Eating For Health

Are you being fooled by foods promoted as “healthy” that turn out to be not so good for your health?   Some foods marketed as “healthy” can still be high in sugar, salt, or unhealthy fats.   To make informed choices one has to read labels and understand the nutritional content of foods.    What are some examples of misleading “healthy” foods?      Plant-Based Meat:   These have been the rage but now seem to have lost their popularity.   Good thing as many of the plant-based meat products are not so good for your health.   I had a student that was so proud of switching from eating a regular hamburger to a plant-based hamburger and really thought that this was so much better for her health.   Was it?   McDonald’s tested the McPlant burger based on Beyond Meat but it ended in 2022 and never went nationwide.   Burger King offered Impossible Burgers in 2019 as the Impossible Whopper.     The Burger King websit...

Who doesn’t enjoy some popcorn?   Many people love to indulge in some popcorn when they go to the movies or pop their own at home when watching a movie on TV.   So, what is the bottom line? Is popcorn good or bad for your health?   Well, that depends on how you prepare the popcorn and what you put “on” the popcorn. Does popcorn have any nutritional value? Popcorn is actually loaded with good nutrition.   A few years ago, I was preparing for class and a student came in early and was eating a snack.   I happened to walk by her seat and she hid the snack bag as fast as she could.   I asked her what she was snacking on and she sheepishly pulled out a bag of popcorn.   I told her popcorn is whole grain and a very healthy snack – good choice.   She then proceeded to openly enjoy her bag of popcorn.   Popcorn is whole grain.   Corn is unusual in that it can be a vegetable when we eat corn on the cob, whole kernel corn, creamed style corn...