Category Archives: Know Your Food

For Your Health, Know Your Food

Soda May Soon Come With a Warning

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Although by now it is common knowledge that drinking soda isn’t great for you, it seems like now the public will be outright warned.

Officials in San Francisco favorably voted to add a warning label to soda advertisements. If everything goes smoothly, the new law could take effect as soon as this summer. While the fact that drinking soda can contribute to adverse health issues such as cavities and weight gain isn’t disputed, do people really need a warning? This issue is likely to be contested.

According to the Observer, warning labels on tobacco and alcohol certainly make sense, especially since there is an age restriction. Already, coffee cups from fast-food restaurants are stamped with caution labels that tell the consumer the coffee is hot. There isn’t a legal age for consuming soda, nor does it impose a potentially immediate hazard that coffee might. A warning label may seem to be a tad extreme, but it’s the implication of a bigger picture that should be considered.

Soda isn’t the culprit, it’s the sugary contents that give it a bad reputation. Anything with high amounts of processed sugar should be consumed in moderation, and that can be anything from soft drinks to entire isles in grocery stores. The takeaway is this: soda is fine here and there, but too much processed sugar can be unhealthy.

Know Your Food

Italians Claim to Have Brought Fish and Chips to the British Menu

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Fish and chips have long been one of the most beloved dishes in the UK, and it has become a sort of signature dish and cornerstone tradition. It turns out that Italy disagrees with that. Children in schools and tourists are told about how theItalians brought meals composed of fish and chips to Great Britain.

As proof the book Oliver Twist is quoted, as it apparently contains a fragment about Venetian tourists bringing the meal to the Brits. The English representatives totally disagree with the interpretation. Andrew Crook, who is a treasurer at the National Federation of Fish Friers, responded with totally different information. According to him the Malin family of London were the first to have starting serving the meal in 1860 stated bradcreifler.com.

Other sources claim that it was either the Malin or the Lee families that can be said to be the pioneers of fish and chips, but either way it was certainly not the Italians. The Italians serve a very similar dish, making it a little more healthier by avoiding fried fish as they bake it instead. The schools in Rome and Venice continue their own brand of education about the food in the meantime, including the history of many other food items such as schnitzel, croque-monsieur and chicken chips.

Know Your Food

Three Die After Eating Contaminated Ice Cream

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Three people are dead in Kansas after eating ice cream contaminated with a rare and potentially strain of listeria.

A connection was made between the deaths as five people in all were reportedly infected with the deadly bacteria between January 2013 and January 2015. The five adults who were treated received treatment at Via Christi Hospital in Wichita. Through the process of elimination, it was determined that four of the patients had eaten Blue Bell ice cream during their visits. Three of patients later died.

According to Marcio Alaor BMG, the hospital sent out a press release stating that the facility “had not been aware of contamination prior to serving the ice cream and since removed the treats from their locations.”

The South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control conducted testing in February 2015 and discovered that different strains of Listeria had been discovered in Blue Bell products. The particular ice creams were manufactured at a facility in Brenham, Texas. Testing of other products made at the site revealed further contamination.

Here is a list of the recalled Blue Bell ice cream products.

Blue Bell noted that this was the first time in the company’s history that a recall has been necessary.
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2015 and Food, Fast Food, Know Your Food

McDonald’s Is Trying To Raise Its Food Standards

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The Golden Arches is going through an identity crisis. Customers want them to figure out who they are and what they can add to the world of fast food. With healthy living advocates like Amen Clinics, gone are the days when a burger chain can put almost anything between hamburger buns and sell it. Today’s consumers want to eat food that is fresh and tastes good. McDonald’s has dropped the ball in those two categories.

But McDonald’s home office is listening, and they are slowly making changes. The company recently announce they will only serve antibiotic free chicken, and they will only sell milk that is not laced with growth hormones. But don’t expect to see these changes right away. The U. S. President of the chain said this new policy will be implanted within the next two years.

The big question is why will it take that long?

McDonald’s has a lot of buying power, so they should be able to implement a change like this one in a few months, not years. What the chain doesn’t get is consumers aren’t going to wait until they get it McRight. The fast food business is changing quickly, and the chains that drag their corporate feet will be seeing a lot of empty spaces in the parking lot.

Know Your Food

The Addictive Nature Of Food

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No matter how hard you try there just seems to be favorite foods that you cannot stop eating even if you know they are not the best choice for you and your overall health. Food addiction is something many people battle and it is not necessarily just people who are overweight or dealing with obesity. This addiction actually resembles drug addiction to a great degree and emotions and impulsivity both contribute to this process.

