Japan

Japan Layover -- Tokyo and Narita village.

THE BEST SUSHI I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE -- pictures above, in Tokyo, at a place called "Stand-up Sushi." I was in heaven and more heaven.

Marissa Heard It Around NYC

We have a Socrates in the Making!

Four-year-old kid on a scooter: "Why are you walking backwards, Daddy?"

Dad: "So that I can see where you're going..."

Kid: "But I think YOU need to see where you're going!"

CALORIES ON THE NYC MENU's and MENU BOARDS

Awhile back, I wrote a post on the NYC caloric labeling regulation. For those that haven't been keeping up, today was the day that calories are officially being posted on the menus and menu boards in New York City restaurant chains of 15 or more. Chain restaurants are about 10% of the total number of establishments; however, one-third of caloric intake comes from this amount. This is why the posting initiative was so important as a measure to provide people with the information needed to make informed decisions at the time of purchase.

Today the city health inspectors may began issuing violations if calories were not posted. The fines will be given on July 18th-- a hefty sum of $200-$2,000 depending upon how unprepared the chain is! The New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA) still wants to overturn the ruling, probably because they can hardly bear seeing profits spiral once people begin to realize that they're eating 510 calories worth of quarter pounder...

I mentioned in my last post that one may never know how many calories she's inhaling -- even at a "healthy" soup and salad NY-safe-haven, such as Hale & Hearty. What I DID NOT know was that Hale & Hearty turned out to be one of the many companies against this new regulation! Also in major opposition are players like the Center for Consumer Freedom, which has been the P.R. for the tobacco, alcohol and restaurant industries. Those industries are all major stakeholders in this issue since these powerful groups run ads that seek to dismiss obesity as a problem. The National Restaurant Association, the International Franchise Association, Wendy’s, Domino’s Pizza, Auntie Anne’s, Darden Restaurants, and Carvel Ice Cream are all in opposition, as well.

Luckily, the powerful stakeholders that support the regulation are leading health organizations, such as the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Additionally, CSPI, the Citizen’s Committee for Children, the New York Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance, the NYS District of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Rudd Center for Food Policy at Yale University, the Institute for Human Nutrition at Columbia University, the Public Health Association of New York City, and the New York City Nutrition Education Network (NYCNEN) are also supporters.

Due to the escalating prevalence of obesity in both children and adults and the fact that New Yorkers get a third of their calories outside of the home, the caloric posting is assumed to have a major health impact. Not only will it now supply evidence for the effectiveness of how posted information can make a difference in food choices, but it will also show the rationale that there IS a need for more intensive nutrition education.

Keep an eye on the progress of other states (or petition!) here: www.menulabeling.org

GLWD Final Words

April 4th
On this day, I had the opportunity to ride on the van doing delivery through the lower, mid and upper west side. I had the pleasure of riding with Fred—our route was packed with traffic, but nonetheless, Fred was able to efficiently navigate through the streets and organized the deliveries so that we were never jetting up and downtown. We began at 8:30/9 and ended at 2:30. There were three testing times.
At 8:45: HOT MEAL: 115F; FROZEN MEAL: 22F
11AM: HOT MEAL: 130F (Due to the heat of the van, the heating device ranges from 173-180F and can heat up the meals as the van remains running. As soon as the van is turned off, Fred said he notices that the temperature of the vessel will drop).
FROZEN MEAL: 38F
2:15PM: HOT MEAL: 140F
FROZEN MEAL: 40F

A MAJOR problem that I saw was that the soups at the very bottom of the insulated tub had to be tossed. Fred says that the bottom line of soups always have their tops crushed. You lose about 10 soups per 40 soup tub, and so 10 people are not getting soup. All in all, it was a very good run. I enjoyed getting to know Fred—it seems like he really cares for this organization and has been enjoying his position. He only started one month ago but has the intentions of staying with the organization since the people are so nice. He mentioned that he thought it was odd that a Brooklyn boy like himself (who “…knows the borough like the back of his hand”) was placed in Manhattan and a “Bronx-guy” was placed in Bklyn. He also thought that if a driver had longer hours and wanted to cut them, while another driver wanted to extend his/hers, then perhaps hours can be dispersed more equally so that one person does not have a 10 hr shift while another only gets six.

