For years, people have thought that diet soda was the way to go if you wanted to cut down on the sugar and calories that come with regular soda. Apparently, they are now finding that it might not be such a safe choice after all. Researchers have now determined that drinking one soda a day, whether it's diet or regular, is associated with a much higher rates of heart disease and diabetes.
They've associated regular, sugar-sweetened soda, with those health concerns for years, but this is the first study that finds that diet soda is also an indicator of future health issues. They don't think that it is the ingredients in the diet soda that lead to health problems, but that drinking soda (of any variety) is an indicator of other questionable eating patterns. Which just confirms what we've all known for years. You can not redeem a quarter pounder with cheese and large fries with the addition of a diet soda.
A team of Mexican bakers made a massive, sweet gesture toward madres and abuelitas across that country last Thursday. But the only thing sweet about the 2.2 metric ton celebration of Mother's Day is the fact that it was a cake. The gigantic dessert was made entirely with zero-calorie sweetener rather than sugar.
The heart-shaped cake was 16-feet wide and fed about 150 mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. And just how much artificial sweetener does it take to make an enormous blue-and-yellow cake? A tad over 200 pounds. Of course you'll also need 23 bakers, 881 pounds of eggs, 639 pounds of whipping cream and a really big oven, among other things. The folks behind the supersized sugar-free cake want to promote artificial sweeteners in Mexico, where obesity is increasingly widespread and some 7 million people suffer from diabetes.
Have you ever heard of soy yogurt? Until I ran across this article I hadn't. I like yogurt a lot, especially when it's a premium product like goat, sheep, or water buffalo yogurt. I even make it myself at home quite often in my yogurt maker. But soy yogurt? I will have to look for it at the market and see if I can find it. Well, soy yogurt may help control type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. It seems that enzymes in the yogurt help regulate blood sugar levels. This could be good news to the 15 million Americans and 150 million people around the world with type 2 diabetes. This discovery was accidental, like many in research. The research team bought a whole bunch of different types of yogurt with various fruit, because they were actually testing which fruit had the best levels of these enzymes. one type they bought was soy yogurt and they found out it had even higher levels of the enzyme than the regular fruit yogurts. Have any of you tried soy yogurt? Is it any good? How does it compare with other types of yogurt?
Operating purely from a health perspective, Epicurious set out to taste some sugar-free chocolates to see if there was one on the market that didn't "taste like chalk." In this case, they were taste testing the treats with a Halloween loving but candy-deprived diabetic, so the test was not conducted from a weight-loss or low-carb mindset . This is a solid indication that the tasters really were putting taste first, and not the nutrition label. The chocolates were grouped by brand:
Hershey's - Winner: Sugar Free York Peppermint Patties, Loser: No Sugar Hershey bars ("truly awful")
Guylian - Winner: Dark chocolate bar, Loser: Hazelnut bar (unless you're a big hazelnut fan)
Godiva - Winner: Milk and dark assortment, dark chocolate candy bars, Loser: None.
In general, the tasters felt that you got what you paid for when it came to sugar-free chocolates. The Godiva chocolates were the best of the bunch and were remarkably similar to "real" chcolates. Darker chocolates, which have less sugar even in regular bars, will transition more smoothly than milk chocolates. Combining the chocolates with other strong flavors, like hazelnut, coconut or mint, can cover up any minor flaws in the chocolate and will make even a poor-quality no-sugar chocolate acceptable most of the time.
A Finnish study that was conducted several years ago linked a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes with increased coffee consumption. It showed that people who drank 3-4 cups of cups a day had a 30% lower risk, while those women who drank 10 cups had a 79% reduction in risk. This study was reported in 2004, and the results of the study were similar to the conclusions of a recently-published study from researchers at UC San Diego that has been going on for the past 8 years.
