When it comes to nutrition, sometimes it’s hard to tell the fact from the fiction. Certain foods get a reputation as “bad for you,” whereas others get promoted as “natural” or “good for you” when they are really not.

Sometimes myths about foods are based on urban legends that just get perpetuated for years until we actually believe they are research-based. Other myths are based on old research that was not done in a scientific manner. Whatever the reason, here are some claims around a few popular foods that need to be debunked.

1. Cheese is bad for you

I hear this one every day of the week. The answer lies in the type of cheese you eat. There is packaged, processed cheese and then there is artisan/European and grass-fed cheese. The European/grass-fed cheese is higher in omega-3 fats (anti-inflammatory) fats that are good for you. Cheese is also a good source of protein and calcium. Eating cheese from cows that have been fed growth hormones and antibiotics, and that contains multiple ingredients, fits the myth and should be avoided. You can find imported European cheese in the deli section of your grocery store.

2. Eggs make your cholesterol go up

It’s beyond interesting to me that many people will avoid an egg yolk but will eat several packaged cookies during the day! Long-term studies found no relationship between egg consumption and heart disease. Studies do consistently link heart disease with a higher intake of trans fat, which is used in packaged foods to increase shelf life. However, the fat in eggs is mostly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated, and the yolk is an excellent source of the antioxidant lutein, which can lower certain inflammatory responses in the body. Eggs easily fit into a healthy lifestyle, so enjoy an omelet for breakfast and see how satisfied you are the rest of the day.

3. Drinking juice is healthy and a good way to get your fruit

Many people love their morning juice! But experts say drinking juice is equal to the same amount of sugar as drinking a glass of soda. Dr. Charles Billington, a researcher on obesity at the University of Minnesota, states that juice is “pretty much the same as sugar water.” Think of all the oranges or apples you would have to squeeze to obtain a cup of juice. You are drinking all the sugar from the juice, minus the fiber that helps stabilize your blood sugar when eating the fruit. Skip the juice and eat a few pieces of fruit per day to improve your health.

4. Avoid avocados since they have too much fat

Avocados do contain fat, but it is the healthy monounsaturated kind, which does amazing things in your body. This is a food you want to include as part of your daily diet. Eating avocados can help with increasing the HDL (the happy kind of cholesterol), which you want higher since it helps with lowering heart disease by getting rid of bad cholesterol. Also, having healthy fats in your diet assists your health in multiple ways, including helping your skin and hair stay healthy and vibrant, providing adequate lubrication for the gut to help with normal digestion and absorption, and assisting with making hormones essential to the manufacture of sex hormones.

5. Agave is a natural sweetener

Agave, which comes from the cactus and has been used to make tequila, hit the market a few years ago. You can find agave as a sweetener in most products found in health food stores… but is it really a health product?

Using high-fructose corn syrup is a cheap way to sweeten foods. It was developed to help food companies cut costs. Whereas real sugar is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose, high-fructose corn syrup is approximately 45 percent glucose and 55 fructose, and not the natural kind like in fruit. With agave, the percentages are altered more significantly — the syrup is 85-90 percent fructose and 10-15 percent glucose. When you consume a large percentage of this type of fructose, it gets processed directly by your liver, which not only increases your triglyceride levels, but causes fatty liver, increased hunger levels and a plethora of other health issues you would rather avoid. The agave plant goes through heavy processing in order to concentrate it into a sweet syrup. Rather than being natural, as we’ve been led to believe, it is actually a processed food, often with few quality controls.

As with everything diet-related, moderation is key, but don’t be afraid to add European-style cheese, eggs and avocado to your shopping list. Drop the juice, add some fruit instead, and use honey instead of agave to sweeten your morning beverage. The result? A delicious, satisfying breakfast and a healthier you!

Susan is the author of “A Recipe for Life by the Doctor’s Dietitian.” Her new book “Healthy You, Healthy Baby: A mother’s guide to gestational diabetes” will be out in June 2012. For more information, visit susandopart.com.

For more by Susan B. Dopart, M.S., R.D., C.D.E., click here.

For more by Susan B. Dopart, M.S., R.D., C.D.E. on HuffPost, click here.

