Diet and Nutrition

Yogurt and Turmeric Found to Have Medicinal Properties

A recently aired special on CNN by famous doctor Sanjay Gupta discussed the possibility of using food as medicine. I was intrigued by this idea and thought I would look into the foods and flavor ingredients that have dual purposes mentioned in the special: yogurt and turmeric.

Turmeric is a spice mainly found in Indian and Pakistani dishes often used in making curry with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and possibly anti-cancer properties. Curcumin is a component in turmeric that some studies have found can stop the growth of different kinds of tumors.

It couldn’t hurt to add this spice to some of your cooking, especially if you’re into hot and spicy foods. Some stomachs may not be able to handle turmeric. You’ve probably seen movies spoof people having diarrhea after going to an Indian restaurant- turmeric is spice to blame. Most girls will remember a certain episode of Sex and the City when Miranda goes on a date and udders the phrase “You’re just not that into me” after her dates cuts things short after dining on Indian cuisine.

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Posted on September 27, 2024 by Sarah

Celebrate Rosh Hashanah with a Healthy New Year

Rosh Hashanah marks the start of a new year in the Hebrew calendar. The Torah defines Rosh Hashanah as a day-long celebration, however on the Hebrew calendar, days begin at sundown. This year, Rosh Hashanah begins on September 28 at sundown and continues through the following evening.

While some Jewish people only observe on one day, others observe both holidays with religious services and a traditional holiday dinner. Like many holiday meals, a Rosh Hashanah dinner is very symbolic, but can be on the indulgent side, with carb-laden kugels and challah.

This year, have your honey cake and eat it too, with some of our low-fat, low-calorie and low-carb holiday recipes.

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Posted on September 27, 2024 by Maris

Ground Beef Recall Saves Georgia Schools from E. Coli

By Kesley Murray

Parents of children who attend Georgia public schools can breathe easy after the U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 40,000 pounds of ground beef products that were headed to school cafeterias. The meat was possibly contaminated with E. coli and came from the Palo Duro Meat plant in Amarillo, Texas.

Currently, the USDA is saying that they do not believe the ground beef had been served in any school lunches. The meat was being stored in two different warehouses in Georgia and had not been shipped to the six school districts that are associated with the National School Lunch Program.

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Posted on September 26, 2024 by Health Buzz

Chipotle Opens Spin-off ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen Restaurants

If you’re a fan of the customizable burritos, tacos and salad bowls from  Chipotle Mexican Grill, then you’ll be especially thrilled with ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, Chipotle’s much-hyped Asian spin-off.

Chipotle Chief Executive Officer Steve Ells says that the ShopHouse  concept was born during a two-week eating spree in Thailand and Singapore last year.

“I was very inspired by Southeast Asian food and the fact that it would lend itself to the Chipotle format,” Ells, 46, told Bloomberg News in an interview this week.

At ShopHouse, you won’t be offered burritos or tacos, but instead customers choose between rice and noodles topped with ingredients such as grilled chicken satay, organic tofu, pork meatballs, Chinese broccoli and eggplant. According to Bloomberg News, the bowls go for $6.50 to $7.50, compared with $7 to $8 for a Chipotle burrito.

While we haven’t sampled any of the menu items for ourselves, a preview to Fortune reporters included grilled steak with chili-jam marmalade, roast corn with scallions, Chinese broccoli, pickled vegetables — all served over brown rice, plus green papaya salad on the side.

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Posted on September 26, 2024 by Maris

Limiting Potatoes in School Lunches Not a Smart Idea

If you heard that schools were limiting their potato offerings, you’d probably be in support. After all, when you think of potatoes in a school lunch you probably imagine French fries and tater tots, yes? In fact, when children are given a choice, 75% of the time they choose the starchy vegetable – i.e. French fried potatoes over any other vegetable. New proposed federal standards would like to trim the number of times per week that potatoes can be offered on a school menu to just two, but this may not be such a smart idea.

The USDA has proposed increasing the amount of fruit, leafy vegetables and whole grains served to school children every day while limiting corn, lima beans, peas and potatoes, but not sweet potatoes.

Not so fast, says Colorado Senator Mark Udall. Not only would reducing the servings of potatoes negatively affect potato farmers, but potatoes are actually a very nutritious vegetable. One medium-size potato, skin on, contains 110 calories per serving, with more potassium (620 grams) than a banana, and almost half the daily value of vitamin C (45 percent). In addition, a potato is high in fiber, and potatoes don’t contain fat, sodium or cholesterol. It’s only when potatoes are fried, coated in butter or served with sour cream that they become a nutritional nightmare.

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Posted on September 26, 2024 by Carmen

Tune-In: Jillian Michaels and Dr. Travis Stork Answer Questions on Rachael Ray

Tune in to Rachael Ray on Tuesday, September 27, 2024 as Jillian Michaels and Dr. Travis Stork from The Doctors join the show.

