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tibetian goji berriesCorn Everywhere: We All Live In Iowa

I just read something fascinating. It's a fact cited in a book called Omnivore's Dilemma, by a writer and journalism professor named Michael Pollan.

The startling fact is this: Corn is everywhere in our diets, much more than you might have imagined. If Pollan is to be believed, corn accounts for 13 of the 38 ingredients in a McDonald's Chicken McNugget. Of the 45,000 items carried by a typical supermarket, more than a quarter contain corn in some form.

Pollan happens to think that corn's dietary omnipresence is not a good thing. I am somewhat sympathetic to that view, especially if you count the fact that corn syrup that is used to flavor so much of our food and drink. Some experts put most of the blame for the growing obesity problem squarely on corn syrup.

Pollan further notes that each bushel of corn that is grown requires the use of as much as one-third of a gallon of oil in energy. Some of the oil used in growing corn evaporates and contributes to acid rain, while some of it seeps into the water supply. Thus, the widespread use of corn has environmental and energy consequences.

As far as our diets, though, I for one have to admit that I am an unrepentant fan of corn. There is nothing as delicious as an ear of sweet corn eat roasted on the grill and dripping with hot butter. And what would I do without my corn tortillas, used in so many Mexican food dishes?

Nonetheless, I'll be the first to admit that an overabundance of corn at the table is not a good idea, especially if it is crowding out other components of a balanced diet. As delicious and versatile as corn can be, it lacks a number of crucial nutrients that our bodies need for optimal health. In times and places where people ate almost nothing but corn, even if it was plentiful, they generally were malnourished.

My advice: If you enjoy corn, don't feel guilty about continuing to eat it or to serve it to your family. But do start noticing how much corn you are getting in your diet. Read labels! The, if it seems prudent, find ways to cut back on the total amount of corn products that you consume.

Sarah Sandori is the food and entertaining columnist for the Solid Gold Info Writers Consortium. Have you ever wanted to be able to exactly duplicate a favorite dish from a favorite restaurant? Check out Sarah's article where she reveals her source for the most mouth-watering secret restaurant recipes in America: http://www.solid-gold.info/most-wanted-recipes.html

Junk Food or Junk Diet?

The week-end arrives; you heave a sigh of relief as you now have a couple of days relaxation before you face the pressures of work again. Or do you? Saturday morning - you make the family a cup of coffee to start the day, then it is off out to get the shopping done. You get back late in the morning and realise that you have to get the kids to their swimming club or drop them off at their music instructors place. Too late for a decent lunch, by the time they are organised it will be time to go. So you stop and all have a burger on the way. The traffic is a nightmare, by the time you get in and put your feet up, you find it is time to collect the kids. You are so tired now with all of the rushing about that you really can't be bothered with preparing a meal so you pick up a family chicken meal from a well-known fast food outlet. Sunday arrives, great, a bit of space, time to prepare a big cooked breakfast. By midday, things are getting tense again so you go for the pizza with some low-fat chips and some salad ...

Sounds familiar? Well let's have a look at the score. Firstly, what is a good diet? Basically, one which contains the nutrients that your body needs, in the correct amounts. The latter is the key to a healthy lifestyle. The main things your body needs from food are proteins (for growth and repair), carbohydrates (for energy), fats (gives a store of energy and the fatty layer protects and insulates yoiur body from impacts and temperature loss), vitamins (for good health), minerals (for the correct functioning of your body systems) fibre (aids digestion and production of faeces) and water (70% or so of the body is water).

So let's have a look at a burger meal. Does it supply the nutrients you need? The answer is yes. The burger itself contains some meat, so there is the protein, some minerals and fat, the burger also contains fillers and those, plus the burger bun provides carbohydrate. The salad that comes with the burger meal provides fibre, water, vitamins and minerals. The fries provide more fat and carbohydrate and the main bulk of the water comes from the drink. There you have it, burger meals give you all you need!

The problems lie with the quantities of these nutrients. There is inevitably too much fat and carbohydrate compared with the other nutrients. And there is way too little fibre. The vitamin and mineral proportions are very low, unless you have a shake with the meal, which will increase the proportion of dairy product based minerals such as calcium. To get out of that one, you need to make sure that your next meal makes up for this out of balance meal. For your evening meal therefore, you should eat a low fat, high fibre meal, plenty of veg, cooked lightly or eaten raw so as not to destroy the vitamins. If you must eat between meals, snack on fruit or veg.

