Class is Over, Not Our Appetites

So this is it. Our class has end and our food experiment has ended as well too. When I started, I was doing really well, getting, eating great, and feeling good! Over the course of the semester, especially in the last few weeks, it has been harder, but I still eat well for the most part. I think now that we know the rules and became more conscious of food, we are more aware of our food choices. I'm glad we were exposed to so many different foods and practice. It was great for us to have this honest dialogue about food and the way we eat, especially here in America. We're so detached from our food and we don't see it as living organisms, just consumption products. Does matter what we eat, the way we eat, but now we're talking about food. We're asking what it is, where does it come from, how was it's life, what are the chemicals in it. These are the things that everyone should be asking. WE're still going to eat what we want, but many of us less than before and are eating more consciously because of what we're eating, how is it affecting our bodies, and where does it come from.

I hope that everyone will continue their food practices even after this class. I know I will. I'm about to study abroad in The Netherlands next semester and I think it will be interesting because once again I will have to change my diet! I'm a little nervous about it, but I'm embarking on this whole new food rules experiment which the lessons I've learned from Pollan and this class. I think we all took a lot from Food Rules regardless if we agreed with it or not. It got us thinking and that is always the start for anything. Happy eating to everyone and I hope everyone will continue to try new foods, no matter how strange or different they are. Could be yummy! Had a great time on this blog.

eat your roots

So I am about to attend my first Christmas party of the season in the Center for International Education at Loyola, where we will congregate with the international students. After reading Bayou Farewell, in which the Vietnamese crabber shares with Mike Tidwell Vietnamese gumbo, or "sour soup" according to Tien, I was reminded how different cultures have their own variations on the same dishes, perhaps related to what kinds of foods were most accessible to them in their region and they are therefore accustomed to eating (culture derivative of place/the land), as well as how different cultures celebrate the same holidays with different traditional dishes. Here are some variations of "Christmas food."

http://www.ivillage.com/christmas-foods-around-world/3-b-301021

I will be spending my Christmas in Puerto Rico visiting and friend and staying with his family, and am excited to experience the new foods and customs of a Puerto Rican Christmas. I found this website that gives an overview of some of these practices:

http://www.elboricua.com/pr_christmas.html

and also found this:

Eat Your Grapes New Year's Eve in Puerto Rico is appropriately called Año Viejo, or "Old Year," and it's a fun time to be outside; fireworks, honking cars, and the cacophony of celebration can be heard everywhere. At the stroke of midnight, local tradition demands that you eat 12 grapes for luck. You'll also find some people sprinkling sugar outside their house for good luck or throwing a bucket of water out the window to expel all the negatives of the old year and get ready for a fresh start.

I could not find the history behind the grapes practice, and was wondering why they had chosen that particular food to symbolize luck. Speculatively, perhaps grapes were associated with the wealthy and upper classes (image of royal prince being fed grapes and fanned with palm leaves) and therefore good fortune. I think its interesting when you look into the history of food, and how the eating of a food at a specific moment in history could have been the "last resort food" of an oppressed group of people, but has carried through today to be a preferred food that allows one to identify with a culture, however conscious or unaware of its origin. Another example I can think of off the top of my head is the infamous PoBoy, which came out of a national transit worker's strike that included New Orleans in 1929. Two brothers that were former streetcar conductors until they opened a restaurant and coffee stand showed their solidarity to the workers ("poor boys") by handing out these sandwiches, which featured a new modified size of French bread. And it stuck.

http://www.poboyfest.com/history

So for this holiday season, I wouldn't say we should necessarily throw the Food Rules out the window, but perhaps lean a bit more heavily on the "exception" rule, and hopefully easily fulfill the not-eating-alone-rule. We don't want to miss out on the bonding that happens over food, and the rich cultural history that our most common plates may inconspicuously suggest. I say know a thing or two about what you are eating and why, and dig in.
Cheers.

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Fourteen

Journal Entry
Week Fourteen
December 9, 2010

Rule: "Eat Food that will Eventually Rot"

Wow, it is a strange feeling to know that I am entering my final journal entry for this semester’s Food Rules project. Does this mean that I will stop following Food Rules altogether? Of course not! Pollan has influenced me in such a positive way, and this project by FAR has been one of my absolute favorite aspects of this entire semester!

This week I found myself taking my Organic Salad mix out of the fridge and picking out the leaves that looked as they were going bad. There were plenty that were still crisp and fresh, but you always get those few in the bunch that start turning sooner than others. And ew, who wants to eat that? Although, I guess according to Pollan, despite the “grossness” of picking out the wilty brownish leaves, I’m doing the right thing by eating food that will eventually rot! So that made me feel better. I didn’t like to waste what I did throw out, but, unfortunately I couldn’t eat it in time. The still-crisp lettuce I had on my turkey sandwich today was delicious, though!

A friend of mine has been following a rigorous diet of 5 – 6 small meals a day eating unprocessed foods and a balanced proportion of protein, fruits, and veggies. She texted me yesterday wanting “carbs.” This struck a chord with me, because first of all, I think diets are restricting that that while you must practice discipline and self-restraint when eating, depriving your body of certain foods such as “carbs” (like the Atkins diet, etc) is not healthy. Your body was designed to eat these types of foods and needs them to be healthy. I expressed my concern and she rephrased her sentence to say “I want bread.” Well, that was weird because while she could have potatoes and oatmeal and other whole grains, she couldn’t eat bread because it was “processed.” I glibly told her to bake. (hey, Pollan would agree) but again I don’t think restricting foods as essential as bread is a good idea; and I don’t think Pollan would disagree with that. Was it Darrell who posted something mid-semester saying that although it took some searching, he did manage to find a bread that followed the Food Rules? Anyway, this little blurb about bread is an aside, but I do think it shows how Food Rules has kind of just infiltrated my life when it comes to eating, haha.

Also, I do plan to compile the blog posts of ideas we came up with for Pollan and send them to him.

Its been a great semester y’all! Thanks for all of your sharing and input and have a blessed Merry Christmas! (or whatever other Holiday you celebrate! :)

Thanksgiving in New Orleans

I spent this thanksgiving here, in New Orleans. My friend's mother is a famous local chef, and made some amazing traditional Louisiana dishes that I'd never had before. Completely disregarding my attempts to not eat meat, I had fried turkey for the first time with oyster dressing, creamed carrots, and some sortof baked dish I can't recall the name of. This reminded me of rule #29 which says to mix up the types of foods you eat and try new things. If I were to eat food like that all the time, I would definitely not have the healthiest of diets. But some of those items would be a good addition to my diet; the creamed carrots for example, and the oyster dressing which had more vegetables and less butter than my traditional idea of dressing which closely resembles stove top stuffing. Experiencing traditions of a different culture reminded me alot of how many things we can adopt to our own diets in order to resemble those of other cultures, taking the best and most health-conscious ideas from every culture, (including cultures within the United States) and including them in our "American" diets to become more well-rounded.

Merry Christmas?

In light of the upcoming holiday season, I found this particularly disturbing image. It takes the using meat to flavor food rule and disregards it completely.

when all i want is a big fat chocolate chip cookie...

I have a tendency to crave sweets when I feel overloaded with school work. So even though I sort of hate these types of webpages, I figured if anyone else is in my boat maybe it could be useful to remind you all not to jump ship on Food Rules just because it is finals week (even if I do first).

http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/11-healthy-ways-to-destress-with-food/article181243-3.html#slide

If you are a caffeine drinker, I've found a good way to make it through long study days without crashing is to switch to tea throughout the day, and then if you really need it, drink coffee later on. It'll help you not overdo the caffeine and end up feeling simultaneously sluggish and jittery. I am not exactly sure if promoting coffee late at night is a healthy recommendation, but for those of you who may do it anyway, I figured I'd let you in on that discovery I've made.

trying new things

Most of the food that I eat is brown. Today I started off by making an omelette and adding onions, spinach, feta, and mushrooms. It was great because I have a hard time getting protein and usually resort to bars and powders with several ingredients which I can't pronounce. Then for lunch I had a grapefruit, which was pink and tasted alright. I must admit that I haven't drank water for the past several days. I am pretty sure I have either had a coffee or a chai latte or cran-grape juice for every meal. i have always disliked the way water tastes. The only time I drink water is when I am forced to, which is surprisingly often. I also need to work on not eating snacks instead of meals. A lot of the time I will have popcorn for dinner. Tonight I will have a meal for dinner and it will have colors and it will have been prepared.

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Weeks Twelve/Thirteen

(I'm combining this two weeks since one of them was Thanksgiving and we were off :)

Journal Entry
Week Twelve
November 12, 2010

The first rule I have been working on is as follows:
Rule 49 “Eat slowly” and "Put your fork down between bites"

While "eating slowly" has been a challenge, I have been more successful with putting my fork down between bites! Growing up, I had a friend who always put her fork down between eating. She was thin as a rail and I always wanted to be like her because I equated putting your fork down while eating to "staying skinny!" (Ok so we were like 7 but still, that's what was going through my 7-year-old brain). I always had a hard time doing that, though, because my mom was a terribly fast eater and so a typical family "dinner" would last about 10 minutes on average, maybe 15 minutes on Sunday.
Yet over the years I do think I have learned to eat at a more reasonable pace, and since practicing this rule, I've actually noticed myself putting down my fork inadvertently now! Progress!!


