For The Love of Food

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

This week, the science behind why different diets work for different people, how the nutritional value of our produce is declining and why Coca-Cola is being sued for breaking the Jelly Bean rule. Also, new research about the role of personal relationships in health and another benefit of drinking alcohol.

Oh, and the BS of the week was so bad I deleted it. Didn’t want to waste your time when there were so many good things to read.

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 reading list join me on the new Digg or StumbleUpon. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Why Fad Diets Work Well for Some, but Not Others <<I don’t think it is an accident that there are so many differing opinions on what is the best choice of diet. Data continues to accumulate that an interaction between our genetics and the food we eat explains why we must each find our own healthstyle. (ScienceDaily)
• Nutritional value of fruits, veggies is dwindling <<New data suggests industrial agriculture methods are killing the taste nutritional value of our food. (MSN)
• Lawsuit Over Deceptive Vitaminwater Claims to Proceed <<I’m happy as a clam over this one. There is a law (the “Jelly Bean” rule) that says you can’t put vitamins in candy and call it healthy. That means you, Coca-Cola. Haha! (CSPI)
• A New Risk Factor: Your Social Life <<Investing in meaningful relationships with others has been shown to be as important as diet, exercise and not smoking for long term health in a recent review study. This is not the first time joy and happiness have been implicated as a critical components of good health. (New York Times)
• Could Drinking Help Thwart Rheumatoid Arthritis? <<Looks like I left one thing off my list of alcohol’s benefits this week. (Medline)
• What We Know, and Don’t, About Children and Junk Food <<This was much more fascinating than I expected. A good read. (Freakonomics NYTimes)
• What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D <<Good overview of what you should know about vitamin D. (New York Times)
• Calcium supplements increase the risk of heart disease in the elderly, study says <<Not only do calcium supplements not help with osteoporosis, there are now several problems associated taking them including heart disease and prostate cancer. (Los Angeles Times)
• Heart risk factors less common in fish lovers <<Not too surprising, but good to know. (Medline)
• Eggplant Caviar <<I’ve always wanted a good recipe for eggplant caviar. David Lebovitz to the rescue!

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

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

I’m excited to announce this week the launch of my personal blog daryapino.com. It’s still very much a work in progress, and there’s a decent chance it may change a lot in the coming months. But since it is meant to be a more informal peek into my personal healthstyle (which I get asked about all the time (???)), I figure there’s no harm in announcing it at this point. There are a few posts up there now, including a review of Anthony Bourdain’s new book Medium Raw, to give you an idea of what to expect. Let me know what you think.

I found a ton of interesting links this week ranging from really cool scientific discoveries on the benefits of whole foods to frightening food safety issues and vegetable MRIs. I also found some proof that organic tomatoes are better for you than the tasteless kind.

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 reading list join me on the new Digg or StumbleUpon. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• USDA Admits Link Between Antibiotic Use by Big Ag and Human Health <<The horrendous conditions that exist in industrial feedlots require the animals be given huge doses of antibiotics to  stay alive long enough to be profitable survive. This overuse of medicine creates superbugs, antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are becoming a serious problem in our very own hospitals. Solution seems obvious to me. (Huffington Post)
• Good cholesterol may mean little for statin users <<Interesting new data showing that statin users get no extra benefit from having high HDL “good” cholesterol. I’m a little surprised by this, and will be following this research closely. (Medline)
• Ten-Year Comparison of the Influence of Organic and Conventional Crop Management Practices on the Content of Flavonoids in Tomatoes <<Translation: Organic tomatoes are more nutritious than conventional tomatoes in a well-designed 10-year study. Why this research didn’t make the news is beyond me. But of course if a poorly designed study shows no difference in the nutrition of organic foods then it’s front page material (in science we call this a negative finding and it should require EXTRA proof). So I’m calling BS of the week on the lack of press here. (Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry)
• A rose may be a rose but perhaps a calorie’s not a calorie <<Cool study showing that whole foods use more calories during digestion than processed foods, even when the meals have the same number of total calories and are almost identical. (Weighty Matters)
• The Claim: Artificial Sweeteners Can Raise Blood Sugar <<Yes, yes they can. Artificial sweeteners have never been shown to have any value, and they also taste pretty bad. I vote for natural sweeteners with real calories. Just use them sparingly. (New York Times)
• Why Toasting Dried Chiles Matters <<Cool experiment on the flavor added by toasting dried chilies before using them. I’m totally trying this. (Serious Eats)
• Your Salad – Is the convenience worth the risk? <<This is a subject that has been bothering me a lot lately. Industrial lettuces have been getting E.coli and salmonella like crazy this year, so even vegetarians and generally conscientious eaters are at risk unless they buy produce directly from farms (which can be impossible for many people). I don’t know what to say except rinse your bagged salads well. (Marler Blog)
• WTF Should I Do with All This Summer Fruit? <<Tips on freezing fruit so you have a stash come winter. (Chow)
• Inside Insides <<One of the coolest geeky food blogs I’ve come across. They take MRIs of fresh produce!!
• Tarragon Egg Salad <<I love egg salad, and am learning to appreciate tarragon. I declare this recipe on the menu! (Simply Recipes)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

