America seems a bit obsessed with protein these days. Those on the new weight-loss drugs think they need to eat it. Those trying to drop pounds the old-fashioned way think if they eat more rpotein,m they’ll basically eat less of everything else.
So how much protein is enough? American women eat an average of 69 grams a day, about 2.4 ounces, reports a piece on LoseIt.com. Some health types advocate eating as much as 100 grams a day, 2.5 ounces.
I tend to ignore food fads, but if you’re on the current protein quest, LoseIt.com has a list of 10 foods that provide at least 15 grams a serving.
“Boy kibble — also known as “human kibble” since women eat it, too — is a ruthlessly efficient, male-coded rejoinder to the extemporaneous charms of “girl dinner.” The latter is a TikTok term for the assemblage of light bites that women sometimes cobble together and eat as a meal, with little care for gastronomic coherence,” The Times reports.
“Boy kibble, in contrast, focuses on some nutritional ideal — here a mix of carbs, protein and fiber — that helps one achieve a specific body type or fitness goal. Pleasure-seeking details like flavor and aesthetics are tossed to the side.”
The person profiled in the article makes his boy kibble with rice, vegetables and ground beef, all cooked in the same pan.
Part of the ongoing effort by men to define what being a man means these days? Perhaps, the article suggests. Or just another goofy fad? Time, as always will tell.
McDonald’s in recent years has been systematically eliminating any menu items that were even remotely healthy. Gone are yogurt parfaits (which were still high in sugar) and McDonald salads (which packed a lot of salt if you used the store dressing).
Stuck at a fast food outlet? Try to find one still offering salads like this one at Buona Beef in Chicago.
Now, according to a report by TastingTable, McD’s is adding insult to the very real injury its menu can cause your health by charging small order fees for delivery. I’m assuming this is in addition to any fees the delivery app charges you too.
My days of loving it at McDonald’s are long gone, In its salad days, pre-Covid, I would have salads and yogurt there two or three days a week. Then I could feel like a normal human being instead of one with heart issues that had changed all my eating habits.
I could just blend in instead of thinking about the two stents holding my arteries open. No more, though.
So I’ve been testing out other fast-food salads and found two I’m enjoying at Chicago’s Buona Beef chain and at the Potbelly sandwich shop chain.
Pancake house menus are pretty much all the same right — lots of pancakes, eggs, waffles, you know the drill.
When I go to one, I look for something heart-healthy, like an egg-white veggie omelet.
But recently I discovered a place near my father-in-law’s new retirement home that had a non-heart-healthy dish I simply could not pass up — waffle flights!
If you’ve ever done a beer or whiskey flight, you know the concept — four varieties of something in smaller sizes than normal but each with a very distinctive and wonderful flavor.
That’s exactly what Elly’s Pancake House in Glenview, Ill., is doing with waffles! Exclamation point? Yes, because this flight was really that amazing.
The waffles included are called s’mores, fruitopia, dalmation and apple pecans. You have to look back to the pancake section of the menu to find out what those include, namely:
S’mores — oreo, marshmallow spread, graham cracker crumbles
Nutritionists constantly encourage us to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables. But some of those healthy picks will be harder to find this year, as will some other foods like domestically raised beef, reports Tasting Table, mostly because of lower production.
For one though, cottage cheese, increased demand is creating shortages.
Turns out it’s not as good as lettuce that more deeply green, and so higher in good things.
But “choosing darker, red-leaf varieties or mixing in baby greens or microgreens can really boost the nutritional value of your salads,” one nutrition expert tells USAToday.
So let the salads begin and enjoy the type of lettuce you enjoy.
Grocery prices have reached the stratosphere and we’re all scrambling to lower our food bills. Enter Consumer Reports which recently looked at where the cheapest groceries can be found.
My advice to lower your food bill — wherever you shop, plan weekly trips, search out deals and then plan your meals accordingly. I save between 30-50% on weekly trips, as this receipt shows.
Surprise, the winner wasn’t a traditional supermarket or even Walmart, it was Costco.
“Only six chains nationwide had lower prices than Walmart, and the cheapest grocery store in America was none other than Costco. According to the study, groceries at Costco cost, on average, 21.4% less than at Walmart,” reports Delish in analyzing the Consumer Reports study.
But before you run to Costco, keep in mind there are some downsides to shopping there. You have to buy a membership, to start. Costco also doesn’t stock as many grocery products as traditional stores. And you likely have to buy in large quantities, more than a small family might need.
But you could join with neighbors, splitting the $65 membership fee and dividing up what you purchase.
BJ’s Wholesale came in second, another warehouse concept store.
I had to laugh at a recent New York Times piece titled 4 Easy Ways to Eat More Fiber. These might be easy for some, but they’ll also be distasteful to others and they won’t get you to your fiber-eating goals.
I resolved to eat more fiber years ago and went all-in with a fiber-rich breakfast. I eat Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal every morning, even taking it with me when I travel. Two-thirds of a cup has 9 grams of fiber. I eat an entire cup each morning, so roughly 13 grams of fiber.
That puts me well on my way to the daily recommendation of 25 grams. I also eat nothing but whole wheat bread and pastas and I grab whole fruit whenever possible, adding still more fiber.
Back to the Times piece and its recs. I don;t do smoothies, so blending fiber into smoothies won’t help me. I also don;t snack on trail mix or seeds or whatever, so that’s two of the four that don’t help. And I don;t believe in making gradual changes, the first recommendation. At almost 73, I don;t have time left for doing anything gradually.
Studies in France and Britain estimate lives could be saved and hypertension reduced by even small reductions in daily salt intake.
“Using national diet and health data, researchers in France estimated that modest decreases in bread salt content could cut adults’ daily salt intake by 0.35 grams, lower their blood pressure and prevent more than 1,100 deaths.
“Researchers from the U.K. estimated that similar salt reductions in packaged foods and takeout meals could lower daily British sodium intake by 17.5%, preventing more than 100,000 cases of heart disease and 25,000 cases of stroke over 20 years,” reports ABC News.
How much is 0.35 grams? About the weight of a paper clip; it’s also the same as saying 350 milligrams.
Americans on average consume 3,500 milligrams a day of salt, well above the recommendation of the American Heart Association, 2,300, ABC reports. Those of us with high blood pressure should consumer no more than 1,500 msg of salt daily.
That’s harder than it sounds since salt is in everything we eat, literally. My advice — use a digital food diary like LoseIt! to track your daily salt intake and then, when the results startle you, cut back. Your heart will thank you for it.
If you’ve started your Thanksgiving food shopping, you know food prices are through the roof. One store I shop that sold romaine lettuce hearts for $2.99 last year has them for $6.99 this year for example. Its likely imported.
So how do you survive, and enjoy, this Thanksgiving? Track down every bargain you can.
I spent roughly $70 today at a local Jewel, for example, but everything I bought was on sale and so I saved $40 on my bill.
I’m headed to a second store Tuesday to find more bargains, you can’t buy everything you need at one store and expect to save money this year.
Look non-traditional places too. I found light mayo at a dollar store for $1.25 for 10 ounces, for example.
A 20-ounce bottle at my local Jewel was on sale for $3.99, or $2 for 10 ounces if you do the math. This year, more than ever, DO THE MATH.
Good luck.
See all the sale items I boughtMy total savings for the trip.
