Diet and Nutrition

12 Shockingly Unhealthy Coffee Drinks

By Melissa Breyer for Care2.com

Oh, for the day when the worst thing you could do to your coffee was add a hundred calories in cream and sugar. These days, most of the health atrocities being committed in the name of coffee come to us courtesy of the ubiquitous coffee-house and fast food chains that are colonizing our neighborhoods from sea to sea. Why do they see the need to turn a cup of coffee into a concoction capable of ringing up four-figure calorie counts? (Aside from the fact that consumers are scarfing them up…)

A plain cup of brewed coffee has only two calories and no fat. Even adding 49 calories from a tablespoon of sugar, 20 calories from a tablespoon of half and half, or 52 calories from whipping cream–a regular coffee can’t come close to competing with the desserts-in-coffee-cups listed here.

For a little perspective, keep this in mind: the range of recommended calories is from 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day for adult men, depending on age and physical activity level.

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Posted on September 14, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Tune In: 3 Foods to Combat Seasonal Sickness on Rachael Ray

Tune in for Rachael Ray’s Friday, September 16 episode where she will be discussing how daylight savings effects the body and can sometimes cause illness.

Lack of sleep or changes to sleep patterns can lower your immune system and lead to sickness. Rachel will head in to the kitchen to introduce three foods that can be eaten to lower your risk of coming down with a seasonal illness.

Catch Friday’s show and learn which foods you should be including in your diet to make sure you stay your healthiest as the seasons change.

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Lacy

Tune In: Arsenic in Apple Juice on Dr. Oz

The Dr. Oz Show has a full week packed full of must-see content.

On Wednesday, September 14, Dr. Oz will be discussing arsenic. He reveals that the chemical arsenic can be found in apple juice brands across in America, along with other products like candies, cereals, and cookies. Dr. Oz will be revealing specific brands he feels we must avoid to keep our exposure to arsenic to a minimum.

Check out this episode and inform yourself about what we’re serving our children and families.

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Lacy

Restaurant Report Card on The Today Show

Tune in to the Today Show on Wednesday, September 14 for a full report card on your favorite national restaurants. Men’s Health magazine Editor-in-Chief David Zinczenko will be on the show to talk about the fast food options that can be better for your diet and health than sit-down meals.

Zinczenko will share tips from the 2024 edition of Eat This, Not That. The most updated version of this book, which helps Americans eat better without a “diet,” will be released today. Eat This, Not That aims to make the reader an expert in making positive food choices when dining out, by revealing food swaps that can save you hundreds of calories per day. It also covers many other categories of food, such as common grocery store brands.

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Posted on September 13, 2024 by Health Buzz

9 Creative Recipes for Surplus Summer Zucchini

As summer winds down and pumpkin and apple recipes begin to float across the internet, gardeners everywhere are scrambling to make the most of their treasured summer produce.

For most, it means an excessive amount of zucchini to harvest and cook in a very short period of time. If it seems like someone is handing you a home grown zucchini every time you turn around, take advantage of the free veggies and try these delicious and unique recipes.

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Posted on September 12, 2024 by Maris

Private Labels Give National Brands Tough Competition for Nutritional Quality

Many shoppers associate national brands with higher quality and better nutrition than private labels, but in-house brands are often nutritionally equal and in some cases may be better for you, depending on your dietary needs.

A survey published in Consumer Reports found that 17 percent of respondents said that “name-brand foods are more nutritious,” but the same report showed that there’s often little to no difference between store brands and national brands. They did find that Kellogg’s Froot Loops have two more grams of fiber than Stop & Shop’s Fruit Swirls and that Ore-Ida fries have more sodium than Jewel’s. Store-brands often tout the same ingredients list as national products, and indeed, the nutrition labels confirm the similarity.

DietsInReview conducted our own informal study of 30 products at the Stop & Shop in Long Island City, New York. Like Consumer Reports, we found that many products had extremely similar nutritional values, and products such as fat-free milk, cream cheese and canned kale greens had identical nutritional values. We did not see any major trends when comparing sodium, fat or sugar in the national brands vs. the store brand.

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Posted on September 12, 2024 by Margaret

How Health Makes Your Whole Life Better

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.

