Eating and Nutrition Strategies

Here are my notes on ways we can make what we eat have a more positive influence on our well-being.

Sound from a TV ad from the 70's: “Pardon me. Do you have any Grey Poupon?

“Seeing is deceiving. It's eating that's believing.”

Question: What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Answer: Snowflakes.

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” —Luciano Pavarotti

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Culinary Terms

French

• aioli is a garlic-flavored mayonnaise sauce. The French Provencal word ai means garlic.
• a la carte - French "from the menu".
• bon vivant - French "good living".

  Italian

Food Crazy Movies

Tampopo (1987)

Babette's Feast (1988), set in stark Scandanavia, illustrates the power of good meal to spark love. The story is of a cook who wins a lottery and spends the winnings to prepare a feast.

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) by Chinese director Ahn Lee is a complex story featuring a master cook about to retire. His cooking is an expression of love.

Spanglish (2004) features Adam Sandler as a successful gourmet cook and Tea Leoni as his neurotic wife. This is a surprisingly deep story about what is really important in life.

Saying Grace Before Meals

Get this print framed for your wall!

Oh, Heavenly Father, thank you for this food in a world where many go hungry; for our friends here at a time where some feel alone; and for our faith when many live in fear.

Nourish our souls as you nourish our bodies.

All that we have comes from you, Lord.

You are our bread of life.

Amen.

Bless this bunch as we eat our lunch.

More on prayers

“Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.” —Hebrews 13:9 (NIV)

when you come together to eat, wait for each other.
— 1 Corinthians 11:33 (NIV)

... [Jesus] took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and asked God's blessing on the food.
— Matthew 14:19 (NLT)

Jesus said "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work"
— John 4:34 (NIV)

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well"
— Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)

for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
— Romans 14:17 (NIV)

Healthy Choice of Foods

Remember the “Twinkies Defense”? That was when a lawyer claimed temporary insanity for his client who shot San Francisco politican Harvey Milk. So, you now have to get tested for residue of Twinkies before you could buy a gun.

Here's what you can do to avoid killing someone (or yourself):

From the Food and Nutrition pages:

Instead of fatty/salty ...	Try ...
Salted peanuts, Potato Chips	Air popped Popcorn, Pretzels
Pickles	Carrots
Saltine crackers	Carrot or Bran muffins
Caramel	Carob
Peanut Butter	Tropical fruit Jams
Regular Mayonnaise	Barbecue sauce
Beef Bologna meat	Turkey breast meat

• Raisins, dried apricots, and other dried fruits tend to cause cavities because their high suger content is also sticky.

  links on munchies

  The Natural Christian
  Get soy foods

Cereal Grains for Fiber

English name	Species	Area of Origin
Barley	Hardeum vulgare	Middle East
Corn (Maize)	Zea mays	Central America
Common Millet	Panicum miliaceum	Tropics
Foxtail millet	Setaria italica	"
Bulrush millet	Pennisetum americanum	"
Oats	Avena sativa	Mediterranean basin
Rice	Oryza stiva	Asia
Sorghum	Sorghum bicolor	Africa & Asia
Wheat	Genus Triticum	Mediterranean, West Asia

From the Cynic's Dictionary: FIBER: Edible wood-pulp said to aid digestion and prolong life so that we might enjoy more time to consume wood-pulp.

Brain Foods: The Feingold Diet

The Feingold Association publishes a booklet of specific name branded foods which their volunteers have screened for brain effects. (Hostess Twinkies is not on their list.) My kids want to volunteer themselves to be a tester for sugar cereals. Their booklet has two lists of foods for different levels of sensitivity to asprin and salicylates

Additives

“We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.” —Alfred E. Newman
• Avoid:
  • Synthetic (Artificial) Colors and Flavors
  • BHA (Butylated Hydroxyanisole) (often hidden in chewing gum)
  • BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene)
  • TBHQ (Tertiary Butylhydroquinone)
  • MSG
  • Sodium Benzoate (found in soda fountains)
  • Calcium Propionate
  • Nitrates
  • MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)
  • Sulfiting agents
• Some airplane pilots have lost their license to fly, claiming seizures from Nutrasweet and other products containing Aspertaine, the diet suger substitute.

