It is hard to believe that the holiday season is upon us. I am facing the beginning of finals and the unending study sessions and all nighters often fed by coffee, pizza and ice cream. Instead I am still drinking coffee (but less than my colleagues), but replacing the pizza with whole grain breads and peanut butter I ground myself at the health food store, instead of the ice cream, chocolate sorbet (I like two brands: hands down ciao bella is the best – but also has 8 grams of fat. sharon’s sorbet – a slightly lighter version with only 3.5 grams of fat, still has 22 grams of sugar and makes me want to eat more than a 1/2 cup serving of ciao bella which fills me up) and in between I have turkey chili, grass fed beef stew, vegetable stir fries with wonderful winter vegetables such as kale, broccoli, carrots and butternut squash.

During the holiday season (and all times), I find that preparing food that is quick cooking with minimal preparation is key. I like to cook things that I call 10 minutes from prep to plate…including cooking. These are things like chili, stir fries and some meal soups. In the time that it takes to boil pasta, I can cut up three kinds of vegetables (carrots, zucchini and brocolli – 1 of each if I am making for 4 servings – 2 stalks of broccoli, 1 zucchini, 1 large carrot), with a shallot, small onion and 2 cloves of garlic and 2 inches of ginger chopped (don’t want to be bothered with ginger and garlic – they sell both already chopped up in jars – just make sure you get organic – because otherwise it comes from China and not sure of the quality). Stir fry in a little bit (about 1 tablespoon) of olive oil and add a mixture of 1/2 cup soy sauce, and if you aren’t allergic, 1/4 cup peanut butter (you could also use tahini or almond butter depending on your allergy, none of these work, add some broth or email me for more ideas!). This makes a great side dish or…when you are combining the soy sauce and peanut butter (in a saucepan until the peanut butter melts), add about 1 pound of shrimp, cubed chicken, sliced beef or 1 pound of cubed tofu. Serve with quinoa or brown rice and you’ve got a meal for one person for about three servings or a meal for four people. In 10 minutes or less. And its really fun to make, I just recently demonstrated this to a group of sixth graders and they couldn’t get enough.

It is difficult when I travel or go to parties. I find there is always a wonderful vegetable plate or cheese plate with fruit. I stay near there. As I am often at parties with academic colleagues or business networking colleagues who are either potential clients or referral partners, I always keep alcohol to a minimum. If I am going to drink, I have one glass of the best champagne or wine they have,, so that I can savor the flavor, mouthfeel and finish for a few hours. I do the same thing with holiday snacks. I use a small plate or a napkin and only eat what I can carry. I do my best to stay away from those passed appetizers which are often fried…but if there is a stuffed mushroom or piece of fillet Mignon on a toast I might indulge…but I do just that, I keep track of what I eat and I make choices.  Its fun and easy. That and I always have a buddy at the parties and we watch what we eat together. We’ll often send emails to each other before the parties talking about all the food that is going to be there and then when we get there have a plan to hang out together near the fruit and vegetables and watch out for the drinks and fried foods. We are each other’s accountability. I bet you can find such a friend or relative and if they can’t be there with you at the party, well put that texting phone to some good use!

When it comes to holiday stresses, it is best to organize. Do a lot of the shopping you would do in stores online and save only the most necessary shopping for stores. Go at off times – early in the morning or late at night…on a Tuesday instead of Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Get a Christmas bonus? Instead of a high fat meal and three to four days of getting drunk, why not get an indulgent hot stone massage or other spa treatment (men, you can do this too, after all the metro sexual is the new black!) Take time to chat with family throughout the holiday season instead of leaving confrontational conversations to in person visits. A series of short hello how are you conversations work…even if you don’t want to talk to the person, it is better to show you care by having a short conversation, even if it is just five minutes. If you are really uncomfortable with the person, do it every day, that will confuse the heck out of them and there’s really nothing they can do in return except love you for it. Nothing wrong with that.

Enjoy the holiday season, healthfully, I’ll be back in a little bit to talk about local versus organic.

So, somehow it got to be November and the middle of November at that. I am three quarters of the way through my third semester of my second masters (and hopefully the start of my PhD!) and I have a few new cooking clients. I feel blessed, challenged and that everything in my life is coming together. It has been a ton of work, but I’m finally starting to see the blossoms of all the bulbs I planted long ago.

Where are you in your life?

Every year when thanksgiving comes around, I get a ton of questions, concerns, anxiety, tears and rants from my clients and my community. People ask me what should I make? How do I change this recipe to make it healthier? How do I avoid this person at the holiday table? How do I get through dinner sober? Yes, I am sure that many of us have these same concerns.