My husband and I are often asked how we remain committed to our healthy lifestyle in spite of being in our mid-40s, with a busy work schedule and social life. The truth is that our commitment stems from the fact that we are lazy and thrifty. We understand that health issues are one of the most time-consuming and costly expenses one can incur. We exercise on average an hour and a half a day and our only expenses are the yearly purchase of running shoes and workout clothes.

If we suffered from any of the countless diseases brought on by obesity we would be spending far more time and money treating our illnesses and worrying about our health.

Aside from keeping that dramatic reality in the forefront of our minds we also remain focused on our healthy lifestyle because of the activities, hobbies and events we choose to engage in. (more…)

Posted on September 11, 2024 by GuestBlogger

TY KU Alcohol Offers More Options to Calorie Conscious Drinkers

By Kelsey Murray

Everyone knows that a Happy Hour with friends can quickly become a diet-buster. With fried appetizers, sugary mixers, and high-calorie alcohols, you can end up consuming a lot more calories than you had planned on. For example, did you know that a typical mixed drink can contain more than 500 calories in a small 4-ounce serving? That’s a diet buster if I’ve ever heard of one.

So, what can you do to lower your total caloric intake while still enjoying the occasional cocktail? For a long time, people have tried tricks such as using diet soda or sparkling water as their mixers or limiting how many drinks and finger-foods they consume. Recently, Skinny Girl Margaritas and Budweiser’s Select 55 hit the scene and calorie-conscious drinkers rejoiced. However, there still was not a lot of low-calorie alcoholic drinks. Luckily, there is now another option hitting liquor stores for those who want to sip up but not ruin their weight loss goals.

TY KU is a liquor brand that has long been concerned with creating healthier liquors by using all natural ingredients and ancient Japanese distillation and brewing techniques. They have now released a low-calorie line of liquors that contain about half of the calories of other brands and come in several varieties.

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Posted on September 9, 2024 by Health Buzz

How Going Vegan Changed My Life

Rebecca Gilbert is founder of Yummy Plants, an online community dedicated to sharing recipes, vegan-friendly restaurants, nutritional information and practical tips on how to live a healthy plant-based lifestyle.

Are you suffering from chronic joint pain? Are you tired of living on Ibuprofen? Read my story… I healed my chronic joint pain by switching to a vegan diet.

I am so grateful to be able to skate and dance again that I created the Yummy Plants online community to help others who want to transition to a vegan diet. I hope it can work for you too!

It’s amazing how changing my diet changed my life. By shifting to a plant-based diet, my body actually healed!

I had my first experience with a plant-based diet back in 1998 many years before being a vegetarian or vegan was as common as it is today. I was willing to give up meat, eggs and dairy because I wanted to recover from an injury that had occurred while I was in college. I believed that changing my food choices could result in less joint pain. (more…)

Posted on September 8, 2024 by GuestBlogger

New Study Finds Weight Watchers to Be More Effective Than Doctor’s Care

A study published in The Lancet, a British peer-reviewed medical journal, found that Weight Watchers is more effective than standard weight loss care from a primary care physician. The study followed 772 people from the UK, Australia and Germany over the course of 12 months, and was funded by Weight Watchers through a grant to the UK Medical Research Council.

In this parallel group study, half the patients were referred to a free Weight Watcher’s membership or received weight loss care as defined by national guidelines. At the end of the study, those attending Weight Watchers lost an average of 15 pounds, while the others lost an average of 7 pounds. The findings, however, do not indicate that medical intervention is ineffective at helping patients lose weight, and the medically supervised patients were able to lose five percent of their starting weight and maintain the loss.

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Posted on September 8, 2024 by Health Buzz

Build Your Own Healthy Snack Station for Nutrition on the Go

After a busy day of learning and recess, children often come home hungry from school and ready for a snack.

Snacks are a great opportunity to provide your child with healthy options that can replenish their energy and hold them over until dinner. Of course, having a wide variety of nutritious snacks to choose from can seem like quite the endeavor to undertake; especially after a long day of work or running errands. Luckily, with a little forethought, having a wide array of healthy foods ready to go after school is quite easy to accomplish.

One of the simplest ways to go about this is by creating your own after school snack station. It doesn’t need to be fancy, just filled with some of your family’s favorite healthy snack choices. As the reserves run low, simply restock as needed.

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Posted on September 8, 2024 by Kati

Diet and Nutrition

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