Media Trends Fads Archives

Shrubs and Shims from SHED in Healdsburg

May 28, 2015

Truth be told, I had no idea what a shim was.

A shrub? Yes. I’d actually made some shrubs at home.

So when I was invited to a shims and shrubs workshop, I jumped at the chance, assuming that the shrub I knew had to be somewhat related to a shim that I was unfamiliar with.

Plus, this workshop was at the Healdsburg SHED. I literally had just discovered this place no more than a month before this media workshop invitation arrived in my inbox. The moment I saw it in some of my travel research, it immediately went on my must-visit list. This seemed like the perfect excuse to take the short drive up to California wine country.

Nutritionist, Food Blogger… Author

February 19, 2011

I try to make it a point to celebrate the small things we encounter daily that make life interesting and enjoyable. Every now and then, though, life brings along a big thing and you don’t have to try all that hard to start the celebrations.

Enter The Everything Guide to Food Remedies by Lori Rice, MS.

Yep, my book has arrived!

I received copies last weekend and it was a huge surprise! I knew the book would be published in March, but I didn’t know when I would see my first copy.

It is an interesting feeling to hold a book in your hand and as you flip through it recognize that these are your words, and in this case, your recipes. There is excitement, pride, humility and gratefulness. I’d also be lying if I said there wasn’t a slight bit of sadness since I’ve put freelancing on hold currently to return to work in my field of study.

With this though is also a huge sense of accomplishment.

Just a few short months after we moved to Brazil I was struggling with what I should do with my time and how to take full advantage of no longer being commented to an employer. If you’ve ever lived in another country or been a so-called expat wife, you can probably relate. I was filled with big ideas, but they had gotten lost in the confusion of learning a new culture.

One night as I sat frustrated, my husband told me that I could do anything I wanted to; I just needed to choose something and do it. Due to his advice I decided I wanted to be a freelance writer.

I spent the following months working from scratch and tackling a major learning curve because I knew absolutely nothing about the art. I read blogs, tips, advice, forums and began applying for jobs. Soon I found myself with gigs for small articles and blogs which then led to an ebook project.

I continued writing when we moved back to the US in 2009 and last spring I finally got what I would consider a pretty good gig – this book.

While I would someday love to have a book that tells my story, perhaps about my experiences abroad or with travel and food, the more I think about it, this book tells my story too.

It represents me leaving a secure job where I was well respected to accomplish a dream of surrounding myself by a new culture. It represents me focusing my energy to accomplish the goal of becoming a writer.

On another note, it represents part of my food journey. Four years ago, I might not have been able to write a book like this because at that time I still believed in mainstream diet foods – low fat, low carb and processed. The changes in my food and health views shown here through Fake Food Free, allowed me to write this book from a perspective that it is truly something I believe in.

The Everything Guide to Food Remedies: An A-Z guide to healing with food (Everything Series)

The Everything Guide to Food Remedies: An A-Z guide to healing with food covers diseases and ailments that plague our society and identifies the whole foods (not pills or isolated nutrients) that help to alleviate those conditions. With each chapter the reader will find five recipes that utilize these nutritious foods.

This blog has been a big part of my food journey and will continue to be for as many years as I keep on blogging. Thank you for reading and sharing it with me!

I have three copies of my book to give away right now and there will likely be more opportunities in the future.

If you’d like one tell me your food philosophy in the comments.
Do you feel that food contains all we need for optimal health?

Thanks in advance for the thoughtful comments. And by the way, please no drive-by comments. Only those who thoughtfully answer my question will be considered.

I’ll select three commenters at random on March 14, 2011!

The book is available via advance order at Amazon and other online bookstores.

Thinkfood Cookbook

June 16, 2010

Don’t you just love it when you’ve been working on a project and the time has finally come to share it with others? That is exactly how I’m feeling today due to the launch of the Thinkfood cookbook and the Recipe of the Week campaign.

A few months ago myself, and 49 other food bloggers, were invited to work with PositScience, a science-based software company that develops products to exercise the brain and improve brain health. The goal of the project was to take an integrated approach to brain health that includes brain training and brain healthy eating. The result is the Thinkfood cookbook which contains recipes from each of us full of foods associated with mental health and wellbeing!

The hard copies of the cookbook will become available in mid-July with part of the sales going to charity, but today we are announcing the Recipe of the Week campaign which gives you the opportunity to see and print the recipes for free.

