AIMing for Health

Four foods that help with focus and one that definitely does not

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Just in time for back-to-school jitters, HealthCastle.com posted a handy list of foods that have attention-boosting properties. Their list includes the following:

Fish
Sunflower Seeds
Eggs
Quinoa

Those four foods are great suggestions. Here's one that's not. Diet Blog brings to light the story of a man at the State Fair of Texas who created deep-fried butter.

How well do you know food calories?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:05:00 +0000

I'll be honest. I thought I knew food calories pretty well.

I was wrong.

Men's Health is offering a fun quiz for people to test their calorie judging abilities based on viewing images of different quantities of the same food and trying to decide which one equals 100 calories. For example, one question (that I totally whiffed on) was the calorie count of 18 pretzels versus 25 pretzels. The right answer: 18.

Judging calorie count is harder than it looks. I think if there is anything to take from the Men's Health quiz it is to not rely on a discerning eye if you're in the business of counting calories. It's simply too hard to judge the size of one serving compared to another.

At least for me it is.

Read more:
What does 100 calories look like? | Men's Health

Protect your neck (and the rest of your skin) with summer sun tips

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:24:00 +0000

Men's Health has some handy tips on beating the sun this summer ... before the sun beats you.

With the calendar turning to June, summer activities are going to hit it big, if they haven't already. Fun in the sun, though, means exposure to UV rays, and exposure to UV rays can lead to skin cancer. More than 7500 Americans die from skin cancer every year (nearly two-thirds of whom are men), so heeding the Men's Health advice may be the best thing you do during these summer months.

Here are a couple of highlights:

Unless you always slather on enough (sunscreen) — 1 ounce, or about a shot glass full — don't go any lower than SPF 45. And check the expiration date; over time, the chemicals can degrade and lose their effectiveness.

Apparently, we aren't putting nearly enough sunscreen on. The one-ounce rule is so haphazardly followed that some researchers recommend dividing a sunscreen's SPF by three in order to get the actual SPF. In that sense, SPF 45 lotion turns into SPF 15.

Make the math irrelevant and bulk up your SPF buying.

Try green tea. "Our research suggests that drinking green tea can bring a 70 to 80 percent reduction in the risk of basal-cell carcinoma and squamous-cell carcinoma," says Hasan Mukhtar, Ph.D., Helfaer professor of cancer research in the department of dermatology at the University of Wisconsin.

Green tea's skin protection benefits come courtesy of antioxidants, nature's ultimate quick-fix nutrient. Antioxidants often battle cancer cells, and the antioxidants found in green tea specifically target those of skin cancer. Two glasses of green tea a day should do the trick.

Read more:
Save your skin | Men's Health

Cereal: the breakfast of champions ... and workout warriors?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:58:00 +0000

The hottest new sports drink trend isn't a sports drink at all.

According to a new sports nutrition study, good old-fashioned cereal has the same effect on muscle recovery as sports drinks. Whoever knew the Gatorade killer would be Lucky Charms?

In the study, cyclists and triathletes were asked to consume either a bowl of cereal and milk or a sports drink after exercising for two hours. A bowl of cereal—which contains carbohydrates, protein, and fat—showed the same results as a sports drink for nearly all of the measures of glycogen and protein synthesis in their muscles.

The protein is the kicker. A lot of commercially-available sports drinks don't contain protein or don't contain it in the same quantities as some cereals. Throw in the fact that cereal is a cheaper alternative, and cereal presents an awfully intriguing case for that post-workout recovery.

Read more:
Part of a complete workout | Men's Health Today

Can book learnin' save you from hospital goin'?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:17:00 +0000

One of the biggest difference makers in the eternal struggle for good health is education, according to a story posted on WebMD.com. Sorry, Flinstone vitamins. Better luck next time.

WebMD used information from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Commission to Build a Healthier America (RWJFCBHA for short), which based its study on polling done on over 174,000 Americans who rated their health on a scale of poor to excellent. When compared to census data on education, the healthier proved to be the smarter.

The more education people had, the more likely they were to report better health, regardless of race or ethnicity.

