Have you heard, it’s National Nutrition Month — an annual celebration sponsored each March by the American Dietetic Association.  Today is especially note worthy.  It’s Registered Dietitian Day.

It’s a great time to recognize the valuable contributions RDs make to help people live healthier lives.  Increasingly, dietitians are contributing to the blogosphere — helping to provide reliable, trusted nutrition advice online. 

I’m trying to help RDs get an even louder voice online with the Nutrition Blog Network, which I recently wrote about.  This new site of RD bloggers isn’t quite ready to launch, but we’re getting close.  So stay tuned.

In the meantime, two of my RD colleagues have created a Registered Dietitian Blogfest to commemorate Registered Dietitian Day — which is a tremendous idea.  The Blogfest was created by Monika of  InCyst Network and Renata of Nurturing Notes.  They asked this question of dietitians:  If you had one message to give, what would it be?

Take a look at the participants and their responses:

Debra, Beyond Prenatals  - Vitamin D in Pregnancy and Beyond
Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, Food Insight- Can Dietitians Have Real I.M.P.A.C.T?
Sandra Meyerowitz, Fiddle With Your Food - Changes Worth Making Take Time
Carrie Miller, Nutrition Know How - What Nebraska Dietitians Are Saying
National Dairy Council, The Dairy Report- Nutrient-rich foods build a healthy diet
Janel Ovrut, Eat Well With Janel - My Top Tips for Registered Dietitian Day!
Heather Pierce, Heather’s Burnt Toast - Enjoy Food
Robin Plotkin - Give a Kid a Fish, Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Kid to Fish, Feed Him for Life
Diane Preves, The Seed - Only One Message
Elizabeth Rahavi, Food Insight - The Art of Nutrition Messaging
Shelley A. Rael, Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well - Food Is LIFE, Nutrition is HEALTHY Life
Kerry Robinson, Food Insight - A Food Safety Message with IMPACT
Marianne Smith-Edge, Food Insight - RDs are the Premiere Food and Health Communicators
Kris Sollid, Food Insight - Unintended Consequences of Simple Messaging
Angie Tillman, Angie’s Appetite for Life - Take Time to Care for Yourself

It’s a great question, with some great responses.  I think I have to go with Heather:  enjoy food.  I think that’s an incredibly important message.  And I think it’s about enjoying all foods — eating a variety of foods, not restricting yourself of certain “bad” foods, and not worshipping others that have been granted “super food” status.

What do you think?

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Have you heard?  Atkins is back.  This time it’s supposed to be a kindler, gentler low-carb diet.  With new authors, and a (slightly) new approach, the new book promises to create a new you:  The New Atkins for a New You:  The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great.

I remember doing a ton of media interviews 10 years ago during the height of the Atkins craze — and that was when the diet was experiencing a resurgence after its initial introduction in 1972.

Now others are carrying the flag for the late Robert Atkins.  The new book is written by Eric Westman, director of the Duke Lifestyle Medicine Clinic in Durham, NC, along with co-authors Stephen Phinney (UC-Davis) and Jeff Volek (University of Connecticut).

The buzz is just starting to build.  Here’s what others have written about the new Atkins diet:

USA Today:  Digesting the facts on “new Atkins’ diet
Dr. Keith Ayoob’s blog on USA Today
Washington Post:  Atkins diet’s return reflects idea that saturated fat shouldn’t be demonized
Diets in Review

I particularly enjoyed Keith Ayoob’s comments in USA Today — both in the paper and on his blog.  We were both media spokespersons at the same time for The American Dietetic Association, and he could always say just the right thing in an interview!  I totally agree with his comments on the book…

Basically there are new recipes, and it’s a kindler, gentler Atkins than the original diet book, but it’s still basically the same plan — carbs are mostly considered bad, and fats, including saturated fat, are allowed.  People do lose weight on this plan, but that doesn’t make it optimal.  Some examples of same-old, same-old.  Skim milk is still bad, heavy cream is still good.  Bananas and apples are still bad.  If you want to eat whole-grain bread, can’t live without a baked potato, don’t want to limit yourself to a quarter-cup strawberries and don’t see anything wrong with eating a whole apple, this isn’t the diet for you.

Gary Foster, a well-respected obesity researcher from Temple University, is also quoted in Nanci Hellmich’s article in USA Today.  He talks about some of the research that’s been conducted on the Atkins diet.  And it’s true that some of the original concerns about the saturated fat levels in the diet haven’t panned out.  The low-carb, high-fat diet has not been linked to an increased heart disease risk.  Still, I worry about what you’re missing by following this diet — foods that have established health-promoting properties, including whole grains and fruit.

