FROZEN

The icicles on our house illuminated from our neighbor's lights

I might be on the movie set of Frozen. 

After a two-day storm covered the region with three feet of snow, there is no hope that we will soon recover.

Most two-way streets are wide one lane only, the ramps to the highways are still full of snow, my house is "decorated" with three-foot icicles. I cannot see the bushes in my garden.

The children have not been able to go to school since Monday.

More illuminated icicles

The icicles from my kitchen window.
Even my chimes  froze and refuse to sing

One of the tree-footers hanging from the roof...

My Measles Experience

Left, child with measles (not me).

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RougeoleDP.jpg

This is going to be a controversial post, since I know there are folks with strong opinions on this topic, and I also know there are other blogs similar to this one that take a different view than mine.

In general, I support vaccination.

In particular, I had no hesitation in having my daughter get her MMR vaccinations, which are looked upon with suspicion by some.

I had the measles myself.  My parents did their due diligence and had me vaccinated, but that was in the old days when two fundamental errors were made.  First, the vaccine (to measles alone at that time) was an inactivated vaccine (unlike the live MMR) and was weakly immunogenic. Second, at that time, this inferior vaccine was given to children under the age of one, when there could still be maternal antibodies in the child that would suppress the child’s own immune response to the vaccine. Essentially, it was the equivalent of vaccinating me with saline - no immune response.  

At the age of 12, I was exposed to a group of younger children some of whom I suspect were not vaccinated (another story). I note that the MMR was available at that time, but my family doctor didn't think older children like me needed it, since I was "already vaccinated".

So I got the measles.  That was not fun - that was by far the most sick I have been, including several days with a fever reaching 105 degrees F.  I missed several weeks of school, much of that time spent in bed, took a long time to recover, and remember having some faded marks on my arms from the rash for long time afterward.  At one point, my parents were worried whether I would recover at all.  

Sparing children that ordeal is a good thing.  I also had the mumps as a child, not as bad as the measles, I was moderately sick, and I remember that at least one of my neck glands was swollen so I looked like a hamster with a stuffed cheek pouch.  For adult men however, mumps can be more of a problem.  I also had the chicken pox, annoying and no fun, but less intense than the measles (and mumps).  

I've had a more recent MMR vaccination myself - college admission required it, and they didn't care that I had doctor's records of the disease. Recently I decided, for fun, to have my MMR antibody titer checked. Considering that I had the measles and the mumps, and was subsequently vaccinated as well, it was no surprise that my antibody levels for these diseases were sky-high.

In any case, we seem to forget about these illnesses because of the effectiveness of current vaccines, but at one time they were a scourge.  To me, the vaccination is better than the disease.   That's my "two cents."

Armageddon and cookies

The Winter 2017 Armageddon was obviously scheduled for mid-March 2017, in northeastern U.S.A. 

Here are some pics from early this morning. Since then, much more snow came down and obliterated every recognizable mark of the landscape around the house.

 I believe that I have four feet of snow outside my door. In addition to spending four hours of shoveling mountains of snow, I also cooked and experimented with a new recipe for high fiber cookies. 

The cookies turned out to be edible, even though I did not add sugar other than the one contained in the chocolate chips, and the natural sugar in the raisins, bananas and unsweetened applesauce.  

I encourage you to try your own version of low sugar, high fiber cookies. But be warned that if you have a sweet tooth, you will be disappointed. 

However, it is never too late to start training your palate to low-sugar treats. One day you will be amazed to discover that you no longer crave the sugar-loaded processed foods in the store.

High fiber cookies

You need:
2 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp baking cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups oats
½ cup raisins
½ chocolate chips
½ cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:
Beat two eggs together with the mashed bananas and applesauce. Mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and add these to the banana-egg mixture. Finally,  add the chocolate chips, walnuts, raisins and oats. If the mixture is too wet, add a bit more oats. With clean and wet hands, form clusters and drop on oiled cookie sheets. Bake for approximately 13 minutes at 350°F.

How different are people from rats?

I grew up in a “lean body” country.

I grew up in a country where obesity was never seen and being overweight was rare. 

It was also a country, where by today’s American standards, everyone was poor. We had access only to food staples, with which our mothers cooked from scratch.

Most families were eager to grow their own food. Instead of growing grass in their yards, and throwing their money on insecticides, chemical fertilizers, gas/electricity for the mowers, maintenance of the mowers, and water for the grass, the families that had a bit of land utilized every square inch to grow fruit, vegetable and herbs. Flowers were abundant too.