By signing up for the campaign, you will receive one recipe from the cookbook via email for the next 50 weeks which will arrive in your inbox on Wednesdays. Recipes include snacks, appetizers, sides, salads, main courses and desserts. (I know. You are excited that dessert is considered brain food!)

I am so happy to be a part of this project! It is, of course, focused on real food; real food that maintains the health of one of the most important parts of our bodies. I am thrilled with what they have done with my recipe regarding photography and layout, and I can’t wait to see what everyone else involved has contributed. Be sure you sign up for the campaign so that you can see the recipes too. Then stay tuned because once the books are released in mid-July, I’ll be giving away one to my readers!

If you want to know a little more about PositScience you can follow them on Twitter or check out their Facebook page.

The Benefits of Food Blogging

May 13, 2010

Food bloggers seem to get a lot of attention. You’ve likely come across articles in popular newspapers about how some chefs don’t like us because we come to a restaurant with an uneducated opinion regarding culinary excellence. Some gourmet diners tire of us because we take pictures of our food before we eat. Still others think we may be the death of printed cookbooks.

There are certainly some people out there who feel what we do is silly. Then there are others who we have helped tremendously or, at the very least, entertained. These are the folks I like to focus on and it gets me thinking about how much food blogs have helped me. The knowledge I have gained in the past two years is unbelievable.

I’ve met incredible people as well. These people are happy too. You don’t find much negativity in the world of food appreciation. Sure, there are food critics out there who enjoy complaining, but for those of us following our passion it is mostly fresh strawberries and sunshine. I, for one, LOVE IT! Food blogging is a true testament to the fact that a positive attitude rubs off. You only need a few comments telling you how delicious your food looks or how someone was inspired by what you did to put a smile on your face and give you a positive outlook for the rest of your day.

I like to think we are so happy because we have found the secret to eating delicious food while maintaining a healthy balance. We get to exercise the greatest form of creativity that combines food passion with cooking challenges. We eat what we want, moderate when appropriate and we are happier for it.

In fact, I’m feeling all happy and positive as I write this. If you hang out in the food blogging world long you see many bloggers come and go. They lose interest or life gets busy and the desire to post becomes less and less. I plan to be in this for the long haul because I’m having so much darn fun! These are a few of the things that keep me going, things I’ve learned and reasons I enjoy food blogging.

Quinoa, udon, fiddleheads, zucchini blossoms – just a few of the foods on my very long list that I might have never known existed if I hadn’t read about them on food blogs.

India, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Hawaii, London, Philippines, Ireland, Indonesia – a few of the places and associated cuisines that I knew little-to-nothing about before I began reading food blogs.

I owe my inspiration to start running and my increased intake of oatmeal to food blogs.

Photography and gardening — a couple of the hobbies I’ve picked up since food blogging.

Cookbooks, chefs and restaurants – I still have a long way to go to be fully educated in this area, but at least I now know of Mark Bittman and Dorie Greenspan now.

I have a much greater interest in history. Yes, this history has to do with cuisine, cooking tools and food practices, but I loathed history for years. You might say food blogging helped me grow up and appreciate my roots.

There are more herbs and spices in this world than I thought possible and it may take the rest of my life to discover them all.

Whether you read, write or both, what have been your greatest benefits of food blogging?

Photos of cabbage, strawberries and leaf lettuce from my parent’s garden during our visit over Mother’s Day.

Unhealthy Obsessions with (Un)Healthy Foods, Part 1

February 23, 2010

Last week, I came across an interview with Michael Pollan from Active.com. Despite hearing or reading the same message about food and responsible eating, I never seem to tire of getting the message again and again. I always seem to find something new that gets me thinking.

This time it was the phrase, “an unhealthy obsession with healthy food.”

For a long time before I even had ideas for this blog, as I was studying nutrition and creating my own path to health, I felt that an obsession with healthy practices was as negative for wellness as not caring about what you put into your body. I remember verbalizing this thought to those around me at the time. Addiction comes in many forms and those related to overeating can easily be transformed into under-eating and counting every calorie, gram and milligram.

This phrase really brings about two different thoughts for me and today I’ll concentrate on the first one.

When we become so concerned about what a food will do for us, or how it will affect us we stop enjoying the food. Often in our society it feels that we are so desperate for perfect health that we’ll pay any amount of money and believe any bull to get it. So we’ve reached this point where we’ve forgotten about food, the art of making it, the benefit of eating it together and eating slowly.