Nutritional Supplements

Recent evidence indicates that the antioxidant vitamins C, E and beta carotene (a form of Vitamin A), may have prevention power against heart disease, cancer, and other conditions associated with aging.

Two large studies published inthe New England Journal of Medicine concluded that individuals who took large doses of Vitamin E had a 40% lower risk of heart disease.

Other studies have shown that Vitamin D may help in some types of cancer. Lack of Vitamin D may contribute to osteoporosis.

Folic Acid, a B vitamin, has been found to reduce the risk of certain birth defects and is recommended for women of childbearing age.

B5 - Pantothenic Acid stimulates adrenal functioning, the anti-stress endocrine gland.

Acidopholis aids in maintaining healthy balance of intestinal flora ("friendly" bacteria).

Garlic is a natural antibiotic. It repels werewolfs! Actually, it just repulses them.

Onions contain sulfur, which has healing properties.

Ginko Biloba Let me know what you've heard about this. It's supposed to help memory function. But I can't remember to take it.

I have avoided getting the flu by taking Eucanacea. (Which I pronounce "euthanasia" because it has such a nasty taste.)

Cold-Ease works for me. The Zinc in it does the trick. Apparently they can't make enough of the stuff.

Free drugs from Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Drug Assistance Programs Many pharmaceutical manufacturers have special programs to assist people who can't afford to buy the drugs they need. One problem is that it's often hard to learn about these programs. The goal of this site is to make the information easily accessible.

Trace Mineral	Deficiency Syndrome	Natural Sources
Calcium	rickets in children; osteoporosis in adults.	dairy (milk, butter), sardines, leafy vegs, citrus fruits
Chromium	adult onset diabetes.	brewer's yeast, black pepper, liver, wholemeal bread, beer
Copper	anaemia; Menkes' syndrome	green vegetables, fish, oysters, liver
Fluorine	tooth decay; possibly osteoporosis	seafood, tea, fluoridated drinking water;
Iodine	goitre; cretinism in new-born children	salt water fish, seafood, iodized salt
Magnesium	Irregular heart beat; muscular weakness; insomnia	green leafy vegatables (eaten raw), nuts, whole grains
Maganese
Molybdenum
Phosphorus
Potassium
Selenium
Sodium
Zinc

“Eat to Live,
Don't Live to Eat.”

Get medicines mailed from Canada through Rocky Mountain Meds, which subscribes to principles of the Health On the Net Foundation's HONcode of conduct Others:

canadianpharm.com

peoplerx.com

qualityprescriptiondrugs.com

canadapharmacy.com

doctorsolve.com

onlinepharmaciescanada.com

mapleleafmeds.com

oneworldrx.com

worlddrugmart.com

medications4less.com

Candies

Mignardises are small bites of sweets fine European restaurants serve at the end of the meal. This word is from the Old French "Mignard" which can be a noun or an adjective. As a noun it means small child. As an adjective it is used to describe something graceful, pretty, delicate. —Emils.com

Chocolate, one of the five basic food groups.

M&M Candies

Jelly Belly

Nabisco treats has monthly brain teasers,

Fast Foods

Only in America...do people order double cheese burgers, a large fry, and a DIET coke... Only in America...do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight... —John Sterling

Fast Food Facts from the by the Minnesota Attorney General's Office lists the calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carb, protein, and fiber content of over 100 fast foods.

Recipies from Disneyland (really!)

Subway

Arby's roast beef sandwiches

Macdonald's hamburgers

Burger King

Home-made lunch recipies for kids.

Cambell's Soups

Fasting

The word "fast" comes from the old English word "fasten" that means "to abstain."

In the Torah ( Leviticus 16:29-34, Lev 16:31, Lev 23:27, Lev 23:32, and Nu 29:7), fasting is commanded for Yom Kippur with the words “afflict your souls”. The Oral Law details what “afflict your souls” means: no food or drink, no bathing, no cosmetics / lotions, no marital relations, no leather (comfortable) footwear.

