Potatoes get a bit of a bad rap. Lately, I’ve come to realize how much I love a baked potato now and again as a satisfying side dish to a lean protein and tossed salad. But, in a post-Atkins world, that would seem like a diet taboo. Not so, says a new study.
“When it comes to weight loss, it is not about eliminating a certain food or food groups. Rather, it is reducing calories that count,” said study leader Britt Burton-Freeman of the University of California, Davis.
The study’s leader went on to say that not only is there no evidence that a healthfully prepared potato is bad for your diet, it can actually be a part of your weight loss plan.
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When you eat rice, it’s likely that you are ingesting the white variety. While there is no reason to panic about eating white rice in moderation, if it’s a diet staple there could be something to be concerned about.
Harvard researchers are pointing to the considerable benefits of switching from white to brown rice, particularly how it relates to preventing diabetes. They are saying by making the easy switch to brown rice, you can cut your diabetes risk by a third.
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If a new study is correct, women have a new reason to minimize their intake of certain carbohydrates: heart disease. According to the study, women who eat more high glycemic foods, such as white bread, white rice, and other foods that cause blood sugar to spike, are more than twice as likely to develop heart disease than other women. Foods that spike blood sugar are also referred to as high glycemic.
The women in the upper 25th percentile of high glycemic food eating in the study had double the heart attack risk of those in the lower 25th percentile.
The researchers found that men who also eat excessive amounts of high glycemic foods don’t have the same increased risk. It’s thought that maybe men’s bodies process the carbs differently.
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Maybe it’s my German heritage, but I’m a sucker for tart or sour foods. While some of my German favorites – sauerkraut, mustard and bratwurst, pickled vegetables – aren’t always on the healthy side, one popular ingredient is: vinegar.
What is Vinegar, Anyway?
Vinegar is an acidic liquid which is processed from the fermentation of ethanol. This process yields the key ingredient acetic acid (ethanoic acid), which we’ll get to later.
There have been many health benefits ascribed to vinegar over the years, particularly apple cider vinegar. While it has often been considered a folk remedy with little evidence to back it up, in recent years its health benefits have been backed by scientific studies.
- A 2006 study found that acetic acid, the main component of vinegar, had a cholesterol-lowering benefit in a test group of rats. They saw significantly lower total cholesterol and triacylglycerol. High levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream have been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.
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Put down that PB&J on white bread and listen to this: In a just-released landmark study, researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine and the Heart Institute of Sheba Medical Center found that high carbohydrate foods can be extremely dangerous to the health of your heart. Implicated foods include the “bad” carbs like white bread, sugary cereals, cookies and cakes.
While this isn’t exactly new news, this important study provides a direct reason why these high glycemic foods wreak havoc on the heart and increase risk of heart disease. The researchers showed that after you eat a carb-laden food like a bowl of corn flakes or a Twinkie, your brachial arteries become distended, or swollen, for several hours. While it’s important for the arteries to have a certain amount of elasticity in them, over time, a sudden expansion of the arteries, which follows after noshing on a carb-filled snack, can cause a number of negative health effects, including reduced elasticity, which can cause heart disease or sudden death.
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