Lentil and Cashew Hummus

Hello all!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far.  I have been super busy with work and evening activities, Im sorry it has taken so long for me to post!  I made this recipe that I am featuring today earlier last week and have been enjoying it thoroughly with veggies for my weekday lunches, but more on that in a bit.

First of all, did anyone else catch Dr. Fuhrman on the Dr. Oz show today?  I dont normally watch this show, but when they feature Dr. Fuhrman, that is a different story!  I believe this is the third or fourth time he has been on in the last year or so, and mostly due to the increased interest from viewers, which is awesome!  The topic Dr. Fuhrman discussed on this episode was Super Immunity!  And for anyone finding my blog as a result of googling "nutritarian" or something similar, WELCOME, and please feel free to join a discussion in the comment section on any of my posts, or email me at amysnutritariankitchen@gmail.com.

Ill go over briefly some of the highlights of the show.  Dr. Fuhrman did a wonderful job emphasizing that being sick, whether it is an occasional cold, continual migraines or acne, or even hearth disease or diabeties, the food and nutrients you put into your body from now and into the future, can boost your immune system, make you better, and keep you feeling healthy and vivacious into your later years.  Not only will eating how Dr. Fuhrman recommends (aka the Nutritarian Diet) keep you free from disease and sickness, it will do wonders for your energy and your waistline!  Win-win, right?  I love the sayings Dr. Fuhrman used on the show:

"The whiter the bread, the quicker youre dead."

and

"The more you eat green, the more you get lean!"

On the Dr. Oz show, Dr. Fuhrman summarized how to begin to earn Super Immunity with 4 simple guidelines, and what my notes are on them:

• Base your diet on phytonutrient-rich foods.
• Phytonutrients are nutrients found only in whole plant foods
• To do this, base your diet off of vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds
• Center your meals on the most phytonutrient-rich foods that add to your immunity (GBOMBS)- Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berrys, and Seeds.  Here is a great summary from Dr. Fuhrmans website on that.
• Eat slow absorbing foods
• Steer clear of processed white flours and sugars, for they increase your need for insulin, which can lead to compromised immune function.
• Beans, as well as nuts and seeds are slow to be absorbed and help the bad fats exit your body, making you leaner as well as ridding yourself of toxins
• Intact grains are also slow digesting and keep you fuller longer
• Use meat as a condiment
• ... with the majority of your diet being plant-based
• While on my blog, I dont have any recipes with meat in them, if it helps someone enjoy more plant foods and be able to stick with it, I dont see the problem.
• For myself, I know that I feel much better when I dont eat meat, but everyone can judge this for themselves
• Chew, Chew, CHEW!
• This is often one trick that we hear all the time, but never think to put to use
• There has been many people advocating that chewing your food for longer will help make you fuller faster, keeping you from consuming excess calories and helping with your weight loss, but what Dr. Fuhrman emphasized was that by chewing your plant based foods more, you are allowing your digestive fluids in your mouth to begin breaking down and creating new enzymes that increase the overall nutrients your body can utilize
• On the show, they encouraged viewers to begin chewing their food at least 10 extra times than usual to start

Overall, I thought this was a great episode with Dr. Fuhrman on it.  I especially loved that he had some nutritarian women on there telling about how they felt so much better, and enjoyed their food at the same time!  I feel like it is often misconstrued that if you are on a diet, you picture yourself forced to eat plain and unappetizing cardboard food.  And I am here to say, as a 2+ year nutritarian and food blogger, that that is just not true!  I prefer this way of eating much more than SAD foods (Standard American Diet), and find that when I do have something SAD every now and then, it makes me physically feel bad and the tastes are way too overpowering.  I eat what I enjoy, and that is whole plant-based food!  

Did you watch the episode?  What were your thoughts?

Now on to the recipe....

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked brown or french lentils
• 1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews
• 3-4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp low sodium soy sauce (or 1 tsp regular)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2-1 tsp hot sauce

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor.
2. Process, scraping the sides occasionally, until the hummus is smooth.
3. If the hummus is too thick, add a tablespoon of water at a time and process until you have reached your desired consistency.

Amys notes:

• This is a wonderful hummus, and a nice change up from the traditional chickpea and tahini kind.
• I topped mine off with some chili powder and green onions.
• This hummus is great with crackers, pita bread, or any and all veggies!

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