Blog for Monday, April 4, 2016

Good evening, folks! Hope everybody's Monday got their week off to a good start! Tonight is the NCAA Men's Basketball Final, I hope it's an enjoyable game for those of who will be watching. We'll start this blog off with an article that tells us about 5 foods that have gotten a bad rap in the recent past, but are actually more healthy than you might think. They are :1. Eggs, 2. Fat Spreads (like margarine), 3. Potatoes, 4. Dairy, 5. Raw Nuts and Nut Spreads. There are some similarities between their perceptions, For one, eggs, fat spreads, dairy and nuts/nut spreads all have fairly high fat content. When the dietary trends of the day called for "low fat", all of these foods were "demonized". As time has passed and knowledge increased, we've learned that not all fats are equal. Some fats are actually "good" fats, and that describes some of the fats found in eggs, fat spreads, and nuts/nut spreads. Dairy is high in saturated fat (it's the bad kind!), but high in protein and calcium. If your daily caloric intake is appropriate, as well as fat intake, eating foods from these groups should be okay. The most interesting takeaway I read in this article was regarding potatoes. High in carbs, potatoes were a big no-no, but the way in which they are prepared makes a big difference on the starches contained in them. By cooking and then cooling potatoes, the amount of "resistant starch" is increased. What does that mean, you may ask? This "resistant starch" resists digestion in your gut, acting like a dietary fiber, potentially having a positive impact on your gut bacteria. Next up, most of us use "apps" everyday, but how would you feel about an app that gave you a "nutritional receipt" for your grocery purchases? According to this article, that may be a reality sooner than you think! At the 15th Annual IDEAS Global Challenge, held at MIT, an app called ValueMe does just that and won the $15,000 prize! And it may be coming to a grocery store near you! When checking out at the grocery store, ValueMe rates the nutritional content of your purchases, as well as telling you about any key vitamins and nutrients you may be missing. The App's inventors hope to partner with grocery stores, and implement incentivization programs that encourage users to buy healthier foods! A few years down the road, ValueMe might be the way we all do our shopping! And lastly, an article that tells you why whole milk might actually be a better option than its reduced fat counterparts. After years of dietary recommendations that said that reduced-fat dairy products were "healthier", "But large population studies that look at possible links between full-fat dairy consumption, weight and disease risk are starting to call that advice into question. And some research suggests people who consume full-fat dairy weigh less and are less likely to develop diabetes, too." Whoa. There's alot of research left to be done to determine the "why" of it all, according to the article, but certainly interesting. It makes me happy when the new "common knowledge" is less restrictive than the old. Still, moderation is key with everything. It's not like you can start chugging whole milk and expect good results! But I hope there was something here you can use to help you be healthy, my friends.