Water for the Pima

A few months ago, I published a post about the Pima Indians (Akimel O'odham) of Arizona. The Pima are one of the most heart-wrenching examples of the disease of civilization afflicting a society after a nutrition transition. Traditionally a healthy agricultural people, they now have some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world.

The trouble all started when their irrigation waters were diverted upstream in the late 19th century. Their traditional diet of corn, beans, squash, fish, game meats and gathered plant foods became impossible. They became dependent on government food programs, which provided them with white flour, sugar, lard and canned goods. Now they are the subjects of scientific research because of their staggering health problems.

I'm happy to report that after more than 30 years of activism, lawsuits and negotiation, the Pima and neighboring tribes have reached an agreement with the federal government that will restore a portion of their original water. Of the 2 million acre-feet of water the Pima were estimated to have used since before the 16th century, the settlement will restore 653,500. An acre-foot is approximately the personal water use of one household. The settlement also provides federal funds for reconstructing old irrigation canals.

Now we will see how the Pima will use it. Will they return to an agricultural lifestyle, perhaps with the advantages of modern technology? Or will they lease the water rights for money and continue to live off Western foods? Perhaps some of both. They are definitely aware that Western food is causing their health problems, and that they could regain their health by eating traditional foods. However, white flour "fry bread", sugar and canned meat have been around for so long they are also a cultural tradition at this point. Only time will tell which path they choose.

More about → Water for the Pima

BANANA CAKE POPS

white chocolate dipped banana cake pops. my cake pops are sticking out of a banana tree...a cheesy tourist souvenir i brought back from a trip to costa rica! funny how it says "made in china" on a little gold oval sticker under the base of the tree! hehe, i didn't notice that at the time!

I've finally made those fabulous cake pops that Bakerella has popularized in the food blogging world. I knew I would succumb to making the fun little treats eventually. It was just a matter of time. I had some left-over Cream Cheese Frosting and I used some homemade Banana Bread to make Banana Cake Pops. I dipped the little cake truffles into white chocolate and decorated with various dragees, sprinkles and sugars.

The technique is so gosh-darned easy that even my kids could do it. In fact, Bebe helped me mash the banana bread into a mound of moist crumbs in a bowl and helped with the assembly of the pops. I had purchased a bag of lollipop sticks at Michaels (with my trusty 40% coupon!) and I even had the forethought to purchase small clear treat bags that fit the pops perfectly. I tied a ribbon at the base of the bags and the treats look so cute!
my daughter loves anything pink...thus the pink sanding sugar

I'm imagining that these little treats are going to take over the world. Any cake or cookie would do for the truffle, I think. What a fabulous idea for leftover cake! I had to refrigerate my cake truffles before dipping them in the white chocolate. In fact, to speed things up, I put a few in the freezer for a short time to harden quickly to the sticks. I had initially tried to dip one freshly made truffle and it just slipped off the lollipop stick and kerplopped into the mass of melted chocolate. Of course, I had to rescue my melted chocolate so I had to eat that one.


the white chocolate shell i made was quite thick so that it was kind of difficult for the kids to bite into. next time, i'll take it easy with the chocolate layer. inside was the cream cheese frosting spiked banana cake truffle.

More about → BANANA CAKE POPS

SALTY ALMOND CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

salty almond chocolate chunk cookies

Can anyone resist a Chocolate Chip Cookie? I know that of late, food bloggers everywhere have been making the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies which are "aged", much like a fine wine...albeit for a much shorter time. Well, here's one gal who can't wait the requisite 72 hours or even overnight for the cookie dough to age! I need instant gratification!

So, to add some more crunch and to increase the yum factor, I've incorporated whole roasted salted almonds to my usual Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Bakers have realized the merits of adding Fleur de Sel to their cookies, chocolates and other desserts. I think salted almonds will do quite well to help the sweet & salty flavour profile.For the recipe, click my recipe here (I adapted Yard's recipe) and simply add one cup of roasted whole salted almonds, coarsely chopped. I use Callebaut dark chocolate chunks in my cookies. You won't be able to stop eating them because they're sweet and a little savoury!

More about → SALTY ALMOND CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

Braid Flower

I came across a blog a couple of days ago where the woman made a comment in regards to my blog..."she probably thinks that she thought of these hairstyles herself."

So let me set the record straight on that. I don't think I thought of these myself. I watched my mom do my little sisters hair. She had AMAZING ringlets that her sweet daughter inherited. I had stick-straight hair and very little of it so I was always coveting those curls. I watched her braid it, fish-tail it, etc. I started doing little girls hair when I was about 9 years old and I started babysitting for a hairdresser. I was able to do her three daughters hair. She taught me a lot. I learned from her. I learn from watching movies, especially teeny-bopper shows. I see hairstyles in parks and libraries and my daughters schools and I emulate them. I learn from friends, neighbors and family members. Some times I will think I have thought of something myself and I see it being done already. It is hair. Saying I thought of it first is like saying there is only one great chocolate chip cookie recipe. It just isn't possible.

So today, I will show you one that I used from another blog. First I saw THIS post by Jenn, who has become a wonderful friend, and I loved how she did the loops. Then I saw THIS post and loved the braids. So I combined the all up into a ponytail and then did the braid flower. See...not original. But it fulfills the purpose of this blog...and what I assume is the purpose for all of the other hair blogs that are surfacing...to share ideas.

Basic Instructions:

Pull the hair into a tight ponytail

Using pomade, braid the hair into five equal sized braids...make sure to end the braids the same distance down

Pull the braid into a loop and push the ends of the braid through the elastic...as shown HERE

Repeat with each of the braids.

When I had them pulled through, I used my flat iron and curled the ends and then I used a pliable putty (by Garnier of course) and pieced them out.

More about → Braid Flower

Cooking for Kids

Right after their term exams, my elder boy requested that I cook something 'nice' for their lunch. I was lucky when he told me he would like to have hamburgers...at least it was not a tall order for me :)


In the past, I usually make burgers with Gardenia's hamburger buns, however, my younger boy could never be able to finish his share. A couple of weeks ago, I bought this pack of smaller buns from the same manufacturer. They looked like mini hamburger buns without the sesame seeds. I turned the buns into mini burgers, and they worked really well...the size was just right for my little one, and we liked the taste and texture of the buns. It was a great disappointment when I was not able to find them on the supermarket shelves during our weekend shopping trip. In the end, I settled for this other brand of mini butter rolls.

Recently, while looking up for Ikea's Swedish meatballs recipes (yes, I am getting a little more adventurous nowadays!), I found that it is possible to use a mixture of ground beef and pork to make meat patties (pardon my ignorance). It was a perfect opportunity to experiment with it. I used equal amount of ground beef and pork to make the meat patties based on this Japanese hanbagu recipe.

I adjusted the recipe and cut it down to 3 serving size instead. The butter rolls were heated in the oven as the crusts were rather pale. To my delight, they went rather well with the meat patties...which were, well, very tender, juicy and delicious :) and the boy who has requested for this...wolfed down 3 out of 6 mini burgers.

I thought these mini burgers looked so cute that they deserved to be featured on the front cover of the latest issue of my 'Cooking for Kids' magazine ;) In case u find this interesting, you can hop over here to create your own magazine cover, have fun!

