Say it ain’t so Hostess, mold in your Ding Dongs?

Hostess snack cakes and I go way back, so I cringed when I saw this latest recall of Hostess Ding Dongs for mold contamination.

Once my favorites, Hostess HoHos are off my diet today, but I will never forget them. — *Hostess shut down for a bit before an ownership change in recent years. Now, there’s a recall.*

Mold?

“An investigation confirmed that a mechanical issue with a piece of equipment could create conditions that support mold growth in Ding Dongs before the listed expiration date, Hostess said in its recall statement,” reports the Today Show on its site.

I grew up in Brooklyn living off of Ring Dings, which are made by Hostess competitor Drake’s Cakes. Ding Dongs are a Ring Ding knock-off, for those of you into junk food family trees.

I’ve spent my adult life in the Midwest, where Drake’s do not distribute, so Hostess is my fallback favorite.

I normally opt for Hostess cupcakes, however, because those Ding Dongs really don’t hold a taste candle to the original Ring Dings, in my opinion. So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised mold is a secret ingredient.

Oddly enough, I was at a local Jewel supermarket yesterday and the Hostess rack was full of Ding Dongs but out of cupcakes! The mold issue seems to be confined to multipacks, not the two-packs.

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August 27, 2025 0

Summer weight-loss tips

Summer can mean more trips to the local swimming pool or beach. And seeing ourselves in bathing suits could lead us tot think about dropping a few pounds. Here are seven tips on weight loss from LoseIt!, the food journaling app.

My new tiny oil and vinegar bottles for eating out. — *My tiny oil and vinegar bottles for eating out.*

At its core, losing weight can be fairly simple, eat less calories than your body burns every day. But the devil is in the details, or the Hostess cupcake wrappers in my case. So, these tips might help you.

Chief among them — eat more fiber, avoid sugary drinks and watch for, and hopefully avoid, all the calories in salad dressings and sauces. I carry my own olive oil and vinegar whenever I plan to eat a salad at a restaurant. I’m overweight now, but would be so much more so if I ate fat- and sugar-filled salad dressings every day.

Give the list a read and practice eating slowly, one of the tips. Give our brain a chance to know your stomach is full. Happy Summer!

June 20, 2025 0

Hungry after dinner? try these tips

My wife doesn’t believe it when I say it, but I am hungry all the time. After dinner? Still hungry. So this piece, Why Am I Still Hungry After Dinner? Plus, What to Eat caught my eye.

The Crab Pot seafood feast — *Eat all this and stillmfeel hungry? You need to read this article.*

Turns out what I eat, and don’t eat, along with when I eat during a day, all can contribute to feeling hungry after a meal, the piece on LoseIt.com notes. So can plain old stress, which I constantly feel too.

“Before reaching for an after-dinner snack, it’s important to assess whether you’re truly hungry or just eating out of habit. Staying hydrated, ensuring you’re consuming enough calories, focusing on protein and fiber-rich foods, and savoring every bite of your meal can all make a difference in achieving fullness. Additionally, avoiding overly restrictive habits with sweets can help,” the piece advises.

Check it out for more details. It may help you get your hunger under control.

March 18, 2025 0

Fast food offerings to avoid, some may surprise you

*Stuck at a fast food outlet? Try to find one still offering salads like this one at Buona Beef in Chicago.*

Delish.com is out with its list of the highest calorie offerings at a variety of fast-food menus. Some of these may surprise you because they’re just massive orders of French fries, not entire meals, such as at Shack Shake’s Double Down Fries at 1,910 calories or Five Guys large fries at 1,310 calories.

Some are for times of day when you might not expect massive calorie intake, such as McDonald’s Big Breakfast with Hot Cakes at 1,340 calories (keep in mind we are supposed to eat around 2,000 calories a day to maintain weight).

Fast food outlets like McDonald’s have stopped trying to have even one healthy item, a salad, on its menus. So exercise care and look for places that still have a salad, but carry your own oil and vinegar as I do to avoid high calorie, high-salt, high-fat dressings.

March 12, 2025 0

Does eating heart-healthy mean losing weight? Duh!

LoseIt!, which I’ve used and endorsed, is getting into he spirit of February being National Heart Month with a piece about how eating heart-healthy can lead to weight loss.

*Counting the hours until I can have one of these again. And there’s the rub.*

The article, which you can read by clicking here, goes through the usual — the Mediterranean and DASH diets, both of which are big on veggies, olive oil and fiber. But then LoseIt! asks if eating healthy can lead to weight loss. This is an obvious question — the answer is — of course!

