I'm slowly working my way through this book, and while it's a good book overall so far, it drives me crazy when she jabbers on with the same low-fat garbage that you hear everywhere. (For some major “politically correct” information busting, read my take on healthy fats.)
However, she included a great quote that I wanted to share with you, from Adelle Davis, nutritionist and writer:
“We are indeed much more than we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.”
Isn't this a great quote? It probably will mean something different to everyone, but this is what it made me think of…
If I hear someone say again, “Well, you've gotta die sometime”, I'm going to throw up. How could they think that eating better is only about holding off death (although it surely can), it is even more about living WELL while you are here and living life to the fullest! Things like still being able to go up and down steps when you're in your 70's. Not having to run to weekly doctor visits in your 40's. Having the energy to enjoy your life at no matter what age.
I'd love to hear what that quote meant to you or what it reminded you of…?
- Read my whole, boring exercise story – with links at the bottom for my favorite workout machine and my favorite sports phone (with an MP3 music player, distance timer and other running tools, camera, radio – perfect for a gadget girl like myself!)
- Are Supplements Necessary to Good Health?
- School Lunches – Healthy Alternatives
DeeDee Wilson says
I read through all of the comments and didn’t see anything mentioned about ‘burnt bone’ stock. Jeff Smith, from the old Frugal Gourmet show turned me on to it thirty or forty years ago. As an engineering type myself, it makes a lot of sense. Many of you mention using vinegar to leach the minerals out of the bones, and of course that helps, but the MAIN thing that happens when you toast the bones to a dark golden orange colour is that you are partially denaturing the complex collagens that are part of the bones’ structure. Bones are a matrix, or lattice of calcium and magnesium carbonates and phospates — well, other stuff too, but — and that matrix is filled with a network of collagen, or ‘gristle’. that makes the bones semi-flexible, and not brittle, as stone would be — remember that calcium and magnesium carbonate and phosphate ARE stone! Like many hybrid materials, fiberglass resin, carbon fiber structural materials, concrete, for that matter, are all have a stiff, rigid and overall, brittle component, combined with materials that are soft, tough and flexible materials. The result is what gives composite materials their amazing strength, like our bones. The gristle, as collagen makes them stronger and tougher. That is the part we are mainly interested in.
OK, what we want is to cook the collagen out of the stony matrix of the bones, and if we can, leach some of the more important metal salts out as well. Toasting the bones makes the collagen almost immediately soluble; ‘A Good Thing’ ™. The other stuff that goes into the stock pot, vegetable scraps, a half cup of apple or wine vinegar, lemon juice works just as well, it has citric acid in it to make it sour (dissolves the minerals) garlic, onions and so forth all contribute to this leaching effect. You might have noticed that after awhile you can no longer smell the vinegar. There are two reasons for that. First, you have turned some of it into calcium and magnesium phosporo-acetate (the salt of vinegar) and second, the acetic acid boils off at about 200 degrees.
For myself, I use a generic collection of vegetables for all of my stocks; celery, onion, garlic, carrots and quartered lemons. I agree with most of the commentors here, but because no one had mentioned ‘burnt bone’ broth, I thought I’d put in my two cent’s worth about why it’s worthwhile to add that technique to your repertoire.
deedee
KitchenKop says
Thanks for all that great info DeeDee!!
Kelly
KitchenKop says
I wonder if you meant to comment with these thoughts on a different post though, and did so here by mistake?