More about → Cooking for Kids

Conflict of Interest

The U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) is a government organization that educates physicians and the general public about the "dangers" of elevated cholesterol. They have a panel that creates official guidelines for the reduction of cardiovascular disease risk. They contain target cholesterol levels, and the usual recommendations to eat less saturated fat and cholesterol, and lose weight.

They recommend keeping LDL below 100 mg/dL, which would place tens of millions of Americans on statins.

I was reading Dr. John Briffa's blog today and he linked to a government web page disclosing NCEP panel members' conflicts of interest. It's fairly common in academic circles to require conflict of interest statements, so a skeptical audience can decide whether or not they think someone is biased. The 9-member NECP panel was happy to indulge us:

Dr. Grundy has received honoraria from Merck, Pfizer, Sankyo, Bayer, Merck/Schering-Plough, Kos, Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AstraZeneca; he has received research grants from Merck, Abbott, and Glaxo Smith Kline.

Dr. Cleeman has no financial relationships to disclose.

Dr. Bairey Merz has received lecture honoraria from Pfizer, Merck, and Kos; she has served as a consultant for Pfizer, Bayer, and EHC (Merck); she has received unrestricted institutional grants for Continuing Medical Education from Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Novartis, Wyeth, AstraZeneca, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging; she has received a research grant from Merck; she has stock in Boston Scientific, IVAX, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, SCIPIE Insurance, ATS Medical, and Biosite.

Dr. Brewer has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Lipid Sciences, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Fournier, Tularik, Esperion, and Novartis; he has served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Lipid Sciences, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Fournier, Tularik, Sankyo, and Novartis.

Dr. Clark has received honoraria for educational presentations from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and Pfizer; he has received grant/research support from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and Pfizer.

Dr. Hunninghake has received honoraria for consulting and speakers bureau from AstraZeneca, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, and Pfizer, and for consulting from Kos; he has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kos, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Novartis, and Pfizer.

Dr. Pasternak has served as a speaker for Pfizer, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Takeda, Kos, BMS-Sanofi, and Novartis; he has served as a consultant for Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Sanofi, Pfizer Health Solutions, Johnson & Johnson-Merck, and AstraZeneca.

Dr. Smith has received institutional research support from Merck; he has stock in Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson.

Dr. Stone has received honoraria for educational lectures from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kos, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Novartis, Pfizer, Reliant, and Sankyo; he has served as a consultant for Abbott, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Pfizer, and Reliant.

Every company in bold is a statin manufacturer. This is outrageous! These are the people setting official government blood cholesterol target values for the entire country! Eight out of nine of them should be dismissed immediately, and replaced by people who can do a better job of pretending to be impartial!

More about → Conflict of Interest

Eating Down the Food Chain

Europe once teemed with large mammals, including species of elephant, lion, tiger, bear, moose and bison.

America was also home to a number of huge and unusual animals: mammoths, dire wolves, lions, giant sloths and others.

The same goes for Australia, where giant kangaroos, huge wombats and marsupial 'lions' once roamed.

What do these extinctions have in common? They all occurred around when humans arrived. The idea that humans caused them is hotly debated, because they also sometimes coincided with climactic and vegetation changes. However, I believe the fact that these extinctions occurred on several different continents about when humans arrived points to an anthropogenic explanation.

A recent archaeological study from the island of Tasmania off the coast of Australia supports the idea that humans were behind the Australian extinctions. Many large animals went extinct around the time when humans arrived in Australia, but that time also coincided with a change in climate. What the new study shows is that the same large animals survived for another 5,000 years in Tasmania... until humans arrived there from the mainland. Then they promptly went extinct. That time period didn't correspond to a major climate change, so it's hard to explain it away.

It's a harsh reality that our big brains and remarkable adaptability give us the power to be exceptionally destructive to the environment. We're good at finding the most productive niches available, and exploiting them until they implode. Jared Diamond wrote an excellent book on the subject called Collapse, which details how nearly every major civilization collapse throughout history was caused at least in part by environmental damage. It's been a hallmark of human history since the beginning.

I don't think it will take much to convince you that the trend has accelerated in modern times. Ocean life, our major source of nutrient-rich wild food, has already been severely depleted. The current extinction rate is estimated to be over 1,000 times the baseline, pre-modern level, and rising.

Humans have always been top-level predators. We kill and eat nutrient-dense prey that is often much larger than we are. But today, the extinction of such walking meat lockers has caused us to eat down the food chain. We're turning to jellyfish and sea cucumbers and... gasp... lobsters!

While it's true that we've probably always eaten things like shellfish and insects, I find it disturbing that we've depleted the oceans to the point where we can no longer sustainably eat formerly abundant carnivorous fish like tuna. We need to make a concerted effort to preserve these species because extinction is permanent.

I don't want to live in a future where the only thing on the menu is bacteria patties, the other other other other white meat.

More about → Eating Down the Food Chain

Saharan Hunter-Gatherers Unearthed

The media recently covered an archaeological discovery in Niger that caught my attention. In the middle of the Sahara desert, researchers found a hunter-gatherer burial site containing over 200 graves ranging from about 10,000 to 4,500 years old. During this period, the region was lush and productive.

There were two groups: the Kiffian, who were powerful hunters and fishermen, and the Tenerian, who were smaller pastoralists (herders) and fishermen.

Individuals at the Kiffian sites averaged over 6 feet tall, with some reaching 6' 8". They were powerfully muscled, and found with the remains of elephants, giraffes, pythons, giant perch and other large game.

Not that you have to be Conan the Barbarian to kill an elephant. Forest pygmies traditionally hunt elephants, and there's a picutre in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration to prove it. They use stealth, agility and an intimate knowledge of their prey to make up for their small size and primitive weapons.

Both the Kiffians and the Tenerians had excellent dental development and health. Take a look at some of the pictures. Those are the teeth of a wild Homo sapiens. Straight, free of decay and with plenty of room for the wisdom teeth. They must have had good dentists.

Both cultures also showed a high level of intelligence and empathy. They were found with decorated pottery shards and their bodies were arranged in imaginative and empathetic ways. A man was buried sitting on a tortoise shell. A mother was buried with her two children. Here's the picture. I can't say it better than the LA Times:

Among the Tenerian graves was a heart-rending burial tableaux [SIC!!]: A young woman was lying on her side. Pollen under her body suggested that she was placed on a bed of flowers. Lying on their sides facing her were two young children, their fingers interlocked with hers, leaving a tangle of bones.

Haha, I couldn't let the spelling error slide, it should be 'tableau'. Hey, I'm half French, give me a break.

More about → Saharan Hunter-Gatherers Unearthed

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

This blueberry streusel coffee cake was the first thing I made once I am back to my usual baking routine.

I took the recipe from this book, and if you happen to click on the link, you would probably know why I have chosen this recipe. I simply couldn't resist the mouth-watering photo on the front cover. Besides this recipe, I have already bookmarked a couple of other recipes from this book.

I bought 4 packs of blueberries a few weeks ago when they were on sale at the local supermarket, they were half the usual price. In the past, I would never place more than 2 packs of blueberries in the shopping trolley. Besides the price, I knew I would have problems trying to use them up before they turn bad. This mindset has changed since I chanced upon this site. I have now learned how to freeze blueberries. This has certainly make life so much easier for me. I followed the method closely, although I didn't wash the blueberries before freezing, as I guessed they were already pre-washed. I did thaw and washed them before use.


