In Defense Of Carbs

To continue my proclamation of amor for my favorite food group, let’s play a little game of name that tune.

I love carbs, carbs, carbs, carbs

Carbs, I do adore

Sound familiar? No? Okay, maybe it’s not a real song. Maybe I just replaced the word carbs for girls in Jay-Z’s “Girls, Girls Girls.” But it’s catchy, no? Perhaps it’s time for a food-themed remix, jigga.

So you’re probably wondering: ¿por que are we still talking about carbs?

I don’t doubt that I effectively communicated the fact that I love my carbs on Friday. However, while most of you embraced my carby adoration, I did receive one anonymous carb-condemning comment.

It went as follows:

Wow you really eat alot of carbs. Ever heard of “everything in moderation”? I find it interesting that your studying nutrition yet promoting such a reckless dietary approach. Your clients are gonna be obese.

Lovely, no?

I usually let negative anonymous comments fall by the wayside—and I won’t bother addressing the grammatical mishaps (oh, wait…)—but I do feel obliged to come to the defense of my beloved carbs.

Dear Anonymous Carb/Me-Hater,

Yes, I eat a lot of carbs. (Some may even go so far as to call me carbzilla.) And, yes, I’ve heard that whole “everything in moderation” spiel. (In fact, it’s sort of the backbone of my food philosophy.) But who says high-carb equates to a “reckless dietary approach?” Sure, there are a lot of nutritional experts who preach low-carb, high-protein diets. But, for every R.D. telling you to put down that piece of bread, there’s another telling you to open up wide, chew that carby goodness and get skinny. My point is that there is no one right dietary approach. We’re all different. And we all have different dietary needs. My body happens to feel its healthiest when I give it lots of carbs. Yours may not (in which case, I send my condolences).

Carbingly yours,

Sarah a.k.a. Carbzilla

Don’t believe me on the high-carb thing? Let’s take a gander at what I studied en escuela this weekend.

Well, what do you know? I’m not alone on this whole “carbs can do the body good” thing.

Can you imagine how excited I was to open my handout folder and find this at the top of the pile? Yes, the first order of business at escuela was studying the history, progression and validity of high carb diets. (This made me wonder if IIN has ESP/reads my blog?) Needless to say, I was fascinated and jotted down every word mi profesor said regarding the benefits of getting our carb on.

I also used this carbspiration as an excuse to wander down to Whole Foods during my lunch break and pick up some new carb goodies.

(Yea, I shop at Whole Foods with a Trader Joe’s bag. Blasphemy.)

I can’t wait to experiment with these—especially the millet!

Among other topics like protein, calorie requirements and the macrobiotic diet, we also learned about the principles behind The South Beach Diet. (This further fed my suspicion that my school has ESP/reads my blog, as I just mentioned The South Beach Diet on Friday.) Our guest lecturer was Dr. Arthur Agatston, the author of The South Beach Diet. Despite having a not-so-fun personal foray into South Beach dieting, it was fascinating to learn about how and why he developed the diet. For the record, even Dr. Agatston addressed the benefits of carbs. Just saying… 😉

Since all this carb talk is only further perpetuating my carbzilla reputation, I will now switch gears to another (newly) beloved c-food: cottage cheese.

Since we last spoke, I’ve been through three containers of cottage cheese. In defense of cottage cheese/me, I really wanted to try out so many of your cottage cheese recommendations. All in the name of experimentation, mis amigas.

Let’s get to the cottage cheese creations.

En el bol: 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup almond milk with 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1/3 cup TJ’s high fiber cereal (random) and 1/3 cup cottage cheese stirred in at the end. Dressed in maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice and whipped crema.

I’m not sure what inspired this crazy concoction—I was mostly just craving a ridiculously creamy bowl of oats—but I’m glad I went with it. I usually just cook my oats in water, but the almond milk, plus the cottage cheese addition at the end, created the perfect creamy consistency.

One more point for cottage cheese being the greatest thing ever.

More pumpkiny cottage cheese oats were had.

This time, eggs were added. And, OHMYGOD, make this now.

The mezcla: 1/2 cup oats, 3/4 cup water, 1/2 cup egg whites. 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 1/2 cup pumpkin stirred in at the end.

Okay, the abundantly eggy (almost custard-like) oats mixed with creamy cottage cheese and pumpkin gloriousness? I’m pretty sure my taste buds discovered new heights of ecstasy.

Onto some cottage cheese snack recommendations.

Almost all of you mentioned the cottage cheese + preserves combo, so I knew I needed to go there.

Increible. In this concoction, I used put the raspberry preserves atop 2% whipped cottage cheese, per another recommendation.

I liked the whipped version—but I have to say, I really missed the little chunks/curds/whatever other gross term can be used to describe the consistency of cottage cheese.

Worry not, I got my curd fix in my next snack experiment.

1/2 cup applesauce + 1/2 cup cottage cheese.

Definitely one of the most brilliant cottage cheese suggestions thrown my way. I’ve eaten this combo at least once a day since trying it—mostly because it sort of reminds me of cheesecake.

I also did a bit of savory cottage cheese investigation.

   

2 eggs stuffed with spinach sautéed in garlic + EVOO, 1/2 cup cottage queso and seasoned salt.

Another suCCess.

Lastly, we have the least photogenic—but possibly the most delicious—of my experiments in cottage cheesedom.

Cottage Cheese and Hummus Stuffed Portobello

1 Portobello cap brushed with EVOO + sea salt on both sides. Baked at 400° for 5 minutes. Removed from oven and smeared with 2 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus. Topped with 1/2 cup cottage cheese mix with 1 diced roasted red pepper. Returned to the oven to broil for 3 minutes.

Broiled brilliance. I was pretty skeptical of how cottage cheese would taste post-broilage, but the crispy cottage cheese layer that formed was amazing.

The only fail was the fact that—due to aforementioned skepticism—I only made one. Muy triste.

Preguntas: I didn’t go into too much detail about escuela because I wasn’t sure how much you want to know. Do you want to hear more on what I’m learning? Or more about the experience as a whole? Oh, and, since you gave my such amazing cottage cheese recommendations last time, do you have any more that I must try? I’d be happy to oblige ;).

Hope you’re having a bueno you-kn0w-what día, mis foodies!

Amor,

Sarah

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March 10, 2010

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