Yep. The results are in. You-all regulars readers of this here blog probably remember what my doc said awhile back. Hey, low carb is OK for weight loss, but after two years I'll start getting the risk factors for heart disease.
Of course, we all know a risk factor isn't a risk, and a risk factor isn't even a disease. But I don't even have risk factors! After 3 years of low (or lowish, some days) carb, my doc might be surprised that I am not coming into the office for chest pains. Here's what a few blood tests are currently showing.
Total cholesterol 174
Triglycerides 70
HDL 69
LDL calculated 91
Cholesterol/HDL ratio 2.5
Cholesterol, non-HDL 105
My total cholesterol continues to go down from its peak at the start of my low-carb journey.
My triglycerides were higher than the last time, but still less than half what they were 25 years ago when I was eating a "clean" heathywholegrains vegetarian diet and running 35 miles a week.
My HDL went down slightly from the peak in 2012, but it is still about double what I had measured 25 years ago.
My LDL calculation continues to decrease from the recent peak in 2009. (I don't remember what it was 25 years ago, but it was probably low since my total cholesterol was in the 130's.)
My Chol/HDL ratio is a "healthy" 2.5. My more meaningful Trig/HDL ratio is one. (Twenty-five years ago, this ratio was around 5!)
The non-HDL cholesterol reading is new, so I have nothing to compare. Who knows if that is a good number or not.
This morning I enjoyed a tiny amount of sweet potato strips cooked with undrained bacon and greens. Then I had a couple of eggs cooked in butter. I washed all that down with a mug of joe and real full-fat cream. For lunch, I enjoyed salmon with mayonnaise and basil, pork rinds with sour cream (don't worry, doc, it was low-fat sour cream I bought by mistake), a tiny fig and a full-cream iced coffee. Arterycloggingfersure. The numbers tell all.
Showing posts with label food reward. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food reward. Show all posts
Friday, October 4, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Paleo on $100 a month days 19 and 20 - lamb burgers
I finally made it to the store to get a bit more variety. I bought more eggs (great sale!), some cheese, braunschweiger, cream and Persian cucumbers. I toyed with the idea of buying brie, but ended up with a cheaper cheddar block. I also found some cooked "fresh" mussels on quicksale, but the package was HUGE and I didn't want to risk it. I haven't ever eaten them in this form before.
I have $18.01 in the kitty. OK, time for the macadamia nuts? Not so fast. The butter is running out.
For my meals, I finished up the bean soup and sugar-free Jello from trader Humberto, had lunchtime coffee from traders Ingrid and Jerry, enjoyed morning tea from trader Olga, oranges from trader Noel, tangerines and lemons from trader Humberto. I made lots of tea, mostly lemon balm, mint medley and chocolate mint. Of course, nasturtium blossoms and purslane for lunch.
The bone broth turned out really well, so I have that for breakfast too.
The huge treat for both days was the lamb. I made burgers with lots of dehydrated zucchini and pepper, olive brine, and a ton of greek oregano. I ate them wrapped with cheese in large leaves of lettuce. Then I couldn't stop eating them!
I ran into a trading partner on my shopping trip, and that is always a nice treat. She yelled, "Hey! Thanks for the fennel, it was wonderful."
I have $18.01 in the kitty. OK, time for the macadamia nuts? Not so fast. The butter is running out.
For my meals, I finished up the bean soup and sugar-free Jello from trader Humberto, had lunchtime coffee from traders Ingrid and Jerry, enjoyed morning tea from trader Olga, oranges from trader Noel, tangerines and lemons from trader Humberto. I made lots of tea, mostly lemon balm, mint medley and chocolate mint. Of course, nasturtium blossoms and purslane for lunch.
The bone broth turned out really well, so I have that for breakfast too.
The huge treat for both days was the lamb. I made burgers with lots of dehydrated zucchini and pepper, olive brine, and a ton of greek oregano. I ate them wrapped with cheese in large leaves of lettuce. Then I couldn't stop eating them!
I ran into a trading partner on my shopping trip, and that is always a nice treat. She yelled, "Hey! Thanks for the fennel, it was wonderful."
Monday, February 25, 2013
Slouching Towards Macrobiotics - Who thought of it First? Part 2
I love how a blog series drives up my traffic!! Today's quiz will be easy for most of my dear and faithful readers.
This diet was promoted by a concerned fellow citizen of the world who felt that our diet was ruining the planet. Not ecologically, necessarily, but spiritually, or morally, well not sure on that. Of course, the experts thought all that was bunk....
To correct the imbalance, food was supposed to be grown, harvested, prepared and eaten in a natural state. Meats were to be a small item on the table, and all food was to be gently prepared by steaming, braising and cooking with low heat.
Food was not to be seasoned with gobs of sugary and chemical-laden sauces purchased from the grocery store, but was to be carefully seasoned with tiny amounts of natural ingredients or home-prepared condiments. Most foods were to be eaten plain, with no seasoning added at all. Herbs and spices were discouraged, and reserved only for special occasions, like illness. Herbs and spices were seen more as a drug, and with unintended consequences (like lack of balance, or even obesity) if consumed regularly.
OK, you're probably thinking right now, trick me once, but never twice, 'cause you can tell by the title that this is the same sort of trick that I tried to pull when I used that title the last time.
And....DING DING DING DING DING... you are correct. This is a trick blog post. Who is this guru? It's Michio Kushi again. Not Dr. Guyenet. By the way, I eventually gained weight on this macrobiotic diet, so not only is Dr. G wrong, he's not even first! Not good for a PhD, not good at all, to not be first, that is. And to top all of that, a REAL doctor from a REAL school like Harvard has declared macrobiotics to be a fad diet and many of its fans to be eating-disordered, at least more disordered than paleo.
