From the BBC:

US researchers said poor diets may trigger a signaling system which prompts the body to consume even more.

When the signals - involving a protein linked to inflammation - were blocked in mice, they maintained normal weight.

A UK expert warned that the finding, in the journal Cell, may not lead to an effective anti-obesity drug because it could interfere with the immune system.

The complexity of the controls governing the human metabolism, appetite and the laying down of fat has become clear over recent years.

Despite some promising experiments in animals, none has yet produced a breakthrough in the battle against obesity.

The latest "pathway" under investigation, by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is normally associated with the immune system, and inflammation, one of the body's defence systems.

Serves 4

3 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons dry vermouth

2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard

1 teaspoon whole-grain Mustard

1 teaspoon creole mustard or spicy brown mustard

4 skinless boneless chicken breast fillets

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Combine stock and vermouth in a heavy medium saucepan. Boil over high heat until reduced to 3/4 cup,about 25 minutes. Add all mustards and whisk to blend. Simmer until slightly thickened,about 3 minutes. Season sauce to taste with pepper(can be prepared 1 day ahead.Cover and refridgerate. Bring to simmer before serving)

Preheat barbecue(medium high heat)or preheat broiler. Rub chicken breasts with garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Grill chicken until cooked through,about 4 minutes per side.

Transfer chicken to plates. Spoon sauce over and serve.

My kids love the gumbo.

Last time I made it, I used okra for the first time and nobody complained. If you can't find okra, frozen green beans are a family favorite. I rarely have time to grill the chicken before, so I either buy already grilled at the deli (expensive) or I cut up the chicken and blanch it in chicken or vegetable stock. 

Gumbo is great the next day for lunches. 

Ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons flour
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Cups chopped onion
• 2 Cups chopped green bell pepper
• 2 Cups frozen cut okra (omit if not available and use 2 C of carrots OR frozen green beans)
• 2 Cups chopped celery
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 4 Cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
• 16 oz. turkey kielbasa, cut into pieces
• 2 (14 1/2 oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 4 Cups cooked brown rice

Steps:

1. Combine flour and oil in a Dutch oven; sauté over medium-high heat for 3 minutes.
2. Add onion and the next 6 ingredients (onion through ground red pepper); cook 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.
3. Stir in chicken, kielbasa, tomatoes and broth; cook 6 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve over rice. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups gumbo and 1/2 cup rice)

CALORIES 369; FAT 11.3g; PROTEIN 24.9g; FIBER 3g; CARBOHYDRATE 37g

It was so good that I wanted to buy it to listen to while i run.  And I never buy music.  [If more visions of minivan moms are coming into your head, push them away and keep reading.]  So I bought it today.  And wouldn't you know that today would be the day that my trusty iPod mini--that I first bonded with on the way to Big Bend on a Christmas trip long, long ago--let me down and would no longer scroll.  I clicked it on to my new song (I think it's called "Lose My Soul"...but I'm having another mom moment of forgetfulness) and it wouldn't budge from there.  So I listened to the song three times.  Which tells you how long my run was (not very).  In my defense, the song is over six minutes long.  I highly recommend it.

In another train of thought later, I started realizing that as much as I love people and love talking to them, I don't actually like being attached to a cell phone.  I wish I could dump it into the toilet.  I'm basically chained to the thing, and am expected by random people I shop alongside at grocery stores to answer it.  If you leave me a message on it, it says something negative about my character if I don't call you back.  

The reason I'm even telling you this is because I'm up way past the time I should be in beddie-bye, waiting on some granola that I made to finish cooking.  I made it to take somewhere, but I made it the way I like it, because I figure I'll be the main one eating it.  

So obviously, I wanted to make it as healthy as I could.  The only problem with that is that then it doesn't taste as good as IT could.  So I tweaked...and cajoled...and added some oil about 20 minutes ago when the oats were looking pretty thirsty.  

What...you want the recipe?  Really?

Okay, here it is.

Lowish Fat Spiced Orange & Cranberry Granola (but don't blame me if you eat too much and gain three pounds)

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup dried cranberries
[I also had every intention of adding 1/2 cup of the most delicious golden raisins know to man...but I ate them all.]

