Diet and Nutrition

Canola Oil Moderately Improves Nutrition of a Deep Fried Turkey

Here at DietsInReview, we believe in thoroughly enjoying holiday meals. Many diet plans encourage having a splurge meal once every week, and Thanksgiving is the perfect moment to enjoy rich foods without counting calories. In general, this prevents people who want to lose weight from feeling deprived and helps them avoid ditching a healthy eating plan for the entire holiday season.

However, certain foods seem over-the-top, even for a day of indulgence, and the deep fried turkey is one of these. On one hand, without the skin, deep fried turkey is deceptively moist and doesn’t have a greasy taste. On the other hand, we know quite well how many calories frying anything will add. So, I consulted with Alison Lewis of Ingredients Inc.

“The amount of fat and calories for a deep fried turkey is higher than a regular turkey,” says Lewis. “Three and a half ounces of deep fried turkey has approximately 190 calories and 11 grams of fat. The same portion of a roasted turkey typically has 165 calories and 7 grams of fat.” Eating turkey without the skin will lower the calories even further. “If you eat your roasted turkey skinless, calories drop to only 150 calories and 3.5 grams of fat,” adds Lewis.

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Posted on November 22, 2023 by Margaret

Lack of Magnesium Leads to Chronic Disease

Missing the trace mineral magnesium in your diet can lead to a host of chronic health disorders that are often misdiagnosed. Magnesium is required in over 350 different enzymes, plus hundreds of essential functions in the body. In her informative book, The Miracle of Magnesium, Dr. Carolyn Dean writes that there has been a gradual decline of dietary magnesium in the United States, from a high of 500 mg/day at the turn of the century to barely 175-225 mg/day in 2024. Recommended dose for women over 30 years of age can be 320 mg per day.

Much of the cause for this decline has been linked to industrial farming and food processing. If the soil we grow our food in is lacking essential minerals, than the vegetables, grains, fruits, beans, legumes, seeds, and nuts are lacking those minerals as well. A hefty percentage of magnesium is also lost when removing the bran from grains in the refining process.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, Americans are critically lacking in adequate amounts of magnesium with men receiving only 80 percent of the recommended daily allowance and women receiving only 70 percent. This lack of magnesium can lead to a list of common health disorders. The irony is that many of the pharmaceutical drugs used to treat these conditions only deplete magnesium and other essential minerals further. If you suffer from any of these health conditions or know of someone who does, consult your doctor and have your levels of magnesium checked. Taking supplemental magnesium and eating foods high in the mineral can help to reverse these conditions.

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Posted on November 22, 2023 by Care2

How To Prevent and Stop a Binge This Holiday Season

It’s so easy to overdo it during holiday events. Family gatherings often include obscene amounts of food in all their richest forms. It may be that you simply want to sample all the special dishes that you have not had since last year. It may be that it just doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving without the green bean casserole or it doesn’t feel like Christmas without the eggnog. It may be that you have eaten too many sweets and feel like something salty will help you feel better, or you catch yourself alternating between salty and sweet. It may be that you are mindlessly grazing on all the finger foods while catching up with family members. You may even be getting encouragement to eat more from well meaning family members. Any of those things and more can encourage you to eat too much.

For some the danger is simply eating more than intended or indulging in a food item that you have removed from your diet. When you are trying to lose weight, counting calories often becomes extremely important. When you are trying to get healthier, there are often certain foods that are best to avoid. Overindulging during the holidays can delay reaching our goals. For others the danger goes beyond simply over eating and could be considered a binge. While special foods are often part of the enjoyment of the holiday season, feeling uncomfortable from eating to much is never enjoyable.