That difference didn't just show up when the commission compared people with the fewest and most years of schooling. Even a few years of education made a difference.

For instance, high school graduates were nearly twice as likely as college graduates to report being in less than very good health.

What does this mean for regular people? Well, hopefully it doesn't warrant a return trip to university. Interesting conclusions can be drawn from the study with the direct correlation between education and health being one of them. But as far as heading back to school in the hopes that we'll get over our cold, there's no need to extrapolate to quite that extreme.

A healthier outlook through extended education can be achieved simply through a better awareness of your own nutrition and wellness. It doesn't take a pH d to know that sugary foods are bad for you. But it does take some knowledge about eating right and taking care of your body in order to keep yourself healthy.

Read more:
More education, better health | WebMD.com

Food labels with something to hide behind

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:51:00 +0000

You mean to say that food labels are not entirely forthcoming with their nutrition information? And here I was believing the low-calorie Oreo snack packs.

HealthCastle.com can see the forest through the trees, and they did their best Bob Woodward in shedding some light on how savvy consumers can tread safely through the muddled food label muck.

But first, some mud throwing.

What's really healthy and what's just bogus? While the claims splashed across package fronts aren't false (laws prevent outright lying), they often lead you to believe products are healthier than they really are.

HealthCastle narrows down a list of food label crimes that show up on store shelves nationwide. See if you recognize any:

Appealing to your wholesome desires
Keeping it real
Boasting about how sweet it isn't
Fully loaded claims

I know I've fallen victim to more than one of those illusions. Whether foods are pulling out the "all-natural" or "made with real fruit" pick-up lines, it is important to do your best to ignore the attractive packaging fibs. Go straight to the nutrition facts and find out what's really going on.

Read more:
Making Sense of Common Food Label Claims | HealthCastle.com

The scary, sketchy world of weight loss

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Weight loss gimmicks are everywhere. And some of them are kind of iffy.

In particular, 34 of them are iffy, so much so that the FDA has recalled the whole bunch due to undeclared drugs that were place in the products. Tests confirmed that the diet doodads had traces of sibutramine, which can act as an appetite suppressant. Sibutramine can also increase blood pressure and post heart risk. Oops.

"FDA advises that these products may pose a threat to consumers because sibutramine is known to substantially increase blood pressure and/or pulse rate in some patients and may present a significant risk for patients with a history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, or stroke," states a news release from Universal ABC Beauty Supply International.

Some of the affected brands include ProSlim, Extrim, Slim Burn, and TrimPlus; for a full list of recalled products, visit the MedicineNet.com website.

And for a better diet trick, maybe just stick to eating right and exercising.

Read more:

34 Weight Loss Products Recalled | MedicineNet.com

More (or less) than meets the eye with multi-vitamins

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:33:00 +0000

If you can't trust your daily multi-vitamin, then what can you trust?

This is the cold, harsh reality in which we now live after a report from ConsumerLab.com (full report available to subscribers only) pulled back the Wizard of Oz curtain on the specifics of some of our beloved health candy. Their study found that many multi-vitamins are less than precise on their vitamin and mineral levels, often testing much higher or lower than what is actually claimed.

In a blog post titled "Is Your Multi-Vitamin Safe?" (misleading, considering that my multi-vitamin is not really in any inherent danger), Diet Blog brings up some interesting information related to our daily doses of supplementation:

ConsumerLab reported that they found defects in 30% of the multivitamins that they selected for testing.
Three of four popular children's multivitamins were too high in vitamin A.
One men's multivitamin was contaminated with lead and another had too much folic acid -- associated with more than doubling the risk of prostate cancer.
A vitamin water had 15 times its stated amount of folic acid, so drinking one bottle would exceed the tolerable limit for adults; less than half a bottle would put children over the limit.
A pet multivitamin was contaminated with lead and another had only 46% of its vitamin A and 54.7% of its calcium.

The lesson here is to be a little more cynical when shopping for supposedly wholesome nutritional supplements. Fortunately, we still have the blissful naivety of our whole grain cereals.

