Blisstree » EAT

Blisstree Staff — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:00:00 +0000

2010 Healthy Food Awards: Judged on taste and nutrition, Fitness‘ list of the best grocery store foods deserves to be printed and stuck on the fridge. (via Fitness)

Post from: BlissTree

Cottage Cheese Calcium Conundrum: Daily Health Quiz

Blisstree Staff — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:35:50 +0000

Sure, it’s summer, but our school is cool. Let our Daily Health Quiz will test your know-how. Answer our question, below, and check back on Monday for the answer and your next pop quiz.

photo: Thinkstock

Today’s Question: We like to assume that all dairy products are a good source of calcium. (That’s our excuse for eating so much cheese.) But are all milk products equal? Take cottage cheese, for instance. Is cottage cheese a good source of calcium?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: You definitely need vitamin D to be healthy, but can you rely on just the sun to get your daily dose? Nope. Research has found that the majority of adults are vitamin D deficient, so you need to make sure you get enough from food. Look for fortified cereals and fish. Getting enough vitamin D can reduce the risk of bone fractures, strokes, and even the flu.

Post from: BlissTree

Cottage Cheese Calcium Conundrum: Daily Health Quiz

Blisstree Staff — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:40:09 +0000

Alcohol Lowers Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk: People who don’t drink alcohol are about four times more likely to have rheumatoid arthritis than people who have at least one drink three or more days a week, a recent study says. Happy hour, anyone? (via CNN)

Post from: BlissTree

Blisstree Staff — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:03:39 +0000

Too Hot To Cook: If you’re too hot to turn on the stove, but still need to eat (we know the feeling), we found 12 no-cook summer meals that you can make without turning up the heat. (DailySpark via FitSugar)

Post from: BlissTree

Diet Tools: The Perfect Portions Digital Food Scale

Caroline Sloan — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:55:49 +0000

Dieting just got much easier — or maybe it got harder? The Perfect Portions Digital Food Scale will tell you the exact nutritional value of anything you put on top of it, leaving nothing to mystery. And not giving you any excuse to fudge how many calories you think might be in a handful of M&Ms. The device uses a database of 2,000 common foods, and has space for 99 programmable foods as well. It can track your calorie intake and break down your nutritional intake for the day – handy for anyone on a strict low-sodium or low-cholesterol diet.

You can pick up this bad boy for $50 at the Sharper Image. Yes, that means you can pick up a “back massager” while you’re there. Which will make you feel better about not eating that handful of M&Ms.

photo via Dvice

via Dvice

Post from: BlissTree

Diet Tools: The Perfect Portions Digital Food Scale

Blisstree Staff — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:05:41 +0000

Eating Meat May Contribute to Weight Gain: A new study shows that even when people are eating roughly the same amount of overall calories, those who eat meat are more likely to weigh more than those who don’t. (via NaturalNews)

Post from: BlissTree

People's Pops: Q&A With Top New York Popsicle Purveyor (Plus Peach, Chamomile & Honey Pop Recipe)

Briana Rognlin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:45:00 +0000

People’s Pops, New York’s much-celebrated popsicle shop (just look at all those photos of customers enjoying their pops – Martha Stewart among them), started as a summer experiment and has been going strong for three years since then. We wanted to know more about the shop, so we asked owners Joel Horowitz, David Carrell, and Nathalie Jordi to tell us more about their love for pops in this short Q&A. And, like any good journalist, we of course asked them for a recipe to try at home, too:

Why popsicles? What made you first decide to open a popsicle shop?

It happened kind of by accident. We just thought ice pops might be a terrific vehicle for peak-season summer fruit, and it turns out, they are. People really responded to the pops, so we just kept making them, and now we make pops full time!

What makes your popsicles special?

We use the best local, sustainably grown fruit we can find and come up with delicious, appetite-whetting flavor combinations. Also maybe this is crazy but I think people can actually taste the love!

Popsicles seem pretty universally popular when it’s hot out, but do you notice any particular flavor preferences between adults and kids?

Not really, although the kids sometimes shy away from a pop with a fancy name. When they try it though, they love it!

Do you have any tips for someone experimenting with their own popsicle flavors at home?

Use the best fruit you can find.

What’s the best popsicle recipe you’ve ever made? The worst?

I really loved the plum, yogurt and tarragon pop we made awhile ago, and I’m psyched for watermelons to come back into season as I can’t wait to make more watermelon-cucumber pops. But the apricot-basil was a total failure. It tasted like Robitussin. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all!

For more information about People’s Pops, visit their website, check out their blog, and follow them on Twitter.

People’s Pops Peach, Chamomile & Honey Pop
We came up with this pop last July as we were strolling through our local farmers market (the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC). It is truly a distillation of the season – summer on a stick!

Ingredients:
4 tree-ripened yellow peaches
2 white peaches (slightly soft)
1 bouquet fresh chamomile flowers
¼ c. fresh honey
juice of ½ small lemon
pinch Kosher salt

Instructions:
Rinse, halve, and pit two-thirds of peaches, and puree (skin and all) until the mixture is almost smooth.