This cake recipe is available here. Even though it is not called for in the recipe, I dusted and coated the blueberries with flour before mixing them in the batter. Alas, this extra step didn't help to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake. I think the next time I were to bake this again, I would sprinkle the berries on top of the batter instead of mixing it with the batter.


Except for the crunchy sugary streusel toppings, the cake was very moist and the sweetness just right for me...partly because I didn't 'pack' in the brown sugar when measuring them with my newly acquired set of measuring cups, and I have already formed the habit of cutting down the amount of sugar whenever I can. The use of brown sugar not only enhanced the flavour, it also gave the cake lovely golden brown crumbs. The blueberries were a disappointment though, they were rather bland after baking. They didn't pass my kids taste buds either. My younger boy purposely left the bottom layer of his slice untouched, giving the reason that he was already very very full, and yet, he had room for extra streusel toppings from my share.

Besides the blueberries and walnuts, the cake is made with equal amount of plain and wholemeal flour, which makes it a very wholesome cake for breakfast. I find that it tasted best when served warm, and I must say it is a perfect companion with a steaming cup of freshly brewed hot coffee.


It was a pleasant surprise to know that Eliza at Notes from My Food Diary has passed on this cute award to me :) Thank you so much Eliza!! It's now my pleasure to pass on the award to the following floggers for churning out delicious food, post after post!

Elyn at E's Joie
Mandy at Fresh from the Oven
thecoffeesnob at Eat and be Happy

More about → Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

MASCARPONE BANANA CAKE & BLOGGERVERSARY

being frugal & practical : my 1st bloggerversary cake was made with leftover frozen bananas

My 1st year bloggerversary [sic?] passed (last month) uncelebrated. I was so busy with the Castle Cake and just life in general that I didn't really think too much about how far I've come with my blog. I thought that I ought to at least thank the many visitors to my blog for their thoughtful comments and to the many "lurkers" out there who just stop by for a looksie...

The other day, I wanted a change for my blog.

A big change.

Not just colour, but a total revamping. I do this often with my hair too. Sometimes I just go into my hairstylist and say to him that I need a change. Sometimes I regret saying that--kind of. I did that a few weeks ago and my long hair is now a chin length asymmetrical bob. I don't like it because I think it's too short, but I asked for it and it's a good cut. So I'll stop whining about it 'cause it'll grow back.

As you can see, I went from black to all girlie pink. You know I hate pink, but I love cake...and cupcakes in particular. So I couldn't pass up this template. In the middle of the excitement of foolin' with my template in html, I kind of hit the wrong button and changed everything permanently before really thinking things through. I lost all my widgets. I screwed up a bunch of settings.

I hate html. That's of course because I have no idea what I'm doing. I just kind of cross my fingers and my toes and hope all goes well. I figure the world's not going to end if I give it a try. So here it is. Tell me what you think! Be honest! I was hesitant in changing from an all black template to a primarily white one because I know that black conserves energy and white doesn't. So though this isn't exactly a green template, it'll do for a while. Besides, it's too late to change! I saved my old template but I'm in too deep now. There's no going back. So please excuse the construction mess for a while.

While tinkering with the html in my template, I even dared to "expand" my widgets and fiddle with adding those expandable post summaries. Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do with my past posts that all now have a "read more" at the bottom but don't really take you anywhere because there isn't more to be read. I guess I'll just start from here on. I think I totally need the expandable post summaries because I tend to be verbose and blah blah a bit too much. But heck, that's what a blog's for, isn't it? It's my soapbox to the world.

Sherry Yard's Mascarpone Banana Cake isn't fancy and isn't frosted, but it is quite yummy and will do quite well for my bloggerversary. I expended my energy with changing the look of my blog and didn't quite have any more patience to bake a real layer cake. The rich mascarpone provides a moist crumb and who doesn't love banana cake?

More about → MASCARPONE BANANA CAKE & BLOGGERVERSARY

Fit at 70

In my professional life, I study neurodegenerative disease, the mechanisms of aging, and what the two have in common. I was reading through a textbook on aging a few months ago, and I came across an interesting series of graphs.

The first graph showed the average cardiorespiratory endurance of Americans at different ages. It peaks around 30 and goes downhill from there. But the author of this chapter was very intelligent; he knew that averages sometimes conceal meaningful information. The second graph showed two lines: one representing a man who was sedentary, and the other representing a man who exercised regularly for his entire life. The data were from real individuals. The endurance of the first man basically tracked the national average as he aged. The endurance of the second man remained relatively stable from early adulthood until the age of 70, after which it declined noticeably.

We aren't taking care of ourselves for nothing, ladies and gentlemen. We're doing it because the stakes are high. Just look at Jack LaLanne, the fitness buff. He's been working out regularly and eating a whole foods diet since before I was born, and he's still pumping iron every day at 93.

More about → Fit at 70

Kitava: Wrapping it Up

There's a lot to be learned from the Kitava study. Kitavans eat a diet of root vegetables, coconut, fruit, vegetables and fish and have undetectable levels of cardiovascular disease (CVD), stroke and overweight. Despite light smoking. 69% of their calories come from carbohydrate, 21% from fat and 10% from protein. This is essentially a carbohydrate-heavy version of what our paleolithic ancestors ate. They also get lots of sunshine and have a moderately high activity level.

The first thing we can say is that a high intake of carbohydrate is not enough, by itself, to cause overweight or the diseases of civilization. It's also not enough to cause insulin resistance. I sent an e-mail to Dr. Lindeberg asking if his group had measured Kitavans' glucose tolerance. He told me they had not. However, I can only guess they had good glucose control since they suffered from none of the complications of unmanaged diabetes.

The Kitavan diet is low in fat, and most of the fat they eat is saturated because it comes from coconuts. Compared to Americans and Swedes, they have a high intake of saturated fat. So much for the theory that saturated fat causes CVD... They also have a relatively high intake of fish fat, at 4g per day. This gives them a high ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids, with plenty of DHA and EPA.

Their blood lipid profile is not what a mainstream cardiologist would expect. In fact, it's "worse" than the Swedish profile in many ways, despite the fact that Swedes are highly prone to CVD. This raises the possibility that blood lipids are not causing CVD, but are simply markers of diet and lifestyle factors. That's very easy for me to swallow because it never made sense to me that our livers would try to kill us by secreting triglycerides and withholding HDL. The blood lipid profile that associates best with CVD and metabolic syndrome in the West (but has no relation to them on Kitava) is one that's consistent with a high carbohydrate intake. Where does carbohydrate come from in the West? White flour and sugar maybe?

Kitavans also have very low serum leptin. This may be a keystone to their leanness and health. It suggests that their diet is not interfering with the body's metabolic feedback loops that maintain leanness.

The Kitavan diet is one path to vibrant health. Like many other non-industrial groups, Kitavans eat whole, natural foods that are broadly consistent with what our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have eaten. It amazes me that as humans, we can live well on diets that range from near-complete carnivory to plant-rich omnivory. We are possibly the most adaptable species on the planet.

The ideal diet for humans includes a lot of possibilities. I believe the focus on macronutrients is misguided. There are examples of cultures that were/are healthy eating high-fat diets, high-carbohydrate diets and everything in between. What they do not eat is processed grains, particularly wheat, refined sugar, industrially processed seed oils and other modern foods. I believe these are unhealthy, and this is visible in the trail of destruction they have left around the globe. Its traces can be found in the Pacific islands, where close genetic relatives of the Kitavans have become morbidly obese and unhealthy on a processed-food diet.

More about → Kitava: Wrapping it Up

For the Love of Bread Making

I have not been baking much for the past two weeks, as I had to spend most of my time coaching both my kids for their end-of-the-term examinations. As a stay-at-home-mum, I cannot cook up even one single excuse to avoid this extremely hair-pulling task. Before the kids went on to primary school, I have never thought that I have to "study" again! No kidding, I actually picked up new things and refreshed what I have learned many years ago. I am now fully equipped with the necessary skills to tackle mathematical problem sums without having to use 'x, y and z'. Although I must say, I am still struggling with this particular mathematical method known as 'supposition', even though it was 'introduced" to me since last year. My brain has gone too rusty to understand the logic behind this method. Having the discipline to sit down and go through the entire Science syllabus has also cleared some of the 'doubts' which I carried over since my primary school years ;') I am so glad this responsibility of mine is now over, well, at least, for the time being.

Anyway, to ease the mounting stress, I managed to squeeze in some time to bake a batch of Matcha Melon Pan earlier this week.


It has been a year since I last made these Japanese Melon Pans or Melon Buns. I have always wanted to try out the various melon pan recipes, alas, I am always put off by the amount of work involved in churning out these buns.

Besides the already time consuming dough making, there is this extra step of making the pastry or cookie-like dough. After the bread dough had gone through the 1st proofing, I wrapped each small dough with some semi-sweet chocolate chips (the original recipe calls for red beans), and then covered it with a layer of the pastry dough. The job is not done before each dough is coated with sugar and then carefully marked to give the signature pattern of a Japanese melon pan. The doughs were then left to rise for the 2nd time before they were ready for baking. I must be out of my mind when I decided to make everything from scratch, by hand. Not only did I knead the dough manually, I have also chosen to use a manual whisk instead of an electric mixer to prepare the pastry dough. Anyway, I do find the pure action of kneading the dough very soothing and therapeutic, what about you?

I'm not sure whether it was due to my inaccurate measurements of the ingredients, the pastry dough was very wet. It was impossible to form the mixture into a soft dough. I suspect I could have added in more eggs than necessary. To get over the situation, I added one tablespoon of flour at a time to the mixture. It turned out that I had to add an extra 4 tablespoons of flour in order to get the consistency right. The resulting pastry dough was very sticky and I couldn't really shape them into small rounds as recommended in the recipe. In the end I simply form them into small lumps and left to chill in the fridge. I also faced the daunting task of trying to cover the bread dough with the sticky pastry dough. The pastry dough got stuck to my fingers once I lay my hands on it. I tried my best to shape each dough with the help of a piece of plastic sheet, to avoid any direct contact with the pastry dough. As a result, the amount of washing up was more than necessary :'(


Despite all the hiccups, the finished products didn't look or taste too bad.





Unfortunately, these buns didn't keep well overnight. In fact, I noticed this happened to most of my bakes that have got matcha powder in the ingredient list. Nevertheless, as long as they were reheated before serving, they tasted as good as freshly baked ones.



As much as I would like to take photos to illustrate the various steps involved, I was too pre-occupied with the entire preparation process. So, for those of you who are keen to give this a try, you may hop over to this site for some step-by-step photos. Although it's written in Japanese, you will at least get an idea how to go about it. While writing up this post, I've also managed to find a video clip here. Hope you will find them useful.

If you ever give this a go, do drop by to let me know whether you have any problem with the pastry, and how you went about making them. I've yet to attend any baking courses or workshops. As such, I am totally clueless whether I am doing things right? I would really love to hear and learn from you.

Happy Baking :)


Matcha Melon Pan(抹茶菠箩面包)

Ingredients:
(makes 12 buns)

Bread Dough:
300g bread flour
3g matcha powder ( I used 1/2 teaspoon)
30g caster sugar
5g salt
7g (about 1 & 3/4 tsp) instant yeast
210g (about 200ml) milk ( I used low-fat fresh milk)
30g unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)

Pastry layer
50g unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)
100g caster sugar
80g egg, lightly beaten
200g cake flour ( I added extra 4 tablespoons)
3g baking powder (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
6g matcha powder ( I used 1 teaspoon)

some semi-sweet chocolate chips
some caster sugar for dusting/coating

Method:

1. Sift bread flour and matcha powder into a mixing bowl. Add in caster sugar and salt. Add in instant yeast and mix the dry mixture a little.
2. Make a well in the centre and add in milk. Mix the ingredients with hand and slowly form it into a soft dough.
3. Transfer dough to work surface. Knead until the dough longer sticks to the work surface. This should take less than 5 mins.
4. Flatten the dough and add in the butter. Continue to knead. Initially, the dough will be very oily, after a few kneading, the butter will be absorbed by the dough. Continue to knead until the dough no longer feels sticky to your hand and will not stick to the work surface. This should take about 15 to 20 mins. (Alternately, you can knead the dough with your standing mixer or your bread machine.)
5. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof for about 40 ~ 60mins, or until double in bulk.
6. While the dough is proofing, prepare the pastry layer. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until mixture turns pale. Add in the lightly beaten egg gradually. Beat well after each addition.
7. Sift over cake flour, matcha powder and baking powder. Mix with a spatula until flour mixture is fully incorporate. Gather to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 12 equal portions, about 40g each, roll into rounds. Place doughs in a tray and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
8. Punch out the gas in the bread dough and divide into 12 equal portion, about 45-50g each. Roll into rounds. Cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let the dough rest for 10mins.
9. Take one piece of bread dough, flatten it into a small disc and wrap in some chocolate chips. Roll it into rounds again. Repeat the same for the rest of the remaining doughs.
10. Remove chilled pastry dough from the fridge. Take a piece of pastry dough and roll out in between 2 layers of cling wraps, big enough to cover the bread dough. (I cut out two small sheets from a clear plastic bag). Remove the top layer of the cling wrap of the pastry dough. Place one bread dough on the pastry dough. With the bottom layer of the cling wrap still intact, wrap the pastry dough around the bread dough. Carefully remove the bottom layer of the cling wrap, at the same time, smoothing the edges of the pastry dough. NOTE: DO NOT cover the Entire bread dough with the pastry dough. Leave the bottom 2 ~ 3 cm uncovered. The dough needs the space to expand, otherwise the pastry dough will burst and the resulting appearance will not be very pleasing.
11. Coat the exterior with caster sugar.
12. With a plastic dough scraper, cut out patterns that resembles the 'veins' of a leaf on the surface, or decorate as desired. Place dough on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Leave to proof for the second time for about 40 ~ 50mins, loosely covered with a damp towel or cling wrap.
13. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 deg C for 10 ~ 12 mins. (I baked mine for 15~20mins) Let cool completely before storing. Note that these buns don't keep well, if left overnight, do reheat them before serving.

