Former President Bill Clinton was released from the hospital a few days ago after undergoing a procedure to bypass a clogged artery. In a statement to reporters at a childhood obesity event of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Clinton blamed his poor health on

“the habits I acquired in my childhood, mostly the way I ate and the way it interacted with my own biology and propensity to produce bad cholesterol…I ate too much fried food, too much ice cream, too much everything”. read more…

Fried food – too much fats, too much salt. Ice cream – too much fats, too much sugar. Too much everything – calorie overload. Not a recipe for a healthy life.

What you need to know:

Former president Clinton. First Lady Michelle Obama. Cabinet members. All are involved in some way with our nation’s obesity epidemic. Clinton, like Obama realize that adults who have developed bad habits are much harder to turn around compared to children who have their whole life ahead of them. We all remember president Clinton’s uncontrollable burger cravings. That’s why he and Mrs. Obama are focusing on ways to combat childhood obesity. They’re hoping to affect food consumption patterns at a young age.

Unfortunately the junk food companies know this too. “Get ‘em while they’re young, and they’ll stay loyal to your brand forever”. The consumption patterns their marketing efforts have yielded so far (and continue to shape) will eventually lead millions into hospitals for treatment.

Unless we parents take action.

What to do at the supermarket:

Instead of taking Clinton’s negative remarks of “too much this or that”, let’s focus on the positives, on things you want to get your kids to eat and enjoy. This means real food, with real flavors. Expose them to fruits and vegetables from the minute they can start to chew. Even if they don’t like something, try multiple times, showing them a good example by eating the same. Eventually they will come around and start to eat produce as well. Maybe not everything, but at least french fries and ketchup won’t be your only option.

Get the family into a water drinking habit, relegating sweet juices or sodas to “uncontrollable” events such as holidays or parties out of the home. Tap water is safe, clean, and delicious in almost all parts of the country. And it’s much easier to grow up drinking water than having to switch from soda to H2O as an adult.

By helping your children to develop sophisticated taste buds, you will encourage lifelong appreciation of real food tastes, with less reliance on sugar/fat/sodium. This triumvirate is the lowest common denominator used by the junk food industry to mask all the other band ingredients and make everything seem great.

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Readers Write is a new feature here at the Fooducate Blog. Every once in a while, one of our readers who wishes to contribute to the blog, will get center stage and offer helpful food and nutrition information and advice. This guest post is by Lauren Canepari.

Stuck in the supermarket this winter looking for a healthy (cheap, quick, delicious) dinner?  Well look no further than the lowly sweet potato.  Not only is this tuber a nutritional powerhouse, it can be made into a delicious dinner in no time.

Combining something as simple as a sweet potato with other quick supermarket items can make a nutritious dish for any day of the week!

One medium sweet potato has approximately 100 calories, 4 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein and almost no fat or cholesterol.  If that wasn’t enough to get you excited, the sweet potato contains an amazing amount of Vitamin A (438% of your daily value), as well as being a great source of vitamin C, Potassium, Manganese, and vitamin B6.

Since sweet potatoes are available everywhere this time of year, here are five easy ways to get your fix:

1.    Baked.  Wrap your sweet potato in foil and bake for an hour, or until a fork pierces easily.  From here the possibilities are endless.  Top with a healthy vegetarian or turkey chili for a hearty meal, my favorite is the Mild Vegetarian Chili from Health Valley.  If you aren’t a chili fan, add some all-natural peanut butter for a protein boost!

2.    Mashed.  Old-fashioned mashed potatoes are boring.  Spice them up by using sweet potatoes instead.  If your kids want some extra sweetness, try adding a banana to the mix.  You won’t even miss the marshmallows!

3.    In a soup.  Bake a few extra, or even microwave them, for a chance to make a delicious soup!  Mix in the blender with some low-sodium broth, spices (curry works great here), and even a splash of cream to really make things exciting.

4.    In a salad.  Cut into cubes and roast on a baking sheet with olive oil.  Add some maple syrup for a delicious caramelized taste.  Throw some of those roasted cubes over a pile of mixed greens, with some pecans, dried cranberries and some crumbled goat cheese.

