Comments on: Mark Bittman: Conscious Eating

By: » Blog Archive » Eating on the Road: Lose Weight, Save the Planet

» Blog Archive » Eating on the Road: Lose Weight, Save the Planet — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:54:43 +0000

[...] a lively interview with Bittman with Tom Ashbrook on The Connection. You can see him addressing the TED Conference on [...]

By: threedayvegan.com » Blog Archive » Failures…

threedayvegan.com » Blog Archive » Failures… — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:13:28 +0000

[...] on the environment, as you can hear in this interview with NYTimes columnist/guru Mark Bittman here. It’s a bit old, but it’s still [...]

By: Future Proof Journal » Blog Archive » Mark Bittman: Conscious Eating

Future Proof Journal » Blog Archive » Mark Bittman: Conscious Eating — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:10:57 +0000

[...] Listen to the interview here Amazon page for Mark’s Cookbook: Food Matters a Guide to Conscious Eating [...]

By: Feel Good Guru » Bitten by Mark Bittman

Feel Good Guru » Bitten by Mark Bittman — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:13:23 +0000

[...] Too much junk food. Too big a footprint.” He’s not a vegetarian, but he recommends a “vegan til 6″ diet, which, I think, is brilliant. It’s a message that doesn’t feel restrictive and [...]

By: Conscious Eating (OnPoint - Tom Ashbrook) « My Favorite podcasts

Conscious Eating (OnPoint - Tom Ashbrook) « My Favorite podcasts — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:20:56 +0000

[...] Eating (OnPoint – Tom Ashbrook) By Anil http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2009/02/mark-bittman/ Things that stood out for [...]

By: Weekly Sausage Links « What Would Jesus Eat?

Weekly Sausage Links « What Would Jesus Eat? — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:09:56 +0000

[...] On Point with Mark Bittman [...]

By: Lee Barry

Lee Barry — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:20:45 +0000

I was 210 pounds at age 13, and lost 70 pounds over 18 months. I have managed to keep the weight off, but I remain vigilant about calorie intake. This is crucial in maintaining weight loss regardless of the type of foods you eat. Even if you eat carrots all day and exceed daily calories you will gain weight. If you err on the side of too many calories, make them good calories with high nutrition density. Also it is helpful if you are counting calories if you count calories-per-week rather than calories-per-day, as it gives you more wiggle room in your daily eating habits.

By: David McCormick

David McCormick — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:47:36 +0000

Why hasn’t this interview posted as a podcast? I was not able to listen to this live and was hoping to get the podcast to listen at my convenience. Please post this one. Thank you.

By: Sascha Anya

Sascha Anya — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:12:38 +0000

The sad truth is that factory-farmed meats and dairy are NOT grown efficiently. Factory foods are creatively subsidized by tax payers and by government tax breaks, subsides, and other advantages that small organic and pasture fed farmers cannot get. Factory farms produce tons of toxic waste by-products, the animals are not healthy and are dosed with huge amounts of pharmaceuticals, rendering these product unhealthy to consume. Toxic manure is laden with drugs, pesticides and antibiotics that end up in the ground water and pollute our environment. What is efficient here? The cities and populations down stream who end up with cancer or other ailments from this type of irresponsible mega-production would likely not think this mess is efficient. Factory farms produce cheap food but these products help do not promote health and add to the overall burden of a vast network of other systems from health care and water treatment to the environment and the costs are simply passed along to the taxpayers, meanwhile people are remind how ‘efficient’ factory farms are. They really are expensive when you look at the big picture, Mark.

By: Sascha Anya

Sascha Anya — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:40:27 +0000

This is an important conversation. we must keep the focus on the unhealthy mega-factory-food industries that produce food that is in essence unfit to eat and lacks the nutrition we need. Factory foods are rife with toxins, chemicals, hormones, vaccines (six vaccines per chicken…yuck) chemical fertilizers, a plethora of antibiotics and other drugs, pesticide residues, and more. I am very impressed with the holistic and research minded Weston Price Foundation (on the web) and hope that you can research and explore their research and ideas. What this country needs are more small family farms that use natural, free-range & organic methods that provide foods that are healthy and offer more concentrated nutrition. The reliance on grains (which often cause inflammation, allergies and use way to many resources to grow) are not the answer. Fruit, veges, raw seeds, nuts. legumes, pasture raised eggs, meats, raw dairy and wild-caught low on the food chain fish actually are very healthy. By the way, best research on soy products show that they are NOT health promoting foods, but are usually very processed, hard to digest and disrupt human hormone levels.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:19:07 +0000

Mark,

I bought your book over the new year and ate loosely on it the past month. I’ve been circling around that ‘philosophy’ and ‘diet’ for a while but used your book to motivate me to get a bit healthier and conscious about the food supply. I went from animal protein in every meal to very sparse with the meat (except when I go out). Lost about 5 pounds, saved a ton of money by cooking at home, and was suprised, because I bought the most expensive of organic produce. Ok, back to my home made brown rice veggie stir fry.

Thanks,

By: Tiger

Tiger — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:22:38 +0000

It seems the upside of the tanking economy is that more people will eat beans and rice and save the planet…who knew?

Everything in moderation….

By: jeffe

jeffe — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:54:49 +0000

This was a great show and I am big fan of Mark Bittman.
I have cooked many of his recipes from the NY Times.

His ideas on diet are really the way people eat in the Mediterranean in a lot of ways. I also think that the French have it right as well, small portions of excellent ingredients. Our problem is we don’t have a lot of markets anymore.

