"lifestyle" news and stories

As I flipped past Maxim, Shape, and Better Homes and Gardens, a new mag caught my eye the other day - Clean Eating. Come again? I flipped through it for a minute or so, but couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what "clean eating" was. The opposite of 'dirty eating?' (see picture at right for an example of what I imagined 'dirty eating' to be). Perhaps a way of eating without spilling anything on yourself. Sadly, this intrigued me.

So I went home and consulted my trusty ol' Interweb, and there it was: the unofficial definition of clean eating: "Consuming food in its most natural state...it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading to..." My eyes glazed over at this point (and by the way, why does every new diet define itself as a "lifestyle?" Can't anyone just eat anymore without defining themselves within a food "lifestyle?"

Anyway, I digress. From what I can tell, "clean eating" is just another way of saying "eat normal-sized portions of healthy, low-fat, fresh foods." Which everyone already knows. And like every di - er, lifestyle - there's a list of stuff to avoid (refined sugars, anything fatty, alcohol - y'know, all the tasty stuff) and a "seven-day meal plan" to get you started. Oh, and the best part: the token "Before and After" pics of a woman in a muumuu and then that same woman, 200 pounds lighter and "much, much happier." Because only thin people are happy, dontcha know.

Eh, I dunno. Maybe I'm jaded - and I'm sure Clean Eating could be a good source for new healthy recipes - but healthy eating and portion control are simply that. Stop trying to slap a label on it turn it into a book, movie, stuffed animal, or lifestyle. Just eat right, right? And have a beer or a cupcake once in awhile. Tell them Ellen said it's okay.

In India, the government is a little less subtle than other governments about their desire to prevent consumers from being exposed to products they deem to be unhealthy. New York, for example, is trying to get restaurants to list their calorie counts on their menus so that people can make an informed decision and choose (hopefully) the lower calorie item. Delhi , on the other hand, has decided to ask for schools and universities to ban sodas, citing sodas as an unhealthy form of junk food.

Coke, in a statement, said that the amount of Coke sold at universities and schools was very small and that they have been supporting campaigns that promote active lifestyles and sporting events in India.

Following India's attempt to get Coke and Pepsi to turn over their recipes to the government earlier this year, it is hard to believe that this is not a health-related move as much as a symbolic political one, trying to get back at the companies after their efforts were unsuccessful. This is especially true when you consider that "the country [has]some of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the world" and some of the most extreme poverty.

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Are you looking for a good resource on diets and dieting information? Diet Television, which is a website, unlike the name suggests, launched this week and it offers "unbiased opinions from experts and from people just like you" on more than 47 different diets. Best of all, the site is completely free.

It was founded by some of the executives from the online shopping site Bluefly who wanted to build a community where people could support each other and get access to nutritionists, fitness experts, technology gurus and human behavioral specialists. Perhaps most importantly, the creators of the site admit that with all the diet-knowledge that they themselves have accumulated, they don't have a favorite diet, so the user-oriented site has no agenda besides helping you get healthy, lose those holiday pounds, or just answer any random questions you might have about a given diet or food. To start out, try the diet finder to identify your best match based on your likes, dislikes and goals.

The site is only in the first phase of its launch right now and there is more to come starting in 2007, so take a look at what they have to offer, but don't forget to try it again for a send helping in a couple of months.

[Thanks, Elise!]

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For some people, food and heartburn go hand in hand. Unfortunately, doctors have long been recommending that those who suffer with heartburn (also known as gastroesophageal reflux disease) give up many foods, such as fried and spicy foods, alcohol, carbonated beverages, coffee and chocolate,  in an attempt to prevent unpleasant symptoms. New research from Stanford University shows, however, that cutting out favorite foods does not actually stop heartburn for most sufferers. There are two lifestyle changes that showed a clear benefit: losing a few pounds and sleeping with the head elevated, to "reduce stomach acid from entering the esophagus while sleeping." Changing both of these things produced better, more consistent results from patients when compared to those who simply cut back on or cut out various foods.

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Green Tables is a project started by two health and eco-conscious groups, Les Dames d'Escoffier (LDEI) and the National Gardening Association (NGA), that hopes to encourage people to be more aware of their food, where it comes from and to make better food choices. Their program is called LDEI Civic Agriculture & Garden Initiative and it involves the 26 international chapters of the LDEI getting out and running projects in their communities, from cooking demonstrations to scholarships and other educational classes.

While many of the components of the initiative are public, most of them are aimed at encouraging youths to think about what they ear and, hopefully, to appreciate it more. Green Tables wants to educate people about why they might want to use locally grown foods and increase their environmental awareness. Ideally , participants will gain a deeper interest in community food, gardening and agriculture efforts, leading to both healthier foods and healthier lifestyles.

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