When we were little kids, having dinner was a simple three-part process:
1. Eat the meat and potatoes.
2. Take all the green stuff and feed it to the dog.
3. Ask for dessert.
This system worked great for generations of kids—although not so great for generations of dogs. We grew up pretty happy and pretty healthy, and Mom and Dad were right; when we got older, we actually tried, and liked, some of the green stuff.
But then, a couple of things happened:
1. A lot of people in our neighborhood started to get fat.
2. A lot of people in the government developed an opinion about why all the people were getting fat.
And suddenly, food got really complicated (for the dog, too, thanks to scares over tainted dog food from China). Something that ought to be easy as pie—literally—became fraught with challenges, shrouded in myth, and obscured by a combination of complicated government regulation, marketing mystique, and dietary hysteria.
There’s an old saying that “A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.” And nowhere can that point be illustrated more clearly than in Americans’ dietary attitudes—in particular, our attitudes toward fat.
In an effort to help its citizens eat more healthfully, the USDA issued guidelines back in the 1970s that recommended against eating too much
saturated fat because saturated fat can raise
cholesterol, and high cholesterol can lead to
heart disease. Pretty simple, right?
But as journalist Michael Pollan outlines in his book
In Defense of Food, this was a very simple approach to a very complicated issue, and it’s probably done a lot of damage to our public health. The USDA’s recommendation drove people to abandon saturated fat like, say, butter and substitute something that seemed pretty harmless:
trans fat, like what you find in many margarines.
Indeed, food marketers scrambled to take advantage of the healthy properties of trans fat—and what a coup that was! Unlike normal
fats, trans fat stays solid at room temperature, so you can turn it into cookies, muffins, cupcakes, and hundreds of other supermarket staples and it’ll never leak grease onto the cardboard box. Genius! And because trans fat was good for us and so adept at carrying delicious flavors along on its tributaries of tallow, marketers had no reason not to load our foods with it at every possible turn.
But the case was closed before all the evidence was in. Turns out that saturated fat isn’t quite as bad for you as the government “experts” decided: While it raises bad cholesterol, it also raises good cholesterol. So the link between saturated fat and heart disease is less clear-cut than one might think. There’s still a case against saturated fat—it doesn’t do a whole lot for your body, nutritionally, and it’s easily stored in your belly, in your butt, or in the handbags where your triceps used to be. But it’s not the time bomb for your ticker that it’s been made out to be. What can really damage your heart, raise your cholesterol, increase your risk of stroke?
Trans fat
Oh. Hmm. Sorry, American population. Turns out trans fat—the stuff the
government wanted you to eat, the stuff that margarine commercials for several decades touted as the cure for heart disease—is, in fact, the deadliest fat known to man. It’s not even natural—it’s a substance concocted, marketed, and consumed by people, and it’s caused a lot of damage.
Today, the USDA recommends limiting trans fat to less than 2 grams per day. So it makes a lot of sense to scour the supermarket shelves for goods that say “no trans fat” on the label. Phew! That makes eating much simpler, because…
Oops. Stop. Hold up.
Here’s trouble: The US government, ever understanding toward poor, defenseless multinational food corporations, was loath to ban trans fat altogether, since it had become such a ubiquitous part of our nutritional landscape. So the government did, yet again, a bad, bad thing: They ruled that a convenience food can claim “no trans fat” on its label if it carries less than 0.5 gram of the stuff.
In other words, you could eat four servings of supermarket convenience foods that say “no trans fat” on the label and still come close to exceeding your daily value of trans fat! Even if you ate nothing else all day!
Wow. Did we get shafted or what?
Here’s the actual good news: So much of the confusion about what to eat and how to eat surrounds the stuff that’s prepackaged or cooked up in a restaurant. Cook at home, for example, and you’ll automatically put a damper on your trans fat consumption. That’s because, whereas it’s tough to discern which fast-food burgers and sit-down steaks carry it, it’s easy to banish trans fat from your kitchen. Try this simple test: Put a stick of margarine and a stick of butter on the kitchen counter. Wait an hour. Now look: The butter is runny, which is what natural fat is supposed to look like at room temperature. The margarine looks like Tori Spelling’s bust—unnaturally firm. (Or just read the ingredients on the back label: Anything with partially hydrogenated oil or shortening is cursed with the stuff.)