And here's a little end-note, to educate some of the experts. People who flock from fad to fad are just seekers who haven't found the diet that is right for their situation. Maybe some of the anxiety is caused by brain chemicals, but I'll suspect lots of the anxiety comes from the trashy way society treats fat people, and the un-ease fat people feel about their continued placement in that fat camp. So, it is good that Dr. Emily continues to clarify her position on eating disorders, and I hope she continues to herd the tribe towards a suitable and civil response to the camp.
This diet was promoted by a concerned fellow citizen of the world who felt that our diet was ruining the planet. Not ecologically, necessarily, but spiritually, or morally, well not sure on that. Of course, the experts thought all that was bunk....
To correct the imbalance, food was supposed to be grown, harvested, prepared and eaten in a natural state. Meats were to be a small item on the table, and all food was to be gently prepared by steaming, braising and cooking with low heat.
Food was not to be seasoned with gobs of sugary and chemical-laden sauces purchased from the grocery store, but was to be carefully seasoned with tiny amounts of natural ingredients or home-prepared condiments. Most foods were to be eaten plain, with no seasoning added at all. Herbs and spices were discouraged, and reserved only for special occasions, like illness. Herbs and spices were seen more as a drug, and with unintended consequences (like lack of balance, or even obesity) if consumed regularly.
OK, you're probably thinking right now, trick me once, but never twice, 'cause you can tell by the title that this is the same sort of trick that I tried to pull when I used that title the last time.
And....DING DING DING DING DING... you are correct. This is a trick blog post. Who is this guru? It's Michio Kushi again. Not Dr. Guyenet. By the way, I eventually gained weight on this macrobiotic diet, so not only is Dr. G wrong, he's not even first! Not good for a PhD, not good at all, to not be first, that is. And to top all of that, a REAL doctor from a REAL school like Harvard has declared macrobiotics to be a fad diet and many of its fans to be eating-disordered, at least more disordered than paleo.
And here's a little end-note, to educate some of the experts. People who flock from fad to fad are just seekers who haven't found the diet that is right for their situation. Maybe some of the anxiety is caused by brain chemicals, but I'll suspect lots of the anxiety comes from the trashy way society treats fat people, and the un-ease fat people feel about their continued placement in that fat camp. So, it is good that Dr. Emily continues to clarify her position on eating disorders, and I hope she continues to herd the tribe towards a suitable and civil response to the camp.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Rewarding Food Friday!!!!!
Announcing: Several Extremely Disrespectful Low-Carb Zealots are staging a virtual internet progressive dinner. How rewarding is that?
Check out Tess's decluttering series.
Then head on over to the pizza party at Woo's place.
Who wouldn't want to follow up all that goodness with this?
I am getting in some afternoon reading before an evening trip to the theater. I don't have lots of time to cook, so I sliced off a chunk of turduken. For the uninitiated, it contains pork sausage stuffed in chicken and duck, and stuffed in a turkey breast.
It was a bit dry so I served it over a bed of wilted......BACON!!!!
So, what is it? A Paula-inspired bacon-wrapped turduken? A turporky baconducken? A nutritional nightmare? At least it doesn't contain horsemeat, or even DOG meat. Oh well, you decide.
Check out Tess's decluttering series.
Then head on over to the pizza party at Woo's place.
Who wouldn't want to follow up all that goodness with this?
I am getting in some afternoon reading before an evening trip to the theater. I don't have lots of time to cook, so I sliced off a chunk of turduken. For the uninitiated, it contains pork sausage stuffed in chicken and duck, and stuffed in a turkey breast.
It was a bit dry so I served it over a bed of wilted......BACON!!!!
So, what is it? A Paula-inspired bacon-wrapped turduken? A turporky baconducken? A nutritional nightmare? At least it doesn't contain horsemeat, or even DOG meat. Oh well, you decide.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Spiceless in Seattle
The first few days of the Guyenet-endorsed Dan's plan didn't go according to plan at all.
I just could not stick to only one spice in my coffee! I had just "booted up" a new nutmeg, and took a whole 20 minutes while monitoring the pressure cooker to grind the WHOLE THING. It is fresh and fragrant, and I wanted to use it while it is hot.
So, cinnamon and nutmeg into the coffee. I can feel myself gaining weight already. Boo hoo!
There is another known danger of using multiple spices. Since we piled on the cinnamon and put it in everything, when one container was completed, I pulled out another. I got complaints from the "service dining room" that they couldn't find the cinnamon. So I solved that problem by putting the cinnamon in a large cinnamon container and the nutmeg in the small cinnamon container.
And, you are probably laughing right now with the container mix-up, but I am telling you, living with all these spices confuses judgement even more. One of my diners sheepishly entered the kitchen to explain that he had accidentally put tons of cumin into his coffee, instead of taking from any of the numerous containers marked "cinnamon". Worse yet, the cumin doesn't have a shaker top.
I tasted the concoction. It was exotic, floral, strangely Indian, but also not. I longed for cardamom, and then disappointingly realized that cumin is just the gateway drug for all types of Indian food debauchery.
My thoughts went to giant platters of papadam, topped with bright green mint-coriander condiment, then drifted off to chick-pea sweets and tandoori chicken. If you need a visual, check out the video accompanying this post. (And look how fat and lazy they are!)
Now I am 8 pounds higher than when I drank yesterday's coffee, and I am certain that if we had just stuck to plain cinnamon, non of this tragedy would have happened.
I just could not stick to only one spice in my coffee! I had just "booted up" a new nutmeg, and took a whole 20 minutes while monitoring the pressure cooker to grind the WHOLE THING. It is fresh and fragrant, and I wanted to use it while it is hot.