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

Outstanding reading to be found this week on the interwebs; tough cuts were made. Please read the landmark essay about why the gulf oil spill may be the last we know of bluefin tuna. You should also read about what is going down over California’s strawberry crop. The good news? Gourmet Magazine is coming back…in iPad form!

I’ve also had a lot of fun recently answering questions over at Formspring. Have a question? Ask me anything! www.formspring.me/daryapino

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 reading list join me on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Tuna’s End <<You probably don’t want to know why you shouldn’t eat tuna. No one likes to hear that what they’ve been doing since childhood is devastating our world, but I urge you to be a bigger person and look at the facts. We cannot eat tuna anymore, but maybe there are alternatives. (New York Times)
• Misleading Food Labels <<Fat-free half & half? WTF? (Michael Ruhlman)
• Pork Board Issues Cease-and-Desist Letter Over Unicorn Meat <<BS of the week. I’ll start by saying that ThinkGeek’s offending action was a #@$%ing April Fool’s Day joke. I’ll continue by stating that nutritionally pork is red meat, not white meat, despite the misleading slogan the Pork Board claims rights to (in my opinion they should be sued for false advertising). I’ll end with this quote, “The National Pork Board has just proven, beyond all doubt, that they are the stupidest motherf*ckers on the planet.” Nuff said. (Vegan)
• Controversial Pesticide Worries Scientists <<The growing trend of scientists being blatantly ignored by government is beyond troubling. Anyone who enjoys facts should be outraged–especially if you eat strawberries. (NPR)
• Don’t Sound Like a Tool: The Most Mispronounced Menu Words of All Time <<Have a date coming up? You’ll thank me for this one (hint: there’s audio). (SFWeekly)
• Restaurant Offers Lion Burgers. They’re Grrrrross! <<I wish this were BS of the week, but unfortunately it’s true. I think it has something to do with soccer. I don’t know what to say. (TreeHugger)
• Gourmet Magazine Revived for the iPad <<Don’t know about the rest of you foodie tech geeks, but this made my week. (New York Times)
• Coffee Might Guard Against Head, Neck Cancers <<I’m starting to wonder why anyone ever thought coffee was bad for you. Maybe it seems too good to be true, but all I’ve seen are positives for moderate coffee consumption. Mmm…data. (Medline)
• Iodine Levels a Worry as Salt Use Declines <<Everyone is hating on salt these days, but like most things it does have its place in a healthy diet. Though most people in industrial societies are not deficient in iodine, pregnant women and people on very low salt diets should be sure they are getting their minimum iodine levels. (Medline)
• Grilled Steak and Arugula Salad with White Beans and Shiitake Mushrooms <<Supposedly this recipe can break the mushroom hater of their unfortunate aversion. Steak to the rescue! (The Bitten Word)

What greatness did you read this week?

For The Love of Food

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

Let’s start with some news. I’ll be on The Block Radio podcast this morning sometime between 7am and 10am PST talking about how to make the most of your farmers market trip. It will be archived on the site once it airs. The interview was inspired by an article/slideshow I had at The Huffington Post last weekend, Top 10 Mistakes Made By Farmers Market Noobz.

