A matter of taste

Ever wonder why processed foods often taste better than the real things they’re supposed to imitate? Cake mixes, for example. It’s not easy to bake a cake from scratch that comes out as light and buttery as Betty Crocker’s version. Also fast-food chicken. Canned soups. Instant oatmeal. Frozen dinners. Unless you’re a skilled home cook, your prepared dishes may not have the same addictive quality as the mass-produced kind. This has always bothered me. If our bodies are so smart, why don’t they prefer healthy homemade food to processed junk?

One explanation can be found in last week’s New Yorker in a story called “The Taste Makers: The Secret World of the Flavor Factory.” This article offers a fascinating glimpse into the flavor industry, whose methods and formulas are closely guarded secrets. Specially trained chemists analyze the smell and taste of various foods, reconstruct their chemical components in the laboratory, and mix them together to create supercharged flavors which, though not found in nature, are intensely appealing to the palate.

These flavors are then sold to giant food companies, which add them to everything from sports drinks to chicken soup to cereal bars.

The fact that industrial flavors don’t always match the taste of the real thing doesn’t matter. American consumers have reached the point where we prefer the artificially heightened taste of fake apple pie to the subtle, natural taste of a real apple.

The good news is that even if you’re a junk-food junkie, you can learn to appreciate the flavor of food that originates in a kitchen, not a factory. It won’t be long before you find fake flavors taste - well, fake.

• Shop at farmers’ markets. There’s a noticeable flavor difference between fresh, real produce, eggs, and meat and their industrial counterparts - that’s why processed foods need that artificial flavor boost.
• Experiment with fresh herbs and spices. Not only do they taste more complex and intriguing than anything concocted in a laboratory, but herbs and spices also contain healing compounds that ward off disease.
• Don’t be afraid to use a little fat in your cooking, as long as it’s a healthy type (olive oil, nuts, organic butter). Fat helps carry flavor and makes everything taste more satisfying.
• If you crave a specific dish from a restaurant or from the frozen food aisle, why not duplicate it in your own kitchen - using higher-quality ingredients? It may take a few tries, but in the end, yours will probably taste even better.

What to eat before and after Thanksgiving

You’ve probably encountered a lot of advice these past couple weeks about how to navigate the nutritional minefield that is Thanksgiving. (Some of it may have even come from me.) If you’ve been out of the loop, here’s a quick summary: fill up your plate with vegetables, don’t drink too much alcohol, bring a healthful dish, socialize instead of focusing solely on the food, enjoy small portions of those high-calorie desserts that you feel you simply can’t miss.

Solid suggestions, all. But we haven’t heard too much about how to eat in advance of the big holiday meal, nor how to get back to your healthy routine afterward.

I mean, do you eat breakfast as usual on Thanksgiving morning, to stave off overindulgence? Or do you skip breakfast to make up for the feasting you know you’ll be doing later? Should you make an extra effort to eat moderately afterward? Or do you figure you’ve blown it, so might as well pig out until Jan. 1?

Nix on that last one, by the way.

Admit it: you’re going to eat a big Thanksgiving dinner, no matter what you’ve already eaten that day. Ordinarily, your body compensates for eating more or less food earlier by having a larger or smaller appetite later, and you pay attention, right? But Thanksgiving is not an ordinary day.

My own tactic is to eat a bit less than usual on Thanksgiving morning, so I’m mostly empty when mealtime rolls around. I’m not starving, but I know a lot of good food stands between me and the end of the day, and I don’t want to be so full I can’t move. It’s got nothing to do with calories or guilt -- I just can’t stand that overstuffed feeling anymore. (I can't believe I used to experience that Thanksgiving feeling on a regular basis.)

Likewise, for a day or two afterward, I often find myself eating more lightly -- again, not because of some caloric balance sheet, but because I’m just not as hungry as usual. My body’s still dealing with all that food. You know what I’m talking about.

I think the secret is to pay attention to your physical signals and not to override them. Up to a point, your body will forgive you for some overindulgence -- but past that point, it will communicate its displeasure, one way or another. I can’t tell you where that point is, but you'll know it in your gut. Or somewhere else in your body.

