Friday Rant - The fat tax

Back in August, Alabama released their plan to impose a fat tax on state employees. Basically, each employee will get a medical screening, which includes a BMI test (and we know my feelings about that) and medication screenings. Those considered obese or who have high blood pressure, high glucose, or high cholesterol will have to pay an extra $25/month starting in 2011.

Now, Alabama is the second highest in obesity in the United States, so there's obviously something that needs to be done. And obesity does put a strain on our healthcare system, so it does seem logical that the people who are asking more of the system put more into it (just like I think that people who make a ton more money should pay a proportionally higher rate of taxes).
My problem with this is in determining the line. I mean, sure, there are plenty of people out there who are obese because they eat too much unhealthy food in too-large servings and who don't exercise enough. But there's more of a gray area.

What about the people who are obese because they eat fattening food because it's cheaper? They don't have a lot of money, so they buy what they can afford. The WHO proposed a fat tax on unhealthy foods a few years ago (foods like potato chips, butter, cheese, meat and whole milk). And while I would be a hypocrite in saying that this isn't a good idea (because I think higher taxes on cigarettes is a good idea), it also isn't going to solve the problem. Because the fatty food is going to get more expensive, but the healthy food isn't going to be less expensive, and it will end up leaving poor people with even less ability to buy any food.

Then there are the people who do legitimately have health issues which push them over the edge into obesity. I know this is often an overused excuse, but there are times when it is valid. And on top of whatever other medical issues they're having, they're going to be charged extra?

Now, you might be saying, $300/year really isn't that much money, especially if you're disproportionally impacting the health care system. But I think that, in Alabama especially, a good proportion of those who are obese have gotten that way because of the economic issues and the lack of nutrition education. So making them pay more is just going to make the problem worse (it's all fine and good to say that they'll be motivated to eat healthier so they don't have to pay that extra assessment every time, but honestly I think it'll just make them mad). And trying to get them to change their ways with a fee isn't going to help if they haven't been taught a more healthy way to eat. It's like turning someone out into a field, telling them to grow food, saying you'll charge them rent every month on the land, but not teaching them the process of farming. It's rather silly.

Sure, there are plenty of people who know they aren't eating healthy. It doesn't take a course in nutrition to know that hamburgers and fries aren't the best choice for your arteries. But learning how to cook tasty recipes that make you want to eat healthy (rather than plain grilled chicken or constant salads), that's another thing all together.

You ate WHAT with that?

When I was in elementary school, we went through a phase where we'd put together two foods that didn't normally go together and eat them. It was the great lunchtime competition - who could create the best (and wackiest) mixture. I know we had a name for it, but can't for the life of me remember what it was, more than 20 years later (though I did just email a bunch of my old classmates to ask...go Facebook!).

One of my favorites (though not terribly wacky) was apple slices and brownies together. Maybe I should take that inspiration and make some brownies with apple slices in it (or maybe someone's already tried it, if so, give a shout out).

This evolved into playing spoons, where at sleepover parties, we'd raid the fridge and squirt a random array of various stuff from the fridge onto a spoon and then make someone eat it. And since honor was involved, we almost always did eat it. I don't remember exactly what went into it, since it was a rather random, grab-the-bottles-and-squirt kind of thing. But, for example, it might be a mixture of jam, capers, oil, tabasco, and mustard. One time we even subjected a friend's father to this, and put toothpaste as one of the ingredients in his spoon. He was a good sport and played along, with a minimum of face-pulling at what had to have been a disgusting flavor, though he wasn't happy when he found out there was toothepaste in it.

I also recall a birthday party of mine where the main order of business once the parents went to sleep was the playing of spoons. And come morning, there was stuff spilled all over the bottom of the closet and the sink was entirely clogged. I have no idea what caused all the mess, but let me tell you, my parents were not happy with that one!

Back to the not-quite-so-gross-but-still-strange combo foods. When I was little (I'm talking 4 years old) I used to love mayonnaise and mustard sandwiches. Just bread, mayo and mustard. I then grew out of that and didn't eat mustard for another 20 years, and am still very picky about it (dijon only). Mayo I will only eat as an ingredient (like in deviled eggs) but will never spread it on sandwiches. I guess I used up my mayo and mustard quotient when I was 4.