Journal Entry
Week Thirteen
November 12, 2010

SO! Thanksgiving has come and gone! Can we say Food Hangover?? My family enjoyed the following: Filet Mignon, Garlic Barbequed Shrimp, Grilled Rosemary Asparagus w/ Hollandaise, Baked Sweet potatoes, Eggplant and Shrimp Casserole, Green Salad, and Sweet Tea... Ok so we're Un-traditional. But that's how we do it in the Morris Family ;) Yeaaah Thanksgiving!!

Reflecting on what I ate for Thanksgiving, I was estatic to realize that everything, (EVERYTHING!) complied with Pollan's Food Rules that I have been following this semester!

Filet Mignon/Shrimp - The rule about 4 legs, 2 legs, and no legs :)
Asparagus - Of course, a vegegable! Seasoned not with salt, but with pepper and rosemary, tossed in a little bit of olive oil, and grilled over an open flame. Delicious!
Hollandaise sauce - I don't particularly care for this sauce so I didn't eat it, but my family was still in line, Lol - egg yolk, REAL butter, and fresh lemon
Sweet Potatoes - a healthy starch (and one of my favorites!!)
Eggplant and Shrimp casserole - It is what it says! Perhaps a few breadcrumbs were thrown in the mix, and maybe some eggs to hold it all together.
Green Salad - pretty self explanatory :)

Even the dessert which normally would follow the rule to "break the rules once in a while" pretty much complied with the Food Rules book! My dad is a HUGE fan of Lemon Meringue Pie, which consists of Fresh Lemon juice, condensed milk, egg yolk, and whipped egg whites. That's it! Put it in a pie crust (flour and butter - maybe lard - but hey that might be the only rule we broke) and you've got yourself a Food Rules friendly dessert.

Needless to say I was extremely full and pretty stoked that we actually had a delicious, healthy, Thanksgiving dinner!

Off the Train

So here we are wrapping up the final weeks on this food rules ride. I'm not sure if it was the holidays or I just got lazy, but I've noticed I don't stick to some of the rules as much. It might also just be from the laziness and stress of exams time, but I surely don't put in as much effort as I usually do. This week especially I've been eating candy, cakes, ice cream, white rice, and all sort of other no-no's. On the bright side, I notice I've been eating a lot less meat more so than I usually do. It takes a lot of effort to keep up with all this, but I know I can't just go back to the way I use to eat. There are slip ups here and there, but overall I know I have to and want to remaining eating healthy and mindfully. I always known that everything has a lot of ingredient in it, but more than ever before I see that everything has a crap load of ingredient in them that I wouldn't have even expected! It's so odd.

Last night, my friends and I went to go eat at a buffet, probably wasn't the best idea, but I made some healthy choices I think. I saw two of my friends eating frog legs (I still find that strange they serve them at buffets) and i was just looking at them. Frog legs really look like chicken wings or legs. It was about the same color meat and the bone structure was similar too. I've never had frog legs, but it didn't seem so different, and apparently my friends said it's leaner than chicken which I can believe because frogs hop around all day so they get plenty of exercise. Will I try it? Probably not.

"Your food is ready"

So far most of what is studied is food, the ingredients, how it is prepared etc. but one major thing that is overlooked even though it is probably in everyones kitchen is the microwave. The microwave is a serious hazard that is used every single day. I must admit I am guilty of it too, but for a few years now I have used it less and less. I have always been told by my mom it is not safe and I find that my food taste ten times better actually prepared. It is pretty much logical, how can food that takes and hour to cook on the stove be prepared in the microwave in a matter of minutes be healthy? It isn't! Most of the nutrients that are in the food being heated are completely destroyed in the process. I looked up a little information on the matter and this is the link ...

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/microwave-ovens-the-proven-dangers.html

the Senate passed the Food Safety Bill

Its implementation will:

_Allow the FDA to order a recall of tainted foods. Currently the agency can only negotiate with businesses to order voluntary recalls;

_Require larger food processors and manufacturers to register with the Food and Drug Administration and create detailed food safety plans;

_Require the FDA to create new produce safety regulations for producers of the highest-risk fruits and vegetables;

_Establish stricter standards for the safety of imported food;

_Increase inspections of domestic and foreign food facilities, directing the most resources to those operations with the highest risk profiles.

The bill would not apply to meat, poultry or processed eggs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/food-safety-bill-fda-modernization-act-s510_n_789775.html

A New Perspective on Eating

I have just started on Food Rules and I am a little overwhelmed. I have always considered myself a "healthy" eater, but I am seriously rethinking that. Most of my diet consists of processed food. I eat either a lean pocket, lean cuisine, cereal, cereal bar, dannon yogurt, or canned soup for every meal. Sometimes my roomate cooks punjabi red beans or curried chick peas, but not usually. Most of the meals that I eat with real food I get at resturaunts, and I don't really know what they do to their food. I feel like I don't have time to prepare food and eat at a table. I usually just find something quick and eat at my computer.

Food Fight

Check out this link to an article titled A Stale Food Fight, written for the New York Times by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser. It is dated November 28, 2010. I think you will find it wonderfully interesting as usual!

Eating Meat

So after reading Don Lepan's animals I couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for complaining about the price of organic and free-range products from places like Whole Foods. My perspective on what I eat has completely changed. Especially considering the fact that I am not trying to feed an entire family (a different problem altogether) I think I can afford to pay more for meat, and eat less of it. I'm also trying to embrace the idea of change a little bit at a time because it's so easy to be overwhelmed with all of the products I feel like I shouldn't be eating, and then end up wandering in circles around the grocery store looking for something acceptable to eat (I did this on Friday afternoon). Pollan's Food Rules goes well with the movement not to eat factory farmed animals-- especially Rule #23 "treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food" and Rule 24 "eating what stands on one leg is better than two legs is better than four legs etc." and Rule #27 "eat animals that have themselves eaten well."

Animals not sitting well in the stomach

Against my better judgement, I bought a package of sushi the other day from Tulane in an impulse rush-buy, and as I was in line to pay for it, I looked down and read the tuna had been treated with carbon monoxide for preservation of color. It was too late to leave the line to get something else, I had to get to work, and I struggled deciding if I should eat nothing or force it down and try to put it out of my mind (it was hard enough conceding to eat fish to begin with). The line grew shorter and shorter (I thought again of Animals), like I was waiting for my doom. It was the worst sushi I've ever eaten--it felt like a punishment for eating flesh of an animal--and I am confident I will never get processed packaged sushi again.

Since reading Animals, I have not been able to look at or consider eating meat without a sense of uneasiness. When I go to the grocery store, the pale and slimy enlarged body parts in bulk stare up at me eerily from their plastic packages in remembrance of their harvest. When I see ground beef, all I can think of is flesh oozing through a grinder. Meat is no longer an object, a block of the food pyramid to me, I look at the chicken "wing" and see it for the limb it once was. It's not that I find it disgusting that one animal should consume another, I have accepted and been a part of predation my whole life, but the mechanized processing of it has become all too estranged and horrific to swallow without lump. Part of the curse of realizing how things are made from cradle to grave is a sort of x-ray vision that accompanies: I look at a food prospect, and now "see through it"--see what it's made of at molecule (plastic, carbon, faint moo), how it was made or grew or grazed (or didn't), what's in it that shouldn't be, whether or not it should actually be considered food. In a way, it "takes the fun out of" eating. In another, I am less of a fool for being able to choose to not participate in a culture of synthetics and mindless mass slaughter. But then again, I guess I am even more of a fool then for knowing and doing it anyway.

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Eleven

Journal Entry
Week Eleven
November 12, 2010

Rule 54 “Breakfast like a king, Lunch like a prince, Dinner like a pauper”

This particular rule has always proved to be a challenge for me. I was the queen of skipping breakfast in High School, and it was only after some major health issues later on in my life that I realized that this, among other bad habits I had developed, was the complete wrong course of action.

I’ve since worked extremely hard on eating healthily and really focusing on taking care of my body through exercise and good habits. Needless to say, breakfast is now my favorite meal of the day – so much so that I often eat breakfast for breakfast AND for dinner! Haha!

However, I often struggle with eating a lot during the major portion of the day and having a lighter supper. I was raised on eating a simple breakfast if any at all, a sandwich or whatever for lunch, and then a real meal at dinner time when dad would come home from work and mom would have supper prepared. These habits have stuck with me, and oftentimes, I find myself “waiting” to eat dinner and having a light(er) breakfast and lunch.

Plus, coming home from an 8 hour day of classes with an 1.5 hour commute on either end of that 8 hour day makes me RAVENOUS. So, I usually plan to eat a good amount at dinner.

