Entries tagged with 'nutrition'
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Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky, editor of The Grub Street, was a guest on last Friday night's Nightline, in which he goes to Hill Country Barbecue to discuss whether calorie labeling in restaurants would affect people's ordering: I'm a purist. I love it when it's incredibly complex and layered—when all the arts of gastronomy have gone into a dish. But it should all be based on the beauty and simplicity of animal fat.I don't think calorie counts are going to stop people from ordering something that's really good. Ozersky compares the calorie contents of a grande mocha Starbucks coffee with whipped cream and pound cake (800-plus calories), a Big Mac (540 calories), Au Bon Pain's Southwest Tuna Wrap (860 calories),...
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Eat more breakfast and you could have a boy! Last week news outlets from here to Islamabad announced the release of a study purporting to show that women with higher caloric intake and better nutrition at the time of conception are more likely to have boys than girls. Although it’s the father’s sperm that determines the sex of an embryo, the mother’s body can be more or less well suited to that embryo’s thriving. Goodness knows I’m no scientist, but I’m fairly skeptical about these conclusions. The amount of extra calories that encouraged male embryos seemed rather small, maybe just a few hundred. Perhaps because my own daily caloric intake can swing a few hundred up or down based on...
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America's fat problem: "I say unto you: Fat is good! Fat is necessary. Ask any chef. Fat does not make you fat, eating too much makes you fat! We aren’t filling our bodies with sodium because of the box of kosher salt we use to season our food, we’re doing it with all the processed food that’s loaded with hidden salt. And American cooks and American diners need to understand the differences."...
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Last year I got a late Christmas present—on December 26, I found out I was a few weeks pregnant. The very first thing I did was eat a celebratory piece of cheesecake (it’s silly, but I felt as if I was giving the embryo a treat—thank you for implanting!). My second priority was to start reading about what I was actually supposed to be eating, which I suspected was not the cheese enchiladas, endless milkshakes, and french fries I dreamed of as the ideal indulgent pregnancy diet. To prepare for pregnancy, I had already cut out alcohol and started taking folic acid supplements, but how else would I have to change my ways in the months ahead?...
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The Guardian investigates the myths of fruit. While it's a good thing that people are eating more fruits these days due to convenient packaging and greater availability, the article says, fruits in general aren't packed with nutrients, nor do they deserve the title of "superfood." Tom Sanders, director of the Nutritional Sciences Division at King's College London, says, "It's a myth that fruit is packed full of vitamins and minerals. The foods packed full of micronutrients are grains, seeds and nuts, the peas and things."...
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Ed's previous post on Michael Pollan's "food commandments" reminded me of the latest issue of Wired magazine, which I paged through recently. In Ed's entry, he quotes Pollan as saying "Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle." Wired ran a handy little graphic that neatly illustrated this concept, pointing out that the center aisles of the market are loaded with the cheapest, most calorie-laden foods. Click the graphic above for a better view....
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Here they are, Michael Pollan's Twelve Commandments for Serious Eaters, from his new book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. As Jamie Forrest noted yesterday, a few food pundits are taking him to task for a number of them. I'm down with most of what brother Pollan is preaching. What about you? These commandments are made to order for serious fat-chewing. 1. "Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." Hard to argue with that. I don't think my grandmother would have recognized porcini mushroom foam as food, though. 2. "Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce." Hey, what about bouquet garni? 3. "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot." 4. "Avoid food products that carry health claims."...
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Don't know if you should eat that tuna sandwich that has been sitting out all day? What about those potatoes that are growing sprouts? Or the 9-year-old Spam found in the trunk of your car? Macbebekin rounds up the best, "Is this safe to eat?" questions from Ask Metafilter in these two entries....
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A Calorie Counter pores over the nutritional info of 21 chains, looking for trans-fat transgressions. The top 3: White Castle Onion Rings (30g trans fat), White Castle Fish Nibblers (16g), and KFC's Chicken Pot Pie (14g). Jack in the Box tops the list in frequency; 24 of its items appear on it....
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In results that surprised most diet experts, the grocery store chain Hannaford Brothers yesterday released the results of a study that supports a surprising notion, namely that nutrition sells. The chain had conducted a yearlong experiment steering consumers to healthier foods using a store-created rating system called Guiding Stars, which rated the nutritional value of foods on a one- to three-star scale, three representing the healthiest foods. I have a feeling that even the leaner, center-cut bacon got a measly one-star. If a labeling system like this went nationwide, I wonder if it would have a profound effect on people's food-buying and eating habits. Pass the broccoli, please....
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