Food and Nutrition Snippets

Daily Food and Nutrition Snippets

12/28/12 Starch is an important source of energy for the body that occurs in cereal grains and root foods such as potatoes and cassava. Starch is liberated for use during cooking when the starch granules rupture because of heating. Starches require a few hours to digest as compared to sugars. This is because starch has to be broken down into sugars in the stomach and the intestines, whereas sugars are readily available as fuel for the body but burn up quickly. Of course, digestible carbohydrates eaten in excess of what your body needs are converted by the body into fat and is laid down as adipose tissue beneath the skin and at other sites in the body.

12/27/12 No one thinks of cinnamon rolls as health food. Well, the store-bought kind of rolls are definitely NOT good for you – tasty maybe, but not good. Each serving (just one roll) of Pillsbury Grands! Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll with Icing has 310 calories and 2 grams of saturated fat plus 2½ grams of trans fat (more than a day’s worth) and 5 teaspoons of sugar. The first ingredient in is processed white flour, then there is high fructose corn syrup and other GMO laden corn products, artificial flavors and colors and even the cancer causing polysorbate 60. This is just the short rant on ingredients because it would take 600 words for me to go through the bad stuff.

12/26/12 Propyl Gallate, You can find it in: some processed meat products, chicken soup stock and gum. Why you should avoid it: Propyl Gallate is a suspected carcinogen. It is also known to cause kidney, liver and gastrointestinal problems. We need to read our labels to keep from being slowly poisoned. You should also avoid all processed foods if we want to live to be old and healthy nowadays. Every day the ingredient lists get a little longer with more chemicals added to either enhance/preserve taste, improve texture or preserve color.

12/24/12 The BMJ reports this week that recipes produced by popular television chefs contain significantly more energy, protein, fat, and saturated fat and even less fiber per portion than the ready supermarket meals. A team of researchers analyzed the nutritional content of both meals according to the guidelines and standards set out by the World Health Organization (WHO). Both sets of meals came up short of the standards but the chef recipes failed worse. If you desire maximum nutritional benefit from the food you purchase then rely on home cooking of nutritionally balanced recipes using organic, GMO-free and raw ingredients, rather than buying the quick-fix or relying on recipes by television chefs.

12/21/12 Organic sweet potatoes are GMO-free and loaded with good stuff! These spuds are a nutritional All-Star and one of the best vegetables to eat. Sweet potatoes are chock-full of carotenoids, which according to the British Nutritional Journal, “people consuming diets rich in carotenoids from natural foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are healthier and have lower mortality from a number of chronic illnesses.” Also on-board with sweet potatoes are vitamin C, potassium, calcium and fiber. My kids mix them with some unsweetened applesauce for extra moisture and sweetness.

12/20/12 Sin taxes on foods: Some states have actually increased the sales taxes on sugary foods to “promote healthier food choices among grocery store shoppers”. But this cash-cow ploy is highly unlikely to be effective because many consumers are unaware of the tax differences on certain food items. Cornell University found that the tax is added at the register and is not reflected in the shelf price, so consumers do not recognize the impact of increased taxes on items they had previously purchased. Most consumers don’t even realize that there is a tax difference at all. This does not serve to educate the consumer but rather blindly punishes them….

12/19/12 Eating GMO food is causing cancer, liver and kidney failure and leaking guts - to name a few of the ones we know from animal studies. Animal studies show the problems beginning in rats at the equivalent of 10-12 human years. How long have you been eating GMO foods? Kidney injury deaths in humans have doubled in 10 years and doctors are baffled. The only way around this problem is to stop eating GMO foods. If you cannot tell if a product has GMO products in it - pass on that product. 2009 commercialized Genetically Modified (GM) crops in the U.S. included soy 91%, cotton 88%, canola 88%, corn 85%, Hawaiian papaya more than 50%, zucchini and yellow squash small amount, and tobacco Quest® brand. About half of the sugar beets grown for sugar in 2008 were GM. Over 90% of all US food grown in 2011 was from GM sources.

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