Archive for April 2017

Brace your taste buds for a delicious, warm and welcoming flavor explosion! This soup recipe from chef Matthew Kenney can be the perfect centerpiece for a light spring lunch, a tantalizing start to dinner, or even a savory breakfast.

Parents seem to realize their kids need to eat better—but they're not doing much about it.
A recent national poll of 1,767 parents of kids aged 4–18, conducted by C.S. Mott Children"s Hospital at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found that while 97% of the grownups believed childhood eating habits have a lifelong impact on health, only 1 in 6 of them felt that their child's diet was very healthy.

Send your responses to Sandy Todd Webster at swebster@ideafit.com.

Health experts have long agreed that whole grains are much better for us than heavily processed, or refined, grains. Now a new study suggests that eating whole grains can help with weight loss, too.

Americans waste about 8 million pounds of food each year. What if we could easily reduce that—and put nearly $30 million back into people's pockets? Ditching expiration‐date labels on foods offers a promising start.

Plant‐based milks such as almond milk, soymilk, coconut milk, hemp milk and others seem to have wounded the pride of traditional milk providers. In January, a bill called the Dairy Pride Act was introduced in Congress. If passed, it would compel the Food and Drug Administration to enforce an existing guideline that limits use of the word "milk" to the products of hooved mammals like cows, sheep and goats.

Question: I use chia seeds and flaxseed in smoothies. How do they compare to fish as sources of omega‐3s?

People tend to forget about magnesium, but health experts increasingly recognize the key role it plays in boosting health. Magnesium is critical to muscle, nerve and heart function; blood glucose control; energy production; and bone structure.

Looking for novel, nutrient‐packed foods to add to your diet? Fermented foods may be what you've been missing all your life. Known for their active bacteria and sour flavor, fermented foods improve blood sugar, blood pressure, eczema, digestive health, immunity and possibly even mental health and weight.
Dietary staples in cultures worldwide, fermented foods are gaining popularity in the United States amid a rising understanding of the health benefits of probiotics. Fermented foods include kefir, yogurt, kombucha, sauerkraut, miso, kimchi and tempeh.

Mexico's per‐capita consumption of soda is the highest in the world, which helps explain why public‐health advocates are so happy about the 2014 Mexican soda tax, which has helped shrink soda consumption by 7.6%. The 10% tax worked so well that Mexican nutrition advocates recently pushed to double the tax.

Offering a mouthwatering array of fruits, from blood oranges and Asian pears to pomegranates and persimmons, a subscription to an "exotic fruit of the month club" may be the perfect way to keep the Mother's Day spirit alive all year. Sign her up and she'll get a delivery of nutrient‐packed fresh fruit each month, offering a constant reminder of your love.

Negative stereotypes of people with obesity have painful consequences—especially if those people come to believe the stereotypes are true. Scientists call this weight‐bias internalization, and they have cause to worry about it.