For The Love of Food

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

Thanks to all of you who humored me participated in last weekend’s completely childish melon caption contest!

The awesome commentor of the week award goes to Foodie Adventures!, because it really would take a jumbo melon to hit a head that big!

"Who wants to throw JUMBO produce at Kanye West?"

As usual there were a ton of great articles this week around the web. I can’t say enough good things about what Monica Reinagel is doing over at her Nutrition Data blog and podcast. Luckily I also learned this week that health podcasts can help you lose weight!

Check the links below to find some great ideas on how to preserve summer herbs, what to do with fresh shelling beans and some tricks to keeping your brain sharp.

Oh, and did you hear that a new study found organic produce is actually more nutritious? Share your thoughts in the comments.

I also encourage all of you to sign this petition against the Smart Choices food labeling program, which has been widely criticized as a slap in the face to both consumers and health experts. It’s easy and I had no trouble unsubscribing to their mailings after I got the first one.

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).

I also invite you to submit your own best food and health articles for next week’s For The Love of Food, just drop me an email using the contact form. I am also accepting guest posts at Summer Tomato for any awesome healthstyle tips and recipes you’d like to share.

This post is an open thread. Share your thoughts, writing (links welcome!) and delicious healthy meals of the week in the comments below.

For The Love of Food

• Are you an American? Then you’re probably not at low risk of heart disease <<Can you believe less than 8% of the US population qualifies as having “low risk” for heart disease? I’m sure glad I’m one of them, and I hope you are too! (Los Angeles Times)
• Genetics of obesity: Why we’re never going to find one diet that’s right for everyone <<It is getting harder and harder for me to choose which Nutrition Data blog posts to link to because they are all so amazingly good. You may as well just subscribe.
• Put in those ear buds and watch the scale numbers go down <<I’m not surprised at all by this news that listening to health podcasts can help people lose weight. I’ll be posting a list of my favorites soon. Please send me your suggestions!! (Los Angeles Times)
• 10 Easy Ways To Preserve Herbs <<With winter around the corner, you may want to plan ahead and start preserving all the wonderful summer herbs we can get these days at the farmers market. (Tipnut)
• Should You Trust an iPhone App That Says to Skip Buying Organic? <<Let’s just say that if you think you need an iPhone app‘s help, don’t bother with any of it because you have totally missed the point. (Tree Hugger)
• Organic is Healthier and More Nutritious <<Sure last month you heard different news about organic produce, but really this is nothing new. Food grown in better soil has more nutrients (and tastes better). Conventional food growers, however, will fight tooth and nail to convince you otherwise. (Foodmagazine)
• Fresh Shelling Bean Salad <<I have never really known what to do with the fresh shelling beans I often find at the farmers market. David Lebovitz is an inspiration with these recipes! (david lebovitz)
• Y Water is a Healthy Kid-Friendly Beverage <<B.S. of the week Have you ever seen anything so irresponsible?! (Oh wait). Putting vitamins in candy does not make it healthy! The sad part is that I was torn between this and two other obscenely horrible articles by Diets In Review. *Sigh*
• New food safety website from the USDA <<Amazingly the USDA has created a website to inform people about food safety issues. Too bad not everyone can shop at farmers markets and avoid these issues altogether. But at least we now have an official resource other than Bill Marler.
• 47 Ways to Fine Tune Your Brain <<Fun tips to keep your brain sharp! (Dumb Little Man)

What stories moved you this week?