Eating For Health

So many options for buying organic food.   Everyone knows you pay more for organic food.   Why?   Is buying organic really better for your health?   Consumer Reports has some interesting information in their article, Organic Food on a Budget . With food prices increasing many people who bought organic food before are now cutting back.   How can you enjoy organic food on a budget?  What does organic mean?   The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal agency that regulates organic food.   To be labeled “organic” food must be grown and processed according to federal guidelines.   Or, animals must be raised according to federal guidelines.   These guidelines cover soil quality, pest and weed control, and how additives are used. Produce – organic produce is grown free of synthetic fertilizers, free of pesticide use. In grocery stores, the organic produce is kept separate from regular produce.   I had a student who w...

Who doesn’t love sweets?   Always fun to enjoy some desserts like cookies, cake, candy.   But Americans eat way too much sugar, not just in desserts but in so many foods.   And it is the added sugar in foods that we need to cut back on, not the natural sugar found in fruits or even real cow’s milk.   What are some ways that we can cut back on all that added sugar and those cravings for sweets? Psychologists have studied how sugar affects our brains and body weight as noted in the Frontiers in Psychiatry .   The article notes that “studies have linked sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) to an increase in body weight in children and adults”.   What are sugar-sweetened beverages ?   Think sugar-sweetened sodas like Coke, Mountain Dew, Sprite, sports drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, sweet tea, sweetened coffee drinks like Frappuccino, energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster and fruit drinks like lemonade or fruit punch.   These beverages not only contain...

Summer is here and many of us are out and about enjoying some time off.   Many are enjoying more meals out or grabbing something to eat while running errands.   Or, we are going on vacation and then eat more grab and go foods.   How can you eat healthy when you are away from home?   Eat Right from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has some useful tips.   Actually, they have a month’s worth of tips and here are some of them. Plan ahead – a relative is going out of town on a business trip.   She knows the conference is offering a hotel breakfast.   But not really “breakfast” as it has been sweet rolls, juice and coffee.   Not really a healthy choice. So, she brings bananas, some granola bars and eats her breakfast in her room.   When we travel, we often bring breakfast items with us and healthy snack items like peanuts, whole grain crackers and fresh fruit.   Some hotels do offer a healthier breakfast such as oatmeal, real cow’s m...