Roasted chicory root

In the nutrition world, prebiotics are the new black.

I’m reading about them everywhere, and seeing them added to more and more foods in the supermarket each time I go.

Even if you haven’t heard of them, it’s likely that you’ve eaten them.  Prebiotics are simply a specific type of soluble fiber that people cannot digest, but the friendly bacteria in our guts can.  In other words, prebiotics are food for “probiotics,” or the health-promoting bacteria that live in our intestines and help protect us from diarrhea-causing pathogenic bacteria.  As probiotic bacteria grow and thrive while they feast on prebiotics, they throw off all sorts of beneficial digestive by-products called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).  Lots of research into the health benefits of these SCFAs is emerging, and they are being credited with outcomes ranging from regularity to colon cancer prevention to inducing remissions in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases like Ulcerative Colitis.   It’s exciting stuff, to be sure, but don’t let your zeal for digestive nirvana send you into a prebiotic feeding frenzy just yet.  After all, things that your gut bacteria digest for you produce gas as a by-product.  Go slow and you shall reap the rewards without suffering a flatulent fate.

There are many types of fiber that act as prebiotics, but the most common one you’re likely to come across is called inulin. While there’s a modest amount of it in onions and asparagus, the two biggest food sources of inulin are Jerusalem artichokes and Chicory root.  Since we’ve discussed the former already at length in a previous post, we can turn our attention to the latter and ask the obvious question: what on earth is chicory?

The answer is a little-known bit of food trivia that surprised and delighted me.  As it turns out, chicory is the root of the same plant that has endive for the leaves!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Witlof_en_wortel.jpg

(Isn’t that picture wild?)  I always thought of endive as this really tailored, sophisticated, slightly stuffy French lettuce that existed to be eaten in a salad with apples or pears, blue cheese or goat cheese and walnuts, or perhaps to serve as a fancy boat-like carrier to hold dips and appetizers.  But on seeing its wild, untamed roots, I realized that perhaps I had judged Endive too quickly.

Chicory root is mostly processed to yield its inulin fiber, which is then added to all sorts of packaged foods for a variety of purposes.

1. To help boost a food’s fiber content (e.g., energy bars like Luna Bars, Gnu bars, Target Market Pantry Fiber Bars, Fiber One bars, etc…)
2. To help create a creamy “mouthfeel” in reduced-fat and reduced sugar products (e.g., lowfat/low calorie yogurts like Yoplait)
3. To allow manufacturers to make health claims  about immunity and GI health (e.g., Stonyfield Farm yogurts, Knudsen/Breakstone’s LiveActive cottage cheese).

But you can’t exactly *taste* chicory when its all powdered and processed and hidden in a sugary yogurt or bar.  And by all accounts, chicory has got a nice sweet taste that’s worth experiencing.   Which is where chicory coffee comes in.  As it turns out, chicory has been used as a (caffeine-free) coffee substitute for ages. I first became tuned into this product when my sister decided to give up caffeine and used chicory coffee to wean herself off of the brew.  She recommended I try a brand called Teeccino, either the plain “coffee” variety or one of their flavored varieties, and mentioned it also tasted good iced.  I found it at Whole Foods, and was momentarily disappointed to read that in addition to chicory and some other natural ingredients, the product contained barley: a no-no for the celiac set due to its gluten content.  But then I read the claim that “brewed teeccino” is certified gluten free.  According to the manufacturer “the drip brewing process doesn’t extract gluten into the liquid, as you need alcohol to extract gluten, not boiling water. For gluten sensitive people, we advise using a paper filter to block any grounds from going into your cup that could potentially float through the filter chamber if you have a permanent filter that is more permeable than paper.”  (Thanks for the info, Teeccino!)  The verdict?  This stuff really does taste coffee-like!  It’s weaker, but it definitely shared the same character, and I could really see getting into it.  (In fact, here’s an open call to all chicory coffee drinkers to send in some preparation tips for us novices!)

I should also point out that there are some instant (rather than brewed) chicory beverages on the market that also contain barley.  This means that you end up drinking the actual grounds… rather than liquid filtered through the grounds, and the end product will *not* be gluten free.  (One such brand I saw like this was called “Pero“).  Fellow celiacs, beware.  But everyone else, enjoy!  

If you want your chicory with a little bit of real coffee, Cafe du Monde makes a blend of the two that they claim was invented by the French during their civil war when coffee was scarce.  Chicory was used as an ‘extender,’ if you will, and the flavor caught on.  The company says that chicory adds an almost chocolate flavor that rounds out the coffee’s bitterness.  Nestle in France makes a similar instant drink product called Ricore, if you happen to be living in Paris right now and want to pop into your local marche.  Apparently, roasted chicory is the secret to New Orleans-style coffee, so next time you’re down there for Jazzfest or Mardi Gras, look for it.

Before we exhaust the topic of chicory beverages, I should also note that brewed chicory coffees do not contain very much inulin/prebiotics.  Once again, according to Teeccino’s manufacturer, a 10 oz cup has less than one gram.  But between your Jersusalem artichokes, asparagus, onions, fortified yogurts, energy bars and what have you, there are plenty of other ways to get your prebiotic fix.

Alternatively, I’ve seen finely-ground chicory sold as a non-caloric, carbohydrate-free sugar-substitute that’s targeted at diabetics under the brand name Just Like Sugar.  As a non-digestible fiber, the inulin in ground chicory root shouldn’t raise blood glucose levels at all.  If you use it in small portions like you would sugar (like a teaspoon or two to sweeten your chicory coffee), the amount of actual dietary fiber you’ll get is negligible.  But in large portions (like if you downed the whole container), it would provide some dietary fiber.  So there you have it.  Chicory-based sweeteners are natural and non-caloric and nutritionally legit, if you’re interested in giving them a try.

So there you have it.  Everything you never realized you wanted to know about chicory.  Perhaps it will come in handy one day if you’re ever someone’s lifeline on ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Root Edition’.

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As winter drags on, the pickings are slim in the New York City farmers markets.  As far as fresh produce goes, all I see in abundance these days are apples… and rutabagas.

So I figured it was high time to figure out what on earth a rutabaga was and how to prepare it.

Once I started looking into things, I was more than a little embarassed that I hadn’t bothered to meet this lovely root vegetable earlier.

For starters, rutabagas are cruciferous vegetables and members of the Brassica family– which is the same family as calcium-rich and cancer-fighting cabbage, kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, bok choy and mustard greens.  (They are often referred to as “yellow turnips,” and are in fact a cross between cabbage and turnip.)  Unfortunately, rooty rutabaga has substantially less calcium than the leafy members of its family, but it makes up for this deficit with its other redeeming qualities.  Namely, it contains the same cancer-fighting compounds as do its kinfolk, and 1 cup of boiled, cubed rutabaga contains 50% of the daily value for vitamin C, a mere 66 calories, 15g of carbohydrate and 3g of fiber. (That’s one starch exchange, by the way, in case you’re calculating a diabetic diet, or about half of the carbohydrate as in a similar portion of boiled potato with skin.  Bargain!)

And to top off the nutritional scoop with a bit of rutabaga lore, I learned two very interesting tidbits from Wikipedia:

1. There is an International Rutabaga Curling Championship every year at the Ithaca, NY Farmer’s Market (start warming up that rotator cuff of yours if you want to compete next year).
2. Hollowed-out rutabagas were used in lieu of pumpkins for halloween jack-o-lanterns in the UK and Ireland before pumpkins made their way over there.

