"diet" news and stories

• An ode to romaine: It's not just for Caesar anymore.
• They may sound one step away from a Hot Pocket, but Japanese hot pots couldn't be further away -- and they're really, really hot.
• Speaking of Hot Pockets, you weren't considering going on a cleanse, were you?
• This reviewer has a fever for the flavor of former "Top Chef" winner Ilan Hall's quirky downtown L.A. restaurant, the Gorbals.

Vitamin Water has been in the news lately with some contretempts over the caloric content of their brightly colored, somewhat nutritious beverages. So it's fortuitous timing that they're coming out with 10-calorie versions of several flavors. Up for the dietetic treatment are Energy (tropical citrus/yellow), XXX (acai-blueberry-pomegranate/magenta), Multi-V (lemonade/white) and Essential (orange/orange).

Can you tell the difference between the 25-calorie bottle and the 125-calorie bottle? Well, the Essential lo-cal version is, weirdly, sweeter than the original, while the Multi-V is about the same. Along with the lighter revisions. Vitamin Water has also come out with two new standard-calorie flavors: Tranquilo (tamarind-pineapple/chartreuse) and Sync (berry-cherry/lavender).

It seems obvious: eat healthy foods in moderation, drink in moderation, and maintain your weight. But it's not obvious, at least not to the vast majority of Americans who are overweight, and Dr. Tedd Goldfinger, a Cardiologist in Arizona, has the answer in a book called The Wine Lover's Healthy Weight Loss Plan (McGraw-Hill, $16.95).

I think a lot of other food lovers would agree with me when I say that dieting is boring and restrictive. It's like being told you can only play certain chords on the piano if you're a pianist, or that you have to run the same route every day if you're a jogger.

That's where Goldfinger's plan is genius: he offers a dieting solution in the Mediterranean diet, based on Italian, Greek, Provencal, and Spanish cuisines that's designed to pair with wine. The foods aren't just good for you, they're good too. Goldfinger channels the author of The French Paradox, Dr. Serge Renaud, who discovered how healthy the French are in spite of eating buttered croissants and foie gras. Why? Wine, of course.

After successfully forcing NYC restaurants to post calorie counts on menus and to stop cooking with trans fat, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the commissioner of New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is waging a war on salt. A recent New York Times article explains that he's going after packaged food companies and mass-produced restaurant meals. Apparently, they contribute 80 percent of the sodium in the average American diet. Over the next five years, Dr. Frieden aims to cut the level of salt intake by 25 percent.

Is salt so bad for us? Salt, in some people (not everyone) can lead to high blood pressure which is a leading factor in the incidence of heart attack and stroke. At the same time, many scientists do not believe sodium intake is directly related to high blood pressure. In the past, studies comparing hypertensive populations found that those on low-salt diets had more than four times as many heart attacks as those on normal-sodium diets.

Although the health link may not be clear, what's obvious is that excess of most ingredients cannot be healthy. And, foods at fast-food chains, like McDonald's, are outrageously high in sodium. It seems that if dealt with in a reasonable way, Dr. Frieden's goal can be quite progressive. What do you think?

In China, they have an extra season.

Spring, Summer, Late Summer, Fall, and Winter make up the five seasons of the Chinese calendar; corresponding with the five Chinese elements and a number of their healing philosophies.

According to my knowledgeable friend Lora:
"Each season is connected to a set of organs in the body. Corresponding foods that are fresh in each season are meant to cleanse, detoxify, and heal those organs. When we eat the same diet year-round without paying attention to seasonal foods, we ignore our bodies' needs to support and properly heal organs, which leads to lots of health issues (obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, etc.)."

So. Here's what you should eat right now: