Baked kale as substitute for potato chips

Over the past year, baked kale has become a favorite snack for my family. It recently occurred to me that we now eat baked kale much like many families eat bags of potato chips. If you bake kale, it becomes light and a bit crispy. Our children enjoy it as much as the adults. Here's the recipe we use. Wash your kale, then pull off the leaves into bite sized pieces. Spin the kale in a salad spinner to get rid of all the moisture (or else the kale will get soggy when you bake it). Drizzle a bit of oil on the kale (we use canola) and toss the kale to evenly coat it with a very thin coat. Spread the pieces of kale on a baking pan, and lightly salt it. Bake at about 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. The kale is ready when the tips start to brown. Enjoy.

Continue ReadingBaked kale as substitute for potato chips

Depression as an adaptation?

For anyone who has been depressed, it is difficult to conceive of depression as something ever useful. Depression immobilizes people, and the core symptom is anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure. From the perspective of depressed people, these add up to a living hell. The World Health Organization estimates that depression is the fourth leading cause of disability in the world, and that it is projected to become the second leading cause of disability. I recently finished watching a "Great Courses" video lecture series called "Stress and Your Body," featuring Robert Sapolsky, who described the strong correlation between stress and depression. He indicated that lack of outlets, lack of social support and the perception that things are worsening are precursors to depression. In an article titled "Is Depression an Adaptation?" psychiatrist Randolf Nesse terms depression "one of humanity’s most serious medial problems." Nesse also argues, however, that many instances of depression are actually adaptive. How could this possibly be? Nesse explains: [More . . . ]

Continue ReadingDepression as an adaptation?

Stepping Up Finally

I’ve been hesitant to write anything about the Susan G. Komen fiasco. Not for fear of invoking controversy, but because things started unraveling so fast it was difficult to know when it would play out. Here is a handy overview of the series of events. The position taken by the Komen charity group shifted, mutated, and reeled in the sudden upwelling of negative response, that on any given day whatever I might have said would be irrelevant the next morning. One aspect, however, strikes me as significant. That response. It came swiftly and it came from all quarters and it came with cash. I cannot recall a similar response happening so swiftly and so decisively in this ongoing struggle over abortion rights. One of the most annoying things about being progressive and/or liberal is the tepidity with which we meet challenges. It would appear that all of us who espouse a progressive view, when it gets down to the nitty gritty of political position-taking and infighting, have feet not even of clay but of silly putty. It is actually heartening to see an abrupt and united response that is categorically decisive for once. [More . . . ]

Continue ReadingStepping Up Finally

Ex-vegetarianism

In the December issue of The Atlantic, three ex-vegetarians explain their conversion:

Concerns about health, the environment, and ethical eating do not require giving up meat. What they do require is a new ethics of eating animals: one rooted in moderation, mindfulness, and respect.
As you might expect, vegetarians and ex-vegetarians are having an intense discussion in the comments following this article.

Continue ReadingEx-vegetarianism