Books I'm Excited About

Almost everyone into food, cooking and the food industry has been excited about Michael Pollan's successful books in the past few years because they've gotten a lot more people interested in what's going on.
Now other authors are responding to issues that he's left out - this one looks neat.

More Black Cod

The frozen wild caught black cod from Trader Joe's is in stock, convenient. This time made with lemons from my tree, plenty of white onions and garlic from the West LA Farmers Market, and a bit of pepper and Organic Valley pasture butter.

Eating my Veggies

Santa Monica Farmers Market visit yielded radishes, green beans, red pepper, Japanese cucumbers, lemons, among other things. I spent $43 down there today.
I chopped up the veggies and made a dressing with the dust in the bottom of a Trader Joe's bag of pecans and one of the lemons, Mexican seasoning from Spice World. I added in some sliced daikon and served it over Whole Foods baby greens.

Christmas Eggs

Red chard has a natural saltiness that makes it fabulous with eggs. Red pepper and zucchini are the green and red accompaniments. We used Spice World taco seasoning, a continuation of my obsession with ancho.

The High Cost of Cheap Food

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2009/08/theres-been-a-lot-of-talk-lately-about-how-cheap-our-food-is-what-with-value-meals-and-discounts-galore-i-recently.html

Cauliflower Soup

I love cauliflower for its health benefits, low price, and lack of impact on blood sugar. You don't have to buy organic because the properties of the plant itself make it resistant to bugs; therefore farmers don't spray it much. Cauliflower takes well to spices like turmeric, cumin, ground coriander - an Indian curry blend. If you want to make soup, it is best to steam it. People who don't like it that much will often change their minds if you serve it roasted until it gets crispy brown edges.

More Reasons to Stay Fit

If you're not worried about how you look or fitting into a six, how about your long-term brain health? New research is showing that obese people have brain degeneration.

If you don't know where to start, add two large servings of green leafy vegetables such as kale, collards, chard, romaine, or spinach to your food every day. Also include one large serving of the brassica vegetables: cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, turnip greens, tatsoi.

Deceptive Food Marketing

There is no proof that regular sugar is better for you than HCFS - yet. It is kind of funny that food companies are trying to work the angle both ways. First, they contribute to organizations that put out mis-information and double speak, claiming that HCFS is "natural" and poses no threat to your health AT THE SAME TIME as they market new products without it, like throwback soft drinks and Snapple. Interesting article on Slate.

Black Cod

I got some frozen wild caught black cod from the Trader Joe's that just opened on Olympic near Barrington. It was decent. As always with frozen fish, the key is to let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator and not to overcook.

Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution - Review

This book was recommended by my client Megan A.

Dr. Gundry's plan has three phases. Phase 1 is similar to Atkins Induction, but allows a glass of red wine for women and two for men every day. I think that is excessive for people wanting to lose fat, especially women. Phase 2 cuts the meat and nuts/seeds portions in half and adds in a ton more veggies. Dr. Gundry says his plan is the bridge between Atkins and Ornish, but that just sounds like marketing. Phase 3 is almost all raw vegan. He says to eat raw green vegetables until you're not hungry. I can get behind that. It is the best way to stop a binge - IF you're disciplined enough.

His explanation for these phases is that each one mirrors the eating of ancient humans, going back further and further, and doing so will turn off the genes that would have killed you off if you followed your instincts to eat calorie-dense sweet foods and sit around. I don't know if that's true either, as I'm always trying to read about exactly how much we know of diets in any ancient time. For instance, Atkins Induction and Dr. Gundry's Phase 1 are supposed to be something like the hunter-gatherer diets. I read somewhere recently that most of our knowledge of hunter-gatherer diets comes from studies of surviving modern h-g cultures, not necessarily a record in the fossils or something like that. This author pointed out that men were the researchers, and were only allowed to speak with the men of the h-g tribes, which could have led to underreporting of the food contributions of women. They were likely to be fruits and grains. A lot to think about, even if I have seen a lot of people lose fat on the "caveman diet" or similar, including myself.

There are a few other points that I'm going to look around and read more about. Dr. Gundry says that you should go exercise before breakfast because our ancestors would have done so in order to find food.

Unfortunately for this almost-interesting book, the good doctor's style seems tailored to piss off any smart people and condescend to any of those just below average people.

If you're a diet book lover like me, check it out of the library. But don't go using any of the recipes with protein powders and artificial sweeteners.

