We've been going down on veggie wraps and open-faced sandwiches over here:
- Whole wheat or multigrain pita, lavash, or homemade bread
- Flavorful hummus or white bean spread
- thinly sliced cucumber
- thinly sliced tomato
- layers of baby spinach
- piles of sprouts
- slices of avocado
Yum!
-Anne
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
edited July 12, 2008
3 interesting food-related things I watched/read lately:
King Corn, interesting documentary with big names being interviewed like Michael Pollen (Omnivore's Dilemma) and Walter Willet (Chair of Department of Nutrition at Harvard).
Bottom line: New strains of corn are smashing all kinds of records in the U.S. for productivity per acre. Great for ethanol production and feeding cattle cheaply, but it's not consumable by humans, and cattle don't live long on it. Just long enough to get to slaughter weight.
Andrew Weil, Eating Well. He's a renowned doctor who's made the cover of TIME twice. He goes for foods that don't cause inflammation, which are vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and some whole grains, not ground fine into flour.
Bottom line: He made a lot of sense but the dude is fat. Lots of abdominal fat carried up high. What the heck?
Banana: Wow, wow, wow!! What a fascinating book. Oh my gosh the things that go behind making a mass-market food. It isn't about good nutrition, that's for sure.
King Corn, interesting documentary with big names being interviewed like Michael Pollen (Omnivore's Dilemma) and Walter Willet (Chair of Department of Nutrition at Harvard).
King Corn only makes me work harder to keep high fructose corn syrup out of my diet and realize the difference between grass feed/free range and feedlot cattle.
Banana: Wow, wow, wow!! What a fascinating book. Oh my gosh the things that go behind making a mass-market food. It isn't about good nutrition, that's for sure.
Thanks for the tip, my library has a couple copies.
I have In Defense of Food as my next book to read.
I hauled 2 shipping crates (okay, so borrowed dads truck and had hubby help lift) from work. Hubby made a 'bottom' about a foot down inside the crate. Filled with dirt. over seeded with veggies.
Had a good look at it at that point and realized the deer wouldn't have to lean down to eat!!!!
So anyway, too many things in each of them, but this one has a zucchini plant, peas, carrots, beets(if they recover from being preferentially picked off by the deer!!!) and mesclun mix. And most things are ready to begin eating!
I may not be reducing my shadow but I am trying to reduce my carbon footprint!
Banana: Wow, wow, wow!! What a fascinating book. Oh my gosh the things that go behind making a mass-market food. It isn't about good nutrition, that's for sure.
Just cracked a book I've been meaning to read for a while: Dr Fuhrman's "Disease-Proof Your Child".
Boy did the first paragraph ring true to me!
"As parents, we want what is best for our children. We would never intentionally harm them - in fact, we make sure to get them the best possible care, read to them, play with them, and ensure their safety at home, at school, and at play. But when it comes to feeding them, somehow we don't know what's best. Our kids seem finicky and eat nothing but cheese or pasta or chicken fingers or milk and cookies, and we let them. At the same time we notice they are frequently ill - they suffer from recurring ear infections, runny noses, stomachaches, and headaches. We take them to the doctor, who prescribes yet another round of antibiotics. We assume, because we also see it happening with friends and family, that it is par for the course when bringing up children. It does not have to be so."
I'm going to have a hard time putting this one down.
-Anne
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
edited July 17, 2008
Full disclosure time:
You've seen me ask for the numbers from everyone for blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc. And from somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 people I've monitored, the blood pressure fell to below 120 unless they were cheating, the cholesterol typically fell to 170...
Except, ironically, mine.
At age 47 mine was at 235 total, so I dropped 40 pounds, got in IronMan shape, changed my diet to include a lot more fruit and veggies, and after 4 years of hard work and getting in great shape, my total cholesterol went to 235. The ratio didn't change for LDL/HDL.
So I dropped the dairy, meat, and refined foods, got in even better shape over the next two years and my cholesterol total went to 220. LDL (bad) stayed constant, HDL (good) dropped 15 points.
So I scoured my diet for what it could be. Diet soda? No more. Dark chocolate? No more. Fewer grains, more veggies.
I just had a thorough blood test and urinalysis done and everything came back fabulously great, except for one thing.
Total cholesterol: 220, HDL 43. Same as the previous year. LDL unchanged in 7 years of trying.
I'm going to have a phone conversation with Dr. Fuhrman in a few weeks to discuss.
(Some of you may have seen me report my total at 183 previously. That was the result of a screening at Stanford Hospital a year ago, but a screening last month turned up 280, so I've discounted both.)
