Archive for the ‘Food’ Category:
How To Eat Healthy At Fast Food Joints
Reader’s Digest offered up twenty three ways you can go through the drive thru and still eat healthy. I don’t frequent fast food places very often, partially for health reasons but mostly because I find them boring, but sometimes you really have no choice. You get to the airport and the food court consists of McDonald’s, Panda Express, a Starbucks, and a few other locally owned versions of other fast food chains. Even in those cases, keeping these tips in mind are helpful.
Some of the tips are obvious ones – go for the salad minus fried toppings, skip the cheese (the cheese at McDonalds has 50 calories and 2 grams of sat. fat!), ask for extra veggies. Some others are not as obvious such as:
7. Use hot sauce, not ketchup, on your french fries. Hot sauce is low in calories, has a big, adventurous flavor, and contains nutrients that are particularly good for your body. Plus, it gets you drinking lots of water, which reduces your appetite.
While they don’t quantify the difference, as I suspect it’s not much, but the idea that it gets you to drink lots of water is a clever one.
14. Get skinless chicken. This is particularly important when you’re hitting KFC, home of the finger-lickin’ good fried chicken. Ditch the skin — and much of the batter — and you’ll save 240 calories and 16 grams of fat on a typical serving.
I guess skin isn’t in anymore. 
Subscribe to the comments for this postWhat are Probiotics?
No doubt you’ve heard of the latest health craze that’s been sweeping the food aisles of your grocery stores. There’s been a lot of talk about “probiotics” and how eating them can improve your digestive system and make you generally healthier. Like many of the other things you’ve read, you might be wondering if it’s true, bullshit, or something in between… right?
Well, probiotics are good. The FAO/WHO defines probiotics as: “Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.”
Practically, probiotics are foods or dietary supplement that contain “good” bacteria, which are normally found in your body. If you’re familiar with Dannon’s Activia yogurt, then you’re familiar with a probiotic food (ignoring the Dannon lawsuit settlement). Yogurt, fermented and unfermented milk, juices, and other products are probiotics.
There’s research that probiotic supplements and foods can help with digestive issues like diarrhea after antibiotics, irritable bowel syndrome, and other problems of the digestive tract.
Are they a cureall? No and the research is still preliminary so time will tell how helpful probiotics are.
(Photo: mjecker)
New Pom Antioxidant Super Teas
This is a guest post from my wife. She’s a big fan of POM Wonderful so she was especially thrilled to try out their new line of super teas. A PR firm sent us a few bottles and here is what she thoughts of them.
I had the pleasure of trying the new Pom Antioxidant Super Teas this past week. I’m a big fan of Pom Wonderful with its super delicious, not too sweet, taste so I was really excited to try four of the Pom Tea flavors. I tried two of the regular Pomx Teas: Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea and two of the Pomx Light Teas: Pomegranate Hibiscus Green Tea and and Pomegranate Wildberry Light White Tea.
All four were really yummy however of the light teas the Pomegranate Hibiscus was my favorite and the Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea was my favorite of the regular teas. The flavors of the peach came through clearly and the tea was not as sweet as some other peach teas. Also, it only has 80 calories per serving so 160 for the whole bottle. The light teas, including the Hibiscus Green Tea only have 35 calories, or 70 for a whole bottle. I was surprised after opening the Hibiscus Green Tea that the flavors were delicate and subtle while still providing a yummy and refreshing drink. It also did not have a “light” drinks aftertaste, a big plus in my book!
My favorite thing about these teas is that they provide you with more antioxidant potency than “red wine, green tea, grape and acai extracts” but with all the taste of a refreshing tea drink. They are all sweet but not too sweet when drinking by themselves or accompanying a meal. Another plus is that all of the teas that I tried contain between 1mg – 3mg of caffeine per serving or 2mg – 6mg of caffeine for a whole bottle.
A few notes: they are perishable and need to be kept refrigerated.
(Photo: absolutely_loverly)
Coolest Fruit on Earth: Miracle Fruit Synsepalum dulcificum
I first read about this crazy berry, scientifically named the Synsepalum dulcificum, on Environmental Graffiti. It turns out that the small berry turns sour flavors into sweet flavors. There’s a protein in the Synsepalum dulcificum called miraculin (really???). Miraculin, when it comes into contact with acids, results in a sweet taste.
They learned about it in a New York Times article about the fantastic stuff. Turns out bartenders are playing with it, people are having flavor-tripping parties, and just having a grand old time.
How crazy?
CARRIE DASHOW dropped a large dollop of lemon sorbet into a glass of Guinness, stirred, drank and proclaimed that it tasted like a “chocolate shake.”
Nearby, Yuka Yoneda tilted her head back as her boyfriend, Albert Yuen, drizzled Tabasco sauce onto her tongue. She swallowed and considered the flavor: “Doughnut glaze, hot doughnut glaze!”
Someone should try Dave’s Insanity Sauce!
America’s Unhealthiest Restaurants
Men’s Health recently published an article on America’s Unhealthiest Restaurants and a few of the restaurants on the list surprised me. They went to sixty-=six chain restaurants and gave each a grade based on a variety of factors. One metric they used was they calculated total number of calories per entree, which is an indicator of how of portion unhealthiness, as well as amount of fruit/veggie side dishes. There are more but I wanted to get to the results that surprised me.
Ruby Tuesdays scored a D+ and you’ll be surprised to learn that their burgers average seventy-five grams of fat a piece, which exceed the limit set out by the USDA! Baja Fresh scored a D- because a third of their menu choices had more than a thousand calories and too much sodium… the only safe option are the tacos.