I Changed How I Eat, How I Think, and How I Clean my House Forever - Part I

This is the beginning of a series of posts about the class at SMC that changed my life - The Mind and Metabolism. I'll be taking my cues from the textbook by James Croxton and J. Christian Lanum, the professors. As far as I know, this is still the only class of its kind, and if you live on the Westside Los Angeles, I highly recommend you check it out. It is normally taught at night.

The first topic the authors address is the mind/body split. The premise is simple and compelling. In my humble opinion, the mind does not exist without the body. Therefore it is the substances that the body ingests and absorbs that make up the mind and fuel its functions.

Your food literally makes your thoughts, so you can change your thoughts if you change your food. This happened to me and the outcome has been overwhelmingly positive. I certainly needed to change my thoughts, as I was impulsive, nervous, anxious and (most of all) angry all the time. I worked out like crazy and "ate healthy" but still had a large bloated tummy.

I often muse that I should have measured my hearing, smell, eyesight, and other factors before all these changes so that I could prove that changing my food changed my life so much. But after all, my happiness and fitness is all the proof I need. Many of my clients, friends and family would say the same, I think.

Turkey and Red Cabbage

This is some of my braised turkey from earlier in the week, served with sauteed red cabbage with edamame and some herb salad. I used Italian seasonings on the red cabbage, which is one of my favorite cheap fast delicious side dishes.

What the World Eats

This is a photo essay in Time Magazine. So very interesting. Take a look at all the boxes and bags in the industrialized world.

Bison Fajitas

The trick with bison is not to cook it to death. This is a sliced ribeye served with greens and salad.

Food Wednesday August 19

breakfast: torpedo onion, entire large zucchini, 1/3 green bell pepper, 1/4 red bell pepper, 2/3 cup broccoli, 2 eggs, all cooked in organic unrefined coconut oil with ancho chile powder, served over a large pile of romaine lettuce

snack: 1/2 cup Voskos whole milk Greek-style yogurt, 6 strawberries, 1/2 cup walnuts, cinnamon

lunch: garlic butter rosemary chicken drumstick, huge plate of romaine lettuce, sliced cucumbers, daikon and red pepper

snack: cucumber, daikon, and raw green beans

dinner: spicy Creole butter chicken drumstick, cucumber, raw green beans

Wow, that is a lot of veggies.

Magazine Review - Fitness RX for Women August 2009

I loved this magazine because it reported on current research and tried to structure diets and exercise programs around research. I let my subscription lapse because the magazine was reprinting so much of its content.

I picked up this month's issue because Jackie Warner was on the cover and she's a lot of fun, but the no-nonsense type. Well, it turns out that the article about her reused some of the content from their last article about her, which has to be less than six months old. Several of the blurbs on research were reprints again.

To be fair, they used some pictures and exercise descriptions from old workouts and reorganized them in a different way for a new butt workout. I didn't think that was a big deal, but overall I was disappointed and won't be buying the magazine again unless I flip through it and see new content.

On the other hand, their website is kinda cool.

Eggs and Edamame

It might seem like a weird combination, but it is quite tasty. This was made with pasture butter from Organic Valley, green onions, black pepper. The edamame was Whole Foods brand frozen organic. As usual, the eggs were from the West LA Farmers Market.

Fast Easy Lunch or Dinner

One bag of salad of your choice, avocado, and canned wild Alaska sockeye salmon from Whole Foods brand. The can has two servings. If you make a lemon juice and oil dressing with some herbs and pepper, you can't even tell it is canned fish.

Chipotle Turmeric Chicken

This is one spice combination that has proven to be a hit with just about everyone. It is nice if you have time to marinate it with lemon juice, turmeric and chipotle flakes from Spice World. The chipotle powder from Spicely also works.

Braised Turkey Breast

I've braised only a lamb shoulder before and it came out very tender and flavorful. I used the oven, but this recipe just does it on the stovetop. I got the idea for this from the January 2009 issue of Oxygen magazine, which had a spread about ways to tweak a holiday menu for fitness people.

It is best to use a bone-in, skin-on turkey breast to braise. Use a large pan with a cover or a Dutch oven, and heat up some oil on high medium heat. Then brown each side of your turkey.

With the skin side down, pour about two cups of stock and some lemon or orange juice over the turkey, add some onions and garlic with your choice of seasonings. Rosemary, thyme or sage all go nicely with turkey in my opinion. Yesterday I used rosemary, white pepper, black pepper, and cayenne.

