Food & Nutrition
Your Mantra: "Supersize Me!"
Smart, satisfying snacks to feed your cravings
A high-carbohydrate diet has been blamed for everything from obesity to heart disease (remember Atkins?). But you don’t need to cut out carbs, you just need to switch to smarter complex carbs, says Alexandra Jamieson, author of The Great American Detox Diet. Complex carbs have not been refined and stripped of their benefits. “Potato peels have lots of vitamin A, C, and minerals, but French fries are peeled, so none of the nutrients are left,” she says. Even smarter: Try our “fried” potato recipe with sweet rather than white potatoes and you’ll get a whopping dose of cancer-fighting fiber and beta-carotene.
learn moreYour Mantra: "Everything Is Better With Cheese"
Smart, satisfying snacks to feed your cravings
Cheese is one of the cravings that we convince ourselves is healthy (calcium, right?) and chow on until dinner becomes a distant memory. Sadly, cheese is loaded with saturated fat (70 percent for Cheddar, even more for Brie). Ironically, the key to controlling your intake may be switching to a more flavorful variety (think a small bite of Parmesan versus a massive slice of Swiss). “And if you can keep your cheese portion to one ounce—about the size of your index finger—you’re eating healthily by keeping those fat calories down,” says Elisa Zied, R.D., a New York City-based nutritionist. This low-fat homemade cheese dip will feed your cheese addiction and lower your calorie count. Squash adds a dose of vitamin A, fiber, and antioxidants.
learn moreYour Mantra: "Salt First, Taste Later"
Smart, satisfying snacks to feed your cravings
The problem with your salt habit isn’t just the empty calories in chips, pretzels, and popcorn. It might also drastically increase your blood pressure—and put you at risk for related problems like stroke and heart attack—if you are one of the 26 percent of Americans sensitive to sodium. Unfortunately, you won’t know if you’re one of them until it’s too late. To be on the safe side, health experts say we should limit our daily salt intake to one teaspoon a day—or about what you’d get in 24 large tortilla chips.
learn moreTasty Teas
Leave your beans at home and try these white, light, and herbalicious blends
It’s hard to ignore the brew-haha. From mild whites and grassy greens to flowery and fruity flavors, there’s a bottled tea to quench any thirst—and no shortage of health claims on the labels. “Tea is the richest source of catechins around,” says Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., Senior Scientist and Director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University in Boston.
Recipe: White Tea Smoothie
Perhaps it’s the upcoming promise of warmer weather to come (thanks, Daylight Savings!), but we’ve been craving a good smoothie for a while now. This berry medley is perfect for an almost-spring day.
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