[alexia]

You've gotten a lot of really good information.

Whether you are motivated by a desire for better health or simply a slimmer waist, it is important that you keep good nutrition in mind. Too many fad diets (none recommended here, of course) can do harm to you.

Essential ingredients to better health (and slimmer waist):

1. Get a physical and know what your base line is before making any major changes. As has been suggested, s/he may even have some helpful recommendations. But remember many, particularly older MD's don't have nutrition training.

2. Exercise, walking is excellent and not likely to harm you.

3. Get a few books on the subject and read up on what you're doing. Libraries if you can't spend the money. In addition to those already suggested, Drs Dean Ornish and Andrew Weil (see Chefmom's post) have several out. Ornish emphasizes preventative and curative diet (+ exercise & meditation) to keep the heart healthy; he even has a cookbook. Weil heads the complementary medicine department at U of Arizone. Both have web sites:

http://www.drweil.com/app/cda/drw_cda.php
http://my.webmd.com/medcast_channel_toc/3068

4. I would personally recommend your owning a copy of a book that will give you the nutritional value, including fat and calories of food that you eat. You need to be careful as all too many of them emphasize processed foods by brands, etc. What you need is one that will give you the fresh foods and staples that you should be eating for a healthy diet. This will be a handy reference for you.

[alexia]

Thought I'd post the White Dog (drop) scone recipe here. It's dead easy to make, has only 1/2 Tbs butter per scone; the buttermilk is essentially low fat. It has only 3 Tbs sugar divided among the 16 scones it makes! It's from the White Dog Cafe recipe book. WDC is a very popular long time Phila restaurant off the U of Pa campus. It's not a "health food" restaurant.

I make the full batch, freeze them on a sheet pan, store in baggie, and bake just before eating. Once baked, I don't think they keep very well so bake what you'll eat that day. . My 5 year old gd was very enthusiastic about them.

ORANGE AND BLACK CURRANT SCONES WHITE DOG CAFÉ: Makes 16 (1/4 recipe follows ingred)
serve with raspberry jam and whipped cream

4 cups flour (1 cup)
3 Tbs granulated sugar (3/4)
2 tsp baking powder (1/4)
2 tsp baking soda (1/4)
1/4 tsp salt (pinch)
8 oz butter, diced (2 oz)
grated zest of 2 oranges (½ orange)
2 eggs (½ egg)
1 cup + 2 Tbs buttermilk (1/4 cup + ½ Tbs)
1 ½ cups dried black currants (3/8 cup)
raw or granulated sugar
garnish: raspberry jam & whipped cream

combine flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt; mix well. Cut in butter and zest til mixture resembles fine granules.

2. Whisk eggs and buttermilk; pour over dry ingredients and sprinkle on the currants. Stir just til ingredients come together and soft dough forms. Do not overmix or scones will be tough.

Divide into 16 mounds; place 1" apart on ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle each with a little raw sugar; cover; refrigerate 15 minutes - overnight

Oven at 375f.

Bake chilled scones til lightly browned on top, 20 minutes. Cool on rack. Serve at room temperature. Best if eaten same day.

[If buttermilk is not available, You can substitute either the powdered dry buttermilk or make some with milk + vinegar. King Arthur sells the powdered buttermilk as do some markets]

[kokopuffs]

Which kind of flour are you using in your scone recipe, Alexia?

[alexia]

Kokopuffs, I use King Arthur all purpose flour, but it might work even better with pastry flour.

A few other particulars that might be useful:

I freeze the butter, quarter it lengthwise before cutting across into irregular little chunks (c. 1/4 - 3/4") so I'll get irregular meal with a few larger bits. I mix it in the cuisinart. (same as for pate brisee)

I always keep raisins and currants soaking in rum (brandy, etc ok, too) so they will be soft, juicy, flavorful, and drain them before adding by hand at the end.

If baking frozen scones, do not defrost them, bake a little longer (I've never timed it). I always use an oven thermometer.

[Isa]

Originally posted by Athenaeus
Do you know a nice site about vegeterians? I have to confess that I have already started feeling miserable

There's an article in Wenesday's edition of The Washington post, that has been written just for you it seems. A journalist went vegan for a week, you can read her journal My Week As A Vegan.