Once the liquid boils, turn the heat down and cook for about 40-50 minutes, depending on your turkey breast size. My attempt came out tender and juicy all the way to the bone.

1/2 portion update

I'm trying to cut my portion of meat and dairy in half. I've significantly increased my intake of vegetables to stay satisfied. I made large batches of Napa cabbage slaw and roasted eggplant with onions and garlic. I'm stocked with lots of broccoli, spinach, celery, cucumbers and daikon to munch on.
Sticking with 1 oz of cheese did not happen yesterday. Still, I measured my waist at the same time of day 5 days into it and it was a tiny bit less. I spent about 1/3 the money on the extra vegetables as I would have on the meat and dairy.

Flax Fried Squash

First dip large fry-cut squash in egg lightly beaten on one plate, seasoned flax meal on another, fry in mixture of grapeseed oil and olive oil. Makes a mess but is so worth it.

This very same method can be used for white fish of any kind.

Beans and Greens

This is a quick lunch made with sprouted black eyed peas and black beans from the sprouted guy at the Santa Monica market on Wednesdays, SM Main Street on Sundays, and I think he's at the Venice market on Fridays. Many health food stores are now carrying sprouted beans in their veggie departments. They tend to be easier on the stomach.

They're sauteed with olive oil, turmeric and red pepper flakes, sprinkled with sheeps milk feta from the cheese bar at Whole Foods, and served over black rice.

Lasagna Time!

The weekend is coming, so there is time for lasagna. It can take some time to get together, but it is worth it for the leftovers.

Preheat oven to 325

Lots of veggies, sauteed and seasoned. Eggplant, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, spinach all work well.

Pre-cook and season your ground meat with onions and garlic, add tomato sauce or canned tomatoes. You can make your own sauce or buy a low-sodium one without the dreaded MSG ingredients. My favorite method is to cook the meat with the onions garlic and seasonings, then use whole canned tomatoes that I crush with a spoon. The pictured lasagna used bison, but turkey, lamb, chicken, beef or any combo will work.

Mix grated mozzarella (set a little aside) with ricotta, spices, black pepper and/or minced Italian parsley and an egg. You could use sliced mozzarella instead. Lasagna is hard to mess up.

Layer those three components (meat sauce, cheese mixture and sauteed veggies), meat sauce first, in casserole dish and bake covered 45 min in 325 oven.

Remove cover, sprinkle cheese and bake 10 min until bubbly.

Let sit at least 30 minutes before cutting or it will run all over the place.

Nandor used spelt noodles in the pictured lasagna because he needs to hold on to his weight. If you use noodles, you might want a little extra sauce so that you do not have to pre-cook. I do not use noodles, so I suppose my lasagna should really be called Italian veggie casserole.

Tangelo Salmon

Sometimes you have to break free of lemon and lime. Salmon was great with tangelo.

Nandor's Famous Fiber Bomb Muffins

If you've ever been lucky enough to get one of these at his bootcamp, you know they're delicious. Now you can make them yourself. This recipe grew out of my making muffins by throwing stuff in a bowl, mixing it and baking it. Sometimes they came out like tasteless hockey pucks.

Nowadays, Nandor and his mom have refined and perfected it!

FIBER BOMB RECIPE

1 very ripe banana
3 beaten eggs
2 grated apples w/skin, or pears
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 handfuls organic frozen blueberries or dried fruit: apricots, blueberries, cherries, etc. - make sure you read the ingredients and choose fruit with no added sugar or oils
2 handfuls of walnuts
2 cups oat bran (Trader Joe’s)
1 handful whole ground flaxseed meal (Bob’s Red Mill)
1 handful whole grain steel cut oats (Bob’s Red Mill)
1 tsp baking soda (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp raw honey (locally grown in CA), or 1 tsp ginger, nutmeg, or cinnamon
12oz kefir (plain), Greek style or goat’s milk yogurt (hold back on this until you have everything else in the bowl)

Most of these ingredients are optional so that you can customize it however you want it and with whatever you have in the house, i.e., pumpkin, raisins, coconut.

Mix ingredients together in the order listed. You don’t want the recipe too wet; it should all hold together and be moist, not runny, as shown in the top picture.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30-45 minutes until top is nice and crusty (time varies depending on oven).

*Try using 100% unbleached/non-toxic baking cups, and yes, always use fresh, organic ingredients

One More Logo to Consider

FYI the 1/2 portion meal plan went well yesterday. I took my tummy measurement at the bellybutton so that I can report how it goes after a couple of weeks. I go to Florida in early September, so I plan to keep it up at least until then. As always, weekends are my downfall, but I'm pretty busy coming up.

