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Food policy
So you can see that ingestion of certain foodstuffs, such as glucose-containing carbohydrates, trigger a number of responses that help to balance food seeking behaviors with whether an individual is fed or fasting. These complex processes interact to help us maintain weight over both the short and the long run. Fructose, unlike glucose, does not turn on these regulatory mechanisms, leaving individuals with high fructose ingestion vulnerable to overeating and weight gain.
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Benefits or hazards of certain foods, Public health, Food labels, Overweight/obesity, High fructose corn syrup, Food policy, Calorie counting, Nutrition, Healthy eating, Weight loss
Chris was outraged. But he is turning his outrage into action. He has founded a non-profit, “Parents Against Junk Food.” This is a good old-fashioned call-to-action website that aims to get parents riled up about this issue.
Chris writes in his editorial:
““One day, mothers and fathers across America are going to wake up, throw open the window, and yell, “We’re mad, and we’re not going to take it anymore!””
Way to go, Chris! Yes, parents need to be responsible for their kids’ health and well-being, but we need to ask for, no demand, that the public institutions that we pay for with our hard-earned tax dollars, support us in our efforts keep our kids healthy and safe.
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Benefits or hazards of certain foods, Public health, Inspiration/motivation, Children, Overweight/obesity, Food policy, Childhood obesity, Nutrition, Social commentary, Healthy eating
You don't have to go hungry anymore; we can fill you with fats and carbs more cheaply than ever. You don't have to chase your food; we can bring it to you. You don't have to cook it; we can deliver it ready to eat. You don't have to eat it before it spoils; we can pump it full of preservatives so it lasts forever. You don't even have to stop when you're full. We've got so much food to sell, we want you to keep eating.
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Public health, Overweight/obesity, Food policy, Nutrition, Social commentary, Healthy eating, Food industry, Food politics
While I agree, parents need to be good role models and set limits, I also believe that there are so many influences in kids lives today, ranging from TV, to the internet, to peers in play groups and day care, that placing all of the responsibility and blame on parents seems naive to me.
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Filed Under:
Weight loss behaviors, Public health, Children, Overweight/obesity, Food policy, Research on obesity/overweight, Childhood obesity, Portion control, Nutrition, Healthy eating, Weight loss
In fact, at that time, King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV was listed in the Guiness Book of Records as "The Fattest Monarch in the World." He weighted 209.5 kilograms (462 pounds). But. to his royal credit, he decided to make a change and eventually was able to lose 70 kilograms (154 pounds) to end up at about 130 kilograms (or 286 pounds). Quite a credible weight loss.
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Filed Under:
Public health, Inspiration/motivation, Overweight/obesity, Food policy, Weight loss
Learn more about food and class, and educate others.
When you hear someone moralizing about healthy or responsible food choices, don’t be afraid to speak up: seek clarification by asking “healthy for whom?” or “environmentally or socially responsible?” This is an opportunity to help otherwise “aware” individuals learn about the socioeconomic dimension of food and environmental responsibility.
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Filed Under:
Public health, Food policy, Nutrition, Guest blogs, Social commentary, Eat local, Healthy eating
Every morning, he has the same cereal for breakfast. It is also a Kellogg’s All-Bran, but it is their “Bran Buds” product. He thought it was lower in calories than the Yogurt Bites version. But when he looked at the serving sizes of the two cereals, he was in for a surprise. Bran Buds lists a serving size of 1/3 cup. That barely covers the bottom of the cereal bowl. The serving size of Yogurt Bites is 1-1/4 cup—a decent amount.
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Filed Under:
Weight loss behaviors, Benefits or hazards of certain foods, Public health, Food labels, Portion wise or portion lies?, Children, Overweight/obesity, Food policy, Calorie counting, Portion control, Nutrition, Healthy eating, Serving size
Well, I don’t know about you, but I would prefer not to have any benzene in the products (or the water) that I drink. I think we, the soda pop drinking public, should advocate zero tolerance for benzene, not just a standard that allows an amount below 5 ppb. There are plenty of other enjoyable ways to get vitamin C in from your diet, such as eating an orange, a grapefruit, or a tomato. Why, then, do we have to have vitamin C in soft drinks if there is any chance that it could react with another ingredient and form a cancer causing substance?
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Benefits or hazards of certain foods, Public health, Food policy, Social commentary
Instead of continuing to argue that "all obesity is bad" or "obesity is not all that bad," we should look more closely at the data to determine if there are some easily identifiable subsets of the population who will have devastating health consequences when they gain weight. Let's take this debate to the next level so we can get on with the serious business of promoting health in this country.
