Year 2, Day 271: Indian Dhabra

A bunch of coworkers have been setting out to remote locales in search of cheap, fast and good food. Today we were planning on Korean BBQ but were fouled up when the restaurant's hours were discovered to be 3pm-10pm. As a backup, we went to Indian Dhrba, a "Road Side" Indian restaurant. One of team who is Indian, led us in the ordering and determined that the Indo-Chinese food was for us. The food (excepting the soups, which were watery and tasteless, even after the addition of salt and pepper) was excellent, but sadly, most of it was deep fried and featured peas. So even though I avoided the rice (for which I endured countless stares of resigned disbelief) it still was in the South Beach 'loss' column.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Blueberries
Banana
Heritage Flakes
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Snack
1 oz Boston Lite Popcorn
3 Sticks Beef Jerky
1 Extra Smokey
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar


Lunch: Indian Drba
Dal (Chicken Soup with Lentils)
Chili Chicken (with and without gravy, which is tomato sauce)
Chicken Manchurian
Murgh Mutter Masalewala (Boneless chicken with multer in a special spicy curry sauce)
Baingan Bharata
(Fresh eggplant baked in an open flame, cooked with onions and spices)

Dinner
Chicken a la Emily
Emily Leeks
Peppadews
2 Bites of a Hot Dog that Ruby Didn't Eat

NEW YORK, Dec 5 (Reuters) - New York City's board of health on Tuesday voted to phase out most artificial trans fats from restaurants, forcing doughnut shops and fast-food stands to remove artery-clogging oils from their cooking.

The law will require McDonald's and other fast-food chains that have not already eliminated trans fats to do so by July 2007. They will be given a three-month grace period before facing fines.

Makers of doughnuts and other baked goods will be given until July 2008 to phase out trans fats.

"We know that trans fats increase the chance of heart attack, stroke and death, and they don't have to be there," New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden told a news conference after the vote.

Trans fats increase those health risks by increasing bad cholesterol and reducing good cholesterol.

Frieden said that New York City expects to withstand any lawsuits challenging the ban, and said the action was well within the jurisdiction of the board of health.

"People are no longer dying of typhoid fever. They are dying of heart disease," Frieden said.

In a separate vote, the board of health also ordered restaurants to standardize how they display the number of calories in dishes on their menus in an effort to combat obesity.

That law, to take effect July 1, applies to restaurants that already report the calorie counts and requires them to display the numbers on menus and menu boards. It is expected to affect about 10 percent of New York City restaurants, including many fast-food establishments.