My dad used to bemoan the fact that most national brands of ketchup, barbecue sauce, and similar ultraprocessed items listed high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as either the first or second ingredient. He knew that high-fructose corn syrup was associated with the explosive epidemics of obesity and diabetes, and he hated the idea that so many people were unaware that they were putting themselves at risk. He was on a never-ending personal mission to improve the quality of the food that he fed his family. He spent a lifetime encouraging family, friends, and casual acquaintances (otherwise known as his pre-friends) to eat less HFCS. And, although he was not usually the kind of person to ask for even small favors, he once asked if I would post an entry on the subject. I was happy to say yes.
Continue reading
A Corn Continuum: From Real Food to Manufactured Calories
Today I am talking about the difference between real food and manufactured calories.
When you make a choice about what to eat, the question is this: Is this real food that nourishes, or is it manufactured calories, an invention of the 20th century? Some things in life are black and white, like a coin toss at the start of a football game. But it’s not always so simple. Between black and white may be found a spectrum of grays. That’s what I want to talk about today. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Carrot-Mint Salad
I ate my first carrot-mint salad many years ago at the table of a Moroccan-Israeli neighbor who brought her culinary heritage with her when she came to Cleveland. She taught me that there is something unbelievable about the mix of sweet carrots and mint. Sometimes the simplest combinations create the most remarkable tastes. Here is a carrot salad from Claudia Roden’s Book of Jewish Food. It is such a delicious recipe that I once watched a table full of people make a bowlful disappear in hardly any time at all. It’s a great recipe for every day, but it’s also wonderful for special celebrations. Continue reading
Three Pillars of Wellness
I’ve been writing a monthly column for the Cleveland Jewish News since last year, and today I’d like to share one of the posts I wrote early on.
Wellness is like a pyramid with three pillars: eating patterns, activity patterns, and rest & relaxation patterns.
There’s tremendous synergy among these three pillars. You go for a great walk; you sleep better that night. You get a lousy night’s sleep; you circle the vending machines (or the fridge) all day. You eat too much; you don’t feel like moving. Everything is connected, so we can make small changes feel like a million bucks.
You don’t need to train for the Olympics. You just need to move. How much? A little bit more than before. If that means a 5-minute walk after breakfast instead of hanging out on the couch, then 5 minutes it is. If it means adding 10 minutes of stretching before your daily 2-mile run, then give it a try. Small changes, beginning wherever you are today. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Two Israeli Fennel Salads
By the time you read this I’ll be in Israel visiting my son and daughter-in-law, and celebrating the first birthday of my beautiful grandson. The next few weeks will be inspired by the delicious meals and celebrations for which Israelis are famous! First up are a couple of salads using the vegetable fennel.
Fennel is a very special bulb of a vegetable, with the faintest sweet taste of…what?…licorice(!)…but very faint, so don’t be put off. To me it tastes more like the bergamot that gives Earl Grey tea its characteristic flavor and aroma. If you’ve never eaten fennel before, these recipes are a perfect introduction. Continue reading
Four Old Friends Share a Treat
Last weekend I met up with three friends in Philadelphia to enjoy a very long weekend together. Growing up together in the neighborhoods of Levittown, New York, we have been friends since fourth grade. Except for the pandemic, we get together once a year or more from the four different states in which we have made our adult lives. This time we picked a very old house near Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Built in the 1850s, the house’s kitchen was located underground (first floor), with four more floors above it. The entry and dining room were on the second floor (ground level), with a sitting room on the 5th floor, and bedrooms on floors 3 and 4. We quickly became nimble at navigating the extremely steep, winding staircase.
We cooked a lot of our own meals in the updated kitchen and spent at least as much time hanging out as walking through Center City, goggling at the displays in the Reading Terminal Market, admiring the public art — especially near the Art Museum and along the Ben Franklin Parkway, visiting the Liberty Bell, and seeing a play at Walnut Street Theatre, not to mention enjoying the excitement of the local win that sent the Eagles to the Super Bowl.
I don’t have to tell you that the meals we prepared were nourishing and healthy, with loads of fresh fruit and vegetables, beans, whole grains, nourishing fats, and high-quality protein. Of course they were. And a few days into our visit, one of our happy crew happened to remark that the reduction in the amount of sugar she was eating appeared to have reduced some of the GI symptoms she’s had since forever. I don’t really know if she meant for me to hear, but I did. And I was absolutely not surprised. What passes for food in this country continues to stun me. Continue reading
All Health is Personal
Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1953 to 1987, and was Speaker of the House from 1977 to 1987, was famous for having said that “All politics is local.” I believe he was saying that you come to understand issues more comprehensively when they touch you directly and personally.
For example, I could study asthma for many years and, someday, come to feel proficient at diagnosing and caring for asthmatic patients. But it’s completely different if I, myself, also carry a diagnosis of asthma; or if my young son develops it and suddenly needs his family to accommodate nebulizer treatments twice a day, effective immediately; or if you grew up with a sibling whose childhood years included several trips to the emergency room and several missed days of school each and every winter. That’s a completely different kind of understanding.
This post is a call to physicians, clinicians, my blog readers, and you, the patients for whom we care. Continue reading
Fire Food & Drink – A Memory from 2013
This post is a reprise of a delicious memory from many years ago, when my husband and I were celebrating the 36th anniversary of our meeting, and Fire Food & Drink in Shaker Heights, Ohio, my favorite restaurant, was still open. You might think of this entry as a tribute: To a man, a marriage, and a memory.
I met my husband-to-be on a snowy, romantic February 18th many, many years ago. And it may sound corny, but it was, in fact, love at first sight. Or at least first weekend. So when I heard that Doug Katz was making a “Meatless Monday vegan dinner” the same week as our “meet-iversary,” my sweet husband cleared his schedule and I made a reservation right away!
You may or may not know that I am not a vegan. I’m not even a vegetarian. But I love real food, and I love creative cooking, so that’s why I wanted to spend an evening at Fire food & drink. It was going to be a special night. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Stuffed Peppers and Split Pea Soup
While our kitchen gets its makeover, the refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, and water kettle have temporarily taken over a corner of the den, and we are doing our best to use up everything we have. It’s a little bit like camping out, except it’s inside your own house. So I’m trying to be extra-creative.
Our lovely little makeshift pantry has a variety of goodies including a half-empty bag of quinoa, and containers of various dry items such as peanuts, raisins, and cashews; and canned beans, baba ganoush, tomato sauce, and pickles. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Bean Crockpot Soup
All right, the holidays are over. It’s January, it’s been snowing for days, and it’s going to be this way for a while. There’s no going back; it’s only forward. Here’s a recipe that may help.
This is the kind of recipe that you start in the morning to cook all day and make the house smell amazing. It will work with any dark red beans, but I want you to know that I am absolutely crazy about the heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo in Napa. I like to add one-quarter cup of green lentils and 2 tablespoons (or 1/8 cup) of garbanzo beans for the added flavor and texture they give this recipe. Even this seemingly minute amount of garbanzos is guaranteed to put a few into every bowl. If the ingredient list feels a little daunting, once you gather and measure out all your ingredients I think it will feel a lot more manageable. You should feel free to mix together all the spices, and combine all the legumes (beans + lentils) before you get started.
I can imagine eating a bowl of this soup with a thick slice of crusty bread, but you can also consider it an entire meal all on its own. Continue reading