The Winemaker’s Anti-inflammatory Diet
How we try to eat as a winemaking family in the Napa Valley, world-famous for farm-to-table cuisine: Eat seasonally, organically, and regionally. Look to the traditional wisdom of your ancestors for food preparation techniques that enhance nutrient-density. Support local farmers and ranchers. Grow as much of your own food as you can. Eat as many whole, organic, unprocessed foods as possible, including meat and eggs from organic/pasture-fed animals, wild fish and shellfish, organic full-fat dairy (preferably raw and/or fermented), cooked, raw, and fermented organic fruits and vegetables, and whole grains, legumes and nuts that have been soaked or sprouted for nutrient bioavailability and digestibility.
I use both traditional animal fats (tallow, lard, butter) and cold-pressed vegetable oils like extra virgin olive oil liberally. Whenever possible, I throw a handful of fresh herbs like oregano, rosemary, basil, and parsley from my kitchen garden onto a dish, as herbs are dense with healing compounds and antioxidants. We filter our water and use unrefined salt in cooking.
I do try to avoid refined flour and sugar, instead using sprouted wheat flour and natural sweeteners (honey, maple syrup) in moderation—unless it’s someone’s birthday or I feel particularly compelled to make a deep dive into patisserie. Fermented foods like sourdough bread contain antioxidants, so I’ll substitute good bread for commercial pasta when I’m being mindful about health.
We prioritize deliciousness and satiety and meals enjoyed together at the table without screens and distractions. Relish a glass (or two) of good wine made from organically-farmed/clean-farmed grapes with meals for the way wine enhances flavor and elevates the experience of dining. I’ve been married to a winemaker for almost 35 years now, and I can confidently say that developing an educated palate has caused us to prefer subtle flavors, sour flavors, good bitter flavors, all of which have led us to prefer a “clean” diet, as opposed to one saturated in artificial flavorings.
Meals are a time for relaxation, communication, and connection, and enjoying wine in moderation encourages this atmosphere of celebrating life’s small luxuries and beauty in the midst of life’s challenges. Pleasure is important, even spiritually enlivening; deprivation is no virtue. Feeding the body (mind, & spirit) is a full-time job.
The best way to “eat the rainbow”? Organically. Plus, something raw, something cooked, something sprouted or fermented. Make Mom proud.
Can wine be part of a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet? Absolutely. According to Esther Mobley, writing in The Wine Spectator, “ Many doctors recommend wine as a beneficial component of an anti-inflammatory diet…Red wine's most famous polyphenol, resveratrol, has been shown to prevent chronic systemic inflammation…Perhaps resveratrol's most powerful anti-inflammatory effects, however, are due to its antioxidant properties.”
White wine contains simple phenols also found in extra-virgin olive oil. According to the paper “Anti-inflammatory Effect of White Wine in CDK Patients and Healthy Volunteers” (Migliori, M., et al): “Plasma markers of chronic inflammation were significantly reduced in CKD patients during the combined consumption of white wine and olive oil, suggesting a possible anti-inflammatory effect of this nutritional intervention.”
As with any good thing, more is not necessarily better; overindulge in wine, and (obviously) the alcohol in it will trigger inflammation; the phytonutrients in wine are dose dependent. (I could say the same thing about the sugar in someone’s fresh-pressed carrot juice.)
A good Winemaker’s Breakfast provides sustenance on long harvest days: sprouted rye bread spread with butter and mustard and topped with fresh radish sprouts, liver pâté, and apple slices, served with a glass of whole, plain kefir sprinkled with cinnamon.
Problems with the anti-inflammatory diet as generically portrayed are multiple. Lectins (proteins that bind to sugars) in beans, legumes, and whole grains can actually increase inflammation and cause digestive distress, so what to make of anti-inflammatory cookbooks that base all the recipes on these foods?
I recommend Weston A. Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, which contains the results of his decade-long study comparing the health of isolated, indigenous people around the world, who ate traditional, whole-food diets, to those who had recently adopted modern, processed diets. The cookbook Nourishing Traditions is a tour de force filled with cooking techniques based on these nutritional principles, such as soaking beans and grains overnight to rid them of antinutrients. (It’s actually that simple, and the fact that most anti-inflammatory cookbooks out there neglect to include this information is baffling!)
Fresh, colorful raw vegetables and salads are enzyme-packed and great in moderation, but the nutrients in many vegetables only become bioavailable when cooked, preferably eaten with animal fat and gelatin-rich stock. Kale is a great example of a food that is popularly considered “healthy” but which is better for you braised in butter than processed raw in a smoothie.
Most bafflingly of all, to me, many anti-inflammatory cookbooks emphasize “eating the rainbow” and prioritizing plant foods but fail to mention the importance of eating organic produce. A growing body of research shows that residue from glyphosate, used for weed control and as a desiccant in crops, disrupts mitochondrial function and causes inflammation in the body. (Unfortunately, even organic produce can be contaminated by glyphosate from groundwater and neighboring crops.) But the irony here is massive; someone might take great care to prepare a whole-food diet only to experience increased inflammation from these chemicals.
Stephanie Seneff, PhD, a Senior Research Scientist at MIT, is a source of inspiration to those of us who have made the choice to farm grapes for wine without agrochemicals like glyphosate to kill weeds in the vineyard. Her research demonstrates the mechanisms by which glyphosate could disrupt a healthy gut microbiome, depriving the body of deuterium-depleted nutrients necessary for healthy mitochondrial function.
Dr. Seneff emphasizes the role of dietary sulfur from foods like onions, garlic, eggs, liver, and oysters in fighting inflammation. To read more of Dr. Seneff’s fascinating research, see her website https://stephanieseneff.net or her Substack: https://stephanieseneff.substack.com/.
Winemaker’s Breakfast: quinoa with crispy, garlicky maitake mushrooms in soy sauce butter with eggs over easy, chili crunch, fermented beets
Finally, one can eat a “clean” diet yet still struggle with metabolic issues like low thyroid function due to environmental toxins like mold or the emotional and mental stressors of modern life in general. We have made ameliorating choices, such as avoiding toxic cleaning supplies and personal care items, avoiding pharmaceuticals, limiting exposure to EMFs (I think we are the only home in our neighborhood that doesn’t have a smart meter), using grounding sheets, spending time in the sunshine, choosing clothing made from natural fibers, and more—all of which cost much in terms of either time, effort, or resources.
Consult with one’s trusted physician (if you’re lucky enough to have one) before making dietary decisions. This essay and the recipes that follow are not intended as medical advice, but rather a snapshot of how we try to live our lives, as a winemaking family, in harmony with nature. I will open up my recipe file and add recipes to update this blog post from time to time; it is a work in progress.
Main Dish Salads
A main dish salad composed of fresh, cooked, sprouted, and fermented vegetables plus protein delights because of its simplicity and also its variety of textures: creamy, crunchy, crispy, toothsome. Care should be given when pairing a dressing with wine, so that vinegar-based dressings don’t overwhelm the flavors of the wine. I shudder when I see those trendy glass jars that are layered like parfaits with dressing and salad elements. I’m sure they’re very healthy, but they don’t look substantive, and I think that’s one reason people give “anti-inflammatory” eating an all-out try, and then quit. The first of our main dish salads comes alive because of the contrast between the crispy, hot, roasted chicken thighs, unctuous with healthy fat, and the cool salad. Add a slice of buttered sourdough bread and a glass of wine, and it doesn’t get much better. This is how we love to dine all summer long!
Roasted Chicken with Garden Lettuces, Black-eyed Peas, Basil, Peaches, and Pecans
This recipe is based on one from a popular anti-inflammatory diet book that I had to so thoroughly re-write, I won’t name the book. For starters, the original recipe called for 2 cans of black-eyed peas. Not only would cold, canned beans taste mid, the phytic acid in them would make them a pro-inflammatory food, in which case it’s a toss-up whether fast food would deliver the same nutritional results. Cooking the soaked black-eyed peas in stock renders them creamy and luscious, as they soak up both complex flavor and gelatin that aids in the digestibility of foods.
Serves 4
Prepare black-eyed peas by soaking 1 ½ cups dried peas in warm water (to cover) with a spoonful of acidic element, such as lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, whey from yogurt, or juice from lacto-fermented pickles. Let the black-eyed peas soak overnight, about 12 hours. Drain well. This removes the phytic acid from the peas, making them nutritious and digestible.
Separately, roast a chicken or obtain a good-quality rotisserie chicken, making sure to crisp the skin before serving. Cut chicken into pieces.
In an Instant Pot (my preferred method of cooking), add the drained peas with about 3 cups of homemade stock. Cook at high pressure for 18 minutes and allow natural pressure release. Drain the black-eyed peas, add salt, and allow them to cool while preparing the salad. (Alternatively, you could slowly simmer the black-eyed peas in stock about 2 hours or until tender.)
Dressing: Zest and juice two limes and whisk together with 2 T. cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil. Add a generous pinch of salt and pepper, 3 diced garlic cloves, half a red onion or shallot (diced), and half a jalapeno pepper (diced). Mix well.
On a large platter, toss together 2 peaches, washed and cut into chunks, a nice variety of garden lettuces, a handful of torn basil leaves, ¼ cup of toasted pecans, the black-eyed peas, and dressing. Nestle chicken pieces on the platter with salad and serve. We enjoyed this salad paired with a glass of SANNA Sauvignon Blanc, as the limey flavors in the dressing vibed with the lime leaf flavors in the bright, acidic wine.