Nutritious AND fun?  Where had this root been all my life??

So I consulted my friend Martha Stewart for some inspiration, and she reported that one popular way to enjoy rutabagas is as a boiled and mashed dish called “bashed neeps,” which would be served with haggis.

Yes, well.  Perhaps I’d continue searching.

Most every other recipe I found was for mashed rutabaga alone or a medley of roasted or mashed root vegetables of which rutabaga was one.  While this certainly sounded easy enough, I wanted something a little bit more special for my first time.  Paula Deen had lots of rutabaga recipes, but I had to veto most of them… especially the one that called an entire stick of butter PLUS a half-pound of cream cheese (!).  What’s the point of eating cancer-fighting vegetables only to die of a heart attack?

And then, in the depths of the web’s online recipe archives, I found my recipe: Vegetable Pot Pie with Wine Sauce and Polenta Crust.  As you know, I’ve had polenta on the brain recently.  And I loved the idea of a pot pie recipe that was vegetarian, cream-less and made with a crust that was both wheat-free AND butter/lard free.

A vegetarian, low-fat, gluten-free pot pie recipe that will even tempt the most carnivorous wheat-eaters you know

The recipe looks a lot more difficult than it actually is.  If you roast the vegetables in advance, then you can actually start on the sauce, polenta, assembly and baking about 30 minutes before you want to eat.  I was blown away by how beautiful the medley of bite-sized vegetables looked before going in to roast: the potatoes, rutabaga, carrots and pepper created a beautiful sunset spectrum of white to gold to orange to red.  The leek added gorgeous, almost neon-green confetti to the mix.  And the mushrooms grounded the whole mixture with its earthy color and texture. While the veggies roasted, I tended to other matters around the house.  And when it came time to assemble and bake, I decided to make my pot pies in individual 6″ souffle ramekins rather than in a big square baking dish.  It made them look fancier, and allowed me to do both the baking and subsequent broiling seamlessly in my little toaster oven.  The final product was surprisingly delicious: the wine, mushrooms and herbs de provence gave the dish a savory, earthiness that mingled perfectly with the sweet root veggies.  And the baked polenta on top gave the dish a layer of creaminess that resembled the mashed potatoes atop a shephard’s pie.  The recipe as it is written will make eight 6″ round pot pies; I halved it to make four, which it did precisely. You can serve it as the main event with a side salad for a light meal, or as part of a pub-inspired meal alongside a nice piece of simple grilled fish or perhaps a hearty, natural grilled chicken sausage (like Bilinski’s, for example).

As if it needs to be said, I think I’ll be spending a lot more time with my new friend Rutabaga while he’s still in town for the season…

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Polenta and Frittata: now THAT'S Italian!

In this past week’s Dining section, the NY Times’ Mark Bittman wrote an impassioned article arguing that breakfast was a perfectly good time to cook savory foods once reserved only for dinner. The photo accompanying the piece was a gorgeous close-up of a breakfast ‘polenta pizza’ topped with glistening spinach and cheese.

Since then, I’ve had polenta on the brain.

So when it came time to figure out what to make for dinner on this rainy, dreary Sunday, I knew my polenta train had pulled into the station. Its creamy, comforting texture and happy sunny-yellow color would liven up this day for sure. Plus, it would give me the chance to clear up some misunderstandings about this delicious, naturally-gluten-free grain.

While most polenta–which is Italian-style cornmeal–is not typically produced using whole grains, some brands will still have the grain’s fiberous hull intact (but are missing the vitamin-rich germ, whose presence will decrease the product’s shelf life). Most chefs and cookbook authors recommend one brand of polenta above all others: Anson Mills. Anson Mills is the only producer I’ve come across that actually does market a whole-grain Polenta product--and theirs is made from organic, non-GMO corn varieties as well. If you can find it, it’s worth the splurge. Otherwise, I like Bob’s Red Mill Corn Grits (Polenta), which is coarsely-ground and de-germinated, but still has the hull (bran) intact. And they have an organic variety as well. Most other brands of regular corn grits you come across will be fully refined (especially instant or quick-cooking ones), so read the label before buying. Regular polenta cooks super-fast as it is, so I never quite saw the need for instant varieties.

1 serving of Bob’s Red Mill polenta with the hull intact (1/4 cup dry, which cooks up to about 1 cup) has 130 calories and 2g of fiber. Admittedly, it’s not a fiber powerhouse as far as grains go, but we gluten-free girls need some variety from time to time, so it’s still part of my rotation.

How to cook and serve polenta

Generally speaking, the ratio of water to polenta is 3:1. Boil salted water, and then add polenta, stir, and reduce to a simmer (uncovered), stirring occasionally, until all of the water is absorbed. If you’re feeling indulgent, you can melt a pat of butter into the fully cooked grain before serving. And if you want your polenta to look fancy, pack soft, warm cooked polenta into a small ramekin or baking mold sprayed with non-stick spray and invert it onto serving plates.

I love polenta as a creamy base to soak up the juices of braised meats, like my mom’s brisket (even plant-eating nutritionists are known to sneak in some red meat once or twice a year…). Polenta also makes a great gluten-free pizza crust, but it needs to be cooked first, spread out onto a pizza pan and baked briefly so it hardens enough to hold the toppings. It’s also a featured ingredient in my favorite gluten-free muffin recipe. Tonight for dinner, we enjoyed it as a slightly sweet and simple accompaniment to a savory frittata, whose recipe follows below:

Recipe: Fritatta for Dinner (with polenta)

Serves 6

Coarsely-ground polenta

2 TBSP olive oil

1 red onion, sliced thin

1 red pepper, diced

2 cups spinach (chopped or baby leaves)

2 (nitrite-free) chicken or turkey sausages of your choice, fully cooked and diced* OR ~1/2 cup bite-sized pieces of lox/smoked salmon

8 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup (~4 oz) shredded cheese of your choice (gruyere, swiss, monterey jack, sharp cheddar all work well)

Freshly ground pepper

Rosemary leaves (fresh or dry) to garnish

Fresh arugula leaves (1 cup per person)

Directions:

Before starting on frittata, get polenta cooking on stovetop per package instructions, using 1/4 cup dry polenta and 3/4 cup water per person you’ll be serving. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 10″ oven-safe skillet, saute red onion in olive oil until it’s brown and starting to get crispy. Add diced red peppers (and any other veggie you’re including, except the spinach) and cook another few minutes until it starts to soften. Add the spinach leaves and stir until wilted. Add the diced sausages, mix until all ingredients are blended, and turn off heat.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs and cheese. Add pepper to taste. (If you’re using sausage or lox don’t add salt to the egg mixture or frittata will be too salty. If you’re only using vegetables, you may add some salt to eggs as well, or just wait until its all cooked and salt your portion to taste.)

Pour egg mixture into the skillet and shake/stir to allow egg mixture to fully blend with ingredients and reach the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle top of mixture with rosemary leaves. Bake in oven for ~15 minutes until frittata is set.

Cut into pieces and serve atop a bed of ~1 cup plain, undressed arugula, whose crisp texture and everso slightly bitter flavor will serve as the perfect compliment to the soft and savory frittata.  Serve alongside cooked polenta.

