Saturday, December 20, 2014

Fwd: Caramel Apples

'Five people have died and 21 others have been hospitalized in a listeria outbreak linked to caramel apples, federal health officials said today.
 
A total of 28 people infected with listeria have been reported from 10 states...The states include Missouri and New Mexico, which each had five cases; Minnesota, Texas and Arizona, with four cases each; Wisconsin, with two cases; and Washington, California, Utah and North Carolina, with one case each.'
 

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Fwd: Glycemic index

'Some studies have suggested that carbs with a low glycemic index—such as whole grains—led to fewer spikes in blood sugar, and therefore more efficient breakdown into energy, while higher glycemic index foods—including refined flours—led to larger peaks in glucose that the body couldn't process and therefore stored as fat.

So two of the diets in the study were high in carbs overall, but one was made up of low-glycemic-index foods while the other was composed of high-glycemic-index foods. The other two diets were low in carbs overall, with the same breakdown or low- and high-glycemic items

​...​

In fact, among those eating the high-carb diets, those consuming low-glycemic-index foods had worse insulin response and higher LDL cholesterol…

we did not show that the glycemic index of the carb really had any favorable effect," says Sacks.

That suggests that all the attention to knowing the glycemic index of various foods—and basing your eating habits on these numbers—may not be worth the effort.'

​...

Overall, those eating the low-carb diets had lower risk factors for heart disease compared to the group eating more carbohydrates, but the type of carbs didn't seem to make much difference​

http://time.com/3636690/glycemic-index-heart-health-low-carb/


Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Fwd: Food orders

Fans of Chick-fil-A can now get their food quicker, with the help of an updated app that allows customers to pay using their smartphones and order their food ahead of time.

"Customers really love using their mobile devices," said Khalilah Cooper, leader of ordering strategy at Chick-fil-A. "And we really want to give our guests the opportunity to order what they want, when they want, and how they want."

While the chain launched their current app, free to download from iTunes or Google Play, last year, the mobile payment feature wasn't added until Monday.

The new function allows users nationwide to use their phones to purchase their meal just by scanning their phones at the register, thus avoiding the hassle of having to fumble for cash or cards.'

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/12/09/chickfila-app-pay-order/20107393/

I think that scanning a phone is hardly different than swiping a card.  In fact, if I have to load the app, it is more difficult.

​In fact, we are coming up with clever ways to avoid human interaction.​

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Sweet balance - The West Australian

A study at Connecticut College found Oreos were just as addictive as
cocaine for lab rats - and, like most humans, rats ate the middle
first.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/lifestyle/food/a/24588003/sweet-balance/

Monday, May 26, 2014

Recent articles on diet and health, many of which contradict each other.





  • While the authors suggested that people eat a low protein diet in middle age and switch to a high protein diet once they get older, it is not possible to say from the study whether this is what the older participants actually did, as their diets were only assessed once.
High protein diet not as bad for you as smoking

Red meat raises risk for cancer

The food we were born to eat: John McDougall at TEDxFremont

Tackling diabetes with a bold new dietary approach: Neal Barnard at TEDxFremont

"Interestingly enough, blood triglycerides do not go up with eating fat—they go up if you eat a diet high in processed grains, starches, and sugar. Unfortunately for the proponents of high-carbohydrate diets, high blood triglycerides are a major risk factor for heart disease. In addition, low fat/high carb diets lower protective "good" cholesterol and raise insulin.  These diets are implicated in the development of diabetes, which is a potent risk factor for developing heart disease."

Gary Taubles: Why We Get Fat (Suggest watching just the last 10 minutes.)





Debunking the paleo diet: Christina Warinner at TEDxOU

BTW, there are lots of people offering to sell you diets online, but these usually are either low carb/high fat or high carb/low fat diets.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Experts: Excess sugar consumption leads to a host of diseases » San Angelo Standard Times Mobile

"A higher percentage of calories from added sugar is associated with
significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality," the
study concludes. "In addition, regular consumption of sugar-sweetened
beverages is associated with elevated cardiovascular mortality."

http://m.gosanangelo.com/news/2014/apr/14/experts-excess-sugar-consumption-leads-host-diseas/

Monday, February 24, 2014

My lunch

My lunch of chicken sandwich and fries is an example of what I have been trying to avoid lately because it has two servings of carbohydrates.    My usual solution is to break that into two meals or eat a meal with fewer carbohydrates.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Health Matters: Your craving may be your addiction - Opinion - WKU Herald

When you first take a bite of sugary cereal, your taste receptors that respond to sweetness, found at the tip of your tongue, send a signal to the portion of your brain called the cerebral cortex. 