5.    For…breakfast? Pumpkin oatmeal is the new big thing, but what about sweet potatoes in your oats?  Blend some mashed sweet potatoes in with some oats as you cook them.  This will add a delicious sweetness without pouring on the brown sugar!  Top with raisins, almonds and cinnamon for a decadent breakfast treat.

Lauren Canepari, blogs at eater not a runner. She is a twenty-something on a mission to be healthy and eat well in the process.  The only thing she likes more than writing about food is eating it!  Contact her at eaternotarunner at gmail dot com.

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This is an ad promoting vegetarianism, entitled “All you need are fruits and vegetables.” Gets the point across rather nicely, don’t you think?

If you’re wondering what the intestines are made of, that’s ginger root.

Enjoy the weekend!

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Which is more nutritious – A raw carrot or a cooked one? What about tomatoes? Mushrooms? Cabbage?

If you answered raw to all of the above, you may be in for a surprise. According to the Scientific American, the answer is not so simple. It turns out that some nutrients are actually more available to the body when the veggie is heated.

The most popular example is lycopene, an antioxidant found in the red pigments of tomatoes. Lycopene levels in tomatoes rose 35% after being cooked for 30 minutes at 190 degrees farenheit. Why? Probably because the heat breaks down the thick cell walls of the vegetable, releasing the nutrient that was bound to the wall.

Other nutrients, of course, suffer from heat. The best example is vitamin C, which seems to evaporate from just about anything from the moment its harvested. Luckily, vitamin C is so abundant in fruits, vegetables, and in fortified foods and drinks, that people rarely form a deficiency.

Frying is another story. The high temperature of the oil creates oxidized oil molecules – free radicals – which can then damage cells in our body by intermingling with tem. That’s why everyone is talking day and night about anti-oxidants that recapture the rebelling radicals and prevent them from messing with our cells.

Bottom Line: there’s no clear cut winner. Almost all forms of vegetables are good for you.

What to do at the supermarket:

This is one part of your grocery shopping where you can have your cake and eat it too. There are an infinite number of ways to prepare vegetables and fruits for consumption. Raw, cooked, chopped, diced, juiced, baked, mixed, frozen. Just get more into your diet.

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The CDC released a report earlier this week with disheartening news -

No U.S. state is meeting national objectives for consumption of fruits and vegetables, according to the first report to provide state–by–state data about fruit and vegetable consumption and policies that may help Americans eat more fruits and vegetables.

only 33 percent of adults meet the recommendation for fruit consumption and 27 percent get the recommended servings of vegetables.

Children and teens are doing even worse. Here’s what a 2007 survey of 100,000 high schoolers found:

32 percent report eating at least two servings of fruit daily and 13 percent say they eat at least three servings of vegetables each day.

This works out to only 1 in 10 teens getting enough fruits and vegetables in their diet. And we’re surprised that there’s an obesity epidemic going on?

What you need to know:

There are several reasons we’re not getting enough of these vitamin powerhouses:

1. In many cases its cheaper to buy a processed snack than a fruit.

2. It is also more convenient to pack a processed snack in a lunch bag than a fruit (try to see what a pear in a kids backpack looks like by lunchtime…)

3. School vending machines offer processed snacks, not carrots and apples.

4. Seen any TV and billboard ads for fruits and vegetables lately?

5. Sweet and Savory snacks are much tastier for many kids (and adults).

6. It takes time to prepare a fruit (peel an orange) or vegetable (bake a zucchini) for consumption. Much easier to rip open a box/bag and start munching.

What to do at the supermarket:

It’s true that in some case fruits and vegetables can be expensive compared to highly processed junk. Here are some suggestions:

1. Buy seasonal. Fruits and vegetables in season are usually cheaper.

2. Buy frozen. Frozen veggies maintain almost all the nutritional value as fresh ones.

3. Buy canned. but watch out for the high sodium content some canned vegs carry and the high sugar content of syrupy fruit.

