I have a yogurt parfait for breakfast almost every day. This habit allowed me to explore at length the world of granola. So, in today’s post, I will share some of my exploration and what I learned from it to create my homemade granola recipe.
Why yogurt parfait? You may ask. Over the last year and a half, I’ve been pursuing significant improvements in my cycling. As part of this endeavor, I became familiar with sports nutrition, and one recommendation is to start your training day with carbohydrates of a low glycemic index. Oatmeal, yogurt, and most fruit fall into this category, so a yogurt parfait is a great choice.
I try to alter the recipe of my breakfast parfait according to the seasons and what fruits are available and reasonably priced. Initially, I tried every brand of granola and also variations of muesli. Finally, I settled to simple oat and honey granola for the texture, and it paired well with most fruit.
Then, I began exploring bakeries and specialty food shops; some of my favorite in the Seattle area are:
Cone & Steiner in Capitol Hill.
Rosellini’s in Ballard,
Macrina Bakery, in Capitol Hill
Fuel Coffee, in Capitol Hill
I especially liked the maple, oats, and pecan granola from Cone & Steiner. I like the flavor and the texture that pecans give. I also tried the granola from the Cheeseboard bakery in Berkeley, CA. They included flax seeds in it, and I loved it.
Many granolas pack some raisins and shredded coconut when it comes to inclusions. I find raisins quite dull, but they bring a wonderful natural sweetness to the parfait. However, I discovered the orange-flavored dried cranberries from Trader Joe’s some time ago. I always thought they’d be perfect if mixed in granola, so I decided to include them when I came up with my recipe. Those cranberries bring a citrus flavor that enhances every fruit I add to my parfait.
The final product.
So, to summarize, what I appreciate in Granola is crunch, nuts like pecans, texture from the seeds, and natural sweetness from dried fruit. With all this information, I present you with my “Juanola Granola” recipe, which became my absolute favorite to the extent I only have that one.
Ever since I started cooking, I end up throwing away leftover ingredients. Doing this always feels somewhat heartbreaking because I’m not only cheap and environmentally conscious but also that there’s flavor there I won’t ever experience. In today’s post, I will discuss three ways to utilize your ingredients in a different way to enhance flavor, minimize waste, and save you some money. Let’s get started.
Food Scraps Make Great Stock
As I got more into cooking, I discovered the difference it makes cooking with stock. With stock, you can make fluffy scrambled eggs, more flavorful rice and sauces, and of course, excellent soups. Therefore, I saw myself buying more boxes of ‘low sodium’ stocks from the grocery store. But then, one day, I saw Massimo Bottura making a stock out of his vegetable peels, and I decided to give it a try. The result was incredible. Then, I got the itches, and I decided to try everything before throwing it into the compost. Green onion roots, onion and carrot peels, root vegetable fronds, and more taste equally amazing! So before disposing, there’s no harm in setting up a pot of boiling water and boiling your scraps for stock.
The same principle applies to bones and skin. Have you ever noticed that boneless, skinless chicken pieces cost more than their bone-in and skin-on counterparts? So, why not maximize your yield while minimizing your cost by using a knife? Even better if you buy a whole bird! I will share more insight when it comes to skin.
Here I’m making stock with carrot fronds, unpeeled onions, and chicken bones and skin.
Take Advantage of By-Products
In the last section, I discussed buying a whole chicken. There’s so much you can do with it, even if you’re single. For example, you could break it apart and freeze its components to have them ready to go. Then, make pate with the liver, or quickly saute the heart.
Even if you don’t like to eat the skin of the chicken, you could render its fat on low heat in a pan and then use it for cooking the meat; this way, you avoid adding extra oil to your preparation and enjoy a much more pure flavor. This principle of rendering fats applies to many scraps, like steak or pork fat trimmings; instead of buying tallow or lard, you could quickly render it, strain it, and even store it for longer-term at room temperature. For example, I like to save bacon fat and add it when I bake sandwich rolls; it adds mystical flavor.
Finally, do you have fruit peels? While you can’t make stock with them, you can boil them in a little water, add sugar, maybe some pectin, wait until it thickens, and voilá, marmalade, or jam.
