Diet and Nutrition

10 Best Veggie Burgers in Los Angeles

May is burger month, so it seems almost obligatory that Squid Ink get around to one of those "Best of" lists. But after eating 30 burgers in 30 days, declaring our favorite upscale burger and chowing down on five of our favorite burger stands, there didn't seem to be much ground left to cover. Thank ... More >>

Low-Sodium Diet May Actually Be Bad for You

A new study has found that a low-sodium diet is not only not beneficial to health, it may even be harmful, The New York Times reports. A committee of experts commissioned by the Institute of Medicine at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no medical rational ... More >>

Restaurant Dishes: More Calories Than Fast Food?

The average meal at an average sit-down restaurant chain contains a belt-busting 1,128 calories -- more than half of the Food and Drug Administration's recommended 2,000 calories a day for a healthy adult, according to a study by University of Toronto researchers. In contrast, the average fast food ... More >>

Adventures in Veganism: Soho Thai Fusion Bar & Grill in Lomita

Lomita is known for two things -- a railroad museum and as the place where Olympian Jim Thorpe died -- and veganism isn't one of them. But thanks to Soho Thai Fusion Bar & Grill, that might change. Soho's menu features a "Vegan Zone," which includes soy chicken, soy shrimp fish, soy crab, soy sal ... More >>

Eat Your Fish Sandwich, Live Longer

Eating fish could reduce your risk of dying by more than 25%, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington. Scientists found that older adults with the highest levels of fatty acids found in fish lived 2.2 years longer on average than those wit ... More >>

Salt Linked to 2.3 Million Deaths Annually

It's the ultimate salt vs. sugar smackdown! On Monday we reported that sugary drinks have been linked to 180,000 deaths worldwide annually. Now a new report presented at a conference yesterday says that eating too much salt kills 2.3 million people every year, CBS News reports. Researchers looked ... More >>

Q & A With Nancy Harmon Jenkins: On the Mediterranean Diet, Her Cookbook(s) What Took Us So Long

For many of us whose idea of good food is a bowl of olives, a plate of mezze, a huge dish of paella or Catalan soup or lamb with couscous, Nancy Harmon Jenkins' cookbook The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, or her newer The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, is one of the basic books of the kitchen. First ... More >>

Americans Get 11% of Calories From Fast Food

Calories from fast food made up more than 11 percent of the typical American diet from 2007 to 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, that's down from 13 percent of daily calories from 2003 to 2006, according to report author Cheryl Fryar. Fryar told U.S. News ... More >>

Study: Eating Lots of Fruits and Vegetables May Help Asthma Sufferers

Eating lots of fruits and vegetables may help reduce asthma symptoms, according to a recent study. But if you're one of the 25 million Americans with the breathing disorder, the take-away message is not that you should rely solely on dietary improvements. "One of the dangers here is that people pic ... More >>

M.A.K.E. Likes It Raw

And you might too, when you try Matthew Kenney's Santa Monica Place restaurant

Monster Energy Drinks Cited in Deaths

Monster Beverage Corp.'s energy drinks have been cited in the deaths of five people -- including a 14-year-old girl -- in the last year, according to incident reports submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. The reports said the victims consumed Monster drinks prior to their deaths, Shelly B ... More >>

Top 10 Famous Vegans, 2012 Edition

Nearly one year has gone by since our first list of Top 10 Famous Vegans caused an outright internet vegan-type revolution. Well, not really. But plenty of readers didn't shy away from outrightly hating or loving the list, so we thought we'd catalog a few more for 2012. The obligatory public figures ... More >>

The Year of The Vegan Cookbook: 5 Great New Animal-Free Titles

Last year was the year of canning and preserving, this year, it's vegan cookbooks. And not just celebrity vegetable-centric dinners like we've had recently, but everyday slow cooker and sandwich fodder -- even a book dedicated to vegan "cheese." Our favorite? The gorgeous Pure Vegan book by Altade ... More >>

Nutrition Science Initiative: Scientists Create 'Manhattan Project' to Take On Obesity in U.S.

Why are Americans so damn fat, and what can be done about it? A newly launched nonprofit organization, the Nutrition Science Initiative, is trying to find the answer to that mind-boggler. NuSI's goal is to "create a Manhattan Project-like effort" to solve the problem of obesity in the U.S. by focusi ... More >>

Yogurt Linked to Lower Blood Pressure

People who ate yogurt once every three days had significantly lower blood pressure than those who didn't eat yogurt, according to a new study reported in MedPage Today. In fact, they were 31% less likely to develop high blood pressure than those who ate no yogurt at all, Huifen Wang, Ph.D., of Tuft ... More >>

House Republicans Introduce Bill To Roll Back Calorie Counts in School Lunches

What's the most pressing thing for Reps. Steve King (R-IA) and Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) right now? Jobs? The economy? No, not those, not even working out some Machiavellian scheme to put oil wells on top of every mosque and gay bar in the country. Nope, it's rolling back the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Ki ... More >>

Alcohol-Free Red Wine May Lower Blood Pressure

Drinking nonalcoholic red wine might help lower blood pressure in men at high risk for heart disease, according to a small new study by Spanish researchers. (They make nonalcoholic red wine?) Middle-aged and older men who drank moderate amounts of de-alcoholized red wine daily for four weeks had si ... More >>

Pepsi Is Tweaking Its Diet Soda Formula

PepsiCo Inc. is trying out new artificial sweeteners that would let its diet soda keep its sweet taste for a longer period of time, The Washington Post reports. The current sweetener used in Diet Pepsi -- aspartame -- loses its potency faster than high fructose corn syrup, the sweetener that's used ... More >>

Cocoa: the Ultimate Health Tonic?

