Mark’s Daily Apple

1,000 Posts!21

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We’re Big in St. Louis.

That’s right. We’ve posted our one-thousandth blog post! (Actually, 1,065. We were so busy writing one-thousand sort of came and went without us even noticing.) We would like to use this as an opportunity to thank all of our readers for enjoying the ride with us. (Thank you!) It has been a labor of love - one we hope to continue for many more thousands of posts.

We’d also like to take this occasion to revisit all of the things we’ve been ranting about. Since October ‘06 we have covered everything from diabetes and the American healthcare system to fats, food, and fitness. View the Best Of and Most Popular Posts to reminisce, and check out some of our personal favorites if you are looking for even more nostalgia:

Chronic Cardio

Is Intermittent Fasting Healthy?

My Escape from Vegan Island

Stress, Cortisol and the Adrenals

The Definitive Guide to Cholesterol

To mark this event we will be giving away a bottle of Vital Omegas - Mark’s pharmaceutical grade omega-3 fatty-acid fish oil supplement - to one very lucky commenter as a token of our appreciation.

Just tell us something you’ve learned, loved, hated or laughed about over the course of these 1,000 posts. We’ll use a random number generator to select the winner from the comment boards. Thanks, everyone!

Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton Flickr Photo

Posted: Announcements, Supplements

Cheap Meat Round II: “Thrift Cuts”10

Dear Mark: Cheap Meat? really stirred up a good discussion this week. One particular comment, from reader Anna, was so great we thought we’d publish it (with her permission of course!) as an outright blog post for all of our readers to enjoy. Check out Anna’s blog for more of her Against the Grain opinions. Thanks, Anna!

Serving good meat on a budget, one of my favorite subjects.

I saved money and lots of shopping time for meat by buying a large upright freezer and sourcing meat/poultry from a local “hobby� farm (run by a couple that raises their own food and sells some to defray overhead costs and support their rural life). I buy a lot of the cuts that my source’s other customers don’t want, so they are especially cheap (some of them would have even been thrown out).

Check out the local county fair; lots of kids sell their 4-H animals at auction to raise funds. There might be a local state or county-licensed processing facility that picks up purchased fair animals at the fair and processes, wraps, and freezes for a reasonable fee. Some specialty butchers can do this, too.

I think another good thing to remember is that there is more to an animal than the pricey, boneless common cuts. Years ago cooks were more creative about using the entire animal or at least more of it. Find a good classic cookbook, like a vintage edition Joy of Cooking, a UK meat cookbook (I like River Cottage Meat), any Bruce Aidell meat book, or search online for ways to use “thrift cuts� and family friendly recipes. I also really like Jo Robinson and Shannon Hayes cookbooks for economical grassfed meat and poultry ideas. Also consider offal, the organs and “odd bits�. If the meat source is “clean�, then you don’t have to worry about liver or kidneys being full of toxins, like you do with factory farmed animals.

Learn to appreciate “the squeak to the tail�. Let other people buy the pricey tenderloins and boneless breasts, because that leaves lots of less popular, but still very useful and often more flavorful cuts at lower prices for us.

The key is learning how to fit different cooking techniques into your life. Weekend cooking is useful for meals later in the week (deboned diced or shredded cooked meat can be made into all sort of meals, so it is *not* leftovers). Slow cookers are great, too. Bruce Aidell has a great recipe for a thrifty, super easy pot roast goes into the oven to cook during the early evening, then is taken out to cool, and makes a great next-day meal.

I like 7 bone chuck roasts, O bone roasts, shoulder and shank cuts (especially), and other bone-in cuts, as well as boneless round roasts, and other thrift cuts that utilize slow cooking at low temps to tenderize them and melt connective tissue. Whole chickens and whole chicken legs are a better budget and flavor choice than boneless breasts, too. Bones shouldn’t be thought of as waste; they are a resource, providing deep, rich flavor and abundant minerals in an bio-available form when slow simmered with liquid. You won’t need calcium supplements if you cook with bone-in cuts frequently.

