My favorite dessert
MD came through tonight with my all-time favorite dessert, which you can see in the above picture. I would rather have this mixture of pomegranate seeds and blackberries than just about anything else. Not only is it remarkably tasty, it is chock full of all kinds of phytonutrients and antioxidants. And it tastes unbelievably good. I lust over very few desserts, but I truly do lust for this one.
MD’s secret is to put the seeds and the blackberries in the bowl, then douse the whole thing with Torani Sugar Free Black Cherry Syrup. It makes for an unbelievable taste combination, yet few calories, and a ton of nutritional density. When I ran the recipe through the USDA nutritional calculator, it comes out to contain about 12 grams of effective carb and around 100 kcal. I’ll guarantee you that you won’t find a better, tastier, more nutritious use for 12 carbs anywhere else.
And it’s not all that expensive. We got the whole thing at Costco. They were selling large clamshells of huge blackberries for $4.99 each. And package pomegranate arils for $6.99, which is practically a give-away price for these. The twelve bucks we spent for these will give us about 8 desserts, which calculates out to about a dollar and a half for a dessert (maybe $1.75 if you include the Torani syrup) that is incomparable and would cost at least $6-$10 in a restaurant.
If you want to really soup this recipe up and make it even more elegant, you can add a little bit of a fortified red wine along with the Torani sugar free syrup. And serve in in a nicer dish than our everyday china.
I encourage you to try it. And let me know what you think.
Those 12 fruit carbs raise my blood glucose about 20 points. Make whipped cream with Acai freeze dried powder for a much higher ORAC dessert.
Sadly, I would probably eat this if it raised my sugar 50 points.
Nice idea. Fortified wine, eh?
Another tasty and easy low-carb dessert is frozen blueberries (we grow our own so the freezer is packed with them) mixed with plain, whole milk yogurt (like Brown Cow). Mix it around and the yogurt freezes to the berries and makes it like ice cream-coated berries. You can add Splenda or a bit of honey if you need it sweeter, but the berries are enough for me.
Yes, fortified wine is a lovely touch.
I went to Costco today to check out the arils (I’d been looking at them for weeks). Great color. No thanks. When I read the label on a jar of cashews, the place of origin was India and Vietnam. Trader Joe beckons.
Quick question. I’ve had an eating disorder all of my life and I have no illusions that I’ll ever conquer the problem. You mention the foods that tempt you. I’ve been renouncing the things I love for so long (try 70 years), I no longer crave much of anything with the exception of fresh grapes. But I’m so wed to the concept of low-carb, I never indulge my yen. Since I guess I’m always in ketosis (which is a blessing and eliminates hunger pangs), would eating sugary grapes, which will take me out of ketosis, be such a big deal? And please, please, don’t mention the word moderation. I was born without that gene.
Oh, to hell with it. Everyone will be mainlining sugary cranberries and stuffing and pumpkin pie on Thursday. I’m going back to Costco tomorrow to buy a tub of grapes.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Marly
Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. Don’t eat too many grapes. I don’t want it to be on my conscience.
All I can say is YUM!
Bluerberries, Blackberries and Strawberries placed in a bowl with some red wine and a little cinnamon or maple syrup. Leave the combo in the fridge for a few hours. I’s delicious, especially with a little double cream.
I’ve never had pomegrante. I hear it tastes great, not to mention it’s packed with antioxidants. Research even suggests that it has viagra-like effects in men.
But I thought you said those antioxidants do not make their way into mitochondria were they would be of any use to us?
That’s pretty much the case with supplementation, but there is something about antioxidants presented as whole foods that makes them more potent.
Dr Mike, have you seen this? Not a word about carbohydrates, though. (Unsurprising, given the author?)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/health/25breast.html
I did read this article. It is about spontaneous tumor regression, which is when malignant tumors just go away spontaneously. Every doctor who treats cancer has seen a handful of patients he/she thought were doomed suddenly get well. This article is about a paper appearing in the literature next week positing that these spontaneous regressions are more common than previously thought. Who knows if the people who experience these have changed diet or not.
Dr Mike, do you ever surprise your wife and cook for her? What do you think about almond milk ? I tried to make one at home and it is delicious, except has quite a bit of calories. I bought one from organic store, which has much less calories, but no doubt is made with much less nuts.
If I ever cooked for my wife it would be a) a total surprise (probably of the life-changing variety), and b) she would probably be afraid to eat it. At an earlier phase of our marriage I used to do all the grilling on the outside grill – she did all the cooking inside. Once, while getting ready to grill steaks, I got called away, and she took over. The steaks came out way, way better than they ever did when I cooked them, so she took over the outside cooking, too.
Pomegranate seeds over ice cream is delicious. Not that I eat ice cream much (only a handful of times throughout the year). I agree that a dollop of real whipped cream or even just a couple tablespoons on heavy cream would be lovely.
