Diet and Nutrition

The McRib Sandwich is Back at McDonald’s

McDonald’s cult favorite sandwich, the McRib, has made multiple appearances over the years and it’s back for another visit.

The McRib sandwich has nothing to do with ribs. It’s a boneless pork patty shaped into a rib slab and festooned with pickles, onions and barbecue sauce on a bun. The sandwich has been on the McDonald’s menu sporadically since 1981. (more…)

Posted on October 20, 2023 by Carmen

We Love Quorn’s New Vegetarian Burgers

Quorn, the top-selling frozen meat-free natural food brand, introduced two new burgers- the Classic Burgers and Cheese Burgers- to their expanding line of meat-free eats.

Just like all Quorn products, these vegetarian burgers are made with mycoprotein, a blend of antioxidant-rich and protein-packed fungi. Mycoprotein is also completely soy-free and contains all nine essential amino acids. While it may sound a bit strange to eat a veggie burger made out of different kinds of fungi, keep in mind that because of their meaty texture, mushrooms, especially portabellos, make great alternatives to beef or poultry. In fact, singer Carrie Underwood, a longtime vegetarian, regularly eats Quorn’s cutlets as a meat-free, healthy and low-calorie protein source. (more…)

Posted on October 20, 2023 by heather

We Love HINT Water

We all know that water is important to our health. Staying hydrated is easy in theory; just go fill up a glass of water. Sometimes, though, it can be a struggle to drink just one more glass of plain water.

When you are out doing errands or at lunch with friends, it can be tough to find a beverage that’s not full of high fructose corn syrup or is artificially sweetened. Sometimes, you want something with just a little flavor that won’t be a dietary bomb. That’s the theory behind HINT water. The website tag line says it all: Drink water, not sugar.

From their website: The idea behind Hint is simple: pure water, nature’s original refreshment, accented with a hint of natural flavor. No sugar, no artificial sweeteners: Hint is a refreshing alternative to sodas, juice and other sweetened drinks and it tastes great. (more…)

Posted on October 20, 2023 by Carmen

Christina Hendricks Not Losing Weight

Christina Hendricks Not Losing WeightLooks like UK’s Daily Mail needs to do more fact-checking on their anonymous sources. An unnamed person told the British publication that Christina Hendricks is starting the first diet of her life. “Christina has got sick of all the talk of her being the curviest woman in Hollywood. For her it basically meant she was being called fat.” The article further claimed that cutting carbs and alcohol to shed 35 pounds.

The article sparked outrage. The Mad Men star’s sexy curves have given hope to big girls everywhere, and have been hailed as a return to a more realistic ideal for a woman’s body.

Happily, Chloe Melas of HollywoodLife confirmed that the claims are false. Melas ran into Hendricks at Kristin Stewart’s Welcome to Riley’s after party last night. “I’m completely happy with my body, I’m not dropping 35 pounds!” The actress was reportedly surprised and shocked by the story.

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Posted on October 19, 2023 by Health Buzz

Broccoli Sales Prove TV Commercials Still Work

BroccoliThink TV commercials are irrelevant in an age of internet, DVR and Netflix instant? Think again. The Television Bureau of Canada (TVB) set out to demonstrate that TV ads can still sell. They chose broccoli as the subject of their ad campaign, but the real product they’re promoting is TV commercials themselves.

The quirky commercials promote the health benefits of broccoli, dubbing it “the miracle food.” According to the TVB, the campaign attracted 17,000 fans on Facebook and inspired 15 YouTube spoofs. But the real proof of the campaign’s success is in the eight percent increase in broccoli sales, compared with the previous year. Thirteen percent of Canadian shoppers said that they purchased at least one additional bunch of broccoli during the campaign period. Not only did the campaign prove a point about TV, it also did a social good by promoting a healthy food.

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Posted on October 19, 2023 by Health Buzz

Weight Watchers and Merck to Team Up

Merck and Weight Watchers LogosPharmaceutical manufacturer Merck and diet system Weight Watchers are teaming up to fight obesity. The collaboration plans to provide doctors with better educational resources to help their patients loss weight. The program will introduce physicians to the benefits of Weight Watchers for ongoing weight management.