Cooking with thrift cuts will require a new appreciation (& skill) for thinking ahead, rather than sautéing a boneless cut while trying to prepare vegetables and salads all at the same time just a few minutes before sitting down to a rushed meal. There can be a huge payoff in nutrition, flavorful sauces and meat dishes that practically make themselves, plus, a huge reduction of “what’s for dinner tonight?� or “let’s get takeout� panic. And it is hard to overcook simmered and braised cuts, so there is a lot of timing flexibility built in for busy schedules and undetermined meal schedules. The main key is thinking about dinner long before dinnertime, maybe even days before that dinner. For instance, I now have a large O-bone roast thawing, which will cook in the slow cooker tomorrow or the next day, to make a couple different meals later this week.

Try a new “thrift cut� once a week, especially an unfamiliar one. If you think it makes to much, divide it after cooking and freeze some for another week. There are many ways of preparing cuts with regional and ethnic flavors, so if one recipe doesn’t work out, try the same cut with other ingredients (Moroccan spices and ingredients instead of Polynesian or Italian, for instance).

I’ll give a good example of how I do this. I put together a Beef Shanks in Coconut Milk with Ginger and Cumin recipe from the Bruce Aidell Meat book recently. Super cheap cut. It needed several hours to simmer in the oven, but it was too late for our Sunday supper. So I put it in before we sat down to something else for our supper and it was finished braising mid-evening, then cooled a bit while I watched Masterpiece Theater, then put in the fridge. Two day later I took it out, and warmed it up on the stove with additional coconut milk and a bit of water. My husband thought it was perhaps the best thing I had ever made. The sauce had that rich, long simmered flavor one gets in fine dining restaurant reduction sauces, because of the long braising with marrow-rich bones. One of the shank slices was mostly bone with hardly any meat, yet I left it in for the flavor rather than discard it. Warming it up on the stove was fast and easy and left only a veg and salad to get ready on a busy evening. I probably spent about 20 minute total of actual hands-on time preparing and reheating the meat dish.

I like to think of this as old-fashioned “hearth� style cooking. It isn’t fancy, but it can taste very special, indeed.

Share your thoughts on “thrift cuts” in the comment board!

hugovk Flickr Photo (CC)

Further Reading:

Smart Fuel: Eggs

Top 10 Meat Questions Meet Answers

How to Turn Cheap Steaks into Prime Steaks

Posted: Diet, Health, How To

Smart Fuel: Goji Berries10

Gojis Galore

Also know as lycium barbarum, lyceum fruit, fructus lycii, wolfberry and gou qi zi, type Goji berries into a search engine and your computer screen will quickly fill with warnings about how not to be scammed by this fruit.

A fruit con artist? We were intrigued…

But before we dig into the sordid world of Goji berries, let’s first learn a little more about them:

The berries – which are typically found dried and closely resemble the appearance of raisins – hail from an evergreen shrub popular in China, Mongolia and in the Himalaya Mountains in Tibet. However, wolfberries – and remember, the names can, and frequently are, used interchangeably – can be found in many climates and actually grow wild in several countries.

According to some reports, Goji berries have been used in Chinese Medicine for 6,000 years to treat maladies ranging from liver damage to poor circulation. In addition, it is also thought to promote longevity – with some Web sites suggesting that daily Goji berry consumption can increase longevity by 20 years! – and boost sexual function and fertility. The mechanisms behind these claims? Well, Goji berries are thought to contain some 18 aminos as well as Vitamin A, B1, B2, B6 and Vitamin E (which is not all that common in fruits). Rounding out its vitamin profile, certain Goji berry varieties also provide more Vitamin C by weight than an orange. In addition, Gojis contain 21 trace minerals and are an excellent source of iron, packing more iron than spinach!

However, Goji berries are perhaps more revered for their antioxidants, polysaccharide and phytonutrient properties. Specifically, the berries contain high levels of the carotenoid zeaxanthin, which is thought to ensure the health of the eye and in one study. It was found to reduce the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, an eye condition that is currently considered the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in adults over age 65.

But the good work of the antioxidants doesn’t stop there: A study of 79 cancer patients published in a 1994 edition of the Chinese Journal of Oncology* suggests that patients responded more favorably to treatment when Goji berries were added to their regimens. A second study appearing in the journal Life Sciences, meanwhile, suggested that the berries might contain compounds that can stem cancer activity by causing cell apoptosis (cell death) as well as interfere with cancer cell proliferation rate and cycle distribution. Another study also published in Life Sciences suggested that Goji berry extracts could “significantly reduce blood glucose levels and serum total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations� in rabbit models.

