"nutritional" news and stories

When we learn about nutrition, we tend to focus on calories and vitamins. We're taught about which foods may prevent cancer and help our immune system. We normally concentrate on the physical effects of food on our body. It turns out however that foods have many more properties. According to a recent article from The Economist, foods also affect our cognition. They can enhance our mental health. Not only can certain foods improve our memory, but they can also prevent many of the negative effects of aging and even increase our lifespan.

Dr Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery and physiological science at the University of California, Los Angeles, conducted research on the way antioxidants and vitamins work with synapses in the brain. Based on his study, below are certain foods that can lead to a healthy brain:

NYC's Board of Health attempted last year to pass a measure that forced fast food joints to post calorie counts on their menu boards, right where people could see them (and, I guess, be horrified by them and run screaming from the restaurant. Or...something. Not quite sure what the city's goal was).

At any rate, a judge struck down the measure, so now they're back to where they started. But they're not giving up on trying to hoard their mighty caloric knowledge on the citizens of New York! By golly, they will succeed in getting people to acknowledge the 600 calories in that Premium Crispy Chicken Ranch BLT Sandwich they're eating! And then the Board of Health officials will sleep soundly at night, feeling virtuous that they have single-handedly handled the "obesity epidemic." Right?

For the record, Burger King and McDonald's already make this information available (it took me half a minute to find how many calories were in that Chicken McWhatever listed above), they just don't advertise it like the marquee outside of Radio City. Currently, if the city's restaurants want to display their food's nutritional info, they are more than welcome to.

And I mean, really, how many people nowadays don't know that fast food is bad for them? I highly doubt that prominently displaying caloric information will make people who have already walked through a eatery's doors gawk at the fat content and walk out of the store in a huff. I mean, if I want a cookie, I'm eating the cookie knowing that it's bad for me (and even secretly reveling in that fact).

If enacted, the regulation will go into effect March 31. So, until then, we can remain uneducated, bumbling masses. Sound good?

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Hannaford Bros. operates 150 grocery stores in upstate New York and throughout New England and is implementing its own system, perhaps in lieu of a nutritionist at each location, to let customers know the nutritional value of the foods they're planning to buy. Their rating system assigns stars to food items based on USDA guidelines, adding points for nutrients and taking away for high levels of fats and sugars, but not taking calories into account. The system is:

• 1 star: good choice
• 2 stars: better choice
• 3 stars: best choice
• 0 stars: no nutritional value

The store stocks over 27,000 items and only 25% of them got one or more stars. Some staples, like cooking oil, were not evaluated. Is it a perfect system? No, but it does accomplish its goal of giving consumers a general idea of the nutritional value of foods without requiring "a nutrition degree to understand." A store survey said that 8 out of 10 customers wanted some form of nutritional guidance and they're trying to deliver it in a basic form.

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Inside Prevention's Fit and Fast Meals in Minutes: Over 175 Delicious, Healthy Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less, you'll find a wide variety of meals that can all be made part of a balanced, healthy diet and a busy day. It takes no thought on your part to put them together, though, because author Linda Gassenheimer has done all the work for you. Each meal – the book covers breakfast, lunch and dinner and the recipes are usually grouped as a complete meal – comes with a shopping list of ingredients, helpful hints to save time or for substitutions, and a "countdown" timeline for making the meal. The easy-to-follow recipes also have a complete nutritional analysis to accompany them, so you know exactly what you're eating and as if that weren't enough, they are designed to have the optimal balance of proteins, complex carbohydrates and fats you need in your diet.

All the recipes make two servings, with the exception of the foods in the "entertaining" section, which serve six, so it is ideal for a single-eater who wants leftovers or four couples. As in so many other healthy living books, this one offers tips for controlling your portion sizes and making good food choices at home and at restaurants. There are four weeks' worth of recipes and a chart that suggests meals for each day, so the book could serve as a great starting place for someone who wants to begin to pursue a healthier lifestyle, as well as for those who already do.

And, for those of you interested in seeing more of Linda Gassenheimer, you can catch her column or see her at the 2006 Miami Book Fair, Nov. 12-19.

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