The described body-weight utopia was not self-imposed, but imposed by the economy. How I know this? I know it, because as soon as the stores in this “lean body” country were flooded with junk food, and the personal finances allowed for increased spending, the waist circumferences grew.
 
This brings the question, how different are people from rats? 

Why cannot we control ourselves around food? 

Why cannot we rationalize what is good and what is bad for us, and take the right decisions?

Is it lack of knowledge? To a certain extent, yes. Knowledge about what constitutes real food should be taught in elementary school and the education should continue till college. The education should encompass everything relevant to diet and nutrition: from reading nutrition labels to cooking ten basic recipes, and recognizing the 50+ names of sugar added to almost all processed food items.
 
How habits are formed and how these could be changed should be another subject taught in school.
 
More than half of all Americans have at least one chronic disease (e.g., asthma, cirrhosis, diabetes, heart disease, hepatitis, high blood pressure, HIV/AIDS, lung cancer, pancreatitis and stroke), mental illness or problem with drugs or alcohol.  Most of the health problems can be traced to lousy eating habits.

Considering that most of the rampant chronic diseases are preventable, the question is, can we challenge ourselves to face the problems and solve them? Circumstances, brain power, and habits are probably the major players in solving the problems. Sometimes we have little or no control over our life circumstances. But can we build our will and change our habits?
 
Speaking of habits and will, the video on a favorite YouTube channel, What I’ve learned, WHY Habits form & HOW to build them, would be useful for those who want to change.
For those of you who still have a problem with food cravings, I propose three unusual ways of dealing with them:
 

#1 Pretend that you are broke
 
Pretend that you do not have money during the workweek (i.e., no cash, no access to credit/debit cards). Shop in the supermarket for food only once, preferably on a weekend, after you have already eaten well. Imagine that you have no money to buy anything but food staples in the supermarket: a few cans of beans, pasta, bread, flour, fruit and veggies (any produce on sale). Check some of my soup recipes before shopping, and buy the ingredients for these recipes. Soups stretch as meals for the entire week and they are not only good for your waistline, but also merciful on your budget. When in the store, remember that you are “financially broke”, and you cannot buy anything frivolous, anything that is not essential for your survival next week (e.g., drinks, sweets, dessert, any processed foods). During the workweek, do not stop by any place where you could buy food (e.g., places where you buy coffee, or even your workplace cafeteria). Bring your own snacks and lunches.


 
#2 Pretend that you are on a reality show
 
Pretend that you participate in a reality show built upon the concept of Hunger Games, and no, you are not a pampered citizen of the Capitol. Turn the weeks into a competition for survival on as little food money as possible. I guarantee you that cooking soups would be again the best bet for you. One whole chicken cooked in a soup can be stretched for the entire week. See the recipe included at the end of this post. You may even set up a “competition” with friends and families on who accomplishes to live on the lowest, but healthy, food budget.




 
#3 Pretend that you are abroad, and you do not have access to any junk food
 
I am not sure that places like these exist, but let us assume that you have landed in a far-far-away land and there is not even a trace of the ultra-processed junk food made in the U.S.A. You will have to survive by buying staples and trying to create edible meals. In fact, now that I think about it, there are many places around the world, where one has to resort to staples since the imported junk food is too expensive. After all, it does cost money to eat unhealthy when living abroad! 




So, how different are people from rats? 

We are VERY different, if we decide to utilize our IMAGINATION!
 
Disclaimer:  
I have no idea whether any of these approaches would work since I have never tried them. I have been quite destitute in my past, so I did not need my imagination to tell me that I was poor and could not afford many things. Being poor for most of my life did not bother me. However, if you need to do something dramatically different from your daily routine, why not try the unexpected and a bit silly approaches such as role-play, competition, and a bit of a self-challenge? 
 
Chicken soup

This is a great recipe for the winter – it soothes, it nurtures and warms up. I serve it as a main dish accompanied by a toast or pita chips and cheese. The recipe is a low budget recipe, as it feeds an army (approximately 20 portions). Therefore, the two to three hours of cooking time are well worth it.

You will need: one whole chicken, one diced large onion or two smaller ones, 4 - 5 cubed medium size potatoes, 20 whole baby carrots (or 8 - 10 big carrots cut in chunks), 4 - 5 stalks of diced celery, 3/4 cup of rice, a bunch of parsley (chopped), 2 Tbsp. of dry peppermint (optional), 2 Tbsp. of dry winter savory (optional), salt to taste, paprika, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. If you do not have any of the spices, at least add salt to taste and improvise with what you have.