Being a foodie, chef and nutritionist, I will answer the food questions first, because they are my favorites! The best way to enjoy Thankgiving is to not go into dinner hungry! Eat breakfast. Be it, two eggs soft boiled with a slice of whole grain toast, steelcut oatmeal with berries, a berry/greens smoothie and sprouts (what I had this morning, but I know, not for all of you!) or something a bit more decadent? A muffin and coffee, your favorite cereal and milk with coffee…just have breakfast, whatever it is. If you can make a healthier choice, its better, but no breakfast is better than none at all. Same goes for lunch. Usually Thanksgiving dinner doesn’t start until 4pm, many of us don’t sit down at the table until after 6pm. That’s a long day to not eat. Eat lunch. You don’t have to have a large lunch, but have something simple: a salad, a piece of quiche, a hard boiled egg if you didn’t have one for breakfast, salmon, gefilte fish (I’m Jewish, its my go to snack or lunch on a day when I know I am having a big meal – might not be yours – but seriously its pretty good – 5 grams of fat, a little carb from the matzo meal, lots of protein – perfectly balanced – and have with a bit of green salad and lemon and you are good to go) or something like that. Again, lunch is better than no lunch and a healthier choice is better than an unhealthy one…but whatever you do…eat breakfast and lunch.

Now we get to dinner, if you are cooking – use butter, just use 1/4 of what the recipe calls for. Use sugar, but use 1/2 of what the recipe calls for or do what I do – use agave nectar, brown rice syrup or another natural sweetener. This whole year I have been learning about Splenda. So far what I have learned is there is no evidence that Splenda causes cancer, birth defects, neurotoxicity etc…but the reason there is no evidence is that there have been no studies! Splenda has simply not been on the market long enough. So as a good scientist I cannot advise against Splenda, as a concientious and cautious skeptic, I’m not advising or myself using a lot of splenda. Like with everything, use a little.

I saw fresh cranberries at the farmers market this weekend. Try using them in your cranberry sauce or try using unsweetened canned cranberries and sweeten them yourself using 1/2 the amount of sugar the recipe calls for or use honey, agave or brown rice syrup in 1/2 the amount. I use whole grain pie crusts in my sweet potato pie or I forgo the pie crust altogether…especially if I know I want one slice of pie for dessert.

The best way to make turkey is to brine it. There are many recipes out there. But this one is a favorite of mine. I might go with slightly less salt and ignore what they say about kosher salt (don’t use more). I’d say 1/4 cup heaving is enough salt. I’d use a fleur del sel or a celtic sea salt (or a natural sea salt gathered from maine or anywhere else in the northeast if you are in the northeast or somewhere local to you if there’s oceans nearby!) Any healthfood store or whole foods will carry it. Many farmers markets sell local sea salt too. Bake that Turkey in a bag with some vegetables (carrots, onions, apples, oranges) at 500 degrees F (260 C – Thanks Eitan!) for about 2 hours or until a meat thermometer in the thigh reads 170 degrees F (sorry celsius folks – but the formula is Tc = (5/9)*(Tf-32)).

As for side dishes, let’s have some green vegetables! and lots of them, because our plates should be 1/2 vegetables, 1/4 starch and 1/4 protein. And eat enough to fill one plate. The best thing I do at Thanksgiving is fill my plate only halfway so I can go back for seconds! I try a bit of this and a bit of that – keeping to the proportions above. I make the vegetables at my Thanksgiving feast – so I know what’s in them and I know there’s something for me to feast on and then I can try the other things. I suggest you do this too. Also if you are asked to bring an appetizer – bring a tasty tray of vegetables with a homeade dip. Here’s a great recipe for a homemade tahini based tip that is delicious and not super high fat or high calorie!

As for dessert, don’t skip it! Just don’t eat dessert Today, Tuesday or tomorrow, Wednesday and certainly not on Friday. Feel free to have dessert again on Saturday!!!! On Thursday, have 3 small slices or portions of dessert that would equate to one full slice. Imagine that dessert will be 500 calories and that you have that budget. Dinner is about 750 and you had about 750 calories between breakfast and lunch. If you want to proportion it differently do so, but still aim for about 2000 for the day. Get up, move around, help in the kitchen, enjoy Cousin Susie’s new baby and have an amazing time! Just remember Thanksgiving is about family, friends, love and joy! Food is secondary, but you should feel free to celebrate as well! Just don’t overdo it. Also, get a walk in there, either before or after dinner! With the wonderful mild weather we’ve been having, I’d plan a long one either before or after dinner – especially if there’s family you haven’t seen in a while, its a great way to catch up! Wishing you a wonderful holiday! Thanks for reading.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons – the yellows, the oranges, the deep reds…yes, it describes the changing leaves, but also the wonderful vegetables available at the farmers market. I’ve been biking around new york every weekend (and some weekdays), looking at trees, life, its just heaven and its a wonderful way to burn off all the great recipes I’ve been testing and tasting lately.

Just this week, I made a fabulous roasted acorn squash. These vegetables (fruit really, they have seeds!) are so delicious and sweet all you need to do is split them open, scoop out the seeds and sprinkle with a touch of cinammon. Want a little extra richness you could spritz on some olive oil or melted butter in a water mister or you could just use a spoon. Roast them for 45 minutes and the skin will get soft enough you can just cut into pieces and pop the whole thing in your mouth. The skin is still a bit too hard for you? Just eat around it.

Also at the end of summer, beginning of fall, we’ve got pumpkins, butternut squash and tons of green vegetables still around. I tend to focus more on autumn soups like butternut squash and bean soups such as creamy black bean and white bean. A touch of white truffle oil and its heaven in a bowl.