Indonesian Meat Cookies

From the Complete Asian Cookbook (Solomon, 1992), these are called Rempah-Rempah, but we call them meat cookies.

8 oz dried shredded unsweetened coconut flakes
1 lb ground meat (calls for beef but I like a combo of beef and lamb)
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I used fresh grated)
2 eggs
oil for frying

Just mix it all together, form balls and cook up. I left out the shrimp paste because of MSG. I have made this with extra cayenne too, and the batch in the picture includes minced white onion. I'm Polish - you can't make meatballs without onion. I recall I also used turmeric since it seemed to go with the other flavors and I love it.

You can fry them or bake them, although baking will make them release some of their juice. My best batch was browned on the stove and finished in the oven.

I warn you, these are addictive. Make these when friends are coming over or you may find yourself popping them into your mouth a little too fast.

Possible New Logo - Version 2

Changing it Up

Two literary works of art and one pair of jeans are influencing my thinking right now. My food diary and Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution (full review coming) are giving me some interesting ideas, and my "skinny" jeans don't look just right.

Long story short: my food diary's telling me that I'm struggling with emotional/boredom eating lately, and it hasn't been cucumbers I'm overeating. It is cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and buttery baked chicken thighs.

Starting this morning, I am cutting my animal food portion in half and adding extra veggies. This is something like the second phase of Dr. Gundry's diet. I am fully stocked with salad, cucumbers, a lovely orange bell pepper, cabbage slaw, celery, sliced daikon and several bags of spinach.

OK, OK it has only been two meals so far. This morning I had only two eggs with onions, plenty of broccoli and salad. I was pleasantly hungry at the proper time for my 1/2 cup of yogurt with cinnamon.

I should save some money, too!

How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut

I got this from Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice. I've tried it with red and green cabbage and loved the results. The picture shows red cabbage that I made into kraut in a huge vase. It was delicious.

Start with organic cabbage, sea salt and caraway seeds if desired. They give it a pickled taste I like. First, cut up the cabbage in small strips and put it in a large bowl, sprinkling it liberally with sea salt, about two large tbsp per head of cabbage. Squeeze the cabbage with your hands for a few minutes until it starts to soften up and let go of water. You'll be able to feel the moisture. Add the caraway seeds, and I think Ms. Prentice says you can use juniper too, but I'm not a big fan so I haven't tried it.

You'll need two glass containers: one large container with a wide mouth and another smaller container filled with water and sealed. I've been using an ice bucket and a spaghetti sauce jar. Place your cabbage mixture inside the large container, smashing it down with the smaller container to pack it in there as you go. Once it is all in the large container, smash it down until the water level reaches the vegetable level. Then leave the smaller container on top of the cabbage, cover the whole thing with a clean cloth, and wait 7-21 days, depending on your tastes. I've been doing just fine with 8-9 days because I like it crunchy.

Check every day to make sure the moisture level stays even with veggies. Press down on the cabbage with the heavy jar to keep the water level up. If it is very dry, you may have to add some salted filtered water.

Why Do I Choose Pasture Butter and Grass Fed Beef and Bison?

Pasture butter and grass fed beef and bison are better than their corn-fed equivalents for two main reasons.

1. Cows are herbivores - their natural food is grass. For the most part, our food industrial complex feeds them corn, soy and weird animal byproducts, which makes them get sick with alarming regularity, especially since they're kept in close quarters with lots of other cows. That means they need antibiotics to stay alive, and overuse of antibiotics has led to resistance in some strains of E. coli, among other consequences as yet unknown to us, possibly including early maturation of our female human children. Grass fed cows and bison generally don't need antibiotics as much.

2. Grass fed cows produce meat and milk with different - and BETTER - nutritional profiles than corn fed cows. They have a different mix of fats, including much more conjugated linoleic acid or CLA. CLA is a fatty acid that can act as an anti-cancer agent, an antioxidant, and consumption has been linked with weight loss, including loss of abdominal fat.

Please note I'm not recommending you take supplements of CLA, as it can have gassy side effects, and may even mess with insulin sensitivity. As always, real whole foods are how we get our workout.

Whole Foods News

It always feels a little strange to realize that places like Whole Foods, where you can get all kinds of lovely "whole" foods, is also chock full of junk, especially that unique kind of junk marketed as healthy food. You know what I mean: cookies with natural cane juice sweetener and the like.

