Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Pomegranates are in season and they are once again in abundance at most grocery stores. I had a tough time finding them last spring, but it's nice to see them in so many stores again.

I've written about pomegranates before. I thought they were worth mentioning again as this fruit really is a super food.

I know a lot of weight loss challenges are going on this fall and I thought this is a good time to remind people of the superfoods I eat. I did a post months ago where you can read my list of the favorite superfoods, click here for the link.

The list is pretty much the same, but I wanted to stress the importance of a few of the foods and a few more that I've tried since then.

What's that again?

A study (yeah I know... yet another study) commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  entitled "Sodium Intake In Populations: Assessment of Evidence" confirms that there is no evidence substantial enough to limit sodium consumption to less than 2,300 milligram daily for Americans. Researchers concluded that one-and-a-half to three tablespoons of salt per day is not detrimental to a person's health, contrary to past belief.

The report also discusses emerging debates about the proper level of dietary sodium intake. "Despite efforts over the past several decades to reduce sodium intake in the United States, adults still consume an average of 3,400 mg of sodium every day," the researchers wrote.

It often amazes me to see all of these studies published on the web or pitched in the media that persuade people to into choosing one food choice over another. Eggs are good for you with one particular study and then they are bad for you with another study. Many of these "Studies" are all part of the marketing machine and more times than not, aren't ground in truth. Personally I know that many foods out there can be good or bad for you based on the foods they are combined with.

But there are some foods no matter how you combine them that will have negative affects. Enough so that they are BANNED from most countries because of the ingredients they contain. It is one thing to try to determine if something is good for you based on studies. It is another thing when countries make foods illegal and charge hefty fines to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars per offense. I always knew that pre-packeged foods were not good for you because they were "processed". Do you know what they were processed with?

It's official, the American Medical Association now recognizes obesity as a disease.

This is troubling to me for a number of reasons. Some of my reasons might be biased as my sister suffered from anorexia nervosa, but I thought I would share why I think it's a mistake to label obesity a disease.