Is the Spartan Diet Time-Consuming?
Cooking from scratch, exercising, practicing relaxation techniques, getting sun and plenty of sleep — who's got time for all that?
The Spartan Diet lifestyle — cooking from scratch, exercising, practicing relaxation techniques, getting sun and plenty of sleep — strikes many as too time consuming. Everyone is already busy running out the door in the morning, scrambling to catch up after work. Who has the time?
Depending on your current lifestyle, the Spartan Diet may take more time for meal preparation, sleep and exercise. Obviously, an hour of exercise takes longer than zero exercise. Making dinner from scratch takes longer than ordering a pizza.
We all have 24 hours a day, and we all make choices about how to spend those hours based on our priorities.
Most people choose to spend time on a whole lot of "recreational sitting" — watching TV and movies, using the Internet or playing video games. American kids between the age of 8 and 18 spend more than 7 hours a day "consuming" media, on average. For all ages, Americans spend nearly 5 hours a day watching TV. (Americans now spend more time watching cooking shows on TV than actually cooking.)
For some people, the embrace of escapist media and social media as a replacement for healthy living is a circular problem. People turn to mindless, passive entertainment because they're exhausted, and they're exhausted because they don't take the time to eat well, sleep well or exercise.
Many people on the Spartan Diet have found ways to save time. Media choices, for example, can favor audio over video. Podcasts and audiobooks can replace some TV, magazines and books, and can be "consumed" while walking, working out, driving to work or even while cooking.
I recommend getting the whole household involved in meal preparation and clean-up. Rather than all the work falling on one or two parents, getting the kids involved turns dinner-time into educational and rewarding family time.
I'll also show you in later issues how to organize your cooking in a way that enables you to do most of it in a few hours once a week, then assemble the healthiest meals possible in a short amount of time from foods in the fridge.
You'll also discover that cooking from scratch doesn't take as long as you might think. It's mostly about timing — being there for specific phases in the cooking process, which is made easy with smartphone apps, smart speakers and electronic timers.
Is The Spartan Diet time consuming? Yes. And I do recommend that you spend more time on activities that bring you health, energy and joy.
Recipe: Garlic Lemon Quinoa with Kale
Quinoa was sacred to the Incas. They called it “chisaya mama,” which means “the mother of all grains.” It’s close to “sacred” to the Spartan Diet as well.
An incredibly versatile ancient Incan grain from the Andes in South America, quinoa (KEEN-wa) is one of the most nutritious plant foods on Earth. Super tasty and light but also satisfying, filling and easy to digest, quinoa is delicious for the palate, nourishing for the body and friendly to both waistline and wallet.
Quinoa can be made as a side dish or as a main dish, and it can be served hot or cold as a salad or added to salads as an ingredient. And it makes a delicious breakfast hot cereal or a rice substitute with any dish that calls for rice.
You can find quinoa in a few varieties. White quinoa is the most common and takes the least amount of time to cook. It has a milder flavor with a softer texture than other varieties.
I’m partial to the darker-color varieties, including brown, black and red. They have a more earthy flavor with a nuttier and hardier texture. The white variety is lovely as well, especially when you want other flavors to stand out (such as with this week’s recipe). When making a sweet quinoa dessert, the milder flavor of white quinoa is best.
Nutritiously, quinoa is one of the most powerful “grains” on the planet, offering many healthful benefits. Quinoa is not only packed with protein, it contains all nine essential amino acids! (Complete protein is unusual in plant foods.)
Rich in magnesium, quinoa can help reduce the risk of stroke and hypertension. It also contains good amounts of fiber, vitamin B2, iron, phosphorus, copper and other nutrients.
In the culinary world, quinoa is treated just like a grain. It’s not a grain, however. Grains are grass seeds, whereas quinoa is the seed of a plant botanically related to spinach and amaranth. It’s very much like a grain in the way it looks, tastes, gets cooked and is eaten.
Although some manufacturers claim that quinoa comes pre-washed and ready to use, it’s best to wash quinoa under cool running water and then drain it and transfer it into a bowl to soak in filtered water for at least 4 hours and up to 12, depending on the variety. The washing, soaking, sprouting and cooking of quinoa will help remove food compounds considered to be anti-nutrients, such as phytates, lectins and saponins.
Some believe that it’s best to not soak quinoa, as the saponins can leach from the outer hull into the seeds. I think it’s a good practice to wash quinoa multiple times until the water looks clear to get rid of saponins. And it’s good to soak it to activate enzymes and minimize phytate content.
Once cooking, it’s important to remove the foam buildup that occurs, as that reduces the amounts of phytates and saponins in quinoa, making the seeds more bioavailable and nutritious.
There are many delicious ways to prepare quinoa. But my favorite is this week’s recipe (pictured above): Garlic Lemon Quinoa with Kale!