* To make this recipe vegetarian, replace the sausage with 1 cup of any other diced veggie of your choice. Literally, most anything green will work…try zucchini, green beans, or asparagus. If you are using chicken sausage, I quite like the Trader Joe’s brand. They’re 100% natural, preservative-free and gluten-free.

Approximate nutrition information: (analysis assumes you use Trader Joe’s chicken sausages with 100 calories and 6g fat per sausage)

1 piece frittata (1/6 of total): 260 calories, 6g carbohydrate, 8g protein, 19g fat. Serving with 1 cup cooked polenta adds an additional 130 calories, 27g carbohydrate and 3g protein. The bed of arugula adds a whopping 4 calories more. Which makes for a respectable 400-calorie, Sunday-night brunch-dinner if I do say so myself!

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There’s something about the nut bowl at a party which can elicit all sorts of alarm among weight conscious magazine editors. The way some editors warn us about it, being stationed next to the nut bowl while schmoozing at a soiree is the modern-day equivalent of Odysseus at sea, being lured to shipwreck by the Sirens’ calls. With equally epic consequences (for your weight, of course).

But the truth is, no celebration of national heart awareness month could be complete without inviting nuts to the party. And eating them. There is just way too much good data that shows how beneficial to cardiovascular health nuts can be. (Hey–Is this why we call people ‘health nuts?’)

All fats are not created equal

Yes, nuts are high in fat. And for those of us who came of age before the 2000’s, we can be forgiven for thinking that dietary fat is something to be minimized and avoided. (This has been the mantra for awhile, after all.) But the truth is, there are different kinds of fat which are distinguished by their chemical structure. (I won’t geek out on you here except to say that it has to do with how the carbon atoms in a fat molecule are bonded to eachother. Yawn.) Some types are harmful to your cardiovascular health by promoting increased blood cholesterol levels that go on to clog your arteries. These are the saturated and trans fats, and are found primarily in red meat, whole dairy, cheese, and in margarine or other partially-hydrogenated oils used in commercial baking or frying.

But some types of fat actually promote cardiovascular health by lowering your blood cholesterol levels. Let’s dwell on this for a moment. It’s not that they’re ‘less bad’ for you. They are actually actively *good for you* and should comprise the majority of your dietary fat. The main type of this fat is monounsaturated fat, and it’s the kind that makes up most of the fat in nuts. (The other type is polyunsaturated fat, of which some kinds are great and others are so-so. Stay tuned for a future posting about that.) Sources of monounsaturated fats include nuts, avocado, seeds (including sesame seeds/tahini), olives/olive oil and canola oil. The fact that so many of these foods feature so prominently in traditional Mediterranean diets is believed to be a key reason behind lower rates of cardiovascular disease among people who follow that dietary pattern.

So how much of a protective effect do nuts provide?

A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition pooled the results of four very large epidemiological studies and concluded that people with the highest levels of nut intake in their diets had, on average, a 35% reduced risk of coronary heart disease incidence compared to people with the lowest intakes. The results showed a dose-response, meaning that higher intakes of nuts were associated with more protection. In one of the individual studies that comprised this meta-analysis, researchers found a 30% reduction in risk for heart disease when nuts (in this case, almonds) were replacing an equivalent amount of carbohydrate calories in the diet… but an even greater 45% risk reduction when the almonds replaced an equivalent amount of saturated fat calories in the diet. In other words, including nuts in your diet is great. Replacing foods in your diet that are high in saturated fat with nuts appears to be even greater.

Can all of those benefits be just from some monounsaturated fat?

Actually, no! Research shows that the effect size of the decreased risk for heart disease observed in people who eat nuts cannot be accounted for solely through their cholesterol-lowering effects. There are several additional mechanisms that researchers believe are at play when you eat nuts which may account for their impressive impact on cardiovascular health.

• Nuts are high in antioxidants, like Vitamin E and flavonoids, which can help prevent LDL cholesterol from being oxidized in your arteries; oxidized LDL cholesterol is a step in the process to artery-clogging plaque formation. Walnuts, pecans and chestnuts apparently have the highest antioxidant levels of all tree nuts, but the skin of almonds in particular contains very high levels of flavonoids (which you may remember from our dark chocolate discussion)… so go for almonds with the skin instead of blanched ones whenever possible! And peanuts have higher levels of antioxidants than most fruits; they’re reportedly on par with berries in this department.

• Nuts are a good source of several nutrients that promote heart cardiovascular health, like manganese (walnuts, peanuts, almonds), magnesium (cashews, almonds) and copper (all). Without going into excruciating detail about each of these nutrients, let us just say that they play various important roles in regulating your heartbeat, maintaining a healthy blood pressure and keeping your blood vessels from rupturing.

• Walnuts in particular are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids. (Click here for a refresher course on what’s so important about omega-3’s as far as your heart is concerned.) One meager little ounce of walnuts (1/4 cup) contains a full day’s recommended amount of these anti-inflammatory essential fatty acids.

Which nuts, and what’s the best way to add nuts to your diet?

The bulk of the clinical research to date has focused on almonds, walnuts and peanuts, all of which have been linked to happier heart outcomes. So these are a good place to start. (But there’s a world of choice out there, so go…well….nuts.) Generally speaking, 1 oz of nuts has between 160-200 calories, so a little truly goes a long way.

Eating about 1 oz of nuts every other day could be a healthy goal, provided that you account for the extra calories that they provide by replacing something else or making sure to keep up with your physical activity. The amount of nuts in one ounce will vary by type of nut, so you can consult this handy-dandy chart from the nice people at University of Nebraska to see how many nuts we’re talking about here. I’ll grant you that it feels incredibly lame to count out nuts, but if you do it once, then you’ll be able to eyeball a proper portion in the future. Alternatively, the clever marketers at the Almond Board have devised a “perfect portion snack tin” to help you get your ounce-a-day. Personally, I think most people can improvise and find their own, but if a $2 tin helps you keep nuts on your person at all times, then you have my blessing. Nut butters are also a fun way to get your nuts on, though traditionally they have been a less portable snack. I say traditionally, because I’ve recently seen these super-cute individual 1-oz nut-butter packets at Whole Foods. Yes, they are a rip-off. Yes, they create additional packaging waste. And yes, I want to buy them so badly so that I can take my apples-with-peanut-butter on the road with me.

A handful of nuts and some lowfat greek yogurt or fruit would be a really good substitute for a sugary “energy bar” or a serving of store-bought granola that may have a fair share of added sugar. (I rotate this in as one of my 3pm go-to snacks, when I need 200-300 calories and some fiber to tide me over until dinner.) Nut butters on whole grain crackers, a piece of toast, some carrot sticks or your fruit of choice are also a smart choice.

But I also like to cook with nuts, and find myself pairing them with string beans a lot. Many people are familiar with green beans and almonds as a side dish (I like using sesame oil for mine to add to the nutty flavor, and if you’re lazy like me, you can just do it all in a sautee pan instead of baking.) But recently, I promoted nuts to entree status and made them the main event in a quickie String-Bean-and- Cashew-Curry for dinner, served with quinoa to help boost up the protein content. (It was a super-simplistic riff on a Indian string bean curry dish called Lathande Upkari.)

