Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

I look forward to eating some of those wild strawberries.  The split peas can be said to be cooked in a normal way.  I have a bit of an easier time with them because I made a special device that pulses power to my microwave oven to cook them by applying heating through straight into them very gradually rather than conduction through a pot to them afterward.  Other than that, they just get cooked until they are done.  The recipe is very simple, with the main seasoning being black pepper, with liberal amounts of chili powder added in too.  I also add in tumeric and a bit of thyme. Cayenne pepper is good to add too, but my shaker container is almost out of that.  I add the seasonings in after the split are done cooking, though the timing wouldn't seem to matter very much.

The Ascophyllum Nodosum was something I was concerned about and I put it off for awhile based on things like you were thinking. I wanted to feel that the water was clean enough where it came from.  I feel it is okay because it is harvested from the upper east coast of North America.  If it had been the Pacific, I think I would have declined.  I decided to take the the AN sea kelp largely because I don't add salt to anything, so I was suspicious that I had low iodine intake.  The AN is high in iodine and I like the fishy flavor.  Plus, it has trace minerals that aren't readily available from other sources, I guess.

I like how we feel similarly about not liking farmed fish.  That is neat about serving on the fish and wildlife resource board.

Fresh fish was not readily available where I was raised and so I had limited exposure to it. On the occasions that we did have fish, I found the bones challenging as a child and so I never became fond of it as a food and do not like 'fishy' taste.

I do like fresh halibut as it does not have small bones and the way it is battered and cooked locally and served with a unique tartar sauce is a rare delight. The fish served in the local restaurant comes from Alaska and the waters there are among the cleanest remaining ocean though hardly pristine. Kippered snacks are a Canadian packed small herring and those I do not mind and occasionally I will eat wild West coast canned salmon, skinless, boneless caught and packed in U.S.A.

There is one other frozen cod filet that I will buy on occasion as it is packaged in North America and is lightly floured and seasoned to taste like chicken, lol. One of the minimally processed foods that I buy with a few survival pantry items being the other exception. One needs a few things on hand that they could eat even if they were without power, water or heating capability for a few days in the event of total systems failure or an evacuation.

The main thing I was thinking of about ocean water cleaness has to do with the Fukushima disaster.  It might be easier for you to be more on top of that since that is closer to you.  I have a stock of canned Alaska salmon that I saved from before the disaster.   Before long, my hope and guess is that the dispersal and diffusion of radioactive elements will be enough to have diluted any radioactive plumes out on the west coast so that it's effect on water safety will be minimal.

I would like to eat more small fish like sardines or anchovies.  They say those kinds of fish are best in ecological and pollutant safety respects.

We fished the local lake as kids, which might have developed for us a taste for fishy flavor.  We caught a lot of  bluegill and carp, and especially carp had a lot of small bones that had to be removed from the mouth when eating it.  The catfish were the best, though, in regard to flavor and lack of boniness.

I don't think I have ever eaten bluegill, carp or catfish. The local species here include pike, grayling, lake trout and lake whitefish among others but those are the most common sport fish.

It being another rainy day, I was craving something substantial for my main meal so I cooked a cup of whole wheat pasta, drained it and added butter, cream, grated cheddar and chopped green onion along with a few spices. That made a satisfactory repast as well as a leftover portion to have tonight for lunch or another day. I do not eat a lot of wheat and when I do, it is organic or from Europe.

Conventionally grown and processed wheat in North America has usually been exposed to glyphosate and has had amylase added. The human body secretes it's own amylase but the additional which is added to flour seems to problematical for some.

Quote:When used as a food additive, amylase has E number E1100, and may be derived from swine pancreas or mould mushroom.
Bacilliary amylase is also used in clothing and dishwasher detergents to dissolve starches from fabrics and dishes.
Factory workers who work with amylase for any of the above uses are at increased risk of occupational asthma. Five to nine percent of bakers have a positive skin test, and a fourth to a third of bakers with breathing problems are hypersensitive to amylase.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amylase

I have eaten homemade bread most of my life and only began to experience digestive upset a few years ago. Did plenty of reading and elimination diets and have found that I can certainly eat organic flour but not the processed food or conventional flour. I do wonder if many of the folks who are experiencing similar symptoms are thinking they have gluten sensitivity when it may be that some other component or additive of the flour is to blame.

How amylase might be people's digestive culprit rather than gluten is intriguing.  I have been skeptical of gluten being so problematic, and amylase actually playing a role in digestive troubles could be a big part of what is going on these days.  People have been eating wheat for thousands of years while modern food processing has been in effect for something like a hundred years.

Whole wheat pasta that is organic sounds good.  I have been eating walnuts, mixed nuts, cashews, and raw almonds that the store has recently begun to sell at prices that aren't so high as in the past.

One of the more interesting things about amylase is that it's primary purpose is to shorten production time and prolong shelf life of bread products. I see that it is also added to many grain based milk replacement products as well. One argument is that it is added to make grain products more digestible but that may be compounding an error.

Humans did not have a mechanism for salivary amylase until we began to rely upon a grain based diet and not all persons have the same number of copies of the AMY1 gene. Our shift to a largely processed carbohydrate rich diet is very recent and I expect has far outpaced the ability of our digestive system to deal with the many 'food like products' to be found in our stores.

In my opinion, only about 10% of the stuff we carry could even be considered to be nutrient dense food and I have a strong sense that that other 90% of stuff is not doing us any favors. I would feel guilty working in the industry except that each person has the privilege of inductive and deductive reasoning by which means they may come to an informed decision.

Quinoa is a gluten free option and I finally got around to cooking some yesterday and found it quite delightful. I purchased a new product by President's Choice, the Loblaw house brand, Roasted Garlic and Herb Quinoa. Boil two cups of water, add quinoa and spice packet, stir, cover and simmer on low for 12-15 minutes. Fluff with fork and do as you will with it. I added some chopped green onion and cooked chicken and it was very tasty. Quick and easy to prepare, an excellent nutritional profile and it set well with my digestion so it looks good that it will become a pantry staple item. I considered buying just the plain quinoa but it is a fairly costly product and our current promotion on this new product is cheaper than the shelf stock which is a common practice in retail product launches.

At work and just waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. It is a rather dreary autumn day and a cup of sweetened caffeinated beverage sounds like a comforting option. Turnaround to graveyard shift tonight so I have to limit my intake to one cup and enjoy it sooner rather than later else it will disrupt my already fragile sleep pattern. Yes, I could avoid caffeine altogether but experience has proven to me that whether I enjoy one cup or not, I will be hard pressed to get to bed early as it is my propensity for activity that delays my slumber time. Always so many small things in need of attention at any given time and that is what tends to distract me, lol.

Anyways, back to coffee. It is a contradictory part of our culture yet science generally views moderate consumption of coffee to actually be of benefit. 

Quote:Coffee has a long history of being blamed for many ills — from stunting your growth to claims that it causes heart disease and cancer. But recent research indicates that coffee may not be so bad after all. So which is it — good or bad? The best answer may be that for most people the health benefits outweigh the risks.

Recent studies have generally found no connection between coffee and an increased risk of cancer or heart disease. In fact, most studies find an association between coffee consumption and decreased overall mortality and possibly cardiovascular mortality, although this may not be true in younger people who drink large amounts of coffee.
Why the apparent reversal in the thinking about coffee? Earlier studies didn't always take into account that known high-risk behaviors, such as smoking and physical inactivity, tended to be more common among heavy coffee drinkers at that time.
Studies have shown that coffee may have health benefits, including protecting against Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes and liver disease, including liver cancer. It also appears to improve cognitive function and decrease the risk of depression.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifest...q-20058339

Which side of the debate do you come down on? Are you a coffee drinker or an abstainer?

(Sep 6, 2016 05:23 PM)scheherazade Wrote: [ -> ]Which side of the debate do you come down on? Are you a coffee drinker or an abstainer?

For whatever reason, I disliked the taste of coffee as a child. Due to little more than the momentum of that memory I became an oddball "cup of joe" decliner in the years afterwards. I guess any negative biomedical hoopla that was infiltrating the fringes of my consciousness in the past could have been a factor, too. But it was largely the former.

The smell of coffee is appealing to many, even those who do not drink it. For those who dare to sample various styles of roast, grind and preparation, they shall find that coffee has almost as many nuances as good wine.

I used to think that folks who ground their own beans were somewhat of 'coffee snobs' but once I had tasted the difference between an average supermarket ground variety and beans ground immediately before preparation, I was astounded. Within days I had liberated the princely sum of $45.00 to procure a durable grinder and I have never looked back. My preference is for a medium roast, finely ground and then hot dripped or a French Press preparation. I do require cream with sweetener being optional.

The lighter the roast, the more caffeine is retained in the beans while darker roasts have a bolder and somewhat bitter aftertaste. One may hold coffee in a thermal carafe or even reheat it in a microwave but kept hot over direct heat is the quickest way to ruin the brew.