So, cinnamon and nutmeg into the coffee. I can feel myself gaining weight already. Boo hoo!
There is another known danger of using multiple spices. Since we piled on the cinnamon and put it in everything, when one container was completed, I pulled out another. I got complaints from the "service dining room" that they couldn't find the cinnamon. So I solved that problem by putting the cinnamon in a large cinnamon container and the nutmeg in the small cinnamon container.
And, you are probably laughing right now with the container mix-up, but I am telling you, living with all these spices confuses judgement even more. One of my diners sheepishly entered the kitchen to explain that he had accidentally put tons of cumin into his coffee, instead of taking from any of the numerous containers marked "cinnamon". Worse yet, the cumin doesn't have a shaker top.
I tasted the concoction. It was exotic, floral, strangely Indian, but also not. I longed for cardamom, and then disappointingly realized that cumin is just the gateway drug for all types of Indian food debauchery.
My thoughts went to giant platters of papadam, topped with bright green mint-coriander condiment, then drifted off to chick-pea sweets and tandoori chicken. If you need a visual, check out the video accompanying this post. (And look how fat and lazy they are!)
Now I am 8 pounds higher than when I drank yesterday's coffee, and I am certain that if we had just stuck to plain cinnamon, non of this tragedy would have happened.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Gaines Burgers
..Continuing with my series on food-like products. Remember Gaines burgers?
I just loved the Gaines burgers commercial when I was a kid. The burger-shaped product, and like most food-like products, suitable only for dogs, came in an individually-wrapped package, just like today's cheese-products in our kids lunchbox.
Even though I was young, I thought it would be really fun to open one up and crumble it up, just like playing with jello or tapioca pudding. It was always opened up by a housewife with an immaculate manicure that surely she kept that way by not opening up all those stinkin' cans of regular dog food.
When the crumbled burger went into the bowl, the dog, starved for days, wolfed it down.
I wanted to buy these, crumble them, and feed the dog. Unfortunately, we didn't have a dog. Maybe we could get one. The neighbors had dogs, but nobody had enough money for these burgers. They were in another class, along with those packets of laundry detergent you just toss in, central air conditioning, and sugar-sweetened cereal all-you-can-eat every every morning.
What I never got is how they stayed so fresh in the cupboard and why they went to the trouble of creating a burger and then always served it crumbled. When I got older, I realized that unlike Denise Minger, these burgers were not made of meat. I also found out that dogs would eat anything. I also found out that there is no end to the creativity of the food technologists, giving us novel, dopamine-increasing fun stuff like pop rocks, chicken nuggets, Happy Meals and Cracker Jacks prizes. Unfortunately, I also learned that when you start by making mud pies and then graduate to modeling clay, baking bread and making your own pasta isn't far behind.
I just loved the Gaines burgers commercial when I was a kid. The burger-shaped product, and like most food-like products, suitable only for dogs, came in an individually-wrapped package, just like today's cheese-products in our kids lunchbox.
Even though I was young, I thought it would be really fun to open one up and crumble it up, just like playing with jello or tapioca pudding. It was always opened up by a housewife with an immaculate manicure that surely she kept that way by not opening up all those stinkin' cans of regular dog food.
When the crumbled burger went into the bowl, the dog, starved for days, wolfed it down.
I wanted to buy these, crumble them, and feed the dog. Unfortunately, we didn't have a dog. Maybe we could get one. The neighbors had dogs, but nobody had enough money for these burgers. They were in another class, along with those packets of laundry detergent you just toss in, central air conditioning, and sugar-sweetened cereal all-you-can-eat every every morning.
What I never got is how they stayed so fresh in the cupboard and why they went to the trouble of creating a burger and then always served it crumbled. When I got older, I realized that unlike Denise Minger, these burgers were not made of meat. I also found out that dogs would eat anything. I also found out that there is no end to the creativity of the food technologists, giving us novel, dopamine-increasing fun stuff like pop rocks, chicken nuggets, Happy Meals and Cracker Jacks prizes. Unfortunately, I also learned that when you start by making mud pies and then graduate to modeling clay, baking bread and making your own pasta isn't far behind.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Try my new Fave Winter Recipes!
This first dish was just something I whipped up after discovering that the sale package of chicken gizzards I snagged contained a few chicken livers. I fished the livers out of the pile and set them aside, but I didn't have enough to make it worthwhile to package them away for another day. I added them to the dish-in-progress instead.
I don't have much coming out of the garden right now, but I am trying to harvest all of the sunchokes before the gophers get them and before we get another warm spell that causes them to sprout. They were confused about winter several weeks ago, and I have noticed that some of the recently-harvested roots are sporting sprouts on top and have become a bit pithy.
I seem to have lots more of these puppies, as the gophers and other ground animals take a few and spread them all over the garden. Oh well, maybe that was me, with my non-standard composting routine. (EPIC FAIL! on turning the windrow 5 times or reaching the appropriate temperature in my in-vessel or static aerated pile system~)
I harvest my sunchokes well after the stems start to dry out, wash and drain them carefully, and pack them loosely in large plastic containers in the fridge. The bulk cookie containers from Costco work great (after you have thrown away the cookies - you weren't going to eat them, were you?)
Just a few weeks ago I was cleaning out the fridge for Thanksgiving, and discovered a large container of sunchokes way in the back, from last season. They were still in very good shape, though they were sprouting. I "planted" them in the ground in an out-of-the way place until I get the time to amend the soil at their final destination.
Sunchokes and Liver Soup
(This is for two servings, and works great if you have purchased a whole chicken and have only one liver.)
