The Dietary Guidelines are updated, by law, every five years with the latest release being January 31, 2011. This is a joint effort by the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS). This latest version emphasizes three areas: balancing calories, foods to increase, and foods to decrease. Sometimes along with these guidelines [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Salmon Wild Caught vs. Farmed
At my last cooking class I was asked “how can you tell if the salmon you buy is truly wild caught”? The next evening on the evening news was a story about this very subject. It’s all about the color. Wild caught has a deep red color, farmed may have the deep red color but [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Multigrain products: is this a good source of whole grains?
You may be seeing “multigrain” on products from crackers to bread at the grocery, but does that make it a good choice if you are trying to add to your daily fiber count? Unfortunately, most of the time “no”. Multigrain simply means more than one grain, not that the grains are whole. If you want [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Is it just calories that count?
I’ve been noticing lately the fast food industry is trying to entice customers by giving the impression that their product is a healthy choice because it has less than 500 calories. Does this make it healthy? Does using sea salt vs. regular salt make it healthy? Should I be looking at the fat grams? From [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Fries with Sea Salt
OK, so I’m on a roll with advertising giving the impression that their food item is healthy. Recently, I was driving through a shopping center that has a popular fast food restaurant. I saw a large sign saying something like “fries now with sea salt”. What does this message say to you? To me, I [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Too much sodium…
Did you know that excess sodium in our diet contributes to 92,000 deaths and 66,000 strokes each year? Amazingly, if we could reduce our daily sodium intake by 1,200 milligrams we could save $10 to $24 billion in health care costs every year and keep 99,000 Americans from having a heart attack and up to [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Health benefits of herbs and spices
My last column discussed how excess sodium in our diet could lead to high blood pressure, higher risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and more. This column focuses on replacing high-sodium salt with beneficial herbs and spices. So what are herbs and spices? A culinary herb is the leaf of a plant, which can [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Tis the Season for the “little red berry”
Cranberries Are Good and Good For You. Often I feel like the “food police” telling my clients and friends what not to eat. Today, I would like to recommend something that is tangy and sweet and can lead to better health, and you don’t have to look any further than your local grocery store. I’m [...]
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