Preheat oven to 300.  Combine first five ingredients in a 9x13 baking dish, then mix juice concentrate and vanilla, and pour over the dry mixture.  Stick in the oven for 40 minutes, stirring from the bottom every 10-15 minutes.  After about 30 minutes, take it out and add some maple syrup and oil if you think it looks dry.  That's what I did.  I guess you could do that first, too, before it got dry-looking.  At the end of the forty minutes, add in the cranberries, and put it back in for 10-15 minutes.  Stir and enjoy!

1/2 cup Chicken stock

8 ounces ground chicken

8 ounces shrimp, peeled and deveined

4-6 ounces bean thread noodles,soaked in warm water for 15 minutes and drained

salt and white pepper

DRESSING

6 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/8 cup fish sauce

2 teaspoons palm sugar, or white

1 tablespoon thai chili paste

2 spring onions, finely chopped

3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon finely chopped mint

1/4 red onion finely sliced

1/2 cabbage, finely shredded

Bring stock to a rolling boil in a saucepan, add chicken and cook for 3-4 mintes, use a slotted spoon to transfer chicken to a large salad bowl.

Add shrimp to boiling stock and cook 30 seconds. Use slotted spoon to transfer to bowl with chicken. Season both with salt and pepper.

Bring a sauce pan therr quaters way full to a rolling boil. Add soaked noodles and boil 1 minute. Drain in a colander, rinse in cold water, and transfer to bowl with chicken and shrimp.

To make dressing,in a bowl combine lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, chili paste. Whisk till sugar dissolves. Toss with the noodle ,chicken and shrimp. Add the spring onion, Corriander and mint. Toss in the cabbage.

Place in a elongated serving dish and serve at room temperature.

This is my current favorite cookbook for sure! As I believe I may have mentioned before, we love saturated fats around here and aren't really looking to use fractionated ingredients (skim milk, lowfat sour cream, etc.) so we just re-adjust recipes like that back to their full fat glory! The main way this book stays "lowfat" though, my personal favorite, is by cooking with LOTS of vegetables. I went through and marked all the recipes I wanted to try. I probably marked 90%. Not to shabby out of 1,000! This week I've made the Carrot Cookies twice, the Banana Cookies, and the Cocoa Cookies. Awesome cookies using whole wheat flour and honey. We've been eating the first two as breakfast truth be told. They are that good for you! The book also has over fifteen salad dressings, eleven pasta salads, nine non-lettuce veggie salads, nine slaws, eight tomato salads, six cucumber salads, thirteen green salads, and eight potato salads. That's just in the Salad chapter! Here is the table of contents:

Intro pg 1-17

Small Bites and Finger Foods pg 20-51

Salads pg 52-107

Soups pg 108-151

Entrees: Poultry and meat pg 152-218

Entrees: Fish and Shellfish pg 219-263

Entrees: Vegetarian pg 264-307

Vegetables pg 308-374

Pastas, Grains, and Beans pg 375-415

Casual Meals pg 416-445

Breakfasts pg 446-476

Yeast Breads, Quick Breads, and Muffins pg 477-507

Desserts pg 508-580

Sauces, Salsas, Pantry Staples, and Beverages pg 581-611

BUY THIS BOOK!!! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!!!

It can be purchased used on Amazon starting at $3.71.

yesterday, i actually did dance for almost an hour. i had good intentions of getting on the elliptical first, but jason reorganized some stuff in the sunroom and buried it under his heavy weight bench. um, hello! trying to be good here, i really don't need extra excuses. love you, honey. now please move it! ;) 

today (sorry men) i had the terrible woman cramps. ugh, they were so bad i did not want to move at all. this happens to me every other month, and i swear to god, if aunt flo were an actual person, i would happily return the favor and kick her ass! luckily, we had leftovers, so i didn't have to work a whole lot at making dinner. instead of exercising, i sat at the computer and *read* about exercising. how lame is that. i am just sure my fingers lost a few fat mili-particles from typing. i mean, not that they couldn't stand to lose a little...

oh, who am i kidding! excuses, excuses. i want to be a die hard exercise-aholic. i want to be that person so badly. so why can't i? i feel like i am working up to it, but i need to try harder. is it the amount of time i must devote each day? knowing how long it will take to actually notice a difference? the sweating? the panting, wheezing, passing out? (ok, kidding!) seriously, it's not like i don't feel good afterwards - i know i do, it gives me a great boost of energy. the truth is i really don't know why i am having such a hard time getting into a good routine. 

