Eating For Health

Who hasn’t used the 5 second rule?   You drop some food on the floor and if it is less than 5 seconds, is it safe to eat?   If it is on the floor longer than 5 seconds, is it really more contaminated?   Does the type of floor matter?   The type of food?   Is the 5 Second Rule another food myth?    Believe it or not, researchers have actually studied the 5 second rule.   What foods did they drop and what did they find? A number of researchers have studied the 5 Second Rule the most recent study about Myth Debunked , was published in September in the journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology.   Previously, a high school student studied gummy bears and fudge-striped cookies dropped on a floor contaminated with E. coli.   He found that food was contaminated in less than 5 seconds.    So, what did the 2016 researchers find? What is the 5 Second Rule – the belief is if you drop any food on the ground/floor and pi...

Everyone knows fruits and vegetables are good for your health.   But many parents don’t know about half of what a kid eats should be fruits and vegetables.   MyPlate shows a plate with half the plate being fruits and veggies.   Many parents aren’t serving kids even one fruit or vegetable at a meal, let alone 2 at each meal.   In fact, statistics show only 22% of kids ages 2-5 are getting the recommended servings of vegetables. For older kids, it’s even worse with only 16% of kids ages 6-11 and only 11% of kids ages 12 to 18 are getting the recommended vegetable servings.   Even then the vegetable is often French fries or chips.        Many nutritionists and health care professionals offer tips to parents on how to get kids to eat their veggies (and their fruit).   One bite rule – child care centers often invoke this rule.   A child has to take at least one bite before they get to veto the food.   The child may fi...