Keep eating to keep the economy afloat

Controversial...
According to this obesity economist (since when is this a profession?!), Americans' expanding waistlines are helping boost the economy- in the short-term anyway.



Watch CBS News Videos Online

Learning to love my gums

I did this for a health behaviour challenge (class work). I'm presenting it today and am paranoid I won't be able to load this video... so I'm putting it here just in case!

This doesn't have anything to do with food or nutrition but...
Did you know that flossing could help prevent heart disease? I learned something new!

The Fun Theory

This is great!



A pilot study in Sweden found that when sedentary people took the stairs for 12 weeks,
their:

• VO2 max (used to measure aerobic capacity) increased by 8.6%,
• Mortality risk decreased by 15%,
• Body fat decreased by 1.7%,
• Waist circumference decreased by 1.8%,
• Diastolic blood pressure decreased by 2.3%, and
• LDL (lousy) cholesterol decreased by 3.9%!
  

Wow.

Visit thefuntheory.com for some more fun.

Sacré Bleu! McDonald's in the Louvre?

Yup. It's True.
The home of the Mona Lisa will become home to France's 1142nd McDonald's chain.
George Stroumboulopoulos of CBC's The Hour brought up a good point:
Isn't anybody worried about having the Hamburglar inside the Louvre?

Preventing a second, or a first, heart attack: Part 3

Eating the right type of fat.

Our dietary fat intake has actually decreased over the years... but heart attack and strokes have increased.

Obviously, fat isn't the enemy and, in fact, including the right type of fat in your diet can help decrease your risk of having a first, or a second, heart attack or stroke.

Unsaturated fats include:

Monounsaturated fat- Olives, olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, nuts, seeds, natural peanut and seed butters and avocadoes.

Polyunsaturated- Fish and corn, soybean, safflower, sunflower, soybean and cottonseed oils.

Replace the Bad with the Good:

Replacing saturated fats or carbs in your diet with unsaturated fats has been shown to decrease the 'lousy' LDL cholesterol (the one that clogs up your arteries), prevent the increase in triglycerides (the fat that's in your blood) that has been linked to heart disease and that increases with high refined carb intake (sweets, desserts, white bread, white pasta, white rice etc.), reduces the risk of blood clot formation, and decreases erratic heartbeats- the main cause of sudden cardiac death.

Dr. Willett and his team at the Harvard School of Public Health calculated that replacing 5% of calories as saturated fat with unsaturated fat reduces the risk of heart attack by 40%!

Assuming you eat 2000 calories, that would means replacing 11g saturated fat with 11g unsaturated fat.

For example, eat 1 oz nuts (about 1/4 cup) instead of 1/2 cup ice cream or eat 2 Tbsp peanut butter instead of 2Tbsp cream cheese or 1 oz hard cheese.

Speaking of nuts, the Nurses' Health Study, published in the British Medical Journal in 1998, looked at the health of more than 86,000 women. It found that those who ate 142 grams (five ounces) of nuts per week were 35% less likely to develop heart disease than women who ate less than one ounce per week.
The 2002 U.S Physicians Health Study found that men who ate nuts two or more times per week were 47% less likely to die of a heart attack and 30% less likely to die of heart disease than men who rarely ate nuts.

Bottom Line

Make sure that every day you replace some of the saturated fat in your diet- found in animal products like meat, milk products, eggs, lard, shortening and butter- and excess refined carbs with various sources of unsaturated fat, including fish, vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, avocadoes, peanut butter, olives and non-hydrogenated margarine.

Want to read more?

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2

Insanewhiches!!

There are insanewhiches for all tastes so visit this great site next time you're wondering what to pack for lunch....

Some are for the more refined palates:




Nori-wrapped hot-dog sushi.







The Swine n' Cheese sandwich







Some (lots!) would not be recommended by dietitians



Too-Big-For-Your-Handwich






Others would be:




The Crummy Cakewich: extra-lean turkey breast, multigrain bread and sweet-potato frosting.





Some are just gross:





The knuckle sandwich is made with pig hoofs:






Some are just weird:




The All-Mint Patty Burger






But some actually seem good!



The Dark Night- melted dark chocolate drizzled over eggplant.









Thanks Diane!

Chew gum, snack less?

The study:

115 men and women who regularly chew gum visited a lab at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center on 2 occasions:

On the first, they were given a lunch and then stayed for 3 hours, chewing Extra® sugar-free gum for 15 minutes, once an hour.

Hunger and cravings were assessed with the help of questionnaires and at the end of the 3 hours, subjects were given a variety of snacks to choose from.

The next visit was exactly the same, but they weren't given chewing gum.

The result:

When subjects chewed gum, they reported significantly less feelings of hunger and cravings for sweet foods and felt significantly less sleepy.

Gum chewers also ate significantly less calories after the 3 hours: 40 calorie less but, more interesting to the researchers, 60 calories less from sweet snacks.

According to Paula Geiselman, Chief of women's health and eating behaviour and smoking cessation at Pennington, this is the first study to look at the nutrient composition of snack food choices following gum chewing.

What I think:

First of all, 40 or 60 calories doesn't sound like a lot. In fact, it's the equivalent of only 4-6 jelly beans. Nonetheless, that could lead to a 4-6 lbs weight loss a year if it was kept up daily.

However, I wonder if these study findings be the same if the subjects weren't regular gum chewers?

Maybe regular gum chewers that can't chew gum for 3 hours need to keep their mouths occupied and eat more (and have more cravings) whereas people that don't normally chew gum wouldn't have the same problem... In that case, wouldn't it be better to tell people never to start chewing gum in the first place?!

Measuring this only on 2 controlled occasions i very limiting too. For example, the subjects obviously knew the difference between their 2 visits was the gum chewing.

Clearly this is something that needs to be studied way more before any recommendations can be made.

Oh. Did I mention that the study was funded by the Wrigley's Science Institute? Hm.

Want to lose weight? Don't rely on chewing gum!

Drain AND Rinse

Don't just drain your canned foods like vegetables, beans, tuna... rinse them... for at least 1 minute.

Studies have shown that rinsing your canned vegetables for a minute reduced sodium by 41%. Rinsing canned tuna for a minute reduced sodium by 76%!

The Sodium Crisis: A Major Health Concern

A few years ago, there was a huge effort to enlighten the public on the health effects of trans fats.

The result: Mandatory labeling, the removal of trans fats from many products, and entire cities banning trans fats from restaurants.

Looks like sodium's next!

The CSPI has called sodium the “deadliest ingredient in the food supply” and the “forgotten killer”.


Why is Salt Bad?

High sodium intake has been linked with high blood pressure- 1 in 6 people worldwide have high blood pressure, as do 65 million Americans. 45 million more are considered “pre-hypertensive” (between normal and high blood pressure).

