Balance of Food

Channeling eating challenges, state-by-state

Yes, Mondays are normally associated with lighter eating, especially if you went nuts over the weekend. Meatless Monday fits that spirit.

But let's say you were really good over the weekend. Maybe too good. And maybe you need inspiration in the other direction.

If this is you, welcome to this link listing — state-by-state — bizarre eating challenges. You could plan a trip this summer based on these challenges.

Special thanks to Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune for bringing my attention to this link on his Twitter feed.

Podcast: The last meal at a restaurant that is closing for good

This week's podcast deals with the last meal at a restaurant that is closing for good.

To access the podcasts, check them out in the podcast library.

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A look at Canadian food commercials via NHL Center Ice free preview

Our sister blog, CanadianCrossing.com, monitors Canadian commercials during the NHL Center Ice free previews. There were a number of amusing food commercials from the Great White North.

So we thought this was worth sharing with the BalanceofFood.com audience.

"... There were two Tim Hortons ads, neither of them for donuts, for the Caramel Cafe Mocha/Caramel Chocolate Muffin as well as the house moving theme for the breakfast wraps.

Though McDonald's was born and bred in the USA, its reach is worldwide. There were several McD's ads from the Canadian TV outlets, two of which were especially intriguing.

The video above celebrates the buttermilk biscuit sandwiches for breakfast. The ad parodies a sports team's celebration, dumping flour on the manager in slow motion. But the most compelling visual in the story appears at the end. Two of the employees chest-bump — not that unusual, plays to the theme of the ad.

But if you look closer, the two people are a white woman and a black man. If this ad ran in the United States, the cable news channels, Oprah, The View, the CBS version of The View would be up in arms. To my knowledge, Canada has accepted this scenario with less than a shrug.

The other McDonald's ad of note was people visiting McD's with their past selves also enjoying the McDonald's experience. This spoke volumes to what we all know but can't articulate: we are hooked on McD's because we used to be hooked on McD's.

Continuing on the food beat, a suave guy stands in your kitchen with a lot of food in front of him. He complains about the pains of working in this cage known as a "kitchen." His solution is to employ finger cooking by ordering online from Boston Pizza. They serve much more than pizza, which is good because this leads us to the next point.

Food photography is designed to make a food look so good, you can't resist it. And you realize that the food looks better on TV than the food you will get in real life. But the Canadian pizza commercials I saw had gross looking pizzas, and by American standards, were way expensive.

Pizza ads: pizzas don't look that good, and are extremely expensive by U.S. standards: Panago had a 12" pizza for $12. Pizza Pizza offered any size pizza with 2 toppings, 3 cans of Coke for $12.99 and 2-for-1 Cineplex tickets. Of course, food in Canada is more expensive than in the States, and I'm not the best expert on pizza..."

These selections were in the highlights:

"Danacol w/plant sterols showed us a guy on a treadmill in a research lab, noting that his reaction is laid-back when he sees broccoli vs. running at full speed for hot dogs."

"We'll end on two confusing Canadian food and drink commercials. Kit Kat Chunky had an ad with auto crash dummies, but there was nothing in the description that would make you think the product was actually chunky. And Nabob coffee showed how they use the best of the best of the best beans, and then said they only use 60% for their coffee. But they want to get to 100%. Not sure how that works."

Rush Limbaugh better off learning Michelle Obama's 'rules' before he criticizes them

The media focus has been on the fact that Rush Limbaugh called Michelle Obama "fat" and that she doesn't follow her own nutrition advice.

We could spend countless column inches on the irony of Limbaugh's weight (vs. Michelle Obama's weight) or the fact that Limbaugh isn't known for his use of the truth in his radio show.

But Limbaugh's lack of comprehension is something that Michelle's husband, the president of the United States, would call a "teachable moment."

"She is demanding that everybody basically eat cardboard and tofu. No calories, no fat, no nothing"

-- Nope, never said that. Not even close. Any dietary expert would never such a thing.

