Archive for April, 2012

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April 23, 2012

Negotiated Nutrition Advice

Have you heard of MyPlate? It’s been around since last summer, and it’s the USDA’s new graphic to replace the Food Pyramid. If you ask me, it’s a big improvement. This was by and large the food world’s response as well. Naturally, there is still room for improvement.

Marion Nestle gave a concise review in the San Francisco Chronicle. She commends the USDA for covering half the plate with fruits and vegetables, recommending that half of grain servings should be whole grain—let’s face it, it should be all of them–but points out that the protein and dairy sections are not necessary. “Protein is not a food. It is a nutrient” as she puts it.

In the months since its release, MyPlate has inspired some intelligent variations. One of my favorites is this one from Grist that cites a Washington Post article (interesting in itself) and illustrates the chasm between recommended diet composition and what we’re spending our tax dollars subsidizing. The contrast couldn’t be more stark and is a great reminder that we pay for cheap food with our taxes, personal money, health and environment. The point being that it isn’t actually cheap. The lion’s share of the subsidy plate is covered with protein and dairy…not things we should be eating so copiously. Think about that when you’re paying as much for a pound of apples as a pound of ground beef.

But if you’re looking for actual advice on how to eat, the one to use comes from the Harvard Health blog. It is intended as a

Reasonable eating advice from Harvard

challenge to the USDA’s plate and might have come from the USDA itself if big food didn’t wield so much influence over policy. Remember that we subsidize protein and dairy and so are encouraged to consume a lot of both. If I had to choose a target plate, this is the one I would follow. Unlike the USDA, the Harvard School of Public Health can come right out and tell you to limit refined grains, dairy and processed meats. This plate could easily represent a vegan diet, something that really can’t be said for MyPlate. If you’re confused at all about what your diet should look like for your health, take a look at this one. The commentary is short and to the point.

We’re in a mainstream food environment now that has profits for large companies at its core and billions in advertising (and lobbying) money at its disposal. While MyPlate is a drastic improvement on the food pyramid, it doesn’t come from an objective science-based perspective. Here’s some simple advice that does, and it’s from Michael Pollan: Eat food (as opposed to edible food-like substances). Not too much. Mostly plants.

 

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April 18, 2012

Surviving Outdoors

Last week, I finally got out to Al’s Garden Center in Sherwood. As I wandered through the aisles, looking at their edible sprouts to compare them to mine, I was very thankful that we have such limited space. Otherwise, I’m afraid I would have emptied my bank account. Happily, I think my sprouts are pretty much on par with the commercially grown ones, with the exception of the bell peppers and strawberries; mine are tiny by comparison. I’m not terribly concerned about it, considering mine haven’t had the advantage of a greenhouse.

My garden is beginning to look like something. I’ve now transplanted all my little sprouts from their peat pots into bigger, heftier pots with organic soil, and bat guano or worm castings. So far everything seems pretty happy, although some really heavy rain recently had me shuttling pots into the kitchen, umbrella held with my chin, with the dog watching my every move through the screen door. From an observer’s perspective, probably hilarious. I was driven by my imagining the smallest plants drowned and

Here's hoping they all grow into their containers!

crushed by oversized raindrops. I even fashioned a garbage bag cover for the peppers and strawberries because I don’t have a flat surface big enough indoors for the pot that isn’t either the kitchen counter or the floor, where they would surely be sniffed and nibbled by the dog.

As the lettuce starts to look like lettuce—some of the leaves are already big enough to appear in a salad—and the tomato gets to know its new marigold companions, I’m finding myself thinking about how I can keep a garden year round. What if rather than buying kale every week at the winter market, I hopped outside with my kitchen scissors before I fire up the juicer? That’d really be something. I’m picturing lots of leafy greens and maybe some root vegetables. A friend posted this on Facebook a while ago about what crops are the most profitable per square foot. I think arugula may be in order.

Not that my current plants aren’t keeping me occupied. I’ve discovered that carrots are not necessarily something you want to have to transplant, but now the green beans and blueberry plant have lovely carrot borders in their pots. The other day, it was sunny, and I’m pretty sure I killed one of my green beans when my sunglasses fell off my head and snapped the stem. Oops. And while I was stuffing lettuce roots into soil, I definitely separated the top of one plant from its roots. Oops again, but I’ve had enough pleasant surprises with my garden (not the least of which is that the plants are still predominantly alive) that I stuck it in the dirt anyway. Does lettuce regenerate its roots? I guess I’ll find out.

And in case you’re wondering, no, I haven’t picked any of the lettuce yet. While about three of the leaves are now a respectable size (out of 20 plants), each plant has no more than five leaves. I’ll let them keep those first leaves a bit longer until they have more company.

