This week my awesome gym (Bakar Fitness) was once again offering hydrostatic body fat testing courtesy of Fitness Wave.

I had my body fat and metabolic rate tested last year and thought it would be interesting and informative to go in for a one year follow up.

I also want to give you an idea of what to expect if you decide to “get dunked.”

(note: This is part 1 of a 2 part post. The first post focuses on the hydrostatic testing experience rather than my personal story. Come back next week for part 2).

“Hydrostatic” body fat testing is a lot like it sounds: you get weighed under water. The principle behind the method is that virtually all tissues in your body–bones, muscles, organs–weigh more than water. That is, everything sinks except fat. The density of fat is lower than other tissues and consequently, fat weighs less.

Using this knowledge you can calculate how much fat you have by comparing your weight inside and out of the water. The lighter you weigh under water compared to on land, the more fat you have. You can convert this into an exact body fat percentage by doing a little math. (Don’t worry, Fitness Wave does this all for you).

Calculations are even more accurate when you throw in measurements like height. For this test I even had my ankle size measured.

During the test you step into a tank of warm water (pictured to the right) and position yourself on a metal scale. You are instructed to blow out all the air from your lungs and submerge your head while the operator checks your weight. This process is repeated at least three times, and takes about five minutes.

The bottom line is that when packing your bag for your body fat test remember that you will get wet.

A bathing suit and towel are appropriate.

If it is January (or summer in San Francisco), you may also want to bring a change of warm clothes and sandals. When testing, the Fitness Wave trailer is stationed down near the loading docks between the Community Center and Genentech Hall at UCSF Mission Bay. You probably don’t want to walk from the locker room to the trailer in your bikini.

Hydrostatic Testing Checklist:

1. Bathing suit
2. Towel
3. Warm clothes
4. Convenient shoes
5. Healthy dose of perspective

Packing your bag is not all the planning you need to do before getting a body fat test. As I explained last year, I also recommend you decide before you go about what you will do with this personal information. Determine beforehand whether or not you want to tell your friends what you are made of to save yourself from stress and awkward conversations later on.

Overall the testing was (once again) a great experience, and I highly recommend getting a hydrostatic test if you get the opportunity. I received a print out of my numbers and an email with more information the next day.

Next time I will reflect upon how my eating and workout habits have affected my body composition over the last year. Check back next week for all the gossip.

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Click here to read Body Fat Test: One Year Later (part 2)

Have you ever had your body fat tested? Are you interested?

Curious what I eat everyday? Follow me on Twitter!

Lately I’ve been investigating all these social media websites and wondered what to do with the Twitter phenomenon. For those of you who don’t know, Twitter is a networking service that revolves around the simple question, “What are you doing?”

In short, Twitter uses what is called a “Status Update” to let your friends know what you are up to and what you care about right now.

The beauty of Twitter is its simplicity, but this is also what makes it challenging to use as a tool. It is almost impossible to give too much information on Twitter, so whatever you communicate has to be simple and concise. Another term for Tweeting is “microblogging.”

So I asked myself, what am I doing?

Since my primary concerns are food and science, what I am usually doing is thinking about and eating food! I believe that what you eat can vastly improve your quality of life through great taste and better health, and I built this blog because I want to show you all how easy and delicious healthy eating can be. But I still often get questions about my personal habits and what I might do in certain situations.

To this end I have started Tweeting everything I eat, a term I refer to as TwEating.

If you do not use Twitter this may sound like a big time commitment, but it is actually a ridiculously small amount of work. Twitter only allows 140 characters to express yourself, so these TwEats are not very detailed and only take up seconds of my time.

What will be interesting, however, will be the archive that is created as a result of constant TwEating. You will be able to follow patterns and trends, and see firsthand how often we really have birthdays (and cake!) in the lab.

I hope you follow along and share your TwEating adventures as well. Some of you may be doing it already….

My Twitter profile is @summertomato.

In addition to TwEats, I also occasionally Tweet food-related news and science articles that I do not feel like writing entire blog posts about. Believe it or not, a lot goes through my brain that never makes it to SummerTomato. You can now find the overflow on Twitter.

What do you think about TwEating? Will you join me?

Bon Appetweet!

Squash, Peppers and Beans Recipe

I am not a vegetarian, but for convenience, financial and health reasons I do not cook a lot of meat. Consequently my dietary protein comes from many different sources, not the least of which is beans.

I realize that many of you have preconceived notions of beans and what goes along with eating them, but I am going to ask you to keep your mind open until I finish my explanation. If you read all the way to the bottom, you are more than welcome to unleash your fury in my comments section.

Let me begin by stating that I am not talking about canned kidney beans. I do not eat beans from a can unless I am desperately short on time. Not that there is anything wrong with canned beans: they are quick, healthy and relatively inexpensive. However, I have found canned beans to be very one dimensional in flavor and even less appealing in texture. They are also more prone to cause the digestive problems many people associate with “the musical fruit.”

Dried Beans

A little over a year ago my apartment acquired a pressure cooker that opened my eyes to the potential of dried beans. Dried beans, which are even less expensive than canned beans, can take hours to cook under normal circumstances. But a pressure cooker can cut this time to under half an hour and allows you to prepare large batches that can be stored frozen for months.

In my estimation, however, the best reasons to cook your own beans are taste, texture and variety. Home cooked beans taste worlds better than canned. First off, they do not have the characteristic slimy ooze of canned beans. (Definitely rinse your beans if you do buy canned). Dried beans also have a richer, more complex flavor without the metallic tinge you get with S&W. (Hint: Your beans will taste even more delicious when cooked in bouillon or broth.)

