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?

It’s the rare person who has never been a victim of Diet Coke. I’ve definitely been there, and I’m not proud of it. My friend E—geek girl extraordinare—overcame her Diet Coke addiction, and can help you find your way to recovery.

Since 2008, E. Foley has been helping geeks find love. She writes amazing online dating profiles and guides her clients through the perilous waters of the dating scene. She’s totally proud to report that she’s even caused a couple geek weddings! As part of her quest for her healthstyle, she is an admin at Plus5CHA, a fitness & health community for geeks. (Visit GeeksDreamGirl.com or follow @geeksdreamgirl on Twitter.)

How To Break A Diet Soda Addiction: Tips From A Former (Diet) Cokehead

by E. Foley

Hi, everyone. My name is E and I’m an addict.

(Hi, E.)

CNN recently posted an article entitled “Can you get hooked on diet soda?” Before I clicked on it, I thought to myself, “Duh, of course you can. Been there, done that.”

The addict in the opening paragraph of the article sounds just like me a few years back:

First thing every morning, Ellen Talles starts her day by draining a supersize Styrofoam cup filled with Diet Coke and crushed ice. The 61-year-old from Boca Raton, Fla., drinks another Diet Coke in the car on the way to work and keeps a glass nearby “at all times” at her job as a salesclerk. By the end of the day she has put away about 2 liters.

“I just love it,” she says. “I crave it, need it. My food tastes better with it.”

My preferred poison was Diet Pepsi, but I’ll still refer to myself as a recovering (diet) cokehead. It was my coffee in the morning, it was my pick-me-up mid-morning, it was my lunch beverage of choice, it was how I washed down my afternoon snack, and it was the drink of multiple refills if we went out for dinner. Two liters a day? Easily.

It took me three tries over several years to fully break my addiction.

Each time I quit I went through the horrible withdrawal symptoms. Headaches, irritability, and the unrelenting desire to take one long draw on a cold bottle of Diet Pepsi and feel the sweet rush of it as it traveled from my tongue to my brain. Even though it’s been several years since my last Diet Pepsi, I can still remember that feeling. That rush I got when feeding my addiction is still there, buried in my brain.

Which is, of course, why I will still refer to myself as a (diet) cokehead. I could, if I chose to feed the beast, reawaken the same addiction and be back to a two-liter a day habit.

5 Tips For Quitting Your Diet Soda Addiction

1. Don’t feel like you have to go cold turkey.

It’s what worked for me, but it may not work for you. Maybe set a rule for yourself that you only drink diet soda when you’re out at a restaurant. Since your SummerTomato-esque healthstyle involves more meals at home, that’ll cut down on the diet soda you drink. Later, you can start substituting other drinks when you eat out until you’re eventually soda-free.

2. Remove the addictive substance from your environment.

Smokers will attest that it’s harder to quit when someone else’s cigarettes are in the house. It’s the same for a diet soda addiction. Try to enlist your family, partner, or housemates to quit with you. If they can’t or won’t, see if you can put the soda in another location. Get a mini fridge for it and put it in another room. Out of sight, out of mind.

3. Be prepared for the withdrawal symptoms.

Your body is addicted to this substance. Your brain is addicted to the high you get from it. When that feeling disappears, your body will fight tooth and nail to get it back, to get that next fix. You’ll probably feel downright terrible – headaches, irritability, lack of focus.

• Time your quitting so you can be out of focus and irritable without it affecting your life too much. Don’t quit diet soda the week of the giant research paper or the big work project or your wedding. That’s just a recipe for disaster on both fronts.
• Get some ibuprofin, or your anti-headache medicine of choice. Remember, these headaches are temporary and they will go away. No sense to suffer through them when you can dull the pain.

4. Substitute a tasty beverage that you enjoy.

When I quit, my savior was unsweetened iced tea with lemon. It gave me enough caffeine to dull the headaches and it was sugar-free and natural. Nowadays, my #1 beverage is water, followed by unsweetened iced tea. Here are some substitutes for diet soda:

• Water. It’s not as boring as it sounds. Flavor it up with a squirt of lemon, lime, or orange.
• Sassy Water. I tried this recipe from The Flat Belly Diet and it’s pretty darn good. If you hate straight-up water, give it a shot. It tastes very fresh and zippy.

