No Stir - Trickery: First - the use of the term All Natural is not regulated by a clear definition - according to the FDA labeling law, it only has to mean minimally processed. This is not news to you, I have said it in the past. It is also not news to most of you that I am a devout fan of Smucker's All Natural Peanut Butter which actually IS all natural in that it is peanuts and salt - period. This means it does not stay solid at room temperature - it separates. That is a VERY good sign - the fat in that peanut butter is the good kind. It requires stirring. So this weekend I saw brands that said "natural peanut butter - no stirring required." I turned the jar over to the NFP and read the ingredients, which included palm oil and ADDED SUGAR. Don't be tricked! The stirring is what makes it healthy - and don't be afraid to stir - I even You Tubed the stirring - to help you out.
Age of Diagnosis: A story that I glanced over this week regarded breast cancer in older women. I believe that the women were over aged 65 when they received a diagnosis of breast cancer (and I believe that the study referred to a specific type of BCA - a more common type). In these women, the cause of death, when they died, was not breast cancer but heart disease. Again, heart disease is the number one killer of Americans and it is related more often to saturated fat intake and being overweight.
What's Your Doctor Prescribing? This blurb regards a supreme court decision that was made this week. It has been awhile since I blogged about my disdain for drug companies but my disdain is very much alive. Still, I was not really aware of the practice that the Supreme Court defended this week. Pharmacies keep records of what medicines are prescribed by each physician - (physicians have a number - a DEA number maybe- that they have to write on the Rx form). After removing all patient information, the drug stores can sell these lists to drug companies who use them to target doctors. Here is an example this practice in action. One state, Vermont, outlawed the transfer of information and the supreme court overturned their law. Medical organizations are upset about this as they profess to not want direct to doctor marketing. Perhaps it is less fun now that they cannot also receive free meals and greens fees.
Why I am Anti Craisons: I may not have gotten to this in my Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) overview, but it supports my advocacy for low energy dense foods. Actually, I am pretty sure I discussed LED foods last night. Well, Craisons - a dried fruit snack that keeps ending up as a free sample in my high fiber, low sugar cereal, are NOT a low energy dense food. They have 3.6 calories per gram, where as melons have 0.37 per gram, apples 0.51, and much the same with most fresh, whole fruit.
National Prevention Strategy - Yes We Have One: Actually, I think I will give this a separate blog day, but so you know, the focus of our strategy is prevention of disease and promotion of wellness. In this report, the latest numbers on obesity are given - adults 34% and children 16%. How can children be obese?
Forget the Carrots, Your Eyes Need D: The information I am sharing with you here is NOT to be taken as fact as I heard only a smidgen of the story. The gist of it was that children have vitamin D deficiency (which the DGA supports as true) and that the lack of D is leading to increased cases of near sightedness. An eye doctor and or researcher was saying that kids needed to spend more time in the sunlight. I am sure that the show went on to cover sun protection. What I want to add is the importance of protecting the EYEs themselves - are eyes, selves? Well, remember the pinguecula post? Put shades on those kids!
The Dirt on Grapes: EEK- literally dirt. I clean my grapes by placing them in a strainer that is inside a bowl of water. I swish them around vigorously and then lift out the grapes and water my plants with the liquid (if they need it) and then do it again, and then rinse them just in the basket - after all that, I eat them. Both batches of rinse water are dirty, but the first is remarkably so. Why am I telling you this? In case you are one of the people who tastes grapes or any produce while shopping. (unless you are at the fancier stores that have washed and cut samples in a covered dish with toothpicks even).
Added Sugar: Just to be clear, when the DGA suggest that we limit added sugar, they are not necessarily talking about table sugar. Instead they mean sugar in processed foods and beverages. So sugar in an actual orange (with its naturally occurring fiber) is the intrinsic kind - sugar is natural in whole pieces of fruit. Sugar in a orange flavored snack - is added sugar. (and as I was saying above, sugar in your peanut butter is ADDED)
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