Fiber is the Future

In an unusual pairing of interests – HBO has teamed up with the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the CDC and Institutes of Health to produce a new documentary entitled “The Weight of the Nation”.

It’s been awhile since the last good food documentary – Food, Inc. – was released, so it will be interesting to see what has evolved in the world of food politics over the past few years.

[Spoiler alert: we've gotten fatter.]

Obesity rates continue to rise – 2/3 of adults over age 20 and 1/3 of those age 2-19 are overweight or obese. This documentary seeks to look at the “crippling effects of the crisis on our healthcare system.”

Produced in part with support from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, the movie took three years to make. The four-part series airs on HBO May 14 and 15, 2012.

Check out the trailer below, and for the nutrition activist and advocate types, request to host a screening in your area by clicking here.

Each year, the USDA’s National School Lunch Program serves school meals to over 32 million American school-children.

And, while school-lunch jokes abound about nutritionally void chicken nuggets and ketchup-as-a-vegetable, the free and reduced-price lunches served to children from income-eligible families in many aspects represent the most nutritious – or only nutritious – foods that child may have access to that day.

Now, after years of criticism about the easily circumventable nutrition standards of the NSLP, the USDA – in conjunction with First Lady Michelle Obama and her Let’s Move! campaign – have unveiled their proposed changes to improve the nutritional quality of school lunches, slated to start with the 2012-2013 school year.

The final standards put into place the following changes:

• Ensuring students are offered both fruits and vegetables every day of the week
• Substantially increasing offerings of whole grain-rich foods
• Offering only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties
• Limiting calories based on the age of children being served to ensure proper portion size, and
• Increasing the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fats and sodium

These changes – a component of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 – aim to reduce the amount of calories from added sugars and fats in school-based meal and snack programs.

According to the USDA, these new standards are expected to cost an additional $3.2 billion over the next 5 years (the NSLP cost $10.8 billion to administer in 2010). Children from families under 130% of the poverty line are eligible for free lunch and children from families at 130-185% of the poverty line pay no more than $0.40 for reduced-price meals.

To see a comparison of the old menu vs. the new changes for a week of school lunches, click here. To learn more about the National School Lunch Program and other USDA nutrition assistant programs, visit the USDA Food and Nutrition Services website at www.fns.usda.gov/fns.

Springtime means asparagus in season. When selecting asparagus, shop for stalks that have firm tips that are bright green in color and closed at the top.

Asparagus is a nutritional powerhouse, providing an excellent source of vitamins A and K. A 12-stalk serving (1 cup) of asparagus provides:

• 40 calories
• 0.4 grams fat
• 7.4 grams carbohydrate
• 3.6 grams dietary fiber
• 4.3 grams protein

You can get asparagus in green, white or purple varieties. And, did you know – according to the USDA, when the temperature reaches 90°F, an asparagus can grow seven inches in one day?

Check out this time lapse video of asparagus growing over an 8 hour period:

The California Department of Public Health recommends storing asparagus by wrapping the bottoms of stalks in a damp paper towel and placing in a plastic bag. Store int he refrigerator for up to three days – making sure that the tips stay dry.

Don’t like the way asparagus makes your urine smell? Don’t worry, asparagine – the amino acid responsible for the near-immediate pungent smell eliminated in urine – is harmless; and unique only to asparagus.

Try preparing asparagus by shaving the bottom of stalks with a vegetable peeler, tossing in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sprinkling with sea salt and cracked black pepper and broiling for 5-8 minutes until tender.

Now, get ready to enjoy a spring treat that packs a ton of fiber with minimal calories!

New findings from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK) and Cranfield University indicate that older varieties of some fruits and vegetables may be more nutritious than their common day counterparts.

The project aims to study pre-domesticated varieties of produce to determine if they are more nutrient dense than today’s equivalents.

Lead researcher and Unilever scientist, Dr. Mark Berry states, “The plants we eat today like fruits and vegetables have often been bred and selected on their weight-based yield per acre of land, and not necessarily on the nutrient content of the produce”.

The consortium found that an older version of an apple – the Egremont Russet – contained more than 10 times the amount of a phytonutrient studied than in some common varieties.

Future research from the consortium will focus on other older varieties and their potential for enhanced nutrition, as well as studies of the effects of potential health deficits imparted by shrinking availability of  phytonutrient in modern foods.

To learn more about the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens and their body of research, visit www.kew.org.

If you love peanut butter – its taste and texture, but not the fat and calorie profile – you must check out PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter from Bell Plantation.

Powdered peanut butter? I know, I was skeptical too. But then I saw it endorsed in CSPI’s Nutrition Action Healthletter, so I gave it a shot. And folks, rest assured: this is no astronaut food.

By pressing slow roasted peanuts – PB2 ends up with 85% less fat and calories than traditional peanut butter.  You simply mix 2 Tbsp of PB2 with 1 Tbsp of water. Stir until smooth. Voilà!

It’s PB, but without the pain in the B of those extra calories…

I bet you’re wondering: does 85% less fat and calories mean 85% less nutrition?

Quite the opposite: in a 2 Tbsp serving you get:

• 45 calories
• 1.5 grams of fat
• 0 g saturated fat
• 94 mg sodium
• 5 g total carbohydrate
• 2 g dietary fiber
• 1 g sugar
• 5 g protein

That’s the same amount of fiber you get in a 200 calorie 2 Tbsp dollop of the real thing. Not bad for something that looks, tastes and feels like real peanut butter!

So branch out of your peanut butter safety zone, and get on board with powdered peanut butter. You can purchase PB2 from Amazon or direct from the company.