Don’t have high blood pressure? Chances are you will. 90% of Americans will. And, even if you don’t have high blood pressure, cutting back on sodium can reduce your chances of getting cardiovascular diseases by 25% and your risk of dying from it by 20%. Same goes for kids!

Eating less salt is also one of the most important ways in preventing heart disease. High sodium intake has also been linked to obesity, stomach cancer, kidney stones, kidney disease, osteoporosis and an increase in asthma symptom severity.


How Much is Too Much?

The WHO recommends we eat less than 2000mg sodium/day whereas US and Canadian guidelines, based on Institute of Medicine recommendations, recommend less than 2300 mg/day, less than 1500mg/day if you have high blood pressure.

In fact, we only need about 1200-1500mg/d. As a reference, 2.5 little pickles contain 1550 mg/day.

We’re eating about double the limit, 3500-4000mg sodium/day... and that’s too much!

Where’s All This Salt?

Believe it or not, the majority of salt isn’t coming from the salt shaker. About 80% of our sodium is coming from processed foods!

Between 1994-2004, sodium in food has increased by 6%.

Packaged foods and restaurant meals are huge sources of salt in the diet. For example, a slice of pizza has about 1770mg sodium. A Denny’s Meat Lover’s breakfast (2 eggs, bacon, 2 sausages, toast and hash browns) has 3460mg sodium!

Hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs and subs are the main source of sodium in the Canadian diet.

Click here to find out what the saltiest restaurant meals in America are!

What’s Happening?

Although the food industry is slowly starting to develop lower sodium in some products- watch the commercial below for Knorr Sidekicks that have reduced sodium by 25% in 22 of their products- it’s not enough.







It’s estimated that 8.5 million worldwide deaths could be avoided over 10 years by adopting public strategies to reduce sodium intake.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is asking for sodium to be recognized as a food additive rather than GRAS (Genereally Recognized As Safe) in the States, so it could be regulated. They’re also suing the restaurant chain Denny’s for not disclosing the large amount of salt in their food which, according to them, is putting unknowing consumers at a huge health risk. They also want the restaurant chain to post warnings on their menus about the high sodium levels.

Canada’s Sodium Working Group was started in 2007 and is made up science/health professionals (including 2 dietitians!), food industry and NGO representatives as well as government officials. The group plans to come up with a plan to reduce Canadian’s sodium intake in 4 years, a bit too slow for some.

New York City, always a leader in health initiatives (first to ban trans fats in restaurants and implement mandatory menu calorie labelling) has started its own initiative and plan to cut sodium in restaurant foods by 25% in the next 5 years.

Strategies That Work!

Finland, and more recently the UK, should serve as models for Canadians and Americans. Both countries have partnered with the food industry to reduce sodium in products and educate the public through mass media campaigns.

Click here for another great British ad:


Finland started this in the 70s and they’ve seen a drop in sodium intake from 5600mg/d to 3200mg/d! They’ve also seen a huge 70% reduction in stroke and heart attack deaths!

Both countries have also adopted an easy labeling system: green label for low salt, amber for medium salt and red for high salt. The result in the UK: a reduction of 400mg sodium in just 4 years!






More to come on this topic for sure!

Deferred Gratification: The Marshmallow Test

In the 60s, psychologist Walter Mischel from Stanford University designed the Marshmallow Test: 650 4-year olds were individually given one marshmallow and were left alone in a room. The pre-schooler was told that he or she could either eat it right away BUT, if they waited 15 minutes and didn't eat the marshmallow, they'd receive a second.
This test was designed to measure willpower in delaying gratification.

It was found, based on questionnaires sent to the parents, teachers and academic advisers of the former pre-schoolers, now high schoolers, that those that were unable to delay gratification (that ate the marshmallow right away) had more behavioural problems, had trouble paying attention and maintaining friendships and had lower SAT scores.

The results are based on self-reported information therefore subject to error. However, Mischel, now at Columbia, is attempting to recruit the original subjects to get fMRIs done in an attempt to identify the brain regions responsible for self-control. Wouldn't that be amazing?

Watching the kids trying so very hard to delay gratification is hilarious! This is a re-enactment:

The Eatphabet!

Have a great weekend!
From...
(with the help from the Eatphabet!)

I'm a bad blogger... I blame school!

I haven't blogged in forever and that's horrible... I'm sorry.

My excuse: 8 years after I finished my bachelor's degree, I've decided to go back to school!

I just started my Master's in Nutrition Communication in Toronto... so I'll be a better blogger!!

I moved last week and still unpacking and getting to know this city.... along with easing into this whole back-to-school thing.
I promise to blog very very soon.. hope you'll stick around for it!
:)

What to eat in preparation for your half marathon, marathon or endurance activity

Preparing for Peak Performance

LOADING UP: 1 week before your race Loading your muscles with glycogen will increase your potential to perform well during endurance exercise lasting >1.5 hours. HOW?

• Taper your training ;
• Moderately increase your carbohydrate intake by 200-350g/day*.
• Remember to load up on carbs, not fat!
• Carb loading won’t help you run faster but will help you maintain your pace before tiring.
  

DID YOU KNOW? Every gram of carbohydrate is stored with 3 g water. Gaining up to 5 lbs of weight during this time is a good indication that you’re carb-loading properly. This extra fluid will help delay dehydration during the event.

The week prior to your race, stay well hydrated and beware of situations that increase your risk of dehydration: hot/humid weather, a sunburn, traveling by airplane, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, diarrhea.

* CARBOHYDRATE CONTENT OF SOME SNACKS *
• Energy gel= 25g
• Energy bar= 30-45g
• 1 cup cereal with 1.5 cups milk = 45g
• A large bagel= 50-60g
• 1 cup yogurt with cereal= 60 g
• Instant oatmeal made with 1 cup milk, with a banana= 65 g
• 2 cups juice= 60-75g
• Banana and 4 fig newtons = 70g
• Bagel with 2 tsp jam= 90g

FUELING UP: Day before race

• This is no time to be adventurous!
• Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day (expect to urinate frequently).
• Your last meal should be high carbohydrate, moderate fat and protein.
• Avoid beans, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, onions, prune juice, grapes, carbonated beverages and other gas-containing foods.
• Limit alcohol or avoid altogether.
• Eat or drink a bedtime snack to squeeze in a few more calories.

FUELING YOUR TANK: Morning of your race

If you’ve eaten and drank well the week before, your muscle glycogen stores should be almost full but your blood sugar will be low. Don’t worry! A carbohydrate-rich meal will do the trick.

PRACTICE DURING YOUR LONG TRAINING RUNS!

• Eat a light, high carbohydrate, moderate fat and protein meal 1-4 hours before you start- you can go back to sleep after.
• Avoid high fiber foods such as bran cereals, raw fruits and vegetables with thick skins since these may cause diarrhea and gas.
• Avoid sugar substitutes like sorbitol, mannitol and aspartame, found in gums, candies, diet sodas as they may cause diarrhea.
• Aim for 50g carbohydrates for each hour before you start (*see above).
• Eating some fat will also help you feel satisfied, i.e. peanut butter, cheese. Eat these earlier since they take more time to digest.
• If you have less than 1 hour, eat a 50g carbohydrate snack.
• Drink 2 cups of fluid 2 hours before exercise and another as close as possible to your race.
  

Sensitive stomach or stomach tied in knots? Try a liquid meal like Ensure, Boost, or a breakfast shake. These empty from your stomach faster and may cause less discomfort. Eat this 2 hours before exercise.

PERFORMING AT YOUR PEAK: During race

• Drinking or eating carbohydrate-rich foods during your race is crucial to maintaining your blood sugar during your race and provides a source of fuel to working muscles.
• A properly formulated sports drink (6-8% carbs with sodium) is the most practical way to get the energy and fluids you need during exercise >60 minutes.
• DON’T WAIT! To delay fatigue, start eating or drinking carbs within the first 30 minutes, before glycogen reserves become depleted.
• Consume 30-60g carbs* every hour you exercise.
• Solid carbohydrate foods (gels, bars, fruit, candy, cookies, bagels) are as effective at supplying energy BUT…
• Low water content foods like cookies are harder to chew during exercise.
• Solids take longer to empty from the stomach which may cause cramping.
  

YOUR JOB’S NOT DONE…YET: After the race

• The effects of glycogen depletion are cumulative. If you don’t replenish your stores on a daily basis, you’ll be forced to take time off to recover.
• A 15-30 minute window exists following exercise when muscles are most receptive to replacing glycogen.
• Eat 50-100 g carbs within this window.
• Combining carbohydrate-rich food with a bit of protein has been shown to replenish glycogen stores faster. i.e. 500 mL- 1 liter chocolate milk.
• Don’t rely on hunger to prompt your refueling- exercise decreases your appetite.
• Don’t forget to rehydrate! Drink at least 2 cups of fluid for every pound you lose.
• Satisfy your cravings for salt. Snack on tomato juice, salted crackers, pretzels, popcorn.
• Drinking a sports drink is an efficient way to rehydrate and refuel after a race.

Congratulations on finishing!!

Edible Map

Source: http://www.brogui.com/

Preventing a second, or a first, heart attack: Part 2

The obvious:

If you smoke, quit. Smoking is the single leading cause of heart disease: smokers are 2-3 times more likely to die from a coronary heart disease than non-smokers. Smoking disrupts your heart rhythm, decreases your "Healthy" HDL cholesterol (that gets rid of artery-clogging plaque) and damages your arteries. Smoking also doubles your risk of a second heart attack. Stay away from second-hand smoke too!

Lose weight, if you need to. Lots of studies have shown that BMIs over 25 increase the risk of dying young, mainly from heart disease. Click here to calculate your BMI. An alternative to the BMI is to measure your waist measurement. The more fat you have around your middle, the greater your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and heart disease. Men should keep their waists circumferences (measured at the belly button) to less than 37 inches or 94 cm, women to less than 31 inches or 80cm. What's your waist circumference?

Exercise regularly. Regular exercise will go a long way in preventing a second heart attack, even if you don't lose weight. Exercise strengthens your heart, increases your "Healthy" HDL cholesterol, decreases your "Lousy" LDL cholesterol (that clogs up your arteries) and also can help prevent depression often associated with a heart attack. A study found that people that have had a heart attack and that increased their physical activity levels were nearly twice as likely to be alive after 7 years compared to those that stayed inactive.

The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of walking or other moderately vigorous exercise at least five times each week, or 20 minutes of vigorous exercise at least three times each week, along with activities to increase or maintain muscular strength twice a week as well as daily activities like gardening and housework.

Not everybody can tolerate exerise the same way after a heart attack. Talk to your doctor who will probably ask you to do a stress test- your heart is monitored while walking on a treadmill or riding a stationnary bike. Many people participate in a cardiac rehabilitation program after their first heart attack where the heart is monitred during exercise to ensure the intensity is safe.

"La pâtisserie, c'est comme les gens"

"Pastry is like people... Some dough needs a lot of kneading, some requires much less. Some dough is satisfied to rise just a little, while other dough needs to double in size. All dough needs warmth to rise."

-Taken from Kathleen Flinn's wonderful memoir, The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry , about her experience moving to and living in Paris and attending the famed Le Cordon Bleu culinary school.
I just finished this book- an easy and enjoyable read about a women pursuing her passion for cooking...while living in a foreign city and trying to learn the language. The author offers her readers a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse into the grueling training that goes on at the Paris culinary school and, along the way, manages to inspire us to follow our own dreams.

Insects dye our food?!

Well... this is a shocker:

Turns out that it's legal, and common, for food manufacturers to use insects as food dye, and they don't have to let us know!!

More specifically, carminic acid is extracted from the cochineal beetle's body and eggs and used to make carmine dye, a red dye commonly used as food colouring as well as in cosmetics, fabrics, oil paints and watercolours.

Although many foods, including yogourt, ice cream, cheese, butter, fruit-flavoured and alcoholic drinks, meats, pie fillings, jams, baked goods, sauces and candies, use carmine and cochineal extracts as dye, they only have to indicate "artificial colour" or "artificial colour added" to their ingredient lists. Only man-made dyes have to be listed (ie. FD&C No. 40)). As such, we have no idea if we're eating insect extracts or not.

In 2006, the consumer advocacy group the Center for Science in the Public Interest called the FDA to ban insect-based dyes and provided 32 adverse reation reports it had received. According to the CSPI, "Why tolerate food coloring that sends a couple hundred people to emergency rooms each year...?"

Symptoms reported after eating carmine-containing foods like Yoplait and Danone yogurt, Ocean Spay and Fruitopia juice and Good & Plenty candy included itching, swelling of the eyes and tongue, difficulty breathing, hives and headaches. Moreover, hidden beetle extracts are problematic for vegetarians and vegans, those with specific allergies and people who keep kosher.

In January 2009, the FDA finally ammended the colour additive regulation; foods containing cochineal extract or carmine must declare the presence of the colour additive with either "cochineal extract" or "carmine" in the ingredient list by January 5 2011.

At least it's a start but, according to the CSPI, why not require the ingredient to be listed as "insect-based colouring" rather than using words most people won't understand?
Why the sneakiness?

Thanks Heather for letting me know about this!

Coconut oil: Good fat or bad fat?

Saturated fat is a bad fat- it increases your "lousy" LDL cholesterol that transports cholesterol to the arteries, causing plaque to form on your artery walls, increasing your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

In general, foods from animals sources contain mostly saturated fat (ie. meat, milk, cheese, butter, lard) whereas foods from plant sources contain mostly unsaturated fats (olive oil, canola oil, nuts, avocadoes).

There is one main exception though: tropical oils. These so-called tropical oils, like palm oil and coconut oil, are mostly saturated. In fact, coconut oil is 92% saturated! As such, it has generally been recommended to limit intake of coconut oil, along with animal fats, to reduce your risk of heart disease.

That said, recent studies have indicated that coconut oil may not be as bad as we had thought.

In a 1995 study, 28 people with high cholesterol followed a diet providing 36% of total calories from fat, 50% of which came from either butter, coconut oil or safflower oil (only about 10% saturated). After 6 weeks, total cholesterol and the "lousy" LDL cholesterol were significantly higher in those on the butter diet compared to the coconut oil diet. The safflower oil diet was associated with significantly lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels compared to the butter and coconut oil groups. The same researchers confirmed the above results on healthy subjects as well.

Although coconut oil is more saturated, the saturated fat in butter comes from palmitic acid whereas the one in coconut oil comes from lauric acid. Palmitic acid (also the main fat in palm oil) has been found to have a greater negative effect on cholesterol and is therefore more conducive to heart disease than lauric acid.

So... what does this mean?

It means that non-hydrogenated coconut oil can be an alternative to butter or hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils that are high in trans fats, but it shouldn't replace other more healthful, mainly unsaturted, oils such as olive, canola, soybean, corn, safflower or sunflower oils.

Starbucks un-brands itself: sneaky or smart?

July 24th, a new coffee shop called 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea opened its doors in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle (on 15th Avenue).

This coffee house is the quintessential "little neighbourhood coffee shop": reclaimed furniture, long wood tables, a stage where there will be live music and poetry readings, greek philosophy book pages wallpaper a back wall, the espresso' s made from a fancy manual LaMarzocco machines rather than regular auto-espresso machines, beer and wine is served, as well as cool "retro-hip" food including artisan baked breads and gelato.

The kicker? This is a Starbucks... in disguise!
A little sneaky, no?

Over a year ago, it was reported that Starbucks' sales were declining (more than 40% in a year). The problem? Starbucks became too popular! As the BBC reported in 2008, Starbucks used to be the new, cool place to enjoy a 'venti' or a 'frappuccino', sitting in a comfy couch reading a book or working on your laptop. Now, there's a Starbucks on every corner, and even Starbucks' CEO admits that the brand has become a commodity, sending once loyal patrons to search out smaller, trendier coffee houses... like 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.

Apparently, Seattle should expect 2 more Starbucks-in-disguise to appear, named after the neighbourhoods they're in rather than the chain. Clearly, Starbucks is responding to public awareness and interest in independent and local businesses versus large and international ones but what do you think of their strategy? Do you they're being sneaky by disguising themselves or that it's a smart initiative to re-invent themselves?

Click here for the new coffee shop's website.

Preventing a second, or a first, heart attack: Part 1

My dad (pictured here) is a runner. He’s fit, lean, has been a vegetarian for at least 5 years, has a normal cholesterol level, has even been taking a baby aspirin a day for the last year... but had a heart attack less than a month ago! He also has a terrible family history of heart disease. It was still a shock though!

He had up to 90% blockages in 2 arteries and had 3 stents and 1 angioplasty (balloon) inserted to open up the arteries so blood could flow normally.

My dad isn’t alone. Each year, about 1.2 million Americans suffer a heart attack and, of these, about 500, 000 have already had at least one heart attack... having a heart attack puts you at risk for a second one. In fact, according t the American Heart Association, one out of four men and one out of three women who survive a first heart attack will have another one within a year.

Luckily, research shows that aggressively making changes to risk factors can reduce the likelihood of a second, or a first, heart attack.

What are the top 10 lifestyle/dietary things you can do to prevent a second, or a first, heart attack (apart from taking your medication as directed by your doctor)?

1. The obvious: Quit smoking, Lose weight and Exercise.

2. Eat the right type of fat.

3. Eliminate trans fats

4. Eat fish (or a source of marine omega 3).

5. Include other sources of omega 3 in your diet.

6. Snack on nuts.

7. Eat whole grains.

8. Include soy in your diet.

9. Drink alcohol, in moderation (unless you don’t drink in which case, don’t start).

10. Get enough of the B vitamins- particularly B6, B12 and folic acid.

Over the next few posts,I'll cover these 10 points.

Btw, my dad is doing really well and has even started running again!

Middle-age spread is dangerous

According to 2 long term studies - the Nurse's Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study- the more weight you gain after the age of 20, the greater your risk of developing certain diseases.

Middle-aged men and women that gained 11-22 lbs after the age of 20 were up to 3 times more likely to develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and gallstones compared to those that gained 5 lbs or less, even if they were at a normal weight to begin with.

According to Dr. Walter Willett, the Nurse's Health Study's Principal Investigator and author of Eat, Drink, and be Healthy , adult weight gain or the so-called 'middle-age spread' is "neither inevitable nor innocuous".

Fresh Fish

"Fish that smells fishy isn't fresh."

- Food Network


I'm sorry, it has been such a long time since I've blogged properly... It was a busy summer but I have lots of blog ideas- stay tuned!!

Knowledge vs. Wisdom

"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is NEVER putting it in a fruit salad."

- Anonymous

Honey and Babies

Did you know that infants below the age of 1 shouldn't be fed honey, according to Health Canada?

The only food that has been linked to infant botulism in Canada is honey. The bacterium, Clostridium botulinum, is common in soil and dust but has also been found in samples of honey . When the spores of this bacterium are ingested, they grow and produce a poison in the baby's intestines.

Children over the age of one develop a good bacteria in their intestines that will protect them from the infant botulism-causing spores.

Symptoms of infant botulism include persistent constipation, general weakness, floppy arms, legs and/or neck, lack of head control, a weak cry, a poor sucking reflex, irritability, lacks of facial expression, lethargy and difficulty breathing. Infant botulism affects the baby's nervous system and therefore can also lead to death- but most will make a complete recovery if treated immediately.

Not all honey produced in Canada is contaminated- random sampling shows that less than 5% actually contain bacterial spores. However, the risk exists in both pasteurized and non-pasteurized honey. As a result, to minimize risk, infants below the age of 12 months should not be given honey, nor should it be added to baby food or used as a soother.

Cranberries and Urinary Tract Infections

Most women, and some men, are familiar with the symptoms of a Urinary Tract Infections(UTI): the frequent urge to urinate, the small volume of urine, the painful, burning feeling during urination ... not fun.

