Low-Glycemic Meals in Minutes

Fellow dietitian, Laura Kalina, has co-authored a new new book and she has kindly given me permission to feature it on Greens & Berries.

Low-Glycemic Meals in Minutes features over 125 low-glycemic,
easy-to-prepare recipes, complete with menu plan, shopping list and
exercise strategies to help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
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You can read more about Laura's background and the book on the website.  Here's an excerpt and recipe that make me think this book could become a kitchen staple for making fast, healthy, at-home family meals -- what could be better?

The most common concern of today’s busy families is 'not enough time.' Lack of time, combined with the convenience and prevalence of fast food restaurants and prepackaged foods, has led to an unprecedented rise in obesity rates and chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Of particular concern is the tripling of childhood obesity in the last decade. This book will make your 'not enough time' concern a thing of the past. It focuses on the 'Quick Prep' method and shows you how easy it is to prepare healthy, well-balanced meals for your family in less time than a trip to your local fast food restaurant.

Tofu Lasagna

Phase 1 • Makes 6 to 8 servings

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 zucchini, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 jar (24 oz/700 ml) Italian tomato sauce
1/2 tsp each dried oregano and dried basil
1 cup mushrooms, sliced with stems removed
1 cup low-fat mozzarella cheese, grated
1 pkg (300g) soft tofu
1 pkg (300g) frozen spinach, drained
2 pkgs (300g each) extra firm tofu
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. 2) In a frying pan over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sauté zucchini,peppers, onion and garlic until onions are transparent. 3) In a large bowl combine tomato sauce, oregano, basil, and mushrooms. 4) In another bowl, mix soft tofu with spinach. 5) Slice extra firm tofu into 1/8-inch to 1/4 -inch slices to act as lasagna noodles.
6)Oil a 9 x 13 inch lasagna pan with the remaining olive oil. Pour a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom. Add a layer of tofu as you would lasagna noodles. Top with some of the spinach mixture and then some grilled vegetables. Sprinkle some mozzarella on top. 7) Repeat until all ingredients are used (you will have 2 or 3 layers). Top with remaining mozzarella and lastly sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 8) Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

A Guide to Developing a Sustainable Food Purchasing Policy

I discovered this new resource for policy-makers and advocates via Walking-the-Talk, the website of the BC Working Group on Sustainability Education:

A Guide to Developing a Sustainable Food Purchasing Policy 

Some background from this document:

This document is intended to help universities, colleges, hospitals, and other institutions – as well as those advocating for food system change – create, promote and implement practical sustainable food purchasing policies. It draws from the successes and lessons learned by a variety of institutions, and from the experience of for-profit and non-profit partnersthat have worked with institutions in this arena. This document does not promote any particular policy positions, butrather offers a framework to help you develop policies that will be meaningful and achievable for your institution.

This document is a product of the Sustainable Food Policy Project, which was initiated in 2006 to support efforts by educational, healthcare and other institutions to have a positive impact on the food system through purchasing. The Project has three primary objectives:

1. To collect and share sample food purchasing policies addressing a range of social and environmental concerns, as well as related requests for information (RFIs), requests for proposals (RFPs) and contract language.

2. To identify and outline sustainable food purchasing policy options, the implications of these policies for institutions, and their potential for beneficial impacts on the food system.

3. To share insights on the policy development process, and on the implementation and evaluation of sustainable food purchasing policies, drawing from the experience of representatives, constituents and stakeholders of institutions that have gone down this road.

Participating organizations include:

• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, a membership-based association of colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada working to create a sustainable future.
• Food Alliance, a non-profit organization that creates market incentives for socially and environmentally responsible agricultural practices, and that educates business leaders and other food system stakeholders on the multiple benefits of sustainable agriculture.
• Health Care Without Harm, a global coalition of 443 organizations in 52 countries working to protect health by reducing pollution in the health care industry.
• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a non-profit organization that promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy.
• Oregon Center for Environmental Health, a membership organization dedicated to protecting public health and the environment through community action to eliminate toxic pollutants.

More information and sample purchasing policies can be found at www.SustainableFoodPolicy.org.