I was a very picky eater, especially as a teen. I could have listed on my fingers what veggies I would eat (salad veggies, but not the funky ones, just lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and then peas and corn and green beans. I'm not kidding, that's it). But one of the quirks I had was that when we had mashed potatoes and peas with dinner, I'd make a volcano shape with the potatoes, put all the peas in, and then mix it evenly together. I never ate them separately.

Even now, I'm all about the mixing of foods. When I have a protein, a carb, and a veggie on my plate, I'll take small bites of each in my mouth at the same time, to get a full complex spectrum of dinner, rather than just eating one regular-sized bite of each. The food seems more interesting that way.

What kinds of foods have you mixed in strange and different ways? Did you even play spoons?

Goodbye 20s, Hello 30s!

I figure this is the perfect opportunity to look back on the last 10 years and give thanks for the awesome stuff that's happened. That way I ring in the next 10 on a positive note! So I'm going to list 10 awesome things from this last decade - events which were important to me and made a difference in my life.

So here they are (and they're in order of what occurred to me, the numbering isn't some sort of David Letterman-style ranking system):

1. Board game parties with my friends - we've shared lots o' food, drink, and laughs over the last couple years. Whenever a party's over, it leaves me wanting to schedule another one for the very next week. I love all my awesome friends! :)

2. Walking my Dad down the aisle when he and Steph got married last year.

3. Living in France - I left for Calais to teach English about two weeks after 9-11. The French welcomed me in to their school and their lives. Being able to speak French on a daily basis energizes me like an endless battery, and the fact that the French system has awesomely built in so much vacation time meant that I could travel all around Europe during the 7 weeks of vacation (in 8 months) and all the long weekends I had during my time there.

4. Traveling - I've had the wonderful opportunity in the past few years to go to Toronto for a wedding, Paris twice on vacation, and Cairo just this year on vacation. Cairo especially was fascinating, just because it's the most exotic place I've ever been. It's full of places you see in books and movies, but don't seem quite real until you're standing beside them with your mouth open. I even got to walk down into a pyramid. Bartering at the market has to be one of the highlights.

5. Moving back to Boston - What I really appreciated about St Louis is that living there exposed me to people with a lot of different viewpoints than my own (especially politically speaking). Having grown up in liberal-land (and being very liberal myself), I feel like my sense of the world was enriched by being able to understand the perspectives of a completely different group. That said, I love Boston so much more! The colors are more vibrant here, I'm closer to my family, and the activities just seem so much more prevalent and interesting.

6. Teaching group fitness - If you'd asked me 10 years ago whether I'd ever get up on a microphone in front of a group of people and led an exercise class, I would've thought you were seriously smoking something. When I started learning how to teach, I thought my heart would pop right out of my chest, it was beating so hard. But eventually, I learned that the anticipation of teaching class was so much more nerve-wracking than actually teaching. Now that I'm used to it, I think nothing of grabbing that mic and spouting out aerobics jargon. I think that I was already headed towards a higher sense of self-confidence anyway, but teaching fitness definitely kick-started it. I'm no longer the quiet girl in class!

7. My friends - this kind of goes along with #1, but just in general, I've found an amazing group of friends, and whether we're hanging out over dinner, or movies, or whatever, I always enjoy their company.

8. My family - love 'em all, for their support with everything, from emotional support to helping me buy my condo, to just being their awesome selves.

9. Buying my condo - it may be a shoebox, but it's my shoebox, and I managed to avoid all that predatory lending rigamarole. The first awesome thing about having my own place was being able to build (with my father's help) floor to ceiling book shelves. Damn it if they're not full to overflowing! Off to IKEA for more bookshelves...

10. Food! - ok, so this probably seemed like a given on this, my food blog. But now that I've learned how to cook, and I cook often and with local tasty ingredients, food has become a big part of my life. Whether it's discussing it with you guys on my blog, filling my freezer with homemade frozen dinners, cooking for a party, eating out at restaurants, finding out healthy alternatives, making seasonal recipes, or what have you, it's been a journey.

Fun New Foods: Stevia

I don't know about you, but I have a major sweet tooth. As evidenced by the fact that I just downed three mint chocolate cookies and some sweetened hot tea (we're having cookie mondays at work, and a batch of cookies just came in today instead). But then, I want to be healthy. So I'm always looking for ways to give something the appearance of sweet without the calories of sugar.