Here I’m making Yuzu Marmalade from the remainders of a Yuzu Lemon I had
Freeze or Dry Your Perishables
Many times, you buy herbs or other components that wilt quickly. While wilted herbs lose their visual appeal as garnishes, they still preserve the flavor. A quick 30 seconds in the microwave will leave your herbs in a dried state; then, you can grind them and save them for later flavoring. Other herbs that don’t dry well, like cilantro or basil, can be placed in ice cubes, and later on, you can use them in sauces or stocks. They will dissolve, but they will keep their flavor.
There are many delicate fruits, including all berries, that you can buy at peak ripeness and freeze before they lose their flavor. The same principle applies to peas, spinach, and other greens. Bread freezes so well too! Not ready to make stock? You can also freeze your food scraps and start accumulating them until you’re ready! The key message is to befriend your freezer.
Finally, if you invest in a food dehydrator, you get additional possibilities. Pit and dehydrate cherries, plums, pineapple slices, or citrus. Make jerky, and much more!
Closing Thoughts
Minimizing waste allows us to optimize our food budget while taking some small care for the planet. I hope you find these tips helpful, and you get to implement them while cooking.
I close my post with this, but I’d like to know your favorite ways of getting more from your ingredients. So please let me know in the comments section below.
About six years back, I discovered Backpacking. I already knew how to prepare for a hike, but backpacking was a completely new league. In a previous post, I already discussed how to cook in the wilderness, the equipment to take, and what kind of ingredients you should carry. Today I intend to go deeper and show a way to strategize planning your meals.
First, let’s rehash the basics of how your body utilizes energy to move you around. Then, if you want to go deeper, I linked several resources in this post. However, essentially we measure the energy that our body uses in calories. On a given day, our energy will go toward sustaining our body functioning, and the rest toward movement and brainpower. The first piece of the education is called “Basal Metabolic Rate” – BMR for short. The second piece of the equation depends on what we do during the day. When performing intense physical activities, it’s a good idea to replenish all that we burn or risk triggering the mechanisms that make us gain weight later on. Therefore, for backpacking, some knowledge of our bodies and how challenging the hike will be is extremely useful.
This is all the food I got for a 4-day long trip. Before repackaging.
If you have time before your backpacking trip, I recommend you go on a similar trek and measure how many calories you burn with a fitness tracker. Otherwise, no biggie, we can proceed with some rough numbers.
Let’s imagine that your BMR is 1500 calories. And that you will burn about 2000 calories every five miles of your trip. Those numbers are examples, but close mine on a moderate trip. With this information, let’s think about options:
How many meals do you like to have? – I tend to cook breakfast and dinner.
What will be your emergency meal?
How many people are in your group?
What snacks can you carry?
And then, I find it helpful to build a schedule:
Meal
Items
Cals
Weight
Breakfast
Peanut Butter and Chocolate overnight oats.Instant coffee with powdered milk.
500 cal.
150g
Dinner
Udon soup with miso soup.½ chocolate bar.
600 cal.350 cal.
250g
Snacks
5 x Larabar2 Servings of Trail Mix.½ bag of Jelly Beans
1000 cal.350 cal.350 cal.
425g
3150 cal.
825g ~ 2lb
A sample table to visualize if you’re bringing enough to your trip.
It adds up to 3150 calories, and I believe it’s close to what I should be eating. Also, note that every day adds about 2lbs worth of food to your backpack. Weighing your items and minimizing the packaging will make a substantial difference in the final weight. Finally, it’s worth checking if your trip requires a bear-proof container and checking if everything fits in it.
One common mistake most beginners, including myself, make is overpacking as if they were to get lost for a week. It’s normal to feel this anxiety, though, but I’d resist the urge to add more weight than necessary in your backpack.
Let’s now consider the kinds of foods you could carry. Simply, you could group it in fats, proteins, or carbohydrates. First, protein-rich foods will not help here, so no more than 20% of what you carry should be proteins. Your body needs carbohydrates to fuel your workouts, and ideally, you would bring mostly carbs; however, fats pack more than twice the calories per weight; this makes them attractive to help reduce the burden. Since hiking is not as intense as trail-running or cycling, I’d consider bringing 30% to 40% of my nutrition as fat-rich items.
I conclude my post with this, and I hope you find it helpful. Backpacking is a great activity that can be enjoyed greatly if appropriately fueled. Please leave any questions or comments in the section below, and enjoy the wilderness!
A few days back, I made granola for the very first time in my life. I buy granola from bakeries and local shops to experience different flavors as I have it for breakfast most days. But, suddenly, I noticed that it got pretty pricey, so I decided to make my own. Inspired by how easy the process was, I decided to share some ideas on easy pantry items to make at home that will keep for a long time. Let’s dive in.
Granola
Making granola is a very intuitive process. Just toss some rolled oats, crushed nuts, and seeds of your liking with some coconut oil and honey, bake for 25 minutes at 350ºC and let it cool down. Then you can mix it with dried fruit like raisins and coconut chips.
My very first batch of granola.
I found this process so intuitive and easy that I don’t believe I’ll buy it from stores anymore. Additionally, cost-wise, I spent the equivalent to two granola bags on enough ingredients to make about 5 or 6. Pretty good, right?
Dried Pasta
If you have a pasta machine, this should be a no-brainer. Admittedly, the entire process takes up some work, but cost-wise is not expensive, and the results are unbeatable. To achieve this, simply make extra batches of semolina pasta dough, consisting of semolina, water, salt, and olive oil; and after rolling the pasta, leave it to dry overnight on a wire rack or hanging somewhere. You can store the dried pasta in a paper bag, and it will keep fresh for months.
Pasta I made by also milling my own durum wheat (semolina)
Dried Herbs
Do you have a herb garden that produced plenty? Making dried versions of your herbs takes up little work. Simply wrap your fresh herbs loosely in a paper towel and microwave them for about 30 seconds.; they will come out perfectly dried and not wilted. Some herbs that retain great flavor when dried are: mint, rosemary, oregano, and thyme.
Some rosemary I scavenged in my neighborhood to dry out.
Flavored Oils
Some oils can become your distinctive touch in the kitchen. For example, I use them to finish dishes and flavor the bread I bake. Infusing oil is ridiculously simple; just heat the oil of your preference to about 300ºF, drop in your herbs, chiles, or garlic and let it cool off. Then you can either fish the solids or keep them in the jar for presentation.
Garlic confit and rosemary-garlic olive oil. All in one!
Vinegar
I haven’t tried this one myself, but I’ve seen the process. It requires some equipment as vinegar is the by-product of fermentation. To do so, you simply submerge your favorite fruit in water inside a fermentation jar and voilá a few weeks after you have vinegar.
Other Options
Finally, I won’t go through how to make them, but you can try jarring or confit tomatoes, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, eggplants, or garlic. Canned vegetables are also an option or, why not mill your own flour?
I close my post with this, but I’d be curious to know what other things come to mind when you make your pantry items? Please leave a comment in the section below.
Who doesn’t love a well-presented meal? I love it and made it a point to style my meals as best as possible. Styling food is not only a technical culinary challenge; it has deeper connections to one’s health. Let’s explore how.
As shared in a previous post, I used noom for about four to five months; it was part of my health journey. When in the program, they suggested making your food look beautiful to increase your satiety. I couldn’t find a research paper that explicitly states that fact, but I found this research paper amongst others that discuss satiety. Now, I’m not a dietitian, and I can only talk from experience and intuition.
Kabocha and Shiitake Risotto – Here I used the peel of the squash as a vessel to present the risotto.
Some of the reasons why I believe beautiful meals make you feel more satisfied are:
In the paper I linked previously, the researchers state that expensive food leads people to eat more mindfully to maximize their enjoyment.
Another research paper states that food distributed in a way that looks high in volume also leads to anticipated satisfaction.
From the four kinds of hunger, beauty can potentially address emotional hunger.
Finally, the effort I make on plating makes me want to pause and eat more methodically to ensure I have a bit of everything.
This fennel stuffing looked great when presented directly in the cast-iron skillet I used to cook it.
These three cues point to one place, mindful eating, which helps us perceive better our natural satiety cues. And, it looks like styling your meals is a habit that bundles well with mindful eating.
In my case, making an effort to style my meals better also made me a better cook. Driven by presentation, I could build the intuition of cooking temperatures. For example, It seems evident to me now, but most herbs wilt if you don’t add them last-minute, yielding a sad-looking dish. Additionally, many ingredients benefit visually from slightly browning them in the pan before presenting them; this also improves flavor significantly.
Polenta with tomato sauce – Here I used a cookie cutter to shape the polenta and land it on the sauce.
Here are some quick tips that you can use to present your food better:
First, think of what you want to show, is your technique or maybe your visual art? There’s nothing sexier than a medium-rare steak sliced and plated to see the doneness.
Not all ingredients cook equally. For example, say you’re sauteing kale. It will go through a stage where the color brightens and improves, and then when overcooked and wilted, the color will become grayish and sad. So think of when to cook your ingredients to maximize visuals.
When cutting and chopping, consider if those ingredients will show or dissolve. Maybe you’d like to dice, grate, or julienne more methodically.
A good presentation somehow showcases all the ingredients. For example, you might easily make hummus with all your chickpeas, but what if you save some and use them as a garnish?
Consider color contrast; some spices have deep red, purple, or black colors that add texture to the final visuals. By the way, research shows that texture also increases satiety.
The plate that carries the meal also makes an enormous difference. Meals look quite sad on poorly designed plates, no matter how much effort you make. Beautiful silverware, table cloth, and other elements that you can see also make a difference.
There is the concept of the “rule of the thirds” in photography. We can borrow that idea to decide where to place the entree and the sides on the plate.
Japanese Curry – Here I used some props to brighten the mood of the dish. A cold day but warm inside.
I conclude my post with this, and I feel you find it helpful to start making your plates look sexier. If you do something and would like to share, please do so in the comments section below.
This book came into my hands as a present from my sister. It is one of the most influential books I have ever read and the very reason why I decided to explore Buddhism more seriously. Initially published in 1922, this is one hundred years ago; it relates the life journey of Siddhartha and his search for enlightenment.
In my mind, this book is Hesse’s interpretation of the life of the Buddha, even though he explicitly denies this theory of the book when Siddhartha meets him and challenges the foundation of his doctrine.
“And—this is my thought, O Sublime One—no one will achieve salvation through teachings! O Venerable One, you will not be able to inform and tell a single person in words and by means of teachings what happened to you in the hour of your enlightenment! The doctrine of the enlightened Buddha contains a great deal; it teaches many to live righteously, to shun evil. But one thing this doctrine, so clear, so venerable, does not contain: it does not contain the secret of what the Sublime One himself experienced, he alone among the hundreds of thousands.”
There are many moments of insight throughout the life of Siddhartha. He learns how to be spiritual, mundane, rich, poor, young, old during his path. He also adopts many masters that teach him to meditate, love, conduct business, and finally listen. The book builds up to the concept of listening and gaining perspectives to connect with others and the world. This theme becomes apparent through the following passage:
“One goal was Siddhartha’s and only one: to become empty, empty of thirst, empty of wishes, empty of dreams, empty of joy and sorrow. To die away from himself, no longer to be “I,” to find repose with an emptied heart, to be ready for a miracle with thought liberated from ego: that was his goal.”
I recommend this book to everyone; it has unparalleled inspirational power and many layers of detail that will show upon reading it repeatedly. I’ve read it at least five times, and I always find new things.
I hope you enjoy this read, and if you have read it before, don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
I can’t believe 2021 is almost over, and this will be the last post of the year. If this year has taught me anything, it’s to keep things simple and adapt to new circumstances. And you can think of adapting on so many levels! So this is my simple version of adapting.
One of my most frequently enjoyed breakfasts is a classic yogurt parfait. I like it with strawberries or other kinds of berries. I also make it more interesting by leveraging secret chef tricks that I learned here and there. One such trick is to finish the parfait with thyme and olive oil. I learned this from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Masterclass, which by the way, you should check out.
In a previous post, I emphasized the importance of eating locally and seasonally. And, the season of some of my favorite Persian fruits is here. I’m talking, of course, of persimmons and pomegranates. In addition, I added dried mint to the recipe to emphasize its Persian influence.
I want, though, to raise the stakes and make this breakfast more interesting. To do this, I show you make a lemon-thyme infused olive oil. This oil will brighten the dish up and surprise anyone you invite to your table. If you happen to live in Seattle, like me, I recommend you try the brand Ellenos of Greek yogurt; it’s insanely delicious. Let’s get started!
Late fall, early winter variation of a classic yogurt parfait.
For the lemon-thyme olive oil
¼ cup olive oil.
Peels of 1 Meyer lemon.
3 sprigs of fresh thyme.
For each serving of the Parfait
150g to 170g of Greek yogurt.
1 tsp Meyer lemon zest.
1 tbsp honey.
30g of Honey-Oat granola.
2 tbsp pomegranate seeds.
1 persimmon, peeled and cut in wedges.
Dried mint and lemon oil for garnish.
Directions
In a small saucepan, heat the oil until just below its smoke point, about 300ºF.
Add the lemon peels and the thyme. Then, turn the heat off and let the oil infuse and cool off.
Remove and discard the peels and thyme sprigs. There will be leftover oil that can last in your pantry for a few weeks. Feel free to experiment with it!
In a bowl, assemble the parfait adding, in order, the yogurt, lemon zest, honey, granola, pomegranate seeds, persimmon, and dried mint. Rub the dried mint between your fingers to release the essential oils. Finish the dish with a drizzle of lemon-thyme olive oil.
Enjoy!
Nutrition
Per Serving: 450 calories; 13 g fat; 58 g carbohydrates;
23 g protein; 8.5 mg cholesterol; 71 mg sodium.
Note: This post was originally part of my personal blog a few years back, but I decided it was about time to update it and make it even more impactful.
Picking up smoking was, by far, the worse decision I made in my life. At the age of seventeen, I weighed less than 70 Kg., I frequently worked out, swam, and commuted by bicycle within reasonable distances. It was a difficult time in my life and, a bit because of rebellion, a bit because of social pressure, and another bit because of sadness, I gave in. I have to confess that even today, at almost thirty-nine years old, I am ashamed to discuss it in the presence of my dad.
Not long after, I began to feel the harmful effects of this vice, but I completely neglected them. Workouts became harder. Walking exhausted me. But, I began driving as I turned 18. My sedentary lifestyle and poor nutritional habits started to show during this time. And, by the end of my mid-twenties, I weighed above 94 Kg. A scab of seborrheic dermatitis appeared on my face, which later I discovered was associated with the health of my liver, affected by cigarettes, booze, and high-fat food.
It took me many attempts until I finally could quit smoking. Reducing the amounts to two or three cigarettes per day and setting schedules to smoke didn’t work. I couldn’t stop for one reason: I wanted to smoke, despite knowing it was harmful to me. How to stop doing something you want to?.
My 2010 new year’s eve resolution was to quit smoking. And, I did it the only way I could: closed my eyes and pretended that the cigarette didn’t exist anymore. I avoided hanging out in places where people smoked for months until the desire to do it faded. However, the approach was not the best since, in my head, the idea did not disappear. At the time, my willpower was more. But who can rely only on willpower?
After I quit, the benefits were immediately visible. My ability to work out increased tenfold. I began to experience a clarity of thought that I didn’t know I had lost. I regained the use of my smell and taste, and I had much more free time: if we do the math, five minutes per cigarette plus setup time (walking to a place where it’s allowed to smoke), for a pack of 20, you waste at least 140 minutes a day, or 2 hours 20 minutes.
I will pause to define the concept of Keystone Habits. Habits serve as a gateway to other good habits. For example, quitting smoking was a keystone habit for me.
I had to solve the trickiest problem of them all: Morbid obesity. According to metrics like BMI and PBF, my ideal weight is 65Kg., And my overweight limit is 72Kg. I weighed 95Kg. So, the challenge was to drop 30Kg or almost 67lb! A task that took me ten years of work and learning.
One takeaway from my experience is: Diets are not effective. Not diets or exercise in large volumes, but somewhere I had to start.
This is how I looked in 2010 when I started cycling with my sister.
Towards the end of 2010, I bought a mountain bike and began using it to commute to work, about 4 kilometers per section. During the weekends, I saw myself making the ride between Chacras de Coria and the entrance of the Mendoza River. Finally, I managed to ride the forty kilometers uphill to reach Cacheuta.
By February 2011, I had lost 7kg, and by July 2012, I weighed 78Kg. Still overweight but much better. The problem is that I had not changed my eating habits. Riding my bike simply helped me generate a calorie deficit. I didn’t know how to listen to my body’s satiety cues.
In August 2012, I got a job in Buenos Aires, a city with less intense but unsafe riding. Because of it and a 200% increase in my work schedule, combined with the existing bad eating habits (how to forget the delicious fried Empanadas of the Gourmet!), I bounced back up to over 90Kg. I lost all progress! Another takeaway: bursts of exercise do not help you lose weight sustainably. Exercise has to be part of your life.
The years that followed were hard on my personal life, and, in consequence, I paid no attention to my health. Until one day, I hit rock bottom. This story might ring a bell to those who have tried to lose weight without success in their lives: they make sacrifices, see progress, have “a bad time,” and get discouraged when they see everything lost.
This is how my appearance changed between December 2015 and August 2016
In January 2016, after moving alone (and single) to the United States, my interest in health gained new vigor. I didn’t only need health but wanted to look attractive.
Armed again with my willpower, I tried the only thing that (so far) had worked: Exercise. But this time, with a twist, I wanted to find an activity that didn’t depend on a bike. The solution was to walk. So I started walking to work, or any distance less than 2 miles (3.2 km), 30 minutes a day on the treadmill, and hiking on the weekends. And so it was that I discovered my second keystone habit: walk as much as possible.
At the same time, I began reading about nutrition. Something that caught my attention was that the liver is the organ responsible for processing fats, that carbohydrates metabolize into fats, and that alcohol affects liver function. So I made another change: stop drinking most of the time, and if I did, have wine or whiskey, since I can enjoy it through small sips.
With these changes, my weight dropped to a stable 72Kg by the end of 2016. And it kept stable for the next four years. So here it was, my third keystone habit; not drinking alcohol in excess while avoiding beer as much as possible.
During this time, I began to do all kinds of physical activities, from bicycle routes of up to 200km a day with more than three thousand meters of climbing to walks on paths of more than 20km with a 20kg backpack on my shoulders. Additionally, my body and hormones adapted to the weight, but I plateau between 70 and 72Kg.The reason: I still didn’t pay enough attention to my diet.
As with smoking, you can’t eat less without wanting to. So, another thing I discovered is that many of my beliefs about healthy food were wrong. You can read more about it here.
By mid-2019, I began a period of personal growth and healing the wounds of a decade of spiritual self-scourge. One day, I discovered symptoms of discomfort that lasted for over a month. After visiting the doctor, I got shocked by the news. The (social) abuse of alcohol and restaurant food was causing my liver some problems. I had started a slow weight bounce again, but it was not noticeable thanks to the large volumes of exercise and daily walks. My liver was paying the bill.
Following the doctor’s recommendation, I stopped drinking all kinds of alcohol, allowing myself only a glass of wine socially. I also enrolled in noom to improve my eating habits. There I learned many things about nutrition, metabolisms, and psychology. In addition, I got an insight into why I could not achieve my goals.
To quit smoking, lose weight, or achieve anything in life, you need to want it first. Everyone knows what they should be doing, but not many want it. It’s simple; I can’t quit smoking if I still want a cigarette. I have not to choose it. I cannot lose weight without wanting to eat well. I must choose to eat smaller portions. I must like what aligns with my goals and reject what doesn’t. Is it not obvious? If I want to lose weight and simultaneously stuff my face with processed foods and drink 4 pints of beer, or a bottle of soda, I’m not being consistent. With this, I do not mean being “deprived.” There is a vast difference between depriving yourself of something and not wanting it.
Fast-forwarding to 2020 and 2021, I followed a strict eating methodology that combined calorie counting and experimenting with eating styles like keto. As a result, I dropped weight to under 62Kg—much under my original target. But something was not quite right. I didn’t gain weight for eighteen months, but I felt consistently hungry. It was then that I discovered, by researching intuitive eating, that I had developed a food disorder. I couldn’t allow myself to eat what I wanted without engaging in physical activity. I would feel terrible if I did. So finally, thanks to intuitive eating, I began training myself to listen to my body’s satiety cues and be relaxed about the whole eating situation. After I did, my weight fluctuated to 65Kg, and it’s still there.
Quitting the vices (or moderating them) is not easy because our biology asks us for more. Sugar, salt, carbohydrates, alcohol, all of the above; But with the appropriate mindset and information, you can make changes last and establish keystone habits that will stick for a lifetime.
To close out. After over ten years of walking the path of health I, rediscovered my body, unlearned bad habits, and experienced unprecedented feelings of clarity and happiness. That’s one solid proof that short-term solutions are not effective and that the name of the game is: slow and steady. I hope this will inspire anyone who could stay with me thus far.
Over two years ago, I began a new journey with food. This journey was one of deeper understanding. This understanding consisted of dissecting each component of eating and finding its long-term effects. Through this understanding, I could bust many myths from the folklore of eating. Today I would like to talk about the most harmful, in my opinion, of them all, the ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ labels.
All or Nothing
Let’s begin our journey with a cognitive heuristic: All or nothing thinking. This mental shortcut will lead us to categorize things into binary buckets, all or nothing, good or bad, healthy or unhealthy. Such shortcut was helpful to our hunter-gatherer ancestors to assess a situation and act quickly. On top of that, binary categories provide a fool-proof way of teaching survival rules to others who don’t have the exposure, think: “large animal, bad, run away,” or “ripe fruit, good, eat.” While giving simple labels could prove helpful in many cases, it could be dangerous in others.
The Hidden Fears of Past Food Science
Throughout time, the diets and food industry loved to point fingers at some attributes in food—salt, cholesterol, carbohydrates, sugars, gluten, fat, etc. These demonizations came from evolving understanding of how different quantities of these attributes affected individuals with specific characteristics. As a result, some gained massive advertisement and began wearing the labels “good” or “bad.” If we combine the fame of these items with “All or Nothing” thinking and another effect in groups called “the illusion of agreement,” then it should be clear how outdated information can stick in the minds of the collective for good.
The Spectrums of Life
While we humans insist on assigning discrete labels to everything, we live in a beautiful world of nuances. Let me illustrate through sunsets. While there are no two equal sunsets, could we take a large sample and sort them by the level of beauty? Judging it by which attribute? By who? Please give it a try and let me know if it’s not impossible. Even a single sunset throughout its span experiences noticeable changes, and at some point, it might look prettier than others to the same observer. Or even pretty with the same intensity but on different aspects! I hope by now you get the idea. I’m not writing about sunsets today, but this idea of something impermanent, evolving, and sensible to the observer is how food is. In the same way, food is not good or bad; it’s simply food.
Then, What IS Food?
Avocado toast, made the way I like it.
Food is a combination of macronutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, and fats; and micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. These components can be further categorized more granularly, like complex or simple carbohydrates or saturated, unsaturated, or trans fats. These components will have different effects on the body that might align with weight management, contain specific allergens, or contain minerals linked to hypertension. Let me illustrate this with an example: bread. As much as I love bread, processed white flour is a simple carbohydrate with one of the highest glycemic indexes. Therefore, consuming white bread could lead to a glucose spike, which might be harmful to people with diabetes and lead to overeating when the glucose levels drop. Is this good or bad? To me, it’s just an attribute that harms some and benefits others, like endurance athletes, who need this quick increase in glucose to perform well.
Good or Bad Labels are Bad!
I finish my discussion ridiculizing with my very same argument. While labeling food items as healthy or unhealthy might provide a good guideline, it might induce eating disorders in otherwise healthy individuals. For example, if someone believes donuts are “unhealthy,” they might react in many ways after eating one, including feelings of guilt, work out anxiety, or even self-induced vomit. Conversely, if something like vegetables gets the “healthy” label, some might react dismissing them when they’re not “on a diet” or inadvertently overindulging in something with high calories; raw nuts are my best example of this.
I will conclude my post with a final thought. Labeling food through all-or-nothing thinking is potentially misleading, especially if you’re suffering from a food disorder; it could make matters much worse. So, next time you find yourself worried about something that’s on the menu, think of where in the spectrum between far and close to your health goals that item falls. Then, you might find yourself enjoying food a little more.