Well - ordered several books today (China Study and a few recipe books on raw/healthy foods). I am thinking next week I will start my intake change. I need to loose the lbs. I am hoping to get the spousal unit in on it too. That should not be too hard since we both like veggies, fruits, etc. The hard part is getting our daughter to try stuff. She is the healthiest in the house, but it would be nice to expand here taste buds a bit more.
Dang. That's beautiful. I miss that about my parent's old place in the Adirondacks. Walk out the door and pick berries this time of year. None to be found out here in the chaparral.
Well - ordered several books today (China Study and a few recipe books on raw/healthy foods). I am thinking next week I will start my intake change. I need to loose the lbs. I am hoping to get the spousal unit in on it too. That should not be too hard since we both like veggies, fruits, etc. The hard part is getting our daughter to try stuff. She is the healthiest in the house, but it would be nice to expand here taste buds a bit more.
So - what do I do next?
What do you do next? You are DOING it! You made the decision, you are getting the facts from the books, and you are on your way - good on ya!
What do you do next? You are DOING it! You made the decision, you are getting the facts from the books, and you are on your way - good on ya!
Started reading The China Study last night. Very enlightening.
I think my biggest problems will be a) getting access to better foods; b)getting a variety of better stuff; and c) avoiding a lot of the bad stuff.
Item a) can be hard here in Waldorf. There is only one decent healthy-food store, and it's rather small. I can get to Whole Foods, but only on weekends and only when I can get the time to drive the 40 minutes or hour to get there.
Item b) is hard for me. So much stuff that I can honestly say does not (on paper) sound good (taste-wise).
Item c) I have pretty much given up on soda (my vice). It was probably like giving up smoking for others (). With bad stuff available all around us it's going to be very, very hard to eliminate junk because in most restaurants all that they have is high fat, high calorie foods, high processed foods.
Started reading The China Study last night. Very enlightening.
I think my biggest problems will be a) getting access to better foods; b)getting a variety of better stuff; and c) avoiding a lot of the bad stuff.
Item a) can be hard here in Waldorf. There is only one decent healthy-food store, and it's rather small. I can get to Whole Foods, but only on weekends and only when I can get the time to drive the 40 minutes or hour to get there.
Item b) is hard for me. So much stuff that I can honestly say does not (on paper) sound good (taste-wise).
Item c) I have pretty much given up on soda (my vice). It was probably like giving up smoking for others (). With bad stuff available all around us it's going to be very, very hard to eliminate junk because in most restaurants all that they have is high fat, high calorie foods, high processed foods.
Find your local farmers markets. They should have a large variety of things you can get.
Also, check your local Safeway and Giant for their "Natural Foods" sections. Both of those chains have a decent selection in our neighborhood now (though this is recent).
As for the taste issue, you'll find your tastes changing dramatically after about 2-3 weeks. Give it a few more and then the stuff you used to eat will actually taste bad. I was completely amazed by the transformation.
Find your local farmers markets. They should have a large variety of things you can get.
Also, check your local Safeway and Giant for their "Natural Foods" sections. Both of those chains have a decent selection in our neighborhood now (though this is recent).
As for the taste issue, you'll find your tastes changing dramatically after about 2-3 weeks. Give it a few more and then the stuff you used to eat will actually taste bad. I was completely amazed by the transformation.
I didn't notice you were in Waldorf - my sister lives down route 5 a bit in Mechanicsville. You are in near farm country, should be lots of good local food available right now!
I find that planning ahead and cooking huge amounts on the weekends makes it easier to avoid junk food - when you are going home and don't feel like cooking, you know you have a quick good meal waiting for you.
Stick with it, take it seriously, try not to cheat - you will do well.
I didn't notice you were in Waldorf - my sister lives down route 5 a bit in Mechanicsville. You are in near farm country, should be lots of good local food available right now!
There are - not too much in Waldorf as we are becoming more of a transient community of people going into and out of Washington, D.C. Supposedly there is a farmer's market that has set up shop in one of the local shopping plazas on Saturday or Sunday. w will probably go check that out this weekend.
I find that planning ahead and cooking huge amounts on the weekends makes it easier to avoid junk food - when you are going home and don't feel like cooking, you know you have a quick good meal waiting for you.
I am one of the lucky ones - my office is my home! I drop the daughter off at school (or summer camp), go home and work, then pick her up in the afternoon. No long commutes for me for a while. Right now it's trying to find things to make and do it. I have some recipes to go with, but it's just a matter of getting ingredients right now. We will probably hit Whole Foods this weekend, too.
