Category — Articles Of Note

Eeek!  A shortage of canned pumpkin!  (NYT)

On the road?  Here’s a clever and funny fast-food flowchart to help you decide where to stop to eat.  (Eating The Road)

Not one, but 2 Brigham’s locations have closed in the last few weeks – High St. in Boston (oh, the memories!) and last week, Mill St. in Arlington.  (Wicked Local)

Good suggestions for how to clean your home effectively, without the use of commercial antibacterials and disinfectants.  (Healthy Child Healthy World Blog)

Some helpful ideas for feeding your toddler.  (Real Food For Real Life)

Mark Bittman’s great list of Thanksgiving make-ahead dishes.  The Thai squash soup idea would be a great way to use some of your CSA butternuts, folks! (The Minimalist)

Just another reason to avoid (or at least view with skepticism) foods that have health claims plastered across the front – usually they’re just not true.  Here’s a chronicle of Cheerios vs. the FDA.  (Fooducate)

And even more on bogus food claims – the Epicurious Blog debunks common claims.  (Epiblog)

See how Sigg bottles (boooo!  hissss!) are made – including the spraying of that evil lining.  Your kids might enjoy this.  (Enviroblog)

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This first link is not, of course, directly related to food and/or toxins, but instead it focuses on another part of healthy living:  living out your dreams.  This post on achieving your dreams is from the Crazy Sexy Life site, created by Kris Carr, who as some of your know, was the subject of the powerful and inspiring documentary called Crazy Sexy Cancer.  But this post isn’t just for people living with cancer, it’s for anyone who might need a little push to remember what s/he would love to do, and who needs a little nudge to start doing it.

Here’s a good little primer on Omega 3′s from Dani Spies – you hear a lot about them, but do you get enough of them?  I have taken Omega 3 supplements for years, but also try to work in food sources as often as possible.  One other thing you should look for in a supplement is one that has been “molecularly distilled” – meaning that it’s been purified so that it contains no heavy metals . . . . would be kinda a bummer to be taking those with breakfast, no?

NYC has banned bake sales in the city’s schools – making their food policies some of the strictest in the country.  One “expert” supporting the decision says that kids don’t need “an extra source of pointless calories.”  Now folks, you know I’m all about healthful eating, but what about the pleasure of eating?  OK with me to take Doritos and soda out of the schools (Ring Dings too) but what the heck is wrong with a little real butter, sugar and/or chocolate once in a while?  This is an awfully utilitarian approach to eating.

Dannon lost a lawsuit filed against it for its claims that Activia yogurt boosts immunity (here’s Tara Parker-Pope’s ditty on probiotics from the Times) . . . what about other health claims?  Marion Nestle says NO food should carry a health claim, that foods are not drugs.  The European Food Safety Authority recently reviewed a ton of food health claims and found many of them unsubstantiated. 

Six reasons why we’re not eating enough fruits and veggies, and some quick tips for how to get more on to your daily plate.

You may have not heard the news yet – after almost 70 years, Gourmet Magazine is folding.  Shocking.  Peter Davis (Henrietta’s Table) & Ana Sortun (Oleana & Sofra) remember Gourmet.   Will all cooking pubs go the way of the Internet and t.v.?  I will miss waiting for those glossies to show up every month – sometimes that’s all the “reading” I’m up for in a given week, and I can’t bear to add to my “must-see t.v.” list – the DVR is already packed.

Oooh oooh!  Anna Romagnoli (daughter of the couple that did the Romagnoli’s Table t.v. show and were also restaurateurs) is opening an Italian specialties place on Mt. Auburn St. in Coolidge Square in Watertown – practically around the corner from me.  I’ll report here once I’ve checked it out. 

A nice post on how to eat well when you’re on the go, from the Healthy Child, Healthy World blog.  My favorite tip is at the end – preparation is key.  Sometimes, yes, you get caught up short and you have to hit a drive-through, but if you can, plan.  Nuts, cereal, cheese sticks, even sandwiches wrapped in re-sealable foil (or better yet, a re-usable container) can get you through a hypoglycemic meltdown . . . just ask L., queen of the backseat PB&J.

And last, but not least, Tara Parker-Pope again on the top 10 food poisoning risks. . . lots of my favs in there!

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Cell phone safety is all over the news in the last few weeks.  It began after a group called the International EMF Collaborative issued a report warning that cell phones may be more dangerous than users have been led to believe by health authorities.  Last week, the Environmental Working Group released their online guide to cellphone radiation.  And yesterday, Pennsylvania senator and brain cancer survivor Arlen Specter held a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing to focus on whether cellular phone use causes health problems. At the same time and also in the nation’s capital, attendees at an international conference examined the potential cancer risks of radiation generated by cell phones. 

What is going on?  The EMF Collaborative report, titled “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern,” says the latest research indicates that regular use of cell phones can result in a “significant” risk of brain tumors.  It also says kids are at greater risk than adults because their still-developing brain cells are more vulnerable to electromagnetic radiation.  This study adds to the mounting evidence which indicates we should reduce our exposures while research continues on this question.  Consider this:  Americans’ use of cell phones increased 50% last year – fueled in large part by the “smartphone” craze.  If cell phone radiation is indeed a problem, it’s going to be a really huge problem in the coming years.