The UCSD study said that their testing showed that current or past drinkers of caffeinated coffee had a 60% diabetes risk reduction, while those who never drank coffee did not. Apparently, not enough of the participants were decaf-only drinkers, so no conclusions could be made about them. The scientists do not think it is the caffeine that plays the crucial role in the risk-lowering, but that it is due to other compounds in the coffee.
The important thing to note from this study, according to the researchers, is that "people with diabetes and those at risk for developing diabetes have enough to worry about" and that coffee isn't one of those things.
The findings showed that pomegranate juice had no effect on blood sugar levels (i.e. did not increase it). However, it did reduce levels of other compounds that affect cardiovascular health. Consistently high glucose levels intensify the hardening of blood vessels. This is called atherosclerosis, and leads to cardiovascular disease and stroke. According to lead researcher Professor Michael Aviram, "In most juices, sugars are present in free – and harmful – forms. In pomegranate juice, however, the sugars are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against atherosclerosis."
A study organized by researchers at George Washington University, the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina, in conjunction with the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, has concluded that following a low-fat, vegan diet may actually reverse the symptoms of diabetes.
The study had participants with type II diabetes and assigned them to either a vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes Association diet. Vegans cut out all animal products, including dairy and meat, and had less refined sugar. The ADA diet varies based on factors such as body weight, cholesterol, so it is much more specific in what dieters can eat. The vegan diet was easier to follow because the people in that group did not have to count calories or measure portion sizes, unlike the ADA diet, and this was evidenced by the fact that fewer people in the vegan group dropped out of the study than in the other group.
According to research, it you are going to pig out it should be on regular food, not fast food. In a study where monkeys were fed a diet consisting mostly of trans-fats, the types of fats most commonly found in fast foods, the primates gained more weight than those fed the same number of calories containing unsaturated fats.
Trans-fats, or partially hydrogenated oils, are bad news. They are found in many fast foods, baked goods and processed snacks. They have been shown to significantly increase the risk of heart disease, even more than saturated fats found in animal products.
After maintaining the monkeys on the fat laden diet for six years, the trans-fat-fed monkeys had gained 7.2% of their body weight, compared to just 1.8% in the group who ate unsaturated fat. CT scans showed that the trans-fat monkeys carried 30% more abdominal fat, which is a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease. Although the data might prove informative to some fast food eaters, I can't help but feel bad for those poor monkeys.
One source is the website for the Jewish Diabetes Organization, www.jewishdiabetes.org. The site offers a guide in PDF format with recipes.
Cinnamon Hearts, at www.cinnamonhearts.com, is a recipe goldmine for Jewish
diabetics, with not only Passover recipes and a menu for a Seder dinner, but many foods for diabetics in general.
Tonight TLC will begin airing a new series entitled, Honey, We're Killing the Kids!. The
show will focus on 13 families from across the nation who's children's eating habits have become seriously unhealthy. A
constant intake consisting of over sized portions of sugary, fat laden, low fiber foods has left these children
inactive and at high risks for diabetes and heart disease.
Dr. Lisa Hark, who hosts the series, focuses on
the cause of this epidemic in our country. She helps educate the families about how to make healthier food and activity
choices that will benefit their lives for the longterm. She also uses a computer imaging program that takes a current
picture of their child and fast forwards it into young adulthood to give the parents a frightening look at how obesity
will shape their children.
According to a study conducted at Black Entertainment
Television during the summer of 2005, there were far more more commercials for fast food and snacks on black-oriented
TV than on channels aimed at the more general population. The results of this study, which will likely prove to be
provocative, indicated a cause for the rising trend in obesity among African-American children. The study monitored
commercials during the afternoon hours, the time slot most attractive to children who watch cartoons and 'tween shows;
the the WB network and Disney Channel were also involved in the study. During the time slot, over 1,000 ads were shown
on all three channels. On BET 66 percent of the ads were for fast food commercials, as opposed to 34 percent on the WB
and none on the Disney channel. BET scored an 82 percent for soda ads, with WB at 11 percent and the Disney channel was
again last at 6 percent. As for high calorie, low fiber snacks, the BET commercial time came in at 60 percent, nothing
for the WB and the Disney channel scored 60 percent.
Fiber is often
cited as being a crucial part of a healthy diet. "Fiber" refers to carbohydrates that cannot be digested
and comes primarily from plant sources. A high fiber diet can help lower cholesterol, prevent heart disease and
manage weight. Fiber reduces the risk of developing many digestive disorders and diabetes. Fiber is found in foods
such as oatmeal, nuts, legumes, apples, blueberries, whole grains, brown rice, barley, zucchini celery and tomatoes.
It seems that many people, though they know that fiber is important, do not know precisely why. In a study last month done by the National Fiber
Council (NFC), half of respondents could identify that fiber could help lower cholesterol, but 19%believed that it
contributed to strong bones and 10% thought that fiber could improve vision. Neither of the latter is true, but this
shows that fiber is a misunderstood part of the diet. Most study participants did not know how much fiber they should
be consuming daily (32 grams or more, according to the NFC), nor did they know what types of food fiber could be found
in. Foods like berries, nuts and whole grain breads were frequently listed as not being a significant source of dietary
fiber, while more than half of all the respondents in the study said that steak was a good source of fiber. In reality,
meat is very low in fiber.
On a less serious note, the participants were also asked what celebrities looked as though they consumed a high
fiber diet. 34% of people said that Oprah looks most like she has a high fiber diet, followed by Brad Pitt at 21%.
I've been fiercely opposed to
the chemically-altered and highly sweet high fructose corn syrup for years, and it's amazing to me that, as long as
it's been known to have serious affects on health, contributing to rising obesity and diabetes rates, it's still
ubiquitously available in foods. It's super sweet, and it's cheap.
Kate Hopkins from the Accidental Hedonist is,
like me, a long-time member of the anti-HFCS camp. She's developed an exceedingly
well-researched answer to a reader's question on how to argue the HFCS case when many corn industry marketing folks
rave about how "natural" the product is.
For years, people have thought that diet soda was the way to go if you wanted to cut down on the sugar and calories that come with regular soda. Apparently, they are now finding that it might not be such a safe choice after all. Researchers have now determined that drinking one soda a day, whether it's diet or regular, is associated with a much higher rates of heart disease and diabetes. 
A team of Mexican bakers made a massive, sweet gesture toward madres and abuelitas across that country last Thursday. But the only thing sweet about the 2.2 metric ton celebration of Mother's Day is the fact that it was a cake. The gigantic dessert was made entirely with zero-calorie sweetener rather than sugar.
Have you ever heard of soy yogurt? Until I ran across this 
Operating purely from a health perspective, Epicurious set out to taste some 
A Finnish study that was conducted several years ago linked a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes with increased coffee consumption. It showed that people who drank 3-4 cups of cups a day had a 30% lower risk, while those women who drank 10 cups had a 79% reduction in risk. This study was reported in 2004, and the results of the study were similar to the conclusions of 
We already know that 
A study organized by researchers at George Washington University, the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina, in conjunction with the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, has concluded that following a low-fat, vegan diet may actually 
According to research, it you are going to pig out it should be on regular food, not fast food. In a study where monkeys were fed a diet consisting mostly of trans-fats, the types of fats most commonly found in fast foods, the primates gained more weight than those fed the same number of calories containing unsaturated fats. 
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Tonight TLC will begin airing a new series entitled,
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According to a 
Fiber
I've been fiercely opposed to
the chemically-altered and highly sweet high fructose corn syrup for years, and it's amazing to me that, as long as
it's been known to have serious affects on health, contributing to rising obesity and diabetes rates, it's still
ubiquitously available in foods. It's super sweet, and it's cheap.
Cheese Course: Brebis Pardou
A transcendent summer tomato salad
Sliced bread turns 80 today