“Recently published research at the 2024 International Congress on Obesity demonstrated that the combination of the proven Weight Watchers behavior modification approach with physician’s encouragement provides a significant increase in patient adherence to weight-loss solutions and greater weight loss success than just standard physician care alone,” said Weight Watchers CEO David Kirchhoff. “Collaborating with Merck will enable us to arm physicians with a comprehensive, sustainable, scalable and non-pharmaceutical solution for weight loss designed to help improve the overall health of their patients.”

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Posted on October 19, 2023 by Health Buzz

Kirstie Alley Tweets: “I’ve Lost Over 50 Pounds”

Once a spokes woman for Jenny Craig, Kirstie Ally has always made her weight big news, chronicling her weight-loss struggles on the A&E show The Big Life. She recently tweeted “I’ve lost over 50 lbs and I’m having the time of my life,” but that she still has 30 more pounds to go. “I’m far from SKINNY….but I’m at least far from Shamu …no insult to Shamu intended,” she tweeted on October 6th. She also flaunted a sexy photo of her slimmer self surrounded by her “Italian men friends.”

Kirstie admits to once weighing as much as 230 pounds. “By 2024, my weight started creeping up and I said, ‘Oh, I still look good at 150. I still look good at 155. I still look okay at 165. Some of my clothes still fit at 175,'” she told Ladies Home Journal. “And nobody was saying ‘You’re fat.’ I was like a bank robber who was getting away with it.”

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Posted on October 19, 2023 by Health Buzz

Healthier Food Stamp Use Urged by Officials

The United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more popularly known as the Food Stamp Program, was used by more than 41 million people in July 2024. Those are record levels during one of the more trying times in our country’s history.

Considering the fact that this means more than 10 percent of our citizens are on the public aid program, what people purchase with their food stamp assistance has become a bit of a hot topic in public discourse.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is advocating a ban on his city’s 1.7 million recipients of food stamps from using them to buy soda or other sugary drinks. That request for federal permission, made earlier this month, has its merits and should be considered. (more…)

Posted on October 19, 2023 by Jason

The Hunt For Healthy Halloween Treats

I am finally back in a neighborhood where I am likely to receive trick or treaters. I’m pretty excited about the sparkly skull decorating my front door to announce we are a trick-or-treater-friendly household, but I am stumped on what treats to provide.

High fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean oil do not cross my threshold which eliminates a lot of the popular candies. It would be pretty hypocritical of me to provide those to other people’s children if I wouldn’t provide them to my own. Those great big bags of candy would be easy, but I do not want to support the continued use of chemicals in our food products. (more…)

Posted on October 19, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

Overeating Blamed on TV Background Noise

This isn’t the first time that someone has suggested that you not eat in front of the television. Generally the reasoning is that you will pay more attention to how much you are eating when you are not focused on your favorite show. The BBC is reporting recent research that suggests that the background noise of the television actually diminishes how much you taste the foods you are eating. The lead author on the study, Andy Woods, explained that they wanted to try to understand why airline food is notoriously bad. I had always figured it was a cost-cutting and logistics issue, but maybe not.

Experiment participants were asked to rate the overall flavor, sweetness, saltiness, and crunchiness of foods while blindfolded and wearing headphones. The headphones of the control group played no sound, while the experimental group heard white noise, like what you would hear on an airplane or with a fan nearby. The louder the white noise was, the less sweetness or saltiness the participants reported; however, they did report more crunchiness as noise increased. (more…)

Posted on October 19, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

Fall for Squash: Five Ways to Prepare Butternut Squash

In October, there are plenty of ways to prepare seasonal vegetables. Often we see broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower starring in vegetable-based side dishes. Butternut squash, a bell-shaped type of winter squash that hails from the gourd family, is a healthy, comforting, delicious way to celebrate the harvest season.

Butternut squash is easily found in supermarkets year-round, but peaks from summer to early fall. Equally enjoyable in savory and sweet dishes, butternut squash is versatile: you can peel, steam, boil or roast it to include in a variety of dishes. (more…)

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Maris