Eat More Nuts, Less Bacon and Soda

According to a recent study, people are consuming more bacon and soda and less nuts that leads to deaths from heart disease, strokes and diabetes. Overeating bad food and not eating enough healthy food contributes to nearly half of U.S. deaths from these causes, the study suggests.

The healthy food that are not being eaten are nuts and seeds, seafood rich in omega-3 fats including salmon and sardines; fruits and vegetables; and whole grains. While un-healthy food that are being over-eaten are salty foods; processed meats including bacon, bologna and hot dogs; red meat including steaks and hamburgers; sodas and other drinks with lots of sugar.

The study is based on  U.S. government data that shows about 700,000 deaths in 2012 from heart disease, strokes and diabetes and on an analysis of national health surveys that asked participants about their eating habits. Most didn't eat the recommended amounts of the foods studied.

Here's a guidelines for a healthy diet:

Healthy ingredients

—Fruits: 3 average-sized fruits daily
—Vegetables: 2 cups cooked or 4 cups raw vegetables daily
—Nuts/seeds: 5 1-ounce servings per week — about 20 nuts per serving
—Whole grains: 2 ½ daily servings
—Polyunsaturated fats, found in many vegetable oils: 11 percent of daily calories
—Seafood: about 8 ounces weekly

Un-healthy ingredients

—Red meat: 1 serving weekly — 1 medium steak or the equivalent
—Processed meat: None recommended
—Sugary drinks: None recommended
—Salt: 2,000 milligrams daily — just under a teaspoon.


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Burger King: Whopperrito

Burger King will be introducing Whopperrito on August 15, 2016. It's a mashup of a Whopper and a burrito. The Whopperrito is made with a flame-grilled 100% beef. The seasoning is a special blend of Tex-Mex spices. It has diced onions, tomatoes, pickles, lettuce and queso sauce. The wrapping is a flour tortilla.

Whopperrito is Burger King's newest experiment with a bizarre offerings to lure back diners who have cut back on eating out and to attract those people who love burritos at Taco Bell.

Fast-food wars: McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's Value Meals

There's a war simmering in the fast-food world and McDonald's is getting the upper-hand against Wendy's and Burger King. McDonald's is gearing up to transform their "value platform", meaning they will offer new promotions.

They have already introduce "McPick 2" to replace Dollar Menu, this is a limited-time offer that will let customers choose two of the following items for $2: a McDouble, a McChicken, small fries, and mozzarella sticks.

The offering has gained the necessary votes from franchisees to make it onto the national menu, and will be available in U.S. restaurants for a 5-week run starting January 4, 2016. After that, McDonald's said it may change the details of the offering, but that it plans to stick with the "McPick" concept and name.

They have also made breakfast items like Egg McMuffins available throughout the day.

In response to McDonald's offer, Burger King and Wendy's unleash more promotions, and both chains saw increase in sales.

Burger King offers a 10-nugget deal for $1.49. It's also offering coupons for other food items on its mobile app. While, Wendy's promo is "4 for $4" meal that includes a junior bacon cheeseburger, 4 chicken nuggets, small fries, and a drink for only $4.

McDonald's says that 25% of their customers are looking for value meals.



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Saturated Fats are Good in Moderation

There are a lot of products that say low or zero fat and people think in an instant that they are healthy because it keep them fit and keep their heart healthy. However, that is not entirely true. The
McMaster University in Canada did not find any link between the amount of saturated fat people ate and their risk of death from heart disease, stroke or Type 2 diabetes. Also there are dietitians that advice people to take in more good fats in our diet.

Food products don't differentiate between good fats and bad fats, so buying food that are zero or low fat is not wise and can harm your health.

Dr. John Briffa of The Cholesterol Truth  said that the mainstream focusing on the dangers of saturated fat are absurdly exaggerated. These means you should not follow the advice of some health advocate or fad diet to cut down on saturated fats just eat in moderation. Eating butter is not bad if taken in moderately since it is rich in saturated fats, vitamins, cholesterol that is important for brain and nervous system development and various natural compounds with anti-fungal, antioxidant and even anti-cancer properties.

If you remove saturated fats from your diet, you will be missing the health benefits that it can give you like vitamins D, E, K, and A. People should know the differences between good and bad dietary fats.

Fats that are bad for you are Trans-fats (Hydrogenated fats) since they are dense and can block your coronary arteries. These fats are made through "hydrogenation" which is a food manufacturing process in which oils are turned from liquid to solid at high temperatures. They add hydrogen atom to the oil molecule which will turn the oil solid.

This fat also increase the level of LDL which are bad cholesterol in our blood, it also lower the HDL which are good cholesterol.

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McDonald's McLobster

Do you want lobster but can't afford it? Try McDonald's McLobster, they will be offering their version of lobster roll named McLobster from June 17 up to June 30 or while supplies last. McLobster is made with 100%, real Atlantic lobster according to the fastfood company and it is priced at just $7.49 +tax. Unfortunately, it's only available in Canada.

