Posts filed under ‘Diet’
French women don’t get fat…
…and they also don’t know the nutritional content of what they eat?
In a new study published in the British Food Journal, researchers found that Americans tend to know more about the fat content in their foods compared to the French (with Canadians falling in between the two).
Which is interesting, considering the obesity issue in the U.S.
Quick — what’s the fat content of whole milk?
55 percent of French respondents didn’t know, compared to 5 percent of Canadians and 4 percent of Americans. (I got the answer wrong, btw, I guessed three percent…oops!).
(As an aside — I love how the writeup refers to the French, the Americans, and the Quebecers…did Quebec become a country when I wasn’t paying attention?)
(Image: Glass of Milk digital print, Meredith Myers)
Sweet news for chocoholics
Heard about this a few days ago but just in case some of you have not, thought it was definitely worth sharing (bet the news’ll make your day if you’re a chocolate lover):
If you regularly eat chocolate, you’re likely leaner than people who never touch (or rarely have) the stuff.
Average consumption in the study was twice a week — that’s pretty often.
The researchers, whose study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, believe it may be the antioxidants in chocolate that play a role in other factors that are linked to reducing body weight.
No indication of whether the study focused only on dark chocolate (which I interpret as good news for moi — I prefer milk chocolate!).
Popcorn’s health benefits
Popcorn contains more polyphenols (a type of antioxidant) than fruits and vegetable (the pholyphenols get diluted by the water content of fresh produce), according to new research presented at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. And those pesky hulls that get caught in your teeth? They contain the most polyphenol and fibre content.
( Too bad the bag(s) I hope to pick up from Garrett’s Popcorn in Chicago before I fly home don’t qualify as healthy — the greasy cheese and sugary caramel of the “Chicago mix” probably cancels out any polyphenol benefits… :)
Tasty weight-loss toast
Could a toast flavoured with ground seaweed rather than salt be the secret to weight loss?
In a study conducted at Sheffield Hallam University, eating a breakfast of a slice of this toast made study participants feel fuller and less hungry and they ate 179 calories less in a day.
Which translates to burning more calories than doing a half hour on a treadmill.
(So if I eat nine or ten slices, that’s the same as running a marathon, right? Given I’m guessing my race wil take four to five hours… 44 days til my very first marathon, eek!)
