All these questions – but with good reason. Because according to news reports, Health Canada is thinking about doing just that. If this was April 1, I’d be checking for an April Fool’s joke, for sure.

This was first reported on December 15th, when news came out that Health Canada wanted to add nutrients to a wide variety of food, including junk food, such as chips and cookies (Health Canada weighs fortifying junk foods). Yesterday, a published news story elaborated on this a bit (Health Canada proposes adding anti-cancer drug in junk foods).

Since the 2002 discovery of acrylamide, a known cancer-causing agent, in cooked foods like French fries, scientists have been working on a way to eliminate or drastically reduce the amount of acrylamide in the foods we eat. Scientists in Canada are proposing adding the enzyme asparaginase to the food. Asparaginase is a cancer-fighting medication used in leukemia.

Of course, adding vitamins and minerals to junk food is one thing, but adding a medication like asparaginase is a bit over the top, don’t you think?

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Images: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

Food comes in two categories:
1) Stuff that loses its taste or tastes bad after it’s kept too long or
2) Stuff that can kill you if it’s kept too long.

It’s kind of nice to be able to know which is which, isn’t it?

The sniff test isn’t the most accurate measure and the expiry dates are more for “sell before” times, so how’s the average Jack or Jill to know? You could try this site: Keep It or Toss It.

It’s a great source of information and there’s also a “Today’s Question.” The day I found it, the question was “Is milk still safe after the sell-by date?”

Question: My teenage daughter refuses to drink milk after the date on the carton, but I’ve always felt it was safe for at least a few days. Is this true?

Answer: Yes, milk that has been properly stored will generally remain drinkable for about one week after the “sell-by” date on the package. That’s the general case, mind you — as the Dairy Council of California points out, several factors will influence what happens in your particular fridge once the milk’s sell-by date has passed.

Keeping your milk continuously refrigerated and sealing the container well after each use will go a long way toward keeping your milk fresh.  So too will making sure that the temperature of your refrigerator remains at or below 40° Fahrenheit at all times.

If milk develops an off odor, flavor or appearance, you should always discard it.

Other questions include Is it ok to put hot food directly into the fridge, can you eat chicken that’s been frozen for two years, and is it safe to eat meat that’s been refrozen after thawing?

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

The same can be said for foods that we eat for our other meals. So, how do we know what we should and shouldn’t be eating? Well, I’ve never been one to say that you should never eat treats or “forbidden” foods, but this should always be done in moderation. There’s a huge difference between having an occasional evening of ice cream and chips while watching a movie and having them every second night. Or for breakfast.

I found this Analyze My Plate program over at the Centers of Disease Control (CDC). They have lots of great information and you could really get lost looking around that site.

Anyway, what’s great about this particular site is you choose the meal you want to analyze and then click and drag the types of food onto your plate. As you do this, the Nutrition and Serving Totals at the top (cups of fruit, cups of veggies, total calories and total fat) are added up. When you’re done with your plate, you can click on “Analyze my Plate” and you’ll get a quick run down on how you did, particularly if you click on “more detail.”

Maybe this could help you or your kids learn how to judge what you’re eating. What do you think?

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Images: MorgueFile.com

Post from: Healthbolt

A big fan of her previous two book on writing, I was interested on seeing how she incorporates writing into weight loss. Turns out she does it quite easily. Julia suggests that by using writing as a primary tool, you can figure out what’s causing your weight problem and then fix it.

Full of assignments and creative exercises, the book really makes you stop and think about the choices you have been making and the choices you could make.

It’s a comfortable read, offering gentle guidance through your journey of weight loss.

Overeating is usually such a mindless activity that we don’t realize we are entrapped in it’s maze. But by getting your creative juices running, and by writing down your actions, thoughts, and beliefs, there is a way out of the maze.

Those not used to writing may find some of the assignments difficult but if you follow Julia’s lead and just write whatever comes into your head, it will all make sense in the end.

The Writing Diet is broken into two parts. The first offers seven tools for weight loss, some assisted by writing, some not. The second section focuses on common situations and scenarios that arise in everyday life and how to address them as you focus on losing weight.

Post from: Healthbolt

And that’s just what ‘You Can Think Yourself Thin’ focuses on.

Written by trained hypnotherapist Ursula James, You Can Think Yourself Thin offers clear and simple techniques that get you examining your  subconscious and changing  negative thought patterns into positive ones. 

The ultimate goal might be to lose weight, but according to James there’s a few things that you need to do first. You need to build up your self confidence, improve your feelings of self worth, come to grips with underlying issues that are causing overeating, and then make a future plan. And only then should you focus on losing weight.

The book’s nine chapters (or stages) takes you on a journey of discovered aimed at helping you deal with issues of the past in order to provide the tools to deal with the present and the future.

