A blog by Jorge Garcia.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Too natural for my own good

So I'm tryin' to do the natural thing. Watching what I put into my body. I'm buying organic whenever I can and I try to buy local as well. I just saw the documentary King Corn which I found pretty disturbing too. I threw away a bunch on stuff in my cupboard that had the high fructose corn syrup in it. I started looking for only grass fed beef. 

But I think I need to go mass market for my cottage cheese. I bought a natural cultured cottage cheese and could not down two spoonfuls. I downed the first one and then I had to try the second one to make sure it was really as awful as it seemed. Frankly it tasted spoiled. Which is not easy to determine since cottage cheese is essential spoiled already. This is a man's cottage cheese. And by "man" I mean a big hearty Swede with a long white Moses beard living off of cottage cheese and muesli. 

I am sad to say I am not that man. 

57 comments:

maven said...

Good for you, Jorge! It's very tough to eat the right things. I flavor my cottage cheese with vanilla and cinnamon and sweetened a little (you can almost think it's a danish if you spread it on toasted bread and top brown it in your toast-r-oven.

What do you think of the possibility of LOST airing at 10pm after Grey's Anatomy come April? When are you headed back to continue shooting in Hawaii?

Candice said...

It took me 5 years after moving here from Canada to figure out what was off-tasting about American ketchup, even though it was the exact same brand, but duh ('cause I knew why soda is sickeningly sweet here), it doesn't have real sugar. Ick. They need to shove the Trader Joe's a little closer to my apartment.

Z said...

Down with corn syrup! Ever since my family had some Brits for neighbors who would mention how sweet everything was over here (even bread), we've been trying to cut back on the nasty stuff as well. But cottage cheese might definitely be an exception... I like the pineapple flavored kind...

redelf said...

I would love to do the organic thing but its just too expensive when you have three kids.

pgtbeauregard said...

Jorge,

It's hard to eat the right foods. Staying away from white processed flour and white processed sugar (and high fructose syrup) will help immensely and immediately.

There's a bread called Ezekiel 4:9 that is natural whole grain. Also, soy products in place of dairy does a body good!!

Good luck

Rocky (Racquel) said...

"This is a man's cottage cheese. And by "man" I mean a big hearty Swede with a long white Moses beard living off of cottage cheese and muesli."

LOL

I personally like Breakstone's low fat (it's like 2% or something); creamy but the curds aren't microscopic.

As for organic - it's a tough call. You try to get it wherever you can and shop local whenever possible only to go outside and suck down a lung's full of bus fumes and buy your blue jeans made in five different third world countries.

But applause for efforts! BTW, if you're ever in NorCal, check out Oz Farm in Mendocino County - excellent organic produce!

wjl (Wolfgang Lonien) said...

I just love cottage cheese, if it's a good one. Have you tried the greek version, called "Zaziki"? Very healthy (with garlic and stuff), very tasty.

But what I would die for is some French or Bavaria "Blue" - ever tried those?

best (from Bavaria),
Wolfgang

Melissa McEwan said...

I'm with you, dude. There are some things on which a person just can't compromise.

Skim milk? No problem. Low-fat sour cream? Fine. Low-fat yoghurt? You got it. Low-fat cream cheese? Done.

Low-fat cheese? Not a chance.

My fat ass needs real cheese. There's just no two ways about it. Low-fat cheese is an abomination, an affront to food, an insult to my palatte. Real cheese or bust!

Amie R. said...

I try to buy organic as much as possible, but sometimes it's a little hard. It's really frightening how much stuff has high fructose corn syrup or just corn syrup in it. :/

I noticed it when I tried to be vegan, which I eventually gave up because I like cheese too much. So now I've decided to just be vegetarian and try to avoid certain things as much as possible.

Unknown said...

Come on Jorge be a man! I drank spoiled milk once - which when you have a cold is the only way you will ever drink spoiled milk.

Colleen Oakes said...

I just tried Organic milk for the first time...it was SO smooth! That's really the only way I can describe it. Smooth. I thought my regular skim milk was smooth, but until I had some organic milk....

On the other hand, I tried an organic apple the other day - ICK!!! Give me pesticides any day, as long as my apple doesn't taste like chewing dirt mush.

SpiderWomanKnits said...

Something easy to do when you are trying to stick to a healthy diet is just shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Stay with whole foods. Things that aren't too processed. You couldn't be more right about the corn syrup. Blech.

Radioactive Tori said...

I used to be the most healthy eater ever. Then I had 4 kids. I am not kidding when I say that I hadn't had a cheeto in my life until last year when one of my kids brought it home from school and I thought it was like heaven. You know, if heaven was all unhealthy and stuff. But good for you for eating organic and healthy. Maybe skip the cottage cheese?

plume said...

Swedes are wimps. In Denmark we have cottage cheese for beards, that's how hard we are.

Bianca said...

I hear organic cottage cheese goes real well with a shot of high fructose corn syrup... heh heh

I just got back from a vacation in Tokyo and when I was over there bought a bunch of this stuff called chirashizushi which is like pickled lotus root, carrot, shitake mushroom etc - its actually really nice - I mix it with rice and put cut up avocado and mung beans on it and a sprinkling of dried nori flakes (seaweed) - there is like NO fat in the meal and its really filling and surprisingly yummy. I brought a bunch back only to find it a week later in my local asian food market.

If anyone's interested the link has a pretty funny cartoon with a muppet avocado:

http://www.nagatanien.co.jp/topics/sushitaro/index.html

Bianca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Blogmaster said...

I understand you can read in spanish, why dont you try to make your own cheese? besides being fun it will surely taste better than anything light that you may buy.

a lot of links here.

http://elcuerpodecristo.com/wiki/Quesos%20Caseros

greetz desde Argentina, tu amigo Fierita.
me encantaria alguna vez entrevistarte, este soy yo: http://trailer.fierita.com

Bianca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bianca said...

blech the end of that link should read .html

PS. Happy Valentines, Jorge! xx

Cheryl said...

I have lost 65 lbs since May from cutting out soft drinks and drinking only water. I also don't eat anything that has high fructose corn syrup in the first 5 ingredients.

TakesaVillage said...

Jorge,
I am so glad that you'll be going back to work soon.Those foot pads were pretty nasty,but it's better outside than inside right?
Natural is the way to go,but it's life on the wild side.Best wishes for your good health.
Now go get that Emmy dude.

the girl with pointy sticks said...

Good on ya fer trying. How are the foot pads treating you?

Gwen said...

*reads with humor while munching chips and dip*

Chandra said...

A mi me encanta el queso, sobre todo el queso semicurado, aquí es excelente!! Pero si uno quiere cuidar su línea recomiendo espárragos, puedes inflarte, limpiarán tu cuerpo y no engoradarás ni un gramo!! :)

twisby said...

i have a book suggestion for you: "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. it's about where our food comes from. there is a chapter where they say the word "corn" in every single sentence. that pretty much sold me on the entire book.

Justin Shady said...
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Justin Shady said...
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Carl Snyder said...

OMG, that's so good that you're taking care of yourself! I like all the men in my life to take care of their bodies. I mean, you're not really IN in my life, but you're on my TV so that's kind of like you being in my life, but not really, you know? LOL?

Anyway, good luck with the new outlook on life! You deserve it! And be sure to post pictures of your progress!

Yours,

Carl

tanside said...

I understand your reasons Jorge, but i still can't get past how silly some of these social phases will look in 100 years. The proof is in our history books.

eduardesky said...

I can eat cottage cheese...with 100gr of bacon or a few sardine ;)

DE said...

As a Swede who accturly likes cottage cheese. Try to mix it with pinaple. It's also great to mix with chili and tuna.

