June 6, 2010

50 healthy foods under a buck

Bok choy plantImage via Wikipedia

Is it too expensive to eat healthy? Then check out this list from TheDailyGreen.com. Jeff Yeager has put together a beautiful shopping list that every family should start out with when they head to the grocery store. I might quibble with a couple of the suggestions -- pork? sour cream? -- as healthy, but most of the 50 are right on and could RightSize America.

50 Healthy Foods for Under $1 a Pound

Read more
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May 27, 2010

Fat Happens


A double cheeseburger from McDonald's is packed with 440 calories. Yet staying away from fast food is not necessarily the answer: A spicy tuna roll packs 461 calories. The average American consumes 50 gallons each year of sugar-sweetened beverages.

What causes Americans, especially, to become obese.

This Wall Street Journal article starts the discussion.

Nature and Nachos: How Fat Happens - WSJ.com

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May 26, 2010

No freedom of press in Iowa

KFC Double Down "Sandwich"Image by Mike Saechang via Flickr

The Des Moines Register isn't winning any Pulitzer Prizes for this story. Seven photos of pure fatty, high-caloric unhealthy food. There're not even local dishes. They include KFC's Double Down as a food to die for. Die by, maybe, not die for. But don't expect a balanced discussion. My comments were removed in less than 10 minutes.

7 foods to die for. Des Moines: "Suck it, Jamie Oliver. Hell, we enjoy a good salad with fresh garden veggies and maybe some lean grilled chicken from time to time. But if you’re searching for all-natural, organic, healthy options for a meal, turn away. This is not that story."

I commented:

"Why not a fun article also on the most additive cigarettes? How about photo gallery of drugs? Maybe a list of intersections and traffic lights to drive through. Of course not. That would be unthinkable. Yet in a state where 26.7% of all Iowans are obese, this newspaper decides to display foods that can literally kill you. Thanks for raising my blood pressure just looking at these foods. Anyone eating these foods will be raising everyone's health costs."

The Des Moines Register couldn't take the heat and removed my comments. There's no freedom of expression in Iowa.
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How bad can food be?

No one can worked off a "bad" meal. One meal at Cheesecake factory means 6 hours of exercise. You can't watch this video and want to ever eat out in America.



May 25, 2010

What to eat when traveling

Jet flying over the Guadalupe River Foot bridg...Image by donjd2 via Flickr
Some of the most difficult eating choices are when you are traveling.

I know. For nearly the past two years I have been on the road.

There's a lot of common sense approaches.

Here are eight tips when traveling from the Bellingham Herald. With a few comments from me.

1. Healthier Hotels
Check to see if the hotel provides online menus for room-service and in-house restaurants. Ask the concierge about restaurants near your hotel.

What...the Hampton Inn's concierge is nowhere to be found? Take a look at Eat This, Not That website. Restaurants have good choices. It's just hard to find them without a plan.

2. Keep On Moving
Ask about exercise facilities before you book. What equipment is available? When are the facilities open? Is there an extra charge? Make sure the exercise opportunities match your schedule and needs. If there's no gym or pool, bring a jump rope to exercise in your room or run or walk laps around the hotel. Don't forget workout clothes when you pack.

The most important advice here is pack workout clothes. Walk all the time. Park far from the office door. Walk the extra couple of blocks. You can also pretend you are retired, and walk the mall. If you have your clothes you'll workout.

3. Stay in the Swim
If the hotel has a pool, bring your suit for swimming or water aerobics to get a whole-body workouts.

I love swimming...in my own pool. Those over-heated, over-chlorined, overly small pools are hardly designed for swimming. Unless you are Aqua-man, stick to more walking.

4. Eat Light In Flight
If meals are available on your flights, request a low-fat or vegetarian meal in advance. Kosher meals also tend to be healthier. It might be possible to bring your own healthier food, but make sure you'll have room in your carry-on bags and there won't be a problem with security.

When's the last time you had a meal on a flight? Anyway, I tried to remember to order the vegetarian meal. It's special. And even if you are not a vegetarian you'll enjoy it better than mystery meat and a candy bar.

5. Avoid the Cocktail Wiener Trap
Stay away from the appetizer table during cocktail hour. If you're trying to combine networking and meal time, fill a plate once with low-calorie apps and don't go back.

Eat as many shrimp cocktails as you want. Skip the sauce made with high fructose corn syrup. Skip the cocktail wiener. New study shows terrible stuff in those processed meats.

