FitSugar

The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare: Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit.

hausfrau — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:05:22 -0700

The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare
Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit.

With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people's money. These deficits are simply not sustainable. They are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation, or they will bankrupt us.

While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction-toward less government control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone:

• Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs). The combination of high-deductible health insurance and HSAs is one solution that could solve many of our health-care problems. For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high-deductible health-insurance plan. We also provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars through deposits into employees' Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness.

Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time. Our team members therefore spend their own health-care dollars until the annual deductible is covered (about $2,500) and the insurance plan kicks in. This creates incentives to spend the first $2,500 more carefully. Our plan's costs are much lower than typical health insurance, while providing a very high degree of worker satisfaction.

• Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not. This is unfair.

• Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.

• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.

• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.

• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?

• Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.

• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care-to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This "right" has never existed in America

Even in countries like Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care. Rather, citizens in these countries are told by government bureaucrats what health-care treatments they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them. All countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce treatments.

Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment, according to a report last month in Investor's Business Daily. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million.

At Whole Foods we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they most want the company to fund. Our Canadian and British employees express their benefit preferences very clearly-they want supplemental health-care dollars that they can control and spend themselves without permission from their governments. Why would they want such additional health-care benefit dollars if they already have an "intrinsic right to health care"? The answer is clear-no such right truly exists in either Canada or the U.K.-or in any other country.

Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.

Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending-heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity-are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.

Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat. We should be able to live largely disease-free lives until we are well into our 90s and even past 100 years of age.

Health-care reform is very important. Whatever reforms are enacted it is essential that they be financially responsible, and that we have the freedom to choose doctors and the health-care services that best suit our own unique set of lifestyle choices. We are all responsible for our own lives and our own health. We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle choices that will protect our health. Doing so will enrich our lives and will help create a vibrant and sustainable American society.

Mr. Mackey is co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market Inc.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020425140457434217007286507...

Health Food Obsessed: Orthorexia- your thoughts?

fmw — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:48:38 -0700

Did any of you read Health Food Obsessed: Orthorexia, and if so, from the perspective of being Eating Disordered, what are your thoughts towards the article?

Have you ever struggled with Orthorexia?

Hazards of the most popular foods

Monique Marie — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:32:02 -0800

1. Hamburgers

Considered a "high risk" food because of the poor health standards under which they are manufactured. The time consuming process for making processed meats creates high bacteria counts and putrefaction of the meat which need to be treated with chemicals. Putrefaction causes meat to turn green which is then dyed with red chemicals to appear fresh. Unless marked otherwise, hamburger will always contain red dyes.
Because burger parts all come from the animal, "pure beef" can be used on the label! Most hamburger contain the flavour enhancer, MSG (monosodium glutamate) which causes headaches, allergic reactions and more. MSG is a chemical used to fatten up laboratory animals and evidence suggests it will ultimately make you fat when consumed.
The beef industry is the largest user of antibiotics in the world to offset the dangerous bacteria housed in its meats. This has resulted in the growing resistance to antibiotics. Ground beef is more likely to harbour life-threatening E-coli than any other food. Hamburgers are the single biggest food item that inflicts the most damage on the American diet "Billions served" billions spent on doctor visits and hospital bills.
The hormones fed to cattle can make you fat through meat consumption.
A Cheeseburger contains more than 100% of your TOTAL daily recommended fat intake! Burger condiments like pickle, lettuce, tomato, etc. are all treated with cancer causing chemical sulfites that are used to maintain a false freshness in the vegetables. Most burgers contain 1090 mg of sodium! (45% of daily recommended Daily Value) and can promote water retention.

2. Hot Dogs

Like hamburgers, hot dogs are considered a "high risk" food because of the poor health standards under which they are manufactured. The time consuming process for making processed meats creates high bacteria counts and putrefaction in the meat which need to be treated with chemicals. Putrefaction makes meat turn green which is then dyed with red chemicals to appear fresh.
Because hot dog parts all come from the animal, "pure beef" or "100% turkey" can be used on the label! All hot dogs contain the flavour enhancer, MSG (monosodium glutamate) which causes headaches and allergic reactions. MSG is a chemical used to fatten up laboratory animals and will ultimately make you fat when consumed.
Hot dogs have nitrites which are thought to cause stomach cancer, leukemia, brain tumours, and bladder cancer. Fillers and non-meat binders used to hold hot dog meat together can be anything from cereal, non-fat dry milk, or soy which adds more carbohydrates and processed ingredients) Synthetic collagen casings are used to form the hot dogs. Highly carcinogenic. Contains up to 40% of its content in
undisclosed saturated fats.