The two will be offering twice the advice as they answer health and fitness questions from the audience.

Be sure to catch their great advice to everyday questions this Tuesday.

Posted on September 26, 2024 by Lacy

Tune-In: Anderson Cooper Tackles Our Relationships with Food

Tune in to Anderson Cooper Tuesday, September 27, 2024 as he explores the topic of why we eat what we eat. Anderson will cover the odd relationship many people have with food, including his own personal struggles. He also will try spinach, Brussel sprouts, and coffee for the first time.

A nutritional therapist will chime in and help explain the different types of eaters, and test the audience to determine what kind of tasters they are.

Finally, author Laurie David will join the show and use the concepts from his book The Family Dinner to launch the Anderson Family Dinner Challenge. Together Cooper and David will challenge viewers to cook and eat dinner together five nights in a row.

Posted on September 26, 2024 by Lacy

Favorite Football Game Day Eats from Diets In Review

With football season in full swing, odds are you are either watching the games to cheer on your favorite teams…or because you enjoy sipping a cold beer and eating nachos with chorizo.

While some of the writers and staff here at Diets In Review are avid fans of their hometown football teams, others (like myself) are in it purely for the halftime noshes.

Brandi Koskie, Managing Editor
Favorite College Team: Oklahoma Sooners
Favorite Game Day Eats: “I can’t watch a game without tacos and homemade guacamole. To keep it healthy, I use ground turkey with sauteed onions, green chilies, black beans and corn tortillas.”

Also try: Easy Grilled Fish Tacos, Baja Chicken Salad, Sunset Guacamole

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Posted on September 26, 2024 by Maris

Celebrate Oktoberfest with a Healthier Menu

Oktoberfest, a two-week festival held each year in Munich, Germany, was originally created to celebrate Bavarian culture. Today, people honor Oktoberfest all over the world with festivals and celebrations that feature German food, beer, music, rides, and games.

While Oktoberfest is well underway in Germany, you can fashion your own Bavarian celebration wherever you are. The food served at Oktoberfest celebrations tends to be rich and starchy (think: pork chops, potato salad, pretzels and beer.) Luckily, dieters overseas can lighten their favorite German fare to fit their healthy lifestyle – and even save room for a brew or two.

Instead of roasted pork or pork hocks, try Pork with Apple Sauerkraut.

Pork hocks, though often inexpensive, often require long cooking times in order for the tough meat to be made palatable. Instead of roasting or braising meat in added fat, pick a simple pork tenderloin that is quick and lean.

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Posted on September 26, 2024 by Maris

11 Scary Unhealthy Fast Food Breakfasts

By Melissa Breyer for Care2.com

How would you like to meet your daily sodium and saturated fat allowance, as well as nearly half of your daily calorie needs, in one quick breakfast eaten on the road? It’s becoming progressively easy these day as food technicians, chefs and market researchers, holed away in corporate fast food “studios,” are busy developing monstrous new breakfast items. Trying to claim as much of the $57 billion fast food breakfast market as they can, the fast food giants are drumming up increasingly cheesy, steak-y, fried chicken-y breakfast dishes that tap into flavor combinations that have proven successful for lunch and dinner items. It’s no longer eggs and English muffins for fast food breakfast…breakfast burger anyone?

What’s most striking about some of these high-calorie items–aside from the unsustainable, industrial, often GMO and synthetic ingredients–is the very high sodium and saturated fat content. According to the USDA, the current recommendation for sodium consumption is less than 2,300 milligrams a day. For saturated fat, the maximum allowance is between 18 grams to 31 grams, depending on your caloric intake needs. (You can calculate your caloric need with this calculator from the Mayo Clinic.) Many of these breakfast items meet or exceed the daily sodium and fat allowances, and provide much more than one-third of your daily caloric needs.

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Posted on September 23, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Hostess Wants You to Celebrate Cupcake Week in a Sugar Coma

Happy Cupcake Week! Let’s celebrate with a nice sundae, and then next week, we can celebrate Run on the Treadmill for 10 Hours a Day Week!

Gourmet cupcakes have become all the rage, but Hostess cupcakes will always be the original, offering delicious little treats in one easy to eat package.

While an occasional indulgence is encouraged for mental health and for the safety of others around you, it isn’t an excuse to go buck wild. For some reason, as the obesity epidemic continues to grow, the trend of combining already unhealthy foods with other even more unhealthy foods continues to get more and more extreme. At first, we thought the KFC Double Down was bad, but one look at Epic Meal Time makes the sandwich look like a grilled chicken salad.

This week is Cupcake Week and Hostess isn’t content to just push their cupcakes. They’ve jumped on the how-ridiculous-can-we-get bandwagon by offering you an exciting new recipe sure to rot your teeth out and add a few inches to your hips: the Hot Fudge Cupcake Sundae.

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Posted on September 23, 2024 by Kelly