6. Power Snack
Snacking on power bars, energy drinks, bottled water, veggie sticks and fruit reduces hunger cravings so you don't overdo at dinner or during happy hour.

Skip power bars filled with calories. Instead I always carry almonds. There's lots of flavors, they are salty and satisfying. I also love veggies and humus. (Tough to find on the road, but it is possible.)

7. Just Say No
Exchange high-calorie alcohol for water or seltzer with a twist. It's healthier and better for your career. Plus, water keeps you hydrated and helps speed-up jet-lag recover. Avoiding alcohol will also leave you more energy for exercising.

I love club soda. But I also like a bloody mary, and gin and tonic once in while. Make sure the bloody mary is made with spicy V8. Anything else has a ton of sugar and no one over 25 years old wants sugar in their bloody mary. Gin and diet tonic has very few calories.

8. Half Portion Meals
Order off the senior or kiddie menu to reduce your portion. If that's not possible, ask about a half portion or the possibility of sharing a dish. If you're stuck at a banquet, slide half your portion onto the bread or salad plate and eat only the food on your dinner plate. Ask the waiter to remove the smaller plate to avoid temptation.

The best advice. Eat half now. Save rest for later.
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May 24, 2010

Long may you run...just not in Oklahoma City

Palo Alto bicycle commuterImage by richardmasoner via Flickr
The fittest (and un-fittest) cities have been released by the America College of Sports Medicine. And the bottom five cities just sound obese and unhealthy:

1 Oklahoma City, Okla.
2 Birmingham, Ala.
3 Memphis, Tenn.
4 Detroit, Mich.
5 Louisville, Ky.

I've never heard anyone saying, "I'm moving to Oklahoma City for the lifestyle." Or Birmingham or Memphis or Detroit or Louisville.

MSN.com reports: Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett doesn't run away from the most obese city title. "I'm not saying we shouldn't be last," he says. "There are issues here that are real that we're not running away from. We have an obesity problem." In Oklahoma City almost one in three people weighs in as obese, and the diabetes rate is a sky-high 10.5 percent. The city lacks farmers' markets, and virtually everyone drives to work.
Where is your city? And where are you?




Rank
Metropolitan Area
2010 Score
2009 Rank
2009 Score
1.
Washington, D.C.
73.5
1
74.4
2.
Boston, Mass.
72.6
4
71.4
3.
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
71.7
2
72.1
4.
Seattle, Wash.
70.5
6
69.7
5.
Portland, Ore.
70.4
7
68.1
6.
Denver, Colo.
69.9
3
71.6
7.
Sacramento, Calif.
65.8
12
62.2
8.
San Francisco, Calif.
64.7
5
71.3
9.
Hartford, Conn.
64.4
11
62.5
10.
Austin, Texas
63.9
9
65.1
11.
Richmond, Va.
62.7
NR
N/A
12.
Cincinnati, Ohio
62.5
14
60.8
13.
San Diego, Calif.
62.0
8
66.8
14.
San Jose, Calif.
61.0
13
61.3
15.
Salt Lake City, Utah
60.6
NR
N/A
16.
Atlanta, Ga.
57.7
15
59.3
17.
Virginia Beach, Va.
57.2*
10
63.1
18.
Providence, R.I.
57.2*
NR
N/A
19.
Orlando, Fla.
55.5
NR
N/A
20.
Baltimore, Md.
53.5
19
52.5
21.
New York, N.Y.
52.9
22
48.9
22.
Raleigh, N.C.
52.4
20
52.3
23.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
52.0
16
54.3
24.
Jacksonville, Fla.
51.2
28
45.2
25.
Cleveland, Ohio
51.0
24
47.9
26.
Philadelphia, Pa.
50.4
27
45.9
27.
Milwaukee, Wisc.
49.2
17
53.0*
28.
Buffalo, N.Y.
49.2
18
53.0*
29.
Kansas City, Mo.
47.9
21
50.3
30.
Tampa, Fla.
47.8
23
48.5
31.
Nashville, Tenn.
47.8
26
46.8
32.
Phoenix, Ariz.
47.4
32
42.5*
33.
Chicago, Ill.
47.0
25
47.6
34.
Charlotte, N.C.
44.0
34
40.3
35.
Columbus, Ohio
42.8
29
43.9
36.
Riverside, Calif.
42.8
40
35.1
37.
St. Louis, Mo.
40.5
33
42.5*
38.
Los Angeles, Calif.
40.5
30
43.6
39.
Miami, Fla.
39.9
31
42.7
40.
Dallas, Texas
39.5
35
39.6
41.
New Orleans, La.2
37.7
NR
N/A
42.
Houston, Texas
37.6
41
34.7
43.
San Antonio, Texas
36.9
39
35.5
44.
Indianapolis, Ind.
35.9
36
39.3
45.
Las Vegas, Nev.
35.3
42
34.6
46.
Louisville, Ky.
32.5
38
37.7
47.
Detroit, Mich.
31.9
44
30.5
48.
Memphis, Tenn.
31.6
37
38.5
49.
Birmingham, Ala.
31.2
43
32.2
50.
Oklahoma City, Okla.
24.3
45
23.2


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April 21, 2010

World's Unhealthiest Restaurant


What can you say?

For a long time chain restaurant, Claim Jumper, would not release its nutritional information. Now we know why.

The ribs: 2-1/2 days worth of calories. Chicken with pasta: nearly 2 days worth of calories.

I didn't say two meals worth of calories; I said, two full days worth of calories.

The only time you should go to Claim Jumper is the day before you run the Boston Marathon.

I'm speechless. The hamburger is actually called: The Widow Maker at 1594 calories. They must have removed a pickle to get it under 1,600 calories.

And my last word is: how can you make a salad with 1,800 calories? Check out the Cobb salad. It doesn't even look appetizing.

From Eater National: "It's a given that restaurant meals are high in calories, but Claim Jumper — the national Gold Rush-themed restaurant chain with 46 locations in eight states in the western U.S. — may very well be be the biggest transgressor when it comes to calorie overload. After much demand, the chain has finally released the nutritional information for the notoriously large, gravy-laden dishes it serves. Apparently, the reason anyone goes there is for the 'value' and the ridiculous portions: doggy bags are expected. But the raw numbers are completely mind-boggling. Here's a look at the nutritional info of some of their signature dishes:

· Beef Back Ribs: 4,301 calories, 156 grams of saturated fat, and 7,623 mg of sodium.
· Black Tie Chicken Pasta: 3,773 calories, 134 grams of fat, and 4,638 mg of sodium.
· Citrus Chicken Salad (Charbroiled): 2,520 calories, 33 grams of saturated fat, and 1,776 mg of sodium.


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April 18, 2010

Exercise is useless for weight loss

Silhouettes and waist circumferences represent...Image via Wikipedia

My experience and millions of other experiences have now been verified by researchers.

Exercise will not help you lose weight.

Nobody wants to hear that. They want to know that a 20-minute walk will take off those five extra pounds (or those 20 extra pounds) we all carry.

Well, that ain't going to happen.

The ONLY (I'm shouting) way to lose weight is to eat smaller portions.

The problem of obesity can be solved by rightsizing our meals.

“In general, exercise by itself is pretty useless for weight loss,” says Eric Ravussin, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., and an expert on weight loss. It’s especially useless because people often end up consuming more calories when they exercise. The mathematics of weight loss is, in fact, quite simple, involving only subtraction. “Take in fewer calories than you burn, put yourself in negative energy balance, lose weight,” says Braun, who has been studying exercise and weight loss for years.


But in the exercising group, the dose of exercise required was nearly an hour a day of moderate-intensity activity, what the federal government currently recommends for weight loss but “a lot more than what many people would be able or willing to do,” Ravussin says.

Exercise for many women (and for some men) increases the desire to eat. Read more...
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April 13, 2010

Doctors say KFC is more like Philip Morris

Just when you think some of the fast food restaurants might do something right, they do it wrong.

Baltimore Sun: Docs down on Double-Down: "Is it a sandwich or a controlled substance?

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says the new KFC Double Down, the bunless fried-on-fried wonder that started shortening American lifespans today, should be treated like the latter.

The committee has asked KFC to market the Double Down as if it were tobacco or alcohol, which means not advertising it within 500 yards of a school or otherwise promoting it to kids."

"Just as many young people don't understand the risks of tobacco, they often do not realize that high-fat, meat-heavy meals greatly increase the risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and some types of cancer," Susan Levin, the committee's director of nutrition education, wrote in a letter to David C. Novak, chairman of Yum! Brands, Inc., KFC's parent company.

The Double Down is a bacon-and-cheese sandwich that uses two fried chicken fillets in place of bread. It has 540 calories, 32 grams of fat and 1,380 milligrams of sodium.


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March 30, 2010

Restaurant chains roll out small bites at small prices

The Cheesecake Factory logoImage via Wikipedia

When I started this blog in 2006, it just seemed like common sense that restaurants needed to provide portions in the rightsize. With an expanding economy and expanding waistlines, it was clear, something was going to explode. Unfortunately, both did.

