Sugar May Be Bad But This Sweetener Is Far More Deadly

By Dr. Joseph Mercola

"...a growing lineup of scientific research demonstrating that consuming high-fructose corn syrup is the fastest way to trash your health. Glucose is the form of energy you were designed to run on. Every cell in your body, every bacterium -- and in fact, every living thing on the Earth--uses glucose for energy.

It isn't that fructose itself is bad -- it is the MASSIVE DOSES you're exposed to that make it dangerous.

There are two reasons fructose is so damaging:

1. Your body metabolizes fructose in a much different way than glucose. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver.

2. People are consuming fructose in enormous quantities, which has made the negative effects much more profound.

By USDA estimates, about one-quarter of the calories consumed by the average American is in the form of added sugars, and most of that is HFCS.

After eating fructose, 100 percent of the metabolic burden rests on your liver. But with glucose, your liver has to break down only 20 percent.

Every cell in your body, including your brain, utilizes glucose. Therefore, much of it is "burned up" immediately after you consume it. By contrast, fructose is turned into free fatty acids (FFAs), VLDL (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides, which get stored as fat.

The fatty acids created during fructose metabolism accumulate as fat droplets in your liver and skeletal muscle tissues, causing insulin resistance.

When you eat 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat. 120 calories of fructose results in 40 calories being stored as fat.

I recommend that you avoid as much sugar as possible.

If you want to use a sweetener occasionally, this is what I recommend:

1. Use the herb stevia.

2. Use organic cane sugar in moderation.

3. Use organic raw honey in moderation.

4. Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners, which can damage your health even more quickly than fructose.

5. Avoid agave syrup since it is a highly processed sap that is almost all fructose."



To read the full article, go to The Huffington Post.

Next stop - Dunedin FL

It is settled - we are relocating to Dunedin FL in August.

Dunedin is a small coastal town with a celebrated Scottish heritage, which is on display at annual Highland Games festivals.

Our new home is located, aptly enough, on Scotland St, a few blocks from the historic downtown.

Just a couple miles away is Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Beach, which was voted at the #1 beach in America in 2008.

We fell in love with Dunedin when we lived in neighboring Palm Harbor. Our favorite restaurant on Main St is Kelly's. Since we were here, they have expanded the back patio, where they have night entertainment. They also operate the adjoining Chic A Boom Room and Blur. This trip, we met our friend, Frankie, who relocated from Austin about the same time as we did for Vegas, for dinner at Kelly's. How cool is that?

One of the features of living in downtown Dunedin is proximity to the Pinellas Trail. It was a rail to trail conversion project and it is a linear park that runs from Tarpon Springs to St Petersburg. Every day you will find all ages walking, jogging, biking and skating on the trail.

We decided on a Friday to hop on a plane on Saturday and tour the area for rentals. I wasn't having much luck at a distance and via the internet. After dinner at Casa Tina's, we walked a bit up the trail and discovered a live band at Jolli Mon's Grill. Great guitarist, awful singer but everyone was having a great time, including us. A great way to begin our Dunedin adventure.

Contemplating a move is stressful so we treated ourselves to a room at the Best Western Yacht Marina. We sat and watched an afternoon thunderstorm from the 2nd floor balcony and a perfect sunset from the waterfront restaurant.

While we wait for the movers, we are holing up at the Seaside Artisan Motel. The rooms are under $80, within walking distance to downtown and have kitchens.

As soon as I unpack and apply for my business license, I am taking my first stand up paddling lesson at Kahuna Kai Adventure Center. I am hoping Santa brings me a board for Christmas. Paddleboard Pilates anyone?

Speaking of Pilates, this will be the new home of Carolyn Bell Pilates, Inc. I am working on new Pilates interval sessions, PILATES 30 for $30, which I will begin offering in Dunedin. I have learned a great deal from Dr. Michael Norwood and, after many months, feel ready to incorporate what I have learned with my clients.

Dunedin even has its own minor league team, the Dunedin Jays. The stadium is also home to the Toronto Blue Jays for spring training.

All this and more lead us to make Dunedin our home. But the real reason we are moving to Dunedin is Doug can walk to Strachen's Homemade Ice Cream whenever he wants.

