BouncingBabyBoomer.com

The "Bad Restaurant" List

One of my favorite eat-healthy gurus is David Zinczenko, author of "Eat This and Not That" and a regular Today Show contributor. In his column over at Yahoo, Dave recently published a"bad restaurant" list for those who are watching the trend lines on their waistlines and their cholesterol.

Dave's whole schtick is showing how to eat healthy even in places where health is not at the top of the menu. He often makes his points quite graphically by showing functional equivalents, such as one serving of the such-and-such salad has as much fat as a whole plate of fries. Click here to see the best and worst things to eat at popular places like Mikey D. and Chili's, along with some less sinful alternatives. And while you are there, look at Dave's list of the Best and Worst Brain Foods, some of which may surprise you.  And last but not least, here is the link to Dave's new web site. Bon Appetit!

Fritos With Feet

/ from the foodie files

"They are walking corn chips with feet," said an expert on NPR I heard during a road trip a few years back. As I recall, he was speaking about excess corn in the diet, using Latin Americans as an example. Whatever the details, the end result included extra weight, clogged arteries and higher rates of diabetes in these corn-eating cultures.

 

According to science journalist, Michael Pollan, the same might now be said of us in the States, and not because we eat too many corn flakes.

 

Our own hidden "corn toll" arises largely because so much of what we consume is laced with corn syrup and other corn derivatives. (If you doubt it, start checking how often the words "high fructose" or "corn" appear at or near the top of your ingredient labels.)

 

It's no big mystery why food makers love the syrup or we as a nation slurp it up. As Pollan points out, it makes things taste sweet. It makes things look golden. It sates the gluttonous, craving parts of the primal brain. And best of all, it is cheap, accessible, and it makes hay for farms in the heartland (how many of those farms are still family-owned we won't discuss at the moment).

 

There is so much "hidden" corn in our food chain now, tests show its distinctive molecule has become the most plentiful foreign substance in the blood of many Americans. Apparently we have become walking corn chips ourselves.

Muscle-Building Pill. Maybe.

So did you catch that news (see link at end) about the pill that can fake exercise? No kidding; in adult mice it had the same effect on muscles as a brisk burst of cardio, and since the muscles felt as if they were already in shape, it boosted endurance too when the mice actually exercised.

These are just rodent trials, no humans yet, but the implications are fascinating for everyone from athletes to the aging to those with back injuries.

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