Put These Foods on Your No-Buy List for 2010

5 Foods You Should Avoid in 2010 via Change.org.

The 5 are:
Factory-farmed meat
Seafood on watch lists
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Foie Gras
Out-of-season produce

Of the five listed, the last was one that made me pause and think for a little bit as to why. Of course, the linked article explains it more clearly but the skinny is that the cost and damage incurred by transporting produce an average of 1500 miles from farm to fork is just not sustainable. Eat locally, eat in season.

Regular readers will be aware of my war against HFCS and how much worse for you it is compared to plain old sugar. Granted neither is great for you but HFCS poses a much longer term health risk by vice of the body's inability to effectively process it and the fact that HFCS does nothing to satiate the consumer (that is, you don't get full after eating something loaded with HFCS which means you will tend to eat more than you need or should and end up fat).

I'm not sure why Foie Gras is on the list really, it is an insanely expensive delicacy that most people on the planet have never tasted and will never taste. But it is some seriously nasty stuff even if it tastes great (I don't know because I wouldn't eat it even if I could afford it).

The factory farmed meat makes sense to avoid even if you don't find the factory farming process to be like hell on earth for animals. It is unsanitary (as in chickens with Mad Cow Disease unsanitary) and perpetuates what amounts to torture before consumption.

It is hard to eat properly all the time and I don't think anyone expects perfection in consumption but it pays to be aware of and try to limit the ingestion of foods that do you more harm than good.

The Worst Food in America

Here's enough to make you get up and go get on a treadmill or go ride a bike.

* Worst Beverage of 2009: Baskin Robbins Large Chocolate Oreo Shake, 2,600 calories, 135 g fat ... "more than a day's worth of calories and three days worth of saturated fat, and, worst of all, usually takes less than 10 minutes to sip through a straw."
* Worst Sandwich of 2009: Quizno’s Tuna Melt (large), 2,090 calories, 175 g fat ... "Puts tuna’s healthy reputation on the line. A large homemade sandwich would likely provide one-fourth of the calories."
* Worst Salad of 2009: T.G.I. Fridays Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad, 1,360 calories, Fat: unknown ... "Six out of the seven (TGIF salads) we analyzed topped out with more than 900 calories, which means that lunchtime can be the start of something big—namely, your belly."
* Worst Burger of 2009: Chili’s Smokehouse Bacon Triple-The-Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeno Ranch Dressing, 2,040 calories, 150 g fat ... " ... Two-and-a-half day’s worth of fat—a full third of which is saturated. To do that much damage with roasted sirloin, you’d have to eat about eight 6-ounce steaks."

And 16 more worst foods in America in 2009 at Men's Health (along with a rather annoying instant pop-up exhortation to subscribe to the magazine).

Got an iPhone and want to know what you're about to order while sitting in the line at the drive-thru? Check out Fat Burgr for a pretty comprehensive and easy to access list of basic nutritional info.

Contrast this list of what not to eat with the list of The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating.

Good Eats

The New York Times has an interesting article about the 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating. The foods are listed below with my ever-so-important comments in italics.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power. Not a big beet fan but maybe I'll have to take another look.
2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes. We actually eat quite alot of cabbage, my wife makes a fantastic cabbage salad. I'll try to get the recipe and post it here.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and sauté in olive oil.
4. Cinnamon: Helps control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal. The worst way to get cinnamon is to take eat a big heaping spoonful. But, if you do, make sure you videotape it for YouTube fame and hilarity. I put cinnamon into our pancakes for some extra flavor and spice.
5. Pomegranate juice: Lowers blood pressure and loaded with vitamin C and other antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it. Great stuff when mixed with other juices as its pretty harsh on its own. Its also really expensive right now but I think that's because the market is so new.
6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but packed with cancer-fighting antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad. Pumpkin seeds taste awesome but they are really high in L-Arganine which can make people susceptible to cold sores have wicked painful breakouts. Counteract the seeds with Lysine supplements and eat the seeds in moderation.
8. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.'’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread. Do Kippered snacks count as sardines? Because I liked Kippered Snacks but can't stand sardines. Though the dijon and onions spread idea might work.
9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,'’ it has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds. We get the big fresh pack at CostCo and eat them by the handful. Everyone in my house loves the blueberries.
11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Deceptive Desserts

My wife went shopping at CostCo the other day and got the usual stuff we get along with a couple of new items to try out. Among the new stuff were some twisted strawberry puff pastries that looked delicious with powdered sugar and strawberry jam/jelly.

But they tasted like cardboard, there was no sweet, there was almost no flavor at all, just a decidedly uninteresting pseudo-crunch and a mouthful of material.

I don't see the rest of the package getting consumed anytime soon. Who makes a dessert that looks good but tastes bad? I'd much rather have it the other way.

We Eat Cheddar X

How about a gastronomic Cheddar X for a little change?

1. What do you make sure you keep in your fridge at all times?
For me? Mustard, in about six or seven different varieties. For my two boys, milk and lots of it!

2. What is the oddest thing in your fridge?
The severed goat's head comes to mind but its worth it for when guests visit. Actually, the oddest thing is a shelf organizer that came with the fridge, takes up a ton of space and has nothing in it.

3. What is the oddest thing in your freezer?
Frozen baby teethers for when Sully's teeth start to really bug him.

4. What is your go to comfort food?
An organic Cheetoh's knock off.

5. What food reminds you of your childhood?
Peanut butter fluff sandwiches (or Fluffernutters if you're cool enough) for good memories. Split Pea Soup for the bad memories (sorry, Mom, the stuff is nasty!).

6. How often do you eat out?
Not very often, maybe once or twice a week for lunch. We will get take out every so often when neither of us feels like cooking.

7. What are you most likely to get at a drive thru?
A cheeseburger with bacon these days.

8. What's your favorite fast food?
In-n-Out Burger, the fries are fantastic and the burgers are consistently excellent, I just wish we had one closer to where we live.