Additionally, it seems that drivers are wary of getting a ticket. It seems that it would be VERY EASY to get a ticket since those streets are always very crowded, and since there is always lots of running out of the van, leaving it running, and double-parked. But there is really no other option, unless the vans have a GLWD emblem on the side, whereby Policemen may be more lenient. Fred never received a ticket but he seemed nervous about it throughout our journey together.

April 13th, 2008
GLWD ORIENTATION: What was interesting to me was that I had the orientation later on versus earlier in my practicum—and I must say that it was nice to go through it, knowing so much already about GLWD. The video was very motivational and inspiring. It was also nice to get the history without reading about it on the website. It seems that even the other volunteers are all very willing to help and have very selfless mindsets. This is essential for this organization to survive, so I see why the volunteers are lauded so.

April 21st, 2008
I did delivery at the Aurora Food Delivery Building on this day. Although I did not get a test meal; I noticed that the soups were close to exploding, and I had to clean the bottom of a couple in order to place them neatly inside of the bags. Also, the desserts for this particular day included famous amos oatmeal raisin cookies, which seemed atypical, being that the point of GLWD is to nourish people not to kill them.

A Short History of Medicine

"Doctor, I have a tummy ache."

2000 B.C.—"Here, eat this root."
1000 B.C.—"That root is heathen, say this prayer."
1850 A.D.—"That prayer is superstition, drink this potion."
1940 A.D.—"That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill."
1985 A.D.—"That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic."
2000 A.D.—"That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!"

NPO Day 4

3/27, 9:30-1PM at Hope Lodge

The building was immaculate. It was new, state-of-the-art, comfortable and spacious. This is the way anyone would want to live.

Cancer patients did not float through the halls, at least not on the floor that I was on. We saw one family, whose kids were playing with their dear Grandma. I remembered mine and felt a short sting inside of my chest. She died of cancer, too.

But I went there not to weep or peep around. Another Registered Dietitian and I gave a presentation on food safety to the staff. There weren't too many people, but we provided lots of resources, books and power-point slides for the staff to keep on handy for their guests.

The key point we brought up was that since cancer patients have a high risk for contracting an illness, food safety is essential. Proper handwashing (20-30 seconds or singing happy birthday to oneself, twice), cleaning of fruits and veggies, and reheating meats/cooking foods in the microwave all the way were major points for the staff to bring up with their guests.

Reference: Food Safety for People with Cancer (USDA)

NPO Day 3

3/24, 10:30-1PM
What I did today was life-altering and AWESOME. Lisa had me going to a delivery site on W 86th St called, St. Paul and St. Andrew's Church. There, the food was dropped off in tubs and picked up by a GLWD volunteer (he's been volunteering for 10 years!) in order to deliver the food to the UWS contingency. This population resided mostly in public housing.

My job was not only to take notes and deliver the meals with the volunteer (named Kevin), but also do a "food test," which entailed me referring to HACCP guidelines, sticking a thermometer in the hot meals, and recording temperatures. I tested the food twice, once in the beginning of the delivery and once at the end in order to discern varations in temperature throughout the delivery process. The first test was in the stairwell and the temperatures were the following: Entree (vegetables, pasta and chicken): 103F and Soup: 119F. The dessert and bagels were room temperature. According to Kevin, "The meals are usually pretty hot." The meals are put into two bags: one smaller brown bag and one larger brown bag with handles so it is easy to carry. Kevin says it take one hour more or less to deliver to five people. Yesterday, he had seven people to deliver to. We began at 11:30 and we ended at 12:48. I tested the test meal again at 12:55 and the temperatures read as the following: Entree: 80FSoup: 97F. According to food safety guidelines, these temperatures are too low.

