Wake Up! And Read the Calorie Labels!

After reading the article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25464987/ and watching the video:


I was pleasantly surprised with this ruling by New York that forces restaurants to post caloric information about their products. Admittedly, my hopes are that this goes to a national level or is spread nationwide.

Why? I see more pros than cons.

Pros:
Nutrition information influences better decisions, typically.
It costs very little, if anything, to the restaurant when placing this information on menus or boards (they already have the information, after all).

Cons:
It might cost the a small fee to remake standard or premade/printed menus.
Consumers may somehow resist information that they do not enjoy seeing/hearing and would rather live in denial of their unhealthy habits.

I do sound biased in this. I am, of course, for this. I have always been in favor of better nutritional information. When it doesn't appear to harm anyone (except maybe minimal cost to menu changes), I have to think why not? The aim is to help the public make better decisions. If this does just that, we should see a trend of weight loss and diseases associated with bad eating habits.

Of course, nutritional information has been posted on boxes for years but many people overlook them, ignore them, or just don't take the time to understand them. Will this be much different? I think it will have a slightly better effect than those on the boxes and packaging labels but time will tell.

Your thoughts?

Smoothie Time

My inspiration for this post?

Chocolate. Yes, that's right. Chocolate. Sweet bite-sized, spoon-sized, pan-filled, cup-filled pieces of paradise. I could eat chocolate every day. While some appropriate portions of the right types of chocolate may be considere healthy, most of us eat the worst kinds in the most terrible ways.

And so.......chocolate smoothies have arrived in this little veg's apartment.

I have made smoothies before...lots of ice, lots of milk, even some ice cream. For the first time now, I made it with silken tofu and it is soooo yummy and thicker than usual.

Here is how I created mine with some of my favorite options- Enjoy! Makes enough for 2-3 people.

1/2 C or 1 C depending on thickness preference silken tofu
1 C soy milk (preferably vanilla or other flavored for sweetness)
1 Banana
7 Ice Cubes
Chocolate as you like it. I use chocolate syrup but Ghirardelli makes a wonderful cocoa powder that is great for smoothies and hot chocolate as well.
Optional: 2tbp peanut butter, 12 finely chopped almonds, blueberries, mint, strawberries, cold coffee, orange juice, pineapple juice, frozen acai, or anything you like = )

If you have some great smoothie recipes to share, please comment with them. Did you try this recipe and think it needs something or want to let me know how good it is? Please comment!

July 14 2008: Video Collection of the Week

Since deciding to become a dietitian in the future, I have had many come to me and ask me about Diabetes or tell me I should become a Diabetic Educator. Well, I don't know what the future will hold for me but knowing about Diabetes, even if you don't suffer from it directly, is good. On CNBC, there is a show called DLife which is packed with information regarding Diabetes. I am looking forward to catching more episodes of this show. Because I find much of this show so appealing, I wanted to share it with you in this week's video collection.

Debate over a1c



Diabetes Cooking Tips with Michele


Please let me know what you think of the embedded videos OR of the show if you have watched it. Of course, feel free to talk about anything diabetic related. I love seeing the comments and questions that other posters attempt to answer from their own experiences. HAPPY MONDAY!

July 06 2008: Video Collection of the Week

This will be the first Video Collection of the Week I am starting. I have been exploring videos and would like to share some of the best I can find with you.

Nutrition by Natalie: Natalie is a young, attractive girl who translates her knowledge into easily digestible forms for everyone to understand.

Particularly, I like this collection about how to read a nutritional label. I don't think most people know how to do this. I didn't have an idea, really, until I took Science of Nutrition in high school.

So, if you want to get a start on weight-loss or just become more informed on what you are consuming, reading nutritional labels is a perfect place to begin! I hope you enjoy her videos. Here is her website for more great information from Natalie: http://www.nutritionbynatalie.com/


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PART 2: