Tips from gaining health

Making her CHG debut, please welcome todays guest blogger, Amy Dickenson. Amy is an actor, writer, producer, and mom to the cutest baby girl in the five boroughs.

Forty. Forty is the new 30, right? Well, in my house, 40 is starting to look like the new 60. My gorgeous husband and I have recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol—hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, to be fancy, like certain cheeses which I love and will never be able to eat again.

Photo: Jami Dwyer via Flickr

Let’s jump in the Crisco Time Machine. It all started 18 years ago when our courtship took a decided slant toward biscuits slathered in butter and jam. Have you ever tasted butter? It’s like a miracle married to a unicorn wrapped in a rainbow. Much like its cousin, bacon, which is a miracle married to a unicorn dipped in chocolate, butter’s not so good for your arteries. But it was the early ‘90s and we didn’t know about cholesterol and vegetables back then. Did we?

Back in the time machine to August 2010. My cholesterol is 254. WHAT? I am not a high-falutin’, pin-stripe-wearin’ banker chugging scotch, smoking stogies, eating aged porterhouse steaks with my big wig partners, guffawing over “that deal” that made “lots of money” while flashing my newly laminated AARP card. I am a working mom. I eat veggies. I make sure my family gets a salad at least once a day. So, what gives? And why is my husband’s blood pressure 180/2 million?

My husband (let’s call him Adam) and I do not agree all the time (shocking) but we do agree on one thing: We want to be around for our baby daughter’s graduation from college. And her wedding. And her babies. And their graduations from college. Even if she doesn’t get married or go to college, we want to be around to lament those things.

She is worth all the broccoli in China. And I know they have tons, because, let’s face it, nobody ever eats that side of bright green buried under the General Tsao’s chicken. I imagine the Great Wall as an agricultural implement built to contain the cruciferous invaders from the steppes of central Asia. They must love it as much as I do.

Photo: La Grande Farmers Market via flickr

Our daughter, however, loves broccoli (a secret point of pride), and for now, she needs us to make it for her. Time to act.

Adam’s doctor put him on the First Line Therapy diet. Mine gave me a prescription cholesterol reducer, a pharmaceutical of the most common side effects reported are headache, muscle pain, abdominal pain...variety.

One of the scariest side effects I read about is birth defects. Since Adam and I are “not not trying” to have another baby, the meds are sitting on my desk, looking forlorn while I debate whether to take it. Or I could give this First Line Therapy diet a try too.

Adam and I are fly-by-the-seat of our pantsers, not planners. I love to cook, but I have been known to open the freezer at 5 pm and stare blankly for three minutes before I reach directly above it for the takeout menus. (OK, the restaurant numbers are in my cell phone.)

How do two nonplanners plan to be healthy, live longer, and learn about nutrition on a diet that requires grocery shopping in advance of the moment we might need said ingredients?
I started by reading the cute little binder Adam got from his doctor. It has menus, recipes, and tips like pretty much every other diet book. I thought, “Hmmm. This looks really great.” And I said to Adam, “Babe, this is really great.” And then I put down the book and we ordered chicken ceasar wraps with feta from Zorba’s. Because you can have fat-free feta on this diet. (Zorba’s doesn’t have fat-free anything.)

Oh I needed a PLAN. I gave myself a goal of meal planning for three days. My mind can grapple with Sunday, Monday and Tuesday just fine. I didn’t want to get too ambitious and hope for a week.

First Line Therapy (FLT) is basically the reduced-carb, high-veggie, lean protein, healthy fat diet that we have all read about, tried, and maybe succeeded at. It’s similar to the South Beach approach or the Mediterranean diet…or Weight Watchers if you do it right.

You aim for a set number of calories per day within a certain set of food groups. For instance, Adam can eat 2000 calories a day, and this is how they break it down:

Servings per Day
3–4 “Category 1” veggies (the green leafies, the zucchinies, the tomatoes, the peppers, etc.)
2 legumes
1 dairy
3 concentrated proteins
2 fruits
4 healthy oils
1 nut
1 grain
1 “Category 2” veggie (the yummy orange ones)

You can read more about FLT here, where people are dangerously perched on two-wheels or here, where they weigh giraffes. I per the giraffes.

Among the many challenges of embracing FLT is that it’s kinda pricey. They recommend you eat what they call “medical food,” which includes Ultra Meal 360 Plus shakes with delicious "Selective Kinase Response Modulators,” twice a day and take a variety of supplements. You can indulge in medical chalklate, medical chalkberry or medical chalknilla flavored shakes, which you mix with cold water. Or you can get purse-friendly bars in flavors approximating fudge or apple cinnamon. (We have yet to try the apple cinnamon bars or strawberry shake flavors.) If there is a cookie variety, they are holding out on us.

“Medical food,” in combination with the cost of fresh produce, was looking a little forbidding until we looked at our daily Starbucks intake—$10 easy for both of us, which adds up to over $3600 a year. If we cut that out, along with our takeout habit, we could maybe swing this thing.

I comparison shopped at our local grocery store vs. the health food store vs. the farmer’s market. A head of lettuce at our grocery store costs around $3. I never used to buy a head of lettuce that I’d have to cut up and WASH and spin and hang to dry. It’s like doing laundry. Especially when have these cute little plastic boxes of cut up, triple-washed lettuce. But, they’re $4.99 a box. And, if truth be told, we usually throw away about 1/3 of it when the purple leafy things get all slimy. Hmmm… I see savings in my salad spinner.

The farmer’s market had locally grown lettuce for (drum roll please) $2! And it doesn’t come in those plastic shells which I always feel guilty about buying and tossing. So, not only am I supporting local growers, I can get my green on too? I’m sold. Or least sold on Wednesdays. Because that’s the only day the farmers market comes to my area.

To fill out the week, I decided to go for Romaine hearts at my grocery store, saving roughly $4 a week. Over a year, that’s $200. Which means I can buy those fancy Omega-3s FLT recommends we take. Or the “Medical food,” which is $50 a canister for 14 servings. OUCH, but remember the lettuce. Remember the lettuce!

Here is my 3-day plan:
Breakfast: a medical food shake, plus 2 eggs – anyway you like ‘em
Snack: fruit with a nut butter (Almond butter is pricey, but a little goes a loooong way. Plus, you can only have 1 tbsp.)
Lunch: here’s where the planning kicks in…yesterday’s dinner leftovers
Snack: another fruit
Dinner: a recipe from Adam’s cute binder and a salad
Snack: another medical food (This stuff is pricey.)*

Sunday’s dinner was turkey chili from the book (surprisingly delicious); Monday’s dinner was salad with grilled chicken breast; and Tuesday’s dinner was turkey and bulgur with peas (also yummy).

Not only did we have plenty of chili for lunch, I actually froze two servings for another day. The bulgur recipe looks like it might be another loaves and fishes story. I have never cooked bulgur, which I had to get at my health food store, but it was only $4 for a bag that will last me until the Buffalo Bills win a superbowl.**

Now I have to take a deep breath because today is Wednesday. And I have to plan again. But I did it THREE DAYS in a row. And I think I can, I think I can, I think I can… I talked to my doctor about Adam’s FLT diet, and he asked how it was going. “Well, it’s challenging, figuring out how to cook and plan and get all the food groups in.” He said, “That’s what it is. It’s practice.”

Hmmm... Practice. I can do that.


*According to the American Heart Association, in 1995, the last yearly figures they publish, there were 1,460,000 angiograms performed at an average cost of $10,880 per procedure. This resulted in 573,000 bypass surgeries at an average cost of $44,820, and 419,000 percutaneous transluminal (balloon) coronary angioplasties (PTCAs) at an average of $20,370 each. The total bill in 1995 was $50 billion, or $137 million per day―$5.7 million per hour. The total annual cost of cardiovascular disease in the United States, including medications and disability, is approximately $274 billion per year. And that was in 1995. When we were slathering butter on our biscuits. Good grief.

**Adam and I proudly hail from Buffalo, NY.

If you dug this article, you may also dig:
How to Lose Weight and Keep It Off: 10 Rules to Live By
Weekly Meal Planning for Singles, Couples and Working People
Why Weight Maintenance Is Harder Than Weight Loss, and How to Help It Along

Why do different insurers pay different amounts for the same service?  While Medicaid and Medicare are notorious for their take-it-or-leave-it fee schedules, competing commercial insurers payment rates for vary considerably across providers, even within the same region.