By the way, I just had to report that since giving up the wine or whiskey (yes, I used to have it virtually every night) and watching the carbs (less than 20 ECC per day), I’ve dropped almost a size in the past several weeks. I haven’t weighed myself, but I know from the fit of my clothes. My tight 16s have gone by the wayside, and I’m fitting nicely into my 14s.
Woo-hoo!
You don’t have to hit me over the head TOO many times for me to get the message!
Congrats on your loss. How did your husband fare? Wasn’t he going to join you in the effort? The new book discusses all the whys and wherefores of alcohol abstinence and weight loss. Thank God the abstinence doesn’t last forever.
Dr. Eades – amazing dessert! You and Mary are true voices of reason and science in a nutritional world gone mad.
How does my blood profile appear to you? I am 32 years old, 6’7″ 210 lbs, with a 32″ waist.
Total Chol – 170
HDL – 58
LDL – 96
Trig – 31
Thank you for the feedback! Have a great Turkey (with the skin) Day!!
Blood work looks great. You should be a donor.
Lol, so no cooking suprizes, I got it.
Did you guys see a video clip on yahoo about an 11 year old boy dying wish to feed the hungry! He died of leukemia, but before he did doctors gave him 2 weeks to live. When he was asked for a last wish he asked to feed the hungry people that he saw on his way to the clinic. It made me cry. It is an amazing story. He died soon after but the whole country went on a frenzy for a few days and fed hungry form coast to coast. What a brave little boy! Happy Thanksgiving Dr Eades and I know I will have one more thanks to give this holiday, and that is you, Dr Mike. I love your work, your sense of humor, your humble approach. Thank you!
Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. And thanks.
I visited my mom today and was qutie stressed out! But there is no better stress relief then coming home and letting Mom treat you like you are still a little kid! And she always feeds me. She made me my favorite snack and low carb too, yes Mom is a low carber as well! Ok it is called an ” Eggplant Paste” She boils eggplants, whole, i think, then roasts them in the oven. Takes them out, puts them throght the meat grinder. Then she mixes the paste with tomatoes, garlic, pepper, salt and lemon and a bit of parsly. The whole paste gets dressed in a very fresh first cold pressed olive oil. Then she sautees La Tortilla wraps and somehow makes them very crunchy, that one is still a secret, i guess Mom wants me to keep coming back. Ok, here is a twist. Then she spreads the paste onto the very crunchy wrap with a little of world famous Arkhangelskya black caviar and a touch of ice cream. I just went to Heaven! Dr Mike, you should try it, to die for! I dont know if you love caviar, but I do, and know quite a lot about it. I buy it through a local store in NYC and it costs $225 a pound but boy it is good! once I treated my ex grfriend who was jamaican to a Russian sandwich of fresh bread ( back in the days) with butter and black caviar. Check this out, she thought it wasn’t enough and spread almost the whole can of the caviar on the bread, whci cost about 75 a can. I wouldn’t be mad, but then she said it is ok, nothing special, jerk chicken is better! Hah, I guess it is! And no, that is not the reason she became my ex, but memories, or memories!
Sounds delicious. I, too, love caviar. It just never occurs to me to buy it because it costs so much. If your mother ever reveals the secret as to how she makes the La Tortilla wraps crispy, please let me know first.
So Dr Eades if you are ever in the neighborhood of Suny Downstate in Brooklyn, NYC visiting your friend Dr Feinman, let me know. I will let you taste the world’s best Russian sandwitch, low carb version off course, if not our neighborhood has world’s best jerk chicken! I think you came to downstate once, havent you? It is a very carribean heavy community, excellent food. There is no better food then NYC. It is just isn’t!
I go to NYC often, but I’ve been to SUNY Downstate only twice. Next time I’m there, I’ll take you up on your offer.
First…my apologies for the following long post. But, I care too much about our health. And it’s how I make a living.
A lot of the controversy surrounding sucralose stems from the fact that it was discovered while trying to create a new insecticide. The two chemists, Hough and Phadnis were looking for a new insecticide product. The younger Phadnis accidently tasted the end product and discovered it to be incredibly sweet. Since sugars are incredibly more profitable than insecticides, the silly insecticide search was canned and a new fake sweetener was “discovered”…yea, real smart scientists. The claim that it is made from sugar is a misconception about the final product. That’s where most scientists confuse facts and theories then approve substances based upon theories and bad science.