Many of the branches of Whole Foods around here don't even have that much space dedicated to the whole food, instead focusing on hot prepared foods, wines, and fancy natural cosmetics. Several of the branches on the Westside have extremely small bulk sections or none at all.

Well, I'm very excited that Whole Foods is in the news and will try to eliminate some of that stuff. It remains to be seen exactly how this will play out, but I'll be sure to watch.

Wednesday Aug 5 food

breakfast: 3 eggs, 1 white, onion, lecho pepper, broccoli, cooked in olive oil and coconut oil
snack: 8 Brazil nuts, 1 cup whole milk Voskos, cinnamon
lunch from Stop N' Cafe on the Promenade: Greek salad and chicken kabob
snack: more Greek salad with extra sliced cucumber, plenty of salty feta cheese
dinner: baked butter chicken thigh, broccoli, cucumber

More on Eating Organic and Nutrition Science

I often wonder if really well-educated and experienced nutrition scientists and researchers ever stop to think about what they're up to. I'm guessing it is really difficult for them to take the time to care about some of the issues in my post because they're too busy trying to get funding for their research without selling out to the man. It is deeply disturbing to me that research not focused on developing a money-making product is seldom funded in our society.

I've learned from people much smarter than me that the body is not a machine - it is a system. Each individual's system is a complicated product of their genes, experience and environment, so it seems obvious to me that experiments involving the food intake of individuals can never be called "well-controlled" (one of those words that reviewers use to praise a study) because people are so damned different. It also seems obvious to me that no two pieces of broccoli are the same, either, so how could a study of food/nutrition be considered valid with our current scientific standards? But hell, I was an English major.

So this article on Slate is still talking about that organic foods study. I thought it was a pretty good summation.

Possible New Logo

What do you think?

Immature Cucumbers

These are cucumbers that were picked before they ripened. They tasted very mild and the skin was thin and delicate. I enjoyed them for something different.

Cost to Eat Clean in West LA, Part II

Continuing to cook and prep for this week, I headed to:

Whole Foods Brentwood
4 servings whole milk yogurt - Voskos
8 pack Mary's Organic chicken thighs
total: $12.65

West LA Farmers Market
3 dozen eggs - $10.00
3 heads broccoli, 6 cucumbers, 2 white onions, 1 head garlic, 1 large bunch Swiss chard - $12.40
I really like the naturally salty taste of Swiss chard with eggs. I washed and cut it for the next two days' breakfast.

Eating Out Downtown LA - California Pita

Jury duty downtown, lunchtime, underground mall near the courthouse (201 N. Los Angeles St.). I scope out everything before I choose California Pita. There are people in line and people eating. I order the Greek Chicken Salad, no pita. I bought water elsewhere. The lettuce is crisp, green. The feta is OK, not too salty. The cucumber and tomato chunks are sub par, peeled cucumber is mushy and tasteless tomato is watery. Comes with two dressings, one of which has got to be a widely available food product called Mediterranean dressing, and the other is a "butter" garlic sauce. Ick. The hot salsa at the salsa bar was better and it improved the chicken, which was dry and tasted of nothing, but again not too salty. Overall I didn't get that horrible feeling of "brain poisoning" from eating this, a good sign. The salad was $8.77 with the dine in tax, a little too much.
Next time I will try the food court in the LA Cathedral.

Cost to Eat Clean in West LA, Part I

or should I say "how much does a poultry loving omnivore spend on food in a week?"

Nijiya Market West LA
3 fresh wild salmon filets - I tried the Spice World Fajita Seasoning. It is similar to the Mexican, which they've changed. It has ginger and worked well with garlic and coconut oil.
1 fresh black cod filet
organic green tea
Japanese cucumber (Mexico)
1 large lemon
organic green onion
total: $17.99

Whole Foods Brentwood
6 thighs Mary's Organic - easy favorite: pepper, butter, garlic
organic mild cheddar slices
Organic Valley pasture butter
Plain whole milk Voskos (2 servings)
Spicely chimichurri
Spicely carraway seeds - for sauerkraut
Organic Whole Foods spring mix
Jarrow Acidophilus
total: $46.15

Ralphs West LA
small Daisy sour cream - this week in a fit of frugality I kept my broccoli stalks all week, then grated them up with some pepper and sour cream - surprisingly tasty
3 pack Brita filters - water is a very important component of Every Meal is a Workout
total: $21.23, both on sale with Ralphs Club

I do this because it brings me joy and makes it easier for me to find joy.