This aired this morning (Tuesday, May 10). In case you missed it, you can play the audio file below!

I’m thrilled to be speaking with local chiropractor, health advocate and radio host Paula Sperry this Thu at 3:30PM on WOMR, Outermost Community Radio. We’ll be talking about what it means to eat Real Food, food habits and attention, biodiversity and whatever else our conversational path leads to. Hope you can tune in!

At the Food Politics blog Marion Nestle recounts a Civil War monograph in “Dietary Guidelines, 1861: They Haven’t Changed Much”.

In this week’s Eyes About column, Send in the Twix Bars, author Teresa Martin discusses the intersection of technology and weight management. Like Teresa, I was right horrified at some of the technologies under development, including a “food condom” to prevent food absorption and a gel pill that expands to make us feel full. To me, these are continued examples of the deteriorating relationship we have with our food.

Teresa rightly supposes that in fact technology is partially responsible for our current obesity epidemic (and its related maladies of diabetes, coronary disease and cancer). We all spend more time planted in front of a computer or post PC device, there are more channels to watch, and new innovations make our life easier (read: less exercise). I can chart my own weight gain from the day I bought that Mac Plus in 1988.

From a production standpoint, food technology now makes it easier to produce and manufacture food and foodlike substances (as Michael Pollan calls them). As I’ve pointed out in the past, the motivations of food producing corporations are very simple, to make a profit for their stockholders. Decisions about food safety and the health implications of manufactured food are made primarily as they impact the bottom line. Food techs are constantly devising new combinations to appeal to our craving for the three basic food groups; salt, fat and sugar.

With all this, consuming food and FLSs can easily be an unconscious act. The result is obesity, and it is much easier to “take a magic pill” than face the fact that the answer to better weight management and therefore health comes from looking more deeply at our relationship to the food we eat. As with any dysfunctional relationship, it’s easier to delude ourselves that everything is OK than to announce, “honey (or high fructose corn syrup as the case may be), we need to talk.”

It is in fact true that we can use technology to help us in the food fight. Nothing quite so grand as the EndoBarrier (nor as profitable, to be sure), but common web technology today, combined with the right applications, can link us to good information, to people who can counsel and coach (like me), to others with similar interests and stories, and to tools that can help us track and monitor the food we input to our bodies. Technology gives us tools to bolster our awareness and help refine intent.

So as we look at our relationship to food, we can look at our relationship to technology as well. Just as having more awareness of our food relationship can have a positive impact on our health, so it is with our relationship with technology. A little less web surfing, a little more walking. We don’t have to sacrifice, just approach it with more intent.

How does technology impact your relationship with food?

So I had a request for my classic Mulligatawny Soup recipe. This was one of our most popular soup back at the Sweet Life Cafe in St. Thomas so many years ago. This is easy to make and very tasty.

1 Lg onion – chopped
3 med carrots, chopped
1 head celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 new potatoes, chopped
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, slightly crushed
2T olive oil
1T curry powder
1 clove garlic, minced
6 C water
Half a 6 oz can tomato paste
2 t sea salt
2 T fresh or dried parsley

Sauté all vegetables in olive oil. When onions are translucent, add curry and garlic. Cook for a few more minutes until veggies are well coated with curry. Add the chickpeas, tomato paste and water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 45 min. 10 min before finish add sea salt and parsley.

It’s even better the next day.

Dr. Rhonda Waters

Today, I was pleased to be the guest of Dr. Rhonda Waters on her BlogTalkRadio show, Ask Dr. Rhonda. We covered a lot of ground in 1/2 an hour. Not surprising, Dr. Rhonda asks direct questions and keeps the pace brisk. You can follow the link above to the site to stream the interview, or play directly below.

Dr. Waters is president of the Mutare Group.

A quick fav for a pot luck, or think outside the box and use as a topping for fish or a vegetable dish.

About 10 minutes total time
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, minced
3 ripe avocado
1 T lemon juice
1 T lime juice
1T cilantro
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 t cayenne (makes mild to medium heat, my “spice canary” didn’t complain)

Chop and mince onion and tomatoes, put in large bowl. Core the avocado and place in bowl. Mash to a paste with a potato masher. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Let stand a bit to let the flavors coalesce.

OK, sort of. I love falafels, and what’s not to love about deep fried anything? So I thought, is there a way to make this without adding in all that fat? So this is the experiment, baked falafels.

Total time, about 1 1/2 hours
Prep/kitchen time, about 15 minutes

You’ll need 2 6-muffin tins

2 15 oz. cans chickpeas (I like Eden brand, no BPAs in the can lining!)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic
6 T bulgur
1 t black pepper
1 T ground cumin (I grind whole cumin seeds in my suribachi, but that’s me)
2 T cilantro
1 t baking powder
2 T olive oil
1 T agar agar flakes (available at any health food store)
Salt to taste
water as indicated

Pour 1/2 cup boiling water on the bulgur and let it set for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Put the chickpeas, onions, seasonings and olive oil in a food processor and blend to a pretty even consistency. Once the bulgur has absorbed all the water, add that in as well.

