Diet and Nutrition

How to Cook with Pomegranate

I’ll be honest. The first time I cracked open a pomegranate and took a bite of raw seeds was last week. In all my 26 years of foodie adventures I had never tried a pomegranate. Can you believe that? I’d always known pomegranates were extremely healthy for you but I’d just been intimidated by their large round shell and fleshy innards. But upon finding out how easy they are to crack into and the abundant health benefits they provide, I knew I had to purchase them more often. Here are just a few reasons you should consider doing the same.

Health benefits: Pomegranate seeds and juice are loaded with vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C and B5, potassium, fiber and various kinds of polyphenols. In addition, pomegranates can also help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, prevent both circulatory and dental plaque, help ward off some types of cancers, slow Alzheimer’s, and even reduce joint inflammation. Also, pomegranate oil – which you can find in most health food stores – is extremely beneficial for healthy hair, nails and cuticles. They’re also an excellent source of iron and folic acid.

Nutritional statistics: One pomegranate 4 inches in diameter contains approximately 235 calories, 3 grams fat, 53 grams carbohydrates, 11 grams fiber, 39 grams sugar and 5 grams protein. (more…)

Posted on December 23, 2023 by Dana

Health Buzz: 2024’s Biggest Health News, Food Trends for 2024, and Our Most Pinned Recipes

It is Friday, December 21 and the Mayans were wrong! Since the world didn’t end, it is time for you to get a dose of healthy news from us and our friends! As we slowly approach the new year, we’ve compiled 2024’s most buzz worthy  healthy stories. In addition, we have our most pinned recipes of the year with a  new healthy donut recipe.

California’s Push for Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods

You couldn’t get around the web this year without seeing news about Genetically Modified Foods (GMO). Earlier this year people in California wanted their food packaging to be labeled with a GMO stamp, letting them know if it had any genetically modified ingredients. It was the people of California versus giant food industry companies, like Kelloggs and General Mills. However, Californians going up against the multi-million dollar food industry companies is easier said than done. The initiative may have failed on the ballot, but expect more big action from this movement in 2024.

The 6 Miracle Diets Dr. Oz Tried to Sell Us in 2024

Looking to lose weight without the hard work? Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, if you watch the Dr. Oz show the doc will try to sell you a miracle weight loss diet in what feels like every episode. Check out the six miracle diets that Dr. Oz tried selling to the masses this year, that we debunked! We can’t wait to see what kind of miracle diets Dr. Oz will have up his sleeves for 2024.

Jillian Michaels Announces Return to Biggest Loser With a Big Twist [VIDEO]

Biggest Loser season 14 will be return with new faces, new cast members, and old faces, like Jillian Michaels! Her announcement to return to Biggest Loser was all the buzz this fall. Not only will she be motivating and training overweight adults, but she will be helping overweight children tackle their weight as well! Biggest Loser returns January 6, and the show’s new concept will surely have Americans watching, since childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in America.

New York City Soda Ban Passes; Soda Industry Plans to Fight [UPDATED]

Earlier this year, Mayor Bloomberg proposed a soda ban in New York City. Any sugary beverage over 16 ounces could not be sold in New York City. The proposal was a way Mayor Bloomberg could help fight the obesity epidemic in his city. On October 12, 2024 the soda ban was passed and now the soda industry plans to fight back. Do you think the ban will help fight obesity? Tell us what you think!

The Obamacare Vote and How it Affects the Health of Americans

Besides the 2024 presidential election, Obamacare was one of the most talked about issues in America this year. The Affordable Care Act, commonly known now as Obamacare, requires Americans to carry health insurance. For those who cannot afford health insurance the act makes it more affordable for them. There are many pros and cons to Obamacare, take a look to see how the act will affect your health. (more…)

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Samantha

Miss Universe Olivia Culpo Loves a High Protein Diet and Zumba Workouts

She’s an all-American girl who’s taking center stage in the universe. Oliva Culpo, the first Miss Rhode Island to win Miss USA, won Miss Universe this week. At 5’6″, she’s got an endearing personality, a rockin’ cello talent, and a serious set of abs. While the sweet smile and hometown likability may come naturally, that body takes a lot of hard work.

For Olivia, high-protein, low-carb is the way to go. In an interview with Shape Magazine after her Miss USA win, she revealed some of her favorite high-protein foods. Unsalted almonds and yogurt top the list, as do the meal replacement Special K Bars.