3. French Fries

French fries are very toxic. In order to make French fries, they must be cooked at high temperatures which cause the chemical, acrylimide to be released. Acrylimides are a known cancer causing agent that also causes nerve damage.
Potatoes are grown in the ground and have a higher pesticide absorption level than almost any other food product. Fries are cooked in oxidized oil that is re-used for weeks at a time!
Potatoes have a very high glycemic index meaning it turns to sugar very quickly in the body. Eating a baked potato (or equivalent quantity of French fries) is the sugar equivalent of a large piece of chocolate cake!

4. Oreo Cookies: THE NUMBER ONE COOKIE

(6 cookies = serving size)
Predominantly made up of 23 grams of straight-line sugar.
Chocolate is LAST ingredient listed which means chocolate is the least of the ingredients. 370 empty calories with almost no nutritional benefits, you could eat 2 whole chicken breasts for the same amount of calories! 6 cookies have 12 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat and 40 carbs, more than 50% of your daily carbohydrate allowance in only 6 cookies.
Oreo cookies will set you up for craving more sugar within 3 hours or less. "Natural flavours" are manufactured chemicals to make Oreos taste like great chocolate cookies.
Highly processed foods have these flavour enhancers which are nothing more than carcinogenic chemicals with no natural flavours of their own. High sugar content. Sugar depletes our immune system, creates lots of inflammation and free radicals in the body.

5. Pizza

Commercial pizzas are made exclusively of 5 genetically modified foods: Cheese "food" (Contains only 10% cheese - it cannot even be called real cheese) Enriched white flour which has been bleached of natural vitamins and minerals but has been "enriched" by adding back a minuscule amount of synthetic vitamins. Tomato sauce made from tomato-like substances that produce their own pesticides, IN YOU
Wheat in the pizza crust is genetically modified. Contains cottonseed oil. Cotton is not a "food", therefore it can be sprayed with anything farmers want. The seed carries most of the poison of the cotton plant.
Pizza is baked at such a high temperature; the crust will form acrylimides which is a known cancer causing agent that can also cause nerve damage. Pepperoni & sausage toppings are "high risk" processed meats which add lots of nitrites, chemicals, preservatives, and saturated fats.

6. Soda - Soft Drinks - Pop

The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. On the Ph scale, it is very acidic and can dissolve a nail in about 4 days. High acid content in the body makes it very difficult to lose weight. Soda will leach the calcium out of your bones and promote osteoporosis.
There are 10-12 teaspoons of empty calorie sugar in one can of soda. Diet sodas with artificial sweeteners will promote sugar cravings because sweeteners are "sweeter" than sugar. Colorings used in sodas are cancer-causing.
Soda is called "liquid candy" because of the high sugar content. Like drinking a candy bar! High fructose corn syrup, a major ingredient: Is Store d in the body as fat.

7. Chicken Tenders

(Usual serving size is 6)
Made from unusable chicken parts, rarely made from whole white meat. A typical 340 calorie serving is typically 50% fat. Heavily breaded for substance. Very high carbohydrate content.
Carcinogenic acrylimides are released in the high temperature frying. Can cause nerve damage and cancer. Contains the flavor enhancer, MSG (monosodium glutamate) which causes headaches and allergic reactions.
MSG is a chemical used to fatten up laboratory animals and will ultimately make you fat when consumed. Contains phosphates which make the body acidic, making it impossible to burn fat properly. You will Store fat and not lose weight. Some chicken nuggets contain aluminum which is toxic to the brain and poisons the metabolism.
Deep fried in oxidized oil that is re-used for weeks at a time!

