FitSugar

The Crusade Against Ground Meat

FitSugar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

There's been a lot of talk in the media about E. coli contamination in ground meat lately, hamburgers specifically. First, The New York Times profiled Stephanie Smith, a young woman who was paralyzed after eating a contaminated hamburger. A week later, Larry King and CNN posed the question "Should Americans banish the burger"? The media is always reporting beef recall stories, which leave me a little freaked out about indulging in the occasional cheeseburger. How about you?

The argument against ground meat goes something like this: in slaughterhouses all sorts of things are flying around, including cow guts, which contain E. coli. Because slaughterhouse practices can be a little iffy, the E. coli can come into contact with the meat to be sold for consumption. Cooking a piece of contaminated steak usually kills the bacteria because the E. coli has only touched the surface, not actually penetrated the meat. The problem with ground meat is that E. coli can easily get onto every small bit of meat, making it harder to eliminate.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to completely banish the burger from my diet, but I do eat less meat these days. Besides being healthier for my heart, the sanitary conditions of large slaughterhouses worry me a bit. When it comes to eating meat I definitely try to follow certain guidelines. To learn them, continue reading.

Which Would You Rather Give Up: Meat or Alcohol?

FitSugar — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:30:00 -0700

Both meat and alcohol made health headlines recently, and the news was not good. In light of new studies linking both to cancer, ff you had to choose one to abstain from would you give up all meat (meat, poultry and fish) or alcohol (the hard stuff, wine and beer)?

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5 Tips For Choosing Healthier Meats

FitSugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -0700

While some folks choose to avoid meat altogether for their health, many folks do still incorporate meat into their diets, as it can be a great source of lean protein. The key is to incorporate meat in a healthy way and avoid cuts that are high in fat and cholesterol. The US Department of Agriculture offers a few easy suggestions for making healthier meat choices. Here are highlights:

Choose lowfat meats and chicken. Avoid fried chicken, or chicken with the skin still on it.
Make sure you account for how you've cooked your meat. For example, chicken cooked in butter can be a lot less healthy than chicken cooked in olive oil.
Eat more fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, trout, anchovies, and tuna. Here are two recipes for salmon that I love.
Avoid meats that are high in cholesterol. Liver and other organ meats are super bad for your heart. Instead aim for meats low in cholesterol such as white turkey meat.
Processed meat such as hot dogs, ham, sausage, and lunch meats may be easy to prepare but they can also be very high in sodium and other additives.

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Healthy BBQ: Grilling Meat at High Temps

FitSugar — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:30:00 -0700

It's barbecue time again, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I love grilling, but it's important to keep food safety in mind when firing up the grill. I always try to marinate the meat before cooking, in hopes of reducing the production of carcinogens, but the high heat can also produce chemicals with cancer-causing properties. This does not mean you should skip the grill this weekend (or all Summer); just follow these simple tips from the Harvard Health Letter for keeping grilling safe:

Cook smaller pieces: They cook more quickly and at lower temperatures.
Choose leaner meat: Less fat should reduce flames and therefore smoke.
Precook in the microwave: Doing so for two minutes may decrease heterocyclic amines by 90 percent, according to some research.
Flip frequently: That way, neither side has time to absorb or lose too much heat.

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Cholesterol vs. Saturated Fat

FitSugar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:30:00 -0700

When we talk about health and nutrition, the terms cholesterol and saturated fat are tossed about frequently. We should avoid large amounts of them, but I for one still get confused by the differences between the two. So I thought it might be a good time for a little review.

For starters, cholesterol is a waxy substance made by the liver and it's used by the body to make hormones, vitamin D, and other materials. It is essential to your body to function normally, and your body makes enough. Cholesterol can also be found in food, and then it is called, quite appropriately, "dietary cholesterol," and it's only found in animal products such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy. It is especially high in egg yolks and organ meats such as liver, brains, and kidneys.

Blood cholesterol refers to the cholesterol levels in your body, which can be determined by a blood test. Your total cholesterol should be less than 200 mg/dL - HDL (good) cholesterol levels should be 40mg/dL or greater and LDL (bad) cholesterol should be 130 mg/dL or less.

If you eat too much dietary cholesterol (over 300mg a day) the extra will accumulate in the walls of the blood vessels, making your LDL (bad) blood cholesterol levels rise. Over time, your arteries will become narrower, which can cut off the blood supply to your heart (causing a heart attack) or your brain (causing a stroke).

So that is the skinny on cholesterol, and to review a few facts on saturated fat read more.

Saturated fat is not essential to your body. It is found mainly in animal products such as meat, poultry, and dairy. All of these foods also contain dietary cholesterol. Palm oil, palm kernel oil, and coconut oil also contain saturated fats, and a lot of processed foods like cookies and crackers contain these oils. On the box it may say "No Cholesterol," but if you check the nutritional info, it may still contain saturated fat from those hidden oils. How sneaky. Saturated fats raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels more than dietary cholesterol itself, so they're the ones to watch out for. The RDI of saturated fat is 20g or less.

Fit's Tip: I'm not saying you should ditch the foods you love that contain cholesterol or saturated fat, just make sure you're staying below the recommended daily level.

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What Does a Serving Size Look Like?

FitSugar — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:45:00 -0800

When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, there is so much talk about portion size. Since we're living in the age of Super Size Me, bottomless this and all-you-can-eat that, we've really lost sight of what an actual serving size is.

I made a chart to help us get a handle on what a serving size of most foods looks like. Want to see it? Then read more

Food	1 Serving Equals...
Breads, pasta, cereal, cooked grain, etc.	1 slice of bread (looks like a CD case) 1/2 a bagel (the size of a hockey puck) 1 cup cereal (looks like two hands cupped together) 1/2 cup cooked grain or pasta (one cupped palm)
Fruits	1 piece of fruit (the size of a tennis ball) 1/2 cup cut up fruit, raw, cooked, frozen, or canned (looks like 7 cotton balls) 1/4 cup dried fruit 3/4 cup 100% fruit juice
Veggies	1/2 cup cut up veggie, raw, cooked, frozen, or canned (looks like the bulb part of a light bulb) 1/2 cup cooked, canned or frozen legumes 1 cup leafy greens 3/4 cup 100% vegetable juice
Meat, chicken, or fish	3 ounces (looks like a deck of cards or a checkbook) 1 egg
Dairy	1oz. of cheese (1 oz. looks like 2, 9-volt batteries) 1/2 cup ice cream, cottage cheese or pudding 1 cup milk or yogurt
Nuts	1/3 cup (a small handful) 1 tbsp nut butter (size of both your thumbs)

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Beef Recall Update

FitSugar — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:45:00 -0700

Last week I told you about yet another beef recall, and now I am here to tell you it has gone from bad to worse. Originally only 332,000 lbs of meat were recalled, but on Saturday, the Topps Meat Co. expanded its recall to include 21.7 million lbs of ground beef that may also be contaminated with e. Coli.

This Elizabeth, NJ based beef company's recall includes:

All Topps products with either a "sell by date" or "best if used by date" between Sept. 25, 2007 and Sept. 25, 2008. The date can be found on the package's back panel.
They also have a USDA establishment number of EST 9748.

The USDA suspended the grinding of raw products at the Topps plant after inspectors found inadequate safety measures there. Terrific.

So far three people have confirmed cases of e. Coli contamination and there are 22 other cases under investigation. Cases were found in Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Check out the full list of recalled products here.

I don't know about you, but a salad is looking really good about now.

Iron Sources: Veggies & Grains vs. Meat

FitSugar — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:30:00 -0700

If you are dealing with anemia or low iron in your blood, you should be eating iron rich foods. Even though there are many iron rich foods to choose from, they are not all created equally. Iron found in meat, fish and poultry is more easily absorbed by the body. Plant based iron sources like dry beans, dark leafy veggies and enriched bread products are important sources of iron, but they come in a form that is not as easily absorbed. So look for a variety of iron sources by eating a well balanced diet.

Fit's Tip: Remember to combine iron rich foods with vitamin C since it increases the amount of iron the body can absorb. They don't call vitamin C ascorbic acid for nothing!

More Tips for a Healthy BBQ

FitSugar — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 03:30:00 -0700

You've heard me tell you that one way to keep barbecuing safe is by marinating your meat before cooking it to greatly reduce the production of these carcinogens. A recent issue of the Harvard Health Letter gives us four more suggestions to keeping grilling safe and free of cancer-causing properties:

Cook smaller pieces: They cook more quickly and at lower temperatures.
Choose leaner meat: Less fat should reduce flames and therefore smoke.
Precook in the microwave: Doing so for two minutes may decrease heterocyclic amines by 90%, according to some research.
Flip frequently: That way, neither side has time to absorb or lose too much heat.

Still looking for other ways to have a healthy BBQ, then check out my previous posts.

Ordinary Foods, Extraordinary Sodium

FitSugar — Fri, 18 May 2007 11:00:00 -0700

Are your food choices giving you more salt than you bargained for? The RDI of salt is no more than 2,300 mg of sodium (6 grams, one teaspoon) a day. A diet high in sodium can lead to high blood pressure which can lead to heart disease. One simple way to reduce your sodium intake is by watching out for ordinary foods with extraordinary sodium counts.

Condiments: Margarine, butter, mayonnaise, ketchup, pasta sauces, soy sauces and dressings.
Processed foods: Crackers, chips, pickles, canned vegetables and soup and lunch meats.
Meats: Red meats and meats like bacon and ham tend to be higher in sodium.
Fast foods: A lot of items from fast food restaurants are loaded with shocking amounts of sodium.

Fit's Tip: Fresh is always best for getting lower sodium.