i feel i should mention... you may remember that this blog started partially because my mom and i are trying to do a diet and exercise challenge. well, i kind of blindsighted her with this whole blogging adventure. i know she wants to get involved on the exercise part, but she is about to retire from a monumental teaching career and i think she's a little busy with everything going on right now. so, mom: if and when you want to come on board, that's cool, but no pressure. i know you have a lot on your plate. 

i did find kind of a cool website called peer trainer. there are all these different groups you can join, and find other people who have the same issues/goals that you do. i joined another lady who started a group for yo-yo dieters. i thought i might be able to contribute on the dieting ideas, but i'm definitely looking for an exercise motivator. it's kinda cool, really. we'll see how it pans out. i will keep you posted, for sure!

today's recipes are both desserts. now, before you scold me, remember that me and aunt flo have a big sweet tooth right now! and, the recipes are actually both low fat. i am posting both because one was dessert last night, and one was dessert tonight. now, it is pretty rare that we eat dessert, especially two nights in a row. but, i am totally guilty of buying vanilla ice cream over the weekend and i want to use it up. why not throw it away? i can't waste good ice cream, and it only takes a tiny bit to make me happy!

braised pairs a la mode with mocha wine sauce

• desired amount of pears from braised pear recipe
• leftover wine mixture from same recipe
• 1/4 cup van gogh double espresso vodka
• 1/2 cup fat free/sugar free chocolate syrup

pour wine mixture into saucepan, bring to a boil and reduce, adding vodka about halfway into the process. i started with about a cup of the wine mixture, reduced it by half, added the vodka and reduced again. once you are down to a slightly thickened, dark mixture, (about a half cup, and be careful not to scald!) turn off the burner and whisk in chocolate sauce. (this was a spur of the moment idea. had i thought it out, i may have actually used dark chocolate, melted in a double boiler.)

heat the pears in microwave, if desired. serve with a small scoop of ice cream and chocolate topping. of course, we each had a shot of the vodka over ice as well. 

lowfat banana chocolate chip muffins

i got this recipe courtesy of sarah. the only thing i changed was to use mini chocolate chips. when they were hot out of the oven, i could not resist adding a small scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of fat free chocolate syrup, but they are great for a snack or quick breakfast, also. here is what sarah had to say:

Here is a recipe that really helped Nick & I (and also my brother & Jessica) when we were starting out dieting and trying to go without sweets. (Seriously make this up on the weekend and you have something to curb your craving that is lowfat & sweet. )

It is especially nice knowing what you put into your snacks as far as ingredients. I am trying to stay away from high fructose corn syrup. I hear it is the devil. By the way, it is in most of everything. Even your bread! The "healthy goodness" brand from Aunt Millies is one I have found without it. Anyway, according to Bob Green "The Best Life Diet," which I find to be a very logical method to healthy living, high fructose corn syrup is terrible and one of those things that you should stay away from forever. If something is made with "sugar," yes, it has more calories, but more natural than HFCS and better for you.

Anyway here is the recipe:

• 3 large bananas
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp soda
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream sugar and mashed bananas with beaten egg. Mix dry ingredients and then add to banana mix. Mix in applesauce and chocolate chips.

Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes in muffin pan sprayed with cooking spray. Makes 12 muffins.

each has:

3gm fat
158 calories
240 mg sodium
5gm fiber
32 carbs
16 sugars

He states:
"With all this talk about whether low fat or low
carbohydrate meals are better, we tend to loose sight
of the fact that the average American diet is high in
both fat and carbohydrates. Almost anything is better
than that.
One of the reasons that high fat, high carbohydrate
meals are so harmful is that they dramatically increase
the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS),
otherwise known as free radicals.
Moreover, new research shows that high fat, high
carbohydrate diets are particularly harmful to the
obese.
Dr. Paresh Dandona from the University of Buffalo
recently published a study in the Journal of Clinical
Endocrinology and Metabolism in which he looked at free
radical production over a period of three hours after
the consumption of a Big Mac, large order of French
fries, a large Coke and apple pie (an 1,800-calorie
meal composed of 62 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent
fat and 8 percent protein).
The results showed that free radicals increased
significantly in both groups at 2 hours, but continued
to increase at 3 hours in the obese subjects, while
levels dropped to baseline in the normal weight
subjects.
A MacDonald's "Happy Meal" is not good news for your
health under the best of conditions, but apparently
it's even worse if you are overweight.
NOTE: Previous studies have shown that consumption of
vitamin E or other antioxidants along with this type of
meal significantly decreases free radical production.
I would not suggest for a minute that antioxidants can
offset the bad effects of obesity and poor diets on our
health, but this is one of the many reasons why I
recommend vitamin E and other antioxidant supplements
as part of an optimal health program."

