For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

A lot of interesting new science this week. BPA makes male mice less attractive, diet soda may cause weight gain and diabetes, and the “good” cholesterol is more complicated that we suspected. All this and more in my top 10 food and health picks for this week.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg. I also share links on Twitter (@summertomato) and the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• BPA-Exposed Male Deer Mice Are Demasculinized and Undesirable to Females, New Study Finds <<Keep an eye out for those BPA-containing cans (including soda/beer), they may decrease your manliness (and I don’t want to find out what they do to women). (ScienceDaily)
• Really? The Claim: Exercising on an Empty Stomach Burns More Fat <<Some went ahead and looked at the data and decided no, no it doesn’t. (New York Times)
• Study Comparing Local To Meat-Free Diet Is Dated and Debunked <<I’m proud of TreeHugger for stepping up and calling BS of the week on this study.
• Diet soda associated with weight gain and symptoms of pre-diabetes <<I found this so interesting I wrote about it for my story today at KQED Quest, which will be up around 10am PST. (ScienceDaily)
• ‘Good’ Cholesterol Function as Important as Its Levels <<Drugs that raise HDL cholesterol have been ineffective so far at reducing heart disease, even though high HDL is one of the best markers of heart health available. New studies about HDL function may explain why. (ScienceDaily)
• USDA’s new food safety campaign: it’s all about YOU <<You would hope that a food safety campaign would be about producing safer food. Unfortunately this one is about proper storage and overcooking your meat. (Food Politics)
• TV Food Advertising Increases Children’s Preference for Unhealthy Foods, Study Finds <<For the gazillionth time, kids are easily influenced by advertising and it makes it very difficult to parents to resist. Sigh… (ScienceDaily)
• Soluble Fiber Strikes a Blow to Belly Fat <<It is not particularly surprising that eating more vegetables and beans is good for you, but it’s nice to have some quantitative numbers to attach to it. (ScienceDaily)
• INFOGRAPHIC: Lots Of Depressing Facts About How Fat America Is <<Really worth a gander. (Business Insider)
• Cioppino: The Other San Francisco Treat <<I absolutely love cioppino, and not just because it has my name in it. It’s seriously one of the most delicious seafood dishes I’ve ever had. Why have I never tried to make it myself??? (Food Thinkers)

What inspired you this week?

Tags: advertising, BPA, cholesterol, diet soda, Exercise, food safety, HDL

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Some truly fantastic articles this week including new data that farmers markets aren’t as expensive as you think, how to cut calories with a knife, and one of my favorite go-to recipes ever.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg. I also share links at Twitter (@summertomato) and the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• New Study Compares Prices at Farmers’ Markets and Supermarkets. The Results Might Surprise You. <<Turns out when you actually do the comparison farmers markets are pretty affordable, particularly for organics. (Politics of the Plate)
• The “No Nitrites Added” Hoax <<Speaking of nutritionism, here it is at it’s worst. Just because it is natural, doesn’t make it nitrite free–if that even matters. Great investigative work by Michael Ruhlman.
• Do Cooking Shows Make You Fat? <<BS of the week. Though the article does a decent job of exploring the pros and cons, the idea that the popularization of food and cooking could be a bad thing makes me nauseated. We’d all be better served by embracing a stronger food culture. (Fox News)
• Rethinking Saturated Fat? <<I had the great pleasure of meeting Dr. Weil this week, and was struck by how thoughtfully he fields questions. Interesting to see his take on saturated fat evolve. (Dr. Weil)
• Is sodium a dietary red herring for the effects of processed foods? <<Totally agree with Yoni on this one. Interesting to see where the great salt debate finally lands. (Weighty Matters)
• How to Make Your Herbs Last Longer <<Just in time for spring! I have a lot of trouble keeping herbs fresh, so am excited to try these tricks. (Serious Eats)
• Cutting calories could be as easy as cutting up your food <<All these little behavioral tricks to cut calories can add up. Grab a knife. (Los Angeles Times)
• A Fresh Food Diet Rapidly Reduces Bisphenol-A Content Of Your Body <<Worried about BPA? Good news, it’s easy to cut your levels with a healthy diet. (TreeHugger)
• The Antidote to Fructose Fears <<Great perspective here for those of you who are now worried about fruit being dangerous because of the fructose it contains. (Nutrition Overeasy)
• Easiest Bean or Grain Salad on the Planet <<I love this because I seriously eat a variety of this several times a week, usually for lunch. Try using miso in place of the dijon mustard on occasion. (Mark Bittman)

What inspired you this week?

Tags: B.S. of the week, BPA, Farmers Market, fructose, herbs, nitrites, nutritionism, salt, saturated fat, sodium