If your old diet is full of fried foods, desserts, sugary content, etc., and you stop eating all that, of course you’ll lose weight. It would be impossible to cram enough vegetables into your stomach to equal all those lost calories.

After my first stent in 2012, I changed my eating habits and lost 25 pounds over the next several months. I had simply stopped eating everything I enjoy. Junk food is called junk food for a reason, it’s loaded with calories.

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February 20, 2025 0

Eating healthy on restaurant week, sort of

Chicago is in the midst of its annual restaurant week, a time when local restaurants offer specially priced menus to draw people in on cold winter days and nights. It’s a good time to try new places but can you find healthy offerings? Well, sort of.

Restaurant food is notoriously high in salt, fat and sugar. So you need to be picky, and also know you’ll likely go off your healthy menu more than once.

My wife and I so far have gone to two restaurants, Pescadero, a suburban seafood place; and Big Jones, a Cajun restaurant in Chicago. We also plan a trip to L Woods, another suburban spot, since we live in the suburbs.

Seafood dishes tend to be healthier per se, assuming they aren’t loaded with sauces heavy in fat and salt.

I opted for the oysters to start my Pescadero meal, they’re served raw, so aren’t mucked up with salt or fat. I had the octopus for my main course. It was grilled and wonderfully tasty, if you love octopus as I do.

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February 5, 2025 0

Time for some healthy Super Bowl snacks

Grilling our swordfish steaks. — Grilled swordfish steaks could be a hearty Easter dinner choice. Or try this recipe from the Times..

Super Bowl Sunday isn’t just about football and new TV ads. It’s also about snacking, big time. But most American snacks are not heart healthy, so I’ve tried over the years of doing this blog to give you some healthy, and tasty, alternatives. Just click this link to review all my Super Bowl-related posts.

To get into specifics, how about swordfish steaks for your main course of the day? Use a salt-free spice rub to give them great flavor.If weather allows, grill them outside to spare your house a fishy smell afterwards.

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February 4, 2025 0

5 Tips for Picking Weight Loss Supplements

Many Americans have resolved to lose weight in 2025, often turning to weight loss supplements for support. While certain botanical ingredients may aid appetite control, metabolism, and health goals, experts advise caution when choosing supplements.

Here, Dr. Leena Pradhan-Nabzdyk, assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and CEO and co-founder of Canomiks, shares key tips to help consumers make informed choices.

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January 21, 2025 0

New year, new diet troubles, hello 2025

A new year usually starts with new diet resolutions. This is the year you’re going to eat right, and drop some pounds in the process. But then…reality hits. Most of us fall off the food wagon pretty quickly. Lose It, the diet tracking app, recently wrote about the seven main reasons why and what to do about them

*The new year is normally new diet time. Read here how to do it right.*

The first tip, set realistic calorie goals.

“If your calorie budget is unrealistically low, it won’t be long before you blow it. “Eating too few calories when trying to lose weight can be counterproductive and harmful,” says Theresa Gentile, RDN, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who is based in New York City,” Lose It writes.

“Gentile says that extreme calorie restriction can slow your metabolism and alter hormones related to hunger and appetite, making it harder to lose weight.”

The piece goes on to talk about emotional eating as well as sleep habits and water consumption, among other tips. Give it a read and get back on that diet today.

January 14, 2025 0

Why we love unhealthy foods — dah, it’s the taste

Americans generally know that food high in sugar and fat are unhealthy for them, but knowing that and changing their behavior are two different things, reports a new analysis from the online data collection site YouGov.com.

“Nearly four in five US consumers (79%) say foods high in sugar are unhealthy, followed by high in saturated or trans fats (74%), and high in calories but low in nutrients (71%). Deep-fried (70%), fast food (68%), and salty snacks (68%) are also rated as unhealthy by a majority of respondents,” the site reports.

So why eat it all? “Data indicates that taste is the primary driver when asked about chips (65%), candies (58%), sodas (49%) and fast food (39%). The variety of flavors offered by these foods is a significant draw (33% chips, 30% candies, 20% sodas and 17% fast food),” the site reports.

Healthy food can taste good too, you just ahve to work on it. Try our recipe page to start.

July 13, 2024 0

Category: binge eating

Say it ain’t so Hostess, mold in your Ding Dongs?

Summer weight-loss tips

Hungry after dinner? try these tips

Fast food offerings to avoid, some may surprise you

Does eating heart-healthy mean losing weight? Duh!

Eating healthy on restaurant week, sort of

Time for some healthy Super Bowl snacks

5 Tips for Picking Weight Loss Supplements

New year, new diet troubles, hello 2025

Why we love unhealthy foods — dah, it’s the taste

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