No doubt, you can lose weight on this diet.  A new study published just this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that people on a low-carb diet lost weight, but over the long-term the results were no better than low-fat dieters.  It all comes down to calories.

As Gary Foster said in USA Today…

If you tell people to count carbs, they end up eating fewer or equal calories than if you tell them to count calories, but at the end of the day, it is still just a way to wrap your mind around eating less.

So if this is really about the amount of calories you consume, why don’t we help people make better choices for the calories they eat.  It’s not only about total calories, it’s important to consider the quality of those calories. Even if the “new” Atkins helps people lose weight, the food choices are limiting and the diet excludes so many valuable foods that are known to play a protective role in our health.

It’s unfortunate, but I’m expecting a third resurgence for the Atkins diet. Brace yourself.

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All the popular new diets books seem to have “skinny” in the title.  Have you noticed?

New York City Real Housewife Bethenny Frankel’s “Naturally Thin” promises to unleash your Skinnygirl.  Her latest cookbook is The Skinnygirl Dish and there’s an  audiobook The Skinnygirl Rules. Do I smell a Skinnygirl empire brewing?  Frankel is getting her own Bravo TV show, so expect to hear a lot more about being a SkinnygIrl and sipping Skinnygirl Margaritas.

You can find an array of books that glorify the attributes of being skinny, celebrate the journey from fat to skinny and outline what it takes to be skinny.

I’m not saying all these books are bad.  In fact, some of them are likely to include good information.  I haven’t read all of them.

I did like Joy Bauer’s book “Your Inner Skinny.” It was one of my top five picks in the Chicago Tribune. Her new book includes solid nutrition advice and some inspiring case studies of people who have successfully lost weight. But still, I wondered why skinny?

No doubt, publishers see dollar signs with “skinny.”  Is this what it takes to sell books?  Is having skinny in the title the only way to appeal to the book-buying public?

Perhaps the trend got started with the runaway success of  “Skinny Bitch,” which is a vegan book that sparked an entire line of skinny books and products — including “Skinny Bitch In the Kitch,” ”Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven (for pregnant women) and ”Skinny Bastard” for men.

“Fat to Skinny” appears to target men.  Yet, by far, most of the skinny books are trying to appeal to women  — inspiring you to be either a skinny bitch, skinny girl or skinny chick.

The list keeps growing:  “The Secrets of Skinny Chicks,“ ”Skinny Chicks Don’t Eat Salads,” “The Secret to Skinny,” “Skinny Chef,” “Goodbye Fatty! Hello Skinny!” and “Get Skinny On Fabulous Food” by Suzanne Somers.  Many of these books focus on appearance.  There’s Urban Skinny that wants to help you live a fabulous life and still zip up your favorite jeans and The Skinny is all about fitting into your little black dress. Katie Drummond rants about the ”The Secrets of Skinny Chicks” on True/Slant:

According to the author Karen Bridson, “skinny is a state of mind.”  If that’s the case, then I’m not sure what all the references to “size six jeans” and “fabulous bodies” are doing in the book — other than reinforcing that skinny is not a state of mind, but rather an unattainable, and very physical, ideal….Bridson goes on to offer glimpses into the diet and exercise routines of 25 “skinny chicks,” most of whom eat less than 2,000 calories a day, exercise at least 10 hours a week and weigh in on the dangerously low end of the BMI Index.  These ladies, by all accounts, aren’t training for the Olympics or an Ironman.  They’re just trying to stay skinny.  And I’m not referring to a state of mind.  Bridson’s book is yet another example of health gone oh-so-wrong.  When a successful health journalist is the same person advocating excessive exercise and “cheat foods,” not to mention misconstruing skinniness with wellness, I can’t help but hope I don’t have daughters.”

To their credit, some of the skinny books attempt to promote a non-diet mentality, including Bethenny Frankel’s book that says “free yourself from a lifetime of dieting.  And “Skinny Chicks Don’t Eat Salads” talks about ”stop starving and start eating.”  Good messages.

Even so, the skinny titles overly emphasize weight and appearance, along with obsessive calorie counting.

Not sure where the health and enjoyment of food fits in.

I contacted registered dietitian Evelyn Tribole, who has pioneered the concept of intuitive eating.  Her specialty is helping people discover a healthy relationship with food, mind and body.  She believes the skinny trend is troubling.

Ultimately, health and healthy behaviors are not a size, Tribole told me.

I believe that this “skinny” trend combined with the “war on obesity” and our “toxic food environment” will converge into a perfect storm that in the end will create more weight problems and eating disorders.

Beyond diet books, “skinny” has become a big marketing buzz word.  You can buy skinny jeans, skinny hair products and even skinny lattes at Starbucks.

Registered dietitian Marsha Hudnall of  A Weight Lifted said she understands the marketing aspect of “skinny,” but believes it fails to consider the implications for a population that is struggling with achieving and maintaining healthy weights.   A focus on body size (being “skinny”) tends to make people adopt behaviors that don’t lead to health in the long term, she told me.

In the pursuit of thinness, or skinny, we try fad diets, skip meals, even fast, and generally do things that are all about calories (or fat grams, carbs, etc.) and nothing about health.    It’s a misplaced focus that only exacerbates problems instead of getting people where they’d like to be.  And for most people, I believe that would be feeling good and if society would allow it, at a weight that’s right for them independent of the media image of what’s right.  Ultimately, it’s about enjoying a fulfilling life, not spending our time obsessing about what we eat and weigh.

Hudnall, who runs the healthy weight retreat Green Mountain at Fox Run, said a focus on skinny simply reinforces the message that skinny is the shape we should all be, and not everyone can truly be skinny.

This is a pursuit of an unrealistic ideal that leads to loss of productivity and again, ultimately ill health, whether it be from methods adopted to attempt to reach that unrealistic ideal or just from the stress of it all and the unhappiness it generates.  It also perpetuates the idea that anyone who isn’t skinny is somehow less than acceptable.  Ultimately, I believe a focus on health is the only way to move Americans,  and increasingly the rest of the world, to a better place physically is to stop thinking about weight and size and start thinking about the real issues of health.  If we turn our attention to these issues instead of a number on a scale or a label on a piece of clothing, we’re much more likely to have a significant impact on helping those who are at unhealthy weights and not create problems for those who aren’t, even when it’s larger than the societal ideal.

Hey, maybe Mo”Nique has the best “skinny” book of all:  “Skinny Women Are Evil, Notes of a Big Girl in a Small-Minded World.”

What do you think?

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Many trend forecasters predict this will be the year of umami — something that Kikkoman and the mushroom folks have been saying for awhile.  This time, I think it’s really true.

Umami (pronounced oo-MAH-mee) is the difficult to define “fifth taste” that joins the classic basic tastes of salty, sweet, bitter and sour.  Best described as savory, brothy, meaty and earthy —  the flavor can be found in foods like mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, asparagus, ripe tomatoes, seaweed, soy sauce and certain fish (including anchovies, sardines and shellfish) and meat –all foods that contain glutamate, an amino acid that imparts the umami taste.  (You can learn more by visiting  Umami Information Center.)

Taking its name from the Japanese words for “delicious” and “essence,” umami was identified in 1908 by a Tokyo chemist Kikunae Ikeda while researching the strong flavors in seaweed broth.  Ikeda was the first to isolate monosodium glutamate, which was the beginning of the commercial use of MSG — the ingredient that now so many people want to avoid in processed foods.

Ironically, people can’t get enough of the natural glutamates that give us umami.  Suddenly it’s cool to claim you’ve got umami.  The Mushroom Council’s brochure declares Umami:  If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It.

And indeed, a lot of people are now flaunting umami.  TrendCentral has done a great job of showcasing how umami has officially inflitrated the food scene.  And click here for an excellent review of the culinary applications of umami.

A traditional hamburger offers a hit of umami, with the combination of ground beef, ketchup and cheese.  But now you can bite into an amped up umami-infused hamburger at a restaurant in Los Angeles called Umami Burger – where you can order the Truffle Burger covered in Italian truffle cheese and truffle glaze, or the Port & Stilton Burger, slathered with blue cheese and port-caramelized onions.  You can find a mouth-watering review of Umami Burger on Serious Eats.

In Croton-on-Hudson, New York, you can visit the Umami Cafe, which offers a bit of umami in every menu item — including Truffled Mac & Cheese, Umami Salad with green papaya and jicama, African Curried Shrimp and Peking Duck Quesadillas.

Mixologists have been having a heyday with umami. At Mazu in San Francisco, you can sip a Black Samurai that offers a shot of umami with its subtle mix of soy sauce and sake. New York’s Apotheke shakes up a Tomato Basil Martini, made with gin, peppercorns, agave-lime nectar, hibiscus bitters and ripe cherry tomatoes.