As a result of these findings, Goji berries have taken off as something of a wonder fruit and are now advertised on the internet – and even on the Oprah Winfrey show – as a compound that can transform your life and your health! And this is where the scams start in: Purveyors, looking to cash a quick buck on America’s obsession with the fountain of youth, are shilling Goji berries – which they often contend have been enhanced or somehow made more powerful – by selling them on the internet, with prices hovering at around $60 per bag of berries on some sites and bottles of juice fetching nearly $35!

Our advice? Look at the Goji berry not as a solution to all your health problems – or as one internet site claimed, a source of happiness that would have a cumulative affect so that you could eventually be left smiling all day – and instead scoop up Goji berries as part of a healthy diet just as you would any other berries. We can recommend them as Smart Fuel but don’t buy into the hype of $60-a-bag miracle food. They’re just berries!

You can find whole Goji berries at Chinese herbal shops and select health food stores and supermarkets – with grocery chain Trader Joes currently selling a trail mix that includes Goji berries. Goji juice, meanwhile, might be slightly harder to find, but is generally available at health food stores and through online retailers.

* Unfortunately, this study is published by a Chinese organization that does not maintain an English Web site so we are unable to link to this study at this time.

What do you think of the Goji berry craze? Hit us up with a comment!

Vic, miheco Flickr Photos (CC)

Further Reading:

What is ORAC?

Antioxidant Powerhouse: Cranberries

diet blog: Don’t Believe the Hype

Posted: Diet, Health, Nutrition, Prevention, Smart Fuel

Eat This Today, Feel Better Tomorrow: Special Occasions7

Let’s face it. While we may enjoy our day-to-day diet choices, thank you very much, it can seem a little daunting to plan a dinner party, anniversary dinner, cocktail hour, or other special occasion when not everyone shares those choices. Before you break out the French bread, cocktail crackers and buttered fingerling potatoes, here are a few easy alternatives that might satisfy the entire crowd, including you, the host/hostess. No more sitting out at your own party.

Lox on Cucumber

On slices of cucumber, spread a small bit of veggie whipped cream cheese and top with small piece of lox. (Whipped cream cheese: Use food processor to mince 1 red or orange bell pepper and few green onion stalks. Mix in processor with softened block of cream cheese.)

Antipasto Tray

The options are limitless. Include your favorite vegetables and assorted accompaniments. A few favorites: variety of olives, nitrate-free meats, pepperoncinis, cherry tomatoes, pickles, artichoke hearts.

Shrimp Cocktail

What guest can resist a classic? And what cook can pass up something so confoundingly easy? All you need is precooked shrimp and some good cocktail sauce. Fresh lemon juice works nicely as well.

Lamb Chops

Grill lamb chops for 4-5 minutes, and drizzle with mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed rosemary.

Vegetable Trio

Drizzle washed beets with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap in aluminum foil or tent with parchment paper. Roast in 425 degree oven for 45 minutes or until soft. Once cool, cut into strips or wedges and drizzle with white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Blanch green beans and asparagus for 3 minutes, remove and submerge in ice water. Drain and set aside.

Serve green beans, asparagus and beets together on platter.

Cheese and Fruit Tray

Forget the crackers. Pairing fruits like berries, cherries, pears and apples (or whatever is in season) with a variety of artisanal cheeses is not only tastier but more elegant.

Inspired now? Be sure to check out past MDA recipes, and share your favorites.

citymama, Wendy Copley, sheilaz413, shell belle, *clarity*, desi.italy, roboppy, Jen Chan Flickr Photos (CC)

Posted: Diet, Health, Nutrition, Recipes

A New Future for Foodie Culture?5

Batali is looking svelte…

When you hear the words “foodie culture,� what comes to mind? Connoisseurs of all things delectable? Elaborate multi-course meals? Diabetes, obesity, and heart disease? Turns out an increasing number in the upper echelon of foodie culture are changing their indulgent ways and shaking up the foodie landscape. A New York Times article this week follows the story of eGullet forum founder and current blog author for “OffTheBroiler.� Mr. Perlow tipped the scale at 400 pounds and had a watershed moment in the doctor’s office when a physician told him he’d be dead in five years.