"spotted eating and they were feasting on ribs, ribs that were 1,575 calories per serving with 141 grams of fat per serving"

-- Well, you can still have ribs and eat healthy. And you can occasionally overeat and do okay. Not sure where Rush got his "facts" but they may be closer to the truth. And even if they are, Michelle Obama has said you can have treats every once in a while.

"Haven't seen any evidence here if that advice is being followed that it works, that's all. It's just, look it folks, leaders lead."

-- Evidence? This is probably why Rush said nasty things about Mrs. Obama's weight. When you look at her, she is in a lot better shape than most women, and men. And quite frankly, better shape than Limbaugh.

Balance. This is what it is all about. If you are generally good, you can have a treat. The more that you are in shape (i.e., high metabolism), the more you can relax. To get the fun, you need the burn.

Rush Limbaugh's radio show is 3 hours each weekday. Even if Limbaugh devoted one whole episode to actual nutrition information, he would seem to need longer to comprehend the basics.

The better question is whether the "dittoheads" — as Limbaugh's fans are known — could learn a lot in a 3-hour block. They certainly will learn faster than their mentor.

Take a chance on healthier foods, such as spinach spaghetti

Spinach spaghetti might not seem tasty even if you like spinach and spaghetti. But when spinach spaghetti was on sale, the idea of trying the pasta couldn't be resisted.

The spinach comes from spinach powder in the pasta, but otherwise is regular spaghetti.

There is a scary element: spaghetti is tasty, spinach (for a lot of people) isn't.

Turns out that spinach spaghetti tasted good — too good. The taste almost felt deceptive; spinach has a sharp taste, and there was no sharp taste.

My taste buds are biased on whole grain spaghetti, so the white flour spaghetti tasted too mild, even with a spinach twist.

Spinach spaghetti is healthier than regular spaghetti, but not clear as to whether that would be true for whole grain spaghetti. The obvious solution is to have spinach whole grain spaghetti, something not seen on the market.

Pros and cons: one has spinach powder, though the nutritional value isn't clear; one has whole grain instead of white flour.

The intention of the spinach spaghetti was to fix a red clam sauce for a solo Valentine's Day dinner. That matchup was love at first taste.

I enjoyed my time with spinach spaghetti, but will stick with whole grain spaghetti. Though there is room for a return trip to spinach spaghetti for a special occasion.

Adding healthy variables to foods we already like takes some risk. And sometimes, our nerves get the best of us. Sometimes, overcoming our nerves is worth that risk.

Podcast: Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, and the politics of breastfeeding

This week's podcast deals with Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, and the politics of breastfeeding.

To access the podcasts, check them out in the podcast library.

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Whole wheat spaghetti rings better for you, but still not worth it

There is a tradition of buying the kind of foods you would eat if you weren't feeling well, food that would taste good in that scenario and would be easy to prepare — especially when standing up isn't much fun.

Canned chicken noodle soup falls into that category, as does spaghetti rings (yes, we're avoiding the name more commonly associated with that pasta).

When I saw a whole wheat version of spaghetti rings, I had to buy a can to try it out. And while I wasn't that under the weather when I tried it, I was looking forward to seeing what the effects of whole wheat pasta would be on a time-honored treat.

The whole-wheat version had cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

We see a lot of marketing about whole grain and whole wheat being better for you, and they are. But companies are sly about promoting them, even if it's a mixture that includes enriched macaroni.

The ingredients (in order of prominence) that fall above the 2% mark are: water, tomato paste, whole wheat pasta, enriched macaroni, and cane sugar.

You see "whole wheat pasta" on the front of the label, and it does contain whole wheat pasta. But adding "enriched macaroni" diminishes the "whole" part of the equation.

If you eat the whole 14.75 oz. can, you get 240 calories and 52g of carbohydrates. You also get 6g of fiber and 8g of protein, though with 760mg of sodium.

This is healthier than the regular pasta rings, but cooking up some whole grain (not just whole wheat) pasta that is 100% whole grain with a nice sauce (not too much sugar or salt) — that would be much healthier and taste better, too, though not as convenient.