HOWEVER, surprisingly enough – (or not surprisingly, as Pollan would say) – I’ve really found that if I eat a good breakfast and a decent sized lunch (aka, more than just a sandwich and a piece of fruit or something, maybe add a cup of yogurt and some veggies) I am not at all as hungry later on in the day!

So I guess this rule really does work… if/when you follow it… 

ReFresh

Animals has given me a lot to think about. Though I already don't eat mammals, I wonder if I can take it to the next level and not eat chicken or turkey, and eventually give up seafood altogether too. I'm not too hard on myself about it because I have reduce my intake of poultry and it's a process so it is hard to give up everything at once. I just wonder and feel horrible about the conditions that these animals have gone through. I'm definitely having more of issue of the way they are treated than actually eating meat. As you know I grew up in Vietnam and we tons of animals around our house. There were chickens everywhere, and they had a nice comfy place to nest and lay eggs and they were allowed to walk where ever they wanted and eat what they wanted. There was no lock or door, they came and went as they pleased. I had no problems eating those eggs and we've eaten some of those chickens, but they were killed humanly and quickly. They also had a good long life, usually at least 6 to 12 months if not longer. Compare that to the factory farm chicken which takes about 50 days or so from hatching to the slaughter house! 50 days! they are even bigger than the ones that are free range so can you just imagine all the hormones and toxins they inject these chickens with!!! It is crazy. I also remember how my aunt was raising about 60 ducks to sell at the market, but in Vietnam you always walk your animals and tend to them. They were allowed to swim in the ditches and ate what they want. It's just the way we have taken to producing animals that is so horrible and it wouldn't kill anyone to eat less meat. When I do my vegetarian period, so many tell me they couldn't be able to do it because they meat so much. I think a study once said that we are eating way more meat than we actually should, so if people just skipped the extra burger or steak we could help reduce the production of meat. It's just so frustrating to think about and knowing that if everyone made small efforts, then we could really change things. I'm not asking people to become vegans or give up meat completely, but if we reduce our intakes it would make a world of difference.

Back to my food rules, I'm going to celebrate Thanksgiving this Sunday because that's the only time the family can be together and I'm debating about getting a pecan pie or not. I LOVE LOVE pecan pie, though I know it's so horrible for you, but I can't help it. (I did end up buying that pie, and I don't feel bad at all) Then there is also the issue of the turkey, and how I feel about it. I just wanted to say that I am back on the Food Rules train and eating well again. It's okay to eat other things once in while especially with thanksgiving coming around, but we can't fall off track now. So close and almost at the end, but we'll have to continue this even after the class is over.

I disagree

I have decided I disagree somewhat with one of the food rules. I currently do not have my book on me as I type in the library but it is the rule where one should not pay attention to the nutritional information on containers. Example: antioxidants. I think people should be aware of what is in their food and should know what these are and how they help the human body. Of course I do not think it is a food companies responsibility to do so. I like being aware if certain things are in my food. However, it is my job to investigate the claims made. I understand the rule is trying to make things simple but food itself is not simple, at least not in todays world. I think these such words are making people more conscious of what they are eating. Maybe some people read such a label and think "what is an antibiotic." Perhaps this will lead one to know more about their food. Maybe in their findings it will say such and such a food helps fight breast cancer and one will eat more of the food. Also, if people where more aware they would know about such claims as "low fat" and that the products, in most cases, actually contain more sodium or sugar to replace flavors added by the fat.

just a thought.

Animals, Mongrels, and Chattel...oh my.

Reading Don LePan's Animals truly disturbed me. I finished it last night and was actual nauseous for a good half hour afterward. Honestly, I haven't been very good with keeping up in our Food Rules experiment, but last night made me rethink Pollan's rules on meat as a delicacy.

I really feel like I am gain more and more perspective of not only what goes into my body, but also the destructive outlets I support just by buying certain products. It made me think of the times I (cave in) for my annual McDonald's run or my love of cheese and crackers - where the hell is that cheese coming from??? Finally, I even thought of Anne, my little beagle who I could never imaging living as Sam.

I think that these perseptives are not easily obtained and reading Pollan's Food Rules isn't enough. In order to really question the American Land Ethic lifestyle, you have to gain the knowledge and emotional understand why and why not to understand. More importantly you need out outlets than just a rule book to turn ignorance and laziness to concern and care.

This is my dog by the way:

*I know that she looks pissed, but I promise she was just really annoyed with me taking pictures. Shes actually a really happy dog.

Hehe

This is so arguably irrelevant it's embarrassing, but I saw this on nataliedee.com and thought it was HYSTERICAL (and somewhat pertaining to food rules, although kind of pushing it).




Have a good day.

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Ten

Journal Entry
Week Ten
November 5, 2010

Rule 51 “Spend as much time enjoying a meal as you took to prepare it”

I REALLY had a problem with this one. Now granted, I don’t always take a ton of time to prepare a meal... I'm always the one wishing I had more time so that I could actually cook! Haha. Ok so here is what my typical day usually consists of:

Breakfast: Pour cereal in bowl, add dried fruit, add milk. (3 minutes). Now eating a 3-minute breakfast seems insane… but trust me, it’s been done. Trying to get out of the door in the morning to beat the 1.5 hour morning traffic commute to make it to class on time? I’m lucky I get to eat at all! (Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, though, so I do make it a point to eat otherwise I’m falling over by 10 am) If I can, I usually try to sit at my kitchen table and eat my cereal… as slowly as I can… which sometimes is just simply “shovel it down and go”-style.

Lunch: Well technically, this better have already been prepared and sitting in my lunch bag in the fridge, ready to grab and go in the morning. It usually consists of a sandwich of some sort, and fruit or yogurt, or maybe a munchy vegetable like grape tomatoes, whatever I happen to have. I’d say lunch usually takes me about 10 minutes to prepare at the most, and probably about the same to eat.

Dinner: I am usually starving when I get home from school, so while trying not to ravage my fridge and pantry all at the same time, I usually try to cook a little something for dinner. This will take anywhere from 15 – 20 minutes, but probably only about 10 – 15 minutes to consume, provided its not too hot to burn my mouth as I’m eating it, haha.

Ok so yes, I know, I really need to work on slowing down when I eat! (Yes, it might even be nice to chew at times.) Grr Pollan, I haven’t mastered you quite yet. But I do have to say, some of the most memorable times I've had have been around the dining room table or with friends at a restaurant where there is actually time to relax and visit and enjoy each other's company before (and then while) sharing a meal together. And, needless to say, visiting Italy? They know how to do it right over there! 2 - 3 hours per meal... WOW! But so much is to be learned from that experience... there is value in eating slowly, especially when you're with others!

SIMPLY.

I think I have found a drink that is great. I love water but sometimes I would like an alternative. Constantly I am looking on the labels of drinks to find one I feel good about consuming. Well, I was in the grocery store the other night and I know the brand "Simply.." I purchase it from time to time. I usually buy the lemonade one even though it does have some added cane sugar. However, this brand came out with a new drink, Simply Apple (or it might just be new to me). Anyway, Simply Apple is literally just apple juice. It is not from concentrate and is 100 percent pure pressed apple juice pasteurized!!! It tastes literally like apples unlike the other brands that taste extremely sugary! Highly suggest trying!

mmmmm delicious!

comment and tangent on "on meat" post

I beg to differ a little bit in the perception that eating insects is in some way "degrading," while eating a maimed animal in a cage is not. Insects are an exceptional source of protein and have been eaten by many cultures for many thousands of years into the present. Far from being considered "lowly food" (which is a problematic perspective to begin with if we are working towards abolishing the notion of hierarchy amongst strange strangers), insects are often eaten as a delicacy. Check out these articles:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0715_040715_tvinsectfood.html

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/may/07-want-to-help-the-environment-eat-insects

With this last article, it did come to mind the possible devastation to ecosystems if some of the insects imported for food "fled the coop" and altered the surrounding ecosystems. Insects do seem to be a difficult crop to control.

Being a bug-lover, I have always found it extremely interesting the innate sense of aversion so many feel towards bugs. At what point in the collective consciousness did bugs become "gross"? I thought maybe it had to do with the sheer abundance of them, but then again the sight of thousands of tiny fish does not draw the same effect on the stomach as a thousand baby beetles. Do we dislike them because we see them as our competitors to which we refuse to accept inevitable loss? I can think of no other category of creature so widely despised as insects. Except perhaps bacteria. And maybe some kinds of fungi (for those familiar with the abominable black mold). What characteristics do these three loathed enemies share? Perhaps fecundity (see Annie Dillard), the inhabitation of the "dark places", the ability to withstand or thrive in conditions that other living beings would perish in?

An Ammendment to the Rule ...

Frozen Seafood Benefits -- National Geographic

I found this article amidst several other articles in the "Ocean" section of environmental news on National Geographic.com. Some of the other articles included the article on the "Marine Food Chain" which talks about how consumption of different kinds of fish affects the environment and our health. I found this interesting and relevant to Food Rules because it offers a different perspective on the types of fish we consume. Apart from what kinds of fish offer the most in nutrition, we should consider the other effects our choices could be having. For example, eating farm-raised salmon supports jobs and the American economy while cutting down on the overfishing of wild salmon. Also, many fishes such as the Chilean Sea Bass have a low level of sustainability, making it much more likely they will end up on the endangered species list. There are alternative options to these fish such as the Alaskan sable fish (similar in taste to the Chilean sea bass) that are much more sustainable. That is just one example. One of the articles I read provided more sustainable and "environmentally friendly" options for lots of popular types of fish.

