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I’m not a huge fan of the phrase weight loss, because I bought into the concept, that subconsciously, things that have been lost need to be found. I believe I picked up that idea from the author of Thin Within, Judy Wardell (Judy Halliday now, or before?). I prefer the idea of “releasing energy.” Everything is energy. Matter and energy can go back and forth, just like water and ice cubes. You can melt the ice and have water (energy, in this analogy), and you can freeze the water to again have ice (solid matter…or is it?). You can also turn ice into steam. Interesting! I’ll admit I have recently released 82.6 pounds of unusable, burdensome energy that is now free in the world to perform good needs and spread kindness, compassion and courtesy to one another. I wish this were the first time I needed to address an eating compulsion. It is not. But I won’t try to explain it, excuse it, or even examine it. Today, I am merely celebrating a transition to a new, healthier phase of my life. I eat vegetables as though they might disappear tomorrow, and if I don’t eat vitamin K and E and A and C now, how will I be the fit, energetic, helpful, vital person I choose to be? Me, June 13 2008, the morning after I joined Weight Watchers I apologize that the images aren’t identical in dress and pose. One cannot wear a size 2X top at 147 pounds without looking like she’s on the way to bed! (Don’t you hate those befores and afters where they get a full beauty makeover in the after but look like @#$% in the before?) The photo I’m showing as after was actually taken five months ago, but since I own all the cameras in the family, no one ever takes pictures of me (well, I do, but there’s quite a bit of set up involved in self-photography.) I’ve released about 10 pounds since then. OK, I acknowledge the person in the photo to the right looks confident and relaxed…and a little bit daring: bring it on! The gal above is trying hard to look fun and involved in life, but is hiding behind fat and gobs of eating because of dissatisfactory circumstances which she chose to forget over food. (The necklace is the same.) One reason people look better in all their after pictures is they feel better about themselves. Their friends and casual acquaintances tell them how terrific they look (some urge: “but don’t lose any more”). Cute, inexpensive clothes are made for smaller sizes, at least in women’s. To get large-size stylish clothing, one has to step up to some specialty shops. At the Weight Watchers meeting tonight, people confirmed a common benefit of reaching their goal weight is they look younger. A late-80s-year-old writing mentor of mine told my partner she’d better take good care of me and keep me close or someone would surely snatch me up because I’ve become so attractive. She swears I could pass for 20 years younger. I’m not sure about that, but in many more natural and less flattering photos than top left, I’m sure I looked 20 or more years older! I was reluctant to join Weight Watchers. I’m not much of a joiner. I sit on the end of the row in any sort of meeting so I can make a hasty escape. I’m an independent thinker. Weight Watchers seemed so mainstream. It has worked for me. Now a lifetime member, I will continue to go to the meetings until I believe my eating disorder is cured. It may never be cured. But tonight I’m happy and thankful and grateful and about to eat spaghetti! Yay! What’s your story? Me, Aug. 9, 2009, five months before reaching the Weight Watcher’s highest weight limit for my height: their Lifetime Member requirement.

I switched from soy sauce to Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids. While I haven’t performed a side-by-side taste test, neither would I be able to tell the difference if given two equally seasoned foods! My neighbor mentioned she didn’t use soy sauce, because her husband is allergic to MSG (all the names that masquerades under would be good material for another blog!). I asked, “Have you tried Bragg Liquid Aminos?” She’d never heard of it, but promised to look into it. I offered to loan her some. She emailed me back that what she learned online made it sound like pretty much the same product as soy sauce. I found a good discussion of how Bragg Amino Acids are made on the Essential Oil Cookbook site. I figured asking how Bragg’s is made would offer the clue to whether it’s the same as soy sauce. (And how many amino acids are in soy sauce?) Evidently Bragg has not revealed their process. Now here’s information about soysauce that will really blow you away: Twenty-five kinds of soy sauce were clearly distinguished with the sensor, but classification into three conventional groups, i.e., koikuchi (high amino acid, low NaCl), usukuchi (low amino acid, high NaCl) and sashimi, could not be made. Contrary to this, it was found that the tastes of three types of soy sauce, which were produced by the same manufacturer, resembled each other. The similarity of soy sauce by the same manufacturer was also confirmed by amino acid analysis and a sensory test. The taste sensor will contribute to automated soy sauce brewing. As it turns out, all soy sauce has amino acids and sodium chloride. The proportion may vary and definitely varies in soy sauce, because you can buy low-sodium soy sauce. Here’s my own little study comparing 1 Tablespoon of two products: Liquid Amino Acids Food Club Soy Sauce Sodium 960 mg 5% more than -> 910 mg Carbs .6 g 40% less than -> 1 g Protein 1.86 g 86% more than -> 1g One thing that can be said for the Bragg product is they certify they do not use genetically modified soybeans (GMO = genetically modified organism). And one more thing: liquid amino acids sounds more healthful than anything with the word “sauce” in it! Good marketing, Bragg! If you can shed light on this discussion, or even just your own experiences, FoodBlogger would love to hear from you!