The point is, at home, in the comfort of your kitchen, you’re in full control. No secret fats, no hidden sugars, no misleading menu descriptions. Just you and the simple building blocks for your next meal.
Here’s a quick look at some of the other staples that you’ll be playing with as you hone your emerging culinary skills. Understand them—and how most of them are actually your friends—and you’ll be able to handle any cooking conundrum with confidence.
Eating well isn’t just about losing weight—it’s about feeling better in every possible way, from fighting off the stress of a bunk economy to maximizing the effects of a serious workout. We’ve pinpointed 10 foods you’d do well to eat everyday and provided you the blueprints for putting each into action.
Anthocyanidin, the antioxidant pigment responsible for the blueberry’s hue, has a powerful bolstering effect on learning and memory. Several studies have indicated that cognitive functions increase along with blueberry consumption.
Quinoa has higher concentrations of energy-producing B vitamins than any other whole wheat grain.
Not only does Greek yogurt have two to three times the amount of protein of normal yogurt, it also has all the amino acids you need to rebuild your muscles after a trip to the gym.
Add happiness to the list of perks derived from the omega-3 fats in salmon. Several studies have linked EPA and DHA, the dominant form of omega-3s in fish, to a decreased risk of depression.
After examining the diets of 453 people, Australian researchers found that monounsaturated fats exhibited protective properties and actually prevented both wrinkles and sun damage. Almonds, avocados, and olive oil all fit the bill.
Vitamin C is essential to your liver’s ability to eliminate toxins, and vitamin A increases the efficacy of white blood cells and antibodies. A red bell pepper has twice as much vitamin C as an orange and three times as much A as a tomato.
Studies have demonstrated that chewing cheese can increase the concentration of calcium in plaque, which helps to protect your teeth against cavities. Not to mention that following a sugary food with cheese can boost the pH in your mouth back to the safe zone.
The flavonoids found in cocoa not only improve bloodflow but also trigger a feel-good endorphin release that follows chocolate consumption, giving it the potential to light up the bedroom.
Vitamin E has been shown to reduce the pain in arthritic subjects, while the Boston University Medical Center found that those with the highest intakes of vitamin C were three times less likely to strain or injure joints than those with the lowest intakes. Spinach packs both C and E in abundance.
Strawberries pack a ton of serotonin-inducing natural sugars, plus a single cup of the fruit boasts 160 percent of your day’s vitamin C. A German study found that vitamin C helped clear out cortisol, the hormone responsible for stress-related symptoms like high blood pressure and hazy thinking.
Rule number 1 (as well as rule numbers 2 through 78): Don’t be afraid to use fat in your cooking.
Your body needs fat to perform metabolic functions that range from keeping brain cells firing (your gray matter is 70 percent fat) to healing scrapes to breaking down other nutrients. In fact, some of the healthiest foods we can eat—including
omega-3 fatty acids (the stuff you get in fish oil tablets) and monounsaturated fatty acids (which come from avocados and walnuts and the like)—are out-and-out
fats.
That’s why we’ve created this scorecard, to lift the fog from the fats and help you decide which to use in your kitchen. For each fat we looked at the balance of omega-3s to omega-6 fatty acids—another kind of fat that’s essential but that Americans eat too much of. (Omega-6s come from seeds and nuts, while 3s come from leaves.) We looked at the overall percentage of monounsaturated (good) fats. Then we considered whether a fat was high in saturated or—in the case of margarine—
trans fat. What we came up with was a list of fats ranked from best to worst based on these criteria. The ones lightest in color should be the first ones you grab when preparing food at home, and the ones at the bottom should be pretty much banned from your kitchen. Get this down and you’ll be set to lose weight and stay healthy while preparing restaurant-worthy meals in your own home.
Calories per Tbsp: 124
Fat Stats:
Total Saturated: 7 percent
Total Monounsaturated: 63 percent
Total Polyunsaturated: 28 percent
Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio: 2.5:1
What You Need to Know: Canola tops our list with its near-perfect ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats. According to a study review published last year in Experimental Biology and Medicine, people who have lowered this ratio have been able to battle cancer, arthritis, and asthma more effectively.
When to Use: Often. This is the best option for common cooking situations. Canola oil can withstand relatively high levels of heat, and its flavor is fairly neutral, so it won’t dominate a dish.
