A Brief Note on Chopping Bell Peppers

Chef-types will undoubtedly laugh at this but I am unashamed to admit that for years I made the task of cleaning bell peppers much harder than necessary. I cored out the pepper like an apple, washed out the seeds, then halfed the pepper before slicing, taking care not to let the knife slip on the steep curve of the edge of the pepper. 

The trick it seems is to simply cut the meat off the core in 4 or 5 pieces as pictured above. These nice flat chunks can then easily be sliced into strips, and then rotated 90 degrees and diced. This easily saves a minute per pepper. 

Remember though, a sharp knife slips less and is therefore safer when used properly.

Day 3 - Dinner - Temptation

On the way home from a very funny 5 year old swim meet, which was a little like watch baby chicks leave the nest, my son requested McDonalds. As a treat I let him get a Happy Meal, which I recognize as being kindergarden crack. I planned on eating leftovers, but smelling his fries in the car was like having someone light up a cigarette after going cold turkey for 2 days. Fortunately I was able to resist but I wanted to document how hard it was, to remind myself to be kinder to patients who are having a hard time with junk food.

Anyway, I made it home and heated up the leftover pot roast and polenta from Day 1, added some frozen peas briefly simmered with diced onion and red bell pepper left over from breakfast. Note to self - nice color combo for Christmas.

So 2 hours later and I admit, I am still a bit hungry, but considering I have been eating about half my normal consumption, thats not too surprising. Still, 3 days in a row and I have done pretty well, thanks to the blog.  Just 10 hours until breakfast!

Day 3 -Lunch - Not very Fast Food

My wife called and asked whether I would pick up a Subway sandwich for her for lunch, and so at noon I headed over. It took almost 20 minutes to get 2 sandwiches, after standing in line with the lunch crowd. I thought about how that compared with my cooked from scratch breakfast which took 4 minutes. Not exactly "fast food".

Praise for the Veggie Max/Veggy Patty sandwich

After noticing how tired a high fat/carb lunch made me feel, I began looking for options that didn't make me want a siesta.

Subway has a great veggie patty that locally is called the Veggie Max. I order it on whole wheat, toasted with cheese and a pile of toppings (spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives & banana peppers today) without any dressing (lots of fat/calories) . The veggie patty is moist enough that with the cheese, no mayo or other is needed. Remember though that mustard is always very low cal.

The 6 inch sub has around 450 calories, fairly low fat and as satisfying as anything else on the menu , and actually tastes great. (It looks far better in person than the rather poor snapshot I made.) I will not eat any kind of "diet" food that doesn't taste wonderful. Life's too short. 

Click for nutritional info

Day 3 - Mexican omelet in 4 minutes

So I went to bed thinking about breakfast, probably because I was a little hungry. In the fridge were several red bell peppers which I buy lots of when on sale, and a carton of truly free range eggs given to me by one of my patients. This called out mexican omelet to me.

A word about free range eggs

I had been a bit of an egg skeptic in the past, not really appreciating the difference between the various grocery store varieties. (I will note that I was not a big egg eater until fairly recently, after some strange childhood imprinting - probably overcooked Easter eggs.) It was a leap of faith buying organic or Omega 3 enhanced eggs which tasted and performed the same to me. A few months ago an Amish patient came to me and as a gift, brought 2 dozen freshly collected eggs from their farm. (Likely her midwife told her I liked to cook!) These I was told were the real deal - eggs from free range chickens which had been allowed to eat bugs and run around outdoors and do whatever else rogue chickens do. 

That night, I decided to cook a big omelet for the family. When I cracked these open I was startled by the dayglo yellow yolks, which I learned comes from the varied diet.

These cooked up extra fluffy, but the real revelation came on the fork. These tasted rich and custardy unlike any eggs I had tasted before. 

Research shows that hens raised in this fashion produce eggs which are much healthier for us and the fat and cholesterol they contain has far less impact on heart health than the "factory" produced ones. Try these ASAP if you know or can find a local farmer. I can't yet attest to the taste of the occasional free range ones found in the grocery.