Applebee’s, IHOP, Outback, and TGI Fridays alls cored an F because they don’t offer caloric information on their menu items.
Skip $40 Acai Berry Juices, Drink POM
When the fine folks at POM Wonderful emailed me to ask if they could send me a package of their pomegranate juice, I jumped at the chance because both my wife and I love the stuff. We enjoy it because we like the taste of pomegranate, the health benefits are just an added bonus. The reason why pomegranate is so good for you is because it is packed with antioxidants. They’ve spent millions on research (twenty five million to be exact) to confirm the benefits of pomegranates and discovered that it’s had a positive effect in a variety of areas including cardiovascular health, prostate health, erectile function, and in sheer antioxidant potency. But all that doesn’t matter to me and my wife, to be perfectly honest, we don’t look at POM Wonderful as some magic elixir… it’s juice and it tastes good.
However, if you’re one of the many thousands who pay $40 a bottle of acai berry products, consider buying something you can get at your local grocery store instead.
Avoid These Chinese Take Out Foods
Newsweek has a useful article today by Tina Peng titled Unhealthy Chinese-Food Choices listing the seven worst choices at a Chinese restaurant.
- Fried rice
- Lo mein
- Chow fun
- Crispy (orange) beef
- Lemon chicken
- General Tso’s chicken
- Barbequed spare ribs
Why were some of those foods bad? Fat, sodium, and calories. All pack more than you think but those are the worst offenders. What are good choices? “Stir-fried dishes, such as shrimp with garlic sauce, Szechuan shrimp, moo goo gai pan and chicken with black bean sauce all contain less than 1,000 calories a plate, she says, and vegetarian dishes such as Buddha’s Delight, stir-fried mixed vegetables, ma po tofu and Szechuan string beans also are healthier. Still, she cautions that these alternatives are all still heavy on the salt, so think about ordering the sauce on the side.”
10 Things That Are Surprisingly Good For You
The List Universe has a list of ten things that are surprisingly good for you, which really means they’re healthier than you may think. The reality is that most things that are bad aren’t that bad when taken in moderation, but I was very happy to learn that Ice Cream made the list at #1.
Ice-cream is a low GI (glycemic-index) food. This means that it is a slow sugar release food that keeps you satisfied for a longer period of time than a high GI food. For that reason, you are less likely to binge after eating ice-cream. 75 grams of Ben and Jerry’s Cookies and Cream ice-cream contains only 114 calories compared to a slice of cheesecake with 511 calories. Furthermore, ice-cream is made of milk which contains many essential nutrients and vitamins. 1 cup of milk contains up to 30% of a man’s daily recommended intake. Other nutrients in ice-cream are biotin, iodine, potassium, selenium, vitamins a, b12, D, and K. Studies show a possible link between milk consumption and a lowered risk of arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer.
The full list:
- Pornography – yay!
- Smoking
- Beer
- Cannabis
- Chocolate
- Red Wine
- Caffeine
- Stress
- Dirt
- Ice Cream
5 Weight Loss Foods: Grains, Asparagus, Pomegranates, Nuts & Green Tea
Ever get tired of seeing all those green tea weight loss advertisements everywhere? Think they’re scams? Turns out they’re, green tea anyway, actually on the list of five foods that can help you lose weight according to Dr. Maoshing Ni, author of Ask. Dr. Mao on Yahoo! Health.
The five foods are:
- Whole Grains: He specifically calls out millet, a type of whole grain that is non-glutinous, over 10% protein, with significant amounts of fiber and B-complex vitamins.
- Asparagus: Asparagus is rich in folate, vitamins A, C, and K, and fiber, which is great for helping you feel full. Asparagus also has a carb called inulin that promotes healthy bacteria in the large intestine.
- Pomegranates: Pomegranates, along with other fresh fruits, is valuable for its antioxidants. Go with the fresh fruit and not so much the juice because you’ll get more fiber and drink fewer calories.
- Pine Nuts: Chinese medicine believes pine nuts can improve digestive functions and the oil is often used for appetite suppression.
- Green Tea: I didn’t know this but apparently coffee and caffeine in large amounts can lead to food cravings, I’ve always found that coffee suppresses my appetite in the mornings. Either way, Green tea provides both a little caffeine and beneficial antioxidants.
Other tips? Learn to graze by eating five smaller meals, chew more slowly, and avoid processed foods.
5 Essential Weight Loss Foods [Yahoo! Health]
Don’t Snack on Trail Mix
On my desk is a bag of PLanter’s Trail Mix – Fruit and Nut. It’s a pretty good medley of nuts and fruit actually, some peanuts, raisins, banana chips, cashews, pineapple, cranberries and even some papaya. It’s absolutely delicious. It’s also jam packed with a lot of fat (good and bad fats), calories, and sugar. Fortunately it doesn’t have much salt otherwise I’d give myself a heart attack considering all the caffeine I drink in the morning (just kidding!).
Trail mix is delicious but it’s also heavy on calories. Three tablespoons (28g) has 140 calories, 9 grams of fat (2.5g saturated), and 13g of carbs of which 10g is sugar. The dangerous part about trail mix is that you could end up eating the whole bag, all 6 oz., and not even realize it. There are six servings in the bag so you’d be talking about half of your caloric intake (assuming 2000 calorie day) in one sitting. Just snacking.
This is the same concerns some have about dried fruits. Since the fruit is dried, it takes up less space in your stomach so you end up snacking on way more than you should be. The fruit is also packed with sugars and calories so you unknowingly consume a tremendous amount of calories just snacking. While it’s better than snacking on potato chips or chocolate bars, it’s not something you want to make a habit of.
Those calories do come in handy when you’re actually hiking on a trail though!
