Category: HEALTH

September 1, 2011

Burger King Fires “The King”, Switches To “Healthier” Fast Food Image

When I was a kid in the 90s, Burger King had some seriously recognizable ad appeal. The BK Kid’s Club with the golden cardboard crowns and array of crazy characters was alluring to any and all 5 to 10 year olds. Fast forward to the mid 2000’s when Burger King was losing grip on the fast food market and introduced “The King”. It undoubtedly had a magnetism for teens who found the characters’ bizarre antics entertaining, but apparently, ‘The King’ just wasn’t entertaining enough. Burger King revealed the character received his pink slip and would now be replaced with a pseudo-Subway approach to advertisement; fresh ingredients. Continue reading →

August 23, 2011

Why Bottled Water Shouldn’t Be Popular With Minorities

According to a recent study in the Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine minority parents consume bottled water more often than white Americans and this has become a topic of discussion now. I wondered about these claims when I saw the post Why Minorities Love Bottled Water on theroot.com. Do minorities love bottled water? Who are we considering minorities? Continue reading →

August 18, 2011

Lack Of Sidewalks Contribute To Obesity

People who live in areas that have no sidewalks, or are otherwise unwalkable, are more likely to be obese.

A 2009 study found people who live in neighborhoods that were walkable got 35 to 49 minutes more physical activity each week than those who lived in unwalkable neighborhoods. A walkable neighborhood is Continue reading →

August 17, 2011

USDA Knew About Dangerous Bacteria Before Cargill Turkey Recall

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has acknowledged knowing about the dangerous bacteria found food giant Cargill’s turkey well before August’s giant recall. This is one of the U.S.’s largest meat recalls ever with 36 million pounds of ground turkey being recalled after at least one person died from Salmonella and another 76 people fell ill from turkey traced to Cargill’s processing plant in Springdale, Arkansas. Continue reading →

August 11, 2011

Colon Cleansing: Doing More Harm Than Good?

Recently a study performed by Georgetown University School of Medicine and Providence Hospital illustrated the spa staple colon cleansing might be no more than a rouse. The popular spa practice of hydrotherapy might even be doing more harm than good. Hydrotherapy involves a hose being placed in the rectum and then water gently being flooded into the intestine to assist in cleaning out any unwanted build up. Therein lies the problem, any time a foreign body is inserted into the intestine it can cause micro tears which in turn can lead to infection.

Not only has hydrotherapy proved dangerous, the teas and other ‘herbal forms’ of cleansing proved to have side effects ranging from nausea to kidney failure.

The body has a natural system for filtering and cleansing, it occurs when we defecate and urinate. Researchers agree that those that are healthy need not worry about detoxifying further than what our system already provides.

Researchers have also all come to a consensus that there is no proof that colon cleansing does anything to vastly improve digestive health. If you’re feeling a little drained, stress or anxious try adapting a healthier, balanced diet which, proves to go a lot further than momentary quick health fixes.

Src: healthland.time.com

August 10, 2011

Subway To Introduce Calcium And Vitamin D Fortified Bread

Fast food chain Subway is introducing calcium and vitamin D fortified bread to its national menu. Now each 6-inch bread serving in the U.S. will provide 30 percent the daily recommended value of calcium and 20 percent of the daily recommended value of vitamin D.

“Now, the calcium included in each 6-inch serving of bread has the nutritional equivalent of one glass of milk” Mark Christiano, the Subway brand’s Global Baking Specialist.

This sounds almost great as saying Subway is a healthy restaurant. Subway still sells fast food, imitation New York submarine sandwiches from way back before New York City was gentrified. These are the type of “improvements” Michael Pollan warned us about in In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. Fortified foods are a sign of a highly processed food and you should know by now those are no good for you.

And who asked for these improvements? Is there a vitamin D and calcium deficiency epidemic in the U.S.? Most get vitamin D from sun exposure which is free and you can get calcium from fruits and vegetables not just milk or dairy products or a Subway sandwich.

The next time you think of Subway as healthy food remember it’s still fast food, it’s not that fresh, it isn’t organic, it’s processed and just cause it’s “healthier” than other fast food restaurants doesn’t mean it’s actually healthy, but that pulled pork sandwich should have told you that.

Src: restaurantnews.com

August 9, 2011

GRAPH: U.S. Food Stamp Usage At An All Time High

Newly released data from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service found in May the U.S. once again reached an all time high in the amount of Food Stamp recipients. For May the total was 45.8 million persons, even more than at the height of the recession, even though for many this is clearly a depression.

Src: thinkprogress.org