4 minutes start to finish.

With my master plan in mind, I tossed a heavy nonstick pan on medium heat to warm up.

I sliced a quarter off a red bell pepper and diced it, followed by 1/2 of a small onion, also diced.

These were tossed into the pan with a little olive oil.

2 eggs were beat lightly with a pinch of salt and poured into the pan. Finally a tbs of grated cheddar cheese and a sprinkle of chili powder completed the dish. Much better and faster than anything I could have grabbed on the way to work, and I am now 3 for 3 breakfasts.

Day 2 Tuna Rice Bowl - (Tekka-don)

After work I ran by the grocery to see what was fresh on special.  I always hit the meat section first, then the produce section, the fill in the gaps.

As it turned out, sashimi grade tuna was on sale for $4.99/pound. Normally I would by a heap of this and freeze most of it, but I am trying smaller portions all around, so I selected a single, 1/2 pound piece. 

In produce, broccoli crowns were 1/2 off and I picked up a bunch of spring onions. Over in frozen, some of the organic dinners I mentioned earlier were 1/2 off, and I grabbed a dozen for lunches.

Tekka-don

I first ate this in Japan while visiting a friend in Nagoya, at a "family restaurant" called Skylark, which is like a slightly upscale Dennys. I saw someone else order it and our host located it on the menu. This ultrasimple dish is totally Japanese, but requires little technique or knowledge.

Start with Japanese style rice, in this case a California grown version recommended to me by the local Asian market. 10 minutes start to finish in an automatic rice cooker (a cheap and indispensable kitchen accessory for anyone who eats rice at least once a week). The rice is seasoned lightly after cooking with a few tablespoons of rice vinegar, a sprinkling of sugar and a dash of salt, then fluffed gently.

While the rice was cooking, I simply dice the raw tuna finely, in this case 4 oz per serving, which I then seasoned with a splash of soy sauce. I knew I had leftover nori (sushi wrap seaweed) which I cut into fine slices (roll the sheet first, then slice - much easier).  1 finely sliced scallion completes the dish.

When the rice cooled slightly , it was placed in a bowl, and topped with the diced tuna, scallion and nori. Nothing could be simpler. I beefed up the dish this time by adding a cup of steamed broccoli, which I chopped and added to the bowl. 

Not sure how many calories, but very low fat, somewhat exotic, extremely satisfying and undoubtedly healthy eats.

Now to make it to bedtime without snacking.

A Plug for Frozen Dinners / Shopping Tips

A few months ago I realized that in the rush to cram in lunch between morning and afternoon clinic, that I was eating a lot of junk food - burgers from across the street etc.

So one day as I was grocery shopping I notice a lot of promotional specials on frozen meals, especially the more expensive organic ones. These were often 2 for one deals that would run for a week or so, before the prices jumped up. Since we have a freezer at the office, I bought a big pile of these , and have been popping them into the microwave for a quick, healthier lunch.

$2.50, 460 cal organic burrito bargain

For example, today I had an organic veggie burrito grande with chile verde sauce. At first glance it looked like 230 calories, but I the read that serving size was 1/2 burrito. Nonetheless, 460 cal beats a burger and fries any day, and the ingredient list "looks" better. These were normally over $5 each, but at 2 for one, a bargain lunch.

My recommendation would be to check the paper or web for specials at your local groceries, and it seems that the better ones often have the better deals on good products to get you in the door. The little Healthy Choice, Marie Calenders, Weight Watchers meals are often marked down, and are better than fast food choices 9/10, but not always!

I will note for completeness that I did well with a bowl of bran cereal and low fat milk for breakfast, so that's 2 days in a row!

Eat well, be well.

Day 1 - Pasta alla Puttanesca/Italian Pot Roast on Polenta

I have been rereading "Julie & Julia..." a fun little book, soon to be a "major motion picture", that started as a blog, in which the author Julie Powell spends a year cooking thru Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". As I read it, I thought to myself, if she, a marginal cook but good writer could blog about cooking, then I, a marginal writer but good cook could blog about eating. And so here we go.