Food is a thing, a thing that can make us fat or thin, disease-ridden or disease-free. A thing that must be consumed when our stomach growls, when we are stressed or when the clock strikes a certain hour.

The irony is that even when we have health as our number one priority those foods, those things, we are obsessing about aren’t even healthy. (Preservative-filled, artificially sweetened, artificially-thickened, fat-replaced yogurt, anyone?)

Sadly, the unhealthy obsession with healthy foods that I’ve battled from time to time made me miss out on some great stuff. The one thing that stands out in my mind is that I avoided some truly healthy foods because they were high in calorie only to eat fake foods with lesser nutritional value.

What was I thinking? Well, I’ll be easy on myself and say I was thinking what society and food companies wanted me to.

Nuts, peanut butter, olive oil, whole grain cereals and bananas are all examples of food that at one time or another I ate very little of because of the calories they contain. Instead I ate fat-free yogurt, low–fat crackers, processed cereal bars, frozen diet meals and light ice cream.

Just think about all those calories I was saving! Funny how my struggle with carrying a few extra pounds never changed. Not to mention the fact that I was getting very few nutrients when I could have been getting a multitude of vitamins and minerals, protein and heart-healthy fat.

An obsession in any form can be damaging to wellness, but can be especially so when directed at what the food industry and society convince us is healthy. An unhealthy obsession with so-called healthy foods can cheat us of both the enjoyment of food and of eating real food all together.

When we eat real foods, there is no need to obsess because health will naturally fall into line.

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Muesli is one of those foods that I knew about years ago, but wouldn’t eat because of the fear of calories, despite the fact that it is packed full of nutrients. Fortunately, we were re-introduced to it at a hotel breakfast while traveling around SE Asia last October. I’m so glad my views on healthy food have changed! Now I’m making my own and breakfast has never been better.

My Muesli

Rolled oats
Raisins
Dried cranberries
Chopped walnuts, pecans and almonds
Unsweetened, shredded coconut
Sprinkle of mascavo sugar

Avoid, Guilt-free, Substitute, Light and Other Words I Don’t Like

December 11, 2009

Raise your hand if you’ve come across an article or an email with some form of these words in the title. (I have both hands raised). I promise if I receive one more email that has a “guilt-free” recipe in the title I’m going to scream. Well, okay, a delete and then a purge from my email memory forever will suffice.

Last year I did a post on All that Healthy Eating Advice and I’m sticking to those thoughts and feelings this year as well. I really dislike the idea that we have to use tactics and trickery to control eating and that a feeling of guilt can enter our minds when we eat a real food we truly enjoy.

Food is part of culture. Culture can often be defined by food.

Family celebrations and holidays throughout history have focused on food. I believe with all my heart that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. I also feel it is dishonoring our culture and traditions to find sneaky ways to avoid enjoying real food and beating ourselves up like it is a failure of character if we do.

I’ve been there. Tried all the tactics myself and am guilty as charged.

Yes, there are some problems with our food culture in the U.S. Not listening to our minds and our stomachs and stuffing until we are sick is not healthy. Stuffing with foods made of heavily processed ingredients isn’t healthy either. Not to mention, avoiding any movement until New Years isn’t the best decision.

There are some very unhealthy habits that surround our holidays, that is true. I’ve mentioned some of them above. But truly savoring and enjoying my mom’s pumpkin pie, the cookies I bake or a rich, delicious appetizer at a party can be one of the healthiest things we do this holiday season, especially if we are in the camp of sacrifice, deprivation, and guilt this time of year.
I know, I’ve been there.

You can read all those tips/thoughts/ideas I listed in last year’s post. I only have a couple more to add this year. These are a few more of the ways I am looking at things this holiday season.

Invest and enjoy. If you are going to indulge, make it worth it. Buy real cheddar and not processed cheese food, make your own cream soup and buy a quality chocolate. Break those fake food habits and start eating real food. Yes, it will take some readjustment of your budget and time (we’ll address this in a later post), but when you stop buying the processed stuff you’ll have money to spend on the quality stuff and your body will thank you for it.

Keep moving. You are going to eat and enjoy some delicious foods this season that likely have more calories than what you eat on a normal daily basis. Again, this is okay. Physiology makes it so an increase in calories causes weight gain. Exercise will combat these extra calories and carry you happily through a holiday season. You’ll reduce your stress, the endorphins will be pumping and you’ll feel much more like St. Nick than Scrooge.

