Look Who's Cooking, and Wild vs. Farmed Salmon

It's Saturday! Today is going to be a busy, yet fantastic day. This morning I plan on working out (elliptical and some weights), and working on my thesis. Later in the afternoon, when Nick gets back from work, we are heading to the mall to purchase a new ice cream maker! Why? I want a smaller one, and the one we are buying comes with two ice cream containers so we can made double ice cream! Lastly we are headed to Wendy's for a burger. Wendy's was started in Nick's home town, Dublin, Ohio, which is in Columbus, and we both grew up huge fans. When we first started dating we purchased their Frosty's all the time:

but the other day we saw a commercial for one of their new burgers and we decided it's been way too long since we have had a Wendy's burger. They are cheap, filling, and delicious, so we are having one for dinner (and maybe we'll really splurge and get a Frosty too....) I'll be sure to post about the goodness of Wendy's next time I post.

Until then, on with today's post:

Nick In the Kitchen
Nick and I met while we were working at a local restaurant. I was a server, he was a cook. From this you would think he would do most of the cooking, but let me tell you, it's rare. Of course I have to blame myself a bit for that because I love to cook and since our kitchen is so small I typically take it over without giving him a chance to even offer cooking dinner. I don't mind being the "ruler of the kitchen", but every once in a while he takes over and creates something amazing.
The above picture is Nick preparing our Valentine's Day dinner. That's not a cigarette behind his ear, it's a pen (I always think it looks like a cigarette). He made filet mignon, grilled vegetables, and baked acorn squash!

The picture below was taken during the first month after we got our ice cream maker (and yes, he seems to be wearing the exact same outfit...). The first couple times we made ice cream Nick HAD to be present, and HAD to help out. Now he just waits for me to make the ice cream. I guess it's just not as cool anymore.

Of course, that doesn't stop him from eating it, and enjoying every bite :)
Last night I had to work late so Nick was forced to cook for himself. Here is what he prepared:
If you have never tried Boboli 100% Whole Wheat crust, you are seriously missing out!

Nutrition Facts (serving size 1/5 of the crust)
150 calories
3 grams fat
280 mg sodium (yeah, this is kind of high, but compared to other crusts it's not!)
5 grams fiber
6 grams protein
6% calcium
6% iron

Final product:
Pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, chopped green and red bell peppers, chunks of grilled chicken, red hot.

When I got home I tasted a piece, it was AWESOME! Of course if I would have been home I would have added some more veggies, and less cheese, but I was still proud of his efforts, I mean LOOK at all those peppers!
Here is what I ate for dinner, before I went to work:
Whole wheat tortilla, mixed greens, grilled chicken, swiss cheese, avocado.

Another Popsicle Experiment
I hate throwing ANYTHING away, therefore I had to find a way to use this chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast. What's wrong with it? Well, it has sugar alcohols that give me gas (gross), and it has inulin as it's fiber source (one of the "fiber tricks" I talk about often). Inulin also seems to give me gas.
So I decided to split up the drink and make it into three popsicles. I used the rest of my POM Wonderful, which needed finished, and mixed the chocolate powder, about 1/2 cup POM, 1/2 cup soymilk, strawberries, and blueberries.



Final product: AMAZING! I was so proud of myself. It had a slight chocolate taste, mixed with a delicate fruity taste...man I wanted to eat all three! But that would have defeated the purpose of splitting it up into three servings. No gas for me :)
Is All Salmon The Same?
150 millions pounds of salmon are consumed per year in US, not including canned varieties!
**Source: Good Eats!

Farm vs. Wild
- Basically, this is a debate of "nature vs. nurture", wild meaning nature, farmed meaning nurture (although, I'm not so sure farmed salmon is really nurtured a whole lot).

- Wild salmon's life consists of swimming downstream, then swimming all the way back, upstream (aka, they are nice and physically fit!). Farmed salmon are usually born in a tank, with no room to move around.

- Wild salmon's food of choice is fresh shrimp from the sea. Farmed salmon gets the luxury of ground up fish, made in a factory, or raised by another farmer! Once they hit the right weight, they are killed and sold.

- Wild salmon has more heart healthy Omega-3 fats, but I've also read that wild salmon can have more contaminants from the water. Overall it seems that wild salmon may be best, even considering the possible contaminants, but keep in mind farmed salmon is much better than non at all!

- Other nutrients: niacin, b-6, and b-12, selenium, magnesium, phosphorus

- To determine if your salmon is really wild, ask to see the "country of origin" when at the fish market.

