Category: Healthy and Happy

Next to me is the September issue of Cooking Light. On the cover is a beautiful picture of pork chops braised with apples, rosemary, sage and red onion. Cooking Light is a good magazine with lots of healthy food ideas. Still, from the cover you might think that good eating is 90% meat and 10% aroma. At the same time, many healthy experts are recommending changing our diet to mostly vegetables and low glycemic load grains. Here is a simple idea for doing that.

Barley and Pear and Feta Green Salad.
1/3 C of pearl barley
The juice of one small lemon
1 T olive oil
½ C Feta crumbled
1 small pear per person peeled, cored and sliced
Your favorite Green Salad mix with extra grated carrots, shredded red cabbage and some onion (green, shallot or your choice)

Cook the pearl barley in boiling water with a pinch of salt for about 35 minutes until al dente. Drain and cool for 10 minutes then dress with the lemon juice and olive oil. When completely cool, add the Feta and chill in an air tight container. When you are ready to eat, peel, core and slice the pear; place your greens in a bowl or on a plate and top with a generous helping of barley mix and the sliced pear. Enjoy!

Barley is a great grain. It will reduce the glycemic load of almost any meal. Substituting barley for other grains is a great way reduce calories and if you need a more substantial meal, adding cooked red beans or any other legume can accomplish that easily. In fact, I did just that. I cooked up red beans for Red Beans and Rice. I used a great recipe from American Test Kitchen but I reduced the salt by 2/3 and doubled the chipotle in adobe sauce and adjusted the aromatic vegetables to my taste. But then I reimagined the rice to wild rice lightened up with cooked barley. White rice is lovely but it is very high in glycemic index and glycemic load. It digests quickly; spikes blood sugar; contributes to weight gain and leaves you hungry in a few hours. So I would encourage you to reimagine your favorite foods and don’t be afraid to change a recipe to make it better for you!

Ken Corliss, OD
Board Certified, ABO (253) 845-0585

Eating more healthfully often comes down to planning and using leftovers in a creative way. I often hear my friends say that they made a big pot of spaghetti or a big pot of hamburger stew and plan to use it all week. I almost never hear someone say that they cooked up a big pot of green beans or I roasted two heads of cauliflower for the week. Most often that I because many of us are afraid of what to do with leftovers. So this week let’s start with a couple pounds of green beans.

2 Lbs. of green beans ends sniped and cut into 1 inch pieces
½ of a dry onion diced
1 slice of bacon diced
2 C water

Place the diced onion and bacon in a very large frying pan or sauteuse and sauté until the onion is soft. Add the green beans and 2 C of water and simmer covered until tender. Stir occasionally and add water as necessary. Cooking time 10 minutes more or less. Don’t overcook.

Now you should have plenty of beans for dinner, but what about tomorrow. Cold green beans make a great salad. Toss some of your cold green beans with chopped parsley and dress with a drizzle of white wine vinegar and flavored olive oil. I like hot pepper olive oil. My wife likes basil olive oil. You might like a little Dijon mustard, plain olive oil and chopped herbs like basil, parsley or cilantro. If you have fresh tomato in the garden, chop one and add that to your salad or use diced red and yellow pepper. The point is this, you don’t need a recipe and you should never get tired of those leftover vegetables. Enjoy.
Ken Corliss, OD
Board Certified, ABO (253) 845-0585

One of the great things about the Northwest is our abundant seafood. If you happen to like clam chowder and maybe buy that stuff at Costco (check the sodium, more than 600mg per 8 oz serving) I have a better idea: local clams steamed in low sodium chicken broth and white wine. Part of the fun is finding the clams yourself. Of course, you can buy your clams at any fish market and many of the Asian markets. If your idea of fun is a day at the beach with the grandkids, you might be surprised to learn that our small neck clams can be found on many beaches near the mean tide line and in sandy areas only a few inches below the surface.