1/2 cup chopped Jerusalem artichokes
1 T lard or bacon fat
1 chicken liver
1/4 cup chicken broth
4 T heavy cream
4 T parsley
1/4 t dried thyme
1/4 t dried hot red pepper
salt and black pepper to taste
Fry the sunchokes in the fat until they are tender. Add chopped liver and cook for a minute. Add broth, thyme, salt and hot pepper. Simmer for a short time until the liver is cooked. Pour mixture into soup bowls, add the heavy cream and top with chopped parsley.
OK, it is a bit grey, and it sounds pretty awful on paper, right? Try it anyway. I could eat this every day in the winter. Really. I couldn't even tell it was liver. I like liver anyway anyway and feel no need to hide it, but honestly, if I hadn't made it myself, I might never have guessed.
One serving contains 233 calories, 7 grams carb, 20 grams fat and 6 grams protein. One of the carb grams is fiber, but I usually count sunchoke carbs as half, since they are mostly inulin. YMMV on how you react to sunchokes. The C/F/P ratio is 12.4/76.6/11. Each serving contains a whopping 11 grams of arterycloggingsaturatedfat, which is why it tastes so good and I didn't eat much else for supper.
Coming up: part 2: Hatch bombs
I don't have much coming out of the garden right now, but I am trying to harvest all of the sunchokes before the gophers get them and before we get another warm spell that causes them to sprout. They were confused about winter several weeks ago, and I have noticed that some of the recently-harvested roots are sporting sprouts on top and have become a bit pithy.
I seem to have lots more of these puppies, as the gophers and other ground animals take a few and spread them all over the garden. Oh well, maybe that was me, with my non-standard composting routine. (EPIC FAIL! on turning the windrow 5 times or reaching the appropriate temperature in my in-vessel or static aerated pile system~)
I harvest my sunchokes well after the stems start to dry out, wash and drain them carefully, and pack them loosely in large plastic containers in the fridge. The bulk cookie containers from Costco work great (after you have thrown away the cookies - you weren't going to eat them, were you?)
Just a few weeks ago I was cleaning out the fridge for Thanksgiving, and discovered a large container of sunchokes way in the back, from last season. They were still in very good shape, though they were sprouting. I "planted" them in the ground in an out-of-the way place until I get the time to amend the soil at their final destination.
Sunchokes and Liver Soup
(This is for two servings, and works great if you have purchased a whole chicken and have only one liver.)
1/2 cup chopped Jerusalem artichokes
1 T lard or bacon fat
1 chicken liver
1/4 cup chicken broth
4 T heavy cream
4 T parsley
1/4 t dried thyme
1/4 t dried hot red pepper
salt and black pepper to taste
Fry the sunchokes in the fat until they are tender. Add chopped liver and cook for a minute. Add broth, thyme, salt and hot pepper. Simmer for a short time until the liver is cooked. Pour mixture into soup bowls, add the heavy cream and top with chopped parsley.
OK, it is a bit grey, and it sounds pretty awful on paper, right? Try it anyway. I could eat this every day in the winter. Really. I couldn't even tell it was liver. I like liver anyway anyway and feel no need to hide it, but honestly, if I hadn't made it myself, I might never have guessed.
One serving contains 233 calories, 7 grams carb, 20 grams fat and 6 grams protein. One of the carb grams is fiber, but I usually count sunchoke carbs as half, since they are mostly inulin. YMMV on how you react to sunchokes. The C/F/P ratio is 12.4/76.6/11. Each serving contains a whopping 11 grams of arterycloggingsaturatedfat, which is why it tastes so good and I didn't eat much else for supper.
Coming up: part 2: Hatch bombs
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Wheat Permutations
I have had the opportunity this week to sample what regular people are eating out these days. This is the time of the year for Christmas parties, recognition luncheons, anniversaries, birthdays and other celebrations. Eating out is the common way.
Our food is starting more and more to resemble variations on Hyperlipid's crap-in-a-bag, but with a variety of extruded shapes, sizes, colorings and flavorings to keep the food reward high and to trick us into thinking we are eating some sort of variety.
Here are some the wheat offerings on the menu recently:
Boiled longish extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with a tomato-based puree.
Boiled spiral extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with a yellowed fat-based emulsion, chopped vegetables and chutney.
Boiled tubular extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with a garlic-based puree.
Boiled tubular, curved extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with an orange casein-based puree.
Boiled longish flat extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with a casein and cream-based puree.
Boiled short, flat extrusions of ground wheat and water served floating in a liquid described as having been made from chicken, but seems to contain no real chicken.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, served with a selection of real and/or fake "butters".
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, flattened and covered with an extruded casein product and tomato puree.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, flattened and covered with a grated casein product.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, then diced and served with celery, sage and more chickenless chicken liquid.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy, crunchy and chewy, then diced and served with lettuce, a grated casein product and anchovies.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy, crunchy and chewy, then diced and served with spinach, red onions and apple.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy, crunchy and chewy, then diced and served with baby greens, pecans and pear.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, then mixed with high fructose corn syrup and artificial blueberry pieces.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly crunchy and chewy, then mixed with high fructose corn syrup and bits of chocolate.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it crunchy, then mixed with high fructose corn syrup and shaped into a Christmas tree, sprinkled with red sugar and white icing.
Ground wheat and water, mixed with oatmeal and processed in a way that makes it slightly crunchy and chewy, then spread over a mixture of fruit and fruit-like bits and high fructose corn syrup.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly crunchy and chewy, then served under an extrusion of frozen fermented casein emulsion mixed with high fructose corn syrup and flavorings.
Nom nom nom. (Just kidding. And I really hate that word nom and the people who invented it.)
