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food + (11)
diet + (7)
health + (7)
nutrition + (5)

An exceptionally informative, nicely designed and useful nutrition database, where you can easily look up the glycemic load, inflammation factor, vitamins, proteins, nutrients, calories etc. It is a practical source of information if you wish to either shed excess poundage or put some on. There is a glycemic index info page and lots more. The site was created by Self magazine.
posted by nickyskye on May 2, 2013 - 15 comments

The known knowns, known unknowns, and perhaps even the unknown unknowns of why a calorie is not a calorie.
posted by NortonDC on Aug 27, 2012 - 96 comments

Swole.me is a completely free automated diet planner that creates meals according to your goal calorie intake and how many meals you’d like to eat per day. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Jan 30, 2012 - 51 comments

Energetic consequences of thermal and nonthermal food processing. Or, as discussed by Discover Magazine, Why Calorie Counts Are Wrong: Cooked Food Provides a Lot More Energy. (N.B. second link references a video of house mice eating a baby albatross alive.)
posted by d. z. wang on Dec 8, 2011 - 36 comments

You Don't Want Fries With That. A new Harvard School of Public Health Study claims that even if calorie counts are the same per serving, eating servings of french fries or potatoes causes more weight gain over time than servings of nuts and yogurt. "Although calories remain crucial, some foods clearly cause people to put on more weight than others, perhaps because of their chemical makeup and how our bodies process them." [more inside]
posted by Ike_Arumba on Jun 25, 2011 - 118 comments

A dude eats nothing but Christmas candy for a week.
posted by gman on Dec 26, 2010 - 66 comments

The health care bill requires chains with 20 or more restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus, as is already the law in New York and Philadelphia. A study published last fall suggested that the labels didn't change the eating behavior of low-income New Yorkers. A recent study at Yale, conducted under laboratory conditions, found the opposite. Corby Kummer at the Atlantic says calorie labeling works -- once you understand the point is to change the behavior, not of the consumer, but of the vendor. Will calorie labels lead the way to a healthier America, or a part-skim socialist dystopia? Or is the call of the Thickburger just too strong for mere numbers to dispel?
posted by escabeche on Mar 24, 2010 - 119 comments

The Neuroscience of McGriddles: Evolutionary biology offers hypotheses about why we enjoy eating. "When you eat at McDonald's, a big part of the pleasure comes from the fact that the food is sustenance, fuel, energy. Even mediocre food is a little rewarding."
posted by silby on Jul 23, 2009 - 82 comments

How many calories did you drink last night? Alcohol intake, rendered in food equivalents. [more inside]
posted by jbickers on Dec 3, 2008 - 76 comments

11 hours, 29 minutes ... That's how long you'd have to play your instrument, if you were a 180lb musician, to work off the calories in a 12-inch Pizza Hut Super Supreme Pizza, (Regular Crust). Foodsel offers a wealth of information about the foods we eat, organized by group, manufacturer or nutrient, with visuals about the exercise needed to work off the calories, and the amount of fat and energy in 7500 different foods. [more inside]
posted by Dave Faris on Mar 5, 2008 - 52 comments

Hey everyone! It's Tuesday afternoon, I'm just chillin at work. I went to refill my coffee a little bit ago and discovered someone had left some Samoas in the breakroom! Anyway, I'm back at my desk now. Check it out, Samoas cupcakes (500 calories per, apparently)! When you get tired of looking at that, check out cupcakeblog.com, for a vast array of intriguing recipes and images sure to keep you entertained till five. Cheers!
posted by thirteenkiller on Mar 6, 2007 - 53 comments

US and Big Sugar challenge WHO Obesity Plan William Steiger, of the US Department of Health and Human Services sent a 28-page letter to the World Health Organization on January 5th. On behalf of the Bush Administration, he writes "rigorous scientific studies do not clearly show that marketing fast foods or high calorie foods to consumers increases their risk of becoming obese. Nor do scientific studies definitively link particular foods, such as soft drinks or juices, or foods high in fat or sugar, to a higher risk of obesity." Attacking the science, protecting the status quo, it's a familiar tactic.

The WHO's efforts to combat worldwide obesity, and the reactions of US Sugar and Food Manufacturers were already discussed here last year. Now that the plan is outlined, after 3 years of work, it recommends "advising people to limit sugar and refined foods, restricting junk food marketing, improving food labeling and raising prices on unhealthy foods". The US, however, is demanding strong changes before it signs off.
posted by kokogiak on Jan 21, 2004 - 62 comments

Create-a-meal [note: flash] ... comes in mcdonalds, subway, barbeque, and pizza hut flavors.
posted by crunchland on Nov 22, 2003 - 17 comments

What's on the menu? Perhaps fat and calories. "Five states have taken up similar bills this year, with none being passed so far." Will bills like these ever get passed? Will we ever see nutrition facts on fast food wrappers? Will consumers ever bother to read them?
posted by sharksandwich on Jul 15, 2003 - 35 comments

What would you do to live to 150? (more inside)
posted by daver on Jun 3, 2002 - 112 comments