Cholesterol

I just HAD to put a link to this article by Dr. Mark Hyman MD for anyone out there with any kind of cholesterol concern. He talks about the real causes of high cholesterol, as well as whether it is actually something to be concerned about or not. One thing that I found worth pointing out is that the dangerous kind of high cholesterol comes from eating sugar, refined foods like white bread, and especially from high-fructose corn syrup, rather than fat. Not a surprise, really, when you realize that the worst damage comes from inflammation in your system--practically a certainty if you're regularly having high-fructose corn syrup, the highly-refined sweetener found in soda, most sweet drinks, and most processed foods.

Since many well-meaning but overworked doctors get much of their latest information from pharmaceutical representatives (who obviously have a product to sell!), they can sometimes come to conclusions that aren't always in your best interest. If you or anyone you know and care about are having cholesterol concerns or are taking cholesterol medication, please read this article!

Jennifer Oliver

This beautiful, lush painting that you are looking at was done by Jennifer Oliver at last year's Illustration Master Class. Since Jennifer sat next to me during most of the week's painting time, I was fortunate enough to see its development from the earliest stages as well as make a new friend. It's like the friendship and the painting were born at the same time!
And now she has sent me a recipe from her friend, Rhett Wickham, that I wanted to share with all of you. She had plans to try it with a sprinkling of cinnamon to push the exotic factor even further, but I don't know yet how that went. I suspect it was fantastic!

Rhett's easy goat cheese and pear pizza:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Fresh pizza dough
One large white or Vidalia onion, sliced and caramelized
Two pears, thinly sliced
Sliced goat cheese or feta cheese, crumbled
Basil Pesto
Raw Walnuts
Coat rolled out pizza dough with pesto, cover with the onions, goat cheese
and pear slices. Sprinkle with ground pepper, sea salt and chopped walnuts
to taste. If using feta cheese, omit the sea salt. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes for a thin crust, 20-25 minutes for a thicker crust, or until golden. Yum!

Late night eating

I just read this on Dr. Andrew Weil's website:

"Want to Lose Weight? Don’t Eat Late

The timing of your meals may influence your weight, at least if you're a mouse. A new study from Northwestern University suggests that late-night snacks or eating when you should be asleep can pile on pounds. The researchers were investigating why shift workers who are on the job at irregular hours tend to be overweight. So they fed mice a high fat diet during normal mouse sleeping time and fed the same diet to a control group of mice during the hours when the animals are naturally awake. All the mice gained, but the ones fed when they should have been asleep increased their weight by 48 percent compared to the others whose weight went up only 20 percent. All the mice ate the same number of calories and performed equal amounts of exercise. This suggests that the timing of meals matters to weight control. Earlier research found that our circadian clock regulates energy use, which implies that when we eat may affect the balance between calories consumed and the number of calories burned daily. The study was published online Sept. 3, 2009 by the journal Obesity."

If you're like lots of artists I know and love, you like to work late at night--and maybe even have snacks to keep you company (along with NPR, of course!).
Anyway, I just thought it's a really good thing to keep in mind. Maybe a cup of unsweetened tea would be a good companion!