Posted by Robyn Lee, September 26, 2008 at 10:30 AM
In Salon's interview with Jennifer McLagan, author of the recently released Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes, learn more about the controversial ingredient that is fundamental to flavor and to our health. She answers questions about animal fat and its relation to obesity, America's bad relationship with fat, and how animal fat lost the popularity contest to vegetable-based man-made fats. But most importantly, why is it better to eat and cook with animal fat than vegetable fat?
Unlike vegetable oils, animal fats are very stable and don't turn rancid easily. This makes them ideal for cooking, which involves heating the fat. And they have no trans fats.
Animal fats have lots of good fatty acids that fight disease, help absorb vitamins and lower cholesterol. Your body burns the short-chained fatty acids found in animal fats and stores the long-chained ones found in polyunsaturated fat. It is a myth that eating animal fat makes you fat.
But best of all, fat—with its big round molecules—tastes good, it feels good in your mouth, on your tongue and it carries flavors.
Not that I needed convincing, but it's good to know.
Related
Michael Ruhlman: 'Fear Not Salt and Fat'
Bruni Praises the Lard
Posted by Ed Levine, September 26, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I'm slowly realizing that meat can and should be enjoyed in small portions. Serious Eats contributor and Meat Lite co-author Joy Manning does have a point: small portions of meat can be an incredibly satisfying thing to eat.
Joy inspired me a couple of nights ago when I went to a steakhouse with a group of seven serious eaters. Like many people I usually order my own steak. Sometimes it's a ten-ounce steak, sometimes it's 12 ounces, and sometimes it's even a pound. I enjoy every single bite and then, of course, I realize I feel uncomfortably full. Lots of red meat will do that to anyone.
So this time I did something radical.
Continue reading »
Posted by Erin Zimmer, September 19, 2008 at 9:00 PM
As a Peeps hater, I don't approve of special edition Peeps, let alone the traditional Easter ones. But this has gone too far: Sugar-free Pumpkin Peeps, made with Splenda.
Trying to create a "sugar-free" Peep is like attempting "vegetable-less" cabbage. Even if you're limited to a sugar-free diet, this is not worth it. Splenda may be 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar, but this tastes like foam. A foamy mattress, to be exact.
To make it worse, the set of three pumpkins was $1.99. Three orange, fat circles with nubs—bearing mattressy undertones—for two-bucks! And if you need one more reason to avoid this, the package says: EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION MAY CAUSE STOMACH DISCOMFORT AND/OR A MILD LAXATIVE EFFECT.
Do these put you in the Halloween mood? In general, do you like that non-Easter Peeps exist?
Posted by Ed Levine, September 19, 2008 at 9:00 AM
The New York Times arrived really late to the Eat for Enjoyment, Don't Deprive Yourself party. As many serious dieters know from experience, this is easier said than done.
The Times notes that people are eating more healthy, seasonal foods, enjoying them more and worrying less. To me, that's stating the obvious. If I just reach for an apple, pear, or banana every time I have neurotic compulsion to eat something, that's obviously a good thing. But it doesn't solve all of my problems. It still doesn't address my constant yearnings for ice cream, french fries, or barbecue. The only way to deal with foods like those is to eat them in extreme moderation.
This week I really feel like I've done the moderation thing up right. Take the Singapore Street Food event I went to with Erin and Robyn last night (photos and details in an upcoming post).
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According to the Kansas City Star, "The suit says that Applebee's Weight Watchers Cajun Lime Tilapia is advertised as having 6 grams of fat and 310 calories but when tested was found to actually contain more than twice as much fat (14.3 grams) and 25 percent more calories (401) than advertised." [via Washington City Paper]
Posted by Ed Levine, September 12, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I've decided that certain foods and their calories are beneath me. Bad 100-calorie packs of faux snack foods and even regular Chips Ahoy insult my palate and my intelligence, and jeopardize my longevity and continued good health. So I'm going to try to quit ingesting wasted calories cold turkey.
No more light, no more Oreos, no more generic crap that satisfies my basest, most wanton cravings. Up with deliciousness in all its forms, down with easily accessible reduced calorie junk food.
I arrived at this inescapable conclusion yesterday. I will have a ritual cleansing of my pantry this morning, throwing out boxes of 100-calorie bags of Sensible Portions Multi Grain Mini Crisps I bought a few days ago. Of course, all this will not have any effect on my weigh-in this morning. But it may help me in the future. The weigh-in, after the jump.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, September 9, 2008 at 8:30 PM
Photograph by Graciepoo on Flickr
Before food bloggers get all excited, they should read the Telegraph's story. Somehow I don’t think this works for people who are already predisposed to taking photos of their food (i.e., us weirdos).
[via Goodies First]
Posted by Erin Zimmer, September 8, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Low in fat, high in protein, and filled with omega-3 fatty acids (which protects against heart disease and stimulates brain activity), canned tuna is a wonder food on paper. Until it starts making your hair fall out.
As Mother Jones reports, Deborah Landvik-Fellner ate canned albacore tuna daily for 12 years until her hair started falling out and her speech started slurring. When she got her blood tested, frightening results came back: it had 48 parts per billion of mercury, nearly ten times the Environmental Protection Agency's notion of "safe."
Shouldn't tuna be labeled if it's so dangerous? The Tuna Foundation sure hopes not. They know mercury scares will cause sales to plummet. In 2005, tuna companies launched a $25 million campaign to counteract the FDA's advisory. They ran full-page newspaper ads touting tuna's on-paper perks ("Tuna: A Smart Catch") and used celebrity doctors as endorsement bait. Do mercury levels in canned tuna scare you? Or do you eat it anyway?
Posted by Ed Levine, September 5, 2008 at 8:45 AM
I don't know why, but I'm feeling kind of optimistic about controlling my weight. Tonight, for example, I set out to eat half a burger, a salad, and a few fries for dinner. And I did it. And then, my wife came to my rescue when she came home and ate the other half of the burger. She saved me from myself and my worst impulses.
I managed to do the same thing for lunch. I avoided the bread basket, ate half my sandwich and a couple of pickles. The other serious eaters were thrilled, of course, when I brought back the other half of the sandwich—a magnificent chorizo, cole slaw, and cheddar combo—to SE HQ.
Anyway, two successful attempts at moderation have buoyed my spirits, and as I said, left me feeling hopeful. Of course that might change when I weigh in.
Continue reading »
Posted by Erin Zimmer, September 4, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Many people know they don't want high-fructose corn syrup (or HFCS) even if they don't know why. The fuzzy grey area—like how HFCS affects your body, what it's made from, and how it differs from cane-based sugar—is exactly what the Corn Refiners Association is tapping into when promoting the ingredient in new commercials and print ads, now visible nationally and on the site SweetSurprise.com.
The ads ask what's so wrong with a little HFCS? The complexities are hardly known or explained—people just know to avoid it. In one commercial, a girl picnics with her boy and offers him a popsicle. He declines. It's not you, it's the high fructose corn syrup, babe. Instead of taking offense, she merrily explains that HFCS is made of corn, has the same calories as sugar and honey, and is totally fine in moderation.
But what does "moderation" mean? SweetSurprise.com never elaborates on dosage on the site's "High Fructose Corn Syrup Quick Facts" page. While consumers have a vague idea of "moderation" (not too much), HFCS creeps into salad dressings, juices, ketchup, breads, and even "whole-grain" breads, which can complicate attempts to be moderate.
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 29, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I write this from Cape Cod, where I drove yesterday to meet my wife and mother-in-law, who just turned ninety. I've decided to take the week off from my Friday weigh-in. Don't worry, I am still profoundly aware of what I eat. My mid-week weigh-in had me up two pounds, to 247, so it has not been a good week so far. But I hope just 'fessing up to all of you will help me stay on track here, where in the land of my mother-in-law I can sometimes fall prey to bouts of mindless overeating. I'll be back next Friday with a more complete accounting.
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend, everyone.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 22, 2008 at 9:20 AM
The week didn't get off to a very good start. Saturday we went to visit friends in Block Island, off the coast of New London, Connecticut. Beautiful place, and our friends Arietta and Sam really showed us a good time, food and otherwise. Arietta loves to bake, so upon our arrival, she presented us with a platter of amazing chocolate chip cookies. The next day we had scones and a cobbler from a pretty good farmer's market baker for breakfast, excellent burgers for lunch, and lobsters and corn for dinner. Anyway, you get the picture. A fine relaxing weekend with good friends filled with good food.
We got back Sunday night. I got on the scale Monday morning and discovered I had gained two pounds on our little Block Island Idyll. So I've been playing diet catch-up all week. What does my idea of diet catch-up mean?
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 15, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I've been posting about my diet for more than half a year now, and I think it's time to take stock in the bigger picture. As I write this I weigh 246 pounds, which is 19 pounds lighter than I was at my heaviest (265), which was well before I started posting about my diet travails.
Looking Back, Looking Forward
I have lost 8 pounds in the 29 weeks I have been posting specifically about the diet. Using various metrics I have encountered in recent years, and knowing my own body, I would feel great and look good weighing 225 pounds. That is my ultimate goal, and I think it's attainable.
The Revised Plan
At this point, you're all probably sick of hearing how hard it is for me to lose weigh—especially when all kinds of delicious food are in the way. There's only so many ways to express that thought. At the same time I think having to weigh-in every Friday morning has been really good for me. Come Wednesday, I start getting nervous about facing all of you when I jump on the scale. So this is what I'm going to do.
Continue reading »
Posted by Robyn Lee, August 14, 2008 at 8:30 PM
Photograph from Kanko* on Flickr
Although David Lebovitz will fearlessly eat steak tartare and raw milk cheeses, he confesses that he has been washing melons in soap and water for a few years in light of past large-scale melon recalls. Do you also wash melons before you eat them?
Posted by Robyn Lee, August 14, 2008 at 2:30 PM
The New York Times has a slideshow profiling six Olympians and their physical stats, most including daily calorie consumptions. Weightlifter Cheryl Haworth is at the low end with 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day, while rower Brett Newlin shoots for 6,000 calories a day.
Related: What Does Michael Phelps Eat for Breakfast? More Stuff Than You Eat All Day
Posted by Ed Levine, August 8, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I just came back from an overnight business trip to Chicago, a city I'm crazy about. How do I love the Windy City? Let me count the ways. It's a city of distinct and diverse neighborhoods; it's full of cool, architecturally interesting buildings; listening to Chicago blues helped get me through college; and yes, Chicago is a great food town.
So what's a serious eater to do when he knows he's headed to Chicago on business? Normally, I would just obsessively research the eating options and plot my days bite by bite. But knowing I had to post this morning and get on the scale to do so, I realized that was a recipe for disaster (pun intended).
So I tried to have my cake and eat it, too, diet-wise. That means my strategy was explore, eat in moderation, and exercise.