So get out there on your bike, your feet and walk, run or bike around to see all fall has to offer. You’ll be surprised with its splendor!

Like these recipes? Contact me for a cooking class in your home or to learn more about my professional personal chef programs available to you in New York City. My website is www.sobelwellness.com. I can also do long distance consultations about what to cook and buy at farmers markets as well as general chatting about your health.

After September 11th, I volunteered to cook meals for the relief effort at the World Trade Center. My mother and I went to what was the new Bouley space (next to the Bouley Bakery – before he opened his very impressive emporium to food downtown!) prepared to help out. I had always loved cooking and I had spent the past two years working two nights a week at Tocqueville restaurant in union square, doing whatever was asked of me to learn all there was to learn about cooking professionally. I took the meat out of lobsters, I butchered all kinds of animals, I washed all kinds of vegetables, cut things up, peeled things, smelled, tasted, felt and got yelled at…a lot! It was something that just came naturally to me and yet something I wasn’t quite ready to leave my very stable boring technology job for. September 11th had a tremendous effect on me personally. I was planning to attend Culinary school that month and I never went.

I had a good job which I sort of fell into although it was never my passion. I had a part time cooking gig which fulfilled every passion I had and more. I was also a writer. Writing was more of a hobby than anything else until I transferred from technology to news at Bloomberg. But in September of 2001, my book was put on hold. I stopped writing and I stopped cooking. A lot of the book had to do with a proposed peace between Israel and the Palestinians.  For a little while, I stopped writing completely not thinking there was a peace. Two years later I started writing again. The book is finished now and sits in the hand of one literary agent. I recently met a man, from Pakistan, a cab driver actually who made me believe there was a peace, if the people doing the fighting have a leader, from their own country who can represent them. This is what I am writing about and his belief is central to the characters in my novel.

Anyway, back to the chicken. There was a lot going on in all of our lives and they were all changed forever that day. Its funny, when I started this post I was planning to blog on chicken, but I find myself looking inward and its always more than chicken, isn’t it.

Although I had been accepted to the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York, I never enrolled in September of 2001 as I had planned. Shortly before September 11th, I was mugged in the restaurant I was working in. It was my birthday a few weeks before and I was taking my mom to eat at the restaurant where I was working. I had some leftover birthday money and the money I was planning to spend on dinner in my wallet which I stowed under a bucket in the bathroom like always since I didn’t have a locker at the restaurant. I usually put my clothes on top of it and hung the rest on a hanging rack in the staff bathroom. Maybe I had $100 in my wallet. I was working in this restaurant 12 hours a week for free after I had put in 10 hour days in finance. I did decently financially during my day job, but not great. I was still young and building that career as well.  But, the money was a target. It wasn’t about the money, it never is. But I didn’t feel safe in the restaurant or in that world in general. Culinary school just didn’t seem to be the right choice at the time. I continued working and built my career. I moved to another town outside New York and became a professional news writer.  One step closer to my passions fulfilled. I learned a great deal about the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology and though that it was the single greatest thing available to us as humans.

I spent several years studying biotechnology as a journalist, an economist, a student of business and also of public health. I spent two years in and out of research laboratories something aside from cooking, I dreamed my whole life of doing, at leading medical technology firms. I was in my dream career, studying my dream subject, life couldn’t be more perfect.  I was convinced stents and coils were the answer…then I started to investigate biotechnology’s role in food.  Nearly 6 years later, I am astonished at what “science” has done to our food system. There are those that call me a maniacal hippie for eating the way I do and I respect them the same. There are others who see me as a visionary. I appreciate their admiration. I just see myself as a girl who loves food and the taste of whole, fresh, untouched, unaltered, non-scientific food. And I enjoy cooking it even more.

Back to the chicken, on that day in November of 2001, I cooked meals for the firemen with my mom, at Bouley, under the supervision of Bouley chefs. How cool is that. If you are at all like me and food is not only something you like, but something you equate with breathing, you could imagine the experience. So my mom was upstairs chopping vegetables and making vegetable dishes and I was downstairs in the basement with a team of about 8 people. And before us, in the middle of the steel table lay, nearly 800 chickens. We were each given a set of boning knives and 10 minutes of instruction. In 30 seconds, a chicken can be boned, given the separation at the appropriate joints and attention to detail. I was not certain, I’d be able to do it in 30 seconds, but after about 800, I think I got it down to a minute, maybe 45 seconds. I wasn’t really keeping track.

More than 8 years later, I can still butcher a chicken. I can do a lot of things. I hang around chefs, I continue to take classes in culinary schools and I hope one day I’ll win a James Beard scholarship to attend culinary school in 4-6 months. I love cooking. I love cooking for others and myself.

One of my female friends said she’d never cook for anyone who didn’t have a penis and that included herself. I respect her choices, but I could never understand it. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else to relax. Also, I want to feel closer to the food I prepare and understand what goes into it.