Other fasts were voluntarily undertaken by Israel ( I Samuel 7:6), Elijah ( I Kings 19:8), Ezra ( Ezra 10:6), and Daniel ( Daniel 10:3)

How to Fast: Your Personal Guide to Prayer and Fasting, from Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, who has gone on several 40 day fasts, just as Jeremiah and Joel had done. Bill organized the Day of Prayer and Fasting festival in '98 and '99. ( broadcast).

An 8 week course offered by wgbd.org (Where God Builds Disciples) is based on Bill Bright's books available from New Life Publications:

7 Basic Steps to Successful Fasting & Prayer, a 24 page booklet. Get it FREE.

Among the raw foods vegetarian crowd, Dr. Herbert M. Shelton "The Science and Fine Art of Fasting" and "Fasting Can Save Your Life".

John Piper's A Hunger for God : Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer

Among the 74 references to fasting in the Bible:

...I humbled my soul with fasting...
— David in Psalms 35:13

...When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting...
— Psalms 69:10

when you fast, don't make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, who try to look pale and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I assure you, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will suspect you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in secret. And your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.
— Matthew 6:16-18 (TNLV)

Beverages

• Water: Purified Those who want to avoid kidney stones often switch to water which has been distilled (a process which removes the minerals in them).
• Tea: Snapple, Lipton
• Tonic Water contains Quinine (what is that?)
• Ginger Ale relieves motion sickness. So why don't more road-side convenience stores offer it?
• Coca Cola is Coke (carbonated)
• Pepsi (carbonated) [an example of Java programming.]

Recipies

Once a Month Cooking and other articles from OrganizedHome.com
• The Recipe Guys lets you search recipies for specific Holiday, and cooking time as well as Origin (Mexican, Jewish, etc.) and type of food (deserts, etc.)

• Disney's Family.com Food pages

• What's in season? Check out prices and recipies for hand-picked crops at open-air markets of Santa Monica and the Beverly Hills Farmers Market and Food Festivals in the US.

  Some of the produce there were grown using California Certified Organic Farming strategies.

• Outlaw Cook

• At the Betty Crocker site, you can get Recipies by ingredient, then generate a shopping list for the recipies you selected. Cool. But this still doesn't beat a Pringles and Pepsi dinner for convenience.

• The Eclectic Kitcher has great searchable recipies and thorough food related links.

• Epicure magazine has a lot of stuff too.

• For Veggetarian Recipies and the The Crazy Vegetarian.

• http://www.healthuniversity.com

The Dictionary of Words About Eating (like “Yummy”).

A tip from the Learn2 Newsletter:
Does your rice always clump together? Try adding a few drops of lemon juice to the pot when it's simmering. You'll get more juice from yours if you warm them for a few minutes in the oven before squeezing.

What foods are Kosher? Jump to Leviticus 11 and Jeremiah 31:31-34. 7th Day Adventists have an illustrated booklet on God's Recommended Diet. Also read the modern version: Household Principles for Children from the Old Testament.

For information about an animal, check out Sea World's Animal Information Database

Recipie for Creme Brulee

I like Creme Brulée (French for "burnt creme") for its contrasts. The glistening hard shell on the outside with a cool satiny custard inside. It's a participatory dish — I get to crack the shell with my spoon. It's a special occassion using special porcelain ramakin dishes.

Ingredients

1. 6 large egg yokes or 1 cup whole egg substitute
2. 2 cups non-fat milk (can use low-fat)
3. 4 cups heavy cream or 2 Tbs. non-fat dry milk
4. 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
5. 1/3 cup white granulated sugar (for use in the custard)
6. For use in carmeling, a) 1/4 cup (6 teaspoons) granulated sugar or b) 12 teaspoons (packed) brown sugar, or c) Maple syrup
7. 2 tablespoons sliced roasted almonds.
8. 8 cut strawberries (with stems still on).
9. Sprigs of mint.

