CHEW ON THIS

Got chocolate milk?

Finding the time to exercise and work up a sweat at least three times a week, as recommended by the American Heart Association, is an accomplishment. But there is confusion about what to eat after exercise to replace energy, boost muscle development and optimize the benefits of your activity. Is it a brightly colored sports drink such as Gatorade or Powerade, a special shake or some other high-tech product that will bring the best results? The answer is easier and less expensive than you think.

HEALTH TRENDS

New menus are quite a disturbing revelation

You can still order a Bloomin' Onion at Outback Steakhouse or a slice of 30th anniversary chocolate cake cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. But if you're in California, you'll have a harder time enjoying them in blissful ignorance. Since July 1, chains with at least 20 restaurants in the state have been required to provide diners with the gory nutritional details -- including calories.

HEALTH Q&A

Author gets tough on obesity

Are you fat? Then Steve Siebold has this message for you: It's all your fault. If you want to get healthy, start thinking like a fit person, not a fat one, he says.

Caffeine has mixed health benefits

Sarah Pullman has what she calls a long-standing, cyclical relationship with caffeine. When she doesn't have her morning latte, the John F. Kennedy University graduate student feels sleepy and her head pounds. When she has too much caffeine, she feels jittery. But most of the time, caffeine makes her feel perky.

Breakfast can make or break your day, but what's the best approach?

Breakfast comes at a terrible time of day to make a rational decision. We're rushed. We're groggy. And we're famished. We know it's good for us -- 90 percent of Americans think it's the most important meal -- yet fewer than half of consumers actually eat it on a regular basis, according to the International Food Information Council.

EAT RIGHT

It's the best of foods, worst of foods again

Did the world really need a fourth ''Eat This, Not That!'' book? Well, maybe not. Having read the first three in the series of food-choice comparison guides created by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding of Men's Health magazine, I'd have been inclined to say, OK guys, I get it. Some foods that seem healthful are surprisingly bad for you, and others that you think might kill you aren't as bad as you thought, and it's important to look at the nutrition facts so you'll know the difference.

GET SMART

Latest coffee research has some little jolts

It improves alertness, energy and, sometimes, moods. But it also can make the heart race and keep you up at night. So is coffee good or bad? Wake up and smell the latest research about that cup of joe.

NUTRITION QUIZ

Get the lowdown on soy sauce and sodium

Sodium in excess is evil -- or so they say. We're always told to cut down on soy sauce consumption, for example. But a new study in the Journal of Food Science says soy sauce used instead of salt in the cooking process can significantly reduce sodium levels in foods while maintaining the ''perception of saltiness.'' Take our salty quiz about soy sauce and the new study.

NUTRITION QUIZ

Peppers: Hot and healthy?

If your victory garden is like most others this time of year, your peppers are ripening and ready to put in all kinds of recipes. But what do you know about their nutritional advantages? Take our quiz on the healthful aspects of peppers, hot and mild:

NUTRITION

Dietitians: Be flexible and veg out

The American Dietetic Association has updated a key policy to include vegan diets in its advice that a properly planned and balanced diet can be healthful not only for adults but also for all children, from infants to teens. A vegan diet means no animal products whatsoever (including eggs, cheese and yogurt, for example).

Tips for becoming a Flexitarian

''Flexitarian'' is a term describing people who are mostly vegetarian: They minimize meat, fish and poultry but don't cut it out completely. Here are 10 starter tips from Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet :

NUTRITION QUIZ

What do you know about hot dogs?

We're deep in summer now, prime hot dog-eating season. But how much do we really know about those tube steaks in a bun? Take our nutrition quiz:

'Real Housewives' star Bethenny Frankel discusses new diet book

Want to be as thin as Paris Hilton? Eat a cheeseburger, says Bethenny Frankel, author of Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, $16) and perhaps best known as one of the stars of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City.

NUTRITION

Some berry healthy benefits

I popped another blueberry in my mouth and listened intently to the speaker. This was, after all, the ''Berry Health Benefits Symposium,'' a gathering of respected researchers from around the world who came to report their findings on the health impact of eating blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries -- all kinds of berries.

