| Poverty Drains Nutrition From Family Diet
THURSDAY, Feb. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Members of poor households in which it is consistently hard to afford enough high-quality food end up eating nutritionally risky diets, Canadian researchers reveal. The new study is the first to show that food insecurity directly translates into poor nutrition. It also suggests that in such homes, adults and teens, rather than very young children, are the most likely to be subsisting on diets low in vitamins, minerals, fruits, vegetables, grains and meat. "Over the long term, [food insecurity] could be expected to precipitate and complicate diet-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease," cautioned study co-author, Sharon Kirkpatrick, a doctoral candidate in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto.
Diet helps keep children seizure-free
LAFAYETTE, Calif. Without hesitation, Cathy Holt can tell you how long it has been since Noah's latest seizure.The Lafayette, Calif., mother keeps a running total. Her blond, blue-eyed 4-year-old has been seizure-free for 40 weeks.That is a life-altering change for Noah, who had been averaging a seizure a week since he was 6 months old. The longest one lasted three hours. Many ended in a hospital emergency room.Noah tried state-of-the-art medications to control his epilepsy, without success.A low-tech approach transformed the boy's life a strict high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that defies all good-nutrition recommendations.Known as the ketogenic diet, it has been around since biblical times and has gone in and out of favor.Instead of fruits and vegetables, Noah's meals often include heavy cream, bacon and butter laced with cinnamon.Why and how the diet works remains a mystery.But Children's Hospital Oakland, Kaiser Permanente, the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford and other institutions have put scores of epileptic children on the diet, with varying degrees of success.Experts stress that the diet can have side effects and should be attempted only under strict medical supervision.
Saying good-bye to fad diets and pills
As the world turns to fad diets and the empty promises of diet pills, nutritionists and dietitians suggest that the easiest way to gain optimal health is just to, simply, eat healthier. Countless studies have shown that eating certain foods may help protect the heart, reduce the risk of certain cancers and improve various other aspects of your health. Molly Michelman, nutrition professor at UNLV, suggests eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily to reduce the risk of many types of cancer. She also suggests choosing whole grains like brown rice. Eating oranges and other vitamin C rich foods may help eliminate the cancer-causing bacteria, H. pylori, which causes peptic ulcers and untreated, can lead to stomach cancer.
Nutrition pros help find the grains of truth amid the hype about what ...
The worst thing you can do is say, 'I have 10 top foods, and that's all I'm going to eat.' " I guess that rules out the Special K diet I was going to start tomorrow. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., that advocates good nutrition and sound science and blew the whistle on trans fats and other dietary disasters, recommends adding sweet potatoes, grape tomatoes, broccoli, citrus fruits, butternut squash, spinach, kale, skim or 1 percent milk, wild salmon, brown rice and whole-grain rye crackers to your diet. But what about all those buzz words, such as omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, whole grains and probiotic cultures that we've been hearing so much about? You know, the ones that are supposed to make you live forever, or something like that.
Exposed: The Long, Cruel Road to The Slaughterhouse
There is NO need for animal foods in human nutrition. An entirely healthy — and indeed superiorly healthy — diet can be had from the "four vegan food groups" (fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes). Likewise there is no need to eat animal foods in order to have a varied, delicious and satisfying diet — there are plenty of sensational tasting vegan foods from cuisines all over the world, including Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, and good old American traditions. So, give it some thought. It wasn't that easy to even go vegetarian when I made that choice back in the early 1970s, but today even the big supermarket chains carry a lot of vegan foods from tofu to Boca Burgers, and of course whole grains and legumes and fresh fruits and vegetables, and it is a lot easier than you might think to go vegan and just withdraw ALL of your energy from the completely needless cruelty of raising and slaughtering sentient beings for food.
Fortified Water Ads Flood Super Bowl
(Rochester, N.Y.) – The Super Bowl was awash with commercials for enhanced or "fortified" water.Are these beverages good for you, or are their claims all wet?At the Midtown Athletic Club cafe, the Vitaminwater brand is a big seller.“It tastes good and supposedly it's good for you," said Elvio Fernandez.“I have to force myself to drink water so it's a good alternative," said Jay Surgoine.The beverages come in many flavors with different vitamin and mineral combinations. Vitaminwater's Kiwi-Strawberry Focus favor has Vitamins A, C, B3, B6, B12, B5. Some of the drinks have calcium or potassium.In one ad shown during the 2008 Super Bowl, Shaquille O'Neal rides a horse to victory, thanks to Vitaminwater. In another, lizards got down to Michael Jackson while claiming the SoBe Life water brand is “thrillicious."USA Today cites figures showing that sales of fortified ("enhanced") water went up 32 percent in the first nine months of 2007.“It's definitely hype," said Rochester Institute of Technology Assistant Professor Liz Kmiecinski, who teaches a class on sports nutrition.She says the vitamins in these drinks are “totally random," and most people typically don't need a boost of the vitamins offered.“We need to get our vitamins from food, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, whole foods, dairy products, those kinds of things," Kmiecinski said.Midtown's fitness director warns clients that the water is "enhanced" with more than just vitamins.“Regular water is always better because of the calorie content, the calories.
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