healthy eating

[kerouac2]

One of my Swiss friends sent me a photo of his New Year's dinner. There were carrots and peas, pasta, mushrooms and a bread roll. I fear that I would have left the table dying of hunger.

[bixaorellana]

Hmm. Sounds like some of my meals when I use what's on hand, winding up with things that don't make for a pretty plate, but get another meal out of the way.

Today was sort of like that. A friend was coming over & we planned to go out for lunch. But it's New Year's day & I was afraid the few places that were open would be jam-packed -- something that already happened yesterday when I went out with another friend for lunch. Anyway, I looked at what I had in the house & made macaroni & cheese (which I know my friend loves), a vegetable medley of poblano chile, carrots, & (mostly) broccoli, plus salmon patties and garlic bread. When she arrived I told her we could eat in or out -- her choice. She gratefully opted for in.

[onlyMark]

Can't remember if I posted this. Our Christmas dinner table decoration.
Later turned into soup -

[kerouac2]

That's rather cute.

[lagatta]

Salmon patties recipe? Sometimes mine are great, other times meh... (I love salmon).

Our get-together food is delayed to the 5th. There will be a panettone and cava, as well as some kinds of protein-rich foods and a mixed-green salad.

[bixaorellana]

LaGatta, this was a frozen product I was trying, thinking it would be something nice to have on hand, which it has proved to be.

I got it at Walmart -- a 400g package of "medallones de salmòn". The brand is Marketside & there are 4 patties (or medallions, if you will) in each pack It comes from Chile and the ingredients as copied from back of bag are:
Carne de salmòn (Salmo Salar), sal, cebolla en polvo, carbonato de sodio, pimienta

It is rather plain, but doesn't need any embellishment and the texture is not weird.

Your almost-Reyes get-together sounds lovely.

[lagatta]

Yes, we will be a day short of Los Reyes (here too, les Rois) but we aren't having a galette des Rois or a NOLA King Cake in addition to the Panettone. I prefer those things rather plain. I do often buy such seafood dishes frozen, but usually at a Portuguese shop. We do have Walmart, but it is several miles away so no reason to shop there. A couple of the Portuguese places have pre-mixed fish soup (frozen hunks of fish). Good, but one needs enough hungry fish-eaters.

It is raining now. Just so they get the SNAIN cleared off before it turns to ice. Remember that the Argentine friend is returning to summertime... I do hope she gets physio for her busted knee. Turning into bed with wee Livia.

[casimira]

T and I are taking a friend that doesn't have transportation to get to the Walmart here at some point today.

I am going to look for those salmon patties to be sure.

I love salmon !!!

[lagatta]

Oh, I definitely can get to a Walmart by métro and bus with no problem, but haven't found they have anything I can't find closer by in less alienating shops. I know full well that this varies by region and by country; remember Don C finding Walmart a good source for cheap but decent wine and other things. I'm not boycotting them.

Medaillions sounds a bit grand to my ears; I think they'd be more galettes or fricadelles here in French.

[bixaorellana]

I would so like to think of them as medallions, but having eaten them must go with the homely but descriptive "patties".

They're not something one needs to go out of the way for, but more like something useful to have on hand if you happen to be shopping where they're available.

[lagatta]

Oh, absolutely. I have no objection in principle on pre-made or industrial food products if they don't contain harmful or weird additives, and those are mercifully free from those.

[bixaorellana]

Oaxaca made international news with its overdue ban on selling junk food to children: www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53678747

Here, with video: www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/mexicos-oaxaca-state-bans-sale-junk-food-children-200807114245453.html

As you can imagine, this is front page news here in Oaxaca along with stories related to it.

I know I've discussed this over the years on anyport, but when I moved here, generally no one was overweight, and certainly not children. Really, back then, seeing an overweight person was almost a shock. By the time I moved to Mexico in 1997, it was going on two decades that the norm in US advertising was snacks, snacks, snacks, with the kids in commercials always quite plump. It was a crass way to create the perception that such a thing was the norm, so that parents would remain blithely unalarmed & keep buying the crap. That is precisely what happened here. TV advertised more junk food and gradually the children in the ads became plumper and plumper. Now, it's very common to see overweight children here, as well as adults.

I moved here from deepest south Texas, where the majority of the population was ethnically Mexican, so I had already seen the alarming amount of obesity, diabetes, and early heart attacks in people there. Apparently, it was the age group born in the late '50s and early '60s, along with their parents, who turned away from the traditional Mexican diet and toward more "American" food such as hamburgers and pizzas.

A few years ago Mexico levied extra tax on soft drinks and sugary foods in an attempt to lessen the amount of obesity and diabetes in the country. It seems to depend on who did the research on whether or not this had a positive impact, but anecdotally, it's obvious that pop is still wildly popular, as are pastries and indeed, endless snacking.

Edited to add this video from the local newspaper which vividly illustrates "endless snacking" ~

[bjd]

Good initiative, although it shouldn't be just for kids.

In Quito, my daughter and I stopped at a stand in the central market where a lady made delicious juices from fresh fruit. As we drank them and told her how good them were, she told us that unfortunately many young people preferred to drink Coke.

[kerouac2]

I don't eat enough fruit, so I decided to catch up by making a huge bowl of fruit salad with pomegrenate, passion fruit, Granny Smith apples, nectarines, bananas and blackberries. And then I poured fromage frais on top of it before stirring it up. I feel very healthy now.

[cheerypeabrain]

It's spring, so Cheery is on a diet

So far 8lbs off (in the first 2 weeks, nothing this week). Eating ridiculously well. What I'm saving on sweeties, chocolates, cake, crisps and biscuits I'm spending on fruit, veg and lean meat so it sort of works.

I was using bags of preprepared fresh mixed veg which cook in the microwave, but they're quite expensive. Instead I now just cut up my veg, put it in a plastic bag, tie the end, pierce the bag and bang it in the microwave for 4 - 5 minutes. Jeff isn't fond of vegetables as I am so I can satisfy my broccoli cravings without inflicting it on him...

Just losing the 8lbs has already made a difference to my knees..which no longer ache when I kneel...

[bixaorellana]

Wow ~ that's impessive, Cheery. Congratulations. And your new way of eating sounds quite pleasant.

[bjd]

Good for you, Cheery -- healthier food and feeling better at the same time.

[kerouac2]

[htmb]

Certainly all very believable information, except it’s probably far worse in the US than imagined.

[cheerypeabrain]

I had lost 18lb...however on my weekend away I was wined and dined by various relatives (it would have been churlish to decline that extra onion bhaji etc etc). Weighed myself on Tuesday morning and I'd put 5 lbs back on. This morning (Friday) I weighed in and had lost 4 of those 5lb so SOMETHING is working....I've gone down a dress size.

[fumobici]

I lost 10 kilo last Summer because my partner said I was getting a belly. She wasn't wrong. My strategy was no more complicated than eating significantly less and experiencing constant, raw, gnawing hunger for three months straight. I must say, it's stayed off with far less effort than initially losing it did.