Avoiding the Freshman Fifteen: How To Keep The Pounds Off
by Shereen Jegtvig
We’re still in the first weeks of fall semester at most colleges, which is an interesting, exciting and possibly bewildering time for a lot of college freshmen. For most, it’s their first home away from home, there’s classes, homework, new social groups – it’s really a stressful time of adjustment. And along that stress and excitement can be accompanied by the dreaded “freshman fifteen” which is the extra pounds that young people often gain when they go off to college for the first time.
Why does it happen? Maybe there are more choices and less supervision. Without Mom or Dad to provide the healthy snacks, college kids may succumb to the temptation of a junk food diet. Now it’s easy to keep junk foods in the dorm room as snacks. Or maybe some students use comfort foods to cope with the added stress of school and living away from home for the first time. 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 Organic Foods Worth the Cost?
by Shereen Jegtvig
There’s a lot to think about when you buy foods at the grocery store. Does the food offer good nutrition? What kind of additives and preservatives are present? How many calories are there? And so on…
So here’s another question to consider. Is your food organic, and does it really matter?
If your main concern about the food you buy is good nutrition, then whether food is organic or not doesn’t really enter into it. A recent study looked at the research and concluded that organic food really isn’t any more nutritious than regular commercially grown food. An organically grown orange has pretty much the same amount of vitamins, minerals, fiber and calories as a regular orange. Same thing goes for other fruits, berries, vegetables, meats, dairy and grains. Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- 2012 – the year of mobile convergence for retailers?
- Mobile apps not a silver bullet?
- Check out Comedy
- Changing face of Retail – a threat to grocers?
- Aisle50 – Groupon for food
Cutting Fat and Calories by Using Cooking Sprays
by Shereen Jegtvig
With obesity becoming a major health problem, it’s good to look for ways to cut calories – every little bit counts. One way to reduce the calories and total fat in your diet is to use cooking sprays instead of oil or butter when you cook. These cooking sprays work great for coating pans and bakeware without adding extra calories because you’re able to use just a thin layer of the product on your cookware.
How Cooking Sprays Work
Cooking sprays combine a small amount of oil with an emulsifier (usually soy lecithin) and a propellant. You simply spray the product onto your cookware. Some brands contain small amounts of silicone-based materials that appear to be harmless when ingested in these small amounts; however I don’t think they have the greatest flavor. Many also contain preservatives and even some artificial flavorings. The best cooking sprays keep the ingredients list short – only an oil, lecithin and a propellant. 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
Warning Labels on Hot Dogs?
by Shereen Jegtvig
Just recently, a vegan group called the Cancer Project filed a lawsuit asking the state of New Jersey to require cancer-warning labels on hot dogs. I think most people would find this lawsuit to be frivolous and I doubt New Jersey residents will see warning labels on their hot dogs anytime soon, but it is worth thinking about.
There have been studies suggesting a link between processed meats, like hot dogs, and colon cancer. They’re usually high in saturated fat and loaded with artificial additives and preservatives, the worst probably being nitrites, which are added to prevent bacterial growth and adds that familiar pink color. When the nitrites combine with other substances also found in meat to form N-nitroso compounds that are associated with a higher risk of several cancers. As an aside, many green vegetables naturally contain nitrites, but they don’t convert to the N-nitroso compounds, perhaps due to vitamins or antioxidants also found in the vegetables.
Does this mean that hot dogs should carry warning labels or that you should shriek and run away in horror the next time you see hot dogs at a picnic? Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- The next target for the food conscious community
- Smart Choices RIP
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Nutrition Rating Systems – the problem and a solution