I think this is very interesting that free radicals continue to increase in obese individuals while the
they decrease to base line in normal weight subjects. It's another reason why vitamin E and supplementation is so important.

Lowfat is a photo program for Linux that is like BumpTop, but just displays photo in a 2.5D-ish fashion:

It's pretty awesome, but the caveat is that it doesn't link to any photo management program. Until now.

And up until now I haven't published any of my programs on here, and that's because all my programs, other than this one, of course, sucks.

Presenting the Lowfat Manager. It's a little Ruby-Gnome program that links up with F-Spot, Ubuntu's default photo manager, configures Lowfat for you, and also gives you 3 preset formations:

Oh, if you want to wirte your own program, look in "state.txt" in the root of Lowfat's directories. Each photo is as:
Photo Pathname
Center X (NOT TOP LEFT! THE CENTER!)
Center Y
Angle in degrees, clockwise from positive X axis
Width
Height

Two things before we go on to installation:

1) Lowfat Manager actually puts a limit on the size of your photo, because it doesn't want extremely huge images. I'll present two options, one for people who shoot extremely large photos, and another for people who shoot extremely large photos and don't give a damn.
2) Lowfat can only handle RGB photos, which is pretty much every image except some that might be on the web. If you want to find out, open the photo with Gimp, and go to "Image" -> "Mode", and select "RGB" if it isn't already.

Installation:

Step 1: Get the packages:

sudo apt-get install build-essentials git git-core libglib-dev libgtk-dev libcairo-dev libsdl1.2-dev libgl1-mesa-dev \ # for lowfat
ruby1.8 libgnome2-ruby libsqlite3-ruby librmagick-ruby #for lowfat manager

Step 2: Get Lowfat:

git clone git://people.freedesktop.org/~macslow/lowfat

Step 3: Build It:

cd lowfat
./configure && make #no make install

Step 4: Copy lowfatmanager.rb to the directory "lowfat"!

lowfatmanger.rb has to be in the directory lowfat is in. If you don't know what I mean, it should at ~/lowfat ("lowfat" at home directory). If you know what I mean, you should be able to find it =D.

Copy either of the code at these links:
Forces resize.
Doesn't force resize.

Step 5: Put photos and add them to tags/albums if you hadn't already. Should be easy enough
Step 6: Give lowfatmanager.rb executive permission (in Ubuntu/Gnome/Nautilus, right-click, "Properties"->"Permissions"->"Allow executive permission", or something like that)
Step 7: Fire it up!

Su youtube c'è ancora qualche video dimostrativo, come questo:

Bello, un po' pesantino ma funzionante...qualcuno sa se è stato abbandonato completamente?

Food turns out to be a fairly small part of its content, with more space given to exercise, medical information, how to reduce stress, and general lifestyle recommendations. But in the back there are some articles about food, and some recipes. Even a week's worth of meal plans - which I would have been happy about if the meals were a bit more to my taste.

Over the years I've learned to like some healthy foods. I've learned to prefer romaine lettuce to iceberg, skim milk to 2% (whole milk is so rich it would seem like drinking cream, though it's what I grew up on), and whole grain cereal or bread to their bland counterparts. But some of these recommended substitutions go further than I'm ready to go.

I'll keep my lowfat yogurt, thank you, and forgo the soy yogurt. (I bought a bag of cheesy soy snacks recently, and have managed to eat a few helpings, but I won't be making a repeat purchase.) I don't think I'd really mind eating spaghetti squash with chili (my father used to serve it in place of spaghetti, with meatballs and sauce, and it just wasn't the same), but there's no way I'd get my family to go along with the change.

We've used egg substitute, and it's not bad at all - except the price. Low-fat soups, low-fat cheese - they all cost substantially more than the fatty alternatives. (Fortunately low-fat cottage cheese and sour cream generally cost the same as regular.) I find it annoying to pay extra to cut unwanted fat from our diet there, only to see my family down a bag of chips or other treats.