Here’s how I did it (to serve 4):

1. Put on a pot of quinoa to cook before starting the process
2. Using kitchen shears (scissors), cut washed string beans (maybe about 1.25-1.5 lb) into bite-sized smaller segments (around 3 pieces per bean).
3. Slice an onion and satute it in olive oil in a wok-ish pan until it turns translucent
4. Add a sprinkle of ground ginger and a packet of whatever Arora Creation Indian Spice Mix** you have around in the pantry and saute for just a minute, until the onions are coated.
5. Add 1 15-oz can of diced tomatoes and blend until everything is mixed and bubbling
6. Add the string beans stir them around until they’re nice and covered with sauce. Covered pan to let them cook in the steam from the tomato juices.
7. Once the string beans are nice and bright green, just soft enough so they feel cooked when you bite into them but not mushy/wilted and grey, uncover and taste for salt level. Add additional seasoning as desired.
8. To serve: Put cooked quinoa into each serving bowl, layer on the string bean curry, and top with 1/4 cup (~1 oz) of cashews per bowl.

Replace a red-meat-centric meal with this quick, savory curry and I’d say you’re well on your way to discovering the meaning behind FDR’s immortal words: there is nut-hing to fear about nuts except the fear of nuts itself. Or something like that.

** Don’t have a pre-packaged spice mix? Improvise your own: Sprinkle ground cumin, coriander, turmeric and a dash of cayenne pepper over the mixture to taste (use at least twice as much cumin as the coriander).

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Canned salmon cleans up real nice in grandma's famous croquettes

It’s still heart awareness month, so I’ve decided to send some love to a heart-healthy pantry item that seems to get so little of it: canned salmon.

When I was young, my Grandma Esther used to make Salmon Croquettes–which are basically like crab cakes for the kosher set. My dad apparently loved them, though truth be told, I was never a huge fan. But I recently came across her old handwritten recipe, and decided that it was worth giving them a try with my more refined adult palate. And I’m glad I did! They were darn tasty: mild-flavored, with a slightly springy, pancake texture, in contrast to a more meaty texture that you’d expect from an actual salmon burger. They are a perfect brunchy, lunchy or light suppery food, and would go well on a bed of greens as the protein on a salad, or alone as an appetizer served with your favorite fancy mustard, gingery salad dressing, horseradish sauce or dill-infused condiment.

Canned salmon is almost always from wild-caught salmon, which means it tends to have a higher content of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Most of the salmon you eat at restaurants or buy from the market is farm-raised, which means the fish are fed industrially-produced, grain-based fishmeal instead of their natural diet. The result is that farmed fish tends to have much lower levels of healthy omega-3 fats.   According to the smart people at Tufts University, 4 oz of canned salmon contains 2.2g of omega-3 fats, compared with 1.7g in an equivalent portion of fresh or frozen cold-water salmon–that’s 30% more per serving! Note: the current recommendation is to eat 1.1g (women) to 1.6g/day (men), or 7-11g per week, which means 4oz of canned salmon will provide 2 day’s worth of the average woman’s requirements.

Also, canned salmon is an excellent non-dairy source of calcium, assuming you eat the teensy-tiny, wispy bones…which you can do without really even noticing it. (But take out the larger, more visible bones because they can be a choking hazard.)  And lest you think calcium is good for your bone health only, I should mention that calcium is involved in every muscle contraction your body makes. And last time I checked, your heart was a big, ol’ muscle that does a lot of contracting. Which means it has to rob your bones for calcium if you’re not eating enough to keep blood levels steady. A 4 oz portion of canned salmon with bones has about 200mg of calcium, or 20% of the RDA for most adults. If you’re squeamish about encountering the bones when you open the can, they do sell boneless, skinless canned salmon. Buy that and work your way up to the bone-in kind for the extra calcium. You’ll still get the omega-3 benefits, and no one will think any less of you for it.

There’s more! Wild canned salmon is lower in mercury and toxins like PCBs than even farmed salmon, (which is still reasonably low), placing it among the safer fish choices you can make for yourself, your kids, and the pregnant women in your life.

And let’s be honest, how often are there fresh, wild-caught salmon fillets in your refrigerator when you have a hankering for an easy, healthy dinner that’s not chicken…again. Canned salmon is a very convenient food to have on deck for those occasions.

Are you feeling the love yet?

So in memory of my beloved Grandma Esther, I am sharing an updated version of her recipe, which is true to the original except for the part about cooking it in “deep hot fat” until golden brown. Oh, grandma. Deep, hot fat was so 20th century…

Recipe: Grandma’s Salmon Croquettes

(Yield: 10 croquettes, which will be more crab-cake sized than burger-sized)

1 tall (15 oz) can pink salmon. Grandma wrote to “use everything but the bones”, meaning just pick out the large, visible bones and leave everything else.

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk*

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup flour or breadcrumbs (Preferably whole wheat;  you may use a gluten-free version of either if you’re avoiding wheat, as I did.)

1/4 tsp baking soda

Salt and pepper

Olive or canola oil for cooking (amount will depend on size of your pan… I used 1 TBSP per batch of 3-4 croquettes in a non-stick pan and it worked fine.)

(* C’mon… who actually has buttermilk laying around the house? Here’s an easy substitute that I used: combine 1 TBSP lemon juice or vinegar with enough milk to make 1 cup total. Let sit for 5 minutes and then use as you would buttermilk.  Note this recipe only calls for half of this amount.)

Mix salmon, seasonings and eggs. Add buttermilk, flour/breadcrumbs and baking soda and stir until well-blended. In a non-stick pan, heat a small amount of oil (just enough to cover the cooking surface…~ 1.0-1.5 TBSP for a medium-sized pan) until nice and hot. Drop batter with a spoon and pan fry until bottom is golden brown; flip each croquette and cook second side for an additional minute or two until its firm and also nice and brown. Drain on a paper towel and serve.  Note: you can serve these hot, warm or cold.

Nutrition info (approximate; assumes 3 TBSP oil used for frying, and doesn’t account for blotting some oil off after cooking):

1 croquette contains approximately: 140 calories, 11g protein, 4.5g carbohydrate, 9g fat.

1 croquette also has approximately 0.7g of omega-3 fats, so a serving of 2 croquettes (1.4g of omega-3’s) would meet the average woman’s recommended daily intake and come very very close to meeting a man’s recommended intake. Also, 1-2 croquettes, served on a nice bed of greens and vegetables with a low-fat condiment, would make a very good low-carbohydrate meal for someone with diabetes.

Other recipes:

If my grandma’s recipe is too 20th-century for you, Ellie Krieger has a 21st-century Asian-inspired one where she calls the croquettes “cakes” and serves them with a creamy ginger-sesame sauce. But there are plenty of other ways to use canned salmon, too. You can make salmon salad just like you’d make tuna salad, but you may want to squeeze some fresh lemon into it as well. Stick some in a crepe with scrambled eggs and cheese for a french-style brunch… or skip the crepe and use it in an omelet. The web is full of recipes for salmon burgers, which are a perfect way to use canned salmon, and there are variations ranging from Rachael Ray’s bunless salmon burger served on caesar slaw to the manly Jammin’ Salmon Burgers with Dill Mayonnaise (I’d go easy on the mayo for this one to keep it healthier, and use a canola or olive oil mayo instead of the regular soybean-oil-based Hellman’s kind. Better yet: use a dijon or whole grain mustard instead.)

NPR Kitchen Window did a nice piece on canned salmon last year, so check out this link to learn more about the benefits of canned salmon as they relate to mercury content, some tips for cutting the ‘fishier-than-tuna’ flavor (that’s what the lemon juice is for), and some links to family-friendly recipes for things like penne with salmon and peas.