Alton Brown's Method for Preparing Salmon:
Add:
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt
ground pepper

Put into pan.
For a 6-8 ounce piece pan sear, over medium heat, for 2 minutes on each side. If it's really thick, then cook 1.5 on each side and 30 seconds on the "thickness side" (does that make sense? I don't know what to call that side..). When done, put onto a plate, cover loosely with foil, and let sit for 5 minutes. Then enjoy!

Giveaway Time! Melissa at "For the Love of Health!" has an amazing giveaway that is definitely worth checking out!! What are you waiting for?!


Today's Questions:
What have you heard about wild vs. farmed salmon? Which do you prefer?

Does your significant other/roomate ever cook? Do you enjoy his/her creations?

Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!

Wedding, Bugs, and Some International Foods

Well I' m EXHAUSTED! Boy has it been a long weekend. I'll start by saying thank you for all of your positive messages about my interview/haircut! Both went fine, I think. During the interview the lady who was interviewing me had a list of questions to ask, obviously. I answered them honestly and she seemed to agree with and appreciate my answers, so that's good. As for the haircut, I decided to let my stylist (Kelly Lee) give me bangs! Not true bangs, but sort of "side bangs". Since my hair is curly I was nervous, but they don't look so bad.

This (scary looking) picture was taken on the way to the wedding. I had Kelly straighten my hair with the blow dryer, so you don't get an accurate picture of my true hair, but at least you see the bangs (kind of...)!

More Wedding/Mini Vacation Pictures
Little did we know Port Clinton (where the wedding was) has a week every year when they are infested by these bugs called "May Bugs". We were not-so-pleasantly surprised to see these bugs EVERYWHERE. Am I going crazy or isn't it June??? Why are there MAY BUGS IN JUNE?? They were literally everywhere.

As excited as I was about the cake, it sucked. I could barely eat it (that's so rare). I didn't even take a picture of it before it was cut because it was ugly. Here is my piece (which I did manage to eat). I think it went down rather easily only because I'd had a few cocktails. You know how that goes? The icing tasted like pure Crisco, it was gross.
The food was awful too. In fact, after we left we went to the store and bought a bag of pistachios. Thanks goodness for these, I was hungry. I plan to make pistachio ice cream with what is left over!

This morning after a LONG night of dancing, Nick and I were excited to have some of the continental breakfast provided by our hotel. When we got there it was two types of cereal (Fruit Loops and Cheerios) with 2% milk, and some old bagels. We both looked at each other and knew what we had to do:
One Sausage and Egg Biscuit and one McSkillet Sausage Burrito later....
we were finally satisfied, and we started heading back home. Overall the trip was a lot of fun. The food was awful, and nothing to really blog about, but the relaxation and bonding time was excellent.

International Dinner With My Friends In the Human Nutrition Department!
Remember how I told you about the International Dinner on Friday? Here is what I made:
Garlic, Basil Roasted Tomatoes: My Italian dish!

You can see the cooked product in this picture below, in the upper right hand corner.
A lot of people brought desserts and sort of ignored the idea of an "International Dinner", but others did well.

Below was my first plate of food: A venison hot dog (nitrite free! No special origin..), spicy rice noodles with cucumber (I believe this was an Asian dish), chicken tikka (Indian), and my tomatoes (Italian).
Then we roasted marshmallows! Again, no special origin, but so delicious.

Q and A From My FIBER Post
I received a lot of great feedback from my fiber post. It seems like many of you are really into fiber, which is awesome. Here are two questions that I got and which I thought everyone would like to see:


QUESTION
Cooking With Kate asked/said: i like those bars (Fiber One Chewy Bars) a lot and they keep me a lot fuller than any other bar I've tried. Am I getting some fiber from them then?

Answer: To answer your question about the Fiber One Chewy Bars, they are actually not the best source of fiber, as the first ingredient is "chicory root extract" aka inulin! Inulin is one of those "non-viscous" isolated fibers that companies put in their foods to increase the fiber (which is really just anything your body doesn't digest....). Since it's not viscous, it doesn't have a lot of scientific evidence about health benefits. Ugh, sorry to tell you that.

QUESTION
Melissa @ For the Love of Health asked: In your opinion, what is the absolute best source of fiber?

Answer: I'd have to say fruits and vegetables, as well as bread or other products that have whole grain as the first ingredient.

Some of the best sources of fiber are:
Peas
Sweet potato
Broccoli
Bulgur
Whole wheat pasta
BEANS
Oat bran
Oatmeal
Almonds

Question for the Day:
What are you looking forward to most this week? For me it's just the fact that I am done with school and I only have my thesis to focus on, which is nice.

And as always, feel free to ask ME anything you'd like :)

More on Coffee, and Some Weekend Eats

Happy Monday..is that right? I mean, it's possible to have a happy Monday, right??? I'm so tired this morning, but much less so than yesterday morning. I actually got to bed at a decent hour last night since I knew I had to be up early. Today is another home visit day for me, after my Columbus Dietetic Association board meeting. I have faith that this week will be much better than last week!

Weekend Eats
This weekend was fantastic, but not good in terms of spending money. Since Thursday night I have eaten out 3 times! That is very unlike me. I tend to drink a little more than I should when I go out to eat (as in I drink two, rather than the one I might drink at home. In terms of health, one beer a day is actually good for you, but anymore than 1 is not....). But we always have a good time and it's always worth every extra penny, and every extra risk factor (haha, that sounds dumb). On Saturday we went to a local restaurant called The Grandview Cafe.

Here is a mouth watering picture of one of my favorite summer beers:

Blue Moon This is a great beer on a hot summer night. Nick had another favorite of mine, Great Lakes Burning River.

Nick and I had never eaten at the Grandview Cafe together. We had both been there with other people, but never with one another. Do you know who I saw when we were there? My ex boyfriend (from three years ago) and his new girlfriend. Clearly I am not upset, as I'm in love with Nick times a million, but it was somewhat startling since he had broken up with me because he "wasn't ready for a girlfriend". Ok, I guess it was three years ago and you can "become ready" within three years, but this girl was clearly nothing like me, it was just wierd!!! Bottom line, he probably broke up with me because he "didn't like me". I can't believe I fell for that line!

Ok back to the meal....
Greek Salad with Chicken, kalamata olives, goat cheese
Blackened chicken, side of vegetable, side of mashed potatoes
Good choice Nick! I'm so proud :)
Rating: 6 out of 10
Now it is clear to me why we never go to the Grandview Cafe. The beer was the best part of the meal.

Research Update
The Latest Coffee Trends and Research
This is my coffee of choice, Maxwell House, 1/2 Decaf, 1/2 regular. Made with 100% Arabica bean. Why is this what I drink? It was the cheapest at the time. Maybe next time it'll be Folger's, but no matter what it's half decaf! I really enjoy drinking coffee throughout the day. Half decaf makes this possible within a caffeine limit!
I love coffee. I love it at my apartment, served hot in the morning....
I love it on the go, served hot or cold....
and I love it at home in the middle of the day, served cold with some Almond Breeze!

** The following information is from Today's Dietitian Magazine**
Some Coffee Statistics:
- 17% of the adult population consumed a gourmet beverage (coffee!) on a daily basis in 2008, compared with 14% in 2007.
- 19% of coffee drinkers are ages 25 to 59
- The average amount of cups of coffee per day for those aged 18 to 24 is 3.2.
- Gina's average amount of cups of coffee per day is 4 (half decaf of course)

Some Common Coffee Terms:
Fair-Trade Certified: "guarantees that the farmers who grew the coffee beans were paid a fair price and that guidelines for environmental sustainability and prohibition of the most harmful pesticides were followed" (Today's Dietitian Magazine)
Organic Coffee: "grown without exposure to hazardous pesticides" (Today's Dietitian Magazine)
Shade Grown: "refers to coffee that must be grown beneath existing trees and use less synthetic fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides, thus protecting the native forests and its habitats (Today's Dietitian Magazine).

Recently Published Health Benefits:
- Reviews of the literature regarding coffee and health have found there may be something in coffee (maybe the caffeine) that lowers insulin resistance, which is what causes Type 2 Diabetes!
More than 15 cohort studies from all around the world have implied that drinking regular coffee is linked with a decreased rate in Type 2 diabetes. This may be due to the effect coffee has on the slowing down of carbohydrate absorption (since you don't want to absorb it really fast, as hormones such as insulin don't like that!)

- Coffee consumption has been linked to lower risk of liver cancer. Ten studies have found evidence of a reverse association between coffee consumption and hepatocellular carcinoma (live cancer). This is great news and something to keep an eye out for, but there is not enough evidence at this time.

- Other studies have reported benefits on conditions such as gallstones, Parkinson's disease, prostate cancer, cognitive function, migraines, and endurance. There is also literature out there regarding coffee and memory (see one my my blog posts for more info).

- Coffee is full of antioxidants, similar to red wine, and dark chocolate. Coffee has been shown to inhibit the oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol, which may play a role in preventing atherosclerosis and heart disease.

