The Instinct Diet - Book Review

The Instinct Diet by Susan B. Roberts, Ph.D. and Betty Kelly Sargent started off auspiciously. The author has a distinguished academic pedigree and tries to base her discussion of five chosen "food instincts" on research.
The instincts are hunger, availability, the craving for calorie density, familiarity and variety. There is an intelligent concise discussion of each of these instincts and how to cope with them in our world. So far, very interesting.
I could almost recommend the book based on that discussion, but it falls very very short when it come to the diet itself. The good doctor advocates plenty of cereal grains, including refined ones, although we know for certain that grain foods do not satisfy and do qualify as healthy foods that will help us lose fat. Unfortunately her plan also includes artificial sweeteners.

More Clean Eating on Vacation in Florida

Awesome people help me stay on track. Kelly's dad Bill made garlic oil by cutting up some cloves and putting them in a cup of oil, then sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil and drizzled it over. Fantastic. But wait! First he served us shrimp with fresh made cocktail sauce. Then we had huge filets from the stovetop grill with sauteed mushroom sauce. The steaks were a fantastic medium. Nice job Bill! I kinda felt funny asking to take a picture, though. You'll have to imagine it.

cooking with Mom II - bean dip

We used Whole Foods brand organic refried black beans as the base. I added chopped white onion, tomato, green pepper, and avocado. The happy spices were chipotle, paprika, and black pepper. We ended up adding a huge scoop of Horizon organic sour cream for creaminess. It was a huge hit served with tons of cut veggies. A separate sour cream dip for those who like it spicier included chopped pickled jalapenos, a bit of shredded cheddar, cayenne and black pepper.

cooking with Mom

We got this lentil soup recipe from an Indian cookbook we can't remember. First you sautee white onion and garlic in butter and add two cans of tomato, watching out for MSG ingredients. Then comes the spices - turmeric, garam masala and cumin. Lemon juice, two cups of veg stock, one cup of lentils and one cup of coconut milk rounds it out. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 30 min. We couldn't find red lentils so we used regular brown. We also pureed the soup at the end and it was fabulous.

Nighttime Eating Makes You Fat - Duh Research

I think it is a little irresponsible, not to mention premature, of the news report to include that sentence at the end, and for the researchers to say it like that.

Chicken Habanero Sausage and Greens

I almost never eat sausages because of mystery ingredients that usually include MSG, and lots and lots of salt. But there is a sausage man who goes to the Venice Farmers Market on Fridays, and since I've met him, I can have sausages. These are so hot that the greens and peppers needed almost no other seasoning.

The Gourmet Prescription by Deborah Friedson Chud, M.D.

The Gourmet Prescription by Deborah Friedson Chud, M.D. is an absolutely lovely cookbook for an insulin-controlled diet. It is meant to be a gourmet addition to the glut of cookbooks on this topic, and it is certainly geared towards a certain audience in that many of the recipes use a stovetop smoker. They're not cheap and they're not small.
The author is very excited about using pre-made sauces and marinades, and her favorites use the smoker. I thought it was an interesting idea, but since I don't have a smoker, I roasted some of the ingredients she calls for and made an onion and garlic sauce that came out very nicely.
It is a pretty book with nice photos of some of the ingredients and recipes, but for once it seems that the pictures are actually of the recipes, which are a little too low in fat for my liking. Some of the pictures look dry and forlorn to me.