Eating For Health

Eggs – who hasn’t heard that eggs are high in cholesterol and we should limit how many eggs we eat?   Because of this, many of us have cut back on how many eggs we consume.   But what does the latest research show?   Gluten free – one of the latest fads in eating.   One can hardly buy a packaged good without seeing “gluten-free” on the label.   But are gluten-free foods good for your health?   Do you really need to be concerned about gluten?    Did you read my blog last week about how much plastic we are consuming each week in our foods and beverages?   This week I took a look around the kitchen and was surprised to see how many foods that used to be in glass or cardboard, are now in plastic.   Are there ways to cut back on plastic?   Let’s look at each of these topics. Enjoy those eggs Eggs are much maligned – we have been scared for years about eating too many eggs. But for those of us who love eggs, there is good news...

Are you eating plastic every day?   Most people have never even thought about how much plastic they are consuming each day, each week, each month.   Consumer Reports has a great article, How to Eat Less Plastic .   In the article it notes, “Each of us might ingest up to a credit card’s worth of plastic weekly through food and water”.    Kind of alarming since most of us never think about eating plastic and that we might be getting plastic in the foods we eat and from the water we drink. How much plastic are we ingesting? Besides the credit card reference, an article in Environmental Science & Technology, discussed “Human Consumption of Microplastics”.   They estimate that our annual consumption of microplastics from foods and drinking water “ranges from 39000 to 52000 particles”.   Those of us who rely on water from plastic bottles ingest another 90000 microplastics each year.   Interestingly, even those who consume only tap wate...

So much carb confusion.   I am always amazed at how someone will take the top bun off a hamburger to cut calories but then eat a large order of fries and a large Coke.   They think the bun is bread so it is fattening while they load up on the added sugars in the Coke and the added fat in the fries.   The Dietary Guidelines don’t tell us to cut the carbs or to cut back on bread.   We actually need grains in our day, every day, every meal.   What are some healthy carbs we should have in our diet and what do the Dietary Guidelines say about carbs? Dietary Guidelines and carbs – what are the recommendations? The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines have nothing to say about cutting back on bread, even though so many people say they are cutting back on carbs and mean they are cutting back on bread.   The Dietary Guidelines really only advise on added sugars as those are the carbs we should cut back on. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines recommend:  ...