8. Ice cream

High in fat content. 1 serving (usually 4 ounces!) can provide as much as 50% of your recommended fat for the day. High in carbohydrates. 1 serving is almost 40% of your total recommended carb intake for the day.
High in sugar which promotes sugar cravings and causes skin to wrinkle. Full of hydrogenated and trans-fats which are unnatural and elevate cholesterol clog arteries create free radicals (which may cause cancer)
Hormones put into cows to increase milk production will slow your metabolism, and can cause breast and ovarian tumours, cysts and cancer.

9. Donuts

The average donut contains approximately 300 calories.
One donut provides more than 50% of your recommended daily carbohydrate intake.
High in salt content which will promote water retention.
Donuts are deep fried in oxidized oil that is re-used for weeks at a time! Oils at high temperatures developed rancidity and free radicals which can poison and slow your metabolism, seriously threaten your health and has high sugar content which promotes sugar cravings and ages skin.

10. Potato Chips: The # 1 Snack Food

North Americans today consume more potato chips than any other people in the world. As a world food, potatoes are second in human consumption only to rice. It takes 4 pounds of potatoes to make 1 pound of potato chips. Very calorie dense where a small 2 oz. bag has over 300 calories.
Potato chips are deep fried in oxidized oil that is re-used for weeks at a time! Deep fried at high temperatures which cause the chemical, acrylimide to be released. Acrylimides are a known cancer causing agent that also causes nerve damage.
When you eat 1 single serving bag of potato chips you may be eating up to 500 times more acrylamide than the maximum level allowed in drinking water. High in hidden saturated fats. High sodium/salt content promotes water retention.
Healthy chips? Like those containing olestra can be more dangerous to your health than regular chips.

Quotes from "Death by Supermarket"

emilyplayscello — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:41:01 -0700

I'm currently reading a great book called Death by Supermarket: The Fattening, Dumbing Down, and Poisoning of America by Nancy Deville. It's a great book with a lot of good points and no-nonsense knowledge. The book is all about an emphasis on "real food," not the "factory food" that Americans consume regularly (even diet fare). The book claims that all health problems are linked to our obsession with factory-produced cuisine that's loaded with chemicals and artifical ingredients. I really suggest checking it out! While I don't agree with everything that's said, most of it holds very true for me.

Just wanted to share a few quotes from the book that I enjoyed:

"The food industry addicts us to their products, fattens us up, makes us depressed and sick, and then, backed by our medical community and government, the diet and drug industries profit by selling us diet products that perpetuate malnutrition and drugs that exacerbate our health problems."

[Comedian Bill Maher in his 2005 HBS stand-up special]
"Last year we passed in our Congres this giant Medicare entitlement prescription drug bill... And it's going to cost literally trillions and trillions of dolalrs. And while they were debating this, nobody ever stood up and said, 'Excuse me, but why we so sick?' Could it be that we eat like Caligula? You know the top five of these prescription drugs that are so popular, they're all antacids, antibloating medicines, digestive aids, all things to put out the fire in our stomach from the poison we call lunch. Folks, it's the food. I know that people hate to hear that. But when you look at those ads on the evening news at night, people farting and burping and bloating, it's all sh*t trying to get out of you. Take a hint... You're not going to die from secondhand smoke, or SARS, or monkey pox. It's the food. The call is coming from inside the house. The killer is not West Nile or Avian Flu or shark attacks. It's the buffalo wings. It's the aspartame and NutraSweet, and the red dye number two and the high fructose corn syrup and the MSG and the chlorine and whatever sh*t is in special sauce."

Very blunt, but couldn't be more right, in my opinion. Again, I suggest reading the book if you're at all intrigued by this!

Eat well,
Emily

Food industry defends carbon monoxide use in meat

leeluvfashion — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:07:52 -0800

Food industry defends carbon monoxide use in meat

By Christopher Doering
Reuters
Tuesday, November 13, 2007; 5:57 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the biggest U.S. meat processors on Tuesday defended a packaging technique designed to keep meat looking fresh at grocery stores even as U.S. lawmakers criticized it as unsafe and misleading.

Packers use carbon monoxide to stabilize the color of meat, but some Democrats said the process misleads consumers by making the products look safer than they really are, and puts the public at risk of eating spoiled meat.

Rep. Bart Stupak, Michigan Democrat and chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, called the practice deceptive and "a potential health threat," and accused U.S. regulators of "turning a blind eye" toward health dangers.

