~~~~~nutrition nazis 2012~~~~~

It would be nice if they could cut the salt down in the almond milk, I think one cup has around 10 percent of your daily sodium.

I fixed that problem by increasing my daily sodium intake so it's a smaller percentage.

I haven't found that to be an issue for me, my sodium intake's pretty low anyway

made a ~healthy smoothie~ for breakfast today in lieu of coffee

as it turns out, I need coffee
drinking green tea rn, hoping to turn it around but oh brother, this was a little harder than I expected

smoothie was delicious tho! greek yogurt, spinach, strawberries, flax seed & a little almond milk to grease my sad blender

yah i made a vegan "ricotta" for a lasagne last week

We made some really good vegan cannelloni the other week from tofu and spinach. So nice!

i made this vegan alfredo tonight: http://www.mangiagioia.com/roasted-garlic-alfredo-with-asparagus--penne.html

it clearly doesn't have the cheesy richness of a real alfredo at all, but it does have a great creamy texture, and you could pump it up with nutritional yeast or galaxy brand rice-based parm. i also added smoked salt.

How much stevia should I use to replace half a cup of splenda in a recipe?

i found this: http://www.cookingwithstevia.com/stevia_conversion_chart.html

and this:
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Sucralose
24 packets Stevia Blend
12 tsp. Spoonable Stevia Blend
2.5 tsp. Stevia Extract Liquid
1.5 tsp. PURE Stevia Extract Powder

I am crying at that Q, but:
They recommend a 1:1 conversion but I typically use 2/3rds to 3/4s the amount of stevia when I'm using it to sweeten a pie for sugar-free friends.

I usually use a little extra nutmeg and/or cardamom to compliment (? or mask?) the metallic unpleasantness of the stevia, but I've only ever used it in pies (usually pumpkin) and once in a sponge cake

Thanks J - I did Google but could only find conversions for sugar. I obviously didn't look hard enough! Flamboyant, I will report back on whether I can stand the taste - this is for muffins.

I went and watched half of Sanpaku's recommended sugar vid. So it's my own damn fault if my muffins taste metallic from now on.

Flax seed in the muffin overwhelmed the stevia: pretty good result. That was a 1-minute microwave low-carb muffin (!) - trying some cream cheese ones next.

Just pointing out that Dr. Lustig and other USF faculty did a 7-part followup for general audiences to Lustig's fructose lecture at http://www.uctv.tv/skinny-on-obesity/.

Also regarding low fructose baking, the page Cooking with Dextrose has some recipes. Dextrose is another name for glucose, ie the natural form of sugar in corn. A 50/50% compound with fructose is sucrose (table sugar) and a 45/55% solution with enzymatically produced fructose is HFCS. I'm not certain substituting dextrose for table sugar would be a net health positive as by definition it has a glycemic index of 100 (arguably bad for insulin resistance), but on the other hand its cheap and would be free of the issues that arise from fructose's liver metabolism that Dr. Lustig cites.

can anyone tell me anything useful about maca powder? i saw it by the flax the other day and wondered what one does with it.

Mixes it in things that mask its horrible, horrible taste, mostly. :)

I can almost tolerate it mixed w/ vanilla-flavored greek yogurt.

has anyone had any experience with sucanat?

how does it compare, in baking for example, to brown sugar? woudl you get more of a molasses flavor from it, or does it behave sort of the same way, flavor wise?

Muffin update: eggy muffins made with almond flour taste more like eggs than like almond flour

i used to use stevia in baking and other things fairly often (i even used to make those eggy tasting almond flour muffins! they did the trick - then i switch to almond-flour pancakes for a long time - better), when i was weaning myself off sugar (loved sugar so much) over a decade ago and felt i really needed baked goods and pudding and i don't know just sweet things to eat, and it works decently but isn't for everyone, taste-wise, yeah. i like bitter taste though, so... i didn't use very much at all, and have added honey or organic cane sugar to even out the taste.