Sucralose is made when sugar is treated with trityl chloride, acetic anhydride, hydrogen chlorine, thionyl chloride, and methanol in the presence of dimethylformamide, 4-methylmorpholine, toluene, methyl isobutyl ketone, acetic acid, benzyltriethlyammonium chloride, and sodium methoxide, making it unlike anything found in nature. The Splenda Web site even states that “although sucralose has a structure like sugar and a sugar-like taste, it is not natural.” The product Splenda is also not actually calorie-free. Sucralose does have calories, but because it is 600 times sweeter than sugar, very small amounts are needed to achieve the desired sweetness. The first two ingredients in Splenda are dextrose and maltodextrin, which are used to increase bulk and are carbohydrates that are not free of calories. One cup of Splenda contains 96 calories and 32 grams of carbohydrates, which is substantial for people with diabetes but unnoticed due to the label claiming that it’s a no calorie sweetener.
The name sucralose is another misleading factor. The suffix -ose is used to name sugars, not additives. Sucralose sounds very close to sucrose, table sugar, and can be confusing for consumers. The name would have been trichlorogalactosucrose, but the FDA did not believe that it was necessary to use this so sucralose was allowed. “Let’s not confuse consumers with the facts. We know better…we are scientists!”
The presence of chlorine is thought to be the most dangerous component of sucralose. Chlorine is considered a carcinogen and has been used in poisonous gas, disinfectants, pesticides, and plastics. The digestion and absorption of sucralose is not clear due to a lack of long-term studies on humans. The majority of studies were done on animals for short lengths of time. The alleged symptoms associated with sucralose are gastrointestinal problems (bloating, gas, diarrhea, nausea), skin irritations (rash, hives, redness, itching, swelling), wheezing, cough, runny nose, chest pains, palpitations, anxiety, anger, moods swings, depression, and itchy eyes. The only way to be sure of the safety of sucralose is to have long-term studies on humans done.
Basic, advanced, organic chemistry, physiology, biochemistry, and human pathology taught me the vast difference between “ionic bonds”, table salt, and “covalent bonds”, when chlorine is combined with carbon: Organochlorine…used in Agent Orange; which can cause Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, diabetes, and some forms of cancer. Ionic bonds are usually safe for human consumption, whereas, covalent bonds are deadly….The ionic bond found between a sodium atom, and a chloride atom is safe. The covalent bond between the carbons in sugar and a chlorine atom, making an organochlorine, like in Splenda, is deadly. Atoms act vastly different when they form different bonds. The chloride ion is abundant in nature, and is essential for life. The chlorine molecule, two chlorine atoms, is used to make insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, clean pools, destroy the ozone layer, and is a powerful oxidant…you better be getting a lot of antioxidants if you consume the chlorine in Splenda. It is absorbed and is broken down in the body. How could you taste it if it didn’t react chemically on your tongue????
Saying Splenda is similar to sugar, and safe, is like saying riding in an airplane and wing-walking are the same and equally safe.
By the way, Splenda was released for consumption on April 1, 1998…the day reserved to embarrass the gullible.
drfitness
I appreciate the info. You are right, of course, about the difference between ionic and covalent bonds. But, I’m still not convinced that sucralose in the quantities consumed by the average consumer is all that dangerous. I am in total agreement that it would be better to avoid it altogether, but if one is comparing the danger of eating 10 teaspoons of sugar per day or 1/600th times that amount of sucralose (which calculates to about 8/100ths of a gram), I would choose the sucralose every time.
If I were going to sweeten my tea with something and I had both stevia and sucralose at hand, I would go for the stevia. But if I’m confronted with using Torani Sugar Free Black Cherry syrup with its tiny amount of sucralose or making my own (since a variety sweetened with stevia doesn’t exist), then I’ll grab for the Torani.
But, as I say, I appreciate the info. It’s always good to know the risk side of the equation when making risk/reward decisions.
Unfortunatley, hubby isn’t joining me all the way with the abstinence. He’s cut down a LOT, though. He travels usually 3 out of every 4 weeks, and he no longer has any alcohol while traveling. He’s also cut down when at home, though not as much as I have. If only I could break his milk-and-cookies habit. Small steps. You can lead a husband to low carb, but you can’t make him see the sense in it. Oh well. I’ll lead by example.
Thanks for asking!
Wow, Drfitness that was some information. I felt back in chemistry class, which i didnt like much. But it is agreat description by you nonetheless, thanks!
Such big seeds! If one of them did not get chewed, or a few even – does that not put one at risk for appendicitis? Curious me. Guava pips have been known to cause appendicitis.
I don’t think so. I’m not a believer in the notion that seeds or pips are the cause of appendicitis. I think those are old wive’s tales. I could be wrong, but my medical education leads me to believe otherwise.
Cheers–
MRE
I love pomegranate drinks and extremely healthy so this has got to have some health benefit. i will have to try this soon!
Dr. Mike,
It looks like your everyday china is fiestaware. In my humble opinion it is the best in the world aesthetics and function.
Michael
It looks like Fiestaware, but it isn’t. It’s everyday ceramic dishware. I guess it’s a modern day knockoff of Fiestaware.