2 liters water (about 8 ½ cups) 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger 1 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced 1 medium lemon, thinly sliced 12 small spearmint leaves. Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and let flavors blend overnight.

• Unsweetened Tea. As a former resident of NC, I can tell you that asking for unsweetened iced tea in the South will get some really odd looks (especially after you tell them you won’t require fake sugars either). But most places have it, and you’ll discover quickly which restaurants have unsweetened iced tea worth drinking.Hot tea is also amazing, especially if you get loose leaf tea rather than grocery store teabags. My favorite loose leaf teas come from Adagio Teas and their Ingenuitea teapot is super spiffy for brewing.
• Italian Soda. If you can afford a few extra calories, consider stepping down from diet soda to Italian Soda. You make Italian soda by mixing carbonated water with flavored simple syrup. Torani syrups come in a myriad of flavors and are made with cane sugar (not HFCS). It’s 100 calories for two tablespoons, but trust me, you do not need two tablespoons, or even two teaspoons, to transform your water into something a bit more flavorful. Be careful to watch your consumption of Italian soda. It won’t have all the calories (or chemicals) of a HFCS soda, but the empty calories do add up. (Torani does make sugar-free syrup, but it may be better to go the more natural route, even if it does mean a few more calories.)

5. Get a sponsor.

No, you’re not an alcoholic. Diet soda isn’t going to ruin your life and relationships the way alcoholism can. But you will need help sometimes, and it’s good to have a friend or three you can call or text or visit when you’re feeling the need to swing into a 7-11 for a Big Gulp. Have your lifelines on speed dial and don’t be afraid to use them.

You can do it!

Why don’t you drink soda?

Originally published March 9, 2011.

For The Love of Food

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

This week I found a fantastic piece on the environmental impact of real meat versus fake meat (read this book if you’d like to learn more on this topic), another about how the honey market is flooded with a fake product, as well as two counter arguments in the great 8 glasses-a-day debate. Good readin’!

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg. 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.

Links of the week

• Steak or Veggie Burger: Which is Greener? <<Don’t you love smart people? I sure do. All vegetarians and omnivores alike should read this. (Mother Jones)
• Is Breakfast The Most Important Meal? Fact Vs. Myth<<My latest column at ZocDoc, and why I think breakfast is a habit worth cultivating.
• Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey <<Holy hell. Great job by Food Safety News for calling BS of the week on all the fake honey flooding US markets. All give you 2 guesses where most of it is from.
• Really? The Claim: Drink Eight Glasses of Water a Day to Protect the Kidneys <<Most experts say our need to drink more water is a myth, recent data suggests it may be beneficial after all. Personally I drink when I’m thirsty, which ends up to be about 2 liters a day. (New York Times)
• Don’t just sit around — it may increase your risk of cancer <<Apparently too much sitting doesn’t just make you fat and give you diabetes, it also may contribute to cancer. And yes, this is true even if you exercise regularly. (Los Angeles Times)
• The LA and New York Times Forget Something Important <<I was just going to ignore the obnoxious reporting that was all over the media this week about how banning sodas in schools is not effective for getting kids to drink less sugar, but thanks Yoni for explaining why. (Weighty Matters)
• Men and heavy people may outpace women and slim people in eating speed <<I cannot emphasize this enough. Are you sure you’re chewing your food? (Los Angeles Times)
• Cutting Boards 101 <<This is actually really interesting, despite the gratuitous use of exclamation points. (Plum and Radish)
• Food politics semantics: the meaning of “natural” <<An update on the word “natural” on nutrition and food labels. (Food Politics)
• Red Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Cranberries and Pecans <<Doesn’t this look yummy for fall? (Gluten-Free Goddess)

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.

In case you missed it, be sure to check out the first episode of Summer Tomato Live and vote on our next show topic. Voting closes tonight at midnight, PST.

(BTW, Summer Tomato Live is now on iTunes. If you have time to leave a review I’d be deeply grateful.)

This week: why vegans have more heart risks, McDonald’s new “healthy-food” chain, what Donald Rumsfeld has to do with Diet Coke, and more bad news for people who think exercise will solve their weight problems.