Uwe Reinhardt tackles this mystery in a just-published article in Health Affairs.  Not only is this “price discrimination” untidy, says he, it’s also been unfairly credited as being evidence of “cost shifting.”

It turns out that there are some credible studies that show that as public payer fee schedules get squeezed, commercial insurers seem to pay more.  Yet, in order for a cause and effect to be present, that would mean that providers are not acting in their own economic self interest and are waiting on Medicare and Medicaid before bargaining with their local managed care plans. To Dr. Uwe, that seems suspect.  That would mean commercial insurers have little negotiating leverage which would also mean that the U.S. cannot rely on them to control costs.  Yikes.

Compounding this untidiness are the big swings in the costs of goods and services in an opaque market that seems better suited to upside price gouging and not downside discounting. This is not only hurting the uninsured, the dysfunction is now reaching into the pocketbooks of the middle class.  No wonder Americans are grumpy about the cost of health care.

Dr. Uwe’s suggestion? An “all payer” system.  Not to be confused with a “single payer” system involving some sort of Obamaesque Price Czar, all payers would negotiate prices with all providers in regional blocks across counties, regions or even states.

Some of the European countries use this approach and so, by the way, does the state of Maryland.  The role of government would presumably be limited to brokering a yearly Big Meeting between representatives of both camps; in fact, government could make sure all parties agree to prices that are indexed to the GDP.  The result?  Patients would benefit from an average price applied equally to all, insurers would know they’re paying their fair share and best of all, hospitals would get a fair price for their services.

The DMCB likes the approach but suspects that politicians would be tempted to meddle by showing favoritism.   It would per to see it implemented at the state level while the Feds are kept at arms length.  It should be limited to hospitals at first.  Depending on how things work out, it could be tested on a trial basis involving physicians, such as the Patient Centered Medical Home.

Every now and then, we get a question from someone just learning to cook, asking which dishes we would suggest for beginners. My first answer is usually Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay sauce, served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with fried egg on top and spam guacamole. Always edible and frequently divine, it’s tough to mess up, being a no-cook dish with four or five key ingredients. Plus, people love people who make guacamole. If the last census is to be believed, guac is responsible for 30% of all pregnancies, second only to playing Barry White albums on repeat.

But this post isn’t about guacamole. (Fooled you!) It’s about other stuff, starting with the rest of the easy recipe list. After guac, it goes like this: refried beans, eggs, salsa, banana ice cream, chili, soup, and finally, the reason we’re all here today, roasted potatoes.

Practically effortless and more reliable than even a good bra (trust me, guys), roasted potatoes are an all-natural alternative to frozen fries, tots, and various ephemera. The high temperature and longer cooking time produces soft and tender insides with a crisp outer skin, just like nature and the cavemen who invented fire intended. Children and non-children alike love roasted potatoes, and the spuds are suitable for, really, any kind of meal. Serve them for breakfast, second breakfast, brunch, lunch, dunch, dinner, or as a midnight snack, making sure you turn the oven off before you hop into bed with your bounty.

For everyday roasting, I dig red potatoes, though russets (Idaho) and Yukon golds are also quite nice. But reds - velvety with a skin that caramelizes ever-so-slightly - reds are a treat on par with good magazines at the dentist’s office, or your professor canceling a final because his kid got a carrot stuck up his nose. (Note: This actually happened.)

This recipe for Roasted Red Potatoes is about as basic as it gets. You can add some chili powder, cayenne, or minced herbs for effect (rosemary is suggested here), but there’s no real need unless you’re feeling inspired. Though I’ve never had any leftovers, I presume they’d hold up when reheated, and could provide an excellent base for home fries.

To sum: easy, tasty, versatile, healthy, and cheap (which: forgot to mention). Maybe they should be #1 on that Beginners list.

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If these look like you’d have a bunch, then complete your easy meal with:

• Chicken and Mushroom Marsala
• Golden Shredded Brussels Sprouts
• Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

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Roasted Red Potatoes
Serves 4


2 pounds (about 4 medium) red potatoes, scrubbed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (optional)

1) Set rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray with cooking spray.

2) Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Cut each half in lengthwise again. Cut each quarter into slices, from 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch in width.