Taste of Chicago has to be all about the food, but needs to improve its efforts

Food festivals combine two wonderful ideas: festivals and food. When you throw in music, how can you go wrong.

Taste of Chicago is one of the earliest food festivals, and one of the largest. But like other city run festivals across the country, the Taste of Chicago is in financial trouble. And there were some overblown incidents that has sparked fear in the festival. There was talk about charging to get into the festival; the solution — the city got rid of the music.

But here is the issue. The Taste of Chicago hasn't been all that cool, even with the food, for some time. And the city stopped the major July 3 fireworks display, staring in 2010. The music is what kept the festival going; if the Taste has to rely on just the food, there is significant trouble.

There is an intermediary step once you are there before you can buy the food: paying for the tickets. Can't buy food without the tickets. This increases the cost of the festival since you need to employ people to run the ticket booths. But the restaurants themselves save time by taking tickets instead of money.

And while the festival has been "free," there has been a charge incorporated into the tickets.

The perception of the food at the Taste is that the food is expensive. Even though the restaurants offer Taste portions (smaller portions for fewer tickets), the perception is that financially, the festival isn't worthwhile.

Now in the last few years, the financial crisis certainly affects perception, but that perception existed before the financial meltdown.

If you are a first-time participant in the Taste, and bring the kind of money required to truly enjoy the festival, then you'll be in great shape. And perhaps some of the jaded mentality stems from those who live here who see the same booths year after year.

Even in good times, the Taste of Chicago is known as being overcrowded with enough strollers to risk your calves in just enough heat and humidity to almost make you want to pass out. Yet the festival draws huge crowds each year.

The Taste of Chicago factors in the schmaltz value: deep dish pizza, turkey legs, fried dough, cheesecake. And there is time for schmaltz, but the price for schmaltz shouldn't be as high.

Somehow, a food festival, a festival that celebrates food, should be easy to do, wide access to food, and fun. Whether this is true of Taste of Chicago might lie in the eye of the beholder.

Cash makes a festival much easier to access even on a smaller level. When you have to purchase 10 tickets at a time, and you feel the obvious need to use all your tickets, this removes the casual user from the festival. The festival is well-suited for hardcore users. Want a little sample of the Taste? Try to buy someone's extra tickets.

If we were doing Taste of Boston or San Francisco or New Orleans or Cincinnati, we probably would appreciate a sampling of tastes throughout the city in one place, even if some of those places are so stereotypical. But the Taste of (fill in the blank) needs to appeal to those who live there, well beyond just the tourists.

The Taste of Chicago should be able to survive the loss of fireworks and big musical acts, but only if the food is worthwhile and of value to citizens and tourists alike. The festival has a long road to accomplish this balance; it has to be all about the food.

Valentines Day can be healthy with heart-shaped fruits and vegetable slices

Happy Valentines Day!!

We've been watching horrible commercials begging us to buy heart-shaped boxes of chocolates or candy or something artificial that has more to do with commerce rather than love.

So if you feel the need to do something heart-shaped, here is something you can do that involves love — for yourself.

Whether you are in a relationship or not, love for one's self is important. Eating better can be a sign of love for yourself.

So get out your heart-shaped cookie cutter, take the vegetable or fruit of your choice, and make heart-shaped slices of fruits and vegetables.

This way, you can have that heart shape (which, of course, isn't the actual shape of the beating heart within us) and be healthy. And not reward commerce disguised as love.

If color — red — is the way you like to celebrate Valentines Day, red peppers, watermelon, cherries, red grapes are great options.

Sure, you could have a piece of chocolate or some such candy. You don't have to lose true heart to celebrate Valentines Day. Eat something heart-shaped, but make it healthy, to show you that the best one to love you is you.

Podcast: dealing with the struggle of 'eating holidays'

This week's podcast deals with the struggle of "eating holidays."

To access the podcasts, check them out in the podcast library.

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