Soy sauce is one of the most familiar umami condiments — but you can also get a dose of savory and earthy umami with Asian fish sauce, hoisin, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and various spices, including curry.

In London you can buy Taste No. 5 Umami Paste, created by London-based restaurateur and food writer Laura Santinni, which contains umami-rich ingredients such as Parmesan cheese, garlic, tomatoes, anchovies, black olives and Porcini mushrooms.  I think it won’t be long before we can buy similar products touting umami flavors.

So, are there any nutritional benefits of umami?  Well, maybe.  Some research indicates that umami-rich foods may increase satiety, or a feeling of fullness to help you eat less.  Umami also packs the flavor that MSG does, so chefs and food manufacturers may use more all-natural umami ingredients to create flavorful products instead of MSG (and with less sodium).  If properly used, umami highlights the sweetness, lessens bitterness and counterbalances saltiness in foods.

Umami may finally be going mainstream.  Even the Next Iron Chef had a Umami challenge.  Even if you couldn’t name it, some of today’s trendy foods are dense in umami — including bacon, meatballs, pork belly, smoked and cured meats, braised short ribs, pad thai, tangy fermented kimchee, nam pla and green tea.  Combining several umami ingredients creates what’s been dubbed the “U-Bomb,” offering an intense umami sensation that’s intensified by various cooking techniques.

I think we’re in store for a flavorful future with the increased popularity of umami.

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To me, a sign of a good cookbook is when you immediately find at least five recipes you can’t wait to try.  A sign of a good “healthy” cookbook is when you don’t know it’s “healthy.”

You don’t get the feel of “diet foods” or see a heavy reliance on artificial sweeteners or fat-free ingredients.  I want to see flavor emphasized as much as fat grams.  I want to see all types of foods included, not a narrow range of “acceptable” items.

I found all of the above with Keep the Beat Recipes:  Deliciously Healthy Dinners, a tremendous new cookbook from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute — one of the divisions of the National Institutes of Health.

Yes, this heart-healthy cookbook is published by the government, but don’t let that taint your opinion.  This is truly an outstanding collection of recipes that was developed by chef David Kamen, an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America and Colleen Pierre, a registered dietitian and nutrition journalist.

And best of all…this cookbook, with 75 recipes and beautiful full-color photographs, is only $5.00.  Can you believe that?  You can order your own copy by visiting the NHLBI Web site.

You’ll find delicious and nutritious recipes for family dinners that feature beef (Cocoa-Spiced Beef Tenderloin with Pineapple Salsa), pork (Pork Chops with Warm Cherry Sauce), poultry (Moroccan Chicken Stew With Couscous) and seafood (Red Snapper Provencal).  But there are plenty of meatless main-dishes if that’s what you’re looking for.  Here are a couple that I think you’ll like.

Whole-Wheat Bow Tie Pasta With Puttanesca Sauce

Capers, olives and anchovy paste will make this quick, but rich, sauce a weeknight favorite 

8    oz. whole-wheat bow tie pasta (farfalle)
2    tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cup onion, diced
2    tablespoons garlic, minced or pressed (about 5 cloves)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2    teaspoons anchovy paste (optional)
1   can (35 oz.) no-salt added whole peeled tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1   tablespoon capers
8   pitted black olives, each sliced lengthwise into 6 pieces
4   fresh parsley sprigs, rinsed and dried (optional)

In a 4-quart saucepan, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil over high heat.  Add pasta, and cook according to package directions for the shortest recommended time, about 10 minutes.  Drain.

Meanwhile, in a large nonstick pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion.  Cook and stir for 5 minutes, until onion begins to soften.  Add garlic, cayenne pepper and anchovy paste.  Cook and stir another 5 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes, capers and olives.  Cook and stir until heated through.

Divide pasta among four dinner plates (about 1 1/2 cups each).  Spoon sauce over pasta.  Garnish with parsley if desired.

Nutrition facts per serving (4 servings).  Calories: 342.  Fat: 8 g. Sat. Fat: 1 g. Cholesterol: 9 mg. Sodium: 455 mg. Fiber: 12 g. Protein: 11 g. Carb: 62 g. Potassium: 537 mg.

Edamame Stew

This spicy stew can be frozen for later use, serve over brown rice for a complete meal.

