Final Advice
Want to make the bar scene and stay well? Read the labels!
JUNE 2020
Is eating healthy expensive? Compare the cost of a bowl of oatmeal and skim milk eaten at home with a “breakfast” sandwich at a fast-food stop.
—The Author
Sweet Lentils with Bulgur
Recipe:
Place the following in a Crock-Pot and cook on LOW all day:
1/2 c. lentils, uncooked
1/2 c. bulgur
2 oranges, peeled and in bite-sized pieces
1 16-oz. can no-salt stewed tomatoes
1 12-oz. can no-salt tomato paste
2 small cans no-salt V-8 vegetable juice
water, enough to fill Crock-Pot 2 inches from the top
Spices
2 T. garlic powder
1/4 c. parsley flakes
1 T. onion powder
2 t. cinnamon
2 T. brown Sugar Twin
1 T. red pepper flakes
1/2 t. black pepper
JUNE 2020
Celery-Corn Gumbo
Cajun-type food was the last to be impacted by the “healthy” modification of recipes. Now every Cajun food expert is focusing on the uniqueness of the spices and textures and going for healthy. This recipe takes advantage of the “thickening” properties of heated celery, and it is also part of the heavy focus on the use of corn in our diet. Many of the new recipes in this issue of the Meal Planner are using corn. Corn has, over the years, been one of the foods to avoid because someone said that it was hard to digest. Then someone else said it was high in calories. Corn is really a healthy vegetable. It is the favorite of many, even those people (both kids and adults) who try hard to avoid all vegetables. Not only does it taste great, but it also adds color to many vegetable dishes.
Recipe:
Step 1
The following 3 ingredients are cooked on HIGH for 10 minutes in the microwave. The remaining ingredients are prepared during this 10-minute period.
Ingredients
1/2 head of celery, chopped from the head (1/2-inch pieces), including the leaves
1 green pepper, chopped into moderate-sized pieces I medium onion, chopped into moderate-sized pieces
Step 2
Fix the following while the above is cooking.
In a saucepan on HIGH temperature, add and stir continuously:
2 T. file
4 T. nonfat vegetable spread
As file thickens, keep stirring and add:
1 small can no-salt V-8
As mixture thickens further, keep stirring and add:
1 16-oz. can no-salt stewed tomatoes
Simmer 5 minutes and add the following corn and spices:
1 can no-salt corn (including the juice)
Spices
2 T. garlic powder
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. red pepper
1/2 cup parsley flakes
June 2020
Good Nutrition: Have a Plan
The American Dietetics Association recently released a very upbeat report of a major new study that looked at what Americans are doing with the new food labels. Remember how long it took to finally get a nutrition label that everyone could agree upon? Even now you can probably pick out a number of weaknesses in the new label, but overall it is doing what is was designed to do. Over 70 percent say that they are paying very close, or somewhat close, attention to what they are buying.
Actual Change
The second area of study is even more important. Have people really changed the foods they buy because of the new labels? Here almost 65 percent said that the new labeling has caused them to change many or some food items that they buy, and only 11 percent said the new label did not cause them to make any changes. These are great numbers!
What’s Happening?
Very simply, the new labels are causing people to think about what they are doing. Raise the level of awareness, and change (growth) takes place. This same ‘‘think-about-it” approach is what I have seen work so well in the clinical setting over the past twenty years when counseling people about their eating style and eating habits. Each calendar year ends with that long six-week holiday from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Day. As a counselor it is the time that I am able to determine if the processes that I help patients initiate actually get them headed in the right direction. Very simply, do people take sufficient control of their nutrition and exercise so that they, first of all, feel better (wellness payoffs), and then secondly get the health payoffs—health payoffs being 1 or several of the following: lower body weight, lower cholesterol, a higher HDL (good) cholesterol, lower blood pressure, healthy blood sugar level, healthy gut function, etc. Do the numbers change for the better?
Planners Keep Their Wellness Process Moving
Over the past twenty years in the clinic, I have noticed the development of 2 important changes that have slowly found their way into the American thought processes and are now actual behaviors. In analyzing food logs, I see that most Americans—since we have finally come to realize that our sedentary living patterns and the “all-you-can-eat” nutritional plan are literally killing us—have incorporated very successfully 2 eating patterns. In fact, we are doing so well in these 2 areas we can get on with focusing on the other areas that need our attention.
What Are We Doing Well?
What 2 behaviors are Americans doing fairly well?
First, eating breakfast is back in. Breakfast is needed for weight control, feeling good, etc. We see now that the old original health food nuts, Kellogg and C. W. Post, were right all along: Breakfast needs to be a bowl of whole-grain-type cereal and nonfat milk. (Actually, this is also what your grandmother said!)
Secondly, Americans realize now that there is a difference between walking behind a mule pulling a plow all day and working in an office sitting in a chair where the most physical activity of the day is lifting the coffeepot in the break room. Yes, lunch needs to be light. A light lunch is a piece of fruit and usually 1 other item. This keeps you from feeling sluggish and going to sleep in the afternoon, and it controls weight. This type of lunch is easy to do. It really takes little mental energy to plan. Just stick an apple in a bag and grab a turkey sandwich at the deli. This is a “no-brainer.” Most people have got breakfast and lunch down. So what’s left?
Dinner Needs a Plan
When I analyze food logs and see a perfect breakfast and a light lunch, but the person is still struggling with their weight, their elevated blood sugar, their elevated cholesterol, etc., a quick look shows that time and time again it is dinner that sabotages people’s efforts to be well. The typical high-fat, high-calorie dinner is