THE HEALTHY CHEF
Houston's top chefs offer advice on low-fat, flavorful cooking
Kay Soodjai
KHUN KAY THAI CAFÉ
“Many years after I began working as a chef and Supatra Yooto and I opened our own restaurant, many people in the U.S. began a serious look at how they could eat better and live more healthful lives. For good business practices alone, it was important that I learn and research how to make sure my customers got not only food that tasted good, but was also good for them.
“You can imagine my pleasant surprise to learn that if I wanted to open a restaurant that served a cuisine most often associated with promoting good health and nutrition, I should serve Thai food. Of course, the reasons for the health benefits of Thai food are the ingredients and the traditional ways in which it is prepared. Thai cooks use many fresh ingredients, especially herbs and vegetables, and the sauces are rich with peppers, curry and broths. By learning what science has discovered are the benefits of these ingredients, a cook can incorporate them into all kinds of dishes from any country. It only takes a little experimentation.
“Take, for example, one of our most popular Thai soups, Tom Yum. Studies show that it is effective in building up the immune system and inhibiting some kinds of cancer. One ingredient, galangal, a relative of ginger often used in Thai cooking, is especially beneficial for stomach and digestive problems. Tumeric is another popular ingredient and is known for its anti-inflammatory effects. Lemon grass, coriander (better known as cilantro), Thai chiles and coconut milk are other common ingredients that have proven healthful benefits.
“Using only the freshest ingredients is an important key to making dishes that taste good and have hidden surprises that make you feel better and live longer. The important thing to remember is you don’t even have to like Thai food (I can’t imagine that!) to find ways to use the ingredients that make it so healthful. You only need imagination.”
Brain Fitness
The more we know about the brain, the more we realize we have to exercise it just like we do our bodies to stay fit. John Byrne, Ph.D., who received the National Mental Health Research Scientist Award and appears this month on “Living Smart With Patricia Gras” on Houston PBS, has been studying learning and memory for decades.
As the chairman of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Texas, he knows what it takes to keep our brains fit for life.
“There are three factors that are important for brain fitness. One is the intellectual environment. It is known that people who have or are college educated and who are otherwise intellectually active and socially active have lower incidence of Alzheimer’s disease for instance. The second factor is diet. Whatever is important for heart health is also important for brain health. The third factor is exercise. People who exercise have a lower incidence of age related brain disorders,” said Byrne.
Another important finding regarding brain fitness involves neurogenesis, or the generation of new nerve cells. “Just 15 years ago, we used to think that we have a hundred billion nerve cells in the brain that we are born with and it was previously believed that no new nerve cells could be generated, but the recent new finding shows the brain is capable of generating, at least in specific parts of the brain, new neurons.”
On our “Green Tip” for this program, Carol Baker shares tips on water conservation.
“Living Smart with Patricia Gras” airs Sundays at 3 p.m. and repeats Fridays at 10 p.m. on Houston PBS channel 8 KUHT. For more information, visit Houstonpbs.org/livingsmart, or Patriciagras.net.
Patricia Gras also co-hosts “Latina Voices: Smart Talk.” Check listings at Latinavoices.com.
—Patricia Gras
Photo: Gras With Byrne [Photo By Anisworth Duvernay]
Health Awareness
Here’s a look at some of the national health awareness designations for September:
• Leukemia and Lymphoma Awareness Month
• National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month
• Sickle Cell Awareness Month
• Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
• Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
• National Cholesterol Education Month
Hassle-Free Health Food
 You are what you eat, and in Houston there are now many ways to get nutritious meals prepared and, in some cases, delivered right to your door.
Real Meals 365, MyFitFoods, Smart Meals and other suppliers of pre-packaged, ready-to-heat- and-eat foods, are popping up all over the city. All offer a variety of meal options prepared with fresh ingredients.
MyFitFoods’ menu items, for example, are based on a 40/40/20 nutritional breakdown: 40 percent low-glycemic carbohydrates, 40 percent lean protein and 20 percent healthy fats. Saturated fats, sodium and sugar are kept to a minimum, and the preservative-free food is prepared weekly and packaged in microwave-safe containers.
Real Meals 365’s offerings are based on “The Zone Diet” developed by Dr. Barry Sears and consist of 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein and 30 percent healthy fat. The fresh meals are never frozen and are prepared by an executive chef. Real Meals offers two different meal sizes labeled small and regular.
Small meals are 300 to 350 calories, regular meals are 500 to 550 calories. Smart Meals has made changes in the past few months, with the emphasis now on becoming the healthiest convenience store in Houston. Prepared meals are still available, while the basic message has remained the same over the past 16 years.
“Smart Meals has provided delicious, healthy and convenient meals to help people on a path to gain health,” said Smart Meals’ Sara Speer Selber. “As the fast food industry exploded, so did our waistlines and the costs of healthcare. Smart Meals aspires to be a healthy convenience store bringing the best of locally sourced foods, prepared healthy meals and, soon, household products, to help you take responsibility for your health.”
Newborn Basics
 Texas Children’s Pediatric Associates offers a free lecture for parents on September 11. The title is “Newborn Basics” and the lecture is led by board certified pediatrician Sari Miettinen. Topics covered will include feeding, stooling and sleeping. The lecture takes place from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at The TCPA offices at 1919 North Loop West, Suite 140. To Register, call 713-869-1692 or email
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Obesity and Cancer
 According to new figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2.4 million more Americans became obese between 2007 and 2009. Approximately 26.7 percent of the U.S. adult population, or 72.5 million people, are now obese. Experts at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) said today that this increase may result in a corresponding increase in the national cancer rate in years to come.
The AICR experts say that those 72.5 million Americans face an increased risk for colorectal cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, kidney cancer, esophageal cancer, endometrial cancer, pancreatic cancer and gallbladder cancer.
The AICR estimates that excess body fat causes approximately 103,600 cases of cancer in the U.S. every year, and warns that as the percentage of the population that is obese continues to increase, this number will rise.
The estimated number of cancers in the U.S. that are linked to excess body fat include:
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