Green Options

With a lot of great health and fitness benefits, honey should be a common staple in people’s daily diets. Other than its great taste, it has numerous benefits for our bodies, immune systems, weight, and energy which you may not be aware of.

Honey is a source of a variety of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. The main vitamins it provides are niacin, riboflavin and pantothetic acid, and the main minerals are calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. Importantly, the amount of these substances in honey varies depending on its floral source, just as its color and taste vary.

On top of this, what are the main health benefits of honey?

This is one of those topics I’m just not sure what to think of…

When the average person hears the term fuel cell, typically what comes to mind is something that mysteriously makes electricity from hydrogen. In reality the process isn’t all that mysterious—basically the hydrogen is split into its component parts (electrons and protons) and the protons are allowed to flow through the cell, but the electrons are forced to travel another path, which creates the current (and charges the battery or runs the motors or turns on the lights).

Although the hydrogen fuel cell is the most common type of cell, you can make fuel cells that use many different things, including hydrocarbons and sugars. They all work on the same basic principal, but hydrogen fuel cells are considered superior because their only emission is water vapor and they produce lots of energy.

General Mills and Kellogg’s want to sell sugary processed foods like Froot Loops and Lucky Charms to your kids.  This isn’t anything new.  But under the guise of the new “Smart Choices” Program, large food corporations want to proudly label sugary, highly processed foods as good nutritional food options.

The program was recently created by a conglomerate of conglomerates, including ConAgra Foods, Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, Pepsico, Tyson Foods, and Unilever.  The participating companies list all their products that “meet a comprehensive set of nutrition criteria based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other sources of nutrition science and authoritative dietary guidance”.  You can review the Smart Choices website for yourself.

According to a UK documentary, “Sweet Misery,” the National Cancer Institute identified a significant and impressive increase in brain cancer starting in about 1984. Why did brain cancer shoot up? It looks like it is because of articial sweeteners such as those found in diet drinks and food!

Just in case you were thinking about indulging in some sweet treats today, I would like to offer you the option to take the healthier road. Sometimes it can take a visual aid to open your eyes and force you to take a cold hard look at what you are actually putting in your body or feeding to your family. Luckily, Sugar Stacks has put together an array of photos for us.  Unluckily, there are many items on their website that a lot of folks may consume on any given day, slowly causing their body to deteriorate without even realizing it.

Each food item is paired with the actual amount of sugar it contains stacked up in pretty little cubes. Each cube equals a teaspoon of sugar. Since they do not differentiate between different kinds of sugar, its important to know that natural sugars found in fruit and vegetables will be metabolized differently then the sugar found in a can coke or your favorite Frappachino. In my article on Natural Sweeteners, I explain that not all sweeteners are created equal. When it comes to refined sweeteners like white table sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet and Splenda, there are many side effects and health risks to take into consideration.

It’s time to face reality. It’s time to ask your self, what have I been putting in my body? Would I ever just eat the nearly 10 cubes of sugar that are the soda I just drank?  Can I make a smarter choice then this? You may have seen these before, but in my opinion, if you are still eating and drinking these items on a regular basis, you can never see them too much. For even more photos go to Sugarstacks.com.

Where can you buy healthy fresh food in your neighborhood? Where are the grocery stores and farmer’s markets, how is the quality of food that is there, and which food options do you actually have access to? Are there nearby food banks or community gardens? Can you grow your own food? What local food choices are available to you in your community?

I took this photo in the meat section of my neighborhood grocery store earlier this week.

In their ongoing efforts to achieve a more environmentally friendly image, the Coca-Cola Co. announced earlier this month that they will be launching new biobased plastic bottles for their Dasani water line later this year and vitaminwater next year. They’re calling their new packaging the “PlantBottleTM.”

Recent data showing sugar’s rising popularity over high fructose corn syrup is good news, right?  Not if that sugar is genetically-modified.  In fact, if you’ve purchased beet sugar recently, there’s a very good chance that you’ve unintentionally consumed a genetically-modified product. Industry statistics show that more than half of the sugar beets grown in the US in 2008 were genetically-modified varieties.

If that isn’t enough to make you cringe, consider the following: most of those engineered beets were Roundup-resistant, courtesy of agri-tech giant Monsanto.  Last autumn under the Bush administration, the USDA approved the Monsanto seed without preparing a standard Environmental Impact Statement.   But certainly President Obama, with an organic garden on the White House Lawn, would have done things differently.

Wouldn’t he?

A recent New York Times article noted that sugar is making a comeback in American diets as an alternative to High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

The increased interest in sugar as an alternative to HFCS is attributed partly to HFCS backlash as well as increased PR campaigns and changes in consumer taste.  The change in sugar preference is highlighted by industry figures that note that as recently as 2003 American consumption of sugar was approximately equal to HFCS, but by 2007 the figures had changed and consumers guzzled 44 pounds of sugar compared to only 40 pounds of HFCS

In response to consumer demand, food making giants Pepsi and Pizza Hut have recently rolled out “natural” pizzas and sodas made with “old fashioned” sugar instead of HFCS.  Agro-industrial monolith ConAgra also announced that it would begin production of an HFCS-free line of frozen meals, and Kraft foods declared that it would remove HFCS from its line of salad dressings.  These are just a few examples of large food conglomerates creating new products in response to the recent angst against HFCS.

On average we consume over 20 teaspoons of added sugar in our diet daily, and sometimes we don’t even know it. This can add up to an average of 142 pounds of sugar per person per year! Americans love sweets! And how could we not when sweet flavors release serotonin in our brains, the chemical that gives off the feelings of love, contentment and well-being. But not all sweeteners are created equal. When it comes to refined sweeteners like white table sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet and Splenda, there are many side effects and health risks to take into consideration. These items are stripped of vitamins, minerals and fiber and can spike your blood sugar, often leading to more sugary cravings, mood and energy swings. Sugar can be addictive for many people because of the chemical reaction that take place in the body. Artificial sweeteners, because of the neurotoxins they contain, have been know to cause headaches, memory loss, nausea, PMS, dizziness, mood changes, heart arrhythmia, joint pain and more. Using natural and minimally processed sweeteners can help to control sugar cravings, stabilize moods and energy and have a dramatic effect on your health. Since most natural sweeteners are 1.5 times sweeter then sugar, you can use less of it in baking and other recipes that call for sugar.

The foods we eat have a direct impact on our overall energy.

Think about how you feel after having certain foods.

A greasy fast food meal more than likely leaves you tired, sluggish, and possibly feeling guilty, while a meal full of complex carbohydrates, healthy protein and fats, and fresh fruits and vegetables leaves a person feeling satisfied and energized.