My advice for Thanksgiving is pretty much the same as it is all year ‘round. Don’t stuff yourself and don’t starve yourself, whether it's before, during, or after the holiday. Trust that if you overdo it despite your best efforts, your body will let you know how to get back on an even keel. Just promise me you'll listen to it.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Yes, you do have time to exercise

As readers of previous posts already know, I’m not a huge fan of "official" exercise. By official, I mean 45 minutes of weights twice per week, 60 minutes of cardio five times a week, that sort of thing. Why not? Because this type of workout regimen is like a diet. You’re either on the program, or you’re off. If life gets hectic and you have to skip your workout for a few days, next thing you know you’ve let the whole concept of exercise slide until the next time you can gather up motivation. Like after New Year’s.

But just because I’m not a workout evangelist doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.

By the way, if you really love your daily jog or bike or fitness class, and you have no problems fitting it into your schedule, great! By all means, keep it up. But if you don’t enjoy exercise, or don’t have time for it, and figure you may as well just sit on the couch, think again.

A study widely reported last spring suggested that short, regular intervals of activity throughout the day may be just as effective, if not more so, as doing one long workout. Those short intervals could include walking up a few flights of stairs, washing your car, raking leaves -- you get the picture.

When you think about it, it makes sense. Nature probably didn’t mean for us to exert intense physical effort for one hour and then sit on our butts for the other 23. More than likely, our bodies were designed to move around and do various tasks as we go about our daily lives.

So if you don’t have an extra hour in your day to set aside for exercise (and honestly, not everyone does), or if you just dislike structured workout programs, don’t throw in the towel! Take a ten-minute break from your desk and walk around the building. Hike across the mall parking lot instead of grabbing the space closest to the entrance. Tidy up your garden for the winter. Play with your dog. Personally, I find vacuuming the whole house, top to bottom, to be a pretty good workout -- plus you end up with clean floors.

There are lots of activities that count as exercise, without having to go to the gym. What are your favorites?

When calories really don't count

My friend Chris, who writes a delightfully wry blog called “5 Snacks After 10,” muses about the final meals of condemned prisoners this week. It got me thinking: what would I request for my last meal?

Unfortunately, I always lose my appetite when I’m stressed out, and I imagine the night before my execution I might be a tad anxious. So I’d probably ask for a bowl of miso soup. Missed opportunity, I know.

As for Chris, he says he would request lobster. According to this article on Slate, prisoners typically order foods like cheeseburgers, fries, steak, and fried chicken. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh ate two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

I think we can safely assume calories, carbs, and cholesterol didn’t factor into these choices. Interesting to contemplate what you would eat if you weren’t the slightest bit concerned with the future.

Actually, some people do eat that way.

Not a health food: Orange juice

Most of the time, my “Not a Health Food” articles focus on products like VitaminWater, Jell-O with antioxidants, or (heaven help us) whole-grain Pop-tarts. Frankly, it’s a pleasure exposing these lame junk foods masquerading as health foods. But orange juice? Say it isn’t so! Orange juice is good for you, isn’t it?

Sorry. According to this recent article in the LA Times, a glass of fruit juice contains nearly the same amount of sugar as a soft drink. You wouldn’t drink Mountain Dew for breakfast (or ever, I hope).

While the sugar in OJ is natural fructose, rather than high fructose corn syrup, it’s still harmful to the body in large amounts. When you drink a glass of juice, you’re essentially mainlining the sugar from some half dozen pieces of fruit, without consuming the accompanying fiber that would allow that sugar to be metabolized more slowly. Instead, the sugar in juice gets dumped directly into your bloodstream.

By now, you know the health risks linked with habitual sugar overload: diabetes, cancer, heart disease, immune dysfunction, digestive problems, allergies, and more.

Not to mention, the fiber in that fruit would have filled you up, whereas liquid calories don’t satiate you the same way and may even cause greater hunger later on as your blood sugar plummets.