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve been bombarded recently with startling news about the out-of-control obesity epidemic and the ruin it is causing. It’s been in the headlines repeatedly and is the subject of HBO’s Weight of the Nation TV special. What you haven’t seen in the headlines is that we now know the solution to the epidemic and we can implement it immediately. The solution is described below. First, some of the alarming news:

• A recent study by Duke University estimates that 42 percent of Americans will be obese by 2030, up from about 34 percent today. Contrary to other reports, the epidemic is getting worse, not better. Will we all become obese?
• A recent story in the New York Times exposes how dangerous obese airline passengers can be, with engineers describing how seat belts may not restrain obese people. In a crash, obese people may “blast through” seat belts and into other passengers. Have you seen the films of normal-size test dummies crashing into dashboards? Imagine getting hit by a 250- to 300-pound linebacker at jet speed.
• The CDC estimates that obesity costs us about $150 billion per year today, almost 10 percent of health care costs. It’s the second leading cause of preventable death in the country, just behind smoking, and it is gaining. That cost is projected to increase to over500 billion.

As a result of these alarms, we hear lots of opinions and proposals about what to do. Almost all involve public health initiatives, government programs and new laws. The CDC, Department of Health, Surgeon General and First Lady are all on the job, brainstorming and leading us. Yale’s David Katz, M.D., Founding Director of the Prevention Research Center, praises public/private collaborative efforts to promote better nutrition in the marketplace. Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker imagines a possible future with a government-mandated diet. I’m very much in favor of community leaders taking us in the right direction and government action, such as generating laws that the FDA and Public Health Departments enforce, as they do today with other matters. However, let me propose a different solution.

You can solve the obesity epidemic. Yourself. Now. You don’t need to wait on others. However, you must be overweight — not as badly as I was, but more than is healthy. If you’re not sure what that is, ask your doctor. From this paragraph forward, I’m not addressing the shrinking minority who are not overweight, but the majority of us who are unhealthfully overweight.

While I am very healthy now, at my ideal body weight for over 25 years, it wasn’t always so. At one time, I was obese, more than 300 pounds. And while I resented anyone sticking his or her nose in my business about my weight, I didn’t like being overweight. The truth is, there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t want to lose that weight, even if I didn’t admit it. Virtually, none of you want this. You hate it. I know this because today, I specialize in therapy for overweight and obese people. When you are alone with me, regardless of the front you put up, you tell me you’d love to solve the problem if you could. You can. And when you do, you’ll have done the most important thing that anyone can do to solve the obesity epidemic. If everyone who wanted to solve his or her weight problem got her or his wish, there would be no obesity epidemic. Go after what you want for yourself. Don’t worry about the epidemic. Focus on yourself.

While you may not know a lot about the behavioral medicine I teach, you know that changing your behavior permanently is the answer to your weight problem — getting your permanent eating habits to conform to a pattern that will cause a healthy weight. In the past, you’ve tried diets and giving up what you like to eat and the way you like to eat, and perhaps lost a lot of weight doing it, but it didn’t last. Don’t give up. You just have not learned enough yet. You’re not finished yet.

When you change yourself, you’ll change the world. The change in you will affect those around you. You’ll be helping others just by modeling and leading the way. The improvement is contagious, just like the problem. That’s how you’ll be solving the obesity epidemic. When you make yourself better as a way of helping the whole world get better, you are committing yourself to something greater than yourself, and this will tap a power greater than yourself. To solve the obesity epidemic, the most important thing you can do is to solve your own weight problem for your own reasons.

This is not to say that I am against social and political action to change the culture, especially when it comes to the children. They are at our mercy, subject to the training and conditioning of the culture and marketplace that is working hard to train them to consume as much as possible. The habits we develop as kids stay with us, and it’s better to learn good habits than to try to unlearn bad ones. So, we need to regulate and rein in the food industry and support institutional health training. Also, I would love it if it were easier to eat healthfully in restaurants. I’d eat out more. So, I am happy to see the laws passed that require them to disclose the nutrition info, and happy to see them responding to the public demands for healthier offerings.

So, be active socially and politically to change the culture if you like doing that. It will help reverse the obesity epidemic. But you don’t have to do that if that’s not your thing. Solving the problem in you is many times more important and effective to that end. You can solve the obesity epidemic. Yourself. Now. You don’t need to wait on others.

