Lentil Soup

(makes 4-6 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry lentils, picked over and rinsed
  
  


• 4 cups water
  
  


• 2 finely chopped carrots
  
  


• 1 (15 oz.) can chopped tomatoes
  
  


• 3 finely chopped garlic cloves
  
  


• 1 finely chopped onion
  
  


• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, or ½ tbsp dried flakes
  
  


• ¼ tsp cumin
  
  


• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
  
  


• ½ tsp salt
  
  

Preparation:

• Pour water in a large-size saucepan. Add the lentils, bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes.
  
  


• Stir in carrots, tomatoes, garlic, onion and seasonings.
  
  


• Cover and cook another until lentils are tender (about 15 minutes).
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (284 g)): 387 Calories, 29 g Protein, 70 g carbohydrates, 32 g Dietary Fiber, 1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 594 mg sodium

Gazpacho

(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:

• 3 large tomatoes, diced
  
  


• 2 cups chopped cucumber
  
  


• 1 cup chopped onion
  
  


• 1 cup seeded and chopped green bell pepper
  
  


• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  
  


• 2 tsp olive oil
  
  


• 1 chopped garlic clove
  
  


• 1 cup water
  
  


• Salt and pepper to taste (optional)
  
  

Preparation:

• Place tomatoes, cucumber, onion, green bell pepper, red wine vinegar, olive oil and garlic in a blender and blend until desired consistency.
  
  


• Place vegetable mixture in a serving bowl, add water and stir thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 60 minutes.
  
  


• Add salt and pepper to taste. (salt and pepper not included in Nutrition Facts calculations.)
  
  

Make 6 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (179 g)): 54 Calories, 2 g Protein, 9 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 10 mg sodium

New Ancestral Diet Review Paper

Pedro Carrera-Bastos and his colleagues Maelan Fontes-Villalba, James H. O'Keefe, Staffan Lindeberg and Loren Cordain have published an excellent new review article titled "The Western Diet and Lifestyle and Diseases of Civilization" (1). The paper reviews the health consequences of transitioning from a traditional to a modern Western diet and lifestyle. Pedro is a knowledgeable and tireless advocate of ancestral, primarily paleolithic-style nutrition, and it has been my privilege to correspond with him regularly. His new paper is the best review of the underlying causes of the "diseases of civilization" that I've encountered. Here's the abstract:

It is increasingly recognized that certain fundamental changes in diet and lifestyle that occurred after the Neolithic Revolution, and especially after the Industrial Revolution and the Modern Age, are too recent, on an evolutionary time scale, for the human genome to have completely adapted. This mismatch between our ancient physiology and the western diet and lifestyle underlies many so-called diseases of civilization, including coronary heart disease, obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, epithelial cell cancers, autoimmune disease, and osteoporosis, which are rare or virtually absent in hunter–gatherers and other non-westernized populations. It is therefore proposed that the adoption of diet and lifestyle that mimic the beneficial characteristics of the preagricultural environment is an effective strategy to reduce the risk of chronic degenerative diseases.

At 343 references, the paper is an excellent resource for anyone with an academic interest in ancestral health, and in that sense it reminds me of Staffan Lindeberg's book Food and Western Disease. One of the things I like most about the paper is that it acknowledges the significant genetic adaptation to agriculture and pastoralism that has occurred in populations that have been practicing it for thousands of years. It hypothesizes that the main detrimental change was not the adoption of agriculture, but the more recent industrialization of the food system. I agree.

I gave Pedro my comments on the manuscript as he was editing it, and he was kind enough to include me in the acknowledgments.

Fish Soup Provencale

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz fresh or frozen skinless and boneless haddock or halibut fillets (thaw fish if frozen)
  
  


• 1 small fennel bulb, stalks discarded and bulb chopped
  
  


• 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  
  


• 1 cup chopped onion
  
  


• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
  
  


• 1 cup dry white wine
  
  


• 1 tbsp grated orange peel
  
  


• 2 chopped garlic cloves
  
  


• 2 cups chopped tomatoes or 1 (14 oz.) can of chopped tomatoes, undrained
  
  


• 2 tbsp fresh thyme for garnish
  
  

Preparation:

• Rinse the fish well then pat dry with a paper towel. Cut into 1” pieces, set aside.
  
  


• Rinse the fennel thoroughly then cut in half. Thinly slice the fennel halves lengthwise.
  
  


• In a large-size saucepan, stir in the fennel, vegetable broth, onion, zucchini, white wine, orange peel and garlic. Bring to boiling then reduce to medium-heat, cover and simmer approximate 10 minutes.
  
