On the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, Amanda’s Feel Good Fresh Food Restaurant hosted a table talk about Sustainable Sourcing for Fast Food with BEACN, a consulting group at UC Berkeley, Lee Bassian from Bassian Farms, Tom Franier and Mike Rose from Semifreddi’s Bakery, Tony D’Amato from Bay Cities Produce, and Ariane Michas from the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. The event was inspired by the BEACN team’s consulting project that helped Amanda’s to make goals for a more sustainable future. The student representatives discussed the importance of local, natural, food, and fair trade food items. Conscious consumers have the ability to improve the world through their food choices. One of the best ways to do this is to ask a lot of questions and to inform yourself to make better decisions. According to their survey, there is an increasing number of people who show interest in organic foods and more people are going to farmers markets.

The second portion of the event was a Q&A session with a panel of experts from different fields, including meat, produce, and baked goods. One of the panelists commented on Amanda’s Restaurant and how the goal of the restaurant is not just about serving food, but also about educating its customers so they can make conscious decisions. One of the key themes of the event was how to make these great sustainable options less intimidating, less elitist, more down to earth, and more affordable.

The panel was successful in educating and those who attended were happy with trying a free burger as well as a new pickle recipe that Amanda’s is soon to release. Amanda’s was generous enough to allow attendees to try out a new, potential ingredient: grass-fed beef burgers. The beef was juicy, well cooked, and tasty overall. Amanda’s also announced that locally-owned Semifreddi’s bakery is now supplying whole wheat vegan hamburger buns specially designed for Amanda’s. Lee Bassian explained that grass-fed beef has less cholesterol, more vitamin E, and more monoglycerides, opposed to triglycerides, which makes it less fatty. The new pickles have a one of a kind flavor and simple, all-natural ingredients.

Other topics that were discussed include how to balance a business and its social mission, understanding where your food comes from, and the importance of building a close relationship with your supplier.

Eating right and in the right amounts have been drilled in us since grade school, but why do we still seem to eat too much sometimes? CNN.com has gathered the top three reasons why we overeat and ways to overcome them.

We’re not getting enough shut eye:

Sleep deprivation results in a lower levels of the hormone leptin, which signals satiety, and higher levels of the hormone grhelin, which signals hunger. The combined result of the hormone imbalance? A 24% boost in appetite, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. To curb your appetite after a restless night, eat complex carbohydrates and lean protein for long lasting energy to get you through the day and try to prioritize a good night’s sleep. 

We’re too stressed:

When our bodies are stressed, we produce the hormone cortisol to help restore homeostasis. Cortisol, however, can boost your appetite and cause your body to store more visceral fat. Stress reduction techniques, such as yoga, meditation, and deep-breathing exercises should help reduce chronic cortisol exposure.

We’re hardwired to crave fatty foods:

It almost seems unfair, but our brains are working against our diets because of evolution. Our ancestors needed to find palatable, high energy food to survive and our brains have been in that mode ever since. This means that the mere sight of a food can cause a craving. To fight your cravings, just don’t tempt them. Keep junk food out of your pantry and out of sight.  

Everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what if you find yourself too busy to grab something 

before work? Luckily, restaurants like Amanda’s offer quick, healthy breakfast options that you can easily pick up on your way to work or school. But in case you’re not convinced to take that extra time out of your day, here are our top 5 reasons to eat breakfast:

-Curb Cravings: Eating breakfast saves you from caving into your cravings later in the day, when you’ll be tempted to nosh on high-calorie, non-nutritious snacks. 

-Build Better Eating Habits: Starting the day with a healthy meal sets the trend — you’re more likely to keep eating well throughout the day.

-Boost Your Energy: Breakfast breaks your fast from the previous night and provides your body with the energy and nutrients it needs before lunch.

-Maintain Weight Loss: Researchers from the National Weight Control Registry found that 78% of people who’ve lost weight and maintained it for at least six years eat breakfast. 

