Popcorn, Revisited

 

 

Synchronicities are everywhere these days!  I have a friend who is in the middle of a two week cleanse; her first week was all raw food and now she's on six or seven days of juice.  I recieved an e-mail from her this morning saying how she was craving popcorn.  The synchronicty?  I had awoken a little before 5am thinking about popcorn and wanting to write a post about it.  Weird!!

 

The two "vices" I still struggle with as I've adopted healthier eating habits are red wine and popcorn.  Mind you, I'm not trying to be all puritanical and will myself to totally give them up.  Well, I'm struggling with that urge, let's say.  I do know that most everything can be enjoyed in moderation - it's the moderation I have the hardest time with.  It's no problem for me to make a huge pot of popcorn and drink two or three glasses of wine on both Friday and Saturday nights, sitting down with my wife to watch Downton Abbey, Modern Family or Harry Potter.   Maybe that doesn't seem too terrible to many of you, but the more I learn and read, the more I'm concerned about my popcorn addiction.

 

Totally NOT my family, by the way

 

 

It's not junky microwave popcorn, either, we gave that up, with its accompanying load of toxic chemicals, long ago.  No, this is pretty old-fashioned homemade popcorn, made in my big 16 quart stockpot.  Canola oil, probably 1/4 to 1/2 cup and 1 cup of popcorn kernels - into the huge bowl with some sea salt - soooo delicious.  It's oil, though, that may be the problem, and not even because it's pure fat without much nutritional value.  Most oil contain 120 calories per tablespoon, so that's 480 calories in 1/4 cup, 960 in 1/2 cup.  Which means that if I use a 1/2 cup to make our popcorn (I don't really measure, but I bet that's about right) and I eat half of the bowl, that's 480 calories just from the oil, not including the popcorn itself.  So that's potentially an issue.  My hero Joel Fuhrman, of course, is pretty seriously anti-fat, and while I still mostly subscribe to his theory, we also know that our bodies do need fat for proper brain function.

 

However, even aside from the fat content and caloric density of oil, the other potential problem comes from subjecting the oil to high heat (and it's got to be pretty hot to pop those kernels).  It seems that when cooking oils are heated to their smoke point and beyond, the oil begins to decompose and the antioxidants (good for us and present in both canola and olive oil) break down and get replaced by free radicals (the opposite of antioxidants, the molceules that literally "age" us).  This process creates a host of potentially dangerous molecules, things like "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons," "advanced glycemic end-products" and acrylamide (I'm not making those things up).  These chemicals are produced when certain foods, often meat, but numerous plant foods as well, are subjected to various forms of high-temperature cooking - grilling and frying among them.  As much I used to love a seared steak on the grill, foods that get charred are the most likely to contain these dangerous chemicals.  Those three chemicals have been implicated in a number of diseases, cancer, diabetes and heart disease among them.  The fact that these are produced by cooking (even though it may only be some cooking methods and some foods) has been used as part of the scientific foundation for the raw food movement.  No cooking = no dangerous by-products.  It does make sense.

 

 Does Toast Cause Cancer - well...



 

After finding out about all this, though, I've been feeling guiltier and guiltier on those Friday and Saturday nights, especially whenI come back into the kitchen and the end of the night, lift the lid off the stockpot and smell that burnt oil.  I have been wondering what stuff may be doing inside me.

 

 

 

But what am I supposed to do?  Give up that delicous snack, my last bit of yummy salty crunch?  Make air-popped popcorn?  All of us who lived through the 1980s remember that stuff and how almost tasteless it was - unless, of course, you did what my family did, melt half a stick of butter in that little metal tray on the popper and pour that on top.  And I won't be doing that.  To be fair, though, I haven't had that air-popped popcorn probably since the 1980s, so perhaps I need to just give it a try and, like they did after my first juice cleanse last year, my taste buds will adjust.

 

Another Way - Chickpea Popcorn

 

 

 

There is, however, another alternative, one I discovered, dare I say it, on the Dr. Oz show (okay, Joel Fuhrman was on, so I taped it): ChickPea Popcorn.  Totally awesome snack, can easily replace popcorn, and isn't just "not bad" for you, it's super healthy!!  (See my bit on beans, back here).  Here's how you do it.