Calories per Tbsp: 119
Fat Stats:
Total Saturated: 14 percent
Total Monounsaturated: 73 percent
Total Polyunsaturated: 11 percent
Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio: 13:1
What You Need to Know: Olive oil is loaded with polyphenols, antioxidants that help battle many diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, and brain deterioration. To get the full effect, though, you need to choose an oil of the extra-virgin variety; it has the highest polyphenol concentration.
When to Use: Expensive extra-virgin, with its robust flavor, should be saved to dress salads, vegetables, and cooked dishes. For cooking purposes, regular or light olive oil is sufficient.
Calories per Tbsp: 119
Fat Stats:
Total Saturated: 17 percent
Total Monounsaturated: 46 percent
Total Polyunsaturated: 32 percent
Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio: not enough omega-3 to count
What You Need to Know: Peanut oil is loaded with a monounsaturated fat called oleic acid (OEA). New research at the University of California, Irvine, has found that this particular fat functions to bolster memory; OEAs also appear to help reduce appetite to promote weight loss.
When to Use: Because of its high smoke point, peanut oil should be your go-to oil for frying and many high-heat tasks like wok-cooking stir-fries and pan-searing pieces of meat and fish.
Calories per Tbsp: 120
Fat Stats:
Total Saturated: 14 percent
Total Monounsaturated: 40 percent
Total Polyunsaturated: 42 percent
Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio: 138:1
What You Need to Know: Sesame oil comes stacked with sesamol. A study published in the academic journal Pharmacological Research showed that during a 20-week treatment, this potent antioxidant was able to reduce skin tumors on mice by 50 percent.
When to Use: There are two different varieties of sesame oil—a light cooking oil good for high-heat cooking and a dark oil made from toasted seeds that’s best used like a condiment, added to sauces or drizzled over noodle dishes.
Calories per Tbsp: 120
Fat Stats:
Total Saturated: 16 percent
Total Monounsaturated: 23 percent
Total Polyunsaturated: 58 percent
Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio: 7.5:1
What You Need to Know: Soybean oil is the invisible fat. It’s the one you’re eating when you don’t have any clue what you’re eating. The typical American eats 27.6 times more soybean oil than olive oil, and much of that comes from generic bottles labeled as “vegetable oil.” It’s the main reason why our omega-6 to omega-3 ratios are so out of whack.
When to Use: Soybean oil is cheap and versatile (hence its ubiquity), but you’re better off with canola or peanut oil.
Calories per Tbsp: 115
Fat Stats:
Total Saturated: 39 percent
Total Monounsaturated: 45 percent
Total Polyunsaturated: 11 percent
Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio: 10:1
What You Need to Know: Lard’s gotten a bad rap. Not only does the pig blubber carry a third less saturated fat than
butter, it also has as much oleic acid as peanut oil. Problem is most supermarket varieties are hydrogenated to increase shelf life, which means they’re packing trans fat. But getting lard at home is easy—just save your bacon drippings.
When to Use: Many swear by lard for pie crusts and frying chicken. If you find a trans fat-free variety, use it sparingly.
Calories per Tbsp: 102
Fat Stats:
Total Saturated: 63 percent
Total Monounsaturated: 26 percent
Total Polyunsaturated: 4 percent
Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio: 8.7:1
What You Need to Know: Butter is an excellent source of conjugated linoleic acid, which actually functions as a cancer-fighting mechanism in your body. That doesn’t mean you want to move healthy oils out to make room for more butter, just realize modest use in the kitchen is totally acceptable.
When to Use: It’s a logical choice for baked goods and adds a rich note to certain sautés and sauces. When it comes to buttering toast, whipped butter cuts your fat and calories in half.
Calories per Tbsp: 100
Fat Stats:
Total Saturated: 19 percent
Total Trans: 18 percent
Total Monounsaturated: 48 percent
Total Polyunsaturated: 30 percent
*Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio: 11.5:1
What You Need to Know: To truly be considered margarine, sticks and tubs must contain at least 80 percent vegetable oil, and generally that oil is of the trans fatty, partially hydrogenated variety. If you really want to get away from butter, opt for a spread made with healthy fats. We like Smart Balance Buttery Spread with Flax Oil.
When to Use: Never use margarine that contains trans fat, but find a healthier version for occassional use.