First you read and then you listen to the designated track on the accompanying CD aimed at emulating hypnotherapy sessions.

All in all, You Can Think Yourself Thin, is not your average diet book.

Instead, it’s all about mind over matter, with the end game being that you regain control of your life and your weight.

Post from: Healthbolt

Not much, according to Sandor Katz, food lover, lifelong activist, and the author of ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements’.

Yet, somehow, the idea of eating road kill has very little appeal to most people. But, as Katz points out, with more than 250,000 animals killed daily on American roads, road kill could easily be part of an environmentally conscious diet.  After all, it’s free and if not use, will simply decompose. Plus wild meat lacks all the chemicals and drugs found in commerical meat.

But commencing on a road kill diet isn’t as simple as going down to the supermarket and picking out some meat. There are steps and processes to follow, from finding the road kill to turning it into a healthy and appetizing meal.

A newsletter called the  “The Feral Forager” , created by Terra, a self-described green anarchist and vegan, is a great place to start. The newsletter discusses everything from how to determine which road kill is safe to use to how to transform it into an edible form.

For example, the newsletter offers the following tips on how to decide whether the road kill is worth collecting or leaving behind:

• If it is covered in flies or maggots or other insects it’s probably no good.
• If it smells like rotting flesh it’s probably spoiled, although it is common for dead animals’ bowels to release excrement or gas upon impact or when you move the carcass.
• If its eyes are clouded over white it’s probably not too fresh (though likely still edible).
• If there are fleas on the animal there’s a good chance it’s still edible.
• If it’s completely mangled, it’s probably not worth the effort.

That’s enough to make me reconsider the idea the road kill diet altogether, but if you’re still game, you’ll be needing some recipes.

A quick google search will turn up plenty. How about Hedgehog spagetti carbonara? Or Pan Braised Squirrel? Or maybe pan-seared racoon or wood-grilled possum?

Bon apetite … or not!

Post from: Healthbolt

But finding out what pesticides might be on your food hasn’t been that easy. That is, until now. Thanks to the Pesticide Action Network (PAN), you now have at your fingertips a searchable database, What’s on my food,  which links “…pesticide food residue data with the toxicology for each chemical, making this information easily searchable for the first time.”

Post from: Healthbolt

But, as usual, it turns out that what I think is good for me might not necessarily be so.

According to this WebMD slideshow, there are three diverse sides to juice – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and how to spot the differences.

The Good – Vegetable Juices which have far less sugar and fewer calories than fruit juices

The Bad – Fruit juices might be the real deal full of vitamins and anti-oxidants but they are also naturally full of calories and sugars.

The Ugly – anything labeled juice cocktail, juice-flavoured beverage or juice drink. Odds are they will only contain minor amounts of the real stuff, with water and sugar making up most of the ingredients. They might not look filling but these sugary fruit drinks put kids (and adults) at risk of obesity and other related health problems.

WebMD, by the way, is not telling you not to drink juices. They are just wanting to make people aware of some of the pit falls of drinking them.

As to what juices they recommend, you’ll have to head over to the WebMD and check out their slideshow. A word of warning though – it might make you thirsty.

(image source)

Post from: Healthbolt

To make life on the road easier for those dealing with celiac disease and gluten intolerance, Lisa A. Lundy, author of The Super Allergy Girl: Allergy & Celiac Cookbook -From A Mother Who Knows, has put together a short video full of useful tips and ideas.

Post from: Healthbolt

But wheat is also one of the major problems of modern Western diet.

This book Healthier Without Wheat, explains why. Written by Dr. Stephen Wagner,  a nationally recognized expert in the field of gluten intolerance, it provides not only the history of wheat consumption but also the reasons why, for millions of people, it is the root of all their digestive problems.

Gluten intolerance is one of the most overlooked and frequently unrecognized of today’s medical conditions, partly because most doctors themselves don’t have a clear understanding of what it is and how to recognize it.

With Healthier Without Wheat, Dr Wagner hopes to change that. Using factual information and personal stories, he  explains the differences between celiac disease and gluten intolerance, discusses medical tests that could rule out gluten intolerance, and offers practical advice for people to take with them to their doctors.

Healthier without Wheat will help you learn…

- How to find out if wheat or gluten is making you sick
- Why this can be more difficult than it appears
- How hundreds of health problems are connected with wheat and gluten reactions
- How you can be gluten intolerant even if you don’t have celiac disease
- Why non-celiac gluten intolerance can make you just as sick as celiac disease
- How to determine if your infant or child reacts to wheat or gluten
- What to do if you are avoiding gluten but not getting better
- Nutritional deficiencies commonly seen in gluten intolerance

It’s a must read for anyone interested in learning more about gluten intolerance and Celiac disease.

Post from: Healthbolt