Also, for the next two weeks I’m participating in the Inkwell interview at The Well with David Gans and Diane Brown. Have questions for me or just want to eavesdrop? Come join us!

Lots of good news in the food world this week. Brian Wansink demonstrates that it’s pretty easy to trick kids into making smarter food choices at lunch. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn posting calories really does help people eat less. And local meats are easier to find than ever. w00t!

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

• Small changes steer kids toward smarter school lunch choices <<Really simple, practically free changes get kids to dramatically improve their food choices. Guess what, it works on adults too. (Washington Post)
• In New York, Local Meat Is Easier to Find <<Does this make you as happy as it makes me? Hopefully local meat will be easier to find all over the nation soon. (New York Times)
• Dairy prevents heart attacks? <<Yoni Freedhoff beat me to the BS of the week, so I’ll just let him explain why there is no data that dairy prevents heart attacks. Thanks Yoni! (Weighty Matters)
• Fish, Crocodile And Hippopotamus Served As ‘Brain Food’ For Early Human Ancestors <<Will someone please tell me where I can get hippopotamus meat? (Before It’s News)
• Notes from the underground market <<Awesome write-up in the Washington Post about the new underground farmers market that has rocked the SF food scene.
• The Great Bacon Odyssey: Does It Really Make Everything Better? <<Let the bacon experiment begin! (Wired)
• Posting calories may help people eat less <<Thoughtful and informative piece by Marion Nestle. Seems this tactic is more effective than I assumed. (SF Gate)
• The Locavore’s Dilemma <<Do you subscribe to a CSA but get fed up with all the extra produce you’re stuck with? Here are some ideas on how to keep it from going to waste. (Slate)
• Farro & Herbs Recipe <<Farro is my new favorite ingredient and I can’t get enough of it. I’ve been making a very similar recipe lately (but with more veggies and less cheese–don’t skip the dill) and it is to die for. Seriously try this stuff. (101 Cookbooks)
• 8 Great Moments in Athlete Food Endorsements (VIDEOS) <<WOW, these are epic. My favorites are Scottie Pippen with the “6-footer” he can’t handle and DJ Mbenga’s tacos. This is perfect Friday afternoon entertainment. (Huffington Post)

What good stuff did you learn this week?

Feedback has been fantastic so far from the 55 Knives e-book. The 55 Knives project is a joint effort of 55 top food bloggers offering personal stories paired with hand-selected recipes. I contributed a chapter, as did many of my favorite food bloggers. Definitely worth checking out.

More bad news for supplements this week. Seems protein supplements are toxic and omega-3 supplements add nothing to a healthy diet. Shocker I know. I’m also very curious to see how the salt battle will end. While I would certainly like to see less in processed foods, I would hate government regulation to interfere with my dining experiences. This weeks article in the Times takes an interesting look.

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

• The Hard Sell on Salt <<A thorough look at the politics and health issues of salt. Personally I think salt is fine on real food, because you don’t need that much to add flavor. But tons of salt is used in processed foods to mask the pronounced ass flavor. I don’t think salt itself is the real problem, food processing is. (New York Times)
• Consumer Reports tests find traces of heavy metals in some protein supplements <<BS of the week. This makes me angry. Not CR, they’re awesome. But that supplements are unregulated and therefore often contain poisons. Not that you should be taking supplements, but still. (LA Times)
• Brighten that dish with a dash of fresh herbs <<I thought I was the only one who did this, but I guess adding a huge amount of fresh herbs to your food is catching on. If I don’t have much food in the house, I’ll make a bunch of herbs the cornerstone of a  meal. Some work better than others (e.g. basil, cilantro, parsley). (SF Gate)
• After a point, more omega-3s don’t help the heart <<Another reason to get your nutrients from food instead of supplements. You don’t need any extra. (Medline)
• Sticky Rice is Secret Ingredient in Great Wall of China’s Strength <<How awesome is this?? (TreeHugger)
• Is Raw Milk Treated Unfairly? <<A good, thoughtful article. Raw milk is a tricky subject. (Marler Blog)
• Help your heart. Brush your teeth twice a day. <<It seems both what you put in your mouth and what you remove from it are tied to heart disease. Nothing wrong with fresh breath either. (LA Times)
• Discovering San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market <<Ecosalon has a great piece on my favorite farmers market this week.
• The Claim: Rosemary Helps Reduce Toxins in Grilled Meat <<Not sure I’d count on this, but it’s an interesting point about food interactions. (New York Times)
• Red and Gold Beet Salad <<A recipe overflowing with my favorite ingredients. Yummmm. (Macheesmo)