[quoute]Stick with it, take it seriously, try not to cheat - you will do well. [/quote]I'm trying. I'm a newbie at this.
A few initial questions for you pros out there that have been doing this for a while:
1. Juices (I don't have a juicer yet) - Right now I tend to stay away from most preconcentrated, sugar added, processed juices. The only ones I currently drink are apple (unfiltered, no sugar added) and orange (maximum pulp). What about commercial, off-the-shelf brands like odwalla or similar - are these o.k.? I type this as I am sipping on an odwalla superfood drink (not too much - going to bed soon).
2. The debates over raw versus cooked - All raw seems a bit extreme. However, cooking (light sautes in olive oil, for example) help the flavors come out (to me at least). What about the occasional meat; e.g., the turkey, the prime rib, etc. being served at the holiday dinner?
3. Animal proteins - now those are apparently not too good for the body. But, I still would like the small portions of animal such as sashimi or sushi. Opinions?
A few initial questions for you pros out there that have been doing this for a while:
1. Juices (I don't have a juicer yet) - Right now I tend to stay away from most preconcentrated, sugar added, processed juices. The only ones I currently drink are apple (unfiltered, no sugar added) and orange (maximum pulp). What about commercial, off-the-shelf brands like odwalla or similar - are these o.k.? I type this as I am sipping on an odwalla superfood drink (not too much - going to bed soon).
Juice, no. Whole fruits and vegetables, yes. Vitamix.
2. The debates over raw versus cooked - All raw seems a bit extreme. However, cooking (light sautes in olive oil, for example) help the flavors come out (to me at least). What about the occasional meat; e.g., the turkey, the prime rib, etc. being served at the holiday dinner?
You need raw and cooked. You can't get enough nutrition from raw foods. Cooked has a much higher extraction rate (your body absorbs it much more readily, like 10-15x).
3. Animal proteins - now those are apparently not too good for the body. But, I still would like the small portions of animal such as sashimi or sushi. Opinions?
NO animal protein for the first 6 weeks, then do what you want.
Juice, no. Whole fruits and vegetables, yes. Vitamix.
Why no on a juice such as odwalla's superfood drink (which is essentially a smoothie and not a juice. Really curious
You need raw and cooked. You can't get enough nutrition from raw foods. Cooked has a much higher extraction rate (your body absorbs it much more readily, like 10-15x).
That's what I've been hearing, too.
NO animal protein for the first 6 weeks, then do what you want.
Hopefully I can get through six weeks (and why six?)
Some drink Odwallas. I think they're way too high in sugar.
I would not drink them at all for the first 6 weeks, then decide.
Basically, be really really strict for those 6 weeks so that you break yourself of all those old habits.
The real question about an Odwalla is why drink it at all? Read Fuhrman's bit about the study with apple juice/an apple/nothing before a meal and how it affected calorie intake.
I do, on occasion. My main problem with most of the juices are they are overpriced and undernutritious beause their first ingredient is invariably apple juice. Superfood's next several ingredients are fruit purees, so that's better.
You just have to watch the ingredients like a hawk. Many of them have added sugar, use fruit juices from concentrate, etc. Not that "from concentrate" is the worst thing in the world, but you're losing all the extra goodness.
Odwalla's "Antioxidance" for instance has water and sugar as the first two ingredients.
If you want to go the apple juice route, just dump some unfiltered apple juice in a blender, toss in a peach, banana, and some frozen berries and blend it up. It's easy, it's more full of goodness, and definitely costs less! Plus, you get to sneak in huge handfuls of leafy greens or some ground up flax. Of course, you can base your smoothies on just plain water, or juicey fresh fruits, and skip the apple juice entirely.
Why no on a juice such as odwalla's superfood drink (which is essentially a smoothie and not a juice. Really curiousstill really full of sugar.....even those that say no sugar added people need to be aware that a lot of time"no sugar added " simply means no white processed sugar.....a lot of people do not realize that dextrose and sucrose are sugar and of course fructose.......as my dibetic educator said....if it ends in "OSE" it is sugar.....
Hopefully I can get through six weeks (and why six?) Because Dr. Furhman says so..........:D
Actually it has been proven that if one can stick to a new lifestyle for 6 weeks then it becomes habit......hence...Military bootcamps are 6 weeks min.....breakin habits and building new ones may actually take a bit longer but not much if one does this change of lifestyle as a change of lifestyle and not a diet......
