Unloading Carbs: Reducing Dietary Starch
food over 50

Potatoes, pasta and rice are just a few examples of our daily intake of carbohydrates, and each is on the menu in this episode. But as we age, we should unload some of these excess starches and sugars in favor of better choices and more modest portions. That's why David and Elizabeth have chosen three excellent recipes to illustrate how unloading carbs doesn't mean eliminating them altogether. From the studio kitchen in Palm Springs, David prepares classic parsley potatoes with the skin-on, for added nutrition, and sauteed in healthful and flavorful olive oil. Then it's off to Scotland for an out-of-kitchen adventure to collect fresh cockles on Uig Sands before adding them to an extraordinary whole wheat fusilli vongole. The cockles boost the lean protein intake while the whole grain pasta equals complex carbs, which are better for us. And finally it's back to the studio kitchen for vegetable and brown rice pilaf, with added onion, carrot, zucchini, dates and walnuts, further reducing empty carbohydrates and enhancing flavor. Most importantly, registered dietician Elizabeth Kelsey educates viewers about the importance of unrefined carbohydrates in what we eat during her "Second Helpings" segment. Healthy, whole-food carbs are excellent brain food and important for gut health. She also emphasizes portion. Healthy meals should consist of a single carbohydrate, not two or three, and the portion should not exceed a quarter of our plate. Finally, David recaps the show with another inspiring "Earn What You Eat" segment, this time from a rowboat on Loch Morsgail, rather than a rowing machine in a sweaty gym.

Episode Duration: 26 minutes and 46 seconds

Episode Number: 109

About Food Over 50:

The mission of the cooking series FOOD OVER 50 is to inform, instruct and entertain America's late Gen-X, Boomer and senior audiences with artistic and appetizing preparations of wide-ranging international recipes that are nutritionally enticing.

Hosted by David Jackson, FOOD OVER 50 is primarily taped in the scenic Mojave Desert, with cooking segments taking place in the kitchen, and select seafood recipes shot at Jackson's quaint seaside cottage in The Outer Hebrides in Scotland.

The series also provides viewers with their own personal nutritionist.

During each episode, registered dietician Elizabeth Kelsey joins David to critique recipes from a health perspective and emphasize the importance of cooking fresh food.




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