3) In a medium bowl, combine potatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary if using. Stir thoroughly to combine. Pour on to baking sheet in a single layer, making sure to spread potatoes out so they roast and don’t steam.

4) Cook 20 minutes. Stir potatoes. Cook an additional 15-20 minutes, until sides are browned. Remove and serve hot.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price Per Serving
223 calories, 7 g fat, 3.9 g fiber, 4.3 g protein, $0.54

Calculations
2 pounds (about 4 medium) red potatoes: 653 calories, 0.9 g fat, 15.4 g fiber, 17.1 g protein, $1.94
2 tablespoons olive oil: 239 calories, 27 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.21
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.01
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.01
TOTAL: 892 calories, 27.9 g fat, 15.4 g fiber, 17.1 g protein, $2.17
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 223 calories, 7 g fat, 3.9 g fiber, 4.3 g protein, $0.54

NOTE #2: Wanna help out a good cause? Yay! The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation is asking CHG readers to fill out this Healthy Eating poll for research. They dont want any personal information – just a few answers to some very worthwhile questions. Head on over!

In my humble, meek, somewhat self-effacing (yes, I used the Thesaurus tool) opinion, one of the best recipes we’ve ever featured on CHG is the unfortunately named Cheesy Eggplant Bake. A tornado of vegetables and frommage, it’s most excellent for those days you just want to pack your face with large quantities of delectable healthiness.

Jeez, though. That name.

Today’s recipe has a similar problem. It’s a limey, fresh, summer-appropriate mixture of chicken and various guacamole-associated ingredients. And ideally, it goes in a wrap, on top of a few leaves of lettuce.

So, do we call our creations Deconstructed Guacamole Wraps? On one hand, the name sounds like the classy-like results of a Top Chef quickfire challenge. On the other hand, what everyday cook ever deconstructs anything? Besides his blender, I mean.

Or, do we go with Lime Chicken Salad with Avocado and Tomato? It lacks the upscale panache of the first name, but it IS much more picnic-ready. Like you can just throw it together and be off. Still, there’s the slight mayo-association that comes whenever you use the word “Salad.” And nobody wants that.

Sweet readers, what to call this thing? Would you go with either of the proposed titles? Would you call it something else entirely? How do we convey that it requires leftover chicken? Am I overthinking this?

(My answers: dunno, maybe, yes, beats me, yes.)

Before you get to brainstorming, though, know this: these wraps, while scrumptious, are much richer than our usual entries, due to a lot of avocado and a not-modest amount of olive oil. However, you can drop a significant amount of fat by reducing each ingredient by half. Not that you have to. This is all pretty healthy, fat-wise.

With that said, how about that name? Im stymied.

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If you dig this recipe, these might also float your boat:

• Chipotle Pork Tenders
• Pasta with Turkey Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
• Skillet Chicken Fajitas

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Deconstructed Guacamole Wraps
OR Lime Chicken Salad with Avocado and Tomato
Serves 4.


8 ounces grilled chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 avocado, diced
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 large leaves green lettuce
4 tortilla wraps

NOTE: I used grilled chicken thighs for this, due to their moistness and general tastiness. There were three of ‘em and I took each apart with my fingers.

1) In a medium bowl, combine chicken, avocado, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and cilantro. Stir, gently if you have very-ripe avocado.

2) In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Pour on to chicken mixture and stir to combine.

3) Place a few leaves of lettuce on each wrap. Split chicken evenly among wraps. Roll them up. Serve!

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price
368 calories, 23 g fat, 5.7 g fiber, 18 g protein, $1.30

NOTE: Your numbers will be slightly different depending on what cut of chicken and what kind of wraps you use. My calculations are for chicken thighs and Tropical brand tortillas.

