What to Expect When Taxing Soda

Mark Bittman, he of the How to Cook Everything series of books and resident food pundit at the New York Times, wrote yesterday of the benefits of taxing soda and subsidizing vegetables.

...the food industry appears incapable of marketing healthier foods. And whether its leaders are confused or just stalling doesn?t matter, because the fixes are not really their problem. Their mission is not public health but profit, so they?ll continue to sell the health-damaging food that?s most profitable, until the market or another force skews things otherwise. That ?other force? should be the federal government, fulfilling its role as an agent of the public good and establishing a bold national fix.
Rather than subsidizing the production of unhealthful foods, we should turn the tables and tax things like soda, French fries, doughnuts and hyperprocessed snacks. The resulting income should be earmarked for a program that encourages a sound diet for Americans by making healthy food more affordable and widely available.

It's a great idea and one state governments have been floating around for a while now. In fact, here in the state of Washington, Passed a few laws doing exactly that.
So what happened? I-1107 happened. Here's what I wrote last October:

When the American Beverage Association heard that Washington state was now taxing soda pop, they leapt into action. It is reported that they had spent an estimated $1 million gathering petition signatures for the July 2, 2010 statewide deadline to help put this initiative on the ballot.
Since that time they have donated an astounding $16,727,750 to fight these taxes. The have created false and misleading advertisements, saying things such as:
1)Taxing food and beverages is just plain wrong. It hurts middle-income families, seniors and other people who are already struggling to make ends meet during difficult economic times.
2)Taxing thousands of common food and beverage products sets a dangerous precedent. If we don?t repeal these tax hikes now and send a clear message, the politicians will think they can get away with raising taxes on other grocery products in the future.
If we were to tax foods of substance, let's call it nutritious food, then it might be wrong. But the state of Washington took care to define these taxable items in such a way that made it clear that the newly taxed items were foods that added nothing of substance to our diet. We don't need bottled water, we don't need candy bars. At no point did the conversation come up that was along the lines of "Hey, let's tax apples." That simply did not happen.
As far as the "sets a dangerous precedent" line, let me point out that alcohol has been taxed here for quite some time. Taxing soda or chocolate bars is not taking us into a scary new "tax every consumable" world.
The American Beverage Association knows this. But here's the thing. They don't want you to associate Pepsi and Coke with Budweiser and Miller. What they want is for you to associate the products that they are lobbying for with chicken, fish, and bread. They want you to believe that every item in a grocery store inhabits a sacred area, and once entered, it means that the product is inherently good for us.

The result of the initiative? The voters rejected the taxes that the State Legislature had tried to instill upon the the makers of soda. It wasn't even close. Those voting to reject the tax had,522,658 votes, and 60.44% of the electorate. Those voting to retain the tax had 996,761 votes and only 39.56% of the electorate.
The ABA came in, spent $16.5 million dollars (and, fun fact, they were the primary funder of this initiative, by far. The next donor only gave $100), outspending the supporters of the tax by a ratio of 54 to 1.
Or, to put it in more stark terms, the soda industry didn't like being taxed, came in to the state of Washington, and essentially bought an election by lying and misrepresenting the facts of the soda taxation.
The result? The state of Washington is out $352 million dollars over the next five years. And, as predicted, we are having problems paying for education, police forces, and elderly care.
So, yes, by all means. Let's tax soda and candy. But know this - we're going to be in a hell of a fight.

Dozen Eggs is indeed a very good enjoy

Jane Black, a food writer over at The Atlantic, discusses a recent run in with a farmer who was selling eggs at $8 per dozen.

My first instinct was that the egg guy was gouging people, like me, who have enthusiastically embraced efforts to build an alternative to our industrial food system. But it turns out that's what it costs him to produce his eggs. The farm, Grazin' Angus Acres, follows the gold standard of environmental practices: each morning, the chickens are fed organic grain, then moved to fresh pasture in a specially made chicken mobile. Owner Dan Gibson says the process is so labor-intensive that bringing down the price would be near impossible?and he's not interested in trying. "At eight dollars a dozen, you pay 67 cents an egg," he told me. "If your priorities are in the right place, that's a bargain."

The problem, as the $8/dozen eggs tell us is that, if a farmer does everything in their power to ensure caring, sustainable practices, the cost for production becomes enormous. But what do we get in return for this cost? Tom Philpott, over at Mother Jones, spells it out:

Meanwhile, at my local Walmart in Boone, North Carolina, a dozen eggs will set you back just $1.18. Those 10-cent eggs, of course, are produced in vast, fetid factories, sucking in huge amounts of environmentally ruinous corn and concentrating much more manure than can properly be absorbed into surrounding farmland.

What we get is farmland (that we never see) that is sustainable, a product (which is consumed almost immediately) that tastes marginally better, and the positive feelings of supporting a local farmer (who we barely know, if we know them at all) and not supporting factory- produced eggs (whose factories we also have never seen).


There's quite a bit of abstraction in the benefit of purchasing those eggs.As we sit in our restaurants and visit our farmers markets, the first rule of consumerism is as follows - when seeing two alike products whose only difference appears to be cost, people, collectively, will always migrate towards the cheaper one. People, when it comes to their food purchases, tend to stay within their cash-on-hand budget (meaning, most people don't go into debt for grocery purchases). $8 per dozen eggs falls squarely into the luxury department. For people working to a budget, convincing them of the value of the $8/dozen eggs is asking too much. Value has to come with tangible benefits to the consumer. I admit, the argument is a bit black and white here, although not much. While most supermarkets don't sell $8/dozen eggs, they do sell anywhere between three to ten different types of eggs in their stores. Variations of cage-free, grain-fed, and hormone-free eggs all dot the shelves, each at a different cost point. And none of these types of eggs have diminished the demand for the $1.18 per dozen eggs.

Now, take this example for eggs, and expand upon it. Because this same dilemma of abstract benefit versus tangible value is being played out with milk, pork, beef, bread, tomatoes, soy beans, corn, and so-on and so-on. If we believe that good food (defined here as better tasting, less cruel to the animals, and more sustainable to the environment) is to be made available to all, rather than just the privileged, then we have to make the benefits of such purchases tangible to the consumers. More often than not, that means reducing their costs, or, more likely, remove the government subsidies and increase the financial penalties for unethical business practices that would increase the costs of cheap food. Because, more than any other lesson I have learned in the food industry, I have learned this: cheap food comes at a cost. It's just that the cost is just another abstraction for too many of us.

Prohibition Is Our Best Food

As the above video discusses, we're at a point where talking about "The Great Experiment" is in vogue, and running parallels between the 1920's alcohol ban and today's ban on marijuana. This is all well and good, as it leads (and has led) to discourse about personal freedoms, personal responsibility, and how they relate to our role as citizens. This is a conversation that needs to happen, as those who profit off of prohibition often do far more damage to our cultural fabric than those who overindulge.


The thing to remember when talking about Prohibition, whether we are talking about alcohol or marijuana, is that they are both policies, and both are reactive results of political pressures instituted prior to when the policy was implemented. Prohibition of alcohol has a long history, one that has generations of discussion and influence before it's implementation in 1920.

The Prohibition of alcohol was helped primarily by two movements in the 1800's. One, we have the women learning to use their collective voice for political purposes. Here, temperance was thought to be a way to keep men less lazy and less angry and violent.


Secondly, there was an anti-immigrant sentiment. Immigrants often congregated in taverns and saloons, where folks who didn't know anyone in their new land could meet people from the old country, network, gain work, and eventually create political machines both small and large. There were many in the Temperance movement who, afraid of change or non-WASPs, figured out that the best way from keeping immigrants from organizing was shut down the places where the newly arrived could meet.