Instructions

Phase	Description
Mash	Mash the egg yolks through a strainer in order to break them up properly.
Whisk	Using a wire whisk or an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whisk in a large stainless steel mixing bowl the yolks and sugar until mixture becomes light in color and sugar has dissolved a bit. (About 5 minutes
Cream	In a medium-sized saucepan, combine heavy cream with vanilla beans which have been carefully split down the center, its fragrant black seeds scraped from the pod, and both combined with the cream. Bring the mixture to a simmer; when small bubbles have formed around the edges of the cream it is ready.
Season	Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean. The traditional version does not use vanilla, so feel free to omit it for a less "dirty" look.
Fold	Gradually whisk the cream into the sugar.
Chill	Chilling mixture overnight will let the flavors develop and allow custard to thicken a bit).
Pot	Divide mixture among 6 - 3/4 cup custard cups or ramekins. Sprinkle almond slices over top.
Steam Bake	Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Arrange dishes in 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Pour enough hot water into pan to come halfway up sides of the ramekin dishes. The water helps maintain a slow heating process for the custard to prevent curdling.
Cool	Bake custards approximately 35-40 minutes until the custard is set. Do not overbake so that the custard turns rubbery. Remove the pan from the oven and remove custard cups from the water. Allow custards to cool before placing in the refrigerator. Chill overnight.
Brown	Two hours before serving: Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar atop each custard. Broil until sugar just starts to caramelize, rotating sheet for even browning, about 2 minutes. There are several alternatives to caramelize the sugar: handheld torches are fun to watch. If using a broiler, preheat it. Place dishes on small baking sheet, containing ice if using a broiler. Watch the process closely because the dish can quickly go from a nice caramel color to burned.
Chill	Chill until caramelized sugar hardens, about 2 hours.

This recipie is based on advice from several sources, listed in order of helpfulness:

CDKithen provides thermoter heat ranges.

Eating Dangerously

CooksRecipies.com

Gourmet Slouth

Diet Plans

For a homemade, light dressing, use the 1:2:3 formula: 1 part olive oil, 2 parts water or juice, and 3 parts of a flavored vinegar plus some seasonings. A favorite: 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, and chives.

Hoaxes

Beware of several tactics common to hoaxes:
• Referring to a typically competent source (“Chinese doctor”). Notice that the actual person is not mentioned.

• Making illogical associations (“it could be valuable information since it's all natural”)

• Making third-party testimonials (“I have a friend who ...”)

Pigs vs. Swine vs. Hogs

In the United States, all swine weighing under 180 pounds are pigs. Those over that weight are called hogs. The term pig refers to all domestic swine.

• Cyberdiet

  
  “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” —Colossians 2:8 (NIV)

Theophagy

The term anthropophagy is derived from the Spanish word for the Caribs, a West Indian tribe known for cannibalism. It is the name for the practice of cannibalism -- humans eating human flesh.

Theophagy is the term for the consumption of a God's body and blood. The Eucharist (from the Greek work eucharistia, thanksgiving) is the practice of communion between God and man. One of the Catholic dogmas is the believe in transubstantiation, also called the doctrine of real presence because it alleges that a miraculous transformation from spiritual to literal physical occurs in the bread and wine when they are blessed (consecrated) by the priest. Some (Protestant Christians) criticize this as not being a literal intrepretation of the Bible's "this do in remembrance of me" in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24.

John 6:33-35 "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
John 6:55 "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him,"

Persimmons

I love the smell and taste of "Jove's fruit", so called because the Greeks called them "Food for Gods."

Some call them "winter plum" because they ripen at the beginning of winter. They grow on 50 foot tall "possumwood" female trees of the ebony family (with dense black hardwood used to make driver heads on golf clubs).



The word persimmon is derived from the Algonquin Indian word "pasiminian" or "pessemin." The more common acorn-shaped Hachiya variety is astringent until it's soft-ripe. My favorite, the smaller, flatter, nonastringent Fuyu variety is popular in Japan.

They are most popular in China. The Ming Tomb variety is "Dagaishi," sounding vaguely like the well-known species "Hachiya." Several articles mention that the most common persimmon in Asia is the "Kaki."

This ink painting titled “Six Persimmons” was painted in 1270 (during the Southern Song Dynasty) by Mui Qi (Ch'i) (1200-1274), a Chan Buddhist monk near Hangzhou in Szechwan, China. This is revered by Zen Masters as one of the greatest masterpieces of Chinese painting. Variations in color (from white to black) and shape (from firm-round to settled-square) represent the degree of ripeness of each picked persimmon symbolize the stages of enlightenment and the progression of mental states.