We talk a lot about ''watching what we eat,'' but if you never gave a thought to what you ate and instead watched only what you drank, you could probably cut 450 calories a day out of your life. (Yes, nearly a pound of fat loss a week!) That's what a study from the University of North Carolina found. Americans today drink about 192 gallons of liquid a year—or about 2 liters a day. To put it into perspective, this is nearly twice as many calories as we did 30 years ago.
When confronted with the growing tide of calories from sweetened beverages, the first response is, “Why not just drink diet soda?” Well, for a few reasons:
Just because diet soda is low in calories doesn't mean it can't lead to weight gain.
It may have only 5 or fewer calories per serving, but emerging research suggests that consuming sugary-tasting beverages--even if they're artificially sweetened--may lead to a high preference for sweetness overall. That means sweeter (and more caloric) cereal, bread, dessert--everything.
Guzzling these drinks all day long forces out the healthy beverages you need.
Diet soda is 100 percent nutrition-free, and again, it's just as important to actively drink the good stuff as it is to avoid that bad stuff. So one diet soda a day is fine, but if you're downing five or six cans, that means you're limiting your intake of healthful beverages, particularly water and tea.
There remain some concerns over aspartame, the low-calorie chemical used to give diet sodas their flavor.
Aspartame is 180 times sweeter than sugar, and some animal research has linked consumption of high amounts of the sweetener to brain tumors and lymphoma in rodents. The FDA maintains that the sweetener is safe, but reported side effects include dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, memory loss, and mood changes. Bottom line: Diet soda does you no good, and it might just be doing you wrong.
Source: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/22630/the-truth-about-diet-soda/
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Produce: The Dirtiest and the Cleanest
These days, we have more options for organic produce than ever before. Trends show that more consumers are buying organic more frequently because of concerns about health, pesticide exposure, and the environment.
But when you stroll into the produce section, do you ever wonder which organic fruits and vegetables you should be buying? Since organic foods are often more expensive, it's important to know what to look for, so you don't end up paying extra for organic fruits and veggies that are pretty clean, even in their non-organic versions.
One useful source for this information is the Environmental Working Group. Its Web site lists 44 fruits and vegetables ranked by the amount of pesticide residue each contains. Knowing which fruits and vegetables are usually carrying the most pesticides and which are cleanest, you can decide when it would be wisest to buy organic.
The EWG's "dirty dozen" are peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes (imported), pears, spinach, and potatoes. The "cleanest 12" are onions, avocados, sweet corn (frozen), pineapples, mangos, sweet peas (frozen), asparagus, kiwis, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and eggplants.
Think especially about buying organic when you're choosing one of the "dirty dozen." And, once you're home, your best bet is to wash all produce, even the organic ones, in warm water before preparing them. Firm produce can be scrubbed with a vegetable brush; softer, riper produce can be washed with a sink sprayer — or use one of those special washing products designed just for produce.
Peeling fruits and vegetables does reduce pesticide exposure, of course, but peeling also removes some important nutrients found in the peel, such as fiber.
Source: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/nutrition/13728/produce-the-dirtiest-and-the-cleanest/
But when you stroll into the produce section, do you ever wonder which organic fruits and vegetables you should be buying? Since organic foods are often more expensive, it's important to know what to look for, so you don't end up paying extra for organic fruits and veggies that are pretty clean, even in their non-organic versions.
One useful source for this information is the Environmental Working Group. Its Web site lists 44 fruits and vegetables ranked by the amount of pesticide residue each contains. Knowing which fruits and vegetables are usually carrying the most pesticides and which are cleanest, you can decide when it would be wisest to buy organic.
The EWG's "dirty dozen" are peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes (imported), pears, spinach, and potatoes. The "cleanest 12" are onions, avocados, sweet corn (frozen), pineapples, mangos, sweet peas (frozen), asparagus, kiwis, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and eggplants.
Think especially about buying organic when you're choosing one of the "dirty dozen." And, once you're home, your best bet is to wash all produce, even the organic ones, in warm water before preparing them. Firm produce can be scrubbed with a vegetable brush; softer, riper produce can be washed with a sink sprayer — or use one of those special washing products designed just for produce.
Peeling fruits and vegetables does reduce pesticide exposure, of course, but peeling also removes some important nutrients found in the peel, such as fiber.
Source: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/nutrition/13728/produce-the-dirtiest-and-the-cleanest/
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