The limited-time McLobster is part of their “Great Canadian Taste Adventure” campaign to promote Canadian inspired flavors. The other other added menu included in the summer promotion are, maple and bacon poutine, a chocolate nanaimo sundae, cottage country chicken and the Western BBQ burger.

source: http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en/promotions/flavourpassport.html

Spam! The yummy one, not the annoying stuff you see in your inbox

Spam got its name from the combination of the words "Spiced" and "Ham". Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. Made of inexpensive cuts of pork and blended with spices and nitrates, it's cooked in its own can, which pressurizes it and allows the meat mixture to reach a temperature that renders it sterile so it can sit for an eternity on a store shelf. Spam remains hugely popular in Hawaii, where it's served sushi style, as well as in China, where it's a common sandwich filling. As of 2003, Spam is sold in 41 countries worldwide, sold on six continents and trademarked in over 100 different countries.

Spam served with rice

Spam musubi (Hawaii)

Healthy Tofu

Thought I'd make something easy and healthy this weekend.

Tofu and spinach, drizzled with light soy sauce and sesame oil. Yum!

Teen obesity tied to poor mom-child relationship according to study

Dec 28 (Reuters) - Toddlers who have poor relationships with their mother are more likely to pack on extra weight as they grow up, according to a U.S. study.

Researchers who followed nearly 1,000 children into their teens found that more than 25 percent of those who scored lowest on mother-child relationship tests as toddlers went on to become obese at age 15, findings in Pediatrics said.

By contrast, only 13 percent of the children who had a good relationship with their mother became obese.

While that doesn't prove cause and effect, researchers say other work has shown links between children's emotional and intellectual development and how they interact with their mother at a young age.

It's possible that a stressful childhood could make a lasting impression on children's brains, said Sarah Anderson, who worked on the study.

"There is an overlap in the brain between the areas that govern stress and energy balance," said Anderson, at the Ohio State University College of Public Health in Columbus.

"This stress response could be related to obesity through appetite regulation."

The study was based on 977 children who were videotaped while playing with their mother at about one, two and three years of age.

Researchers then assessed the toddler's relationship to their mothers based on the mother's ability to recognize her child's emotional state and respond with warmth, as well as the child's tendency to explore its environment freely, a measure of "attachment security."

A quarter of the toddlers had a "poor-quality" relationship to their mothers, whereas 22 percent achieved perfect scores at each session.

At 15 years, 26 percent of the children with relationship trouble were obese -- twice as many as those without such problems.

However, the gap narrowed as more factors were taken into account, including maternal education and household income.

David Gozal, a pediatrician who was not involved in the study, agreed, although he said unhealthy food and a lack of physical activity and sleep are likely to play a bigger role.

Still, stress -- both via genetic reprogramming and behavioral changes -- may also have an impact, and a poor mother-child relationship could be part of that, he said.

"What you see in adulthood is obviously the cumulative effect of what has happened earlier in life," said Gozal, physician-in-chief at the Corner Children's Hospital in Chicago.

Today, 17 percent of all children and adolescents in the United States are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But Anderson said that even if poor relationships at home contributed, there is no point in chiding mothers.

"Blaming parents is not likely to solve anything. It's important to recognize that there are many competing demands on parents," she added.

SOURCE: reuters.com

Master Cleanse Diet Youtube

I searched for Master Cleanse Diet on youtube to check for people who are doing this diet and found these. I'm really up beat to complete this diet once I watched their videos. They lose tons of weight in just a few days. Check out their videos below it'll surely inspire you.

America's Top 10 Healthiest Fast Food Restaurants

Health magazine rates the top 10 healthiest fast food restaurants in America based on their efforts to provide nutritious fare.

They surveyed the nation’s 100 largest fast-food chains, as defined by the number of locations, and found many are creating menus that look more and more like what we’d cook ourselves (if we had the time)—from nutritious soups and healthy salads to fresh whole grains and sensible desserts. Even better: They’re offering good-news Mexican, Asian, and Mediterranean fare.

1. Panera Bread

2. Jason's Deli

3. Au Bon Pain

4. Noodles and Company

5. Corner Bakery Cafe

6. Chipotle

7. Atlanta Bread

8. McDonald's

9. Einstein Bros. Bagels

10. Taco Del Mar

I was surprised that McDonald's is even on the list. Are they serving new and improve low sodium low calorie Happy Meals now? Well, I guess so according to Health magazine:

“Among the big burger-based chains, McDonald’s is leading the way in overhauling its menu to offer more heart- and waist-friendly fare. Take the Happy Meals, which you can order with a side of apple dippers (with low-fat caramel) instead of fries and low-fat milk or fruit juice instead of soda. (Now the trick is just getting your kid to go for them!) And if you’ve gotta have fries, McDonald’s are made in a healthy canola-blend oil and come in at just 230 calories for a small.”