-Enhance Cognitive Function:  Studies show that children who eat a balanced breakfast perform significantly better on standardized tests than those who did not eat breakfast at all. 

With new websites like Good Food Near You, making healthy choices during a hectic workday or when you’re on the road just got easier. These new fast food nutrition websites make healthy choices just a click away. Just use your Blackberry or iPhone to check out the websites on the go, or even download the applications. Here are a few of our favorite sites at Amanda’s:

-Good Food Near You

This site locates the most nutritious fast food eats around. Just type in your zip code and it’ll give you the skinny on what low calorie menu items are in restaurants nearby. Click on the menu item and it’ll give you the full nutrition information, a map of the location, and the complete menu of the restaurant. 

-TwoFoods

Don’t really know how to compare apples to oranges? This website will compare them for you! TwoFoods allows you to instantly compare nutrition information between two food items to see which better suits your health needs. Better yet, this website can compare items on restaurant menus too, so you can make nutritious choices at home and on the go! 

-Calorie King

This classic food database holds the nutritional information for over 50,000 American generic and brand name foods, including over 260 fast-food chains. I used to carry the pocket sized book, but often forgot to use it. Now that it’s available online, I just need to remember to bring my phone!

Shopping for healthy food in grocery stores today seems like a daunting task. With junk foods like Fruit Loops and Cocoa Krispies deemed “Smart Choices,” customers find nutrition labeling confusing and often misleading. The Federal Drug Administration hopes to put to stop to that.

 By next year, the FDA will put in place a program that will scrutinize health

claims and consider setting government criteria for how and when companies can advertise a product’s nutritious value. Margaret Hamburg, the FDA commissioner, hopes to install a nutritional labeling program similar to the one in Great Britain. Products receive red, yellow, or green circles indicating whether they have high, moderate or low amounts of salt, saturated fat, sugar and total calories. 

Ideally, foods would have the standard nutrition label and would be accompanied by this simplified nutrition number colored dot just to help people shop more wisely. 

In an effort to curb the obesity epidemic in California, the state senate passed Senate Bill 1420 in 2008. The Bill requires chain restaurants in California to provide nutritional information including the total number of calories, grams of saturated fat, grams of trans fat, and milligrams of sodium, on their menus and menu boards. Furthermore, it defines a chain restaurant as a food facility with “at least 14 other food facilities with the same name in the state that offer for sale substantially the same menu items.”

Phase I of SB 1420 has been in effect since this July, but will it truly make a difference? A study conducted by New York University and Yale says otherwise. The study monitored McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in neighborhoods with high rates of obesity in New York City before and after New York menu labeling laws took effect in July 2008. They found that only half of customers noticed the menu labeling, and of those who noticed, only 28% said it influenced their ordering. Even more surprising, the receipts before and after the law took effect showed that people actually ordered more after menu boards displayed total calories. 

The researchers that lead the study believe that there are multiple reasons why menu labeling has not been seen to work in these neighborhoods. They believe that the primary roadblock to healthy eating is money. At McDonald’s, customers can order two cheeseburgers that pack a whopping 600 calories total for only $2. Another possible reason is that in these neighborhoods with high rates of obesity, those who are already obese have already given up on trying to lose weight. Yet another reason is that it’s just plain hard to change behavior. 

Advocates of menu labeling laws don’t see these findings as a reason to abandon calorie posting, however. They believe that by making people aware of the nutritional content in their food, they will be able to contemplate making healthier decisions in the long run.

On October 18, Nike will be holding their annual Women’s Marathon in San Francisco to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Amanda’s is going to be at the finish line, cheering runners on and selling wholesome post race meals!

Here’s some last minute nutrition tips for enhancing endurance for the big day:

-Load up on carbs: eating a diet high in complex carbohydrates the day before the race will help you store glycogen, an efficiently utilized form of energy.

-Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.

-Avoid sweets: high glycemic index foods (such as sweets) may give you a burst of energy, but once your blood glucose stabilizes, you’re left feeling drained. 