Earlier this year, Stupak launched a probe into the practice and has proposed the use of a safety notice on meat and fish products treated with carbon monoxide.

Since then, food retailers Giant, Safeway Inc and Tyson Foods Inc have stopped the practice.

On Tuesday, discount retailer Target Corp asked USDA for approval to add a warning to the label of meat that has been treated with carbon monoxide sold in its stores.

At the hearing, top executives with Hormel Foods Corp and Cargill Inc told lawmakers they supported a product label encouraging consumers to depend on a "use by" or "freeze by" date rather than color to determine the safety of their meat or fish.

"Consumers are not eating bad product and are not being deceived by this technology," said Hormel Chief Executive Jeffrey Ettinger.

Some consumer groups have petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of sealed packaging that uses a higher portion of carbon monoxide -- 0.4 percent -- than exists in air.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, defended the practice on grounds that it reduces the need for human handling and limits the chance of adding bacteria to the meat.

"There is no need for the federal government to implement overzealous regulations that would likely take a step backward and away from safe and efficient meat packaging," Blackburn said.

Officials at the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Agriculture Department said they stand by the safety of the carbon monoxide practice and would revisit the process if new data becomes available.

"This is not a priority for the agency with regard to public health," said Daniel Engeljohn, a deputy assistant administrator with USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service. The FSIS requires use-by/sell-by dates on meats sold in packages containing carbon monoxide.

The hearing on Tuesday comes as the food industry has been hit hard by several recent recalls.

Among them, Cargill earlier this month recalled more than 1 million pounds of ground beef because of possible E. coli. contamination. It was the second meat recall by the Minneapolis-based company in about a month.

Consumer groups told lawmakers the use of carbon monoxide makes it difficult for shoppers to gauge product safety.

"We're outraged the FDA put the economic interest of the industry before the health and safety of consumers," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Food and Water Watch. "At worst (it's) dangerous, at best it's a consumer rip-off."

The FDA regulates about 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, mostly fruits and vegetables, and the USDA is responsible for the rest, including meat, poultry and eggs.

Inflammatory Foods

music_jewel321 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:13:16 -0800

Science is uncovering close connections among food, inflammation and heart disease. Here’s what you should know.

By Rachel Johnson, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., EatingWell.com

As a nutrition professor, I thought I was up to speed on which healthy habits can help you prevent heart disease-until a few years ago when my University of Vermont colleague Paula Fives-Taylor, Ph.D., rattled my thinking. In a riveting lecture, this professor of microbiology and molecular genetics explained that something as simple as flossing your teeth regularly could make a big difference in reducing heart disease risk. (That’s when my jaw dropped.) Since flossing keeps plaque-forming bacteria from invading gum tissue, she explained, it helps prevent the body’s immune system from launching into defense mode-a process known as inflammation. Inflammation, she added, was now understood to be both a warning sign and a trigger for a number of medical conditions including heart disease.

Fives-Taylor was onto something. Today, inflammation is so widely linked to heart disease, many physicians routinely order tests for a key marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein (CRP), as readily as they do cholesterol tests.

How Inflammation Harms the Heart:

It seems counterintuitive, but inflammation begins with the body’s way of defending itself against harm. We’ve all experienced it as part of the normal healing process after a scrape or cut. Waves of immune cells rush to the injury, combatting threatening pathogens and sometimes causing heat, redness and swelling. But the new thinking is that serious health problems begin when inflammation overstays its welcome, persisting in a chronic, low-grade state in which some immune cells remain activated even though they’re not needed.

We used to think heart disease resulted from deposits of fatty plaques in our arteries, like the buildup of rust in a water pipe. But we now know that heart attacks rarely happen simply due to this buildup. Far from being mere "pipes," arteries are active participants in the progress of heart disease, both attracting and harboring cells that release inflammatory substances. The result is a fatty plaque that forms within the artery walls and is a target for yet more inflammatory damage. According to Penny Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., distinguished professor of nutrition at Penn State, "inflammation plays a key role in weakening arterial plaque, causing the deposits to rupture-which can lead to sudden coronary death, heart attack or stroke."

