The menu was walnut everything! Walnut lentil soup, walnut-crusted
halibut, sorbet with crumbled walnuts. Dr. Mike teamed up with the
nicest best-selling cookbook author ever, Mollie Katzen (she was also at
the dinner), and the
Walnut Marketing Board to do something about the way Americans
eat. Instead of having to choose either healthy,
flavorless food or decadent, highly caloric, fatty food, the idea
they want to promote is that good-for-you food can and should taste
amazing too. The hope is that when it does, we’ll be less
drawn to waistline-nightmare food for satisfaction.
Do you know all the sneaky little ways America is making you fat?
I asked Dr. Mike what foods I could eat more of. (This
is always the question I like to ask experts, since who wants to
constantly hear about what they need to avoid? Boring!)
Here’s what he said.
1. Salmon. The guy loves it so much, I swear his
skin has a pinkish orange tint. But here’s why we need to eat
it: It's a great source of healthy fish protein; it’s full of
omega-3s (the stuff healthy hearts are made of!); and eating it can
decrease arterial aging, skin aging and cancer risk. I have to
admit, in becoming a little bit of a fatphobe, I've tried to steer
clear of salmon. But I am immediately reintroducing it into my diet
(mostly because it's become clearer and clearer to me that the
nonfat craze doesn't help weight loss—it may actually hinder
it!). (Try
this delicious salmon recipe from Giada.)
2. Walnuts, obviously. Among nuts, these contain the highest amount of heart-healthy omega-3s. And if that means nothing to you, maybe this will get you crackin': If you eat nuts before sugars (say, before pasta), the fat from the nuts will slow your stomach and help your body process that sugar—which means, of course, they could be good for weight loss. (I had six walnuts about 20 minutes before my oatmeal this morning!)
3. Red wine! He told me that if women are drinking three glasses of wine on a Friday and Saturday night, they should instead have one 4 oz. glass of red wine every night. His tip: Drink a glass of red wine after dinner instead of having dessert. The antioxidants in red wine are linked to fighting cancer when you keep it to four ounces.
Do you guys already follow the doc's orders for a nutty, wine-y salmon diet? This new eating plan is one I can definitely get on board with. Delicious!Related: Lose Weight Without Dieting
MORE FROM MARGARITA SHAPES UP:
