Fast food and chain restaurants like Applebee’s and Olive Garden have gotten a lot of public shaming about the calorie content of their menu items. Meals eaten at these restaurants typically provide around 1200 calories, which is far more than we should probably be eating at any one meal.
Researchers from Tufts University wondered whether diners fare any better at non-chain eateries, so they collected meals from a variety of independent restaurants in Boston, San Francisco, and Little Rock and sent them off for analysis. They found little difference between chain and non-chain restaurants in terms of the calorie content of the meals. But the research did reveal substantial differences between various cuisines. Continue reading “What type of restaurants are healthiest?”>
I’m guessing that most of the people reading this blog are already familiar with things like quinoa and teff. Although they may be unusual or even unheard of in some circles, they’ve become fairly mainstream to those who follow food and nutrition.
Sorghum is a Grain?
But what about sorghum? In 15 years of developing recipes, writing about nutrition, and exploring unfamiliar foods, I’ve never knowingly eaten sorghum. In fact, I was faintly surprised to find it listed as a grain because I thought it was a sweetener.
When I lived in the Southern United States, I used to see sorghum syrup in the grocery store, right next to the molasses and corn syrup. I had no idea that sorghum can also be eaten as a grain. In fact, it is one of the world’s most important cereal (grain) crops. It’s also gluten free.
How to Use Sorghum
Whole grain sorghum flour has a light texture and color and a mellow, slightly sweet flavor. Despite being somewhat lower in fiber than whole wheat, sorghum flour appears to have a somewhat lower glycemic impact than other flours. That doesn’t make it calorie free, of course! You’d want to enjoy those sorghum muffins and pancakes in moderation–like any flour-based food. (Here’s a recipe for a sorghum pancakes from the Oldways recipe archives.)
Even better, look for whole sorghum grains, which are sometimes called milo. Cook them until tender and use them as you would rice or barley. Try this Milo Salad with Oregano, Feta, and Cucumbers.
Photo courtesy of Oldways Foundation
Or, most fun of all, try popping whole sorghum grains like popcorn for a wholesome and novel snack!
You’ll find whole sorghum and sorghum flour in the natural foods aisle of your grocer. Bob’s Red Mill is a popular brand that’s easy to find.
If you’re already an old hand with sorghum, what new grain will you try in the spirit of Sample Whole Grains day?
Last September, 120 people took part in the very first 30-Day Nutrition Upgrade group challenge. And in just a few weeks (March 31st, to be exact), we’re going to do it again!
These 30-day nutrition and fitness challenges are super popular these days, and for good reason. They’re a great way to kick-start healthy routines and to stay motivated long enough for new behaviors to become established habits. And even though there are already plenty of them out there, I wanted to offer my followers something unique…something fun, effective, and based on solid science.
I put everything I know about nutrition and the psychology of behavior change into the 30-Day Nutrition Upgrade program. I reallyreally hoped it would make a difference in people’s lives, and was thrilled to have over a hundred people sign up for the first challenge.
Even though they don’t contain sugar or calories, artificial sweeteners usually don’t promote healthy eating patterns. They tend to encourage consumption of foods without much nutritional value, such as diet sodas and sugar free desserts. Ironically, the use of artificial sweeteners can actually lead people to consume more unhealthy foods (the “Give me a diet Coke and supersize the fries” syndrome.)
Finally, it’s really hard to develop an appreciation for the subtler pleasures of fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods if your taste buds are constantly bathed in the intense hyper-sweetness of non-caloric sweeteners.
Jeff recently sent me a link to an article in Harper’s Bazaar, warning that our recent obsession with kale may have a sinister side-effect: heavy metal poisoning.
We’re not talking about kale that’s being grown on industrial waste sites, either. Even organically managed soil contains a variety of naturally-occurring heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, and thallium. These metals are absorbed by plants grown in the soil, and leafy greens like kale and collards are particularly good sponges. Continue reading “Kale craze raises heavy metal concerns”>
Tis the season for fresh pomegranates, which grow in tropical climates and are harvested from October to January. Pomegranate seeds are sweet-tart, antioxidant-packed, little flavor bombs. They’re great on salads, in pilafs, or all by themselves as an exotic, low-calorie snack or dessert. One of my new favorite recipes is this roasted butternut squash and black rice pilaf with pomegranate seeds.
Getting at the seeds (technically: arils) can be tricky, however, and the juice can stain your fingers and clothes (and walls!) if you’re not careful. Here’s the trick: Cut off the top of the fruit and then slice the rind from the “north” to “south” in several places, without cutting too far into the fruit. Soak the scored fruit in a bowl of water for ten minutes. Then, while holding the fruit under the water, separate its sections and scrape the seeds away from the rind with your fingers. Discard the rinds and remove any pith floating on the top of the water (the seeds will sink to the bottom). Finally, drain the seeds in a colander. The seeds will keep in the fridge for several days.
Dean Ornish and David Katz at Finding Common Ground
Dr. Dean Ornish has developed a well-known protocol which has been clinically proven to reverse heart disease, diabetes, and even early stage prostate cancer. Yet his promotion of a very low-fat diet (about 10% of calories from fat) seems to be at odds with today’s prevailing view that a low-fat diet is not the best way to promote health.
At the recent Finding Common Ground meeting, I had an opportunity to ask Dr. Ornish about the discrepancies between his views on fat and those of other presenters at the conference, many of whom support a Mediterranean-style eating pattern that is 3.5 to 4 times higher in fat.
Although the goal of the Finding Common Ground event was to produce a consensus about healthy diet, the optimal amount of fat in the diet was a “detail” upon which we had to agree to disagree.
In the following interview, recorded on Wednesday, November 18, 2015, I asked Dr. Ornish how he would respond to an email I got from a reader, asking whether she needed to avoid fat in order to stay off cholesterol-lowering medication. As you’ll hear, Dr. Ornish argues that the amount of fat consumed by patients who adopt his program is not the most important aspect of the intervention. That said, he’s giving little ground on the issue of whether his low-fat whole foods diet is better than the high-fat whole foods diet recommended by many others. Click on the left edge of the bar to hear the interview.
The guy who started it all had some unexpected things to say about the Paleo Diet trend–he does not agree that grains and legumes should be avoided, for example. But even more surprising are his evolving views on the sustainability of a Paleolithic diet.
Whether you’re attracted to the Paleo diet concept or not, I think you’ll find the interview (recorded Monday, November 23, 2015) very interesting. Click at the left edge of the audio player to listen.
Fast food and chain restaurants like Applebee’s and Olive Garden have gotten a lot of public shaming about the calorie content of their menu items. Meals eaten at these restaurants typically provide around 1200 calories, which is far more than we should probably be eating at any one meal.