Anything you can do to lower your level of inflammation, then, can go a long way toward reducing your risk for heart disease. Your doctor may recommend a daily dose of aspirin, the original anti-inflammatory drug. Also, since body fat is itself a source of inflammation, losing extra pounds can help-as can increasing your fitness level. And exciting research is showing that what we eat can make a difference too.

How Diet Can Help

Numerous studies show that individual foods and nutrients can either stoke or subdue the inflammatory process. The foods that inflame aren’t new villains: they are saturated fats and trans-fatty acids, along with high-glycemic-index carbohydrates like refined starches and sweets, which the body quickly converts to glucose.

It’s old news that saturated fats and trans fats increase LDL ("bad" cholesterol) in the blood, but we now know that too much LDL can start a cascade of inflammatory events. When it accumulates in artery walls excessively, LDL undergoes chemical changes, including oxidization; the body interprets these changes as "danger" and responds by drawing inflammatory compounds into arteries. This process ultimately results in both the buildup of plaque and chronic inflammation.

The anti-inflammatory prescription, then, begins with avoiding anything that increases LDL, and it’s a familiar refrain: Limit intake of full-fat animal products and read labels to avoid common trans-fat sources like commercial cakes, cookies, crackers, pies and breads. Focus on getting more omega-3 fats, which the body converts to substances that decrease inflammation. And, since elevated blood sugar can stoke some of the chemical changes that render LDL more dangerous, it makes sense to limit your intake of refined grains and other high-glycemic-index carbohydrates like white bread and potatoes.

Instead, try to get more of what I call "inflammation soothers": foods that inhibit LDL and help prevent reactions that spark inflammation. The list is long and includes foods high in healthy mono-unsaturated and omega-3 fats (like extra-virgin olive oil and canola oil, fatty fish, nuts and seeds-particularly omega-3-rich walnuts and flaxseed), along with antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. (A few surprising "extras" like red wine, cocoa and turmeric have shown promising anti-inflammatory activity in some studies.) Whole grains and legumes are also key. And phytosterols, cholesterol-lowering plant compounds that are turning up in some brands of low-fat yogurt, orange juice, butterlike spreads and granola bars, also may help reduce inflammation.

But rather than just concentrating on individual foods, Kris-Etherton and other experts recommend focusing on an overall dietary pattern that combines these foods for additive and/or synergistic effects. The renowned Mediterranean Diet pattern, rich in plant foods and seasoned with olive oil, is one of many healthy models that fit this description.

Of course, lowering LDL cholesterol remains the cornerstone of reducing your risk of heart disease. But it’s clear that inflammation plays an important role, too, and soothing the flames of inflammation is within our power.

So lose weight if you need to, take a daily aspirin if prescribed and make sensible food choices. As you can see, there’s plenty of common ground between anti-inflammatory eating and healthy eating in general. You’ve undoubtedly heard this advice before, but now there are new reasons to act on it.

Oh, and don’t forget to floss.

6 Ways to Help Your Heart:

Eat a more plant-based diet rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes and nuts.
Eat fish (preferably fatty types like salmon and tuna) at least twice a week.
Consume high-fat animal foods in moderation, choosing lean meat and low-fat or nonfat dairy products.
Choose whole grains and other lower-glycemic-index carbohydrates like sweet potatoes and legumes.
Use canola and olive oils as your primary fats.
Enjoy alcohol in moderation (one glass a day for women, two glasses a day for men).

Diet-Friendly Comfort Foods

celebrity_soup — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:04:07 -0800

I found this interesting and helpful for people that are watching out what their eating.
I got this from Yahoo Health, posted by Joy Bauer.

Who would of thought that baked sweet potato fries had 0 grams of fat?!
I don't know about you, but I'd choose them sweet potatoes than a 33 grams of fat serving of fries!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Check it out:
So often we use food to comfort ourselves in response to emotions. But unfortunately, many favorites are loaded with calories, fat and sugar. Here's a list of common comfort foods with lower-calorie swaps.

Pizza
Lose: two New York slices of Pizza (1,300 calories, 50 grams fat)
Choose: Lean Cuisine brick oven style pizza (320 calories, 9 grams fat)
Or make your own pita pizza with vegetables (250 calories, 6 grams fat).

