Maui Style ❘ LivingMaui

ove over Johnny Appleseed, there’s a new healthy eating advocate in town with30 years of experience and his name is George Mateljan (like Italian, but withan “M”). Johnny A. was pretty good at what he did, planting apple trees as he

wandered over 100,000 square miles of countryside in the 1800’s, and producing a foodthat according to detailed information provided on page 439 of Mateljan’s new book, The

World’s Healthiest Foods: Essential Guide for the Healthiest Wayof Eating, has only 81 calories, reduces Cholesterol

and is loaded with flavonoids, which research hasshown can help prevent heart disease.

But try as he might John Chapman(Appleseed’s real name) never established oneof the world’s most successful organic andhealth food businesses, helped create theorganic food industry as we now know it,wrote five best selling books on nutrition,or started a nonprofit foundation toencourage healthy eating and the healthypreparation of food. However, that’s

exactly what George Mateljan hasalready done in his life and he has no

plans to retire, even at 73.Building on his impressive

record of starting Health ValleyFoods in 1970 as the first com-pany in the United States to pro-duce healthy convenient foodsusing organic ingredients andfree of artificial additives, whiteflour, refined sugar, hydro-

genated fats, excessive salt,MSG, or synthetic vitamins

and minerals, Mateljan’sf i r s t ma jor break

through into the mainstream of publ ic

awareness camewith the 1992

publication ofhis popular

b o o k ,

MM

George Mateljan:The Peter Pan of

George Mateljan:The Peter Pan of H

by Tom Blackburn-Rodriguez

f Healthy Eatingf Healthy Eating

22 real estate maui style22 real estate maui style

Cooking wi thout Fat .Mateljan’s book, and its

follow-up Bak ing

Wi thou t Fa t capti-vated millions ofreaders with its mes-sage of how to pre-pare food that tastedgood without addingoil during the heatingor cooking process. Insteadoil was added after cooking orbaking for moisture and flavor.

“Don’t cook with olive oil,” he willtell you. The heat is not good for it. Put a lit-tle on your salads and vegetables for flavor andas a healthy addition to the food. In the section on“Cooking Without Oils,” in The World’s Healthiest FoodsMateljan notes that heating causes loss of availablenutrients contained in oils. Things like vitamin E andthe phytonutrients that provide color, taste and smellto oils. He also points out that heating oils for cook-ing can cause the formation of free radicals, highlyreactive molecules that can damage the oil further bytriggering unwanted oxidative reactions.

A Love of Healthy Good Tasting Food

George Mateljan was born in Croatia. His father wasan importer/exporter and traveled extensively to supporthis family of five, of which George was the youngestchild.

Ask Mateljan about the origins of his love for foodand cooking and he will tell you about his mother Kateand the kitchen where she prepared family meals. Sheoften would let her young son help out during holiday,scutting, peeling and stirring the foods that would ulti-mately grace the family table. His face breaks into a widesmile as he recalls her baking talent and the pasta, fishand lamb dishes that she would prepare.

From home it was off to college in Belgrade to studyBiology then to following the path set for him by hispassion for good foods that are the key to vibrant healthand energy. Mateljan traveled to more than 80 countriesbecoming immersed in native foods and their prepara-tion. Along the way he earned a certificate studyingFrench cuisine at the famous La Varenne Cooking Schoolnear Paris. He studied Italian cuisine at Guiliano Bugialli’s

renowned cooking school in Florence. He also studied atGourmet’s Oxford in England.

It was during his journeys that he began to experi-ence the value of healthy eating. “Once I started eatingthis way, I noticed something incredible,” he wrote. “Atthe same time I was enjoying the great flavor of these

new foods, my energy was skyrocketing.The foods

not only tasted great, but they made mefeel great! I realized from my own

experience, what culturesthroughout the world

have known for mil-lennia—foods that

are good foryou can

m a k eyou f e e lyour best whileproviding you withimmense taste enjoy-ment.”

Finally, his travels took himto the United States where he found itdifficult to maintain the diet of healthyand nutrient dense foods he had come toenjoy from his travels around the world. This wasthe good food that he had learned about in regionswhere people routinely lived long, healthy and productivelives. This included food from places such Crete, Turkey,Japan, Alaska, the Caribbean, Guatemala, Mexico and theScandinavian countries.

A Leader in the Natural Food Industry

It was this lack of such food opportunity in the U.S.that led him to found Health Valley Foods. A companythat played a key role in supporting organic farmingwhen such foods were not yet a significant factor in thewholesale and retail food market.