Recipe source: 酥皮面包大集合by 佐藤律子

More about → For the Love of Bread Making

Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part IV: Leptin

Leptin is a hormone that is a central player in the process of weight gain and chronic disease. Its existence had been predicted for decades, but it was not identified until 1994. Although less well known than insulin, its effects on nutrient disposal, metabolic rate and feeding behaviors place it on the same level of importance.

Caloric intake and expenditure vary from day to day and week to week in humans, yet most people maintain a relatively stable weight without consciously adjusting food intake. For example, I become hungry after a long fast, whereas I won't be very hungry if I've stuffed myself for two meals in a row. This suggests a homeostatic mechanism, or feedback loop, which keeps weight in the body's preferred range. Leptin is the major feedback signal.

Here's how it works. Leptin is secreted by adipose (fat) tissue, and its blood levels are proportional to fat mass. The more fat, the more leptin. It acts in the brain to increase the metabolic rate, decrease eating behaviors, and inhibit the deposition of fat. Thus, if fat mass increases, hunger diminishes and the body tries to burn calories to regain its preferred equilibrium.

The next logical question is "how could anyone become obese if this feedback loop inhibits energy storage in response to fat gain?" The answer is a problem called leptin resistance. In people who are obese, the brain no longer responds to the leptin signal. In fact, the brain believes leptin levels are low, implying stored energy is low, so it thinks it's starving. This explains the low metabolic rate, increased tendency for fat storage and hyperphagia (increased eating) seen in many obese people. Leptin resistance has reset the body's preferred weight 'set-point' to a higher level.

Incidentally, some reaserchers have claimed that obese people gain fat because they don't fidget as much as others. This is based on the observation that thin people fidget more than overweight people. Leptin also influences activity levels, so it's possible that obese people fidget less than thin people due to their leptin resistance. In other words, they fidget less because they're fat, rather than the other way around.

The problem of leptin resistance is well illustrated by a rat model called the Zucker fatty strain. The Zucker rat has a mutation in the leptin receptor gene, making its brain unresponsive to leptin signals. The rat's fat tissue pumps out leptin, but its brain is deaf to it. This is basically a model of severe leptin resistance, the same thing we see in obese humans. What happens to these rats? They become hyperphagic, hypometabolic, obese, develop insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Basically, severe metabolic syndrome.

This shows that leptin resistance is sufficient to cause many of the common metabolic problems that plague modern societies. In humans, it's a little known fact that leptin resistance precedes the development of obesity, insulin resistance, and impaired glucose tolerance! Furthermore, humans with leptin receptor mutations or impaired leptin production become hyperphagic and severely obese. This puts leptin at the top of my list of suspects.

So here we have the Kitavans, who are thin and healthy. How's their leptin? Incredibly low. Even in young individuals, Kitavan leptin levels average less than half of Swedish levels. Beyond age 60, Kitavans have 1/4 the leptin level of Swedish people. The difference is so great, the standard deviations don't even overlap.

This isn't surprising, since leptin levels track with fat mass and the Kitavans are very lean (average male BMI = 20, female BMI = 18). Now we are faced with a chicken and egg question. Are Kitavans thin because they're leptin-sensitive, or are they leptin-sensitive because they're thin?

There's no way to answer this question conclusively using the data I'm familiar with. However, in mice and humans, leptin resistance by itself can initiate a spectrum of metabolic problems very reminiscent of what we see so frequently in modern societies. This leads me to believe that there's something about the modern lifestyle that causes leptin resistance. As usual, my microscope is pointed directly at industrial food.

More about → Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part IV: Leptin

My Little Wunda

I'm proud to say I'm a mom to a beautiful daughter born Saturday, August 16th. I'd like to thank my great birthing team of my husband, Vanessa (his sister) and my doula, Amy. Between them and hypnobabies, I was able to have an incredible birthing experience!

To keep up with the academic nature of this blog -- I'd like to share what I've learned so far in my few days of motherhood (note, I never picked up an infant or changed a diaper before Saturday)

1. Giving birth was the most intense, satisfying and romantic experience of my life
2. Its better to let your dog lick your infant than a person kiss their face
3. There's all kinds of great feelings for your own child you could never imagine
4. Wearing your baby is lots of fun and lets you do something while they're sleeping other than watching them sleep
5. Its still early, but so far I've been sleeping better than I have in the past few weeks (my husband however, is learning the joys of interrupted sleep)
6. Every person you talk to will give advice and everyone has different opinions on the same things (that goes for doctors, nurses, grandparents and strangers)
7. Babies like loud noises, cry before they go to the bathroom, fart louder than you could imagine and produce incredible amounts of poop!
8. If all you do is breastfeed, change diapers and sooth an infant, it can take you days to write a single email
9. In a single day, your entire outlook, appreciation and viewpoint changes completely
10. Every coo, cry, movement, poop and breath from your infant is precious

Although I'm sure I'll have my hands full, hopefully, I'll get to write some of the posts I had been putting off for the last few months while I'm away from work -- I've had a lot of adventures in WPF and TDD I'd love to share!

More about → My Little Wunda

Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part III: Insulin

The Kitava study continues to get more and more interesting in later publications. Dr. Lindeberg and his colleagues continued exploring disease markers in the Kitavans, perhaps because their blood lipid findings were not consistent with what one would expect to find in a modern Western population with a low prevalence of CVD.

In their next study, the researchers examined Kitavans' insulin levels compared to Swedish controls. This paper is short but very sweet. Young Kitavan men and women have a fasting serum insulin level considerably lower than their Swedish counterparts (KM 3.9 IU/mL; SM 5.7; KW 3.5; SW 6.2). Kitavan insulin is relatively stable with age, whereas Swedish insulin increases. In the 60-74 year old group, Kitavans have approximately half the fasting serum insulin of Swedes. One thing to keep in mind is that these are average numbers. There is some overlap between the Kitavan and Swedish numbers, with a few Kitavans above the Swedish mean.

In figure 2, they address the possibility that exercise is the reason for Kitavans' low insulin levels. Kitavans have an activity level comparable to a moderately active Swedish person. They divided the Swedes into three categories: low, medium, and high amounts of physical activity at work. The people in the "low" category had the highest insulin, followed by the "high" group and then the "medium" group. The differences were small, however, and Kitavans had far lower serum insulin, on average, than any of the three Swedish groups. These data show that exercise can not explain Kitavans' low insulin levels.

The researchers also found that they could accurately predict average Swedish and Kitavan insulin levels using an equation that factored in age, BMI and waist circumference. This shows that there is a strong correlation between body composition and insulin levels, which applies across cultures.

Now it's time to take a step back and do some interpreting. First of all, this paper is consistent with the idea (but does not prove) that elevated insulin is a central element of overweight, vascular disease and possibly the other diseases of civilization. While we saw previously that mainstream blood lipid markers do not correlate well with CVD or stroke on Kitava, insulin has withstood the cross-cultural test.

In my opinion, the most important finding in this paper is that a high-carbohydrate diet does not necessarily lead to elevated fasting insulin. This is why I think the statement "carbohydrate drives insulin drives fat" is an oversimplification.  With a properly-functioning pancreas and insulin-sensitive tissues (which many people in industrial societies do not have), a healthy person can eat a high-carbohydrate meal and keep blood glucose under control. Insulin definitely spikes, but it's temporary. The rest of the day, insulin is at basal levels. The Kitavans show that insulin spikes per se do not cause hyperinsulinemia.