Eat the deepest, darkest, richest colors of fruits and vegetables you can find. White foods – potatoes, pasta, rice, corn – have been reduced in the diets of many health-minded people. Some are motivated to lower the percentage of carbohydrates in their diet. Some want to lose weight. Others are looking for phytonutrients. You’ve probably heard since grade school you should eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts. After watching yesterday’s Ominvore’s Dilemma video by Michael Pollan, I believe the width of the variety is more important than I had thought. We get most of our food from four plants, he said. All together now: “That’s just wrong!” I attended a nutrition lecture given by Dr. Michael Gregor. Annually, he reads hundreds of peer-reviewed nutrition studies to remain current with the latest scientific evidence on nutrition. In his game-show style presentation, he flashed pictures of related fruits and vegetables and asked the audience to answer, for example, which apple is better for you? Which is it? While these are not the same apples used in Dr. Gregor’s talk, I remember the winner was red delicious. I was disappointed, because golden delicious was my favorite. (I find red delicious skins are often tough.) But by the time that round of quizzing was over, I’d caught onto how to answer each question correctly. The food with the deepest color wins. Thus, winter squash are going to deliver greater vitamins and more phytonutrients than are summer squash. Unfortunately, pine nuts (another favorite of mine) ranked lowest on the list of nuts, with _____ delivering the best nutritional value. (Type in your answers below. I’ll pop back to the blog and update you after we have several guest answers.) But that makes sense: pine nuts are white. Therefore, it’s illogical to peel the red delicious apple before eating it, right? The most-popular vegetable in America is broccoli. It’s very good for you. But Swiss chard has nearly 20 times as much vitamin A! However, broccoli has nearly four times as much folate and nearly three times as much vitamin C. That’s why you need to graze all the way down the greens aisle. I know I would be happy with green peas, green beans, spinach and broccoli. After hearing Dr. Gregor’s talk, I’ve made a concerted effort to also eat mustard greens and turnip greens. (I haven’t bought collards yet, but I’m thinking about it.) I even switched onions. Which offer the most healing power to the body? I think you can guess that would be red. He threatened he never wanted to see or hear of any of us ever buying a white onion again. (Busted: that was my favorite, but I’ve switched.) In Weight Watchers I learned most people eat the same 15-20 foods over and over. My list is over 100. And I’m still broadening it. According to Pollan’s analysis, soy burgers, tofu, soymilk, tempeh, etc would be one food. Why? They’re all from the same plant. Counting the source would reduce my “varieties.” Are you ready to take the eat deeper colors challenge? And diversify y0ur fruits and vegetables? You can find nutrition values online, but you don’t really need them, unless you’re treating a specific condition. Just follow that grade school advice: eat a wide variety. And add to that advice: Eat color! Photo courtesy of PDPhoto.org

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, speaking at UC Davis Mondavi Center, on agricultural sustainability. Specifically, he address organic foods versus locally grown foods. If you’ve not yet read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, please do take the time to watch (or listen to) this video. The larger the food distribution system, the more dependent it is upon foreign oil. Transportation supplies 18% of the carbon footprint. Food is 17%. So while we’re driving hybrid cars, what are we doing to change the way we eat?

What is the world’s most-nutritious food? I wondered, so I Googled it. The answers convinced me that isn’t the right question. Here are results from just the first page of Google search: wolfberry, milk, spirulina, prunes, prunes (2 listings, different sources) and idly. Noticeably absent from this list are avocados, bananas and chia seeds. (Of course, there are reasons a webpage receives top ranking in Google that may have little to do with the content on that page, but the ranking does show popularity of the site for the phrase “most nutritious food”.) One of the holistic health writers I followed as a young person said “Apples are the best food.” I questioned that. Looking into it further, I discovered the context involved availability and storability–both key factors when she wrote in the early 20th century, and much less so today. But this does make the point that convinced me searching for the “most nutritious food” is misguided. What is best for you to eat is something that is: Where you live seems to be the first consideration when considering a “world’s best food.” If goji berries grow outside your front door, eat them! Some countries, like the United States, have access to exotic foods from all over the world. Myriad companies are selling fruits, both dried and juiced, that were unknown in the West 15 years ago. Supermarket cashiers are no longer expected to know what kind of pear or squash is rolling across their scanner–the varieties are so great, each item has a code number. What is the most-nutritious food you currently eat? I’d like to hear about it in the comments below and get some discussion going. Or is there something you aspire to add to your diet but you haven’t yet?

