KFC Double Down sandwich This is NOT food

KFC Double Down sandwich.  Do you think we shoul call this food?

600 calories; 330 from low-quality fat (mostly fry oil, "bacon", and "secret sauce"), and (I almost forgot) 0 grams of dietary fiber.

Deep fried fast food concoctions are the worst against eating real food and healthy, because they are high in low quality deep fried (high heat cooked) fats and rich in refined ingredients revealing a complete absence of whole real food.

Happy 2013 and NEW BLOGS

From this blog I wish all of you a happy new 2013. Each new year brings new hope and new projects. Here, I will continue to present information about what to do to get the ultimate goal: better health.

I decided to start two new blogs (one in English and one in Spanish) on a subject directly related to this blog: the diet for optimal health.

These blogs (under construction) will be presenting a proposal (in English and Spanish, respectively) on what I think is the diet that humans should follow to achieve optimal health. For me optimal health is a state that produces the maximum welfare regardless of individual chronological age. Optimal health is one that allows us to live a longer life (in years) free of physical and mental illness, i.e, longer life and good quality. The ultimate goal is to write a book about the diet that will complement the information presented in these blogs.Stay tunned in the coming days.

Hppy 2013.
Rafael

Gangnam style exceeds 1,000 million visits

This post has nothing to do with the theme of this blog but I found it interesting that this little song has achieved one billion hits. Impressive, If this blog may have only 0.01% of that it would be a tremendous success.

Perhaps food education we profess in this blog is not as important as the song of Gangnam Style, but I hope 2013 will bring us a few visitors to follow in the task of educating on how to eat better for optimal health.

Here is the  video by PSY obviously found on Youtube.

Greetings and Happy New Year 2013

Soda junkie anyone?

Have you ever wondered why certain types of food are so addictive? Stephan at Wholehealthsource has written alot about it. But, recently, Kris at www,kriskris.com sent me an email with an interesting post from Bruce Bradley. In his Blog post "Confessions from a Coke addict" he posted a video (it is 60 min long) on how the food industry plays with flavors and it tweaks our intention and predispose us to have more of certain foods. Im posting here the original post of Bruce. I believe it is enlightening.

This guy is said to drink 42 liters a week of Diet coke. How is that possible? The post Confessions of a Former Coke “Addict” appeared first on The Blog of Bruce Bradley.

Confessions of a Former Coke “Addict”
by Bruce BRADLEY

Yes, I’ve battled a Coke “addiction” a couple times. Just when I think I have it beat, a couple years later it worms its way back into my life. No, this Coke isn’t that white, powdery stuff. This Coke comes in a can, and my particular “drug” of choice is Cherry Coke Zero.

Do you ever wonder why soft drinks and processed foods have such power over us? Are we just weak? Or are our bodies simply outmaneuvered by slick Big Food companies? An interesting 60 Minutes episode entitled “The Flavorists: Tweaking Tastes and Creating Cravings” sheds some light on the subject. If you haven’t seen it, you should definitely check it out here:




Keep reading Confessions of a Former Coke “Addict”

Onion rings, This ain´t food..........

ONION RINGS

This week lucky winner of our This not food ... posts is ONION RINGS. Who have not had one of these as a side for a burger (which is not food either)? or with some alcohol (beer!!!!) ?

 

Well for you real fooders I have bad news this is not food! Let check the nitrition info exhibited by the USDA database:

 

 

As yo can see a "portion" of this "food" will give 246 calories, of which 140 will come from fat, and not from precisely good fats. On the contrary they will come from soybean oil. Add to that the overly hyperpalatable bread crust used to coat the onion ring and you get the perfect match for a "this is so good exclamation" that in the end will get you hooked for a "give me more, give me more of this, please" phrase



Excess calories, inflammation and obesity

In a recent study, titled  “From chronic overnutrition to insulin resistance: The role of fat-storing capacity and inflammation” an interesting theory is presented that, although not entirely new, may give us a possible explanation about the process of obesity development. They basically examined “how the inflammatory state in adipose tissue caused by a condition of chronically positive energy balance” may explain obesity development” According to their data analysis chronic nutrient overload may cause an increase of hypertrophic adipocytes. This adipocyte hypertrophy is a possible stressor for the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that would lead to a proinflammatory state in adipose tissue which may lead to insulin resistance, thus obesity. So, basically, no matter what causes excess calories (fat, carbs or proteins or any combination of them) an inflammatory state may elicit a response that in practical terms would be a tendency to get fat.

 

 Interesting explanation. What do you think??

Are organic foods healthier?

Organic foods, are they healthier?

Recently, some studies have come to light that corroborate that organically grown foods (especially fruits and vegetables) have the same nutritional composition than food grown not organically.. So at first glance these organic foods pose no advantage from the point of view of health.

However, since organic foods are (or should) be grown free of pesticides you could say that this fact makes them  healthier. But you must keep in mind that the label "organic" is sometimes applied to questionable products, and more so after the USDA got involved in the delivery of the label. In some cases it has been said that the label "organic" can be purchased easily knowing the right people within the system.

So the label "organic" does not mean the food is healthier. If the label organic has been obtained from organic-conscious procedures for organically grown food so these foods could be considered healthier (since they would be "almost free" of pesticides). In a another post I will explain why I say "almost free."