Sometimes it seems like eating clean can be dangerous! You want to consume a large amount of fruits and vegetables and then something like this happens. Tomatoes are being recalled due to a salmonella outbreak and health officials are saying to avoid eating tomatoes uncooked.

The state of Texas has seem to had the most number of salmonella cases but eight other states have also been affected. Nationwide 40 people have become ill and 17 have been hospitalized.

Dr. Herbert DuPont, director of the University of Texas School of Public Health’s infectious disease center, said salmonella infections strike 1.4 million Americans annually and are the second-most common cause of bacterial diarrhea.

“For most people, it causes a week of misery,” he said. But for children younger than 3 years, adults 65 and older, people with compromised immune systems, sickle cell patients, and people with inflammatory bowel disease or on corticosteroids, the infection can be deadly. [Source: chron.com]

There is a new miracle hitting the blogosphere and it is called the “miracle fruit.” This miracle fruit is not performing weight loss miracles the way the name would suggest. Instead it is performing miracles on your taste buds. The real name of the fruit is “Synsepalum dulcificum” and it is native to West Africa.

The fruit are in the form of tiny red berries and after popping one in your mouth, the proteins in the berry bind with your taste buds causing acidic foods to actually taste sweet! Imagine eating a lemon and having it taste like candy, or drinking beer to have it taste like chocolate. These are the types of effects that happen after eating the berry. The effect lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Read more »

I’m sure you have heard the benefits of adding various nuts to your diet. However, nuts get a bad rap for being high in fat, so many folks tend not to include them in their diet. New studies conducted by the FDA have now shown that the fat contained in nuts may be heart healthy. This is because the fat is mainly made up of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats - both of which are shown to lower levels of LDL or “bad cholesterol.”

All nuts are not created equal and there are several that fall under under the good fat category:

Almonds - one of my all time favorites, these contain vitamin E and also make for a great snack as they are known to make you feel more satisfied between meals.

Pecans - these have some of the highest levels of phytosterols which help protect against cardiovascular disease.

Pistachios - these are very yummy and are high in lutein which helps protect eyes against macular degeneration.

Walnuts - these contain a high level of the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. ALA is known to decrease inflammation. Walnuts are also known to increase HDL or “good cholesterol.”

Hazelnuts - these contain high levels of folate (B vitamin) as well as some calcium, magnesium, and potassium.

Peanuts - the most common nut contains resveratrol which is known to protect against heart disease.

The nuts to avoid include macadamias, cashews, and Brazil nuts. They are high in saturated fats which we know isn’t good for the heart. Mixed nuts are also a no-no as many companies package them with extra oil and salt.

When you purchase nuts, the best way to get them is raw and you can typically find them in health food stores like Trader Joe’s.

image credit: sxc.hu

Personally I think eating clean alleviates some of the hassle of counting every calorie. Since you are not consuming junk, you knock out a ton of calories by default. There are still many people who do the calorie counting thing regardless and if you have ever counted calories, you understand how tedious and annoying it can become.

Luckily there are some cool programs online that take the hassle out of calorie counting and makes it actually kind of fun. The two I am going to talk about are both web based which is great for those of us who work in front of a computer most of the day. It makes logging our meals that much easier.

FitDay
www.fitday.com

I’ve used FitDay before and loved it. It has awesome reporting features that produce charts track your calories eaten and calories burned from your activity that you log throughout the day. It’s a really robust meal and fitness tracker and the best part is that it is free. The only downside - at least back when I used it, was that you have to manually enter the calories of certain food items but once you have them in there you’re good to go.

The Daily Plate
www.thedailyplate.com

I have not tried this site out so the information I am giving is second hand but reliable! My sister gave this program a try and she really liked the fact that when someone enters the calories for popular food items, everyone can share it. Unlike Fit Day where it is saved for each account. Like Fit Day, it is easy to use and has good reporting. She did mention that the reporting isn’t as nice as Fit Day but I think they offer more reporting features if you upgrade.

There are several other meal and fitness trackers on the web and you can do a quick search to find many of them. If you don’t care either way about counting calories but do like keeping a food journal, these web based programs can help if you’re not into carrying a notebook around.

image credit: stock.xchng

May’s Muscle & Fitness magazine had a good article on specific fruits and how they do the body good. Here is a quick rundown on the ones they mentioned.

Blueberries
1 cup = 84 calories, 1 g protein, 22 g carbs, 1 g fat, 4 g fiber

Health benefits:

• More antioxidants than most fruits
• Brain boosting effect

Cherries
1 cup = 87 calories, 2 g protein, 22 g carbs, 0 g fat, 3 g fiber

Health benefits:

• Contains antioxidant called anthocyanins (reduces inflammation)

Grapefruit
1 large = 106 calories, 2 g protein, 27 g carbs, 0 g fat, 4 g fiber

Health benefits:

• Keeps insulin levels steady
• Influences fat loss

Pomegranate
1/2 seeds only = 80 calories, 1 g protein, 18 g carbs, 1 g fat, 0 g fiber

Health benefits

• Antioxidants
• Enhance nitric oxide levels (dilates blood vessels)

Watermelon
1 slice = 86 calories, 2 g protein, 22 g carbs, 0 g fat, 1 g fiber

Health benefits

• Amino acid citruline which converts to arginine (produces nitric oxide)
• High in lycopene