1 bag  (16 oz.) frozen shelled edamame
1 can (35 oz.) no-salt-added Italian whole peeled tomatoes with basil, diced into small chunks
2 cups  zucchini, rinsed, quartered and sliced
1 cup yellow onion, diced
1  tablespoon olive oil
1  tablespoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon  ground allspice (or cinnamon)
2 tablespoons garlic, minced or pressed (about 5 cloves)
1 cup  frozen yellow corn
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice (or 1 large lemon, freshly juiced)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Place frozen edamame in a deep saucepan with just enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium and cover.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

While soybeans cook, chop tomatoes, zucchini and onion.  In a large nonstick saute pan, cook onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes.  Stir in cumin, cayenne pepper and allspice.  Cook and stir for about 2 minutes.  Add garlic.  Cook and stir for 1 minute.

Stir in the drained edamame, tomatoes, zucchini, corn and salt.  Cover.  Simmer until zucchini is tender, about 15 minutes.  Stir in lemon juice and oregano.  Serve immediately.

Nutrition facts per serving (4 servings). Calories: 285. Fat: 10 g. Sat. Fat: 1 g. Cholesterol: 0 mg. Sodium: 303 mg. Fiber: 14 g. Protein: 16 g. Carb: 40 g. Potassium: 1,227 mg.

Remember, February is American Heart Month.  So it’s a good time to think about your heart.  But these heart-healthy recipes will be no sacrifice.  And that’s how it should be.

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Ok, did I call this one, or what?  I’ve been talking about the troubling supplements from Jillian Michaels for quite awhile.  In my original post, I wrote about my concerns — as well as my disappointment that “America’s Toughest Trainer” is now telling you to pop a pill to burn that fat.  Now it’s coming back to bite her in a major way.

If you’re keeping score at home, this is the third time that Jillian has been sued over her diet pills.  This time there are allegations that they contain a “potentially lethal” blend of ingredients.  I know when I wrote about the first time Jillian was sued, some people left comments that the lawsuit was crazy — maybe so.  It does all come down to personal responsibility.  But I do think this lawsuit helps raise awareness of the problems with these diet pills — especially these so-called fat burners.

In the class action lawsuit filed earlier this week in L.A. County Superior Court, Kathy Hensley claims “The Biggest Loser” trainer “sold her proverbial soul to the devil” by teaming up with the companies that created her fat burner.

Hensley claims Jillian and those companies (Thin Care and Basic Research) failed to disclose that the main ingredients of the “Jillian Michael Maximum Strength Fat Burner” allegedly combine to make a “toxic cocktail.” In the lawsuit, Hensley claims one of the pill’s ingredients — citrus aurantium — is “potentially lethal” and known to cause high blood pressure and serious cardiac problems in certain individuals.

The pills also contain coffee bean extract, guarana and synephrine — so they could definitely keep you jittery all day (but certainly not enough to melt away fat).

Hensley filed the class action lawsuit against Jillian and the pills’ makers, and is suing for less than $5,000. Two lawsuits ago, Jillian issued a statement that claims her pills were vetted by experts and she’s confident she’ll prevail in court.

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Detox and cleansing have become a true phenomenon in this country.  I can’t believe how much the concept is picking up steam.

It’s even been a major discussion recently among dietitians — who are divided over the value of detox diets.  In fact, you’ll find a great article in Today’s Dietitian that examines the pros and cons of detox diets.  Al Roker recently did a segment on the Today show featuring a Chicago-based registered dietitian who specializing in detox and cleanses. Some RDs are supportive of this approach — others think it’s not based in science and do not recommend this type of regimen.

I talked to several RDs for my current article in the Chicago Tribune, which looked at the detox trend.  The three dietitians I spoke to for my article are not in the traditional detox camp (a liquids-only routine), but they do see some benefits of a food-based cleanse for certain people — especially as a way to jump-start healthier behaviors. It may simply be a time to eliminate bad habits, focus on real food, retrain taste buds and practice portion control.

One thing is for sure.  The term “detox” is evolving.  It seems to have multiple meanings today — and it’s no longer simply about weight loss.

Check out a copy of my article online, or here’s a reprint:

Chicago Tribune

Detox, a safer approach
Latest diet trend is rife with pitfalls, but there is a saner approach

By Janet Helm, Special to Tribune Newspapers
February 17, 2010

The word “detox” was once the domain of drug and alcohol treatment centers. Now it’s the latest in diets.

Detox diet books number in the hundreds, from “Detox Diets for Dummies” to the best-seller “The Fat Flush Plan” by detox devotee Ann Louise Gittleman, who has written several books on the purported benefits of detoxification.

