Menu Labeling Will Help Only the Already Motivated

What's on the Menu?
jenny downing / CC BY 2.0

I thought since the calorie information was posted right next to the cheesecakes on display at the Cheesecake Factory, that the calorie and saturated fat would be posted right there on the menu next to the item I was considering. Right? Wrong. You have to ask for the "nutritional guide" which is separate from the actual menu. And at the Claim Jumper, another restaurant chain that is providing nutrition information in my state, the nutrition information is at the back of the "saloon guide."

Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm happy it's there. I'm just thinking you really have to be motivated to (1) find the numbers, and then(2) consider them when making your selections. When people are eating at restaurants, they tend to be in a "splurge" mode and many of the people that tend to go to fast food chains, I'm guessing, just aren't as motivated or interested in this thing called nutrition. They might be largely focused on getting the most food for their three dollars.

Apparently, a provision requiring chain restaurants to post calories on their menus is one of the items buried in the nearly 2,000-page health reform bill recently passed by the House. Well a few studies have been done to assess what impact New York City's menu-labeling legislation, which took effect last year, has had on its citizens. The results were largely unimpressive. I suspect you are going to have a small segment of the population who appreciates and uses the nutrition information and a larger portion that just isn't interested or doesn't care about the nutrition information. They came for the food, not the nutrition information.

My guess is restaurant goers might be more motivated to consider the information compared to a fast food customer who is perhaps more motivated by getting the most food for their dollar or had already decided which fast food favorite they were getting before they even bellied up to the counter.

Are you more likely to consider the calorie and saturated fat information when eating a restaurant versus a fast food?

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Taste Test Tuesday: Kashi TLC Dark Mocha Almond Granola Bars

If you like the flavors of dark chocolate, coffee and almond, and who doesn't, you'll probably love these new chewy granola bars by the Kashi Company. They are a petite snack size with each bar contributing 130 calories along with 3.5 grams of fat (.5 grams of saturated fat), 6 grams of protein, 21 grams of carbohydrate, 6 grams sugar, and 4 grams of fiber.

They don't seem as sweet as the mainstream chewy granola bars, like the Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, which are a little smaller in size and contain a little more saturated fat (1.5 grams) and sugar (7 grams) but less protein (1 gram) and fiber (1 gram).

What are the first 5 ingredients?
These Kashi granola bars feature the Kashi seven whole grains and sesame blend along with brown rice syrup, roasted salted almonds, soy protein isolate, and dark chocolate.

How do they taste?
I enjoyed the diversity in flavors and textures in these bars, from the crunchy almonds and granola to the soft nuggets of dark chocolate. They would serve nicely as a snack or treat to tide you over until your next meal. But if you are using them as breakfast, definitely pair them with some additional whole foods like nonfat milk or yogurt. This will increase the calcium and protein in the breakfast and will help make the breakfast more satisfying over the next several hours.


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Belly Fat Is the Worst for Your Heart

Selma Broeder / CC BY 2.0

You've heard of apple and pear body shapes, right? Well, it's the apple shape - with the extra weight mostly being stored around the waist - that is most associated with heart disease and other diseases like metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. This abdominal fat seems to be more biologically active, potentially secreting inflammatory proteins that contribute to atherosclerosis plaque.

The bigger your waist, the higher your risk of developing heart failure - a condition where the heart isn't pumping enough blood out, and fluid and blood back up into the lungs and/or pool in the feet and legs.

According to a recent animal study:

• Belly fat brought on the most inflammation.
• Belly fat was linked to the worst atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

[Circulation online Jan. 22, 2008]

In adults at the lower end of the "overweight" range in body mass index, an increase in waist circumference of 10 centimeters was associated with a 15% higher risk of heart failure for women and 16% higher for men. [Circulation online April 7.2009]

Putting a Number to Your Waist
Measure your natural waist circumference (just above the navel) with a tape measure. If your body mass index (BMI) is 25 kg/m2 or greater (which is most of us), your goal for waist circumference, according to the American Heart Association, is:

Men: less than 40 inches
Women: less than 35 inches

But there is more to the belly fat story...

Waist-to-Hip Ratio May Be the Best Way to Measure Risk
Here's where it gets interesting. If you want to get the most accurate measure of potential risk from belly fat, measure your hips and calculate your waist-to-hip ratio. Fat around your hips doesn't appear to increase risk of heart disease at all. In fact, it may have a protective effect. Having a big waist with comparably big hips does not appear to be as troublesome as a big waist with small hips.

