Monday, August 12, 2019

Protein and Vegetables

I'd like to share a quick, easy, and healthy recipe!
  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Start with whatever vegetables you have, cut them up and put them into a casserole dish. I used broccoli, red potatoes, and onions. I find that if they're still wet from washing, it adds to the steaminess.
  3. Drizzle some oil, and swirl them around to keep from sticking to the pan. I usually use an avocado oil, or if I'm feeling festive, olive oil with rosemary.
  4. Throw the meat on top. Here I used salmon fillets as an example, but make sure you take them out of the plastic wrap first. I made the veggies to pair with other leftover meat, so didn't end up roasting the salmon. Most meats or meat alternatives would probably work in this recipe.
  5. Cover with aluminum foil and roast until you can start to smell it, check and decide how well you want it done. Depending on the size of the veggie bits, and the type of meat, this is usually between 20 and 30 minutes for me and my oven.
  6. The above example usually means 4 meals for me, so have some tupperwares on hand for leftovers and remember to reuse or recycle the aluminum foil.
What are some of your favorite easy, healthy recipes?

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Local Food Regulations: Good or Bad?

Like them or hate them, soda taxes are proving effective at curbing intake of sugary drinks. After the city of Berkeley, California, implemented a penny-per-ounce soda tax in 2014, consumption of sweetened drinks, including soda and energy drinks, plummeted by 21% in lower income neighborhoods. Three years later, city-polled residents reported drinking 52% fewer of these beverages than they did before the tax passed. On the flipside, water consumption rose by an average of 29% over the 3-year period. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2019.304971

In another example of nutrition policy, New York City enacted a much-publicized ban on trans fats in restaurants in 2006. A separate study has now shown that the policy had definitively positive health benefits by causing trans-fatty-acid levels in the blood of New York City residents to fall by slightly more than half in the years after the ban and before a nationwide cutoff came into effect in 2018. Notably, people who ate out more often saw more impressive results, with blood lipid levels dropping by about 62%. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304930

Do you favor government regulations that aim to improve the diets and health of Americans? Do you consider such policies signs of a nanny state and think we should focus on self-regulation of dietary habits? Are there more effective ways than levying taxes and banning certain ingredients to improve what people eat and drink?

Objectively, I feel more comfortable with policies such as the soda tax than I do an with a ban, although I agree that both are beneficial. However, the research against trans fats has been so overwhelming that trans fats have been banned in all US food products since 2018. In this case, I fully agree with it.