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WHAT MAKES ME AN "INFORMED" FOOD BLOGGER

I am CURRENTLY a PRACTICING PHYSICIAN .

However, I did complete TWO YEARS of college studying GENERAL BIOCHEMISTRY AND MICROBIOLOGY, Food technology,Food Microbiology and Biochemistry prior to deciding that I am more inclined to the CLINICAL SIDE of things and hence decided to get into MEDICAL SCIENCE .

I did very well in medical school thereafter and am now a "kick-ass" doctor .

My interest in "Food" and the "Science of cooking" continues to this day and explains why I now have a Food blog as part of my LECINQBLOG family of Blogs

I seek to dispel FOOD FADS, food myths via this food blog.I seek also to increase health awareness by canvassing for healthier diets.

Good chef meets GOOD DOCTOR meets good writer=Informative food blog, no?

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Overhandling of Food makes it less nutritious and unhygenic !


'Overhandling of food' ,what does that exactly mean?
Cooking it too long, peeling, poaching , then frying, then baking and then cutting it in pieces and then placing it on plates in neat little tiny pieces aka food art and then touching it constantly to rearrange it on a plate, Cooking food at high temperatures, oven cooking, processing too much , all of these amount to OVERHANDLING OF FOOD.
I see a lot of online food bloggers who proudly quote how much of vit c and vit B the ingredients in the recipes have and then proceed to describe a cooking procedure which involves deep frying, oven baking , etc etc which essentially would definitely make sure that all water soluble vitamins are completely lost at the end of the cooking process.
Water soluble vitamins or any other kind of vitamins for that matter have a certain molecular structure , which makes them biologically useful.If too much of cooking is done and excessive heat is applied, these molecules either evaporate out of the foods that you are cooking or undergo molecular structural changes which make them less biologically absorbable or completely useless even.
There ya go, overhandling of food is a very bad habit that many food stylists indulge in too .It may make the plate look very very pretty , but it is not an ideal way to preserve the nutrients if you ask me.
What is the solution ?
cook as little as possible
Cook for as little time as possible
Keep the food for as little time as possible on a plate standing there between cooking time and eating time.
Speaking of which, already cut vegetables stored in the refrigerator , lose all their water soluble vitamins.It would be a better idea to not cut vegetables till shorty prior to consumption.
Either ways.Don't bake foods too much esp fruits or veggies and still expect them to have all their vitamin goodness still in them.K?

Thursday, May 29, 2008

An orange is better than orange juice


An orange is better than orange juice.
Eating an orange is a far healthier option than drinking orange juice from a carton at breakfast time or even otherwise at other times.
Why?
Firstly, an orange is far more mass for far lesser calories (not that calories are bad ),An orange has a lot of fiber in addition to that valuable vit c and carotene and all the other water soluble vitamins too.
Orange juice perhaps might be a great option for people with no teeth(babies or edentate oldies) or for people who are at the hospital post operatively and can't eat solid food .Orange juice might also be a great option if one is looking for a very very instant pep in one's potassium and sodium and sugar levels in blood and this situation arises when one is involved in sports involving a lot of sweating.
When i say orange juice that has all the aforementioned benefits, i mean freshly squeezed orange juice, not that orange juice from a carton that has a lot of added preservatives, a lot of added citric acid and added color and that juice that is reconstituted from concentrate and such.
There ya go , My piece of food gyan for today.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Please don't peel and core those tomatoes !


I see that most people resort to peeling their tomatoes and even coring them while using them in cooking and all this only to make sure that what one eats is super smooth sans the fibrous bits.Super smooth baby food? Is that what we want to eat? We could do with a little bit of a rustic, chunky pasta sauce .Come on , be brave !Why do i insist that we use uncored and unpeeled tomatoes in cooking?Coz most of the vitamins and a whole lot of fiber is located in these parts of the tomatoes.Naturally occuring vitamins are better absorbed than synthetic vitamins from a bottle.Natural fiber is indigestible and thus forms a large part of our ummmmmm stools(for lack of a less offensive and 'in the face' term !) .It is only when the stools are bulky that the bowels find it easy to send them out .Fibrous stools also prevent colon cancer.Fibrous stools also prevent Constipation too.There has been a rise in colon cancer in recent times and this could be attributed to the altered food habits of people where they have taken to binge drinking and eating highly processed foods with very less natural fiber.What i am trying to get at with all this banter is:HMMMM....People essentially are trying to get rid of the natural foods off of their natural fiber and natural vitamins too all in an attempt to attain a smooth sauce.Come on.The naturally occuring fiber in our diet is actually meant to be eaten.We need bulk so that the undigested wastes move through our long intestines quite easily.. Morever, Blanching and peeling and coring the tomatoes also makes us lose a lot of valuable vitamins which lie right underneath the skin of the tomatoes.Now that we have blenders and puree makers, making those seeds into mush is no big deal.So, why give up on the fiber and the vitamins ? We can still have a very smooth sauce even while using the peel and the seeds.Don't blanch the tomatoes , just puree the whole lot without blanching and voila---smooth sauce.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

About this blog

originally posted on 10:58 AM 5/4/08
This blog is all about food, vegetarian cooking, and an occasional recipe.
I am quite reluctant to post my own recipes on here , coz the recipes pretty much get stolen and reposted in no time.Pisses me off bigtime.
There is going to be a lot of talk about the best food practices, about treating one's body with dignity .
I have quite often seen that many non vegetarians do contemplate switching to vegetarianism but are at a loss as to what to cook.I am here to help.They don't know of any tasty recipes.
Trust me.Vegetarian cooking is the tastiest and healthiest only if you know how to make tasty meals with a lot of variety included.
This blog is not going to be about soy or imitation meats.
Vegetarian cooking is not about using processed foodS aka the imitation meats or the imitation cheese.
It is about pure wholesome cooking using natural products.
I am not a great fan of all the ever so prevelant food fads namely the high protein diets, the low carb diets, the slow food movement, yada yada..I believe that a balanced diet is the healthiest option.
Eating in moderation and eating as less of processed foods as possible is the key to a good diet

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