So this leads to the Big Question: what causes hyperinsulinemia?? The best I can give you is informed speculation. Who has hyperinsulinemia? Industrial populations, especially the U.S. and native populations that have adopted Western foods. Who doesn't? Non-industrial populations that have not been affected by Western food habits, including the traditional Inuit, the Kuna, the traditional Masai and the Kitavans.

We can guess that total fat, saturated fat and carbohydrate do not cause hyperinsulinemia, based on data from the Inuit, the Masai and the Kitavans, respectively. We can also guess that there's not some specific food that protects these populations, since they eat completely different things. Exercise also can not completely account for these findings. What does that leave us with? Western food habits. In my opinion, the trail of metabolic destruction that has followed Westerners throughout the world is probably due in large part to industrial foods, including refined wheat flour, sugar and seed oils.

I'm not the first person to come up with this idea, far from it. The idea that specific types of carbohydrate foods, rather than carbohydrate in general, are responsible for the diseases of civilization, has been around for at least a century. It was an inescapable conclusion in the time of Weston Price, when anthropologists and field physicians could observe the transitions of native people to Western diets all over the world. This information has gradually faded from our collective consciousness as native cultures have become increasingly rare. The Kitava study is a helpful modern-day reminder.

More about → Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part III: Insulin

CANNELÉS

I made cannelés.

I am a bit perplexed because I've never tasted an authentic one before.

Did I get it right? Did I screw up? I dunno.



This is somewhat like my macaron experiment in that I've heard such good things about these treats that I had to try duplicating them at home as travelling to Bordeaux, France for the real thing is cost-prohibitive. By the way, did you know that the spelling of "cannelés" with two "n's" indicates that it is not an authentic recipe based on the original cake that is the official goodie of Bourdeaux? The original recipe is spelled with only one "n". You have to follow the original recipe (a closely guarded recipe I'm sure) to the letter in order for it to be a canelé. Hm. Well, I wasn't going to be buying beeswax and I didn't have copper molds, so let's use two "n's".
it looks burnt, but in reality, i need to bake it longer and make it more dark brown all over

First of all, I consulted 5 different recipes and settled on Helen's from Tartelette. Seeing as she's French and she knows her macarons, I figured she probably knows a thing or two about how to make cannelés too. I used her recipe and noticed that it conveniently called for 3 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks. This would be a perfect recipe to make in tandem with macarons because I do need 3 egg whites for my favourite macaron recipe too! Wow. Such baking karma.

Those red silicone cannelé molds I purchased recently work perfectly. My little canneles popped out of their ridged cups so easily! Mind you, being the worry-wart, I sprayed my molds with some baker's spray just to be on the safe side. I didn't want to be fishing out any remnants of cake from the ridges because it's such a pain. wanna bite? before you know it, you're taking 3 or 4 bites and you think you have to try another one just to make sure they were good.

With my first batch, baked for 45 minutes at 375°F, I thought that the cakes looked way too pale. A few of them had puffed up over the rim of the molds while they were baking, but a few didn't. So I kept adding time and looking through the window of the oven to check until finally, at 1 hour and 15 minutes, I decided to take them out. The golden brown cannelés looked picture perfect coming out of the oven. However, I discovered in a few seconds that they react just like popovers when taken out of the oven. They all kind of fell and lost a bit of height. Some buckled in at the middle area, creating hour-glass figures. They tasted pretty good though. The insides tasted somewhat like a crepe and the rum flavour was delicate and delicious. They looked a lot smaller than I thought they would.

For my second batch, I decided to really go dark brown, as I've noticed most pictures of cannelés depict them as dark brown in colour (verging on burnt!) and they all seemed to have straight sides. I figured I had jumped the gun and brought them out too soon and that's why my sides were all wonky. Baking them longer would help them stay straight, right?

My second batch I baked using my convection feature and I cranked it up to 375°F (which ends up kind of like 400°F in a regular oven). I ended up baking them for 1 1/2 hours total in order to get the dark brown crust. The sides were a tad wonky but they were more even than the initial batch. The insides were more firm but they were still moist and the flavour was the same. The crust though was better with this dark brown colour. It was crunchier and contrasted nicely with the smooth, custardy interior.

Yum. Though I had consulted Martha Stewart's cookbook, I didn't use her recipe. In the end, I realized that I ended up baking my cannelés as long as she called for in her recipe: 1 1/2 to 2 hours! It didn't look right at first, but I guess it is. It does take that long for these little cakes to get that dark. Her picture was inspirational because the cannelés were a uniform darkness all around and they were really uniform in shape. Mine were not. Perhaps this was due to the fact that I used silicone instead of copper. Ah well, they're pretty tasty. I'll have to try MS's recipe next and see how it turns out. Her recipe calls for salt too and perhaps the added salt will help browning.

More about → CANNELÉS

Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part II: Blood Lipids

The findings in the previous post are all pretty much expected in a population that doesn't get heart disease. However, things started to get interesting when Lindeberg's group measured the Kitavans' serum lipids ("cholesterol"). Kitavan and Swedish total cholesterol is about the same in young men, around 174 mg/dL (4.5 mmol/L). It rises with age in older Swedish men but not Kitavans.

Doctors commonly refer to total cholesterol over 200 mg/dL (5.2 mmol/L) as "high", so Kitavan men are in the clear. On the other hand, Kitavan women should be dying of heart disease left and right with their high middle-age cholesterol of 247 mg/dL (6.4 mmol/L)! That's actually higher than the value for Swedish women of the same age, who are far more prone to heart disease than Kitavans.

The fun doesn't stop there. Total cholesterol isn't a good predictor of heart attack risk, but there are better measures. LDL on Kitava is lower in males than in Sweden, but for females it's about the same until old age.  HDL is slightly lower than Swedes' at middle and old age, and triglycerides are higher on average. Judging by these numbers, Kitavans should have cardiovascular disease (CVD) comparable to Swedes, who suffer from a high rate of cardiovascular mortality.

Kitavan smokers had a lower HDL than nonsmokers, yet still did not develop CVD. Smoking is considered one of the most powerful risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Western populations.  I think it's worth noting, however, that Kitavans tend to be light smokers.

These data are difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis that certain patterns of blood lipids cause CVD. Kitavans, particularly the women, have a blood lipid profile that should have them clutching their chests, yet they remain healthy.

There is a theory of the relationship between blood lipids and CVD that can explain these data. Perhaps blood lipids, rather than causing CVD, simply reflect diet composition and other lifestyle factors. Both on Kitava and in the West, low HDL and elevated triglycerides imply a high carbohydrate intake. Low-carbohydrate diets consistently raise HDL and lower triglycerides. On Kitava, carbohydrate comes mostly from root crops. In the West, it comes mostly from processed grains (typically wheat) and sugar. So the blood lipid pattern that associates best with CVD and the metabolic syndrome in the West is simply a marker of industrial food intake.