Ice Cream
Lose: one pint Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip ice cream (1,040 calories, 64 grams fat)
Choose: one cup Turkey Hill Low-Fat Moose Tracks ice cream (280 calories, 10 grams fat)

Chips
Lose: potato chips (one ounce = 160 calories, 11 grams fat)
Choose: soy crisps (once ounce = 110 calories, 3 grams fat - plus protein and fiber, bonus!)

Bread
Lose: two slices white bread with butter (260 calories, 10 grams fat)
Choose: Thomas' light English muffin with 2 tsp peanut butter (160 calories, 6 grams fat and 8 grams fiber)

Taco Bell
Lose: Nachos Bellgrande (770 calories, 44 grams fat)
Choose: Fresco Burrito Supreme with chicken (330 calories, 8 grams fat)

Burgers
Lose: bacon cheeseburger (1100 calories, 80 grams fat)
Choose: turkey burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup on half the Bun (334 calories, 13 grams fat)

Fries
Lose: large French fries (600 calories, 33 grams fat)
Choose: baked sweet potato fries (220 calories, 0 grams fat)

Chicken Wings
Lose: fried chicken wings with bleu cheese dressing (720 calories, 59 grams fat)
Choose: baked chicken tenderloins with hot sauce and low-cal bleu cheese dressing (120 calories, 1.5 grams fat)

Pasta
Lose: traditional macaroni and cheese (2 cups = 880 calories, 40 grams fat)
Choose: whole wheat elbow macaroni tossed with ½ cup tomato sauce and 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese (2 cups = 420 calories, 5 grams fat)

Cookies
Lose: two raw chocolate chip cookie dough squares (200 calories, 10 grams fat)
Choose: two South Beach Diet Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (100 calories, 5 grams fat)

Food makers pressured to cut sodium

justingirl1989 — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:11:23 -0800

WASHINGTON - Think cooking the perfect Thanksgiving dinner is stressful? Something else is far more likely to raise your blood pressure: salt hidden in all those goodies. Don't blame the chef. Much of that salt was hidden from him or her, too.

Americans eat nearly two teaspoons of salt daily, more than double what they need for good health - and it's not because of the table salt-shaker. Three-fourths of that sodium comes inside common processed foods like stuffing mix, gravy, and yes, pumpkin pie.

Even raw turkey, which is naturally low in sodium, sometimes is injected with salt water before it reaches the store, a lot more salt than a home cook might sprinkle on. You have to read the brand's fine print to tell.

Now public health specialists are pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to require food makers to cut the sodium. In a hearing set for next week, they will call the government intervention crucial to fighting heart disease.

"There's just a growing scientific consensus that current levels of salt in the diet are one of the biggest health threats to the public," says Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group that filed the FDA petition triggering the meeting.

"This is truly urgent," adds Dr. Stephen Havas of the American Medical Association. "We need to act."

The AMA says cutting in half the sodium in processed and restaurant foods within 10 years could wind up saving 150,000 lives annually.

The grocery industry knows there's a problem: Food makers and CSPI put aside their differences for an unprecedented, closed-door meeting on how to reduce sodium last month. And the salt content of many foods has inched down in recent decades.

But manufacturers argue they don't have tasty ways to make deeper cuts in salt, and fear consumer backlash if they slash it.

"There's a tremendous need for investment by government and industry to come up with salt alternatives," says Robert Earl of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. "There are just very few that exist that work and perform well in foods."

That's an excuse, argues Havas. Scientific studies show people get accustomed to eating less salt in mere months, and then usually find their old foods too salty.

One in three U.S. adults has high blood pressure, and almost 1 billion people worldwide. Hypertension in turn is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. And while being overweight and inactive raises blood pressure, too much salt is a big culprit as well.

Government guidelines set 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day as the safe upper limit. We don't need that much: The Institute of Medicine says just 1,500 mg a day, a little less for older adults, is enough to regulate the body's fluid balance, the mineral's job.

Yet the average American consumes between 3,300 and 4,000 mg of sodium a day.