  


• Stir in the fish, tomatoes and thyme to the broth and cook until fish becomes flaky when tested with a fork (about 4-5 minutes), then serve garnished with extra chopped thyme.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (536 g)): 194 Calories, 18 g Protein, 15 g carbohydrates, 4 g Dietary Fiber, 3 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 129 mg sodium

Three days until the Big Climb!

 Grace, Me, and Roxie at Palomino's in Seattle

Not my best picture but Grace and Roxie look gorgeous.

Tuesday I had a wonderful lunch with Roxie and Grace in downtown Seattle. It was the first time I'd met Roxie. She's exactly like she is on her blog, sweet, really funny, charming, beautiful and skinny too! I absolutely love her. Seeing Grace again was very fun. She and Roxie are very much alike, and I adore them both.

After our fun lunch I climbed the stairs at the Sheraton, twice. 1,154 steps up total. It was 37 floors to the roof, but their floors are weird. Some are 30 or 40 steps, but most are only 15 steps. On my way home I stopped at the gym for thirty minutes on the bike and a half hour of lifting weights. This morning it was back at the gym for 30 minutes on the StairMaster. I'm planning a regular workout tomorrow, a light workout on Friday, probably the elliptical and some upper body weights, then nothing on Saturday. A day of rest before the big day, the Seattle Big Climb.

I'm a bit nervous about the climb. I'm sure I can do it, but I know it's going to be difficult. Going up 37 floors at the Sheraton in eight minutes yesterday was difficult, but thinking about 69 floors without a break is a little intimidating.

My eating has been pretty good, but not perfect. No junk food, but a little too much chicken and fruit. I've been tracking my food, tracking both calories and PointsPlus. Yesterday was 1900 calories but only 17 Points (I'm suppose to have 29). The new Weight Watchers plan is a struggle for me, I can't seem to figure it out. I think it's best if I stick with calories.

I missed breakfast this morning because I was running really late for work. I rarely miss breakfast. I had lunch out today at Anthony's Seafood at the airport (my favorite Sea-Tac airport restaurant). I had Cioppino - Wild Alaska salmon, Manila clams, Puget Sound mussels and lingcod simmered in a savory tomato herb broth. I love this stuff. The last time I had it though it was super salty. I asked the waiter to tell the chef to go really light on the salt. It was perfect!

Well, it's past my bedtime (midnight!). I'm going through a really bad spell lately of not being able to sleep through the night. I can fall asleep in a flash, but I wake up several times during the night, finally getting up exhausted in the morning. I have my annual physical coming up in a few weeks. I'm going to ask my doctor if I need a sleep study or something because something is wrong with me and it's making me crazy!

Dal - Indian Lentil Soup

(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red or yellow lentils, sorted and rinsed
  
  


• 3 cups water
  
  


• ¼ tsp ginger, crushed
  
  


• ¼ tsp garlic clove, finely chopped
  
  


• ¼ tsp red chili powder
  
  


• ⅛ tsp turmeric
  
  


• ½ tsp salt (or to taste)
  
  


• 1 tsp cilantro (to garnish), finely chopped
  
  


• 1 small whole green chili, seeded and chopped
  
  

Preparation:

• In the large-size pan, Bring water to a boil. Add the lentils, ginger, garlic, chili powder and turmeric.
  
  


• Let cook for about 15 minutes.
  
  


• Add salt, green chili and let boil for about 1 minute.


• Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.
  
  

Make 6 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (32 g)): 116 Calories, 5 g Protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 3 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 64 mg sodium

Corn and Tomato Soup

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• Low-fat cooking spray
  
  


• 2 tsp vegetable oil (or olive oil)
  
  


• 1 (10 oz.) package frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
  
  


• 1½ tsp dried basil
  
  


• 1 (14.5 oz.) can low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
  
  


• 1 (10.75 oz.) can low-sodium tomato soup
  
  


• ½ tsp hot sauce
  
  


• Salt and pepper, to taste (optional)
  
  


• Non-fat sour cream (optional)
  
  

Preparation:

• Spray a large-size saucepan with low-fat cooking spray then heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add corn, basil and sauté for about 2 minutes.
  
  


• Stir in chicken broth, tomato soup, hot sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  
  


• Bring to boiling then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve with an optional dollop of sour cream.
  
  


• Salt and sour cream not calculated in Nutrition Facts
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (252 g)): 116 Calories, 5 g Protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 3 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 64 mg sodium