Jerry the Blogger

Communities all over the US have started banning soda from schools or banning the use of trans fat in restaurants, and New York recently began requiring calorie counts to be posted on menus next to the prices. However, the new Los Angeles City Council ban on fast food restaurants features a very broad definition of "fast food." Specifically, the city council defines a fast food restaurant as any restaurant that provides food with "a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders, and food served in disposable wrapping or containers."

In short, the new definition describes everyone from Burger King to local "gourmet" hot dog vendors. Los Angeles City Council members insist the moratorium is aimed at encouraging variety and nutrition rather than attacking the fast food industry. In truth, they may have a point. It's hard for low-income families to eat healthy if the closest grocery store is five or more miles away and there is a fast food restaurant on every corner in their neighborhood. The highest concentration of fast food restaurants in Los Angeles are located in the poorest neighborhoods. In fact, more than 400 of the 900 restaurants in the poorest neighborhoods are fast food restaurants.

Should our local politicians take a more active role in the nutritional well-being of citizens? I don't know. One thing is for certain, research shows that when consumers believe they have little or no healthy options they eat fatty, high-calorie foods. But when given a choice between healthy and unhealthy food, an increased percentage of consumers choose the healthier option. Sometimes we need those healthy options to stare us in the face in order to start making the right choices.

One of the first things I discovered when I started paying attention to what I eat was that most recipes you find in cook books are focused on making food taste as good as possible ... at the expense of your health. For the last 8 months I've been finding ways to make my favorite recipes more healthy, and since both my wife and I love crab cakes I thought that would be a good addition.

Jerry's Crab Cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. lump crab meat
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 large celery stalk finely chopped
• 4 tbsp. of unsalted butter or butter substitude
• 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
• 1/2 cup Egg Beaters
• 1/2 cup low-fat Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Place a skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the chopped onion and celery mixture and saute until soft. Remove mixture from heat and place it in a large bowl to cool. Add the Egg Beaters, fat-free sour cream, cheese, parsley, Worcestershire sauce and sea salt to the bowl and mix together. Finally, add the crab meat and shape into cakes. Place the cakes on a baking sheet sprayed with PAM non-stick spray and broil in the oven for 5-10 minutes on each side until they are done.

Now, eat and enjoy!

If you have any recipe ideas that give a healthy twist to your favorite dish, please feel free to post your comments here on the site. Also, try and make the time to be creative in the kitchen. You never know what healthy alternatives you might discover.