For my daily cup of tea, I normally use Splenda (made out of Sucralose). Splenda has no (or very little) calories, and doesn't have as many negative effects that saccharin and aspartame have (digression: one of my favorite sodas growing up was Tab (aspartame), especially drunk while eating a ham and cheese sub with lettuce, toasted. I once gave a friend in college a Tab to try (my mother sent them out to me), and was accused of trying to poison him).

Back to topic, Splenda. I like Splenda because it blends better than sugar (which just sits at the bottom, so when you start drinking it's not sweet and then it makes your teeth hurt at the bottom). But the part of me that likes all natural foods and ingredients (farmer's market anyone?) doesn't like it so much. It's made from real sugar, so it's a bit better, in my mind, than Sweet n' Low or Equal. But it's still not all natural.

In walks Stevia. I found this at Trader Joe's and figured I'd try it. It does, after all, say "100% Natural" right on the package, and it's calorie free and sugar free.

Wait wait, what? Sugar free? What the hell is it then?

It's made of rice maltodextrin, stevia extract and silica. Stevia extract is actually an herb native to Paraguay. It's not technically a sweetener, it can only be sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Its extracts have about 300 times the sweetness of sugar.

So why isn't it mainstream, if it's all natural and so very very sweet? Well, it seems there's a bit of a health controversy. Some studies have shown that it serves as a liver mutagen, others have proven that it's harmless. Some studies have shown that it increases insulin sensitivity in rats, and promotes insulin production (reducing the effect of diabetes), while some human studies have shown it to reduce hypertension and others have shown that it has no effect on hypertension. The WHO's study found no carcinogenic activity with Stevia and that it might help with hypertension and diabetes, but that further study was needed to determine dosage.

So basically, studies done on rats aren't as relevant as studies done on humans. And a study done on one human isn't going to be relevant for all of us. That Stevia will help one person's diabetes could mutate someone else's liver, you never really can tell in the great lottery of science (you just go on the results of large randomized trials, which are never 100% effective).

At this point, there doesn't seem to be much evidence that it's bad for you, and there is some evidence that it's good for you. So it could be a good alternative.

However, I can't get past the taste. It definitely is sweeter than sugar, but the taste isn't as innocuous. It isn't purely sweet. There's another flavor behind it, that can interact with whatever it is you're drinking/eating it with. I can't really quantify it any better than that, but I'd recommend trying some and finding out whether it's your kind of thing.

Monday Recipe - Partying in a new decade!

As some of you already know, I'm turning 30 on Wednesday. So this past Saturday was my big party, and this being me, I ended up cooking all day. I'm listing the recipes below (but keep in mind that I'm winging it off memory).

For those of you who came to the party, thanks for coming! I had a great time (well, apart from the migraine, but at least that went away eventually), and I hope you did too!

The Asian meatballs disappeared right quick, and the orzo soon after. I heard some people liked the falafel (I wasn't a big fan, but part of that I think was because I didn't add enough couscous, so the spices were way too strong). One of my longtime favorites is the stuffed grape leaf recipe.

Fruity wine
For a yummy (and antioxidant-full) cocktail, mix a half glass of white wine with blueberry-pomegranate juice. It's like fruit juice with an alcohol kick.

Orzo feta with cherry tomatoes
1 lb orzo, cooked al dente and cooled
24 oz cherry tomatoes, halved (that's about 3 pints, I think)
6T marjoram, minced (this is about one of those small spice containers-worth)
3C feta
2/3C green onions, sliced thinly
4T dijon mustard
1/2C lemon juice
1/2C olive oil
Salt
2 chicken breasts, cooked and torn into small pieces (optional)

Whisk marjoram, green onions, mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt in a bowl. Take 4T of the mixture and add it to a bowl with the cherry tomatoes, mixing to coat thoroughly. Pour the rest of the marinade over the orzo and feta, stirring to mix. Add the tomatoes. Add chicken if desired.

Asian Meatballs
2lbs ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped finely
6 green onions, sliced finely
4t sesame seeds
1/2C soy sauce (I can't remember exactly if this quantity is right, but it's somewhere around there)

Mix ingredients in a large bowl. Shape into 1" meatballs and put on a non-stick (or greased) pan and broil for 10-15 minutes.

Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmathes)

2 jars grapevine leaves, washed

1 1/2 lbs ground beef and/or lamb

2 1/2 t salt (optional)

Pepper

2T vegetable oil

2 onions, chopped

1C rice, raw

Juice from 1 1/2 lemons

1/4C mint

1/2C water

1/4C butter (optional)

2C chicken broth

Mix meat, oil, onions, rice, lemon juice, mint, water, salt and pepper in a large bowl. To roll the leaves, take a grape leaf and lay it out flat, vein-side up. take a small dollop of the meat mixture and put it at the base of the leaf. Fold the two sides on to the center, then roll away from you to make a small log-shaped roll. Make sure the leaf is not torn, and that it is rolled tightly (if it isn't, it may explode apart while cooking).

In a large pot, line the bottom with layers of grape leaves. Make sure they are packed as tightly together as possible (if they're loose, again, they may explode in cooking). To make more room in the pot, smoosh them together as closely as possible. Then start another layer. Pour in chicken broth until the leaves are just barely covered and add the pats of butter if desired. Bring to a simmer and cook for 45-60 minutes (or until rice is cooked through). Grape leaves freeze easily.

Oven-baked Falafel
I found this recipe on this wonderful food blog, Food Stories. The main mistake I made was that I didn't use enough couscous (it really looked like A LOT of couscous when I was making it, so I decided to wing it to add less). The great thing about this is that falafel is normally fried, and this is baked, so it's healthier.

Friday Rant - Where'd the cheese go?

Ok, so we have plenty of cheese in this country. We have cheddar out the wazoo, in all different levels of sharp (extra sharp=extra yummy), we have Swiss, we have parmesan and mozzarella (my farmer's market sells some seriously yummy mozzarella every friday). So yes, we have options. But seriously, where'd all the really tasty cheese go? I'm talking the melty, smells-like-old-socks kind of cheese that explodes on your tongue like a scrumptious dairy bomb. Or the subtle hard cheese that pairs with wine and is just impossible to stop eating. There's triple-creme brie, melted goat cheese on bread, hard mountain cheese. We have goat cheese here yes, but the goat cheese I've liked the most has other flavors in it (citrus lavendar, orange cardamom), so it's less about the cheese appreciation as the flavor and the pairing with bread.

So where'd all that cheese go?

The problem in the states is the pasteurization (heating the milk to kill of the bacteria before making the cheese). There are restrictions on who can make and sell cheese, and for good reason (listeria and e coli). But while pasteurization does definitely cut down on the negative side effects of cheese, people have been eating cheese for a hell of a lot longer than pasteurization has been around. The French eat unpasteurized cheese all the time, and do we ever hear about massive e coli outbreaks in France? Non, pas du tout. The e coli outbreaks we hear about are in the US involving meat (don't get me started on the meat packing plants) and spinach.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't pasteurize, because pasteurization was a great advance and is definitely useful (especially for pregnant women who don't want to chance exposing their baby to bacteria). I just want the option to eat non-pasteurized cheese without paying an arm and a leg. The raw-milk cheese on the market here has to sit for more than 60 days before it can be sold, because the bacteria is most likely to occue in the first 60 days (I'm presuming they test the cheese before they sell it). So basically, the two most popular soft cheeses in the world (brie and camembert) must be pasteurized because they can't sit around for 60 days. And have you tried pasteurized brie? It tastes vaguely like cheese, but basically amounts to a high calorie, high fat cheese-textured spread.

And American cheese? Seriously, I think that was a psychology experiment to figure out how much BS we'd believe if they told us it was cheese. I know lots of kids like it (I did when I was a kid), but man, that stuff isn't natural!

I've gotten some very fragrant, mouth watering cheeses at cheese shops near me. But for a small wheel (maybe 4-5 inches in diameter), it'll run me anywhere from $10-$20. So I usually stick with flavored goat cheese and mozzarella, and occasionally spring for something fancier if it's in my budget.

I'll run through some of the really tasty cheese isn't another, non-rant post. But what are all your thoughts on cheese and pasteurization? Have you had European cheese made from raw milk? What kinds of cheese do you prefer?

The Addictive Powers of Chewing Gum

I admit that I have a strong (and not entirely unabashed) addiction to chewing gum. I go down to the convenience store in the lobby at work and buy five or six of those big packs of sugarless chewing gum at a time. And the gum does last for a while (several weeks to a month), so I'm not going overboard. But you should have seen their faces the first couple times I bought that much. They probably thought I was buying gum for my entire department. They're used to me now, though.

