It is true that we don’t have a choice when it comes to getting older, but we can choose how we will age.
For Grace O (Grace Ouano), FoodTrients—her own culinary brand and name for the natural anti-aging properties of food—is a unique approach to fresh, nutritional, and age-defying foods.
She focuses on five categories of FoodTrients that are essential to healthful living:
– Antioxidant: prevents and repairs oxidative damage to cells caused by free radicals;
– Anti-Inflammatory: reduces inflammatory process in cells, tissues, and blood vessels, helping to slow aging and reduce risk of long-term disease;
– Immunity Boosters: support the body’s resistance to infection and strengthen immune vigilance and response;
– Mind and Beauty: enhancers that encourage vibrant skin and hair, and improve mood and mental agility; and
– Disease-Preventing: reduces risk factors for common degenerative and age-related diseases.
Last month, she brought her “The Age Beautifully Cookbook: Easy and Exotic Longevity Secrets from Around the World” to the Philippines. The one hundred-plus, easy-to-make recipes are built on foundations of modern scientific research and ancient knowledge of medicinal herbs and natural ingredients worldwide that promote health and well-being.
The so-called Oscars of the food world—The Gourmand International Cookbook Awards—last year awarded her recipe book as “The Best in the World” for the Innovative Category. Her book likewise bagged the Gold award in the Specialty Cookbook category of the Independent Publishers’ Living Now Book Awards.
Grace O’s FoodTrients is proof that eating well does not mean sacrificing the foods you love. It boils down to making the right, healthy and delicious choices.
I’m at [email protected].
Here are some of her innovative recipes:
Mangosteen Chutney
Ingredients:
½ cup diced onion
2 tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. minced fresh garlic
1 tbsp. sunflower oil
¼ cup raw or natural brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1½ cup mangosteen pulp (from about 6–8 mangosteens)
1 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
¼ tsp. white pepper
1 pc bay leaf
Procedure:
1. Cook onion, garlic, and ginger in sunflower oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes, or until onions are translucent.
2. Add sugar and continue cooking another minute or so until the mixture is sticky.
3. Deglaze the pan by adding the vinegar and scraping down the sides of the pan to remove any sticky bits.
4. Add mangosteen pulp and the rest of the ingredients. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring often, until the chutney is thick and bubbly.
Shrimp and Moringa Curry
Ingredients:
1⁄4 cup peanut oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 inch peeled and thinly sliced ginger root
1⁄2 cup sliced red onion
2 pcs red Anaheim chilis, seeded and cut into strips
1 can 19 oz. coconut milk
1 pc orange or yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
1 lb. peeled tiger shrimp (devein, if desired), sea salt and ground pepper to taste
1 tbsp. moringa powder dissolved in 1 tbsp. warm water
Procedure:
1. Heat the peanut oil in a non-reactive saucepan, such as copper or enamel-coated cast iron, over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger, and onion slices and sauté for 5 minutes.
2. Add the chilies and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add the coconut milk, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add bell pepper, shrimp, salt, pepper, and moringa powder and simmer for 5 minutes.