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April 6, 2012

For Your Consideration

Things to make you say “hmmm”:

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead: This movie could have been an ad for juicing as a way of life. It follows one New Zealander through his quest for better health with a 60-day juice fast. He doesn’t look particularly obese in the beginning, but he suffers from a severe auto-immune disorder that sounds extremely uncomfortable. Spoiler alert: he loses 90 pounds in a year and ditches both his symptoms and his meds. It’s impressive. There are some other story lines in the movie too, and it’s worth seeing. Most importantly, I snagged my grandmother’s old juicer from my mom on a trip home and my husband and I have juiced most days

This juicer is older than I am, I'm sure, and works like a charm.

since. It’s a fun addition to our routine and an easy way to use up any veggies or fruit threatening to go south in the fridge. And though I can’t say it’s just because of juicing, I don’t get that mid-afternoon crash in energy anymore. It’s nice.

Food Matters: Another movie from Netflix streaming. This one struck me as a little more “out there” than most of the food movies I’ve seen. But it was certainly interesting. My big take away was that there is evidence that massive doses of vitamins can help reverse disease, specifically cancer. Now personally, on a daily basis, I would recommend getting your vitamins from foods rather than pills unless you know you have some kind of deficiency. The movie talks a lot about the dangers and side effects of taking traditional drugs, of which there are many, compared to the relative safety of vitamins. The interviewees talk about doses in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of milligrams of vitamin C or niacin and their effects on cancer and depression, respectively. There’s a bit of a tone of conspiracy theory in some of the points, but if you consider that most medical doctors receive no training in nutrition, it doesn’t seem that far fetched that traditional doctors have missed the boat on nutrition-based health care.

Die, Food Dye!: Here’s something that I will confess I rarely pay attention to. I generally look for ingredients that I know are objectionable and don’t pay much attention to colossally vague “artificial colors and flavors” and dyes named by number. But here’s a blog I found through 100 Days of Real Food, written by the mother of a dye-sensitive child. Not that food playing a role in children’s behavior is earth shattering these days. But this mom describes a rollercoaster of behavior from her normally calm kid when she’s given artificially dyed foods. Is it that much of a stretch to think these dyes—which are made from petroleum—affect adults too? Companies will argue that it’s too expensive to use alternatives, but here’s an “oh yeah?” for you: they’ve removed these things in the UK and parts of Europe. Why? Because those governments require warning labels on products that contain these chemicals and the companies opted to reformulate rather than say on the package that their products may have adverse behavioral effects.

Hmmmm…..

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April 2, 2012

New Favorites from My Kitchen

It’s been a while since I posted what I’ve been up to in my own kitchen. Now that the farmers market is back up and running, things are going to get more interesting in a hurry. Two Saturdays ago, I brought home a bundle of radishes because they were so pretty (and inexpensive) I couldn’t resist. Did I mention I’ve never liked radishes and neither has Evan? The last time I had tried one was probably at least 10 years ago and it was overly spicy, on a pitiful iceberg lettuce salad, and generally unpleasant.

But my market radishes were hastily sliced over a spinach salad one night and actually were pretty good. They have a hint of spicy flavor, but are fairly neutral. Kind of like jicama, but I didn’t have to get out a big knife to slice radishes. It occurs to me that these radishes would be really nice as a snack, dipped in Yumm! or some other delicious sauce. Other things I’ve been making a lot are roasted veggies, specifically roots and squashes; we’ve been eating lots of greens and are really looking forward to homegrown salad mix in a couple of months.

But my prize creation of the winter is a creamy potato and celery root soup. It’s already made an appearance on the Everyday Eats

Fancy soup you can whip up in a hurry!

menu, because though it looks fancy, it’s really easy and can come together in a hurry. I think the key to its yumminess is using vegetable stock as the liquid rather than water. Then there’s coconut milk from a can, which gives it a delectable creaminess. You can use regular milk, but I would recommend anything but skim. Set a piece of crusty bread hot out of the toaster oven next to it, and you’re sitting down to a wonderful wintery meal. It sort of makes you remember the old soup ad where the snowman comes in from outside and over a bowl of hot soup, melts down to become a little kid. This is that kind of meal, but way better for you.

Then there’s dessert—I bet nobody’s surprised there. I’ll just share what’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It’s pudding made from avocados. Who doesn’t love guacamole? Basically, I took two recipes, one for mint pie filling and another for chocolate mousse, both made with avocados and layered them in a bowl to make a pretty pudding. Here’s the boiled down version: take 4 avocados and scrape them into the food processor. Blend them for a bit, then add 10-20 dates (depending on how sweet you like things) that have been soaked in water for at least half an hour, plus a tablespoon or two of maple syrup and the juice of half a lemon. Blend that together, then take out half the mixture and add a few drops of peppermint extract (and chopped fresh mint if you have it) to taste. Add about ¼ cup cocoa powder and a teaspoon of vanilla to the remaining pudding in the food processor and blend that. Then you can layer the two in a clear bowl to your heart’s content. Fair warning: it’s probably going to disappear pretty quickly, unless, you know, you don’t like mint and chocolate.

 

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