Category: health

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#foodie American Culture Asian-American health

White rice vs. Brown rice

Interesting topic came up today in a conversation with my friend; ever since I began to eat healthier and reading up on healthy diets/etc. in magazines, I have noticed how most of the diets are very American-oriented; meaning, the foods are all just…American. Salad, sandwiches, etc. There are some “Asian” dishes thrown in, but always stir-fry or some kind of fusion.

So I asked my friend today, “Why are all these diets racist!” I say “racist” in jest, but really, how come so many health plans say “NO” to white rice? I know, brown rice has more nutrients apparently…but how come then pretty much all of Asia consumes white rice? “It’s processed, no nutrients, etc.” is what I keep reading. But tell me, how come the world’s oldest/healthiest people live in…Asia? They eat white rice; brown rice is too expensive, and most of Asia is relatively poor.

Try going into any Asian restaurant and requesting for brown rice–you won’t get it at most places. So far, I’ve only seen a few Thai restaurants offer brown rice, but even then, that’s only one type of Asian restaurant. Korean? They shot down the request when I attempted to ask for substitution. Chinese? Japanese? I highly doubt they will honor the request.

White rice forever.

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#foodie dining out health restaurant

How dirty is your cook?

Ever since I started working at the hot dog carts, I feel my sense of health/sanitation has been heightened–not that I was not cautious of germs/being clean and sanitized before the job. Still, especially in food service, I believe the most important thing about the job(s) is to be very clean and reduce the risk of germ-contamination as much as possible. Some ways to do so is:

– Never touch the food with bare hands, even if hands are clean. Handle with a cooking utensil or with plastic gloves over hands.

– Never let food touch a public surface (countertop, etc.) or else it is contaminated.

– Never pick up trash/things off the ground with bare hands and then use hands to handle food–even if handling food is with a cooking utensil! Germs could transfer through the utensil.

There are many other ways to reduce germ contamination, but these are a few starters.

I bring up this topic mainly because of an incident my boss had at a “dive” burger joint he went to earlier in the weekend. He said he watched (with sheer horror) as the cook behind the counter took out UNREFRIGERATED, raw chicken breasts, throw the meat onto the grill with his bare hands, and then, without washing his hands, proceed to arrange the garnish setup (tomato, lettuce, etc.).

Unfortunately for my boss, he got food poisoning from such an incident; fortunately, he’s okay now.

Just goes to show–if possible, watch how the cook handles your food next time you eat out!

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#foodie health My San Francisco Chronicles stores sweet treats

Penguino’s Gourtmet Yogurt

Found Penguino’s Gourmet Yogurt inside of the Metreon Building today while exploring the area with my siblings. The place intrigued me enough to lure me in to try some of their frozen yogurt.

I tried the soft-served frozen yogurt in the natural flavor with chocolate chip cookie dough on top. The other flavor option was mango, but I figured with the cookie dough topping that the mango would not go so well.

It was decent frozen yogurt, but I felt a little unfulfilled after eating it. I remember reading on Sparkpeople before that frozen yogurt is actually not too healthy for people. Sure, perhaps it’s lower in fat/calories than regular ice cream, but in terms of nutrients/probiotics/etc. it provides (as opposed to regular, non-frozen yogurt), the frozen yogurt doesn’t provide any of the bacteria cultures.

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#amreading #foodie health My San Francisco Chronicles sweet treats

Hungry Girl in San Francisco.

Today after work I managed to go see Hungry Girl aka Lisa Lillien give a talk and sign her new book at Borders in Union Square. I don’t remember how long I have been following her newsletters, but every time I receive them I feel like I’m more well-informed on certain foods. The swap recipes make me realize how really unhealthy most average sweets/general foods are in terms of fat content and calories. Insanity…

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the whole session due to work ending around 7pm. Still, I was able to grab some free samples/coupons and get my book signed by Lillien. A great way to end a long 10-hour workday, indeed!

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#amreading #foodie drink health

Craving for Tea; Mindless Eating.

I had a random craving for tea today, so I ended up buying two boxes of tea while grocery shopping. I find the craving “random” since it had not occurred before…

Anyway, lately I have been reading the book Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph.D. I had been meaning to read this book for the past two years since I kept reading reviews/excerpts about it through all my health magazines. After finally getting the chance to crack the book open, I find it to be an interesting and somewhat startling read. A lot of the information I had already known before from the two years of healthy habits I have been practicing (watch portion sizes, put away tempting snacks from visible view, etc.). Yet, there have also been other facts/tidbits that I did not know about until I read it in the book.

For example, today I finished reading a portion about how iced water actually helps the human body burn calories due to the body working harder to regulate the iced water when it enters into the body. Hm! I decided today that I would start drinking more iced water in my apartment. More calorie burn, the better.

And I finally have figured out the term to use when it comes to “organic foods” or any “organic/healthy” restaurants out there: the “healthy halo” effect. So very true: seems most people automatically assume that just because a place serves supposedly healthy foods that they can pile up on the food inside and still stay “healthy”. It may be true to an extent, but not when these people end up piling on other not-so-healthy items on their foods (i.e., cream dressings, etc.).

After I finish the book, I hope to use the re-engineering strategies inside to change a few bad habits in my lifestyle.