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 1, 2008 at 8:45 AM
Upon my return from the nonstop eating extravaganza that was our West Coast excursion to Portland and San Francisco, I immediately got back on the horse (not the scale), dieting and living-wise.
Last Friday and Saturday I truly, truly ate lightly, so when I did summon up courage to get on the scale Sunday, imagine my surprise when Mr. Scale said I had actually lost a pound since my last weigh-in.
In a way, getting that favorable digital read on Sunday was counterproductive, as it probably gave me a false sense of accomplishment. Even more problematic was that I still had five days before the next weigh-in, which, as you all know, is about to happen.
I had a few hurdles to overcome this week:
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Posted by Hannah Howard, July 29, 2008 at 7:45 PM
Chlorine is a nifty chemical often used to ensure swimming pool hygiene. Other times, it keeps chicken carcasses bacteria-free. After being defeathered and eviscerated, 80-percent of American poultry takes a chlorine bath.
Europe doesn't support the chlorine presence, and has banned American poultry since 1997. Now Slate wants to know: does chlorine really make our chickens taste funny? In 1999, University of Georgia researchers noticed a difference between treated and un-treated chicken, but only after cooked patties sat in the fridge for four days. If the chlorine is used correctly, according to Slate, people won't detect any traces of chlorine after cooking.
Good to know. Because I was hoping my chicken wouldn't taste like swim lessons.
Posted by Emily Koh, July 29, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Whether you love or hate the over-the-top concoctions that marry cuisine and lab experiments, molecular gastronomy may not even be healthy. In his new book, The Kitchen Laid Bare, renowned Catalan chef Santi Santamaría criticizes molecular gastronomy for not only being pretentious, but posing public health concerns. A proponent for natural ingredients, Santamaría compares using synthetic products to "an athlete who dopes."
He's had no problem singling out Ferran Adrià, the man behind Michelin-starred El Bulli, where the menu has included liquid ham croquette, passion fruit caviar, and a range of flavored foams. Adrià responded, asserting that all amounts have been approved by EU standards, and that additives only make up 0.1 percent of his cooking.
This isn't an argument between traditional and modern cooking, Santamaría stresses. This is a war between the natural and the artificial, and the public should have a right to know what they're consuming. Adriá believes there are bigger health issues out there, which is probably true; foamed beetroot isn't high up on the list of the world's health problems.
Previously: Spanish Chefs Go Cabeza a Cabeza
Posted by Ed Levine, July 25, 2008 at 8:45 AM
I'm writing this from a hotel room in San Francisco, where my wife and I are wrapping up a six-day working vacation that included stops in Portland, Oregon; Bolinas, California; and San Francisco. Yesterday you read about my visit to the awesome Apizza Scholls in Portland. In the coming days I'll be sharing the results of my nonstop food forays in Portland, which included stops at the extraordinary Portland Farmers Market; a fantastic brunch at a catering company's kitchen that opens its doors on Sunday for breakfast; a visit to a very fine sausage-maker in the shadows of my brother's alma mater, Reed College; an early morning visit to a rock-and-roll doughnut emporium; and what might have been the most exciting restaurant meal I have had in years.
I ate all this in 36 hours in Portland. My two days in San Francisco have been even more food-packed. Portland and San Francisco, we have a problem. When I am food-exploring in places I don't often get to or I'm visiting for the first time, I launch into a manic, headlong dash to gluttonous, life-shortening oblivion.
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A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that modest soy consumption may significantly decrease sperm production due to the soy's isoflavones, the chemicals that act similar to estrogen. However, the study points out that soy consumption is higher in Asia, where there isn't a decreased fertility problem.
Posted by Ed Levine, July 19, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Photograph from Fuzzy Gerdes on Flickr
A Men's Health article that was republished on the Huffington Post makes all us weight-watchers feel less deprived by listing six junk foods that are actually OK to eat and drink. The list is amusing and even in some cases informative. I mean, pork rinds? Really? If pork rinds are on the list, shouldn't bacon, country ham, and prosciutto make the list?
Posted by Ed Levine, July 18, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Here's my dilemma. I have two completely conflicting impulses. I want to taste every delicious thing in this world, and I also want to keep control of my weight so that I can live to see my son grow old and our future grandchildren grow up. Can I succeed in doing both? Sometimes, when I'm feeling good and in control, I think the answer is yes. At other times, when there is so much food coming into Serious Eats world headquarters and when I feel the need to food-explore every morning, diet success seems like an impossible dream. This past week was an impossible dream week, and from a dieting-living perspective, it might have been saved by the other serious eaters.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, July 11, 2008 at 8:30 AM
A study by the Journal of Consumer Research reported on in the New York Times actually suggests what my wife has been saying to me for months now: Smaller packages of snack foods actually cause serious eaters to eat more rather than less.
The study suggests smaller packages can lead consumers to eat more, by blunting their wariness about how much they consume. In one experiment, students were primed to think about their body shape, then were given potato chips and left to watch television. They ate nearly twice as many chips when given nine small bags as when given two large ones. They also hesitated less before opening the small bags.
Recently my wife told me not to buy any 100-calorie snack packs, that having them around the house actually caused me to eat more snacks than not. I of course ignored her advice and bought a ten pack of 100-calorie bags Snyder's of Hanover pretzel snaps.
So this week I quit eating 100-calorie snack packs cold turkey. I left the pretzel snaps on Cape Cod. I didn't even bring the bag or two I normally do for the five-hour trip home.