Thanksgiving dinner alone can easily reach those limits: Stuffing can harbor up to 600 mg of sodium a serving, plus 300 for gravy. If you bought the salt-added turkey, plan on 490 mg. A biscuit can mean 350, although a dinner roll might have half that. Pumpkin pie doesn't seem salty, but one popular brand has 300 mg a slice.

Cooking from scratch can slash those numbers - homemade cornbread for stuffing, for example, has little salt - and there are even reduced-sodium broths to make gravy.

But many processed foods don't need all their salt.

"We could fairly easily take 18 to 20 percent out of food without consumers knowing," says Patty Packard, nutrition manager at giant ConAgra Foods.

ConAgra has started doing that, beginning with kid-popular brands. Chef Boyardee, for instance, went from an average of 1,100 mg of sodium per serving in 2003 to 900 mg today. Over four years, ConAgra estimates it has removed 2.8 million pounds of salt from a list of products - kids brands, Banquet, Marie Callender's - without consumer complaint, possibly because it hasn't publicized the change.

"We know consumer perception is, if it's lower in sodium it doesn't taste good," Packard says. "If you told people ... they're going, 'Oooh, what'd you do to my Chef Boyardee?'"

Technology also can help. Better ways to freeze vegetables brought the sodium level of frozen peas down from almost 500 in the 1960s to less than 100 today - unless you buy them with high-salt butter sauce.

But other foods have gotten saltier. For example, between 2004 and 2007, average sodium in sliced cheese rose 35 percent, and frozen pizza saw a 23 percent jump, CSPI found.

It's not just a U.S. issue. Britain has a major government campaign under way to reduce salt consumption by one-third by 2010. In catchy TV ads, a shopper shouts, "Full of it!" as she tosses aside high-sodium foods, and a mound of salt crushes a grocery cart. Next year, Britain begins checking if manufacturers are meeting new reduced-sodium targets for different types of food.

Finland places a "high-salt" label on foods that are, and has seen sodium intake decrease by 40 percent in three decades - along with a big drop in strokes. The World Health Organization this year called for worldwide sodium reduction in processed foods, plus consumer education on cutting the salt.

Here, the FDA won't say how quickly it will decide whether to intervene or let industry gradually cut the salt on its own.

"Regulation is one option, but it may not be the best one," says FDA food-additive chief Dr. Laura Tarantino.

___

Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

thats good

source: yahoo.com

My Views On Health

leeluvfashion — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:01:59 -0800

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”

My view is pretty simple: A healthy body starts with a healthy mind. You can buy all the health foods and nutritional books you want; however you'll never fully commit if your mindset isn't on track. Once you find a way to release any emotional issues (yoga, therapy, etc) then your happiness and health start to blossom.

This isn't about dieting, it's about having a healthy diet; which are two very different things. Dieting is assumed with getting skinnier and following a program that isn't lifelong. Having a healthy diet is what everyone should aim for; it means eating healthy foods, finding your comfortable (yet heart healthy) weight, eating the food you want in moderation and treating yourself to the slice of cake you crave (just not every single day.)

The journalist Michael Pollan said "If a product has to tell you how healthy it is, well then it can't be that healthy." Which 99% of the time is true. As an example, he talked about those breakfast cereals, that have written in bold typing "Made with whole grains;" Well, if you read the ingredients it usually says "made with enriched or bleached whole grains" and that means the endosperm (the actual source of nutrition in whole grains) is removed, leaving you with just the shell. There are brands that are the exception: Kashi, Quaker Oats Regular Oatmeal, Uncle Sam and some others. However most of the cereals are all bleached & enriched.

A quick view of my own health guideline:

1. The least ingredients in a product the better; The ingredients also have to be pronunceable.

2. Eating healthy won't make me happy on it's own; I have to find peace within myself if I want happiness; eating a good diet is an added boost.

3. Moderation not restriction. Eating some Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream won't kill me, it's eating the whole container that will.

So, this is part of how I view health & happiness; there will more posts to come in the future.

The Importance of Healthy Eating

emilyplayscello — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 18:24:43 -0700

Eating right is of the utmost importance to me. I believe that good nutrition is the solution to almost any ailment and is the source of true well-being. I think eating right and fueling your body properly is essential to being a happy, balanced, and vibrant person. It is truly a tragedy that nutrition in America is lacking more than ever. The importance of a good diet can not be emphasized enough. Sadly, the standards for a "good" diet in America are very loose allow a great deal of unhealthy choices that can be counterproductive to your good efforts.