For The Love of Food

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

I’m thrilled to announce this week the launch of an amazing project. 55 Knives is a new e-book just launched by my friend Nick at the wonderful Macheesmo blog. The 55 Knives project is a joint effort of 55 top food bloggers offering personal stories paired with hand-selected recipes. I contributed a chapter, as did many of my favorite food bloggers including Local Lemons, The Bitten Word and Chez Us. I’ve read through it and highly recommend it. 55 Knives is offered at a discounted price of $14 until next Thursday.

If you read one food article this week, make it Michael Pollan’s new piece in the New York Review of Books. I also really enjoyed the article about how health food labels are complete BS.

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

• The Food Movement, Rising <<New must-read by Michael Pollan. Still wonder if the food movement is a shill for liberal politics? Do your parents? Read (and share) this article to discover how people from all political dispositions are seeing local food as the cornerstone of their values and goals. (New York Review of Books)
• The Crisper Whisperer: 10 Tips to Take to the Farmers’ Market <<Awesome tips for a great farmers market experience. (Serious Eats)
• No evidence organic foods benefit health: study <<BS of the week. What kills me is that the headline is so misleading. What should it say? More research needed on benefits of organics. (Reuters)
• Nutrition buzzwords make hay out of grains of truth <<Great article explaining why many “healthy” products deserve a BS sticker as well. (Washington Post)
• Apps for iPad Cooking <<I love my iPad and I love cooking. Win. (New York Times)
• NBA cooks up edible logos to make mark on pizza and toast <<This is gross, except I love basketball so much it’s awesome. Too bad they picked the wrong ball club to feature (USA Today)
• BPA Found in 92% of Canned Foods <<I almost wish there were something that the industrial food chain didn’t turn to poison. At this point I almost feel like I’m gloating. (Slash Food)
• Regimens: Eat Your Vegetables, but Not Too Many <<A good reminder to avoid being too crazy when it comes to food. When in doubt, ask yourself: am I enjoying this? (New York Times)
• 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010 <<You probably already know these drinks are bad, but did you know they were this bad? (Men’s Health)
• Radish-dill tea sandwiches <<Simple, beautiful, delicious recipe. (The Sophisticated Gourmet)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

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

Meditating on food, the health differences between steak and bacon, and the secrets to ordering Thai are some of the highlights from around the web this week. I also figured your attention would be better spent on a cupcake canon rather than the usual BS of the week. Enjoy!

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

• An Eating Meditation (Literally) <<You can probably tell by now that I think mindful eating and awareness are under-rated aspects of healthstyle. I found this gem particularly inspiring, and I plan to start my food meditating today at breakfast. (Mark Bittman)
• Bacon, Hot Dogs And Sausage Look Worse For Heart Than Unprocessed Red Meat <<Surprise! Processed food is bad for you, not real food (even meat). (NPR)
• Anthony Boutard on What Makes Fruit Great? <<Excellent produce is my forte, but I learned a lot from this article by Amy Sherman. (Cooking With Amy)
• Food cravings may be powerful, but they’re not indestructible <<Some psychological tricks may be helpful in curbing food cravings. (Los Angeles Times)
• How to order Thai food like a native <<Surprisingly useful tips for ordering Thai food. Yum. (SF Gate)
• Wielding swords in Samurai Camp is the new aerobics for Japanese women <<I have officially discovered the coolest workout on earth. Now to move to Japan… (Times Online)
• How This Widening Lettuce Recall Is Different <<In case you haven’t been following the outbreak, this strain of E. coli (1045) is different than the usual culprit (0157:H7). If you don’t want to bother with the distinction, your best bet is to avoid all industrial food. (NPR)
• Spice Hunting: A Guide to Paprika <<We’re big fans of smoked paprika here at Summer Tomato, but there is more to this mysterious spice than most of us know. (Serious Eats)
• Carrot salad with harissa, feta and mint <<I’m very excited to try this recipe. I absolutely adore harissa and North African flavors, and I quickly get bored with carrots. Not anymore! (Smitten Kitchen)
• People Shot in the Face With Cupcakes in Super Slow Motion <<Nuff said. (Gizmodo)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

