Small Steps to Health

Yogurt a Health Food? Do You have Dental Insurance?

September 29th, 2008 by asithi · 5 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, food marketing, healthy eating, supermarket

Yogurt is the cash cow of the dairy industry. Add some fruit, you have one product. Add some thickeners, you have another product. My problem with yogurt is the sugar, not the health claim

Sugar is approximately 55% of the 80 calories in Go-GURT. With approximately 5 grams of sugar, my co-worker is slurping a little over 1 teaspoon of sugar in 1 minute!…………….

More about Weddings and 10,000 Steps

September 25th, 2008 by asithi · 3 Comments

Tagged Fitness, Weight, Fitness, wedding

Photo by: Brendon.

I spent the last week visiting St. Louis for my brother-in-law’s wedding. Although I was not officially part of the wedding party, there was still plenty of work for me to do.

I had my Omron pedometer with me and was able to logged in my 10,000 steps most days. 10,000 steps is the recommended amount of steps for weight loss if your average baseline is 4,000 - 5,000 steps. Basically that translates to approximately 45 – 60 minutes……….

Wax on, Wax off - Wax on Fruits and Vegetables

September 16th, 2008 by asithi · 8 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, healthy eating, supermarket

Photo by: Elena Norbiato.

I often been suspicious of wax on fruits and vegetables. How safe is it and how much of this wax is going directly to my hips? This post is about the safety of wax on fruits and vegetables.

Why is there wax on fruits and vegetables?
Wax retains water in fruits and vegetables in the same way that moisturizers do to the skin. Wax on fruits and vegetables protects against bruising, mold growth, and extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Apples, green peppers, cucumbers, and others have natural waxes already, but get washed off during processing. Supermarkets like waxes because the high shine…….

Shoe Shopping

September 15th, 2008 by asithi · 4 Comments

Tagged Body Image, shopping

Photo by Brandon Baunach.

I went shoe shopping this weekend. Since Sex in the City, I am pretty sure men are aware of the fact that women cannot say no to a really good shoe sale. Are you sitting back, scratching your head, wondering how shoe shopping is related to your weight?

For most women weight gain or weight lose do not change the size of our feet, unless we are obese with fat deposits on our feet or it is swollen from water retention. Our feet are largely bones, cartilage, and tendons. So a pair of size 7 will fit me even if I gain or lose 20 pounds. When have we ever heard of “Does my foot look fat in this?”…………….

14 Pantry Essentials for Homemade Meals

September 11th, 2008 by asithi · 3 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, healthy eating

Photo by Belinda Hankins Miller

We will always have to eat. It is better to eat food prepared at home is lower in fat and calories than take out or restaurant meals.

Here are the top 14 pantry essentials that we should stocked for making a delicious and healthy dinner:

1. Broths (fat free, reduced sodium beef and chicken, vegetable, and tomato) for sauteing and cooking with rice and grains, as well as for creating simple soups.

2. Dried foods (fruits, tomatoes, mushrooms) to add to grain or rice pilafs………

Fresh Produce, Food Miles, and Country of Origin Labeling

September 9th, 2008 by asithi · 7 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, food marketing, healthy eating, supermarket

Photo by Natalie Maynor

Even during ancient times, food spoilage during transport for trading is a big issue. Trading food required some method to prevent spoiling. In those days, food is often salted, dried, or sugared (jams and jellies). When the food is not spoiled, it is considered “fresh.”

Fast forward today and our standard for “freshness” is much higher. 50-60 years ago, the produce sections of supermarkets were limited in variety to whatever was in season, grown locally, or brought in from places no more than a few days away. But refrigeration in trains, trucks, and airplanes forever changed our definition of “fresh produce.”

Read more at the blog……..

Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 66

September 8th, 2008 by asithi · No Comments

Tagged blogging

My post on Male Menopause and Restoring the Hormonal Balance is on the Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival today. There are some great articles featured under headings such as Brain Power, Dating, Exercise, Family, Grooming, Money, Nutrition, Stress, and Work.

Tomorrow’s post will be about “fresh produce” in supermarkets. It will be an interesting one since we get produce from around the world year round…..

Supermarket Tricks, Slotting Fees, and Our Wallets

September 3rd, 2008 by asithi · 7 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, healthy eating, supermarket

Photo by rudlavibizon.

Though we might think that we have the freedom of choice when we shop at a supermarket, massive efforts have gone into making it more convenient and desirable for us to choose some products over others.

This post will discuss some typical behind the scenes supermarket tricks designed to expose us to a large number of high profit margin products, how shelf space (prime “real estate”) are brought and sold with slotting fees paid by food companies, and how these practices impact our health and our wallets.

There are approximately 320,000 edible products for sale in this country. Large supermarkets might display as many as 40,000 of these edible products. The corporations that own large supermarkets want us to do as much searching as we can tolerate in order to expose us to the largest possible number of items because products seen most sell best. They figured out how to get us to walk up and down those aisles for as long as possible, but not so long that we leave in frustration………

The Smart Woman’s Guide to Midlife & Beyond - Book Review

September 1st, 2008 by asithi · 2 Comments

Tagged Aging Bodies, Book Review, aging, hormones, menopause

This post is a book review of The Smart Woman’s Guide to Midlife & Beyond by Janet Horn, MD and Robin H. Miller, MD. This book offers a chapter on common health issues faced by women after the age of 50. The health issues range from your brain to your uterus.

To me acupuncture and herbal supplements are as “normal” to me as the prescribed medications my doctor gives me. I always view alternative medicine and herbal supplements as another revenue I can discuss with my doctor when traditional medicine fail to give me an answer. Of course, traditional medical advice are not neglected either in this book……