You might think all body fat is created equal, but there is more to the story. Where fat is stored impacts health. Subcutaneous and visceral are the two storage forms of fat. The fat hanging under your arm or inside your thighs is subcutaneous -- literally ''under the skin.'' Most people don't like seeing it, but it's not a specific health threat.
Fair season beckons, which can mean only one thing: fatty foods. On a stick! Take our quiz on the nutrition content (or lack thereof) of the most popular carnival food attractions culled from the book The CalorieKing 2009 Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter.
First it was cranberries. Then blueberries. Then pomegranates. Then acai berries, whatever they are. Now there's more. ``Fight flu with the wonder fruit!!!'' says the ad by the New Zealand Blackcurrant Research Headquarters touting the antioxidant power of its dark-purple fruit. It's just one more antioxidant-rich ``superfood'' claimed to be a natural defense this flu season.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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).
''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 :
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here are two recipes demonstrated by Janelle Hoilett in a recent cooking class at Aventura Hospital.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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