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How to Let the Food Label be Your Guide to Healthy Grocery Shopping

From HealthCastle:
You've got all the best intentions to fill your cart with healthy foods, but somehow it seems you still manage to bring home some real nutrition duds. Decoding the lingo on food labels can be a daunting task - how can you make sure that what seems nutritious is indeed a smart choice?

Though each section in the grocery store presents a different challenge, there are a couple of constants that apply to most food labels. First, choose products that are not only trans fat free, but also don't list hydrogenated oil among the ingredients. And watch out for sodium - especially in frozen meals, convenience "instant" foods, and sauces. Aim to keep the sodium at or below 480 milligrams per serving.

Take a tour through the aisles with us as we suggest hints for using food labels to guide your grocery shopping:

Dairy Case: It doesn't take an expert to tell you that fat free dairy choices are some of the best - they contain all of the good stuff (like calcium) while saving you from some fat. But if fat free doesn't fit your palate, stick to yogurt, cheese, and milk with 3 or less grams of total fat, and less than 1 gram of saturated fat per serving.

Meats: Lean meat, like top round roast and sirloin tip side steak (beef) and tenderloin (pork) make versatile, smart choices. Poultry is also a winner, provided you use white meat cuts and cook it without the skin. If your butcher prints a label for your meats, look for products that have less than 5 grams of total fat, and less than 2 grams of saturated fat per serving.

Bread Aisle: Making a nutritious choice when it comes to bread has become a challenge with so many healthy-sounding choices crowding shelves. The key to simplifying your task is to choose breads that list a "whole" grain as the first ingredient on the food label, and have at least 3 grams of fiber per serving

Cereals and Starches: Just as in the bread aisle, seek the products that list a whole grain among the first ingredients on the food label. Cereals should have less than 5 grams of sugar per serving, and brown rice instead of white rice makes a better choice since it's a high fiber whole grain. Other whole grains that are great to try on their own include oats, quinoa, popcorn, and bulgur.

Fruits and Veggies: Fresh produce is a no-brainer: you can't go wrong with any choice you make, so stock up. But canned produce is a bit trickier. Make sure you're picking up "lite" or "juice packed" canned fruit, and if you're buying juice, it should clearly state "100% juice" on the food label. For canned veggies, keep sodium under wraps by buying no-salt-added products, and giving them a quick rinse before using them if possible. Frozen fruits and veggies are also stellar choices, since they are flash frozen directly after harvest, and unseasoned products lack the added sodium and sugar of their canned counterparts.

The Bottom Line

The best choices in the grocery store are low in fat, sodium, and calories, and high in fiber and nutrients. Taking time to read the food labels of the groceries you toss in your cart will ensure that what you buy is a healthy investment!

Guide for Replacing Household Items

This intelligence could help you stay healthy – or even save your life. It comes from Prevention magazine.

• Your toothbrush. Replace itevery three to four MONTHS. The American Dental Association recommends a three to four month rotation because frayed and worn bristles don't clean as well - leaving teeth more vulnerable to decay. Plus, damp toothbrushes are perfect playgrounds for bacteria – and after a while you’re just scrubbing your teeth with a germ stick.
  
  
• What about your air conditioner? This is a good question with summer coming up. With proper maintenance - including annual servicing - a room or central air conditioner can easily run for up to 15 years. Especially if you don't operate it year round. So says Bill Harrison - president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers. Make sure you replace your air-conditioner filter. Clogged filters allow dirt to settle on an air conditioner’s coils, which leads to mud forming whenever the coils get wet. That’s a perfect recipe for mold spores, which then get blown all over your house. Also, enough grime can cause your whole A/C system to break down. You can avoid an expensive repair by installing a new filter each month the air conditioner is in use.
  
  
• What about antibacterial cream – like Neosporin? Toss it after a YEAR. Beyond a year, the antibiotic is probably still good, but the chemical mix in the ointment may start to go bad, which may make the product less effective.
  
  
• Finally, here’s an expiration date that could save your life: When should you replace your fire extinguishers? Replace them every 10 YEARS. Portable extinguishers may lose pressure over time and become ineffective - whether or not they've been triggered. That’s the word from the National Fire Protection Association. Replace your smoke alarms after 10 years, too. You should also replace the batteries every year, and test your alarms monthly. If one flunks, throw it out.

All About Acai Berry

From HealthCastle:
Acai berry has recently been featured on many high-profile talk shows, and a quick Google search returns multiple websites promoting some form of it. If you are curious about all the hype, read on for the lowdown on this fruit.

What is Acai Berry?

Not many fruits have as alluring a name as Acai berry. Acai (pronounced ah-sah-EE) berry is the fruit of the Acai palm, one of many species of palms belonging to the genus Euterpe, which is native to Central and South America. The palm is fast-growing, and both the fruits and the hearts of the palm are important food sources for locals. The berry's growing popularity in North America has led to multiple brands of Acai berry supplements (alone or mixed with other fruit juices) offered in the market. Health claims on these products include weight loss, detoxifying, wrinkle-fighting, higher energy levels and superior levels of antioxidants.

What Acai Berry Research Shows

Several studies have been done on the antioxidant activity of the juice or fruit pulp (including a freeze-dried form of supplement). Generally, they agree that Acai berry exhibits some antioxidant activity but, depending on the methods used to define "antioxidant activity," the conclusions about the Acai berry's specific potency vary. A 2006 Brazilian study of the antioxidant activity of the pulp of various fruits commonly consumed in Brazil showed that Acai berry pulp had less antioxidant activity than acerola, mango, strawberry, and grapes, but more antioxidant activity than guava, passionfruit, and pineapple. A 2008 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (funded by a pomegranate juice maker) used four different methods of testing antioxidant activity in fruit juices and showed that Acai berry juice had less antioxidant activity than red wine, pomegranate juice, Concord grape juice, and blueberry juice, equivalent activity to black cherry and cranberry juices, and more antioxidant activity than orange or apple juices. Note that most of the studies so far focus on the antioxidant capacity as determined by chemical analysis/assays; these tests do not guarantee that the antioxidants would behave the same way inside our bodies.

A couple of studies in the same journal fed Acai berry juice to 12 healthy volunteers and documented higher levels of antioxidants in the blood for up to two hours after consumption, but again, there is no clear health benefit that can be drawn from this observation. It is also unclear what form or forms of Acai berry would be optimally absorbed by our bodies.

The Bottom Line

Like many other fruits, Acai berry contains antioxidants. There is currently no clear evidence of any superiority in the action of Acai berry's antioxidants when compared to other types of fruits. Try it if you're curious, but at times like these when everyone is watching their food budget, your hard-earned dollars are probably better spent buying a great variety of fresh produce, whether fruits or vegetables.