Sure, sure, there are those who honestly felt that the word of God was the primary reason to justify the temperance movement, and undoubtedly there were plenty of "true believers". And there were many of those from Churches (both Protestant and Catholic) who felt that government had no business codifying morality. But mostly? Mostly there were ulterior motives in the movement, ones that many a politician exploited for their own benefit.


In fact, World War I provided political cover for the Dry party, when those of German heritage (and who happened to own breweries and saloons) had their patriotism brought into question. A vote for drinking was a vote for the Kaiser, and the temperance movement soon had their biggest victory by appealing to nothing more equating drinking with supporting the enemy.


So yes, exploring the Prohibition era is important, as it gives, primarily, an excellent lesson in economics. But the era before Prohibition is just as important, as it shows that many of those involved in the movement weren't doing so out of a sense of moral obligation, but that of political power.

Vegan Ratatouille is very healthy in this world

After I saw the movie Ratatouille, I imagined that one day I myself would cook up the French dish in my own kitchen. Well the day has arrived and gone and the Ratatouille was interesting…but good! Most Ratatouille recipes are baked, however I chose to pan cook all my veggies…I was hungry and couldn’t wait!

Fresh herbs liven this dish up. As I said above that you can really mix and match the vegetables you like with seasonings you may prefer. I found it to be rather delicious and easy to make. Next time I will try baking it and find an eggplant to go with the rest of the dish. This can be served for lunch or dinner and the leftovers are just as yummy as the day before! Send me your favorite Ratatouille Recipe so we can compare!

 You can really mix and match vegetables until you get the combination you prefer. I didn’t have the traditional eggplant so I substituted with portabella mushrooms and the taste was delicious but of course everything wasn’t as beautifully colored as most Ratatouille recipes. I served this vegetable melody over rice that was cooked with turmeric, to add a flavor to the rice and a nice color to the dish! What is also great about this Ratatouille recipe is that it is vegetarian & vegan! Yay for Vegan Recipes!

In a large pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cover for 5-minutes. Add bell pepper, garlic, salt and pepper, and combine. Cook covered for 10-minutes. Stir in squash, tomatoes, mushrooms, and thyme. Cook for until vegetables are tender, about 20-minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot with rice.

The Better and faster food for you

It has certainly been a while since I wrote my last article on delicious:days, usually you only get to see my views on the world – and the places Nicky and I travel to – through my travel photography. This is Oliver, Nicky’s better other half, the guy with the stained T, keeping the engine of the blog humming.

With Nicky’s packed schedule the next days, I took the extraordinary opportunity and quickly hijacked all editor panes, crafting a little travel report of our recent trip to Dubai. A short, yet delightful adventure in the Arabic world, with all its idiosyncrasies and things that got lost in translation.

Dubai. Bigger. Better. Faster. A city full of superlatives, but also contrasts. Despite it’s financial situation a few years back, the city seems to be getting back on track, including new investments on various levels. Literally so. Just this month, At.Mosphere the highest-altitude restaurant, opened its doors on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa. Directly vis-à-vis the Dubai Mall with its ridiculous amount of 1200 stores spread across 4 levels – huge damage potential guaranteed. Watch out!

Getting around in Dubai is sort of easy, finding your destination a bit more challenging. The transportation of choice clearly is the taxi, provided you know exactly where you’re going, preferably including your destination’s vicinity. And don’t be mislead to believe that Google maps will give you that information just like that, many of the POI’s we had pin point down were off the mark or even showed up in wrong parts of the city. Be sure to double, better yet, triple check directions and addresses, in particular for smaller, less touristy spots. And apply some common sense, where we didn’t.

Once you’re in a cab a couple of things can happen. The overly talkative, your-brother-from-another-mother type driver who assures you that he is YOUR man – an hour notice is all it takes and he’ll be there for you. He’s rambling non stop, the meter is off and by now we’ve made the second completely pointless U-turn and it’s not exactly a scenic route either. Oh well, it was our first ride, he got us, we paid 3 times the actual price, but arrived at last. The next day, believe it or not, we accidentally (odds??) got in the same cab yet again, needless to say we had a little chat with “our man”. Other cab experiences included a flat tire while going 70 inner city. I’m positive that the driver has experienced worse, he was in a Zen like mode when it happened. Inshallah.

