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TweetOctober 17, 2012, Dr. Jonny Bowden: OPNINION
Ask 10 people to name the two worst movies ever made and you’ll probably get a lot of different answers. Ishtar? Waterworld? Showgirls? Hard to say.
Whether you’re picking movies, books, or politicians, there are so many candidates for awfulness that it’s hard to pick the top two.
But when it comes to food, the choice is easy.
French fries and soda.
Folks, if we took just those two “foods” out of our diet and nothing else, we’d be in a lot better shape than we are today. …

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TweetThe Huffington Post, Timi Gustafson, June 28, 2012
Every meal should be a happy meal! From early on, kids begin to develop preferences for certain foods and dislikes for others. It is important for parents to understand that their children have different nutritional needs at each age based on their growth and development.
The nutritional benefits infants and toddlers receive play a decisive role in their physical and mental development. At the earliest stages of life, bodies need lots of calories, protein, fat and other nutrients. In particular the brain depends on …

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TweetMay 20, 2012, by Kalyn Weber, PostStar.com
The scarcity of food in the post-apocalyptic future may be a popular theme in the latest Hollywood attraction, but could a real-life drama be lingering closer than we think?
According to The World Bank, global food costs are again on the rise, increasing 8 percent this past quarter. What do these increases mean? As a planet, are we approaching the real-world “hunger games” faster than we think?
Well, at least in America, probably not. The recent increases in food prices are likely due to extreme weather …

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TweetApril 27, nj.com, Carly Rothman, The Star-Ledger
Whaaaat? Nutella isn’t good for us?
Adding a heaping spoonful of that rich, gooey chocolate-hazelnut goodness to our (otherwise) balanced breakfasts won’t yield the same health benefits as fish oil and flax seed?
Shock. Horror. Outrage.
That, at least, was the response of San Diego mother Athena Hohenberg, the lead plaintiff in one of two class-action lawsuits against the company that makes the sweet spread. Hohenberg and her co-plaintiffs claimed they were misled by the brand’s advertising campaign, which suggested Nutella is a wholesome part of a …

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TweetApril 4, 2012, Seattly PI, Tim Gustafson, RD
The average life expectancy of all Americans has continuously increased over the past few generations for a number of reasons, including advances in nutrition, hygiene and medical care. But there are significant disparities within the population, which seem to be linked to social, economic and – as it turns out – educational differences.
According to a new study by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, there could be a direct correlation between a person’s education and the number …

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TweetMarch 29, 2012, Forbes, Nadia Arumugam
Last October a class action lawsuit was filed against General Mills claiming that the manufacturer’s fruit snacks misled consumers into thinking they were healthy, nutritious fare. The suit was filed on behalf of Californian consumer, Annie Lam, by attorneys from the nutrition advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest. Lam lambasted General Mill’s repertoire of Fruit Roll-ups, Fruit Gushers and Fruit by the Foot as being packed with “trans fat, large amount of added sugar, {and} large amounts of potentially harmful artificial food dyes” and …

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TweetMarch 28, 2012, Original Food and Health News article, by Liesbeth Smit
You might have read about the latest chocolate news in your local newspaper. Don’t be fooled by this seemingly positive news. Since you love chocolate, you want to believe it is healthy, and the media is helping you do so.
A new study (in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine) has come out that showed an association between higher frequency of chocolate consumption and lower BMI. In this short communication (a research letter) they studied over 1000 men and women …

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TweetJanuary 4, 2012, Fox News, Chris Kilham
Americans are living longer than ever before. As a result of greatly improved sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, life-saving drugs and medical care, lifespan has increased significantly.
At the time of the American Revolution in 1776, the average life expectancy in the United States was a paltry 30 years of age. Back then, you had to make your mark early, because your stay in this world was likely to be brief.
Today, the average American life expectancy is close to 80, and the fastest growing segment of the …

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TweetSeptember 24, 2011, New York Times, Mark Bittman
To make changes like this more widespread we need action both cultural and political. The cultural lies in celebrating real food; raising our children in homes that don’t program them for fast-produced, eaten-on-the-run, high-calorie, low-nutrition junk; giving them the gift of appreciating the pleasures of nourishing one another and enjoying that nourishment together.
Political action would mean agitating to limit the marketing of junk; forcing its makers to pay the true costs of production; recognizing that advertising for fast food is not the exercise …

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TweetAugust 26, 2011, Will Aguila, HuffingtonPost
Do you know what a bento box is? It’s a Japanese lunch box that has many compartments. Different foods can be placed in each compartment so that they fit in neatly, do not overlap and never touch each other. I often think that, as a society, we want ideas about obesity and weight loss to fit neatly into a bento box; as if eating right and exercising are all that is needed to lose weight and keep it off.
The “Bento Box Attitude” thinks that if …