For the Love of Food

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

This week nutrition facts are BS, 1 minute to better health, and how fructose alters brain genes.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

If you follow me on Delicious you’ve probably noticed the site has been down all week. I have no idea what’s going on, but hopefully they’ll have it resolved soon. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

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For the Love of Food

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

If you’ve been hanging around the blog lately you may have noticed something a little different. You might not have been aware of it at first, but after awhile you found yourself smiling a little at what a pleasant experience you’re having.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve removed all banner ads from Summer Tomato. Woo hoo!

I’ve never been a fan of display ads (I’m sure you don’t love them either), but I thought they were a necessary evil to pay for the cost of running a popular website (if I told you how much I spent last year you’d choke on your organic green juice). But now that Foodist Kitchen is so popular I had the luxury of removing all 3rd party advertising––and it feels so good.

I do everything I can to make Summer Tomato your most trusted source for health advice andgive you the best experience possible. Removing banner ads was the final barrier to making sure that 100% of the things you see on Summer Tomato is foodist approved. As you can tell, I’m super happy about it 🙂

This week soybean oil is worse than saturated fat, the FDA takes on sugar, and a new taste sensation is identified.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

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

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For The Love of Food

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

This week the FDA finally gets tough on antibiotics, how to stop exercise from sucking, and why diet pills can cause weight gain.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (Yes, I took that picture of the pepper heart myself.)

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For The Love of Food

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

This week your BMI is lying to you, your brain’s role in late-night snacking, and the best way to reduce diabetes risk.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (Yes, I took that picture of the pepper heart myself.)

Read the rest of this story »

For The Love of Food

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

Before we get started I want to let you know about an exciting new project I’ve been working on.

To help you jumpstart your fall cooking habit I’ve partnered with PlateJoy to deliver the ingredients for some of my favorite Summer Tomato recipes right to your door. PlateJoy will deliver a week’s worth of ingredients for the recipes of your choice (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks) so you can easily create healthy and delicious meals at home.

Photo by toehk

Maybe you’re embarrassed. Maybe you’ve been too polite to ask me. Whatever the reason, know that you’re not alone.

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Photo by joe.oconnell

“I eat way too much sugar and have constant cravings for it that make me feel like I am addicted … do you have any suggestions for cutting back?”

There is still a debate over whether or not sugar is an addictive substance. From the data I’ve seen and people I’ve talked to, I’d guess it probably is.

But whatever the answer, the important question for most of us is how to kill the cravings that have us eating so much sugar in the first place.

Cravings exist in both the body and the mind, and you will have the best luck overcoming them if you address both simultaneously.

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For The Love of Food

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

This week the importance of small amounts of exercise, new problems with fructose and why you shouldn’t eat at the wrong time of day.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato,  Google+ and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (And yes, I took that pepper heart pic myself).

Links of the week

• Good and Bad, the Little Things Add Up in Fitness <<We often think we need to make a special effort to get enough exercise, when in fact the little things we do add up and are often more important. (New York Times)
• Study: Midnight Snacks Mess Us Up on a Molecular Level <<Eating affects your circadian rhythms, and doing it at the wrong times can have negative consequences. Eat meals at consistent times and in daylight whenever possible. (The Atlantic)
• Let’s Ask Marion: Can It Really Be Healthier To Be Overweight? <<This is a great illustration of why we should avoid the temptation to oversimplify the health science that appears in the news. (Food Politics)
• Fructose Has Different Effect Than Glucose On Brain Regions That Regulate Appetite <<New data suggesting that added sugar is worse for weight control than other forms of carbohydrate. (ScienceDaily)
• CARBOHYDRATES: BAD FOR THE AGING BRAIN <<Keep in mind that body weight isn’t the only reason it’s important to eat healthy. (Dr. Weil)
• Do the Brain Benefits of Exercise Last? <<Exercise is also important for brain health, and new research (though still not peer-reviewed) suggests you need to keep it up to maintain the benefits. Big shock, right? (New York Times)
• Are You Eating These Important Supplemental Foods? <<Though this is very similar to my underrated health foods post, but it’s a great reminder and there’s a few additional ones in here worth noting. (Mark’s Daily Apple)
• How to Learn to Love Healthy Food (Even If You’re a Picky Eater) <<Fantastic advice. I agree with almost all of it. (Lifehacker)
• Exercise in Short Bursts Is Effective <<A nice reminder that for exercise, it really doesn’t take much. (Wall Street Journal)
• Moroccan Carrot and Chickpea Salad Recipe <<This looks so darn good. Moroccan food is my favorite. (101 Cookbooks)

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.

