Eating For Health

Almost everything we eat has some form of preservative in it to make the food have a longer shelf life.   I you made your own bread, it would get moldy within a few days on your counter.   So store bought bread has preservatives in it to help prevent this growth of mold.   Read the label on packaged cured meats like bacon and sausage and a number of preservatives will be listed.   So are these preservatives safe to it?   Are there any we should avoid/ A recent article in Environmental Nutrition explored the safety of preservatives ( Safety of Preservatives Explored ).    Before modern food processing, many techniques were used to preserve foods.   Adding salt to foods, sugar is used in canned jellies, home canning vegetables was used to preserve them for future use.    Now manufacturers add sodium benzoate, sulfites, BHA and BHT.   So why do manufacturers add these chemicals to our food?   Their reasons include: Lon...

Obesity and Deaths:   Some interesting nutrition research was reported this week.   One study focused on obesity and noted more Americans are dying from obesity than previously thought.   Columbia University researchers have found that obesity accounts for nearly 20 percent of deaths for ages 40-85.   This is significant as previously they thought only 5% of deaths in adults was due to obesity.   So why is obesity causing more deaths than previously thought?   It seems researchers are now concluding that obesity has far worse consequences than previous reports indicated.   This increase in deaths due to obesity may shorten life expectancy.   "Ryan Masters, a co- author of the study noted, “Obesity has dramatically worse health consequences than some recent reports have led us to believe.   We expect that obesity will be responsible for an increasing share of deaths in the United States and perhaps even lead to declines in U.S. life expecta...

We all know that most of us eat too many foods high in added sugar.   But then we hear “All things in moderation” to justify our sugary snack fixes.   But what about kids, is added sugar harmful to kids?   Some new research indicates sugary drinks in preschoolers can lead to obesity.     When I was growing up, it seemed no one drank sugary drinks very often.   Once a week, my father would let us have a 7 ounce sugary soda (soda came in 7 ounce bottles back then).   The rest of the time we had milk with our meals and drank water if we were thirsty.   Now, many parents give their kids soda at meals instead of milk and sugary drinks like Sunny D and Capri Sun in place of 100% juice.   So what did the study find? Researchers found that 5 year olds who drank sugared drinks like sodas, sports-drinks and even juices high in added sugar every day were more likely to be obese than their peers who drank these sugary drinks less often. ...

Not too much attention is paid to the nutritional contribution herbs and spices  make to our diets.   Many people have no idea if they are healthy or not, but they know they can help make food taste better.    In the nutrition class I teach, I ask students to modify a lasagna recipe to make it healthier.   One group of students took out every herb and spice – no garlic, no oregano.    When I asked why, they thought this would make the recipe healthier.    However, the opposite is true.   We want herbs and spices in our food as they not only add flavor but also nutritional value.     So what is healthy about herbs and spices?   It actually depends on which one you are referring to because different herbs and spices offer different nutritional benefits.    A recent article in Tufts Health and Nutrition Newsletter (August 2013) outlined the health and nutritional benefits of many herbs and spices such as: ...