A rash of articles on anti-oxidants has reminded me of what a failure we humans are at trying to think that we can design “better” nutrients than nature has. Most of these are distilling a recent study on the use of anti-oxidant pills following exercise. Previous studies showed that after vigorous exercise, muscles generated mondo amounts of oxidative free radicals. Because free radicals CAN cause cell damage in experiments in which isolated cells are BATHED in them, scientists concluded that giving anti-oxidants after vigorous exercise would decrease muscle damage and improve exercise tolerance over time. WRONG!! Turns out that if you treat rodents with anti-oxidants after exercise they do worse over time!

As a scientist myself, I know how appealing it is to try and dissect biological mysteries into X + Y = Z. But I also know how complex our bodies are. Block one cellular pathway and another pops up to take it’s place. Sometimes I think we are playing a giant game of “Whack a Mole.” My conclusion has been to try to study whole systems instead of single pathways. The conclusion of the anti-oxidant studies above? Eat whole foods after exercise, not single anti-oxidants.

A few foodsthat offer the highest anti-oxidants:

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Am the only one who gets excited to go to Whole Foods? Intense colors displayed in hypnotic patterns that trigger visions of what I might create and could become. I daydeamed by thegargantuan wheel of asiago cheese on which bosc pears were displayed imagining thatthese would be perfect for my fall color outing with Ina and Michael at my cottage in Westport, Connecticut. “Lady, you’ll have to move so I can unload these apples,” Chuck on his name badge interrupted. Shouldn’t Chuck work in meat?

I have to watch myself or I will overbuy at my green grocer because I get wild intentions that I too will make my own green juice from kale and then watch that kale fade away day after day in my refrigerator until I cannot bear its suffering any longer and admit that it must put it down. My friend Ron told me to expect to lose 10% of your garden and 10% of your produce.

I passed the fennel display for maybe the thousandth time only subconsciously registering that’s fennel and I’m smart. Still in my fall color mood, despite record heat temps in LA, I grabbed a stalk with wild intentions knowing this will shake up my salads and with new flavors and new healthy stuff. This time, imagined intentions turned into real lunch.

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Anger is a difficult emotion for me. It wells up at the most inconvenient times for expression. “Of course I understand that no one can trade a call at that hospital for me that night-I’ll ask my child’s teacher to film his performance.” “Sure honey, your very important meeting will take precedent over the carpool and I’ll be late for my own meeting again.” etc. As multi-tasking moms we just smile and move on, but some times it gets to be all too much. After one of those days I decide that a little pounding in the kitchen is needed to release my pent up rage. Scallopine anyone?

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Please tell me you still have room for heirloom tomatoes. I know it’s best to eat fruits and vegetables in simple, less-cooked preparations not only because the nutrients are more intense, but because it helps me build up a preferred taste for nature’s foods instead of that of gooey chocolate chip cookies. Not much can compare with sliced tomatoes at the peak of the season and dressed with splashes of olive oil and balsamic, coarse sea salt, a grind of pepper, and fragrant basil leaves. Delicious, fast, fresh.

Beyond the basics, beyond our boredom, and beyond the uninitated palates let’s say those of the young ones, we find a few concoctions that take our foods to new levels. This week, we’ve shared our heirloom tomatoes with the soup family and with our cocktail friends. Today, it’s an American family dinner essential that gets the good graces of these richly colored and varied tasting tomatoes, and one that finally pleases my kids.

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Somehow I convince myself that if I’m drinking a Bloody Mary while indulging in an evening of libations and decadent foodstuffs, I am being healthy. I feel that my Bloody Mary is a qualified serving of plant matter that happens to come with a jigger of vodka and as the evening wears on my theory becomes fact of which I’m certain. It might not be the best way to eat a vegetable and in the case of tomato-based juice, not even a vegetable except for the imposing celery stalk that would rather impale my eye instead of nourish it. But, the B. Mary has some nutritional value that a pretty Cosmo just can’t deliver and it just might fill me up so I don’t devour one more buffalo wing.

This was my theory once again as I stared at the bowl of heirlooms that had been gathering in my kitchen after too many unrestrained trips to the grocer – look at this gorgeous yellow tomato with the red stripes, I must have it if for no other reason than to display as a flower-substitute centerpiece that my cat won’t eat.

The yellows, as it turned out, turned kind of quickly to juicy goodness and I needed to act fast. Some hunting and pecking online inspired fresh Bloody Mary’s from one of my favorite magazines. In no time, we were throwing back a few of cocktails made from yellow heirlooms that would have made Mr. and Mrs. T proud.

Our tribute to heirlooms continues with the recipe for the Bloody Mary cocktail below. The last post offered tortilla soup and check back in a couple of days when we add them to easy homemade pizza that the kids ate without complaint or knowledge that they were eating real tomatoes.

heirloom tomato bloody mary (recipe) read more