Renewed and Energized

A colleague recently gave a speech called Diets Don't Work.  He spoke about his own struggle with food, eating junk foods indiscriminately while in college without regard to consequences, and later, as he realized that he had gained an inordinate amount of weight, endeavored to try whatever diet was popular or interesting to shed those excess pounds.  He related staying on the Atkins diet about a day and a half, and we all laughed knowingly.  He continued to tell us of his efforts, and his discovery not too much later that the secret, if there is one, is not to diet, but enjoy whatever foods you like, but in moderation.  He mentioned that he loves soda, and would drink three or four cans of it in one day, to the tune of about 800 empty calories.  He realized that such empty calories did nothing for his weight, not to mention his health, and so began a journey of acknowledgment and recognition.  With a bit of tweaking, he started diminishing his intake of sodas, or substituting water or tea.  He learned that eating whole fruit was much more satisfying than merely drinking the soda.  And thus began his journey of acquainting himself with favorite foods that he had eschewed and reintroducing sanity into his lifestyle. 

My colleague is a young man, trim and handsome.  It's hard to believe that he once carried 25 extra pounds.  But that's so easy to do in our society, with the huge portions of fried simple carbohydrates and our sedentary lifestyles.  And so, as I realized I had a like-minded friend in our midst, I introduced him to my writings on the subject.  Moreover, such affinity also reignited whatever cooling embers I may have had lately about my own diet.  Reenergized, renewed in my commitment, I have been busy chopping and cooking all kinds of salads, from a Moroccan carrot salad with raisins (one of my childhood favorites) to a simple salad of cherry tomatoes, radishes and olives.  Bliss!

Caveman Diet, Paleo Diet, Doug McGuff and Jamie Oliver

I'm amazed at the wisdom out there.  The proponents of the Caveman Diet and the Paleo Diet (essentially similar), not to forget Atkins' Diet Revolution, claim that our diets as human animals ought to resemble our ancestors'.  Duh!  Of course!  Our way of eating should resemble the hunters and gatherers of old, and the "proof" of that is in our biology and body structure.  We have a long small intestine, to accommodate a prolonged digestion that extracts as much nutrition as possible from root vegetables and fruits; and our dentition also includes teeth that grind vegetation (the molars).  Compare these anatomy characteristics to the big cats whose diet consists exclusively of meat - they must chase (speed, sprint-style running), catch and overcome their prey, and then tear its flesh with huge canines and huge claws.  Not so for the humans.  Compared to the big cats, we have relatively large thigh muscles for endurance running as we forage for food, and we do not have the claws or canines for tearing meat.

Jamie Oliver is on a mission to revolutionize school lunches.  Bravo!  Do we love our children so little as to allow candy machines in every hallway?  How did the food industry get so powerful as to make processed food so terribly prevalent?  Yes, I know, politics and lobbies.  Now let's get some of our own lobbyists for proper, healthy nutrition.

Le lait caille

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This is loosely known as yogurt in the west; but throughout the Mediterranean, especially during my childhood, yogurt was made from whole milk, in a consistency of what we now know as Greek yogurt: thick, full bodied, and full of flavor.  The yogurt that is now ubiquitous on grocery store shelves is typically full of sugar or jam, fat free, frequently sugar free, and sadly, not nearly as delicious as the "lait caille" of my childhood.  Lait caille means fermented milk, or curdled milk, and is nothing more than yogurt.  It is delicious, and better yet, a lavish source of beneficial intestinal bacteria and calcium.

As is so often the case in developing countries, many uses have been found for yogurt.  In Greece, they make Dzadziki, which is a salad of chopped or sliced cucumbers and minced garlic, mixed into the yogurt; in Egypt, they top the yogurt with fried onions; in India, they make curried yogurt; and in Iran, they serve rice topped with cooked lentils, topped with a dollup of yogurt.  All delicious and quite nutritious fare.

Don't Tell The Kids!

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I am continually amazed by the efforts to which food manufacturers -- and this country's educational system in general -- go to delude, deceive, disguise, and otherwise pretend that things aren't what they are.

Take nutrition, for example.  The current First Lady, Michelle Obama, is setting a fine example in starting her own vegetable garden at the White House, and tackling childhood obesity.  A wonderful ambition aimed at improving health across the country, and with it, perhaps cut the spiraling costs of medical delivery.  Yet, in today's paper, there is an article on Kraft having joined the ranks of companies such as ConAgra and Chef Boyardee in adding veggies to their packaged products, such as the latest addition of cauliflower to their Mac & Cheese.  But "Don't tell the kids!" was the line after that.

Indeed, efforts abound to hide vegetables from children, the argument being that they will not eat the favored Mac & Cheese if they knew veggies were lurking inside.  What abomination!  How is it possible that we are raising a crop of people who are taught and encouraged to dislike vegetables?  Why are people claiming - in all sincerity -- that French fries are their vegetables?  Why are spinach and okra, corn and tomatoes, despised in their natural form, and are made to take on such weird forms before they are consumed, e.g., spaghetti sauce in a jar, corn as tortillas, spinach as a dip with more cheese than spinach, eaten with corn chips.

I do have one answer: vegetables have gotten a bad rap because for decades, they have been presented as steamed, presumably in an effort to cut fat and thus calories.  But steamed vegetables have no taste, no flavor, and are a big reason for people's distaste for them, like the child on the TV commercial who secretly passes off his broccoli to the dog under the table, or the V8 commercial for people who think vegetables taste "too vegetably."  Hmm.

I have written before about the Mediterranean Diet, a diet rich in all forms of vegetables, olive oil, fish and grains.  This diet is not only exalted as one of the healthiest in the world, but also as one of the tastiest.  Children in the Mediterranean region are taught from early age to love vegetables in all their varieties, but those vegetables are also prepared in creative ways, are tasty grilled, roasted, pureed, and are always well seasoned and palatable.

It might be challenging at first to reeducate one's palate, but it would also be eminently worthwhile to learn how to prepare a gumbo with okra, fresh sweet corn and farm tomatoes, adding some sausage and chicken for additional flavor.  Why not take this on as a challenge?  Vegetables tasting "too vegetably"?  Gimme more!