Here are a few vegetarian websites:

In A Vegetarian Kitchen

Veggies Unite

Vegetarianrecipes.com

The Low Fat Vegetarian Recipe Archive

The Vegan Chef

[chiffonade]

Recently, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Dr. Dean Ornish, the top cardiologist in the United States. He has written books on reversing heart disease and preventing heart disease. He spat out a statistic that made me choke: 1 out of every 2 American Women will develop heart disease. Ouch.

Oprah contacted him because she had been having some heartbeat irregularities and she felt that he had valuable information to share.

Given his specialty is reversing/treating heart disease, his diet advisories can be viewed as particularly stringent - but I know women personally who have gotten incredible results using his methods. He advocates no more than 10% of total calories come from fat but remember his patients are either struggling to prevent heart problems (because they're at risk) or treat an existing condition.

His methods, along with a bit of added fat like olive oil and the better fats, can be applicable to a successful "life change." This will not only help a person lose weight, but will prevent heart disease in the future.

He does not advise vegetarianism but does advise consumption of leaner meats. He has a website but I don't know the addy. Perhaps a visit to the Oprah website can get you a link to his. Worth looking into.

Also, I've been noticing people advising against dairy. Perhaps the worst advice anyone can give a woman is to cut dairy out of her life. There is no better source of calcium and you need calcium to combat osteoporosis. Tabs are fine but they need to be specially processed to be effective. Calcium is a mineral and therefore not absorbed by the body, unless it's attached to something else that the body does absorb. Chelating is the most popular process for this. However, skim or 1% fat milk, and lower fat cheese products, are the most effective, user friendly, daily-applicable ways to get calcium.

[kokopuffs]

The most concentrated food source of calcium is yogurt, not milk. Furthermore, TUMS and other antacids don't count. I won't bother explaining why.

[Shimmer]

My husband is a vegetarian, so sometimes the hardest thing on a budget is to eat healthy vegetarian food. In Indiana at least, good produce is hard to find, and expensive when it is good quality. However, I've been cutting back on the addition of fat, and adding a lot of whole grains and lentils and beans, and trying not to go for the ice-cream every night (I have frozen yogurt, just in case I have to have something).

And I'm not sure if its the feeling that I'm doing something good for myself or the actual food itself, but I sleep better when I eat better. Go figure.

So now I have a few more questions.

What is a good thing to eat on toast in the morning? I used to do the margarine + peanut butter, but I can't put it on there knowing how much fat a little teaspoon has (and margarine isn't the greatest thing). Is honey okay? I'm so used to eating toast, and I can't look at a dense piece of whole-grain bread and eat it plain....

I have also found that dried fruit will satisfy the sweet craving I have at work (usually satisfied by the vending machine conveniently located down the hall), so I keep those resealable bags of dried cranberries, etc, in my desk.

And I have been substituting soy milk for regular milk in recipes, and have found that it has the same function, and doesn't change the taste or texture (and soy milk is half the cost of dairy around here, and lasts longer!).

Something interesting I have found- did you know gardenburgers have two kinds of cheese in them? Since I started reading labels, this is what shocked me the most.

Hooray for reading labels, and actually understanding what is actually going into my body! It definitely makes me think twice. Definitely. Hmm, I never did that before.

(BTW, I do own Andrew Weil's book and am on a waiting list to check out his new cookbook from the library; I have read hundreds of cookbooks and feel his idea of eating healthy is a lot more realistic than most).

Thanks again, you all are great.

~~Shimmer~~

[W.DeBord]

O.k. please be gentle...but I just read something that I stuggle with, budget and health. Not that I follow a strick budget, just that I find it hard to pay some of the prices in the produce department for fruit that's usually horrible and vegies in the winter that are all starch and bitter.
So I find I really eat like poor people because I buy that way(haven't there been studies about low income diets being bad?). Alot of the bad stuff is cheap. I don't mean to be cheap or short sighted because I understand in the long run this will cost my husband and I our health. But there's times when I don't buy fruit for MONTHS!