In the 1970’s organic fruit and vegetables did nothave the color and appearance that American consumerswere attracted to when they went grocery shopping.“Non-organic food is grown using artificial fertilizer andgrown that way it attracts a lot of water. That made the

food look good, but it did not have the nutrition,”Mateljan said. “I started by making soups and thevegetables did not have to look so good because theywere being used in soup.” Mateljan went for taste andnutritional value and found it with organic ingredients.He ultimately wound up buying 50 million pounds oforganic food annually to use in his Healthy Valley foodproduct line.

Mateljan has been a leader in the NationalNutritional Foods Association (NNFA), which is theprofessional organization of the natural products industry.He served as the NNFA’s Chairman of EducationalPrograms and as a member of the Organic Foodscommittee. He helped create the TruLabel Program,which lets the public feel confident about the informa-tion on natural food labels. In 1994 the NNFA honoredhim as the first recipient of their President’s Award.

Meeting Mateljan in his comfortable home onMaui, one goes from a large entry and sitting area intothe kitchen with cabinets that are of a Terra Cotta design.The kitchen is the center of the home. Art objects are

scattered about the house and grounds, includinga kneeling white marble statue of Diana, the

Greek Goddess of the Hunt. A wild shock of white

hair frames a youthfulexpressive face that lights

up when ta lk ingabout the foods

he loves. LikePeter Pan,

Mateljan isfull of energyand with a youthfulexuberance can talkfood history (did you knowit was the Medici from Florencewho introduced Spinach to theFrench Court?) and when is the best timeto eat particular foods according to their season.For example, he joins in an enthusiastic discussionof the wonderful taste of the Porcini mushrooms,when they are harvested fresh from the forests surrounding

Florence in October and then grilled that same eveningover a wood fire and lightly drizzled with olive oil beforeserving.

Healthiest Way of Cooking

“Eating healthy should taste good,” Mateljan asserts.“If it does not taste good, people will not want to eat it.”He also believes that eating healthy need not beexpensive or time consuming. He suggests that eatingfoods in season is better for you because they havemore nutrients when they are fresh and in season. It’salso less expensive because foods in season tend to beon sale.

When it comes to time for preparation and complexityof recipes, Mateljan shines. Of the 500 Mediterranean-style recipes in his current book, most have fewer thanfive ingredients and take less than 7-minutes toprepare. With few exceptions, all the ingredients can beeasily found at your local grocery or health food store.

A key strategy for Mateljan is cooking with a methodhe calls “Healthy Sauté.” He developed this technique toavoid cooking with heated oils, and using chicken orvegetable broth instead of oil. The process also allowsadding extra virgin olive oil to vegetables, sauces andsoups after they have been cooked to prevent the oil’sexposure to high heat and allows for greater enjoymentof the oil’s flavor.

Healthy Sauté has three benefits that are outlinedon page 57 of Mateljan’s book. First, oils are not heat-ed and potentially negative health effects are avoided.Second, it is similar to stir-fry in bringing out the

robust flavor of the food, but cooking at a lowertemperature. Third, like steaming, the Healthy Sauté

method has just enough moisture to soften thecellulose and hemicellulose in vegetables

to aid in digestion. Other healthiestway of cooking methods include

“Heal thy Steaming” and“Quick Broil.” Allthree techniques aredesigned to enhancethe f l avor of thefood while retainingthe maximum numberof nutrients.

24 real estate maui style

Mateljan’s informative and entertaining book consistsof 880 pages and has 100 chapters, each one on a differ-ent World’s Healthiest Foods. The book also has 300color photographs and a detailed index for easy reading.There is a guide on Fish and Shellfish to help the readerselect environmentally sustainable seafood that is bothlow in mercury and rich in omega-3 fatty acids, essentialfor good heart and overall health. Two to avoid areSwordfish and Bluefin Tuna, both of which are high inMercury.

The book is divided into seven parts, including;What are the World’s HealthiestFoods? The Healthiest Way of EatingPlan, Healthiest Way of Cooking, TheWorld’s Healthiest Foods SupportHealthy Cells, 100 World’s HealthiestFoods, Biochemical Individuality, andHealth Promoting Nutrients from theWorld’s Healthiest Foods.

Welcome Baby Boomers

Are you a baby boomer lookingfor an exciting way to transformnutrient-rich foods into deliciousmeals? Then this may be just the ticketfor you. In addition to getting theproper amount of exercise and sleep,our diet becomes even more importantas we age. According to Mateljan, westill need the same amount of nutrients,

if not more of certain kinds, but wedon’t need the calories, which tend toput on weight.

