Week 1: Interesting Developments

While establishing a baseline of food habits, some interesting developments occurred.  While I consider myself a fairly healthy eater, with a few areas in need of improvement, this week alone caused me to do a few things more carefully.  The first was to read my food labels like a hawk.  

As stated previously, eating according to a set of rules is nothing new to me.  Following the Zone Diet in my thirties, I used to read ingredient labels closely and calculate percentages of protein, fat and carbs in my head in order to establish the Zone Rx'd balance of nutrients. I think of soya as a healthy food and use soy milk creamer in my tea instead of half and half or milk. Soy milk creamer is lower in calories and fat than half & half but it contains a few unexpected surprises.  Food, she thought tells us that the palm oil in my creamer is higher in saturated fat than other vegetable oils.  Wiki tells us that the maltodextrin in my Silk soy milk creamer is a highly processed derivative (in the US from corn, in Europe from wheat) highly processed to remove to protein atom is removed from the molecule. The molecule is so broken down that processing results in a white powder that contains 4 calories, almost no protein, carbohydrate or fat. It can add a slight sweetness.  Why is this additive necessary?  Potassium phosphate, probably added as an emulsifier.  Sodium citrate, used as a sequestrant I imagine, which is an ingredient that will stabilize a mixture.  With tapioca starch as a filler and carrageenan (extracted from red seaweeds) as thickener and stabilizer in addition to all of the above, I will be kissing my Silk soy milk creamer good-bye.

Farmer's markets.  I have enjoyed going to farmer's markets since I lived in Sacramento in the late eighties.  They have an amazing farmer's market there situated oddly underneath a freeway.  Back when I first started going to local markets, everything was local and seasonal. There were far less ancillary items offered, like frozen fish, sausage stands, coffee vendors, jewelry makers, etc.  Visiting the Silverlake farmer's market this weekend, I inspected it with different eyes.  Knowing what is to come in the next few weeks, I was looking to see if there is enough variety available to subsist on without ever visiting a grocery store. How much variety is there in Silverlake, would I want to go further afield if this was my only market?  This will be answered in weeks to come, along with some solutions for groceries. Silverlake farmer's market is a fine and dandy little market, with some supplementary items, organized so that the supplementary offerings don't interfere with the veggies, fruit, farm fresh eggs and flowers.  Parking was fun.

I ate out a lot less this week. Matter of fact, I hardly ate out at all. When I did, I ate sushi.  Sushi from  very reputable place is a good answer to many of these questions. A purist's sushi is a simple meal without a lot of fancy ingredients or mystery. Fish, shellfish, seaweed, shoyu, ponzu and sushi rice (rice, vinegar, sugar and salt).

It was an interesting, if not challenging week.