What do I eat instead between meals?
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 9, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Like college freshmen, bloggers stay up late munching on junk and use food to celebrate their newfound freedom from authorities. You mean, I can eat cold pizza in my pajamas at "the office"? Awesome. At Serious Eats headquarters, the "meeting table" is continually covered with nibbles. This week alone: barbecue from North Carolina, bags of licorice, an off-the-menu Blimpie sandwich, and homemade bread. Yeah, and it's only Wednesday.
Thank you, Mashable, for this list of 28 fitness sites trying to help us shape up the inner fat kid. Sites are divided into categories such as Calorie Counters, Diet Finders & Reviews, Support Groups, and Tools & Trackers.
Posted by Emily Koh, July 8, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Tofu hasn't had the best rap sheet—it is continuously lambasted for tasting too bland and for being used to make unpalatable faux meat products. Additionally, while it is often seen as a health food, it has also been attacked for posing certain health risks. The latest risks come from a new study suggesting that high consumption of certain soy products, including tofu, may increase risk of dementia, particularly for people over 65.
Researchers say that phytoestrogens—micronutrients in soy products that mimic the function of the estrogen hormone—could be to blame. While phytoestrogens may help protect the brains of younger and middle-aged people, their tendency to promote cell growth may have a negative effect on aging brains. Increased levels of estrogen may also promote cell damage caused by free radicals.
Alternatively, the study found out that eating tempeh, a fermented soy product, actually improved memory, perhaps because it contains high levels of folate, known to reduce the risk of dementia.
Posted by Emily Koh, July 7, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Yogurt has long been promoted for its health benefits due to its live bacteria cultures, cited to strengthen your immune system and promote digestive health. Dannon's Activia brand capitalizes on this last bit, pushing Activia as the female-friendly staple to cure tummy woes.
The campaign, however, is vaguely worded on what Activia does, saying simply that it "helps to naturally regulate your slow intestinal transit." Ambiguous much? Slate even wonders if there are any health benefits at all in eating Activia yogurt considering how vague their health claims are.
Any product claiming to treat a disease must have an FDA-approved health claim (yes, constipation is classified as a disease by the FDA), which Activia doesn't have. Instead, the studies on their website conveniently point back to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), the gigantic umbrella under which all digestion-related problems fall under, making it even more ambiguous on how eating Activia helps. Add the fact that medical researchers are still debating the effects of probiotics, and you're looking at pretty wobbly legs for Activia's purported health claim (something that Dannon was sued for earlier this year).
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Posted by Ed Levine, July 4, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I've been up on the Cape all this week and yes, I brought my scale (right). But having the scale with me only begs the question of how often I should weigh myself no matter where I am.
I brought the scale to hold myself accountable for any forays into vacation gluttony I might embark on, but the fact of the matter is that this question of how often I should be getting on the scale has been weighing on me for months.
I know there is no right answer to this almost cosmic question. I last attended a Weight Watchers' meeting 20 years ago, so I don't know where those eminently sensible folks are on this issue now. Other people advocate trying on the same pair of pants or shorts every week to see how snugly they fit, instead of weighing in. Still others say once a week, a third camp advocates weighing yourself every day at the same time.
Here's where I come down on this issue right now (after the jump). Please, serious eaters, let me know if it makes any sense at all.
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Posted by Ed Levine, July 3, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Tara Parker Pope asked 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth author Jonny Bowden for an updated list of foods most serious eaters aren't eating but should be.
The list isn't all that surprising, since it includes the oft-mentioned pomegranate juice and prunes (or what they're now trying to call "dried plums"), but I must admit I had no idea that turmeric had anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties.
Bowden's list is below. What do you eat to maintain health?
- Beets
- Cabbage
- Swiss chard
- Cinnamon
- Pomegranate juice
- Prunes (dried plums)
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sardines
- Turmeric
- Frozen blueberries
- Canned pumpkin
Moral of the story: If we wrap prunes with bacon, we get the best of both worlds.
Posted by Ed Levine, June 27, 2008 at 8:45 AM
Is peanut butter the devil to a serious dieter—or an angel? To eat peanut butter or not to eat peanut butter? That is the question. I love peanut butter. Who doesn't? But does peanut butter love me and my diet back? My wife says no, that peanut butter is no serious dieter's friend. "The peanut butter thing is a problem, Ed," she says. "Nothing good comes out of having a jar of peanut butter in this house."
The first five months of watching my weight I swore off peanut butter, mostly because I find it incredibly difficult to exert any self-control when a full jar of peanut butter is nearby. Jars of Cream-Nut peanut butter (made by Koeze & Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan) with its intensely peanutty, just salty and sweet enough taste, sing a most seductive siren song.
But can I resist its undeniable charms, or must I resort to complete peanut butter abstinence? Must I start attending Peanut Butter Lovers Anonymous meetings? "Hello, my name is Ed. I'm a peanutbutterholic."
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, June 24, 2008 at 3:30 PM
I thought I was past the part of my pregnancy where I worry about what to eat and onto the part where I worry about what we’re going to do with the kid when she’s out and about. But I just managed to find another source of concern, one I could have allayed easily enough at the beginning: most pregnant women should use iodized salt for cooking and seasoning, and I don’t.
The vast majority Americans are using iodized salt without even thinking about it. We began adding iodine to much of our salt in the 1920s, after the draft during World War I revealed the extent to which hypothyroidism, a result of iodine deficiency, plagued the population. Thanks to the fortified salt the problem all but disappeared, which was an especially happy occurrence for women of childbearing age: hypothyroidism can make it difficult for a woman to conceive, and if she does conceive her baby’s brain development will be more or less severely impaired by her condition.