Mother Nature, ever one to go about following Her own whims without taking our needs into consideration, has yet to get hip to the
nutritional program. Hence, until we can convince You-Know-Who to amend Her ways, cows, chickens, and pigs will continue to be born without nutrition labels.
Because there’s no easy labeling on meat, no cartoon characters to sell us pigs and cows, most of us view the choice between, say, beef and pork loin as one that’s as arbitrary as choosing between Aquafina and Dasani. Except that when it comes to choosing a protein source, there can be a huge difference: Meat can be either a powerful weight-loss tool—or a truckload of tummy-maxing trouble.
On the plus side, between 10 percent and 30 percent of the calories you burn every day get burned by the simple act of eating and digesting your food. And your body uses almost twice as many calories digesting protein as it does fats and carbohydrates. (Pretty cool, huh? That’s like making a third of your money by shopping.) Plus, meats have wildly different amounts of various nutrients—minerals like zinc and iron and a range of B vitamins.
On the negative side, meat can carry a lot of fat—some of it healthy fat and some of it not so healthy. But how can you tell which cut of which animal is going to boost your muscles and help strip away fat, and which will just bloat your middle like a snake that swallowed an ostrich egg?
To help you differentiate one choice of meat from another, we’ve created a protein scoring system that takes into account all the relevant nutritional considerations. We began by looking at the ratio of protein to fat. (Because meat is comprised entirely of these two macronutrients, finding a high protein-to-fat ratio is essential to the character of the cut.) Next we factored in the density of 10 essential micronutrients. Finally, we rounded out our analysis with saturated fat and cholesterol levels. What you get is a scorecard that removes the mystery from the meat by letting you pit pork chops against ground beef and T-bones against dark meat turkey.
Oh, and one more note: Whenever possible, look for free-range or grass-fed versions of your favorite meats. They may cost a bit more, but you’ll find not only a richer flavor but also a higher protein-to-fat ratio, more micronutrients, and no residual hormones and antibiotics. And, hey, it’s still cheaper than restaurant food!
Calories per 3 oz: 97
Protein: 19.7 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 1.4 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 7.38
Calories per 3 oz: 98
Protein: 20 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 1.3 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 7.34
Calories per 3 oz: 93
Protein: 17.1 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 2.7 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 6.90
Calories per 3 oz: 96
Protein: 18.2 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 2.0 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 6.75
Calories per 3 oz: 106
Protein: 17.1 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 3.7 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 5.99
Calories per 3 oz: 105
Protein: 18.2 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 3.6 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 5.92
Calories per 3 oz: 106
Protein: 17.1 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 3.7(grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 5.55
Calories per 3 oz: 124
Protein: 18.3 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 5.3 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 4.95
Calories per 3 oz: 121
Protein: 18.4 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 4.7 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 4.91
Calories per 3 oz: 132
Protein: 18 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 6.1 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 4.73
Calories per 3 oz: 194
Protein: 17.5 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 10.8 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 4.25
Calories per 3 oz: 163
Protein: 16.5 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 8.5 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 4.13
Calories per 3 oz: 187
Protein: 14.9 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 13.0 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 3.92
Calories per 3 oz: 171
Protein: 17.3 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 10.8 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 3.90
Calories per 3 oz: 150
Protein: 17 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 8.5 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 3.87
Calories per 3 oz: 213
Protein: 16.2 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 16.2 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 3.71
Calories per 3 oz: 233
Protein: 14.9 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 18.7 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 3.60
Calories per 3 oz: 216
Protein: 14.6 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 17.0 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 3.38
Calories per 3 oz: 208
Protein: 14.8 g (grams/3 oz)
Total Fat: 16 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 3.24
Calories per 3 oz: 260
Protein: 14.1 g (grams/3 oz)
Toal Fat: 22.2 (grams/3 oz)
Overall Score: 3.20
Despite the rampant carb-mongering that still exists in
nutritional circles,
carbohydrates should account for up to 45 percent of calories in a healthy diet. The trick is to be sure that you’re getting the bulk of yours from quality sources—something the carb-fearing cabal tends to ignore.
That’s where the Carb Scorecard comes in. Think you know barley from
bulgur? Or pasta from rice, for that matter? By considering four parameters, we’ve ranked 10 common carbs from best to worst.