Preparation

Wash the chicken, remove everything from the body cavity and wash the inside. Cut and discard the fats on both sides of where the body cavity is open (usually, there are flaps of yellow fat there). Place the chicken in a large pot and add cold water sufficient to cover the chicken. I use a pot with a volume of at least four times the chicken volume. Bring to boil. Watch the surface carefully, because once the water is about to boil, foam forms and you need to remove it with a spoon. Once the foam is removed, add the chopped onion, carrots, and celery. If needed, add more water to cover all vegetables, but make sure there is enough space in the pot to add the potatoes later. Bring to boil. Once the soup is boiling again, add 4-5 medium size chopped potatoes and bring the soup to moderate boil for 50 minutes or until the chicken is ready to be deboned. Take out the chicken from the pot. This step could be tricky; you will need a good grip of the chicken with large spoons or spatulas. Place the chicken on a dish to cool for five minutes. While deboning, add ½ cup rice to the soup, and keep it at low heat. I throw the skin and the bones, chop the meat into small bites, and scoop it back into the pot. Continue boiling until the rice is ready (approximately 15-20 minutes). Add salt and hot pepper flakes to taste. Turn off the heat and add parsley, winter savory, and peppermint. This recipe yields approximately 20 portions, so plan to freeze and have ready-to-eat dinners on winter workdays.

"Bribery" For Changing Dietary Habits

By Unnamed photographer for U.S. Attorney’s Office - U.S. Attorney’s Office photo entered into evidence in trial of William J. Jefferson, exhibit number 20-45C. Via online copy at Baton Rouge "Advocate" website [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7260728

Can economic incentives alter eating habits?  One study says yes.  From the abstract:

In pooled analyses, a 10% decrease in price (i.e., subsidy) increased consumption of healthful foods by 12% ...whereas a 10% increase price (i.e. tax) decreased consumption of unhealthful foods by 6%...By food group, subsidies increased intake of fruits and vegetables by 14%...and other healthful foods, by 16%...without significant effects on more healthful beverages...Each 10% price increase reduced sugar-sweetened beverage intake by 7% ...fast foods, by 3%...and other unhealthful foods, by 9%...Changes in price of fruits and vegetables reduced body mass index..These prospective results, largely from interventional studies, support efficacy of subsidies to increase consumption of healthful foods; and taxation to reduce intake of unhealthful beverages and foods. Use of subsidies and combined multicomponent interventions appear most effective.

Subsidizing healthy foods increased their consumption, while increasing the price of more unhealthy foods decreased their consumption, with body effects on body mass index.  This shows the way for altering public eating habits, if the power of the food industry/food lobby can be resisted by politicians who would have to pass legislation mandating these incentives.  One can other economic incentives - from insurance companies for example - for maintaining a healthy bodyweight.

Weekend cooking: Moussaka

My moussaka does not look like the ones on the gourmet websites, but what matters is that I know what my meal has been cooked with and how.

My mom used to make the most delicious deep-dish moussaka. 

The house smelled divine with the fragrances of tomatoes, onion, and baked red peppers. Her recipe included many ingredients. She also dedicated sufficient time to neatly arrange the layers of meat and potatoes in the baking dish.

Once I started living on my own, I tried to replicate the taste, if not the esthetics of the dish. The recipe below captures the taste of moussaka, but it is faster to prepare than the version my mom labored on.

 
Moussaka

You need:
1 Tbsp of olive oil
2 medium sweet onions (diced)
5 - 6 garlic cloves (crushed)
1 lb ground turkey (lean)
8-10 medium size potatoes (any potatoes you like), peeled and diced into small cubes
1 can crushed tomatoes (30 oz) or other type of tomatoes
spices: salt, black pepper, paprika, winter savory (optional) For the topping:  4 eggs, 2 cups of yogurt, 2 Tbsp flour, salt, 1/3 tsp of baking soda
Instructions:
Soften the onion and garlic in the oil. To the same pan add the meat. Cook until it is no longer pink. In a baking pan, mix together the meat, potatoes and tomatoes, and season. If the mixture is dry, add 2 cups of water. Bake at 400°F until the meat and potatoes are cooked. For the topping, beat the eggs with the yogurt, add the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix to smooth and pour on top of the baking pan. Continue baking until the crust becomes golden-brown color.

I serve the dish with a scoop of plain yogurt on the side and salad.