After digging a few, rinse them several times in fresh clean seawater and leave in a bucket with a pinch of cornmeal in the water to allow the clams to open and clean themselves of any sand. After at least 6 hours or several days later (don’t forget to change the water), scrub the shells to remove any dirt and set aside for steaming.

For the stock to steam your clams you will want one part fresh mushrooms and two parts zucchini cut into bit size pieces. As a rule, I have about half as much vegetables as clams. So your prep might look like this.

4 C clean clams in the shell
2 C zucchini in bit size pieces
1 C mushrooms halved
2 tsp basil chopped or dry flakes
2 tsp thyme chopped of dry
1 tsp dry tarragon
1 tsp dry oregano
1 garlic clove
2 C low sodium chicken broth (70mg/serving)
2 C dry white wine
2 C baby spinach divided between two large soup bowls

Put the spices including the garlic in a large pot with the wine and broth and bring to a boil. Then add the clams and top with the mushrooms and zucchini and cover the pot. A glass lid makes it easier to watch so you don’t overcook. When the clams open, ladle the hot broth over the spinach to wilt and top with the clams and vegetable mixture. Discard any clams that did not open. You will need cocktail forks and a soup spoon to enjoy this meal. If you aren’t watching carbs, a crusty whole grain sourdough bread is great addition.

Clams are good source of Lysine and other amino acids. Most people don’t eat more than 3 oz. of clams and served this way and the clams have only 73 calories. 3 oz. of clams does have 25.5 mg of cholesterol and 12.5 mg of protein. (One egg poached has 185 mg of cholesterol and only 6.3 mg of protein.) Served this way including the broth, there would be approximately 600 mg of sodium but a commercial clam chowder would probably be twice that by the time you had that second helping. If you skip the bread, half of your calories in this meal will be from healthy plant sources with a low glycemic load.

Ken Corliss, OD
Board Certified, American Board of Optometry
(253) 845-0585

Recently, some high profile “nutrition experts” have been saying “Butter is Back” and creating a lot of confusion about the question of healthy oil and fat in our diets. One thing generally agreed among nutritional experts is that margarine and shortening are not healthy foods. Unfortunately, they are still very prominently used both at home and in many commercial foods. You will find them listed as “hydrogenated” oil on the label and when you do find it on the label, put the food back where you found it or put it in the garbage. More recently, some “experts” have been saying that dietary cholesterol does not raise blood cholesterol. This conclusion has been drawn on the basis of a large Metadata Study that has been widely touted. I recently listened to a physician on PBS that was getting cheers and nods of approval for saying “Butter is Back!”

But before you slather on the butter and add steak to that breakfast menu I think you should know something about metadata studies and why they are often used more to conceal than reveal the facts. A metadata study is a study of many studies. Typically, the studies have different designs and purposes with many different sizes and populations so it might seem that the more studies that are put together, the more valid the conclusions. Not so. The typical result of a metadata analysis is to dilute findings until the differences are swamped by the “noise” and variability in the studies. Metadata analysis was a favored tactic of the tobacco industry when they wanted to “prove” that smoking did not cause cancer.

In the Metadata Study on butter the large population had many different diets and since the studies weren’t controlled for differences in diet and only the differences in butter was examined, it is extremely unlikely that eating a little more or a little less butter in the Standard American Diet (SAD) would show any statistically significant difference in health. What can be said from this study is that butter is definitely not a health food. For a detailed discussion of this issue, visit the Harvard School of Public Health or download their App.

The bottom line is this: Eat more fruits and vegetables, less red meat, some fish and substitute healthy oils such as olive oil and small amounts of seeds and nuts for butter.

Ken Corliss, OD
Diplomate American Board of Optometry
(253) 845-0585

If you have been following my blog, you know that I made chicken stock last week. If you haven’t been following, here is the basic recipe for my rich, quick chicken stock.