This signal activates ‘the reward system’ and causes you to want to take another bite. Excessive activation of this reward system, Dr. Avena suggests, can cause ‘loss of control, craving and intolerance to sugar.’


Friday, February 14, 2014

Insulin

http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_60/69_eating_well.html

 

The basic premise

 

The Carbohydrate Hypothesis, as attacked by Guyenet, looks basically like this:

 

Excessive amounts of carbohydrates (especially refined carbs / sugar) increases insulin and results in fat gain.

 

Guyenets argues in his post that carbs are not necessarily the cause of increased insulin, and insulin certainly do not result in gaining weight (maybe the opposite!). Basically he says that while low carb works, the theory to explain it is wrong.

 

However, as every doctor who has ever treated diabetics with insulin (and their patients) probably knows, injecting insulin certainly does tends to increase fat gain. And in untreated type 1 diabetics, with no insulin, weight plummets. Guyenet does not mention that.

 

Thin people usually have low insulin levels, obese people usually have high levels of insulin. Guyenet does not believe that is significant.

 

http://www.dietdoctor.com/guyenet-taubes-and-why-low-carb-works

 

In short: Carbohydrates drives insulin, which drives fat.

 

http://gettingstronger.org/2011/02/does-insulin-make-you-fat/

 

 

Monday, February 3, 2014

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Monday, January 20, 2014

Peanuts

'The path of the peanut from a snack staple to the object of bans at schools, day care centers and beyond offers important insights into how and why a rare, life-threatening food allergy can prompt far-reaching societal change, according to a Princeton University researcher.

 

Before 1980, peanut allergies were rarely mentioned in medical literature or the media, said Miranda Waggoner, a postdoctoral researcher at the Office of Population Research in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Her article on the subject, "Parsing the peanut panic: The social life of a contested food allergy epidemic," was published recently in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

 

Starting around 1990, articles in medical journals began discussing the seriousness of peanut allergies, Waggoner said. At the same time, advocacy groups were emerging to raise awareness of the issue. By the mid-1990s, newspapers were printing articles with headlines such as "Nut Allergy Girl's Terror; Girl Almost Dies from Peanut Allergy."

 

And the 21st century brought descriptions of peanut allergies — in medical journals and the media — as an epidemic.

 

For those with a peanut allergy, ingesting the legume can lead to anaphylactic shock and, if untreated, death. But the allergy is quite rare and it isn't clear whether it is becoming more common, Waggoner said.'

 

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S37/46/79G28/index.xml?section=topstories

 

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Fwd: 3D Printer

From: <larry.r.trout

'Hershey's to make 3-D chocolate printer'

http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/16/technology/3d-printer-chocolate/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

Sounds like the Star Trek food generator may be available in a decade or two J

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Fwd: Sugar/Liver

From: <larry.r.trout

'Nov. 1, 2013 — Despite current beliefs, sugar intake is not directly associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. Rather, high-calorie diets promote the progression of this serious form of liver disease.

 

Researchers conducted a double-blind study of healthy, but centrally overweight men to compare the effects of high intakes of two types of sugar, glucose and fructose, in two conditions -- weight-maintaining (moderate-calorie diet) and weight-gaining (high-calorie diet). In the weight-maintaining period, men on neither diet developed any significant changes to the liver. However, in the weight-gaining period, both diets produced equivalent features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, including steatosis (fatty liver) and elevated serum transaminase and triglycerides. These findings indicate that fructose and glucose have comparable effects on one's liver, and calorie intake is the factor responsible for the progression of liver disease.

 

"Based on the results of our study, recommending a low-fructose or low-glycemic diet to prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is unjustified," said Professor Ian A. Macdonald, study author and faculty of medicine and health sciences, University of Nottingham, UK. "The best advice to give a patient is to maintain a healthy lifestyle with diet and exercise. Our study serves as a warning that even short changes in lifestyle can have profound impacts on your liver."'

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131101112406.htm

 

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Ketchup

In recent years I didn’t like the little ketchup packages very much because I wanted to be able to dip my fries into the ketchup.   Over the last few months I have noticed that a couple of restaurants, like Chick Fil-A, have .99 oz Heinz packages designed for dipping.   I also really like the waffle fries at Chick Fil-A.