UTIs account for about 8.3 million doctor visits a year and 1 in 4 women will experience a UTI (and once you've had one, recurrence rates are high) in her lifetime. Although not as common in men, when they occur they can be very serious.

A UTI is diagnosed by a urine test performed by your doctor and can only be treated with antibiotics. But what did they do before antibiotics? By the mid 1800s, folkloric medicine books were suggesting cranberry juice. A 1994 Harvard study found that women who drank 10 oz of cranberry juice for 6 months were 58% less likely to have levels of bacteria in their urine that would be expected to cause infections. Lots of more recent studies have shown the same thing.

Turns out that compounds in cranberry juice, substances called trimeric procyanidins (proanthocyanidins), prevented bacteria from adhering to the lining of the urinary tract. Although all cranberry products (including cranberry sauce) can help prevent bacteria from adhering, alleviating your symptoms and preventing UTIs, your best bet is to drink 2 cups of cranbery juice- one in the morning and one before bed. Commercial varieties of cranberry juice have lots of sugar added and although you can buy pure cranberry juice, it's very sour. Diluting the pure stuff with diet (low calorie) cranberry juice cocktail (about 25% cranberry juice and 75% water) is best.
You can now buy cranberry pills but, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, it's a "hit-or-miss". Remember that these products aren't regulated so you're not really sure what you're getting in those pills- the label should say something like "made with whole berries". It's important to know that only antibiotics can cure a UTI and avoiding treatment can aggravate the infection that can move to your kidneys and become very serious.

What else can you do to prevent a UTI and/or alleviate the painful symptoms of an infection?

- Drink plenty of water to flush out your system- aim for 8-10 cups a day.
- Some evidence is coming out indicating that blueberries also contain procyanidins and act similarly to cranberries (it's blueberry season now so visit your local farmer's market. You can buy pure blueberry juice).
- Urinate when you feel the need (don't hold it in) and empty your bladder completely when you do.
- Avoid using feminine hygiene sprays and douches and wipe from fron to back to keep the urethra clean.

Food, Inc.

"If you knew, you might not want to eat it."
"Faster, Fatter, Bigger, Cheaper."
"So much of our industrial food turns out to be rearrangements of corn."
"We can get 2 hamburgers for the (price of a vegetable)."
"We've never had food companies this powerful in our history."
"They have managed to make it against the law to criticize their products."
"When we run an item past the supermarket scanner we're voting for local, or not, organic, or not."
"Imagine what it would be if, as a National Policy, the idea would be to have such nutritionally dense foods that people actually felt better, had more energy and weren't sick as much. See, now that's a noble goal."
"People have to start demanding good wholesome food of us and we'll deliver, i promise you."




Wow.

Every day should be National Running Day!

It was National Running Day in the States today!

According to runningday.org, it's a day to "come together as a nation to take strides towards leading healthier, fitter lives".

As a runner, I think every day should be Running Day!
I posted previously that running has been found to slow the aging clock and it was found NOT to be associated with osteoarthritis or knee replacement surgeries, as commonly thought. Moreover, a recent study at the University of Missouri comparing bone densities of runners and cyclists found that regular cyclists were 7 times more likely to suffer from osteopenia of the spine than runners! People who engage in activities like biking, swimming, rowing, elliptical training need to incorporate bone-strengthening activities, like resistance training or running, to their exercise regimens.

Interestingly, the same researchers also found that running may build stronger bones than even resistance training since lifting dumbells, for example, won't do much for the strength of your hip bone. Therefore, high-impact, dynamic, multi-directional activities, like running (as well as sports like soccer, basketball, volleyball and even structured jump-training such as in high-impact step aerobics) result in greater gains in bone strength.

So, if you didn't run today, why not lace up your running shoes tomorrow and go for a run... or incorporate some running bouts into your daily walk?

See you out there...!

Tomatoes: Lycopene, Cancer & Heart Attacks

Tomatoes are rich in the antioxidant lycopene that's been linked to reduced rates of cancers, especially lung, stomach and prostate cancers.

A study by the Harvard School of Public Health showed that men that ate 10 or more servings of tomato-based foods a week had a 45% reduced prostate cancer rate.

Lycopene is bound inside cell walls, making it difficult for the body to extract it from raw tomatoes. This explains why cooked tomatoes (ie tomato sauce) seem to be more protective than raw tomatoes or tomato juice- the heat seems to release the lycopene.

Lycopene is also fat-soluble so cooking tomatoes in oil (ie. tomato sauce!) enhances the absorption of the antioxidant.

What's causing some confusion is a study conducted at the Ohio State University on about 200 rats (a good model for human prostate cancer, supposedly). Some rats were fed diets containing whole tomato powder and others were fed rat food fortified with pure lycopene (and, consequently, received more lycopene than the tomato powder group). Reserachers caused prostate cancer in these rats.The rats fed the pure lycopene actually had more tumors and a significantly greater risk of death!

What this study suggests is that there seems to be other components in tomatoes that have a protective effect- the whole food is beneficial whereas isolated lycopene may not be.

It seems that tomatoes may also protect the heart. An Itailan study looked at the diets of 507 heart attack victims and of 478 controls- one of the items on the food frequency questionnaire was pizza. Surprisingly, regular pizza eaters (eating about 500g or just over 1/2lbs pizza a week) were 40% less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who never ate pizza!

Maybe the pizza eaters were eating less high saturated fat hamburgers. Remember that real Italian pizzas are not like the North American meat-lovers-pepperoni-3 cheese- stuffed crust ones- they have a thin crust and are dressed with olive oil, a lot of tomato sauce and some cheese. Another possibility that Dr. Schwarcz proposes is that the tomatoes may be responsible: That yellow stuff around the seeds of tomatoes contain flavonoids that have anti-clotting properties... possibly reducing the risk of heart attacks!


Bottom line: Aim to treat yourself to tomatoes, processed tomatoes or tomato products cooked in oil every day. Stay away from lycopene supplements until more research is done.

Are you a Gastrosexual?

" I made grilled portobello burgers with homemade whole wheat buns, pesto, provolone and roasted red peppers. Hope you don't mind".







A Gastrosexual: A person that cooks as a hobby and uses his/her culinary skills to impress friends and potential love interests. The British Daily Mail looked at a report, the 'Emergence of the Gastrosexual', published by the food company PurAsia. Here are the highlights:

• Gastrosexuals are typically: Male, aged 25-44 and upwardly-mobile.

• The tension between cooking and masculinity has been resolved- it is now perfectly acceptable for men to show a passion for food.

• Key motivations for the Gastrosexual: Self-actualization (cooking as a passion), cooking for praise and cooking to impress and even seduce potential partners.