More about → Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part II: Blood Lipids

Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part I: Weight and Blood Pressure

The Kitavans are an isolated population free of cardiovascular disease and stroke, despite the fact that more than three quarters of them smoke cigarettes (although not very frequently). They eat a carbohydrate-heavy, whole-foods diet that is uninfluenced by modern food habits and consists mostly of starchy root crops, fruit, vegetables, coconut and fish. Their intake of grains and processed foods is negligible.

Naturally, when Dr. Lindeberg's group discovered that Kitavans don't suffer from heart disease or stroke, they investigated further. In the second paper of the series, they analyzed the Kitavans' "cardiovascular risk factors" that sometimes associate with heart disease in Western populations, such as overweight, hypertension, elevated total cholesterol and other blood lipid markers.

Kitavans are lean. Adult male body mass index (BMI) starts out at 22, and diminishes with age. For comparison, Swedes begin at a BMI of 25 and stay that way. Both populations lose muscle mass with age, so Kitavans are staying lean while Swedes are gaining fat. The average American has a BMI of about 28, which is considered overweight and 2 points away from being obese.

Kitavans also have a low blood pressure that rises modestly with age. This is actually a bit surprising to me, since other non-industrial groups like the Kuna do not experience a rise in blood pressure with age. Compared with Swedes, Kitavans' blood pressure is considerably lower at all ages.

In the next post, I'll discuss the Kitavans' blood lipid numbers ("cholesterol"), which challenge current thinking about heart disease risk factors.

More about → Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part I: Weight and Blood Pressure

Hanbagu

Ever since I started cooking for my family, I have been cooking dishes 'anyway' I like. I don't usually follow recipes closely and I have a tendency to take short cuts. Things started to change after I read a Japanese-Chinese cookbook. It is a great book, with many step-by-step photos to illustrate how to go about preparing the ingredients for cooking. It provides many useful tips and explains why certain steps have to be adhered to. It even includes details on when to turn up or turn down the heat while you are cooking the dish. For the first time, I was very disciplined and followed the recipe of a hamburger patty to a T.


This Hanbagu, the Japanese version of a hamburger, is served on a plate and not sandwiched between a bun. Besides the basic salt & pepper seasonings, eggs, onions, and bread crumbs are also added to the ground beef. Unlike most beef patty recipes I have seen, the minced onions are first sauteed before mixing with the meat. Although it seems like an extra step, I thought it is a good idea as I believe my kids would find the taste of the sauteed onions more bearable ;)


For a quick and simple weekday lunch, I served the hanbagu with some blanched french beans, carrots and cherry tomatoes. Thanks to the clear cooking instructions in the book, the meat patties turned out to be very juicy. The patties were 'steam-cooked' midway...this helped to retain the juice and yet ensured the patties were cooked through. I was quite skeptical about the instructions for making the sauce though. There was no cooking involved, the sauce was made simply by mixing some ketchup with Worcestershire sauce...it was too simple to be true. I tasted the mixture and it gave a real yucky taste! Nevertheless, I trusted the cookbook and went ahead to serve it with the hanbagu. To my amazement, the sauce actually went quite well with the meat patty! It tasted as if it was prepared with red wine?! As expected, my kids love the hanbagu, but made noise about the sauce :( I guess it would take sometime for them to acquire the taste, so in the mean time, I would have to look for another recipe for the sauce.



Ingredients:
(serves 4)

1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
400g ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
some pepper to season
4 tablespoons bread crumbs
3 tablespoons milk

sauce:
mix 2 tablespoons ketchup with 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce


Method:

1. Saute onion with butter, until onions turn transparent, set aside, let cool completely.
2. Soak the breadcrumb in milk, mix a little and set aside.
3. Place ground beef in a bowl, add beaten egg, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add in the cooked onion and breadcrumb mixture. Mix the mixture with hands until it becomes sticky.
4. Make four meat balls and toss each ball from one hand to the other hand a few times. This helps to prevent the meat patty from breaking into pieces during frying.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the meat patties over medium heat for 1~2 mins. Turn over and fry for another 1~2 mins. When both sides are lightly browned cover the pan with a lid and turn to Low heat. Allow to cook for about 7~8 mins. Remove the lid and cook until both sides are evenly browned. You can insert a toothpick or a skewer into the centre of the beef patty. If the juice runs clear the patties are done.
6. Dish out the patties and serve with the the sauce.

Recipe source: 轻松学做菜: 烹饪秘诀195

More about → Hanbagu

3 Loopy Loops

We did this style, with three loops instead of 2. Ignore my messy parts, even us "pros" have off days. ;)

More about → 3 Loopy Loops

The Kitavans: Wisdom from the Pacific Islands

There are very few cultures left on this planet that have not been affected by modern food habits. There are even fewer that have been studied thoroughly. The island of Kitava in Papua New Guinea is host to one such culture, and its inhabitants have many profound things to teach us about diet and health.

The Kitava study, a series of papers produced primarily by Dr. Staffan Lindeberg and his collaborators, offers a glimpse into the nutrition and health of an ancient society, using modern scientific methods. This study is one of the most complete and useful characterizations of the diet and health of a non-industrial society I have come across. It's also the study that created, and ultimately resolved, my cognitive dissonance over the health effects of carbohydrate.

From the photos I've seen, the Kitavans are beautiful people. They have the broad, attractive faces, smooth skin and excellent teeth typical of healthy non-industrial peoples.

Like the Kuna, Kitavans straddle the line between agricultural and hunter-gatherer lifestyles. They eat a diet primarily composed of tubers (yam, sweet potato, taro and cassava), fruit, vegetables, coconut and fish, in order of calories. This is typical of traditional Pacific island cultures, although the relative amounts differ.

Grains, refined sugar, vegetable oils and other processed foods are virtually nonexistent on Kitava. They get an estimated 69% of their calories from carbohydrate, 21% from fat, 17% from saturated fat and 10% from protein. Most of their fat intake is saturated because it comes from coconuts. They have an omega-6 : omega-3 ratio of approximately 1:2. Average caloric intake is 2,200 calories per day (9,200 kJ). By Western standards, their diet is high in carbohydrate, high in saturated fat, low in total fat, a bit low in protein and high in calories.

Now for a few relevant facts before we really start diving in:

• Kitavans are moderately active. They have an activity level comparable to a moderately active Swede, the population to which Dr. Lindeberg draws frequent comparisons.
  


• They have abundant food, and shortage is uncommon.
  


• Their good health is probably not related to genetics, since genetically similar groups in the same region are exquisitely sensitive to the ravages of industrial food. Furthermore, the only Kitavan who moved away from the island to live a modern life is also the only fat Kitavan.
  


• Their life expectancy at birth is estimated at 45 years (includes infant mortality), and life expectancy at age 50 is an additional 25 years. This is remarkable for a culture with limited access to modern medicine.
  


• Over 75% of Kitavans smoke cigarettes, although in small amounts. Even the most isolated societies have their modern vices.