The Basta Art Café is a wonderful place to start your day. Located in-midst the Bastakia on Al Fahidi St., near Dubai Museum, it offers a cozy garden courtyard and good mix of local and European breakfast/brunch dishes. A scent of incense reminds you where you are, should the environment capture your senses. Opposed to information found elsewhere, they do accept credit cards. Check out the artwork, too!

Connnecting Bur Dubai and Deira, the Abra station (Old Souk) is merely a stone throw away, a nice stroll alongside the Creek. The 5 minute Abra ride to the Deira side (Spice Souk station) is fun but way too short, I could have easily gone back and forth several times if we weren’t slightly pressed for time. Start in the morning, skip the spice souk for now and instead head straight to the fish souk (near Shindagha Tunnel/bus station) for the catch of the day (~15 min walk).

You’ll love the souks. Nicky and I could care less about the gold souk, but the fish, fruit & vegetable as well as spice souk are absolutely worth a visit. The abundance of fresh fish is amazing, the market dynamics fun to watch. The vendors are very friendly, yet much less intrusive than the ones at the spice market and will -once they spot your camera- launch an instant party. To the side of the fish area you’ll find a closed meat section with all kinds of interesting cuts and bigger, more intact pieces – if you know what I mean. Things you usually don’t get to see at your butcher next door. Not for the faint of heart, but quite impressive nevertheless.

Russell Stover Can Also For Your Love

Russell Stover has epitomized Americana for as long as I can remember. They’re a safe and unassuming brand. Their boxed chocolates are dependably sweet and bland but have a nice flair for dependable and fresh holiday themed chocolate novelties.

I was a little surprised when I saw these new Russell Stover Day of the Dead Skeletons at the drug store.

They have two varieties, one chocolate covered caramel and one chocolate covered marshmallow - but what’s interesting about them is the South of the Border design on the package (bilingual as well).

I’ll start with the Russell Stover Caramel Covered in Milk Chocolate (Caramelo Cubierto en el Chocolate con Leche).

They’re large skeleton shaped caramel planks covered in milk chocolate, the package features a brightly clad skeleton. There are at least three different designs per confection. For the Caramel I chose this lady skeleton wearing a red blouse with poofy sleeves, a green full skirt, a yellow yat with dingleberries and holding maracas. It’s quite a sight, especially when designed with bright flat colors and accents of purple, orange and silver foil.

The pieces are large, about twice the size as the regular Pumpkin products they make. The Caramel was 2.5 ounces and about 4.5 inches long.

The design of the actual candy is not quite as impressive as the package. In fact, once I pulled it out of the wrapper, you could have easily convinced me this was a Halloween Saguaro Cactus. But shape aside, it’s a really lovely piece of candy. The chocolate is nicely tempered, it’s shiny and had very few scuffs and no leaks. The ripples were also nice to look at and gave a feeling that this was a piece of candy made by people.

The caramel is soft, but not runny. The bite is easy and the caramel has a good pull but not a lot of chew to it. It’s smooth and has a lot of toffee notes and very little grain. The milk chocolate is sweet and has a lot of dairy notes though not much going on other than that.

It’s a lot of candy - I couldn’t eat more than a third in one sitting, so it’s not an easy piece to have a little and then put it away.

It’s not an innovative piece, they make a similar product for Easter, but it’s fresh and I really loved the package.

The Russell Stover Marshmallow Covered in Milk Chocolate (Malvavisco Cubierto en el Chocolate con Leche) has an equally vibrant package design. I chose a skeleton wearing a sombrero and bright poncho beating on a magenta and yellow drum.

This piece is only 2.25 ounces, missing a quarter of an ounce because the marshmallow is so fluffy, but probably about 50% thicker than the Caramel version.

The shape is similarly blocky and poorly defined, but still has glossy rippled milk chocolate enrobing.