In the summer I have a huge garden and we eat very healthy. In the winter I kill us with bad for you types of food. I'd like some guidance about winter food and winter diets. Unforunately I really dislike beans and wild rice.... also I'd love to read up on good eating but I won't lie, it just puts me to sleep. I can't force myself to read on this topic.

Any help for the lazy and winter challenged food purchaser? Baby steps please, your all way more advanced then I????



P.S. we do go for a walk most nights... but not as fast as when I do my tread mill. Is it still good for you if it's not fast?

[alexia]

Wendy, I suspect that in Chicago there are food cooperatives. I belong to one (NE) that runs like a grocery store with some paid employees and some work (6 hrs/yr per adult in ea household) from the members. Our apples for example have cost about 85 cents/lb when in the supermarket they are about 1.00 - 1.25 (and up in some markets). We also try to buy from local suppliers in season, have some organic foods (way less than in supermarkets and specialty stores), have organic chicken (1.35 for legs yesterday), some non-hormone beef, dairy, etc as well as a lot of dry goods, King Arthur flour, McCutcheon's preserves...(I'm just giving you a sampling. Everyone makes a capital investment (don't know what it is now, but it increases by about $20/year). Overall, I'm sure that I save about 30% or more over regular markiet prices. On "organics" I believe it may be more as the regular mkts mark that stuff way up.

Some cooperatives have more, some less member participation. Ours is about 30 years old or more, so as its original members began to have families and careers, the amount of partipation decreased and the prices went up a little to pay the staff. But still cheap for what we get. We also have a some input into what is carried. In some coops they even allow for members to pay a little percentage more in lieu of work time. When I get back from my trip I will check at the coop to find out if they know about one in Chgo, if you'd like me to. (There's a boolet that lists many/most of them.)

[alexia]

Wendy, I'm going to worry about your diet! So here's a suggestion or three about winter veggies.

Cabbage of all sorts is cheap and VERY nutritious. The simplest way to prepare it and to my mind most delicious: wash it, cut it up into bit sized chunks, put it in a relatively deep bowl so that the plastic you cover it with does not touch the cabbage. Microwave it - probably 10-15 minutes, depending on your microwave. For the first time, I'd go in 5 minute increments til I find it softened but al dente. This method bring out the inherent sweetness of the vegetable and I eat it as is, without even salting it. (but you can add a little salt before cooking). Failing a microwave, steam it. Unless you come from a family where boiled cabbage in all in watery grave is a tradition, this is the only way to go. Also, you get less of the cabbage smell all over the house; hardly any. I treat Brussel sprouts similarly; they tend to be more expensive than cabbage, though.

If you can find some good winter squashes (butternut, acorn, turban and others less well known - the latter tend to be a good bit pricier. Simplest preparation: halve it, scoop out seeds (which can be toasted and eaten) put in a dollop of butter and/or maple/honey or other syrup and bake (45-60 min depending on size) at 325-75f (I tend to bake hotter than many do). Also full of good nutrition.

Sweet potatoes (yams) are very nutritious, also. Bake as for baked potato, or for a real treat, cut them up, rub the bits with some oil, sprinkle with favorite herb if available (dried ok here) and bake in some sort of dish (the squash is also very good this way)

If you buy fruit and vegetables in their seasons, you'll spend less. Forget strawberries in winter, asparagus, turn to the cabbage family, beets, turnips, parsnips, winter squash, pears, apples, oranges.

Kale, chard, turnip greens, collards, chard, spinach, beet greens, escarole, etc. Whatever green leafies are available as winter veggies will be a lot cheaper than lettuce usually and a lot more nutritious. The darker the green, the more nutritious. I don't care for any of these cooked in water, and tend to saute them in a little oil. You can begin by sauting a little onion if you like, or do them straight. Add a pinch of (hot) red peppers if you like that (I don't), or bacon bits if you're not fighting fat. You can eat it Italian style as a sauce with pasta and a grating of cheese as your meal. (Weigh your pasta so that each serving as only 3 - 4 oz if your waistline is an issue).