The link I provided gives a list of the many benefits to eating frozen seafood-- similar to the lists supporting many of the food rules! One of my favorite reasons to eat frozen seafood is the cut-down on waste. Fresh fish goes bad really quickly whereas you can choose your portions of frozen fish to fit your needs exactly, and save the rest for later.

As an avid lover of seafood AND of the ocean, these articles changed my perspective completely. I love to scuba dive, and alot of the fish I enjoy watching in their ocean habitats are also on the dinner menu. Choosing what types of fish to consume based on environmental costs and sustainability is a totally new concept for me. In the past on this blog I've talked alot about how expensive fish can be, but never the environmental consequences behind what types of fish we consume most regularly. I think this could be an important part of the next Food Rules, after all, our Food Rules should and do pertain to the preservation of our planet as much as possible. I also think that this could expand to much more than just fish, some meat farmers definitely have more humane practices than others, and some types of meat are endangered and could potentially be more harmful to the environment when killed for consumption.

Wendy's has been reading Food Rules

So just saw this article about Wendy's wanting to get more natural with their ingredients and read some very funny things. First here's the full article from Yahoo.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wendy_s_new_fries

Here's a quote from the article:

"We want every ingredient to be a simple ingredient, to be one you can pronounce and one your grandmother would recognize in her pantry," said Chief Marketing Officer Ken Calwell, who declined to say what the Dublin, Ohio, company was spending on the effort.

On Meat

My friends and I have argued about meat, that it's a part of natural human diet, that it's unnecessary, that there are morale implications to eating it. Timothy Morton mentioned that he had never heard a successful defense for eating meat. Polan skirts around meat suggesting it as flavoring to a dish, and even then to not eat it often. My first impulse, first idea when discussing the morality of meat is to contrast/compare vegetation to animals. Animals are conscious, able to feel pain (a characteristic found in many plants), scream, yelp, howl, and thrash during processing, effecting our senses and morality beyond the crunch of vegetables. Accepting recent research that plants too feel pain implies we accept a certain level of death and pain in our food. Here is a line, a fickle line like that of a pile of sand metaphor: you have a pile of sand and take a single grain, then another, then another, until one grain is left and you wonder at what point it stopped being a pile. At what point is there too much blood and death on your plate? What creature between carrots and chimpanzees is the highest up the evolutionary ladder that we are willing to consume? The lowest? Bugs seem degrading to eat and elephants are too noble.

Do plants feel pain?

My distaste for imagining an animal's excruciating agony doesn't eclipse my craving for a salty meat, medium-rare meat, dried meat, blackened meat, greasy meat, bloody meat. Realizing this is compelling, something that has an impact on my sense of my own morality, my own sense of compassion, and my own black/white, good/evil, selfish/generous balance.

Food Hangover

So I've been horrible to myself this weekend! Yesterday we have this Vietnamese ceremony event where we honor passed ancestors, this one for my uncle and grandfather. So you make a lot of food, invite people over, etc. So I was on rule #64 yesterday. I had fried shrimp chips, 5 Duncan Hines fudge brownies, 3 cups of soda, two bowl of WHITE noodles, some fried chicken, and many other unhealthy things. I don't think I even really had a vegetable yesterday. I was just eating and eating and today I'm paying for it!

I felt so out of it this morning. I had my average amount of sleep, but today I feel sluggish, tired, sleepy, un-energized, aloof, and just uggghh. That's what I really feel like. I think over the last few days I haven't been eating too many fruits or veggies so that hasn't helped either. It's so strange to see how evident the way my eating behavior has on my body. When I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, I have so much energy and feel great, and days I eat bad things, I really feel the bad effects like I'm feeling right now. I think as the semester is winding down, a lot of us are losing steam, cause I know I am. And as Derrell said, the holidays are coming up soon and that's going to be even worse. But it's never too late to start fresh!

Sushi and... Anisakisis

In Reference to Danielle's Post below:

Here's so y'all can all be aware...

My dad was telling me about this AWFUL program he saw on Animal Planet... WARNING: don't watch this if you have a weak stomach. (I have to be careful or I'll become a serious hypochondriac) This parasite, the Anisakis worm, can be found in sushi. It is killed if the sushi is pre-frozen (or if fish is cooked to 140 degrees). But the problem is, when you walk into a sushi restaurant... do you know if their fish is pre-frozen? And if you ask them if it is, how do you know they are telling you the truth? Furthermore, sushi is a food that is handled with someone else's hands. I know restaurants supposedly have regulations on washing hands and cleanliness and strict protocol that they have to follow, but here's the scary thing: These worms are visible in the fish's flesh with the naked eye. What if one of the Sushi-chefs sees the worm, chops off that part of the fish, but assumes that the rest of the fish is "ok" because he doesn't see any worms? And what if that part of the "supposedly ok" fish ends up on YOUR plate? Now, I LOVE sushi, and I was DEVASTATED when my dad told me about this horrible show (thanks dad). Yet while this parasite is rare in the US, it obviously isn't rare enough. Watch:

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/monsters-inside-me-really-bad-sushi.html

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Nine

Journal Entry
Week Eight
October 29, 2010

Rule 34 “Sweeten and salt your food yourself”

So this past week I’ve really tried to work on sweetening and salting my food myself. I really feel that Pollan makes great points about the dangers of refined sugars – and I had the pleasure of attending a prayer breakfast this morning and listening to an incredible testimony from a friend and two-time breast cancer survivor, who had tried everything from traditional to alternative and herbal medicine and reflexology before undergoing her chemo, mastectomy, and radiation. She is such an incredible witness – wow, what we could all learn from the suffering she’s been through – but one of the things that stood out to me today in her talk and that she talked a lot about was food in relation to the process of ridding her body of cancer. For the two years that she was sick, she had a nutritionist who repeatedly told her that she needed to get rid of “bad carbs” and non-natural sugar (aka, anything besides honey or unprocessed sugar) and to exercise, or else she would not get rid of her cancer. She was also told to eat hormone-free meat. Now, having personally known this lady while she was going through her illness, I know that she was religiously following a strict nutritional diet that was extremely healthy. Ultimately, she did undergo radiation (twice) and chemotherapy due to the severity of her illness. However, when she told her nutritionist that her cancer had come back the second time, he blamed it on her “not eating well” and for “violating her diet,” as if it were her fault. This hurt me to hear her say this, and I cannot imagine how she must have felt when her nutritionist blamed her cancer coming back on her and pegged it as her fault! She adhered to a healthy diet so rigorously, has cut all refined sugar out of her diet, and has sacrificed so much with her bouts with cancer, that I was simply floored to hear the lack of compassion that the nutritionist had for this woman!

For in her testimony, she said that one thing which helped her stay away from all refined sugar and processed product was the very fact that when patients fasted from refined sugar before a PET scan, their results were much more accurate… because when they had not fasted from refined sugar before the scan, they (and I quote) “lit up like a Christmas tree.” In other words, the sugar had such a negative effect on their bodies that the PET scan detected the refined sugar in their system – the sugar in their system was what was showing up on the PET scan image!!!

Since reading Pollan’s book, I have switched to turbinado cane sugar and only use refined white sugar when no other sugar is available and in the shower as a body scrub (which by the way works great!) I also use Stevia – I wonder what Pollan would say on this. Stevia is supposed to be all natural (like cane) and from the Stevia plant. I used to use SweetnLow and then switched to Splenda, but having heard of all the horrible things associated with those artificial sweetners I stick to raw sugar and Stevia now.

As far as salt goes, I had been practicing salting my own food since before I read Pollan’s book, but I made a conscious effort this week to take notice of the salt I was adding to my food. I already buy “low sodium” Boar’s Head deli meat (you guys, it tastes SO much better and doesn’t leave you with that horrible overwhelmingly salty taste in your mouth!) and have noticed that since processed foods have much more sodium in them, that no “extra” salt is needed when cooking with those foods. (For example, I like American cheese in my scrambled eggs. I know that’s about as processed as you can get, and it is one of the only processed foods that I eat, but something about that melty cheese in my eggs… mmmm) Ok but seriously, I used to add cheese and salt, but now I just add cheese and pepper or paprika to give a little added flavor. There is plenty of salt in the cheese to begin with, and when you must cook with processed foods, take notice – I bet you’ll find that you don’t need any additional salt.