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

• How to Master the Art of Seasoning: 5 Tips for Reinventing the Slow-Carb Diet <<Trying to make those beans and veggies more interesting? Here’s a great primer on seasoning. (Tim Ferriss)
• Vegans’ Elevated Heart Risk Requires Omega-3s and B12, Study Suggests <<I’ve mentioned before that I think a vegan diet can be healthy, it just requires more work than it does for an omnivore. Seems most vegans are getting it wrong. (ScienceDaily)
• Former McDonald’s Executives to Open a New Healthy-Food Chain <<Hahahahaha! McDonald’s execs are the first people I’d trust to offer a healthy diet. Nice one guys. BS of the week. (Time)
• Just how bad is aspartame? <<Great question. Sadly the politics around it are so twisted it’s hard to uncover the truth. (Grist)
• US group calls for FDA ban of soda ‘caramel’ <<Seems aspartame may not be the only thing in soda that can cause cancer. (Reuters)
• Think the gym’s gonna make you slim? Think again. <<This new study matches my experience very well. But Yoni explains why you should exercise anyway. (Weighty Matters)
• 10 Fresh, In-Season Vegetables the East Coast Should be Eating Now <<I frequently get complaints from East Coasters that my farmers market posts don’t reflect their reality. This one’s for you guys (and it’s not that different). (Treehugger)
• Obesity Alone Raises Risk of Fatal Heart Attack, Study Finds <<I’ve heard some people argue that obesity itself does not cause disease, it’s just a symptom of deeper metabolic problems or not a problem at all. This new study suggests otherwise. (Medline)
• Diet High in Fiber Might Lengthen Your Life <<Especially grains, they say. There are plenty of confounds in this study, but it’s not out of line with other research I’ve seen. (Medline)
• Rainbow Wheat Berry Salad <<And since we’re having a grain lovefest day, here’s a delicious looking recipe for a colorful wheat berry salad. Intact grains FTW! (Macheesmo)

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.

Lots of fascinating food news this week. If 380 MILLION poison eggs doesn’t convince you to stop eating the industrial kind, I don’t know what will. There’s also some interesting new data on red meat and heart disease, as well as an inspiring story of doctors prescribing farmers market vegetables.

Another quick note: I tweeted yesterday about this cool farmers market backpack (yes I want one) and Betabrand wrote back saying my readers get $15 off anything on the site. Pretty awesome. Use the code: tomato

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

• Choosing healthier protein-rich foods instead of red and processed meats may reduce heart disease risk in women <<Atkins defenders often argue that there is no evidence linking meat consumption to heart disease, saying that cholesterol levels aren’t a good measure. In this study the endpoint is heart attacks, not cholesterol. Worth thinking about. (American Heart Association)
• 20 Salads Worse Than a Whopper <<I still don’t think you should eat Whoppers (there are way better burgers), but don’t assume that salads are gonna help you lose weight. (Men’s Health)
• A ‘habitual offender’ unleashes nearly half a billion salmonella-tainted eggs <<BS of the week. You know those 380 million poison eggs that have already sickened 50,000 people? Well they guy who makes them has a history of not caring about you or your family. Be outraged. (Grist)
• Eat an Apple (Doctor’s Orders) <<How freaking cool is this?!?! (New York Times)
• Add diet soda to the list of things to avoid while pregnant <<Maybe Diet Coke isn’t as harmless as you think. (Los Angeles Times)
• Baking Ingredients and Substitutions <<I don’t bake often, but I do like to swap out sugar and occasionally other ingredients when I do. But sacrificing taste is completely unacceptable to me. This is an incredibly informative post from a world renowned pastry chef. (David Lebovitz)
• B Vitamins and the Aging Brain Examined <<I love the brain. I love nutrition. I found this interesting. (ScienceDaily)
• Tomatoes, Eggs and Sweet Habaneros <<Tomatoes for breakfast? Hell yes! (Local Lemons)
• Egg Cage Match! Local Cage Free Vs. Conventional Eggs <<Speaking of good eggs and bad eggs, here’s a fun video explaining the difference. (Big Wheel Provisions)

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4937442&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0

For The Love of Food

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

This is the first chance I’ve had to read blogs in so long I almost forgot how fun it is! Every single one of these articles is worth reading (except the BS of the week, which is just to scowl at), but definitely don’t miss Marion Nestle’s piece on calories and the Slate article about vitamin supplements.