But I find a few tricks to please my heart, my checkbook, and my tastebuds. Ground turkey simply doesn't make the kind of cheeseburgers or meat loaf I like, but it works quite well in chili. And tonight I discovered I could use a mix of half ground beef and half ground turkey in shepherd's pie without spoiling the taste (gravy helps). Replacing sour cream with plain yogurt to make dip (for those fresh vegetables my doctor says I need) was a big mistake, and fat-free sour cream wasn't much more appealing, but the low-fat version is not bad. And using it in Cheesy Potatoes will probably work just fine.

Now if I could just find a magazine with menu plans that aren't chock-full of sugar and fat but not quite so radically healthy...

Garlic, onion, bell pepper, all chopped

Chili powder & paprika to taste

Olive oil

1 can black beans

93% lean ground beef

Heat the olive oil in the pan you will use to make the chili, a dutch oven or deep pan.  Cook the garlic, onion, and bell pepper in the oil until soft, add the raw beef, and cook until browned.  Add the tomatoes, beans, chili powder and paprika.

Heat through, then eat! 

1 or two eggs, or 1 yolk and two whites

Diced bell pepper & onion, microwaved until somewhat soft

Sliced canned mushrooms, or fresh ones microwaved

Cottage or ricotta cheese

Scramble eggs, add softened bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms, and add a tablespoon of ricotta or cottage cheese.  Continue cooking until cheese starts to melt a bit.  Spoon all into a warmed tortilla (can microwave it or drag across your stovetop burner).  Wrap tortilla around the egg mixture and enjoy!

Reduced-fat ricotta cheese

Minced garlic

Olive tapenade

Diced tomatoes

1 ready-made flatbread, such as Flat Out (www.flatoutbread.com)

3/4 c. thinly sliced turkey keilbasa (or any other cooked poultry)

1/4 c. diced onion

Grated reduced-fat mozzarella, or a thin layer of finely shredded mozzarella cheese

Spread tapenade (optional), garlic, ricotta, and diced tomatoes on flatbread.  Top with remaining ingredients, bake at 375F for 6 minutes. 

Of course I could avoid it all together, but a better option is to eat less. And eating less is easier when I pick better cheeses. Many imported and even some of the American Artisanal varieties offer many times the flavor of the bulk processed slabs, so it takes less to wonderfully enhance your culinary creations.

One example is Bulgarian Sheep's Milk Feta. A ½-ounce serving is a cube measuring about 1 and 1/8-inches on each side, or 1 ½ tablespoons crumbled, with 37 calories and 3 grams fat. Compared to the big vat supermarket feta, its bite is multidimensional, building slowly to a powerful finish.

A fresh Greek salad showcases this exceptional feta. The recipe uses a relatively low fat dressing, with lots of rich red wine vinegar. It serves two as a side dish, or one as a meal. It's a good source of Vitamins A and C, as well as folate, iron and manganese.

Certainly, it's important to remember to pair high fat foods like cheese and olive oil with otherwise very low fat and low calorie main dishes. Skinless chicken breasts, lean fish like tuna or cod, along with orange and green vegetables, all cooked and served without added oils or butter help meet these lower fat goals.

Lean Chef's Lower Fat Greek Salad

2 cups mixed greens
2 cups baby spinach leaves
2 thin slices red onion
4 small black olives, sliced
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 ounce Bulgarian Sheep's Milk Feta
1 teaspoon virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper

Combine the greens and spinach. Top with onion, olives, tomatoes and feta. Mix together olive oil and red wine vinegar, and drizzle over the salad. Add a grind or two of pepper.

Serves 2, each with 103 calories, 5 g protein, 9 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 6 g fat, (3 g saturated).

Go to this website and play!  Type in an ingredient you have on hand or are hungry for, and suddenly a list appears of recipes with that ingredient.  Add another ingredient and recipes appear with both ingredients.  Keep adding ingredients - it's so fun!  

Additional sites:

http://www.deliciousdecisions.org/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/lf_health/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/RE99999

 http://www.3fatchicks.com/diet-recipes/

http://www.anitasrecipes.com/BrowseRecipes/

http://www.foodfit.com/