The French start the day with coffee (no cream or milk usually), yogurt, cheese, pâté, butter and baguette for breakfast. A piece [...]]]>

Let me start by saying that there  is no French paradox. Red wine will not unclog your arteries. Plenty of real fats — including the animal fats — minus an abundance of refined sugars will.

The French start the day with coffee (no cream or milk usually), yogurt, cheese, pâté, butter and baguette for breakfast. A piece of fruit (some berries, an apple, orange or pear) is also common, but rarely eaten alone. Occasionally a soft boiled egg is eaten time permitting. More recently, people will eat Muesli type cereals.

For lunch, a salad with meat, egg, tuna, etc is common as are things like steak frites (steak with fries) or an omelette with cheese, ham and fries. If you can’t sit down, you’ll probably get this served on half a baguette (but your waistline will pay for it!) or stop at a baker to pick up a quiche, pizza or croissant sandwich. But these bakery items are usually an accompaniment to a big salad.  Sausages are eaten in some locations as well popular in some areas as well.

Dinner will likely depend on your schedule. If you work a 9-5 job, you’ll make dinner the biggest meal of the day. Otherwise, lunch is. If you eat in a restaurant, you might start with a nourishing soup, then move on to a slice of fish, frog legs, another steak or a chicken preparation. One of my favorite soups I enjoyed in Paris many years ago was made from pâté. Yum! At home, you may also begin with a soup followed by a simple chicken or fish dish or swap them both for a hearty stew and a salad. Mashed potatoes made with real butter and cream are also favorites on the French dinner table. When bread is eaten, it is usually a very small piece used to sop up the gravies on your plate or soup left in the bowl. In essence it is a way to get more fat soluble vitamins into your body.

Fruit is a typical dessert. Sometimes served with a little cheese. Sometimes cheese instead of fruit. Cakes and pies are generally reserved for the special occasions. A birthday party, anniversary, holiday, out-of-town visitor…. Not everyday and not as snacks.

The last time I was in France 5 years ago, I found that there are far more obese people. Many of these people seemed to believe what the Americans do which is that obesity is controlled by exercise alone. Meanwhile, many of them were eating lots of empty carbs including desserts whether it was in a restaurant or on a street, while their skinnier friends were eating salads, meat, cheese or nothing at all. So in effect, as the French (Italians, Spaniards, Germans etc) begin to follow our lead, little by little they too begin fighting the battle of the bulge. In effect it was indeed the presence of these delicious fats and animal foods that made the French live long as well. But in this too, we sadly begin to see a rapid decline. The take home message is that exercise is good, but it cannot replace real food.

Such is the [...]]]>

For centuries, people of the tropics have known the coconut to be one of the healthiest and most life-sustaining foods available. Unfortunately, due to a plethora of misinformation created by manufacturers of synthetic oils and nutrient-free juice drinks, the coconut has fallen out of favor even in those countries where it is amply found.

Such is the case in Jamaica. This summer, I was fortunate enough to visit members of my extended family that I barely new existed until a few years ago. Having cousins visit from their American cousin was a big deal and the two weeks we spent there were filled with many culinary delights.

Organic Virgin Coconut Oil by SunFood

At my request, my cousin, Jackie, showed me the traditional way that Jamaicans make coconut oil — a craft she learned from her mother, but so few younger Jamaicans are familiar with as their diet gives way to margarine and “bag juice” (essentially Kool-Aid in a bag). As expected, their health is suffering from this dramatic shift. Where not very long ago Jamaicans easily lived to the ripe old age of 100+ and vibrant until the end, now they succumb to diseases such as dementia, diabetes and cancer in their 60s, 70s and 80s. In fact, we had just missed the funeral of a 70-year old aunt a month earlier.

Typically, Jamaican coconut oil is not the organic virgin coconut oil that is finally getting it’s due in North American and European alternative health circles, but it seems to be just as effective at warding off disease and curing infections, thyroid and yeast conditions. The only issue I have with Jamaican coconut oil is that it is often made in aluminum pots since aluminum manufacturing is one of its largest industries along with tourism. (Driving the countryside in the parish of St. Elizabeth, you’ll notice very red soil. This contains bauxite, the mineral which makes aluminium.)