The solution is highly nutritiousfoods that are low in calories, like thehumble apple mentioned at thebeginning of this article. It’s this highratio of nutrients to a low number ofcalories that gets the apple on the 100foods list. If you are perplexed abouthow to start your new healthy wayof life Mateljan has anticipated yourneeds with a four-week HealthiestWay of Eating Plan for optimalhealth and weight loss. Follow theplan, says Mateljan, and “It willchange your life.”

Mateljan has a section on“Nutrient-rich Foods that FightDisease.” While cautioning that the

section is only for educational purposes and that treat-ment of any disease should be done with the guidanceof a licensed healthcare practitioner, Mateljan goes on tostate it is estimated that 75 percent of diseases can beprevented and that an accumulation of non-industrysponsored scientific research supports how foods likethe World’s Healthiest Foods are more beneficial to you.He cites over 200 such studies in various parts of hisbook as he discusses nutrients, their interaction and thevalue of eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, beansand limited amounts of organic meat, poultry and fish.

The disease fighting section consists of pages 808-820

George cooks paella with Chef Alicia in Barcelona, Spain

Maui Style ❘ LivingMaui

This fresh-tasting salmon dish (15 minute salmon with mint salsa) is a great way toenjoy the flavors of the Southwest in a healthy, light, and easy way.

real estate maui style 25

and covers a wide variety of diets to address ailmentssuch as Inflammation, Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease,High Choles tero l , Hyper tens ion , Memory,Concentration and Mood, Prostrate Health,Menopausal Symptoms, Skin Health, RheumatoidArthritis and Vision Heath, to name a few.

Taste and Ease of Preparation

The proof, they say, is in the eating, and so I tried outa few recipies contained in the book to see (1) if theywere as tasty as advertised, (2) howwas the actual ease of prepartionand what was the time needed, and(3) the availability of ingrediantsfrom local sources..

First up was a MarinatedAsparagus Salad. The marinadeconsists of a dressing of 1 partbalsamic vinegar, 2 parts extravirgin olive oil, fresh herbs(rosemary, basil, dill, and parsley),and sea salt and pepper to taste.The directions were to marinatethe asparagus, red bell pepperslices, red onion slices, olivesand feta cheese chunks(optional) in the dressing for2-8 hours. I had mine as aside dish with a small piece(3 ounces) of wild salmon.

To say it was delicious islike mentioning that Pisahas a leaning tower. It wastasty, quick, easy to prepare(I made the marinade thenight before and theingredients were left togetherwhile I was at work during the day), and all theingredients were either in my pantry or easy to find.

Next up was the “5-Minute ‘Healthy Steamed’ GreenBeans.” Prior to the recipe and then following it onsubsequent adjoining pages was information on how tocook the green beans, how to cut them, on how greenbeans promote bone health, heart health, provide energyand additional health benefits, all for a mere 44 caloriesper one cup serving.

Cooked al denté the beans were tender on the outsideand slightly firm on the inside, just as promised in theaccompanying text. Included with a MediterraneanDressing of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, cloves ofgarlic and sea salt and pepper to taste they just may have

been the best crop of green beans I have ever tasted. Onetip: to mellow the flavor of the garlic, add the garlic tothe green beans for the last 2 minutes of steaming. Thebeans are done when easily pierced with a fork.

If straight green beans may not turn you on, thenthere are also included 9 different ways to enjoy thesehealthy steamed green beans, including one I tried andliked, which was the Marinated Bean Salad that addedkidney and lima beans as well as some additional mari-nade ingredients. Healthy and delicious!

Finally, I went for the 3-Minute Avocado Dip. Thisserves 2 and is so simple I could do it with my eyes

closed. All I needed was 1 medium ripeavocado, 1 Tablespoonof lemon or lime juice(I like the softer, sweetertaste of the lime), 1/2cup cilantro, chopped,and sea salt and pepperto taste. Just combine allthe ingredients in ablender and blend for 1minute. Be aware thatavocados are best eatenraw in salads and dipsbecause they turn bitterwhen cooked. I cut up sometomato and added to the dipafter it was blended for anextra healthy treat.

The World ’ s Heal th i e s tFoods : Ess en t ia l Guide forthe Healthiest way of Eatingmay be one of those booksthat come along at just the rightmoment. Healthy living isbecoming a topic of increasingimportance as we see the loomingcosts and social problems beingcaused by diseases such as Type

2 Diabetes and heart disease and cancer that are affectinggreater numbers of our population and even childrenwho are seeing obesity as a normal state of affairs intheir age group.

You may want to listen to the message of GeorgeMateljan. A man who loves good food, who grew up inCroatia, traveled the world learning how to preparehealthy food, help kick-start the U.S. health foodmovement and is dedicated to changing the way we eat.For more information visit the George MateljanFoundation for the World’s Healthiest Foods atwww.whfoods.com. REMS