The first and most important parameter in our scoring system is fiber. (Americans are eating only about 14 of the 25 daily grams they need to be healthy.) Then we added and subtracted points for protein-based calories and sugar-based calories, respectively. Finally, we factored in the concentration of a dozen nutrients, among which are iron, magnesium, selenium, and a bundle of B vitamins.
Calories per cup: 151
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 8 g
Protein: 5.5 g
What You Need to Know: Want to incorporate whole wheat into your home cooking? Bulgur’s your solution. It’s one of the most-fibrous pantry stuffers you can find, and because it has been parboiled before packaging, it cooks in no time.
How to Use: Perfect for putting together nutritious side dishes on the fly. To make a simple tabbouleh—a staple in Mediterranean cooking—simply combine the bulgur with lots of chopped parsley, garlic, diced tomatoes, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Calories per cup: 222
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 8 g
What You Need to Know: This South American grain is loaded with protein, and unlike the protein in wheat, quinoa contains all the amino acids that your body needs to function. That puts this protein on par with the stuff you’d find in eggs, milk, and beef. What’s more, quinoa is more nutritionally stacked than any other whole grain on this list.
How to Use: Quinoa cooks like rice and makes an excellent substitute for more common—but less nutritional—grains. Try using it as a bed for grilled chicken or fish, tossing with roasted vegetables for a simple salad, or stir in raisins, brown sugar, and milk for breakfast.
Calories per cup: 166
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 4 g
Protein: 6 g
What You Need to Know: A unique blend of nutrients makes oats one of the heart-healthiest foods in your kitchen. The collaborative efforts of beta-glucan, a powerful class of fibers, and avenanthramide, an antioxidant unique to oats, fuel the cereal grain’s winning battle against LDL cholesterol. And get this: A study of satiety published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that oatmeal more than doubled the stomach-filling potential of white bread.
How to Use: Sure oatmeal is great on its own, but also try stirring rolled oats into pancake and muffin recipes.
Calories per 2 large slices (85g): 210
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 6 g
Protein: 11 g
What You Need to Know: In theory, wheat bread should always have more fiber and nutrients than white bread, but that’s not always the case. In fact, some wheat breads are made with the same refined flour; they’re just colored with molasses to make them appear heartier. Look for loaves that say “100 percent whole wheat” on the package, and to be sure, flip them over and look at the ingredient statement. Is the first ingredient whole wheat? Bingo.
How to Use: Develop a taste for the robust flavor of wheat and you’ll never go back to white. Also try to sneak in whole wheat buns for burgers and dogs.
Calories per cup: 193
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 6 g
Protein: 3.5 g
What You Need to Know: Although ranked fifth on our list, barley is still one of the healthiest grains. What it lacks in protein it makes up for in cholesterol-lowering beta-glucan, the same fiber that allows oatmeal to carry an FDA-approved heart healthy seal. Researchers in Australia recently found that barley could help lower LDL cholesterol levels.
How to Use: Barley takes about an hour to cook, so make a big batch and use throughout the week. Try it with berries and warm milk in the morning, stirred into winter soups, or as a vegetable-strewn pilaf for dinner.
Calories per cup: 221
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 2.5 g
Protein: 8 g
What You Need to Know: Of all the refined grain products in your pantry, pasta is the least threatening. The reason? Unlike white bread, which is almost completely devoid of fiber, white pasta is generally prepared with at least a couple of grams still intact. Factor in the slurry of vitamins that get added during the enrichment process and you have a carb source that’s not all bad, but calorie-dense nonetheless.
How to Use: Switching to whole-wheat noodles will more than double your fiber load and boost your protein intake. Ronzini Smart Taste and Barilla Plus are both fantastic options.
Calories per cup: 216
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 3.5 g
Protein: 5 g
What You Need to Know: In the competition of grains, rice emerges as one of the weaker options, but it’s not a total loser. Not only does the unrefined grain deliver reliable doses of both fiber and protein, but it also carries a healthy spread of nutrients that includes more than a quarter of your day’s selenium, an antioxidant that has been shown to hinder the proliferation of cancer cells.
How to Use: Rice’s popularity stems in large part from its versatility. Use it as a base for curries and stir-fries; stir it into soups; or wrap it with beans and cheese inside a whole-wheat tortilla for a fiber-loaded burrito.
