Cardiologist Notes

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A Hearty, Delicious Meal that will Fend Off the Flu!

February 17, 2012

Flu season is here. Outside of popping vitamin c, eating your vegetables and staying active with regular exercise, is there anything else you can do to keep healthy, staving off illness?

Yes there is!

Preparing meals with health-boosting ingredients can provide you with extra minerals and vitamins that you may otherwise miss out on, strengthening your immune system and in turn defending your body against viral invaders.

5 Ways to Pump Up Your Heart

February 10, 2012

As both a cardiologist, as well as an inspired cook, I have the unique perspective of seeing cardiovascular problems develop from two distinct angles. Poor eating habits lead to obesity, which is a preventive condition that is increasing in this country at a rapid rate. Due to obesity’s prevalence, experts have even coined the term “diabesity”, named after a condition where the development of diabetes is directly incurred due to obesity. Excessive weight gain coupled with an unhealthy diet often produces diabetes.

Superbowl XLVI: Boston Cream Pie vs. New York Cheesecake

February 3, 2012

New England is known for its clam chowder, fresh seafood, and of course, Boston cream pie. Did you know Boston cream pie is not really a pie, but a cake?In 1855, a Chef at the Parker House Hotel in Boston topped off an English cream cake with chocolate frosting. Thus, the Boston cream pie was born. The dessert came to be known as a pie as it was baked and served from a metal baking tin. The Boston cream pie is now named in The Massachusetts’s law books as the official dessert of the State.

Use These Tools to Make Savory Meals – While Eliminating Fat

January 27, 2012

In this country, we are hard on our food.

We want it fast, fried or flame-broiled. Outside of America, such as in Europe, cooking techniques are gentler and focus on maintaining the inherent qualities of the ingredients in a recipe. Poaching, slow cooking, steaming, baking and simmering are commonly-used techniques that preserve both the flavor and health benefits of food, and are easily to employ, given the right tools. I often say that we should eat with awareness, but more importantly, we should cook with attentiveness.

Healthy Hollandaise

January 20, 2012

Sauces and salad dressings add flavor and creaminess to so many dishes, but these delicious toppings can also make otherwise healthy dishes high in fat and calories. Reducing the unhealthy ingredients in sauces can seem intimidating and many epicureans refuse to substitute the butter and creams that give sauces their rich flavors.

Healthier Sauces

January 13, 2012

Sauces are most notably attributed to the French and salsa to the Spanish. Sauce is the overture for the palate, while salsa is musica for the mouth. Without question, without sauces and salsas, chicken would just be chicken, a steak would always be meat and pork would be pork. Sauce is the basic foundation of food.

There are only five food types—meat, poultry, fish, dairy and plant-foods—but sauces produce an endless variety of foods. Sauces create great chefs.

Reducing Sodium

January 6, 2012

To: Chip in NC

Your question: Your recipes tend to be high—quite high in some cases—in sodium. Is there a way you can decrease that component in your recipes?

The Cooking Cardiologist’s answer: In my cookbook, which is in its second edition, I do not add salt to the recipes (if desired, it is an option), and I always choose reduced salt options when possible.

Healthy Soup Secrets for the New Year

December 27, 2011

It is that time of year already. At the start of the New Year, we tend to reflect on how we want or need to improve and start lists of resolutions for the year to come.

Does Eating Turkey Really Make You Sleepy?

December 23, 2011

Feeling sleepy and ready for that nap after your holiday feast? It is not the L-tryptophan – an amino acid in turkey, which is often blamed for making us feel sleepy. Serotonin is manufactured in the brain from L-tryptophan and helps to regulate everything from sleep to mood and food intake to pain tolerance. Low serotonin levels can cause insomnia, depression, food cravings, increased sensitivity to pain and aggressive behavior. Ironically, eating a protein-rich meal, like turkey, lowers brain serotonin levels while eating carbohydrate-rich foods have the opposite e

Quick, weeknight chili

December 16, 2011

Most chili recipes require you to spend your entire day simmering and stirring. Making chili using this traditional method produces amazing results, but it can be limiting if you don’t have an entire day to spend cooking.

Need a quick chili recipe with the same rich flavors as one cooked all day? Try my 30-Minute Chili. It’s perfect after a long day of work or on a busy weekend. What’s the secret to thickening the chili in such a short period of time? I use a skillet rather than a saucepan.

The Cooking Cardiologist