Last week the Environmental Working Group received a lot of attention when it released its comprehensive online consumer guide to cell phone radiation, which rates more than 1,000 cell phones marketed in the U.S.  The guide is the culmination of a 10-month research review to understand the risks of cell phone usage. The EWG also found that cell phones emit radiation – enough so that scientists are concerned about potential cancer risks. Using their guide, you can:

• Look up your phone;
• Read and download tips to reduce your exposure;
• See the top 10 best phones;
• Read the full Cell Phone Radiation Science Review;
• Take action and tell the government that it’s time to modernize their radiation standards.

What else can you do now to limit your exposure?  If you need a new mobile phone, it’s smart to buy phones with lower radiation emissions – use the EWG guide to figure out which is best for you.  Whichever phone you have, it’s a good idea to keep it as far away from your body as possible.  Researchers say using the speaker, sending text messages or talking on a headset all cut down on radiation exposure.  Opinions differ on whether a wireless Bluetooth headset poses a risk – some scientists at Monday’s hearing said it could be a problem, while others did not. But they all agreed a wired headset is best.  And using any headset means less radiation than if you’re holding the phone directly to your ear.  Also try making calls when the signal is high so that the phone doesn’t have to work as hard. 

What about your kids?  Talk to them about these findings, and help them to limit their exposure:  kids actually can absorb twice as much radiation as an adult from the same cell phone.  If your kids give you flak, let them know that advisories to limit cell phone use have already been issued by numerous countries and advisory boards including: the UK; Germany; France; Russia; India; Israel; Belgium; Japan; the Toronto Board of Health; and the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Dr. Devra Davis, Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh has said “Children under the age of 12 should not use cell phones unless in an emergency situation. If they must use cell phones, make sure they connect using a headset.”

Read more in the L.A. Times, Wired, Green Living Online, and at CNET.com.

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• Michael Pollan on Big Food vs. Big Insurance
• Training apps for your smartphone
• Mark Bittman’s twist on chicken w/40 cloves of garlic
• Are you a “foodie,” “cook,” or “home-cook?”
• Learn to make a Asian fusion dish with Gwyneth (video!)
• What Marion Nestle has to say about BPA

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If you’re at a loss sometimes, you’re not alone.  A recent survey by the Shelton Group showed that nearly 2/3 of the 1,006 U.S. consumers polled try to purchase foods produced in an environmentally friendly way.  But the consumers rated “100% natural” as the most reliable label claim, far ahead of “100% organic.”  It seems that consumers think that the word ‘organic’ is more of an unregulated marketing term, when really, the opposite is true.  ‘Natural’ is an unregulated word – organic foods must meet government standards to be certified as such. 

Want to know more?  Here is a guide to what the organic certification really means.  And here is a good article from the Chicago Tribune that talks about the Shelton Group study and goes further into the confusion regarding food labeling.  The Tribune also has a handy-dandy guide to the difference between “organic” and “natural” labeling on a variety of products that you can find here.

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The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy/Food and Health Program just released its “Smart Guide” to hormones in the food system.  It’s a PDF that you can download, and it has some good history and background information on where different synthetic hormones turn up and why, and also includes some tips on how to reduce your total hormone exposure from food and drink.  Check it out for yourself here.

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OK, so remember how I posted Sigg’s confessional letter from a week or so ago?  The one where they finally admit that their pre-’08 bottles have trace BPA in them?  I’ve been reading more about it, and thinking more about it, and it’s got my ire up.  It’s slimy what they did – during all the BPA fury, they just kept quiet, even denied that their bottle linings contained BPA, and then they changed their liners (such an admission of guilt) but yet kept the bottles with the old liners on the market.  I BOUGHT SMALL BOTTLES FOR MY DAUGHTER IN EARLY SEPTEMBER OF LAST YEAR – WITH THE OLD FREAKIN’ LINERS.  I SPENT $17.99 FOR EACH OF THEM. 

All told, I have 7 Sigg bottles with the old liners.  The small ones for L., some medium, some large.  Over $100 in Sigg bottles that I don’t want to use anymore. 

I found this post tonight on one of my favorite blogs, and it does link to a site that says that Sigg will replace your bottles for you, with the ones with the new liners, if you write to them and if you pay the postage to send them.  So here’s my question.  Can we trust them?  I mean, the new liners are some new chemical concoction.  Who’s to say that’s A-OK?  They do have 100% unlined stainless steel bottles, but they don’t seem to be in stock, and the letter the linked-to site received says Sigg will replace the bottles with ones with the new liners.  I don’t want any liners any more.  I think Sigg should send me whichever bottle I want in return for my old bottles, in order to create good will with one of their former #1 fans.  Or else I’m going to recycle all those mothers and order myself a slew of Kleen Kanteens.  Do you hear me, Sigg??  I feel ripped off, snookered and hoodwinked.

So please comment!  What are you going to do? 

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From the Epicurious Blog – ways to doctor up prepared foods.  Sometimes, you gotta take shortcuts.

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