William Penn Life, 2006 (41. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
2006-07-01 / 7. szám
The Hungarian Kitchen with Főszakács Béla Healthy Hungarians FÁRAD JON BE A MAGYAR KONYHÁBA. Here we are in the month of July enjoying fine weather and the great outdoors. The Hungarian Festival in New Brunswick was, once again, rained on but a good time was still had by all who attended. It's not too often you can go to a street fair and have all kinds of delicious Hungarian food to choose from. I always have gulyás from the Magyar Reformed Church, stuffed cabbage at the Hungarian Boy Scouts on Plum Street, and a kolbász sandwich from the Bayard Street Presbyterian Church booth. If it sounds like I had a lot to eat well, I did. While I do make a lot of Hungarian food for myself and the students whenever I can, it always tastes better when you're in the old neighborhood. I met some folks that had moved away from New Brunswick, but they still manage to come back and enjoy the Festival. We chatted over a bowl of gulyás and reminisced about how much the city has changed. One thing that hasn't changed is the great Hungarian food, and I hope it stays that way. I myself like to eat lighter and better in the warmer months of the year. I also tend to lose a few pounds in the summer. Keeping that in mind, I thought this month we would look at those things we can do to make us a healthy bunch of Magyars. Remember: healthy people are happy people and nothing is better than Hungarians having the time of their life! When we talk about healthy eating, we need to look at some background information. The main food groups are not Sugar, Fat, Salt and Alcohol, but it's these four items that cause a lot of unhealthiness to our bodies. Anything in moderation is fine, but when we start to overdo certain things we aren't doing ourselves any justice. Too much sugar can cause diabetes and heart problems. Salt gives us high blood pressure and other coronary woes. Alcohol in excess causes severe renal and circulatory problems. Fat can do all of the above because it comes in many forms. Let's look at some fats in our daily diets. POLYUNSATURATED fats are liquid at room temperature and are considered the healthiest of the fat family. Yes, some fats are healthy for your body and they appear in our diets as sunflower oil, soybean oil, corn oil and sesame oil. Any of these oils we can cook with or drizzle over a salad. MONOUNSATURATED fats are liquid at room temperature but thicken when refrigerated. They may tend to lower cholesterol. They are found in avocados, olive oil, canola oil and peanut oil. SATURATED fats are solid or semi-solid at room temperature and come in the forms of margarine, butter, lard, shortening. Butter is the only true fat we eat on a daily basis. Coconut and palm oils are also high in saturated fats but stay liquid at room temperature. Not all fats are bad for us and there are some healthy fat options we can enjoy in our daily eating but more about that later in the column. If all we had to worry about was naturally occurring fats, we would have no problem. My grandparents worked on a farm, drank fresh milk high in fat, ate pork cooked in lard and both lived well into their 80's. They worked hard and kept their bodies in very good shape. Part of being a healthy person also has to do with your lifestyle. My grandparents were always on the go and they got plenty of EXERCISE. Running a farm keeps you on the go all the time. Walking whenever you can helps keep your body toned and working properly. I am on my feet at work burning calories and constantly on the move. My job doesn't keep me confined in one space. Any outdoor activity-from a sport like golf where you walk 18 holes to pushing a lawnmower this time of the yearkeeps your body going strong. If you're in the position where the only exercise you can get is at the gym, make the time to do so. Exercise should be part of our daily routine. So, now we all know that what we eat and exercising are part of a healthy lifestyle. Notice I didn't say stop eating the kolbász and put down that palacsinta with the pot cheese 12 William Penn Life,July 2006
