Medicine
Could Fatty Foods Make You Hungrier?
Scientists have known for several years now that people are partly controlled by the gremlins and goats in their stomachs...Pardon me, I mean ghrelin, the so-called "hunger hormone" that triggers appetite when it interacts with fatty acids in the stomach, and GOAT, the enzyme that facilitates that ...
June 11, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Kicking off CSA Season
It's finally here! The first batch of seasonal produce we'll be getting every week from now through October, through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This is the first year that my fiance (who shall henceforth be referred to as Mr. FAT, because it makes me chuckle) and I have partic...
May 27, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Yogurt Pioneer Dies at 103
I had a relative who lived to be 99, according to family lore, by eating yogurt every day. I'm starting to wonder if there might be something to that theory—last week, Daniel Carasso, the man credited with popularizing yogurt as a snack food in Europe and North America, died at the age of 103. Cara...
May 26, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Quinoa, the Mother of Grains
Quinoa (say it: keen-wah) may sound new and exotic to many Americans, but it's actually been around for at least 5,000 years. The Inca called it the "mother grain" and considered it a sacred gift from the gods. I have a similar reverence for quinoa: It's close to nutritionally perfect, low-fat and ...
April 29, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Dreading the Worst When it Comes to Epidemics
A scientist by training, author Philip Alcabes studies the etymology of epidemiology and the cultural fears of worldwide disease
April 28, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Food Matters on Earth Day
Lately I'm reading a book called "Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating," by Mark Bittman (a.k.a. NY Times' "The Minimalist"), and Earth Day seems like the perfect time to tell you about it.Bittman's thesis is simple but sobering: What you choose to put on your plate has a direct impact on the...
April 22, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Is Eating Red Meat Dangerous to Your Health?
Let me start with a disclaimer: I'm not exactly an unbiased reporter on this subject.I became a vegetarian when I was 16. Although I've morphed into more of a "flexitarian" (eating fish or poultry occasionally) in recent years, I basically never eat red meat. On the other hand, at a catered dinner ...
March 24, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Spring Flavors: Ramps, Morels and Fiddleheads
I’ve always loved spring, even when I lived in the mild climate of California, because that’s when wild flowers dusted color over the usually brown hillsides. Now that I live where the winters are harsh, my appreciation for spring verges on rapture.
One of the reasons, as always, is food-related:...
March 23, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Is Guinness Really Good for You?
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, the one day of the year when eating your greens can mean cupcakes, beer, even bacon.
It’s oddly appropriate that we celebrate our country’s Irish heritage by binging on fatty food and drink; after all, Ireland is the home of the fry-up, a typical breakfast consisting of fr...
March 17, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
A Week Without Groceries, Part II
Like Amanda, I've been trying the "Eating Down the Fridge" challenge and haven't been to the market all week. Before I describe how it's been going, though, I have a wee confession: I planned ahead and bought a few extra vegetables last time I went shopping, knowing that otherwise I'd be complete...
March 13, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
A Week Without Groceries
Well, I haven't seen the inside of a grocery store almost a week now, since joining the "Eating Down the Fridge" challenge issued by Kim O'Donnel of A Mighty Appetite. By the way, she's hosting a live chat on Washingtonpost.com at 1 p.m. (ET) today, check it out if you get a chance!Are any of you d...
March 12, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Lessons in School Lunch
I don’t know about you, but to me the words “school lunch” evoke memories of pizza squares that tasted like stale bread topped with greasy, rubbery cheese; vegetables of the soggy, insipid, canned variety; and overly sweet chocolate milk with a distinctly cardboard-y aftertaste.
Apparently, things...
March 03, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Cooking the Tree of Life
Tomorrow is the final day of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday month. Most people only get a daylong birthday celebration, but most people didn’t put forth a revolutionary theory that’s influential two centuries later, now, did they?
One of the more interesting food-related events commemorating the ...
February 27, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Busy F&T Blogger Announces Thinking Strike
It's with a heavy heart today that I announce my temporary retirement from Food & Think. Don't worry--I'll be back.But major looming deadlines at my "real job" are--for the time being--making it very difficult for me to bring you pressing news about 5,000-year-old intestinal contents and why yo...
February 19, 2009 |
By Hugh Powell
Sugar-coated Mercury Contamination
Most of us know by now that eating mercury is bad for you, and we know that mercury contamination is a risk in certain types of fish. But did you know this neurologically damaging heavy metal could also be lurking in everything from cereal to ketchup?A new pilot study, led by a scientist who was th...
January 28, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Caffeine Linked to Hallucinations
Did you hear that?Um, nothing. Never mind. I meant to say, did you hear that consuming too much caffeine could make you more prone to "hallucinatory experiences?"According to a study published this week in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, "high caffeine users"* are three times mo...
January 14, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
A Field Guide to Sugars
Should sugar be a controlled substance? For the love of honey, no! Dietitians can take away my trans fats and feed me one percent milk, but show mercy and leave me my sugar. Sugar is the most basic food there is. As a molecule, it's one of the world's most fundamental. It's the first incarnation of...
January 09, 2009 |
By Hugh Powell
Should Sugar Be a Controlled Substance?
Americans love sugar. It's a longstanding affair: Christopher Columbus carted sugar cane from the Canary Islands to the Dominican Republic, where the crop thrived, with the unfortunate result of fueling the slave trade. After the industrial revolution made sugar cheaper for the masses, Americans' c...
January 06, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Gene Therapy in a New Light
A husband-and-wife team's experimental genetic treatment for blindness is renewing hopes for a controversial field of medicine
January 2009 |
By Jocelyn Kaiser
Weight-loss Pills Can Have Unsafe Ingredients
Most of us eat too much during the winter holidays—even though we know that all those latkes, lefse, or gingerbread men can linger around our waistlines well into the new year. It's easy to see why advertisements abound for "easy weight loss" products. But is there such a thing?Perhaps it's no coin...
December 29, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