Next up: Gaines burgers.
Our food is starting more and more to resemble variations on Hyperlipid's crap-in-a-bag, but with a variety of extruded shapes, sizes, colorings and flavorings to keep the food reward high and to trick us into thinking we are eating some sort of variety.
Here are some the wheat offerings on the menu recently:
Boiled longish extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with a tomato-based puree.
Boiled spiral extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with a yellowed fat-based emulsion, chopped vegetables and chutney.
Boiled tubular extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with a garlic-based puree.
Boiled tubular, curved extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with an orange casein-based puree.
Boiled longish flat extrusions of ground wheat and water coated with a casein and cream-based puree.
Boiled short, flat extrusions of ground wheat and water served floating in a liquid described as having been made from chicken, but seems to contain no real chicken.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, served with a selection of real and/or fake "butters".
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, flattened and covered with an extruded casein product and tomato puree.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, flattened and covered with a grated casein product.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, then diced and served with celery, sage and more chickenless chicken liquid.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy, crunchy and chewy, then diced and served with lettuce, a grated casein product and anchovies.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy, crunchy and chewy, then diced and served with spinach, red onions and apple.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy, crunchy and chewy, then diced and served with baby greens, pecans and pear.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly puffy and chewy, then mixed with high fructose corn syrup and artificial blueberry pieces.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly crunchy and chewy, then mixed with high fructose corn syrup and bits of chocolate.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it crunchy, then mixed with high fructose corn syrup and shaped into a Christmas tree, sprinkled with red sugar and white icing.
Ground wheat and water, mixed with oatmeal and processed in a way that makes it slightly crunchy and chewy, then spread over a mixture of fruit and fruit-like bits and high fructose corn syrup.
Ground wheat and water, processed in a way that makes it slightly crunchy and chewy, then served under an extrusion of frozen fermented casein emulsion mixed with high fructose corn syrup and flavorings.
Nom nom nom. (Just kidding. And I really hate that word nom and the people who invented it.)
Next up: Gaines burgers.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
I'm such a loser
The first time this happened, I thought it was an outlier, and like every good researcher, I threw it out.
(Nawwwww! Just kidding. Regular readers know I don't throwup out any data points because they don't agree with preconceived notions.)
I was on the phone with sis the other day, talking about Thanksgiving.
"I lost a pound over the weekend, " I crowed.
"I gained your pound and then some. Guess I'll have to exercise more this week," she lamented. "It was all the stuffing....."
And, this is from the skinny one, the one they tried to bulk up all those years. The one exercising alot and eating a low fat diet because her doc wants her to lower her cholesterol. At around 220 total, she is teetering on the edge of severe heart disease or stroke. Or so he sez.
This happened at the last holiday we shared. I lost a couple of pounds. She gained four.
Oh, I ate the stuffing alright. And a sliver of pie. And some potatoes. Then I got busy with the dishes and pouring more wine and forgot to have seconds.
"I'm stuffed!" the guests declared as they pushed themselves from the table. And I thought to myself,
"Hey, I am not stuffed."
And the next day we went back to a regular fatty breakfast, turkey salad over a bed of greens for lunch, seafood for dinner.
Now here is what else I learned. Corn chips give me zits and make me achy, especially my big toes. And it isn't about the salt, because the next day I can eat a dozen green olives and have no problem with my joints. Pumpkin pie made from my own real home-grown pumpkins is better than when it is made with pumpkin pie filling from a can. And if you bury a turkey carcass in the garden, the gophers stay away.
(Nawwwww! Just kidding. Regular readers know I don't throw
I was on the phone with sis the other day, talking about Thanksgiving.
"I lost a pound over the weekend, " I crowed.
"I gained your pound and then some. Guess I'll have to exercise more this week," she lamented. "It was all the stuffing....."
And, this is from the skinny one, the one they tried to bulk up all those years. The one exercising alot and eating a low fat diet because her doc wants her to lower her cholesterol. At around 220 total, she is teetering on the edge of severe heart disease or stroke. Or so he sez.
This happened at the last holiday we shared. I lost a couple of pounds. She gained four.
Oh, I ate the stuffing alright. And a sliver of pie. And some potatoes. Then I got busy with the dishes and pouring more wine and forgot to have seconds.
"I'm stuffed!" the guests declared as they pushed themselves from the table. And I thought to myself,
"Hey, I am not stuffed."
And the next day we went back to a regular fatty breakfast, turkey salad over a bed of greens for lunch, seafood for dinner.
Now here is what else I learned. Corn chips give me zits and make me achy, especially my big toes. And it isn't about the salt, because the next day I can eat a dozen green olives and have no problem with my joints. Pumpkin pie made from my own real home-grown pumpkins is better than when it is made with pumpkin pie filling from a can. And if you bury a turkey carcass in the garden, the gophers stay away.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Butter and a Movie
It's better with butter!
Check out this movie trailer. This movie about having fun with butter is now on my viewing list.
Sculpting with butter is an art form I can embrace. Wouldn't this be fun to do while doing CT?
Check out this movie trailer. This movie about having fun with butter is now on my viewing list.
Sculpting with butter is an art form I can embrace. Wouldn't this be fun to do while doing CT?
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Serendipity
Yesterday, I ranted to myself for my memory lapse. While out doing some errands, I discovered that I had forgotten my purse, so I didn't stop by my favorite food store on the way home.
After enjoying a nice cup of winter squash soup for lunch and attending to other life details, I ventured out again, much later than usual. Oh, I hate using up more gasoline, but it was just too hot and miserable to walk, and I was still on a 24-hour exercise restriction after the blood donation.