I think I’m going to ask Pollan about the artificial Sweetners and Stevia – I’ll suggest it as an idea for his new book! I’d love to hear the real deal with all that!

subtlety is key

I've been trying to retrain my pallet to find junk food disgusting. When I eat, I imagine tasting the nutrients in the food and my stomach being happy (somehow imagining my body as its own creature or entity makes me more inclined to want to feed it well, like a pet). The converse goes for "tasting" what chemicals and empty calories junk foods consist of. I am also trying to appreciate more foods that are bland or "don't taste like anything," such as plain oats and rice. I figure if I learn first to like these foods alone, if I introduce more flavors and ingredients later, I will be less inclined to overdo it or add something unhealthy like soy sauce. If my sense of sweet is acclimated to that of an apple, sugary snacks will be too intense and unenjoyable. This is what I hope.

Sad to face the truth..

I absolutely love sushi. It has grown on me like I never thought it would. I have noticed there is a big sushi crazed going on and everyone thinks they are eating healthy by jumping on this

delicious band wagon. However, as I was eating sushi tonight, I looked on the ingredients label

and was utterly disappointed. The fish was loaded with "no no's" from the Food Rules book.

Such as, ingredients I cannot pronounce, much less, a fifth grader, way more than a reasonable

amount of additives, ingredients I would not cook with, etc. This realization had me running to my computer to google sushi and here is some of what I found..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-381958/Sushi--raw-truth.html

"The contaminants found in fish often overpower its beneficial effects. People think they're improving their health by eating sushi but they are in fact poisoning themselves."

Green Couture vs. Food Couture

So forget my Green couture project. This is some crazy amazing designs! Check it out.


http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/food-as-fashion-2404731/#photoViewer=1

Satsumas

I want to let the world know that I just ate the most delicious satsuma.

And according to the sticker, it was grown locally (in Louisiana)!

BOLO BOLO: mini, orange, sweet, squatty spheres of heaven.

Hyperobjects 2.0: Oil Remix mp3

I just posted my talk here.

Yellow Breakfast

I find it very difficult to eat my colors for breakfast.

The Orleans Room serves up a plate of yellow: yellow scrambled eggs, yellow grits (too much butter), yellow biscuits (too much butter), and bananas.

If I wanted to add some color too my plate, I would need to add some red bacon or brown sausage.

waste not

So this may stray a bit from Pollan's food rules, but in the spirit of the weekend and the declaration made in class last week that there are robots that can assess tastes and found human flesh to be like "pork," I couldn't resist.

http://www.rotten.com/library/death/cannibalism/

http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Cannibalism

I find the idea of the acquistion of a certain quality or power symbolically executed through the consumption of a specific body part or organ particularly intriguing. It definitely gives a new spin to the worn-out expression "you are what you eat." Or rather you become what you eat. If this were a true effect it (and who is to say it is not), I wonder qualities would be inherited from the eating of a root vegetable. Or the flowering part of a plant (broccoli). I think I am going to experiment this week and attempt to only eat foods I would "like to be." I don't imagine enjoying being "mechanically separated" as is the chicken ingredient of a Slim Jim, nor stamped into shape by molds, presses, intense heat and steam, being mass produced with millions of others that look "just like me."

In a weird kind of inverse of previous attempts in class to avoid anthropomorphism (by Abbey, for example), I will personify my foods. And then decide if I still want those Cheerios.

Falling Off The Wagon

This week has posed a serious challenge for me in terms of remaining on course with the Food Rules experiment. Lately I find myself skipping meals, and grabbing late night drive-thru items. When I finally do decide to sit down and eat, I tend to eat double the servings. After polishing off the value meal, I feel a sense of guilt and then I promise myself to return to the diet plan the following day. The next day comes around, and once again I rationalize why I just don't have the time or the energy to follow through with the diet. Instead, I feel compelled to grab something fast as a matter of convenience rather than because it is good for me.

Another problem I'm having with healthy eating is the holidays which are now here. Today is Halloween, and I just know that I will be around plenty of candy. One becomes two, and so forth, and then before you know it, I've had half of the bag. Even if I return to the diet on Monday, it will only be just a few weeks before Thanksgiving arrives, and then it's back to eating pumpkin pie, two or more healthy servings of cranberry sauce and other holiday favorites.

Although I know these next two months will be challenging, I am prepared to return to the plan tomorrow and see this thing through. During the time that I have participated in this experiment, I have found tremendous improvements in my energy level and overall health. I really enjoy being on the diet, it's just recently with my current demands that I have found it difficult to get back on track. Baby steps I guess.

Cooking Class

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to assistant-teach a cooking class with the Edible Schoolyard. It was somewhat of a nice change because I usually work in the cafeteria. This class was an after-school enrichment program from 3:30-5:30 so it definitely had a different feel than the typical classroom setting. For starters, we did not work in a kitchen. We cooked in a classroom using Bunsen burners while teachers came and went finishing up their after school work.

The setting definitely distracted the students. Also, you have to remember that they have been in class all day long. They got pretty rowdy. Sometimes, it was very difficult to get everyone to calm down and focus, but when we did, their reactions and comments to about the project were refreshing to hear.

We cooked two dishes based around sweet potatoes. (I wish I could remember the recipes. They were delicious and I would have liked to share them with y'all). Anyway, while we were cooking, I heard comments like "Yeah, my mom taught me how to do that. We cook together." And, "We should put LESS butter in the pot. It tastes better." And even, "This is too sweet!" Yes, perhaps the dishes may not have been first on the list of most healthy snacks. But, they were fresh, made of real ingredients, and based around a Thanksgiving theme.

I was shocked and delighted to hear their comments. They are all definitely much better cooks than I was at their age (9-13) and they all seem to also be rather healthy eaters. After we prepared the dishes, we all sat down and enjoyed the final products on real plates with real silverware. After all was said and done, I am still extremely proud of how the students behaved given the circumstances and I am even more proud of their healthy eating habits.

Evil Candy

This looks like an interesting NYT article about Halloween candy. It links to this blog about Samira Kawash, the Candy Professor.

Late Night, Noodles, and Kimchi

So it's about 11 something pm as I'm working on a sociology paper and skyping with friends. I was hungry and couldn't help myself but I made some noodles and added some kimchi. For those who don't know what kimchi is, it's pickled cabbages and it's sooo yummy and from Korea. I felt horrible cause it's late and the noodles aren't great for you, but if it's any constellation, I only use some of the spice package. DON'T, I repeat DON'T EVER use the whole spice package that comes in the noodle bags cause you should really read the sodium content, it's crazy. I try to use less than half and don't drink the soup afterward either.

So as I'm eating, I really think about what Briana said about food bonding and being a part of an experience and cultural experience. I'm from Vietnam where there are so many midnight snack stands. I remember when I visited Vietnam I would go eat clams and have drinks around midnight or if I wanted noodles there would be a stand for that too and that was just part of Vietnamese night life. I grew up watching a lot of Korean dramas and it never goes to fail that the characters somehow whine up going to a noodle stand in the middle of the night and eating away their problems or bonding over a drink. It's such a big cultural thing. So it's hard to avoid some food or some food rituals because that allows you to participate in that culture. Just something I was reflecting on. I kind of want another bowl of noodles, but I guess I'll wait to have some for breakfast...

The Age Old Money Question

I returned to one of my first concerns about this project this past Sunday. While shopping at Winn Dixie (cheaper than Robert's and Whole foods, but sometimes lacking in quality) I tried, as usual, to stick to the perimeters of the supermarket. I've found, as Courtney mentioned in her post on salad, that buying those pre-made bags of organic lettuce is pointless because I'm only one person and it goes bad so quickly. So I went straight for the salad bar and to my surprise...there was none. Okay, so then I decided to make my own salad with a head of lettuce (only $1.60), cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and salad dressing made from oil and vinegar. That was monetarily comprable enough. However, as I moved past the fish and meats I found no organic products, and at risk of seeming like a snob, none of the cheaper fish appealed to me and I can't afford the expensive kinds (lobster, wild salmon etc). I stopped by Whole Foods on my way home where the only fish I could afford was catfish and I didn't want catfish. Robert's is better comparitively, the swordfish and large shrimp averages around 6.99 a pound, and I only need one pound. However, I still find it a challenge to find meats that I can afford. The cheapest beef in the supermarket has the most fat on it (I know Michael Pollen suggests eating meat that stands on two legs or fish but I like to eat beef in tacos and pasta sauces; this is another post altogether) Organic meats are obviously the most pricey and I haven't found a brand I can afford.

