Fashionable Food

So often you’ll hear about what’s “in” and what’s “out” of this season’s fashion trend. But just like we listen to the expert’s opinion on what the width of our pants should be, so should we listen to the experts when they’re telling us what to eat.

With obesity and all its related illnesses on the steady rise, we need to pay more and more attention to what we are and aren’t eating. But luckily, by listening to this advice, you’re going to feel and look healthier, and you won’t regret anything when next season rolls around.

IN: Whole grains
OUT: Refined grains

Refined grains and whole grains may seem similar, but they are quite different. Whole grains are more than just starch, containing up to 25% of other goodies, including protein, fiber, and added healthy omega-3′s, along with a complex mixture of vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients.

The refining process strips away much of what is best about grains and can leave a white product that may be up to 94% starch. This makeover changes the way grains are absorbed and used by the body and the effect they have on blood sugar, even though a few simple vitamins and iron are added back.

IN: Oils
OUT: Solid fats

Solid fats are often one of the biggest sources of empty calories in kids’ diets. Both saturated fats and trans fats, hidden in many processed foods, tend to be solid at room temperature. Getting too much solid fat in the diet has been linked to chronic disease, especially diseases of the heart and blood vessels.

The biggest source of solid fats in kids’ diets is what’s used in baked goods. Luckily, using olive oil as a substitute can give results sinfully similar to the original. In one study, researchers made three types of cakes: margarine only, extra-virgin olive oil only, and a combination of olive oil and margarine. The tasters found that all three cakes had the same aroma and tasted remarkably similar. In fact, the reduced-trans-fat cake actually edged out the margarine cake as the winner.

IN: Grass-fed organic beef
OUT: Conventional beef

Side by side, two cuts of meat may look almost identical, but they can come from cows raised in very different ways. If we are what we eat, then we are what our food animals eat, too.

Grass-fed cattle are raised on pasture without the use of synthetic hormones, toxic pesticides, genetic modification, cloning, or antibiotics. The meat can have up to four times the healthy omega-3 fats of feedlot beef. Ask questions at the meat counter; read labels.