New Rating for Cholesterol

Remember the food pyramid with its warning about the evils of cholesterol?  

Every five years, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, issues "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," a federal document that has far-reaching implications on what Americans eat.

The guidelines affect everything - from the way companies advertise their products to the diet advice offered up by nearly every doctor and nutritionist in the country.

It’s on page 91 of the massive 572-page Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee that a stunning reversal is recorded: "Previously, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended that cholesterol intake be limited to no more than 300 mg/day. The 2015 DGAC will not bring forward this recommendation because available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum (blood) cholesterol, consistent with the AHA/ACC (American Heart Association / American College of Cardiology) report. Cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern for overconsumption."

This is a tectonic shift regarding one of the main nutritional designations of the foods Americans eat. Cholesterol has been a prominent dietary warning since the American Heart Association declared it off limits more than half a century ago.

But the problem goes even further according to Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

He believes that the directive to Americans to limit saturated fats and cholesterol  from a well-balanced diet to high-sugar diets, which resulted in people eat more and gaining weight.

This decision to reclassify cholesterol is major. Foods high in cholesterol, such as eggs, liver, shellfish, shrimp and lobster, will likely see a major increase in demand from diners.

Your Culinary World Copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel  2015

Remembering Kennedy Warmly

Fifty years ago America, like so many other countries, lost a promising young leader to hate and senseless violence. Kennedy was a leader who hoped for peace because he had seen the terrible face of war.

He was also a man who found some small part of that peace at sea. When time allowed, which was far too seldom, he left the White House and sought time sailing. There he was away from the stress of decisions that affected millions and from the pain that dogged his days.

Who shot him and why is still debated. Was it Cuban terrorists, was it the Mafia, was it a lone gunman? We may never know. But the singular truth remains that such violence, in the end, solves nothing and only leaves behind tears and fears and a thousand unanswered questions.

As America pauses and remembers that horrid day that shocked and shattered the nation, it is so easy to forget the man, a man sailing with the wind in his face, seeking answers he was never allowed to find.

Let's not forget he was not a monument or a demi-god - just a person daring to seek sane solutions in a world that seems to offer few.

Often after he finished sailing, he enjoyed a warming bowl of chowder made in the New England style. Later, when his duties as president keep him sitting painfully hour after hour behind his large oak desk in the Oval Office, he would often send down to the White House kitchen for his favorite chowder and continue working long into the night, still guiding the ship of state. 

Here is the White House recipe for that very chowder - enjoy and then pause and consider the challenge he left behind for each of us to steer a good and noble course in life:

Kennedy's Favorite New England Chowder

INGREDIENTS 

• 2 pounds Haddock
• 2 ounces salt pork (diced)
• 2 onions (sliced)
• 4 potatoes (diced)
• 1 cup celery (chopped)
• 1 Bay leaf (crumbled)
• 1 quart milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Simmer haddock in 2 cups of water for 15 minutes, drain and reserve broth.
2. Remove bones from fish.
3. Sauté diced pork until crisp, remove and set aside.
4. Sauté onions in pork fat until golden brown.
5. Add fish, potatoes, celery, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
6. Pour in fish broth plus enough boiling water to make 3 cups of liquid.
7. Simmer for 30 minutes.
8. Add milk and butter and simmer for 5 minutes.
9. Serve chowder sprinkled over pork dice.

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013