NUTRITION QUIZ

Test your yogurt knowledge

In the dairy case, yogurt choices are so numerous as to be daunting. You might end up making a selection that is low in calcium and high in fat -- the absolute opposite of what you require. A website run by registered dietitians, Healthcastle.com, recently analyzed the various yogurt cup options.

Healthy recipes: Easy Bean Salad and Veggies in a Blanket

Here are two recipes demonstrated by Janelle Hoilett in a recent cooking class at Aventura Hospital.

NUTRITION QUIZ

Can chewing gum help reduce calories?

Since time immemorial, adults have been telling kids, ''Spit out that gum.'' Turns out, the adults should be chewing gum as a way to reduce calories. Take our gum quiz.

NUTRITION QUIZ

All about tomatoes

We're nearing the year's first tomato harvest in Central California, one of the leading producers of the crop. So why not take our quiz about all things tomato?

CHEW ON THIS

High praise for mushrooms

Gut-friendly bacteria have become a diet staple, so today I will make the case for fungi. Not just any fungi but the long neglected and often odd-looking mushroom. It's no wonder mushrooms are overlooked as health food staples, since they grow on dead and rotting wood or compost, not lush farmland.

Is seafood good or harmful?

We've been told seafood is good for us because it's low in calories and fat, full of protein and packed with Omega-3s, which may protect against coronary heart disease and stroke, and are thought to help neurological development in unborn babies. But we've also been warned about the potentially harmful mercury content in fish. What's with the flip-flop advice?

DIET BLOG

Dietitian invites the world to watch what she eats

On June 2, Cristin Dillon-Jones had Kashi Heart to Heart cereal mixed with Total Cinnamon Crunch, skim milk and blueberries for breakfast, canned vegetarian black-bean chili and a mozzarella/tomato/basil salad for lunch, and grilled salmon and potatoes with steamed broccoli for dinner. And she has the pictures to prove it.

NUTRITION QUIZ

Learn secrets to safe grilling

Barbecue season is here, and with it comes seasonal warnings about potential links between grilling and cancer. With just a little work, barbecuers can mitigate the threat. Take the safe grilling quiz.

HEALTH Q&A

Doc develops a winning plan for losers

After years of complaining about diet books, Dr. Richard Lipman has written his own. Or maybe it's an anti-diet book. In The 100-Calorie Secret, Lipman suggests forgetting most of the diet advice you've heard for the last four decades.

NUTRITION QUIZ

Test your iced tea knowledge

Here's refreshing news: June is National Iced Tea Month. (Gee, wonder why it's not in November?) Anyway, this caffeinated potable is a great way to stay cool in the summer.

Nutrition and cancer

A free four-session cooking course on how to prevent and survive cancer through proper diet and nutrition will be offered at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center.

NUTRITION QUIZ

Questions and answers about caffeine

Everybody gets so jittery about the caffeine content of coffee. So they forgo their cup o' Joe and often substitute some other libation they believe won't give them the caffeine shakes.

'Diet Detective' Charles Stuart Platkin relentlessly pushes clients

If nothing else works, Charles Stuart Platkin, the Miami Beach-based ''Diet Detective,'' will badger you into losing weight. There was Jennifer Cadle, 276 pounds. He bought her a huge chocolate cake -- her weakness -- and had her cut a big slice and put it in a box. ''You'd have to walk 2 ½ hours to work that off,'' he told her.

The pros and cons of your favorite condiments

When President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden stepped out recently for a couple of burgers, pundits and other observers had a lot to say about the topping each chose. As you'll recall, the president asked for mustard, preferably a Dijon style, while the vice president went for ketchup.

MEDWATCH

First Juice a good choice for little ones

Product: First Juice, organic fruit & veggie beverage, $4.99 for 32 fluid ounces at Whole Foods Market, Babies R Us, Target and http://firstjuice.elsstore.com.