Thanks.

My old fave campfire recipe is a porkchop, slice each of onion, russet tater, tomato, and a sprinkle each of rosemary and garlic. Wrap and roast.

I suggest all the people who claim to know what’s healthy pick up a copy of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig. Real fats are healthy, and that includes butter, lard, tallow, coconut oil and olive oil. It’s the highly processed, rancid vegetable oils (which are frequently genetically modified) that are nasty to the extreme!

@jc… YES, you get it! :)

@slcp84 (#58) Suggested reading: Eat Fat Lose Fat

Here is a great recipe for Parmesan Tilapia that uses a lot less mayo, for those who are freaked out by fat (for no good reason):

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Broiled-Tilapia-Parmesan/Detail.aspx

Thanks for the ideas Trent, and I really hope you disregard those ridiculous comments. I LOVE your food posts!

and it IS 125 calories at issue, because it’s divided across four servings.

people are so afraid of a little sauce because it’s “high in fat” but go nuts with the bread and potatoes. that’s where the real weight is gained.

Those overly obsessed with calorie counts sound read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Not all calories are created equal.

However, I’m not sure where you get that I equate “healthy” and “low-calorie” or “low-fat,” considering what I said in the first place: “Even more worrying to me is the lack of fruits and vegetables.” That sure looks like a suggestion that a healthy meal should be heavier on unprocessed foods and their attendant vitamins and fiber to me.

and for what it’s worth, that’s exactly how I’m eating these days, along with veggies and beans, and it’s taking weight off.

just stop using the word “healthy” as a synonym for “low calorie” (always a farce, because you always eat more of it) or “low fat” (ditto). not everyone shares your definition of “healthy”–and they shouldn’t, because it’s absurd! if you want to demonize entire food groups as “unhealthy,” let’s go after refined sugar and starch.

Bargain Babe’s quick summer side salad
1 15-oz can black beans
1 15-oz can corn
1 red pepper, chopped small
1/2 red onion, diced
2-3 T lime juice

Toss all ingredients together. Add lime juice until the flavors really sing. Enjoy!

As for the people going on about “balance” and differing caloric needs and such, sorry, but you’re kidding yourself there. My calculations on the sauce alone on the tilapia–lowball calculations, by the way–is that it’s about 500 calories. Adult males are supposed to be consuming an average of 2000 calories a day. 1/4 of your calories on the sauce on dinner by itself is crazy; most people who eat a serving of that sauce are going to end up going over for the day. Unless you are Michael Phelps, eating like that is going to make you put on weight. And people tend to eat what they’re served, so the whole “oh maybe they just won’t eat all the sauce” theory is equally untenable. Trent also didn’t say that these were special-occasion dishes for his family, but rather ones they return to again and again.

I’ll be the first to say that it sucks that we can’t eat as we like, in the abundance our society makes available to us, without putting out weight, but there it is. I believe strongly that everyone’s weight is their own business, but in order to make your own choices, you need good information. And calling that tilapia recipe “healthy” is not good information.

1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cups fat free chicken broth
16 oz. bag frozen vegetable blend
small can white beans, drained & rinsed
1 cup 1% milk
1/4 cup shredded cheese
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Heat oil in dutch oven – add onion, cook 5 mins.
Stir in chicken broth and vegtables & bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, add beans (drained), cover and simmer 5 minutes.

Pour 3 cups of the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth, then return to Dutch oven. Stir in milk, cheese and seasonsings and simmer 10 minutes.

I think the problem is this:

Trent is posting something as a trusted source of information and saying it’s a healthy meal. The people who know how to eat healthy that are complaining can figure out for themselves what the problems are and fix them, but the people that actually need the advice of what to eat might see these and go “oh a healthy meal!” and not realize what they’re being told to eat.

Please, for the sake of those who DON’T know how to eat right, try to put a little more thought into the “healthy meals” you recommend. And if you call it a meal, make it complete — don’t assume that people know that you are supposed to add veggies to it, etc.

Spend less than you earn.
Eat less than you burn.

Where those calories come from is not really a big deal, but fatty foods have more calories in them than non-fatty foods. Study after study after study keeps coming back to calorie counting as the most effective way to control your weight.

It’s the same thing with budgeting for personal finance (and frugality). If you find value in eating a block of cheese dipped in mayo and then followed up with ice cream and a glass of whole milk, then go for it. Just know that you need to somehow get rid of the excess calories that you consumed, or control the amount by using sensible portion sizes. Same way that you might find value in owning a giant house with an expensive car and going on expensive vacations — you just need to be able to pay for it. If you can pay in cash, you can do OK — but if you start paying on credit, then you can get into a mess. Same thing with eating too much and “exercising tomorrow”. Tomorrow too rarely comes.

If Trent published a regular personal finance article about living on a budget of $2500/month, then listed a $1600 mortgage, $400 car payment, $150 for insurance, $600 for food, $200 for spending money and $100 for gas, plus a bunch of other expenses (cable, entertainment, eating out, etc), would you consider that “healthy”?

Also it would be nice if the recipes included caloric information and serving sizes. It’s entirely possible to consume mayo, butter and other fats on a diet (in addition to ice cream, cookies, donuts, pie and cake) — you just need to know how many calories you are consuming so you can keep track. It’s exactly the same thing as keeping a money budget going.