In summary: canned salmon is pink, wild and cheap. It’s sort of like the Cyndi Lauper (circa 1980) of canned fish. So really… what’s not to love?

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It’s still heart awareness month, so I thought I’d dedicate this posting to triglycerides… those little-known blood lipids that constantly get overshadowed by publicity-hungry cholesterol, both “good” (HDL) and “bad” (LDL).

After a routine blood test, a friend of mine was told by his doctor that his triglycerides were a little bit elevated. When my friend asked his doctor what he should do, the doctor replied: “diet and exercise.”

Gee. That was so helpful.

For one, my friend didn’t even know what triglycerides were, why they needed to be lower, and what he could do about it. So if you or anyone you know has had a similar experience, read on. You’ll be happy to know that there are some pretty specific things you can do to help improve your blood triglycerides (TGs) without prescription drugs.

What are triglycerides (TGs)?

Triglycerides are the most common form of dietary fat, and they’re the form in which most of your body fat is stored. High levels of triglycerides in your blood are an independent risk factor for heart disease. In other words: even if your cholesterol levels are normal, having high triglycerides still increases your risk for heart disease. A healthy level would be <150mg/dL. Levels up to 199mg/dL are considered borderline high. Anything above that is high, and really needs to be addressed. In a minority of cases, high triglycerides can be caused by genetic factors or as a side effect to certain medications. Sometimes elevated triglycerides that don’t respond to lifestyle changes can be a sign of undiagnosed diabetes. But for most people–especially most otherwise healthy people– high triglycerides can be caused by various dietary and lifestyle habits.

Even though triglycerides comprise most of your dietary fat, having high blood triglyceride levels is not neccesarily caused by high intakes of dietary fat.

In fact, high TG’s are associated more with diets that are very high in carbohydrates–particularly sugar and refined grains. This is because eating lots of sugar–or other simple carbohydrates and starches that get broken down into sugar quickly– creates more energy than your body can use at one time. The excess sugar is converted into triglycerides–the storage form of fat–by your liver. If you’ve ever wondered why so many of us have such a hard time with weight in a country whose supermarkets are filled with low-fat products, this should offer a clue. Low-fat products tend to replace the missing fat with refined carbohydrate…which, in turn, gets converted into fat once you eat it, anyway. (Those Snackwells cookies we all used to gorge on in the 90’s weren’t such a great nutritional bargain, after all, huh?)

Another key dietary factor associated with high triglyceride levels is alcohol consumption. Alcohol disrupts your liver’s normal metabolism of energy, making it more prone to convert carbohydrate into fat AND less able to break down stored fat into energy. Both of these factors will contribute to higher levels of triglycerides in your blood.

How to lower your blood triglyceride levels

Losing weight (if you are overweight), quitting smoking and increasing the amount of exercise you get will all help lower your triglyceride levels. People who carry their extra pounds in their midsection are especially prone to having high triglycerides, and this needs to be addressed through weight loss. In addition, there are some changes you can make in your diet that should make a significant impact.

Make changes in the type of carbohydrates you eat. Note that this does NOT mean to go on a low-carb diet. But if over 60% of your calories are from carbohydrate (usually as the result of a very very low fat diet), or if your diet features regular consumption of things like: bread, bagels, baked goods like muffins/cookies/cakes/donuts, cereals made from refined grains instead of whole grains (e.g, corn flakes, rice krispies), cereals with lots of added sugar, pretzels/chips, non-diet soda, energy drinks, candy or chocolate, then you may need a bit of a carbohydrate makeover. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Include whole grains in your breakfast. Look for breakfast cereals that use whole grains, have at least 3g of fiber per serving and less than 10g sugar per serving. Oatmeal is also good option, and now that Starbuck’s is selling it, it’s even more convenient to eat on workdays. If your morning bagel is a non-negotiable ritual, try to only have half; replace the other half with a piece of fresh fruit or a hard-boiled egg… or treat yourself to that bagel once per week instead of every day. Contrary to the name and the ‘healthy-looking’ brown color, a bran muffin is NOT a healthy, whole grain option for breakfast, especially with the sizes they come in these days.

• Eat your sandwich open-faced. And choose whole-wheat bread instead of white bread whenever possible.

• If you choose to snack on packaged foods, never snack directly out of the container. That goes for ice cream, chips, pretzels and cookies. Read the label to know what a serving size is. How many servings you can afford to eat based on your calorie budget and level of physical activity. Measure out those portions and put the container away. You will ALWAYS eat more when you eat straight from the bag (or pint, as the case may be).

• Popcorn is a better choice than pretzels when it comes to snacking. An apple with peanut butter, a hard boiled egg, a handful of nuts or a piece of string cheese and some whole grain crackers or crispbread are all better choices than an “energy bar,” many of which are basically candy bars fortified with a ridiculous amount of protein.

Lay off the sauce. Those couple of beers after work on most weeknights add up. So does that standing appointment for your weekend ‘girl’s night out’ where “I’ll just have one” turns into “I’ll just have four.” Alcohol has a major impact on your triglyceride levels–more so than sugar, even. Cutting back on alcohol if your triglycerides are borderline high–or eliminating it if they’re already high– should make a quick and measurable difference. Your triglyceride levels are just one health-related reason to keep the alcohol intake in check, but a good one at that.

Talk to your doctor about whether it might help to start taking Fish Oil supplements. Research shows that therapeutic doses (beyond the daily recommended intake for general health maintenance) of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil can reduce triglyceride levels by anywhere from 15%-40%. If this approach interests you, it’s important to approach a regimen like this under a doctor’s supervision. That’s because fish oil has a blood thinning effect. If you drink, take certain types of herbal supplements, take certain medications (even over-the-counter ones like aspirin!), or have any sort of bleeding/clotting disorders, there could be a risk of dangerous side effects like excess bleeding or stroke. Your doctor will need to review your medical history and other important factors and tell you if a therapeutic dose of fish oil will be safe for you, and if so, what dose to try.

Isn’t heart awareness month fun? Now what are you waiting for? Get on out there and get your blood lipids tested! By the time your results are back, I’ll have posted more exciting ways for you to celebrate this joyous month. Here’s to your heart!

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I was always skeptical about the alleged health benefits of chocolate, and suspected they might be a nutrition myth perpetuated by so-called “researchers” at places like the Hershey Research Institute. But researching the issue took on particular urgency for me when my husband took up amateur chocolate-making (his handiwork pictured above), and my kitchen became a minefield of tempting heart-shaped confections.

So you can imagine my delight to discover that a robust and credible body of scientific evidence supports a real and significant role for dark chocolate in lowering several risk factors of cardiovascular disease.

How it works

Cacao beans are one of nature’s richest sources of plant compounds called flavanoids. (Flavanoids are the same compounds responsible for the health-promoting effects of red wine and teas, by the way.) Research shows that the flavanoids in cacao help reduce the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in your blood vessels, which is a major cause of plaque build-up in the arteries. They also have been shown to help inhibit platelet aggregation in the blood-- which is the same type of effect that aspirin therapy produces. This helps lower the risk of clotting that could lead to stroke. Oh, wait: there’s more. Cacao has also been shown to produce a reduction in blood pressure.

