Fried Goodness Available only until 2PM

In all honesty, I don’t think that you are doing yourself a disfavor by going out and grabbing an occasional dozen donuts. I buy these 12 little guys to share, not to binge on, mind you. I am not referring to those monstrous delights boasting fried chicken, gummy snakes, and the like found at Gourdough’s, you Austinites. I am talking about a 7AM run to your local donut shop, often run by Korean individuals.

“What the heck do you mean by ‘donuts are not bad?’” Well, let’s just compare the ingredients in a simple donut recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/glazed-yeast-doughnuts/ . There are—count them—12 ingredients, none of them which are more foreign or unrecognizable than dry yeast. Really, sugar, oil, and flour, the base of the fried delicacies, are nothing different than what your (assumedly) healthier grandparents may have eaten. Many of you nutrition junkies understand that eating a balanced diet may allow for the occasional donut. Alas, there is growing concern on mysterious ingredients within our truly processed foods. Sure, donuts may not be anything close to “nutritionally dense”, but let us compare that to a common “healthy” breakfast bar:

CRUST: WHOLE GRAIN OATS, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, SOYBEAN OIL WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, WHEAT BRAN, CALCIUM CARBONATE, DEXTROSE, SALT, CELLULOSE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE (VITAMIN E), SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, WHEAT GLUTEN, CORNSTARCH, NONFAT MILK, NIACINAMIDE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, CARRAGEENAN, ZINC OXIDE, REDUCED IRON, GUAR GUM, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), FOLIC ACID). FILLING: INVERT SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, WATER, GLYCERIN, CHERRY PUREE CONCENTRATE, SUGAR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, POMEGRANATE JUICE CONCENTRATE, SODIUM ALGINATE, SODIUM CITRATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MALIC ACID, CITRIC ACID, METHYLCELLULOSE, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, CARAMEL COLOR, RED #40.

Any guesses? Kelloggs® Nutri-Grain® Fruit Fusion™ with Antioxidants Flavored Cereal Bars Cherry Pomegranate. Wow. Now, you can get antioxidants with your 50+ ingredient grab-n-go bar! 20+ ingredient filling, included!

http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/kelloggs-nutri-grain-fruit-fusion-with-antioxidants-flavored-cereal-bars-cherry-pomegranate.html

Are you seeing my point? Yes, 2 bars could equal 1 medium donut, but is eating all those chemicals going to fix your sweet tooth? Go ahead, grab that donut. Now, aside from that rant on how much crap you are running towards when trying to shop healthy, let us consider the pure joy that comes from indulging in a good ol’ holed piece of starch cooked in an abundance of oil.

Soy: Not Fit for a Boy?

Much of my food-related writing is pretty light-hearted and very sarcastic, but be warned that this article is going to be pretty weighty and personal. Enjoy! No pictures, unfortunately.

It is a treat that you get to learn about what a “foodie” eats when not on the job, so I am providing a little snippet about my eating style when I’m not eating out, and I eat out a lot. I actually binge-eat—not in the sense of overeating outrageous amounts of food—but in the sense of eating a whole lot of the same item. I have had binges of sweet potatoes, corn, popcorn, whole wheat crackers, chips… not at the same time, mind you. One item that I had a bout of binging stopped me dead in my tracks. In my freshman year of college, I was daily eating handfuls of dried soybeans a day, edamame pods (“fresh” soybeans”), and chunks of tofu in dining hall salads. This was by no means all of my nutrition, but essentially, soy filled the gaps for a lot of my meals and snacks. I figured it was healthy, and heck, it tasted good.

We often find ourselves taking what we learn in academia, specifically in the science field, for granted. It is hard to understand many concepts such as hormones or physiological maladies until they become tangible. For me, that is exactly how I felt about my nutrition and anatomy curricula. Then, in the winter of 2010, everything learned in my science courses became all too personal and real.

Just in my sophomore year of college, I felt that there was seriously something wrong in my body. I was constantly feeling cold, I would fall asleep randomly due to fatigue, and my skin was developing a yellow tint. At one point, I fell asleep during a DUB-STEP concert! My emotions were in a constant state of instability.

Sure of my own knowledge of the endocrine (hormone) system, I diagnosed myself with low thyroid. The thyroid gland produces thyroid hormone, which stimulates metabolism, energy production, and pretty anything that keep your motor running. I was certain that I was deficient in this hormone. Worst case scenario would be to remove my gland and take life-long supplements. After finals concluded for the semester, I went home to see my friend’s mother, who is a nurse practitioner with her own practice. She ran some blood tests and called me back with wonderful news: my thyroid hormones were within normal levels. Then came the life-changing news: my testosterone levels were abysmally low, far lower than any healthy males’ levels, regardless of age.