1 store bought roasted chicken
1 Qt. Low Sodium Chicken Broth (it should have about 70mg of sodium per serving or less)
1 Qt. Filtered Water
2 Large Onions Dry or Sweet
Celery Tops from a bunch of organic celery

Pull the meat off of your store bought roasted chicken and save for your soup or other purposes. Put the bones, skin, and wing tips in a large pot with the rinsed celery tops, quartered onions, water and chicken broth; then cook partially covered for 2 hrs. Scoop out the large pieces and strain the broth into another container. You should have about 5-6 C. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning the fat can be easily removed from the top and your stock should be a rich gelatinous brown color; ready to be make into the soup of your choice.

Now here is what I did with my stock. I added carrots, onion and cabbage and simmered until the carrots were tender but not falling apart. Then I topped each bowl of soup with about a ½ C of chopped chicken that I reserved from my store bought roasted chicken. There is no particular amount of vegetables to use but be generous. Remember we are trying to eat at least half of our calories and protein from vegetable sources. Here is what I did.

6 carrots peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks
1 large onion cut into a coarse dice
Half of a small head of cabbage sliced

Add carrots, onion and cabbage to the stock in a large pot and cook until the carrots are tender. Then put a cup of baby spinach in your soup bowls and ladled a generous serving of the hot soup to wilt the spinach and served topped with chopped chicken and a side of greens such as cooked green beans or kale or salad of your choice. Enjoy.

A good way to start eating healthier is to eat fewer calories in the evening. Eating a good homemade lunch and eating a lighter meal in the evening will help control your weight and lower blood sugar spikes. If you feel that the meal I made needs to be more substantial for evening, add a can of rinsed black beans or a cup of steamed wheat berries to the soup. Or add a side of apple, celery and chopped walnut salad dressed with non-fat yogurt. It is not necessary to follow recipes exactly or work for hours in the kitchen to eat well. It is necessary to rethink good eating and what it means to enjoy a meal.

Ken Corliss, OD
Diplomate American Board of Optometry
(253) 845-0585

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When I was growing up there was no greater treat than homemade soup and my mom and grandmothers were experts at making soup.  Of course soup was often a day-long endeavor.  Chicken Noodle soup meant a couple of stewing hens simmering in a large pot with vegetables all day and then straining, skimming, boning.  You know the drill.  But there is no substitute for the real thing.  Fortunately, there are a few short-cuts available today.

1 store bought roasted chicken

1 Qt. Low Sodium Chicken Broth (it should have about 70mg of sodium per serving or less)

1 Qt. Filtered Water

2 Large Onions Dry or Sweet

Celery Tops from a bunch of organic celery

 

Pull the meat off of your store bought roasted chicken and save for your soup or other purposes.  Put the bones, skin, and wing tips in a large pot with the rinsed celery tops, quartered onions, water and chicken broth; then cook partially covered for 2 hrs.  Scoop out the large pieces and strain the broth into another container.  You should have about 5-6 C.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning the fat can be easily removed from the top and your stock should be a rich gelatinous brown color; ready to be made into the soup of your choice.

The nutritional value of this stock is difficult to estimate but you can be sure that it will still be reasonably low sodium and have about twice the nutritional value of the store bought chicken broth you started with.   Your soup will have a satisfying feel in the mouth and will satiate hunger without a lot of pasta, rice or other form of starch.
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Breakfast is usually a simple affair at my home except on weekends. Then we often splurge. My wife often likes to make an omelet and perhaps fill it with spinach or kale or fix it up Mexican style. And then there is toast or if she is very ambitious, scones with raspberry jam. Of course if we ate that way every day it wouldn’t be that good for us and who has time? On week days I often just eat yogurt and a small portion of granola with fruit and switch to cooked cereal and fruit on the next day. One thing I have learned is the benefit of cooking ahead so on the weekend we often cook up mush (as my grandmother called it) and eat it later in the week.

You might be thinking that you don’t like that slimy oatmeal and it doesn’t stick with you or you can’t eat it because you are a diabetic. Well there is a trick here and it is all about portion size and the choice of cereals and cooking method.

