The Goodness of Grapes
by Shereen Jegtvig
According to the Journal of Nutrition, eating grapes and grape products may have some powerful health benefits. Grapes might help to prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes and tooth decay, plus eating grapes may help to keep your immune system strong, which is important as we head into flu season.
Grapes contain phytochemicals, which are natural chemical compounds that your body uses to protect your health, including the well-known resveratrol. You’ll get the health benefits from grapes when you eat them fresh (or frozen as a sweet treat) or if you drink the juice. Grape juice is naturally sweet, but that doesn’t mean some food manufacturers won’t water it down and add high fructose corn syrup. Be sure to read the labels to buy 100% juice. Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- Avoiding the Freshman Fifteen: How To Keep The Pounds Off
Food Tip – Choosing Canned Fruit
by Shereen Jegtvig
Fruits are sweet and delicious – and so good for you. Most fresh fruits offer lots of vitamins such as folate and vitamin C and minerals such as potassium. Unfortunately, fresh fruits aren’t always that convenient – they perish quickly – so many people prefer the ease of canned fruits.
There are a couple of things to think about when you’re buying cans of fruit. More nutrients are lost in canning as compared to freezing, especially vitamin C and folate, so you lose a bit of the nutrition. Canned fruits often contain added sweeteners, like high fructose corn syrup, and flavor enhancers and preservatives. These usually aren’t artificial enhancers and preservatives – usually pectins and vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- The Goodness of Grapes
Cutting Back on Added Sugars
by Shereen Jegtvig
This week the American Heart Association released new guidelines on how much added sugar is acceptable in a healthy diet. Added sugars include sweeteners such as table sugar, honey and high fructose corn syrup that are either added during the production of foods or at the table. In general, the guidelines suggest no more than about 150 calories per day (based on your daily calorie need) come from added sugar. That’s approximately the same as 6 teaspoons of table sugar.
This may be less than many Americans are consuming each day. In fact, one 12 ounce can of soda might exceed your limit – and just imagine how much sugar is in a giant super-sized soda. It’s important to watch your sugar intake because eating too much sugar can easily cause you to take in more calories than you are able to burn each day. That leads to being overweight, then obese and increases your chances of having high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Another consideration is that added sugar really has no additional nutritional benefit – nothing but simple carbohydrate calories that are easy to absorb and your body has no trouble converting the extra energy to fat. Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- The Goodness of Grapes
Are Flavored Waters the Same as Soft Drinks?
by Shereen Jegtvig
When I walk through the beverage aisle at the grocery store, it looks like about one-quarter of the shelf space is devoted to bottles of water. Quite a change from when I was a kid. Back then there were a few gallon jugs of distilled water, and the only reason my mom bought those was for use in the iron – we didn’t drink it.
Getting enough fluids every day is important and the bottled-water industry has done a great job pushing their products. They’re convenient, possibly better than some tap water, but they still taste like water and not everyone likes the taste of water. So between the bottles of water and soda, you’ll see several brands of flavored water. If water is good for you flavored water must be good too. But isn’t that the same as a soft drink? Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- The Goodness of Grapes
Top 10 Food Facts – May Week 2
Hello FoodEssentialists!
Are canned tomatoes as healthy as fresh tomatoes? Or is low fat yogurt a better option than full fat yogurt? These are the type of questions and perceptions that the FoodEssentials food facts aim to challenge. Each week we discover something new, surprising and (at times) alarming. This week we discovered that some cookies and biscuits can contain MSG of all things, and that some brands of butter can even contain high fructose corn syrup. Obviously, this can’t be the norm? Why these additives are even needed in foods such as cookies and butter, this writer is not able to answer, but do you know why? Do you have an opinion? Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Added Sugar increases risk of Heart Disease
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
Top 10 Food Facts – May Week 1
Hello foodessentialists!
One of the most powerful attributes of the FoodEssential database is the ability to produce nutritional comparison lists of ‘actual’ branded products that can be found in local supermarket – Enabling one to compare brands at a glance, and choose the most suited product to their dietary requirements. Whether you are counting calories, topping up on protein or simply trying to avoid products that contain artificial or controversial ingredients like artificial colors yellow 5 and 6 or even aspartame and sodium benzoate, the Top 10 Food Facts is where it’s at!
This week we place the magnifying glass over hot dogs, brats, candy and canned salmon, comparing them for HFCS, calories, protein, MSG, saturated fat, plus much, much more – Enjoy! Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Added Sugar increases risk of Heart Disease
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
Top 10 Food Facts – April Week 5
Howdy Everyone!
We have reached the tail-end of the week (only one more day to go.. after this one), and you all deserve to divulge in some of our foodessential food facts. Having a database of over 20,000 foods enables us to come up with quite a few food facts, some of which you may not have otherwise known? This week we have debated the difference between turkey and ham – one of which is higher in calories, saturated fat, sodium and has more nitrites – can you guess which one?
Additionally we have brought to you, some of the most popular food facts on twitter from this past week, including gluten free soy sauces (which aren’t organic or over priced) and convenience meals that contain high fructose corn syrup. But the food fact with the most retweets – a product that contains 101 individual ingredients. This and plenty more…enjoy, and feel free to let us know what you think – like is 101 ingredients necessary in your opinion? Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Added Sugar increases risk of Heart Disease
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
High Fructose Corn Syrup 101
This post is also related to an earlier article more…
by Shereen Jegtvig
Some people avoid high fructose corn syrup because they believe it is much worse for your body than regular white sugar. So is it really worse? Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Added Sugar increases risk of Heart Disease
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- What are BHA and BHT?
- Are Flavored Waters the Same as Soft Drinks?
High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked To Heart Disease & Obesity
Researchers have suggested the commonly consumed sweetener high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), may lead to an increased risk of obesity and heart disease. A controlled study found that drinks sweetened with HFCS led to higher L.D.L cholesterol and triglycerides, when compared to drinks sweetened with a glucose solution. It is well documented that both L.D.L cholesterol and triglycerides can both lead to an increased chance of chronic heart disease.
The New York Times reported that although there was a similar moderate weight gain in both groups, the fructose drinkers also had larger increases in fat inside the abdomen, also associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Added Sugar increases risk of Heart Disease
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- What are BHA and BHT?
- Are Flavored Waters the Same as Soft Drinks?
Trying to Find the Best Greek Dressing
by Shereen Jegtvig
A few posts ago, I explained what to look for when choosing a salad dressing, so now I want to take a look at Greek dressings. Greek dressings remind me of olive oil with its monounsaturated fats that are good for your heart, and maybe a bit of tangy feta cheese and oregano. These dressings can be creamy, which is delicious but usually higher in saturated fat, or vinaigrette dressings that are usually lower in fat and calories. Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Added Sugar increases risk of Heart Disease
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
