Cold is a relative thing! 85 degrees farenheit can feel cool to for persons used to the warm waters and temperatures of the Carrabean or 70 degrees farenheit  is a day to put on shorts and sandals for Northern Californians. I drank a lot of this coco while camping on summer nights in the desert where the days are intolerable and the temps drop 40 degrees when the sun goes down. 

Enjoy! The plan is for this book to be in print and available on this website to order before 2021 is haflf over! 

RECIPE Link

Apologies in advance, this is one of my soap box days! So much confusion about nutrition and nutrients when doled out in single food, single nutrient advise vs providing bigger picture discussions. Nurishing the body is done daily, weekly and monthly. It is about averages of weeks not meals or portions of meals. Individual food items pack many nutrients into them, we only talk about the nutrients they provide in large amounts such as oranges and vit C, onions have it too and in some cultures their Vit C comes from onions or potatos with the orange providing  less to the annual contribution.

I started this new year talking about Menudo a soup eaten for celebration, and for breakfast by many. Then I started noticing discussions about it being a high cholesterol food. Depending on the serving size it can have >100 mg of dietary cholesterol, 100 grams of boiled tripe has between 130-170 mg cholesterol. What does that look like? Soon I will have pictures. This soup is as varied as the households and restraunts that make it. Of course it has cholesterol, it is an organ meat and compared to other organ meats, it is actually lower per 100 gram (3-3.5 oz) serving. Others include: liver, heart and kidney all providing more than the 200-400 mg recommended daily average. On the Jan 1st, I promised a month long discussion about menudo, I will be writing a longer post about the nutrient content and the traditional foods often served with it. For now, let me say this organ meat also stands out in it's protein content vs weight at somewhere between 10-17 gms protein per 3.5 oz. serving. 

This sound bite nutrition advise is also used on carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. For example, Liver and eggs have more than 400mg colesterol and if you are anemic or have skin breakdown, the availability of vitamins and minerals in these foods may out weigh the cholesterol. Also, in the absense of cardiovascular disease, family history of cardiovascular disease and you blood cholesterol lab findings, it may not be a discussion point. This takes us back to knowing your medical history and that of your parents, grandparents and siblings. Having disucssions with your primary care team and so much more. 

If this post has peaked your interest, let me recommend a basic nutrition course at a community college,  taught by a registered dieitian. These courses are intended for Physical Educaiton,  Allied Health Majors and community members. I taught it for more than 30 years, I lovingly described the course as Nutrition from A-Z, the  first 6-9 weeks were about single macro and micro nutritents and the second half of the course was about nutrition and the lifecyle. 

Check out national institute of health's education and awareness site

Lauching the new year with Big Colors! it was a cloudy and dark December and I am not just talking about the weather!  I am posting more than one blog for this first day of the year. I have committed to writing more about the foods I cook or find interesting. Let's commit to try  new Vegetable or Legume (or at least something we haven't eaten in a long time) every week in 2021!  p.s. the dragon fruit was very bright but the flavor and texture not much!