GIVEAWAY: Nope, not my giveaway, but Emily's giveaway. She's having a contest for which the prize is a "Mix My Granola" gift certificate! I think this product looks delicious and it's one of those "why didn't I think of that?!" ideas.


Question of the day: What's your favorite coffee drink (or fun beverage)? If not coffee, what's your favorite beer, wine, soda?
Any questions for me about anything?

Thanks for reading and have an excellent week!

Research Symposium and New Omega-6 Recs.

Yesterday was the Russell Klein Nutrition Research Symposium, an event our department organizes every year. The event is in memory of a cancer researcher/professor who actually died of cancer about 3 years ago and it is a chance for all the students to share their research with others.
Bad picture, I look shiny, but whatever:

Here is my poster, which discusses my research on the beliefs that predict whether registered dietitians with teach fresh vegetable food safety. Keep in mind, of course, this poster was printed on Tuesday, the day BEFORE I realized my statistics were wrong. I didn't re-make the poster because a) it costs $125 and b) the results on my poster were similar to my new results, just not as impressive and not as accurate. It was still good practice for my thesis presentation in August.

Our keynote speaker, Dr Dietz, specializes in childhood obesity. While I am somewhat sick of hearing about this topic (that sounds awful, but often times speakers just say the same thing..) Dr Dietz was super interesting and I really enjoyed his discussion. He currently works at the Center for Disease Control and is working on strategies to put into place throughout the US in order to combat the obesity epidemic. Many of his goals are oriented towards policy change, which is the first MAJOR step in really getting things done and making a profound difference in the number of obese children, and adults. Overall, the day was fabulous, and I even won a cookbook! Emily (of the Health Nut) won an amazing award for all of her hard work, which she clearly deserved.

BAKING
I made no-bake cookies for the dessert table at the symposium: "Buckeye" No Bake Cookies
I made them as healthy as possible:
2 cup sugar (I used 1 cup Splenda and 1 cup sugar)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened soymilk)
1/2 cup margarine (I used Smart Balance butter blend sticks)
1 t vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used Smart Balance crunchy)
3 cups oats

On medium heat mix sugar, cocoa, milk, and margarine. Bring this to a boil, stirring occasionally, and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and then stir in vanilla, salt, PB, and oats. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper or foil. This recipe makes about 33 cookies.

Dinner at The Fish Market on Thursday Night
The night before the symposium we took the key note speaker, Dr. Dietz, out for dinner. I ordered the Cedar Plank Salmon:
Does it look good? Well it wasn't, it was GREAT! Ingredients: Summer squash, roasted vegetables, asparagus, portabella relish, goat cheese.
I ate every last bite, despite the fact that I was full about 3/4 into the dish. I didn't feel guilty either, it was amazing.

Which leads me to:
New Research Regarding Omega-6 Fatty Acids
Omega-6 fatty acids are essential fatty acids, like Omega-3 (found in my salmon), but they are not often discussed because most Americans have no trouble getting them. Why? They are found in vegetable oils (canola, soybean, peanut), which Americans have no trouble getting in their diets (think fries, and dressings). When I was in school we were sort of taught to look down on Omega-6's. While they are important in the diet, the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 is supposed to be 4:1, while many Americans get a ratio of something closer to 12:1 or 17:1. The reason this ratio is important is because Omega-6s are linked to pro-inflammatory processes in the body, and have been linked to heart disease and other inflammation diseases.

New studies, however, have been showing an association with Omega-6 and LOWER cardiovascular disease risk, and improved blood lipids. Five studies were sighted, with specific results that associated higher percentages of Omega-6s to lower CVD risk, improved total-HDL cholesterol ratio (good cholesterol), and a reduction in LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol).

New recommendations: The American Dietetic Association and the Dietitians of Canada are now recommending that 5%-10% of your diet should be Omega-6s and .6% to 1.2% should be Omega-3s. The calculation comes out to be a ratio of about 8:1 (double the amount of omega-6s than previously thought). Keep in mind, the lower percentage is for those who eat less calories, while the higher percentage is for those who eat more.
SOURCE: Today's Dietitian

In-Season Vegetable and Fruit (Get them while they're fresh and cheap!)
June: Greens, Lettuce, Peas, Radishes, Rhubarb, Strawberries, Zucchini!


Questions of the day: What do you think your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 is? Do you think it's strange that they used to be so big on forcing the 4:1 ratio on us, and now they are all of a sudden changing their minds? In my opinion it makes me wonder what recommendations will be changed next! I guess that's just the beauty of nutrition science, it's always changing.