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Why you probably don’t need to worry about your love of seafood causing prostate cancer, how health conscious people are tricked by clever packaging, and why I still won’t eat anything from China.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg. I also share links at Twitter (@summertomato) and the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Is Fish Oil Linked to Prostate Cancer? <<A few people emailed me in a panic this week about new data on fish consumption and prostate cancer. Here the lovely Denise Minger describes why there’s no need to worry just yet. (Mark’s Daily Apple)
• Is Coconut Water Worth It? <<I love Dr. Weil’s take on the new coconut water trend. Anyone who has tasted the real stuff knows the difference. (Dr. Weil’s Blog)
• Big Sugar Sues Big Corn Over “Corn Sugar” Ad Campaign For HFCS <<BS of the week. Two big producers of dangerous foods are battling in court to see who deserves to trick you the most. Don’t fall for it. (Consumerist)
• Dieters can get out of ‘healthy’ food trap by checking ingredients <<I mentioned recently in office hours that the only thing I look at on packaging is the ingredients. Looks like that’s a pretty good idea. (Los Angeles Times)
• Interval Training and Healthy Eating Is Solution to Obesity, Study Shows <<Encouraging news about lifestyle approaches to weight loss. (Science Daily)
• Eating Healthily for $3 a Day <<It’s a common misunderstanding that healthy eating is expensive. It certainly doesn’t have to be. (Mike Turitzin)
• Why China Struggles with Food Safety <<I don’t eat anything from China, and I won’t until they get these issues resolved. (Wall Street Journal)
• Coca-Cola not ready to drop bisphenol A in can linings <<Yep, it’s even in Diet Coke cans. (The Vancouver Sun)
• Fish Livers Contain Beneficial Fatty Acids, Study Suggests <<Hooray for organ meats! (Science Daily)
• Chicken Piccata <<This looks so good I think I’m going to have to make it this weekend. Yum! (Chez Us)

What inspired you this week?

Tags: B.S. of the week, BPA, China, coconut water, fish, food labels, organ meats

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week around the web I found interesting tips on how to avoid cellphone radiation (it’s real), BPA and mad cow disease. Also smaller packages give you less for more, and introducing the bacon alarm clock. Yes, you read that right.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete list of my favorite stories check out my links on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Cellphone Radiation May Alter Your Brain. Let’s Talk. <<I actually learned a lot from this article, like that the most radiation comes when your phone makes contact with the tower at the beginning of the call. (New York Times)
• What’s up with food dyes and hyperactivity? <<There are a bunch of articles about this, but I like Marion Nestle’s point that the only purpose of these dyes is to sell junk food. (Food Politics)
• Make Yourself a Quesadilla <<BS of the week. The New York Times just dropped a notch in credibility for me. I don’t care if you put broccoli in it (who does that anyway?), a quesadilla isn’t a “healthy snack”.
• Weight-Loss Supplement Has Teensy Potential Side Effect: You Might *Get Mad Cow Disease*! <<One more reason to avoid diet pills and the like. (Discover Blogs)
• Wake n’ Bacon is most delicious alarm clock ever <<Now that’s innovation! (DViCE)
• Food Inflation Kept Hidden in Tinier Bags <<It seems portions are getting smaller whether we like it or not. This makes me perversely happy. (New York Times)
• Poor Eating Habits May Lead to Anemia in Women <<This shouldn’t be too surprising, but make sure it doesn’t happen to you. (Business Week)
• 6 Steps to Avoiding BPA in Your Daily Life <<Helpful advice. I’ve found it pretty easy to avoid BPA, how about you? (Fast Company)
• Pretty Patterns That Camouflage a Poison <<Apparently it is not just food from China you should avoid. Time to chuck those decorative plates as well, unless you enjoy eating lead. (New York Times)
• Swiss Chard with Olives <<Chard is in season! Enjoy it! (Simply Recipes)

What inspired you this week?

Tags: anemia, B.S. of the week, BPA, cellphones, chard, China, dietary supplements, food dyes, radiation

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Be sure to check out my guest post today over at Ecosalon! Top 10 Mistakes Made By Farmers Market Noobz

No good news this week for those of you who still love processed foods. Turns out sugar (not fat) causes heart disease, processed soy products causes cancer and the health insurance industries puts their extra money into fast food stocks. Luckily there is still hope for those of us interested in eating real food with actual taste.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

Links of the week

• Health Insurance Companies Invest Billions In Fast Food Stock <<Do you need any more proof that you can’t count on companies to look out for you and your family’s best interests? Stay out of both fast food joints and hospitals by skipping processed foods all together. (ABC News)
• Added sugars are bad for the heart, but does it matter which kind you eat? <<Gasp! Sugar is (really really) bad for you! Who knew? (Los Angeles Times)
• Soy Report and Scorecard <<BS of the week goes to the soy industry for pretending to make health food while actually feeding people carcinogens. Don’t be surprised, processed soy food is just as bad as processed corn food. (The Cornucopia Institute)
• Being fat is bad for your brain <<You know those reports that come out every few months that say being fat might actually be good for you? Well, those ignore a lot of things like, for instance, your brain. (New York Times)
• Steady Weight Gain Boosts Late-Life Breast Cancer Risk <<And also, for instance, your cancer risk. (Medline)
• General Mills to Pull BPA from Organic Tomato Cans <<Good news for those of you worried about BPA in your canned tomatoes. Looks like they figured out a way to get it out of there. (Greener Design)
• Fish oil fails to preserve mental sharpness in the elderly, study finds <<Fish oil supplements fail to show a benefit in cognitive function in this study. Previous studies have been mixed, and remember that supplements are different from real food. (Los Angeles Times)
• Risks for Youths Who Eat What They Watch <<Scary look at the effects of marketing to children by the food industry. (New York Times)
• Cooking Fava Beans in a Flash <<Love this food hack from Allison Arevalo over at Local Lemons. Fava beans are a notoriously labor intensive. Kick that hard work in the pants with this easy recipe.
• My Food Looks Funny <<My new favorite website. Pictures of hilarious (usually nerdy) food. Who needs Lolcats?

What did you find worth reading this week?

Tags: B.S. of the week, BPA, brain, cancer, canned tomatoes, childre, fast food, recipe, sugar, Supplements