This week learn who really tells us how much soda we should drink, why there’s something besides fructose that makes it bad for you and the search for the ideal amount of exercise.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato,  Google+ and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (And yes, I took that pepper heart pic myself).

Links of the week

• Limit Soda for Kids’ Sake<<Mark Bittman makes an excellent case for why the government’s health suggestions aren’t as bad as the alternative: the suggestions of soda companies. (New York Times)
• Calories Still Matter <<Just a friendly reminder that there’s no reason to make nutrition any more complicated than it needs to be. No matter how you slice it, we eat too much. (Whole Health Source).
• Melon Pomegranate Almond Smoothie <<BS of the week. This recipe make me almost as angry as bad science journalism. Seriously, in what universe are pomegranates (December) in season at the same time as melons (August)? And this from a writer who claims to emphasize “seasonal” produce. (New York Times)
• Moderation as the Sweet Spot for Exercise <<Interesting look at the value of moderate exercise. Though I’m not entirely convinced by their semi-condemnation of rigorous exercise (see below). (New York Times)
• Serious Exercise May Benefit Middle-Aged Arteries <<Keep in mind that the jury is still out on this subject, and you shouldn’t swallow what the NYTimes says hook, line and sinker. (Medline)
• What’s at stake in the farm bill? <<I didn’t realize what a state of chaos the farm bill is in. Thanks Marion Nestle for the insights. (Food Politics)
• Study questions fructose role in hypertension <<This is about more than fructose. Apparently calorie-free sodas are about as dangerous as full sugar sodas. Interesting, huh? (Medline)
• How Can I Get More Into Cooking at Home? <<This post is chock full of useful tips to make life easier in the kitchen. A great resources. (Lifehacker)
• How Chickens Are Processed <<I know most folks don’t know enough about where food comes from. This is about as honest as you get (but not in the bad way). (Ruhlman)
• asparagus with almonds and yogurt dressing <<It’s awesome to find someone as excited about the farmers market as I am. (Smitten Kitchen)

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.

This week learn why we were better off with quarter pounders, butter is better than “buttery,” and frankenfish are the next Monsanto.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato, Google+ and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (And yes, I took that pepper heart pic myself).

Links of the week

• Fast-food burgers have tripled in size since the 1950s <<Great graphic reminding us of a time when a quarter pounder was an impressive sized burger. Sadly, those times are long gone. (Grist)
• Badvertising: For God’s Sake, Just Frickin’ Eat Butter! <<Sometimes a good rant is exactly what you need to start the weekend. Eat frickin butter! (Weighty Matters)
• Faked Alaska: Is genetically modified salmon coming soon to a table near you? <<And just in case you need one more ridiculous thing to swear at today. How do you feel about the one successful sustainable fishing industry being taken over by the aqua Monsanto? (Grist)
• Dear Mark: I Hate to Exercise <<I’ve written before about how to start working out when you don’t like to exercise, but here’s a few more good ideas. (Mark’s Daily Apple)
• The Science of Tasty Tomatoes Lies in the Chemicals <<While this is kind of a “duh, you mean they’re better because there’s more good stuff in there?” kind of piece, it still makes me happy to see there are physiological reasons my tomatoes taste better. I hope they don’t really think they can manufacture the effect though. (Medline)
• Low Vitamin D in diet increases stroke risk in Japanese-Americans <<This is interesting because they focus on foods with vitamin D, not just sunlight. The only real, non-fortified foods they endorse are egg yolks (hello eggasm!) and fatty fish. (American Heart Association)
• Stevia and other “natural” sweeteners: are they? <<An interesting primer on Stevia. Here’s my take on natural and artificial sweeteners. (Food Politics)
• How Bad is Fructose? David Despain Interviews Dr. John Sievenpiper <<I know, I know. We all love to demonize high-fructose corn syrup. Problem is, the data doesn’t really support an extraordinary role for fructose in weight gain…. (Whole Health Source)
• Optimism, Laughter May Bring Long Life <<Don’t worry, be happy. It’s about more than just genetics, according to a new study. (Medline)
• Smoked Paprika Freekeh Salad with Kale, Tomatoes & Garlic Scapes <<When I met Cathy Erway a few months ago she totally sold me on the idea of freekeh, but I’ve been too busy/lazy to make it happen. Cathy, I’ll buy some and try this recipe, I promise. It even features my beloved smoked paprika! (Not Eating Out In New York)

What inspired you this week?