Live For Food

How do you tell if your diet was a success?  So many people end up being on a constant weight loss diet for most of their lives that it can be hard to get perspective and realize what you have achieved.

I suggest that you have achieved success if any of the following apply:

• You have lost 10% of your original body weight – even if you haven’t reached your goal weight.
• Your BMI has moved from obese to overweight (over 30 to between 25-30), or from overweight to normal (between 25-30 to between 20-25).  Studies have shown that the BMI is not always a true reflection of health and that its possible for people in the overweight category to be healthier than those in the normal category.
• You don’t exercise for a week, and you miss it and want to get back to it.
• Last nights takeaway was a one off, the first one you’ve had in a while, and you’ve planned in a salad for lunch tomorrow.
• Compared to your lowest diet weight you haven’t put back on more than half a stone.
• You put on 5 pounds on holiday and decide that you have to put a stop to the weight creep now.
• Since beginning your diet you have lost inches round your waist.  And if your waist measurement is below 35 inches, great, you are now at lower risk of heart disease.
• You have been to the doctors and your cholesterol levels are within the healthy range.
• You look in the mirror and can think of something positive to say about your body.

A successful diet isn’t about how many pounds the scales say you’ve lost.

Its about addressing your habits, your attitudes, and your general health.

Once you review your progress and realize that you’ve come a long way and that there’s no going back – you’re a success.  And the best thing is that the journey is just beginning and now you’re in a really positive place to keep up the good work and have a healthy future.

Today’s burning question is: what is the difference between Parmesan and Parmigiano-Reggiano?

Or are they in fact two different names for the same thing?

Parmigiano-Reggiano it would appear is like Cheddar and Champagne.  It refers to an Italian hard cheese which is only made in a particular area in Italy, a handful of provinces, two of which are called Parma and Reggio-Emilia, from which the cheese takes its name.  Similar cheese from outside this area cannot use the name Parmigiano-Reggiano.

So if you see a cheese called “Italian Hard Cheese” it may be very similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano – it’s just not allowed to use that particular name.

The name Parmesan is both the name for Parmigiano-Reggiano in the French language, and the English informal term for that cheese. 

It may depend on where you are in the world as to what the Parmesan you buy actually is.  In Europe, only Parmigiano-Reggiano can be called Parmesan.

However in the US a cheese called Parmesan does not strictly have to be Parmigiano-Reggiano, it may just indicate that it is a hard cheese made following a similar recipe, and not necessarily made in Italy.

So there you have it.  All Parmigiano-Reggiano is Parmesan, but not all Parmesan is Parmigiano-Reggiano.

I’ve been trying to cut back on refined carbohydrates recently, but find myself faced with a lack of dessert and cake.  So I’ve tried this recipe out with the aim of making a cake that doesn’t include any flour or sugar.  Wishful thinking?  Well, here goes.  I’ve based my recipe on Nigella’s Gluten-Free Venetian Carrot Cake with a couple of tweaks.

Firstly I’ve halved everything because I didn’t want a huge cake, and accordingly have reduced the tin size and the cooking time.  Secondly, I have replaced the sugar with half artificial sweetener and half maple syrup.

The halving has made some of the measurements a little weird – i.e half of 75g of sultanas is 37.5g!

The artificial sweetener I have used is called Truvia; its a derivation of Stevia, which is a natural sweet tasting leaf.   You replace sugar with a third of the weight of Truvia – i.e. 30g of sugar = 10g of Truvia.

With the maple syrup I replaced the equivalent weight of sugar with 3/4 of the weight of maple syrup, and also slightly reduced the other liquids in the recipe.  In this case, as halving the recipe would have called for 1/2 an egg, I simply omitted that half egg.

Ingredients:
1.5 tbsp pine nuts
1 medium carrot (approx. 100-125g)
38g mixed dried fruit
30ml rum
10g Truvia
30g maple syrup
63ml regular olive oil, plus extra for greasing
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 free-range egg
125g ground almonds
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Line the base of a 7in round cake tin with baking parchment and grease the sides with olive oil.

