|
Diet Detective: Obstacles to healthful eating lurk everywhere
Eating healthfully isn't easy, so recently DietDetective.com asked more than 300 people what makes it difficult for them to eat better. Here are the obstacles mentioned most often and how to overcome them: Too many tempting foods Too much temptation is by far the most common complaint for not eating healthfully. Everywhere you go there's fast food, cupcakes, doughnuts and fried chicken. In fact, many public-health advocates call this an "obese-friendly environment." It can be tough to resist. Don't think simple willpower is going to get you past all those tempting foods. Plan ahead. For instance, find the healthier choices on fast-food menus before you get there (most restaurants have information on their Web sites). Keep junk foods out of your house.
Nibbles: Breakfast not so important after all?
First we have to tell our kids not to eat spinach, and now this: doctors and nutrition experts are saying it's OK to skip breakfast. About one third of all American and European adults skip breakfast, and neuroscientist Mark Mattson says it could actually be healthier to do so. Others warn that children should always have breakfast and that people who don't eat in the morning often make up for those lost calories later in the day. There's even a diet, the Warrior Diet that advocates skipping breakfast as a way to lose weight and get healthier… The next big thing in food could be some very small things. Nanotechnology may one day allow scientists to manipulate food down to single molecules, giving food super powers like staying fresh longer or having less fat. Naturally, proponents of organic food find this horrifying, and others wonder how companies will prove it is safe to eat the altered foods… We always knew the stars were hiding their real diet secrets from us.
KFC jumps on diet bandwagon
Amid growing public pressure, the fast-food eatery announces that it's switching to a no-trans-fat frying oil. Colonel Sanders is putting America on a diet. KFC, a unit of Yum! Brands (YUM, news, msgs), announced today that it will switch to a cooking oil with no trans fat in all its U.S. fried-chicken restaurants by April 2007. KFC joins hamburger chain Wendy's International (WEN, news, msgs) in a move to cut its use of the artery-clogging oil at a time when fast-food restaurants have come under criticism that their food contributes to obesity. The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE, news, msgs) chain also made news this summer when it announced that it was testing a trans fat-free menu in its Los Angeles stores. Fast-food chains are scrambling to avoid a legal and popular backlash against the cooking fat.
Key to diet success: Resisting that temptation
E ating healthy isn't easy, so recently Diet- Detective.com asked more than 300 people what makes it difficult for them to eat better. Here are the obstacles mentioned most often and how to overcome them: • Problem: Too many tempting foods. • Survey results: 27.7 percent. This is by far the most common complaint for not eating healthy. Every- where you go there's fast food, cupcakes, doughnuts and fried chicken. In fact, many public health advocates call this an ''obese-friendly environment.'' So, yes, it can be tough to resist. • Solution: Don't think simple willpower is going to get you past all those temptations. Plan ahead. For instance, find the healthier choices on fast-food menus before you get there. Most restaurants have information on their websites.
|