I’ve been watching a series of movies on food production, processing and the origin of our foods. I haven’t shopped in supermarkets since 1999 when I moved 2 blocks from the Union Square farmers market. Granted grocery shopping for me is a little bit of an obsession and I’d never expect people to go through the lengths I go…but I have started buying pastured chicken and butchering it myself. Today, I got a whole bird. They removed the feathers and the head as well as the innards (like intestine and heart – I’m not quite ready to work with that yet – but I imagine I could make something interesting eventually), but pretty much everything else is there: neck, gizzard, liver, feet…yes feet! I did a post eariler on feet, go look for it…they make an excellent soup. This chicken ate nothing but grass, bugs, dirt and other things chicken are supposed to eat. The chicken’s skin is white, not yellow. Its flesh paler than the flesh I’ve seen on supermarket chicken, its fat, white and slightly yellow tinged. It has no smell.

Half of it now is simmering in wine, the other half in water making a stock. The last time I roasted it whole, but this time, I wanted to butcher it myself and make coq a vin. I was inspired by the Julia Child movie. Though, I’m no stranger to “Mastering the art of French Cooking”. My copy, in the mother’s house, is well worn, wine, butter and flour stained and you can still smell the years of dishes cooked from it on its pages. I first cracked that book open when I was 11. I’m surprised my mother let me use the stove unsupervised let alone cook what I did.

I operate a private chef business now, cooking in people’s homes: organic farm fresh meals for the week. I have all kinds of programs that are based on nourishing the body, feeding the soul and balancing the system. It is my belief that through fresh, whole food we will reach our comfortable natural weight. I don’t believe in dieting, but eating a certain way, forever. That is not to say that I don’t eat out on occassion and eat sweets on occasion. I do, but I miss my food when I do.

I just finished a sampling of the coq a vin complete with multi-colored organic carrots and potatoes: deep red, white, gold, orange and even purple – each with its own unique taste and lusciousness. The dish as a whole was as delicious as I had anticipated, if not better. The sauce complete with the bacon drippings from flying pig farm (pigs that have seen the outdoors and whose white fat is also as pure as its diet. The bird deliciously moist and tasting like the purity of its diet. I put the rest away to marinate for the evening. I look forward to my next taste tomorrow.

So I have been reading all about how healthy food is expensive and I feel that this couldn’t be further from the truth. In one of my classes a professor presented that for $1 per person a meal for four people had to be incredibly nutrient deficient…having run a restauarnt for three months on zero capital, I learned to make healthful food for very little money. I’m going to share just a few of my thoughts in the form of a top ten list.

1. Lentils (green, brown, red, black – each has a different taste and different protein content!) – I like brown the best. They are high fiber and high protein. Good easy to digest low glycemic carbohydrates. Plenty of magnesium to relieve stress.

2. Millet: a great whole grain. Less than $1 a pound, even in whole foods.

3. Kale: I’ve seen it in every supermarket in America. Sometimes it sits all by itself. Sure, organic is better, but the conventional stuff at Pathmark on 125th Street was less than $1  a bunch. I bought 10 the last time I was there.

4. Chicken legs: They aren’t always organic, but I’ve seen organic ones at Fairway for $3 for 6 chicken legs, that 50 cents a leg. I’ve also seen turkey legs for cheap as well, even organic. The legs actually have more iron and the same protein as the breast. If the chicken has been fed well, the fat isn’t so horrible as long as you make veggies the centerpiece of your meal.

5. Peaches in season. Today I saw peaches for $1.29 a pound from New Jersey. They were ripe, delicious, local and cheap! Organic ones were a little bit more, but they are in season now, so take advantage! I’ve seen them for 99 cents a lb too. Buy as you need in smaller quantities – you’ll spend less.

6. Chicken feet: I know it sounds weird, but I was at the farmers market the other day and they actually gave me the feet, get this, FOR FREE! No one wanted them! So I made a to die for soup with the feet and although there wasn’t any meat to speak of – the bones made a delicious healthy soup. I added carrots (10 for $1), celery (not much more) and an onion (28 cents), along with some dill ($1.99 – the most expensive part of the soup – for $4 I could get it all in one package with the dill).

7. Zucchini and summer squash – in season now, very cheap at farmers markets or grocery stores. Pays to buy things in season. I got 3 for $1 over the weekend

8.  Strawberries – 2 for $5, you don’t have to buy 2, I bought one pint…it last me the whole week. I had three strawberries a day in oatmeal, smoothies, on their own. I cut them in half. It pays to portion control!

9. Grass fed beef – ground. It was only about $8 a lb compared to $24.99 for steaks. I know it was good quality because I talked with the farmers on how they raise the animals.

10. Small or large size free range eggs – I got 6 free range eggs for $1.75. They were small sized. They have less cholesterol and overall fat because they are smaller. 2 eggs still made a great fluffy omelet in an 8 inch pan. Wonderful protein and fats. I had with some tat soi from the farmers market. Overall balanced meal.

See, its not that hard to do. I’ll give you some pointers on some budget menus of how to use these and other in season, wallet friendly foods in the next post. Happy healthy affordable eating to you!

