While trying to come up with different alternatives to peanut butter and jelly or balogna sandwiches this week, I started thinking about ways I could phase out my kids’ favorite “side dish” — chips!

For me, chips have always been the default go-to for sandwiches or lunch in general, but as the new school year approaches I’ve been trying to re-think and re-plan what goes into my kids’ lunch boxes. Sure, they’ll still get a small bag of chips now and then, but I’m going substitute one of the below ideas several times a week as well!
~ Fresh fruit and vegetables. …read more

About.com’s Guide to Women’s Health, Tracee Conforth, highlighted a recent news item in Ms. magazine that summarizes a meeting of male contraception experts to discuss alternatives to traditional forms of male birth control (vasectomy and condoms — or, you know, keeping it in your pants, boys).
From the article:
More than 140 male contraception researchers from around the globe recently gathered in Seattle to discuss new alternatives to condoms and vasectomies. At the two-day “Future of Male Contraception” conference, whose sponsors included the World Health Organization, the University of Washington, and the National Institutes of Health, researchers unveiled a number of new …read more

Following Starbucks’ firm stand against trans fats, restaurants across the nation are seriously talking about a banning trans fats once and for all.* Currently, one of the biggest sources of trans fats from restaurants are hydrogenated cooking oils — but losing those doesn’t mean losing the flavor you crave from the foods you love. (A list of alternative oils is available from FryTest.com.)
But restaurant bans aside, there are still 10 nasty trans fat sources to watch out for, compiled by eDiets’ Julia Griggs Harvey. Here’s the short list:

Nonbutter spreads.
Packaged snack foods and mixes.
Soups.
Fast food.
Frozen foods.
Baked goods.
Chips and …read more