Anonymous said...

Que bueno Jorge! Ten fuerza y lograras lo que deseas!
Muchisima suerte!

Please Type Legibly said...

I can't do the cottage cheese thing. At all. Blech. As to the rest of it, good for you!

Jess said...

I think you deserve organic points just for trying. I would have smelled it and puked, I'm sure.

Jen said...

Grass-fed beef is tasty! I read an comparison article about beef on Slate, and tried it...v good!

Anyway, here's the article...it's kind of interesting...

http://www.slate.com/id/2152674/

D S said...

Jorge, it sounds like you're really addressing a lot of things seriously that you've brought up here before.

I read a little bit about Ethan Suplee's weight control and was shocked that at his highest he was 450 lbs and he's now down to 250. At 250 he still plays exactly the roles he wants- his popularity and success was not affected by his weight.

I'm a 220 lb vegetarian- mostly. I'm not a small guy, I'm pretty big in fact, and while I will never give up the occasional shrimp or fish, I said goodbye to pork and beef and chicken and never looked back. I saw my cholesterol improve significantly.

I live in a Salvadoran immigrant neighborhood and this is a HUGE issue for Latins used to Latin food. In the farms they worked long hours with massive exercise and could barely afford the cheese they sprinkled on the food they mostly grew. In an office job they can afford a massive steak with shrimp and queso fresco over everything. Heart health is a big deal as the immigrant community ages (those who came over during the wars in the early 80s are now 50 and 60). So I think healthy eating definitely has a Latin component even amongst the variety of cuisines that make up what we call Latin food, from the Carribean to Tex-Mex to Argentinian mixed grill.

There is so much great food out there that's actually healthy that I'm surprised I ate as badly as I did when I did. I just made a Hungarian-style cauliflower soup which was absolutely stunning and had more soluble and insoluble fiber than you could imagine.

But what I know I need to do is work on a way that food isn't the center of my day. That's something I need to change.

So part of me wants to talk to you about Hawaiian food and the other part of me wants to drop food as a topic altogether and ask you about mountain climbing.

Miss Scarlett said...

Right on man!

Natural is good - but some things you can switch over to slowly.

I buy mass market cottage cheese myself - and I love it, but my Dad was a Dairy employee so I grew up on all things dairy.

I mix fresh fruit into my cottage cheese and it is so incredibly good. So is canned pineapple actually.

I've never even heard of this documentary - I'll look for it. I need some 'scared-straight' input right now.

Oh - and muesli, not sure what you are thinking of exactly when you say it but I just had muesli on a cruise and that stuff was manna from heaven. There is no way it was low-fat, no-fat hippie food --- so check that stuff out. It may be way better than you think!

Capcom said...

Happy St.Valentine's Day everyone!

Good for you Jorge for trying to live healthy! Yes, corn syrup is in everything, because it is so much cheaper than cane sugar. There is nothing wrong with a little pure cane sugar (hey, easy to get in Hawaii?!), but there are also things like crystalized stevia, and sugar that is rawer in processing than the bleached white kind, for substitutes in cooking.

I agree with all here, some fruit makes the cottage cheese go down.

Keep up the healthy life Jorge! You will definitely begin to notice the difference in time.

Natalie Witcher said...

Rock the universe! You'll feel so much better. Get you a juicer and start drinking your veggies too. mmmmmm

bertas said...

I did notice too as Siobhan noted, when I was in the States I couldnt get used to the food because it was so sugary.

I'll tell you a secret though... in need of a speedy diet? Go to England :) Sorry to any English readers/viewers of Lost I love England and the English (and Scottish and Irish although has to be said Welsh are my particular favorites :), but your food... well lets just say I was on forced fast for 3 months...
I lost 5 kilos in less then a month and it was a bit scary to weight myself after that... when I got home and my mum saw me, she started to wail...
But good on you Jorge for going healthy. Also what I have noted of late as I get older I do mind what I eat and natural and healthy food feels much better so you know maybe you are just getting older :)

Irishcoda said...