NYC

I recently went to NYC for the FAMI workshop with Dana and Jean. We spent four days interacting with cadaver prosections! Our clients ought to love that.


We were hosted by Jean's brother, Marc, his partner, Myles and their daughter, Ashley. Iggy, their dog, tolerated us. We couldn't have been more comfortable at the Amend-Thomas household up in Washington Heights, an area I had not traveled to before.

Unbelievably, our San Antonio friends, the Aguirres were being visited by our former San Antonio friends, the Newkirks. We all convened Friday night (sans Doug) at the Flay flagship, Mesa Grill. My favorites were the Mesa Fresca and chorizo quesadilla. So good to be with good friends.


I had the pleasure of taking our hosts out to the Indian Road Market and Cafe. Ashley had voted loudly this was the place to go. Dana and I ordered this S. Blanc and couldn't believe it had a picture of a brain on it. The brain we saw at FAMI looked nothing like the bottle's label. Unfortunately.

We made it back to this Columbia U haunt again on Tuesday for a long lunch before we caught our flight. They served one of the best lattes ever.


On Monday, we joined Marc and Ashley for a play date in Central Park. Dana and I took a walk to try and find a particular fountain while the rest of the gang headed to the zoo. Later, I was swarmed by news crews filming follow up broadcasts of the baby-killed-by-falling-tree limb "tragedy". Dana and I took one of the pedicabs through Central Park...nice views.


We got to babysit Ashley afterward.


I finally made it to Chelsea Market. We had lunch at the Lobster Place and shopped the Italian grocery for goodies to bring home. I would love to be able to shop here on a regular basis.



Broad-Dyckman Car Service drove us all over Manhattan. Phone: 212-304-8080, ask for Michelle. Otherwise, you might get an older Dominican using his native Bachata to seduce you.

It's good to be home. The cookie plate I brought home from Indian Road Cafe has been finished off. Wine is back off the menu and meals are filled with vegetables. And I am no longer seeing dead people.

Tarts....Of The Tomato Kind

My tart pans that were given to me as a wedding gift have never before been used. It took seeing David Lebovitz's blog on a tomato tart to finally get me over my fear of tarts. . Along with having a proper pan, I had a bowl full of ripening tomatoes on the counter.

This wasn't one of those fancy, shiny tarts of perfection you peer at in European bakery windows. This was rustic vegetable and cheese fare for every day. I am happy to report that my first tart turned out perfectly, enhanced by garden fresh basil, pine nuts and an almond parmesan crust. It was a hit with an arugula salad for dinner and a egg for lunch the next day.

Best of all, when I posted a photo of my creation on David's FB page, he complimented me on adding cheese to the crust!


David Lebovitz - my French Tomato Tart inspiration.









Comfy Belly's Caramelized Onion, Tomato, Goat Cheese Tart recipe had the best gluten free savory crust I could find. Don't be put off by the flourless crust...it was delicious.










Almond flour, grated parmesan and a little salt and water. A crust with a low glycemic rating and protein is a better option for my nutritional needs. It was fantastic.

Ina Garten's Tomato Goat Cheese Tarts










Ina's builds her tarts on puff pastry, store bought and convenient.

Simply Recipes' Tomato Pie utilizes a pie shell for added convenience and a mouth watering cheese topping.










Ellie Kreiger's Cornmeal Crust










For those looking for a cornmeal crust...and more roasted vegetables.

Chez US has a Savory Tomato Tart that is a bit more elegant.










For special occasions or entertaining, the goat cheese custard of this tomato tart elevates it to celebration status.

I can immediately imagine a version with zucchini, feta and mint.

Harvesting

Back in my Supercuts days, I was in a board meeting where the CEO was lamenting that franchisees were only interesting in "harvesting". I didn't see a problem with harvesting then and I don't see a problem with harvesting now. I am delighting in enjoying the fruits (or vegetables and herbs as it were) of my labor.


Green leaf lettuce

Tomatoes


Swiss Chard

The basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and chives are finally happy. Veggies such as the cukes and eggplant have kicked the bucket so I planted seasonal color in their place.