If 1960s Las Vegas had its Rat Pack and 1980s cinema its Brat Pack, early 21st century food has its Fat Pack. Mr. Perlow was a charter member. Now, like some of his fellow travelers, he is learning what happens when the Fat Pack’s philosophy of excess meets the body’s limits of endurance. The journalists, bloggers, chefs and others who make up the Fat Pack combine an epicure’s appreciation for skillful cooking with a glutton’s bottomless-pit approach. Cramming more than three meals into a day, once the last resort of a food critic on deadline, has become a way of life.

via New York Times

In giving up the “excessive� approach of their former foodie approach, Mr. Perlow and others now find themselves blogging about vegetables and tofu (O.K., so there’s still room for improvement.) as well as ways to strike a balance between eating healthily and enjoying truly good food. We’d take issue with much of what the group still supports as “good food� (e.g. pastries, etc.), but it seems even basic moderation is a step in the right direction for many of these folks. Perlow comments on his own transition and that of the foodie culture by saying, “I think you can still keep the food very interesting, but do it in moderation. That’s what the food community of the future is going to have to be.�

Still, many in the old order are still holding out. As the Times article explains, “Among a certain slice of the food-possessed, to suggest that indulgence might put one’s health in peril is to invite ridicule.� Mr. Shaw, the current blogger for eGullet and one such stalwart, refuses to give up “the cause� of unrestrained gluttony. At 5’ 10� and 270 pounds and with a father who died of heart disease, “he believes the genetic component of weight and health matter more than moderation and exercise.� He also says that “the state of medical knowledge on the relationship of diet to health changes so frequently that it can’t be trusted.� (Although he might have a point about the inconsistency, it’s clearly an easy and flimsy excuse.) Finally, he doesn’t believe in the diabetes epidemic, instead insisting it’s “overdiagnosed.�

It’s unfortunate that some people, including those with public and influential voices, persist in deluding themselves this way. The longer we put off taking control of our choices, the less time we give ourselves to live life to the fullest. Short term gluttony, while it may seem satisfying at the time, endangers our future health. Yet it also hinders us from enjoying other elements of life in the here and now: more daily energy, better sleep, increased mental clarity, better emotional balance, even an inspiring sense of self-empowerment. We believe it’s worth a few momentary sacrifices.

Yet, we talk a lot about plateaus – in weight loss, muscle development, dietary shift, etc. In some small regard, maybe these foodies have something to teach us after all: that in the pursuit of health there’s no reason to let enjoyment stagnate either. Call it a plateau of culinary delight – a dearth in kitchen creativity. When we start to view food as just fuel, perhaps we lose sight of something not necessarily crucial but still fundamental.

We definitely support the ideal of “eat to live, not live to eat.� That’s the key difference between our thinking and that of most popular foodies. Yet, we love food, and the countless recipes we serve up attest to that. Although we believe it’s healthy to steer clear of the unwholesome, the non-nutrient-rich, the detrimental, we think that still leaves a whole lot of incredible food to appreciate. (Mr. Perlow notes that, since adopting his new lifestyle, his “pleasure receptors are better attuned to the joys of vegetables.� So true.) And while the Primal Blueprint surely defines an ideal, it doesn’t “disallow� compromises – both of reason and personal enjoyment. These will mean different things, of course, to each of us.

If you feel you’ve hit a food plateau lately, here’s a challenge. Shake things up, and bring back the fun. Add some novelty. Browse the bookstore for a new cookbook, join a CSA for an element of surprise and chef’s challenge in each week’s basket, throw a dinner party (look for recipe ideas this week), or simply kick back with a glass of red wine, a scrumptious MDA appetizer and Babette’s Feast (the ultimate classic in foodie films). Bon Appétit, apples!

What are your thoughts? What do you do when the routine gets ho-hum? Ideas? Resource suggestions?

100five, eekim Flickr Photo (CC)

Further Reading:

Healthy Tastes Great! Recipes

Slashfood: Foodie Lifestyle on a Budget

Posted: Diet, Health, Weight loss, Worker Bees' Weekly Bites