4. Expand your horizons. Buy some cheaper vegetables you haven’t tried yet. Beet carpaccio, anyone?

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David Brancaccio of PBS’s Now show interviewed filmmaker Robert Kenner, the director of “Food, Inc.” a few days ago. The movie takes a very critical look at the modern food industry and helps viewers better understand why supermarket fare for the most part is crap, and why 67% of Americans are obese or overweight. The full interview is 24 minutes long. Here are some good tidbits:

1. 90% of supermarket food has corn or soy products in it. (That’s because soy and corn are subsidized by the government, making them cheap to produce).

2. Fast food chains were the original drivers of the industrialization of food. McDonald’s is and has been for years the largest buyer of ground beef, pork, chicken, potatoes, and tomatoes in the US. And it will only work with suppliers than can provide a steady, uniform, reliable product 24/7/365. Real food doesn’t work like that

3. Candy and Soda are cheaper than fresh fruit and vegetables. What do you think poor people will choose to eat?

4. Food industry claims that consumers should show personal responsibility when choosing what to eat are insidious.

5. Food has not gotten safer over the years. Not if a single burger can have meat from one thousand cows in it.

6. Really sad – the federal government does not have the right to recall contaminated meat off of supermarket shelves.

7. A ray of light – consumers, through personal preference, convinced Wal-Mart to switch to milk from cows who did not receive growth hormones.

8. Watch out for “food libel laws” – Industry will sue you if you don’t talk nice about food products. Example: Oprah Winfrey was engaged in a lengthy legal battle with the meat industry for saying she’d consider abstaining from burgers at the height of the mad cow scare a decade ago.

9. The legal fees for the movie were 3 times higher than all his previous films combined.

What to do at the supermarket:

Your choices are what ultimately fuel the food industry. By buying unprocessed foods, mostly from the supermarket perimeter, you will avoid many of the pitfalls of modern industrialized food-like substances.

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1. Over 45 Million pounds of Avocado will be consumed today, Superbowl Sunday!

2. Avocado competes with buffalo wings and pizza as The Superbowl Food, thanks to a successful marketing campaign by avocado growers over the past 2 decades.

3. All Haas avocados are genetic replicas of a single tree planted in the Haas family grove in the 1920’s.

4. A shortage of avocados is looming this spring, due to the 2008 drought in southern California, where 90% of domestic Avocados are grown.

5. Have no fear, Mexican avocados will be here to supplant any shortage. In fact Mexico is the world’s largest Avocado producer.

6. Avocados are unique fruit. They have a high fat content, but this is a “good” fat – monounsaturated fat.

7. A whole avocado contains 200-300 calories and is a good source of vitamin A, C, E and the B vitamins, as well as fiber and potassium.

8. Guacamole is Aztec for “Avocado Sauce”, the original recipe calling for crushed avocado, tomatoes and salt.

9. Supermarket guacamole tastes plain bad. Avocados don’t store well, that’s why store bought guacamole needs a lot of help from food additives. Here is a sample list of ingredients you’ll find in a ready made container -
Food Starch,
Sodium Alginate (emulsifier – keeps oils and waters mixed together),
Xanthan Gum (increases viscosity),
Erythorbic Acid (retains food’s color) ,Potassium Sorbate (anti mold), Sodium Metabisulfite (anti spoilage)

Ouch.

Luckily, making your own guacamole is quick and easy. Spend ten minutes to make your own. The difference in flavor, let alone chemicals, is worth it:

Simple Guacamole Recipe (serves 4-8 people):

Ingredients:
4 ripe avocados
2 limes (lemons OK)
2 tomatoes (optional)
half a medium onion
1 TBSP Dijon mustard (or more, to taste)
cilantro or Italian parsley (not a must)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. halve the limes.
2. peel and pit the avocados, immediately squeezing 2 lime halves over the the avocado meat to prevent browning.
3. dice one avocado into quarter inch cubes, and crush the rest with the back of a fork. place in large bowl.
4. dice the tomatoes. add to bowl.
5. finely dice the onion and cilantro. add to bowl.
6. add the mustard.
7. mix everything with a wooden spoon (or your hands).
8. taste. add salt and pepper (you’ll need a bit less than normal due to the mustard)
9. douse with juice of the second lime and refrigerate till game time.

