Salty & Sweet
by Laura Richter
Through a process of experimentation, I’ve made a discovery all on my own only to find that there is evidence to support the bold claim I’m about to make. If I reduce my salt intake, my desire for sweets goes away.
Lemon & Salt - Laura Richter
Yep, you read that right. Through this sideways approach, I can actually set my body up to crave or not crave certain foods. Imagine the freedom from white knuckled will power as the only means to overcome a sweet tooth. It’s been a huge relief. And there is more help on the way. A New York state assemblyman has proposed that salt be banned from food prep in restaurants. Perhaps a little extreme, but when a friend went to culinary school, she also had to go back on her blood pressure meds. Surely there’s a happy medium to be found somewhere in all of this.
Clearly, one does not have a whole lot of control on what happens in the kitchen when we go out with our friends. You can ask your waiter to go easy on the salt or ask that no salt be added to your dish so you can season it tableside. Even In-N-Out will refrain from adding salt if you make that request when ordering your burger. Of course fast food cheeseburgers are probably not the best dietary choice you can make, but I did say In-N-Out. You gotta have one of those every once in a while. Am I right? This once in a blue moon treat is plenty salty if you’ve sufficiently reduced your sodium intake. Until you get out of the habit of eating salt, you won’t really be able to taste when your food has been over salted.
I believe that salt should enhance the flavors of the foods we eat but all too often we drown out the nuances of fresh ingredients with too much sodium. Sodium is something we’re unbelievably heavy handed with and making a few simple adjustments can have a huge impact. You can cultivate a cleaner palate by using simple cooking tricks at home. Of course you can turn to garlic, but its potent flavors can also overpower quite easily and you still might not be able to discern when your food is too salty.
One technique that I’ve stumbled on to is the use of lemon in cooking. Fry up some hamburger with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of dill. You might be surprised at the flavors. It’s bright and tasty. You can add a quarter cup of this to a salad for some protein and if you feel your salad needs some salt, you can safely do so. Lemon is great on steaks and chicken. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Where you might sprinkle some salt, you might want to opt for a little fresh lemon juice instead.
Still not convinced that you have to worry about the sodium levels in your food? You might want to think about this; the maximum recommended amount of sodium is 2400 milligrams. A ¼ teaspoon gives you 500 milligrams. So the maximum recommended dose of salt each day is roughly 1 ¼ teaspoons. I can assure you that much, and more, is used in the preparation of food you eat each and every day.
Processed foods have high levels of sodium, frequently one serving will have more than a third of your daily recommended amount. What portion of the food you eat comes in a wrapper or a box? When was the last time you checked out the nutrition label? You might want to take a second look at what you’re eating already. It could change what you crave as your day unfolds.
If you’ve got other sodium reduction tips, please share them with us. We’re on this journey together and I’d love to hear your ideas.
Thanks,
Laura Richter
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Colcannon
by Laura Richter
St. Patrick’s Day can be a great day to get together with friends for a feast and some beer. As with all celebrations, there’s the risk of gaining weight due to overindulging. There’s certainly a spate of advice on how to manage your diet while at a party. Eat an apple before you go out. Have an extra workout. Drink sparkling water with a piece of fruit in it. Puh-leez! We’re
BlogColcannon
talking about a Guinness guzzling, corned beef and cabbage eating, bar crawl with a gang of your best friends. I’m not about to tell you to skip out on anything (except driving yourself home afterwards).
I give you Colcannon. Colcannon is a combo of mashed potatoes and greens, usually cabbage or kale. Cruciferous vegetables are believed to be strong cancer fighting vegetables (1) and the nutrients in these vegetables actually stimulate your body to flush out toxins (2). Of course, to take full advantage of the health benefits, you might want to go easy on the quantity of beer that accompanies your Colcannon.
Personally, I try to avoid overly processed ingredients. The nice thing about this dish is that you can use real butter and even heavy cream without adversely affecting the health benefits (within reason, of course).
Colcannon:
1 head Cabbage, coarsely shredded
1 Leek, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
1 Tbsp. Caraway Seeds
1 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
4 large Potatoes
1-2 Tbsp Butter
¼ cup Milk (or Cream)
Get the potatoes peeled and boiling first. I know many people quarter their potatoes for boiling but I cut them into eighths, for quicker cooking time. It should take about 25 minutes for the pieces to be soft enough to mash. You will want to mash your potatoes so they’re slightly runny (add more milk and butter as needed).
In a deep skillet or pot, throw in the cabbage, leek and onion. Put a lid on the pan and over medium heat allow the vegetables to sweat. Occasionally check on them and give them a stir. They should appear to be shiny after about 10 minutes and soft in about 20 minutes. Stir in Caraway Seeds and Vinegar. Vegetables should be hot, a bit limp but cabbage will still have a bit of crunch. Remove from heat. (Overcooking cabbage contributes to bitterness some people complain about.)
Add potatoes to vegetables a little bit at a time until the vegetables bind together. I eyeball it as when making coleslaw. The green vegetables should be the dominating element but who doesn’t like mashed potatoes? So have fun and come up with the proportion that works for you. For fun, you might want to add a bit of ham or bacon but only if you plan to forego the corned beef altogether.
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/foods/cruciferous/
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=19
Thanks,
Laura
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How to Dress Your Salad for Success
by Laura Richter
Are you reading the labels of the foods you eat? Of course, I shop the perimeter of the store where the freshest foods are found, but there are some pantry items that require deeper exploration of the store. There, lost in the corridors of processed foods, I examine the list of ingredients before I buy. I always worry when I see the frequent appearance of the letter X.
