Archive for May, 2006

Fast Food Nation: The Movie

May 25, 2006 @ 7:32 pm by Fred · Filed under Food, Health, Restaurant News

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“Fast Food Nation” recently debuted at the Cannes festival. The trailer is online, so you can get a sneak preview of what it’s going to be like. The book is sure to be an interesting view on the realities of the fast food industry.

bestfoodnation1.jpgEspecially in light of the new Best Food Nation organization — an industry group that includes such groups as the National Council of Chain Restaurants, the National Pork Board, among others. What is Best Food Nation? Well, evidently they’re trying to educate consumers with facts:

Best Food Nation tells the real story of our safe, abundant, affordable food – and the millions of men and women who work in our food system – using accurate, fact based information. There are important issues related to our food system. We want consumers to have the facts so they can form their own opinions.

Sounds like an interesting story. Unfortunately, their website is poorly designed with one long page of text after another. If anyone manages to read through a whole page, please comment on what they think of the content.

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Healthy Foods — What’s “Healthy”?

May 25, 2006 @ 5:23 pm by Fred · Filed under Food, Health, Nutrition

I was stumbling around on cnn.com when I ran into an article entitled “‘Healthy’ foods can be pitfall for dieters“.

The article talks about how a lot of foods that are now labeled as “healthy”, “natural” or “organic” actually contain just as many calories as their non-”healthy”-branded counterparts. Furthermore, some foods like yogurt, granola, and fruit-based desserts also contain enough calories to be less than “healthy”.

Read on for my take on healthy foods.

__(’Read the rest of this entry »’)

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Topz - “Leanest Burgers in America”

May 23, 2006 @ 10:39 am by Fred · Filed under Healthier Fast Food Restaurants

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Topz is a healthy food concept with six stores so far: 4 in California, 2 in Michigan and 2 in Texas. They’re aiming (if you couldn’t tell from their logo) for creating lean, healthy fast food. However, they’re careful to avoid describing themselves as a “fast food” joint. Their menu offering ranges from hamburgers and hot dogs to chili and Ahi tuna.

I recently went to the San Mateo store (in Northern Califiornia) and found their offerings to be quite interesting. The funny thing is that their store design practically screams “fast food”, while their personalized service would make you think otherwise: my lunch partner was served tea, complete with the small milk pitcher. In general, I found their food to be quite satisfying, if somewhat bland. Their menu is easy to read, but I couldn’t find the nutritional information, which is listed on their web site.

Reviews:

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Dr. Walter Bortz and America’s Health

May 16, 2006 @ 8:06 am by Amanda · Filed under Health, Inspiration

I was fortunate to be able to hear Dr. Walter Bortz speak at a Healthy Living Retreat for Women at the Stanford Sierra Camp this past weekend.  Dr. Bortz is the author of Diabetes Danger, Living Longer for Dummies, and Dare to Be 100: 99 Steps to a Long, Healthy Life.  He has run over 50 marathons and his wife, Ruth Anne, has run multiple ultramarathons (of 100 miles!).  They are truly an inspirational couple. 

Equally inspiring is hearing Dr. Bortz speak about the opportunities to change the health of Americans by providing information and opportunity for individuals to take their health into their own hands.  He speaks about Governor Huckabee of Arkansas who beat his diabetes by losing 100 pounds, training for a marathon, and changing his diet.  Dr. Bortz also identifies the problem with Americans reliance on today’s fast food offerings, so Feel Good Fast Food will help support a move towards a healthier America. 

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Eaturna

May 15, 2006 @ 6:04 pm by Fred · Filed under Healthier Fast Food Restaurants

Eaturna is a new all-natural and organic restaurant that offers a huge selection of good-looking, freshly-prepared food. Their web site is beautiful, and it features many photographs of what appears to be their food (or ingredients, in the case of the photograph below).

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They seem to have a health-oriented focus

everything we make is either much lower in fat and calories, or crammed full of nutritious goodness, or both. From new-age culinary creations to down-home favorites, we’ve got all the flavor and none of the guilt.

but Sarah Jim from Slashfood found their food to be more focused on the fresh, natural, and organic, rather than diet or low calorie.

I had to remind myself that Eaturna is geared toward organic and all-natural, not necessarily “diet” or “light.”

You can find more information about them from

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May Vizu: What Type of Cheese, Nutritional Facts and Last month’s results

May 15, 2006 @ 3:58 am by Fred · Filed under Surveys


for the results from last month, click

__(’Read the rest of this entry »’)

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Soda Distributors End School Sales

May 9, 2006 @ 7:55 pm by Fred · Filed under Food, Health

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If you haven’t heard alreay, former president Bill Clinton and Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas recently (May 3rd) convinced the biggest soda companies that selling soft drinks in schools is bad for the students.
The big news is that the soda companies have agreed to end sales of their sugary soft drinks and high-calorie soft drinks in schools.

from the NYtimes article:

The companies said they will sell only water, certain fruit juices and low-fat or fat-free milk to all students, with diet or low-calorie sodas, teas and sports drinks allowed for sale to high school students. Portion sizes will also be tailored to each age group.

This is a huge step, as it’s the first widely publicized incidence of the food industry basically agreeing that their products are contributing to obesity in the United States. Now that the soda industry has agreed that they’re part of the obesity problem, we can only wonder: who will be next? Will other companies in the food industry step up and voluntarily work towards reducing their high-calorie foods?

Also, will fast food restaurants stop serving the high-calorie versions of sodas?

I guess it’s a pretty convenient coincidence that the E.U. recently found Aspartame doesn’t cause cancer.

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Evos: Fresh and Healthy Fast Food

May 8, 2006 @ 3:46 pm by Fred · Filed under Healthier Fast Food Restaurants

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Evos, a healthy fast food restaurant with four locations in Florida, focuses on being healthy on multiple fronts: food, environment, and community. Additionally, they claim that their food has 30-50% less fat and calories than comparable fast food items at other restaurants.

Their colorful menu is organized by type of food, and they offer a selection of burgers, smoothies, wraps, salads, and “extras”. If you’re interested in counting calories, you can find all their nutrition information in a few informative tables on their web site.

Reviews of Evos

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Wellbeing: Healthy Food Fast

May 8, 2006 @ 3:07 pm by Fred · Filed under Healthier Fast Food Restaurants

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Wellbeing is an Australian Fast Food restaurant that takes pride in serving all-natural chicken. Their menu focuses on their natural chicken sandwiches

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but also includes standard items such as soups, salads, juices, smoothies, and yogurt.

They also have some price information on the Order-In site.
It seems that they haven’t really gotten their website up with much content yet, but this looks like a Feel Good restaurant to keep your eyes on!

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