I know, it’s tough to swallow. For most people, orange juice is to breakfast as stuffing is to Thanksgiving. It just belongs at the table, and the meal wouldn’t be the same without it. In reality, OJ is a relatively new addition to our diets. Apparently, Florida citrus growers introduced orange juice in the early 1900s as a way to help them get rid of a surplus crop.

Come to think of it, isn’t this kind of how we ended up with so much high fructose corn syrup on our supermarket shelves? Lots of corn and nowhere to put it?

The healthiest replacement for fruit juice is a glass of water or a cup of tea. If you love the taste of citrus in the morning, eat a whole orange. Explore the different varieties of citrus available at your local grocery store, or order an assortment -- a traditional wintertime treat for those of us in the snowbelt!

Local food: Winter squash

If you’re trying to break your sugar habit, but still crave sweet foods, you can't make a better choice than winter squash. It’s definitely sweet, but unlike processed foods made with refined sugar, winter squash brings plenty of nutrients to the table, especially beta carotene, which has been shown to help prevent cancer and type 2 diabetes. Not only that, but winter squashes come in all sorts of cool shapes and sizes. A few weeks ago, I found blue Hubbard squash at our local farm stand and bought one just because the color was so lovely.

Winter squash is different from summer squash. One reason is its tough skin, which allows winter squash to keep for weeks on your kitchen counter, or even longer in a cool pantry. The different varieties are basically interchangeable in recipes, although each one has a subtly unique flavor. I really like Delicata (above), a torpedo-shaped green-and-yellow striped squash with a dense fluffy texture, like a sweet potato.

The easiest way to prepare a winter squash is to cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and place the halves face down in an oiled pan or one filled with a little water. Bake at 375 degrees until the outer skin of the squash pierces easily with a fork. You can then either scoop out the flesh and mash it, or serve it right in the shell with butter, salt, and a little cinnamon or nutmeg.

There are a gazillion recipes out there for squash soup. I like this one (adapted from Cooking Light magazine) the best of any I’ve tried so far. It’s easy to make and hearty enough to be a main course.

Squash soup

2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cubed into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups cubed peeled potato
3/4 tsp. salt
2 cups sliced leek (about 2 medium)
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup whole milk or half-and-half
black pepper
chopped chives

Melt butter in a stockpot over medium-high heat. Add squash, potato, and salt to the pot, and saute until vegetables start to soften. Add leeks and saute an additional minute.

Add the broth to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, or until potatoes and squash are tender.

Puree using an immersion blender or a jar blender. If you’re using a jar blender, take the center piece out of the blender lid and cover it with a dishtowel instead. This will keep hot soup from splattering all over your kitchen (I learned this the hard way).

Stir in the milk or half-and-half, and reheat gently. Sprinkle each serving with black pepper and chives. Serves 6-8.

Repair your body image

We all tend to value what meets the eye. It’s human nature! When it comes to our health, how we look can seem more important than how we feel (how else to explain high heels?) I’ve been thinking lately about how our language reflects our priorities. For instance, there are only a handful of descriptive words for feeling sick to your stomach -- queasy, nauseated, unsettled. But there are literally dozens of synonyms for throwing up, the outward manifestation of feeling sick to your stomach. I won’t list them here. After all, this is supposed to be a food blog. In fact, just saying “food blog” makes my stomach feel a little... unsettled.

Anyway, the point is, outward appearances carry a lot of weight for us -- pun intended. If you’re thin and fit in our society, it symbolizes that you are successful, happy, healthy, and popular. If you’re overweight, it suggests you are a failure, lazy, and have no self-discipline. Never mind that many highly successful people battle their weight (think of Oprah!) We all fall into the trap of judging books by their covers.

The New York Times health column calls our attention to a new blog this week, called Weightless. Unlike most diet blogs, this one's refreshing goal seems to be to help readers focus less on the numbers on the scale and more on making peace with their bodies. I particularly like this post, which picks apart the ridiculous diet advice given by women’s magazines.

Weightless has a lot of potential. It will be interesting to see where it goes. The blog’s biggest drawback so far is that it’s targeted only toward women. In this day and age, body image problems affect everyone.