Just as I wheeled up to the meat counter, they were putting out the quick sale items. I got a couple of packages of salmon for $1.99 a pound and a buffalo "london broil" for $3.99 a pound. Score! The price of the steak was half what I usually pay for ground buffalo.
I am still venturing into the land of the meat-eaters, and had never cooked london broil before, and never eaten a buffalo steak. Good thing for the internet. My internet search made the process even more confusing, and I had no clue as to the actual cut of the meat. I decided to just throw some salt and seasonings on it (cumin, cinnamon, garlic, my own very hot pepper), let it sit on the counter for half an hour, and then fry it in a pan with coconut oil. NOT a french recipe, then again, buffalo meat doesn't come from France, so there. I grilled some San Marzano tomatoes. (I cooked some additional San Marzanos in the pan drippings, for some soup for a later time.)
OK, now I get what the fuss is all about. The rare steak was delicious! I can't believe that I am here, eating bloody meat with a few vegetables, and loving it. I imagine myself as Suzanne Pleshette, gliding through my modern kitchen appointed with a set of chrome-finished appliances in avocado and harvest gold, waiting for Bob Newhart to return home from the clinic, serving just steak and salad. Then I glide along to change from my apron to my caftan, and we are ready for the evening.
After enjoying a nice cup of winter squash soup for lunch and attending to other life details, I ventured out again, much later than usual. Oh, I hate using up more gasoline, but it was just too hot and miserable to walk, and I was still on a 24-hour exercise restriction after the blood donation.
Just as I wheeled up to the meat counter, they were putting out the quick sale items. I got a couple of packages of salmon for $1.99 a pound and a buffalo "london broil" for $3.99 a pound. Score! The price of the steak was half what I usually pay for ground buffalo.
I am still venturing into the land of the meat-eaters, and had never cooked london broil before, and never eaten a buffalo steak. Good thing for the internet. My internet search made the process even more confusing, and I had no clue as to the actual cut of the meat. I decided to just throw some salt and seasonings on it (cumin, cinnamon, garlic, my own very hot pepper), let it sit on the counter for half an hour, and then fry it in a pan with coconut oil. NOT a french recipe, then again, buffalo meat doesn't come from France, so there. I grilled some San Marzano tomatoes. (I cooked some additional San Marzanos in the pan drippings, for some soup for a later time.)
OK, now I get what the fuss is all about. The rare steak was delicious! I can't believe that I am here, eating bloody meat with a few vegetables, and loving it. I imagine myself as Suzanne Pleshette, gliding through my modern kitchen appointed with a set of chrome-finished appliances in avocado and harvest gold, waiting for Bob Newhart to return home from the clinic, serving just steak and salad. Then I glide along to change from my apron to my caftan, and we are ready for the evening.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Food Reward and Confirmation Bias - More Woo?
The comments on Dr. Guyenet's lastest post included more -Woo-bashing, as usual. In the paleodome, bashing -Woo is about as popular as bashing Dr. Oz and Dr. Kruse. Is it really warranted?
I guess I have always been kind of a weird statistician. There is a typical protocol usually followed and recommended when a pile of data comes in. One of the most comical (and I think most wrong) techniques is to scrub the data by plotting it all and then throwing out the outliers. A typical stupid way to do this is to calculate the standard deviation, and then automatically throw out all the data points that are beyond three sigma. This technique pretty much guarantees that the researcher will systematically throw out perfectly good data, and it also ensures that any totally cool thing about what they are studying will be tossed as well. Sort of like cracking the egg, separating it, and then throwing out the yolk if you are Dr. Oz, or throwing out the white if you are some of the lower-protein paleo's, or throwing it all out if it tastes good if you are Dr. Guyenet.
In my twisted mind, ItstheWoo certainly points to some excellent data. She is the poster child for outliers, and also the poster child for how outliers are usually treated by some really stupid academics and play-acting statisticians. It it really necessary for commenters to continually remind each other how they flip through -Woo's posts without reading? How many minutes did they waste typing that over and over again on numerous blogs? Wouldn't it just be easier to read some of them, and, you know, maybe learn a little something about an outlier?
So, real researchers.........not sure if you are visiting yet, but here's a little advice anyway. Before you just toss out data because it is "beyond three sigma", you need to take a look at it. Taking a look at it doesn't include disparaging and making fun of the data point. "Out! darn point!! Be done with it!" (What research dweeb does that in real life? Obviously there is some other deep-seated hostility going on here.) Data points can't just be removed and discarded because they "mess up the error term" or otherwise make either the analysis or the researcher uncomfortable. I only do data checking to make sure there isn't a typo or other similar problem. If I can't find a reason, it stays. I have had to fight my position on this for years, and in many situations, even resorting to doing two analyses, one with all the data, and "one with some data points thrown out". And that's what I call it. It's not scrubbing. The data hasn't been cleaned, it has been lobotomized and I'll have none of that.
And on a final note, I got a large spike in readership today. I am drawing out a few more readers, commenters and lurkers, mostly from the low carb linking sites. More data to follow......
I guess I have always been kind of a weird statistician. There is a typical protocol usually followed and recommended when a pile of data comes in. One of the most comical (and I think most wrong) techniques is to scrub the data by plotting it all and then throwing out the outliers. A typical stupid way to do this is to calculate the standard deviation, and then automatically throw out all the data points that are beyond three sigma. This technique pretty much guarantees that the researcher will systematically throw out perfectly good data, and it also ensures that any totally cool thing about what they are studying will be tossed as well. Sort of like cracking the egg, separating it, and then throwing out the yolk if you are Dr. Oz, or throwing out the white if you are some of the lower-protein paleo's, or throwing it all out if it tastes good if you are Dr. Guyenet.