Breakfast

This morning for a change I followed my own advice about never skipping breakfast, and sat down with my son to a bowl of bran flakes and mild, along with a large cup of Sunday morning coffee. I had already been thinking about the blog and wanted a good start. Afterwards, I poked my head out the door and when the 90 deg heat and humidity hit me, decided against mowing the yard, and lost out on an opportunity to exercise.

Lunch -  Pasta alla puttanesca

For lunch I had a small bowl of leftover pasta alla puttanesca, one of the most decadent tasting but extremely healthy dishes I know of.  Legend has it that the dish originated in the Naples area, and was prepared in brothels, and its strong savory aroma would to entice sailors inside, as if they needed any additional encouragement. (puttana is italian slang for prostitute).

I had made it the night before after surveying the pantry and noted that I had all the ingredients. In addition, my wife was out of town and does not care for one of the chief ingredients, olives.

My recipe last night was simply 2-3 tbs olive oil heated in a pan, 1 can anchovies, a small handful of ripe olives pitted and chopped, a large spoonful of capers, 2 chopped garlic cloves, a teaspoon of red pepper flakes and half a jar of generic spaghetti sauce (I usually use a can of tomatoes). This was simmered a few minutes and a cooked box of pasta, in this case penne was added to the sauce for a couple more minutes until the extra moisture was absorbed by the pasta. 15 minutes total prep time and most of that was boiling the pasta.  Don't worry about the anchovies, they only add richness and salt and virtually no fishy taste. 

This dish is loaded with Omega 3s, antioxidants, etc, and all of the fat calories are good ones, that is, ones that increase your HDL or  "good cholesterol". 

My error however was to cook such a large amount, when I was the only one eating - my 5 year old has not developed such a debaucherous palate yet.  I therefore made the mistake last night of dipping into the leftovers while watching TV - one of the things I specifically advise my weight loss patients against. (Studies have shown we overeat if the TV is on during meals/snacks, therefore best not to eat while watching. If hungry, eat in the kitchen before resuming couch potato activities). So I ate 3/4 of the total dish from dinner to bedtime, which was at least 1500 calories. (1600 cal per box of pasta - 8 servings). 

Today, I did better and only had 1 bowl of the still delicious pasta for lunch, probably 4-500 calories. 

I ate a handful of popcorn during the afternoon as I cooked dinner for my wife. I should note that as I love to cook and she loathes it, I am the head chef in the family, though she probably puts as many meals on the table as I do, given the amount of time I am away at work. More times than not, the kids prefer mom's meals to mine as well!

Dinner - Italian potroast on polenta/grits with spinach

I found some  chuck roast in the freezer that I had bought on sale and decided on making a pot roast. 

To save time, I simply placed the still frozen meat in a heavy enameled cast iron pot, along with some olive oil and set to med heat to brown on each side. This worked pretty well, but I did need to pour off some of the juice the meat gave off, so that it would brown and not just boil. After both sides were done, I removed the roast and tossed in a coarsely chopped large onion and red bell pepper and sauteed them a few minutes. I then added 2 cloves garlic, a bay leaf and some fresh oregano from the garden (grow your own herbs  - its easy and MUCH cheaper), and the remainder of the jar of tomato sauce from last night. The meat was returned to the pot and simmered on lowest heat about 3 hours. 

Continuing on the Italian theme, I cooked up some polenta, otherwise known as grits in these parts, with a little bit of chicken stock added to the water for flavor. We are lucky enough to have a local old fashioned stone mill, so these were stone ground yellow grits, which I believe are the exactly same species as polenta. Most grocery store grits are a bit different, but are better than nothing. Just avoid the instant type.