Read more:
Is Your Multi-Vitamin Safe? | Diet Blog

Making fun of fast food

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:36:00 +0000

Here's a fun little video to brighten your hump day.

Two friends came up with a Taco Bell folk song that they played while ordering. But that's not even the funniest part. Wait until you hear the Taco Bell employee's response:

I am totally ordering a gordita for my senorita next time I'm at Taco Bell.

Read more:
Taco Bell drive-thru folk song | Serious Eats

Revenge of the Peeps: Microwave at your own risk

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:16:00 +0000

One of Easter's most recognizable foods is the marshmallow Peep. These candy chicks and bunnies fill up store shelves every spring and find their way into millions of Easter baskets before the holiday is over.

One unique part to this fluffy treat is that they are not only fun to eat, they are also fun to play with. Dressing up Peeps has become its own, strange cottage industry, as evidenced by certain folks around the web. And when folks aren't dressing up their Peeps, they are letting their Peeps dress them. Besides humiliating outfits and gaudy costumes, consumers also never get tired of seeing what happens when a Peep meets a microwave. Those savages.

Don't worry, though. The Peeps are getting the last laugh. While humans are out ingesting and insulting the colorful snacks, the Peeps are enacting their own form of revenge when it comes to nutritional value. Peeps pack a walloping 36 grams of sugar per serving, 160 calories and 40 grams of carbohydrates, enough for 13 percent of one's daily recommended intake. There are virtually no redeeming factors, either; Peeps are giant, sugary puffs of nothing.

Who's laughing now?

Read more:
Peeps home page | Peeps.com

Paying for a doctor's email reply. I've seen the future, and it sucks.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:28:00 +0000

As technology and medicine crawl closer and closer to their inevitable meet-and-greet, the journey along the way has not been without its bumps and bruises.

Take the latest from a blog post by KevinMD. It would appear that doctors are looking at monetizing patient e-communication:

A group in California is going to find out how badly patients would like to use e-mail as a communication tool. For an annual fee of $60, patients get the privilege of sending an e-mail to a doctor's receptionist, who then forwards the message to the physician. The doctor's reply follows the same onerous path through the receptionist.

KevinMD's question was "how much would you pay to email your doctor?" Others might be wondering, "Should I even have to pay for something like that?"

The question is one that hints at a deeper issue. While the technological advancement of electronic medical records and online diagnoses will obviously benefit the general public in the long run, doctors are trying to figure out how this change will be profitable to them. Email consults would take away from hospital visits, which has long been the one way that doctors got paid. Without the need for visits, patients won't be forking over money the way they used to when they got sick or needed answers.

But at the same time, the idea of a doctor charging for email sounds like moderate extortion. Many industries have had to change when technology came calling, but you don't see the Yellow Pages charging for subscriptions to online phonebooks. Perhaps doctors should learn to adapt and change like the rest of us.

But until they do, it might be best to seek your medical answers on WebMD.

Read more:
How much would you pay to email your doctor? | KevinMD.com medical weblog

Project Barley, Day 72: Why the lawn face?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Take me out to the ballgame indeed

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:40:00 +0000

Minor league Michigan baseball just got a lot less healthy.

The Michigan Whitecaps, a AA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, will be rolling out a 4,800-calorie burger at games this season. In case you were curious, the recommended caloric intake per day is between 1,500 and 2,200 calories. Eat this burger and you will be set for the next three days.

Here are some more details on the gut-busting nightmare:

Five patties
Five slices of cheese
A cup of chili
Corn chips
Salsa
Eight-inch sesame seed bun

And, yes, the post before this was about how eating red meat can increase mortality rate.

Read more:
Michigan baseball park offers 4800 calorie burger | MSNBC

The Big 'N Tasty: The silent killer

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:51:00 +0000

Vegans may get a lot of flack now, but if U.S. research is right, they'll be the last ones laughing ... because they'll be the only ones still alive.

