Bountiful Bite - 10 Food Additives to Avoid

Hey, guess what? March was "National Nutrition Month". No, I never knew this before, either. And with all the free nutrition "advice" floating around 365 days a year, who needs a special month? Most of us feel pretty good about at least 2/3 of what we eat, anyway. 

There's an easy way to self-asses if you're eating well or not. How do you feel? How much energy do you have? Do you get winded going up stairs due to extra body weight? Do you suffer from indigestion? Does the doctor say your liver's overworked? Do your kids fall asleep in class? Are your teeth healthy? Do you have high blood pressure? These are all not so subtle hints that maybe you could use a healthier diet and celebrate your own personal nutrition month.

According to FoodMatters, "A typical American household spends about 90 percent of their food budget on processed foods." Ninety percent! Are we crazy? For "National Nutrition Month" I'd like to discuss two main nutritional bad habits that need much more focus in this country.

1. Serving size. No wait, I want to discuss the other one...

2. Food additives, or, things in your food that weren't in your grandfather's food when it came from the local small farm. National agencies and NGO's such as the US Department of Agriculture, the CDC, the National Center Health Statistics, and the Dairy Council, as well as diet book authors, periodically point the finger at something organically based in our food and say THAT is the evil ingredient. Saturated fat, margarine, sugars, salt, carbs, and red meat have all been on the healthy eating chopping block at some point. But how often do you hear officials or TV diet pundits talking about the things that don't occur naturally in your food? Maybe these sources of information are ignoring the obvious... what occurs naturally in our food has a healthy purpose, when eaten wisely, but what we add to our food may pose an actual threat to our health.

If you shop in a "regular" big box grocery store, up to 90% of what you buy there could have things added to it that are made in a lab, not grown in the ground or naturally occurring in say, a fish. (Hint: shop the periphery of the supermarket first, and bring cook from scratch recipes for ideas.) So what's the big deal?

Well, let's look at the time frame. In the last 20 years diabetes has been on the rise, heart disease in on the rise, some cancers are on the rise including pancreatic cancer, food allergies are on the rise, and people are getting fatter. Maybe, just maybe, when we ate fresh whole ingredients our bodies were better able to regulate our metabolism, our appetites, our digestive systems, and our ability to fight off illness and disease.

Indeed, there's quite a lot of evidence supporting this idea*. For example, the outcome of some scientific studies of certain food additives have borne ominous results. This month I'm passing along FoodMattters' list of the Top 10 food additives to avoid. Even if you know what they are, check out the source for a handy listing of what food products may contain them, and why you should avoid them even though they aren't illegal yet.
Hint - what's lurking in your rice mix, crackers, lunch meat, mac and cheese, candy and gum?

http://www.foodmatters.tv/_webapp_427697/top_10_food_additives_to_avoid

10. Potassium Bromate
9. Sulphur Dioxide
8. BHA and BHT
7. Sodium Nitrate/Sodium Nitrite
6. Sodium Sulphate
5. Food coloring: Blue #1, Blue#2, Red dye #3, Red #40, Yellow #6
4. Trans Fat (at least this one has gotten some attention)
3. MSG
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
and number one:
1. Artificial Sweeteners.

* http://www.organicconsumers.org/toxic/msg010306.cfm <----British Study, creepy findings

Note to self: bring reading glasses to grocery store to read ingredients.

Bountiful Bite: The Sugar Craving Monster

I work part-time in a bookstore. For the past two months I've watched dozens of diet books practically fly themselves out the door, along with carb counters, vegan cookbooks, and exercise manuals promising to give women flat tummies and guys six-pack abs. It's hard not to be a cynic and wonder how many new year's resolutions to be thinner and more robust will blow away with the first spring breeze.

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"Thousands of Resolutions, Killed by Junk Food Cravings
and Lack of Consistent Dietary Advice"...news at 10.

On Valentine's Day I plan to eat a cupcake (with a glass of soymilk and no guilt). Yep folks, it's a cruel world out there. My housemate is Chinese. She rarely wants to eat desserts or sweet treats. She has a dislike for cheese. Is she "dieting"? Nope. Is she thin and healthy? You bet. Cruel world? Maybe not.

Maybe there's a perfectly good explanation for her lack of cravings, and it's not that "she's Asian." What happens to make us crave chocolate and other sugary snacks? Basically, our insulin or serotonin levels drop, or we are thirsty or fatigued, or our hormones go wacky (out of balance). According to one dietitian, when we crave sugar we're actually craving the micro nutrients found in fruit!**

So, why doesn't my Chinese housemate have these cravings? She usually gets a good night's rest. At every meal, she has rice or noodles, a protein or two, and a vegetable or two. Occasionally she'll have toast for breakfast, with unsweetened peanut butter. In between she "snacks" mostly on green tea, water, fruit and a few nuts. Are we going to eat exactly like her this year? Probably not. But there are some hints we can take... I've snooped around on the net for "stop sugar cravings" and found suggestions, that fit in with her way of eating. Guess what, she follows the first four suggestions without thinking about it. I think I might be having an "Aha! moment".

Craving Sugar? Here are some of the more popular suggestions.

