by Gregory Field
Putting together a healthy meal may become a little bit easier with a vegetarian cooking and nutrition seminar being offered by Masa and Harriet Yafuso. At the eight weekly sessions the energetic couple will be sharing recipes and giving information on nutrition that just might affect how--and how well--one lives. The husband and wife team know first hand the positive effects of improving diet and lifestyle.
Three years ago, when Masa retired, his doctors found five blockages in his arteries and his cholesterol level was 215--very high. The doctors put him on medication, and told him that he needed a by-pass operation right away. Instead he went to the Weimar Institute in California. Their program stressed Trust in the Lord, a total vegetarian diet, and exercise. At the end of nineteen days Masa felt better and his cholesterol level had dropped.
When Masa returned to Hawaii the doctors at Kaiser thought he had had a by-pass he looked so good. Now after three years his cholesterol level is around 150, he has lost 35 pounds, and he is totally off medication. "I don't know what happened over there," his doctor said, "but you don't have to worry about a heart attack."
A person can change their life style and lower their stress. A person can get out and exercise, there are programs for that. But Masa saw that many people just don't know how to cook a healthy meal. "I realized so many guys the same as me in Hawai'i. I said to Harriet `We have to start a cooking class!' It started right here in our home." The interest and the number of people attending their classes have steadily grown. Recent classes in Kailua and Manoa have attracted over a hundred participants eager to learn how to put together nutritious meals that taste really good.
The classes are more than cooking classes. Each of the eight sessions includes a presentation on health and nutrition. A low fat vegetarian diet is stressed. "If you eat fat it goes into the body as fat. The body would rather be using carbohydrates," Masa explained. "Get rid of animal products. All the vitamins and minerals you need are in plant products. Animal fat clumps up the blood and makes it more sluggish. With a vegetarian diet the muscles work more efficiently, the mind is clearer, and you have more energy."
Masa and Harriet spend much of their energy tending an extensive vegetable garden at their Kaneohe home. There they grow eggplant, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, kale, basil, chives, and other vegetables and herbs. But it is the edible hibiscus that Masa and Harriet rave about. The large leaf of the plant can be used in salad along with lettuce, cooked like spinach, or used for laulau. It is high in both calcium and Vitamin A, surpassing most other vegetables including taro leaf.
"Let food be your medicine," Masa said. "Strengthen the immune system and let your body fight the disease."
The No Cholesterol Vegetarian Cooking Class And Nutrition Seminar will be held at the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Poalima Street in Waimanalo. The free classes will be held on Sunday afternoons from 2 to 4 pm, beginning July 9 and ending August 27. For more information and to register call Harriet and Masa at 247-5779.