My apologies for my 2 week+ hiatus. I was traveling Thanksgiving week, and the week after was oddly a train wreck at my house. I hope you had a holiday that was delicious. Mine was.
Freakonomics published an extremely interesting podcast about food a few weeks ago. I highly recommend you listen to it if you get the chance. Or the transcript is also available at the link above. I will only share two of my favorite highlights here.
The first guest recently published a huge cookbook, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. I really liked his last statement on the show:
“Well, I’m one of these people who really thinks that it’s all about moderation. And from the way my book is written, you might think that I eat steak and potatoes every night, but the reality is actually really far from that. So, if I’m going to eat a hamburger, I want that to be the best damn hamburger I can make, right? So that’s where this idea that I’m going to try to perfect these foods, these comfort classics that people love — that you shouldn’t necessarily eat every day, but when you make them you want them to be really great. So, on a day-to-day basis, my wife and I stay mostly vegetarian; we eat a lot of fish, a lot of seafood. We both exercise. So, you know, food can be delicious, but it should also be sustaining at the end, and your health is not really worth that extra serving of burgers or extra serving of creamy potato casserole.”
Sums up so much of my philosophy in a really great way. You don’t have to give up the foods you love entirely. But when you do eat them, eat a good version to make it worth it.
The second guest talked more about nutrition. Jo Robinson is an investigative journalist that focuses on nutrition. As a side note, I find it very frustrating that many people get more of their nutrition advice from journalists, such as Robinson or Michael Pollan, than from dietitians.
However, I did agree with some of what she had to say. She especially highlighted the interesting fact that raw vegetables are not always better for you than cooked vegetables. She also mentioned that steaming vegetables in the microwave is a great way to cook vegetables and preserve their nutrients. Both of these are true and great tidbits to remember.
I hope you have a great, healthy week!
Have any nutrition questions? Need help with meal planning or a special dietary need? Send your questions to me at kimberlykmarsh(at)gmail(dot)com, and I will answer them in upcoming posts!