Enjoy!

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Courtesy of the Economist

A global trend for the past few decades is the increased use of chilis and hot peppers in western diets. Capsaicin is the active ingredient which causes us to sweat and tear, but then reach a “high” as the result of the release of endorphins. The Economist, of all publications, provides interesting insight:

Hot chilies, once the preserve of aficionados with exotic tastes for cuisine from places such as India, Thailand or Mexico, are now a staple ingredient in everything from ready meals to cocktails. One reason is that globalisation has raised the rich world’s tolerance to capsaicin. What may seem unbearably hot to those reared on the bland diets of Europe or the Anglosphere half a century ago is just a pleasantly spicy dish to their children and grandchildren, whose student years were spent scoffing cheap curries or nacho chips with salsa.

Read the full article…

What you need to know:

Lets start with spelling – Chili, chilli, or chile are all acceptable.

Red peppers in general are considered very healthy, containing twice the vitamin C as oranges. While chilis are not quite as loaded, they do purport to provide the following health benefits:
* Effective in reducing pain from arthritis by “numbing” a part of the nervous system
* Keeps arteries unblocked, thus reducing cholesterol and the risk of heart disease.
* Prevents growth of some cancerous cells, reducing the risk of prostate cancer.
* Speeds up metabolism, thus helping in weight loss.
* Lowers risk of Type 2 diabetes by controlling the blood sugar levels.

Can too much chili cause any harm?

Certainly capsaicin can be painful, causing stress: in itself a potential health risk. A big dose incapacitates. But as far as permanent physical damage is concerned, the evidence is negligible to non-existent.

If you wish, you can build up your chili stamina slowly, starting with a tiny sliver of hot pepper in your soup or stir fry, and increasing the amount over time. Bon apetit.

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Eat your broccoli! Generations of kids have heard this plea / command at dinnertime. Turns out that mothers were right, again. Broccoli is one of the healthiest foods to be had. And with a bit of work, even kids can find it tasty.

What you need to know:

Broccoli was introduced to North America less than 250 years ago. But only in the 1920’s did Italian immigrants start to seriously cultivate it on the West Coast. Broccoli is a winter vegetable available from late fall to early spring. 99% of the broccoli grown in the US is from California and Arizona.

Broccoli is probably one of the most nutritious vegetables to be had. Broccoli has over 25 cancer fighting agents on top of the standard minerals and vitamins. Half a cup of broccoli contains more vitamin C than a glass of orange juice (almost 70% of the daily recommended value). Broccoli is rich in cartenoids, iron, riboflavin, calcium, potassium, fiber, vitamin K, chromium, and antioxidants.

What to do at the supermarket:

Try to get your broccoli fresh. If not, frozen is a close second. The mass of flowery heads need to be tightly joined, dark green with no yellow patches. If flowers are present, it means the broccoli has began transforming it taste from sweet to something more fibrous. The whole plant should fill rigid. The stem end cut should appear fresh , not dry.

To prepare – cut up the florets and also the stems. Best to keep the nutrients by steaming or briefly blanching. The natural flavor may be enhanced with a touch of salt, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.

KIDS: if you are starting your children on broccoli, try to add it dishes that they already enjoy. For example, add the florets to mac & cheese. Keep the stems for stage 2, as they may be too fibrous to chew on for small mouths. Another kids’ favorite is breaded broccoli.

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Image by verseguru via Flickr

With the recession blowing in like a mighty winter storm, people are looking for savings everywhere, including food. Organic is more expensive than conventional, so for those purchasing organic produce, switching back may be a substantial money saver. An article in the LA Times weighs the pros and cons of organic:

…the truth is that, from a hard-nosed science point of view, it’s still unclear how much better — if at all — organic food is for one’s health than non-organically grown food. Read more…