• 23% of 18-24 year old men say they cook to potentially seduce a partner

• 48% of people say being able to cook makes a person more attractive to them

• In 1961, women spent 10 times as much time in the kitchen as men did. By 2005, although women remained the primary cooks, men started helping out a bit more- women spent only 2 times more time in the kitchen as men did.

• The increase in the number of women working full time post-war has contributed to the rise of the Gastrosexual male.

• 50% of the men surveyed prepared meals using separate ingredients everyday, spending an average of 41 minutes in the kitchen a day.

Looks like the Gastrosexual may be the next Foodie!

Red meat linked with death

A study published in March’s Archives of Internal Medicine looked at the meat intake of half a million Americans aged 50-71 for 10 years.

After controlling for age, race, BMI, education, smoking history, alcohol intake, caloric intake, fruit and vegetable intake, vitamin intake, hormone therapy and physical activity, researchers found that the more red meat and processed meat people ate, the higher the mortality risk- in fact, they had a 20-40% increased risk of death. They also had a higher risk of heart disease and cancer.

The participants that ate the most meat were more likely to be of white (non-Hispanic) ethnicity, married, smokers, have a higher BMI, higher caloric, fat and saturated fat intake, have lower education and physical activity levels and lower intakes of fibre, fruits and veggies. Remember, that all these factors were controlled for though.

So, how much meat were they eating? The subjects that are the most meat were eating about 160g red meat or processed meat per day- the equivalent of about a 5 oz steak a day. The ones getting the least meat were eating just under 1 oz a day.

This study adds to what we’ve already known: red meat and processed meat are major sources of saturated fat which have been associated with high blood cholesterol, heart disease and cancer. Meat has also been shown to be a source of cancer-causing agents which are formed during high-temperature cooking. Processed meats also contain carcinogenic nitrosamines.

Since it's pretty clear that eating a diet rich in red meat and processed meat puts your health at risk, try to limit your intake- there are so many delicious vegetarians options available now... try them! Also replace your red meat with beans and lentil-based meals, fish and/or white meat as often as possible.

Vitamin supplements undo benefits of exercise

First, some facts:

Exercise has loads of health benefits including decreasing your risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes by making your body’s cells more sensitive to insulin.

The more sensitive your cells are to insulin, the easier it is for the glucose (sugar) that’s in the foods you eat to get used up by your body. When your cells become insensitive or resistant to insulin, the glucose doesn’t get used up by your body but instead stays floating in your blood, causing high blood sugar. You body cries out for the glucose it needs to function causing your pancreas to over-compensate and produce even more insulin. This combination of insulin-resistance and insulin over-production by the pancreas leads to diabetes and/or obesity, increased risk of heart disease.

Inhaling oxygen produces free radicals. These free radicals attack the body causing you to age and also causes illnesses like heart disease and cancer and, eventually, death. 2-3% of the oxygen consumed by our cells is converted into free radicals.

When we exercise, we use lots of oxygen, increasing free radical production and all the stuff that goes with that.

Antioxidants are those highly publicized substances found in plant foods like fruits and vegetables that neutralize free radicals.That's why eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is good for you!

The Study:

It seems logical that taking supplemental antioxidants, like Vitamins C and E, would reduce the harmful effects of the free radicals produced during exercise and promote longer life and better health, right?

That’s what German researchers thought when they decided to observe 40 young healthy men (half were pretty sedentary and half exercised about 6 hours a week)- randomly assigned, half took a combination of 1000mg of vitamin C (btw, the recommended intake is 75mg and 90mg/day for women and men respectively) and 400 IU of vitamin E (recommended intake is 33 IU/d)- these amounts are commonly found in over-the-counter supplements- for 4 weeks while the other half didn’t. Both groups exercised, supervised, 85 minutes a day, five days a week for the 4 weeks of the study (workouts included biking, running and circuit training).

What they Found:

The exercisers NOT taking the antioxidants did have more free radicals floating around in their bodies but had a significant increase in insulin sensitivity (a good thing), as predicted. However, there was no increase in insulin sensitivity in those taking the antioxidants... but there were less free radicals.

It seems that the supplemental antioxidants prevent the health benefits of exercise when it comes to diabetes prevention. According to the authors, the free radicals produced during exercise are actually a good thing as they activate the body’s defense systems against exercise-induced stress, allowing it to use carbohydrates (glucose) more efficiently, thus helping to prevent diabetes and possibly other diseases. Taking supplemental antioxidants blocks this process and therefore health promoting effects of exercise.

Bottom Line:

Antioxidants like Vitamins C and E found in food protect our body from damage and help prevent diseases like cancer- this doesn’t change. However, taking high doses in supplemental form can be harmful.

As I’ve said before, if you're healthy and eat a balanced diet that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables, you don’t need supplements!

Previous blog entries that drive this point home: Vitamin Supplements Can Kill You & Get Rid of your Multivitamin and Eat Real Food!

Wonder Foods

"Of course there are no wonder foods. There are good diets and bad diets."
Dr. Joe Schwarcz

I'm reading Joe Schwarcz's latest book An Apple a Day: The myths, misconceptions and truths about the foods we eat.

Wonderful read... will blog all about it in the days to come!

Supersized USA

Population: 293,027,571
Percent of population overweight, male/female: 72/70%
Percent of population obese, male/female: 32/38%
Percent of population over the age of 20 with diabetes: 8.8%
Percent of dieting men/women on any given day: 25/45%
Percent of all dieters who will regain their lost weight within 1-5 years: 95%
Caloric intake available daily per person: 3,774 calories
Annual alcohol consumption per person (alcohol content only): 9.6 quarts (~9 liters)
Cigarette consumption per person per year: 2,255
Sugar and sweetener available per person per year: 158 lbs
Soft drink consumption per person per year: 54.8 gallons (~207 liters)
Meat consumption per person per year: 275 lbs
McDonald's restaurants: 13,491
Liposuction surgeries per year: 400,000
Gastric bypass surgeries per year: 150,000
Percent paid by taxpayers for obesity-related medical costs: 50%
Annual spending on dieting and diet-related products: $40 billion

Taken directly from Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel

Calcium-fortified Doritos and Cheerios is a drug... What's going on?

In Canada, we're awaiting Health Canada's decision to allow the food industry to fortify packaged and processed foods with vitamins and minerals. The decision was supposed to be made end of March but because of division within Health Canada on the merits of fortification, it's been delayed.

Health experts are understandably worried that the proposal will pass and allow junk food manufacturers to add nutrients and market their products as healthy, exacerbating unhealthy eating habits and cause confusion about nutritional benefits of certain foods.
Packaged and processed foods are generally high in calories, sugar, fat, salt, negating any benefit derived from adding some vitamins or minerals to them.