The first study in the series is provocatively titled "Apparent absence of stroke and ischaemic heart disease in a traditional Melanesian island: a clinical study in Kitava." In it, Dr. Lindeberg presents data from interviews and electrocardiograms (ECG) suggesting that heart disease and stroke are absent or extremely rare on Kitava. The inhabitants are entirely unfamiliar with the (characteristic) symptoms of heart attack and stroke, despite the sizable elderly population. This is confirmed by the ECG findings, which indicate remarkable cardiovascular health. It also agrees with data from other traditional cultures in Papua New Guinea. Lindeberg states:

For the whole of PNG, no case of IHD or atherothrombotic stroke has been reported in clinical investigations and autopsy studies among traditionally living Melanesians for more than seven decades, though an increasing number of myocardial infarctions [heart attacks] and angina pectoris in urbanized populations have been reported since the 1960s.

Dementia was not found except in in two young Kitavans, who were born handicapped. The elderly remained sharp until death, including one man who reached 100 years of age. Kitavans are also unfamiliar with external cancers, with the exception of one possible case of breast cancer in an elderly woman.

Overall, Kitavans possess a resistance to degenerative diseases that is baffling to industrialized societies. Not only is this typical of non-industrial cultures, I believe it represents the natural state of existence for Homo sapiens. Like all other animals, humans are healthy and robust when occupying their preferred ecological niche. Our niche happens to be a particularly broad one, ranging from near-complete carnivory to plant-rich omnivory. But it does not include large amounts of industrial foods.

In the next few posts, I'll discuss more specific data about the health of the Kitavans.

More about → The Kitavans: Wisdom from the Pacific Islands

Letter to the Editor

I wrote a letter to the New York Times about their recent article "The Overflowing American Dinnerplate", which I reviewed here. The letter didn't get accepted, so I will publish it here:

In the article "The Overflowing American Dinner Plate", Bill Marsh cites USDA data showing a 59% increase in fat consumption from 1970 to 2006, coinciding with the doubling of the obesity rate in America. However, according to Centers for Disease Control NHANES nutrition survey data, total fat intake in the US has remained relatively constant since 1971, and has actually decreased as a percentage of calories. The apparent discrepancy disappears when we understand that the USDA data Marsh cites are not comprehensive. They do not include the fat contained in milk and meat, which have been steadily decreasing since 1970.

The change Marsh reported refers primarily to the increasing use of industrially processed vegetable oils such as soybean oil. These have gradually replaced animal fats in our diet over the last 30 years. Since overall fat intake has changed little since the 1970s, it cannot be blamed for rising obesity.

More about → Letter to the Editor

Rats on Junk Food

If diet composition causes hyperphagia, we should be able to see it in animals. I just came across a great study from the lab of Dr. Neil Stickland that explored this in rats. They took two groups of pregnant rats and fed them two different diets ad libitum, meaning the rats could eat as much as they wanted. Here's what the diets looked like:

The animals were fed two types of diet throughout the study. They were fed either RM3 rodent chow alone ad libitum (SDS Ltd, Betchworth, Surrey, UK) or with a junk food diet, also known as cafeteria diet, which consisted of eight different types of palatable foods, purchased from a British supermarket. The palatable food included biscuits, marshmallows, cheese, jam doughnuts, chocolate chip muffins, butter flapjacks, potato crisps and caramel/chocolate bars.

It's important to note that the junk food-fed rats had access to rat chow as well. Now here's where it gets interesting. Rats with access to junk food in addition to rat chow ate 56% more calories than the chow-only group! Here's what they had to say about it:

These results clearly show that pregnant rats, given ad libitum access to junk food, exhibited hyperphagia characterised by a marked preference for foods rich in fat, sucrose and salt at the expense of protein-rich foods, when compared with rats that only had access to rodent chow. Although the body mass of dams was comparable among all groups at the start of the experiment, the increased energy intake in the junk food group throughout gestation was accompanied by an increase in body mass at G20 [gestational day 20] with the junk food-fed dams being 13 % heavier than those fed chow alone.

Hmm, this is remarkably reminiscent of what's happening to a certain group of humans in North America right now: give them access to food made mostly of refined grains, sugar, and industrially processed vegetable oil. They will prefer it to healthier food, to the point of overeating. The junk food then drives hyperphagia by interfering with the body's feedback loops that normally keep feeding behaviors and body fat within the optimal range. These data support the hypothesis that metabolic damage is the cause of, not the result of, "super-sized" food portions and other similar cultural phenomena.

The rest of the paper is interesting as well. Pups born to mothers who ate junk food while pregnant and lactating had a greater tendency to eat junk than pups born to mothers who ate rat chow during the same period. This underscores the idea that poor nutrition can set a child up for a lifetime of problems.

More about → Rats on Junk Food

Corkscrew Bun

So today I was browsing all of the new hair blogs out there. Quite frankly, I am in a hair styling rut. So I was looking to all of my fellow cohorts to inspire me. Voila! I happened upon this post by Babes in Hairland...hence todays hairstyle.

Little Miss is going to the amusement park today and we needed to get her hair off her neck. So we did her style and then twisted the final braid into a bun. No sweating for the park.

More about → Corkscrew Bun

Hyperphagia

One of the things I didn't mention in the last post is that Americans are eating more calories than ever before. According to Centers for Disease Control NHANES data, in 2000, men ate about 160 more calories per day, and women ate about 340 more than in 1971. That's a change of 7% and 22%, respectively. The extra calories come almost exclusively from refined grains, with the largest single contribution coming from white wheat flour (correction: the largest single contribution comes from corn sweeteners, followed by white wheat flour).

Some people will see those data and decide the increase in calories is the explanation for the expanding American waistline. I don't think that's incorrect, but I do think it misses the point. The relevant question is "why are we eating more calories now than we were in 1971?"

We weren't exactly starving in 1971. And average energy expenditure, if anything, has actually increased. So why are we eating more? I believe that our increased food intake, or hyperphagia, is the result of metabolic disturbances, rather than the cause of them.

Humans, like all animals, have a sophisticated system of hormones and brain regions whose function is to maintain a proper energy balance. Part of the system's job is to keep fat mass at an appropriate level. With a properly functioning system, feedback loops inhibit hunger once fat mass has reached a certain level, and also increase resting metabolic rate to burn excess calories. If the system is working properly, it's very difficult to gain weight. There have been a number of overfeeding studies in which subjects have consumed huge amounts of excess calories. Some people gain weight, many don't.

The fact that fat mass is hormonally regulated can be easily seen in other mammals. When was the last time you saw a fat squirrel in the springtime? When was the last time you saw a thin squirrel in the fall? These events are regulated by hormones. A squirrel in captivity will put on weight in the fall, even if its daily food intake is not changed.

A key hormone in this process is leptin. Leptin levels are proportional to fat mass, and serve to inhibit hunger and eating behaviors. Under normal conditions, the more fat tissue a person has, the more leptin they will produce, and the less they will eat until the fat mass has reached the body's preferred 'set-point'. The problem is that overweight Westerners are almost invariably leptin-resistant, meaning their body doesn't respond to the signal to stop eating!

Leptin resistance leads to hyperphagia, overweight and the metabolic syndrome (a common cluster of symptoms that implies profound metabolic disturbance). It typically precedes insulin resistance during the downward slide towards metabolic syndrome.

I suspect that wheat, sugar and perhaps other processed foods cause hyperphagia. I believe hyperphagia is at least partially secondary to a disturbed metabolism. There's something about industrial foods that reached a critical mass in the mid-70s. The shift in diet sent us into a tailspin of excessive eating and unprecedented weight gain.

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