MetaFilter posts tagged with nutrition

Eat around the banana... It's just empty vitamins.

sloe — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:58:21 -0800

Are Froot Loops a Smart Choice? The New York Times questions new food labeling system. The Smart Choices food labeling program (product database) is a voluntary opt-in nutritional labeling program initiated by the non-profit Keystone Group (as mentioned on this subsite) and administered by the NSF and the American Society for Nutrition. Proponents argue that a simple green check-mark is a straight forward alternative to what some consider confusing labeling (a sentiment shared by some within the industry as well). In the words of Mark Andon, Ph.D., ConAgra Foods vice president of Nutrition: "But it’s not always easy to identify smarter food and beverage choices. The Smart Choices Program symbol can help; its stringent standards, plus the fact that it eliminates the need for multiple, often confusing symbols across the food industry, are unprecedented.” However, critics claim it is overly simplistic and question the validity of a criteria which designates Froot Loops - as well as some other questionable products - as smart choices (Froot Loops nutritional information).

You can take my Pop-Tarts from my cold, dead hands

ThePinkSuperhero — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:53:18 -0800

Junk Food in Real Life

Take your stinking cheese off me, you damned dirty ape!

Smedleyman — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:20:26 -0800

Gorilla Sandwich. (Probably not what you think - SFW) You can make your own (with cheesy 70s porn music). Serendipitously, someone at Gourmet Gorilla turned me on to these.

Eating tasty raw animals

Not Supplied — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:15:51 -0800

Eat food. Mostly animals. As much as you want. And don't cook em

Stumptuous: From Dork to Diva to YouTube

maudlin — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:36:53 -0800

Mistress Krista says: Only YOU can stop gym dorkery! Stumptuous, one of AskMe's favourite fitness sites, has both a spiffy new design and a bunch of new content (Why your excuses are crap; Lies in the gym; Things you should not lift if you want to look like Madonna). Beginners will find plenty of smart and blunt information about eating, starting and refining a training program, avoiding and recovering from injuries, and developing a home gym one way or another. But Stumptuous has also extended its domain to YouTube. Part of the original Dork to Diva web series on correct technique is now up at YT (deadlifts; biceps curl) thanks to the support of The Prevention of Gym Idiocy Society (Ladies' Auxiliary), but you can also find some more unorthodox exercise ideas.

Teff!

Pants! — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:31:47 -0800

Teff, a native Ethiopian grain, has been cultivated there for at least 4,000 years. Its seeds are smaller than pinheads, and can be easily scattered. Many Ethiopians eat it two to three times a day in injera bread, porridge or, of course, alcohol (pages 3-4). The grain is gluten-free and is full of essential amino acids, calcium, and other vitamins and minerals. It has a short growing season and tolerance for marginal soils and drought or flood conditions, but its low comparative yield optimal sunlight conditions, and labor intensive harvest may limit the spread of the grain.

veganimae

four panels — Mon, 21 May 2007 08:34:49 -0800

Death by Veganism. "I was once a vegan. But well before I became pregnant, I concluded that a vegan pregnancy was irresponsible. You cannot create and nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants.

Indigenous cuisines offer clues about what humans, naturally omnivorous, need to survive, reproduce and grow: traditional vegetarian diets, as in India, invariably include dairy and eggs for complete protein, essential fats and vitamins. There are no vegan societies for a simple reason: a vegan diet is not adequate in the long run."

You Are What You Grow

dw — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 09:09:04 -0800

Obesity and the Farm Bill. Michael Pollan continues his series of articles on the state of the American food supply by looking at the connection between the obesity epidemic and the federal farm bill (NYT, reg. required, blah blah blah). Previously.

Isotopically delicious!

greatgefilte — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:44:24 -0800

One burger, double neutrons, hold the quarks. Mikhail Shchepinov believes that eating food enhanced with more isotopes can lead to longer lives. What could go wrong?

"Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food."

jaronson — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 07:27:46 -0800

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

200 calories

Kwantsar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:37:49 -0800

What does 200 calories look like? (via)

Analyze your diet

owhydididoit — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 09:39:21 -0800

NATS is an online personal nutritional analysis tool. It has a database of common foods, and an interface for entering nutritional data about foods that aren't listed. You can also calculate how much energy you burn in a day, and search for foods by nutrient. Registration is required to if you want to save your diet information.

What?! No running in PE? It’s true.

John of Michigan — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:06:09 -0800

No running in PE. I was talking to my kids about school the other day. We were discussing what they do in their different classes and the conversation came around to physical education (PE). I was shocked when they told me that their gym teacher forbids running in PE class. What?! No running in PE? It’s true.

