Author Archives: Dr. Sukol

A Menace to Satiety

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A member of my family texted me a few weeks ago: “Thinking of you as I’m watching CNN report on the effects of ultra processed foods… Followed by an ad on controlling diabetes numbers. (Did they consult you?)”. She knows how long I’ve been thinking about this.

So I decided to write about ultra processed “items” this week. The media has got to stop calling them food.

An old friend once came to visit, and she told me that she’d been discussing my dietary recommendations with her clever boyfriend. He spent some time mulling them over, and then said: “Processed food is a menace to satiety.” Indeed it is.

Have you ever given any thought to the fact that you might be able to eat your way through several pounds of potatoes in the form of potato chips, but never as baked potatoes? How many baked potatoes do you actually think you could eat? Remember to include the butter because, after all, most potato chips are fried. 

My husband and a bear-sized buddy of his from Athens, Ohio, used to joke that the best way to eat Girl Scouts Thin Mint Cookies was to open the cellophane and slide the entire sleeve right into your mouth all at once. Ouch. A sure sign of ultra processing.

What’s the record number of bowls of breakfast cereal — just name your brand — that you’ve ever eaten at one sitting? Three? Four? What about a whole box? Do you think you could eat that many bowls of oatmeal? I suspect not. That’s because real food nourishes, and whole oats are real food. Generally speaking, however, most breakfast cereals are manufactured calories; and manufactured calories do not nourish. They will never nourish you. They do something different. They entertain. Entertainment is fine, entertainment is fun, but entertainment is not food. Any time a manufacturer has to tell you when to use a particular product or product category (breakfast cereal, lunchables, TV dinners…), there’s a very good chance that it’s not really food.

Real food fills your belly. Real food tells you, “You’re full now. You can stop eating.” Highly processed manufactured edible products don’t do that. They bypass the exquisitely sensitive signaling systems that are designed to keep your body working right. They hijack your appetite. You can’t tell when you’re full. So you keep eating. You cruise the cabinets after dinner even though you JUST ate. 

When you’re hungry, it’s not a good idea to eat something that’s been processed or manufactured into a form that is no longer recognized by your body as real food. Instead, it’s a much better idea to eat something that your body recognizes as nourishing food. Maybe a slice of cheddar or Swiss cheese. Some leftover grilled asparagus. A cup of brown rice. Broccoli soup. A ripe avocado, or a slice or two of turkey breast. A cup of raspberries. An orange. A bunch of grapes. Celery sticks dipped in hummus. A homemade oatmeal-raisin cookie.

Real food is truly satisfying. 

Your Health is in Your Heart

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Good morning, and happy Sunday. Today I am sharing a conversation I had with a patient once some years ago. She was someone I had never met before, and was, like many before her, completely flummoxed about what to try next. With a personal goal of weight loss, she had already done everything she could think of, and then some. I know you know this story. I myself have told it many times before. There is a good chance you may even have experienced it yourself. Maybe you have experimented with practically every diet, including the dreaded cabbage soup diet, denied yourself your favorite foods, carved out time you didn’t really have to get more exercise than was comfortable at the time. Of course none of this is sustainable. You can’t eat cabbage soup for breakfast forever. So what comes next? 

Next comes balance.

When I began writing this blog in 2009, it did not yet have a name. I knew that I wanted to talk about food and health, but that was as far as I’d gotten. I had posted one or two blogs, but I still did not have a name in mind. Then, on the same day my op-ed on doctoring was published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, my husband and I happened to attend a wedding and have the good fortune to be seated next to an elderly aunt of the bride, a Russian immigrant with a distinct accent and distinctive wit to match. I was in rare form that night, blabbing happily about the bride and groom, the newspaper piece, my new blog. She listened with interest, interrupting my proud gushing between bites of salad with the occasional question until finally she blurted out, “You know, there is a saying in my country: Your health is on your plate.” I stopped talking. She had really heard me. And I stopped talking, too, because the moment she said it, I knew I had just heard the name of my new blog. Your health is on your plate. It was perfect. 

Of course, good health is not just about our food. It’s also about movement, and about rest and relaxation. And most importantly, it’s about the synergy among the three: Go for a great walk and you sleep better; get a lousy night’s sleep and you circle the vending machine (or refrigerator) all day, eat too much and you don’t feel like moving. Everything is connected, which is why small improvements on all fronts can translate into major changes in health. In this country, we tend to put all our eggs in the “diet and exercise” buckets. But there can be no synergy unless you add in being kind to yourself. Rest is not optional. Relaxation is not optional. Self-respect is not up for grabs.

Where am I going with this? Well, I’ve learned something along the way. It turns out that while, sure, your health is on your plate, it’s not only on your plate. Your health is on your pillow. It’s on your yoga mat. It’s on your couch. It’s on massage tables. It’s on a hill at sunrise. It’s on a hike in the mountains. Your health is on a picnic blanket in the park, at a ball game with your friends, in your running shoes, in a soaking bath and under a waterfall. Your health is definitely in your garden. But it’s also everywhere else that brings you joy, comfort, inspiration, and peace. 

