10 Best Cookbooks for 2009

December 2, 2009 at 5:17 pm (General)
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Just a week ago, National Public Radio (NPR) announced their list of the 10 best cookbooks of 2009.  Because healthy eating is so critical, it’s nice to have resources that encourage and teach healthy cooking.  While not all of the titles on the list qualify strictly as health food collections, they all contain recipes and instructions that enable the cook/reader to make careful choices.  The best part of this list is that all titles are available (or on order) from the Capital Area District Library. 

They’re listed below (in random order) with a link to the catalog record.  So, bon appetit!

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones; Asian Dumplings:  Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More, by Andrea Nguyen; Clean Food:  A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source by Terry Walters; Gourmet Today by Ruth Reichl; **Stir:  Mixing it Up in the Italian Tradition by Barbara Lynch; **Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo; **Savory Baking by Mary Cech; **Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day by Peter Reinhart; **The Craft of Baking by Karen Demasco and Mindy Fox; and, Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

**on order

                                

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Nothing Fishy Here

August 4, 2009 at 4:22 pm (General)
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The health benefits of a fish-rich diet for the heart is fairly well documented but recently it has been suggested that including fish in your diet may also ward off dementia.  As reported in the New York Times Health online version recently:

One of the largest efforts to document a connection — and the first such study undertaken in the developing world — has found that older adults in Asia and Latin America were less likely to develop dementia if they regularly consumed fish.

 And the more fish they ate, the lower their risk, the report found. The findings appear in the August issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study, which included 15,000 people 65 and older in China, India, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic, found that those who ate fish nearly every day were almost 20 percent less likely to develop dementia than those who ate fish just a few days a week. Adults who ate fish a few days a week were almost 20 percent less likely to develop dementia than those who ate no fish at all.

“There is a gradient effect, so the more fish you eat, the less likely you are to get dementia,” said Dr. Emiliano Albanese, a clinical epidemiologist at King’s College London and the senior author of the study. “Exactly the opposite is true for meat,” he added. “The more meat you eat, the more likely you are to have dementia.” Other studies have shown that red meat in particular may be bad for the brain.

Observational studies in the West also have indicated fish may reduce dementia risk, but there is little evidence as yet from randomized, controlled clinical trials.

The Capital Area District Library has many resources – cookbooks and dvds,  that include quick, easy, and delicious recipes that can help you increase the amount of fish in your diet.  Fish cookbooks can be found at Dewey number 641.692.  DVDs include:  Boy meets grill. Blazin’ barbeque [videorecording] / with Bobby Flay , Simply salmon [videorecording] , and Good eats with Alton Brown. Hooked & cooked .

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Ice Cream as Health Food?

July 18, 2009 at 1:45 pm (General)
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 Maybe you didn’t realize that July is National Ice Cream Month!  And, even better, that July 19 is National Ice Cream Day.  Thanks to President Ronald Reagan who made the proclamation in 1984 we have official sanction to celebrate and enjoy this delightful treat.  According to the International Dairy Foods Association(IDFA):

The U.S. ice cream industry generates more than $21 billion in annual sales and provides jobs for thousands of citizens. About 9% of all the milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream, contributing significantly to the economic well-being of the nation’s dairy industry.

But, you’re thinking, can ice cream qualify as healthy?  Of course!  Ice cream has evolved over the years since it’s development into the product we know today.  Sure you can eat only those types that are full of calories from fat and sugar, but just as easily, you can fill up on blends that contain yogurt (with live cultures), are sugar free, fat free, low-carb, even lactose free. 

Want to read more about ice cream?  Check out the IDFA’s Ice Cream Media Kit for details on the history of ice cream, trends on what’s hot in ice cream, and tips on storing and handling ice cream.  The Capital Area District Library (CADL) lists several books on ice cream (and it’s relatives – ices, gelato, sorbet) for kids and adults in it’s catalog.  You’ll find recipes, history, and literature.  So whether it’s vanilla (still #1 in the U.S.) or something more exotic (chocolate-chipotle, saffron rosewater, lavender) – “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream”!  (from The Ice Scream You Scream Song by Johnson, Moll & King)

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To Diet or not to Diet

March 2, 2009 at 9:33 am (General)
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A recent search at Amazon.com  shows hundreds of diet books being published in 2009.  Every kind of diet approach is covered – 4 day diet, Mediterranean, instinct diet, vegan, writing diet, lemon juice diet, inner peace diet, etc., etc., etc.,  in addition to the traditional low fat, low calorie, low carbohydrates.  With so many choices, it can be difficult to make an informed and healthy selection.  Fortunately, a study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine gives us the bottom line:  the key to maintained weight loss is simple, calorie reduction in whatever healthful, balanced diet is followed.  The study followed 800 adults over a 2 year period.  They were assigned to 1 of 4 groups which followed distinct diet styles.  At the end of the study, all groups had lost and gained relatively the same amounts of weight with the only commonality being calorie reduction.

“It really does cut through the hype,” said Dr. Frank M. Sacks, the study’s lead author and professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health. “It gives people lots of flexibility to pick a diet that they can stick with.”

Conclusions:  Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00072995)

So there you have it.  Calorie reduction is all you need to remember.  To see a sampling of diet books you can always visit your local public library of the Capital Area District Library system and browse the 613.25 Dewey number area.  Or, for specific titles or authors, search the library catalog.   Good Luck and Happy Dieting!

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Nutrition I.Q.

January 23, 2009 at 11:15 am (General)
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USDA food pyramidA recent article in the New York Times about nutritious eating in harsh climates like the Arctic got me thinking about just how much I know about what constitutes healthy eating.  The Times article answers a question posed by a reader wondering if fresh produce is needed to ensure nutritious eating, how do people who live in harsh climates avoid malnutrition? 

Most of us take for granted going to a local store and selecting from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables all year round.  These foods provide a wide range of nutrients, vitamins and minerals, with vitamin C being one of the most important.   We’ve all heard about the USDA food pyramid and know about the need to avoid overly processed foods and unhealthy fats, and to include whole grains, milk, and fruits in our daily diet.  So how do they survive?  

The answer to the reader’s question is found in studies that have been done of the Inuit diet by Canadian researchers.canned moose  Their studies show that while the Inuit are consuming small amounts of local plants and berries, the raw, fresh animal foods like seal, whale, and polar bear “…provided them with surprisingly high levels of Vitamin C.”   A “primitive diet” or just food for thought?   

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