bearing me

It is rolling under me

spinning me

and I don’t fall

and my feet brushing

against the dry grass

and the thistles pricking

the soles of my feet

and I

don’t scream

The tree no longer supports me

It is hugging me, dancing with me

teasing me

trashing me

its branches and leaves standing

tall and stretching to the sky

to catch the light

my heart light and fluttering

as if about to jump out of my chest

I look up at the sky

and I think of you

And the tree looks up too

And I know

You and the tree and I

are One

drunken in the cup of love

What Is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic inflammatory condition that results in too much sugar in the blood (high blood glucose). The two most common types of diabetes are type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little to no insulin.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar.

There is also prediabetes; a condition in which blood sugar is high, but not high enough to be type 2.

Scientists don’t know what causes diabetes but a good healthy diet, low in sugar and processed foods, seems to work to prevent and even to cure it.

A Physician’s View

My name is Sachi Kuhananthan, MD. I am a physician from Sri Lanka. After completing medical school in Sri Lanka, I came to the US for a PhD program in Physiology at University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. Subsequently I completed a residency training in Internal Medicine and started practicing in emergency rooms. During my practice I learned that Western medicine has very little to do with health and more to do with profits for big pharma, health insurance companies and for-profit hospitals. I also discovered that most chronic diseases are caused by what we eat. To understand this process, we have to go back and learn how our diet has changed over the years.

Humans originated about two million years ago. From that time onwards until about ten thousand years ago, we were hunter-gatherers and our diet was mostly meat, nuts, tubers and seafood. About ten thousand years ago we settled down in one place and started agriculture practices. This led to the growing of rice, wheat, corn, fruits and vegetables. Our diet virtually changed overnight from animal meat to mostly plant-based food. It’s like tigers and lions woke up one morning and decided to eat grass. We did not have enough time to adapt to the changes in diet. For thousands of years, we ate full grains. With the industrial revolution we started the milling of grains and produced white rice, white wheat etc. In this process the nutrition-dense coating of the grains was removed. This allowed the storage of grains for longer periods without losses due to fungi  and insects. The brainless fungus and the insects at least knew that polished rice and wheat are not good for them.

Over the last few hundred years we also learned how to make sugar from sugar cane and beets. Sugar consumption increased several-fold over the years. Since the 1970s we started producing high fructose corn syrup from corn. This is almost identical to sugar and is added to almost all juices, soda, candy and other foods. The price of sugar came down several-fold. It now costs only few cents per pound in the world markets. The incidence of chronic diseases such as type two diabetes, coronary artery disease, and dementia have skyrocketed with the increased consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates. Also the increased incidence of peptic ulcer disease, diverticulitis and gallstones are related to high sugar and carb intake. Increasing epidemic of various cancers are probably also due to high sugar and carb intake. This is not surprising when you realize that cancer cells love glucose and multiply faster when glucose is readily available. This is known as the Warburg effect and first described by Otto Warburg, a Nobel prize winning German scientist.

The carbohydrates we eat are converted to glucose in the gut and absorbed. The sugar is broken down to glucose and fructose. The absorbed glucose stimulates the production of insulin by the pancreas. Insulin facilitates the entry of glucose into the cells. The formation of fat in the adipose tissue is also mediated by insulin. That’s why increased intake of carbs leads to obesity. Long term consumption of increased carbohydrate intake leads to insulin resistance where the insulin receptors on the cell surface become less sensitive to insulin. Glucose levels rise in the bloodstream resulting is type two diabetes. The absorbed fructose from sugars is metabolized by the liver and converted to fat and then released into the bloodstream. Some of this fat stays in the liver and excessive sugar intake will result in a condition called fatty liver. Fatty liver may result in damage to liver and ultimately causes cirrhosis of the liver. These days there is an epidemic of fatty liver among children.

Over the last fifty years the American government and professional organizations have been blaming dietary fat and cholesterol intake for the increasing incidence of heart disease and stroke. People were advised to cut down on fat and cholesterol rich foods such as eggs, butter and full cream milk. Margarine, a synthetic trans fat was advocated as a good fat. American citizens listened to this advice and began to change their diet. However, the chronic diseases continued to rise to epidemic proportions. Trans fats such as margarine were contributing to millions of heart attacks and deaths. At last, after a gradual paradigm shift, the trans fats have been taken off the shelf in most Western countries.

Cholesterol has nothing to do with heart attacks. First of all, increased cholesterol intake does not increase the blood cholesterol level. Most cholesterol is synthesized in the body. Second, total blood cholesterol has a marginal association with heart disease and mortality. In fact, low cholesterol is associated with high mortality. Women with higher cholesterol live longer when compared to those with normal or low total cholesterol. Statin medications, despite lowering cholesterol, did not alter all-cause mortality in several studies. These drugs decreased deaths from heart attacks to a small extent but raised mortality from cancer. Furthermore, statin drugs cause a lot of serious side effects such as muscle damage. Statin drugs also interfere with cognitive function and play a role in the epidemic of stupidity!

After reviewing all the data from clinical studies, I can categorically say the following regarding healthy diets.

Saturated fats such as coconut oil and monounsaturated fats such as olive oil are healthy.

Omega 3 fatty acids present in fish and other seafoods are anti-inflammatory and healthy. Nuts are also a good source of omega 3 fatty acids.

Omega 6 fatty acids present in vegetable oils such as corn and soybean are inflammatory and therefore unhealthy.

Sugar and refined carbs are responsible for most of the chronic diseases.

Under factory farming, soil is depleted in essential micronutrients such as magnesium, manganese, zinc and selenium, and plants grown in this soil are a poor source of these micronutrients.

The ocean is rich in micronutrients and therefore seafood is a rich source of micronutrients.

