Eating Better

I don't think that there's anyone who hasn't heard this bit of old wisdom: "Drink your milk!" or "Don't leave the table without finishing your milk!"  At the time, I suppose it seems like just a means for parents to get more control over their children. And to keep them seated at the table for that much longer. But the old wisdom was good wisdom. Drinking our milk meant getting calcium and protein. And that old wisdom turned out to be even greater wisdom, because studies show that those who have a regular intake of dairy products stand a better chance of managing their weight in the long run. Of course, for those who don't particularly care for milk there are, there are other dairy products. Personally, I enjoy cottage cheese, but a lot of people don't. There's yogurt, which I enjoy plain, but you don't have to. There's farmer cheese. And there are natural cheeses such as Swiss, Muenster and others. There are even c...

Okay, okay, okay. I know. This is something that we all do, or are supposed to, before we sit down, anyway. But when our elders told us to wash our hands, it represented more than just cleanliness. To take the time to wash one's hands, and even one's face, before sitting down meant that we have respect for the meal for its preparer and for the things that we receive. In short, getting prepared to sit down to eat meant that we took the meal seriously. Commercial ads in the media lead us to believe that eating is something that we just do all day long we eat our three squares, snacks in between, and then snacks between the snacks. We are shown eating at a table in the park in the office and in The Great Outdoors. And in virtually none of these situations, do we see anybody truly prepared to take a meal seriously. Anytime we put food in our mouths, we should be taking this seriously. And that means getting each meal, each snack, and each bite some thought. The exhortation to was...

A number of years ago, if you had said the word tofu, somebody would have answered gesundheit! To most Americans, tofu was a relative unknown. And even in the intervening years, with more people familiarizing themselves with this protein source, America by and large does not know understand or appreciate tofu. Personally, I love tofu. I eat it as is very often, but many times I saute it in a skillet. It is absolutely not tasteless as many people think. To me, it has a taste reminiscent of well, nuts. Basically, tofu is made from soybeans. That means that it's related to legume family. And as such, it does provide a decent source of non-meat protein. Tofu, used as a meat substitute or alternative, will often pick up the flavors of the things with which it's cooked. So, in a stir fry, where tofu is used most often, it will pick up the taste of the soy sauce or the vegetables used therein. But I like tofu sauteed or grilled. And it's so simple! Take a block of tofu, and cut ...

Now, there's an expression you don't hear very much anymore! These days, when you turn on TV, there are images of people eating and snacking at all hours of the day. In fact, it would appear that the human species was meant to eat 24/7, very much like guinea pigs. It would appear that we were meant to graze anytime we weren't having a full meal or having a snack. There are snacks to fill in the space between meals, and there are other snacks to fill in the spaces between snacks and other snacks. And look at the results... A nation with unprecedented levels of obesity. But it's time for old wisdom, isn't it? Old wisdom said that you ate your three squares each day. And if you were a child, you might have a snack say, after school. Adults might even have a small snack sometime after dinner. But that was it. No mid-morning snacks no snack between snacks. And yes, nothing too close to dinner, because it would indeed spoil our appetite. You know, this old ...

Maybe things were different, when I was growing up.  For full disclosure, I'm what the media calls an Early Boomer.  That is, I'm one of the first of the Baby Boomers.  Growing up meant having dinner with the family, sans comic books or reading matter at the table.  And it meant eating what was served, including vegetables.  To be fair, I was always unlike most of my contemporaries, in this area.  I ALWAYS loved - and still love - vegetables.  Everything, from Artichokes to Zucchini.  Most of my friends did, too.  There were a few outliers who didn't like the "irony" taste of cooked spinach (spinach salads hadn't been "invented" yet) or the potential mushiness of cooked carrots.  But by and large, we did like salads and most of the veggies presented at the table. So it puzzles me greatly, to see a culture in which "Eat your vegetables!" sounds more like a punishment, than an exhortation to better eating (and better health).  Com...

I don't think that there's a single one of us who hasn't heard the phrase "Go out and play!", at some time in their lives. It wasn't just a way of getting kids out from under foot. It was a way of getting them to avoid sitting on the couch doing nothing. It was a way of getting them to have their exercise and to expend they're nearly inexhaustible supply of energy. And in that little phrase, there remains much wisdom. The trouble is, we don't go out to play. We belong to gyms , we wear fitness trackers, we become slaves to fitness software and apps, we know all there is to know about oxygen consumption, training, caloric expenditure, oxygen use, and any one of a number of pieces of data. Despite that, we're a nation getting fatter and fatter every day. As I said, we don't go out to play. Why? Because we think that the old wisdom is dead, and that the new wisdom must be right. New wisdom that says if we track everything, exercising some...

Amazing, how this bit of common wisdom has been largely ignored, over recent years.  Go into any diner or casual eatery in your area and observe - really observe - how people manage to get the food (or whatever those morsels of fried batter pass for), into their mouths.  By and large, Americans have forgotten to use (and HOW TO use utensils).  Years ago, we were chastised at the table, for certain things like reaching across the table (instead of asking someone to pass that item), and for using our fingers to eat with. I've often felt like a fool, watching others eat, but the two things I notice are that today's Americans rarely use utensils (which you can verify, by watching most TV commercials, for food (or what passes for it).  In these ads, folks around a table (home or restaurant) are all reaching for a "finger food," usually a collection of crispy, golden brown, fried batter nuggets, inside which is buried a small amount of something or other.  The ea...

There are lots (and lots) of food-related and nutrition-related blogs, Tweets, Facebook pages and internet entries, about food and nutrition.  Trouble is, most of them turn out to be chemistry lessons, extolling the virtues of phytonutrients, resveratrol, pomegranate, coconut oil or any other trendy, semiscientific-sounding topic.  Most of them subscribe to the notion that you need to "dazzle 'em with data." I'm a biochemist by education, training and profession.  A biochemist who became a medical writer and editor, and one who has spent considerable time writing patient and consumer education. So, before you YAWN, at the prospect of another food/nutrition blog, consider this a new DAWN, for simply eating better, using Common Sense, above all.  You know, as our culture moves into the future we tend to decry "old wives' tales" and the bits of wisdom we got from our elders.  And wisdom, it was - and still is.  You see, our elders didn't deal with...