The concept is fascinating: message receptors in the brain tell your body you’ve eaten. Introducing Vaportrim, a new entry into the diet market. It is a plastic cylindrical device, the size of a ballpoint pen, that looks like an embellished electronic cigarette. The cylinder, or cartridge, contains a liquid solution of water and flavors (natural and artificial) in a glycerin base, along with an atomizer, a tiny heating element. When you inhale with your mouth, the liquid passes through the atomizer, turning into a vapor. The vapor is held in your mouth and exhaled, just like smoking. Vaportrim comes in 14 flavors including raspberry cheesecake, milk chocolate, vanilla cupcake, and cinnamon bun.

The manufacturer says it works because our smell receptors message our brain, which, in turn, release hormones that tell the body it’s full. Legitimate research does show that appetite and smell are closely connected and smell can trigger fullness before the stomach can, but whether Vaportrim can curb cravings is unknown. No research has been done using the actual product for appetite suppression or weight control. Le Whif is a similar diet aid, but with it, vapor is not exhaled, and the Sensa Sprinkle Diet, also relies on smell receptors, but calls for sprinkling crystals on your food.

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Cereal for supper? Fast food out of the bag? That’s not how singles have to eat. Eating right can be challenging when living alone, but singles have options to match their preferences and skills. To cook or not to cook? What’s your singles eating style?

To Cook

Singles can cook either fast and slow. Fast cooking involves making one simple meal from scratch. Think about a spinach and cheese omelet, a big salad with rotisserie chicken, a quick pasta dish, or beans and rice. Without being elaborate, fast meals cover all of the food groups (don’t forget your glass of milk and piece of fruit.) The trick to cooking fast is to assemble a repertoire of tried-and-true recipes and to keep the ingredients on hand at all times. The shopping list must be always up-to-date. Reheating frozen entrees or burritos is a type of fast cooking. Buy them on sale and keep the freezer full.

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This week, Congress threw the children of the United States under the school bus when they chose to reject the school lunch nutrition standards proposed by the Agriculture Department (USDA). By congressional mandate, the USDA had been tasked with bringing the National School Lunch (and School Breakfast) Programs into line the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Evaluations had shown that school meals were too high in total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium, and too low in fiber from whole grains and from fruits and vegetables. And because school meals are designed to make a substantial contribution to a child’s daily intake, the hope was that a revision would have a positive impact on childhood obesity.

To investigate the issue and make recommendations, the USDA contracted the scientists at the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The IOM measured school menus against childhood nutrition standards as well as the practicality of mass food service within cost restraints. In the end, they recommended these service changes to align the program with the Dietary Guidelines:

• Add more fruit at breakfast, including whole fruit
• Add greater amount and variety of vegetables at lunch
• Require both fruit and vegetables on every lunch menu
• Add more whole grain-rich foods and subtract refined grain foods
• Limit milk choices to fat-free (unflavored or flavored) and plain 1% fat
• Increase the emphasis on limiting saturated fat
• Encourage schools to cook with unsaturated oils within the calorie limits
• Minimized the use of foods that contain trans fat
• Using stepwise reductions, create a major reduction in sodium to be achieved fully by 2020

The USDA then put those recommendations into proposed rules* for meal planning:

• Limit starchy vegetables, like potatoes and corn, to 1 cup (two servings) per week
• Require schools to serve a dark green or bright orange vegetable at least once a week
• Increase the amount of tomato paste that counts as one vegetable from 2-ounces, the amount typically served on one slice of pizza, to a 4-ounce (half-cup) serving
• Make at least half of the grains served at meals ‘whole’ grains

How many recommendations did Congress take? None at all.
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