Calories per cup: 176
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 6 g
What You Need to Know: Couscous is nothing more than wheat fashioned into tiny pasta granules. Problem is, few couscous manufacturers add back the nutrients they strip out. That means the extra boost of iron and B vitamins that you expect to find in pasta is all but absent. Here’s some advice: If you like the consistency of couscous, try replacing it with quinoa. Similar shape and size, but the quinoa will earn you extra nutrients and more than twice the amount of fiber.
How to Use: Opt for whole-wheat couscous and lace it with toasted pine nuts, golden raisins, and cilantro.
Calories per cup: 205
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 0.5 g
Protein: 4.5 g
What You Need to Know: White rice, like most refined grains in America, must have certain missing nutrients stuffed back into it before it’s sold to consumers. The problem is that what goes back in represents a mere drop in the bucket compared with what’s taken out. Compared with brown, white rice has drastically lower concentrations of magnesium, potassium, copper, and selenium, to name a few. Furthermore, the grain is pathetically devoid of fiber.
How to Use: If ever you choose white over brown rice, make sure you boost your plate with other sources of fiber and vitamins—namely, vegetables.
Calories per 2 large slices (85g): 226
Carb Stats:
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 6.5 g
What You Need to Know: Generally speaking, you want to avoid white foods. Cauliflower is an exception, but white bread certainly is not. To strip it of its natural earth tone, manufacturers remove about 40 percent of the grain, and in the process they eliminate a load of healthy fats, vitamin E, and fiber. So not only are you losing essential nutrients, but you’re also digesting your food faster. That means your blood sugar rises higher, your mood shifts easier, and your stomach gets empty quicker.
How to Use: Sparingly.
Milk is the most versatile food in the world, no doubt about it. It arrives fresh from the cow as a homogenous white liquid but quickly becomes separated into any number of yogurts, cheeses, and spreads. Some of the fat becomes butter; some becomes cream. It’s frozen into ice cream or allowed to curdle into cottage cheese, the protein extracted for use as a supplement. It’s like
Night of the Living Dead, except instead of zombies, we have dairy farmers, walking around with jugs of lactose and milk fat. Okay, maybe it’s not that severe, but with the prevalence of diary in our diets, it’s best to know the good from the evil.
To help clue you in, we’ve devised a scoring system that allows you to easily see the relative
nutritional content of 13 common dairy foods. In it we consider five variables. The top two, protein and fat, were the most heavily weighted. Dairy protein is loaded with amino acids, putting it among the best protein sources in the food supply. Dairy fat, on the other hand, is highly saturated, so it’s best in moderation.
Next we considered nutrient density. Some dairy products, like yogurt and cheese, carry heavier loads of calcium and B12 than others, such as butter and cream, so they were rewarded accordingly. Finally, we docked points for two naturally occurring nutrients, sodium and sugar. The result is a totem pole of dairy products. The ones darkest in color should be relegated to a tiny role in your diet, but the lightly colored ones are all-star health foods.
Calories per 1 cup: 137
Protein: 14 g
Fat: 0.4 g
Sat. Fat: 0.3
Overall Score: 10.05
Calories per 1 cup: 194
Protein: 26.74 g
Fat: 5.5 g
Sat. Fat: 2.2
Overall Score: 9.55
Calories per 1 cup: 83
Protein: 8.3 g
Fat: 0.2 g
Sat. Fat: 0.1
Overall Score: 9.45
Calories per 1 cup: 102
Protein: 8.2 g
Fat: 2.4 g
Sat. Fat: 1.5
Overall Score: 8.22
Calories per 1 cup: 122
Protein: 8 g
Fat: 4.8 g
Sat. Fat: 3.1
Overall Score: 7.29
Calories per 1 cup: 149
Protein: 8.5 g
Fat: 8 g
Sat. Fat: 5.1
Overall Score: 6.93
Calories per 1 cup: 410
Protein: 29.1 g
Fat: 30 g
Sat. Fat: 19.2
Overall Score: 6.83
Calories per 1 cup: 336
Protein: 24.8 g
Fat: 25 g
Sat. Fat: 14.7
Overall Score: 6.79
Calories per 1 cup: 477
Protein: 28.9 g
Fat: 38.8 g
Sat. Fat: 25.2
Overall Score: 6.74
Calories per 1 cup: 149
Protein: 7.7 g
Fat: 8 g
Sat. Fat: 4.6
Overall Score: 6.46
Calories per 1 cup: 455
Protein: 28.1 g
Fat: 37.5 g
Sat. Fat: 23.8
Overall Score: 6.16
Calories per 1 cup: 315
Protein: 7.2 g
Fat: 27.8 g
Sat. Fat: 17.3
Overall Score: 4.43
Calories per 1 cup: 273
Protein: 4.6 g
Fat: 14.5 g
Sat. Fat: 9
Overall Score: 3.89
Calories per 1 cup: 444
Protein: 4.8 g
Fat: 45.4 g
Sat. Fat: 26.4
Overall Score: 3.39
Calories per 1 cup: 414
Protein: 2.5 g
Fat: 44.4 g
Sat. Fat: 27.6
Overall Score: 1.44
Calories per 1 cup: 1,628
Protein: 1.93 g
Fat: 184 g
Sat. Fat: 116.6
Overall Score: 1.33
America has more obese people than overweight people.