For more by William Anderson, MA, LMHC, click here.

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We promise our college students a lot these days. We promise them a quality education, access to top professors and an intellectually active campus. We promise them the opportunity to think critically, build their leadership skills and express their creativity. We want them to have a solid foundation for the road ahead. And yet we have overlooked one of the most basic, fundamental skills anyone can have for leading a healthy and successful life.

We forgot to teach them how to cook.

In a nation where diet-related deaths have increased dramatically and eating has become not only a personal issue but a social and political one, we are not teaching students one of the easiest ways to improve the quality of their life and the vitality of their communities. We have to start eating well. And the only way to eat well is to know how to cook.

When I became interested in cooking during middle school, I had no idea what a difference it would make in my life. Cooking allowed me to take control of a large part of my life. In my case, it gave me the skills to start a catering business with a friend during high school, has been a large part of my social and extracurricular life at college, and has allowed me to eat well, whenever I want and with whatever resources might be available to me.

Many colleges throughout the country are already doing great work that allows their students to eat better. At Wesleyan University, where I attend, the dining service (we use Bon Appétit Management Company) is working with student groups to ensure twenty percent of the food used in campus dining halls is sourced from local vendors. Half an hour away, the Yale Sustainable Food Project runs an organic farm, looks into academic issues related to food and works with the sustainable dining program for their university. Additionally, projects like Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard bring middle-school students into the garden and the kitchen for lessons in cooking and healthy eating. These and other programs are real steps in the right direction towards getting us to eat better and improve our relationship with food and with our communities.

But even at these universities, too many students leave college without any knowledge of how to cook for themselves. Learning how to microwave instant ramen is not a cooking skill. When we enter the real world, we need to be able to provide for ourselves. We aren’t cooking or feeding ourselves in a way that is sustainable for our own lives, our communities or our country. When frozen dinners and fast food drive-by windows have become a norm in many households, we need to make a change. We need to teach people how to cook.

These skills, of course, should not only be provided to those fortunate enough to attend college. But college is a particularly appropriate place to educate our youth about food and cooking for a variety of reasons. For one, colleges have a concentration of individuals about to enter the real world with the time and interest to partake in activities that improve the quality of their lives. Otherwise they wouldn’t be at college. Many colleges already have programs in place to improve the quality of students’ relationship with food. Why should a skill as basic as cooking not be included in these initiatives? Colleges should offer cooking lessons and activities that teach students how to cook. Additionally, colleges are often a catalyst for social change. If we are going to change the way America eats, we should empower our college youth to take part in that change.

The food movement today is alive as ever and is improving the way we eat in real and significant ways. Much of the focus so far has been on greater availability of fresh, healthy food and on encouraging everyone to eat better, whether through making better choices at the grocery store or improving lunches at public schools. These are all vitally important steps in the process. But we must focus on teaching people how to cook food. The food movement cannot exist without everyone being able to take home fresh, local produce and make a delicious meal from it. The process of actually cooking is the most personal way we can connect with the food movement. We have a nation of college students waiting to learn how. Let’s teach them.

Will Levitt is a senior at Wesleyan University. He is the founder and editor of the blog Dorm Room Dinner.

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Poor chicken breasts, the old workhorses of desperate weeknight dinners, of mediocre restaurants, of large-scale corporate catered events. Handled incorrectly, they can be dry, bland, boring: a blank …

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May 15, 2012 – I’d be curious to know if Dustin Poirier was walking into his UFC on FUEL 3 main event matchup with Chan Sung Jung with just a hint of doubt about what to expect. Jung, after all, has said he is in the midst of a major stylistic overhaul. Out is the wild, brawling madman that gained fame as “The Korean Zombie,” and in is a more technical and refined fighter.

At least that’s according to him. While this change is over one year in the making, we haven’t really seen enough of Jung since then to make any real determinations on if he’ll revert to old habits when aggressively pressed.

During that time, he’s fought just twice. The first was a rematch of his epic April 2010 matchup with Leonard Garcia. In that one, he did show an interest in defense, as Garcia connected on only 16 of 88 strikes — just 18 percent. Then again, Garcia isn’t exactly known as an accurate striker, landing just 26 percent in 14 fights tracked by FightMetric.