Ever since I was 16 (or probably younger), I have suffered from polycystic ovarian syndrome. Four years ago I began a dramatic personal shift toward a lifetime of wellness and weight loss and I personally waged the battle against my polycystic ovarian syndrome, beating it into submission.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome isn’t a disease….its supposedly a variation on normal…but essentially you don’t really ovulate, which to me doesn’t quite seem normal. The theory is, a woman has a whole bunch of precursors to eggs that are called “follicles” at the time just before ovulation – one of them is supposed to burst out of the ovary and get released  into the fallopian tube  (ovulation) – but hormonally in the case of PCOS there’s an imbalance and actual ovulation never happens – so your ovaries have a bunch of little immature follicles that form little cysts in the ovary.  The hormonal imbalance leads to other unsightly issues like excessive facial hair, excess body weight (and it is difficult to lose weight), in some insulin resistance and acne. You can see the little ovarian “cysts”  on an ultrasound. Its not harmful, so therefore it is usually treated with birth control – it just causes some discomfort – and you don’t ovulate – so when you want to have a baby they give you some drugs and you usually have twins or triplets…good thing for me – I’ll get it all over with at once. It sounds a bit flippant I know…because its something that bugs me for the most part the medical profession doesn’t want to address the dietary component of PCOS. I have personally and as a registered dietitian I am not allowed to speak from personal experience, but as a health coach and ordinary citizen, I can.  And I will share it here on this blog, which is more personal than professional in nature even though most of you reading will associate this with me professional and that’s ok! With proper diet PCOS  and some supplements like fish oil and maca (although diet alone will do it too) can be at bay, controlled and even in remission…but one has to be strict, relentless even…and its difficult.

Since 2005, I kept things really well controlled with diet. I followed Nancy Dunne, ND’s suggestions in her book: The Natural Diet Solution for PCOS. The amount of carbohydrates she suggests one limit herself to is a bit unnerving and I tried it for a while. Its difficult to stick to and I cheat every so often and then go back.  However, over the past year between the stress of the economy, changes in my practice, changes in lifestyle relating to new relationships I was engaged in,  the taking of a new full time position and starting graduate school yet again, many of my symptoms have reappeared: periods every two weeks, unbearable cramps,  unbearable sugar and carbohydrate cravings, the feeling that I can never be full…its kind of crazy what a few hormones can do, but they are very powerful.

I have been learning recently through my graduate work how obesity contributes to changes in hormone levels and just how important it is for me to keep my weight down , not just for cosmetic and overall health reasons, but in order to keep my hormone levels in check.  My PCOS will always be there, but 15 extra pounds and its really spiraling out of control, seriously from only 15 extra pounds…Those have got to come off! Because I seriously don’t want to go back on birth control, which feels like my only option to regulate the symptoms and of course the advice of my doctor.

Since I was 16, I was on birth control pills. They regulated my cycle like clockwork, near the third week of the month on a Wednesday, I’d stain for 2-3 days…for a number of years. I knew exactly when I’d get my period. I never really had a need for tampons, since I’d just stain for a few days. It all kind of worked itself out. I was never huge into exercise, I was always a bit chubby. In 2005 I made a huge change. I started rowing. I started dropping weight in droves. I didn’t even try. I had to change my diet in order to accommodate three practices a week, sometimes four and the bike rides to the boathouse through the Boston streets. I tried rowing in New York, it wasn’t the same. I did triathlons here to make up for the lack of rowing.

I found that low glycemic whole grains, dark green leafy vegetables and fruit smoothies with seeds were a diet that made the most sense for me. Every so often I’d have some grass fed beef along with more dark green leafy vegetables. I rarely touched anything resembling sugar or white flour, but I ate gluten free whole grains: quinoa, buckwheat, spelt. I actually felt these grains break down slowly in my body. I never experienced shifts in my energy level and I was not hungry. I didn’t want cookies or energy bars or the other things I want daily at 3pm.  I felt golden and I went off birth control. For nearly three years I had perfect periods. 5-7 days, as regular as clockwork, minimal cramping. Everything seemed to go according to plan. Then 2008 hit. I lost clients. I lost referral streams. I lost corporate gigs and all my efforts seemed to be going nowhere. I was forced to move out of my apartment and take a good long hard look at my future. I enrolled in three graduate courses toward getting a research based degree in nutrition so I could teach at a university, take insurance and always have a “job” to fall back on in nutrition as opposed to the risks associated with running a business, although I’d always pursue that on the side. I started cooking privately and focusing on that more than coaching since it paid more.  I fell in love with that aspect of things and built a robust business model for that business. I’m still learning – but I think its coming together well.

However, I gained weight and my periods are all out of whack. I blame three things I brought back into my diet: 1) dairy 2) sugar and some non-whole grains and 3) caffeine…all three addictive substances…all three cause more stress instead of less and all three things I consume now on a regular basis. Dairy is easy to give up…for the most part, except in the form of butter it makes me sick to consume it anyway…except from goats, and its very expensive, so easy to reduce consumption. Caffeine, is a bit harder – but if I bike to work in the AMs and I have herbal tea, I can easily go without. Sugar is the hardest!  I’m working on giving up sugar – but its everywhere. Requires so much label reading…also I need time to make my own meals again…bring things to work…really consume things only made in my own kitchen and resist that chai in the AM or that cookie or granola bar in the PM…having fruit on hand…even dried fruit, nuts, apples, dark green leafy vegetables and grains as a snack…just breaking up my meals into fives or sixes as opposed to threes. Back to smoothies for breakfast, back to waking up an hour earlier and doing yoga or going for a run. Also I am eating more meat than I have eaten in a while…I’m experimenting more with plant based protein, that kind of diet seems to work for me given some red meat – but very little chicken or turkey…two things that are deadly for me energetically.

