Eating For Health

Caffeine – who doesn’t enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning?   Whether a K-cup, Starbucks or Mr. Coffee, most people enjoy starting their day with a cup of coffee.   According to the FDA , about 80% of adults in the US have some caffeine every day.     How does all this caffeine affect our health? What beverages and foods have caffeine? Coffee and tea have caffeine as does chocolate.   Energy drinks such as Red Bull contain caffeine.   How much caffeine is safe to drink? FDA notes that for most people, caffeine can be part of a healthy diet.   “But too much caffeine may post a danger to your health.”   FDA says healthy adults can consume up to 400 mg of caffeine a day which equates to about 4-5 cups of coffee a day, or 10 cans of soda , or 2 “energy shot” drinks.   But this varies as some people are more sensitive to caffeine and some people metabolize it faster or slower.   Pregnant or breastfeeding women should consult with t...

Everyone has heard of “processed foods”.   But now they talk about “ultra-processed” foods.   When teaching nutrition we did talk about why processed foods can be unhealthy but only recently has the term “ultra-processed” foods come into vogue.   In a previous blog post, Should You Avoid Ultraprocessed Food? , I noted that some of my students say that to eat healthy one should avoid “processed food”.   What they did not seem to understand is that most of the food we eat is processed to some extent.   Whole wheat bread is a healthy choice but bread is a “processed food”.   They harvest the grain, mill the grain, make the flour and then make the bread.   Cereal, canned vegetables, frozen vegetables, 100% juice – all are processed to some extent.   But now there is “ultraprocessed food”.   These foods are not only highly processed but often contain a lot of added sugar, salt and fat as well as preservatives and many have artificial coloring ...