Oatmeal’s health-food reputation is so solid, you might not think to check the label. But some brands cram in artificial ingredients and sweeteners that displace the heart-smart, waistline-trimming benefits. Luckily, there’s an easy solution, or five: Ditch the packets and stir up a bowl of plain oats (any variety; see “Cereal Smackdown,” next page), then try one of these yummy, nutritious combos.
You don't need a nutrition degree to know a piece of cake is packed with sugar. But what you might not realize is that the salad you had for lunch may have contained just as many grams as any obviously sweet treat. These days, with sugar lurking in all kinds of unexpected places, it's hard to avoid the stuff. And considering that some obesity experts say that sugar is as addictive and as harmful to your health as—brace yourself—illicit drugs, it's wise to find out exactly how much you're consuming.
Taking Our Lumps
A recent study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that we're downing more than three times the roughly six-teaspoons-per-day max recommended by the American Heart Association. That's roughly 300-plus extra calories from sugar each day! "Our overconsumption of sugar is an epidemic," says Kristin Kirkpatrick, R.D., of Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Institute.
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup roasted soy nuts
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp orange zest
1 cup dried tart cherries, roughly chopped
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 13″x9″ baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, pulse soy nuts and pumpkin seeds until roughly chopped, about 30 seconds.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine chopped soy nuts and pumpkin seeds, oats, dry milk, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, yogurt, and orange zest.
5. Pour wet mixture into large bowl containing dry ingredients. Add cherries. Mix well until all ingredients are combined. Pour into prepared baking dish and smooth with knife or spatula until batter is evenly distributed.
6. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into 15 equal-size (roughly 3″x2″) bars.
Protein bars (also known as nutrition or energy bars) appear to let you have your cake and eat it too: They pack belly-flattening ingredients, they help tide you over when you can’t get to real food, and many taste like dessert.
“But a lot of so-called nutrition bars can harbor stealth ingredients like hydrogenated oils, saturated fat, and sugar or sugar alcohols, and some have more calories than a brick of chocolate,” cautions Samantha Heller, R.D., a clinical nutrition coordinator at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut. So how can you tell if your bar is healthy or harmful? Choose one that has 100 to 200 calories and contains the following good-for-you ingredients.
No need to feel guilty about dipping into your treat bowl this Halloween—a study published earlier this year in Nutrition Research found that candy eaters actually tend to weigh less and have lower BMIs and fewer risk factors for cardiovascular disease than those who shun sweets.
That doesn’t mean your doctor is going to start prescribing Pixie Stix, of course. While you should always eat candy in moderation, some sweet snacks can actually reduce your appetite, protect your teeth, and boost your immune system. Opt for these nutritional winners:
Fun-Sized vs. Miniature: Fun-Sized
Researchers from the University of Alberta and University of British Columbia recently found that the smaller the portion, the more of a treat you’ll scarf. Study subjects ate almost 50-percent more of candies that came in miniature-sized packaging.
Who hasn’t stuffed themselves silly at Thanksgiving dinner? Overeating is tradition, after all—a 3,000-plus-calorie one! Here’s how your system deals with the overload.
Halloween and all of its superstitions are upon us. And while I don’t believe in them per se, I do believe in food and fun. Check out these popular food superstitions:
Breaking a Wishbone
Who hasn’t let the wishbone from Thanksgiving dinner dry over night so they could challenge their sibling to tug-of-war the next day? If you wind up with the longer piece, you get to make a wish—and rub it in to your brother.
Throwing Salt Over Your Shoulder
I think the floor on the set of Rachael Ray’s show must be littered with salt. But she has the superstition slightly wrong: It’s believed that if you spill salt—which is bad luck—you should toss more over your left shoulder to ward off the evil spirits your spill stirred up.
You don’t need to throw salt willy-nilly if you haven’t spilled your salt.
It’s time to eat real, America! After a 34-year hiatus, Food Day is back! Sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable way.
Why is eating real important? Far too many Americans rely on a diet of highly-processed unnatural foods. These habits are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths from heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer each year. Furthermore, our commercial farming practices are harmful to our farmers, the environment, and the farm animals.
But have no fear! Food Day is here to "transform the American diet.” How can you get involved? Visit foodday.org to find an event near you!
The Food and Drug Administration has completed its highly anticipated evaluation of the world’s first genetically engineered (GE) fish for human consumption, and passed a document supporting its commercialization on the US market to the White House Office of Management and Budget for final approval, reports the Talking Points Memo.
The FDA findings, however, weren’t released to the public, preventing people from making their own completely informed decision on whether or not to eat genetically engineered fish.
Still, experts have plenty to say about why genetically modified salmon could be dangerous to our health.
Here, the three main concerns that are making us (and critics of modified animals) nervous…