I have a plethora of reasons for eating consciously and thought I'd share some.

Weight Control
I mention this reason first not because it is necessarily the most important, but probably the most popular reason people start to eat healthy. I'll admit that it is what initially got me interested in adapting a better diet. My first semester of college was filled with late-night pizza, pints of Ben & Jerry's, and all-you-can-eat buffets for every meal. I gained about 15 lbs for the first time in my life and completely panicked. When I started fueling my body with vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and other healthy foods, I watched the weight disappear. As many of us know, being overweight can lead to a great deal of disease and health problems such as hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. Maintaining a healthy weight is essential to good health. Plus, most of us feel better about ourselves when we are at our ideal weight and confidence is a beautiful thing.

Immune System Strength
Your body only functions properly when it is provided with all the necessary vitamins and nutrients. Besides making sure to get your daily recommended intake, it is also important to avoid foods high in sugar or chemical additives that weaken your body's natural functions. When you eat a healthy, nutrient-dense diet, your immune system is strong. Even as a college student, I rarely get a cold or feel run-down nearly as much as my peers. Getting sick doesn't just come from exposure to germs. If your body is running properly, germ exposure won't cause you to catch a cold or get sick.

Energy
Another thing I notice with my [unhealthy] peers is that they always seem to be tired. They can sleep for 12 hours on the weekend and still walk around exhausted with dark circles under their eyes. Making sure to get the right balance of complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and protein provides stable energy throughout the day. I also strongly recommend eating four to six small meals a day instead of three larger ones; this keeps blood sugar levels stable and makes for more reliable energy. When you consume high quantities of sugar, refined carbs, and caffeine, you are going to feel exhausted regardless of how much sleep you get. The pick-me-up one gets from eating junk food is only temporary and leaves you in a slump when it's over.

Skin, Hair, Nails
When you provide your body with essential nutrients, especially the omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids, it truly shows. Your hair is shinier and thicker, your skin is clearer and more vibrant, and your nails are stronger. Diets high in sugar, additives, and grease make for break-outs, lackluster complexions, and brittle nails. What shows up on the outside is very much controlled by what's going on inside. Before you splurge on an expensive new hair product or face cream, think about solving the problem at the source first.

Digestive Wellness
Digestive problems are far too common in America. It is directly related to our diet of chemically-ridden, over-processed foods that are devoid of nutritional value. Laxatives and antacids are among the highest selling over-the-counter remedies in the US. It is imperative not to look to drugs or pills but at the true source of these problems. A diet centered around vegetables and high in whole grains and fiber can alleviate digestive problems and keep your stomach and intestines running smoothly.

Mood
Many people equate their feelings or mood to specific things going on in their life. However, we all have those days where we feel unexplainably happy or sad. Emotions and moods are far more complicated than what is on the surface. Much of it is governed by brain chemicals like serotonin, which is a feel-good brain chemical, and cortisol, which is a stress chemical. Eating a diet that provides adequate nutrients and regulates blood sugar helps keep these chemicals in balance and regulate mood swings. Depression is actually a common symptom of a number of vitamin deficiencies. And remember, when you feel good about your weight, your energy levels are stable, your complexion is radiant, and you are feeling well, it is much easier to be a happy and pleasant person!

I think the best thing you can do for yourself and your body is develop healthy eating habits. "You are what you eat" is a very accurate statement. Your body is made up of cells. Your cells are created and reproduced by the nutrients that enter your body. Essentially, your body becomes the food you put into it. I urge each and every one of you not to turn to the medicine cabinet for every ailment. Take a look at what you're eating (or what you're not eating) and if you can regulate your body through making healthier choices. Everything we eat has some effect on our body. Determine if it is positive or negative and choose where to go from there. Do your own research, and gain the knowledge to empower yourself. Remember that health claims on products are for marketing purposes only. If you educate yourself on what a healthy food really is, you can make the best decisions.

You have the power to change and transform your life through what you eat!

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Eat healthy,
Emily