In his next fight, Jung knocked out Mark Hominick in just seven seconds, an impressive performance but not one with any real value for analysis purposes.

Faced with little information, Poirier (12-1) can expect the fight to go in any number of ways.

Both men at their cores are power strikers, at least when it comes to style. A southpaw, Poirier will have a nominal one-inch reach advantage. A confident striker, he will often take the center of the cage and establish himself as the leader of the fight’s pace.

Poirier is a remarkably balanced fighter altogether. Among his wins, he has five knockouts and five submissions. He has decent wrestling, with a 54 percent takedown success rate, and a 77 percent rate of stopping opponent’s takedown tries. He appears equally comfortable in all facets of the game.

Of the two featherweight contenders, Poirier is much more likely to take the fight to the mat. He’s shown his evolution as a fighter in this regard. In his first three fights under the Zuffa banner, he didn’t try a single takedown. Since then, he’s tried 11 attempts in four fights, landing six. By comparison, in Jung’s four fights under the Zuffa banner, he’s only tried two takedowns.

One clue that Jung (12-3) has indeed made a key adjustment did come in his rematch with Garcia. At one point towards the end of the first round, Garcia tried to turn the match into a brawl, coming forward with a barrage of punches. Instead of standing and trading as he’s done in the past, Jung went for and delivered a takedown, dominating the ground battle for the rest of the round.

It will be interesting to see how this translates into a fight with Poirier. He is not a swarmer like Garcia, but rather looks for combinations that emphasize his accuracy (he lands at a 51 percent clip).

That means Jung may be content countering him from the outside, or he might attempt to mix things up with a takedown. Poirier, though, is very difficult to put down. Even wrestler Danny Castillo struggled with him, successful on just three of 11 tries back in their August 2010 match.

Even if you get Poirier on the mat, he’s no slouch there, and he probably has the edge over Jung despite the Korean being the first and only man in UFC history to pull off a twister submission.

Poirier is also physically stronger than most 145-pounders, and I would venture to guess that holds true against Jung. In 50/50 positions like the clinch, expect Poirier to outwork him. On the ground, he should also find success as a result.

Poirier’s balanced approach and physical advantage offers him an edge in this fight. In exchanges, he’s probably the heavier puncher and he’s statistically the more accurate one. He also gets hit less. Those numbers mean something.

Truthfully, it’s hard to envision a clear route to victory for Jung. Unless Poirier sits back and lets Jung dictate the pace — and that’s never been his style — he should be the one scoring more frequently. He also has never shown signs that he can be broken, so if the fight does find an insane pace, he should still be OK. His accurate strikes should find a home early and often, wearing Jung down over the first two rounds before finishing it in the third, taking it via TKO.

Read More: Chan Sung Jung (MMA), Dustin Poirier (MMA), UFC on FUEL TV 3

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It seems like some sort of cruel joke that the warm-weather season’s tastiest drinks — thick and creamy milkshakes, rich blended frappes, and the like — can be some of the biggest threats to your swimsuit figure (Photo Credit: BrandEating.com).

Click here to see Diet-Busting Fast-Food Iced Coffees

In the coffee category, at least, one has the sensible choice of a simple iced coffee to satisfy the craving for a cool quencher. According to a story on EatingWell.com, “A straight-up iced coffee (with skim milk, which you might have to specify) is, of course, the skinniest sip — most of the 16-ounce varieties deliver less than 100 calories.”

Click here to see 8 Drinks to Boost Your Metabolism

But before you get all excited and go ordering iced coffees off every menu you come across, remember that not all of them are good low-calorie options — typical iced coffee add-ins and toppings like flavored syrups, whole milk, and whipped cream can make your drink’s calorie count skyrocket in no time at all.

Click here to see 9 Restaurants Where it’s Expensive to BYOB

Not surprisingly, some of the biggest iced coffee calorie bombs can be found at your local fast-food joint or chain coffee shop. Some of the selections on this list, for example, are the calorie equivalents of a couple of doughnuts or a medium-sized order of french fries. Read on to find out which indulgent fast-food iced coffees you might want to avoid.

