Snacking on the Rise
by Shereen Jegtvig
According to a new report, Americans are snacking more often and that trend is going to increase. As it is, snacking isn’t good or bad, really, it depends on how you do it. Eating snacks can be bad if you choose foods high in calories with lots of sugar and unhealthy fats, or snacking can be good if you choose healthy snacks that can boost your daily nutritional intake. Of course, even with healthy snacking you’ll have to watch your calories if you need to maintain or lose weight. Adding a 250 calorie snack every day will also add about one extra pound of fat to your hips or belly every two weeks. If you snack, be sure to know how much you are eating and reduce the same number of calories from one of your regular meals.
Some people prefer to eat six or seven snacks every day instead of three full meals. Some people believe this practice helps keep blood sugar level because you avoid the natural rise of blood sugar due to eating carbohydrates and fall of blood sugar due to the increased production of insulin. Other people just feel it is easier to control their calorie intake if they just nibble snack size meals all day. The key is to not let small snacks turn into full meals, which will lead to too many calories and weight gain. Read more
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Tapping into the Bottled Water Debate
In the past thirty years, bottled water sales have grown faster than those of any other beverage worldwide. In 2008, US bottled water sales topped 8.6 billion gallons (about 29% of the total bottled beverages sold in the US). The year before, Americans spent over $15 billion on bottled water, with over 100 different brands available in the US (ISU, 2000; Finewaters.com, 2009; Lighter footstep, 2008). Why are we paying so much for something that, literally, falls out of the sky?
To start with, bottled water is convenient. Central to its success, however, are consumers’ worries about the quality of water from municipal or private supplies. Industrial by-products, agricultural chemicals and bacteria may make their way into water sources if proper care is not taken. Copper and lead were/are often used to make the pipes that carry water to our homes, and residues of both products may have toxic effects if consumed. In addition to health concerns, these factors can also affect the taste and color of our drinking water, making tap water a less appealing option (EPA, 2005).
So what’s the problem? If you can afford it, why shouldn’t you buy bottled water? Read more
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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
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Part 2 – Recession Trends: Fresh Food on the Chopping Block
In part one, we discussed the impact of the recent economic downturn on our dietary habits: Americans are eating out less, and turning to takeaway and processed foods instead of fresh produce.
In one 2004 paper, Dr Drewnowski, director of nutritional studies at the University of Washington, Seattle, noted that obesity in the US is a socio-economic issue (Drewnowski, 2004). Highest rates of obesity occur amongst low-income populations, who often lack money, time, access to fresh produce and information to make healthy food choices. Dr. Drewnowski found that high-income earning women have the healthiest diets, with more nutritive value for every dollar spent.
Since the recession, as incomes plummet and stress increases, it seems more and more families, especially those in lower-income demographics, are making further cuts to their eating expenditure – often opting for quick, filling, discounted products which are marketed heavily as “super savers” or “value meals”. What shoppers may not be looking for is nutrition value, hidden additives, and portion size relative to the cost of the product.
While I’m not going to delve into the intricacies of economics, or the inner workings of the human psyche (phew!), you can basically narrow down the reasons for these alarming statistics to two factors: Read more
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Part 1 – Recession Trends: Fresh Food on the Chopping Block
The economy’s downward spiral has already claimed many jobs, houses and secure futures. Are our waistlines the next thing to suffer? As the world becomes accustomed to living under a gloomy economic cloud, more people are looking for ways to save – and unfortunately, fresh food seems to be the first thing ousted from America’s collective shopping basket.
Recent data show some expected consumer trends. Americans are eating out less and less, saving expensive meals for special occasions (Countries & Consumers, 2009; Lee 2009; Shea 2008). This has led to an increase in at-home dining and grocery sales – one of the few retail sectors currently expanding (3.1 per cent growth in 2009, compared with a 0.6 per cent decline across the retail market as a whole) (Talking retail, 2009). Major beneficiaries are lower-end stores who offer discounts and coupon deals, while more expensive stores are not enjoying the same boom. Consumers are more aggressively chasing deals, and are willing to go out of their way to find them. Statistics show that consumers are now more willing to “trade down” from value brands, and are opting for cheaper labels in staple items such as cheese, bread, milk and coffee. (Shea, 2008)
Unfortunately, the rise in home cooking has not led to healthier eating habits. Read more
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What’s a Goji Berry?
by Shereen Jegtvig
It seems like every couple of years a hot new exotic superfood makes its way into the United States. One of those recent superfoods is the goji berry – usually sold in juice or you can also find dried goji berries that kind of look like small raisins. Goji berries come from Asia where they have been used for thousands of years as an herbal medicine. They’re rich in vitamins A and C, iron, fiber and plant sterols, which are compounds found in plants that resemble our cholesterol, except that plant sterols actually lower cholesterol in the human body. In my opinion, Goji berries deserve to land on many superfoods lists.
What do you look for when buying goji berry products? You can buy 100% goji berry juice in some health food stores and online (wallet warning – it tends to be pretty expensive), however goji juice blends are popping on up the shelves of typical grocery stores. These juice blends are much less expensive than 100% goji juice, but more affordable, just be sure you’re not loading up on added sugars and you want the accompanying juices to be good for you too. You also need to know that these juice blends won’t have anywhere near as many of the plant sterols as 100% goji juice, but they will still be rich in vitamins and other phytonutrients. Read more
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Are Food Allergies On The Rise?
Twenty years ago, as a child with an allergy to cow’s milk and a vegetarian, gluten-intolerant mother, I saw some strange school lunches in my time. While other kids feasted on all the things I wasn’t allowed to eat (White bread! Soda! Weird, processed cheese that comes in a tube!), I cowered in the corner with my nutmeat sandwiches on rye bread with soy butter, cursing my over-excitable histamines.
Yes, I was THAT kid at school – that is, until Peanut Allergy Boy arrived and stole my thunder. At the time, we felt like the odd ones out. Now, it seems as though many more people have (or are aware of) food intolerance and allergies. Some countries are encouraging peanut-free school environments, and more and more restaurants are offering allergen-free options on their menus.
These days, do more people actually have food allergies, or does it just seem that way? If so, is this increase due to our environment, changes in diet and lifestyle or our genes? Although population data for allergy prevalence are difficult to collect, a recent scientific study (Branum & Lukacs, 2008) indicates that incidences of food allergy are most likely increasing, although an explanation for this trend has yet to emerge.
What are allergies? Who has them, and why don’t we know more? Read more
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Enrichment and Fortification of Processed Foods
by Shereen Jegtvig
Food manufacturers enrich their products when they replace nutrients lost during processing. For example, adding B vitamins to the white refined flour used to make bread. Enrichment doesn’t necessarily make the refined flour as healthy as whole grain flour because the fiber isn’t replaced, but adding the B vitamins back into the flour is certainly better than nothing.
Fortification is when food manufacturers add nutrients to foods that wouldn’t normally be present. This can range from the well accepted (vitamin-fortified breakfast cereals and vitamin D added to milk) to the just plain odd (Diet Coke with vitamins?). Some fortified foods are called functional foods, which mean they provide some health benefit beyond the usual nutrition profile for that food. Like margarine made with plant sterols that have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels with regular use. Read more
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