Health Canada stated that its tests on focus groups demonstrated that people are not likely to choose fortified junk food over healthy food... but health experts are skeptical.

The industry group Food and Consumer Products of Canada, representing the majority of packaged foods on the supermarket shelves, argues that fortificaion would allow consumers to more easily meet daily nutritional requriements. That's great but we're not a nation that is nutritonally deficient... given our over-abundance of food. In fact, another concerns is that adding all these vitamins and minerals could lead to an overconsumption of nutients. In order to avoid this, Health Canada claims that the propsed policy will limit the amount of nutrients that can be added to food and won't be left to the the discretion of food manufacturers.

Canada's food industry also argues that the out-of-date and strict fortification policies in Canada make it difficult for them to keep up with other countries and develop innovative food products. Moreover, given the fact that the US allows more products to be fortified, harmonization would cut production costs. Maybe, but doesn't make it right.

The Americans are also more liberal in their labeling laws, something that's finally getting a bit more scrutiny. The FDA has taken action against General Mills for its misleading claims that Cheerios can reduce "bad" cholesterol levels by 4% in 6 weeks and ward off heart disease and cancers of the colon and stomach. (These claims don't appear on Canadian boxes because we're more strict with our labeling laws).

In its letter to General Mills, the FDA states that if the cereal does as indicated, it's acting like a cholesterol-lowering drug and should therefore be treated like a drug- and can't legally be marketed with the claim without an approved new drug application.

Hopefully Health Canada will make the right decsion and not allow fortification of packaged and processed foods... fingers crossed!

Diet Myth #2: Eating at night results in weight gain

No!

A review of the research indicates that eating late dinners or snacking at night will not lead you to gain weight faster. Rather, it's the total number of calories you eat in a day that matters... it makes no difference when those calories are eaten.

A 2006 study published in Obesity Research observed rhesus monkeys (supposedly an excellent model for humans) fed a typical North American diet for a year. The monkeys' eating patterns varied greatly- they ate between 6-64% of their calories at night. The monkeys that ate the majority of their calories at night did not gain more weight than those that ate more during the day.
Human studies have found the same thing.

That said, we do recommend you spread your calories throughout the day:
Eat breakfast to rev up your metabolism and break that fast and eat every 4-6 hours to keep your body and brain fueled and to regulate your appetite. If you do get hungry at night, stick with portion-controlled snacks of less than 200 calories- ie. small bowl of cereal, fruit, air-popped popcorn, yogourt, whole grain toast with peanut butter etc.

If you find yourself restricting your food intake all day and eating the majority of your calories at night, talk to your doctor. Night-Eating Syndrome, although not officially defined as an eating disorder yet, is a form of binge eating and is becoming more understood by the medical community.
Symptoms include:

• Little or no appetite for breakfast.
• Eating more than half of one's daily food intake after dinner. This behaviour continues over a period of at least three months.
• Feeling tense, anxious, upset or guilty while eating.
• Having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
• Eating continually in the evening rather than bingeing in relatively short episodes.
• Experiencing guilt and shame from eating rather than enjoyment.

Does sugar make us fat?

Sugars are simple carbohydrates composed of a single sugar (ie. glucose, fructose) or 2 sugars together (table sugar, sucrose, is made of glucose linked to fructose).
In comparison, starch is a complex carbohydrate- made of lots of glucose molecules linked together in very long chains.
The long chains can't be absorbed by the intestine but have to be broken down to single units of glucose to be useable. Simple carbohydrates, though, are readily useable. But do they make us fat?

We know that a calorie is a calorie. Excess calories from sugar will lead to weight gain, just like extra calories from protein or fat. However, when you eat too much glucose at a time, the body can't handle it. What happens is that your pancreas makes too much insulin. Insulin is supposed to take the glucose and put it in your body tissues so it can be used. When there's too much insulin though, it grabs all your available glucose, including the little bit that's supposed to stay in your blood. The result is that your blood sugar drops and you feel hungry. You then eat more and those extra calories will lead to weight gain.
Moreover, your muscles cells start to resist taking in the excess glucose resulting in that excess getting stored as fat.
So yes. Eating too much simple sugars does put you at risk for weight gain.
Fibre slows down the absorption of glucose which is why a high fibre diet- a diet rich in vegetables, fruit and whole grains- prevents heath problems.

The Glycemic Index ranks foods according to how quickly they break down to glucose. Click here to read more about Glycemic Index from a previous blog entry.
In general, highly processed starchy foods- crackers, pretzels, cookies- and sugary foods- sodas, candies, desserts, sugary cereals- have no fiber and will cause havoc for your metabolism, providing a huge influx of glucose.

How much sugar is too much sugar?

Per day, it's recommended that less than 10% of your total calories come from added sugars (this doesn't include sugar found naturally in fruits and plain milk). In a 2000 calorie diet, that means you should be aiming for less than 50 grams (about 10 teaspoons) of added sugar a day. The average American eats double that a day.

Sweet tips to limiting your sugar intake

Avoid or cut back on non-diet soft drinks. A 12 oz can of Coke has practically your daily limit of added sugars, 40 grams!!

Watch out for fruit 'drinks', 'beverages', and 'cocktails'- they contain very little real fruit juice and a lot of sugar.

Limit candy, cookies, cakes, pies, doughnuts, granola bars, pastries and other sweet baked goods- eat fruit instead. Desserts in restaurants, with their huge portion sizes, have a large amount of added sugar. A medium chocolate milkshake at McDonald's has a whopping 111g sugar!

Remember that 'fat-free' does not mean 'sugar-free' or 'calorie-free' .

Look for breakfast cereals with less than 10 grams (ideally less than 8 grams) of sugar per serving- read the label!

I found this cool site, sugarstacks.com , that shows us how much sugar there are in some foods. Pretty eye-opening!
They use sugar cubes- 1 cube is equivalent to 1tsp or 4grams.

Julie & Julia

Foodie: An amateur who not only loves food, but is interested in it. Interests and activities of a foodie include the food industry, wineries and wine tasting, food science, cooking & baking, restaurant opening and closings, food fads and health and nutrition.
A foodie will never answer "what are you eating" with "I don't know".

I guess I'm a foodie...

This movie, about a famous chef and a foodie & blogger, looks amazing! Here's the excerpt from the project this movie was based on:

The Book:

"Mastering the Art of French Cooking". First edition, 1961. Louisette Berthole. Simone Beck. And, of course, Julia Child. The book that launched a thousand celebrity chefs. Julia Child taught America to cook, and to eat. It’s forty years later. Today we think we live in the world Alice Waters made, but beneath it all is Julia, 90 if she's a day, and no one can touch her.