really, i figure if you're not eating that many baked goods in the first place, no big deal. like, when do i eat muffins? seriously almost never, but they're nice from time to time, and if low-sugar, even better. but in the great scheme of sugary things, at this point in my sometimes-shakey NN career lol, i'd rather just eat one amazing, sugar-and-butter packed almond croissant every three months.

Yeah, my problem is that I currently eat a lot of sugar and carbs every single day. Weaning is exactly what I'm trying to do... I'm focusing on the sugar for now, and less on the other carbs. But a non-carby snack is also a good thing to have and the muffins do the trick. Nuts are fine and all but they don't have enough volume to keep me going between meals. Certainly not going to pretend I'll never eat sugar again, though. Almond croissants are top of my 'worth it' list!

Have you got the recipe for the almond flour pancakes by any chance?...!

Yeah! It's pretty open, like: an egg, 2 to 3 tablespoons almond flour, pinch of baking powder, maybe a tablespoon or half-tbsp of rice flour or even (gasp) wheat flour (if you're not going full-on NN/no-carb), pinch of stevia, cinnamon (and nutmeg, cardamon, ginger if you want - spices = good), bit of milk/cream and/or olive oil. and nutmeg, cardamon, ginger if you want), bit of milk/cream and/or olive oil. Make pancakes, use butter :) I had some sugar-free syrup on top for a while as part of the weaning process but eventually I let it go, used a tbsp sugarless applesauce instead. And while not carb-free, carbs are minimal - I found they kept me full for at least 4 hours that way.

(whoops weird iPhone accidental cut-and-paste job)

i think you mean "dr lustig phd"

Thanks Rrr!

Trying to get back on the NN wagon. Forgive me Cutty for I have sinned.

So has anyone here visited a nutritionist? And if so, would you have any idea how to find one that isn't a complete quack or a waste of time?

i think dietitian is the "non-quack" version

In terms of getting guidance from someone TT probably wants to see a registered dietitian. Not all nutritionists are quacks but dietitians are those who have a professional license. I think.

Do you have insurance, TT? A lot of insurance companies will list ones that they work in connection with and some will offer a discount.

this is pretty pricey, but if you're trying to get healthy and you're too busy/can't cook/hate cooking, it seems like a viable option:

http://freshnlean.com/

$35 p/day p/person if you live in california (includes 3 meals and delivery)

Yeah, non-quack is an important qualification. I already do ok, I think, but I kind of want to make sure I'm not leaving myself open to some kind of deficiency or eating too little or something stupid I haven't thought of yet. Wasn't sure what the dietician/nutritionist difference was

Look for a licensed dietician, for sure! "Nutritionist" has no professional standards/licensure/regulation afaik

anyone use this site? http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/index.html

finding it v interesting and useful.

i just bought like 100 vegetables

list vegetables 1-53

no i just know there was 100

also eggs. i haven't eaten much pasta or "whole grains" for the past couple months and i feel good about it. last night since i was making bolognese sauce i was gonna have pasta but my big pot had stuff in it in the fridge so i baked a delicata squash instead, it was good.

getting into this. so, brown rice, it doesn't really taste any worse than white rice does it? maybe even nicer? i was expecting it not to be nice for some childish reason.

made this tonight: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/brownricerisotto_84639

Brown rice tastes better than white rice imo! Kind of nutty and has more toothsomeness.

yeah exactly, stands up to flavours a bit better too.

brown rice is generally awful

oh I love brown rice! if you toast it a little before cooking, and add hot/near boiling liquid it comes up a lot nicer than cooking it up from cold like normal.

oh I love brown rice! if you toast it a little before cooking, and add hot/near boiling liquid it comes up a lot nicer than cooking it up from cold like normal.

yep this is how i did it. really good. i recommend that recipe above highly.

I like brown rice way better than plain white but my favorite it maybe basmati.

pro tip: the purpose of rice is to balance out the oil/salt/flavor of the other foods you are eating. it's not really meant to be eaten by itself. hth!

yeah I don't really like rice on it's own in general

i heard eggs were good for you
but now i heard they were bad for you
what's up nazis?

A nicely fragrant long-grained brown basmati is most excellent and not to be sneered at.