There was no reason for restaurants -- back then or now -- to serve those two or three thousands calorie meals.

Now they have seen the errors of their ways. It's the dawn of RightSizingAmerica.

Restaurant chains roll out small bites at small prices - USATODAY.com: "Some of the nation's most familiar casual-dining chains are suddenly thinking smaller.
They're rolling out tapas-like small plates of shareable items that typically are cheaper than appetizers by a buck or two — or even three.

With business still in the tank — and customers hard to lure out of the I-can-eat-cheaper-at-home mentality — a cadre of casual-dining icons, including Houlihan's, Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen and BJ's Restaurants, are trying to boost business with value-priced items to be passed around the table.

The move comes at a time when the $75 billion casual-dining business — and the restaurant industry overall — continues to suffer.

For the most recent month available, 57% of restaurants reported a same-store sales decline in January from a year ago — worse than the 49% in December, says the National Restaurant Association.

Casual-dining chains are trying just about anything. They're particularly eager to attract socially minded Millennials who are just as comfortable sharing a plate of food as they are sharing social media.

"This is how the next generation is eating," says Bob Hartnett, CEO at Houlihan's, which just rolled out 23 small-plate items. "And we're in the business of giving people what they want. If we don't give it to them, they'll find someone else who will."
I think it's how all generations must eat.


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March 26, 2010

Connecticut Rep. leads the nation to better health

{{w|Rosa DeLauro}}, member of the United State...Image via Wikipedia

I don't know if U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro reads my blog, but the Connecticut Representative led the historic fight for obesity in the new Health Care Bill. Now all across America, you will know what the calories are in a Whopper, Big Mac or a simple Mocha, just by looking at the menu.

Of course you can lead a horse to water....

But I'm willing to bet many Americans will make the right choice for themselves when they look at the menu boards and understand clearly what their choices are. It's the start of RightsizingAmerica.

Provision In Health Care Bill Requires Many Restaurants To Post Calorie Count - Courant.com: "The provision, championed by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, received little fanfare and was overshadowed by other aspects of the health care overhaul. But public health advocates hailed it as historic and predicted it would become a powerful weapon in the national fight against obesity.

"When people have information about calories, they do make better choices," said Marlene B. Schwartz, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

A study conducted by the center found that people ate considerably less when calorie information was listed on a restaurant's menu. And given that almost 50 percent of all meals are prepared outside the home, "people simply have the right to know this information," Schwartz said.

Everyone knows a Big Mac packs a punch, but the caloric calculus isn't always easy or obvious: Sometimes a salad can contain far more calories than a pizza slice. Under the provisions of the bill, diners will be confronted with the calorie counts of their meals right on the menu, or at the drive-through window; not in tiny writing on the wrapper or on a website they can't access until later.

DeLauro has pushed for the bill at the federal level for several years, but in the past it had been stalled by opposition from the restaurant industry. However, the industry signed on to the measure this year, saying a blanket federal policy is better than a state-by-state approach.

"Different laws in each state would make it difficult to comply," said Nicole Griffin, executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association. "Now we'll have national uniformity, something we've been advocating from the beginning."
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March 24, 2010

Nutritional menus are the law of the land



For 3 years, this blog has advocated for more information at restaurants. Now that information is the law of the land.

President Barack Obama signed into law the new Health bill that requires all restaurant chains to post calorie counts for all the food items they sell.

The new law will require 200,000 restaurants to do the right thing. And it means Americans will have the information to do the right thing.

If you see that the Double Whopper is 920 calories, you might make a different selection. (Unless you are running a 10K race that day, since that would just make you even for the day.)

Or maybe at Panera Bread you won't choose the Sierra Turkey on Focaccia with Asiago Cheese at 970 calories (that's right, turkey sandwich at 970 calories), but you'll choose the Half Smoked Turkey Breast on Country at 280 calories.

According to The Wall Street Journal,
"Dining out no longer has to be a nutritional guessing game," said Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit health-advocacy group based in Washington. "People could cut hundreds, thousands, of calories from their diet."

Calorie counts must be listed on menus, menu boards, drive-through displays and vending machines under the law. Additional information—such as sodium levels, carbohydrates and saturated fats—must be available on request. Temporary specials and custom orders are exempted.

A growing number of state, county and local regulations already require similar disclosures, and those rules will be superceded by the federal law.