Boil 1/4 water in a saucepan and add the agar agar. Stir until dissolved, then add to the chickpea mix. Blend everything together. Grease the muffin pans (a canola spray works great) and add about  3 oz. of the mix to each spot, evening out the quantity.

Let stand for about 10-15 minutes, then bake for 45 minutes at 400°F. Remove, let cool a bit, and enjoy! Great with a classic tahini dressing (2 parts tahini to 1 part each water and lemon juice, mixed well).

Most of my cooking is simple and often off-the-cuff. One of my goals is to teach the dynamics of cooking to share with others the skill sets to create food on the fly without a recipe handy.

So I put myself on the spot with a camera and a can of chickpeas and whipped up a quick chickpea salad. The video walks through the process and you’ll get some other pithy comments along the way.

About 10 minutes prep time

1 15 oz. can chickpeas (unsalted, organic, no BPA) I use Eden, lightly crushed
1/2 medium onion, diced
4-5 stalks of broccolini, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons low sodium, wheat-free tamari
dash of black pepper
1 tablespoon cilantro

Put the chickpeas in a bowl and mash lightly. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Can be eaten right away but letting it stand a bit will make it even better. Makes about 2 cups.

I almost always have a pot of brown rice handy in the refrigerator for use in a variety of recipes. Organic brown rice is gluten-free and a complex carbohydrate. When the grains you eat are 1) whole grains (as in not white or processed), and 2) whole grains (as in not ground to flour but cooked in their whole state) your body will process them at a more even pace. This is how I prepare my basic brown rice. In most cases I use short or medium grain brown rice (short in colder months, medium in warmer). For special menus I use brown basmati rice, a long grain which has a distinctive nutty aroma and flavor. I use this recipe for all these varieties. The video walks you through the process, helpful if you are new to whole grain cooking.

Prep/cooking time: about 10 minutes
Total time, start to finish: 4-8 hours

This recipe makes about 4 1/2 cups of cooked rice. Adjust quantities and select a pot accordingly. A heavy, cast iron pot (like Le Creuset) works great.

1 1/2 cups brown rice, short-grain, medium-grain or basmati
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt plus a pinch
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Put the rice in the pot and wash and rinse with cold water until the water is clear, about 3 times (depending on the brand of rice). Drain the last rinse water then cover the rice with filtered water so the water covers the rice by about an inch. Add a pinch of sea salt and let soak for 4-6 hours (I have on occasion soaked overnight and cooked in the morning).

Drain the soaking water. You need to drain every last bit, but the more you do the quicker the next step will go.

Put the pot on the stove on high heat. Stir the rice until all the water has been evaporated away, usually about 45 minutes. Add the oil and 1/3 teaspoon of sea salt to the rice and keep stirring (you can use less or none of either, if you are being very careful about salt/fat intake). The rice will get more and more aromatic. After about 4-5 minutes, add the water to the pot. Bring to a boil then turn on very low to a gentle simmer.

Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, until holes appear in the top of the rice and you no longer hear the water bubbling. Turn off the heat and let stand for a few minutes more.

Your rice is ready to serve, or become part of a more elaborate dish. It keeps well in the refrigerator for about a week.

Dine out with intent

So here we all are, day one, for those of us on Dr. Rhonda’s 90-day vegan challenge. Oprah Wimpfrey only challenged her staff to a week!

One of the roadblocks to eating well is eating out. In some cases, we have to eat out, in other cases, we just need to BE out (especially those of us that work from a home office). Eating out is ripe with possibilities of falling off the wagon, but it doesn’t have to be. A little advance preparation can make dining out enjoyable and successful.

First, try to get the menu from your intended dining establishment ahead of time. Most places have a menu online, and those that don’t will probably fax a menu to you. This will allow you to review options ahead of time that fit in with your intended dietary success zone. It is far easier to make those decisions when you are not under the pressure of an order taker, friends having things you shouldn’t, and the aromas of the eatery tantalizing your senses.

Next, rehearse some of the conversations and temptations you may encounter. “Would you like a nice slab of melted cheddar cheese on that vegeburger?” “No, thanks.” Say it to yourself a few times before walking through the door. Also be prepared for peer pressure from your “friends”. “Ah, c’mon, just one cupcake won’t kill ya!” “No, thanks!” Just like in sports, if you practice a move enough times, when it presents itself in the pressure of the game you simply react based on your training.

Be sure to watch some of the gotchas in “healthy” restaurant food! Salad dressing! Safest bet is oil and vinegar. You know what you’ve got, and you control the proportions and quantities. Prepared salad dressings are often loaded with fat, salt, and even sugar! Same for sauces in vegetarian pasta dishes. Don’t be afraid to ask your server for details on ingredients.

And finally, don’t feel compelled to clean your plate. Many restaurants serve portions appropriate to a late-teenage farm hand. Feel free to ask for a doggy bag or simply, leave the rest. Often, when I get a big plate of food I immediately divide it in half with the intent of taking part home.

What tactics do you use for mindful public dining?

Image thanks to Caya O