Good morning, readers! I’ve got an interesting hodge-podge for you today…
How many of you couples say to each other what Kent & I do a week or two before Valentines day: “We’re not getting each other anything for Valentines Day, right?” “Righto honey!” Neither of us are very sentimental, and we’re both fairly cheap, so this works for us. 🙂 (Soon I’ll post on my other blog something he did for me recently that was pretty darn sweet, though.) If, however, you like to get your honey a little something, maybe some chocolate, then you’ll want to read this post on chocolates first. The comments there really got cooking and readers brought up a lot more issues that weren’t covered in the post. (Also check out Jenny’s post comparing various brands of dark chocolate: For the Love of Organic Dark Chocolate.)
How many of you couples say to each other what Kent & I do a week or two before Valentines day: “We’re not getting each other anything for Valentines Day, right?” “Righto honey!” Neither of us are very sentimental, and we’re both fairly cheap, so this works for us. 🙂 (Soon I’ll post on my - Surely you’ve seen the messed up USDA Dietary Guidelines? But this is more like it! Check out the press release from the Weston A. Price Foundation. “As an alternative to the USDA low-fat, high-carbohydrate dietary guidelines, a Washington, DC nutrition foundation proposes a Healthy 4 Life dietary plan in the form of a colorful booklet and poster featuring four food groups: animal foods; grains, legumes and nuts; vegetables and fruits; and healthy fats.” I wish I could be at the Valentines Day press conference in D.C.. Be sure to follow Kimberly’s blog as I’m sure she’ll be there getting all the scoop for us!
- Jeff from the Catholic Foodie asked if I’d join him on his podcast to share what I think about Jamie Oliver last week. We had a nice chat about the good and the not-so-good, and also discussed why Real Food can be so controversial. Listen here. (My interview starts at about 31:55 or so.)
Well this tid-bit isn’t food or blog related, but get this… If you follow my Facebook page, then you heard me mention a fun email I got from my fellow-blogging friends Gregg & Hallee the Homemaker a couple weeks ago. She was visiting Gregg in Dubai (he’s home for good in a few months!) and wanted my address because they saw something and thought of me, how sweet is that? So look what they sent me! This tub of bright yellow, almost orange (full of nutrients!) ghee, along with a gorgeous scarf. 🙂 Our boys thought this was especially cool because they’re always looking online at the huge buildings in Dubai. Thanks Gregg & Hallee!
Well this tid-bit isn’t food or blog related, but get this… If you follow my - Watch this scary video that Theresa sent me about the “blueberries” in certain products at the grocery store. Can you say, “petro-chemicals”? We should all go to the store expecting foods there to be full of junk, that way we either won’t buy them at all, or we’ll learn to be savvy label readers. What are some other super scary packaged foods that you’ve found at the store?
- Thank you again to Lycette who sent me the links to these great Dr. Oz videos on the benefits of coconut oil! I’m liking that guy more all the time. Did he just say that this saturated fat is good for us? YES HE DID! I was confused and unsure, though, about his experiment in the 2nd video where he showed why to avoid “large-chain” fatty acids (I thought it was “long-chain”?), because I know that some of them are actually good for us… Anyone want to take a stab at clearing that up? I need to research it more. I’ll start here.
Ann Marie @ CHEESESLAVE says
How cute! Laughing about you and Kent re: Valentine’s. I feel you!
Seth and I are the SAME. He looked at me this morning and said, “Oh, no, Valentine’s Day — I guess we need to go to dinner.”
And I was like, “Ugh, yeah…”
Funny though because he DID propose on Valentine’s Day at one of my favorite restaurants (Josie — I didn’t get to take you there when you were visiting).
Nicola says
Hi there Kelly,
As one of your readers who lives fairly close to the U.K, I was looking forward to listening to your interview about Jamie Oliver. (I set aside time today to clean the fridge while listening). I watched Jamie in Huntington with great interest. He is the U.K’s favourite chef & it was interesting to see how his message was taken in the U.S. I felt very much that his message was very diluted by his efforts to try to make people know him & what he is about. The show seemed to focus more on the people who did not understand/like what he was doing than on what he was trying to do. I’m hoping that his second series goes down a bit better in the U.S & he achieves more. Maybe he was trying to take on too much in one go as he tackled school dinners & his food revolution in 2 separate series over here.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about your comment on his recipes & “fat”. I think you said that he recommended 2% milk & vegetable oils in his recipes. You also commented that this was a bit odd for a chef because they are normally all about butter etc (sorry I’m working from memory so correct me if I am wrong). I also think that this is a bit odd for Jamie because he is all about butter, lard & olive oil (I’d love to introduce him to coconut oil). He also is into growning your own & preserving veggies & making your own stock & condiments. I bought one of his cook books before I found real food & it was too complicated for me at the time but I have since re-discovered it & it has become a great asset to my real food recipe collection. The only place he lets real food down is with flour. He usually calls for white flour, un-soaked but he always suggests organic.