Recently, a well-designed, well-controlled Italian study published in the Journal of Nutrition examined the blood levels of a protein called C-Reactive Protein (CRP) in a group of about 5,000 healthy people over age 35. CRP is a protein produced by your liver during times of stress, acute illness and during chronic inflammatory conditions; when elevated, it is a very predictive risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The study showed that participants who ate approximately 1 oz of dark chocolate every 3 days had levels of CRP that would classify them as at “mild” risk for cardiovascular disease, compared with participants who ate no dark chocolate, whose CRP levels placed them at “moderate” risk for cardiovascular disease. The authors assert that these findings are the equivalent of a 26% decreased risk for a “future cardiovascular event” (that’s Italian for “heart attack or stroke”) among the dark chocolate-eating men and a 33% decreased risk for dark chocolate-eating women compared to non-dark chocolate-eating people.

What type of chocolate–and how much– will provide these benefits?

There is no standard definition of “dark” chocolate in the scientific studies that looked at the health benefits of chocolate. However, since we know that the more cocoa solids your chocolate has, the more flavonoids it has, as far as your heart is concerned, the darker the chocolate, the healthier the chocolate. Dark chocolate by definition must have no milk solids added, and you’ll see ranges of 30% cocoa to over 80% cocoa sold commercially. The higher the percent, the better: aim for at least 50%, and if you like how it tastes, go for those varieties with 65% or more.

As far as serving size goes, 1 oz two to three times per week seems to offer significant benefits. (Disappointing, I know.) Note that this is about equivalent to eating 2 Hershey Kisses-worth of dark chocolate per day. Some clever companies like Scharffen-Berger and Green & Black’s, are selling 1 oz bars of dark chocolate; Ghiradelli Squares are 1/2 oz each, Dagoba Organic sells fantastic 2 oz bars that range from 59% to 87% cocoa in a whole variety of interesting flavors, so you can split those with someone you love. Hershey’s has a line of 60% cocoa bars called “Extra Dark”, and Dove sells a 63% and a 71% version of their silky smooth chocolate bars.

Cacao nibs are a great way to get your flavonoid fix. The nibs are an intermediate step in the cacao processing chain, which are what you get after the cacao beans are fermented and shelled but before they are roasted and ground to produce the chocolate liquor from which cocoa powder or cocoa butter id derived. This means they have a higher flavonoid content then the end products. Health food stores often sell raw (unprocessed) nibs, which if eaten alone will be bitter, but you can stick them in a coffee grinder to make an antioxidant rich cocoa powder that can be added to skim milk and sweetened to your liking. (I’d use skim here because the nibs have plenty of fat already.) Alternatively, the clever people at Sweet Riot coat their yummy nibs in dark chocolate for a bit of extra sweetness. They sell cacao nibs covered in your choice of 50%, 65% or 70% dark chocolate in portion-controlled 1 oz tins. And they’re a socially-responsible, fair-trade company to boot. Look for them at Whole Foods or at the cash register area of your favorite health food store.

What’s the catch?

Dark chocolate, despite all of its healthful properties, still has fat and calories that must be accounted for…especially if you’re going to start on a regular regimen of it. Gaining weight from excessive chocolate consumption will surely cancel out whatever health benefits the chocolate is providing, so you’ll probably want to think about what gets cut out of the diet to make room for it. (Hint: aim for something with little nutritional value that’s been dragging your diet down, anyway). If you make this effort, the universe will meet you halfway: in a sign that the powers that be love us and want us to be happy, the type of saturated fat in dark chocolate–stearic acid–appears not to have the same LDL cholesterol-increasing effects as most saturated fats. Yay! So if you displace some empty calories in your diet for an equivalent amount of dark chocolate, it should be a pretty good trade-off.

Also, the Italian study’s results suggest that a little bit is good, but more is not better when it comes to keeping those CRP levels down. They found that people who consumed a single serving of slightly less than 1 oz every 3 days had CRP levels that were significantly lower than both non-consumers AND higher-consumers of dark chocolate. Scientific evidence for the old adage “everything in moderation,” if you will.

Note that NONE of this holds true for milk chocolate or white chocolate. Milk chocolate has very low levels of flavonoids and contains milkfat, a saturated fat which, unlike stearic acid, does increase LDL cholesterol. White chocolate contains no cocoa solids–and therefore no flavonoids– at all, and is higher in fat, sugar and calories than both dark or milk chocolate.

So this Valentine’s Day when that gold Godiva ballotin shows up at your desk, go for the dark solid demitasses or dark truffles , give away the rest, and tell your heart how much you love it!

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There have been a lot of gluten-free experiments in my kitchen this past year, some of which have produced winning meals that became part of the regular playlist. So in anticipation of the upcoming awards, I decided to take a break from National Heart Awareness month to host my own Gluten-free Grammy award ceremony and pay tribute to the greatest hits of the year. And the winners are…

Best GF breakfast cereal (c0ld): tie between Barbara’s Bakery Puffins (original flavor) and Nature’s Path Organic Mesa Sunrise

The pickings are still slim in the gluten-free cereal world, where our choices are pretty much limited to puffed rice cereals with no nutritional value and puffed corn cereals with no nutritional value. Gluten-free cereals tend to have a measly 1g of fiber per serving, and to add insult to injury they’re not even fortified with many of the vitamins and minerals that conventional cereals are enriched and fortified with, rendering them little more than bowls of puffed starch.

Thankfully, there are at least 2 exceptions to the rule. I chose two winners for this category because Puffins, while they are wheat-free, are not technically gluten-free. (They contain oat flour, which may not be tolerated by some people with celiac disease–especially if the oats used have been heavily cross-contaminated with wheat during processing.) Still, most gluten-avoiders I know tolerate Puffins just fine, and that’s lucky for them: it’s one of the few wheat-free cereals that has any sort of fiber whatsoever (a solid 5g per 3/4 cup serving) and it’s quite low in added sugar (5g–or 1.25 teaspoons–per serving.) Their yummy taste and fun, puffy texture take me back to my childhood breakfast table where Post’s Corn Bran cereal was a perennial favorite. Note that the honey rice and peanut butter flavors have much less fiber than the original. And the cinnamon flavor is overly crunchy in my opinion–it never softens in milk.

Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise is fully gluten-free, and unlike the standard corn flake it resembles, it actually has a respectable amount of fiber (3g per 3/4 cup serving). It’s low in added sugar (only 4g–or 1tsp–per serving), it’s really tasty, and as a bonus, it contains beneficial omega-3 fatty acids from the flax seeds. The cherry on top? It’s organic, meaning no GMO-corn is used, and it is sold in eco-friendlier bags that contain much less packaging material than standard boxed cereals.

Best GF store-bought bread: Kinnikinnick Many Wonder Multigrain Rice Bread

I will preface this by saying that GF breads as a category are awful. Sold in the freezer section, they are dense, low-fiber, high-calorie, high-fat bread-shaped logs that tend only to be passable when fresh out of the toaster. This makes them very bad delivery systems for that PB&J you wanted to pack for lunch, since by the time they make it to lunchtime, they’re dense and oddly-textured again. We won’t even mention the fact that these awful GF breads cost 2x-5x more than a standard loaf of whole wheat. Hrrrmph. Needless to say, bread does not feature prominently in the diets of most people I know who have celiac disease.