I came across this fact for the first time last week, and a worried little light bulb went off in my head. I checked the pantry, and sure enough the kosher salt I use for cooking and the shmancy sea salt I use for seasoning are not iodized. I cook almost everything I eat myself, so I wasn’t getting iodized salt from processed food or restaurants. Had I significantly lowered our daughter’s IQ or done even worse with my salt snobbery?
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Posted by Emily Koh, June 22, 2008 at 10:00 AM
The notion of eating healthy is too often dismissed as too expensive. Sure, buying organic does cost more, and fast food, with its convenience factor and cheap prices, appears more appealing to those on a tight budget. But to eat better doesn't necessarily mean you have to shop exclusively at Whole Foods or farmers' markets; it's perfectly doable to maintain a healthy diet without breaking the bank. ABC News has some tips on how to eat well for less without having to resort to 10¢ ramen.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 20, 2008 at 8:30 AM
After months of experimentation I have finally come up with my perfect diet breakfast. I wish what I am about to tell you would be of more comfort to those of you who strive to eat a reasonably healthy diet, but it most assuredly isn't. In fact, what I'm about to tell you may be horrifying. Because I haven't settled on Greek yogurt or granola or toast made from whole-grain bread as my ideal diet breakfast, though I have grown to appreciate each of those foods in recent months. In fact I am using all three of the above-mentioned items in my diet breakfast rotation, along with a toasted bialy with the lightest schmear of whipped cream cheese.
But for this past week at least, my ideal breakfast turns out to be a 0.8-ounce bag of Kettle Bakes potato chips, a 20-ounce bottle of Diet Coke, and a banana. I find it has everything I'm looking for in a breakfast.
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If the fear of picking up a nasty stomach bug and consequently being cooped up in your bathroom has prevented you from being an adventurous eater during your travels abroad, there may now be a solution. Researchers have developed a patch consisting of toxins from E. coli that could be effective in preventing diarrhea attacks. The idea is that it primes your immune system to be better prepared should it face the real thing. A study showed it was 75 percent effective against diarrhea attacks caused by E. coli, and those got sick recovered at a much faster rate than those who didn't use the patch. [via the BBC]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 13, 2008 at 9:25 AM
Speaking of diets, Japan is taking the measuring tape to its citizenry to make sure the populace does not get fat—or, as they call it there, metabo. Companies and local governments are required to add the statistic to employees' annual checkups.
To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population by 10 percent over the next four years and 25 percent over the next seven years, the government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets. The country’s Ministry of Health argues that the campaign will keep the spread of diseases like diabetes and strokes in check.
A handy graph included with this story in the New York Times shows that average Japanese waistlines are 32.8 inches for men and 28 for women; U.S. waistline averages are 39 for men and 36.5 for women.
Posted by Ed Levine, June 13, 2008 at 8:30 AM
"Eight ounces of steak? An amuse bouche in my eyes."
Until very recently I was obsessed with the bigger-is-better school of eating. I would always look for what I thought would be the biggest appetizer, the biggest main course, and the biggest dessert. Half a rack of ribs? Not enough. A four-ounce burger? Child's play—or at the very least a child's portion. Half portions of pasta were for wusses. Eight ounces of steak? An amuse bouche in my eyes.
Now that I'm trying to change the way I eat and live, I'm really trying to cut down on my portion size. It's easier to do this at home, and much more difficult to do so at restaurants, where many chefs and restaurateurs want to impress you with quantity instead of quality because they want to be seen as generously spirited and magnanimous. There are a few chefs, however, who are taking a gutsy approach to portion size.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 6, 2008 at 8:45 AM
Don't get me wrong, I love reviewing restaurants. It's a dream job, really, but for someone like me, who loves food but puts on weight easily, it can pose all sorts of problems. Just tasting something and pushing it away because there's so much other food coming is incredibly difficult to do, especially if that something is seriously delicious.
How am I going to write a restaurant review every week and continue to watch my weight? That's the zillion dollar question.
Now that I've been doing it for a month I can see that this is not going to be easy, serious eaters.
These are the tactics I have been employing:
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A wallet guide that lists the relative amounts of pesticides found in the most common citizens of the produce aisle. [Tip o' the hat to Simon]
Posted by Ed Levine, May 30, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Last week, on Martha's Vineyard, I too often found myself in sneak food mode, a condition that frequently afflicts those of us of the dieting-living persuasion. What is sneak food mode? I'm sure at least a couple of serious eaters know it all too well.
Sneak food mode is just that, a moment, a window of opportunity that allows me to buy food to eat (all in the name of research, of course) that my wife (and sometimes my son, who is about to turn 21) will never find out about.
On the Vineyard sneak food moments or opportunities abound, as you are about to find out. And let me tell you, my serious eaters, this sneak food stuff is a slippery, slippery slope, which, if I let it get out of control could cost me up to 1,000 calories of food that I absolutely do not need.
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Posted by Raphael, May 27, 2008 at 9:10 AM
Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky, editor of The Grub Street, was a guest on last Friday night's Nightline, in which he goes to Hill Country Barbecue to discuss whether calorie labeling in restaurants would affect people's ordering:
I'm a purist. I love it when it's incredibly complex and layered—when all the arts of gastronomy have gone into a dish. But it should all be based on the beauty and simplicity of animal fat.