- Maryse Chevriere, The Daily Meal

More from The Daily Meal:
15 Great Bars for Drinking Outdoors
12 host Ridiculous Beer Names
7 Outrageous Drink Gadgets
25 Beers with Great Label Art
America’s 30 Most Powerful People in Drink

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Usher Talks New Album with Billboard Magazine

by BecomeGorgeous.com
Usher covers the latest issue of Billboard Magazine. The 33-year-old singer, who is preparing for the role of Sugar Ray Leonard in the Roberto Duran biopic Hands of Stone with Gael Garcia Bernal and Robert De Niro, dishes on his new album and his management changes.

Entertainment / Music

Continue reading here: http://www.entertainment.becomegorgeous.com/music/usher_talks_new_album_with_billboard_magazine-7721.html

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6 New Tricks to Lose Weight

by BecomeGorgeous.com
Burn more calories and enjoy a non-restrictive eating plan by experimenting with the following 6 new diet tricks to lose weight fast and more efficiently.


Fitness and Diet / Healthy Diets

Continue reading here: http://www.fitness-diet.becomegorgeous.com/healthy_diets/6_new_tricks_to_lose_weight-7720.html

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6 New Tricks to Lose Weight

by BecomeGorgeous.com
Burn more calories and enjoy a non-restrictive eating plan by experimenting with the following 6 new diet tricks to lose weight fast and more efficiently.


Fitness and Diet / Healthy Diets

Continue reading here: http://www.fitness-diet.becomegorgeous.com/healthy_diets/6_new_tricks_to_lose_weight-7720.html

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The center of my family’s life has always been the kitchen. It’s where our friends meet and greet, where we have family meetings, and of course eat; it’s usually the place where we have the best fights. Globally, the kitchen is recognized as the heart of the family and the community, even after the electric or gas stove replaced the wood-burning hearth. I’ve talked to founders of start up companies from those building electric engines, to those coding new learning software that have started cooking their ideas in the kitchen. The kitchen is where I now do most of my work. So, too, have revolutions been known to have started in kitchens, and I propose a new way to make more revolutions happen in the urban environment with mobile kitchens.

Social activists from America to Lebanon see food as a means for creating social equality. Americans are crazy about the 100 Mile Diet, using the dinner plate and fork as a means to support local agriculture, and to curb greenhouse emissions caused by long-distance hauls. Americans also love the concept of urban gardens, with some like Daryl Hannah fighting for the preservation of them, when encroached upon by new urban development. As recently as last week, “guerilla” protestors — basically any local that wants to be part of a loosely organized protest — were asked to start picnics in any tiny green space around Beirut, as a means to protest the lock and key on the city’s only major green space.

I’ve learned that food can be eaten, admonished, thrown on someone or boycotted in superstores as a way to protest a political, environmental, cultural or political event. Gandhi did it best.

But what’s missing in a big way in all the food-related revolutions, meets, and protests is the kitchen. While tents are easy to pop up and down as a means for rest, the idea of a mobile kitchen for the everyman seems to have not progressed much since the American camping hibachi and gas barbecue. Mobile kitchens as chip stands, or burrito restaurants can be custom-made. But what about a kitchen that we take with us on picnics? Something that doesn’t just cook by charring? This way we can cook healthy food on the go, invite in the communities around us on our travels to come and dine, to share new secrets and recipes, and be guerilla about picnicking or eating wherever we roam.

I went online to see what I could find. Besides needing the obvious fuel source like a diesel generator (as featured on this U.S. site) or if you are lucky a power hookup, a good mobile kitchen needs to have a sink, a water tank, some good pots and pans, storage space for spices and supplies, as well as a space for storing perishables. One that can open and unfold with seating space for friends, when camping, in the park, or at the urban garden, is best.

If you head on over to eBay you’ll find some cheesy RV related mobile kitchens, or ones more suited for selling pogo sticks at an outdoor carnival.

But the more designed-inclined are looking to their latest favorite raw material, the shipping container, to create mobile kitchens that I would happily park in my back yard. Check out Steel Space as a unique venue for creating eye-catching mobile kitchens. It’s an open, airy and friend-friendly space that invites users into it to sit, cook, and be part of the culinary action.

And in a way that only Europeans can invent is this roving hospitality station Mobile Gasfreundschaft for entertaining friends, followers and friendly food activists on sidewalks, at the beach or anywhere the traditional stationary kitchen won’t work. I bet Jamie Oliver and food activists everywhere would be happy to power up with one of those.

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