Macadamia White Chocolate Cookies and Agave nectar

White beans and potatoes with tomato sauce and crema di balsamico

Food Diary (May 6, 2011)

Breakfast: Rolled oats with raisins, toasted coconut, sunflower seeds and flaxseeds

Lunch: White beans and potatoes with tomato sauce and crema di balsamico

Dinner: Spinach omelet with sourdough rye bread toast

Baking/sweets:

Beans and potatoes do not seem to be a very common combination. For example beans and potatoes are popular ingredients in South America but instead you will find beans and rice, probably not beans and potatoes. I may have found the answer while reading an article yesterday. The article is aptly titled “7 Ways To Avoid Gas from Beans”. Potatoes conflict with digestion of the beans and this increases gas production. Maybe that’s why potatoes and beans are kept away from each other. There is a lot of logic in many food combinations. For example chickpeas are not a full protein, certain protein elements are missing. These missing elements can be provided by mixing chickpeas with other nuts/seeds such as sesame. Hummus is a complete protein. Our ancestors did not have access to scientific research but they seem to be one step ahead in some respects.

Back to beans and potato. I ignored popular wisdom and had it anyway because I like it. How this affected gas production is perhaps not the kind of personal information I want to divulge on this blog. This information is strictly reserved for the privileged close circle of friends and family!

Today's Favourite Photo

Source: Eats Well With Others

Macadamia and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 
Today’s Favourite Blog

Source: care2

An insightful post on the perceived healthiness of agave nectar. Agave’s claim as a healthy alternative is mainly due to its supposed slower metabolism and the fact that it has been used medicinally by indigenous people in Mexico and Central America for centuries. The truth is that the speed at which agave metabolizes depends on its level and method of processing.

The modern process for producing agave nectar is comparable to the process of converting corn into high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). As a result agave nectar is at least 70 percent fructose, on par with HFCS. The stuff that the indigenous people used was produced in the same manner so it was probably healthier to the agave that is widely available.

I don’t use agave but it is good to know anyway.