 

• 1 can (15 ounces) chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained (about 2 cups)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (really?  after all I said about it up there?  just a tablespoon)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tesp garlic powder
• sea salt to taste (a few pinches seems to do the trick)

 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. In a bowl mix the chick peas with the oil and seasoning until well coated
3. Spread in one layer on a baking sheet (one with shallow sides is best so they don't come off when you shake them)
4. Every 15 minutes or so, pull the tray out and shake it so they don't stick
5. Bake for 50-70 minutes depending on how crispy you'd like them
6. Let cool and enjoy - so delicious!!

 

On a large baking sheet you can fit three times this amount (three cans or six cups).  They last at least a few days, so I've made at least two cans each time I've done it.  You can obviously play around with the spices you use - try something spicy, or sweet, perhaps.

 

Like the Sweet Pea Salad, the greatest judges are my kids, both of whom DEVOUR these.  Not only have we eaten them while watching a movie all together, they TAKE THEM TO SCHOOL!  That's a huge testament - there's no more food love than that.

 

I hope you enjoy them!

 

Be well,

 

sal

Peas Please!

Thanks!

First off, let me say "thank you" to all of the well-wishes (is that a phrase?) and words of support and encouragement for my new venture/direction (detailed in my last post).  I'm grateful for all those who beleive in me, even when I sometimes doubt myself.  Gratitude is something I'm working on, slowly coming to - it's not my go-to reaction.  For most of my life my go-to reaction, instead of being grateful for what I did have, was wondering why I didn't have more.  That certainly doesn't make for much ease, peace, love or joy, I'll tell you that.  There is some pretty neat research being done in the field of Positive Psychology that shows a direct correlation between gratitude and happiness.  Years, ago, no lie, I would have scoffed at this idea, "knowing" for certain that gratitude came from happiness (and happiness came from things, of course), not the other way around - but, as you know if you've been reading any of this blog, BIG CHANGES ARE AFOOT!!!!  (and it's clearly not just about food - wow!)
 

Southern Sweet Pea Salad

"Sufferin' Succotash!"  No wait, succotash has, like, lima beans in it, doesn't it?

If you don't know this already, I'm a teacher, and I live in Virginia.  The "real" Virginia, mind you, where health food and wellness are not major priorities for a lot of folks.  While we're by no means the worst state, we're far from the picture of health - 15th most obese in the nation, with an obesity rate of 29.2% (see map below).  That's just the obesity rate and doesn't include include overweight - nationally the two of those combined are about 66% of the U.S. population.  (And let's be honest here, the only reason we're not as bad as say Louisiana or Mississippi (with over 34% obese) is because we have so many "fake" Virginians in our state, i.e., the slimmer, cosmopolitan, exercising and more health-conscious residents of the DC area and Northern Virginia).

This "realness" is often reflected in the food choices presented to the teachers at my school.  We have faculty coffees once a month where teachers from different departments supply brekfast to the rest of the faculty.  While there are often decent choices, usually fruit, there's still a preponderance of the stuff everyone likes, even if it's pretty unhealthful - croissants, doughnuts, cheese-potato-egg-sausage casseroles, bagels, chicken biscuits, etc.  The first day of school this year was a pefect example.  Our administration provided breakfast for us: biscuits, eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes.  This time there wasn't even any fruit.  I walked in, fresh from a summer of eating rather healthily, thinking at least I'd get a plateful of fresh fruit, say that table and thought "Great, "Welcome back to school, guys!  Here, eat all of this food that will KILL you!"  Yeesh."  I think I ate one biscuit, drank some bottled water and cut my losses.
 

We have a great PTSO (Parent-Teacher-Student Organization) at our school that also feeds us occasionaly: for conferences, Teacher Appreciation Week and the like.  I've actually noticed that the food they've been serving us has taken quite a nice turn toward the healthful.  There's still barbecue and Wayside fried chicken and all the other greasy southern goodies, mind you, but more and more over the past two years, there have been some really great veggie dishes that I've soooo appreciated.  This recipe is one of those.  This actually came from the annual holiday luncheon that our guidance department throws for the staff.  In years past I would GORGE myself at this lunch.  "Free food, heavy, rich, salty and delicious - are you kidding me?  And a table full of chocolate chip cookies for dessert?  Let me shove as much as I possible can into my mouth!"  Ah, food addiction.  But, I digress, back to the veggies...

