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People who eat lots of magnesium-rich foods such as leafy green vegetables, nuts and beans have fewer strokes, according to an international analysis covering some 250,000 people.
But the authors of the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stopped short of recommending people take a daily magnesium supplement because their analysis focused on magnesium in food — and it may be another aspect of the food that is responsible for their finding. [Read more...]
Weight lost doesn’t always equal health gained. That new diet that took inches off your waistline could be harming your health if it locks out or severely restricts entire food groups, like carbs, or relies on supplements with little scientific backing, or clamps down on calories to an extreme.
“People are so desperate to lose weight that it’s really weight loss at any cost,” says Madelyn Fernstrom, founding director of the UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Weight Management Center and author of The Real You Diet. And when that desperation sets in, says Fernstrom, “normal thinking goes out the window.” Who cares if the forbidden-foods list is longer than War and Peace? Pounds are coming off. You’re happy. But your body might not be. [Read more...]
Planning ahead about what you are going to eat in a week helps increase savings by up to 1500 pounds a year, a survey has shown.
The survey asked 20 households to record what they ate and drank over a two-week period, first eating and shopping as usual then using recipes and tips from the Government’s Change4Life campaign in Britain.
During this second week, those who took part notched up average savings of 29 pounds a week. [Read more...]
Whether you prefer them green or black, olives are a healthy fruit to add to your meals. For the Greeks, they represent nobility and peace but more than that they know the wonders it does for your health.
Olive oil helps keep cholesterol levels in check and controls the blood sugar. It is one of the easiest to digest as it is monounsaturated. Drizzle some on top of a vegetable salad or dip a slice of whole-grain bread in some and eat as a snack. [Read more...]
A new study has found that people who try to go on a healthy diet often end up having to spend more money on groceries.
The study of more than 1,000 people, found that those who bumped up their potassium intake – a nutrient needed to keep blood pressure in check – tacked on 380 dollars to their annual food bill.
It also showed that those who ate foods high in added sugar and saturated fat had lower grocery tabs than the ones who relied more heavily on whole grains and other good-for-you items.
“The bottom line is if you can’t afford it, you can’t eat it,” the New York Daily News quoted Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, as saying. [Read more...]
It’s a primal impulse to worry about an infant’s growth. And several studies show that parents from a variety of backgrounds and social classes all prefer to see their children growing at the high percentiles. But experts on child nutrition, mostly enlisted nowadays in the battle against childhood obesity, point out that some of our standard infant feeding practices and attitudes may need revising, including some of those encouraged by paediatricians. Our grandmothers’ attitude—stuff food into the baby, be proud of a “good eater”—may not make sense in an environment of abundant food and rising obesity.
But it gets medically controversial, and emotionally sticky, when doctors start talking about obesity in babies. Is there an epidemic of infant obesity? Are fat babies at greater risk of turning into fat children at higher risk for medical consequences later on in life? And what can doctors advise parents about feeding a baby—which ought, after all, to be one of the basic joys of parenthood? [Read more...]
The study in the January issue on the theme of obesity shows that healthier eating does not have to be more expensive, challenging one of the commonly cited barriers to dietary change.
The research team, led by Professors Julian Hamilton-Shield and Debbie Sharp from the University of Bristol, analysed food diaries kept by the families of obese children and measured the costs of substituting healthy food options for unhealthy ones, finding that healthy eating can cost less than junk food.
The figures showed that healthier eating could cost no more than £2.31 ($3.59) extra a week, and that in some cases, savings of up to £6.58 a week could by made by switching shops. [Read more...]