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Eight

Journal Entry
Week Eight
October 22, 2010

Rule 25 “Eat your Colors”

This past weekend, I went to a friend’s 22nd Birthday BBQ. As always, when invited somewhere, I try to offer to bring something, both to help the Host and as a way of saying “thank you for the invitation!” My Host mentioned that it would be great if I could bring a salad. Personally, I love salad – it’s so versatile and of course, really healthy. Knowing that this was a barbecue and many people would probably attend, I decided to keep this particular salad pretty simple so to appeal to a wide variety of tastes. I purchased some fresh spinach, fresh romaine hearts, fresh white mushrooms, and matchstick carrots. I took half of the spinach, chopped 1 ½ of the romaine heads, sliced the mushrooms, and tossed all with the carrots and put in a nice crystal bowl to make a pretty presentation. (Some of you may think that the crystal bowl was a little overboard for a salad at a backyard bbq, but if you know me, you’d expect that… I tend to make things really elegant :) Not as many people came to the bbq as were expected, so I was left with a lot of the salad to take home. Not that I minded; I had been meaning to get back to eating a salad almost every day, but have found that lettuce/spinach seems to go bad so quickly that I couldn’t eat it all in time and felt as though I were wasting every time I threw out half of it because it was rotted. (Although, Pollan would probably approve of my “eating food that will soon rot”)
Left with all of this extra salad (plus what I still had in my fridge that I didn’t bring to the bbq,) I’ve had to get inventive with my salad add-ons. For example:


Sunday’s Colorful Plate:
- Mixed greens, which included dark green spinach and purple cabbage
- Sliced red strawberries
- Dark Red Cranberries
- White Feta Cheese


Tuesday’s Colorful Plate:
- Dark Green Spinach
- Lighter green Romaine
- Orange matchstick carrots
- White/grey sliced mushrooms
- White feta cheese
- Dried fruit: Golden raisins, Crimson Cranberries, Purple Raisins, and Dark Brown Dates
- Sliced leftover Porkchop from last week’s cooking experiment, heated and served on top the salad

So far, the salads have been delicious and its been really fun to play with colors. I’ve heard that the more colors you eat, the wider variety of vitamins and minerals you are getting. And typically, I don’t eat salad dressing on my salads, usually the few add-ons that I put on top give plenty flavor.

I strongly recommend trying the Sunday Salad – those mixed greens with the sliced fresh strawberries? Sounds strange, but add nuts if you choose (I don’t like them, but the recipe called for them) and drizzle with a little pepperjelly vinaigrette – DELICIOUS!

Does anyone have any good salad ideas or recipes for a salad that you like a lot and care to share?

even though I saw her throwing handfuls of MSG into my food...

Last Friday, as Tien has mentioned, was Loyola's Country Fair. There were tables set up with students representing a decent parcel of the globe, and many of them featured food from their country's respective culture. Samples ranged from Guatemalan rice pudding, assorted delicious spicy mushes to be eaten with fingers from Ethiopia, fried noodles from the Philippines, waffly looking desserts from Belgium, Italian hazelnut gelato, Chilean empanadas con queso o carne y pebre, "American" gumbo, etc..... I wondered as I walked around, sniffed and sampled, exactly how many of Pollan's rules were being broken by the tables collectively. And I didn't really care.

I remember before I started making going abroad a semi-regular thing, I was extremely health-conscious, mostly due to my father's anti-white-flour-and-high-fructose-corn-syrup brainwashing throughout my childhood. On my first true international experience aside from random vacationing in the Caribbean I was volunteering in Belize and our meals were prepared by a Belizan cook. As often as I could before it was already dumped on my plate, I told her I didn't want the white rice; I remember it breaking her rhythm. I also only very hesitantly would eat the Jiffy peanut butter (loaded with high fructose c.s.) we had as an on-the-go lunch option. I grumbled to myself about white bread--basically my steadfastness to my health principles was making meal time an unenjoyable experience, uncomfortable for the host, and setting me apart from the rest of the group (though a bit less so than the no-gluton dieter) that would just say "thank you" and eat eagerly. Eventually my resolve to eating healthy was overpowered by my desire to eat like the rest of the group and be glad for food and the sharing of it. Since that experience, and my more intensive year in Chile in which my host mom Tatiana would stress that though we did not always have very much or very delicious foods to eat, there would always be something on our plates and made with love at that, I have viewed food very differently. Sure, little pieces of sliced hot dog over pasta, instant mashed potatoes, single ingredient salads were not my favorites. But I was culturally engaged in eating as they did and bonded to my host family by the sentiments behind the food. It no longer became important if the bread was white or whole grain, but that we had it and were eating together, a shared moment of relaxation.

I guess what I am getting at is that I hope to never be such a healthy eater that it interferes with my ability to receive hospitality. Food is as much symbolic as it is literal.

Word from Dr. Pollan!

Hey Class! I checked my inbox today and was just tickled to have an email from who other than Michael Pollan! I send him an email from myself, Tien, and Tom on behalf of the class inviting him to view our blog. Here's the original email, and here's his reply:

On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 9:37 AM, cmorris wrote:

Hi Dr. Pollan,

We are students at Loyola University New Orleans, currently
enrolled in a "Green Literature" course that is being
offered here this semester. Our course requirements include
the option of reading and tackling your "Food Rules" as one
of our semester projects, choosing different rules to follow
and posting our results weekly on a class Blog.

Since most, if not all, of the class has decided to pursue
this challenge, we thought that you might be interested in
hearing our thoughts about "Food Rules," seeing what some of
our favorite rules are, and sharing in our successes and
failures as we challenge ourselves to "Eat Food" over the
course of this semester!

Moreover, we would be honored if you would consider
participating in our Blog to view and comment on our posts,
and wanted to invite you to join us!

http://eatersmanual.blogspot.com/

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Courtney Morris, Tien Tran, and Tom Martenstein
Representatives of "Green Literature" ENGLA394

Reply on Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 4:48 pm Michael Pollan

This is great, thanks. Don't think I'll have time to contribute, butI'm looking for new rules, so you might solicit them and send on. I'll let you know which if any I can use-- this is for a new edition.

Are you up for the challenge? Let's come up with some NEW rules for his new edition! I emailed him back and let him know we were definitely interested, so let's show him what we've got!

Post all ideas under this thread, and I'll compile and send them at the end of the semester. Yay!

"Food Rules" PotLuck

You are all hereby invited to contribute a dish to the "Food Rules" PotLuck, to be held on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 @ 3:30pm. Directions to follow.

In the meantime, please post under comments the dish you plan to prepare, recipes and all. I think this'd make a nice catalogue of food to celebrate the experiment!

UPDATE: please bring your own individual plate, drinking cup, and napkin (preferably cloth--which I'll be happy to wash). I have enough silverware for all. I'd like to see how little waste this gathering can produce!

Also, if you need to cook anything or warm anything, please feel free to use my stove, microwave, toaster, etc.

And, finally, not all of you might be keen on cooking/baking/making something. So feel free to bring a store-bought food or drink item. I have water and some juice always to hand, but if you want anything in particular, bring it!

Plants Want to Live Too

This post on the new Antennae blog tells it like it is (sorry vegans). Antennae is about art and “nature.”

Michael Pollan gives a plant's-eye view | Video on TED.com

Michael Pollan gives a plant's-eye view | Video on TED.com

Listening to Your Body

The other night, my parents and i went to a new buffet that opened up. The main reason for them wanting to go was because they served lobster every night. First of all, I don't even care for buffets that much because they are more aim towards quantity, rather than quality and I don't eat as much as I used to so it was kind of a waste. I felt horrible that nigh because of the salty and oily food I ate. After awhile and especially since really being aware of the food I eat, my body told me that it did not appreciate me polluting it. Plus I had a soda the other day and that was a no no. I felt bloated all day. And I am realizing more and more what is good and what isn't good for my body.

I also am listening to my body much more. If I am slightly hungry I'll have a snack, and recently I've been able to eat less and stop eating when my body/brain tells me that I'm full.

I also like eating more simply. One of my favorite dishes that I like to make it Vietnamese chicken salad. I'll post the recipe here. Also so glad to see Briana, Cait, and Tom at the Country Fair. That was a fun way to taste and see the food from so many other different nations!

Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Boil chicken, then shred it.
Slice Onions, and green onions.
Cilantro.
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, Tony Chachere's.
and squeeze half a lime over it.

Just mix everything together and most Vietnamese thin slice cabbage and throw it into the salad it's super good, fast, simple, and basic! I hope yal try it out soon.

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Seven

Journal Entry
Week Seven
October 14, 2010

Rule 63 “Cook”

In my Farmer’s Market post a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a particular booth there that was selling salt-free spice and seasoning blends. “Moroccan,” “Greek Blend,” and “Italian Blend” were among the many that this particular vendor (a sweet, somewhat older lady) had for sale. (Their names were much more appetizing sounding; I’m sorry my memory isn’t doing them justice. But I know they would be delicious in “cooking ethnically” as ekkerr posted below!)

Purchase one of these delicious blends I did, and last week, was able to use it in a few different dishes that I – yes, I actually – cooked!

I had bought the “All & Sundry Seasoning,” which claims that it is perfect for Soups and Stews, Meats, Roasts, and Casseroles. Best of all, no salt! The vendor recommended using it on chicken as a spice rub before cooking, too.

The ingredients are as follows: “Lots of love, Parsley, Marjoram, Celery, Savory, Thyme, Sage, Onion, Pepper, Basil, Garlic, Bay Leaf, Rosemary, and Sun Dried Tomato.