According to a study by the National Cancer Institute, we carnivores who are eating the most red meat and the most processed meat have the highest overall risk of death. The researchers studied the diet trends of more than 500,000 people between the ages of 50 and 71 and found that even when other factors were accounted for (i.e., eating fresh fruits and vegetables, smoking, exercise) the likelihood of death over the next 10 years was higher for those who ate red meat.

"Red and processed meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular disease mortality," Rashmi Sinha and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

This research seems to coincide with the results from a major research project called the China Project, which found similar effects in diets that were high in animal protein. The findings, many of which were highlighted in the book China Study, claimed that a diet high in plant protein could help lower the likelihood of numerous diseases, including cancer.

Looks like we meat eaters are the ones who should be getting the flack.

Read more:
Red meat raises risk of all kinds of death: study | Reuters

Pedometers + Math = Exercise

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Tracking your steps seems like a great start to a healthy exercise regimen. And then someone had to go and ruin it by adding math.

A new study finds that people who walk to keep in shape can achieve the right intensity if they take at least 100 steps a minute. The researchers noted government recommendations that people engage in moderately intensive activity for at least 150 minutes a week, which can be accomplished with five 30-minute sessions.

So, let's see ... carry the one ... add the three ...

... set a goal of walking 3,000 steps or more in half an hour.

The key to reaching this goal with pedometer in tow is to divide your total steps taken by how long you were out walking. For instance, an ideal 3,000-step, 30-minute workout would yield the perfect 100 steps/minute result. A 3,000-step, one hour workout would mean a near-sedentary 50 steps/minute.

Most likely to lose out in light of this new information are the mall walkers. But really, did checking out the kiosks and Macy's sales ever really feel like exercise?

Read more:
A pace for fitness: 100 steps per minute | NY Times

Diet trends going unnoticed ... somehow

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:11:00 +0000

It may seem outlandish to think that there are diet trends that actually go unnoticed. You can hardly turn your head these days without being accosted by someone's before/after stomach and promises of weight loss. The notion of any one of these fads flying under the radar feels impossible given the glut of guts that dominate health headlines.

But lo and behold, there appear to be a fanciful few who have managed to keep quiet amid the deafening elevator pitches of Messrs. Atkins and Subway Jared. Diet Blog did a good job bringing some of these underappreciated dieting trends to light in a post on their site today. Here are a couple of the more notable entries.

The Mediterranean Diet: Why this way of eating isn't the standard pyramid is beyond me. Year after year, study after study this pattern of eating comes out shining and yet still doesn't seem to catch on.

Vitamin D: In the news quite a bit, but again doesn't have the sex appeal that a fat burning supplement might. It is also overshadowed by fish oil supplementation. There is a compelling reason for most people to supplement with this vitamin/hormone - especially for those in northern climates.

Also on the list were apples, Matcha tea, and something called "foam rolling," which sounds like it should remain as anonymous as possible. But one trend that the diet blog failed to mention was perhaps the most obvious one: Eating healthy.

DB hinted at it with the Mediterranean Diet, so I'll just come right out and say it. One of the least-known, underappreciated dieting trends is simply eating good foods and not eating bad ones. That's all there is to it. While a lot of people spend loads of time and money investing in dieting paraphernalia that doesn't usually end up working, the answer is staring them right in the face. Fruits and vegetables have been keeping people healthy for millenniums, and they are still just as effective today.

Read more:
The eight most underrated health trends | Diet Blog

The happiest states in America (and a couple sad ones)

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:03:00 +0000

A Gallup poll survey reveals that Utah provides its residents with the greatest sense of well-being among residents in the 50 states.

The poll, which was conducted in partnership with Healthways and America's Health Insurance Plans, surveyed over 350,000 people age 18 and older during 2008. The measurement of well-being was derived from data involving how residents felt about physical, mental, and emotional health, among other factors.

Other states that ranked high included Wyoming, Hawaii, and Colorado, and the West was easily tops in terms of geographic breakdowns.

The worst places for well-being, according to the survey, were the Midwest and the South, with West Virginia coming in last among the 50 states.

Here's the complete list. Hope your state did well.