Toast the pine nuts by browning in a dry frying pan. Set aside.

Grate the carrots with a coarse grater, then sit them on a double layer of kitchen paper and wrap them, to soak up excess liquid. Set aside.

Put the mixed dried fruit in a small saucepan with the rum, bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for 2 minutes.

Whisk the Truvia, maple syrup and oil until creamily and airily mixed.

Whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs and, when well whisked, fold in the ground almonds, nutmeg, grated carrots, mixed dried fruit (with any rum that clings to them) and, finally, the lemon juice.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. The batter will be quite shallow in the tin.

Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the cake and put it into the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out sticky but more or less clean.

Remove from the oven and let the cake sit in its tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and leave it on the rack to cool.

Verdict:

This was a nice cake.  The taste of almonds was in the background but not obvious or overpowering.  It wasn’t too sweet so I judged the Truvia correctly – it could even have taken slightly more maple syrup I think.  It was moist without being too heavy.

However, it was what I would call an everyday cake, something I would happily have in my lunch box but probably wouldn’t make for visitors.  It lacked the wow factor for me – I’m afraid I wouldn’t endorse Nigella’s claim that it’s divine – I’ve had better carrot cakes.  Although I have changed her original recipe somewhat so I suppose I’m not completely comparing like with like.

If however one considers that this is a cake with no flour and minimal sugar – then it’s really rather impressive!

I’m not a nutritionist.  Or  a scientist.  I did the usual science lessons at school and I also took Food Technology (that means Home Economics…) and I have a vague notion of some of the scientific building blocks involved in food although I know at one stage I learnt a reasonable amount about them.  So now I’m going back to basics and revisiting some of the concepts of nutrition to refresh my own knowledge.  I’m going to keep it fairly bitesize so I don’t confuse myself.  If you actually know anything about nutrition, this will be way too basic for you – it’s more of a layman’s guide.

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms.  The atoms form chains of sugar molecules.

A sugar molecule consists of 6 carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms and 6 oxygen atoms.  The picture at the top of the post is a sugar molecule – glucose to be exact.

Carbohydrates can be classified as simple or complex:

Simple carbohydrates have either one sugar molecule (monosaccharides) or two sugar molecules (disaccharides).

Monosaccharides include:

• Glucose: sugar in the blood
• Fructose: found in fruit
• Galactose: found in dairy products

Disaccharides include:

• Sucrose: table sugar – the kind you buy in packets
• Lactose: found in milk

Complex carbohydrates are called polysaccharides and are made of many simple carbohydrates linked together.

Polysaccharides include:

• Starches: chains of glucose molecules, found in grains i.e plants.  Starches are broken down into the individual glucose molecules during digestion.  Glucose gives us energy.
• Glycogen: chains of glucose molecules, found in animals, in the liver and muscles.  Glycogen chains have more branches than starch chains.  We don’t really eat glycogen, as very little remains in the meat we eat.
• Fibre: chains of glucose molecules, found in plants.  Fibre is not broken down into individual glucose molecules, it just passes through the body (there is more to it than that – that’s just the basics).

What happens when we eat carbohydrates?

When we eat carbohydrates, enzymes in the body convert them into the simple carbohydrates i.e. glucose, so that they can be absorbed into the blood.  Carbohydrates which are simple to begin with are digested more quickly.

Glucose is used in the body; it is transported to your cells, which burn it to produce heat, and another molecule called ATP stores and releases the energy as it is required, for example for muscle contractions.  Glucose not used is stored in chains, as glycogen, for use later on.

Want to try out a new recipe for Easter?  The links below are all great Easter ideas to have a go at.  Wishing everyone a happy and blessed Easter whatever you’re eating!

Main meals and side dishes

Roast lamb with rosemary

Easter lamb with peas

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes 

Festive carrot ring

Green beans with cherry tomatoes

Baking and sweets

Chocolate cup cakes

Easter biscuits

Hot cross buns

Easter eggs