I think our problem in this country is we want everything to be real cheap and to have a lot of it.
We also have made farming into a corporate entity that will only change by buying local and trying to grow our own food. To that end I am ripping up the last of my lawn this spring to plant more vegetables which I think all those who can should. Just as they did during WW2 with the victory gardens. Instead of planting grass on the mall they should plant food and get the kids from the area to help grow it and share in the bounty.
Hows that for a stimulus package.

My only negative comment is that awful show he does with Maria Batalli, Gwyneth Paltrow and… sorry but I can’t remember the Spanish actress’ name. The show is kind of boring an bit pretentious unlike all his other shows which are fantastic. I’m not sure what it is about it, my wife who is an avid foodie really hates it. Two old guys and two young women in 40k cars riding around Spain… snooze…

By: Isernia

Isernia — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:45:32 +0000

One more attribute of successful home cooking not mentioned by “Bitty” is planning. Most folks who use prepared foods or buy “take out” do not seem to plan dinners and suppers ahead of time. Part of the fun of cooking from scratch is using up the odds and ends of left-overs in the frig for future meals. There is no excuse for not doing this in today’s world with internet recipes available in mini-seconds.
Just google two or more left-over vegetables or other ingredient on hand and
in a flash one can receive dozens of recipes incorporating those food items. So easy!

By: Tom G

Tom G — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:46:54 +0000

Let’s not forget, buy a smaller package of meat instead of the biggest one. Slice your meats before serving them; that will make a big difference in how far they go. Eat on smaller plates, they save room in your dishwasher, too for energy savings.

Also, most stoves have a vent hole in the right rear burner which comes from the oven. So, keep a pot of water on the right rear burner at all times. It will be preheated hot water, available whenever you use the oven. And it captures the wasted oven heat for slow release and humidifying your house.

By: Julie Welsch

Julie Welsch — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:38:04 +0000

I really enjoyed the show today and am glad someone is speaking out about the effects of meat eating on the enviroment and our health. I have been a vegetarian for a long time and, as Mark said, you do have to cook. I rely on beans and lentils for many meals and think it’s unfortunate that people avoid these foods. Beans and lentils are very inexpensive even the organic kind from Whole Foods, they are tasty, filling, low calorie, and easy to prepare. Lentils won’t give you gas and beans, if cooked properly, won’t either. Instead of soaking the beans overnight, do a quick boil, then skim the foam off, and leave them in the pot for an hour. Skimming the foam removes the stuff that causes gas. Then cook and skim again until the beans are as soft as you like. Cook a large quantity and freeze. Then make chilis, stews, and soups to eat for lunch or dinner instead of junk food. You can also prepare the meals in a crockpot. This will give you lots of fiber, vitamins, and will really stick to your ribs. You won’t be hungry for snacks a few hours later.

By: chas

chas — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:11:49 +0000

must point out that there are no vegan societies in the long history of humanity. although some individuals may be well suited to a 100% plant diet, on a large scale this would be a massive experiment.

on the other side of that coin, there have been no processed industrial food societies in the long history of humanity either…until now. and very few that consumed the amount of meat and poultry that our does.

balance and moderation are definitely the way to go. take a look at the zeitgeist and get with the bi-partisan worldview…

excellent advice about cooking your own food btw…it’s actually easy and cheap to eat all organic if you are cooking from staples, fresh fruit and vegetables, and modest animal foods.

By: Mari

Mari — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:41:32 +0000

Thanks for a very enlightening program on the way Americans eat. I happen to be allergic to wheat gluten and have had to cut out all fast junk and most processed foods.

First of all, it’s enormously expensive and time consuming to stay on a strict gluten-free diet. The highly pressured American lifestyle leaves little time for cooking fresh food and one person, living alone (like me), is not very likely to cook every single meal for one’s self. Secondly, if I stopped eating meat (which I only consume very sparingly, already) it could lead to serious protein and amino acid deficiencies.

It is very difficult to eat anything off-the-shelf at all, in this country, when one cannot tolerate wheat. It’s in virtually EVERYTHING in the form of “modified food starch.” Those brightly packaged frozen entrees (Smart Ones? NOT!) hold tremendous allure for busy, single people but I have realized that they are never anything like the picture on the box. Read the ingredient lists. Consumers are buying the photos on the packages and not the so-called “food” within. This is simply just another example of cynical corporate manipulation of a captive market.

Our health is at stake here. Mr. Bittman is right on the mark. We must come up with creative solutions to healthier eating. I’d like to see the return of community pot-luck suppers where each person brings one home-cooked, veggie based entree to share. We are all so divided at this point. Let’s not allow the big-food/fast-food players conquer us, individually, and destroy our collective good health.

By: commonweeder

commonweeder — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:40:13 +0000

This has been a very interesting discussion. I’d like to add two points. I am not a vegetarian, and I don’t think the world will turn vegetarian anytime soon, so although I absolutely advocate eating less meat, as long as animals are raised for milk (and butter and cheese) there are going to be lots of male animals that are worthless in that process. They can be eaten. Second, I think that we could spend less money on food and get meals that are as tasty and nutritous if we would give up “snack food”, like chips, and all manner of processed foods that are just as easy to prepare fresh.

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:18:45 +0000

I’m a long time fan of Mark’s from CT where he started.
As both an enthusiastic lover of food and cooking who is married to a cardiologist, I wanted to pass on what has worked for us and our family. We agreed almost 10 years ago to stop eating mammals for health, the environment and animal welfare. We eat chicken with no hormones, etc almost once a week, we eat one cage free egg with omega 3 nearly every day; we eat soy sausages and tofu, and certainly lots of vegies, fruits, nuts and whole grains. We eat wild fish and those lower on the food chain. We use olive and canola oils; we have wine and dark chocolate almost everyday. This diet allows us to go out to eat, to dine at others homes, and to really enjoy the pleasures of eating and good health.
Thanks, Mark for your latest book.