Avoiding diabetes for boards

Everyone has their own plan to survive boards. My friend Lauren seems to be the queen of this: she has pre-made healthy homemade meals (vegetable soups, butternut squash mac-and-cheese) in single servings in the freezer, a fashion theme for each day ("On Fridays we wear PINK!") to keep it interesting, and even a customized daily yoga plan from her yoga teacher. All tricks, of course, to get herself to study every day for five weeks. My role model.

My plan for boards is to not get diabetes. I love to snack, especially while studying, and I recently realized that the bowls of free bite-size candy around school could become a problem given the long days sitting in front of a computer. I also realized that I prefer savory snacks to sweet, but that sweet is what's usually easy and available.

So, for week one, I premade a couple of these kale salads from Smitten Kitchen, which are really good (or I wouldn't repost them). I substituted tomato for dried cranberries, skipped the cheese, and used olive oil and balsamic instead of making a salad dressing, but the real "secret ingredients" that make this salad are the lemon zest (not sour or bitter like lemon juice, but complements the kale) and chopped scallion (pretty subtle). Crunchy, refreshing, and yet hearty with the almonds and quinoa!

I also made these whole wheat English muffins from the NY Times Recipes for Health: not particularly healthy, as they had about half a stick of butter for six (large) muffins, but incredibly delicious. Easy to make, I would make them again in a heartbeat (next weekend?).

Finally, tonight I'm planning on filling veggie tacos with this savory/salty/crunchy-looking avocado-cabbage slaw.

Ever feel like you can't muster the energy to be creative? Board studying is leaving little room in my brain for anything else, including even the most minimal decisions... And this is when it's good to have some trusted recipes to turn to. (Or it would be grilled cheese every night...)

Vegan interlude

Walking down the hospital halls after neuro, every twitch, twist of the neck, or odd posture appears a nail to my hammer. Neuro lectures are captivating but depressing, largely because right now we can treat only the symptoms but not the underlying cause of several diseases. However, everything we can treat is breathtaking, and soon we will have cures for more diseases! (Hopefully.)

In the land of food, it seems that fall in upstate New York is an excuse for spice-themed binge eating: s'mores to "reward" hiking, cider doughnuts to "reward" apple picking, apple and pumpkin desserts, etc. In between all this sugary indulgence, it's nice to have a few items that are hearty and comforting but healthy! Last weekend I made a kitchen-sink vegetable soup; this week I went the raw route.

"Massaged" kale salad (I don't believe in pampering vegetables, but the brief effort here pays off. Recipe took all of two minutes!)

• 1/2 bunch dino kale, stems removed, sliced crosswise into ribbons, and washed
• 1/2 or 1 avocado, cubed
• handful of cherry tomatoes, washed and sliced in half
• small handful of almonds, toasted and chopped
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• pinch of salt (apparently this helps to soften the kale)

In a large bowl, dress the kale with oil, vinegar, and salt. Wash your hands and then massage the kale, grabbing handfuls at a time and rubbing them together between your fingers or palms. (Surprisingly therapeutic!) After a minute or two, the kale will be noticeably softer. Toss in your other ingredients! The buttery, nutty avocado makes this quite comforting despite the lack of cheese or bread.

Fall is the best!

Today is one of those stunning fall days, with a clear blue sky, chill in the air, and trees ranging from green to yellow to red. After a gorgeous bike ride through a nearby neighborhood, my housemate and I stopped at a happening farmer's market that reminded us of former days in Brooklyn and Seattle. We indulged this feeling with freshly fried hot, greasy, soft cider doughnuts (perhaps the best I've ever had, not hard and cakey at all), tiny end-of-season strawberries, and a start-of-season potato pancake with applesauce. Top notch.

All this to forget the squirrel seen investigating the mouse traps in our kitchen at 9 am today.

I've been trying to buy even fewer processed foods, and learn to make what I can quickly at home. I figure it's far cheaper and often better this way. Thus the homemade bread, and today I decided to finally try granola. As I made this today, I realized that it's perfect for someone like me who loves to bake, but holds back in favor of more practical cooking. The process of measuring and stirring is about the same.

Homemade granola

• 1.5 cups oats
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/4-1/2 cup seeds (flax, sesame, pumpkin, etc.)
• 2 tablespoons honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, etc. (this makes for a fairly-unsweet granola)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil, melted butter, coconut butter, etc.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon or other spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4-1/2 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit

Mix everything except fruit together in a large bowl, first dry then wet ingredients. Spread thin on a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees until golden, stirring about every 10 minutes, about half an hour. Granola will harden as it cools. Mix in dried fruit at the end.