I normally get the itch to eat something around 1:30 or 2p, which is a bit after lunch, but before my 4p snack. So as to not add a bunch of extra calories to my daily intake, I resort to chewing gum.

A little while back I decided to google chewing gum, to see whether chewing 3-5 sticks of it a day (ok, at a time) was a good idea. And the results were mixed.

A lot of the info below was found on this page.

The Good Stuff

1. Many brands of chewing gum are given the American Dental Association's seal of approval. On a package of Extra, it says "The ADA Council on Scientific Affairs' acceptance of Extra is based on its finding that the physical action of chewing Extra sugar-free gum for 20 minutes after eating stimulates saliva flow, which helps to prevent cavities by reducing plaque acids and strengthening teeth." The Orbit package says the same thing.

2. Gum is a low-cal alternative to eating snacks (when it's the munchies, rather than real hunger - I found a page (which I can't find again now) on which someone says that they chew gum instead of eating lunch because lunch makes them sleepy. So gum instead of non-hunger based snacks = good. Gum instead of lunch = not so good).

3. Gum is tasty! My new favorite is the Sangria Fresca flavor from Orbit, but I also like their Mojito Mint, Sweet Mint, and Extra's Green Apple. I tend to start chewing one stick and then popping another soon after to refresh the flavor. Pretty soon I have 4-5 sticks in my mouth, but the flavor's still there because I'm still popping it. When I was little, I think I got something like 15 sticks in my mouth because I was trying to see how many I could possibly fit (the record is Richard Walker with 135 sticks chewed for 8 hours).

4. Chewing gum is supposed to increase alertness and concentration (perhaps it has something to do with being mindful, and focusing on chewing gum helps focus attention into other tasks as well?). Perhaps that why I bite my lip sometimes when I'm chewing gum - I'm focusing so much on other stuff that I forget that I'm chewing on gum and try to gnaw my lip instead...

5. Gum freshens your breath, temporarily at least.

6. Some psychologists believe that chewing gum can reduce tension and boredom, and that it can help release nervous attention and provide an outlet for frustration and irritation.

7. Chewing gum can help people quit smoking (whether it's nicotine gum or just basic gum).

The Bad Stuff

1. The artificial sweeteners in chewing gum can be very bad for you. Like sorbitol, which has been shown (in large quantities) to have a laxative effect and causes abdominal pain, diarrhea, extreme weight loss, to the point of hospitalization. Now, this only happens with 20g and higher of sorbitol (which is 15 sticks of Orbit gum). So it looks like I'm ok with the 2-4 sticks I have on most weekdays.

2. Some chewing gum uses xylitol, which has fewer health problems than sorbitol, and even has some positive effects (with osteoporosis, diabetes, dental care, and infection, for example). So this is good. However, xylitol is never the primary sweetener. Even in gums like Trident, which does use xylitol, the primary sweetener, and first on the list of ingredients, is sorbitol.

3. Chewing gum is really sticky. No duh, right? That's what makes it great for chewing, that we can chow down on the rubber for a while and it never breaks down (unless it's been sitting in the sun for a while, then it disintegrates. I don't recommend that, it's really REALLY nasty). But the problem comes when it makes contact with something non-mouth-related.

• Hair, for instance. Hair and chewing gum don't mix. I've heard peanut butter is good for that.
• For shoes? Stick your shoe in the freezer for several hours or overnight. This will make it brittle and easy to scrape off. This can also be used for clothing, carpets, mats, and even hair (though thank you, I don't want to stand there stuck to the freezer for a while until it manages to freeze...)
• Once the bulk of the chewing gum has come off, take a beaten egg white and rub it onto whatever remains of the gum for a few minutes.
• If the gum has spread out on a piece of clothing, then rub it with a mixture of salt and dishwashing liquid and another cloth.

4. Overuse of chewing muscles can make them very very tight and even, in some cases, lead to damage to the muscles and the disc in the tempero-mandibular joint.

That's all I've got for the moment. So I figure, all in all, chewing gum on occasion can be good for your teeth and help keep you concentrated, but chewing constantly, or even frequently, can lead to problems. Everything in moderation, that's the key!