For the Love of Food

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

This week how your brain processes food experiences, the real paleo story, and how food impacts depression.

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 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?

We had a fantastic discussion last week about salt and the importance of dietary context (aka everything else you’re eating). Thanks to everyone who participated. As always, show notes are below.

The next live event is tomorrow July 6, at 3pm PST, right here on Summer Tomato. I’ll be holding office hours, so come by and ask questions.

June 28, 2011 | Tonight on Summer Tomato Live we’re discussing salt, which ended up being a much more complex topic than I anticipated. Join us at 6:00pm PST to learn about how salt affects your health and what to do about it.

Participation is only available to subscribers of the newsletter Tomato Slice. You can sign up at any time, even during the show, and the password for participation will be emailed to you immediately.

Click here to sign up and get the password

Read this for more information on the show and newsletter

To watch live and join the discussion click the red “Join event” button, login with Twitter or your Vokle account, and enter the password when prompted.

I encourage you to call in with video questions, particularly if your question is nuanced and may involve a back and forth discussion. Please use headphones to call in however, or the feedback from the show is unbearable.

Show notes:

Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease

The effect of dietary patterns on estimated coronary heart disease risk: results from the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) trial.

Association between a DASH-like diet and mortality in adults with hypertension: findings from a population-based follow-up study.

Effect of modest salt reduction on blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. Implications for public health.

Advice to reduce dietary salt for prevention of cardiovascular disease. (Cochrane Database)

Reduced dietary salt for prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Kidney Disease

Altered dietary salt intake for preventing and treating diabetic kidney disease.

Pivotal role of the kidney in hypertension.

Gastric (stomach) cancer – association likely tied to H. pylori infection

Review of salt consumption and stomach cancer risk: Epidemiological and biological evidence

Genetics

Genetics of hypertension. Current status.

Majority of salt (75%) comes from processed food products, especially processed grains and meats.

Salt intakes around the world: implications for public health.

Sodium food sources in the Canadian diet.

How the body uses salt is dependent on dietary context

DASH Diet

A dietary approach to prevent hypertension: a review of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Study.

The effect of nutrition on blood pressure.

Diet, blood pressure and hypertension.

Fructose

Dietary fructose, salt absorption and hypertension in metabolic syndrome: towards a new paradigm.

Dietary fructose and hypertension.

Sugar-sweetened beverages and hypertension

Potassium/Calcium

Role of physical activity and diet in incidence of hypertension: a population-based study in Portuguese adults

The use of a commercial vegetable juice as a practical means to increase vegetable intake: a randomized controlled trial.

Iodine

Hypertension, dietary salt restriction, and iodine deficiency among adults.

Your questions

Iodine test:

You can do a skin test at home to test for severe deficiency, otherwise you must have your doctor do a test for you. Seaweed is a good natural source of iodine.

http://altmedangel.com/iodine.htm

Guide to culinary salts and recipe substitutions

Salt and osteoporosis:

Review of risk factors for osteoporosis with particular reference to a possible aetiological role of dietary salt

Bragg’s liquid aminos:

This product seems to be made with non-GMO soy beans and based on the ingredients appears harmless.

http://www.bragg.com/products/la.html

Natural beef bouillon?

I’m going to try this stuff called Better Than Bouillon. I think you can find it at Whole Foods.

How to Convince Family And Friends To Eat Healthy Food