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Posted on November 22, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

4 Ways to Kick Acid for Great Health

Great health can be as simple as balancing your body chemistry. Don’t let the word “chemistry” scare you. To balance your body chemistry, consider your pH levels. The pH scale is a measure of acidity and alkalinity in your body. Acid is on one side of the spectrum, starting at 0; alkaline is on the other side of the spectrum up to 14. Neutral is 7.0. Anything less than 7 is acid and anything higher than 7 is alkaline. You’re probably more familiar with the pH scale than you think. If you’ve ever cleaned with baking soda and vinegar you’re familiar with concept. Vinegar is acidic and baking soda is alkaline. When you put the two together (perhaps as a natural drain cleaner) the two bubble and fizz until they neutralize each other.

Your body works to maintain your blood’s pH at slightly alkaline (7.365). Most people eat an acid-forming diet of meat, dairy products, sugar and other sweets, wheat, processed white flour pastas and bakery items, coffee, tea, trans fats, and food additives that acidify their body.

Maintaining a stable blood pH is critical to life so the body has numerous mechanisms to help keep the balance: excretion from the kidneys, leaching calcium from the bones or magnesium from the muscles, among others. Over time, the burden on the kidneys and the elimination of alkaline minerals from critical areas of the body can lead to health issues.

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Posted on November 21, 2023 by Care2

Fate of Organic Food Label Standards to Be Decided

The National Organic Standards Board will be holding their biannual meeting at the Hilton Savannah DeSoto in Savannah, Georgia, November 29 – December 2, 2024. “We think this meeting may well decide the fate of organic food and agriculture in this country,” said Mark A. Kastel, Codirector of The Cornucopia Institute. The mission of the Cornucopia Institute states that they are “dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Through research, advocacy and economic development [their] goal is to empower farmers both politically and through marketplace initiatives.”

During this NOSB meeting, the Cornucopia Institute will be presenting formal testimony on several subjects including genetically modified and synthetic additives that have been petitioned for use in organic foods and drinks, including baby foods and formula. Part of their testimony will include findings from a consumer survey done by PCC Natural Markets, the largest member-owned food cooperative in the United States, that shows more than three fourths of consumers are opposed to such synthetic additives in their food.

The Cornucopia Institute is also concerned about a petition to the NOSB to allow the use of the synthetic preservative sulfur dioxide (sulfites) in wine. “Approving sulfites, not only a synthetic preservative but a common allergen, would represent another blow to consumer confidence in the organic label, which has always signified the absence of artificial preservatives,” Kastel noted.

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Posted on November 21, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

“Make it Paleo” Shares a Couple’s Take on Primal Eating

For Hayley Mason and Bill Staley, cooking together was an important part of their relationship from early on. Hayley introduced Bill to the paleo diet, and although he was willing to support her eating choices when they were together, he didn’t follow the diet strictly at first. However, the new way of eating made him feel great, and it wasn’t long before the couple was cooking and eating paleo all the time.

They began sharing their paleo creations on Facebook, and soon came up with the idea of writing a cookbook together. But on the path to this ambitious goal, Make it Paleo was first a blog, The Food Lover’s Primal Palate. “We cooked a recipe every week, and shared it with our friends,” says Hayley. “For fun, we started working on a blog together, it was something that we were doing together as a couple and we wanted to inspire other people to stay on track with healthy eating.”

As the title suggests, many of the recipes in the book are grain and dairy-free adaptations of standard American recipes, often drawing inspiration from family recipes. Many of the dishes in Make it Paleo were created with special occasions in mind like weekend brunch and birthdays, something the authors feel fills a need in the paleo community. “I think one of the things that people struggle with when following paleo is not so much the everyday food,” says Bill. “It’s pretty simple to cook meat and vegetables for dinner, everyone can find their way.” On the other hand, holidays are a time when many people find it hard to stick to a paleo diet–or any diet for that matter.

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Posted on November 21, 2023 by Margaret

The Importance of a Healthy Balance

Maruchy Lachance is president of Running Ninja!, a lifestyle brand for runners by runners. Running Ninja! offers a wide variety of apparel and gifts for runners to keep you happy and inspired while you’re on the run.