An X word I’m always on the look out for is Xanthan Gum. Ever heard of it? If you are a salad eater and a label reader, you’ve certainly encountered this processed food gem. Xanthan gum frequently appears in bottled salad dressings. It thickens the liquid so that the heavier particles don’t sink. Without it, salad dressings normally separate, spices floating on the bottom and oils floating to the top. Basically, it’s added for appearance. The bra of the dressing world, Xanthan gum lifts your ingredients and suspends them.
Not all uses are cosmetic. People on a gluten-free diet may find this in the foods they eat to replace the stickiness of the missing gluten. So for people with wheat allergies, this isn’t such a frivolous additive.
“Xanthan Gum is made from the outer layer of a tiny, inactive bacterium called Xanthomonas campestris. It is an excellent all purpose thickener for dressings, gravies and sauces. Its unique ability to hold small particles of food together makes it the ideal substitute for gluten in gluten-free baking. Most recipes call for only 1 or 2 teaspoons, so it goes a long way.”
– Vitacost.com (http://www.vitacost.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Premium-Quality-Xanthan-Gum?csrc=GPF-039978025555)
So what’s the big deal? Why am I sharing this info with you? Xanthan gum is itself an allergen for some folks. The symptoms are rarely apparent yet they are very dangerous. Xanthan gum can cause a short term elevation in blood pressure. For people who are fighting to lose weight and take better care of their hearts, this salad dressing favorite can be counter-productive. Most people are unaware of changes in their blood pressure because it’s rare to have any outwardly detectable physical symptoms. It would be so much easier if there was a rash or swelling to let us know about this shift but all too often this is not the case.
You might find that despite reducing carbs, you’re still tired an hour after your meal. A spike in blood pressure can leave you feeling tired and worn out afterwards, not unlike a blood sugar spike (which is why you probably cut the carbs from your lunch in the first place.) Experiment with cutting out foods that have Xanthan gum and see if there’s a change in your energy levels. This means many salad dressings, virtually all cream cheeses, and plenty of gluten free products will need to be avoided.
On the up side, fresh salad dressings cost less money, taste marvelous and really let the flavors of your salad shine through. Bottled dressings don’t really save time, so you’re not losing anything on that score. Items I like to keep on hand for quick, fresh and delicious salad dressings are:
Olive oil
Something acidic – Lemons and Various vinegars
For a creamy dressing – Cottage cheese and Sour cream
Various spices and Fresh herbs
A big favorite of mine lately is 2 Tbsp Sour Cream, 1 Tbsp Olive Oil, 1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar, dill, cayenne and fresh cracked pepper. I throw this into the salad directly and mix by tossing it all together. It’s enough to dress a salad for 2 people, so when you do the caloric breakdown, it’s about 150 calories for the entire recipe. That’s 75 calories per serving. Not too shabby.
Thanks,
Laura Jean Richter
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Diet Season
by Laura Jean Richter
Researching a product I recently discovered I came across a perplexing phrase: Just in time for Diet Season!
Diet season? Really? After having a good laugh about this I began to think about what might define Diet Season. It’s the post-holiday, pre-bikini portion of the year where we take stock of the damage done over the holidays. The shame. The panic. The frenzy. The temptation to buy magic candy bars that will melt away the pounds… all hallmarks of Diet Season and all of it likely to induce the kind of stress that triggers emotional overeating. The implication of “Diet Season” is ludicrous – as if we only need to watch what we eat for three months out of every twelve.
Spring has sprung but instead of subjecting yourself to the psychological damage of Diet Season, perhaps you can take a moment to really assess your situation. There is a difference between 
being fat and being unhealthy. Shifting your focus from a body image that may be doing more harm than good to engaging in more healthful practices designed to improve the quality of your life might be just the thing to help you make permanent change that can free you from the yo-yo dieting that many of us have fallen prey to over the years.
I’m a big fan of eating seasonally and by visiting Farmers Markets in my neighborhood in the last year I’ve lost nearly 50 pounds. There’s a lot more to what I’m doing than just eating salads, but starting with fresh ingredients that were grown nearby is a substantial step in the right direction. I’ve also found that eating this way is good for the pocketbook as well. Instead of purchasing expensive processed foods and throwing them together, I’ve saved money by whipping up such things as Stewed Eggplant and Mushrooms over Couscous or making the mostly vegetarian 5 Ingredients Soup. It should be no surprise that it’s a simple soup made with 5 ingredients from the market – something tomato-y, something vegetable-y, any variety of beans, herbs and water or stock. Focusing on vegetables first and cooking seasonally has been a huge benefit to changing how I eat. Latching on to a practice of eating according to the seasons rather than under the influence of advertising gimmicks has set me free from the torture and depression of Diet Season.
To get you started on a new cycle of healthy eating in synch with the planet and your local environment, I’m including a few helpful websites below. Get out to the Farmers’ Market, get some Vitamin D, pick up some delicious fresh food and get off the Diet Season train! You’ll be glad you did.
The Sustainable Table
“Sustainable Table celebrates local sustainable food, educates consumers on food-related issues and works to build community through food.”
Local Harvest
“Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer.”
Eat Well Guide
“The Eat Well Guide® is a free online directory for anyone in search of fresh, locally grown and sustainably produced food in the United States and Canada.”
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Laura Richter
Laura is a feature film writer and a true foodie. She has a passion for all things tasty and is on a personal journey of becoming more healthy. She has lost over 40 pounds on her own and she will be sharing her journey through the recipes, emotions, and experiences of creating a healthy life!
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