Russell Stovers "Day of the Dead" Chocolate Covered Marshmallow

Cedar Plank-Grilled Salmon with Avocado-Orange Salsa Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 (15 x 6 1/2 x 3/8-inch) cedar grilling plank
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons Cointreau (orange-flavored liqueur)
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 6 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
• 1 cup orange sections (about 2 oranges)
• 3/4 cup diced peeled avocado (about 1)
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (about 1 orange)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Preparation

• Immerse and soak the plank in water 1 hour; drain.
• Prepare grill.
• Combine syrup, Cointreau, and rind in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 3 minutes). Cool 5 minutes. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper over fish; brush fish with syrup mixture.
• Place plank on grill rack, and grill for 3 minutes or until lightly charred. Carefully turn plank over, and place fish on charred side of plank. Cover and grill for 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.
• Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, orange sections, avocado, orange juice, onion, bell pepper, chives, and lime juice in a medium bowl; serve with fish.

I love It

In the last couple weeks I’ve been on a huge Salmon kick. Specifically Wild Caught Salmon. I first saw a recipe on Joanne’s blog for Sweet Chipotle Glazed Salmon, I couldn’t wait to make it. Unfortunately, do to bad planning, the can of chipotles in adobo I thought I had in my lazy suzan was not there. So I improvised. Have you guys had Red Pepper Jelly? I wrote about it a couple weeks ago, but its pretty much the best thing in the world. So I made Red Pepper Jelly glazed Salmon and it was delicious. I served this along side sweetened quinoa with golden raisins and a tablespoon or two of the Jelly and spicy Kale Chips.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Red Pepper Jelly
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 (6-7 oz) wild Atlantic salmon fillets
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450. Mix jam, vinegar, and cumin in the bowl. Season glaze to taste with salt. Coat a small rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Arrange salmon and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Spread glaze over each fillet and cook for about 10 minutes.
I mean how quick and easy is that? Then the next night I made a recipe inspired by Cara’s site for Mango Habernero Salmon. Only I made Mango Jalapeno Salsa. And it was insanely spicy. But I loved it!

Crispy Prosciutto Cooking

Crab linguine with crispy sage and prosciutto
Crispy prosciutto
In a frying pan, lay your slices of prosciutto ham and fry. You’ll find the ham releasing its own oil but use a spatula to flatten it, which helps it to release even more oil. Transfer the crispy prosciutto onto kitchen paper to remove any excess oil.

Crab linguini
1 tin of white crab meat in brine, drained and lightly rinsed
½ onion, sliced thinly into strips
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

The essential ingredients

1 large red chilli, finely chopped (deseed it if you don’t want it with a kick)
1/3 cup white wine (I used a sauvignon blanc)
180 grams linguine (or enough for 2)
1 small knob of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
A generous pinch of salt
Juice of ½ lemon
The brand of linguine I use normally takes about 12 minutes to become al dente so once my pasta goes into the pot, I start on cooking the crab.

Only takes a few seconds to fry

In a saucepan, melt your butter and olive oil and on a low heat, sweat off the onions. I slow cook the onions to keep it from taking on much colour. It normally takes about 6-8 minutes before it turns translucent and starts browning just on the edges.
Add your garlic and turn up the heat a little. Fry off your garlic gently and then add the red chillies and keep frying gently for another minute or so.
Add the crab meat to the frypan but fry it gently, I like trying to keep the crab in bigger chunks.

Crab meat cooking gently in white wine and lemon juice

Add the white wine and then the lemon juice and sprinkle a generous pinch of salt. Season with more salt (but remember the prosciutto will also be salty) and some finely ground black pepper.
At this time once your pasta is cooked, drain the pasta and toss it into your crab sauce. Mix thoroughly.
To serve, place 1-2 slices of crispy prosciutto on top of your crab linguine. Place 4-5 fried sage leaves on top and drizzle 1 teaspoon of the sage oil over your pasta.
Serve with a glass of your favourite white wine.