To green things up, 1 pack of frozen spinach was simmered in 1/2 cup water and seasoned with nutmeg and a pinch of salt. (Buy nutmegs whole and they keep a long time. Just run them over a grater  - much better than the preground stuff, which loses its potency almost immediately.)

I served a 4 oz portion of the meat on top of the "polenta" along with the sauce and veggies, and a nice big spoonful of spinach on the side. Easily a $12.95 dish at a decent restaurant, as Jacques Pepin would say, and total ingredients were less than $10 for at least 6 servings. (I make this point, since we are all looking for ways to conserve nowadays, and I am a big believer in cooking something special from a cheaper cut of meat.)

Most importantly for me, I did not go back for seconds, despite how good it tasted, and refrigerated the leftovers immediately to reduce the temptation. I must admit, I am still a bit hungry as I write this 2 hours later, but I think blogging about it will help me make it to bedtime without ruining my diet for the day.

A Brief Disclaimer

Although I am a board certified obstetrician/gynecologist, which includes training in primary care and general medicine, I am not a nutritionist or registered dietician.  These professionals have extensive training in this field and I make use of them whenever possible in my practice. Therefore, I invite anyone who is, or who has greater knowledge about nutritional issues to correct me if I make an incorrect statement. 

That being said, I have read fairly extensively about food, cooking and nutrition, and hope to pass some of that information along as I apply it to myself. 

An Introduction - 240 lbs

Twenty years ago, at the beginning of medical school, I experienced a prideful moment regarding my health. 

Someone was doing sports physiology research, and wanted volunteers from the class to undergo a series of exercise related testing. At the first station, our vital signs were checked. I was asked if I felt OK and replied that I did. She stated my blood pressure and pulse were unusually low and whether I exercised a lot. At the time I had been cycling and inline skating quite often, which accounted for my 54 bpm pulse and 90/50 blood pressure. My weight was 147 lbs, height 5'9" which gave me a BMI of 21. I was told that my cardiovascular health was that of an elite athlete and that my lower body strength was excellent as well. (We won't talk about my pathetic bench press results!)

Bottom line though, was that I was in good shape.

In medical school I tried for a while to keep fit, but as classwork demands increased, the time I spent exercising decreased. I also began to eat a lot of comfort food (a.k.a. junk food) while up late studying or when on call at the hospital. When I hit my clinical rotations, especially surgery, the residents would often take us down to the cafeteria after early morning rounds saying, "you'd better eat now, because you may not get a chance to later."  Most days we did get some time for lunch, and the same mantra was repeated. If I was on overnight call, we often ran downstairs at 9PM, just before the cafeteria closed, with the warning that "it may be a long night, you'd better get something to eat now".  I should mention that the food service was run by the local Johnson & Wales Culinary School, which meant that there was always something good to eat. 

Fast forward to today.  

I weigh 240lbs, and get winded if I have to climb several flights of stairs. Although I am on my feet all day, I get very little real aerobic exercise. I tried skating with my kids recently at the local rink and had to sit down after just a few laps, compared to the miles I used to skate. The extra weight put also stress on my ankles I had never felt in the past. 

In my job as an OBGYN, I am asked several times a day by patients about weight loss. I expertly discuss the recommendations for 10,000 steps a day, small frequent meals,  reducing processed foods, etc, etc, but am hardly a good example of that, and feel like a bit of a hypocrite. Like 99% of my patients, I want to do these things but can't seem to do it on a consistent basis.

The Cockroach Experiment

Not long ago, I was told about some research, which showed that cockroaches performed better when observed by other cockroaches. This involved a clear plexiglass maze which the roach had to navigate, and the presence or absence of his or her buddies outside, observing (or whatever cockroaches do in this sort of situation). This "observer effect" clearly applies to higher species, and is explains in part why we humans tend to perform better when we know that others are aware of our performance. 

Given that the internet is the biggest plexiglass box imaginable, I am hoping that the presence of readers will help me reach my goal - to become more healthy &  lose weight.  Perhaps, if I can set a good example, others may benefit as well. Time will tell.