All of this is why I personally put more value on the waist measurement - and even better is the waist-to-hip ratio - than I do pounds on a scale. Pounds don't take into account your muscle or bone mass or where you tend to deposit extra body fat.

To get your waist-to-hip ratio, measure your waist circumference in inches and divide it by your hip circumference. An abnormal ratio is thought to be:

For women: 0.85 and above
For men: 1.0 and above

Yasser Alghofily / CC BY 2.0

It takes exercise and a healthy diet to lose the belly fat. But given the risks, it's healthier to eat an apple than to be one.


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Less IS More: Less Alcohol Means More Protection

We are about to enter into the holiday season - a time when even people who don't normally drink alcohol suddenly are. So I thought this was the perfect time to think about the upside and the downside of alcohol, from the health perspective of course.

Alcohol is one of those things that can help or hurt the heart. It all has to do with how much you drink per day. Especially for women, a small amount of alcohol helps protect against heart disease, while larger amounts are damaging to the heart. Women who are heavy drinkers, according to a recent study, are four times more likely to die from heart disease and two times as likely to die from stroke compared to nondrinkers. This sends a pretty powerful message that more is not better when it comes to alcohol and heart disease.

The upside of alcohol:

• People who drank small amounts of alcohol (2 1/2 drinks a week) were 16% to 23% less likely to have a stroke than those who didn't drink at all, according to a group of Harvard researchers.


• Moderate amounts of alcohol raise HDL - "good" serum cholesterol.


• Wine contains flavonoid phytochemicals that have powerful antioxidant activity in the body.


• Grape skins contain components (like polyphenols) that help expand or dilate arteries.


• Alcohol discourages platelets from combining together, acting much like a blood thinner.

The downside of alcohol:

• People who drink every day or multiple times a day are at risk, according to a 2009 French Canadian study. The study linked heavy consumption of beer and spirits to seven different cancers (esophageal, stomach, colon, liver, pancreatic, lung, and prostate cancer), with the strongest risk being to esophageal and liver cancer. The good news is that light drinking and wine consumption did not show the same increase in cancer risk in this study. [Journal Cancer Detection and Prevention, Aug-3-09, Benedetti A. et al.]


• Harvard researchers found that people who had at least two drinks a day had 39% to 41% greater risk of stroke compared to light drinkers.


• Alcohol can increase serum triglyceride levels. This is especially pronounced if the drinker already has high triglyceride levels.


• Alcohol addiction is a serious problem for many people. People with any semblance of an addition to alcohol should refrain from alcohol completely.


• Alcohol in any quantity adds extra calories, which is a concern if your health would improve with some weight loss.

So take it easy on the alcohol and enjoy a heart healthy holiday season.

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Taste Test Tuesday: Aidells Chicken Burgers (Bacon & Cheddar Cheese)

These chicken burgers come in a 12-ounce box, are fully cooked and come in a couple different flavors. When I first saw this product I thought, "Well, that's a little different." They can be microwaved or grilled or pan-fried.

Next I inspected the nutrition facts label and thought the grams of fat and sodium were pretty high (12 grams of fat, 590 mg sodium), but the saturated fat seemed fairly reasonable for a "burger" (4.5 grams).

The ingredients list showed me the first five ingredients are:

• Chicken (no note on whether dark meat or white meat)
• Bacon
• Cheddar cheese
• Sautéed onion (with soy oil)
• Salt

Well that explained why the chicken burger was so high in fat and sodium.

How did it taste?
The burger had a lot of flavor so there is definitely no need to add a slice of cheese or some spread (which is great since we can't afford to add any more fat and sodium anyway). And as it is, the whole grain bun will add at least 250 mg sodium and 2 grams of total fat to the grand total along with 4+ grams of fiber. Even with the whole grain bun (which adds lots of smart carbs), this sandwich contains about 34% calories from fat. Just make sure and enjoy it with some fruits and vegetables on the side instead of chips or potato salad.

Each chicken burger contains:

170 calories
14 g protein
12 g fat
4.5 g saturated fat
85 mg cholesterol
590 mg sodium
2 g carbohydrates

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