Walk down the isles of any grocery store and you will be inundated with happy hearts, check marks, better choice and other healthy looking logos that adorn food products alleging the product is somehow a healthy choice?

The Hudson Institute just released a report titled “Better-For –You Foods… It’s Just Good Business:”

Well it is business… “good” is  relative term, good for profits and shareholders… yes!  Good for consumers… not so much.

My view is this is just one more angle food companies have discovered to profit by selling junk / processed food to parents and children.

Unfortunately the public is falling for the scam spending more on foods the make “healthy” claims.

Parfait, is a French word that means “perfect”… and this dessert lives up to the billing, it is perfect in every way.
Easy to make, ready in 5 minutes Grant’s:

“Omega God This is Good”: Healthy Chocolate Orange Parfait is layered with healthfully fortified yogurt and fruit, it tastes great, is packed with protein, omega 3, antioxidants and health promoting live active cultures.

Try Grant’s healthy dessert, a perfect end to any meal or a meal in itself… A delicious chocolate orange snack, packed with protein and omega 3 any time of the day.

Grass fed beef is one of the healthiest foods on the planet…

Grain fed beef is a completely different story.

Do we have a right to know when our food is genetically modified?

Four score and zero years ago (20 years) an international Food Label battle commenced over a consumers right to know if they are consuming Genetically Modified (GM) foods aka. Bio-engineered or “Franken-foods”.

The long debated argument involving more than 100 countries that comprise the Codex Alimentarius Commission ended on July 5^th 2011 in Geneva when the United States surprisingly withdrew its formerly steadfast objection to listing Genetically Modified (GM) Ingredients on Food Labels.

If you think this means that US food packaging is about to provide consumers with full disclosure of genetically modified ingredients… think again.

On June 6, 2011 I wrote a blog informing readers about a challenge initiated by UC Berkeley to create and submit a “new” Nutrition Facts label -since thankfully the old one is finally up for renewal.

I couldn’t resist the temptation to submit my own “new” Nutrition Facts label… below is a link to the detailed version of my entry.

It’s hard to imagine Reality TV actually contributing anything positive to society but the power television for once has been harnessed to promote good health. Jamie Oliver host of The Food Revolution a program with a mission to improve the quality of school meals and nutritional education was instrumental in influencing the LAUSD to ban flavored milk through a petition signed by parents demanding change.

Effective July 1, 2011, chocolate and strawberry flavored milk will no longer be available to 680,000 students enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Coffee is one of the world’s most popular beverages containing a very well known ingredient namely, caffeine. Caffeine is also commonly found in teas, soft drinks, chocolate, kola nut, yerba mate, guarana, cacao and some medications including many diet pills. Caffeine is also known as coffiene, thiene, matinee, guaranine, and methyltheobromine.

Plenty of bad news exists about coffee for instance its ability to deplete nutrients, the active ingredient caffeine has also been shown to cause nervousness, insomnia, heartburn, ulcers, infertility, miscarriage, anxiety, arrhythmia… the list goes on. While it’s true coffee can upset a stomach and keep you awake, the majority of the other adverse effects are likely a result of excessive consumption. Excessive consumption of caffeine is prevalent in today’s society. It is estimated that 90% of all North Americans ingest caffeine daily in one form or another, many habitually.

Now for the good news, as a professional trainer my job is to exploit foods for their positive effects.

Nitric Oxide is not a laughing matter… so don’t be a fool

Nitric Oxide (NO) is not a laughing matter and should not to be confused with Nitrous Oxide (N2O).

Nitrous Oxide is commonly referred to as “laughing gas” when administered at dental offices as an inhaled anesthetic it is also known as NOS or Nitrous in the automobile racing world that boosts horsepower when the gas is injected into internal combustion motor as a powerful oxidizer.

To be perfectly clear the only laugh about buying a liquid, powder or pill form supplement that says Nitric Oxide on the label is to the benefit of the seller… because the joke is on you.

Are You Confused With Nutrition Facts Labeling?  Don’t worry, you are not alone – the perplexing black and white Nutrition Facts label… is not so black and white and is now scheduled for re-design – and you could be the designer.

Have you ever attempted to compare similar packaged foods in the grocery store only to find nutrition fact labeling discrepancies between products that require a secret decoder ring and a calculator?

There is just no uniformity, serving sizes differ, the grams to calories don’t add up, the nutrition facts says it contains 0 trans fats … but the ingredients section lists hydrogenated vegetable oil… and who exactly is the % Daily Value recommended for anyway?

Well here is your chance to submit a label exactly the way you want to see it.

Congress mandates that “new food policies” be implemented every 5 years.  The due date was 2010. The revised, tardy dietary guidelines endorsed with an introductory letter from Thomas Vilsack the Sec. of Agriculture and Kathleen Sebilius – Sec. of Health and Human Services opened with – “We are pleased to present the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010” on January 31, 2011?

2010 Report -Dietary Guidelines For Americans: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-PolicyDocument.htm

The new /old propaganda released from the USDA is the same old same old… which begs the question – why was it late?  Allegedly “based on the most recent scientific evidence” not much has changed… until today.