Oatmeal and Quinoa Mush

4 C filtered water
½ C Quinoa (organic tri-colored is nice)
1 C Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats (not quick cooking)
A dash of salt
¼ C Whole Raw Almonds chopped coarsely (measure before chopping)
¼ C Raisins

Place the cold water in a 2 Qt. sauce pan with a glass lid and add the quinoa and bring to a simmer. Add the cut Oats and a dash of salt and stir and wait for the pot to simmer again. When it returns to a simmer turn down the heat and cover watching and stirring occasionally to prevent the mush from boiling over or sticking to the bottom. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes until the sheen is nearly gone but the mush can still be stirred. Remove from heat and stir in the almonds and raisins then cover and let rest for 10 minutes. At this point you can serve it with a half cup of 1% milk or place in a glass container and refrigerate for later use reheating in the microwave. A single portion of 1 C with ½ C 1% Milk is about 380 calories. By not using quick cooking oatmeal the glycemic load is reduced from 30 to 13 for the oatmeal and the quinoa also has a glycemic load of 13. If you need to further reduce your carbohydrates, you could leave out the raisins and add fresh blueberries later when you reheat your mush. You could also reduce your portion size and eat raw or cooked vegetables in addition.

A 1 C serving with 1% milk is 380 calories and is 62% carbohydrate, 23% fat and 14% protein with less than 100mg of salt and only 8 mg of cholesterol. Compare that to an Egg Mcmuffin which is 300 calories, has 820 mg of sodium and is 40% carbohydrate, 36% fat and 24% protein and has 260 mg of cholesterol. And I bet you are going to eat 2 of them or be hungry in an hour. I know that you have heard that dietary cholesterol doesn’t count, so we will talk about that on another day. For now, let’s just say that the Harvard School of Public Health still says it matters.

Ken Corliss, OD
Diplomate ABO

At our home, Summer often means chips and dips. We all know that those chips aren’t good for us. Too much salt, too much refined carbs and not enough nutrition. So how about re-imagining hors d’oeuvre time. We can make appetizers more healthful and a real part of the meal. A simple way to start is crudités. Raw vegetables such as carrot sticks, celery and other simple choices can turn appetizers into half of the meal.

At our house we love homemade guacamole and hummus (usually store bought) is always a hit. And usually salsa and chips show up too. Each of these favorites have strengths and weaknesses. Guacamole is high fat but healthy fat. Hummus is also fairly high fat with oil added either as something like olive oil or sesame oil. Both are generally considered healthy oils. Salsa is low fat and high in Vitamin C but with all those chips it makes us eat there comes too much processed carbs and a lot more salt. So let’s re-imagine hors d’oeuvre time.

Avocado Hummus
1 15oz can of garbanzo beans drained and rinsed (save a little of the brine from the can)
1 Avocado seeded and removed from its skin
2 Tb Olive oil or tahini if you prefer
1 C Hot Salsa of your choice

Process the garbanzo beans in a food processer until well ground and then stream in the oil or tahini while the machine is running to create a coarse paste. Add the avocado and process until not quite smooth. If the mixture is too dry at this point add a couple tablespoons of reserved brine and process a little more. Turn the mixture into a bowl and fold in the Salsa. Serve with crudités.

So what have we accomplished here. We have turned hors d’oeuvres into a mini meal. The spread is still about 50% fat on a calorie basis but if you eat just 4 oz. of carrots and celery the total fat drops to 43%, your carbs are primarily resistant starch and fiber and your protein is 11% which is about perfect for most people. And I am allowing a very generous helping of nearly ½ C of spread which is about 130 calories. The homemade guacamole is 182 calories for just 4 Tb and 62% fat.

For breakfast the day after I made this I had a fried egg in fresh tortilla with just shy of a ½ C of my Avocado Hummus and rounded out the meal with a banana and a cup of coffee. So this is a 414 calorie start to my day but most experts agree that eating a little more in the morning and a little less in the evening is better for you. Looking at my nutrition for the day so far I am 50% carbs with most of that resistant starch, 36% fat with half of that from plant sources and 14% protein. This meal will stick with me until lunch time and it will not spike my blood sugar. For lunch I will eat something with less fat like a green salad and feta for protein and a low calorie dressing like a reduced oil vinaigrette. I hope you enjoy trying this meal and send us feedback.