Michael Pollan's critique on "nutritionism"

You already may  know that Michael Pollan has published a new book.  Perhaps you've also read Marion Nestle's praise for his "manifesto."   But the next link  may be new to you so I'm going to mention Planet Green has a post on In Defense of Food , which includes 11 guidelines for eating the "Pollan Way."

Almost one year ago, on the previous version of my blog, I wrote about this Michael Pollan's article.  At that time I didn't know he was writing a new book.  Here's my post from February 2007:

Recently, I came across an extremely concise food guide presented as a brief directive with two qualifying phrases: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." This is how Michael Pollan begins his New York Times Magazine's essay on what to eat for good health. In the remainder of this article, he elaborates on how the ideology of "nutritionism" has created a "conspiracy of confusion" about what we should we eat to be healthy and suggests nine unscientific (his own word) rules of thumb. Pollan counters the reductionist-scientific perspective with guidelines grounded in culture, tradition and food-sense. I'm tempted to share many excerpts from this intelligent and compelling article, but will restrain myself and recommend you go read it. OK, I have to share this great one-liner: "Don’t take the silence of the yams as a sign that they have nothing valuable to say about health."
Link to Unhappy Meals by Michael Pollan

The deal on saturated fat -- according to Marion Nestle

I need to find a way a saving all of Marion Nestle's wise advice on interpreting complex and contradictory nutrition research, but until then, I will have to use my blog as a repository. (I know some of my readers also read Marion's blog so please excuse the double-posting.)

Today especially I want to make a note of her response to a question that basically is asking "What if saturated fat isn't so bad?"  Here is part of Marion's answer:

(1) All fats–no exceptions–are mixtures of saturated, unsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (2) Saturated fats occur in greater proportions in animal fats–meat and dairy foods, (3) Some epidemiologic evidence–but not all–suggests that people who eat a lot of meat and dairy foods have a higher risk of heart disease than people who eat a lot of fruit and vegetables (this is correlation, not causation), (4) The same clinical studies that show how trans fats do bad things to blood cholesterol levels also show that saturated fat does too, although not as much (But: people take in a lot more saturated fat than trans fat), and (5) Saturated fat is a single nutrient and the studies reviewed and discussed by the journalists take saturated fat out of its dietary context.

Out-of-context studies of single nutrients are exceedingly difficult to interpret. At the moment, today’s dietary (not single nutrient) advice is the same as it has been for the last fifty years. As I put it in What to Eat, “Eat less, move more, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and don’t eat too much junk food.” Michael Pollan gives exactly the same advice: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Do this, and you really don’t need to give a thought to single nutrients.

 Links: What's the Deal on Saturated Fat?, What to Eat (home page)

Trying new shades of green, orange, yellow, red and purple

Photo credit: Claremont Farmers'  Market 2006 by libraryman.
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Yesterday,  Planet Green's food-smart contributor, Kelly Rossiter,  suggested we check out a new site to help us increase our intake of fruits and vegetables.  It's the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center's recipe collection where you can search for recipes based on preferences and dietary restrictions.  Kelly has written an excellent description of the site so rather than paraphrase her words, I'll  encourage you to read her post. 

What I will do, though, is post about my experiences using the site's features. This morning I imagined myself using the recipe search tool in different scenarios. For example, 

1. Counseling a patient/client with active cancer who is a vegan and needs a high protein diet.  By entering the appropriate search terms (vegan, high protein), you will obtain these results:  Boiled Lentils  and Glazed Edamame Beans. OK, I admit "boiled lentils" do not sound that exciting but I really like the tip that is part of the recipe title, "add to soups and stews." As dietitians we often make suggestions on how to increase the protein-density of meals. Here is another option besides skim milk powder.

2. Responding to the comment "I'd like to eat more foods in-season, especially the dark, green leafy vegetables like kale, chard and mustard greens but I don't  know how to prepare them so they taste good."  You can either browse the index or, if there are dietary restriction, use the search tool to find recipes  (all meeting the low-fat criterion) like Spaghetti with Mustard Greens and Italian Sausage,  Southwest Swiss Chard and Bean Soup, Wilted Winter Salad,  and Vegetale Posole (with kale).

Thank you, Kelly, for pointing out this new site.  I've already found it personally and professionally useful.

Link: University of Michagan's Comprehensive Cancer Center's recipe collection.