FitSugar

Scientists Develop Heart-Healthy Barley Flour Pasta

Jenny Sugar — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:28:00 PDT

It's hard to resist a heaping plate of creamy pasta primavera or sizzling spinach lasagna, but traditional pasta isn't always the healthiest of foods. Made with semolina and enriched flour, pasta is high in carbs and somewhat low in nutrition. Whole wheat pasta is much healthier - containing fiber and protein - but its thicker, grainier texture can be a turnoff for many pasta lovers. A newly developed barley pasta may finally be the healthy pasta they're looking for.

On the quest to make a more nutritious, tastier noodle, scientists in Italy and Spain spent time in the ~~kitchen~~ lab developing a new type of "super spaghetti" made from barley flour, as reported by the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Loaded with fiber, antioxidants, and vitamin E, this whole grain is a popular ingredient often added to foods to make them healthier.

While it hasn't hit store shelves yet, the barley pasta will be higher in fiber and antioxidants than traditional spaghetti made with semolina. And, under current FDA requirements, producers can make claims on the packaging of barley pasta about the food helping people's hearts and digestive tracts.

Type of Pasta	Calories in 1 cup cooked	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Protein (g)
Traditional elbow-shaped pasta	182	35.5	2.1	6.7
Whole wheat elbow-shaped pasta	174	37.1	3.9	7.5

As you can see from the chart above, whole wheat pasta is lower in calories and also higher in fiber and protein. I'd be curious to see how this new barley pasta stands up nutritionally, but also to twirl my fork around a bite and see how it tastes. Would you try this new type of healthier spaghetti or do you prefer sticking to the traditional pasta you grew up with?

Fittingly Mad: "Functional" Junk Foods

FitSugar — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:00:39 PDT

Companies are always coming up with new ways to entice customers to buy their products. Recently, a whole line of functional foods has evolved - regular foods that are enhanced with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. These products sound really healthy, so the average consumer sees "Now With Added Fiber" or "Packed With Vitamin A" on the package and places it to the cart without even looking at the label. If they did peek, they would be appalled to see that these products are often just junk food disguised as healthy food. Many of these products contain loads sugar, corn syrup, sodium, and the dreaded trans fat.

Food companies are preying on lazy consumers who see buzz words like "antioxidants," "fiber," and "omega-3s," which make us think we're not getting enough, so we feel compelled to buy these products. The truth is, if you eat a healthy diet full of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins, you don't need all these enhanced foods. You get enough of what you need from your diet alone. If you're worried about making your quota of certain nutrients, then opt for eating a food that naturally contains what you're missing, instead of foods that are artificially enriched.

Maramor Dark Chocolate With Omega-3s: Try It or Pass It By?

FitSugar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:30:00 PDT

Multifunctional foods are all the rage, like cholesterol-reducing milk, which is good for your heart and your bones. I just read about a new chocolate fortified with omega-3 fatty acids, the fat that is beneficial to your health but lacking in most American's daily diet. Maramor Dark Chocolate is high in antioxidants, but one square also supplies 105 milligrams blend of omega-3 fats with only 50 calories. Sold!

Then I read in Self that you should freeze the chocolate to diminish the fish taste. Mentally, I put this chocolate back on the shelf. I think I will stick with my fish-oil supplement and let my chocolate be just chocolate.

If you want to Maramor-fortified chocolate, you can find this multitasking food at GNC. A box of 30 squares will cost you about $15.

What about you . . .

One Shot That’s Worth Giving A Shot: Promise Activ SuperShot

FitSugar — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 11:45:00 PDT

Functional foods take on cholesterol...

Unilever has 150 clinical studies showing that two grams of plant sterols a day can lead to a 15% reduction in cholesterol backing up its new Promise Activ SuperShot Yogurt. Plant sterols are found in many fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and vegetable. These three-ounce yogurt-based drinks aim to give you a daily shot of 70 calories and omega-3s and 2 grams of plant sterols, which could lower your cholesterol by about 10% (if you have one per day).

The SuperShots should hit grocery stores this June (retailing for about $3.99 per four-pack), so keep an eye out. I can't wait to try them!

Are Functional Foods Worth the Extra Cash?

FitSugar — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 02:00:00 PDT

A lot of us (including me, guilty as charged) are shelling out extra cash for so called functional foods.

Functional food are foods that do more than just feed your hunger, they offer the promise of allowing you to be more regular, get full with extra antioxidants or drop your levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol. New studies are finding that these foods may not be worth the extra cash (about a third more per serving extra), if you're already getting a healthy diet rich in fiber.

From yogurt to water to margarine, we're seeing lots of foods labeled to have supposed benefits from things like probiotics to antioxidants. As a consumer it is hard to identify between what we need, what we think we need and what we want. The outcome is simple: If you want to spend the extra money on these functional foods, it certainly won't hurt anything but your wallet. However, if you are eating a diet full of fruits, veggies and dietary fibers (your basic healthy diet) you don't necessarily need to shell out the extra cash.