Creamy Steak and Mushroom Soup

I know what some of you may be thinking, Des it is summer why on earth are you sharing a soup recipe with us? I have a perfectly good explanation: summer weather in the Pacific Northwest can just plain suck sometimes.

Imagine with me for a minute that you spend an entire Saturday outside enjoying an 80 degree day. You lay in the sun, have a picnic and take a long walk. You get to thinking, perhaps a little naively, “This weather is great! Tomorrow I am going to have myself a BBQ. I am going to cook a delicious steak with sauteed onions and mushrooms. Oh an maybe a baked potato too. And I am going to do it all outside on the grill and then soak up the sun as I savor the meal on my patio.”  You go to bed dreaming about how wonderful your steak is going to be. Then in the wee hours of what was to be your beautiful, sunny Sunday, you wake up to the sound of rain, lots of rain. Suddenly your dream of that delicious steak went straight out the window and landed in the huge puddle of mid-summer rain next to your grill.

The above scenario is exactly what happened to me yesterday. While I could’ve let the gloomy, soggy weather get me down, I chose not to. I was going to enjoy my steak darnit. I’d just have to prepare it a different way. Instead of cooking it all on the grill, I put everything, the steak, the onions, the mushrooms and the potato into a large pot and made a tummy warming, creamy soup that was ready just as the thunder rolled in.
Serves 4-6
You will need:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 1/4 pound round steak
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 cups sliced crimini mushrooms (about 6 large mushrooms)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 medium russet potatoes, diced
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (remove leaves from stems then chop)
• kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Cut the steak in half. Cook 1 half in the pot until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pot. Cook remaining half of steak until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to same plate and set aside to rest.
2. In the same pot, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the onion and the garlic. Cook 5 minutes or until browned. Add sliced mushrooms and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle flour over the mushroom mixture. Cook 1 minute.
4. Pour in beef, vegetable broth and Worcestershire sauce. Scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add potatoes.
5. Cut steak into bite size pieces. Return steak and any juices from the plate to the pot. Simmer soup for 30 minutes. Potatoes should be soft.
6. Slowly stir 3 tablespoons of soup broth into the half and half to temper it. Slowly stir tempered half and half into the soup. Cook for about 10 more minutes.
7. Stir in fresh tarragon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve.

Hopefully, many of you are enjoying hot and sunny summer weather right now, but I bet a few of you will have a couple of days where you’ll crave a warm, comforting dish in the coming months. I hope this satisfies that craving.

Follow Advice To Jettison the Bread

These restaurants were usually picked out by Roger as he was the most versed traveller of the group, (having worked for American Airlines for 30 years he spent many years on the road and was a true “road warrior”). He also was a self proclaimed Gourmand and anybody who knew him would agree.
It didn’t really matter whether we were dining in a 4 star restaraunt in Paris or a Pub in London, Roger’s advice was always the same “Jettison the Bread”. His theory was that if you filled up on bread before dinner you would miss out on some other aspect of the meal. He was right because dinners usually consisted of many courses and when we were finished, there was barely room for an after dinner drink or coffee!

This advice hold true today, I’m not suggesting that we never have bread while dining out, in fact I enjoyed some naan with dinner last night at a nice Indian restaurant while dining out with my wife and daughter. What I am suggesting is that if you are trying to lose weight, or if you dine out frequently, then this is sound advice.
The other part of this philosophy is that you can also save calories by cutting out the amount of bread you eat on a regular basis.
Use smaller bread or bagel thins for your sandwich. This helps reduce the amount of carbs you eat. And of course always try to go for whole grain bread. The added fiber will help you eat healthier as well as give you a “fuller feeling” But of course, if you are indeed trying to lose weight, then I suggest your follow Roger’s advice and Jettison the Bread!