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

Holy smokes was it a great week for reading around the web. Not only should you read all these articles, I strongly recommend glancing through my StumbleUpon and Delicious lists (see below) to browse all the stuff that didn’t make it here today (feel free to ignore the articles about basketball).

In other news I added Facebook Like buttons to my posts this week, so go nuts

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

• 7 Harsh Truths that Will Improve Your Health <<I really like the points made in this article, even if the writing style is a bit annoying. We all have the power to improve our health, and it can be enlightening to see how lame our excuses sound when spelled out for us. (Dumb Little Man)
• Doubt Is Cast on Many Reports of Food Allergies <<I’ve suspected for quite awhile that this whole food allergy business was being blown out of proportion. If you’ve been “diagnosed,” you may want to get a second opinion. (New York Times)
• Is Free-Range Meat Making Us Sick? <<BS of the week. Of all the sources of dangerous food, the struggling farmers who actually do it right shouldn’t be shouldering any of the blame. How much faith do you put in food studies from China and Mozambique anyway? (The Atlantic)
• Diet and Exercise to the Extremes <<Cool story about a vegan ultra marathoner. I love meat, but I always smile when someone tells me they need it because they workout. Ha. (New York Times)
• Eating Nuts May Help Cholesterol Levels <<I posted about how to optimize cholesterol this week and recommended eating nuts. Here’s some new data that further supports nuts (you probably aren’t allergic to) for heart health. (Medline)
• Red meat and cancer: dumbing down the science <<Watch as Monica Reinagel tears conventional wisdom a new one with her analysis of studies that claim “red and processed meats” cause cancer. Rock on! (Nutrition Data)
• Vitamin D Best Taken With Largest Meal of Day, Study Finds <<Good info, especially since there is a very good chance you are vitamin D deficient. (Medline)
• Rapid weight loss is the best way to keep it off? <<Yoni Freedhoff explains why reading headlines is hazardous to your health. I’d listen to him. (Weighty Matters)
• Chicken and Radish Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing <<Just this week I discovered how wonderfully avocado goes with chicken salad. Couldn’t resist sharing this recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini.
• My Ikagai <<Mark Bittman recently re-launched his personal blog, and so far I absolutely love it. Thanks to guest writer Pam Anderson for sharing this amazing TED talk by Dan Buettner: How to live to be 100+. You don’t want to miss this.

Enjoy!

For The Love of Food

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

This week I learned that sugar has yet another dirty trick up its sleeve, E. coli can as easily be in industrial lettuce as in industrial meat (ok, I already knew that) and calorie restriction may strengthen your immune system. I also found a handy short video of Dr. Weil explaining the benefits of the 2010 Dirty Dozen produce list.