Her favorite side dish is a baked sweet potato, and she swaps the sour cream on top with a little Greek yogurt. She seasons with cayenne pepper. The capsaicin in peppers like cayenne are a great metabolism and fat booster, so it’s no surprise that Olivia keeps a shaker handy! Steamed veggies are preferred to raw because she finds them easier to digest.

When she’s preparing to dazzle a pageant stage, she has a banana to calm her nerves and eats pineapple to reduce any swelling.

That’s not all she’s eating though. She and her nutritionist Tanya Zuckerbrot, author of the F-Factor Diet, share a few foods that will helped Olivia not only feel great but prepare her entire body to looks its very best.

“What you eat can really determine the integrity of your skin, hair, and nails,” said Zuckerbrot. For a beauty queen, it’s not just about the smile and the bikini body, but the judges are judging you head to toe. (more…)

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Natalie K

Chelsea Clinton and Rick Warren Discuss The Daniel Plan on Rock Center

Tonight on Rock Center with Brian Williams, Chelsea Clinton interviews Pastor Rick Warren on a matter quite different than his usual subject. No, he’s not talking about his bestselling devotional The Purpose Driven Life or how he leads a congregation of more than 20,000, instead he describes his newest project. It’s a diet called The Daniel Plan.

Warren has led Saddleback Church, a megachurch in California, for more than 30 years, and as his congregation has flourished so did his weight.

“I was blessed with an abundance of energy, and since I didn’t care about how I looked and I really had relatively few health problems, I paid no attention to my health,” Warren explains to Clinton.

He describes a moment two years ago when he realized things needed to change. The pastor was baptizing hundreds of converts, and began to see a trend: most of them were overweight.

“As I’m putting people under the water, I’m lifting 867 people, along about number 500, I had a thought. It wasn’t a very spiritual thought. It was, ‘Good night, we’re all overweight.’ And I thought, but I’m overweight. And I can’t expect people to get in shape unless I’m in shape,” Warren relates. (more…)

Posted on December 20, 2023 by SarahS

Are You Getting Enough Super Vegetables?

By Janis Jibrin, M.S., R.D., lead nutritionist for TheBestLife.com

We all know that we should be trying to reach our daily vegetable goal (that’s at least three servings). But it’s not just the quantity that’s important—the types of vegetables you pile on your plate can make a big difference to your health. Your goal: Eat at least one vegetable from each of the following three groups daily. Do so and you’ll reap some serious health and nutrition benefits.

Cruciferous Vegetables

Examples: Arugula, bok choy, broccoli, broccoli sprouts, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, rutabaga, turnips, turnip greens, and watercress. (more…)

Posted on December 20, 2023 by BestLifeDiet

Two Dozen New Nutrisystem Menu Items Offer More Selection in the New Year

Sometimes dieting involves eating the same boring food over and over again. But that’s not how it should be. Eating boring, tasteless food is not in association with Nutrisystem. The brand added two dozen new and improved dishes to their menu just in time for the new year, a move that comes a month after Nutrisytem announced their first female CEO, Dawn Zier.

Nutrisystem already has hundreds of different kinds of food on their menu, but adding more variety will satisfy new and older customers. Like all of Nutrisystem’s menu choices the new items are designed to help curb hunger and cravings.

Meghan Nichols, a registered dietitian and member of Nutrisystem’s Research and Development team, commented on the new menu, saying, “We are focused on three components when it comes to our menu – quality nutrition, great tastes and variety. Delivering all three increases our customers’ odds of successfully losing weight by helping them eat healthy, fight cravings and manage hunger while still eating the foods they enjoy – just healthier versions of those foods in the right amount.”

So what does that food look like? New options are available for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts/snacks and cover a variety of tastes. (more…)

Posted on December 19, 2023 by Samantha

Diet Pepsi’s New Sweetener is Still No Reason to Drink Diet Soda

There’s a new Diet Pepsi in several cities around the U.S., which now lists a new ingredient on the cans and bottles. It’s called acesulfame potassium, also known as Acesulfame K or Ace K.

This quiet change is apparently not going to change the taste of the soda, but is meant to add shelf life by allowing the “fresh” taste and flavor to last longer. The project’s goal is to give the old/current base sweetener (aspartame) a jump kick because of its sensitivity to heat and susceptibility to breaking down. Ace K has proven to be less sensitive to heat.

So what exactly is Ace K? Acesulfame potassium is another form of an artificial sweetener that is calorie free and about 200 times as sweet as everyday table sugar. Due to its slightly bitter aftertaste, it is often mixed with other artificial sweeteners (in this case it was mixed with Diet Pepsi’s aspartame). It’s often found in many baked goods, processed foods and other soft drinks similar to Diet Pepsi.