So I think you are right that he is restricted by the dietary guidelines.
KitchenKop says
Hi Nicola, I’m happy to hear that about Jamie, and I really thought that was the case, because my husband has watched him on the Food channel and always liked him because he used real ingredients! Too bad that “they” (whoever they are!) have made him compromise some of his recipes like that, and who knows if he even KNOWS this. He prob has a lot of websites and a lot of people working for him now…? And by the way, I still use unbleached white organic flour sometimes, too! 🙂
Kelly
Donna says
Kelly, I just stumbled across your website for the first time, and have to say, it is refreshing to see someone tell it like it is when it comes to today’s food lies. Thank you!
KitchenKop says
Hi Donna,
I’m glad you found your way here. 🙂
Kelly
Nourishing Nancy says
Hi Kelly,
I was at the Conference this year (my first) and tried, but was too late, to get a copy of the new “Healthy 4 Life” Dietary Plan. I was wondering if you have a link to a picture of it for me to post on my blog? Wish we could post it in every school in this country. Can you imagine?
KitchenKop says
To update everyone, I replied to Nancy in an email and copied Kimberly asking if she has a picture for us, here’s her reply:
“I am looking into this for you! We are trying to get the whole booklet online.
Meanwhile, link to our press release and facebook page about the press conference:
https://westonaprice.org/press/2116-nutrition-foundation-releases-dietary-guidelines.html
https://www.facebook.com/westonaprice?v=app_2344061033#!/event.php?eid=189009957790242&index=1
I hope people will register on the facebook page that they are coming, so we get a good count.
After the event a video of the whole thing will be available to embed on blogs!
Kimberly Hartke”
jenna Food WIth Kid Appeal says
re: scary labels, i’m used to expecting chemical food dyes for colorful food, but when my kids wanted “life” cereal i picked it up to show them it probably had HFCS in it. scrolling down the list there were yellow 5 and 6 in original life cereal. it’s an oat/wheat/corn based cereal. brown. ugh. i was wrong about hfcs, sugar is the sweetener.
i’ve got a table at the elem health fair this year. i was going to do an added sugar demonstration, but after i saw the blueberry story a couple weeks ago i decided to do a label demonstration. Working title is “do you know what you’re eating?”
jenna Food WIth Kid Appeal says
when dr mercola was on the show a couple of weeks ago, he named coconut oil as being therapuetic for altz treatment. i guess dr oz wanted share more coconut oil goodness with the world. i think it’s a good thing. am eager to hear the WP/NT response to Dr. Oz’s blood demo with the “fat from steak” vs “fat from coconut oil.” Staying tuned to these comments…
KitchenKop says
Hi Jenna,
Did he specifically slam steak in another show??
jenna Food WIth Kid Appeal says
yes, watch the second video. he demos what happens to blood after eating coconut oil (nothing scary) and compares to what happens to blood after eating steak (scary stuff, his POV).
KitchenKop says
I guess I will have to watch it again because that’s where I thought he just mentioned the “large chain” fatty acids, not steak specifically. If that’s what he said then bummer…… My same old gripe, when there is bashing of meat or fats with NO distinction about WHERE IT CAME FROM!
T Hollis says
Glad that Dr. Oz is giving a shout-out for coconut oil. Too bad that he promoted the Swine Flu vaccine last year, failing to mention that he is a paid board member of the company manufacturing the vaccine.
[email protected] Ponderings says
Re-read your post on chocolate. Green & Black is tasty, and I appreciate what they do, but I personally am a fan of Equal Exchange chocolates. They are fairly local to me (and a very good friend of mine works for them), they work with many religious organizations to carry their products for coffee hours to spread the word on Fair Trade, and the company is a coop, so all the workers really do share in the business. The chocolates are excellent, as are the teas and coffees. They also are working hard to bring Fair Trade bananas to markets all around the country.
http://www.equalexchange.coop
Erin says
Dear Kelly,
Well, I’m still here, still reading, and trying to get back to basics with our food. I don’t know which comment to leave, so I’ll leave a few…Dr. Oz is pretty smart, but I often think his moderates his advice based on what people will hear…glad to hear he’s on board with the coconut oil. As for grocery store junk, I recently read it best in a novel “groceries stores carry food-like substances”. Wow, that hit me hard. It was so dead on and it really simplifies the issue in my mind. “Junk” implies as a value judgment (food snob, wacko, whatever) whereas “food-like substances” gets to the real crux of the issue. This stuff is made to be edible, but isn’t actually food.
As for me, after celebrating the holidays and realizing all our traditions are based on food that is NOT healthy or good for us, I feel like we’ve got a year to come up with new ways to celebrate. Lead on, please, and know I (others) am learning more each day.