Not all the time, every day. Keep your parties in mind throughout your week and lighten up on the days you don’t have one. It’s perfectly okay to indulge in the foods at your friend’s dinner party this weekend, but when you have a chance to cut back this week, do so. Save your intake of cookies and desserts for the cookie exchange and take a break from them a few days before. Don’t take it to the point of feeling deprived, but some checks and balances throughout the season will keep you from gaining a lot of unwanted weight. Along with the exercise, doing this helps. Since the beginning of November, I’m rid of 9 lbs of the weight I gained over the past couple years (all that ex-pat eating experimentation) and I’ve enjoyed A LOT of great food.

And what if you do gain a few pounds?

Accept and appreciate yourself. So you gain 5 lbs during the holidays? So what? The bigger question is – 1. Did you enjoy the foods you ate and avoid mindless munching? 2. Did you enjoy the time spent with the people you love? Give yourself a break and commit to losing it as soon as the holidays are over. Life is so short, don’t spend it feeling deprived and consumed with guilt.

The healthiest thing we can do this holiday season is know ourselves well enough and be in tune enough with our bodies and emotions to choose the foods we want, eat them and savor every bite, appreciating where they came from and the people who made them.

Photo from the Bellagio Las Vegas Dec 2008

Cooking Is a Necessity

September 18, 2009

As the weeks of my ex-pat experience dwindle down I’ve been doing a lot of thought and reflection. When it comes to food I have changed immensely in the past two years. Not all positive, mind you. Adopting a new culture often means adopting practices you may have once deemed unhealthy, but as far as world travel goes, this isn’t always a bad thing. Regardless of that, today I want to focus on the positive changes.

These changes have only partly been due to where I’m physically located. I obviously have access to more produce at less expensive prices. However, other things are simply due to the fact that I found myself with some time to learn and focus on what being healthy truly means for me.

A few of the positives…

Sodas are not part of my diet anymore and neither are artificial sweeteners.

My body has been exposed to all kinds of additional vitamins and antioxidants through once exotic foods like acerola and açaí.

Very few packaged foods are still part of my diet.

I’m cooking much more from scratch despite my half-sized oven, sweltering days and a kitchen that is functional, but not my favorite.

I’ve had cooking on my mind a lot lately. Obviously, I love it. In many ways I view it as a source of stress relief. Funny since on occasion a failed dish may result in even more stress, but overall it’s a good thing.

I often think about all the people I’ve come across in my life who claim to either hate cooking or be horrible at it. I find this view both interesting and thought provoking.

For some reason, perhaps because we have so many options to turn to that require little or no actual cooking, we have classified it as an art, a luxury and a hobby. For those who dislike it, it’s a chore and one they choose not to do.

Because we don’t necessarily have to do it anymore as a means for food source and for survival, we separate ourselves from the act which gives us permission to term ourselves a good or bad cook or regard the action as one we either love or hate.

At what point did we start to view cooking in this manner? Was it due to busyness, lack of motivation, availability of packaged foods? Likely a combination of them all.

Cooking always seems to be the one thing to go when it comes to a busy lifestyle. I struggle with it too.

I had a lot of free time when we first moved abroad, but then I started working towards my freelance writing career and the free time was soon gone. Many days I feel I am busier than I was working outside the home in an office job. Time for cooking from scratch dwindled. Now I’m at the point where I wonder how strong the temptation will be to overlook it when I move back to the U.S. I cooked a lot before we moved in order to save spending on eating out, but I also used a lot of convenience foods that I no longer want to return to.

There was an article this week in the Washington Post about a mom who took on the challenge to recreate some of the fast foods her teenagers were spending their money on, proving that eating at home is both cheaper and better. While these types of articles just reiterate what I know in my heart to be true, they are such a great form of motivation for me and a reality check for those who are skeptical.

So of all the ways that this experience has changed me it has shown me that cooking is a necessity. There is no debate. Sure, eat out and enjoy the masterpieces of others on occasion, but if you want health you must cook and you must cook using real foods. It’s not a matter of being good or bad at it, it’s just something you have to do.

I will continue to cook from scratch when we return to the U.S. despite a busy lifestyle, which regarding my work, I hope gets even busier. This is how I intend to do it.

View it as a challenge. We set fitness goals, financial goal and productivity goals yet goals in the kitchen don’t seem to be so popular for the general public. That should change.