The mouthfeel of home cooked beans is also superior to canned. Different varietals have unique tastes and textures, so with each bean you try you embark on a new adventure. Some are silky and delicate, others rich and creamy. Larger beans tend to be heartier than smaller beans, but there is really no telling how they will taste until after you cook them.

While there are only five or six kinds of canned beans commonly available, the number of dried beans is innumerable. Rancho Gordo is an heirloom bean vendor I visit regularly at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market that has a fantastic variety of dried beans. Ever had a Black Calypso bean? Me neither, but I cannot wait to try them! Visit the Rancho Gordo website if you want to order online.

There are also fantastic bean selections at most health food stores, including Whole Foods. Check the bulk bins for the best deals.

Soaking Beans

One caveat of cooking your own beans is that they require a significant amount of soaking time. I recommended that you rinse them well and soak them overnight. All this requires is 5 minutes of planning the day before, and if you prepare large batches you do not have to soak beans very often. Be sure to pick over your beans for pebbles before cooking them.

Another bonus of rinsing and soaking beans is that it eliminates many of the sugars that your body cannot digest, thereby reducing (in my experience eliminating) unpleasant bodily byproducts. Toss out your soaking water when you are finished and add fresh water or broth for cooking.

Pressure Cooker Precautions

Pressure cookers can be dangerous if used improperly, so it is imperative that you follow the instructions carefully. In general, it is important to get a tight seal on the lid and be sure the pot is not over-filled (total volume should be less than half the volume of the pot). However, it is necessary to add sufficient liquid to the beans to prevent burning and dehydration. You also want to avoid adding salt until after your beans have cooked.

Follow the instructions on your pressure cooker to determine the appropriate amount of cooking time, usually 10-20 minutes. The contents of the pot are under a tremendous amount of pressure while cooking, so be sure to allow the pot to depressurize completely before attempting to remove the lid. This takes an additional 10-15 minutes.

Here is the pressure cooker I use.

I imagine that a slow cooker would be equally advantageous in cooking beans, but I have never tried it.

What are your favorite tricks to make beans more user friendly?

It came as a bit of a shock for me to learn that some people hate peeling garlic so much they have completely given up using it.

Sure the flavor is strong, but almost all cooks consider garlic indispensable. If peeling it is your problem, don’t fret! This one little trick makes garlic a cinch to peel.

First, remove single cloves from a very fresh garlic bulb (garlic is cheap, you should buy it every week). I rarely use more than one or two when cooking for two people.

Next, place the garlic clove on a cutting board oriented so that its curve is pointed upward, or at least sideways. There may be space beneath the clove, which is good. Grab a wide blade knife, such as a chef’s knife or santoku knife. Rest the flat end of the blade on the top of the garlic (as shown) and hit the top with the palm of your hand once or twice, quickly and firmly.

The impact will slightly crush the garlic clove while the outer skin retains its shape and becomes dislodged. Examine the clove and remove as much of the skin as you can (usually all of it). If some skin remains stuck to the clove hit it a few more times, using a bit more force. It does not matter if you damage the garlic.

Use the knife to cut off the hard end that attached the clove to the bulb. This may help to remove any remaining skin as well. If you still have some skin stuck to the clove, it should be easy to pick off at this point. If not, smash it a couple more times.

Recipes often called for minced garlic, so after I peel my clove I often crush it completely then make thin slices along the length, then width. Scrape off any pieces of garlic sticking to the side of the knife then quickly mince the remaining chunks. This entire process takes less than 1 minute.

It is a great idea to prepare your garlic at least 10-15 minutes before you plan to cook with it, something that makes it substantially healthier.

I can’t imagine this being any easier, but I am always happy to hear your suggestions and comments!

This week, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that long-term supplementation with either vitamins C (500 mg) or E (400 IU) is ineffective at reducing major cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke.

The study was a ten year randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in low risk, healthy men over 50-years old.

Unfortunately, results do not get any more conclusive than this. Sorry boys, you are going to have to stick with diet and exercise for now.

It was thought that antioxidants such as vitamins C and E may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease by decreasing oxidative damage and reducing inflammation. But it appears that consuming these vitamins in supplement form is ineffective.

It is still a good idea to get enough of these antioxidants from dietary sources, however. Fruit is a good source of vitamin C. Almonds are good for vitamin E. A bonus is that a diet rich in fruits and nuts actually is associated with a lower risk of heart disease.

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Also in JAMA, low-dose aspirin was shown to be ineffective at reducing the risk of cardiac events in patients with type 2 diabetes. This finding is somewhat surprising because aspirin is effective at reducing cardiac events in non-diabetic individuals, and patients with diabetes are considered to be at particularly high risk for heart disease. It was thus reasoned that aspirin should be recommended for people with diabetes. However, in this group of diabetic patients in Japan, aspirin did not the reduce risk of a cardiovascular event.

One thing to note is that this study was relatively small, only 2,539 participants. So it may have lacked statistical power to find a real benefit. If you have type 2 diabetes and are currently taking daily aspirin, I wouldn’t stop just yet.

The good news for everyone is that basic dietary and lifestyle factors are by far the largest contributors to heart disease, diabetes and cancer. You can avoid most of these problems by eating a varied diet of whole foods, maintaining a healthy weight and staying moderately active. I’d choose that over aspirin any day!

Do you take many dietary supplements?

UPDATE: The problems with vitamin C and E supplements were expanded on this week by Tara Parker-Pope at the New York Times Well Blog. It is a great read if you are interested in this topic.