Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Food Revolution Review, and My Tuna Salad Recipe!

This month has been crazy, and it's getting crazier each day! This week I have the 5k race I've been planning for the past several months, and then we are going straight to Cincinnati (down south) for one of Nick's friend's 30th birthday. We're going to the river boats, which are packed with crazy casinos. I probably won't do a lot of gambling, but it will still be fun to get out of town for a night. Then the following week we MOVE! I'm excited, but also very nervous. We're going to be very poor for a while. Oh well, we'll be so busy working on the house it won't even matter!
Did you watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last week? I finished watching it on Saturday morning. It wasn't quite as interesting as the last episode, but I've still got a few things to say.

Likes
  • I love how Jamie decided to go straight to a major source of entertainment and information for the community. Not the senators, but the most popular radio DJ, Rod. What a great idea. Even though Rod was completely against the idea at first (although I think that might have been an act for the show....) he got everyone on Jamie's side eventually and he helped get 1000 people involved in the revolution. Fantastic.
  • I love how Jamie dressed up like a green bean (or a pea pod??) at the beginning of the show. As stupid as he looked, it's actually suggested that in order to get your children to eat more fruits and veggies you should make it fun and entertaining. Associating fruits and veggies with cartoons or other fun characters is actually a great idea. Heck, it worked for McDonald's!
  • The trip to the morgue was a great way to open Rod's eyes (and America's eyes) to the seriousness of the obesity epidemic. Did you see that casket?! Goodness.
  • Jamie was pushing the use of frozen vegetables. I loved it. Jamie is a well known and respected chef, so to see him using frozen vegetables is really fantastic. I love frozen vegetables. They are so delicious, convenient, and they are frozen at their peak freshness.
  • That dance they did in the park. WOW!!! I wanted to be in the dance myself!! It looked like so much fun!
Dislikes
  • I've only got one dislike, but it's a big one. Where are all the tips and suggestions?? This entire show has been about what is wrong with the city and what needs to be done to help people get healthier, but I have not heard any tips on cooking and eating healthier. Yeah, Jamie throws out a few suggestions here and there, but I want him to teach the TV audience too! He keeps saying, "you can cook cheap and healthy meals that don't take very long", but how?? Jamie, you need to provide more tips! I kept waiting for some fantastic information about what to buy, how to save money when shopping for ingredients, how to choose a good recipe, how to choose a lean cut of meat/poultry, but I heard nothing! Maybe this is coming up in future episodes?? I saw him use a real block of parmesan cheese, but is this something that people in this city (and other cities in America) can afford to buy? I know that sounds odd, but real parmesan cheese is expensive, and it goes bad fairly quick! He needs to throw out tips such as, "try the already shredded parmesan cheese if you wish! The taste is similar, and the price is lower, and it lasts much longer!".
Question: What were your thoughts on last week's episode?



Quick, Healthy, and Cheap Recipe #20
Tuna Fish Sandwich

Ingredients
(1 Serving)
6 ounces Albacore tuna
6 t plain Greek yogurt
2 t regular mayo
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 t pepper

Possible Modifications

  • Use any kind of tuna you wish (in water please). Albacore has more omega-3, but light tuna may have less mercury. Choose your battle.
  • Use regular yogurt instead of Greek
  • Use light or fat free mayo
  • Add more walnuts or use almonds, peanuts, or pine nuts
  • Add any spices you wish
  • Add avocado, celery, egg, raisins, or dried cranberries (I didn't do this because these ingredients give me stomach problems. Bummer, I know)

My Rating: 8 out of 10
It would have been better on a piece of bread, but since I have yet to find any bread that I can eat, the bread in the picture was just for show. I ate this on it's own.


Nutrition Facts
(These nutrition facts do not include the bread)
Coming Up
Tomorrow I will post about some foods that you may think are "healthy" but which may not be as healthy as you thought. The point is not to discourage you from eating these foods, but to make you more aware of the ingredients on food labels and how companies try to trick you into thinking their foods are superior.


Have a great day everyone! Thanks for reading.

25 comments :

  1. I agree with you about Food Revolution, I would like to see more tips to help people who are watching it. I also think Jamie is a little cheesy, but I guess that can't be helped ;-)

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  2. I love the show and you know what now that you mention, it does suck that he doesn't give tips etc...that is actually one of the (few) things that I like about BL (except when they are plugging something!)

    I LOVED LOVED LOVED when they broke out in dance, for a second I thought that I changed the channel to "Glee" hahahaha

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  3. I agree with you on the food rev. My husband made a good point though... Why did Jamie decide to tackle the most overweight city? Why didn't he start on a smaller scale? I think he's in a little bit over his head which is why you don't hear many tips. He's too busy arguing with people...

    I do like the show though! I can't believe some of the stuff people say on there! A potato is considered a veggie? What in the world!

    I love tuna salad but really love all the mayo in it. Which is why I never eat it! I like that your recipe still uses some mayo :)

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  4. Well, to be fair, there is a lot of info about how to make cheap healthy meals. Jamie has an awesome website for that. I think the point is that people HAVE to care enough about their food to look for these things and try to learn more.
    But yeah, I totally get your point, it would definitely be helpful.