Ken Corliss, OD
(253) 845-0585

Most people I know love a generous helping of spaghetti and sauce for dinner. But if you want to lose weight or are diabetic, you know that you shouldn’t. Well let me show you how you can satisfy that craving and feel good about it. The trick is to re-imagine the meal. I am starting by roasting vegetables a day ahead and I am going to finish the meal by cooking pasta and serving only half a portion but over a generous portion of spaghetti squash. For the roast vegetables, I am using broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, yellow squash, and asparagus. I washed and trimmed all the vegetables and cut everything into bite size pieces except the asparagus which I washed trimmed and left whole. I usually roast vegetables at 375° in the oven on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Lightly spray the vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with dry basil. Keep the vegetables in separate groups because they cook at different rates. The asparagus may only take 10 minutes or less and likewise the zucchini, the yellow squash and broccoli cook quickly. The cauliflower will take a little longer. Both the broccoli and cauliflower should be lightly brown in spots. Cool the vegetables on a separate sheet then refrigerate. I usually undercook my vegetables because I want to reheat in the microwave.

Now for the spaghetti squash. I recommend that you cook it on high, whole in the microwave for 1 minute. Then split the squash lengthwise and remove the seeds. Now turn the squash cut side down on aluminum foil and bake on a rimmed sheet at 400° until it is soft. This takes about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes and then use a sturdy fork to shred the squash into the long strands that resemble pasta and refrigerate.

Finally, I am using a can of SW stewed Italian style tomatoes and a half serving of whole wheat pasta to assemble dinner. I cooked the pasta just before dinner and heated the tomatoes in a sauce pan, then laid a good helping of spaghetti squash on my plate surrounded with roast vegetables and microwaved until hot. I topped the squash with a half helping of pasta and a full helping of stewed tomatoes. Add a little parmesan on top if you like.

This meal as presented has less than 450 calories and a low glycemic load. The whole wheat pasta has a high glycemic load but you are cutting your serving in half or less and substituting spaghetti squash, which has a much lower glycemic load. Finally, I want to make it clear that this meal is not just for diabetics. I made it for myself and it is delicious. The meal shows how to eat less salt, less fat, less refined carbohydrates and less animal protein. This is good eating and smart eating at the same time.
Enjoy!

Ken Corliss, OD
(253) 845-0585

This week I would like to talk about simple healthy lunches. I find that many of my patients end up eating fast food for lunch. There are probably many reasons: convenience, getting away from work, social factors (i.e. eating with the guys). Unfortunately, the standard American diet (also known as SAD) is packed with fat, sugar, and refined carbohydrates. Most of my patients know that they need to eat better and many need to lose weight but how to do this.

One way is to add more beans and peas to your diet. Legumes (like black beans, soy bean and peas) have short chain fatty acids that digest more slowly. They actually digest in the large intestines instead of the small intestines so sugar is released more slowly. This has special benefits for diabetic patients but it also benefits everyone. Benefits include reduced glycemic load, lower cholesterol (absorbed and removed), and reduced hunger because the lower gut remains full longer. Okay, so here is a simple lunch using black beans.

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½ C of canned black beans rinsed and drained
1 Roma Tomato quartered
2 pieces of Artichoke Hearts marinated in oil (Costco)
Salt and Pepper to taste (go light)

Toss the above ingredients and enjoy.

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This recipe is only 175 calories with 2.5g of fat, 23.5g carbs and 8.6g protein and is high in Vitamin A and C. Add an apple and other fruit and you have a complete meal that is much more filling than you might expect and still low calorie. If you are afraid that you might be hungry later, pack some nuts. Almonds are your top choice, but lightly salted mixed nuts in small quantity are a healthy snack. Look for more simple and healthy variations on this theme coming up.