On bookshelves you’ll also find “21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha’s Vineyard Diet Detox,” based on a program at a Martha’s Vineyard retreat, which is similar to the trendy detox programs that are popping up at spas throughout the country.

The theory behind detox diets is that our body becomes overloaded with “toxins” from the foods we eat, including additives, preservatives, caffeine and alcohol. Advocates argue that these toxins hang around and cause all kinds of problems — from weight gain, belly bloat and cellulite to dull skin, allergies and tiredness.

Yet some experts say the entire premise is faulty.

“That’s not the way the body works,” said Dr. Pamela Peeke, an obesity specialist and author of “Body for Life for Women.” “Don’t insult your liver. It’s perfectly adept at getting rid of any toxins.”

Nothing we eat — or don’t eat — will speed up the process, she said.

Detox diets also tout the ability to “cleanse,” but Peeke said that’s best accomplished by drinking a lot of water and eating plenty of whole foods rich in fiber, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Many of the popular detox regimens are liquid-only diets and severely restrict calories, which can lead to muscle loss, warns Peeke. Plus, she said, our liver needs adequate nourishment to do its natural job of detoxification — something that could be compromised if you’re simply slurping lemon water or juice all day.

Other detox diets rely on laxatives or controversial colonics, which can be dangerously dehydrating or lead to electrolyte imbalances, said Dr. Caroline Apovian, an obesity researcher and director of the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center.

“These are starvation plans, and they’re doomed to fail,” she said.

Even so, the detox concept seems to be picking up steam. In the last year, there has been a 108 percent increase in foods making detox claims, according to the market research firm Mintel, which predicts detox will be a major 2010 trend in consumer packaged goods.

Lynn Dornblaser, a new products analyst at Mintel, believes the term has a renewed aura of legitimacy and is moving more mainstream.

Perhaps the definition is evolving.

Dawn Jackson Blatner, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, said “detox” has become a catchall term that could have several meanings. It could refer to detox and cleanse supplements, juice fasts and liquid diets. Or it could simply mean “clean” eating — a phase of cutting out all processed foods, sugar, caffeine or alcohol.

Blatner said that strategy can be beneficial, especially if it helps retrain your taste buds and gets you cooking, but “what you do for a few days can never make up for how you live and take care of your body the (rest) of the year.”

Keri Glassman, a registered dietitian in New York, recommends a four-day “cleanse” in her new book ” The O2 Diet.” She said this initial 1,000-calorie phase helps her clients build confidence and lays the foundation for a new routine.

Glassman said she’s against extreme approaches like the Master Cleanse (the lemonade diet popularized by Beyonce) and other liquid detox diets, but believes a short-term, structured phase that “takes out the junk” can help people get back on track — especially after a time of over-indulgence or erratic eating.

“Sometimes people need a jump-start; it can be very motivating,” she said.

Registered dietitian Cynthia Sass agrees, as long as it’s a “food-based cleanse” and avoids unnecessary and dangerous dietary supplements. She uses a detox-type approach with about half of the clients she works with in her New York nutrition practice.

Rather than easing into a new routine, some people need a defined moment in time to adopt a more dramatic kickoff to a healthier lifestyle, she said. “It’s a way to reboot, or a chance to start over.”

Sass said it can be helpful to start out with a structured and simple plan that’s easy to follow and shop for food.

She said a detox-type approach can be beneficial, as long as it’s done safely. There’s nothing magical about it, but it can be a breakthrough for some people. For starters, it may help them change certain habits, such as getting rid of sugary sodas and drinking water instead.

Even though some of the initial pounds lost may be water weight, Sass said it can be a motivator. One of the reasons people abandon a weight-loss program is because they’re not seeing any results in the beginning, she said. The initial movement on the scale can keep them going.

If you do adopt this type of approach, Peeke said it’s critical to have a reasonable and sustainable plan once you’re off of it. Often, she said, people have no transition, and that’s when they fail.

If you try it

Tempted to follow a detox diet? Experts warn that you do it safely. Keep these points in mind:

• Eat real food instead of drinking liquids only
• Avoid laxatives and detox supplements
• Maximize your calories with natural, whole foods
• Eat consistently throughout the day, every 3-5 hours
• Drink plenty of water
• Be physically active
• Aim for at least 1,000 calories a day
• Transition to a long-term approach after five days

Copyright, Chicago Tribune

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Not sure it deserves a second post, but I’m back again talking about The Big Breakfast Diet. I reviewed this new diet book in a previous post.  I really thought this little paperback would just go away.  Now it’s gotten a good review in the LA Times. Really disappointing.  Wouldn’t be surprised if it became the next celebrity-endorsed diet plan.