Still, every once in awhile, the need for a breadlike carrier calls. Lunches need to be packed; burgers need a makeshift bun; eggs need toast. And therefore, we need something passable to meet the need. Kinnikinnick’s Many Wonder Multigrain Rice bread is the one store-bought (frozen) bread I’ve found that actually tastes quite good when toasted and has a texture that more closely resembles normal bread. It also has a reasonable amount of calories per slice (90), a very good amount of fiber per slice (3g), and it is fortified with the same vitamins and minerals as enriched wheat flour is–which is VERY rare in GF baked goods. (This last point is important for two reasons: one, because most GF breads are made primarily of starch, which has no vitamin and mineral content; and two, because enriched/fortified breads and cereals make up an important source of B-vitamins and iron in the diets of most Americans–and especially children. GF-kids who eat GF-versions of typical ‘kid’ foods may be at risk for deficiencies in these important nutrients if they’re not supplied elsewhere in the diet.)

Best GF pancake mix: Pamela’s Products Baking & Pancake Mix

This is another GF product that isn’t just passable for being GF, but it’s as good as–if not better than– many of the wheat-containing products out there. It produces a delicious pancake (I spike mine with frozen blueberries) and excellent waffles that have nice, fluffy textures and no off-flavors. The mix also works well as a stand-in for all-purpose wheat flour in many recipes, including the one for pumpkin corn muffins below. As with most GF products, it’s certainly pricier than its non-GF peers, but what’s better than eating real pancakes with the rest of your family on a weekend morning? To compensate for the relative lack of fiber in the mix, go ahead and top your pancakes with heaps of fresh berries or other sliced fruit to serve.

Best GF frozen waffles: Van’s Wheat-Free Flax

They taste totally normal as far as frozen waffles go, and calorie-wise, 2 waffles only have 30 more calories (210 vs 180) than 2 Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Whole Wheat waffles. Unfortunately, they have less fiber (a measly 1g per 2-waffle serving, vs. 3g in the Kellogg’s product), which is pretty typical among the GF waffle set due to the heavy use of starches rather than whole grains. However, they’re a good source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids owing to the flax meal and their sweetness comes from natural juices rather than refined sugar or corn syrup. BYOF (bring your own fiber) by topping them with fresh berries or other sliced fruit and you’ve made them into a better breakfast choice already. Try the buckwheat variety, too. They’re good.

Best GF pizza crust: Bob’s Red Mill GF Pizza Crust Mix

Once upon a time, when my intestines cooperated with all manner of proteins, I would make a weekly homemade pizza from a ball of fresh, whole-wheat pizza dough that I bought for $1.50 at the local Whole Foods. It was one of my easy, crowd-pleasing dinners; the dough was all ready to go, and all I’d have to do was chop up a ton of vegetables, shred some cheese and bake.

Since then, I’ve tried all manner of GF pizza crusts, with only one, basic criterion: it has to produce a pizza that will be acceptable to serve to my husband, who is a pizza aficionado who vowed to love me through sickness and health, but not to suffer through god-awful pizza-like experiments that taste like cardboard and glue.

I’ve tried cardboard (Glutino Frozen Pizza Crusts–they baked up so crunchy that I almost broke a tooth) and I’ve tried glue (Gillian’s Wheat, Gluten and Dairy free Pizza Dough–sold in a ball in the freezer section and defrosted before use. It somehow combined with the liquid in my tomato sauce in such a way that to form an adhesive bond with my baking pan which took 24 hours of soaking to remove. Disaster.) And so despite my reluctance to buy a mix that I’d have to add yeast to and wait to rise, I decided it might be my only chance to reclaim weekly pizza night. (OK, given the effort involved, it’s more like monthly now.)

There were two such mixes I tried that produced delicious pizza crusts that were fluffy and bready– like focaccia or a Sicilian-style pizza pie: The Gluten-Free Pantry’s French Bread and Pizza Mix, and Bob’s Red Mill GF Pizza Crust Mix. So how did Bob’s edge out its competitor? The GF Pantry product is made of pure starch (white rice flour, potato starch and corn starch, essentially) and therefore contains no fiber and almost no protein. To make matters worse, the recipe required me to add 1/3 cup of oil (which adds 65g of fat to what should be a very low fat product), which seemed excessive to me.

The Bob’s product, on the other hand, contained (whole grain) brown rice flour, whole grain millet flour and whole grain sorghum flour in addition to some potato and tapioca starches. This adds a very respectable amount of fiber (4g) and protein (3g) per slice, assuming the whole mix makes 8 slices, which I can attest that it most certainly did. The mix requires you to add the same amount of eggs as the GF pantry product, but only 2 TBSP of oil (27g of fat, divided by 8 slices…much more reasonable). I will warn you that this dough can be tricky to work with when it comes to spreading it out in your pan. It’s sticky, but coating your hands in some GF flour may help you coerce it evenly into all corners of your baking sheet. Be patient and have faith… it will bake up to be a bready, airy and chewy crust that is sturdy enough to hold an ambitious volume of toppings.

Best GF muffins: Karina’s Kitchen Pumpkin Corn Muffins

I spent a lot of time experimenting with GF muffin recipes this past Fall, and came up with a surprising number of good results. But this recipe from the Karina’s Kitchen blog was a hands-down winner. Its texture is a cross between cornbread and a conventional cakey muffin, making it an excellent crossover muffin for a breakfast/brunch treat or a dinnertime chili/soup accoutrement. Wheat-eaters to whom I served it had no idea it was gluten-free; it was not just ‘good for gluten-free,’ but it was plain old good, period. It’s fast to make–less than 10 minutes to mix the ingredients and get them into the oven–and it freezes, defrosts, re-freezes and defrosts again like a breeze. (Trust me; I tested this out and the muffins were no worse for the wear.)

If you attempt to make this recipe at home, I’d recommend using half of the oil she calls for (1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup), substituting 1/4 cup of applesauce instead. The end product will still be exceptionally moist, very freezable, and will have a significantly lower amount of fat. If you have some pepitas (pumpkin seeds) at home, they make a nice garnish to sprinkle atop the muffins before they bake.

Best GF pasta: Eden Foods 100% Buckwheat Soba Noodles

Gluten-free pasta is tough. While I do use Asian rice noodles, they’re made from white rice flour and water, and hence deliver starch-turned-sugar quickly and directly into the veins without any other nutritional value. I’ll use those in small quantities once in awhile, but they can’t be my go-to noodle.

I quite like some of the Ancient Harvest Quinoa pastas, made from a blend of corn and quinoa flours. The smaller pastas hold together well and serve as perfectly acceptable pasta-stand-ins when doused in my homemade pesto. But longer pastas are always a problem. Case in point: The De Boles brand of natural pasta makes a whole grain spaghetti that completely breaks apart while cooking… so don’t waste your money.

I chose Eden Foods’ 100% Buckwheat Soba Noodles because they are a naturally-gluten free noodle that is thick and chewy and holds together perfectly when cooked properly to the recommended al dente texture. Soba noodles are traditional Japanese noodles that are delicious in their own right; not GF imposters trying to knock off the Italian standard. They have 3g of fiber and 6g of protein per serving (that’s really good). While the buckwheat flavor may or may not fit in with your expectations of what a steaming plate of pasta with red sauce and parmesan cheese should taste like, perhaps it’s a good opportunity to learn some new ways to prepare and eat pasta…no? Try searching the eden foods website with the keyword “soba” for ideas.