I included 2 recipes this time because I couldn’t choose.

And the first rule of Salad Club is: you always talk about Salad Club. Now if we could just get Brad Pitt to eat salad without a shirt on….

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).

Best Links of the Week

• How many extra calories cause weight gain? <<3,500 calories does add up to 1 lb of fat, but that doesn’t mean you can control your energy balance by doing math. Definitely read this post by Marion Nestle if you’re trying to lose weight. (Food Politics)
• The Vita Myth <<Not only are most vitamin supplements ineffective, some may also do harm. (Slate)
• Legumes and Whole Grains: Any Role in Diabetes? <<Yes, they probably help. This is just to show you that there is some evidence against an all meat diet. (Diabetic Mediterranean Diet Blog)
• Will Vegetarian Humans One Day ‘Emit’ More Carbon Dioxide & Methane Than Cows? <<Speaking of beans… this is really funny. (TreeHugger)
• The First Rule of Salad Club <<Need inspiration to eat healthier at work? Why not start a salad club? This is brilliant. (Geek’s Dream Girl)
• Local produce hard to find in winter? <<Never fear, the Nutrition Diva is here with suggestions. (Nutrition Data)
• Erik Chopin’s New Reality Show <<BS of the week. They just won’t stop with The Biggest Loser thing, will they? If one torturous TV show can’t cure him, maybe 2 will! Here’s how I feel about BL. (Diets In Review)
• 48% of Fast Food Soda Fountains Contain Bacteria that Grew in Feces <<This includes Diet Coke, sorry guys. I can’t imagine why this problem would be limited to soda from fast food chains either. (Tree Hugger)
• Chickpea, Lentil, and Vegetable Stew <<What Dana Treat makes when she doesn’t want to think. But I’m thinking about making this recipe now! (Dana Treat)
• Cioppino’s Not Cheapino, But Totally Worth It! <<Cioppino (no relation) is one of my favorite foods on earth, and Chef John’s awesome video recipe made me drool. (I crack myself up sometimes). (Food Wishes)

What inspired you this week?

In general I would say I eat pretty normal food. Admittedly the fruits and vegetables I buy are extraordinary (thank you San Francisco), but they are still just plants that grow out of the dirt in California. I realized recently that what is truly unusual about my diet are the groceries I do not buy.

10 Groceries I Never Buy

(and why I think there are better things to spend my money on)

1. Sliced bread. Sure my grandparents think it is the greatest invention of all time (literally), but I would argue that the fluffy loaves that come in plastic bags at the market can barely be considered food. Don’t believe me? Check the ingredients list. If you don’t fall asleep by the time you get to the bottom, try pronouncing some of those words in the middle. Exthoxylated…wuh?
2. Fruit yogurts. It is generally accepted without question that yogurt is good for you. That may be the case for old-fashioned plain yogurt (though I am still not convinced), but I guarantee you those sugary yogurts that take up the bulk of the dairy case do not qualify as health food. 15 grams of sugar is my cut off before a food transitions to dessert. Look before you eat.
3. Iceberg or romaine lettuce. Besides being colorless and flavorless, these boring greens add little (zero?) nutrition to your life. Instead I buy the colorful, loose spring mixes that come in bags, boxes or bulk bins at the grocery store and farmers market. If you prefer to stick with one kind of salad green at a time, try green or red leafed lettuce. Mix it up occasionally with cabbage or radicchio.
4. Corn-fed beef. As I have explained before, I love beef (even though I don’t eat much of it). When I decide it is worth the indulgence, I go straight for the gourmet grass-fed kind. Why? Cows were never meant to eat corn (industrial cows have been bred to do it), and those that do are sicker and less nutritious than cows that are pastured. Moreover, the factories that process this sub-par beef are likely to be huge, unsanitary and foster E. Coli outbreaks. Thanks, but I’ll pass.
5. Soda. There was a time in my life when I drank quarts of Diet Coke a day. But since I started focusing on my health I gave it up and never looked back. Even natural sodas add very little to your quality of life. And if they contain full sugar, your life may even be shortened. When I’m thirsty I drink water.
6. Pancake or brownie mixes. I am not immune from the occasional pancake or brownie craving (and sometimes my friends demand these of me!). So if it is a special occasion, why bother with the boxed stuff? Both these goodies are easy to make from scratch and worth a little extra time in the kitchen to make them spectacular! Isn’t that what indulgence is all about?
7. Winter tomatoes. Need I say more? There is no room in my life (usually) for an inadequate tomato. Canned tomatoes are a better option during the spring and winter.
8. Juice. Even 100% fresh squeezed juice is dangerous for your blood sugar and insulin levels (not to mention your BMI). If I decide to try some, I consume less than 8 oz. You can probably guess what I think about the phony 10% juice products from concentrate (see point #5).
9. Deli meats. On the surface these purportedly lean meats seem to be healthy. But under the surface they are packed with salts, sugars and nitrates. For a quick protein fix, try canned salmon (boneless, skinless), sardines or lox.
10. Cheese that comes in plastic. Similar to beef, I indulge in cheese so infrequently that I prefer to go straight to Cowgirl Creamery for the good stuff! My recent favorite is called Midnight Moon.