1. Drink water or unsweetened tea. You might actually be a bit dehydrated.
2. Have a little protein with breakfast, and every snack. (Egg, fish, or milk, soy milk, nuts or cheese, or even a couple oz. of meat)
3. Don't start your day with something sugary. Read the nutrition labels on ALL your breakfast choices!
4. Eat enough. It may seem obvious, but if you short-change yourself with doll-size portions of pasta or broccoli, you'll just feel hungry before the next meal-time.
5. Take a walk or run. (Raises serotonin levels).
6. Distract yourself. Helloooo ' Angry Birds'!
7. Wait 15 minutes, the craving might pass.
8. Go public. Tell your coworkers you're laying off baked goods and candy because you feel better when you do. If you eat the cupcake, you'll have to eat your words.
   

I'm resolved to stick to these habits. Really. ... At least until Spring.


** http://www.sheerbalance.com/nutrition/3-reasons-you-crave-sugar-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-food/

Bountiful Bite: Squirrelly Situation

Burrowhampton, MA - This picturesque New England college down is being called the "unhealthiest town for squirrels" after a group of sophomores recovering from a post-midterm party, observed an inordinate number of fat, er, "borderline obese" squirrels outside the dorm.

It appears that the prevalence of park side fast-nut restaurants is contributing to the obesity problem. The acorns in these establishments are injected with salt water, which these hungry rodents digest faster than normal, causing them to eat more of it. The high salt content is being called "the Silent Squirrel Killer". As the numbers of obese squirrels rises, the number of their lithe, furry brothers able to climb large oak trees is rapidly declining.

Dr. McGregor, DVM, of the Center for Squirrel Disease Control (and formerly Peter Rabbit's nemesis), told the Bountiful Bite "Squirrel obesity is a serious threat and could cost our public health system millions of dollars as the boomer squirrels age."

Although the furry climbers' optimal diet includes plenty of fresh apple and mushrooms, the average squirrel today eats only one serving per week! Mothers are decrying cashew vending machines in local squirrel schools. They say these high-fat nuts have little nutritional value (where squirrels are concerned) and are a poor substitute for good, healthy, hand-picked acorns.

Is there hope on the horizon? Tom and Jerry's, Inc. has just announced a nationwide initiative to give free hamster wheels to the first hundred squirrel councils that apply. A combination of more exercise and better nutritional information could "crack the shell" on the nation's latest public health concern.

Don't Haunt your kids with Veggies

This just in: American kids are getting fat. Alright, that's not going to come as a surprise to most of you.

But a new study gives me another reason to open the discussion, moms and dads, about what your children eat for lunch, dinner and after-school snacks. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) reports that among children and adolescents, an average of 40% of their calories comes from eating what we call junk, i.e.- food items which carry little or no nutritional value per calorie.

True story: My great-aunt Estelle, a bohemian from Greenwich Village, was once a clever little child, who's mother boiled spinach until it turned grey and served it to her with no seasoning. Forced to eat everything on her plate before being allowed to leave the table, she sat for hours one day, staring at anything but the soggy grey lump left on her dinner plate. After several hours, Estelle's mother came back to find her child's plate scraped clean, and no spinach in the girl's lap.

End of story? Nope. Two weeks later a wad of old spinach fell from the ceiling! Hooray for Estelle, I wouldn't have touched it either.

Don't make vegetables the villain!

Did your parents say things like "You can't have any cookies until you finish your lima beans"? How did that make you feel about lima beans? Like they were the villain, right? ...obstructing the path to cookie eating. Cookies are sugary, but they are also fun. They have bright colors, hidden surprises like raisins and chocolate chips, and you can line them up, or cut them into shapes before baking.

Why can't vegetables be fun, too? Have a choice of dips or sauces for the cooked vegetables, let children help make the salad, cut cucumber slices into star shapes. Try a little cheese sauce on the broccoli (made with 1% milk), a little cinnamon in the mashed sweet potatoes... and, gasp, a drop of honey.

By the way, what are YOU eating, Mom? "When parents eat more fruits and vegetables, so do their children. When parents eat and give their children high fat snacks or soft drinks, children learn these eating patterns instead." says Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D., a professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. The 5-year study she refers to, done in Missouri, advocates reaching for a banana for a snack, instead of potato chips. For yourself, as well.

Sometimes we unwittingly "haunt" our kids by making healthy food out to be a necessary evil, the "bitter pill" before the soda or cookie reward. Making veggies into childhood villains doesn't bode well for vegetable public relations! This time of year, many families make one vegetable... pumpkins, into scary jack-o-lanterns. But that's FUN, and anyway, a month later we make pumpkin pie.

Enjoy the Bountiful BITEs (Bwahahaaa!!) of October! And if you make a great pumpkin soup, please post your recipe in the comments.

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One of the first questions parents have about vegetables is how many do their kids actually need to eat each day.

Following the food pyramid, some general recommendations include that:

• 2- to 3-year-old children eat 1 cup of vegetables each day
• 4- to 8-year-old children eat 1 1/2 cups of vegetables each day
• 9- to 13-year-old girls eat 2 cups of vegetables each day
• 14- to 18-year-old girls eat 2 1/2 cups of vegetables each day
• 9- to 13-year-old boys eat 2 1/2 cups of vegetables each day
• 14- to 18-year-old boys eat 3 cups of vegetables each day

• 
  

posted from: http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition/a/0308_vegetables.htm


references:
http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2010/10/21/40-of-kids-calories-are-from-junk-food/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080811200425.htm