Got any nominees of your own to share? Oscar night is right around the corner…

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It is very well established in the scientific literature that people whose diets are rich in whole grains have lower risks of cardiovascular and coronary heart disease than people who eat less of these foods. The effect size varies by study, but a reduction in risk of ~20% (if not more) is pretty typically seen. There are several mechanisms that researchers think is behind this protective effect: the cholesterol-lowering effect of the fiber from whole grains, antioxidant activity of their phytochemicals, and the phytoestrogen effects of compounds called lignans, which are linked to protection against both heart disease and certain types of cancer. And don’t even get me started on all of the B-vitamins.

If you want to direct some love back at your heart, a good goal to set is to try to make at least half of your grains whole. (Plus, it sounds catchy.) Many people who try to incorporate more whole grains into their diets tend to default to choosing whole wheat bread instead of white, or brown rice instead of white rice. Which is a terrific start. But there are SO many more ways to include whole grains in your diet–many of which you may already be doing without realizing it– that it’s worth looking beyond bread and rice for a moment.

Breakfast is the easiest place to start a whole grain habit, because there are so many choices.

• Whole grain cereals abound, but be careful of brands that claim to be multi-grain; they may or may not be made with multi-whole grains. Check the ingredient list for the word “whole” to be in front of the first ingredient or two. Cheerios, Total, Wheaties, Shredded Wheat, Fiber One, All Bran and Grape Nuts–among many others– are all nationally-distributed whole grain products, as are most products made by Kashi, Barbara’s Bakery or Nature’s Path. Look for cereals that have at least 3-5g of fiber per serving.

• Oatmeal is a whole grain, and the rolled oats you buy in the cylindrical tub are one of the most economical, tasty and easy choices for a whole grain breakfast. If your morning routine doesn’t have space for making hot oatmeal, Starbucks sells a to-go version that is a very reasonable portion, without added sugar. Proceed with caution when it comes to those instant flavored oatmeal packets, as most brands are loaded with sugar, even healthy-seeming brands like Kashi Heart to Heart, which contain 3 tsps of added sugar PER PACKET! Quaker does make a Lower Sugar Instant Oatmeal that has a reasonable ~1 tsp of sugar per packet, and McCann’s makes a few sugar-free instant oatmeal varieties. Opt for those and you can control how much added sweetness goes in.

• There are other good whole grain hot cereals out there, too. Wheatena is the whole grain version of farina or cream of wheat. Rolled barley flakes are a nice change of pace from oatmeal, too. Kashi’s Go Lean Hot Cereal is marginally better than their oatmeal as far as added sugar goes (2 tsps instead of 3 per packet), but its convenient packets make it an easier way to do hot whole grain cereal at work. Two gluten-free options I keep around are cream of buckwheat and quinoa flakes. Also, Bob’s Red Mill makes an accurately-named Mighty Tasty GF Hot Cereal made with brown rice, buckwheat, sorghum and corn, for those of us unable to enjoy their tempting multi-grain hot cereal varieties. There is justice in this world, after all.

• I especially heart pancakes and waffles in their whole grain versions. If you’re making them from scratch, you’ll usually use a mix of whole wheat flour, oat flour or buckwheat flour–with or without a little bit of white flour to lighten it up. But plenty of store-bought whole grain mixes are also available: King Arthur Flour , Bob’s Red Mill , Hodgson Mill , and Arrowhead Mills all make multiple whole grain varieties. I always keep frozen blueberries in the house in case an impromptu pancake-making session ensues and I need to accssorize.

• Obviously, whole grain toasts (Whole wheat, whole rye, etc..) are an easy breakfast option. But if you’ve got kids who refuse the brown-colored breads, a new variety of whole grain white wheat is trickling into the market which may offer a good compromise when they reach you. White wheat is a variety of wheat that lacks the compounds responsible for the color and stronger taste in the common variety of red wheat, but nutritionally, it’s still considered equivalent. So far, the two major brands who are using it are still mixing it with refined flour: Sara Lee Soft and Smooth made with Whole Grain White bread is disappointingly only made with 30% whole grain; and Wonder’s Made with Whole Grain White bread is probably about the same, though I couldn’t get exact numbers. Um… hello? What’s the point? I suppose that these products could be a marginally better choice than all-white Wonder bread for the hard-core white bread holdouts, but I’m optimistic that someone will come out with a 100% version soon. King Arthur Flour is one of the few companies to sell Whole White Wheat flour, so try it out in baking in place of refined flour and see if anyone can even tell the difference.

Whole Grains for the rest of the day

• Popcorn is a whole grain. Snack on it instead of pretzels, which are often made from refined (non-whole) wheat flour

• Barley is a whole grain, whereas “pearled barley” is technically a refined version. However, faster-cooking pearled barley still has enough fiber and iron to make it an honorary member of the whole grain club, so feel free to use it without any guilt, as it provides the same nutritional benefits.  What’s better than a hearty mushroom barley soup for lunch? You can also swap pearled barley for arborio rice in a risotto. Back in my gluten-eating days, I adored this ridiculously easy recipe for barley risotto.  But fellow celiacs, beware: barley does contain gluten, so this is one whole grain we’ll have to pass on.

• Whole Wheat Couscous cooks just as fast as regular couscous; in less than 5 minutes, you’ve got a cooked whole grain, ready to serve. I especially liked it with spicy stews or chili.

• If you like the fluffy little couscous grains but can’t eat them because they’re made from wheat (or even if you can but want to try something new), try naturally gluten-free millet. It’s a whole grain that cooks just like rice and it looks just like couscous when cooked. I use 3 cups water:1 cup millet and a pinch of salt (but I’ve seen a ratio of 2:1 and that produces a less fluffy but still very good batch). If you’re feeling decadent, toss a pat of butter into the cooking water as well

• Quinoa isn’t technically a grain (it’s a seed), but it has all of the same benefits of whole grains on top of the fact that it’s one of the few vegetarian sources of complete protein. It’s got an earthy flavor that stands out more than, say, a millet does. And it comes in khaki color or pretty red varieties! So try it and see if you like it! I usually ether make it plain and serve it as a side dish, but occasionally I’ll use this recipe for Quinoa Stuffed peppers as a main dish.

• You’ve heard me sing the praises of Teff and Buckwheat in previous posts, so I won’t elaborate on them any further except to remind you that they are whole grains, they are delicious, and you can use them in anything from crepes to cookies to sexy side dishes.

As you can see, there are a lot of whole grains to love–and a lot to love about them. So go on and take a few out on a date to see which you like. Your white basmati rice will still be there for you when it’s time for Indian takeout, but in the meantime, live a little!

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In case you missed the red and pink-themed shop windows, the heart-infested candy aisles in your local drugstore or the sea of red that was once your neighborhood Hallmark store…February is, in fact, Heart Awareness Month.

In keeping with the theme, I’ve decided to devote my postings this month to multiple topics related to food and heart health.

Be on the lookout for upcoming blogs on these heart-related topics (don’t worry–the actual postings will have much catchier names):

• Whole grains
• The real health benefits of chocolate (just in time for Valentine’s Day!)
• Demystifying the fiber and cholesterol relationship
• A primer on Fish Oil
• Eating your way to lower triglycerides
• Eating your way to lower blood pressure

…and more!

In the meantime, if you haven’t had your cholesterol checked in awhile, what are you waiting for? Make an appointment to see your doctor! Nothing is more romantic than a couples appointment for a lipid panel… swoon.

And to kick off Heart Awareness Month as you eagerly await my upcoming postings, get some heart-healthy ideas on beans, buckwheat and flax seed from the archives!

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