ArcaMax

A Personal Appeal from Zola

It has come to my attention that a drug used to treat diabetes is now flying off the shelves as a weight loss drug. If you (or someone you know) are thinking about using that kind of drug to lose weight let me ask you to think twice. I can tell you stories.

Before I created Plan Z Diet, I tried just about every diet on the planet. Same results every time. I’d lose a little weight and then it would come roaring back and I inevitably ended up with more than I started with. It’s a vicious cycle. Those of you around in the 1990s might remember another drug that was widely prescribed for weight loss.

At the time I was a patient at the obesity clinic at the University of Wisconsin. They had a great reputation, so I trusted them. The drug of the day was Fen-Phen. They prescribed it for me. I visited weekly with my food log and weighed in. They’d ask me questions. Sometimes they took blood. They always took my blood pressure.

I’ll cut to the end of the story.

I took that drug for 18 months. I lost a whopping 13 pounds. They told me I was going to have to take that drug forever to keep off what I had lost.  They told me I could expect slow progress going forward. I remember being on a golf course one time and hardly having the energy to drag myself up the hill to the green so I could putt. That drug affected every day of my life.

The clinic shut down for budgetary reasons and I was left out in the cold. In less than a year of not taking the drug, the weight was back. I was eating healthy. No matter.

Then after two years, they came looking for me. They realized that Phen-Fen could cause serious heart issues. So they wanted me to come into the hospital to ensure I was okay. I was okay as far as my heart was concerned but not really. I had another story of promise only to fail in my efforts to lose weight and keep it off.

Now it’s happening again...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet: planzdiet/a-personal-appeal-from-zola

Asian Lump Crab Meat Salad

MThis is the first time I have ever made an Asian dish that include almost no kind of soy sauce (tamari etc). It so amazing. All the Asian influence comes out in the toasted sesame seeds, the sriracha and the sesame oil.

This is an expensive dish. Jumbo Lump crab meat runs about $30 a pound. To save a bit you can use regular lump. I would not go all the way to canned crab or it would be lots of shreds. This is worth it – a nice splurge!

Servings: 4 appetizers or 2.5 entrees

Ingredients:

1lb jumbo lump crab meat, sorted with any shells removed.
2 celery stalks, finely diced, including leafy green tops
2 green onions, finely sliced
1 cup napa cabbage, thinly sliced, then diced (about 1/3 of a medium head)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. Sriracha hot sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. agave
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 Cup unseasoned panko bread crumbs
Optional for serving: shredded iceberg lettuce, sesame seeds, mandarin oranges, and minced cilantro.

Instructions:

Gently sort through the crab meat, ensuring any shells are removed and set aside. In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine the next 10 ingredients and stir to coat evenly. Gently fold the crab into the mixture. This salad can be made ahead of time to this point, and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Fold in the Panko bread crumbs just before serving, so they maintain their crunch. Consistency should be light and fairly dry. Serve a scoop over thinly shredded iceberg lettuce and top with additional sesame seeds. I like serving as an appetizer in short-stemmed ice cream glasses or small bowls with chopsticks.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola