Mató & Maple Syrup » Eating habits

I’m addicted

alexandra — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:58:01 +0000

A couple of months ago, inspired by Mark Bittman’s latest book and his column, I decided to experiment with savoury breakfasts. I’ve always preferred to eat savoury food in the morning anyway since I was raised bread & butter rather than bread & jam. One of Bittman’s favourites is steel cut oats dressed with whatever savoury ingredients one has and drizzled with olive oil. Now, my grandmother used to make me porridge every day when I visited her since I can remember so I was raised on the stuff and love it. But it was always super creamy and sweet. The thought of oatmeal with olive oil simply did not appeal to me. I decided to give it a try nonetheless since I had never eaten steel cut oats before anyway. The results went well above any expectations I might have had. I’m so glad I tried! I love the infinite number of ways you can dress this simple dish and how tasty it is no matter what you put in it. For today’s version I cooked the steel cut oats with a bit of collard greens and a dash of turmeric. Once cooked, I topped it with parsley, fresh heirloom tomatoes, and a few dollops of goat cheese, all seasoned with some salt and olive oil. If you can’t fathom it for breakfast, try it for a quick lunch.

Challenge of the week

alexandra — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:57:21 +0000

Last week Alan and I ended up eating out a lot, which is not good for either our wallets or our health so this week our challenge is to only eat food we prepare ourselves. Although I love to cook, that’s primarily because I love to eat and try new things so getting me to eat out is not a very difficult feat. Like anybody else, I don’t always feel like cooking when I get home at the end of a long day so when Alan turns to me and says “do you want to go to The Bowl?” I can’t really say no. The danger lies in allowing that to become a habit and before you know, you haven’t cooked for days and have actually forgotten how wholesome a homecooked meal made from the freshest ingredients can actually be. So this week is an attempt to reset the system and get back to eating at home most of the time rather than occasionally.

Having said all of that, I have to say the week didn’t start all that well since I wasn’t all that inspired when I went to the market on saturday and ended up not buying much. That has meant a few trips to the local stores and a lot of creativity with leftovers.

For today I made a meal out of the quinoa tabouleh I made on the weekend by adding some lima beans to it. I was going to add some tuna but forgot to buy them… For dinner I’m having a bit of the leftovers, some hummus, and some kefir for dessert.

For tomorrow, I’m thinking of using some of the radish salsa I made on the weekend as the basic seasoning for a rice and chickpea salad. I’m cooking some brown short grain rice and I’ll mix it with a can or chickpeas and the radish salsa (I have nearly 2 cups of it left). That should take care of lunch tomorrow and the next day at the least.

I’ll update this post as the week progresses in case anyone is interested.

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Day 3 – I felt a bit more inspired today, and tried Syrian rice, homemade Babaganoush, and a spinach & chickpea stew. The red/orange bits in the middle is some left over tofu with tomato sauce. It was so good that I’m seriously ready to explode any minute…

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Day 5 – success! We went from Monday to Friday without eating out once. It wasn’t difficult and I didn’t cook every day. Most of the dishes I made had at least four servings and would last more than a day. The above dish, for example, lasted quite a while as the spinach dish and the Syrian rice were quite large. So on Thursday I made a fried rice with the rice and spinach by adding an egg and eating it with some kimchi.

Diet, nutritionism, and health

alexandra — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:58:04 +0000

I believe we are what we eat but for the longest time the whole notion of counting calories, talking about carbs, fats, proteins and nutrients seemed a bit odd to me. I tried supplements and stopped because I don’t care what anybody says – I don’t think my urine should be bright orange/yellow/green. So here I was interested in food but utterly confused by all the nutrition advise out there. Until I discovered Michael Pollan. As a historian, I can recognize his research as good and his arguments as solid. But most importantly, it all makes sense in a way that even our great grandmother would agree. If you don’t have time to read his books, at least watch this video.

Food Matters

alexandra — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:57:59 +0000

I wrote about Mark Bittman before but it was only today that I finally got his newly released book, Food Matters: a Guide to Conscious Eating. Much like Michael Pollan, to whom he often refers in the book, Mark Bittman calls us to be more conscientious of our eating habits and adopt what he calls “sane eating.” There are seven basic guidelines:

Eat fewer animal products than average
Eat all the plants you can manage
Make legumes part of your life
Whole grains beat refined carbs
Snack on nuts or olives
When it comes to fats, embrace olive oil
Everything else is a treat, and you can have treats daily

Numbers 1 & 2 are the hardest for those in a strict meat-and-potatoes kind of diet. But you can cut down gradually, making dishes that combine meat and grains to reduce the proportion of meat. Number 7 will depend on how you feel. If you are feeling fine, losing weight and your doctor is happy, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t indulge on your daily dessert but if you are not getting the results you want, it might be better to reduce the treats.

His plan is not really a diet in a faddish sense. He doesn’t preach we must eat all organic although he admits that eating what is produced locally and in season would be best not only for us but for the environment. And this is where all this eating sanely leads to – better health for us and for the earth we live in. Bittman started becoming more conscious of his eating habits after he read a scientific report that showed that the meat industry was responsible for producing one-fifth of greenhouse gases, much more than the transportation industry. At the same time his doctor raised the red flag telling him his cholesterol and blood sugars were out of wack. By switching the proportions of animal and vegetable products, cutting junk food and prossessed food (anything with more than 5 ingredients or with ingredients with more than five syllables), he lost 15 pounds in the first month, his lab work turned out normal in the second month, and within four months he slept better than ever before, lost 35 pounds (his weight eventually stabilized) and he felt confortable and well with his new eating style.Without counting calories, nutrients, feeling hungry, or rebounding.

Makes a lot of sense to me and I do try to follow many of these tips in my daily life.

Worth a read if you feel your health is below optimal and/or you are concerned about the environment.

Check the Globe and Mail review of the book.

Quitting cold turkey

alexandra — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:03:04 +0000

This is it. No more of this “we’ll try to slow down”, “we’ll limit it to so many times a week”. Alan and I decided we won’t eat out for an entire month. Until October 15th, we can’t spontaneously decide to grab something to eat instead of cooking it ourselves. The only exception is being invited out, since we don’t really want to be a drag and say “sorry, we can’t eat out”. That’s the problem in living in a downtown location where we just have to walk outside the door to find a good restaurant. We ended up eating out more than our bodies and wallets could afford. I also blame it on the Spanish for infusing us with their habit of eating out 3-4 times a day. So Sunday I cooked a huge batch of spaghetti sauce to freeze, I made dinner last night for the next couple of days and so far it has been working. My body feels better already. Oh, and did I mention I cooked Beef Panang from scratch on Sunday?? My first Thai curry from scratch! I’ll post a picture here soon…

Sorry if I haven’t posted more often but the academic year has started in full force and I somehow managed to find myself in several different committees this year – I was elected secretary of the Graduate History Society and representative at the Program Committee in my department. I’m also helping organize the graduate students’ conference and a series of teaching workshops. All on top of teaching and writing (or trying to write) my dissertation and two papers. Oh, and did I mention I’m starting Hebrew classes tomorrow? Yeah, there’s that too. Looks like a busy year and I count on you to keep me sane!