I don't think I could eat organic cottage cheese either. I like pineapple chunks in mine, am not too particular about the brand. I get the lowfat kind.

SummerChilde said...

Hi Jorge,
Glad you've discovered the slow food/natural foods. Keep up the great work on your show!

keri marion said...

hey jorge...

if it's just hte cottage cheese that you don't care for, try going to a local small creamery and try theirs. usually artisan stuff is better than organic in taste and they often times will not use corn-fed anything or milk with monsanto hormones - try that when you can, cuz artisan cheeses, like, rule.

we've been doing local /artisan /organic foods for a while now and it's not nearly as bad as some people might have us believe. in fact, it's quite palatable.

sw said...

Dear Jorge,
Try non-fat ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese. It's great, and the organic kind is way better.

I love your show and I love your blog! Thanks for sharing it with us.

keri marion said...

read everything by michael pollan.. he's a great writer and really down to earth and still honest.

Kara said...

I don't like cottage cheese, I can never bring myself to eat it, even when it is mixed with other foods. - I go for the ricotta cheese instead(part skim, lite etc) like the true pisan I am lol.

Chase Squires said...

There are a ton of recipes for making your own cottage cheese ... I know, prolly not a great idea, but as a kid it was fun ...

I'm a huge believer in rice and beans. I lost 55 pounds eating pretty much nothing but black beans and rice. It's filling, you throw some hot sauce on it and it tastes fine, and I never gained it back. Seriously.

Plus, it's easy. You don't have to think about it, just cook rice and beans, and eat.

Yeah, not exciting, but I had to break free from pizza and burgers. And it worked.

Cláudia Silva e Cunha said...

Good for you! I'm doing some healthier meals too... its difficult at first but... really needed!

Well I'm here to say that Lost is better then ever!! So many new mysteries!! OMG!!

One thing is permanent Hurley is great! You're a great actor!
Congratulations! ;)

Cláudia
claudia.nsc@hotmail.com

Bethany James Leigh Shady said...

but we will NEVER give up our A-maizing Corn Mix!!!

Carole said...

I frankly don't want to think too deeply about that taste. Curdles my taste buds. Blech.

BTW, I just bestowed an award on your blog because it makes me laugh every time I read it. Come see it:

http://tmbbi.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I've been on too many diets: Atkins, South Beach, No-White-Foods, etc. I have hypothyroid, and I never lost any weight on them.

...My theory is, it's better to be fat and happy than skinny and miserable. I think 98% of the world would disagree with me on that theory--but we could all die tomorrow, and who would be the happy ones? The chunky ones, dammit. We'd be staring death in the eye with a smile on our faces and a burrito in our hands.

(Ahem) Anyway, my husband and I are trying the "Eat Less, Move Around More" way of thinking at the moment. That way, I can still have a burrito and a smile. ...I just have to work for it.

ROSA said...

If you try on Monday... maybe on Tuesday returns to your normal diet...
You have to think "Mens Sana in Corpore Sano"... And if you win the battle, tell me please. I've living for 30 years trying that...

Joey Polanski said...

Out here in Nebraski, we say, "Corn, corn, and MORE CORN!"

Wiconsin Gardener said...

I find it funny that after spending some time in Milwaukee, you get home only to feel the need to detox and eat natural. Was it really that bad here? *laughing*

Kris said...

I definitely commend you for trying to just eat grass fed beef. I've encouraged my dad to do the same after reading Fast Food Nation. Ick, man, what a book.

DrDegroot said...

Jorge,

I find it helpful and healthful to eat free range things...like chickens!

Robin said...

Oh, thank you for reminding me! I have meant to see that movie, so I am requesting it from my library as we speak! I tried to read the Omnivore's Dilemma, but I couldn't get into it. I'll try again sometime later.