I developed another raw salad this week:

Carrot Mint Slaw

4 carrots, freshly shredded (use bagged if you must)
3-6 sprigs of mint, leaves deflowered and snipped
2 or more ounces of feta cheese, crumbled
Lemon Honey Dressing

If serving in a bowl, stir ingredients together. If serving on a plate, layer ingredients then drizzle the dressing over the top. You can substitute the mint for italian parsley.


Lemon Honey Dressing

Juice 1 lemon and add honey measured to 1/2 of the amount of juice. Sprinkle with salt. Mix until honey melds with the lemon juice. Add almond (or other) oil about twice the amount of juice. Whisk until ingredients combine and slightly thicken. (If this is too stressful, go with 1/4 cup juice, 2 tablespoons of honey, 1/2 cup almond oil and 1/4 teaspoon of salt).

The Peach Misadventure

Having quite a few peaches ripening in a bowl on the counter, I was open to making them into a dessert. I scourged the net for a recipe. I found all kinds of tarts, pies, crisps, cobblers and such. Watching the new Cooking Channel's French Food At Home, I came across something I thought I could adapt. It was the recipe for Easy Pastry Shop Apple Tart. Don't ask how I got to a crustless Peach Ricotta Pie from there but one must give credit where it is due.









Now the original recipe called for things like butter, sugar, cream cheese and flour. These are things that I do not customarily consume for dessert. So I tinkered with it a little...and then a lot.

The first mishap was the crust. I tried replacing the flour with almond flour. The crust was a bubbly buttery goop. So I scraped in back into the bowl and added some flour. Next, I pressed it into a tart pan and baked again. It was a little to brown to weather another 40 min in the oven, so I put it down the sink.

Since I had made the "cream" filling, I decided to go crustless! Having switched out the cream cheese for blended ricotta (lower calories, more protein), I confidently poured my filling into a pie plate and added my peach mixture.

Did I mention I took the 1 and 1/3 cups of sugar and reduced it down to 6 tablespoons of xylitol?

The smell of peaches, vanilla and dairy gave me a sense of delight when I pulled out my improved concoction out of the oven. I let it cool...it was when slicing for servings that I knew my gig was up. A bit of liquid had separated into the bottom and the cheese and peaches did not hold together, pie-like. Frankly, it looked like I added peaches to scrambled eggs. Ordinarily, I might hide it under a heaping serving of whipped cream but we don't eat that either...and I'm currently out of a white frozen dessert made with coconut milk and agave nectar.

So I got busy in the kitchen because I saw this:









I would have been happy with something like this:











As you can see, things looked promising going in:








And, coming out:









Here's when I knew I was defeated:








So after wasted hours and wasted products (that almond flour and organic butter ain't cheap), I will serve my dessert because I have a sweetheart husband that eats anything I give him. However, I will use a trick from those French claufouti cooks...douse it in Amaretto.

To Cook Or Not To Cook

With Vegas temperatures hitting the 100s recently, we crave foods that are cool and no cook. Here's a sample of some of the dishes I've served lately.


This Cabbage Carrot Salad contains shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, chopped roasted almonds, sliced green onion, minced parsley and raisins. I made a vinaigrette of olive oil, lime juice, sherry vinegar and garlic with salt and pepper.


Simply chopped, ripened Peaches. Leftovers served over cottage cheese with nuts.

Chopped strawberries and avocado are delicious atop greens ( romaine and arugula here) along with roasted pecans. Cracked black pepper and a drizzle of almond oil and balsamic vinegar are all that is needed. Goat cheese would be a nice addition to a Strawberry Avocado Salad.


Potato salad updated...hariots verts are added to traditional ingredients of yukon potatoes, shallots and hard boiled eggs. Dressed with olive oil, mayonnaise, dijon, whole grain mustard and salt with pepper to make Potato Green Bean Salad.


Taking a cue from the Spaniards...roasted bell peppers, olive oil and sea salt served room temp. If you want to get fancy, add capers and some chippings of Manchego, Parmesan or Romano cheese. If you want to get more rustic, leave peppers mostly in tack after roasting and cleaning.