Blog-worthy fall salad

My farm share arrived today, and rather than let the veggies rot at the bottom of my fridge, I decided to chop and wash them all now. Not a bad antidote to learning about leukemia and lymphoma all day: it's all very interesting, until you fall asleep wondering what it would be like to receive such a diagnosis.

Fall harvest salad:

• 2-3 small beets, washed and sliced thin (see use for beet greens below)
• 1 small sweet potato, washed and sliced thin
• thyme, rosemary, or other herb
• handful of toasted almonds or walnuts
• salad greens (farm share gave me frisee and lettuce)
• olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar
• garlic or shallot optional

Toss the beets and sweet potato with olive oil, thyme, salt, and pepper in a roasting pan, then roast at 400 degrees until soft with crisped edges (move them around a few times to prevent burning).

Meanwhile, wash greens (three times, if yours have as much dirt as mine!) and toast nuts. Making a salad dressing of olive oil, balsamic, plus garlic or shallot is optional.

Serve everything warm over the greens. Add goat cheese or lentils or chicken breast or sausage, etc. for protein! I will be having a white bean soup with beet greens (from above) on the side.

Don't stress eat!

Last night I had one of those horrible nights where bacteria- and virus-laden nonsense raced through my head as I lay in bed, in powerful mockery of my lame attempts at meditation and mind-clearing. Once an hour this was punctuated by becoming fully awake, getting up, and then laying down once again to the same as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I've been trying to do everything right, too: yoga, running, studying, dinner out, tea with a friend, reading David Sedaris stories before bed. Despite all this, the stress of having an exam every two weeks is overpowering.

So today I am allowing myself to bake a pie, make a fresh salad for lunch, and then resume studying. I will beat these pathogens!

Simple Greek salad: one chopped tomato, crumbled feta, some chickpeas, toasted almonds, romaine lettuce, oil and vinegar dressing. Each bite gives a satisfying crunch!

Another exam week

Do we eat poorly because we're stressed out, or are we stressed out because we're eating poorly? I think both. Today, I treated myself to a decent lunch to trick myself into feeling relaxed for the upcoming test. It actually took only a few minutes, and was made entirely from ingredients I had lying around.

I stopped buying cheese for a long time because it's not very good for you and it's too expensive for my budget, but I recently bought a couple of "sampler" pieces from the co-op for $2-3 each. They're actually much better suited for one person. The following recipes are heavy on veggies, light on cheese.

Mushroom toasts (my dad makes these all the time):

• 5-6 small mushrooms, sliced or finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 onion, finely chopped
• ~1 tsp olive oil
• 2 slices toast
• few slices hard cheese
• black pepper

Saute garlic and onion in the oil until translucent, then add the mushrooms and saute until they've shed their water. Spoon onto lightly toasted slices of bread, add cheese, and broil in toaster or oven until the cheese melts and bubbles. Add black pepper to the top.

Meanwhile...

Salad with goat cheese and radishes. Simply toss together:

• chopped romaine, arugula, salad mix, etc.
• small handful of almonds or other nuts, toasted and chopped up
• 2 radishes, sliced thin
• small piece of goat cheese, crumbled
• balsamic & olive oil

I'm feeling better already.

Why exercise?

It seems that no matter what's wrong with you, a doctor will recommend exercise as part of the cure. I always thought this made sense in that exercise --> weight loss --> better health. But then I learned that exercise helps independently of weight loss! For cardiovascular disease this makes sense, but why would it be the case for diabetes?

To set the scene: in type 2 diabetes, patients develop insulin resistance: they still make insulin, but cells stop responding to it. After a meal, instead of transporting glucose into cells, glucose remains in the blood. Patients become hyperglycemic, which over time damages organs.

It turns out that everyone has "non-insulin-mediated glucose uptake" transporters that take up glucose from blood regardless of insulin. Because many of these transporters are in skeletal muscle, working that muscle (i.e. exercising) improves the number and efficacy of these transporters. This provides an alternate way to take up glucose even in patients with insulin resistance.

Pretty neat, huh?

This salad is the edible equivalent of the neon gear that runners love so much, and I bet it has a low glycemic index to boot. It's vaguely reminiscent of an "Asian chopped salad." Simply mix together:

• 1 clementine, sectioned
• 2-3 radishes, sliced or chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• handful of roasted almonds, chopped
• sliced grilled chicken, optional
• romaine or butter lettuce
• balsamic vinegar & olive oil