What’s Up in Food & Wellness
Marian Nestle comments on new study from the International Food Information Council
NYTimes: World’s Poor Pay as Food Research is Cut
The Veggie Queen Vegetarian Recipes
Archive forFood Media & Culture
More to love about fruits & vegetables - more ORAC scores
Did you know that there is a measure of the antioxidant activity of food? That’s the effect that all the phytochemicals - antioxidants and other micro-nutrients that we’ve learned so much about in just the last few years have in our bodies. The USDA has just expanded its database of foods and their ORAC (oxygen radical absorbancy capacity) scores. You can see the scores and learn more about what it means here.
What I love about this new information is that foods that I knew in my gut were healthy, but was told in my early nutrition classes were not rich in vitamins or minerals - things like beets and apples - are. The gut is right again - only now I know why. Foods with great ORAC scores are brightly colored fruits and veggies, herbs, and yes, chocolate.
Antioxidant activity in the body is thought to prevent nearly every chronic condition that so many Americans struggle with. So again, focusing on a plant based diet, along with the magic of movement, is what the medicine doctor ordered for 2008.
Be well.
Here Come Lots of Health-rating Systems, and More Confusion
Get ready for lots of new signage in your local grocery store - as reported in a NYTimes Article earlier this week, there are at least three rating systems under development to help consumers sift the wheat from the chaff as far as healthy choices go. The problem being that from what I can see, they only include packaged food. So, the healthiest foods in the grocery store - fresh fruits and vegetables - won’t be included. Why can I see how these undertakings will add to the confusion, while the smarties leading these efforts don’t?
Only when the healthiest foods -fruits and vegetables - are included, and the rating systems truly take into account all the aspects of what makes a food healthy - nutrient density, fiber, and freedom from chemical additives - only then will your best supermarket choices be obvious from a rating system. Until then, weighing brands of processed food will only add to the confusion and foster more unhealthy choices.
And until the day that your produce section is filled with gold stars, regardless of what these rating systems say, eating as many fresh unprocessed colorful fruits and vegetables as you possibly can is a great start. It’s as simple as that.
Warm Regards,
Annie
PS - I just heard from Dr. Katz that the system he’s working on, the Overall Nutrition Quality Index WILL include fresh fruits and veggies. All right!
Is Celebrity Fit Club the most improved lifestyle show, or did they just get lucky?
When VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club first aired a few years ago, I hated everything about it. Using only the number on the scale to determine a winner or loser, the berating that the participants got, how crummy they felt about themselves and how much that was reinforced by everything about the show…
hated it.
But I have to say, during my late-afternoon break, I’ve been tuning in, and liking what I’ve seen. I think they’re actually reruns - the sessions with Carney Wilson (whom I love), and the guy from the love boat. And while they still focus on the number on the scales, the show is much better at putting it all in context (that the pounds are a result of lifestyle changes, and that even if someone misses a ‘goal’, they get much more positive reinforcement). It’s not about berating, it’s much more real.
It may be the celebrities they happened to have - they had a really positive, motivated group. But too, the judges were a great combination, and I thougth they were great.
Not too crazy about their website, but there is a BMI calculator on it, as well as diet and fitness inforomation from the MD on the show. You can check it out at www.vh1.com.
How thin are the banned models?
The big story out of fashion week in Milan was the banning of models with BMI of less than 18. A BMI of 18.5 is considered underweight. So just how thin are the too-thin models? For a 5′8″ woman, a BMI of 18 would put you at 120#. If you are 5′4″, weight 105# to make an 18, and if you are 5″2″, you’ll need to be 99# to have a BMI of 18.
Overall, I think this is great news for women everywhere. Other cities are considering following suit. Unhealthy just insn’t beautiful. I hope this incident sparks a trend.
You can follow the headlines on this at:
Here comes Every Bite Is Divine
For those of you who’ve known for years (and years and years) that I’ve been working on a book combining yoga and nutrition for weight management, hang tight because it’s very very close to being available.
At this point, books will be available to ship in early November. The book cover is beautiful to look at (thanks for designer Peri Poloni-Gabriel of Knockout Books, www.knockoutbooks.com), and the whole package came together with the help of many many people, but Ellen Reid, (www.bookshep.com) really helped launch the project into the world. I’m eternally grateful to these women, and to many more folks whom helped me along the long road to beautiful-book-in-hand.
You can see some of the artwork and read the introduction on my website, www.anniekbay.com. And you can pre-order the book - we’ll pick up the shipping and handling of books you order now, and you won’t be charged until they actually ship. Please note that our site is soon to be up and running…as of this writing, it’s not quite up…
Much more to come…
Annie