Eating For Health

Who doesn’t love foods cooked on the grill?   Steaks, hamburgers, vegetables, fruit, all taste better when grilled.   Years ago, I directed a research lab at a university.   Almost every day smells of grilled steak and hamburger came from the research lab next door.   I had to ask them what they were researching.   They said they were studying the effect of grilling on cancer risk.   What is this risk and how can you reduce this risk and still enjoy all those wonderful grilled foods? What is the risk of grilling and cancer? Apparently, grilling meat   at high temperatures can burn the fat in the meat and generate 2 cancer causing substances, called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).   Extended exposure to these substances can alter DNA and lead to an increase risk of cancer. How big of a problem is this? According to UCLA Health , isn’t a problem for occasional grilling but grilling every weekend for y...

Who doesn’t like some fresh fruit?   This week my husband stopped at the farmer’s market and brought home fresh raspberries, fresh yellow plums, peaches, and fresh corn in the husk.   He also brought home a fresh watermelon. The fruit and especially the watermelon were summer sweet.   Our neighbor just rang our doorbell and gave us some home-grown tomatoes.   All kinds of fruit will be coming your way during the summer months:   strawberries ripened on the vine, cherries from Washington, blueberries from Michigan.   Not only is fruit delicious, it is super healthy, low in fat and low in calories.   A few years back, Consumer Reports had an excellent article on 100 calorie summer fruits (June 2018) and 100 calorie picnic foods .    If you are going on summer picnics or barbeques this summer, read what a 100-calorie serving of barbeque foods look like.   Enjoy some 100-calorie fruit :   What about the “sugar” in fruit? Most fr...