There’s a lot of research that shows that when we serve ourselves on smaller plates we tend to serve smaller portions which obviously means that we eat less in the long run. Most of this research is being carried out with adults however a team of researchers recently set out to find out if the same holds true when dealing with children.
Worldwide studies over the last few years have consistently shown that in the west up to a third of children and adolescents were overweight and many of them were significantly overweight to be counted as obese wherein they have had a huge accumulation of excess body fats.
A recent study that has been featured in the American Academy of Pediatric Journal reports on a research study that monitored 42 first graders during their lunch meal time for two sets of 4 days. One of those set of days the children used child size tableware and on the other 4-day period they had adult sized tableware.
The results of the study were actually very interesting and surprisingly enough confirmed the expectations leaned from the adult studies. In those children who used larger plates and bowls were apt to serve themselves more food in one sitting when compared with those children who used the child sized plates and bowls.
Dr. Thomas Robinson said that the results from the study are very interesting and confirmed our expectations that the impact of plate size on adults in the laboratory also applies to children. He goes on to say that “this study provides very important preliminary evidence that using smaller dishware may help reduce children’s energy intakes.”
It should be noted however that the authors of this study were keen to point out that these findings were at the best preliminary and more research was needed which I personally find a bit strange because to my mind it stands to reason that if children have followed a similar pattern to the adults, taking part in similar studies then it’s quite likely that the conclusions from those studies – that smaller plate sizes results in people eating less, will also prove true for children as well. And as much for the adults serving children on smaller plates would be one way of reducing the problem of obesity that we are seeing more and more in our youngsters.
Checking the ingredients on any packet of food is something that we should do just as a matter of course and when you’re looking through those ingredients and you start coming across things you don’t recognize, it’s probably time to put that particular food item back on the shelf.
Processed food by necessity, perhapsly without exception have to contain preservatives and the sad thing is that the cheaper the processed food is the more preservatives it will contain as a general rule. That is simply because not only are cheaper processed foods filled with cheaper ingredients, quite often the price of those ingredients also means that they’re inferior in quality quite a lot of the time.
That means if they are containing a lot of “meat” products you will quite likely find that those meat products were coming towards the end of their useful life when they were actually used to make the food that you’re eating and in order to make sure that those ingredients don’t turn off the manufacturers put just a little bit extra amount of preservatives in so that they’re not faced with an expensive recall situation.
Another reason why cheap processed foods have lots of preservatives in is to give them a longer shelf life. This makes sure that shops don’t find themselves with goods that have gone pass their sell-by date and maybe want to return or at the very least get credit from the manufacturers. At the very least it ensures the stores continue to order the same quantities rather than ordering smaller quantities just in case the goods don’t get sold before the sell-by date.
So what with the quality of the ingredients going into processed foods being inferior, the quantity of preservatives and other questionable ingredients they contain. Continuing to eat processed foods is possibly not the best course of action to take if you want to improve your health.
Below you’ll find a very good explanation of how to eat foods without preservatives.
If you are trying to avoid preservatives in your diet, it is essential to learn how to identify them. Food preservatives are commonly added to slow or prevent undesirable spoilage, discoloration, flavor loss, bacterial growth, mold or microbial growth, and texture loss. Follow the steps below to learn how to eat foods that do not contain preservatives.
Steps
Learn How to Read a Nutrition Label
Always scan the entire ingredient list. Preservatives will be listed with a statement about their intended purpose. For instance, the ingredient list may declare “ascorbic acid to improve color retention” or “sulfur dioxide to prevent rotting.”
Learn common preservative names. Although there are hundreds of food additives that function as preservatives, some of the most common appear in a wide variety of foods.
Once you learn to identify common preservatives you can quickly avoid selecting foods with those preservatives in the future.
Some of the most common preservatives include citric acid, sulfur dioxide, ascorbic acid, propionic acid, nitrates and nitrites, sodium bisulfite, sulfites, and even formaldehyde.
Shop for Foods Without Preservatives
Avoid heavily processed foods. Foods that spoil quickly or that are minimally packaged are unlikely to contain preservatives. Buy fresh, unprocessed produce and natural whole foods to reduce the time you spend reading ingredient lists.
Shop for foods labeled as Certified Organic. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration only allows foods to be labeled as Certified Organic if they are preservative-free and meet other standards for production and processing.