The Contender:

Government drone by day, renegade foodie by night. Too old for theater, too young for children, and too bitter for anything else, Julie Powell was looking for a challenge. And in the Julie/Julia project she found it. Risking her marriage, her job, and her cats’ well-being, she has signed on for a deranged assignment.

365 days. 536 recipes. One girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen.

How far will it go? We can only wait. And wait. And wait…..

The Julie/Julia Project. Coming soon to a computer terminal near you.

...And now to a theater near you August 7th!

Today is International No Diet Day!

The International No Diet Day, started by British feminist Mary Evans Young in 1992, is a celebration of body acceptance and body shape diversity and a day dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers of dieting.


The Body Image Coalition recommends:

• Celebrate your natural size, eat well and be physically active every day
• Pay others a compliment based on something other than weight-related qualities
• Don't compare your body to others
• Avoid fad diets and eat healthily
• Help young people understand that the image of beauty portrayed in the media are not normal.

Sounds good to me!

Disappointment with diets shouldn't come as a surprise. I've blogged about the lemonade diet recently. There's the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet, the Subway diet, the Scarsdale diet (promising 1 lbs weight loss a day!), the cookie diet. The list goes on. The fact is, you'll lose weight if you follow these diets... at least for a little while. However, the more restrictive the diet, the more hungry you'll be and the more you'll crave once-favourite foods you've given up. You'll inevitably "cheat", leading to feelings of failure and hopelessness and, in turn, you'll most likely give up on all weight loss strategies, including the good ones like exercise.

A healthy sustainable diet with lots of choices, few (if any) restrictions and no 'special foods' that's not only good for your waistline but for your heart, bones, brain, colon and psyche is what will help you meet your goals and keep you happy and healthy for a lifetime.

Watch out for The Joy of Cooking too much!

I just received the Mindless Eater newsletter put out by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab Team (founded by Brian Wansink, author of the great eye-opening book Mindless Eating) in which they report a study they did published in the Feb 09 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine. The group looked at 14 of the 18 recipes that appear in each edition of the very popular cookbook The Joy of Cooking throughout its 70 year history and found that the caloric content of the recipes increased by about 43.7% ! Furthermore, 17 of the 18 recipes showed an average of 63% increase in caloric content per suggested serving.

The authors found that in 1936, the average calories per recipe was 2124 and about 268 calories/serving. In 2006, the average calories per recipe rose to 3052 and about 436 calories per serving!

The recipes the team look at included macaroni & cheese, beef stroganoff, brownies, sugar cookies and apple pie. The caloric content increase is due to:

Changes in serving sizes.
What served 7 in 1936 served only 4 people in 1986!
In 1997, the basic waffle recipe made 12 six-inch waffles The same recipe in 2006 make 6 waffles.

The use of higher calorie ingredients.
For example, in the 1997 edition, the beef stroganoff recipe called for 2 Tbsp sour cream. The 2006 edition called for 1 cup!

Wansink points out that people often blame eating out for weight gain, but what we eat and do at home may be equally bad.

What can you do?
Rather than adhering to the cookbook's serving size suggestions, use your judgement. A recipe that claims to serve 4 can probably easily serve 6 or more. Make those brownies or cookies smaller. That cake recipe can be cut into 18 slices insted of 12 etc.

Don't feel that you need to follow a recipe to the letter. Use lower fat ingredients, ie. skim milk instead of 2% milk, low fat sour cream, lean meats. I always cut the sugar they ask for in half. Don't pack down the brown sugar. I replace at least 1/2 of the all-purpose flour (usually all of it) with whole wheat flour. I always use less fat. You can replace some of the oil they ask for in baked good with applesauce. Use less chocolate chips. Use less meat and add more vegetables. etc.

Beth Wareham, editor of the 2006 edition of the Joy of Cooking, even states that " in putting together the latest edition, writers and recipe-testers used their common sense in terms of ingredients and serving sizes, and they figured readers have some common sense of their own. "

The 100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change

I recently finished the book the '100 Mile Diet: A year of local eating' and I highly recommend it- it will change the way you think about what you eat. The book has spurred a phenomenon (I actually blogged about the movement this time last year!), enticing many to move towards a local-based diet and even inspiring a TV show- The Canadian Food Network hosts the 100 Mile Challenge in which the Canadian authors of the book, partners Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, challenge 6 families from Mission, British Columbia, to follow a 100-Mile Diet for 100 Days.

Not long ago, I blogged about another book that had a similar effect on me: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. (As I mentioned in that blog, if you don't have the time to read the book but have a free hour, check out Pollan's great lecture in which he covers the main point of his book by clicking Here). Equally inspiring but written in a completely different format, the authors of The 100 Mile Diet take turns writing the chapters of their memoir, sharing their experience of eating only foods within a 100 mile radius of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Alisa and James bring us through their very personal journey over their year: their daunting realization of what they wouldn't be able to eat (sugar, coffee, chocolate, chips, peanut butter, orange juice, Cola, canned soup, oreos, Ben & Jerry's, beer, Cheerios, all-purpose flour...), dealing with the monotony of eating a lot of potatoes during their first winter and their relationship troubles to discovering the joys of making a great meal from scratch using ingredients of known origin, learning how different and wonderful fresh food tastes, developing relationships with local growers (and with their food) and finally becoming completely self-sufficient on local foods... All while making their readers feel that they if they could do it, so can we.

Why should we aim to eat locally? The authors explain that we're so separated from our food and value it so little, even ignoring the huge impact eating factory-produced foods and foods shipped from across the country (or the world) has on our environment and our health:

A few facts from the book:

• The food we eat typically travels 1500-3000 miles before landing on our plate.
• A regional diet consumes 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across the country.
• The United States has lost 2/3 of its farms since 1920.
• Soft drinks, sweets and alcoholic beverages account for 25% of all calories consumed in America. Meanwhile, Americans eat half as many servings of vegetables recommended- 50% of the vegetables eaten include just 3: iceberg lettuce, potatoes and canned tomatoes.

The group Food & Water Watch just posted a great Virtual Grocer that allows you to find out where the food you buy comes from. Try it! It's so interesting.
For example, did you know that if you buy a kiwi in the States, there's a 4 in 5 chance it's imported- most likely from Chile or New Zealand. Asparagus? 57% of the asparagus sold in the States comes from Peru.

What can you do to eat more locally?

Start small- aim to try making one local meal a week, for example.
Find the farmer's market nearest to you and make it part of your weekly food shopping.
Consider joining a CSA- Community Supported Agriculture- allowing you to support a specific local farm by paying a lump sum at the beginning of the growing season and then receiving that farm's food products (whatever is in season) year-round. If you're in the States, Local Harvest is a great resource to find a local CSA; In Canada, click Here.
Buy local produce in bulk and learn how to preserve it. Click Here for more info on preservation.
Try planting a small vegetable garden!