You can hear it in your words when you talk about nourishing yourself with gratitude. Nurture your soul with love, kindness, music, nature, and whatever else your heart desires. Your health will respond to it.

Just one more thing. Last month I passed the thousand-post-mark on this blog. Yes, you read that right. One at a time, I have shared over one thousand (1000!) posts with you. The conversation I had with the woman who named my blog happened more than a thousand posts ago. If you had told me then what the future held, I would never have believed you. But here it is. And I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for reading YHIOYP, for your kindness, for your encouraging words, and for continuing to take the time. It means a great deal to me.

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Wintertime Oatmeal with Apples & Walnuts

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In view of the fact that I’ve been asked once again to repost this recipe, and since it’s autumn (the most glorious autumn I can remember in years), I am reposting this recipe for Apple-Walnut Oatmeal. I’ve adjusted the proportions to make enough for two. 

Looking out the dining room window as I write this, all I can see are dozens of cool, grey-brown branches against a pale blue, sun-lit sky. It’s beautifully stark, and riveting, calling me to the outdoors while the sun is still low in the eastern sky. But before I venture out into this beautiful day, I’m going to make this oatmeal recipe to warm me from the inside out. This recipe has a lot of flavor, with all the right kinds of yummy. You will probably smile while you’re eating it. I know I do.

1 cup rolled oats
1 small apple, peeled, cored, and diced small
3 c. water
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. flax meal
3/4 tsp. cinnamon, scant
1 tsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. toasted walnuts, chopped coarsely

In a medium saucepan, heat the oats, apple, water, and salt over medium heat. Heat 5-8 minutes until simmering, lower heat to medium-low, and cook 5 minutes more until the apple softens, stirring often.

Add the vanilla, olive oil, flax meal and cinnamon, and stir well. Pour into a serving bowl, top with nuts, and serve. I’ve also made this recipe with amaranth to replace the oats, and almonds instead of the walnuts. It comes out delicious! Feeds 2-3 very nicely.

Old-Fashioned Gratitude

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Many years ago, when I was eleven years old, my parents bought a Corning Cooktop stove, a fancy new appliance whose coils remained white even when they were hot. You simply had to take it on faith — or not. No matter how long I stared at that new stovetop, I could not convince myself that the white coils were hot. And that is why I still remember so clearly, this many years later, the perfectly oval burn on the tip of my right index finger. I touched it only once, but that was enough. It was all it took. I couldn’t take anyone else’s word for it.  Continue reading →

Ultraprocessed Breakfast Cereal

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From time to time I take an opportunity to post an entry about my disdain for breakfast cereal or, perhaps more aptly, breakfast candy. It was in the 1970’s that concerns began to arise about the sugar content in breakfast cereals. From my point of view, once this was brought to our attention as consumers, a reasonable response would have been to lower the sugar content in breakfast cereal products. But that is not what happened. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Crockpot Soup

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Through the years I have shared quite a number of crockpot recipes with you on this blog. The crockpot is one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment, and my family and I have a long history of looking forward to the recipes that come out of it. I even gave each of my children a going-away present when they left for college: a crockpot of their own, a simple recipe, a large package of dry beans, and a few small spice packets to allow them to fill their crockpot to feed themselves and friends whenever they chose.  Continue reading →

The Art & Science of Magical Fruit

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On the occasion of my ninth birthday, half a lifetime ago, my beloved Uncle Lenny gave me a book called The Human Body, which still has a place on the shelves that hold my important books. I called it “The Body Book,” and carried it everywhere I went until I had memorized everything in it, cover to cover. I was fascinated not only by the descriptions and illustrations, but also by the idea that each part of the body was uniquely designed to do exactly what was required of it. Form followed function, and I couldn’t get enough. That, parenthetically, was also the year I decided I was, someday, going to become a doctor. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Delicata Squash in Santa Cruz

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The delicata is a small, lovely squash that looks gorgeous and tastes a little bit sweet. One of my favorite features of the delicata is that, unlike most other squash, the skin of the delicata is edible (and delicious)! 

The first time I ate this particular dish was while celebrating the wedding of dear friends who live in Santa Cruz. In keeping with an old family custom, and in order to easily identify the affiliation of each guest, the guests of one partner were invited to wear gold while those of the other partner wore cream. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Vegan Cholent (Crockpot Stew)

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A happy reprise of my seasonal fall cholent recipe, from when my dad was still here to enjoy it with us:

This past week, I made a version of this recipe for the first night of Sukkot, the fall harvest festival, and we ate it inside our beautiful sukkah that my husband built last week. It warmed us from the inside out in the chilly weather. And then it was gone, I mean really GONE, just a few hours later. Even my father, who said “I don’t like cholent,” ate a huge bowlful and said he changed his mind. Please make a note of that. Continue reading →

Getting Out of Hot Water: Preventing Heart Attacks

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Certain genes have been associated with an increased risk of strokes and heart attacks. Researchers have studied whether people with some of these genes can lower their risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with dietary changes. They can. Continue reading →