Vitamin D deficiency is very common, particularly among dark skinned populations, and leads to poor immune system functioning and poor bone health.

Traditional diets were nutrition-dense and prevented the occurrence of chronic diseases in those societies. The Moroccan diet is one such traditional diet. Fatna Bellouchi has studied this diet over the years and has written this book of healthy traditional Moroccan recipes. I enjoyed her spicy Moroccan food on a few memorable occasions, and even thinking about them makes my mouth water!

Fatna’s traditional Moroccan cooking offers numerous health benefits. First of all, olive oil is primarily used in Moroccan cooking. Butter is also used liberally. Goat meat and lamb are not only healthy foods but also very tasty in a curry form. Moroccans also value the intake of green leafy vegetables and fruits.

Turmeric is widely used in Moroccan cooking. It has anti-inflammatory properties, and several studies show its usefulness in controlling pain in arthritis. Turmeric is also beneficial in blood sugar control in diabetic patients. Heart attacks occur when a clot forms in the coronary artery. It is becoming clear that the inflammation in the endothelial lining initiates this clot formation. Therefore, turmeric is probably useful in preventing heart attacks.

Since we have learned about the key role of inflammation in so many “diseases of civilization” Fatna’s turmeric-heavy dishes, and her use of nutrient-dense non-inflammatory foods, should offer health benefits to all, not just to diabetics. But that nutrition density is critically important in helping people moderate their intake from sugars and refined carbohydrates, which is the main culprit in diabetes. When people eat empty calorie pre-packaged junk food, or anything with a lot of sugar and processed carbohydrates, their blood sugar surges and then crashes, and they soon need another fix. They feel hungrier than they should because they aren’t getting real nutrients. And they crave more sugar and carbs. It is this cycle of addiction that leads so often to diabetes.

Eating healthy nutrient-dense traditional food, like the dishes Fatna includes in this book, can help break the cycle of addiction to empty-calorie food. It is also more psychologically and spiritually fulfilling to eat real, traditional, delicious food! (Fatna is aware of that psycho-spiritual dimension, as you will see when you read the book.) Changing our habits and learning to enjoy food in a healthier way can have tremendous benefits for our overall well-being. So enjoy this book, use the recipes often, and be happy and healthy!

— Sachi Kuhananthan, MD

Surat Al-Imran [3:191]

الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا بَاطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

Allatheena yathkuroona Allaha qiyaman wa quoodan wa ala junoobihim wayatafakkaroona fee khalqi alssamawati waalardi rabbana makhalaqta hatha batilan subhanaka faqina AAathaba alnnari

3:191 Those who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): “Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire”.

* * *

In this book you will find recipes, herbal teas, and healing techniques, along with a discussion of their significance and role in helping lead a contented existence. The importance of halal meat and organic food can never be overstated. It is God’s gift to His Creation. We are made from clay, from earth, and to earth we return. Earth has everything we have inside us.  Healthy soil contains an amazing equilibrium of live symbiotic microorganisms and colorful nutrients and minerals. When we die we become earth to give back nourishment to the same earth that nourished us when we were alive. What an honorable role we have as creatures of this incredible awe-deserving mother Gaia. The circle of life and death and rebirth. The eternal wisdom of Creation.

I have tried to select low-starch recipes from the storehouse of traditional Moroccan cuisine. But I advise you not to suddenly abandon starchy food (bread, potatoes, rice, and dry beans) but rather to cut down a little each day so your body doesn’t get shocked and go into a withdrawal reaction. Many doctors and nutritionists fail to understand the difficulty of their patients letting go of sugar cravings. They expect their patients to just give up the sugar-loaded food because they told them to do so and it is the right thing to do for their bodies. It is extremely hard for people to let go of the ways they accustomed their bodies to be used and abused. Telling your patients to just quit and adapt to a whole new “foreign” diet, or worse to take a pill, risks inculcating the cold dark lonely feeling of guilt. We must not rob them of hope to heal themselves, nor make them feel they don’t have control over their bodies.

I urge all doctors and nutritionists to have a little humility and compassion. The only way to do that is to bond with their patients. Food is more than just nutrition.  Food is a complex emotional experience. Food is a memory lane from childhood and a way we express love and care for ourselves. Food has a deep spiritual meaning. Food provides fuel and sustains our physical body, the temple of our soul’s calling.

This is the healing journey. It must not be rushed. Rather let it unfold in its own time to reveal, gently and gracefully, its many layers of beauty and wisdom.

To assist my beautiful people on this healing journey, I am offering, along with all the delicious and healing recipes, a chapter on flower remedies.

I am also including a chapter on probiotics, which are incredible healers. Your tummy needs them to be in balance, and to restore balance when it has been disturbed. Probiotics really help in the complete recovery from sugar craving by strengthening and calming your nervous system. Believe it or not our brain is in our stomach. I am offering easy recipes for fermented vegetables. Fermenting foods also increases their nutritional value and helps with digestion.

It is important to work with your doctor about meal and snack times because it has been proven scientifically that people with diabetes do better by eating small amounts of food more frequently throughout the day. But if the quality and quantity of food is right, the three meal a day regime can be very healthy too.

Say…

Bismillah Arrahman Arraheem…

In the name of Allah, The One Creator, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate…

And food lands peacefully in your tummy.

 Quantum Touch Healing, pioneered by Richard Gordon, seems to show that directing our thoughts towards consciousness of Reality can bring about the manifestation of healing ourselves, our space, and others. Remember the Creator so the Creator remembers you. Tracing the nourishing and sustaining gifts back to the source, with full gratitude and mindful intention, puts peace in you and directs your body into unity with the whole.  Now you should be able to hear “welcome home!” So now you can eat.

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