Diet Dish: Brown Rice Cereal

This cereal substitute may not exactly be the most creative dish I'll propose, but it can be a nice change of pace from oatmeal. The dish is sweet enough to whet a sweets craving without adding any artificial sweetner or sugar (gasp!). It may even help you sleep. According to MayoClinic.com, you may even try it as a healthy late night snack for those restless nights.

1/2 cup Brown Rice
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Reduced Fat Milk
Cinnamon to taste

1. Bring water to a boil and add brown rice
2. Return to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Add Milk and cinnamon.

Beyond the Buzz Word

If it's diet, it has to be good. Right? Earlier this year, my dad and I were having a discussion about the relative worth of his lite white bread vs. my honey wheat. "I looked at the packaging and they have the same nutritional value," he claimed. "So do Diet Pepsi and water, but you can't tell me they're the same," I quipped back. Science it seems has come through for me again. I stumbled across this article (VITAL SIGNS; Metabolic Syndrome Is Tied to Diet Soda) in The New York Times.

Researchers have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and metabolic syndrome -- the collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes that include abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and blood glucose levels -- and elevated blood pressure. ... surprisingly, the risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 34 percent higher among those who drank one can of diet soda a day compared with those who drank none.

The article doesn't make any claims about the study beyond the fact that a correlation exists. Lyn M. Steffen, who co-authored the paper, notes it could be the soda or behavorial differences in the diet soda drinkers. The info was enough to make me give up soda for Lent - a resolution I've subsequently cheated on. Still just some food for thought.

Promises, Promises, Promises

There might not be a more annoying category of blog posts and those in which the writer breaks the fourth wall and promises wonderful posts are just over the horizon. I suppose it's inevitable. Bloggers think they should justify why people should read their drivel finely honed prose over everyone else's finely honed prose drivel. Few will ever read that statement of principles. When was the last time you stumbled across an established blog and started from the beginning immediately? Exactly. Be that as it may and having gone to undergrad at a school that has celebrated a triennial, I can accept tradition for tradition's sake. So, why should you stay?

Well, that depends. If you know me personally, and there's a strong chance you do if you're reading this, then you might as well stick around. You like me already and of the two, this will probably wind up be the bloggier of my two blogs, and there's bound to be enough personal rambling you might get a mention or can at least internet stalk me further. (The more professional side of my psyche lives and writes here sporadically.) If you stumbled across this blog through some unknown coincidence, why are you reading this? Bask in the awesome posts that are sure to follow. Cook up some of the delicious recipes that I've discovered. Read the myriad of insightful links I've gone to the effort of reposting. Internet stalk my personal posts; all the cool kids are doing it.

There are certainly more intelligent, well-rounded sites on healthy-living and weight loss around. I never even pretended to be a Pre-Med major. My roommate did take the MCATs though. I'll have to be the guy struggling at it with you or the guy all you in-shape jerks out there are laughing at while I huff away on the treadmill. Stick around if that sounds good.

To avert the untold hundreds of yogurt lovers swarming my blog in massive protest, I will go on record. Yogurt doesn't suck. Add some bananas and strawberries and mix it up. Delicious. Yogurt is fine, but what it represents does suck. As good as yogurt might be, it pales in comparison to cheesecake, fudge, French Vanilla Ice Cream, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Especially all at once. (Damn you, Cold Stone!).Yogurt just can't ever be good enough. It's a reminder of that, which you shouldn't have. Plus, I needed a catchy name.