Bulgur Wheat Salad

An interesting grain, actually steam cleaned pulverized wheat. Its good for wheat salads mixed with other grains such as quinoa and farro and also can be used for stuffings. I made a Syrian bulgur salad from Joyce Goldstein which is basically bulgur, parsley and walnuts with a pomegranate and lemon dressing. Tart and salty at the same time. Really unique taste.

The ongoing Bisphenol A saga: more updates

The ongoing Bisphenol A saga: more updates

A cup (or more) of coffee or tea a day could keep Type 2 diabetes away

A cup (or more) of coffee or tea a day could keep Type 2 diabetes away

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Treating disease with the right diet

Time and again patients come to me with mild elevations in their blood sugar and cholesterol and blood pressure. The decision is always whether to start medication or change their diet. Many give in to taking medication as it seems to be the "easy path." Its not. In fact, its probably not the better path either. The problem with medications is for one, people(and often doctors) become dependent on them. Many patients feel that once a blood pressure or diabetes medicines are started, they will never get off of them. People often continue poor lifestyle habits, such as eating the wrong foods and not exercising, and they fulfill that prophecy of never ending medications. Doctors often lose momentum with patients as it takes less time and effort to start a medicine than to intensively discuss diet and exercise regimens. These are big problems. Escalating health care costs are another byproduct of this situation. More medications, more labs to be drawn, more visits to specialists, even gastric bypass surgery... it never ends. But it can be stopped. I've seen it happen. All it takes, as Dr. David Kessler says, it to change the rules. People have to change their rules of eating. Cook more, learn healthy tasty ingredients to use and choose food wisely when eating out. I'm hoping that this blog and its links to interesting cooking and grocery sites will help people find the right path. The time is now!!

Tea

I used to drink soda all day long at work mainly because it was there....we have sales reps bring in lunch almost on a daily basis...lucky us. A few months back I decided to drop soda all together. I replaced my lunch time drink with water which works out fine. For the afternoon I drink herbal tea or regular tea. I realized that in the winter mostly I am much happier drinking something warm and tea does the trick. I drink it straight but many obviously choose honey or sugar and/ or milk. The nice thing about drinking tea straight or water is that there is really no nutritional issues to be concerned with. No calories, no fat, just the sensation of something warm and wet which is all I really am looking for it turns out.

If you choose to drink tea, knwo that there is caffeine in real tea... black and green tea leaves. Herbal varieties will usually tell you that they are decaffeinated.

Another Kind of Oatmeal

I never was a big fan of oatmeal until recently. At a conference last year I tried steel cut oats and found them to be a bit different than the average oatmeal. The flavor is nuttier and the texture to me is less mushy. So what are they? Alton Brown did a nice segment on oats recently and summarized the different forms of oats out there. Rolled oats are what most of us are used to buying in the store in a big round box. Rolled oats take about 10 minutes to cook. When rolled oats are fragmented a bit more they can be purchased as quick oats which cook even more quickly but are a bit mushier. I try to stay away from instant oatmeal as its really mushy, almost pasty and contains all kinds of additives and sugars that you really don't need. Steel cut oats are the oat s prior to rolling them. They look like little nuggets almost, kind of like what the old grape nuts looked like.

You can buy steel cut oats in the grocery store but in bulk at a health food store they are half the price. The problem with them is that they cook up in no less than a half hour so the dish is not easy to pull together if you are rushing off to work in the am. I make a batch the beginning of the week and keep it in the fridge, then microwave a bowl each morning with some maple syrup, raisins and cinnamon and a little milk...great stuff and very filling. Give it a try and let me know what you think!!

LF

an interesting perspective on meat eating and cattle ranching

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/opinion/31niman.html