Study Shows Women of Young Children Eat More Calories

Are you having a struggle with weight loss?  Well, now you have someone to blame.  According to a study from the University of Minnesota, mothers of young children were heavier and ate more calories, fatty foods, and sugary drinks than women without children.  In addition, both parents were less active than those of the same age without children.  The study was not a small one.  There were over 1,500 adults with children younger than five and according to the report which is in the journal Pediatrics, mothers in this study with young children had a diet so poor, they'd have to walk three miles a day to not gain a pound.

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Teaching Kids to Read Food Labels

The Food and Drug Administration is trying to get the word out that children should learn to read the nutrition labels of the food they eat. The department is turning to this tactic as more and more children and young adults struggle with obesity. The thought is if children know more about the food they’re eating, they will make better choices as they get older. There are other steps being taken as well. Many states are starting to take a more aggressive role dealing with food choices being given to schools. The hope is limiting food options to more healthy choices may lead to both short-term and long-term changes.

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Eating More Chocolate Is Associated with Higher Depression Scores

Eating more chocolate is associated with higher depression scores.  Researchers assessed the mood of 931 participants who were not taking antidepressants using a standard depression scale.  They then correlated the results from those with a food survey.  Those who scored very highly, reflecting probable major depression, reported consuming more than twice as much chocolate as those who were negative for depression.  The findings were similar between women and men.  The researchers speculate that depression may stimulate cravings for chocolate as a form of self-medication.  Animal studies suggest that chocolate may have positive mood benefits, however, they cannot rule out the possibility that chocolate actually contributes to the depressed mood, or that both cravings and depressed mood are caused by a third, underlying factor.  The report is in the Archive of Internal Medicine.

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Read the Ingredients in Food, Not Just the Food Label

Eating healthy may take more than just reading the food label.  It's easy for food labels to fool you if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.  The packaging and the wording are precisely constructed.  Here’s an example.  If you're walking through the bread aisle and you see wording on a label such as "heart healthy" or "100% whole wheat," it might be correct, but do yourself a favor...turn to the back and read the ingredients.  Reading the ingredients is more important than reading the label.  If you read the ingredients, not just the label, you will find you will be making better choices.  This is certainly an art that you have to develop over time.  Try to understand what you're doing, take your time, and do it slowly.  It will make a big difference.

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What are Trans Fats?

You may have heard how there’s a move around this country to try to permanently eliminate trans fats. But what are trans fats? Well actually, they’re things that we created in our process of developing food. It’s not really a natural form of food, which actually increases the risk of heart disease more than anything else that we can put into our bodies, short of cigarettes. Trans fats actually are best described as products that could sit on the shelf for weeks and weeks and weeks without refrigeration. Many of those products have the trans fats.

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Give in to Food Cravings

We all deal with them at some point or another.  Food cravings are common and the cravings women experience during pregnancy have reached legendary status.  Doctors say that most pregnant women crave things like ice cream or cake, but not pickles, which seem to be the most often mentioned in movie or television scenes.  But it isn't just during pregnancy we have these cravings.  According to the Cleveland Clinic, you should not fight your cravings.  Satisfying a food craving can help improve your mood, relax you, and give you more energy.  

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Give in to Food Cravings

We all deal with them at some point or another.  Food cravings are common and the cravings women experience during pregnancy have reached legendary status.  According to a poll of physicians, most pregnant women seem to crave things like ice cream or cake, but not pickles which seem to be the most often mentioned in most movie or television scenes.  But it isn't just during pregnancy we have these cravings.  According to the Cleveland Clinic, you should not fight your cravings.  Satisfying a food craving can help improve your mood, relax you, and give you more energy.  

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Teens and Food Allergies

This news shouldn't be surprising because teenagers are known to be risk-takers and think they are immortal. We’re not going to talk about alcohol or drug abuse or driving fast. Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that teens are more likely to take risks when it comes to food allergies. Behavior such as not reading food labels or knowingly eating foods labeled “May Contain Allergens” are relatively common. Teens can also be careless. In a poll of 174 food-allergic individuals, the results showed many of them do not always carry self-injectable epinephrine, the medication that is immediately needed in the case of a severe allergic reaction. There were 174 teens in the study and clearly it shows that it is an issue.

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Preventing Food Poisoning

Outbreaks of E. coli and others with salmonella certainly have gotten a great deal of attention. According to officials at the FDA, more adults than normally expected are developing serious conditions as a result of these infections. Now, usually the problems are far more aggressive in children. Outbreaks usually affect them because their systems are not quite as ready to fight problems like that. The big thing, of course, if you’re going to worry about food is to protect yourself. You should scrub produce thoroughly, wash the exterior of all fruits and vegetables, and scrape the skin of carrots and cucumbers.

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