In my twisted mind, ItstheWoo certainly points to some excellent data. She is the poster child for outliers, and also the poster child for how outliers are usually treated by some really stupid academics and play-acting statisticians. It it really necessary for commenters to continually remind each other how they flip through -Woo's posts without reading? How many minutes did they waste typing that over and over again on numerous blogs? Wouldn't it just be easier to read some of them, and, you know, maybe learn a little something about an outlier?
So, real researchers.........not sure if you are visiting yet, but here's a little advice anyway. Before you just toss out data because it is "beyond three sigma", you need to take a look at it. Taking a look at it doesn't include disparaging and making fun of the data point. "Out! darn point!! Be done with it!" (What research dweeb does that in real life? Obviously there is some other deep-seated hostility going on here.) Data points can't just be removed and discarded because they "mess up the error term" or otherwise make either the analysis or the researcher uncomfortable. I only do data checking to make sure there isn't a typo or other similar problem. If I can't find a reason, it stays. I have had to fight my position on this for years, and in many situations, even resorting to doing two analyses, one with all the data, and "one with some data points thrown out". And that's what I call it. It's not scrubbing. The data hasn't been cleaned, it has been lobotomized and I'll have none of that.
And on a final note, I got a large spike in readership today. I am drawing out a few more readers, commenters and lurkers, mostly from the low carb linking sites. More data to follow......
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Food Reward and Confirmation Bias - Part 1
Hey, I am first to admit that I am one of the little people. Despite the fabulous quality of the writing, I don't have too many regular followers or readers. And I realize that it is partly my fault. If I was uber-polite instead of snarky, or if I had all the fancy places where I went to school listed on the right, I might attract more readers. My biggest readership spike days happen when Dr. Kruse or Jimmy Moore links a blog post, either on their own blogs or on Mark's Daily Apple.
This week I checked out Dr. Guyenet's blog to see what is new with food reward, and I found Sarah's N=1 story and followed the link to her blog. (BTW, I don't post over at Guyenet's blog much anymore - they're pretty hostile to the low-carbers and if you think that has died down, just go into the comments section of his latest post here to see it is still alive and kicking along with the like-clockwork itsthewoo-bashing.) Sarah mentioned the very high increase in traffic to her blog when it was publicized. When I first wrote about my N=1 food reward experience, Dr. Guyenet didn't devote a blog post or an additional link to the story like he did for the n=3 folks with results that match his hypothesis more than mine did. I got a few additional hits, but it wasn't all that special. If you missed my N=1 post because of the oversight, you can read about it here.
Now I am sure it was just an oversight. After all, he sure did spend lots of time providing links to studies and anecdotes that appear to buttress his theory. It would be easy to overlook one or two in the process, especially if it wasn't labeled correctly. Perhaps with the "food reward" antigen in my title, I'll be able to attract all the antibodies and I'll see an uptick in traffic. Lets see if we can weed out the cherry-pickers from the legitimate researchers.
This week I checked out Dr. Guyenet's blog to see what is new with food reward, and I found Sarah's N=1 story and followed the link to her blog. (BTW, I don't post over at Guyenet's blog much anymore - they're pretty hostile to the low-carbers and if you think that has died down, just go into the comments section of his latest post here to see it is still alive and kicking along with the like-clockwork itsthewoo-bashing.) Sarah mentioned the very high increase in traffic to her blog when it was publicized. When I first wrote about my N=1 food reward experience, Dr. Guyenet didn't devote a blog post or an additional link to the story like he did for the n=3 folks with results that match his hypothesis more than mine did. I got a few additional hits, but it wasn't all that special. If you missed my N=1 post because of the oversight, you can read about it here.
Now I am sure it was just an oversight. After all, he sure did spend lots of time providing links to studies and anecdotes that appear to buttress his theory. It would be easy to overlook one or two in the process, especially if it wasn't labeled correctly. Perhaps with the "food reward" antigen in my title, I'll be able to attract all the antibodies and I'll see an uptick in traffic. Lets see if we can weed out the cherry-pickers from the legitimate researchers.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
I'm So Bored with the Paleo's - Part 3 - My N=1
After reading Hyperlipid's take on the Guyenet/Taubes smackdown, I realized that I had better get out part 3 of my series before everyone is so exhausted from it all. No need to do an experiment in food reward. I already have. Of course, to Guyenet's homies, it is still N=0, but I'm posting it anyway. So there. (This is the snarky part, now, on to the serious part.)
A few years ago, I participated in a year-long "food experiment". I became a locavore. And, it was bigger than N=1. You can read about it here.
The plan was for us to eat food grown within 100 miles of Ojai. Pretty much everything was to be local, except salt and 3 exception foods per month. And, we were allowed 2 meals out per month. (I didn't know this at the time, but this experiment was to be the start of my journey towards the paleo diet. I'd never even heard of a paleo diet and I was a semi-vegetarian.) Every month, we switched out our exceptions. I usually chose a grain, some kind of meat, and something different, like coffee. Many others chose chocolate.
A few weeks into the challenge, things loosened up a bit. We voted in canning additives like citric acid, yeast, and one rule that turned out to be really helpful for me, that if there was something that was going to be thrown away, that was OK to eat, too. (And its just amazing what people throw out, once you start paying attention, but that is for another post.)
We had different rules for out of town, and I figure that I was out of town for a total of almost three months out of the year. But, I didn't eat SAD food when I was gone. Mostly it was scratch cooking. And, when I visited my mom for a few weeks, it was low-fat "diet" scratch cooking, just not local.