Modern-Day Scavanger

With social media driving our society nowadays, it is hard to overlook the convenience of utilizing the internet to find a place to “grab a bite to eat.” Gone are the days when a group of friends sit around and ask, “Are you hungry?”, and get the response: “Where do you feel like eating?” This nostalgic, slower paced method-of decision-making has been replaced by a ritual of whipping out the iPhone; pulling up Yelp, an online tool used to promote local businesses and choosing where to eat based on reviews, ratings, or popularity.

The owner kisses you on the head here!

This technology-driven culture goes further, tapping into our “stalk your prey” instincts. We are still programmed to hunt down something to satisfy our hunger need, but nowadays, we are following mobile food trailer locations to their destinations via Twitter or Facebook. Many foodies simply pursue a food truck simply for the thrill of tracking it down and feasting on its offerings. It still satisfies that “seeking your reward” fix.

Notice the expression of victory

I am not writing this as a criticism, but I just want to present some food for thought. I am somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to technology, but I am by no means exempt from this tech-driven culture. For me, Yelp presented itself as a convenient “journal.” I do not use it to build local food connections, to get free stuff, or even to get famous. I simply started a Yelp account to mark where I have been. So what thrill do I get out of Yelp?

In the Eyes of a Hunter

As a disclaimer, I would like to say that this post may offend some animal rights’ activists, so please read at your discretion. Also, the name of the hunting ranch has been changed, for confidentiality purposes. The following is a first-time hunter’s experience, through the eyes of a Nutrition student:

Having grown up in the typical suburb of Arlington, Texas, I never got to hunt when I was a child. In some ways, I wish I would have been a minimalist country boy. Life would have consisted of sitting around, eating hearty food, and shooting animals. Heck, I would love to be able to pee off of my back porch.

I recently went with two friends on a private hunting trip on Marietta Selleck Ranch (MSR) in Cotulla, Texas. The hunting trip was not exactly what you might imagine. The package we paid for included a whitetail buck, a doe, and unlimited hogs and whatever else they thought we could shoot. Along with that, we had all meals cooked for us, excellent lodging, and pretty much full range to do whatever we wanted on the 3000-acre property. Aside from the abundance of open, dry, South-Texas fields, the owner of MSR had built a large slaughtering barn, an apartment complex for paying hunters, a 4-person luxury lodge, and a personal farm-style house with an outrageous “trophy room” (more on this to come). The ranch has 500+ white tail deer, your typical Texas game (hogs, javelinas, etc.), and plenty of exotic animals for really big spenders. Aside from the delicious meat that I took home, I left the hunting trip with a lot of perspective on food systems, specifically in the meat sector.

The Main Attraction in the Trophy Room

Upon arrival, we walked into the “trophy room” and were absolutely blown away. The professional hunters travel to Africa quite often to hunt the types of animals you see in The Lion King. The mounted animals include antelope, lions, leopards, hippos, crocodiles, and pretty much every African animal you can dream up, mounted 3 stories high. They want to bring back a giraffe eventually. Even crazier, we got to watch the guys work with the fresh zebra skin. They purchased the zebra with the intent to have them around the house as pets. The zebras turned out to be wild and not too friendly. In effect, the wife said that she would prefer them to be turned into rugs! The week before my friends and I arrived, a group of nine hunters from Michigan shot about $300,000 worth of animals. MSR threw in two zebra kills as a bonus, but the ranch kept everything, of course.

Storing the zebra skin in a cooler

After some initial rifle practice, a hunting guide and I went into the deer blind, which is a closed-in stand on top of a tower from which you scout the area. I was thinking there would just be an abundance of deer surrounding the corn feeder after it went off, but that was not the case. A few does and bucks may walk by, but they do not flock to the deer feeder. You may sit for hours and only see a couple of deer, but there is something very calming about waiting for the perfect animal. I sat in the deer blind a few times over the weekend and just cleared my mind as I waited for my championship buck to make his appearance.  Just sit quietly as the wind bites at your face, and a sense of stalking your prey will overtake you. A few deer trickled in, here and there, but I think I only saw about 5 bucks total. As a first time hunter, I was obviously anxious to shoot the first potential buck.