Has anyone here try natto? My parents tell me it is oh so good, but when I tried it I ...:hack :sick
:giggle I have to confess my obsession with Japanese culture has made me curious about natto, but if the fermentation is anything equal to tht of kimchi, I may have the same reaction. I think it's like Vegemite--an acquired, local taste. Though...natto is presented as something disgusting in a lot of anime I've watched, so maybe the Japanese don't think much of it themselves.
Comments
I have a three day weekend, and I can picture eating each one of these (modifying the grilled stuffed cabbage).
ann
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- Whole wheat or multigrain pita, lavash, or homemade bread
- Flavorful hummus or white bean spread
- thinly sliced cucumber
- thinly sliced tomato
- layers of baby spinach
- piles of sprouts
- slices of avocado
Yum!
-Anne
King Corn, interesting documentary with big names being interviewed like Michael Pollen (Omnivore's Dilemma) and Walter Willet (Chair of Department of Nutrition at Harvard).
Bottom line: New strains of corn are smashing all kinds of records in the U.S. for productivity per acre. Great for ethanol production and feeding cattle cheaply, but it's not consumable by humans, and cattle don't live long on it. Just long enough to get to slaughter weight.
Andrew Weil, Eating Well. He's a renowned doctor who's made the cover of TIME twice. He goes for foods that don't cause inflammation, which are vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and some whole grains, not ground fine into flour.
Bottom line: He made a lot of sense but the dude is fat. Lots of abdominal fat carried up high. What the heck?
Banana: Wow, wow, wow!! What a fascinating book. Oh my gosh the things that go behind making a mass-market food. It isn't about good nutrition, that's for sure.
King Corn only makes me work harder to keep high fructose corn syrup out of my diet and realize the difference between grass feed/free range and feedlot cattle.
Thanks for the tip, my library has a couple copies.
I have In Defense of Food as my next book to read.
I hauled 2 shipping crates (okay, so borrowed dads truck and had hubby help lift) from work. Hubby made a 'bottom' about a foot down inside the crate. Filled with dirt. over seeded with veggies.
Had a good look at it at that point and realized the deer wouldn't have to lean down to eat!!!!
So anyway, too many things in each of them, but this one has a zucchini plant, peas, carrots, beets(if they recover from being preferentially picked off by the deer!!!) and mesclun mix. And most things are ready to begin eating!
I may not be reducing my shadow but I am trying to reduce my carbon footprint!
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
The radio show "Fresh Air" on NPR had an interview with the author of the book a few months ago. Very interesting. Here's the link to the archived interview online:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19097412
http://jziegler.smugmug.com
Boy did the first paragraph ring true to me!
"As parents, we want what is best for our children. We would never intentionally harm them - in fact, we make sure to get them the best possible care, read to them, play with them, and ensure their safety at home, at school, and at play. But when it comes to feeding them, somehow we don't know what's best. Our kids seem finicky and eat nothing but cheese or pasta or chicken fingers or milk and cookies, and we let them. At the same time we notice they are frequently ill - they suffer from recurring ear infections, runny noses, stomachaches, and headaches. We take them to the doctor, who prescribes yet another round of antibiotics. We assume, because we also see it happening with friends and family, that it is par for the course when bringing up children. It does not have to be so."
I'm going to have a hard time putting this one down.
-Anne
You've seen me ask for the numbers from everyone for blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc. And from somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 people I've monitored, the blood pressure fell to below 120 unless they were cheating, the cholesterol typically fell to 170...
Except, ironically, mine.
At age 47 mine was at 235 total, so I dropped 40 pounds, got in IronMan shape, changed my diet to include a lot more fruit and veggies, and after 4 years of hard work and getting in great shape, my total cholesterol went to 235. The ratio didn't change for LDL/HDL.
So I dropped the dairy, meat, and refined foods, got in even better shape over the next two years and my cholesterol total went to 220. LDL (bad) stayed constant, HDL (good) dropped 15 points.
So I scoured my diet for what it could be. Diet soda? No more. Dark chocolate? No more. Fewer grains, more veggies.
I just had a thorough blood test and urinalysis done and everything came back fabulously great, except for one thing.
Total cholesterol: 220, HDL 43. Same as the previous year. LDL unchanged in 7 years of trying.
I'm going to have a phone conversation with Dr. Fuhrman in a few weeks to discuss.
(Some of you may have seen me report my total at 183 previously. That was the result of a screening at Stanford Hospital a year ago, but a screening last month turned up 280, so I've discounted both.)
So - what do I do next?
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
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Dang. That's beautiful. I miss that about my parent's old place in the Adirondacks. Walk out the door and pick berries this time of year. None to be found out here in the chaparral.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Wow! And I was thinking of getting one. But that picture is too iFuzzy!