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

• Nutrition: Added Sugars Appear to Affect Cholesterol <<Not only is sugar implicated in diabetes and cancer, it also contributes to heart disease by lowering protective HDL cholesterol. That’s bad. (New York Times)
• Freshway Foods linked to E. coli O145 Lettuce Outbreak <<Industrial food is hazardous to your health. Even the industrial vegetables. (Marler Blog)
• The next best thing: Does Jay Scott hold the future of decent store-bought tomatoes in his hands? <<BS of the week. Slightly less gag-worthy store bought tomatoes. Woohoo? (Washington Post)
• 7 Reasons Your Fat Loss Diet Isn’t Working <<Though I do not advocate dieting, I think losing fat through healthy eating and exercise is wonderful. If you’ve changed your habits but still aren’t losing weight, these tips might help you find success. (JCD Fitness)
• The trick to getting kids to eat their vegetables? Give them more <<Another study suggests kids eat more vegetables if they have access to them. I think I’m noticing a trend here. (Los Angeles Times)
• Chef Colicchio: Don’t fear fine dining <<I love to be impressed and inspired by food, and top restaurants are how I get my fix. If you’re intimidated by fancy restaurants, you needn’t be. This article does a great job explaining why. (CNN)
• Restricting calories may give the immune system a boost <<Interesting finding of another benefit of calorie restriction, a stronger immune system. (Los Angeles Times)
• Beware foods with ‘organic’ label — they may be higher in calories than you think <<You didn’t really think organic food had fewer calories did you? No, I didn’t think so. (Los Angeles Times)
• Carrot Almond Salad Recipe <<Seasonal and delicious looking salad recipe from Heidi Swanson. I’m so there. (101 Cookbooks)
• Dr. Andrew Weil Dishes on EWG’s Toxic Dirty Dozen (Video) <<Dr. Weil explains the benefits of the new dirty dozen and clean 15 lists. (TreeHugger)

For The Love of Food

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

Exceptional reading this week. Whatever you do, don’t miss Michael Ruhlman’s calling BS on the food industry deceiving us into believing we’re too busy to cook. There’s also new data suggesting your genes may determine what diet suits you best (healthstyle anyone?) and important news for diabetics taking vitamin B supplements.

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

• Message to Food Editors: What 30-Minute Meals Really Mean <<Please read this, it isn’t long and it is important. Michael Ruhlman does a fantastic job of explaining how absurd it is that Americans have stopped making food (i.e. health, family, culture) a priority as essential as showering, sleeping and spending time with family. You do have time to cook and eat well–it doesn’t take much. (Huffington Post)
• Fructose: poison or nutrient (or both)? <<People love to make a huge fuss over specific nutrients, but we would be much better off (and less stressed) keeping things in perspective. This is a great example of why. (Nutrition Data)
• 10 Tasty and Healthy Store-Bought Snacks <<BS of the week. Chips, pretzels and ice cream are “healthy”? Seriously SELF editor-in-chief? (Yahoo! Health)
• Individual Response to Weight-Loss Diet May Depend on Genes <<Though we still do not completely understand the interactions between diet and genetics, I can’t imagine how this wouldn’t be true. We have different eye, hair and skin colors. Why would we all metabolize foods exactly the same? Especially since we already know metabolism changes with muscle/fat mass. This is why it is so important to 1) not be dogmatic about diets and 2) find your own healthstyle. (Diabetic Mediterranean Diet Blog)
• Want college students to eat better? Try appealing to their sense of the greater good <<When food is a priority people make healthier choices. Turns out this is much more effective than teaching people about nutrition. Knowing facts is good, but caring is better. (Los Angeles Times)
• Kids Buy More Salad If You Put It Under Their Noses. This Is News? <<Not surprisingly, kids are a bit easier to manipulate than college students. Put healthy food in front of them and they’re 300% more likely to eat it. (Tree Hugger)
• Your chance to tell the FDA what you think of food-package labels <<My vote: tell them to ban them. Front of package food labels only serve to trick consumers into believing processed foods have nutritional value. They say these are “smarter food choices” but the smartest choices are in the produce aisle (or out of the store completely) and don’t have labels. (Los Angeles Times)
• Diabetics should not take high doses of vitamin B, researchers say <<”Rather than reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke, the vitamins appear to actually increase it, the researchers said.” Oops. (Los Angeles Times)
• Whole Grains Reduce Heart Attacks and Strokes <<Not particularly surprising, though I know some of you still don’t believe this. The study is a review of the science and is pretty reliable, though most of the experiments don’t even account for differences between intact grains and whole grains. (Diabetic Mediterranean Diet Blog)
• How to pick, store and cook peas <<Peas are such a springtime treat. Here’s some useful tips to make the most of them, with a recipe. (SFGate)
• Cabbage and lime salad with roasted peanuts <<This recipe looks so fresh, delicious and seasonal. Yum. (smitten kitchen)

What inspired you to eat well this week?