1 medium carrot has 340 percent of your daily vitamin A. Wheat flour has 470 percent more fiber than white flour.
Frozen peas have up to 4 times as much vitamin C as canned peas.
Organic wine averages a third more antioxidants than conventional wine.
A typical serving of potatoes has nearly 5 times as many antioxidants as a typical serving of broccoli.
Your blood sugar rises 39 percent less if you toast your white bread.
45
Percent of people who eat fewer than five home-cooked dinners per week. Seventeen percent don’t even eat three.
Almond butter has 79 percent more heart-healthy monounsaturated fats than peanut butter. (It also has close to half as many saturated fats.)
Women
who take a forward-thinking approach to food and cooking (that means they try new recipes, plan meals, and shop with a list) have a higher intake of vegetables.
An 8-ounce cup of 2 percent milk has 40 more calories than an 8-ounce cup of fat-free milk.
The number of obese children has tripled since 1980.
Although it has just as much sodium as table salt, sea salt does not contain iodine, an essential mineral that your body needs for metabolic and thyroid functions.
Men
who moderately drink alcohol 3 to 7 days a week are at a 32 percent lower risk of heart attack than men who drink less than once a week.
Frozen produce often has higher nutrient density than fresh. But a study in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that for some vegetables canning degraded as much as 95 percent of the vitamin C and damaged every B vitamin in the food.
People who eat more than two servings of vegetables a day have a 40 percent slower rate of cognitive decline than those who eat one serving or less.
The average veggie burger contains five times the sodium of the average beef burger.
In an 11-year Japanese study, those who drank the most green tea were less likely to die of any cause throughout the course of the study.
Tuna accounts for 39 percent of the mercury in the US diet. Choosing light over albacore can cut your methylmercury risk by two-thirds.
89 percent of foods marketed to kids provide poor nutrition.
Adding blueberries instead of strawberries to your cereal will more than double your antioxidant intake.
Overweight people who weigh themselves at least once a week are 6 times more likely to lose weight.
A third of adolescents eat two or fewer family meals per week.
A cup of store-brand bran flakes cereal has more than twice as much fiber as a cup of Cheerios.
People who eat with napkins in their laps tend to have lower body mass indexes.
Cut out 96 calories from your daily diet and you’ll be 10 pounds lighter one year from today.
Wild blueberries have 50 percent more antioxidants than cultivated blueberries.
If you shop at a farmers’ market, you’re 3.2 times more likely to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day than if you shop at a supermarket.
Compared to iceberg, romaine lettuce has more of just about every nutrient, including 8.5 times more vitamin C.
1 oz.
of walnuts has as many omega-3 fats as a 4-ounce piece of Atlantic salmon.
Grass-fed beef has up to three times more conjugated linoleic acid, a unique beef-based fat that fights cancer and promotes weight loss.
Drinking 3 glasses of red wine a week decreases your risk of colon cancer by 68 percent.
Compared with an 8-ounce glass of orange juice, a single medium orange has half as much sugar and 3 more grams of fiber.
Coffee is by far the richest source of antioxidants in the American diet. (Cream and sugar turns a 10-calorie cup of coffee into an 80-calorie cup. Do that once a day and gain 7 pounds in a year.)