I’m supposed to do the marathon in less than two months. I’ve not been running and I am in the worst shape of my new life, despite some pretty amazing thigh and calve muscles from all the biking and running I have been doing lately – even though I’m not in my prime. I’m wondering if I should just shoot to speedwalk the whole thing just for the experience and plan to finish in 6 hours…perhaps I’ll just run every three miles and wakl a mile or something like that…and train for 2011 (I am too late for 2010 unless I do the lottery!)…there’s just so much you can do in life. I really wonder how people make room for it all…I really applaud mothers for how they do.  I don’t want to drop out despite my mother’s prodding and everyone else I know telling me I’m doing too much. I think I’m personally happiest when doing a million things…it actually gets me focused. My brain sort of works at ludicrous speed…for any of you spaceballs fans out there…I hope all of you find something that makes you feel alive as much as running does for me and allows you to focus in on all the other things and get them done…and sleep too!

I’ll be continuing my research on endocrine disrupters on posting on that soon.  As well, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the omega 3-omega 6 balance and how animals who have been fed soybeans and corn as their food source tend to harbor as much as 1/40 ratios of omega 6 to omega 3. I wonder if exposing our infants to commercially produced dairy in infant formula is such a great thing, even organic infant formulas. Soy formulas are no better and associated with many developmental disturbances from early onset of puberty in girls to disturbances in puberty for boys. Having just become an aunt and studying nutrition, I’ve become increasingly more interested in the formula versus breastfeeding debate. Having learned all about the environmental contaminants that are being passed on to our children through breast milk and looking into the components of baby formulas, especially soy formula and reading about all the health risks and side effects especially that soy based formulas have, I wonder what is a mother to do.

The reality is, despite mothers best intentions, some mothers cannot breast feed and some babies simply cannot tolerate breast milk. I’ve been working with pregnant and new moms for a while now in my nutrition and private cheffing practice. What the moms eat directly affects the babies’ gas level and ability to tolerate the milk. Some do just fine and babies thrive nicely, some don’t, babies throw up, they are miserable with gas, they have all kinds of issues and some babies just won’t take to the breast, some moms don’t produce enough milk.

Organic baby formula is expensive. Soy based formulas have corn syrup solids as the first ingredient.  According to some sources, ready to eat baby formulas may be stored in metal or plastic containers containing toxic substances such as bisphenol-A (BPA) can leach from the lining of metal cans and lids.

So if you can’t breastfeed or you need to supplement what choices do you have if you don’t want to use a commerically prepared over-processed cow dairy based formula or worse a corn-syrup based soy formula? I am still researching the issues here and what the state of these formulas are, but I hesitate to think anything in powdered form is “healthy”. The drying process may activate the cholesterol in milk to the sticky form. The proteins although “more digestible” become less bioavailable to the body.  Synthetic vitamins that are cooked up in a lab and added in proper proportion are also not quite recognized and bioavailable to the body either. But, Meredith, how can you possibly make such assertions. 60 years or more of research approved by the FDA has proven that commercially prepared infant formulas are safer and as nutritionally equivalent if not superior to breastmilk? Well, if you believe and take everything the FDA says as gospel we wouldn’t have had to wait 10 years for COX 2 inhibitors to be pulled off the market and many of the other issues that came out of longer term market studies such as liver toxicity of certain drugs etc etc.

Its impossible to know what is in our food and what our food is doing to us, but I’m a skeptic, not an expert and nothing I say here is fact, its opinion. But in my opinion, I like to look into and expose facts and alternatives, give you some food for thought. And I hope I do.

I came across a few articles that mentioned human breast milk banks such as HMBANA. From an examination of their map, they appear to serve just about every major city in the United States. I’m thinking this must cost a small fortune, but then I think about all the other things we spend money on and consider what is more important, whether a child is properly nourished and develops properly or has a playstation? I know that comment is hard to digest, and I have difficult issues when it comes to money as well. Just where do I cut corners and where do I spend just a little more.  For myself, its usually on food. Its so hard to make these choices: the organic fruit, organic meat, grass fed beef, wild fish or the bananas on the street, the macaroni and cheese that is $1.29 for the box and will feed me for 4 meals or a family of four, chicken legs on sale etc. etc.  These are extremely difficult choices, but ones to consider.  However, from carefully reviewing the HMBANA site, it appears regular people need a prescription for donor milk and donor milk is pasteurized frozen and refrozen as well as undergoes quite a bit of processing. It does not appear that just a regular person can get donor milk and sometimes it needs to go through a hospital. It appears for the most part that donated milk tends to go to critically ill babies in NICUs rather than to places where just regular people can purchase it. I’m planning on calling a milk bank on Monday to find out if this is the case and stay tuned to the next blog post for the outcome of that interview.

According to an article published in the Independent (London) on December 7, 2008, entitled “It’s Official: Men really are the weaker sex“, the author, Geoffrey Lean writes: The male gender is in danger…and a host of common chemicals are to blame.