Utah
Hawaii
Wyoming
Colorado
Minnesota
Maryland
Washington
Massachusetts
California
Arizona
Idaho
Montana
New Hampshire
Vermont
Virginia
Nebraska
New Mexico
Oregon
Connecticut
Alaska
Texas
Kansas
Georgia
Wisconsin
New Jersey
South Carolina
Iowa
North Dakota
Maine
Florida
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Alabama
North Carolina
New York
Delaware
Rhode Island
Nevada
South Dakota
Louisiana
Michigan
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Missouri
Indiana
Arkansas
Ohio
Mississippi
Kentucky
West Virginia

Read more:
Utah tops survey of well-being in U.S. | WebMD

Project Barley, Day 45: Sleepy withdrawal

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Project Barley is my quest to get healthier and to see the results I gain from one of the most nutritious plants on the planet. I'm taking AIM BarleyLife capsules because I don't like the taste of barley. I'm a coward, but I hope to be a healthier coward by the end of this project.

I have been on barley quite religiously since the start of this project, taking it at morning and at night every day for the past month and a half. But then complacency tinged with a head cold hit, and I woke up this morning to the realization that I hadn't had barley in over two days.

When I say "woke up," I should perhaps be more clear. I have yet to really wake up. The only waking I have done is the zombie-like showering, breakfasting, commuting, and emailing I've been able to manage in the bleary-eyed trance that I can't seem to shake. Maybe I'm still half asleep. Maybe I'm sleepwalking, sleepworking, and sleepblogging. All I know is that if I let my body posture slip anywhere below a right angle as I'm sitting in my chair, I will be asleep in an instant, cuddling my keyboard and snoring into my CD-ROM drive.

It would appear that I have discovered what happens when I remove barley from my diet.

This withdrawal is certainly not as bad as would be my withdrawal from illicit drugs (not that I'm on those), alcohol abuse (not that I struggle with that), or video games (not that I - okay, maybe that one's true). But it is still an annoying, distracting, and ultimately avoidable hindrance.

Staying on my daily routine of barley has helped me get healthier and feel better, and not taking barley for a few days has only served to magnify its benefits. If I feel this lackadaisical after skipping barley for two days, how will I feel in a month? Lethargic? Unmotivated? Insistent on only eating liquid foods in order to save energy from chewing?

One thing's for sure, I don't want to find out. I'm tired enough today as it is, and I much prefer the benefits of a simple addition of barley to the five seconds per day I save not taking it. The rewards of barley are enough to keep me going. It's too bad for my productivity that I had to find this out the hard way.

Project Barley, Day 36: Barley does not make you invincible

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:12:00 +0000

Project Barley is my quest to get healthier and to see the results I gain from one of the most nutritious plants on the planet. I'm taking AIM BarleyLife capsules because I don't like the taste of barley. I'm a coward, but I hope to be a healthier coward by the end of this project.

I caught a cold. At first, I was really hoping it was just allergies, for I know how to deal with those: non-drowsy antihistamines and ice cream (OK, so ice cream doesn't really help that much, but I always look for any excuse that I can to eat ice cream; the allergy excuse is that the turtle sundae flavor makes my eyes less itchy). But as runny nose and itchy eyes turned into sore throat and horrendously debilitating cough, I came to the conclusion that I had succumbed to the common cold. And that I needed another box of Kleenex.

Catching a cold wouldn't be all that bad except I was pretty sure that I was supposed to be exempt from such trivialities of common life when I embarked upon Project Barley. My barley diet dictated as much. At least, that's the way I remembered it when I signed my deal with the devil whole foods. They kept me healthy, and I stopped making fun of them in mixed company. Those were the terms. Or so I thought.

Apparently I was wrong. There's no doubt that I've been taking my barley supplements regularly. I've been keeping better care of myself in the past 36 days than I have in the past 25 years. So why me? Why now?

I have a couple of theories. First off, perhaps this is the much anticipated detoxification process that I had been warned of. Typically when people dramatically change their diets from processed Pygmalion to healthy, their bodies go through a type of withdrawal and cleanse that often leads to sickness.