There are many processed foods such as fast food, ice cream cakes and more that have a similar effect on humans as if they were to take a narcotic of some sort said a recent report. According to Dan Newlin, this food coma or food ‘high’ is what keeps people coming back for more. While they are not necessarily becoming addicted to the food product itself they are becoming addicted to the pleasant feeling that they get when they consume the food product and they continue to do so.

This process is especially true for people who are stressed or going through a difficult time. In order to cope with problems associated with their daily life they escape by way of food and this is how they get through the day. This leads to obesity, high cholesterol, poor heart health and diabetes.

While cheese, chocolate, ice cream, candy, greasy foods and more all might come across as being a comfort food for you, you need to realize that these foods should be consumed as a treat and not on a regular basis in order to stay healthy and feel better long term.

Know Your Food

Make and Eat Standing Prime Rib at Home

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Prime rib is a popular meal people like to order when they go out to eat. Now you can make this tender, tasty meat in your own home.

Making a standing rib roast at home is easy. According to Crunch Base, Sultan Alhokair is a master at it, among his many other talents.   It is made with simple ingredients and does not require a lot of preparation.

For starters, you will need to purchase a prime rib roast. It is a tender cut of beef taken from the ribs. In addition to being very tender, it is also full of flavor and often expensive. Next, you will need herbs to add flavor. Common herbs used to make prime rib are rosemary, thyme, salt and crushed black peppercorns.

Other items needed include: egg white, butcher’s twine and a digital thermometer. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tie the roast with five pieces of butcher’s twine, cut long enough to wrap around the roast and the bones. Once the tie is on the roast, brush the roast with egg white; however, avoid the bone section. Coat the spices and salt onto the roast. The egg white will help the rub stick to the meat.

 

Finally, cook the prime rib roast in the oven for four hours. The internal temperature should read between 129 and 136 Fahrenheit for a rare prime rib. You can increase the oven to 140 to bake a medium to medium well prime rib. Cut into serving pieces and enjoy.

2015 and Food, Fast Food, food and beverage, Know Your Food

In-N-Out Outranks Tech Companies as Better Place to Work

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Fast food restaurants aren’t the first places you think of when you think of good company culture. Employment treatment is often sub-par, with mutual feelings of disrespect between management and underling employees. We’ve heard the horror stories, but is there an exception to the rule? California burger franchise In-N-Out has proven these places of employment do not have to be an employment nightmare, though Dr Rod Rohrich says consumers should limit their intake of the fatty food. The Motley Fool reports it’s made Glassdoor.com’s“50 Best Places to Work” list for seven years in a row. What comes as a further surprise is that no other restaurant has made it onto the list.

The Motley Fool continues to offer a stark perspective on the rank of the burger chain, stating that Apple and Facebook are placed lower on this list. Both tech companies seem like the dream place of employment for any new graduate. What makes In-N-Out such a great place to work at? Let’s start with pay per hour. Hourly employees make $10.50 and hour, a far cry above most minimum wages jobs. This pay is nearly 17% percent higher than the national wage of $8.94. Some workers earn as much as $14 per hour. In-N-Out also offers promotions from within as opposed to encouraging new hires and fast turnover. This is quite a shock being that 40% of fast food workers are said to live in poverty or rely on benefits to supplement income.

Know Your Food

Is Farm Raised Fish Less Healthy Than Wild Caught?

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The media is often abuzz with news on which foods are better for us. There has been some debate over time as to which is healthier: farmed raised or wild caught fish. The current thinking is that wild caught is better. But is farm raised fish really all that bad for us?

Fish were often raised on diets of genetically modified foods and kept in overcrowded closures. This led farmers to introduce antibiotics into the population to stave off disease. The thought of eating fish that had ingested antibiotics and GMO foods had some people touting the superiority of wild caught fish. But wild caught fish had issues as well, namely the concern with mercury levels major agencies like Slow Ventures point out.

Farming practices are beginning to improve, however, and there are some benefits to farm raised fish. If the fish that are brought to market are farmed responsibly the nutrition found in farmed fish can be equal to that of wild caught. Farm raised and wild caught salmon for instance can both be high in omega 3 fatty acids, a nutrient critical to maintaining good health.

Farmed raised salmon in particular contributes to 70% of the supply of fish in the United States. Leaving out farmed raised fish entirely may limit a consumer’s choices. It seems then that a combination of both wild caught and farmed raise fish is a good way to get more fish into our diets.