From start to finish, this was an eye-opening experience for me and I am very grateful for it. The public housing apartments were dicey: elevators and bells seldom worked, the smells were potent and made me feel sad that people had to live in this manner. Not every apartment was like this -- but the majority of the public housing buildings were. An 80-year-old lived right next to an apt that was BLASTING music so loudly that I was even offended. And it wasn't jazz or classical... if you get what I mean.

I had never seen anything like it before, only passed by them. It was certainly an experience I will not forget.

Kevin is a great delivery man. He has been doing this for the past 10 years and I could tell that he really cares about this organization, and the people he delivers to. He says he typically waits as long as it takes until someone opens the outside door when the outside bell isn't working. We luckily had someone come within 10 minutes to one building, whose bell has been broken for as long as Kevin can remember.

In thinking about the surveys I did the week prior, I realized that even PHONE connections doesn't take down the wall between understanding where these people live and come from. That I went INTO public housing didn't even't expose me to the magnitude of poverty these individuals experience. In the back (or I should say front) of my mind, I knew that once I left each building, I'd still have my own to come home to...

NPO DAY 2

3/20, 11AM-2:30PM
I went back to the home-base and got the chance to learn all about a new delivery site called, Hope Lodge, down on W 32nd st. The lodge is for cancer patients to stay at if they do not live in the city but seek NYC medical attension. GLWD decided to send meals over to the lodge for the patients, since many of them cannot cook on their own. I will have the opportunity to see how the planning works right from the beginning. (Thurs the 27th I go to the Lodge to witness a Food Safety presentation and provide feedback for everyone).

I have been enjoying how much my skills and education are valued, respected and utilized.

My NPO Experience

March 19th (11AM-3:30PM)
I stroll down to GLWD, a not-for-prof devoted toward delivering meals to people whose lives have been dramatically altered by disease. The home-base, on 166 Ave of the America's @ Spring Street, is where all of the good stuff happens.

Although I did my research prior to entering the big, grand building (which looks much like an over- sized old post-office), I had no idea what to expect. As embarrassing as this may sound, I actually thought that even though this was a food DELIVERY service, I was prepared to meet people with serious illnesses. For all of my health background, the thought of me sitting on a GLWD toilet seat full of virus and bacteria crossed my mind and I had to remind myself that I couldn't contract a disease through sitting my tush on the bowl.



These thoughts were dispelled instantly (thank GLWD) when I had the pleasure of meeting Esther, a sweet woman working in the Nutritional Services department as an RD, graduated from TC, where she evaluates clients' diets and answers any nutrition questions they have. Since the place sends out close to 3000 meals per day, there are a ton of questions coming in and the phone rings constantly.

Esther took me to the actual kitchen where I wore a food hair net for the first time. The kitchen was clean and it looked much like some of the camp kitchens I've worked in over the summer (well, maybe not worked in... but at least, utilized).

Esther also took me to the volunteer and admin offices so that I could see all aspects of the organization. It's HUGE! And everyone there is so warm--full of love, as the organization would imply.

During the course of my first day thee, I met Lisa Zullig, the head of the Nutrition Services dept, who can be contacted here. She had me calling clients to evaluate how they liked their meals, what time their delivery came, if they wanted any substitutions (such as yogurt for bagel)...etc. This was a great experience for me for a few reasons:

1. It directly had me in contact with the exact people who reap the benefits of the GLWD service, whereby I was fully able to analyze the quality of the GLWD program, in addition to the clients' preferences.

2. It put the human-touch-aspect of the job in check for me. Dealing with people is so important versus reading or writing about them.

3. 200 surveys later, I developed a great "phone-voice," and could probably take over for the lady on your voicemail :)

The New Pick-me-up's

What's The Big Idea with exercise or sleep when you can GET SOME ENERGY like this!!

Energy Boost ... or SCAM

We know vitamins and minerals do not give us energy... And yet these "certified athletic trainers" believe in a product called, Effex, which they used at an athletic convention. Effex has supposedly been shown to improve energy instantly (anecdotally).