    With that said, I do love the show and sometimes I find myself dreaming and wishing I could help people like that. I love Jamie. :)

    Anyway, can't wait to see your post tomorrow, that sounds VERY interesting!

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  5. I've wanted to try replacing the mayo in tuna fish with yogurt. I eat tuna fish sandwiches so infrequently that I haven't had the chance yet. I think I might go with half and half.

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  6. I think at this point early on in the season, they're focusing on making people WANT to make healthy changes and informing them as to why they should. I like this approach as it seems they're taking it step by step. Get people to WANT to make healthy changes, then TEACH them.

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  7. oh wow! can't wait for tomorrows post!!!!!

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  8. Hopefully more tips and suggestions will be coming-- I agree with you-- it should be as much about teaching the viewer at home as it is about teaching the people of Huntington.

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  9. Since he's got so many people watching his show, I think the best way to teach people to cook easy,healthy meals which also fall into the budget is to show off his culinary skills in a way that the lay man can benefit!!
    Did you sign the petition on his site?:http://www.jamieoliver.com/

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  10. I just watched the show for the first time last night - sooo interesting and what a challenge!

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  11. That tuna looks great! I love tuna so I'll have to try your recipe.

    I thought the show was pretty good this week, it's great how's he's really getting the word out there now and getting some local celebrities on his side. But I agree that hopefully some more helpful tips will be coming. Regarding making food more fun - I read somewhere that kids ate more veggies when they had fun names like X-Ray Vision Carrots or Dinosaur Trees (for broccoli)!!What a cute idea!

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  12. That tuna looks great! I love tuna so I'll have to try your recipe.

    I thought the show was pretty good this week, it's great how's he's really getting the word out there now and getting some local celebrities on his side. But I agree that hopefully some more helpful tips will be coming. Regarding making food more fun - I read somewhere that kids ate more veggies when they had fun names like X-Ray Vision Carrots or Dinosaur Trees (for broccoli)!!What a cute idea!

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  13. hello beautiful and BUSY girl!!!!!!!!

    Glad you are doing great!!

    I never watched that show but hear all about it!!!!

    Love the tuna salad recipe!! yummy!!!

    love ya!!! Have a goodnight!!! xoxo

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  14. great tips girl :) i totally agree with you in the part about the tips! tips should be shared for sure!

    mmm i haven't had tuna in SO long!!

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  15. I've been wondering the same thing - where are the tips? Share the recipes Jamie!

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  16. I love the show, but there are definitely some limits to it...it being a TV and all, the production company is more focused on ratings. So it wants to "shock" the nation, but it doesn't follow up with its "shocking" news. IT doesn't provide very much answers. That, we'll have to hope that people are "Shocked" enough to take active measures and look for answers themselves.

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  17. I love Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, though I've only seen the first 2 episodes so I've got some catching up to do on Hulu! The things you like are all things I really liked about the show! I'm glad he's opening America's eyes with things about food, eating and nutrition.

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  18. I haven't seen the most recent episode yet, but I agree. I'm impressed by the show, but they do need to share some practical advise. Its great to convince people they need to make a change, but then you have to tell them how!

    Good luck with all of the craziness! I understand :)

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  19. You are super busy!!! 5k, the party and moving. All sound like super exciting things. I hope your move goes well. I didn't watch this last episode of Food Revolution, so I'll have to come back and read it after I watch.

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  20. I agree with you about Food Revolution. I really like it but I think more tips need to be thrown out. In just a few years of eating healthy on my own I've come up with TONS of tips- he must have some!

    I love your tuna recipe. Believe it or not my mom has been making tuna with half mayo half yogurt since I was a little kid (she was ahead of her time). We loved it that way and it was so much healthier. I'm not even a big fan of it at lunch places because the mayo is so heavy. Now I can't handle mayo so I use all greek yogurt and I still love a good tuna sandwich. I find the greek yogurt mimics the texture of mayo a little better so it works really well. Yum I want some tuna now.

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  21. Mm I love tuna salad, so glad I started eating tuna again. :)

    I'm not sure if you've written a post about this before, but I have a question that maybe you can answer sometime... Have you ever read any studies about grains or other middle-to-high glycemic index foods being "bad" because of insulin resistance or "Syndrome X" ? I was reading about paleolithic/primal diets and was curious to hear your thoughts on them!

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  22. I agree Gina! I was dying to try to make his beef/noodle stir fry from this episode, but couldn't find the recipe quickly! He needs to give lots of tips and make the recipes really accessible.

    I am worried that by tackling "the worst city" and showing such extreme cases of obesity many of the viewers will think, "I'm not THAT unhealthy, so I don't need to make changes."

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  23. Hey Gina! That tuna fish sandwich looks delish :-).

    And I am actually considering going to Indiana U. for grad school (so that's why I was visiting the campus). I'm also looking at U. of Illinois. We'll see where I end up!

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  24. Your tuna salad looks fantastic!! I love how you used Greek yogurt (YAY) and added the walnuts for a gorgeous crunch - soooo delish!

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  25. I agree with your thoughts on food rev. I was hating that child nutrition director though because she wasn't giving input in to helping, she was just saying "try again"... And Rod, I feel like he was lying the whole time and made this deal to put up a big stink all the meanwhile to put on a great big switch after the casket bit.

    I don't know- I'm skeptical of him.
    But ultimately glad he is helping jamie now

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