Men, if its one reason to eat organic food, it should be preserving your penis and your masculinity! Read on…

The chemicals are known as “endocrine disrupters” or quite literally “gender benders” because these chemicals will interfere with hormones. The chemicals include: “phthalates” which are used in food wrapping (think shrink wrap on your meat! and other packaged food – especially vaccuum sealed food like cold cuts!), flame retardants in furniture and electrical goods and many pesticides.  Now more than ever, eat organic! And, organic local food from the United States (anything that is “organic” but that is grown in a foreign country and imported gets sprayed as soon as it enters the United States! and its probably sprayed with something pretty strong given the xenophobia of our government and foreign dirt and farming! – ever tell a custom agent you’ve been on a farm in a foreign country and you’ll be quarantined for weeks)

A report released by CHEMTrust, a British organization that studies chemicals independently, demonstrated that male fish exposed to these chemicals actually developed eggs in their testicles.  The female hormones that end up in the sewage that contaminate these waters from overuse of oral contraceptive pills has also affected the fish in this way. In addition other chemicals are to blame for feminizing properties. There are actual centers of excellence at various universities now dedicated to this gender bender study of endocrine disrupters. It is very scary stuff because the future of our species depends upon this.

As a nutritionist I am especially interested in this and many of my clients, both male and female have complained to me of the inability to get pregnant (females) and trouble with pregnancy with their wives (for my male clients). They all want to know, what can I eat to help and now its more, what shouldn’t you eat! What shouldn’t you expose yourself to, but it may be beyond your control. That is the scary part, that this is no longer a problem of what one person can do, but an entire ecosystem, an entire planet is showing signs that our collective industrialization and the chemicals overflowing in our environment in our drinking water (despite purification folks! even if you are getting your water from Fiji! and I don’t even want to begin to tell you what kind of CO2 damage you are doing by getting water from Fiji not to mention what you are doing to the local economy and water supply in Fiji, but I digress!)

So what’s happening, what is the outcome in humans, because seriously, do we really care about Fish in British waters (we should!!! 1) we eat that fish – and you are what you eat, hate to tell you 2) fish are smaller and show signs of what is happening first before it happens to us, but shows the damage that is coming!)? Well, what is happening is a feminization of the human species. More women are being born than men. Global ratios of women to men are shifting. I know being single and living in a big city, I wonder, where are all the single men, I think sometimes I’m just crazy, but really, there are more women and certainly more women being born. The article in the independent cites how communities where the waters are heavily polluted with phtalates and other gender bender chemicals many more girls are born and in the US and Japan, more than 250,000 babies that should have been born male, have been born female. But somehow the evidence seems weak as a scientist, I wonder, where’s the proof?

The article cites sperm counts are dropping precipitously. Hamsters apparently produce nearly three times the amount of sperm than humans do these days…where they used to produce 150 million per milimeter of sperm fluid, now they produce 60 million over 50 years. The hamsters are still producing 160 million.

While there are always outliers as my good friend Malcolm Gladwell loves to write about, what is more the norm is that people are having trouble reproducing. We are also having less interest in sex, it could be what we are eating through the chemicals in our food, but also what we are drinking, breathing, putting on our skin and putting on our heads at night when we sleep. It is wise to take a look at the composition of your pillow and perhaps eat an organic apple or two if you want to retain your masculinity. Think of your penis!

I’m reading about sustainability on many fronts.  A suburban housewife, a MIT professor, an international commission, a Columbia professor who pioneered the field in the 1970s and me, a chef, student, visionary, entrepreneur and chick from Long Island who has always loved lentils and recycling.

I went to health food stores in the mid 80s when they were scary places to go and brought a family (and later an infestation) of food moths into my mother’s kitchen. My mother always grew her own vegetables and every year, I always cooked them. We always had an orange can into which we put metal cans. We recycled newspaper. Today I even put my plastic spoon into the recycling bin. I wish that the school had metal spoons for me to use so I didn’t have to use a plastic one. Tomorrow I will bring my own metal spoon.

The voices I’ve read all speak from either fear, truth, liberal fear incitement methods and for some denial or what I have learned from Josh Dorfman, the lazy environmentalist approach. We can all do something, even as lazy or as little as we can. Collectively, we can move mountains, slow climate change and conserve valuable resources, if we all do one or two things.

Eat less meat one day a week, plant one crop in your garden on your rooftop or in your window box, ride your bike one day a week to work or school (I’ve been doing it every day, but not everyone can be me and I only live 12 blocks and 4 avenue blocks away), take two minutes less in the shower, put the air conditioner on energy saver, there are so many things we can do.

I know a great deal about sustainability, but as I read, there’s so much more I learn. The economic impact of sustainability is the most challenging for me to wrap my head around. We lack in society, we build. Development in the great sense of the word goes against the very core of sustainability and sustainable development is in essence a bit of an oxymoron. In our quest to be a rich country, we’ve actually created more “bads” than “goods” according to a study published in Scientific American in September 2005 entitled Economics in a Full World.  However, the authors of the article claim despite the massive problems with uneconomic growth in our country, it is difficult to justify sustainability in terms of GDP or terms we are familiar with economically. However the authors make a bold claim that strong sustainability recognizes that fishing boats are useless if there are not enough fish to catch.