The ingredients of this product, according to the spokesperson, are the following:

"Only good stuff. Nothing but vitamins and minerals."

Check out the "ingredients," and see if you agree. Last I heard, caffeine is neither a vitamin nor a mineral, so they are marketing this product very unethically.

What's most interesting is that they do not list the amounts of vitamins and minerals in their product, only the form. Another point to note is even though caffeine has been shown to boost performance; too much is not a good thing. The latter study specifically mentions the word "moderation" to reap a benefit. Most likely, Effex-users could become abusers if they respond well to the spray, meaning, moderation might not occur.

Raw Food Diet Detox Survey

Survey

Calories on NYC menus (if it's a chain of more than 15)

Have you heard? Soon we will have Calorie regulation on menus in NYC, beginning March 31st.

I think this is a fantastic idea. Although, "...it doesn't take a Ph.D. in nutrition, let alone a high school diploma, to tell the difference between a 12-piece bucket of chicken and a salad," says J. Justin Wilson, that's not what we're measuring. A calorie is a calorie whether it's coming from a kale leaf or a chicken wing. And those calories can sky-rocket when people don't know what a serving size is. Ultimately, providing caloric information on the menu will inform and influence people to choose healthier options.

Those who frequent the chain, Hale and Hearty understand how easy it is to pack together a hefty caloric salad. There is no end to how much a customer can put into her dish, even if she thinks she is choosing healthy options. For example, piling on walnuts, goat cheese, grilled chicken and avocado (not to mention the use of liberal amounts of dressing) can add 400 extra calories or more (and that's without the soup and bread). Before you know it, you have yourself a 700 plus calorie lunch. And you wonder why you can't concentrate at work after your break? Would you choose differently if given a basic gist of how many calories you'd be consuming?

Unfortunately, the regulation is not being applied to more restaurants. This is too bad since one of the MAJOR PROBLEMS with dining out is portion and calorie control! An 800 calorie label doesn't come along-side the four serving plate of food. But if it did?

The regulation states that food needs to come "in close proximity" to the items listed on the menu. It will be interesting to see just how close the absolute calorie counts are in relation to the items. We'll have to see if owners choose to lower their 500 calorie burger to 489, just as $4.89 appears to be cheaper than $5. If so, consumers will have yet another obstacle to face in the jungle of NYC dining.

A little familial promo here...

Today, I had my third wisdom tooth pulled, a swift and painless performance, by none other than my Dr Beck! I feel inclined to give a shout-out. If you feel the holidays have butchered your pearly whites, see my dad, a dentist in Brooklyn (or better known as "the brooklyn denstist") at 1730 Ocean Avenue.

I eat . . . for Christmas

What's on your Christmas plate?

My Dietary Intake, Eating & Physical Activity Patterns

My pattern of eating resembles a classic diet-plan from a nutrition textbook, splashed with the occasional familial Last Supper. I have bolded and CAPPED the points to look for in your own diet when doing an analysis. Check it out:

The WHAT is a Mediterranean-style diet. The WHEN is every morning, noon and evening with some snacks in between, especially on a physically active day. HOW OFTEN is every three-four hours, for the most part. I take a cocktail of SUPPLEMENTS by Usana Nutritionals: a “Health Pak” of six pills in the morning and six at night, which claim to be a mixture of vitamins (both water and fat soluble) and minerals, plus antioxidants, herbs and an omega-3 fish oil tablet. I have refrained from taking this “package of health” as often as I used to and cut down to two-three packs per week. What’s more, I didn’t even have to wear the patch!

I’m pretty strict with my diet. I’m on a tight schedule of eating during the WEEK. Over the WEEKENDS, I’m still vigilant; however, here and there I enter myself into a slimy contest from Nickelodeon’s Double Dare. Typically, it begins with an innocent invite from a friend for brunch and turns into a Popover masquerade with Little Miss Muffin sans curds and whey. Although the quantity of food is rarely excessive, it’s accurate to say that the contents of my meals vary from week to weekend.