Here are a few photos of my cousin making Jamaican coconut oil.

For more information on the many benefits of coconut oil, consult one of the many excellent books by Bruce Fife.

Unfortunately, today even some seemingly innocuous lunches similar to what [...]]]>

Every parent want their child to eat well, but for parents focused on nutrition, Uncrustables® and Lunchables® are not even an option. Luckily as time goes on, more and more parents and school systems are making it easier to feed their children the way the parents see fit.

Unfortunately, today even some seemingly innocuous lunches similar to what I grew up on 30 years ago are highly industrialized and downright unhealthy for children to eat. Besides the obvious additives that we’re all trying to avoid, what was once normal food now contains rancid vegetable oils, heavy metals, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners. These foods are indeed a major reason for all the health problems children are experiencing today. 

If packing healthful lunches is a challenge for you, here are a few ideas:

• sandwiches made with tuna fish, roast beef, raw milk cheese, nitrate free bacon, or ham  real mayonnaise made from healthy fresh oils, apples, avocados, nut butters and other goodies
• quiche
• hard boiled eggs
• vegetable sticks with hummus
• fresh fruit — as an adjunct to something more substantial,  of course
• roasted chicken
• baked sweet potato slices
• lacto-fermented pickles or sauerkraut
• fish, chicken, or hamburgers
• patés
• crackers with butter and raw milk cheese
• raw nuts with a little dried goji berries, apple or raisins

Of course, if your little one has multiple food sensitivities or serious allergies, you’ll need to adjust this list accordingly. As a nutritionist, I must urge you to strive for real food that has a long history of safe consumption (i.e. is not made in a factory) and not to get hung up on avoiding the offending allergen.

For example, if your child is allergic to cow’s milk, don’t jump to soy, rice, hemp or storebought nut milk as an alternative. You would do better to track down goat’s or sheep’s milk to give that a try or make homemade almond, pecan or cashew milk.

Soy milk is a new invention with a little over 100 years of history. Amongst other things, soy foods have a serious impact on a child’s sexual and overall physical development. Boys fed soy foods are more apt to have low testosterone levels leading to abnormal breast development, small genitalia and testicular cancer as adults. Girls have been known to hit puberty even in infancy due to the increased estrogen intake. For more information about soy, you must read Kaayla Daniel’s The Whole Soy Story. 

Other fake milks don’t have a long enough track record for me to recommend them. Don’t you want to eat real food anyway?

Costa Rica is a beautiful country hailed for its eco-friendly attributes — lush rain forests, mountains, and pristine beaches. But it is equally ridiculed for its boring, even [...]]]>

OK. So we returned from our Costa Rica trip five weeks ago and, FINALLY, I’ve found some time to share both the disappointments and gems we encountered down there.

Costa Rica is a beautiful country hailed for its eco-friendly attributes — lush rain forests, mountains, and pristine beaches. But it is equally ridiculed for its boring, even awful, food. In both cases, we encountered major disillusionment, but luckily that led to discovering lots of friendly people and off the beaten track experiences.

The first disappointment was that while Costa Rica certainly had beautiful rain forests, dramatic mountains an gorgeous beaches (particularly the one where we stayed), it was far from environmentally conscious in so many ways. First of all, darn near everything is packaged in plastic. I understand that Costa Rica is a poor country. So fine, there is no opportunity to recycle all that plastic, but burning it by the side of the road? Well, that was the view driving along the highway every night after sundown — men standing over burning garbage (plastic and all) pushing it around with a stick. It smelled awful! And I don’t even want to think about the estrogens and other endocrine disruptors that were in the fumes these poor people were inhaling.