Calculations
8 ounces grilled chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces: 435 calories, 22.7 g fat, 0 g fiber, 54 g protein, $1.27
1 avocado, diced: 322 calories, 29.5 g fat, 13.5 g fiber, 4 g protein, $1.00
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes: 27 calories, 0.3 g fat, 1.8 g fiber, 1.3 g protein, $0.99
1/4 cup red onion, minced: 17 calories, 0 g fat, 0.6 g fiber, 0.4 g protein, $0.12
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped: 1 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, 0.1 g protein, $0.25
3 tablespoons lime juice: 12 calories, 0 g fat, 0.2 g fiber, 0.2 g protein, $0.50
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil: 239 calories, 27 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.24
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt: negligible calories, fat, fiber, protein, $0.01
Freshly ground black pepper: negligible calories, fat, fiber, protein, $0.01
4 large leaves green lettuce: 19 calories, 0.3 g fat, 2.4 g fiber, 1.4 g protein, $0.10
4 wraps: 400 calories, 12 g fat, 4 g fiber, 12 g protein, $0.72
TOTAL: 1472 calories, 91.8 g fat, 22.6 g fiber, 73.4 g protein, $5.21
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 368 calories, 23 g fat, 5.7 g fiber, 18 g protein, $1.30

Not All Dark Chocolate Healthy | Dark chocolate that has a cocoa content of more than 65 percent of the lot referred to as super foods to prevent heart defect. But the amount of flavonoids in chocolate are inconsistent and often not mentioned in the label.

Flavonoids are antioxidants in cocoa plants, flavonoids are a key prevention of disease, as healthy blood vessels. However, the levels of flavonoids in chocolate varies per product. This is due to the distillation process of any fruit affects the cocoa antioxidant levels.


Researchers from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom analyzed 12 brands of dark chocolate and found flavonoid levels in each brand is different, ranging from 90 mg to 900 mg/pack

According to Catherine Kwik-Uribe, PhD from Mars Botanical, studies suggest flavonoid intake of 200 mg per day of heart-healthy cocoa. But the flavonoid vary in each product, so consumers do not necessarily get the health benefits of each product.

"Consumption of flavonoid chocolate on a regular basis is healthy, but we need to know exactly how many there are in the products we consume. Unfortunately rather difficult to get recommendation for sure,"

he said.

Another difficulty is the flavonoid content of cocoa is not included in the packaging label.

Even so do not worry, however dark chocolate snacking rated healthier than other snacks that contain higher sugar.

Choosing a Ripe Star Fruit.

Step 1: How to Choose a Ripe (or ripening) Star Fruit. When ripe, star fruit are mainly bright yellow with tinges of light green. They may have some dark brown along the five ridges - this is normal. The flesh should still be quite firm to the touch.

You can also buy star fruit when its green and wait for it to ripen - just leave it on your counter (in its plastic wrapping) for a few days. When over-ripe, star fruit turns entirely yellow and starts to have brown spots all over.

Start Fruit Facts: Star Fruit is a juicy tropical fruit grown in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, South America, but also in Hawaii and Florida, so theyre an easy fruit to find at your local grocery store or market. Star Fruit are a good choice during the winter months, when theyre readily available. And because theyre a good source of Vitamin C, star fruit can help ward off winter colds and flus.

With only 30 calories per fruit plus lots of fiber, star fruit is a great choice for anyone trying to lose weight. Theyre also very healthy - full of antioxidants and flavonoids.

Nice to eat fresh, but also delicious cooked or juiced, star fruit are truly one of natures starry-eyed wonders! (For star fruit recipes, see adjoining links).

Cut Off the Dark Tip Along Each Ridge.

Rinse the star fruit, or lightly wash it with a vegetable wash.

Hold the star fruit vertically over a cutting board or counter-top. Using a sharp knife, cut very shallowly down along each of the five ridges (or "star points"), removing and discarding the brown outer edge.

Cut Off the Stem End of the Star Fruit.

Turn the star fruit on its side. You will see that one end of the fruit comes to a peak, while the other end is flatter with a dark spot (where the stem was attached). Cut off this end piece and discard.

Slice the Star Fruit.

Now your star fruit is ready to be sliced. Like an apple, you can cut thin or thick slices - its up to you. Either way, youll love the beauty of cutting this marvelous work of nature.

If youre cooking with the star fruit, check your recipe for cutting thickness instructions.

Remove the Seeds.

Using the tip of your knife, remove and discard any seeds you find (Star fruit seeds are similar to apple seeds, but can be slightly larger and flatter).

Enjoy Your Star Fruit!

Your star fruit is now ready to be eaten fresh, or added to salads or desserts. Star fruit is also excellent juiced (its especially good when combined with pear juice).

For star fruit recipes, check the recipe links adjoining this article. ENJOY!!