It’s safe to say that I can now visit McDonald’s for a meal. I just wish I can super size the apple dippers.  

Diet soda = larger waistlines

SAN JOSE, Calif. — No good deed goes unpunished, and that seems to include people who virtuously reach for diet sodas instead of the calorie-laden good stuff.

Before guzzling that artificially sweetened beverage in a haze of guilt-free carbonation, bear in mind that your diet soda may only be adding to your bottom line — or your waistline. At least that's the conclusion of a recently completed 12-year study.

The study looked at 474 people, ages 65 to 74, and found that, on average, those who drank diet sodas ended up with waistlines that increased three times more than those who avoided them.

As the ones that you work on training get stronger, the neglected ones get weaker which included people who drank water, juices and even regular sodas, said Helen Hazuda, chief of clinical epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, and one of the study's investigators.

These results were comparable to similar studies in younger people, said Hazuda.

Belmont, Calif., resident Karen Krebser, 46, has been drinking diet soda since high school in an effort to help manage her weight. "I'm currently mostly off refined sugar and have tried a zillion different diets, but the one constant has been diet soda," she said.

Krebser consumes three or four cans a day since she gave up refined sugar in April. But after hearing about this unpublished study — presented at the American Diabetes Association Conference in June — she threw out the can of diet soda sitting on her desk.

There isn't a single explanation as to why drinks with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose or saccharin result in us having to squeeze our bulging bellies into larger pants.

Part of the reason could be psychological, Hazuda said. Some people splurge on calories in their food because they're saving on calories in their drinks. Think Big Macs and super-sized fries and diet Cokes.

Another factor Hazuda thinks plays a role in expanding waistlines is something called taste dysfunction. Because artificial sweeteners taste hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, our bodies come to expect sugary foods to be extremely sweet. So we start to seek out more sugar-laden options.

A third explanation is that our bodies are smarter than we think. When we suck down sweet things, our bodies register the sugary taste and wait for the accompanying calories, said Lillian Castillo, a public health dietitian with the Santa Clara (Calif.) County Public Health Department.

But with artificial sweeteners, our bodies don't get the calories they expect, so we start to crave foods high in fat and sugar. Santa Clara resident Karl Watanabe has consumed diet sodas since his wife started buying them exclusively three years ago. But it hasn't really affected his weight, he said. "Of course, it helps that I run marathons and do triathlons all the time."

"Once in a while, it's OK to have one," Castillo said. "But water is the only thing that's going to quench your thirst."

If water is just too bland, Castillo and Hazuda recommended adding slices of lemon or cucumber to brighten the flavor.

It may take a couple months for your brain to adjust to the different flavors, but the research suggests if you want those six-pack abs, it doesn't look as if you'll be able to find them at the bottom of a six-pack of diet soda.

source

Yummy!

Fab recipes from my blog friend, The Happy Go Lucky Vegan. More of this at http://happygoluckyvegan.blogspot.com.

Stay Away from Potato Chips!

LOS ANGELES -- Blame the potato chip. It's the biggest demon behind that pound-a-year weight creep that plagues many of us, a major diet study found. Bigger than soda, candy and ice cream.

And the reason is partly that old advertising cliche: You can't eat just one.

"They're very tasty and they have a very good texture. People generally don't take one or two chips. They have a whole bag," said obesity expert Dr. F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer of the St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York.

What we eat and how much of it we consume has far more impact than exercise and most other habits do on long-term weight gain, according to the study by Harvard University scientists. It's the most comprehensive look yet at the effect of individual foods and lifestyle choices like sleep time and quitting smoking.

The results were in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Doctors analyzed changes in diet and lifestyle habits of 120,877 people from three long-running medical studies.

All were health professionals and not obese at the start.

Their weight was measured every four years for up to two decades, and they detailed their diet on questionnaires.

On average, participants gained nearly 17 pounds over the 20-year period.

For each four-year period, food choices contributed nearly 4 pounds. Exercise, for those who did it, cut less than 2 pounds.

Potato chips were the biggest dietary offender. Each daily serving containing 1 ounce (about 15 chips and 160 calories) led to a 1.69-pound uptick over four years.

That's compared to sweets and desserts, which added 0.41 pound.

Soda added a pound over four years.

Eating more fruits and vegetables and other unprocessed foods led to less weight gain, probably because they are fiber-rich and make people feel fuller.

For each four-year period, these factors had these effects on weight:

» An alcoholic drink a day, 0.41-pound increase.

» Watching an hour of TV a day, 0.31-pound increase.

» Recently quitting smoking, 5-pound increase.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and a foundation. Several researchers reported receiving fees from drug and nutrition companies.

Source