The World's Healthiest Foods

I've just stumbled upon an interesting website.  Its created by a not-for-profit organisation and they have measured the nutritional density of foods and rated those that are the most dense.  The main criteria used for inclusion is that a food is:

Nutritionally Dense,

Whole, not Processed,

Familiar,

Readily Available,

Affordable,

and

Taste Good.

When you click on an item of food, it will take you to the nutritional breakdown that they have tested for.  There are also plenty of recipes that are accessible and show the nutritional breakdown of the whole dish, which I haven't seen elsewhere.

This site and its information struck me as interesting, informative, reliable and a source of ideas.  

And here's the address:  http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

Think about what a sparkle we'd have in our eye, and a spring in our step, if we ate mainly from this list.

So go sparkle and spring!

And if you needed any more encouragement...

Vegetables Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

Women consuming more vegetables have a decreased risk of breast cancer, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Researchers followed the diets of 51,928 participants in the Black Women’s Health Study. Participants who ate two or more servings of vegetables per day had a 43 percent decreased breast cancer risk, compared with those who ate less than four servings per week. Cruciferous vegetables (e.g., broccoli, cauliflower, and kale) and carrots had the largest impact on breast cancer risk. 

So get chopping, slicing, dicing and chewing!

The Definitive Serve

We all know (I hope) that lots of fruit and vegetables in the diet are not only good for energy but help with maintaining a healthy weight, good concentration and even quality sleep.  The standard recommendation is two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables per day.  And most Australians eat only half of that recommendation.

But I've never really been clear on what a "serve" means.  I've always just guessed as to what a serve of fruit or vegetables is.  Well the Australian Government has a definitive answer to this.  And I thought it was worth posting, just in case you worried that five serves a day was five cabbages or five pumpkins!  You can get some clarity right now!

What is a serve?

One serve of fruit is 150g of fresh fruit, e.g.

  1 medium sized piece of fruit (e.g. apple)

  2 smaller pieces (e.g. apricots)

  1 cup canned or chopped fruit

  1 1/2 tablespoons dried fruit (e.g. sultanas)

  4 dried apricot halves

One serve of vegetables is 75 grams, e.g.

  1/2 cup cooked vegetables

  1 cup salad vegetables

  1/2 cup cooked legumes (dried beans, peas or lentils)

So there you have it - the true size of a serve.  Now go straight to the fridge and serve yourself a serve!

Is McDonalds the Devil?

I.M.H.O. no.  Nor do I believe that The Sunshine and Light Health Cafe is God.

Go and look at this interesting research by Brian Wansink who is the uber-guru of food psychology.  When they put the same food in either a Subway or McDonald's wrapper, people estimated it had 21% less calories when it was in the Subway wrapper.  

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/204136.php 

CONSCIOUS eating is the new black.  Knowledge is power.  Don't assume. Read labels.