I don't think calorie counts are going to stop people from ordering something that's really good.
Ozersky compares the calorie contents of a grande mocha Starbucks coffee with whipped cream and pound cake (800-plus calories), a Big Mac (540 calories), Au Bon Pain's Southwest Tuna Wrap (860 calories), a tropical fruit smoothie from Dunkin' Donuts (720 calories), and the biggest stunner—what he calls "sucker salads": the Pecan Encrusted Chicken Salad at T.G.I. Friday's, clocking in at 1,360 calories.
Ozersky: "Pecans seem healthy. They're nuts. Chicken is skinless, there are greens. It's colorful and healthy, yeah, but it's almost as many calories as three Big Macs."
When asked if calorie labeling would improve people's lives, Ozersky replies, "It doesn't make my life better. I have a freakish existence. But I'd say it probably makes for a better society."
Video after the jump.
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Posted by Matthew Amster-Burton, May 21, 2008 at 10:45 AM
For vegetable fans and foes alike, there was a fun column in Tuesday’s New York Times by Tara Parker-Pope, the health reporter who ends up on the most-emailed list so often it makes me jealous, even though I don’t write for the New York Times.
In the column, Parker-Pope looked at which cooking methods cause vegetables to retain the most nutrients. First of all, she noted, “raw and plain vegetables are not always best.” This is unlikely to be news to Serious Eaters. Personally, I can’t resist crunching a few bites of raw carrot every time I’m using one to cook with, but I would not want to be sentenced to eating raw broccoli.
As the Cooking With Kids guy, my favorite part of the article was this:
Studies at Ohio State measured blood levels of subjects who ate servings of salsa and salads. When the salsa or salad was served with fat-rich avocados or full-fat salad dressing, the diners absorbed as much as 4 times more lycopene, 7 times more lutein and 18 times the beta-carotene than those who had their vegetables plain or with low-fat dressing.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, May 19, 2008 at 2:30 PM
The New Yorker's Joan Acocella spends more than 5,000 words dissecting the hangover. As she eloquently points out, "it is a preventable malady: don't drink." But beyond abstinence, other popular cures include peanut butter in Africa, chilies in Mexico, pickle juice in Russia and greasy, fried whatever everywhere else in the world. Read what triggers the bed spins and tummy aches in the Annals of Drinking.
Or just scan our favorite shots of wisdom from the piece, after the jump.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 16, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I don't know why exactly, but this week I felt like I lost control this week. It happens to me at some point or other whenever I go on a diet. Do other serious eaters find this to be the case when they embark on a weight loss regimen? In my case, losing my resolve could have disastrous consequences. Because once my resolve is gone, I can succumb to temptation big time. And believe me when I tell you that temptation is all around me virtually nonstop.
Friday afternoon I sent Sarah, one of the serious eaters here in the office, to a local bakery that had recently opened. I decided she should get one of every item the pastry chef-owner was proud of so that we could write the place up. Sarah came back with a dazzling array of exotic cupcakes, puddings, cookies, and cake slices (above). It was a brutal introduction to my diet weekend.
It turned out to open the floodgates, foodwise, for the rest of the week.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, May 15, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Food portions today are obviously larger than before, but by how much? Look at these pictures of food portions from 20 years ago next to today's versions; it's like comparing a kid-sized portion to the adult counterpart. Except that was the adult-sized version. It's not necessarily alarming to see, but might make you think twice the next time you go for a large Starbucks mocha or bucket of popcorn.
Related
Eat This, Not That: The Worst Foods in America
Have Hardee's and Carl's Jr. Gone Too Far (Or Big)?
Michael Pollan's Twelve Commandments for Serious Eaters: Can You Live By Them?
Posted by Ed Levine, May 9, 2008 at 8:45 AM
As some serious eaters may have noticed, I have started writing a weekly restaurant review. I'm looking forward to my reviewing stint, but I am wondering about its effect on my diet and life. Two more restaurant meals a week, piled on top of all the other food I eat in the name of the work and life I love, will put even more pressure on my "all things in moderation" regimen.
So I decided that I have to increase the frequency of my exercise regimen. Other restaurant critics, like Frank Bruni of the New York Times and Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle, have told me that what I would describe as fanatical, maniacal, obsessive exercise regimens have helped keep them trim. The question, serious eaters, is whether doubling down on my exercise regimen will do the trick and enable me to eat more and weigh less.
I actually tried it this week.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 2, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I have a love-hate relationship with my scale. Check that. Actually, I have a hate-hate relationship with it. Every diet book and diet plan addresses the role the scale should or does play in your life as a dieter. At Weight Watchers, each member weighs in once a week. Other diet plans say don't worry about the scale, measure your progress in inches with a tailor's tape measure or by repeatedly trying on an article of clothing.
The point is that whatever role we assign to our scale, it looms large in a dieter's life. We want it to be our friend, to be the bearer of good news. I also use my scale (right), a sleek, trim black number with an actual name, Thinner, as a governor. If I have a bad diet day or two, I climb on Thinner to acknowledge the adverse effect those bad days are having on my diet. If Thinner tells me I've gained a pound or two I can then redouble my efforts to lose weight in the ensuing days.
But sometimes, when I've gone off the deep (or should I say "heavy") end, I can't screw up the courage to get on the scale. That's when my relationship with Thinner gets particularly complicated—or freighted, to use a bad pun.
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In the Czech Republic, you're not limited to just drinking great beer; you can also bathe in it. Visit the spa at the Chodovar Family Brewery for the opportunity to wallow in beer and potentially benefit from increased circulation, decreased blood pressure, and purified skin. [via Coldmud]
Posted by Ed Levine, April 24, 2008 at 11:00 AM
This week I learned something every astronaut has learned the hard way: Re-entry is a bitch, at least when it comes to breathing-living-eating-dieting. When I last left you, serious eaters, I was consuming quite a few pieces of some of the finest fried chicken in the land. It didn't get any easier after that in New Orleans.
Dinner that night was at Cochon, Donald Link's tribute to all things porcine that should be renamed Porktopia. The man loves pork as much as I do. It wouldn't surprise me if the tap water I drank there was infused with pork. We ate fried boudin balls, grilled pork ribs with watermelon salad, cochon (roast pig) of course, and house-made salumi, including some killer bologna and so many other pork-derived or saturated dishes that my dinner companions and I actually oinked in unison when we walked back to our hotel.
Last Meals in New Orleans
Breakfast and lunch the following day, the last two meals I was to have in New Orleans, were from Lüke, John Besh's newish restaurant that serves classic New Orleans cuisine and New Orleans–influenced German food. Mad good, but not exactly light.
Breakfast was grilled shrimp and buttery grits studded with fantastic andouille sausage, feather-light pancakes topped by berries in syrup, and just to kick it up a notch (hey, I was eating in Emeril country), a couple of big fat links of house-made pork sausage. Of course I left most of all three dishes, but the total calorie intake couldn't have been all that minimal. While there, I figured I'd order lunch to take on the plane; I grabbed a pressed cochon sandwich, which I had been eying on the menu ever since I had arrived in New Orleans. That sandwich represented my re-entry to moderation, as you're about to find out.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 10, 2008 at 9:45 AM
I'm hitting the road this Sunday for almost a week, and the signs of caloric danger are everywhere. First, I'm headed to Dallas to take in the Pillsbury Bake-Off. One hundred finalists vying for the $1,000,000 first prize are baking their best stuff in portable kitchens. I'm not judging, but I'm sure I will get to taste lots of elaborately constructed creative desserts using an array of everyday products.
But the bake-off is not what I'm most worried about. I'm much more worried about all the food I want to taste in Dallas, a city I have never been to before. To make matters worse (or better, depending on your vantage point), I am very likely to meet up with my friend Robb Walsh, restaurant critic for the Houston Press, who has spent the last 20 years eating his way through Texas one perfect bite at a time. Robb is a splendid fellow and a fine writer, but as far as I'm concerned, he's trouble with a capital T.
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You know you don't actually have to drink eight glasses of water a day, right? (Not from physical cups, at least.) Slate looks into the history of the "drink eight glasses of water a day" myth.
Posted by Ed Levine, March 26, 2008 at 8:45 AM
The Good, the Bad, and the Obvious
Eat This Not That, the selling-like-hot-cakes, snack-sized book by hyper-ambitious and heat-seeking-attention-missile Men's Health editor-in-chief David Zinczenko (with Matt Goulding), proclaims itself to be the "No-Diet Weight Loss Solution" (to eating at national chains). As someone who is on the eternal quest for the no-diet weight-loss solution, I can tell you quite emphatically that this book is not it.
In fact, it aggregates heaping portions of the obvious (did you know that a drive-thru combo meal of a Burger King Triple Whopper with cheese fries and a king-size Coke has 2,200 calories and is therefore not a smart healthy eating choice? I'm shocked) with a few small side orders of surprises (Chipotle's Mexican Grilled Chicken Burrito has 1,107 calories, 113 carbohydrate grams, and 2,656 mg of sodium) and some useful swaps when confronted with national chain menus.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 25, 2008 at 5:30 PM
The magazine Health has named its healthiest top ten sit-down chain restaurants, top five fast food joints, and the best all-around indie restaurants in the nation. At No. 1 in sit-down chains? Uno Chicago Grill. Say wha? Yeah, it has a load of good-for-you options if you forgo the deep dish. Top fast foodery? Noodles & Company. Best independent? Blue Hill in New York City, run by Dan Barber.
Posted by Ed Levine, March 20, 2008 at 9:00 AM
I was blown away by all the supportive comments on yesterday's post. For me, it really does help to be in this together with like-minded folks. Hillary Clinton famously said, "It takes a village" to raise a child. Maybe it takes a community of serious eaters to help some of us find an equilibrium when it comes to living/dieting.
Joy Manning, Serious Eats' Philadelphia correspondent, said a couple of things in her comment that have stayed with me:
One thing I thought was missing is the idea that the foods you eat don't make you fat—overeating makes you fat. As a someone who eats for a living, I've gotten pretty good at pushing things away. (Well, most of the time.) I also keep Anton Ego's memorable line from Ratatouille in mind: "I don't like food, I love it. If I don't love it, I don't swallow." It's a useful mantra!
This resonated with me, because I have redoubled my efforts to eat half (or even less) of what's put down in front of me. This past week was a zen exercise in eating half.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 19, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Today in the New York Times Kim Severson chronicles the struggles of bloggers, restaurateurs, chefs, food writers, and cookbook authors to control their weight while pursuing their beloved chosen profession. And, yes, though a part of me cringed at the very thought, my story was among those chronicled.