Also, I recently bought a jigsaw puzzle at a thrift store that could have very well been tainted with flu viruses. I don't know what people do in their free time. I'm just throwing theories out there.

And then there's this: I volunteer with two- and three-year-olds once a week, I hang out with junior high kids on a regular basis, I drink from a community water cooler, I work with people who have recently resembled a MASH unit, I touch my face a lot, and I don't get enough sleep.

What my sickness comes down to is probably a combination of factors, which barley diet or no barley diet couldn't have controlled. I can't count on a daily dose of greens to make me impervious to the health concerns that are very present in the world. I'll still get sick. And then I'll get better. And as long as I continue with Project Barley and eating healthy, I'll still be better off than I was before.

But don't be surprised if I don't slip in a vegetable joke in mixed company now and then.

The VCR toaster they said would never be made

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:14:00 +0000

What's next? An Xbox juicer?

Project Barley, Day 28: How long can I keep this up?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Would you quit your diet once you meet your goals? (No goals, no quitting, for me.)
Can you keep up your diet and not affect your long-term health? (Can do.)
Have you learned good habits from your diet?

The last one may be the one that ultimately ends this barley project for me. I have learned good habits from my "diet"; I have learned excellent habits. And having learned these new habits, I feel confident that once I find the need to let go of Project Barley in favor of Project Regular Everyday Guy Who Doesn't Take Whole Food Supplement Pills, I'll have the structure in place to not go off the deep end of unhealthy living. I've felt the renewed energy, improved activity levels, and deeper cognition of a healthy diet and lifestyle, and that's something that I hope to keep whether I'm mid-Project or not.

But for the time being, Project Barley lives on. I have more pills to half-swallow.

Read more:
Is your diet for life? | Diet Blog

Be an informed shopper with Zeer.com's nutritional facts

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:19:00 +0000

Never again wonder how many calories are in a box of Cheez-Its.

Zeer.com , a wonderfully resourceful food site, has the answer to Cheez-It calories and much, much more. The site is designed to provide information on a wealth of products and to connect consumers with like-minded shoppers in the efforts of building a community of foodies. One helpful way to use it is learning from others to discover new brands that could save you money, calories, or both. For instance, Cheez-It Reduced Fat Baked crackers . Now we're getting somewhere.

Read more:
Zeer homepage | Zeer.com

Project Barley, Day 20: Group therapy on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Discovering that the south beach diet kicks in big time in the second week. I'm wasting away all of a sudden.

Or this, from user Dahl_Kaiser:

I was on a diet for a week, and all I lost was seven days.

To find health-related users (or to find virtually anything you wish to search for), go to Search Twitter and type in your search terms. A couple seconds later, you'll be engrossed in real-time dieting.

Feel free to find me when you're there, too. I have my own Twitter page that I update multiple times per day with links and news and what I had for lunch (you can also check it out in the sidebar of this blog). It's awfully revealing, but I don't mind. I've got nothing to hide, and thankfully, my new Twitter pals don't, either.

Singing carrots want to be eaten

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:42:00 +0000

National Carrot Day was on February 3rd (Cauliflower is so jealous right now), and to celebrate, carrot day organizers composed the following fun video.

Celebrate carrot day this weekend by having a carrot or two for yourself. Just check first to see if they have plans for a budding singing career.

Read more:
National Carrot Day | Yes to Carrots

Why we ought to envy the Aussies

noreply@blogger.com (Kevan) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:20:00 +0000

Australia has quickly become a new leader in whole food health and nutrition. The land down under has chosen to revise its national dietary guidelines and, in so doing, might set an example that other countries around the world will follow.

The new policy takes into account overall health and disease prevention by promoting healthy food, sustainability by considering food's impact upon the environment, and promoting the availability of whole foods for everyone.

Expect the Aussies to look toward green vegetables and plant-based proteins for their new nutrition kick. And expect America to look on with a curious, bewildered, indifferent look and then go back to eating its burger.

Read more:
Eat like the Aussies do | Super Eco | digg story