Health for life

You are browsing your blog reader for food porn and come across a gorgeous recipe that you must make immediately. Then you notice it calls for calls for 7 ounces of uncooked quinoa and 1 cup of cooked lentils. There goes your food boner.

How much quinoa does 7 ounces make? How many ounces of dried lentils cook up to make a cup? And which measuring cup is used for either of them? Even if you have a food scale, you might be at a bit of a loss.

For ages, I’ve been keeping notes about how beans, legumes, and sundry grains measure up before and after cooking. Naturally, it seems I’ve reinvented the wheel—the InterWebs are rich with resources for weight/volume conversion—but I have a digital kitchen scale and I never get tired of weighing my own lentils.

The Nitty Gritty
These approximate formulas for the most common dry goods can be used as a guide when judging how much of an item to buy or cook for a recipe. For the most accurate measurements, you will want to weigh and measure for yourself, but these will get you started.


Hopefully you’ll find this list to be a helpful resource. Print it out and stick it on the fridge for erence. But don’t let it stop you from picking up that sassy kitchen scale you’ve had your eye on. Mine is a desert island gadget, right up there with my silicone spatula and cast iron skillet. How else would I know that an almond weighs exactly a gram?

Further Reading/Resources
VegWorld: How much does a cup weigh?
Homecooking.about.com: Food Equivalents and Substitutions
Epicurious: Common Measures and Equivalents

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Researchers at Duke University recently reported that aerobic exercise was better than resistance training (e.g. exercising with weights) for reducing belly fat:



The Effects of Aerobic versus Resistance Training on Visceral and Liver Fat Stores, Liver Enzymes and HOMA from STRRIDE AT/RT: A Randomized Trial, American Journal of Physiology, August, 2011



Their study involved 249 subjects (155 completed). They were between 18 and 70 years old, overweight, sedentary, and with moderately high LDL (130-190 mg/dL) or moderately low HDL (≤40 mg/dL men, ≤45 mg/dL women).



Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups for 8 months:

1. Resistance Training (RT) - 3 days/wk, 8 exercises, 3 sets/exercise, 8-12 repetitions/set.
   
   
2. Aerobic Training (AT) - about 19.2 km/wk (12 miles/wk).
   
   
3. Full Aerobic Training plus full Resistance Training (AT/RT).

Findings:



Aerobic Training led to significant reductions in:

• Liver fat
  
  
• Visceral fat (fat between abdominal organs, called belly fat)
  
  
• Liver enzymes (ALT)
  
  
• Insulin resistance (HOMA)
  
  
• Both total and subcutaneous abdominal fat

Resistance Training led to significant reductions in:

• Subcutaneous abdominal fat

RT did not significantly improve the other variables.



When it came to using energy, aerobic training burned 67% more calories than resistance training.



Results of AT plus RT were not different from AT alone.



The authors concluded:

"For overweight and obese individuals who want to reduce measures of visceral fat and fatty liver infiltration and improve [insulin resistance] and [liver enzymes], a moderate amount of aerobic exercise is the most time efficient and effective exercise mode."

Lead author Cris Slentz, PhD, added:¹

"When it comes to increased health risks, where fat is deposited in the body is more important than how much fat you have."



"Resistance training is great for improving strength and increasing lean body mass. But if you are overweight, which two-thirds of the population is, and you want to lose belly fat, aerobic exercise is the better choice because it burns more calories."



"What really counts is how much exercise you do, how many miles you walk, and how many calories you burn. If you choose to work at a lower aerobic intensity, it will simply take longer to burn the same amount of unhealthy fat."

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¹ Want To Lose Belly Fat? Aerobic Exercise Beats Weights, Medical News Today, August 30, 2011