I’ve been passionate about photography for over a decade. And, It was the desire to take photos of nature that pushed me to start hiking and ultimately backpacking. Then, when I moved to the United States and didn’t have any furniture, I was so into nature photography that I spent my first paycheck on a DSL camera, the same one I still use.
One of the things that captivated my eyes the first time I went out backpacking was the sight of the stars. Back then, I was a city boy, and even if the luminous contamination allowed me to see anything in the sky, I wasn’t used to looking up. But then, I can’t describe the feeling of awe I had when I saw the night sky in the middle of nothing. I could see the milky way with my bare eyes. Back then, I had one hiking pole that could double down as a monopod; I plugged my camera in it and attempted my first long exposure shot with the camera supported by my tent and my pole. I tried at least 50 photos before I could get a crisp image.
This post will summarize the technique I use to capture night shots, the equipment I have, and what to consider when attempting these shots. Let’s get cracking!
A view of the night from one of the shores of Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park.
First, we need to consider the camera body. You don’t need an expensive body but something that allows you to go to full manual mode and control all the basic parameters. The only consideration is whether to go with crop or full-frame. A full-frame camera will capture more of the sky, but a crop frame will do the job if your budget doesn’t allow it.
Second, tripod. The second most essential piece of equipment after the camera body is the tripod to place your camera. Many of the backpacker-friendly tripod options available on Amazon won’t add too much weight to your backpack. The budget-friendly option is a bag of beans.
Third, lenses. For the lens, consider what’s called the ‘aperture’ of the lens or f-stop. Aperture or f-stop is a number that tells how much light the lens can let into the camera. The lower this number, the more light the lens can let in. Thus, an ideal lens for taking night photos would have an f 1.4 or 1.8 – prime lenses have this characteristic. I started taking my night shots with a prime 35mm f1.8. I later upgraded it to a prime 24mm f1.8. One thing I find pretty useful and that’s present on two of my prime lenses is a depth of field indicator. Since we will be using full manual mode (including the focus), knowing where the infinity focus point is, becomes very useful to reduce your setup time.
Now we can focus on the technique. Let’s first quickly refresh the fundamental variables in photography.
Aperture or F-stop refers to how much light the lens’s diaphragm can let in.
Exposure time, it’s the length of time where the camera captures light from the lens.
Finally, ISO is the sensor sensitivity; lower values like 100 or so are suitable for when light is abundant and higher values when light is not.
So, intuitively our night mode will have:
A wide aperture (low f value).
Long exposure time.
High ISO
Additionally, the camera won’t manage to auto-focus, so focus should be manual and set to infinity.
The milky way from the John Muir Trail in California
Let’s now look at the dial-in procedure in your parameters; it might take several attempts until you get a crisp photo of the stars.
Find a subject to photograph with the sky as the background. This subject could be a mountain, some trees or a person. You can shoot the sky directly, but I found it challenging to get a good composition with the stars alone.
Switch to manual focus mode and move it to infinity. Some lenses have a depth indicator. In my lens, you have to turn it to the left all the way, then back up just a bit. Once you have the other parameters dialed, you can fine-tune your focus.
With your camera in full manual mode, set your parameters.
F1.8, or 1.4.
Exposure time 10s
ISO 4000
Use raw capture mode.
Begin taking pictures and fine-tune. If it’s too bright, consider reducing the ISO first then the exposure time. If it’s too dark, consider increasing the ISO first and then the exposure time.
Once the sky looks with the right light, zoom into your photos and check for focus, make micro-adjustments to it until the stars look sharp.
Fine-tune your composition.
Some final considerations:
The earth rotates (duh), so the longer your exposure time, the more stars will look like lines instead of dots.
Higher ISO values come with a sacrifice in image quality. Therefore, you will have to balance your ISO and exposure time to get your desired image.
Wind or other factors like your fingers might shake the camera, tricking you into thinking that the camera is out of focus. Take a few pics before refocusing.
That’s it! Night photography is surprising and satisfying. Even though it requires some in-depth technical knowledge about your camera and some specialized equipment, you might be surprised to learn all the things your eyes cannot observe directly. So have fun, and if you have questions, please write them in the comments below.
In-flight Project 