-Eat a moderate amount of fiber: carb loading with simple carbohydrates can leave you constipated, weighing you down, so eating fiber will help keep  you regular.

Good nutrition should be a priority after the race as well. You just put your body through 26.2 miles of hard work. The goals of your diet following your marathon are to restore fluid and electrolyte balance, replenish depleted glycogen stores, provide nutrients to help repair muscle damage. 

To help restore electrolyte balance, eat salty snacks like popped chips.  To quickly replenish depleted glycogen stores, treat yourself to some sweet foods and drinks. As a high glycemic index food, simple sugars deliver a quick burst of much-needed glucose into the bloodstream. Drinking some fresh-squeezed lemon lime soda or apple cider will not only help replenish glycogen stores, but it will also aid in rehydration. To help muscle recovery, eat lean protein and complex carbohydrates. Our Natural Meat Cheeseburgers with Organic American Cheese have a good balance of protein and carbohydrates that provide the tools needed for your muscles to repair themselves. 

We hope this tips are helpful and we hope to see you at the race! For more information on pre and post race nutrition visit Marathonpal.com or bewell@stanford.

It’s true what they say: time flies when you’re having fun. This past year has been a joyous mix of introducing ourselves to Berkeley, meeting new people, and helping to build a healthy community. We are proud to announce that Amanda’s Feel Good Fresh Food Restaurant will be celebrating our one year anniversary!

As the assistant general manager of Amanda’s for the past year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in helping Amanda’s Restaurant through our first year. From our incredible team, to our wonderful customers, to the unfailingly supportive Berkeley community, it has truly been a group effort.

On Saturday 25 July, 2009, we will be throwing an all-day party (from noon to 8pm) to commemorate our first year. We will be giving out samples of our delicious food throughout the day. We’ll have several different musicians performing in the front of the restaurant. You could also win prizes to Almare Gelato, the Oakland Zoo, Parrot Cellular, Juice Appeal, Jupiter, Comic Relief, Meridian, Half Price Books, OCSC Sailing, Pegasus Books, Marjorie Majenti Acupuncture, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, YMCA, Aurora Theatre Company, Backyard Food Project, Shotgun Players, Bobby G’s Pizzeria, Hotel Shattuck Plaza, Carsala, and The Bread Project during our raffle. So bring the kids, friends, and family down to Amanda’s Restaurant on 25 July for a day of fun, food, music and prizes! See you then!

For another gift of a free freshly made soda with purchase of a grilled item, bring in a non-perishable food item for our drive for the Alameda County Food Bank.

Look forward to seeing you in a few weeks! - Peter

Two documentaries, Fresh and Food, Inc., have recently premiered, addressing the dangers of our industrialized food systems and offering some examples of how changes are being made. Both films remind us of how we can make a difference in reducing the amount of fossil fuels, antibiotics, growth hormones, and unhealthy ingredients go into our food system.

In both films, Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, describes some of the worst impacts of our food system from reliance on corn to the loss of diversity in farming. Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm is portrayed as an idyllic diverse farm, but both films also show the struggle that a majority of farmers and ranchers have in escaping the industrialized markets. Gary Hirshberg, the inspirational founder of Stonyfield Farms shows how better-for-you foods can be affordable through selling organic yogurt to Walmart and trying to keep the perfect from being the enemy of the good. These themes are what has inspired the feelgoodfastfood.org blog to continue the conversation started by Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation. It is also what inspired the launch of Amanda’s in Berkeley, CA to offer affordable, approachable, convenient meals that use good quality ingredients and embrace environmental values.

While these topics can be discouraging, especially when most of us face limited time and budgets, there are hopeful suggestions that we can all start to incorporate. We can start to ask questions of our current food suppliers - what do you serve that is organic or local? is your meat naturally-raised without the use of antibiotics and growth hormones? We can start to make incremental choices to eat more local ingredients, less meat, and more fruits and vegetables to change our own health and the health of our world. Please see these films, discuss them with your communities, and join us in helping to change the world one meal at a time.