The first time I used this spice mixture, I actually had made a beef stew with carrots, onions, bell pepper, and garlic in my crockpot (You guys - crockpots are awesome for busy college students! Simply put in any ingredients of your choice, turn on low, and voila! Six to eight hours later, just as you are arriving home starving from school, you have a delicious hot meal ready to eat! I even hear you can make cakes and stuff in those things. That’ll have to be cooking experiment #2). I used the All & Sundry blend in the stew and it did add a nice extra layer to the flavor. I also used it as a rub on stewed pork chops that I made, and added a little extra garlic and sliced onion and cooked those on low for about an hour or so until they were nice and tender. Overall, while I still sometimes feel like I need extra salt, I really like having the control over how much salt I add into whatever it is I am cooking.

And, I’ve always loved cooking, but living as one person sometimes proves everyday cooking to be a challenge: proportions and measurements for just one person, leftovers, more leftovers, frozen leftovers a week later… you get the idea. Plus I do not always have the time or the fresh ingredients on hand that it takes to actually cook a hot meal. So in the event that I can’t cook for myself any given week, I just head out to my family’s house where mom always has a hot meal going…mmm, and speaking of, I can’t wait for cooler weather and mom’s gumbo! (I’ll have to bring some of the Spice blend and have her put it to the test, too!)

Rule #41

I have recently become very enthusiastic about Rule #41 "Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. or the Italians. Or the Greeks."

Although, I believe the "American" take on Italian food (lots of cheese and carbs) defeats the purpose of this rule. Basically, Italian restaurants will often have lots of fried foods (chicken, eggplant, or veal parmesan) as well as mounds of noodles. More traditional Italian dishes include lean fish, whole grain pastas and breads, as well as homemade tomato sauces. My interpretation of Italian food usually includes Classico four cheese sauce (which has more than five ingrediants including high fructose corn syrup), plain white noodles, and mounds of Kraft parmesan cheese. Not a healthy meal by Food Rules standards. However, I have recently added shrimp cooked in olive oil, pesto sauces, whole grain and fresh pastas, and a salad on the side. MUCH better.

Also, Greek food. I would love to try and adapt my diet to include more traditional Greek foods. however, the only Greek food I have access to is Byblos in the Tulane LBC and the verdict is still out on whether or not that is an acceptable meal by Food Rules standards. I'm sure the chicken is a little too fried, and I can't account for all the ingredients but it does follow the "eat your colors" rule and has alot of veggies.

As far as Japanese goes, I have yet to try and cook it myself. Maybe the sushi rolls and teriyaki chicken would work with the Food Rules. The Japanese food that I like most is tempura and highly marinated beef kabobs (no veggies just beef). Also, most Japanese restaurants serve white rice. I'm not sure what authentic Japanese food is like, I've only been to a few restaurants.

French- What I would like to try next.

Michael Pollen suggests you follow cooking from just one culture because people who do tend to be healthier. It is not necessarily the food you consume, but portion sizes and balance that make a huge difference as well. Take French food for example: in my experience, lots of mayonaise, carbs, and butter. But the French have a way lower obesity rate that goes along with their vastly different attitude towards food.



Also, on a side note: my most recent trip to Whole Foods was to buy my dog organic food. I figured if I feel healthier eating organic than he might appreciate food that follows the crucial rule "avoid food that has ingredients a third grader cannot pronounce"

Affluent Malnutrition

If you've been in and out of airports and hotels for two days, like I have—just two days—you will feel highly malnourished. I start to feel it about a day in to any trip that involves “eating” the “food” that these “venues” “provide“ (nb scare quotes). You spent all this money, and for what?

Po-boy sickness = success!

I just wanted to say that I thought Greg's presentation was awesome and made veganism, or at least vegetarianism, very appealing with the incorporation of ahimsa. I like the awareness that what you choose to eat, or consume in general, has spiritual or humane implications past the physical. Our eating a chicken poboy (which after 3 days of no meat made me feel quite ill) is undeniably participation is the inhumane (funny term) treatment of other living beings.

I do wonder though why some vegans also choose to not eat honey, when the bees are clearly glad to make it and treated with much care (else the sting). Is it the general domestication of the bees that is considered a violence on them?

Fast Food- farmer's market style

Lately I have been trying to pretty much sample different markets and so far I really like the Crescent City Farmer's Market uptown. It is extremely close to school and open before I have to go to class. I went there this past Tuesday and was able to have lunch. I bought a wheat wrap stuffed with spinach and artichoke. It was delicious! Also, I had a real hot tamale! However, I was under the impression one was able to eat the wrapping but it seemed too hard. I just opened it up instead and ate the filing which tasted much like grits and cheese. Maybe this is what it always was..? To finish my meal I had a container of honey lemonade, which I really enjoyed. I plan to stop there every Tuesday on my way to school and grab lunch. I highly suggest trying the fruit popsicles which do not contain extra sugar.

I think the worst thing about markets is there availability. They are only open on certain days for a few hours, and being a full-time student with two jobs makes it difficult to find time to go. That is why fast food services, such as, the 24 hour McDonalds and "open till 2 a.m." Wendys, is able to get so much attention. They are always available any time and have many locations.

The world is seriously backwards; society has cheap available imitation food and expensive scarce healthy food. Since when did this happen?

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Six

Journal Entry
Week Six
October 7, 2010

Rule 59 “Try not to eat alone”

Now this rule always gets me, because I live alone…and therefore find it very hard not to eat alone! I guess I could put a mirror in front of me while I’m eating…but that would totally freak me out so I usually refrain from doing such things. I do occasionally eat with my family on the weekends when I go home to visit them; in fact, I look forward to Sunday dinner with the family because quite frankly, it gets pretty lonely night after night sitting there with a bowl of cereal or scrambled eggs or oatmeal (don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love breakfast! I love it so much I often eat it for dinner :) If I had to pick a favorite meal, I’d say it would have to be breakfast. And then breakfast again for dinner. Naturally. (I really like it.) But I digress.

So anyway back to this problem of me finding people to eat with. Well the characters in my books that I study for school while eating (I know, I know, breaking the “refrain from multitasking rule”) aren’t the best company. So when I do get the chance to go eat with friends, I usually take advantage of the offer! Now last week I mentioned the new Organic restaurant that my friend and I went to visit, and promised a dissertation on the matter. Yet I’d rather not consider this a dissertation so much as a little slice of a really incredibly cool experience! During the course of our explorations at the Farmer’s Market last weekend, my friend (Rachel) received a text from another friend of ours who was in town and who wanted to get together for lunch. It was a really beautiful day, and we were already out and about, so of course we said yes, absolutely! Well I had been hearing raving reviews of this new little café that just opened up here in Covington, called Toad Hollow. I had heard that they were “all-organic” or, at least, all-natural, and that their food was simply delicious and simply must be tried! And thinking back to the Farmer’s Market that I attended (was subjected to Community Service at?) a year ago, I remember them actually serving samples of their little tasty goodies and remembered how people had raved at how delicious they were. So I suggested going to this little café to check it out and see if it was really as good as claimed.

Now, neither Rachel nor I are 100% “let’s only eat organic food for the rest of our lives” type of people, but both of us are very health conscientious and do strive to balance a healthy diet and good solid exercise regimen, and we both hit up the gym several times a week. So we both were curious about this new restaurant and really eager to try it. Now of course, when we arrived, our friend immediately said “Toad Hollow? Gee how unappetizing that sounds!” (Hey I thought it was kind of a cute name, but whatever) We proceeded inside, curious to find out what they had to offer.

The menu was filled with delicious-sounding delicacies, and amidst comments such as “wow all this stuff sounds so healthy,” and “do people really eat this way?” and “what the heck is couscous?” from our dear out-of-town friend, the peanut-gallery of one, I noted a section on the menu which said that none of the meat served there was treated with any type of antibiotic or additive. I also noticed that when they brought my Hibiscus-Mint iced tea (a specialty brewed fresh on the premises daily) there were no pink, yellow, or blue sugar-packets in sight!!! (Now THAT was a sight for sore eyes!) Only Stevia and turbinado sugar were available as natural alternatives to artificial sweeteners.

There were tons of delicious selections on the menu, which included everything from breakfast items made with cage-free eggs, all natural cheeses, and lots and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, to salads with light tasty dressings, to sandwiches, wraps, entrees, and even desserts, all of which fulfilled a large majority of Pollan’s rules – eat your colors, 2/3 veggies to 1/3 meat, no preservatives or fillers, names that could all be pronounced, all-in-all, a very well balanced menu and delicious twists on new meal ideas! And to boot, I was with friends and not eating alone!

Except there was only one tiny little problem: I was SO full from the breakfast that I had eaten before the Farmer’s Market, and from the sampling of many yummy things at the Farmer’s Market, that alas! all I had room for was my tea! I was going to buy something and take it home, but I figured that would completely ruin the experience because a) I wouldn’t be eating it fresh and in the ambience of the restaurant (sometimes that makes things taste that much better) and b) I would end up … what? Eating it alone?! No way, really?

So I just forfeited lunch that day for the moment, ate a sandwich later when I got hungry, and resolved to go back to Toad Hollow with Rachel very soon, where we could both enjoy a nice, healthy bite to eat without comments from our “less” health-conscious, out-of-town friends.