But how do you get people to change? The housewife wrote how it scares her to think about the amount of toxins in her own breast milk but wasn’t going to stop driving her SUV or save the whales. I think there are things that people can do that aren’t scary or drastic that if entire communities did would lead to monumental change and conservation. Its the little things that help.

I’ll ride my bike again to school tomorrow. I will use my own metal spoon. I try to cook my own food at least a few days a week and I’ll try to shop at the farmers market at Columbia tomorrow. We have a community garden as well which I need to go and check out. Perhaps you aren’t all ready to do these things and that’s ok. But, ride a bike or share a car one day. If you drive, take the bus or train once a week. Take 5 minutes less time in the shower and try to keep the air conditioning at 77 degrees and on energy saver. As I learn more, I’ll be posting more on this topic.

I have just passed the less than 2 months to the marathon mark – seven weeks to go. I ran 6 miles somewhat easily yesterday, I’ve got to get myself back up to ten over the weekend and start adding on to get up to half marathon distance by end of September with an 18 mile and 20 mile run by mid October and taper off last week of October until that first weekend in November. I’m also a full time student, working full time and cooking once a week for private clients. It’s a tough life.

I was very inspired by a fellow student I met in class today. She is also a marathon runner. She started running (Boston was her first marathon, brave girl!) for the same reason I did – for charity. I raised money to fight terror in Israel, she raised money for Cancer. Her father had cancer. He died 5 minutes after she started running Boston. She’s running again this year to honor him. I was blown away by the story. Granted triathlons and running also changed my life, helped me lose weight, discover self confidence, determination and drive I never knew I had, plus it helped me realize my passion for cooking and teaching. Had I not done a triathlon, I never would have started giving cooking classes which led to the downward spiral that led me to leave the job I hated, ultimately end a ridiculously unhappy relationship, and start the business of my dreams as well as going after the education that will ultimately conclude the dream chapter enabling me to teach, write a book and hopefully lecture at conferences and land a research job with funding.

I’ve also started biking to work recently. Granted I live about 5 minutes away from work by bike and I want to get long runs in the morning. So it’s possible to train, cross train and eat well. I’ve been working on it by eating home nearly every night a mostly vegetarian, high fiber diet low in refined sugars.

Some of the things I’ve had lately:

Black quinoa with lentils, broccoli and carrots with sesame oil and ginger

Peas in coconut milk with kale, broccoli and eggs

Greek yogurt with fresh fruit

I’m thinking meat tomorrow night. I’m seriously disappointed I can’t get grass fed beef anywhere in a 5 mile radius of the upper west side…although I’m slightly excited at the prospect of going to whole foods on 97th street in between work and my 5pm class, but I don’t know if that will happen.

I started biking to work on Morningside Drive which is straight up. I didn’t really think twice since I’ve only taken it down and just didn’t think twice about it, but let me tell you, a 10 minute bike ride straight up a hill is better than coffee. I didn’t need any today, I was so energized from that ride, I made it straight through an incredibly busy day and a 2 hour class afterward without thinking twice about my 3pm snack. I had some pea soup as a pick me up after lunch because my office was freezing. I think soup is an amazing snack as its starting to get cold. I used to love hale and hearty soups when I worked in midtown. They have several great vegetarian, non-dairy, low fat soups and a few good protein containing ones that area also low fat, just avoid the creamy ones, the corn ones and anything else that seems too good to be true, it usually is….but bean soups, vegetable soups and pea soups are all great as are mushroom ones.

I’m looking forward to an at least 8 mile run tomorrow AM, although I might only make it 4 given that I have not been able to wake up early enough. I’m looking forward to yoga at lunch or on Thursday AM. I’ll be taking Amsterdam on the bike, which is slightly flatter. I’ll leave you with my recipe for Quinoa surprise.

Black quinoa with lentils, broccoli and carrots

1 cup of brown lentils
2 cups of water
¾ cup quinoa
1 ½ cup water
1 stalk of broccoli
Handful of baby carrots
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds (I use black ones)
Sprinkle or two of cumin
Garlic or chopped up ginger
A little butter or ghee (about 1 tsp)
A handful of cilantro, chopped
In two pots heat measured amounts of water and bring to a boil separately. When water boils add lentils to the pot with 2 cups and quinoa to the pot with 1 ½ cups. Boil quinoa about 12-15 minutes or until all water absorbed. Remove from heat, toss with butter and leave aside. In other pot, boil lentils about 20 minutes. In last 5 minutes of cooking add chopped broccoli and carrot. Let cook with cover on until vegetables have steamed and are fork tender. Drain any remaining water. Stir in spices and a bit of chopped cilantro.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and get inspired to do something active – whatever it is: go to a dance class, get on that bike and do a lap of central park or whatever park is near you, take a tai chi class or just play in the dirt with your kids. Just get out there. Realize how the sunshine (what’s left of it anyway!) and end of summer/beginning of autumn air will invigorate you and bring you closer to whatever goal you have. Its good to have goals…however big or small they are.