Some of these vegetables can be grown in your garden and harvested during the winter, planting them as the more tender veggies are harvested. I'm not much of a gardener, but I believe cabbages, beets, kales, parsnips, perhaps some varieties of carrots for awhile. Get Johnny's seed catalog online, I'm sure they have that information. Maine's winter's no better than Chgo. Also if you have good light exposure (southern, etc) make a cold frame, and you can extend your growing season considerably even for some of the more tender veggies such as lettuces and begin some seeds earlier.

And for fruit, try to add at least an apple a day, usually about 2-3 per pound, it shouldn't add more than 50 center/person/day.

Most of all. Give up buying stuff that someone else has prepared for you. First it's full of chemicals to replace the flavors and nutrients that processing has sucked out. Second, you're paying a premium for it. That's where the big bucks go. Ditch sodas (colored sugar water!) - make lemonade with fresh lemons, cheaper and better for you.

We've been brainwashed into thinking 75 cents or more for a can of soda or a bad cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup is cheap enough to grab on the run every day , but apples at $1/lb, etc. are too expensive to eat on a regular basis (nearly $200/yr/person if you only do it workdays . Furthermore, many of these processed foods (including, especially? sweets) have lots of salt (and perhaps other chemicals) that stimulate our appetite so that we eat WAY more than we might of well prepared and more nutritious foods.

Oh, I could go on, but will spare you.

[phatch]

I have a sodium restriction. Can be a pain. A great cookbok for heart health and insightful low salt cooking is Gazzaniga's No Salt, Low-sodium cookbook. It's farily new and quite good. He can cut sodium to about 500 mg a day and you still eat well. I get by with about 3000 mg as my condition is not blood pressure or heart related.

Phil

[W.DeBord]

Alexia, I'm going to look for more recipes using the veggies you mentioned. Thank-you.

I thought sweet potatos and winter squashes were considered starches? Also have to find recipes for them. Traditionally we eat them with tons of butter, br. sugar or marshmellows. I've never had sweet potatos with herbs, which ones are good compliments?

P.S. We don't eat that bad, just too much snacking junk food stuff (in addition to meals). Not enough fish! Twice a week... More like twice every six months. O.k. I went to the store yesterday and bought several kinds, steak is cheaper and I know in my area it's better tasting then fish... it's HARD to not go with a sure thing.

I'm in the far burbs, no co-ops for us yet. We have our own apple trees, asp. patch and such. It's just that we eat a ton of veggies and fruit when they're in season (cause they don't hold) then come winter the produce I get at the store is no comparision and I wind up throwing too much out, then I stop buying it.

[alexia]

To roast the veggies, I put some oil in the pan, add the veggies and herbs & shake it about. Some of the veggies take less time to roast, so if doing more than one kind of veggie, pull them out as they are done (or go the other route and add the quicker cooking ones as the baking process goes on).

Personally, I usually break up a head of garlic, without peeling, to add to the pan. I also love roasted onion and add a few of them. If you use small onions, you can just peel and do them whole. For herbs, I tend to use a little thyme, rosemary, sage sometimes.

You can roast virtually ANY veggie. I think I may have neglected to mention eggplant, one of my favorites.

Another possibility is to explore recipes for gratins, tians.

It's true that sweet potatoes are starchy, but they also are very high in Vit A, has about the calcium of 2 oz of milk. And a side benefit is that unlike white potatoes, they're good to eat without adding anything fattening to them.

Another vegetable to try is white turnips (parboil, then saute in butter, add breadcrumbs and when they're browned the dish is done. - or if simpler for you brown the crumbs and add at the end - Oh, a great treat - if somewhat fattening.

Also, I believe I forgot to suggest onions. Just halve them dot with butter and bake (some people put liquid in the dish to keep them soft on the outside). You can stuff them with all sorts of things, too.

Beets, parsnips, carrots are a great winter veggies, and good roasted, too.

Lastly, for something really fresh and green in the winter, try sprouting seeds. Mustard, radish, alfalfa, mung beans (though not green, still fresh). Just be sure to get them without pesticides.

[Plum]

Thanks for all this great information. It's good to hear the consenses, when we hear so much conflicting information. You've propelled me to action...