Now, maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t expect the country that kicked Starbucks out and is at least sort of embracing sustainable energy to be completely overrun with European hotels, ugly condos and Wal-Mart! Some of this expansion seems to be relatively new in the Jaco area, but nonetheless, it was a shame. While these places seemed to provide some jobs, in many (if not, most) cases, the development left many natives homeless. To boot, prices were totally jacked up! I’m from New York City and would never pay their inflated prices there, which made it a little difficult to get totally comfortable with paying their often ridiculous prices for simple services. But as much as possible, we tried to at least patronize the mom and pop establishments which often still were “overcharging”. Seeing as they were living in such an expensive area, it was easier to know that they would get 100% of profits instead of seeing it shipped back to the US or Europe.

We were also shocked to learn that it was really difficult to find native handcrafts — at least where we were. In fact, the Canadian woman who stayed in the apartment upstairs from us has been visiting Costa Rica every year for seven years and learned from friends who own a souvenir shop down there that most of the so-called Costa Rican handcrafts come from Thailand! Yes. And the Thai artisans who manufacture these goods are so in tune the Costa Rican fauna that they’ve sent wood carvings of bears with salmon down there bearing a “made in Costa Rica” sticker. So we never ran into the limited edition bear with salmon carving, but this piece of information explained why I thought the wooden products looked distinctly Asian.

This lack of reasonably priced and authentic Costa Rican souvenirs made gift shopping really difficult. It was further complicated by the fact that there was a virtual absence of nice food or toiletry items in any of the stores. That brings me to Costa Rican food, which I’ll continue with later.

It [...]]]>

As a developing nation, Costa Rica is often promoted as a nearby, cheap and safe tourist destination. So when I booked a two-week Thrifty car rental for a mere $200, I wasn’t so surprised. But standing online at the rental agency, we quickly noticed renters standing at the desk were infuriated by the news they received.

It turns out that Costa Rica has an obligatory insurance policy that is not posted anywhere and you may only learn of ahead of time, if you book through a travel agent who specializes in the region. The rules and cost of this insurance apparently vary from one rental agency to another, but here are the basics you must know.

1) There are 3 tiers to the insurance program.

2) The most expensive, which costs US$40/day on an compact-sized vehicle covers darn-near anything that might happen to your car short of deliberately setting it on fire. So seriously consider this if you’re planning on doing lots of adventure driving as anything off the main highways is not only unpaved, but likely to involve flying rocks or cattle crossings.

3) The next tier at US$25/day is what we took. This covered damage to another driver’s car (if one were to be involved) or replacing a tire or broken window. At this price, the cost was essentially the same as renting a car in Western Europe.

4) The least expensive option cost US$20/day. It relied primarily on your US-based credit card’s insurance (CDW) and only pays for damages resulting from an accident. In this scenario you must foot the bill and await reimbursement, at least according to Thrifty.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m proficient in Spanish, but before leaving the parking lot, the Thrifty agent came to our car window and warned us that there is a police scam to be aware of. According to the agent, police sometimes stop Gringos on the road claiming that they violated some local traffic law. They will then ask you to pay the hefty fine on the spot. NEVER pay the fine directly to the cop in cash!!! What you need to do is ask the cop for his/her name. If they really are trying to con you, they will usually give up and let you go. If you really did break a law, they will give you a ticket which then you pay at any bank (and I think post office).

Keep in mind that the above insurance options vary from one company to another, each one stating that each option covers something different. While we were there, other travelers told us that they were offered only 2 options or even a 4th option. Many people (understandingly) consider this surcharge to be a government monopoly. It was very frustrating to experience this as our “Welcome to Costa Rica”, but we were able to put it behind us. And quite frankly, if this is what the government needed to do to feel “powerful”, then I hope it works for them. I just needed some rest and relaxation.

Some people hire taxis or vans to get around the country. This is fine, but keep in mind that not many towns (unless you’re in a really built-up touristy area) have restaurants or well-stocked bodegas where you can buy your food.

This can also be really pricey if the taxi isn’t based in your town and needs to travel 1/2 hour to pick you up. Furthermore, with the taxi option it’s much harder (I’d presume) to explore and take detours off the beaten track. If it’s anything like Europe or the States, I’m sure many drivers down there would gladly take you to their friend’s overpriced gift shops, making their commission from whatever you buy. So you may want to take that into consideration, but personally, exploring on our own is what eventually made the trip down there worthwhile.