Yogurt Help You Lose Weight

Yogurt has been frequently mentioned in talks concerning obesity, weight loss, and other health and wellness concerns. Does it really help in losing weight? How much of a yogurt does a person need to consume to start losing weight? Is it really a good part of a healthy diet?
According to an April 2009 study in the journal “Obesity Research” by M.B. Zemel of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, greater fat loss has been observed when a diet high in calcium-rich dairy foods was consumed compared to a low-calcium diet or a diet supplemented with calcium in vitamin form. The following year, the “International Journal of Obesity” published a study by Zemel that links similar weight loss results specifically to the consumption of yogurt daily.

In general, yogurt has several types which can be consumed depending on the diet a person follows. Low-fat or fat-free yogurts are usually the best option for people trying to lose weight. For children, yogurts can be served during snack time or as part of their regular meals. They can be served plain or with sprinkles of nuts or fruits so children are more enticed to eat them. The nutritional benefits of yogurt in children included the development of stronger bones and improved digestive tract. Yogurts are excellent source of calcium and are high in protein which both help in maintaining a healthy body and a minimum weight.
Another reason for parents to encourage kids to eat yogurt is that it boosts their immune system, keeping the kids away from any infectious diseases and other illnesses. Parents in particular can control the eating habit of their kids by being selective with their grocery products. Additionally, parents should be a good role model by eating healthy foods themselves and engaging in regular exercise. This way, kids’ perspective of a healthy lifestyle will be positively influenced. Yogurts can now be found in fresh healthy vending machines in some schools nationwide.

Barbacoa Beef Cooking

If you like cumin and spicy food, then you'll love Barbacoa Beef. Spicy shredded beef braised in a blend of chipotle adobo, cumin, cloves, garlic and oregano. This was a recipe request I was glad to make. Another Chipotle's inspired dish. If you've never eaten at Chipotle's, then you probably don't understand the obsession.
I made this in my pressure cooker which cut down the cooking time by half but you can use a regular pot or slow cooker. One thing I should mention, I used four chipotle peppers and it was very spicy, so use your judgment on how much to use depending on how spicy you like your food. I served this over cilantro lime rice with corn salsa. These would also make great beef tacos or burrito bowls. Enjoy!

Barbacoa Beef
Servings: 9 • Serving Size: 4 oz • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 4 pts
Calories: 161.4 • Fat: 5.0g • Protein: 24.9 g • Carb: 2.8 g • Fiber: 0.7 g
Ingredients:
3 lbs beef eye of round or bottom round roast, all fat trimmed
5 cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion
1/2 lime, juice
2-4 chiptoles in adobo sauce
(to taste) 　　1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground oregano
1/2 tsp ground cloves
salt and pepper
3 bay leaves
1 tsp oil
1 cup water
Directions:
Place garlic, onion, lime juice, cumin, oregano, chiptoles, cloves in a blender.
Trim all fat off meat, cut into 4 inch chunks. Season with salt and pepper and brown on high heat in 1 tsp oil. Add liquefied spices, water, bay leaves and simmer on low two hours in a pressure cooker. (If you are making this in a regular pot, you will have to double the cooking time to at least 4 hours or more, covered on low flame and add more water from time to time to make sure it doesn't dry out.)
Once cooked and the meat is tender, remove the meat and place in a dish. Shred it with two forks, and reserve the liquid for later (discard the bay leaf). Return the shredded meat to the pot, adjust salt and cumin (you may need to add more) to taste and add some of the reserved liquid back. Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes to let the flavors penetrate.

Spicy Cumin Beef Stir Fry Recipe

250g beef finely sliced across the grain (you can use any beef steak - I used chuck and it was not chewy at all because of the marinade and searing)

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp corn flour
1 long red chilli finely chopped
1 red or yellow capsicum large dice
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
2 tbsp of peanut oil
1 clove minced garlic (you can omit this if sensitive)
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp of finely chopped chives
1 tsp of sesame oil
Mix the soy and cornflour together. Add beef and leave for 30mins - 1 hour.
Heat oil in wok. When very hot and smoking add the beef in batches. Sear the outside of the beef, remove from pan and drain on paper towel.