I believe I am receiving ADEQUATE NUTRITION on most days of the week. Sometimes, my kcal energy is too low and other days it is too high, depending upon the occasion. I eat more during special events, holidays and whenever I am in the presence of “My Big Fat Jewish Family.” If I were to guess which nutrients I were receiving too much of, it would be vitamin A and E (I eat lots of tocopherols and carotenoids). I don’t think I am getting enough calcium, magnesium and D.

I EXERCISE five days per week, two days off (one of which I walk a good deal or run around doing errands). The physical activity consists of five cardiovascular workouts that range from 30-60 minutes in duration. Two of the five days per week incorporate weight training. I am no longer on a split routine, instead, focusing more on total body exercises. One of the five days also incorporates a Pilates class.

My ESTIMATES are as follows: (1) My caloric range is vast… I can get as low as 1300 and as high as 2000 or more. My average would have to be a 1600 caloric intake on most days of the week; (2) total fat: 30%, sat fat 8%, protein 40%, CHO 30%; (3) 275 mg cholesterol (egg plus any animal product I consume thereafter); (4) 600mg dietary Ca, if even; (5) 30-40g of fiber; (6) 7,500 IU Vit A; and (7) I spend 30-60 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity most if not all days of the week. When I am pushing, I estimate that I am burning 100 calories per 10-minute block.

I surmise that, as compared to the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, I am not getting as much of my calories from CHO (carbohydrate) sources. The USDA would scold me for my low level of Calcium, but they’d make me their poster-child for physical activity. Additionally, they would laud my 5-9 fruits and veggies per day, my high fiber intake and the low level of junk present in my diet, of course, barring my Nickelodeon events ☺

The Physical

"Yesterday I went to the doctor for my yearly physical. My blood pressure was high, my cholesterol was high, I'd gained some weight, and I didn't feel so hot.

My doctor said eating right doesn't have to be complicated and it would solve my physical problems. He said just think in colors; fill your plate with bright colors; greens, yellows, reds, etc.

I went right home and ate an entire bowl of M&M's and sure enough, I felt better immediately. I never knew eating right could be so easy!!"

Monaco, no not Club

Went here last night, check out what I (RissaRachel) had to say about it:

Monaco

421 Amsterdam Ave. (at 80th St.)

New York , NY 10024

What's in YOUR Microwave?????

We've all heard it: Don't use plastic in the microwave. An old wives tale, you say?

Yes and No.

If you're reheating some Chinese takeout or a tub of margarine, think again. Those containers are not meant for microwave-man-handling. The FDA only approves certain plastics for use in the microwave. Prior to approval of any plastic materials, the FDA conducts tests to ensure that hazardous substances won't leak into food.

Only containers that pass the FDA's test and display a microwave-safe icon -- or that have the sentence on the product that confirms they're approved for use in microwave ovens-- are truly safe.

What's interesting is that Plasticers.org refutes any harmful side effects associated with plastic-leakage into food. Even if they are correct, it is still important to be aware of the following recommendations by Harvard Medical School:

• Most takeout containers, water bottles, and plastic tubs or jars made to hold margarine, yogurt, whipped topping, and foods such as cream cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard are not microwave-safe.
• Microwavable takeout dinner trays are formulated for one-time use only and will say so on the package.
• Don’t microwave plastic storage bags or plastic bags from the grocery store.
• A recycle symbol does not mean a container is safe to use or reuse in the microwave oven. Only a microwave-safe icon or wording to that effect does.
• Before microwaving food, be sure to vent the container: Leave the lid ajar, or lift the edge of the cover.
• Don’t allow plastic wrap to touch food during microwaving because it may melt. Wax paper, kitchen parchment paper, or white paper towels are alternatives.
• If you’re concerned about plastic wraps or containers in the microwave, transfer food to glass or ceramic containers labeled for microwave oven use.

Windorphins: the new way to waste time and feel GREAT about it!

Windorph