As the Serious Eats community knows, I have been grappling with my weight online for the past ten weeks in my weekly Thursday posts, and offline my whole life. So for those of you who have newly come to our community of passionate, discerning, and inclusive food lovers, let me say welcome. You will have to wait until tomorrow to see the next installment of my dieting living chronicle, but I thought it might prove useful to summarize where I've been living or dieting-wise.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, March 13, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Don't flush just yet! The project drinkpeedrinkpeedrinkpee taking place at Eyebeam in New York City from March 13 to April 19 aims to raise awareness about the role your body (or more specifically, its waste) plays in the water system. To illustrate the potential for using properly treated urine—a sterile liquid—as a fertilizer for plants, Urine to Fertilizer DIY Kits will be available at the installation. How does the kit work?
Users will test their urine before the reaction. Then, they will add an enzyme, wait for their urine to hydrolyze, and then add Magnesium Chloride. A sediment will build up at the bottom of the jar. Using a filter, they will pour off and flush the liquid, leaving the fertilizer in the jar. They can add water and the seeds included in the kit to grow their own watercress hydroponically in the glass container used for the reaction.
For more information about treating urine to extract its nutrients, read this press release from EAWAG (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology). [via Cool Hunting]
Posted by Ed Levine, March 13, 2008 at 9:45 AM
If Lisbon was the culinary equivalent of permanent press chinos, Seville is more like a pair of Zegna slacks, comfortable, exciting, and a little bit mysterious.
I loved everything about Seville: the people, the incredible Moorish architecture, the sense of slightly decaying history lying around every corner, the narrow six-foot-wide streets that one particularly friendly local told us were nature's form of air-conditioning in Seville, the nonstop energy, and, of course, the food.
The only thing I didn't like was the cab driver who ripped off me and my son, Will, because he didn't have to give us the proper change from the €50 bill I gave him (admittedly it was a short ride and subsequently a low fare). The cabbie and I had a bit of a shouting match in the middle of a crowded street, but I have to tell you it's hard to have a shouting match with someone who doesn't understand a word you're saying (and vice versa, I might add). Hand gestures will only get you so far.
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Posted by Emily Koh, March 6, 2008 at 11:30 AM
"Without knowing you can be dying. High cholesterol injures your heart."
No, this is not an ad for workaholics to stop overworking themselves to death and instead spend more time with their families... but it might be the most disturbing way to scare that relative of yours who refuses to do anything about their high cholesterol. The Colombian Association of Arterial Hypertension has released a new set of ads to raise high cholesterol awareness featuring... zombies? [via Neatorama via Presurfer]
Instead of focusing on losing weight by watching your diet, maybe you need to watch your kitchen. The New York Times's Well Blog gives an overview of Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?, a new book by Peter Walsh that explains how to de-clutter your home for a healthier lifestyle. If you want to start "stripping away the excess 'fat' from your kitchen," get rid of those kitchen appliances you don't use anymore along with anything that's broken, stained, or chipped.
Posted by Robin Bellinger, March 4, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Saturday night I went out to dinner with two friends, one who does not have children and one whose daughter just celebrated her first birthday. The former suggested that I might want to order a certain salad, but the new mother said, “No, she can’t have feta! You can’t eat soft cheese when you’re pregnant.” Sheepishly I thought of the occasional salads with pasteurized feta I had been enjoying at home and asked, “Isn’t it okay if it’s pasteurized?” Granting that her doctor is very conservative, she said she had been told to avoid soft cheeses like feta altogether. The week before at a dinner party, another friend (who is a little farther along in her pregnancy than I am) had mentioned her doctor’s opinion that anything pasteurized was safe.
Understanding what is and is not likely to give me listeriosis has been vexing. There’s a lot of conflicting information out there because there aren’t "safe foods" and "unsafe foods"—just relative levels of risk. My two biggest questions have been, "Can I eat pasteurized soft cheeses? And can I eat raw milk cheeses if they are hard and aged, like Parmigiano Reggiano and Gruyère?" I think I’ve finally worked it out, at least well enough for myself.
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America's fat problem: "I say unto you: Fat is good! Fat is necessary. Ask any chef. Fat does not make you fat, eating too much makes you fat! We aren’t filling our bodies with sodium because of the box of kosher salt we use to season our food, we’re doing it with all the processed food that’s loaded with hidden salt. And American cooks and American diners need to understand the differences."
Posted by Ed Levine, February 28, 2008 at 6:38 AM
This semipublic dieting (or "living," as they call it at Weight Watchers) is tough stuff. With Thursday being my weigh-in day, I have tried to arrange for Wednesdays to be light eating days. But sometimes life intervenes and temptation positively stalks me at every turn.
Yesterday was a perfect example. The day started innocently (and positively) enough. I played squash at 9 a.m. after having some nonfat Greek yogurt and a tablespoon of Sarabeth's strawberry peach preserves. I know many of you have implored me to give up the jam, but I'm just not there yet. I love sweet-and-tart combos, and there are few better than yogurt and preserves. Squash was great as always, and, according to my heart-rate monitor, I burned more than 400 calories on the squash court. But it was after squash that the food sirens started calling my name.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 7, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Every day I ride the subway to Serious Eats world headquarters surrounded by the "Start Living, Stop Dieting" Weight Watchers ads. It's a brilliant campaign, one I want to believe in with all my heart and soul. But there's just one question I have for the good folks at Weight Watchers: Does it apply to food writers? It seems to me that the Weight Watchers slogan is just another way to say what was the late Julia Child's mantra: Everything in moderation. That's what I've been trying to practice, but it ain't easy. Every week the sirens of fat tempt me with goodies and temptations, some of my own making.
Take this week, for example.
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