There has been debate about whether such menu labeling actually affects consumers’ behavior. Some recent studies have found that such labeling leads to healthier eating: The New York City health department examined the behavior of 12,000 customers of 13 chain restaurants in 275 locations in the city before and after menu labeling was implemented in the city in 2008.

Preliminary results show that one in six fast-food customers report using the calorie-count information. Consumers who said they used the information bought items with 106 fewer calories compared with those who didn’t see or use the information.

March 22, 2010

Is orange juice, orange juice?

I stopped drinking orange juice a couple of years ago, when I realized it's basically a "natural" very sugary drink. Now I find out it's not even natural.

From Culinate.com: Traditionally the flavor of processed orange juice depended only on the oranges squeezed. Now the flavor is sourced from all parts of oranges everywhere. Many consumers would be shocked and disappointed to learn that most processed orange juice, a product still widely perceived to be the definition of purity, would be undrinkable without an ingredient referred to within the industry as “the flavor pack.” Read more...

March 3, 2010

The Unhealthiest Salads in America

Men's Health & Eat This, Not That! name the worst salads in America.

The worst is at California Pizza Kitchen. Remember most people need just 2,000 calories a day. Women even less.

#1. California Pizza Kitchen Waldorf Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing (full)
1,570 calories
30 g saturated fat
2,082 mg sodium

CPK is no stranger to the title of “Worst Salad in America”—in fact, last year’s Thai Crunch Salad from California Pizza Kitchen won this dubious distinction for having over 2,000 calories.

#2. Cheesecake Factory Caesar Salad with Chicken
1,513 calories
16 g saturated fat
1,481 mg sodium
23 g carbohydrates

The top three words you never want to see sharing a space with “salad” on a menu: tuna, taco, and yes, the mighty Caesar.

#3. Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad with Oriental Vinaigrette
1,430 calories

This salad starts out with a bed of “Fresh Asian greens,” according to the menu. Unfortunately, these greens serve as a bed for deep-fried chicken tenders and carbohydrate-heavy crispy noodles. Without dressing, this dish rings in at 840 calories—already more than in an Applebee’s hamburger.

Read the others...

February 25, 2010

It's no joke about school lunches

When I was in school, we joked about school lunches: mystery meat, creamed corn, fish sticks with no fish, and of course the grease.

At the time I didn't understand the politics of food in the schools. How the government mandates nearly all the choices and portions. The politics are less clear on who is influencing those decisions...not health professionals but rather big farm businesses who want to sell to the schools.

Oregon students are trying to change this.

From Slow Food USA:: "Over the last few months, more than 17,000 kids, parents and ordinary citizens have sent letters to Congress asking legislators to invest in healthier food when they reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act this spring. 3,000 of those letters were hand-written (or hand-drawn, with crayons) and then mailed to legislators’ offices by post, with help from Slow Food leaders across the country.

Anna Green, one of the leaders of Slow Food High Desert in Central Oregon, worked with teachers and school administrators at La Pine Middle School to help eighty students write letters to U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley. Anna scanned a few of the best letters and sent them to us in a PDF – click here to read them. As a teaser, here are a few of the best quotes:

“We want real grated cheese made in Oregon.”

“I think us kids diserve [sic] better food in school.”

“We shouldn’t have any more greasy food.”

February 23, 2010

Don't blame fat kids

Let's not continue to blame the victims of obesity. The real enemy is junk food companies.

RALPH NADER: Fight against obesity should target food companies, not children's eating habits:
"Obesity continues to bet on the children’s tongues as wards of the irresistible junk food companies. After all, his ranks keep swelling and the Fat Pride movement is picking up steam."

February 22, 2010

Studies show calorie postings affect consumer choices, not bottom line

Ohio State UniversityImage via Wikipedia

I have been saying this for a while. Posting nutrition information is good for consumers and business.

From QSRweb.com: Studies show calorie postings affect consumer choices, not bottom line: A recent Ohio State University study provides more evidence that consumers do pay attention to calorie counts of meals when they are provided conveniently.

The study collected data about choices consumers made among 12 entrees offered at a university dining center that operates much like a QSR. Researchers found that when nutrition information was provided at the point-of-purchase, sales of high-calorie entrees dramatically decreased, while sales of lower-calorie items substantially increased. After the nutrition information was removed, sales of the higher-calorie items gradually increased again.