A Doctor Dishes: Which "Superfoods" Are Worth the Cost?

LearnVest — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:15:00 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Most people you speak to these days are trying to stretch every dollar as far as possible - even the ones they spend buying apples and oranges.

Food prices are expected to increase yet again this year, and food manufacturers are making portions smaller without reducing prices. Not surprisingly, a recent Rasmussen poll found that 93 percent of adults report paying more for groceries now than they did a year ago.

So how can we supercharge our grocery dollars and get them to do overtime for us?

Yes, some foods are obviously a better nutritional deal than others (think apples vs. potato chips), but there’s another class of foods that blows the rest of the field away in terms of nutrients and health-protecting qualities: superfoods.

Superfoods can help prevent diabetes and heart disease, repair damage to your body’s cells, and more. But before you go piling them into your cart, know that some superfoods are better nutritional bargains than others. As a doctor and a mom, I’ve sleuthed out which ones are worth the extra cost in terms of their long-term health benefits. Below is the scoop on which ones may help you age better, ward off cancer, and more.

What to Know Before Buying Superfoods

Before we dive into what to buy, there are a few important things to remember about consuming these foods:

Eating foods fresh and in their natural state, especially fruits and vegetables (rather than in pill or powder supplement form), usually allows us to absorb the greatest amount of their nutrients. The way a superfood is processed or cooked can significantly lower its antioxidant content.
If the superfood can’t be eaten fresh, look for easy and appetizing recipes containing it. No matter how “super” a superfood may be, if you don’t know how to cook it, you’ll probably let it go to waste.

Are Superfoods "Good Buys" If I’m Shopping on a Budget?

Read on to find out.

5 Heart-Healthy Foods For Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Leta Shy — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:58:10 PST

February is American Heart Month. You may not think you have to worry about your heart until you're older, but in fact, the healthy things you do now can help prevent serious heart conditions later.

One such healthy habit is to eat foods that help lower cholesterol or improve your heart function. We've made it easy with these five foods that you should be incorporating into your breakfast-lunch-dinner routine (don't worry, we didn't forget snacks and desserts!), so read on to find out what, how much, and why you should be adding these heart-healthy foods to your diet.

4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Eating

Jenny Sugar — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:44:03 PST

Between meetings, appointments, work deadlines, errands, family obligations, and trips to the gym, our lives can be so busy that we fill our bellies with the quickest, easiest bites we can get our hands on. Whether your goal is to drop unwanted pounds or eat healthier, it's in your best interest to pause before you take your first bite and ask yourself these four important questions.

Am I hungry? Seems like a silly question, because you're eating, so you must be hungry, right? Many times we reach for food out of boredom, convenience (the bag of chips was open), depression (chocolate to drown your breakup sorrows), happiness (to celebrate a promotion), or desire (who could pass up the amazing brownies your co-worker brought in?). But if we recently ate, then we're not even hungry. Make sure you're due for a snack or meal before sitting down to eat one.

Is this food filling holes in my diet? We eat to live and that means the food we gobble down should offer our bodies the vitamins and nutrients it needs to function properly. Aside from being healthy, our daily diet should also be balanced. If you ate a high-protein breakfast of eggs and Greek yogurt topped with nuts, then for a morning snack, you probably want to eat something that offers your body something besides protein, such as fiber, potassium, or vitamin A. Think of each snack and meal as a piece of your daily diet puzzle; an opportunity to take in what your body is lacking.

Keep reading to find out the other two questions you should ask yourself before eating.

5 Reasons You Need More Sleep

Shape — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:14:00 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

Whether you admit you need help nodding off or are still in denial about the major suitcases under your eyes, chances are you could use an intervention: a full two-thirds of Americans say they have trouble getting enough shut-eye at least once a week. That’s pretty harrowing, considering that sleep is absolutely essential for health and normal functioning. If you need a reason to hit the sack early read on. You’ll be surprised how much skipped sleep impacts your well-being.

You'll Live Longer
Chronic insomniacs are more likely to suffer a heart attack than those who sleep well, according to new research in the journal Circulation. Other studies have linked lack of sleep to a higher risk of dying from a stroke and developing breast cancer.

See even more benefits of sleep after the break!

Do Popular Weight-Loss Diets Work?

Shape — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:15:48 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

There's a mountain of evidence that suggests that fad diets don't function as permanent weight-loss solutions. So why do we continue to flock toward them when we know they're not very effective? After rounding up the top 10 searched diet plans on Yahoo! and noticing that almost every single one was a fad diet (such as the Atkins Diet, or HCG Diet), we wanted to know more about why we're drawn to these popular diet plans. So we went to Holly Herrington, a Registered Dietitian at the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at the Northwestern University Medical Faculty Foundation to get her take on these plans and whether they really work for weight loss.

Find out what - if any - fad diets work after the break.