A further problem is the use of additives. For instance the addition of salt improves the flavour of food so naturally manufacturers put it in. As a result, eating processed food increases your salt levels - increases blood pressure and leads to heart problems for one thing. A little salt is necessary; it provides your body with the mineral sodium, needed in small quantities. Preservatives are another issue here, allegedly there in small enough quantities not to be harmful, what happens if you eat processed food all the time? Worth thinking about.

Antioxidants are important too. They help to prevent damage to the cells of your body, damage that can lead to cells becoming cancerous. Teas are a very good source of antioxidants. Ordinary (black) tea provides some but a lot of the beneficial constituents are lost during the fermentation process. Unprocessed, pure organic teas like Green Tea or Oolong (the latter is only partly fermented) are the best. Therefore, instead of coffee in the morning, try tea, it is more beneficial. Tea also contains the caffeine, but not as much as in coffee. You might have to drink more but think of the extra benefits to your health. Also, Green tea is thought to inhibit the absorption of cholesterol. The high levels of animal fats in burgers inevitably mean more cholesterol so there is another good reason for switching from coffee.

I hope that you can now see that simple changes to your diet can make your hectic lifestyle more healthy. And don't feel too bad about the odd burger or other fast food, just learn to compensate.

All the tea in China? Not quite but we do have a good selection of Green tea, Puerh tea and other Chinese teas!

Fast Food Nutritional Information Guide - What To Choose When You Have To Go To Fast Food Restaurant

Fast food seems to be the main provider of nutrition for our body these days. The amounts of fast food consumed by children below 14 have increased at tremendous rate from 1980 to 2000. The estimation is that children now consume 10% of their bodies with fast food, and that 10% of fast food contribute to their total energy intake on daily basis.

Compare this to the 2% number of fast food consumption in children in 1980. And for your information, relying on fast food alone won't meet your body daily requirement of nutrition. The numbers of fast food restaurants have doubled in 20 years and it's predicted to growth at more alarming rate in the coming years. The reason of this alarming growth rate is due to the bad infestation of fast food restaurants, not only in America, but also in the world.

The fast food giants now also specifically target children in their advertisement campaign too. And now we can see fast food restaurants opening up their branches at public school too. This fast food infestation is believed to be responsible in triggering the obesity and diabetes epidemic in societies. And since a lot of people rely on fast food for their daily nutrition intake its worth knowing the nutritions information that are contained in the fast food.

So let's get to know well the fast food nutrition information that is currently becoming a part of our daily life. First of all most of the fast food use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil which contribute trans fat to our body. Trans fats are hand-made fats which are made through the injection of hydrogen on unsaturated fat, making it a trans fat. So naturally all fast food products which are made through frying contain a lot of Trans fat.

Research done by feeding monkeys on fast food which contain Trans fat resulted in an increase of the size of bellies of the monkeys. And monkeys fed on unsaturated fat foods which contain the same calories did not show the same increase of size. And the most alarming occurrences are that monkeys fed on fast food show an early sign of diabetes. These Trans fats that are found in fast food have higher probability of causing heart disease than other fats.

Let's take a look at some of the popular fast food products.

McDonald's Big Mac and fries

Fat: 12g (per 100g)

Salt:; 0.9g

Sugar: 3.7g

Protein: 9.3

Fibre: 3.2g

KFC two chicken pieces and fries

Fat: 12g

Salt: 0.7g

Sugar: n/a

Protein: 12.2g

Fibre: n/a

Considering the amount of fat available there, obviously the best choices for food in fast foods restaurant are the salad and the grilled meat. Be careful with the dressing; make sure you order it in separate cups so that you can control the amount of additional fat that you are going to eat.

Mc Donald Chicken Caesar Salad

Fat: 6 g (per 100g)

Salt: 0.39 g

Protein: 7g

Sugar: 1g

Fibre: 3g

Subway Veggie Delight sandwich

Fat: 3g

Salt: 0.5 g

Protein: 7g

Sugar: 3.5g

Fibre: 3g

Subway Chicken Savory Sandwich

Fat: 3g

Salt: 0.6 g

Protein: 8g

Sugar: 6g

Fibre: 4g

With such a bad infestation of fast food, now you know what to order when your friends or your colleagues or even your families insist on taking you to the nearest fast food chain. New York City have 23 McDonald's in Manhattan alone and everywhere in hospitals, airports, train stations and eve high schools, so with this fast food nutrition information you are armed with knowledge to order the least poisonous foods for you.

Linda Mie A former obese girl now sharing her recommendations and reviews of various diet methods available out there. Find out her personal twist and tricks on popular diet methods based on her own experiences for quick and healthy weight loss diet. See also her new guide: the fast food 101.