Of significance to operators, sales did not decline during the study, said Gail Kaye, one of the study's authors. The revenue per entree sold remained consistent before, during and after the nutrition information was offered. This finding could help reduce qualms of restaurants hesitant to offer calorie information to consumers for fear that sales would decrease.
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February 21, 2010

California see a sweet deal

Based on :Image:Flag of California.svg. Create...Image via Wikipedia

I like the idea, but don't count on the money going towards obesity prevention. Remember the billions of dollars the states promised to spend on stopping smoking. Most of it went up in smoke within the general budgets.

California lawmaker introduces soda tax bill:
A California lawmaker introduced legislation on Thursday that would tax sodas and other sugar-sweetened drinks and use the proceeds to bankroll programs to fight childhood obesity.

The bill, introduced by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, would slap a 1-cent levy on every teaspoon of added sugar and other caloric sweeteners in commercial beverages sold.

Initial projections from the California Center for Public Health Advocacy estimated the excise tax on beverage distributors could raise $1.5 billion a year, with funds going directly to cities and schools to pay for childhood obesity prevention programs throughout the state.
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February 20, 2010

Weekend wrapup

The corner of Wall Street and Broadway, showin...Image via Wikipedia

Why must companies grow their profits every 90 days? Has Wall Street fundamentally ruined America?

I worked for a consulting firm. It employed 10,000 high-paid professionals, and had revenues of $1B. But that wasn't good enough. The company -- or should I say, the CEO -- wanted higher revenues (and bigger bonuses). In five years, it announced revenues would be $5B. Within three years it was toast, and all those good-paying jobs were gone.

When I ran my branch I was extremely proud to have 75 professionals working hard in American companies. Not good enough. The company wanted 100 professionals working, so they shut down the branch.

When it comes to food, businesses must find more and more ways to pitch their wares, and that includes the unhealthy choices.

Food Politics.com writes:

For reasons that make no sense to me at all, corporations are not allowed to simply make a profit. Their profits must constantly increase. They must report growth in profits to Wall Street every 90 days.

For food companies, this is not so easy. We already have twice as many calories available in the food supply as needed by our population - nearly 4,000 calories per capita per day. How to deal with this? Find new buyers.

General Mills says its “recipe for profitable growth” will target three specific groups: Hispanics, aging baby boomers (those aged 55 and over), and millennials (baby boomers’ kids aged 16-33).
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February 19, 2010

Before visiting Taco Bell, visit this video

Before eating out for Mexican food, please watch this video. Just like Italian food, the more authentic the food, the healthier it will be for you.

When I lived in California (and when I visit Texas), the independent Mexican restaurants are better for you, tastier, and you are supporting local merchants.

And of course, the fish tacos are becoming more and more prevalent and I recommend those. As you know rice and beans are a naturally complementary food, and are best nutritionally for you together. But skip the cheese on the beans (you don't need that); just add a little salsa if you need more flavor. Unfortunately, the chain fast-food restaurant, can only add fat (in the form of cheese) to make the food tasty. Drive pass the Taco Bell tonight, and head straight to the little Mexican casa near you.



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February 18, 2010

Now serving a new food size

Dippin' Dots Flavored Ice CreamImage via Wikipedia

Finally the FDA is moving out of the 1990s, and relooking at nutrition labeling.

Have you ever looked at the back of ice cream or cereals, and been satisfied that it's only 160 calories? However the part of the label everyone misses is the serving size. Or should I say size. When's the last time you ate a serving size of 6 potato chips?

Most serving sizes were designed for the way Americans ate 30 or even 50 years ago. For Capt'n Crunch cereal, the serving size is 3/4 cup or 27 grams (when's the last time you weighed your food in grams??) And when's the last time your kid measured out 3/4 of a cup in his bowl? It's more likely 2 to 3 times -- maybe 4 or 5 times -- that much that any kid eats. So the serving sizes are not helpful and plain misleading.

Let's make sure the FDA gets it right this time. Call your Congressman now.

NY Times: Consider the humble chip: most potato or corn chip bags today show a one-ounce serving size, containing a tolerable 150 calories, or thereabouts. But only the most disciplined snacker will stop at an ounce. For some brands, like Tostitos Hint of Lime, that can be just six chips.

So to get ready for front-of-package nutrition labeling, the F.D.A. is now looking at bringing serving sizes for foods like chips, cookies, breakfast cereals and ice cream into line with how Americans really eat. Combined with more prominent labeling, the result could be a greater sense of public caution about unhealthy foods.

“If you put on a meaningful portion size, it would scare a lot of people,” said Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina. “They would see, ‘I’m going to get 300 calories from that, or 500 calories.’ ”
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