Stir honey, lemon juice, salt, and three finely minced chamomile flowers into the pureed peaches. Coarsely chop remaining one-third of peaches and combine with puree. Add honey to taste. (Note: Make pops a tad sweeter than you think. They lose a little sweetness after freezing.)

Pour into three-ounce Dixie cups or popsicle molds, add wooden popsicle sticks, and freeze. You’ll get ten delicious popsicles.

(For more recipes, check out our post about L.A.’s Popshop)

Post from: BlissTree

People's Pops: Q&A With Top New York Popsicle Purveyor (Plus Peach, Chamomile & Honey Pop Recipe)

Eco-Friendly Shopping: 10 BYO Lunch Supplies for Under $10

Caroline Sloan — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:16:12 +0000

Lunch-on-the-run is an inevitable part of life. We’re busy people, dammit. And while plastic wrap and disposable utensils seem like necessary parts of bringing your lunch to work, we found 10 eco-friendly options for a mostly green* lunch – all under $10. Check out our gallery below:

* Blisstree can’t force you to eat healthy greens at lunchtime, but we encourage it.

Post from: BlissTree

Eco-Friendly Shopping: 10 BYO Lunch Supplies for Under $10

Kellogg's FiberPlus Antioxidants: Healthy Ads For Unhealthy Foods

Briana Rognlin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:43:37 +0000

They say image is everything, but when it comes to what we put in our bodies, we want more than just a good-looking package. That’s why Kellogg’s is in our dog house right now: Their FiberPlus Antioxidants cereal, though it masquerades in a package crowded with buzz words like “fiber”, “antioxidants”, and “whole grain” is definitely not on our list of top healthy breakfasts. The stuff is full of artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives, and worst of all, there are 83 listed ingredients (even Fruit Loops have only a fraction of that):

WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, SUGAR, RICE, CHICORY ROOT FIBER, MIXED BERRY FLAVORED CLUSTERS (ROLLED OATS, SUGAR, OAT FIBER, CORN BRAN, CORN SYRUP, WHEAT STARCH, HONEY, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, CORN CEREAL, CANOLA OIL, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, FRUCTOOLIGOSACCHARIDES, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SOYBEAN OIL, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, MALT EXTRACT, STRAWBERRY POWDER, CITRIC ACID, GLYCERIN, BHT [PRESERVATIVE], RED #40, BLUE #2, CELLULOSE GUM, GREEN #3, BLUE #1, RED #40 LAKE, BLUE #2 LAKE), MODIFIED WHEAT STARCH, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, MALT FLAVORING, SALT, ROLLED OATS, FRACTIONATED PALM KERNEL OIL, INULIN, OAT FIBER, NONFAT DRY MILK, CORN BRAN, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, GLYCERIN, WHEAT STARCH, CORN SYRUP, HONEY, APPLE PUREE CONCENTRATE, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, STRAWBERRIES, BLUEBERRIES, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, KIWI JUICE CONCENTRATE, WHEY, MONOGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, CORN STARCH, NONFAT YOGURT POWDER (HEAT TREATED AFTER CULTURING), CANOLA OIL, INVERT SUGAR, STRAWBERRY JUICE CONCENTRATE, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), CINNAMON, FRUCTOOLIGOSACCHARIDES, RED RASPBERRY JUICE CONCENTRATE, GUAR GUM, BLUEBERRY JUICE CONCENTRATE, NIACINAMIDE, MALT EXTRACT, CARAMEL COLOR, CITRIC ACID, VITAMIN D, ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE (VITAMIN E), BHT (PRESERVATIVE), PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), BETA CAROTENE (SOURCE OF VITAMIN A), FOLIC ACID, VITAMIN B12.

Pardon our French, but that’s a lot of shit in our cereal. If Michael Pollan were choosing our breakfast, we’re pretty sure he’d make sure we kept this stuff way out of range.

Fooducate via BNET

Post from: BlissTree

Kellogg's FiberPlus Antioxidants: Healthy Ads For Unhealthy Foods

Eco-Friendly Living: The Boxsal Picnic Box

Lisa Martens — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:21:54 +0000

Yogi Bear, we know you’re just hungry, but your pick-a-nick basket may be harming the same park you’re living in. Luckily for humans, The Alternative Consumer has discovered Boxsal Picnic Boxes, which are biodegradable and come in three different designs: Office Escape, Urban Picnic, and Today’s Date.

Made from 100% recycled material, these picnic boxes look roomy and serve up everything you need (except, of course, food). Each box comes with four trays, large and small bowls, utensils, cups, and eight napkins. There’s also a compostable trash bag for after you’re done eating in the grass. (Just don’t compost in a park or the woods. That’s called littering. Bears may eat your garbage, but they won’t appreciate your disregard for the environment.)

At $35 per box, we highly recommend trying to keep this picnic box squeaky clean for multiple uses. Especially on Ranger Smith’s salary.

image via Alternative Consumer

via The Alternative Consumer

Post from: BlissTree

Eco-Friendly Living: The Boxsal Picnic Box