Rely on one-pot meals, especially those I can cook ahead. I have a feeling my crock pot will be getting lots of use. I’ve really missed not having one here now that I’ve learned a lot about the natural foods I can cook in it.

Plan ahead, way ahead. I’ve always been a list maker and planned meals for the week, but now I want to carve out blocks of time to make pastas, stocks, breads and crackers to eat throughout the week.

Utilize the skills of my past. I know deep down inside me that all those hours spent watching my mom can and preserve produce from the garden taught me those skills. Now I just need to practice it.

Reevaluate the budget. We’ve always had a monthly budget for groceries and I would go twice a month. I now want to adjust things so that I buy more things upfront that will last longer. For example, grains in bulk and large amounts of grass-fed beef to freeze for a couple months. If a house comes about next year there will be a garden otherwise we’ll join a CSA and take better advantage of my father’s garden when possible.

Is cooking important to you? How do you manage it amidst your long to-do list?

Photo is a sampling of bamboo cooking utensils made by a gentleman at the local farmer’s market.

This post is being submitted as part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday.

Because I kind of like corn…

August 7, 2009

Corn has a pretty bad reputation if you think about it. All those bright green stalks that symbolize summers of my childhood; those crisp, sweet kernels from a just-picked ear. Their beauty has been tarnished because of all the not-so-great things that corn is turned into. You know the syrups and starches, the vast overabundance of it in the food supply, not to mention it being on the don’t-eat list for those once popular low-carb diets. Oh, poor corn.

The truth is when it comes to fresh corn and more natural things made of corn, I like the stuff. Corn is very popular where we are in the Brazil. When we have visited the coast, you can find people selling it on the beach, there are restaurants in town completely devoted to items made of corn, it is a common pizza topping and then there’s fubá.

It took me a while to figure out the exact origin or makeup of fubá . By the way it is pronounced fu-BAH, with a big emphasis on the BAH. Most sources equate it to cornmeal in the U.S.; however it is a very fine cornmeal. It is used as a flour here and can be found in the form of cakes (bolo de fubá), cookies (biscoitos de fubá) and, according to a recipe on the package, even soufflé.

I wanted to try making some things with fubá so over the past couple weeks I gave the cake and the cookies a try. I also should mention that I didn’t do any playing around with different (i.e., less processed) ingredients because I really want to try the original first.

The cake was once given to us as a gift and I’ve had it at parties, so I was able to compare what I ended up with. I baked it in a loaf pan instead of a Bundt or sheet cake pan and I really liked it like this. I could enjoy it as more of a bread. It is similar to a sweet cornbread, although not as course and the butter makes it incredibly rich. It is one of those cakes that can very tempting for breakfast with some coffee.

Bolo de Fubá

200 grams butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup fubá
½ cup all purpose white flour
½ cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 Tbsp finely ground, unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a standard Bundt pan, large loaf pan or square cake pan. Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and mix well. Add the fubá, flour, milk and baking powder, mix well. Stir in coconut.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown and baked through. Let cool and de-pan.

Cookies made with fubá have quickly become one of my favorites here. The first time I had one we took a chance at a bakery and ordered it by looks alone before I knew of the flour and I was intrigued. It is a slightly sweet cookie, and rather dry, but this is actually a good quality that makes it unique. This cookie stands out because it contains erva doce which is anise, so it has that very slight liquorice flavor. I’m not a huge fan of anise, but I find I enjoy it when it is subtle as with these cookies or pitzels.

When searching for recipes on the web, I found a ton, all with something a little different. So I decided to take the easy route and go with the simplest one. They are not exactly like the ones we’ve had at the bakery regarding texture, as shown in the picture above, but the flavor was just as tasty.

Biscoitos de Fubá
Adapted from Tudo Gostoso

1 ½ cups Fubá
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 egg yolks
½ Tbsp anise seeds
½ cup butter, melted
¼ cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Stir the fubá, flour, sugar and anise seeds in a mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks and butter and mix well until the dough is dry and crumbly. Add enough milk to make the dough stick together so that you can form a ball. This was about ¼ cup for me.

Roll the dough into balls about the size of a golf ball. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet, 12 per standard sheet pan. The original recipe includes the step of rolling them in cornmeal first, but I didn’t do this. Flatten the cookies by hand or with a glass. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the sides and bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack. Makes about 18 cookies.

So I’m wondering – have any of you who frequent ethnic/cultural markets come across something similar to Fubá? I’m interested if I can find a similar product when I’m back in the U.S.