-Fleetwood Mac
Looks deelish, but your hands are either suddenly gargantuan or your grass is really, really tiny.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Blame Zac, my son, they are his hands :yikes
maybe iPhone optical illusion?
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I think my biggest problems will be a) getting access to better foods; b)getting a variety of better stuff; and c) avoiding a lot of the bad stuff.
Item a) can be hard here in Waldorf. There is only one decent healthy-food store, and it's rather small. I can get to Whole Foods, but only on weekends and only when I can get the time to drive the 40 minutes or hour to get there.
Item b) is hard for me. So much stuff that I can honestly say does not (on paper) sound good (taste-wise).
Item c) I have pretty much given up on soda (my vice). It was probably like giving up smoking for others (
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
Find your local farmers markets. They should have a large variety of things you can get.
Also, check your local Safeway and Giant for their "Natural Foods" sections. Both of those chains have a decent selection in our neighborhood now (though this is recent).
As for the taste issue, you'll find your tastes changing dramatically after about 2-3 weeks. Give it a few more and then the stuff you used to eat will actually taste bad. I was completely amazed by the transformation.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I find that planning ahead and cooking huge amounts on the weekends makes it easier to avoid junk food - when you are going home and don't feel like cooking, you know you have a quick good meal waiting for you.
Stick with it, take it seriously, try not to cheat - you will do well.
I am one of the lucky ones - my office is my home! I drop the daughter off at school (or summer camp), go home and work, then pick her up in the afternoon. No long commutes for me for a while. Right now it's trying to find things to make and do it. I have some recipes to go with, but it's just a matter of getting ingredients right now. We will probably hit Whole Foods this weekend, too.
[quoute]Stick with it, take it seriously, try not to cheat - you will do well.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
1. Juices (I don't have a juicer yet) - Right now I tend to stay away from most preconcentrated, sugar added, processed juices. The only ones I currently drink are apple (unfiltered, no sugar added) and orange (maximum pulp). What about commercial, off-the-shelf brands like odwalla or similar - are these o.k.? I type this as I am sipping on an odwalla superfood drink (not too much - going to bed soon).
2. The debates over raw versus cooked - All raw seems a bit extreme. However, cooking (light sautes in olive oil, for example) help the flavors come out (to me at least). What about the occasional meat; e.g., the turkey, the prime rib, etc. being served at the holiday dinner?
3. Animal proteins - now those are apparently not too good for the body. But, I still would like the small portions of animal such as sashimi or sushi. Opinions?
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
Juice, no. Whole fruits and vegetables, yes. Vitamix.
You need raw and cooked. You can't get enough nutrition from raw foods. Cooked has a much higher extraction rate (your body absorbs it much more readily, like 10-15x).
NO animal protein for the first 6 weeks, then do what you want.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
That's what I've been hearing, too.
Hopefully I can get through six weeks (and why six?)
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
I would not drink them at all for the first 6 weeks, then decide.
Basically, be really really strict for those 6 weeks so that you break yourself of all those old habits.
The real question about an Odwalla is why drink it at all? Read Fuhrman's bit about the study with apple juice/an apple/nothing before a meal and how it affected calorie intake.
Water is good.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I do, on occasion. My main problem with most of the juices are they are overpriced and undernutritious beause their first ingredient is invariably apple juice. Superfood's next several ingredients are fruit purees, so that's better.
You just have to watch the ingredients like a hawk. Many of them have added sugar, use fruit juices from concentrate, etc. Not that "from concentrate" is the worst thing in the world, but you're losing all the extra goodness.
Odwalla's "Antioxidance" for instance has water and sugar as the first two ingredients.
If you want to go the apple juice route, just dump some unfiltered apple juice in a blender, toss in a peach, banana, and some frozen berries and blend it up. It's easy, it's more full of goodness, and definitely costs less! Plus, you get to sneak in huge handfuls of leafy greens or some ground up flax. Of course, you can base your smoothies on just plain water, or juicey fresh fruits, and skip the apple juice entirely.
-Anne
This time, up in the Adirondack Mountains of NY. Way good, wild and fresh.
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Has anyone here try natto? My parents tell me it is oh so good, but when I tried it I ...:hack :sick
IT's supposed to be really good for your digestion... but.. yeack!
www.tednghiem.com
:giggle I have to confess my obsession with Japanese culture has made me curious about natto, but if the fermentation is anything equal to tht of kimchi, I may have the same reaction. I think it's like Vegemite--an acquired, local taste.