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Filed Under:
Public health, Weight loss (benefits), Longevity and calorie restriction, Overweight/obesity, Insulin resistance, Food policy, Research on obesity/overweight, Complications of obesity
It is fascinating to learn from this document that retailers are now selling significantly larger apples than those represented by serving sizes on the old nutrition labels. Apples are 57% bigger now than in 1975 when the serving size of 154 g rams was established. Large apples today have a serving size of 264 g of which 242 grams are edible.
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Public health, Food labels, Portion wise or portion lies?, Overweight/obesity, Food policy, Calorie counting, Portion control, Nutrition, Serving size, Fruits
I was stocking up on fruits and veggies in my local Whole Foods grocery store the other day. As I poked and prodded through the bins piled high with colorful produce, I found ripe apricots. Fifty years ago, I guess that wouldn’t have been a big deal. But today’s supermarket fruits are usually rock hard, free of scent, and tasteless – the result of being picked before they ripen and being transported long distances over days to weeks to reach your store.
These ripe apricots had a wonderful juicy squish to them (that’s right, I squeeze the fruit before I buy it). And, they smelled like apricots. Having just written about the benefits of “buying locally,” I looked to see where they had been grown. They were from a farm in San Pablo, California, less than 20 miles from the San Rafael store where I was shopping.
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Filed Under:
Public health, Food policy, Nutrition, Social commentary, Eat local, Healthy eating
Advergaming (a contraction of advertising and gaming) is the use of online video games with embedded brand messages to engage your target audience. It is specifically designed to blur the boundary between advertising and entertainment. This report looks at advergaming that targets kids.
Advergaming is a good deal for food marketers. It is cheap compared to TV advertising ($2 per thousand users compared with $7 to $30 per thousand viewers). Also, it can be tracked in a way TV ads cannot (number of visitors, time spent on the site, repeat visits and so forth). Sites with games hold the viewers attention much longer than 30 second or 60 second TV spots. Popsicle’s site, www.popsicle.com, for example has structured games that encourage you to play again and again so that you can improve your skills and improve your score.
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Filed Under:
Public health, Children, Overweight/obesity, Food policy, Childhood obesity, Social commentary, Food industry, Food politics
Next, “fresh” fruits and vegetables at most large chain grocery stores are not really fresh. According to Marion Nestle, author of What You Eat,” that California-grown broccoli you buy in New York was picked and stored in a local warehouse before being transported to a regional distribution center. It was then placed on a refrigerated truck and sent to another regional distribution center. Then, it’s onto yet another truck to be hauled to the local supermarket where it is placed in the stocking area and eventually put onto the shelf. This process can take a week to 10 days. Does that sound fresh to you?
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Filed Under:
Benefits or hazards of certain foods, Public health, Food policy, Social commentary, Eat local, Fruits, Vegetables, Food industry, Food politics
Hey, calorie counters out there. Did you add it all up and think you did a pretty good job this week? But you still didn’t lose any weight. Must be your slow metabolism, right? Or maybe it’s your condiments.
Condiments are those little dabs of this and that we slather on food to make it taste better. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of different kinds of condiments, ranging from the more mundane (ketchup and mayo) to the exotic, such as raita (a South Asian treat made from yogurt, vegetables, herbs and spices), bagoong monamon (salted fish sauce), and ponzu (a Japanese dipping sauce).
Like all other foods, some are low fat and low calorie and others pack a diet-busting wallop of both. If you aren’t paying attention, you could be getting more calories and more fat from your condiment than you are from the food you put it on. Here are some examples from my own refrigerator:
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Filed Under:
Weight loss behaviors, Benefits or hazards of certain foods, Dietary Fat, Food labels, Overweight/obesity, Cholesterol, Food policy, Nutrition, Healthy eating
Most of the oranges we consume in this country are consumed as orange juice. Most of the orange juice we drink is prepared (not fresh) orange juice. Some of the orange juice is orange drink, not real orange juice. A lot of us eat oranges in one form or another because we have been taught that it is naturally a good source of vitamin C, and, while that is true, some of the OJ preparations we consume actually have vitamin C added
There is a lot of confusion about what how much vitamin C we need to be healthy. But there are a lot of good scientific studies to help inform recommendations. One trusted source, the Harvard School of Public Health, recommends the following:
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Filed Under:
Weight loss behaviors, Benefits or hazards of certain foods, Food labels, Food policy, Nutrition, Healthy eating
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