Also, for a great variation of Bolo de Fubá check out 5 Star Foodie (winner of the Mango Challenge and box of Brazil goodies ).

Curious About Coconut Oil

June 24, 2009

I’ve gladly embraced the coconut since I’ve been living in Brazil. As you can imagine it shows up in a lot of places around here. Those green coconuts with the tops chopped off and a straw inserted which most people seek out on their vacations, I now have access to everyday after my workouts at the park.

It’s a different world for me and while I was not a lover of coconut as a kid, it has grown on me quite rapidly in the past few years. Readily available as it may be, I will admit that it has been with reservation that I’ve generous added all forms of this food into my cooking.

Old habits die hard and when you are in a field where the dangers of saturated fats and all associated foods has been hammered into your head for years, it takes a while to adjust to new things. Then I started to read more and more about coconut oil. It’s nothing new, actually, been around forever, like most other natural, healthy foods, I might add.

I’ve been promising this post a while and I finally feel like I’ve done enough research to present what I’ve found and the views I’ve formed. It is really, really difficult to research topics like this in my opinion. I mean, 75% of the information out there that is understandable is from a company who sells coconut oil so you know they are going to present the positives. Yes, the info may be true, but one must read and believe with caution.

So here’s the breakdown.

Coconut oil has been used for a very long time in many of the cultures who have had easy access to it, India, Thailand, etc. Well, with our “eat low fat” mantra which eventually changed to a “eat healthy fat” mantra which is slowly becoming a “everything is okay except trans fat” mantra, coconut oil got a bit of a bad rap in the US.

Now this isn’t completely unwarranted. Much of what was being analyzed was refined and hydrogenated coconut oil, not good for you. However, the good stuff, the virgin coconut oil got thrown in with it making all coconut oil, no matter the source, bad for your heart, according to health professionals and some researchers.

Well, researchers (and lots of companies selling coconut oil) are now telling us that’s not true. I have to say, at this point, I agree.

Coconut oil has a high concentration of saturated fat, but this particular fat actually has two very positive qualities when it comes to health. One, it contains lauric acid. This gives coconut anti-bacterial, anti-microbial and anti-viral properties. You can find people all over the web swearing how good it works for the immune system and as a topical ointment.

Second, coconut oil is made up of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) which are metabolized differently by the body than other fatty acids. They are absorbed more efficiently in our gastrointestinal tract and transported directly to the liver where they are utilized for energy. Long chain fatty acids, on the other hand, are converted into chylomicrons (substances that transport fats in the body) and go through the lymph system.

The big buzz around MCFA is that research studies have shown them to be associated with weight loss. Animal and human studies show an increase in energy expenditure after consumption leading researchers to believe they hold potential for promoting weight loss (1). In addition, another study concluded that intake of MCFA oils was more effective for weight loss than olive oil (2). In response to speculation that MCFA are associated with cardiovascular disease when used with weight loss programs, yet another study determined that there was no negative effect on metabolic risk factors (3). It was added in the conclusion that a distinction should be made on fatty acid chain length when discussing the effects of saturated fat on metabolic risk factors.

Okay, take a breather. Just a little more science stuff.

There has been some research linking coconut oil to improved cholesterol, but a lot of this has been in animal studies. Of course, that is where most nutritional research starts so it is worth mentioning. One study showed that the consumption of coconut oil by laboratory rats resulted in a decrease of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL (4). From what I have gathered even if some professionals believe coconut oil doesn’t necessarily improve cholesterol, they do recognize that it may not exactly hurt it either. That can be viewed as a positive when it comes to fats considering all the bad publicity they’ve had in the past.

Virgin coconut oil is where it’s at when it comes to health. This name means it has been extracted from young coconuts using little to no heat and is in its most natural from. Refined coconut oils sometimes labeled as RBD (refined, bleached, deodorized) can contain chemicals used in the processing and does not have the same nutrient profile as the virgin variety. Some people go for organic. I did read in my research that this wasn’t of utmost importance because coconuts don’t need a lot of pesticides to grow, but I can’t verify the accuracy of that information. I didn’t find anything else about that in my search.

Now for my minor rant.

I do believe that foods have medicinal, healing and even miracle properties and coconut oil just might be one. However, I dislike it when foods are advertised like this. Why? Well, because that is what we do in the U.S. with fads and most fads are dishonest. The miracle cure, the potential weight loss, etc. may be true, but turning things into fads and quick fixes is where we get ourselves into trouble. I feel by doing this we are buying into the fact that health is about quick fixes and not lifestyle.