Here's the recipe as it was given to me by the person who made it for the lunch:

1 can LaSeur small young peas. drained (there are store brands of these, too)

1 can white Shoepeg corn, drained

1 cup chopped onion (sweet, like Vidalia)

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Mix veggies in a bowl, mix dressing separately.  Combine and let sit for at least a few hours (if not overnight) in the fridge.

I decided to call it Southern Sweet Pea Salad, becuase this dressing combination, an oil/vinegar with sugar seems pretty popular in the south, but I altered it while, I think, still keeping the taste the same.  My dressing is as follows:

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp (or one 2g (.07 oz.) packet) Stevia (powdered)

salt and pepper to taste (definiltey NOT 1 tsp of salt)

A note on the Stevia - I've just started experimenting with this stuff.  I've used it in liquid form (I bought this one) in a pumpkin cheesecake (recipe coming soon) and I've used the powdered form in this salad recipe.  It seems like a pretty great replacement for sugar in baking recipes (though I've not tested this out), and it seems pretty good from a health standpoint.  They sell it everywhere now, even my Food Lion in Scottsville has it (not the most health-conscious supermarket or town).  I bought a box of packets - each packet is .07 ounces or 2 grams, and is just tiny bit less than 1/2 teaspoon.  So according to this recipe, that sweetens as much as 1/2 cup sugar.  Strong stuff.  If you want to know more about it, see this and this.  It's from the leaves of the Stevia plant, and it appears to be pretty natural.  Mind you, I'm not planning on using tons and tons of it so I can make sugar-free chocolate chip cookies, I've used it only in very small amounts.

That amount of dressing is PLENTY for the salad - the other very typical southern thing is to have some sort of vegetable salad (potentially very healthy) totally SWIMMING in dressing, negating lots of those veggie health benefits.  If anything, I probably use more than a cup of the celery, onion and green pepper, and even with 1/2 the amount of dressing from the original recipe, it still is plenty.
 

This salad is great, it's one of our new staples, I've made it at least once a week for the past month.  Even my eight year old daughter really likes it - there's no greater approval than that in my book.  It's excellent by itself, or, as we "accidentally" discovered, it's great with some rice or rice and beans.  We made some black rice with white beans and put this on top, fantastic!  I brought it to school for lunch one day and two of the teachers I eat lunch with tried it and loved it.

I also think this would be amazing to make in the spring with some fresh peas and fresh corn, maybe even some tomato - as a matter of fact, I can't wait to try that myself!  My wife thinks it would be good to throw something even crunchier in there, maybe some pine nuts?  Worth a shot.

So there you have it - I hope you enjoy this.

Be well -

sal

Sausage Boy's Big News!

 

Communication Breakdown?

Before I get to said big news, just a little logistical issue.  It's come to my attention that at least one person has tried to respond to my posts by replying to the e-mails they get from Blogger with my posts in them.  If you're someone who gets these posts via e-mail (having entered your e-mail address in little box to the right that says "Follow by Email") and has replied to those e-mails, you should know I never receive them.



The cover of the great album, Led Zeppelin I,

from which the awesome song Communication Breakdown comes.

I guess it would make sense for someone to respond and think that their response would show up in the "Comments" section of that post, but apparently that's not how Blogger works.  You can either respond to me personally via e-mail (salshoes at centurylink dot net) or actually go to the blog and post a comment there.  That being said, if I've offended anyone by not responding, I apologize, I don't receive any e-mail responses other than the comments.

Enough of this, to the matter at hand.  Drum Roll please.......

 

A New Direction!

