Weekend Links #29

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback.

food reading links:
--A review of an article from The New England Journal of Medicine about seven myths of weight loss (from Weighty Matters). Number one myth: "Small sustained changes in energy intake or expenditure will produce large, long-term weight changes." Big changes are needed to turn your health around.
--On the other hand, here's an article about how recognising and celebrating small food wins can lead you to bigger ones (from Mark's Daily Apple).
--A blogger talks about oil pulling as a technique for oral health and overall health (from Kitchen Stewardship).

Riced Cauliflower

This recipe is affectionately known as "cauli rice" in my house. It's a rice substitute that I eat all the time, most recently with beef chilli and chicken curry.

Cauli rice is very mild and neutral tasting - just like rice. It is just finely chopped cauliflower, pan-fried in butter until translucent or a little charred. It's a very simple backdrop to a spicier main dish.

2013 Health Goals: Quarter One Check-Up

I'm using a little red diary to track my health goals this year. I've been food journalling and recording my exercise. Each day I use checkmarks to see if I've been successful with four goals:

• exercise each day
• eat no sugar
• eat no wheat
• eat no grains

Now that the first three months (one quarter!) of the year are past, I thought I should check and see how I am doing with each of these goals.

Exercise every day.
December was a bad month for exercise as I had a knee injury - as a result my marathon plans for January were scuppered. Then I had foot surgery on 9 February, and for two weeks after that I couldn't walk, let alone exercise. I had a pretty large scar that was healing and I only exercised two times (in quarter 1) since then. I went for my first run since then on 7 April and I am looking forward to a lot more exercise in the quarter ahead. Maybe I shall make my marathon debut in the summer.
Success rate: 19% (17 out of 90 days)
Success rate until 8 February: 38% (15 out of 39)

Luxury Dark Chocolate Cheesecake (grain-free, low sugar)

Anthony and I just returned from ten days visiting in the UK. While we were there we celebrated his dad's and his dad's girlfriend's birthdays - they are on the same day!

Anthony's dad is a diabetic. I made this cheesecake to be something he could enjoy. It is supremely creamy, heavy, dark, and chocolatey. The whole 9" (23 cm) cheesecake has only 3 teaspoons of sugar, which is from the bar of 85% dark chocolate.

Spice: A History of Temptation by Jack Turner

Spice: A History of Temptation by Jack Turner is an overview of the role spices have played in history. I have learned from this book that spices were a big driver in the European exploration of the New World and Asia. The book focuses mostly on the spices native to Asia: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, ginger, and pepper. These grew only in Asia, and in the case of nutmeg and mace, on only the five tiny, volcanic islands of the Moluccas.