Eating For Health

Chipotle has certainly been in the news about E. Coli outbreaks at its restaurants.   What is E. Coli and what can you do to avoid getting an infection?   WebMD, CNN, CDC and others have focused on E. Coli and provide some excellent tips for consumers. What is E. Coli? It is a bacteria and the official name is Escherichia coli.   Food infections can come from animals or humans.   It is found in both animal and human intestines.    A simple way to describe it is “Poop Germs”.   Many of us can have E. Coli in our intestines and it is harmless.   However, some strains can make you sick with diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illnesses and if severe enough even kidney failure. What foods can be contaminated with E. Coli? Most commonly, E. Coli outbreaks are linked to undercooked hamburgers.   Produce can be contaminated and is the leading reason for outbreaks.   Raw milk as it hasn’t been pasteurized, and unpasteuri...

Seems like everyone wants to jump on the latest trends in healthier food.    Many people are now choosing Chipotle over McDonald’s.    More of us are shunning artificial ingredients and artificial flavors in favor of real food.     So what is the Fast Food industry doing to get on the healthier bandwagon?   They are going to start removing artificial ingredients, preservatives and colorings from their food.   Who is doing what? Subway – I like Subway as one can get whole grain bread, lean meat and veggies on a sandwich.   They will be removing artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. Papa John’s – who doesn’t like pizza?   We usually avoid Papa John’s because of all the sugar they put in the sauce, it just tastes sweet.   But Papa John’s is planning on cutting out 14 not so healthy ingredients, like high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, artificial colors.   When?   By the end of 2016. They have already made s...

Good news for consumers.   Many manufacturers and fast food restaurants are making healthful changes in their food offerings.    In the last few weeks, Kraft, Chipotle, and Pepsi have made announcements about upcoming changes.   What drove these changes?   You the consumer, did by requesting healthier options.    It is usually the government forcing manufacturers to make changes and now with social media, the consumer is in the driver’s seat.   So what is changing? Kraft Macaroni and Cheese:     has announced it is going to make macaroni and cheese without the synthetic colors or artificial preservatives.   This change won’t take place until early 2016, but is good news for consumers.   Last March, a Change.org petition requested Kraft remove dyes from its mac and cheese.    This petition garnered over 365,000 signatures so carried a lot of weight with the company.   Before complying, Kraft went to the s...