 

Way back last year sometime, when I was first discovering this healthier lifestyle, I began spending a lot of time online reading blogs and visiting websites of various groups and organizations dedicated to the same.  One of those late nights I stumbled upon a place called The Institute For Integrative Nutrition.  It's a nutrition school in New York, the largest in the world, and has been in operation for a little over 20 years.  Their mission, as stated on the website, is as follows:

Our mission is to play a crucial role in
improving health and happiness,

and through that process,
create a ripple effect that transforms the world

Their strategy in achieving this goal is enrolling folks in a year-long Health Coach program, at the end of which they become a certified Health and Wellness Coach, and sending them out into the world to help make these desperately needed changes actually happen (hence the "ripple effect").

Well, needless to say, they got my attention.  As I was going through my own transformation, plenty of folks wanted to know more about it - the juicing, the food, veganism, etc..  It's obvious that people are hungry for information and guidance in the areas of food, nutrition and health.  So I was intrigued at the thought of being able to do that for people and to really have the knowledge to back it up.  I spent quite a while poring over their website.  I searched them on the internet, read reviews of the program by former students and reached out to people I knew who might know something about the school.  I signed up for the free book, and even submitted my phone number for them call so I could hear more about the program.  I got a call a day or so later, a very nice voicemail from someone whose name I forgot, but whose voiced exuded positivity and happiness.  It all sounded great, but I was filled with doubt.  I wondered if this was something I could really do, not just financially, but was being a Health Coach something I could actually do, something I could be good at, be effective at and succeed?

I struggled with those question, with that possibility, for a few months.  Then they had a sale and I could resist no longer.

So, on November 1st, I started my year-long Health Coach program, which will end this November with my certification as a Health and Wellness Coach (and hopefully with a few clients as well).  It's definitely exciting, but it's a bit of a challenge balancing the studying with all my other responsibilities (teaching my new AP World History class, being a dad, splitting wood, etc.).  When I get through it, however, I'll have the tools I need to help other people meet their health and wellness goals.  Wow.

Is this a career change?  Well, I don't know for certain.  If I could would I leave teaching and do this full-time?  Well, yes, I'm pretty sure I would.  Will I be able to?  Now that's really the big question.  And perhaps that's why I've been so slow to post about this.  There's still some uncertainty around it for me and I've still got some anxiety about my ability to succeed.  BUT, in one of the first calls I had as part of the course, I was completely inspired by one of the speakers (a former student and current Health Coach herself) who said "Tap into a desire that's even bigger than your fear."  That was pretty powerful and comforting for me.

So, that's my big news.  I'm chugging through the program, we have our first test coming up soon (I've pretty much aced the quizzes so far.)  I'm leaning so much about numerous dietary theories, ways of eating and, heck, ultimately, ways of living.  It's pretty amazing so far.  I'd really been desperate to share this news with everyone.  I'm feeling a bit like this will be my gift to the world (I've wanted to post this since Christmas, so Merry Belated Christmas, world!) 

Here's to the spreading of knowledge, understanding and HEALTH!

sal

PS - LOTS of great recipes coming soon, I've got a bit of a backlog that I really want to share.

Merry Christmas, Bagel Face!

Okay, that title sounds awful, I admit, but I couldn't figure out how else to put these two topics together.  It will make sense momentarily.

Generic Christmas Dinner Photo.  Yes, there are some grapes and apples on the table, and those might even be carrots in that bread bowl.  But I also see what might be cocktail weenies in a blanket and some round meatloaf looking thing.  Not too much fresh or raw stuf here.

First of all, and rather obviously, it's Christmas (or "the holidays" for the more pc or less religiously-inclined of us).  Like last month's Thanksgiving, it's my first holiday season since my discovery of better health and a greater sense of self care, and wow, I learned a lot about myself.

I had thought, for years and years, that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday, because of the food of course, but it seems that Christmas, to perhaps an even greater degree, is also associated with large amounts of unhealthy food in my subconscious and memory as well.  Or, at least, I'm still, at this stage of my journey, a bit overwhelmed by all the food, healthy or otherwise, that's available during the holidays.  I certainly found it even more difficult to deal with the food choices at Christmas this year than I had at Thanksgiving.

Perhaps it's the time frame?  Thanksgiving is one day, then it's over.  Christmas, while of course the holiday is just one day, goes on for at least a few days before and a few days after.  With my family it always has at least.  On top of that, as a teacher, I've got a two-week break from school and from routine.  If summer taught me one thing, it's that I find it much easier to stay on track with food choices and exercise when I've got a regular schedule.  During this winter break, all those extra days off just means more time surrounded by trays of cookies, cakes, pies, chocolates, turkey, ham, sausage!!!!  Yeesh!  (A topic for another post, perhaps, is how I've noticed mybody's tendency in winter to want to get big - go figure!)

However, and hopfully needless to say, I still ate my nutritious fill of salad and other veggies while others ate turkey and ham.  I did though (over)indluge a bit in cookies, seemingly my great weakness.  I drank at least my share of wine as well.  I'm not going to beat myself up over it (not too much at least) - I did go running a few times, which definitely helped me feel a bit better.  Nonetheless, this holiday season has shown me very clearly where my tendencies lie.  Knowledge is power they say, so, more power to me?  Yes, I think so.  I'll be even more prepared to deal with the holidays next year.

Bagel Face

I think this would have been an ever better title for the book I just devoured over the course of two days at my mother-in-law's, Wheat Belly ("Bagel Face" is actually a title of one of the chapters).  My mother-in-law has been incredibly supportive of the food revolution I've got myself involed with, always willing to lend an ear to hear of my latest nutrition discovery (sadly, her tragic flaw is that she also makes the best chocolate chip cookies outisde of Delicious Orchards!  Okay, who are we kidding, it's MY tragic flaw, right?).  We got to her house a few days before Christmas and I saw this book that she'd just gotten and of which she had read a bit.  It was really pretty amazing.

 

My arch-nemesis in the search for moderation, good nutrition and health: the chocolate chip cookie.

This is definitely how many I could eat if I let myself.

 

The book just came out last year and is authored by a "renowned" cardiologist, William Davis.  I quite literally could not put the book down.  The first night I had to pry it out of my own hands because I was so tired and needed to sleep.  Davis makes some fascinating and seemingly well-researched points about wheat.

 

One of the important points he makes early on in the book is how wheat has so radically changed from the grain that was originally grown in the Fertile Crescent (modern-day Mesopotamia - Iraq, etc.) during the Agricultural Revolution around 12,000 years ago.  I think I linked this video in an earlier post, but it's at least as appropriate here.  It about 11 minutes long, but it's really a prety brilliant 11 minutes.

Back to the book.  Davis talks about how the orginial wheat grown 10,000 years ago (Einkorn wheat, I think it's called) went through very few changes for much of its history.  Some changes, yes, as it was adapted to different environments, but nothing very radical, nothing that altered its chemical makeup so much so as to make it detrimental to humans.  But, he argues, over the last 50-80 years, wheat has undergone innumerbale hybridizations and changes, at the hands of scientists, farmers and agriculturalists, that what we consume today in bread, pasta, pretzels and crackers, barely deserves the name "wheat."  And, more importantly, the argument goes, none of these changes that have radically altered the composition of wheat and its associated protein, gluten, have ever been studied or considered in terms of affecting wheat's suitability for human consumption or effects on human health.  In a way Davis is saying we've created our own Frankenstein, and unwittingly brought about obesity and diabetes in the process.
 

With the ever-increasing mechanization of agriculture that's happened over the last 80 years, wheat, like most other crops, has undergone numerous (man-made) changes in order to make it easier, faster and cheaper to grow.  At what price to human health has this come?  That's one of the main questions Davis sets about answering in this book.  The conclusion is not a pretty one.

 

 

He then talks about how modern "wheat" has become so incredibly ubiquitious, finding its way not just into the obvious foods like bread, pasta and crackers, but into a host of other foods we'd never thought contained wheat products.  The one shocking fact about wheat, whether from Wonder Bread or from my own homemade 100% whole wheat bread, is that wheat has a glycemic index even higher than table sugar.  It's mostly for this reason that he targets wheat as the greatest cause of what he calls "visceral fat," that is, the tire around the gut of many Americans today.  (If you don't know about glycemic index, you probably should - it's certainly a useful tool.  Go here for more info.)