Safeway Organics says, “Organic Wild Mushroom & Cheese Ravioli – 10 Oz We start with organic pasta, then fill it with organic portobello and porcini mushrooms, whole milk ricotta, parmesan and romano cheeses, and a little balsamic vinegar. USDA organic. Certified organic by Quality Assurance International.” Making a truly indulgent dinner, we sauteed about 4 ounces of chopped Baby Bellas (portabello mushrooms) in 2 Tbsp butter. Not wanting to buy or make an Alfredo sauce (watching calories), we used a packet of dried Stroganoff mix over the mushrooms. Instead of a cup of sour cream, we added the remainder of a cup of non-fat Greek Yogurt (Fage) and a bit of the boiling water from the ravioli cauldron. We steamed a gorgeous bundle of fat asparagus spears until completely tender, yet still bright green. An Organics mixed greens salad with avocado, tomato and green onion added, along with an Organics red wine vinaigrette filled out our plates, making for a totally delicious repast including sweet, sour, salt, bitter and decadent satiety with the butter-sauteed mushrooms in light brown sauce. I’m not trying to trumpet Safeway or their new Organics brand particularly, but they’ve recently upsurged their organic product line, and it’s worth noticing if you’re health-minded and frugal, both of which I am. (In fact, I got five pounds of organic red delicious apples for under $3.00–the price of about two other-branded organic apples!) Are you a fan or organic food? Have you tried any of Safeway’s? What can you add to this discussion of ravioli, asparagus and spring greens salad?

Another new discovery I made recently is precooked organic brown rice, tucked away in the frozen food aisle of Safeway of all places! Part of Safeway’s new “Organics” line, it’s so new it isn’t even on their website yet! Three microwavable pouches come in each box. While the package lists each pouch as 2 servings, one cup of brown rice would be four points in Weight Watchers, so I prefer to divide a pouch into at least three servings. The rice is grown in Northern California’s Sacramento Valley, by farmers committed to sustainable practices. The best part about it is it is not genetically modified. No, the best part about it is I can have rice when I think of it, instead of needing to think of it 45 minutes to an hour before I want it!  It is prepared without salt or added fat. The 10 calories of fat per cupful are naturally-occurring. Now you know what to serve your Napa cabbage stir fry with 5-spice powder over!

My new favorite vegetable is Napa cabbage, sometimes called Chinese cabbage. I’ve ventured to try it only recently, and it is a delight both to cook and to eat. Napa cabbage is a cultivar of Brassica rapa, a wild mustard. Compared to common head cabbage (Brassica oleracea), it is milder tasting, greener all the way through the head, and less likely to go mushy on the way to being cooked tender. I think of it as sort of a cross between lettuce and cabbage, which of course it isn’t, but it does have lettuce-like qualities, such as being very leafy, unlike common head cabbage that is more dense and has a larger core. I did a quick stir fry with onion, garlic, celery, carrots and 5-spice powder. Five-spice was new to me, too. I’ll do a separate blog on that. Another time, I simmered sliced cabbage leaves and garlic with a can of Mexican style stewed tomatoes and Morningstar Farms burger crumbles–a quick, nurturing and delicious lunch. Napa cabbage seems to produce less waste, because more of the vegetable is edible. Another reason to love Napa cabbage is it doesn’t stink up the kitchen or the refrigerator.

This is a guest post by gourmet cook Heather Molans. Having heard that mesquite flour is very tasty, I began pricing it. Five dollars would procure only a small baggie full from a local that teaches classes about edible plants in the south west. Thinking that too costly, I decided to make my own mesquite flour! I eagerly awaited the end-of-summer when the pods are ready to harvest. I decided to pick them green, before the boring insects could drill holes into them. I harvested about 5 pounds from trees on vacant lots in our neighborhood as we walked our dogs one morning. I had picked the bottoms of the trees clean at our final location, and Jimmy offered to pick from the upper branches if I would hold both dogs. I had no sooner taken their leashes when Penny saw a rabbit. Fortunately, although I was pretty skinned up, nothing was broken! … [part of the original post may have been lost] Curious, I pushed just the end of a teaspoon into the less than 1 quart of mesquite flour that I had gleaned from about 5 pounds of pods. My senses were overwhelmed with a sweetness that can’t be described. I hope there are still some pods for the summer harvest – it’s worth everything – except I’ll leave the dogs home next time!! July 7, 2023