Make a note of preservative-free products you enjoy. After you have identified foods that are free of chemical preservatives, add them to a “cheat sheet” list to take shopping; this will spare you the trouble of re-reading the ingredient list on future grocery trips.
Tips
In the United States, approved chemical food preservatives must be declared on ingredient lists. By carefully reading food labels you can identify and avoid food preservatives.
If you do not live in the U.S., search for a government public health or agricultural website to learn your country’s policies on preservative use and declaration on ingredient lists.
If anyone doubts the correlation between the increased consumption in fast food and the steadily growing waistlines in both men and women would do well to have a quick peek at this rather informative article from Bloomberg. It shows a direct correlation between the influx of fast food chains into many countries around the world in the late 80s and the average weight gain and waist size increase that has been measured in these countries today.
Now while it may be unfair to lay the dietary ills of all these reason converts to fast food at the doors of the likes of McDonald’s and Pizza Hut and Dominoes and fill in the blank, it is certain that the changes in diet encouraged by the successful advertising of these companies has had an adverse effect on the eating habits of the countries that they have steadily been achieving a significant market share within.
When you have been going through the store and seen those tempting organic foods – often on a separate aisle… How many times have you thought “organic foods are too expensive; I can’t afford to go organic”?
Maybe you feel it is just too difficult to wade through all the statistics and information on choosing organic foods and the reasons for preferring it over conventionally grown foods.
So why should you bother even considering Organic produce?
Organic foods are good for you because they are free of many added chemicals and hormones that conventionally grown foods receive as part of the growth cycle. However, it can add up at the cash register to try and keep yourself healthier by eating organic foods. To help you make your decisions in an informed way, here are some simple tips to identify the best choices and stay within budget.
Steps
Understand why organic foods should be an important part of your diet. Organic foods are grown with no or fewer chemical or hormonal additives in their growth cycle than conventionally grown produce and meat. This means that laws on organic labeling in many places ban the use of a wide array of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, hormone treatments, antibiotics etc. on any produce or meat destined to carry an organic certification.
Choose the crucial dozen organic foods. The dozen foods listed next are considered to be the foods most vulnerable to the addition of too many pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics etc. This top dozen lists food items where home washing and cooking practices are unlikely to result in reduction of the chemical or hormonal residues:
Beef, chicken and pork
Dairy products: Milk, cheese and butter
Strawberries, raspberries and cherries
Bananas
Apples and pears
Tomatoes
Spinach and salad greens
Coffee
Potatoes
Stone fruits: Peaches, nectarines and apricots
Grapes
Celery
Peppers (capsicums), green and red
3. Shop for seasonal foods. Seasonally available produce is the budget-conscious shopper’s prize. Produce in season is always value for money because it is plentiful and this includes organic produce. In addition, seasonal food often travels less distance as it is grown locally and therefore will keep in better condition (more nutrients), for longer. From a comfort perspective, there is something very calming and traditional about eating the way our ancestors have for centuries; you become attuned to the cycle of the seasons. An added bonus: You are less inclined to overfill your fridge with food that ends up going unnoticed, which saves you money.
4. Eat to be satisfied rather then to excess. The statistics on obesity continue to rise. We do not need huge quantities of food; too much food makes our bodies sick rather than healthy and happy. While eating to satiety means eating less food overall, it most certainly does not mean going without and feeling hungry. Change to eating foods that are more satisfying to the body , such meats, fats and low carbohydrate vegetables You will not need to eat as much of these foods, as unlike processed foods, you will feel full faster and for longer. Your budget will go further simply through choosing prime quality organic foods in smaller amounts. Most importantly, eating in this fashion will result in less intake of chemical and hormonal residues and that can only be a good outcome for everyone.
5. Eat variety. Variety means including all those vegetables and not just living off a limited variety. The more that you vary your diet within seasonal constraints, there is a higher likelihood that you will have less exposure to a build-up of one type of chemical residues. Variety also means an interesting and fulfilling diet, as well as a greater likelihood that you will get all the nutrients, anti-oxidants and fiber that you need to keep healthy.
6. Be realistic. Most nutritionists would still prefer that you eat fruit and vegetables whether they are organic or conventional in origin in preference to highly processed foods. Use the list set out in step 2 to pick the organic foods and then purchase conventional foods for the remainder if you have a tight budget. Taking the simple step of choosing some organics to include in your diet is an important one of taking control over what is potentially affecting your health; whilst you will still be surrounded by the chemical load of our industrial age, you are taking positive action to help yourself and to encourage organic growers at the same time.
Tips
The “harm” discussed in this article that may arise from eating conventionally grown foods arises in particular out of the accumulative effects of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals or additives. Over time, small doses build up in your body, particularly in body fat. This can lead to triggering diseases such as cancer and can cause problems with your immune system, blood and other bodily functions.
Always wash vegetables and fruit well; some stores sell special detergents for this. Just because it is labeled organic doesn’t mean it is safe to eat without a wash; bacteria thrive under all conditions.
Be aware that, depending on the jurisdiction in which your foods have been grown, small amounts of certain types of chemicals may have been used on organic produce. In general, if such chemicals have been certified as allowed for use in the organic sector, they ought to be ones considered to safe for human consumption as a result of scientific testing and observations over a very long period of time and to come with a high level of certainty as to their negligible impacts on human beings. If this bothers you still, do your research to find out just what “organic” labels permit in your part of the world. Some organic producers use natural products that they deem safe, but that have not been tested scientifically. Also organic producers may fertilize their crops with animal manures which have not been properly composted. These foods pose a risk for pathogens that can cause serious illness.
Try to reduce the amounts of processed foods in your diet. You get less nutritional benefits from processed foods, organic or not. *If you really enjoy that cake laden with carbs and sugar (yes it is very processed), have it as an occasional treat – if your particular diet method permits it. Then it becomes a blissful treat rather than something taken for granted.
Warnings
Be wary of industry propaganda aimed at belittling organic efforts. There are some seriously bad side effects from many of the chemicals and hormones used in our food and where profits are at stake, there is also plenty to discourage you from making healthy choices for you and your family. Do your own research; don’t just take this article as gospel either. You are responsible for learning as much as you can about your health and how to protect it.
Some jurisdictions may have more lax laws on what “organic” means. Always do your research first. Read labels carefully; some products try to be organic but contain very little in the way of organic components, such as breakfast cereals. The more processed an item, the more likely it is that you should read the label carefully.
Do not confuse organic and natural. The two terms are different, although they may be used on the same item. Natural by itself means nothing; in most places it is an entirely unregulated term that means nothing other than what the manufacturer wants it to mean.
Do you really need to eat breakfast everyday? Well, the short answer is no, you don’t despite the common myth that so many people are trying to tell us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s better really to only eat when you’re hungry.
Now whether you’re hungry when you wake up depends on well, quite a number of factors such as what you ate the night before. Now if you were out at a meal with friends, say and you had a nice big dinner, well you may not be hungry when you wake up; it’s as simple as that, or you could have spent your time on the couch in front of the tele just giving in to temptation and snacking away on all sort of things. The point is whether you eat or not first thing in the morning really depends on a whole host of different things.
Hunger just may not be instant when you wake up. Many people are like that. Some morning when I get up I don’t want to eat a thing. Other mornings I wake up and the first thing I want is bacon and eggs so I’ll have bacon and eggs, it’s as simple as that.
For some other people it might not trigger until you’ve done some exercise. Now that can be as simple as walking to work or going up the stairs when you get to your office or whatever it might happen to be. The point is that if you are hungry first thing in the morning; don’t go too long before you start eating otherwise there will be a tendency to overeat. In the west in particular we have been stucked in a conventional timetable about when we should eat whereas really spreading what we eat throughout the day is probably a much better idea if you were on a conventional diet of course.
The bottom line is for most of us, what you eat really should suit the healthy eating plan that you’ve decided to embark on. So at the end of the day, is it better to eat breakfast or not? Well that really depends on you. If you want to have breakfast, have breakfast. If you’re not hungry, leave it till a bit later in the day. You’ll enjoy your food a lot more that way.
Did you know that the number of bacteria in our body outnumbers the number of cells in our body?
That is something that I personally find totally amazing. But you know in many ways we wouldn’t be able to live without them. Our bodies even use bacteria for digesting our food along with a healthy dose of enzymes and some really remarkable and well balanced processes but without those friendly bacteria in our digestive system we would find it very difficult to get the full range of nutrients that we need.
Now if you don’t know anything about the digestive system particularly about how the bacteria within our digestive system works, then the article I’ve linked to below is probably a very good primer and well worth reading. Enjoy!
