Nutrition/Healthy Eating Articles

Gone are the days when your only option was spinach, the so-called miracle leaf that many were consuming raw and by the bucket load. Today it’s a whole new, leafy-green world, and a brisk walk through any supermarket produce aisle proves it. Leafy greens are everywhere, and they come in a variety of textures and flavors that provide opportunity for everyone to find a favorite.

President Bush the elder snubbed it. Your mom probably made you eat it, wisely explaining how good it was for you. If you learned to love it, you’ll gain satisfaction from the following facts about this powerful vegetable. If you still don’t love it, maybe it’s time to try it again with a different preparation. Either way, it’s hard to argue with the nutritional goodness packed inside these miniature green trees that are in season now. Broccoli Facts newsletter_teaser: President Bush the elder snubbed it. Your mom probably made you eat it, wisely explaining how good it was for you. If you learned to love it, you’ll gain satisfaction from the following facts about this powerful vegetable.

Can’t stomach another plain grilled chicken breast for dinner? Before you begin sifting through the millions of recipes you’ll be hit with by a Google search, head over to your spice rack. Mixing dry spices and rubbing them onto meat has been used by barbeque pit masters for years to procure meat with deep and layered flavors. Thankfully, you don’t need a smoker or 7 hours of cooking to take advantage of a dry rub. All you need is the right spice combination and a willing chicken breast, pork tenderloin or fish fillet. newsletter_teaser: Can’t stomach another plain grilled chicken breast for dinner? Before you begin sifting through the millions of recipes you’ll be hit with by a Google search, head over to your spice rack.

Research published in the May 17, 2012, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (366 [20], 1891–1904) shows that coffee consumption may keep the Grim Reaper away for older adults—at least a little bit longer than for noncoffee drinkers. Older adults who drank coffee—caffeinated or decaffeinated—had a lower risk of death overall than others who did not drink coffee, according to a study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and AARP. newsletter_teaser: Research published in the May 17, 2012, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (366 [20], 1891–1904) shows that coffee consumption may keep the Grim Reaper away for older adults—at least a little bit longer than for noncoffee drinkers.

Answer Like bean sprouts, sprouted grains are whole grains, such as wheat berries, that are allowed to sprout. In the case of popular sprouted breads, sprouted berries (often wheat but sometimes also oat, millet, barley and/or other varieties) are ground up and baked in the recipe. These little sprouted seeds are thought to pack more of a nutritional punch than unsprouted berries. And compared to refined and enriched grains stripped of the germ and bran, they do.

Prevention magazine gave readers a wake-up call a few months ago with an article (“7 Grossest Things in Your Food,” May 2012) that revealed some weird—and in some cases, disgusting—ingredients you may be consuming unknowingly. Learning more might change your mind about eating them again. Author Mandy Oaklander reported the following list that vegans and vegetarians, especially, may want to pay attention to:

The 8th edition of Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ was released recently with updated information on 45 popular fruits and vegetables and their total pesticide loads. EWG highlighted the worst offenders with its new Dirty Dozen Plus list and recognized the cleanest conventional produce with its list of the Clean Fifteen. Which of these do you regularly put in your shopping cart? It may be time to reassess your organic and nonorganic choices. Dirty Dozen Plus apples celery sweet bell peppers peaches newsletter_teaser: The 8th edition of Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ was released recently with updated information on 45 popular fruits and vegetables and their total pesticide loads. EWG highlighted the worst offenders with its new Dirty Dozen Plus list and recognized the cleanest conventional produce with its list of the Clean Fifteen.

People are profoundly tuned in to the fact that obesity and all the chronic disease that goes with it are plaguing much of the world. But, why, with such hyperawareness plus so many research developments on the nutrition and obesity fronts, do we still seem to be getting fatter and sicker?

In an era when so many people in our nation are food-insecure, it may be shocking to learn that about 40% of the food produced in the United States each year ends up as garbage.

Welcome to the holidays . . . the gift-giving, party-hopping, dessert-eating, over-indulging, stress-evoking frenzy! We all know it. The time from Halloween to New Year’s Day is precarious for health-conscious people and can throw anyone’s health routine out of whack.