Rotten Life

So it has been nearly two weeks since I've been eating poultry and seafood again. My body is doing a bit better, but it gets cranky sometimes because all this fresh is rotten inside of it! A few days I had an average amount of meat as any other person would, but other days I hardly have any besides a slice on my sandwich. As I'm eating meat again, my diet is slowly changing because some chicken and seafood dish I eat require rice to be eaten with them, even though I try not to eat rice at all. Since I'm eating meat, I feel like I'm not eating as healthy as I use to be.

I've been reading the post and a lot of people seem to have trouble to eat healthy more and overcoming sweets. The first thing I want to address is eating healthy while being busy or living at school. I know people have busy lives and are constantly on the move. One thing I recommend is packing snacks, some sliced apples, a handful of grapes or nuts and just have that in your backpack so whenever you're hungry or have a few minutes possible even before class you can snack on them. As for living on campus, that is a tough issue. I wouldn't recommend this, but personally i would put food on my plate in the OR, then slip it into a plastic bag and bring it back to my room. I know buying your own food can be hard sometimes so I don't know what to suggest for that.

Then there is sweets! It really has been hard for me too because I love eating sweets! I can just eat icing out of the can! I still eat sweets, I don't care what that book says, but I don't eat a lot. I usually buy dark chocolate because supposedly it is better for you and eat one or two pieces a night. But with cakes and other things, it is sooooooo hard. I just want more and more. JUST SAY NO. That is all I have to say, don't give into sweet pressure.

I Ate the Meat!

Yes, I confess I ate the meat! I have been trying so hard not to eat any animals, but I just don't know how you non meat eaters do it in today's world. Meat is sneaky... Did you know its in Worcestershire sauce???? Oh yes its in there, so think twice before you drink the Bloody Mary. I have found there is a vegetarian version, so don't be fooled any longer.


I still struggle with the sweets the most and look forward to any and all suggestions on how to kick the sweets addiction.

I will admit that I have a new favorite food and it is Hummus. I think it goes with everything. Its a snack when paired with pita or dip cucumber for less carbs, its a meal when you make a sandwich out of it with lots of veggies. If I can find a way to make it into a desert I will let you know!

Nutritional Info for Hummus:

• High in Iron and Vitamin C


• Folate and Vitamin B6


• Chickpeas are good source of Dietary fiber


• Tahini is mostly sesame seeds, high in Amino Acids

Indulge and enjoy!

If you thought Pink Chicken Nugget Goo was bad...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101012/bs_yblog_upshot/mcdonalds-happy-meal-resists-decomposition-for-six-months

Happy Meal project's startling results!
I couldn't wait until class to bring this in as a "current 'event'"... Go to and Read the article above; I'd love to hear your thoughts.

If it is true, and untampered with, and has stayed on a shelf like that for 6 months, can we imagine what it might do to your body??

Smart Choices?

Every Tuesday and Thursday I enjoy tutoring young and old adults at the Presbyterian church on State St. They are preparing to take the GED. Today, my session was cut short because we the had a visitor, a nutrition specialist. Visiting from the LSU AgCenter of Research & Extension, a woman dressed in scrubs (I am unsure of her position) offered the group a list of dietary guidelines. The sheet of paper she handed out was from 2005.

According to the sheet, a recipe for good health includes eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, reducing intake of saturated fats and sodium, and adding exercise to your daily routine. Okay, sounds good!

Unfortunately, she went on to provide information that was rather contradictory to Pollan's Law. For example: eat margarine instead of butter, drink skim milk instead of whole or 2%, eat yogurts such a Yoplait, and eat Cheerio's and TrailMix (items advertised on television).

Anyway, I think overall it was a successful presentation and the students added their personal stories of attempting to eat well. However, I had a difficult time getting past the fact that a hospital/health representative was giving dated and usually incomplete information to a group of people who seemed rather susceptible to her every word.

Also, she never spoke of the horrors of processed food. When someone made a joke about Oreo's, she said that those were her favorite.

I asked the group why apples and oranges were never advertised on commercials and the class comedian responded, "Haven't you ever seen the Fruit of the Loom commercials?"

Habits Manifest

Pollan cites chronic diseases, cancer, and a shortened lifespan to advocate a decrease of meat consumption. It's a great tactic, scaring the beef out of us, and the leniency in Food Rules regarding meat is a little comforting: "Treat meat as a flavoring...," (p53, #23), the stress on the phrase "eat mostly plants" in rule 22, and rule 29, "Eat like an omnivore." The permission to eat a food he attributes so much bodily harm to couples with the guidelines towards the end of the book on enjoying treats, breaking rules, ripping pages. It might be a bit of submission by Pollan as he accepts our love for food and is slightly forced to give an overwhelmed, guilty-feeling reader something of a buffer and some comfort. It might also be an acceptance of these 'occasion foods' as a little necessary-- that our contemporary tastes have developed and our cravings become acute, powerful, and easily satisfied by a massive production strucuture that delivers our comfort food so quickly and in quantity.

I think I'm feeling healthier. Friends and I did the "Master Cleanse" a few months ago, fasting for 4 days while drinking lemon, pepper, and syrup the entire time. We agreed that there weren't any noticeable changes to our physiques or moods, that we didn't even feel particularly healthy. Under Food Rules, I've accepted my salads and have even compensated for the decrease in how much meat I eat by having grilled vegetables, the slight char delivering at least the flavor for a craving. Habits have set in (this week is a half-way point, isn't it?) and this is actually a little exciting or at least reason to be very optimistic that a feeling of health, of STRENGTH, OF VITALITY will come around. That I'll be able to lift cars, chew mountains, and jump higher.



Statistics on American meat consumption-
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/resources/research/stats_meat_consumption.html

cup-o-noodle neuroses

I was feeling particularly curious about processed foods today, as I seem to not be able to completely avoid them and their mysterious hard-to-pronounce-and-visualize additives yet (I found my seemingly innocent lightly salted Planters Peanuts actually contained Maltodextrin, Cornstarch, and Corn Syrup Solids, whatever that is). So I looked up the history of food processing for kicks and to gain some insight on how adding extra ingredients to whole foods can benefit a company at all and will share a few links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_processing
("Similar processes are used to produce animal feed." HAHA!)

http://www.wisebread.com/the-dirty-secrets-of-food-processing-strong-stomach-required


I also found out that every time I have a bowl of non-milk-color changing cereal (which I guess we have consensused is already generally evil) I inadvertently am still breaking the no-sugar-in-the-top-3-ingredients-rule, even with the healthier cereal selections (I probably should have taken 4 more seconds to read the ingredients before buying). So I guess I could eat dry, plain oats for breakfast, because the low-fat milk is already a no-no, but alas, isn't Quaker too an ill-doing company? I am starting to get paranoid that everything I buy is having a detrimental effect somewhere down the line, be it nutritional, environmental, social; I become frightened, fear all forms of consumerism. If anyone knows any companies with spotless track records in all areas, please share before I become an airtarian or a Jain monk.

I'm Sorry I'm Fat

I had a bottle of coke today and pumpkin seeds that contain 'titanium oxide' and finished someone else's meal after my own and I'm sorry. I do feel slow, so noticeable consequences at least affirm that my body has adjusted to the vegetable/fish heavy diet. A silver lining. Silver like a Babe Ruth candy bar....

I've broken the rules once in a while, like I'm told to. Pollan uses Oscar Wilde's bit on page 139, "All things in moderation. Including moderation." To this I add that the quickest way to get rid of a temptation is to indulge it. Having said this, I think I've crossed a line as habit is starting to take over my usual diet so that the moments of indulgence feel like exactly that and are getting to be kind of rare. It feels great and that's why I'm so sorry I've been terrible today, a terrible experiment, a terrible student, I had 4 or 5 pancakes this morning instead of the 3 that came with my order and I didn't check the syrup ingredients and I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm talking to my belt.

Time Crunch

I am finding a recent challenge with the rules that require you to limit your portion sizes, and also chewing until your meal virtually becomes a liquid smoothie in your mouth. I have always been accustomed to eating "healthy" servings of food, and tend to put them down rather quickly. Since I maintain a very active lifestyle and expend many calories, I find that I stay hungry throughout the day unless I pile on the additional servings during meals. As an employee of the university I have access to the Orleans Room and usually take advantage of the salad bar and vegetarian line. This convenience makes it more accessible for me to choose healthier food items, but it does not stop me from loading up on the portion sizes; this actually creates an adverse effect because my rationale is that since I am eating things that are good for me, then I should increase their amounts too.

A problem with my current occupation as a campus police officer is that I have a very limited time to really sit down and enjoy the meal. I often have to cut lunches short, eat on the go, or guzzle it down so that I may respond to the radio if an emergency situation arises. These emergency calls that I receive are often frequent, and hinder my ability to stay true to some of the rules within the diet. To make-up the difference I will overeat later on in the day, increase portion sizes, and attempt to get as close to a "healthy" meal as my time allows, or just skip altogether. I know these eating habits are not a good practice, and I am currently trying to find better solutions for these types of situations, so if anyone has any advice on these matters I could really use it right now.