The Wacky World of Comic Book Propaganda

jonp72 — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 09:59:57 -0800

An official comic book adaptation of the 9/11 commission report is due to hit bookstores this month. The U.S. Army seeks an Arabic-speaking comic book creator. Meanwhile, an Israeli blogger suspects a Kuwaiti company of misusing Marvel and DC comics. These are just the latest incidents in a long-running history of using comic books for propaganda purposes, ranging from Mussolini and Hitler to Captain America vs. the Nazi-affiliated Red Skull to anticommunist comics for Catholic parochial schools to a phony Black Panther comic book created by COINTELPRO to a comic book of the American invasion of Grenada. However, my favorite site of comic book propaganda tends to focus on more innocuous domestic issues such as bicycle safety, USDA nutrition standards, and fighting crack cocaine. (OK, that last issue isn't so innocuous, but comic book propaganda about health & safety issues still generally blows.)

Who'd have thought that rice cakes could be fattening?

talitha_kumi — Thu, 25 May 2006 01:52:37 -0800

Rice cakes are one of the most fattening foods known to man, while ice cream is one of the least fattening. Though this appears illogical, it makes perfect Anthropological sense. Education is the key to controlling body fat. If we know which foods store in the fat cells and which ones do not, we can make educated food choices.

The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, and have proven benefits for health. There has been an explosion of books and diet plans based on the glycemic index, But while many popular diet books make it sound as if the glycemic index is an accepted theory, in truth, there are very real problems with this system. Some dieticians believe that a Satiety Index may be a better approach to reducing caloric intake whilst minimising cravings.

Ascaris lumbricoides

washburn — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 22:06:44 -0800

Ascaris lumbricoides. According to estimates, about 1.5 billion people--about a quarter of the earth's population--are hosts to the Ascaris lumbricoides parasitic worm. Ascaris worms can grow to be 18 inches in length, and use their host's windpipe and esophagus to migrate between the small intestine and the lungs. A single human host may support dozen of large worms, which can be contracted by contact with fecal matter, animals, or undercooked pork. Under some circumstances (the worms dislike anesthesia, for example) one or more worms may exit from the mouth (a horrifying image), or the anus (one of the most disgusting images I have ever seen, and not safe for work, obviously). Here, the removal of a worm is caught on video (Realplayer). Too disgusting to post? Almost. But 1.5 billion people have got these in their bodies right now. That's what's grosser than gross.

You Feel What You Eat

Gyan — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:38:08 -0800

Feeding Minds - the impact of food on mental health

MegaFeeders

Gyan — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:43:29 -0800

Obesity: Epidemic or Myth?

Cereal Killer

ph00dz — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 09:25:44 -0800

Cereal + Milk = Liquid Cereal.

No more knuckle sandwiches in the cafeteria.

Gyan — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 20:55:21 -0800

Diet and behavior.

Foodfilter

Gyan — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 21:44:10 -0800

The World's Healthiest Foods

I'd like myPyramid with fries, please.

fatllama — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 10:15:53 -0800

USDA releases new food pyramid(s). Instead of one cogent nutritional guideline for all Americans, the USDA has released a dozen because "one size doesn't fit all." Dietitians have advocated revision for a while now but change has been slow. According to author Marion Nestle, the nutritional guidelines have become highly politized by industry lobbyists: "My first day on the job, I was given the rules: No matter what the research indicated, the report could not recommend 'eat less meat' as a way to reduce intake of saturated fat." Newspeak for sweets appears to be discretionary calories; are we doing any better?

William Perry's scrawny ass

matteo — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 14:08:10 -0800

Supersized in the NFL Analyzing data from the 2003-2004 season, researchers say "more than a quarter of NFL players had a body mass index that qualified them as class 2 obesity" -- equivalent to a 6-foot man weighing between 260 and 300 pounds. Even those players weren't the biggest ones: the study counted more than 60 players -- 3 percent -- with body mass indexes placing them into class 3 obesity, with individual weights approaching 400 pounds. "I don't know what's going on in the minds of coaches", said lead researcher Dr. Joyce Harp, an assistant professor of nutrition and medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Players' growing girth "is a major concern," said Dr. Arthur Roberts, a former NFL quarterback and retired heart surgeon (.pdf file) whose Living Heart Foundation works with the players' union to evaluate heart-related health risks faced by current and retired players. More inside.

NutritionData.com

callmejay — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 10:57:17 -0800

NutritionData.com is a free and very useful website for detailed nutrition information, including the in-vogue Glycemic Index; their own Fullness Factor, a measure of how filling foods are per calorie; and others. Their Better Choices Diet makes use of the Fullness Factor to make consuming less energy than you use easier to do without going hungry. Previously mentioned in response to this AskMe question.

Bigger Food = Less Hunger

grateful — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 12:47:53 -0800

Portion Distortion Quiz. Just in time for T-day, our helpful friends at NIH have updated last year's quiz with Portion Distortion II. Caution: pictures of food are bigger today than they were 20 years ago.