• What popular items don’t you buy?
• Have any questions about other common items in your shopping cart?

New York Governor David Paterson recently proposed a state tax on soft drinks, defending his argument to readers on the CNN website.

After reading his proposal, I agree with him completely. I just wish Starbucks would be forced to carry some of the responsibility as well.

Taxing products known to be deleterious to public health is a proven way to reduce consumption, increase state revenue and raise awareness of the dangers of high-risk commodities (such as cigarettes). There is no reason to suspect New York wouldn’t see similar benefits in the case of soda. Junk foods and soft drinks are currently placing a tremendous burden on our society in both health care costs and lost working hours.

Moreover, high-fructose corn syrup (the primary sweetener in soda) is derived from corn crops that are heavily subsidized by the federal government. These subsidies artificially reduce prices of soda below the true cost of production. It is therefore hard to argue that the proposed tax is putting an unfair financial burden on consumers who wish to drink full-calorie beverages: currently it is the taxpayers who are footing the bill for the bad habits of others.

So although I still favor completely revising the farm bill, taxing consumption is a reasonable alternative.

Another thing to consider is that these products are essentially to candy what crack is to cocaine (quickly ingested poison), so they do indeed pose a unique hazard to American health and are thus an ideal target for the first junk food tax. The current proposal adds a 15% tax to non-diet sodas as well as fruit drinks that are less than 70% real juice, adding only a few cents to each individual purchase–$0.15 to the dollar.

Paterson estimates the tax will raise $404 million dollars in revenue for the state of New York, that would go toward public health programs, including obesity prevention.

Whatever happens, expect a ferocious battle from industry giants (and FOXNews). They will argue for consumer freedom and against the benefits of switching to diet soda (I agree with this one, no kind of soda is healthy), but will conveniently overlook the data linking junk food and soda to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer, as well as the costs to the American public.

The good news for the rest of us is that if New York does manage to pass this tax it is reasonable to expect California and many other states to follow suit (see trans fat and tobacco), resulting in a tremendous sea change in our nation’s policy toward junk food in general.

This is exactly the change we need.

Currently all Americans are paying for the poor nutritional culture our nation has embraced. The top 3 causes of death in the U.S. (arguably 5 of the top 7) are diet-related. It only makes sense to tackle obesity both as a nation and as individuals to protect our citizens and our economy.

Why Not Starbucks?

Unfortunately, right now it does not seem this tax will extend to the sugary cesspool which is Starbucks.

Did you know that a medium cafe mocha from Starbucks has more calories, sugar, cholesterol and saturated fat than a Krisy Kreme original glazed doughnut? Seriously, don’t go near that stuff.

It seems to me that Starbucks and other mega-chains (Jamba Juice?) selling sugar-blended drinks are just as liable as soda companies for promoting obesity with liquid candy, thus warranting the same burden of taxation.

I am not recommending traditional coffee drinks (espresso, cappuccino, etc.) be taxed–they do not contain sugar–but it is heartbreaking to see Frappuccinos being passed off as a morning pick-me-up when in fact they are no different from a milk shake with caffeine.

In short, I think this tax is a fabulous idea that finally begins to address the true costs of junk food and obesity, and I hope the trend continues.

How do you feel about sugar, taxes and Starbucks?