As I wrote earlier, The Big Breakfast Diet was one of the books included in Time magazine’s list of the 10 most notable new diet books.  And as you can see in this promotional video featuring the author, they’re quite proud of that.  Yes, it was unfortunately included in the list, but it wasn’t THE most notable book of the year.

The author even reached out to me via Twitter, encouraging me to read the book and try it myself.  Yes, I did read the book — I wouldn’t have reviewed it otherwise.  And thank you very much, I’m not abandoning my bowl of oatmeal in the morning to have pizza, donuts, ice cream and cookies for breakfast.

I find several problems with what she’s promoting, but perhaps it’s most disturbing to have her reinforce the concept that “it’s not what you eat that’s important…it’s when you eat it.”  She believes it’s the clock and not the calories that really count.  You can eat whatever you want as long as you’re “in sync.”

See Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz make her case in the video below and let me know what you think.

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Image: Ed Suba Jr., McClatchy-Tribune

The Washington Post declared black garlic the next “it” ingredient.  The Chicago Sun-Times called it the next big culinary wonder, and it was one of the 10 not-so-obvious dining trends for 2010 identified in the Chicago Tribune.  The excitement over black garlic hit a fever pitch after popping up on “Iron Chef America” last year. Most recently, black garlic was the big buzz at the Winter Fancy Food Show, according the The Food Channel.

Indeed, 2010 may be the year of black garlic.

Though aged garlic has been around for centuries in Asia, it has only been catching on with American chefs since 2004 when Scott Kim of South Korea began experimenting with it. He wanted to market black garlic as a super food (who doesn’t want to get in on that trend?) This fermented, aged garlic is the very definition of the fifth taste, umami, and it turns out the heat-curing process creates a high concentration of antioxidants and beneficial compounds.

Kim founded Black Garlic in 2008 and the California-based company is currently the only producer and supplier in the U.S.  You can find black garlic in Whole Foods and other specialty markets or buy it online.  Have you tried it?

Here’s a look at who’s cooking with black garlic:

• Steamy Kitchen said she loves the taste:  ”it’s sweet, mild, caramelly and reminds me of molasses.”  She made an amazing looking Black Garlic with Scallops.
• White On Rice Couple created Black Garlic Noodles, which looks divine.  You’ll also find some incredible photos.
• Passionate Foodie made a Panko-Crusted Tilapia with Black Garlic Sauce, along with toasted French bread with black garlic butter.
• Gourmet Fury whipped up beautiful Black Garlic Shrimp Dumplings in Napa Cabbage.
• Bruce Hill, executive chef and part owner of Bix restaurant in San Francisco is believed to be the first American restaurant to feature black garlic.  Other chefs followed and it soon found its way to Le Bernadin in New York, where you’ll find black garlic in a spiced monkfish dish that was highlighted on Bravo’s “Top Chef: New York.”
• Charlie Trotter in Chicago calls black garlic one of his top five food finds.
• Jeremy Fox, executive chef at Ubuntu in Napa, drizzles drops of pureed black garlic on his fingerling potato salad.
• Jerome Bacle, chef at Courtright’s restaurant in Willow Springs, Illinois, uses it in a snail and oyster champagne stew with almond tarragon butter, as well as in a fricassee paired with pan-seared venison. “I use it most . . . as a garnish but the mild taste of it is excellent in stuffing, in a sauce or even in a salad,” Bacle said in an e-mail to the Chicago Sun-Times. Bacle, like other chefs, says black garlic has sweet notes. He describes its flavor as mild with hints of garlic, dried black Mission figs and caramel.
• Wilbert Jones, a Chicago-based cookbook author and food product developer who worked for Kraft Foods for a decade, is writing a Southern breakfast and brunch cookbook that will include black garlic in some of the recipes. “One of the recipes I was working on a couple years ago was a risotto, because that’s when truffles were so hot. But, they’re expensive,” Jones says. “For people who can’t afford the truffles, [black garlic] gives it the appearance of truffles with a nice taste.
• Rick Tramonto of Chicago’s Tru uses black garlic in two ways: in a marinade for mackerel ceviche, and sliced thin as a garnish for seared scallops (where the garlic slivers resemble delicate shavings of black truffle).  Tramonto told Gourmet:  “I love its soft and chewy texture.”

