Healthnotes Newswire (November 29, 2007)—Starting the day off with a whole-grain breakfast cereal might help prevent heart failure, reports a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Healthnotes Newswire (November 8, 2007)—When it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, a vegan diet, which excludes all animal foods. beats a low-fat diet, according to the journal Obesity.

Healthnotes Newswire (August 30, 2007)—The Mediterranean diet has been widely acclaimed—and for good reason. New research shows that people who eat a Mediterranean diet are less likely to die from heart disease, especially if they have diabetes.

Healthnotes Newswire (August 2, 2007)—Sugar-sweetened beverages like nondiet sodas and fruit-flavored drinks can lead to excess weight gain in children, especially when kids drink them between meals.

Find Your Favorite Healthy Snack Recipes

Most people want to replace those unhealthy but oh-so-good junk foods with healthy snack recipes, but we also all know that it's easier said than done. Somehow we always seem to want "just one more" of those greasy, salty potato chips or [insert favorite junk food here].

A recent (May 24, 2007) Scientific American article discussses a new study's findings that overweight adults who were instructed to focus on lower-calorie foods lost more weight than their peers who were simply told to cut their overall calories. A team from The Pennsylvania State University reported their findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Apparently one of the main attributes of vegetables and friuts for wieght loss is their relative high water content. And while this is pretty interesting stuff, it just further underscores the importance of sticking to basics when trying to lose weight. Bring on the fruits and vegetables...

Healthnotes Newswire (June 7, 2007)—Choosing the correct cooking method can contribute to healthy aging. New research suggests that cooking at high temperatures—as when broiling, roasting, frying, or grilling—results in toxic compounds in food that promote inflammation and increase the amount of tissue damage from free radicals (oxidative stress). These compounds, which increase risk of heart disease and other chronic illnesses, are less likely to form under gentler cooking methods such as boiling, steaming, or poaching.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are created when proteins or fats react with certain sugars during high-temperature cooking. These compounds are absorbed into the body’s tissues, where they can have a number of damaging effects. In mice, for example, reducing AGEs in the diet by altering the food preparation method reduced oxidative stress, improved insulin sensitivity, and prolonged the animals’ lives.

A healthy lifestyle requires a personal plan for healthy eating. Without it, we often fall prey to convenience, cravings, and commercialism.

If you think that your diet is giving you all that you need in the arena of nutrition, think again.  Even if you eat your 9 fruits and vegetables per day as suggested by the American Cancer Group, and you drink clean filtered water and hormone free meats you still aren't quite making the grade. 

Our lands have been over processed for decades.  Which translates to reduce vitamin and mineral content going into the foods grown in them.  The average depth of top soil in 1950's was 6 feet.  Today it is 6 inches.  6 inches.  Talk about the angry inch!  I think my tomatoes are screaming mad.  In 1948 when you bought spinach it contained on average 158 milligrams of iron, today that same amount will give you around 27 milligrams. 

A food craving is not just hunger, rather it is an intense desire to eat a particular food. We tend to crave certain foods more than others. Research has shown that chocolate tops the list of favorites followed by pizza, salty foods such as potato chips and french fries, then sweets, bread, high-protein and fatty foods.  Food cravings are also dictated by the time of day, with late afternoon or early evening being the prime period when the "must have" feeling kicks in.