I figure that taking into consideration all the exceptions, vacations and dumpster food, I was eating about a 75% local primal/paleo diet, better than many I saw at the AHS11. There, that's my disclaimer, but I'll bet I have a better food log than those folks over at the Foster's POUNDS LOST study.
So, what were we eating? Fresh veggies and fruit, backyard eggs, chickens when we could get them, goat meat. A few months into the challenge, we found a local source of beef, and then some local beans. The only oil was made from olives. Southern California isn't a big place for growing grains, so we had just a few of those that we grew ourselves. But we did have olives, avocado, and every kind of fruit and vegetable, though not all year-round.
I had an advantage over others in the group in that I had access to my own home-grown food, lots of local veggies and fruits that I had canned, dehydrated and grown during the year before and in my 4-season garden. Others were able to enjoy backyard chickens and eggs that I was prohibited from growing in my yard.
What didn't we have? Well, lots of things that Guyenet says are rewarding. Things like packaged foods, msg, HFCS, bread, chips and dip, cooking oil, chocolate, soda, sugar, bottled salad dressings, spices, seasonings, flavorings, crackers, oatmeal, peanuts, cereal, fast-food, potatoes, soy sauce, ice cream, catsup, mustard. We DID make good use of our exceptions. On the months that I choose turkey, I ate turkey almost every day. Then I would switch to beans and then eat them every day. It was boring at times, especially all the rice.
Eventually, I figured out how to make my own mustard out of the seeds I grew, made with vinegar from apples I purchased at the farmer's market the year before. What surprised most of us is how our palates changed. It took really only a couple of weeks, and we got very used to eating foods with no extra spices or seasoning, just a few herbs, garlic and olive oil.
I bought a large container of honey, but rarely used it. Most of us did no baking because we didn't have flour. Eventually I stopped seasoning everything, even though I had a stash of dried herbs and hot pepper.
So, without all the food reward, how much weight did we lose????? We all thought once we got away from that bag of chips and the take-out food, the weight would pour off. I think I lost around 2-4 pounds for the entire year, but mostly because I really pushed the dieting during the last month of the challenge. I don't think anyone else lost any weight. We were all surprised. After all, people had been telling us that if we got away from all that nasty processed food, we would become thin. It didn't happen that way. That is because that theory is wrong.
Stay tuned for my next story: all about what happened with wheat on the locavore challenge...
A few years ago, I participated in a year-long "food experiment". I became a locavore. And, it was bigger than N=1. You can read about it here.
The plan was for us to eat food grown within 100 miles of Ojai. Pretty much everything was to be local, except salt and 3 exception foods per month. And, we were allowed 2 meals out per month. (I didn't know this at the time, but this experiment was to be the start of my journey towards the paleo diet. I'd never even heard of a paleo diet and I was a semi-vegetarian.) Every month, we switched out our exceptions. I usually chose a grain, some kind of meat, and something different, like coffee. Many others chose chocolate.
A few weeks into the challenge, things loosened up a bit. We voted in canning additives like citric acid, yeast, and one rule that turned out to be really helpful for me, that if there was something that was going to be thrown away, that was OK to eat, too. (And its just amazing what people throw out, once you start paying attention, but that is for another post.)
We had different rules for out of town, and I figure that I was out of town for a total of almost three months out of the year. But, I didn't eat SAD food when I was gone. Mostly it was scratch cooking. And, when I visited my mom for a few weeks, it was low-fat "diet" scratch cooking, just not local.
I figure that taking into consideration all the exceptions, vacations and dumpster food, I was eating about a 75% local primal/paleo diet, better than many I saw at the AHS11. There, that's my disclaimer, but I'll bet I have a better food log than those folks over at the Foster's POUNDS LOST study.
So, what were we eating? Fresh veggies and fruit, backyard eggs, chickens when we could get them, goat meat. A few months into the challenge, we found a local source of beef, and then some local beans. The only oil was made from olives. Southern California isn't a big place for growing grains, so we had just a few of those that we grew ourselves. But we did have olives, avocado, and every kind of fruit and vegetable, though not all year-round.
I had an advantage over others in the group in that I had access to my own home-grown food, lots of local veggies and fruits that I had canned, dehydrated and grown during the year before and in my 4-season garden. Others were able to enjoy backyard chickens and eggs that I was prohibited from growing in my yard.
What didn't we have? Well, lots of things that Guyenet says are rewarding. Things like packaged foods, msg, HFCS, bread, chips and dip, cooking oil, chocolate, soda, sugar, bottled salad dressings, spices, seasonings, flavorings, crackers, oatmeal, peanuts, cereal, fast-food, potatoes, soy sauce, ice cream, catsup, mustard. We DID make good use of our exceptions. On the months that I choose turkey, I ate turkey almost every day. Then I would switch to beans and then eat them every day. It was boring at times, especially all the rice.
Eventually, I figured out how to make my own mustard out of the seeds I grew, made with vinegar from apples I purchased at the farmer's market the year before. What surprised most of us is how our palates changed. It took really only a couple of weeks, and we got very used to eating foods with no extra spices or seasoning, just a few herbs, garlic and olive oil.
I bought a large container of honey, but rarely used it. Most of us did no baking because we didn't have flour. Eventually I stopped seasoning everything, even though I had a stash of dried herbs and hot pepper.
So, without all the food reward, how much weight did we lose????? We all thought once we got away from that bag of chips and the take-out food, the weight would pour off. I think I lost around 2-4 pounds for the entire year, but mostly because I really pushed the dieting during the last month of the challenge. I don't think anyone else lost any weight. We were all surprised. After all, people had been telling us that if we got away from all that nasty processed food, we would become thin. It didn't happen that way. That is because that theory is wrong.
Stay tuned for my next story: all about what happened with wheat on the locavore challenge...
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