Take a look for yourself…

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I’m back again talking about freekeh.  I know I just wrote about this ancient grain — a unique roasted green wheat that’s native of the Middle East.  But I just had to tell you more.

Since my original post last week, I’ve been in touch with the Australian company Greenwheat Freekeh because I had so many unanswered questions about freekeh — which was an unknown grain that has suddenly taken the country by storm. 

As I wrote earlier, freekeh is emerging as a major trend — it’s showing up on the menus of trendy New York hot spots, praised by celeb-chef Jamie Oliver as his favorite new superfood, and is now available at Trader Joe’s (certainly one indication that this grain is going mainstream).

Indeed, freekeh  may be the next quinoa. which I think currently owns the top spot among the ancient grains.  In my previous post, I was baffled by the claim that freekeh is gluten-free.  How could this be?  Freekeh is wheat — and the protein content of freekeh is even higher than what you’ll find in mature grains of wheat.  Gluten is the protein in wheat.  What gives?

I struck up an email correspondence with the kind folks at Greenwheat Freekeh — which turns out to be the largest global distributors of freekeh. In fact, they say they’re the only company in the world to develop the necessary technology to harvest the soft green wheat using a proprietary modern factory.    This Australian company is also investing in a ton of research on the grain.

It turns out that there may be something to the gluten-free claim.  The company won’t go as far to say that freekeh is void of gluten (or safe for celiacs), but there’s something unique about the immaturity of the wheat when it’s harvested.  The roasting also seems to “denature” the gluten, the company’s managing director Toni Lufti told me.

“Freekeh is not gluten free.  However, because freekeh is harvested early and is subjected to a high temperature burning process, the gluten in the grain is ‘denatured.’  Some research in the Ukraine (not yet published) makes the claim that freekeh is ‘free from normal gluten.’ We are also aware of many people who are allergic to wheat and gluten who have consumed freekeh without either adverse or allergic reaction but this is NOT scientific evidence and Greenwheat Freekeh does not make any such claim….If freekeh is ever proven to be OK for consumption by celiacs, it will be one of the best discoveries ever.”

I find that rather amazing.  Had no idea.  Other research by the company has shown that the early harvesting of the wheat offers several nutritional advantages. (Click here for the  nutritional attributes of freekeh.) 

• Freekeh retains more protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals compared to traditionally processed wheat.   Freekeh contains four times the fiber content of brown rice.
• Unlike mature grains, freekeh is rich in lutein and zeaxathin — important phytonutrients for eye health. 
• The grain also appears to act as a prebiotic, fueling the growth of healthy bacteria in our digestive tract.
• Additionally, freekeh is considered to have a low glycemic index and is high in “resistant starch,” which is a hot area of research right now.  Some studies indicate that resistant starch (which acts more like a fiber than a carbohydrate) may play a role in weight management. 

And someone who may attest to the weight management benefits of freekeh is Bonnie Matthews, who lost  130 pounds eating Greenwheat Freekeh.  She talked about her journey on the Dr. Oz show, and is now featured on his web site as a “wellness warrior.”  You’ll find some of her freekeh recipes on the site.

Here’s a collection of other freekeh recipes to try:

Freekeh Salad

This young, green grain is not only a nutrient powerhouse, it appears to be truly “green” as well.  Tony Lutfi at Greenwheat Freekeh told me…

“…producing green grains is better for farmers and the environment.  In the case of the farmer, it reduces risk (no need to worry about end of season rain, too much rain or not enough for the grain to finish) and reduces costs (no need to spray chemicals to avoid end of season pests and in some cases no need for fertilizers).  All of this means better margins for the farmer and a healthier environment.”

Tony told me the company is attempting to transfer their production technology to the U.S.  I’m certainly looking forward to that!  For now, it looks like the U.S. distributor for Greenwheat Freekeh is Ceres Organic Harvest, Inc. based in St. Paul.    You can also find varieties of freekeh in natural food stores and Middle Eastern markets.  Although Tony told me that Greenwheat Freekeh is guaranteed to be 100% natural with no additives or preservatives, and processed using very high standards.  He said traditional production (used in the Middle East) may result in grains contaminated with stones — that’s why many of the traditional recipes call for careful rinsing of freekeh. 

I hope you’ll see if you can find freekeh in your area and let me know what you think.  Would love to have you send me your freekeh recipes too!

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