I feel that foods should be about nourishment and enjoyment and the miracles a bonus for being healthy.

So you won’t find me taking coconut oil medicinally by the teaspoonful like I have read about. Mostly because, well, that is what we do with medicine. Food can act as medicine, but I prefer to enjoy it as food. I do believe that coconut oil has health benefits and I plan to start incorporating it into my diet more when possible. Although probably not a lot considering the price, but I’m certainly not going to be avoiding it like I used to.

So far I’ve only enjoyed it as a spread on bread and I hope to eventually start cooking and baking with it more. It is only sold in small jars here and while I haven’t searched too hard I haven’t seen it in bulk.

My next step is to determine if coconut milk and grated, unsweetened coconut contain the same benefits as the oil. I’m thinking probably not since they may be processed, but if you have info on that, send it my way. I use these much more in my cooking. So far all I’ve found on it is from the About.com guide for Alternative Medicine. She states that 3 ½ tablespoons of coconut oil is equal to about 10 ounces of coconut milk when it comes to lauric acid and the milk is processed differently so the nutrient and chemical makeup is likely different as well.

Do you use coconut oil?

References
1. Papamandjaris AA, MacDougall DE and Jones PJ. Medium chain fatty acid metabolism and energy expenditure: obesity treatment implications. Life Sci 1998;62(14):1203-15
2. St – Onge MP and Bosarge A. Weight-loss diet that includes consumption of medium-chain triacylglycerol oil leads to a greater rate of weight and fat mass loss than does olive oil. Am J Clin Nutr 2008 Mar;87(3):621-6
3. St – Onge MP et al. Medium chain triglyceride oil consumption as part of a weight loss diet does not lead to an adverse metabolic profile when compared to olive oil. J Am Coll Nutr. 2008 Oct;27(5):547-52
4. The Weston A. Price Foundation: The Latest Studies on Coconut Oil by Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.

Resources
A New Look at Coconut Oil
Coconut Research Center
Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

Blog Posts
Food Renegade
Nourishing Gourmet

This post has been submitted as part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays!

Will Learn for Food

June 15, 2009

As most of you know I just finished reading Food Politics by Marion Nestle not too long ago. While it took me a while to get through the book, I enjoyed it thoroughly and I learned a lot. One specific section that has stuck in my mind was that which addressed food brands and companies in schools.

Aside from my growing issues with the influence food companies have on our children and their health, this topic brought up some things from my time in elementary school – food related incentives.

Candy was a big deal in third grade. We were asked to learn things like our spelling words or memorize bits of info in exchange for taffy or a candy bar. Even as a kid that age, who struggled with weight ( as in a little on the chubby side), I often told the teacher I didn’t want to participate. Then, I blamed it on not wanting the candy, which they thought was weird, but I think it may have been more that I didn’t want to do the homework!

Despite these little candy rewards here and there, looking back I don’t feel that this was quite as powerful as the influence of food brands. According to the book these are growing beyond belief. Isolated schools are making changes, but it still remains a powerful force when it comes to lunches and rewards.

I was a big reader in grade school, I still am. But at that time in my life all my reading paid off in the form of individual pizzas from a popular pizza chain. I loved that program. I would read and read all summer in order to get my pizza.

Then, it all seemed so innocent. My parents didn’t view it as a big deal either. I mean, hey, I was reading and increasing my knowledge and all foods in moderation, right? I try not to overreact to these types of things now days, but it is difficult when you look back as a health conscious adult and realize how much that company was trying to brand me and how my school was letting them do it for money.

There were other food-based programs when I was in school, but for some reason this one really sticks out in my mind. Maybe it was my favorite, I don’t know. It is just another one of those realizations I have that I am fortunate to have become a healthy adult who knows the value of nourishing food. I, of course, had my mom trying to get me to eat healthy and my dad providing fresh foods from the garden, but some kids aren’t so blessed.

If you don’t have kids, what programs do you remember from school and how do you feel about them now?

If you do have kids, I’m really interested in knowing how you handle these food brands and incentives when it comes to your own children.

PS. Much to the likely disappointment of that pizza chain, their branding didn’t seem to work. It is by far my least favorite pizza today. Not sure why that is. Maybe some others had more influence on me.

Photo of one of my favorite pizzas in Lexington, KY from Mellow Mushroom. So many veggies it weighs a ton!

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