“Aspartame breaks down during storage especially when the temperature is high (that’s why you can’t bake with it) and so this is a good move on Pepsi’s part,” said our resident dietitian, Mary Hartley, RD. “The move has nothing to do with the safety of aspartame, which has been found to be safe in scientific studies time and again.”

That might be one positive factor, but is it enough to make it OK to be consuming the other harmful ingredients listed on the back? (more…)

Posted on December 19, 2023 by Danielle

Dig In to Our Most Pinned Recipes of 2024

This has been one delicious year for Diets In Review. Since joining the team in March I’ve had a blast both making over and dreaming up new recipes for our readers and have enjoyed every sample bite along the way.

As a way to look back on all of those delicious bites, we’ve rounded up our eight most pinned recipes of 2024. Though Pinterest isn’t the only indicator of our most-loved recipes, it’s certainly a good place to start for gauging popularity. Let’s get things rolling with our top breakfast pick. (more…)

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Dana

Double Chocolate Peppermint Donuts Make Christmas Morning Sweet

Quick, it’s Christmas morning, the kids are going bonkers, Santa and Rudolph departed hours ago (wink, wink), and you have a house full of hungry guests to feed – what do you do? Simple: Bake up a batch or two of these delectable and healthy double chocolate peppermint donuts to tide everyone over ’til lunch. Santa would certainly approve.

A few weeks back our editor assigned me the task of dreaming up a “Christmas morning recipe” and my mind immediately went to something sweet. Two things you should know about me are that 1) I absolutely adore donuts, and 2) there’s nothing I crave more during the holidays than all-things chocolate and peppermint. These cravings came together to form one amazing recipe that is perfectly suited for your holiday breakfast table.  (more…)

Posted on December 17, 2023 by Dana

How to Cook with Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are one of my absolute favorite foods. I rarely go to the grocery store without picking a few up to have on hand for a quick lunch, side dish or healthy snack throughout the week; but it hasn’t always been that way. Only in recent years have I let the sweet, orange variety reign supreme in my heart over traditional white potatoes. But since making the switch I’ve reaped some serious health benefits, and not to mention satisfied my sweet tooth. 

Health benefits: Sweet potatoes are loaded with essential vitamins and minerals like vitamins C, B6 and D, which help promote overall health, prevent such serious health risks as heart attacks and bone decay, and also ensure proper immune system function.

They’re also high in fiber, which helps promote proper digestion and the body’s ability to maintain a healthy weight. A lesser known health benefit of sweet potatoes is that they are loaded with iron, which is essential for white blood cell production, stress management, optimum immune health and the metabolizing of protein. They’re also a great source of magnesium, potassium, and carotenoids like beta carotene, which help strengthen eyesight, boost immunity to disease and even ward off cancer.

Nutritional statistics: One cup of cooked sweet potato with skin contains approximately 180 calories, 0 g fat, 41 g carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber, 13 grams sugar and 4 grams of protein. (more…)

Posted on December 16, 2023 by Dana

PepsiCo Has No Plans to Remove Brominated Vegetable Oil from Gatorade

UPDATE 1/29/13: After more than 200,000 signatures on a Change.org petition, PepsiCo has announced it will remove the flame retardant it currently uses in Gatorade. However, the company doesn’t not plan to issue a recall on products in market that still contain the BVO, or Brominated Vegetable Oil.

About a month ago, a 15-year-old teenager named Sarah Kavanagh was looking forward to the Gatorade she had stored in her fridge for after her long afternoon of playing outdoors in the humid heat in Hattiesburg, Miss.

With Sarah being the dedicated vegetarian that she is, out of habit she checked the ingredient list on the drink before popping open the top. While making sure none of the ingredients were made from any type of animal, she noticed it contained brominated vegetable oil. Though it had the word vegetable in it, Sarah still felt like investigating further.

“I knew it probably wasn’t from an animal because it had the word vegetable in the name, but I still wanted to know what it was so I Googled it,” said Sarah. “A page popped up with a long list of possible side effects, including neurological disorders and altered thyroid hormones. I didn’t expect that.”

Needless to say, Sarah threw the drink away without a sip or hesitation. She then began an online petition on Change.org where she now has nearly 200,000 signatures. Sarah’s hoping that she can get enough supporters that will persuade Gatorade’s maker, PepsiCo, to make some changes to the recipe. (more…)

Posted on December 14, 2023 by Danielle