Entries tagged with 'health'
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Starbucks calorie counts in New York. Photograph from bitchcakesny on Flickr Since the obesity issue in the UK is now considered a "mounting crisis," the government is stepping in and pushing major food chains to display calorie counts. Pizza Hut, with about 700 outlets in the UK, was first to publicly step up and offer the nutritional info. The goal is for every takeaway outlet, and maybe even some Michelin-starred restaurants, to share the levels of fat, sugar, and salt. In New York, food chains with more than 15 outlets across the United States must display calorie listings, and California passed similar legislation. While it's a little disconcerting to know your gussied-up coffee has 450 calories, it's probably better...
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"And when those duck fat fries at Hot Doug's call your name, Oprah, call or IM me instead. We can be our own mini diet support group." Oprah Winfrey, whom I admire a great deal, recently fessed up on her show about her weight gain. She said that at that moment she weighed over 200 pounds. Now having gone on a very public diet this last year, I can relate to what she's going through. And I don't have to withstand the scrutiny of millions of adoring fans for an hour every day on national television. So I have an idea. I don't want to sound presumptuous or anything, but I think Oprah and I should join forces in our...
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A comprehensive study done by the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas has detected the top 11 compounds found in U.S. drinking water, including atenolol, a beta-blocker used to treat cardiovascular disease; carbamazepine, a mood-stabilizing drug used to treat bipolar disorder; and meprobamate, a tranquilizer widely used in psychiatric treatment. These compounds were found at extremely low concentrations that the study says post no public health threat. [via Boing Boing]...
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New Scientist says marinating steak in beer or wine cuts down the amount of cancer-causing compounds formed after cooking by about 90 percent. Related: How do you season and marinate your steak?...
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I'm back in New York after a week's stay in Puerto Rico. Daily visits to my trusty scale Thinner helped keep me on the straight and narrow, as did the unexciting food I found wherever we went. But one place and one food may have tripped me up. What am I talking about? The many seriously delicious forms of pan de mallorca served up at what I regard as Puerto Rico's greatest restaurant, La Bombonera. Located just five minute walk from our hotel, La Bombonera became my home away from home each of the three nights we were in Old San Juan. The question, serious eaters, is can a man eat at La Bombonera every morning and still somehow...
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I'm on vacation this week and guess who's here with me? Thinner, my loyal weight-loss companion. Yup, Thinner's right here with me, soaking up the rays, relaxing on the beach, and even drinking the occasional mangotini. Why, serious eaters might rightfully ask, did I bring Thinner along on our vacation? Because I thought he might he might function as serious diet insurance, that if I continued to weigh myself every day down here in the Caribbean it might keep me on the straight and narrow and limit my intake of seasoned fries, coconut shrimp, and all the other dubious foods I usually consume on vacation. Did it work?...
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"What might have saved me is the box of Harry & David pears." The holidays are tough enough for any serious eater on a diet, but this year I am particularly challenged by the fact that Thanksgiving (per usual), Christmas Day, and New Year's Day (not usual), all fall on Thursday, right before my weekly date with Thinner, my scale. It's enough to make any dieting serious eater feel persecuted. The combination of Thursdays and the array of foods sent to my wife this year from her gracious and grateful clients are not making me feel very sanguine about my moment of reckoning on the scale. In fact, there were moments this week that I almost just gave in and...
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"As Albert King sang in one of my favorite blues lyrics, 'Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die'." The holiday party food gauntlet is a rough one. How many mini-sliders can one serious eater resist? How many slices of good, really good pizza go uneaten? How many pieces of slow-cooked beef cooked in lard can a man turn down? The answer after the jump, complete with a bite by bite breakdown of the past week....
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Thinner, my scale, has let me down this week. After allowing me to revel in my four-pound loss in the week following Thanksgiving, Thinner has displayed no love for his owner. That would be me. Every day this past week I have gotten on the scale secure in the knowledge that I have not gone off the weight loss reservation, not binged or even eaten an ice cream cone, and every day Thinner has delivered me bad news. Every day I tell myself it's a long race; that I have done amazingly well this year; that I have hit a plateau; but still, when I get on the scale and I've gained weight, I die just a little....
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I could have moved the scale to China, but I still would have weighed 238. Though I have occasionally engaged in the not-so-fine art of scale moving during my serious diet before Thanksgiving, it was my post-Turkey Day weigh-in (the Friday after) that sent me into a veritable scale-moving frenzy. All to no avail of course. First, for those of you unfamiliar with the scale-moving weight loss technique, let me explain. Scale-moving starts when you weigh yourself with your scale in its usual place and you are desperately unhappy with the results. The Friday after Thanksgiving was a prime example. I hated the fact that I had gained two pounds last week. I didn't think I deserved such bad news....
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