Not quite a year ago my now 89-year-old mother was hospitalized because she became disoriented. After several tests we were told she had ingested so much water that she depleted her body of potassium and sodium. When she finally came out of it and we told her what landed her otherwise healthy self in the hospital her first reaction was, “I overdosed on water? It’s water!”

Water is a wonderful and necessary thing, but when over-ingested it can lead to serious problems in people of all ages and physical health. What this event reinforced for me was the need for balance. My mother had done just fine drinking water her entire 88 years of life, but when she heard a report on television that seniors don’t get enough liquids she over did it. (more…)

Posted on November 20, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Guilt-Free Holiday Baked Goods Substitutions

Christina is a mom, registered nurse, and blogger. She fully admits to both a love of too much food and a love of the couch, two vices she struggles to overcome on a daily basis. In the past two years, she’s lost nearly 50 pounds through diet and exercise, some of it chronicled on her blog, Losing My Hind.

Confession: baked goods are my downfall. Muffins, cakes, brownies, breads, cupcakes…just thinking about them makes my mouth water and my pants feel tight. Any weight gain in my life has never been without yummy baked treats playing a featured role.

Of course, at no other time of the year are baked goods as tempting and as abundant as the holidays. Christmas lights and cold winter nights seem to go perfectly with warm, cinnamon-scented goodies. Swearing them off entirely would be impossible, and would likely only lead to a binge during a moment of weakness. So instead, I try to limit myself to small, frequent indulgences and use some tips I learned from Weight Watchers to bake up healthier versions of my favorite snacks.

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Posted on November 18, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Your Complete Guide to Cinnamon

There’s a reason why cinnamon stars in all sorts of pies and cakes: it is a warming spice, excellent for balancing the winter chill and “waking up” the sluggish Kapha dosha.

In traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, cinnamon has been used for centuries along with honey, ginger and tea to cure cold and flu.

Regular use of cinnamon improves the body’s ability to utilize blood sugar. In fact, just one gram of cinnamon taken daily can reduce fasting blood sugar, triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL (“bad’) cholesterol. Researchers are now recommending that Type 2 diabetics take up to 1 tsp of cinnamon daily.

In a study, participants were exposed to four scents: zero odor, peppermint, jasmine, and cinnamon. Guess what? Cinnamon emerged the clear winner in boosting brain function, especially memory and motor co-ordination. Just chewing cinnamon-flavored gum or smelling the spice does the trick. Inhale some cinnamon essential oil and feel the alertness kick in.

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Posted on November 18, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Smucker’s Peanut Butter Recall Due to Salmonella Risk

With a name like Smucker’s it has to be… recalled. Some of the company’s 16-ounce jars of Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter Chunky is being pulled from shelves due to possible salmonella contamination. The recall is only their chunky-style peanut butter.

During a routine sampling program it was revealed that some of the peanut butter could contain the bacteria. Luckily, there have been no reported illnesses associated with the recall.

The potentially dangerous jars can be narrowed down to certain regions of the country during a particular time range: (more…)

Posted on November 17, 2023 by Jason

4 Reasons to Lose Weight

Whether you have just a few pounds to lose or you are fighting a the battle against obesity, we all know the basic reasons being a healthy weight. We’re not going to talk about how if you lose weight, you will be thin and probably live longer. Those are both great reasons, but let’s take a look at some of the lesser known benefits of losing weight.

1. A Better State of Mind

While improving your self-esteem is certainly an amazing aspect of losing weight, it goes beyond that. If you find yourself in a bit of a slump or may even depressed, you could go to your family doctor and they may prescribe you an antidepressant. Or, if you exercise on a regular basis, the endorphins released may just do the trick naturally. If you are feeling depressed, this is not an endorsement of avoiding your doctor, so always contact a health professional if you feel it’s serious enough… you just may find the solution without a prescription. (more…)

Posted on November 17, 2023 by Jason

Diet and Nutrition

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