Today I made dinner and I used shiritaki noodles. They are made from tofu, are a good source of calcium. Shiritaki noodles are very low in calories. You can use the search feature on my You Tube Channel to get ideas of how to cook with them. They can be used like other noodles or pasta, and they absorb the flavor that is in the accompanying ingredients.
For our dinners tonight, I stir fried onion and mushrooms, added a little left over kale and in one I used soy crumbles as protein and the other, pork.
It was the idea that I used something that my Mother isn't used to eating with something that I won't eat, meat, that got me thinking. I thought oh yes, "pork, the other white meat."
And recalling that little slogan gave me an aha moment. In the last month I have read a lot of articles about the US food supply and some of them included discussions of agricultural policies. You may not be aware, but at one time the government subsidized generic advertising for some of our commodities. A small percentage of money in the agriculture budget was set aside each year for advertising a commodity but not a brand. The intent was to raise consumer demand which would benefit farmers who produced beef, pork and milk.
This is exactly why leading food policy and nutrition experts have questioned the behind the doors meetings that result in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The USDA takes part in those meetings and we end up with some contradictory policies. The Department of Agriculture wants to sell its commodities but the
Department of Health and Human Services wants to improve our health. We should limit the very ones the other advertises. I.e. red meat and dairy which are high in saturated fat. Recall the output of some of those ad campaigns
"Beef. Its What's for Dinner."
"Milk. It Does a Body Good." and
"Pork. The other White Meat."
Pork is NOT the other white meat... what a clever little add that was. Red meat is red or pink when raw and pork is red meat.
To learn more about the benefits of limiting red meat, click here to go to the HSPH website for the latest research.
BTW, Mom really enjoyed her shiritaki stir fry!
The Other Red Meat