 

 My awesomely delicious homemade 100% whole wheat bread - I knew it wasn't really the greatest thing for me, but, wow, I sort of had no idea the extent to which wheat was, in Davis's view, implicated in so many health issues.

The book at times gets a bit scientific for a non-scientist like myself, but only in a few places, and it's still relatively easy to follow the gist of what he's saying, even if you don't know exactly what a "protoprotien A" is or looks like (I made that term up, fyi).

 

The book seems incredibly well-researched, with information pulled from lots of studies spanning the last half-century as well as dozens of pieces of anecdotal evidence from his long career as a preventive cardiologist.  During the book he ties an excess of wheat in the modern American diet to skin conditions like acne, to premature aging, to diabetes, to obesity, to heart disease and even to brain disorders like cerebellar ataxia.  It seems that some of the compounds in wheat are among the few that the body allows to pass through the blodd-brain barrier.  And speaking of the brain, he also discusses the addicative nature of wheat - it apparently helps the brain produce some opiate-like peptides called exorphins that give you the "eat more" signal.  That resonated with me pretty strongly - I recall the those times eating three bagels in a row becuase I just couldn't stop (I'm sure I mentioned that somewhere in my "bio.")

 

So while I can't give a complete book review here, I have to say I think it should be required reading for everyone.  Am I going to totally forgo wheat?  Well, I really don't eat that much of it anymore anyway (except in my mother-in-law's amazing chocolate chip cookies), but I still have the occasional whole wheat wrap.  I'm probably going to just try a wheat-free month to see if I really notice anything.

 

Complaints?  Yes. 

 versus

 

I do have one pretty big criticism of the book, however, and in my opinion, it's a pretty big one. 

 

While reading the first few chapters, I thought the ending of the book, in terms of dietary advice, was going to read something like this: "Wheat, and more specifically gluten are clearly nutritional evils.  In its place you should eat gluten-free or low-gluten grains like millet, buckwheat, oats, teff, quinoa, sorghum or amaranth.  This way, you'll get many of the benefits of eating whole grains (especially fiber) while avoiding gluten.  And when you eat grains, be sure to eat them whole, the less processed the better.  And eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts seeds and beans.  Be moderate with high-fat foods like meats, cheeses and oils."

But no.  Essentially he takes a pretty radical low-carb approach, extolling meats, eggs, cheese, nuts and seeds, while banishing or strictly limiting almost ALL grains, including brown rice and those other whole, gluten free grains.  He even proposes a strict limit on beans and says, I think literally, to place no limit on one's use of oils.  Come on now, at 120 calories per tablespoon, and all of fat, oils are something to use wisely, not in unlimited amounts.

Glycemic Index Versus Nutrition

 

Now of course I'm no doctor (yet, at least), but at this point in my food and nutrition journey, I really take exception to some his advice.  Ultimately I think the book's big weakness is this - he places the concern about glycemic index and blood sugar levels above the issue of actual nutrition.  So in his plan you avoid most fruits because they raise your blood sugar, but you eat cheese because it doesn't.  For my money, though, the rise in blood sugar caused by some fresh fruit is more than offset nutritionally by the massive infusion of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients your body gets.  Compare that with the hunk of cheese, which, while it doesn't do to your blood sugar what the fruit does, also does very little for your body in terms of actual nutrition (or disease prevention for that matter).  Should people who are currently diabetic and prediabetic watch their intake of all foods with a high glcemic index?  Sure.  But, for those of us who already choose our foods wisely, I find his advice wholly inadequate.

I think Dr. Joel Fuhrman, while he'd certainly agree with the first two-thirds of the book, would have much the same to say about the dietary recommendations Davis makes in the final section.  Reading the book also reminded me of raw food expert and proponent David Wolfe, who in the film Food Matters talks about our society's overwhelming (and ultimately debilitating) reliance on corn, soy and wheat.  Very true it seems, and obviously very unhealthy.

 

Here ends Sausage Boy's first ever book review.  Certainly worth reading if you can get it from the library, and there are some good recipes in the back as well.  If you get a chance to read it, let me know what you think.

 

Happy New Year to everyone - be well!

 

sal