Chocolate has been called everything from an aphrodisiac to an addiction, but could it actually be medicinal? Two new cocoa studies say yes. The first study, published in the journal Hypertension on August 14, looked at how flavanol-packed cocoa affected elderly patients with mild cognitive impair ... More >>

Cookbook Of The Week: Grain Mains Is Not Your Average Whole Grain Dinner

Prolific cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough have been on a carnivorous Goat and Ham recipe testing kick in recent years, so perhaps they were having a subconscious Morgan Spurlock post Super Size Me cleansing moment with their latest cookbook, Grain Mains. Or maybe they were simply ... More >>

Two Booze Studies Serve Up Sobering News

We're reminded that booze and artificially sweetened mixers sometimes can be a problematic combo. The study that figured this out has been around for a while, but it's being given fresh attention thanks to the June edition of the University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter, which offers news ... More >>

Pizza Isn't a Vegetable, Congressman Insists

Those Democrats. They just won't drop that ridiculous "pizza is not a vegetable" thing. Fox News reports that Rep. Jared Polis, a Democratic congressman from Colorado, has proposed legislation that would end pizza being counted as a vegetable in public school lunches. The SLICE (School Lunch Improve ... More >>

7-Eleven Introduces Slurpee Lite Free Slurpee Day

7-Eleven is introducing a new low-calorie, sugar-free Slurpee at its stores nationwide this week. The offering targets women in their 20s who have bought into the whole "skinny girl" hoopla. Right off the bat, we see a couple of problems with this move. One, we weren't aware that anyone over the ag ... More >>

Trader Joe's Quick-Cook Organic Brown Basmati Rice: Scarified, Scary or Dinner

We've always believed that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. With that in mind, we've shied away from parboiled rice. But the other day, a bag on the shelf at Trader Joe's caught our eye. Organic, dry, brown basmati rice from India labeled "quick-cook." The front of the bag bra ... More >>

Study: Regular Chocolate Eaters Are Skinnier

Katharine Hepburn once attributed her slim figure to "a lifetime of chocolate." Now a new study from UC San Diego has found that people who eat chocolate on a regular basis are indeed thinner than those who don't. The findings from the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, were publish ... More >>

Citrus Fruits May Lower Women's Stroke Risk

Researchers say a compound in oranges, grapefruits and other citrus fruits may lower a woman's risk of stroke, WebMD reports. The study appears in the April issue of the American Heart Association journal Stroke. Previous studies have shown that antioxidant compounds called flavonoids in fruits and ... More >>

Magic Straws: A Chocolate Milk Alternative

Just when you thought nothing could be as simple and plain (or boring) as unflavored milk, Magic Milk Straws come along. While the magic is debatable, we can imagine that the straws enchant calcium-conscious parents and their kids. Stuffed with tiny candy-like pieces in pink, brown, and white, the s ... More >>

Mars to Eliminate King-Size Candy Bars

Shrink-size me? Candy bar maker Mars Inc. has announced that it is doing away with king-size candy bars. The company says that by the end of 2013, it will only sell chocolate products that have 250 calories per portion, the Chicago Tribune reports. While some might see the move as a cost-saving me ... More >>

L.A.'s Idea of Vegan Food vs. What Vegans Really Eat

Vegan Venn diagram​What do vegans eat? That was the intended topic of our next Venn food diagram (check them all out). Only thing is, it (happily) turns out, everyone seems to know what vegans eat. Or more to the point, what they don't eat. Congrats L.A., you're a well informed group. To us, ... More >>

Chocolate May Prevent Colon Cancer: One More Reason to Eat It

If we didn't know better, we'd swear this study was funded by a syndicate of chocolate producers, but we don't like to look too skeptically at research that reinforces our notions of how the world should be. A recent study on rats has for the first time confirmed that flavonoids such as those foun ... More >>

Top 10 Famous Vegans

A recent piece by the Associated Press got us thinking: Where are all the famous vegans? Gossip sites already tell us about famous people dating so-and-so, famous people shopping at some boutique you've never heard of, famous people traveling to some island they own, but we hardly get to hear about ... More >>

Eating Junk Food May Lower Sperm Count

Flickr/ebruliMore fries, less sperm?​ Eating a diet high in junk food could make sperm sparse, slow and obese, a pair of studies presented Monday at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. suggest. The research highlights an apparent link between nutritio ... More >>

Dark Chocolate May Improve Athletic Endurance

Flickr/oskay​A new study shows that consuming dark chocolate may help athletic endurance, the New York Times' Well blog reported August 3. Scientists at UC San Diego and other institutions gave middle-aged, sedentary male mice a purified form of cacao's primary nutritional ingredient, epicat ... More >>

FDA Cracks Down on Lazy Larry Brownies

​ The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on Lazy Larry (nee Lazy Cakes), a special brownie marketed as a way to reduce stress and facilitate relaxation. (Lazy Larry bears a startling resemblance to "South Park"'s Towelie, but that's another legal issue.) "Relaxing. It's what we're ... More >>

Xtreme Eating Awards Announced: Top 8 Worst Things To Eat

Center for Science in the Public InterestThe Cheesecake Factory Farmhouse Cheeseburger​ This year's winners of the Xtreme Eating Awards have been named, just in time for us all to continue massively overeating. The so-called "dishonorees," as if we needed more clues as to the point of this, we ... More >>

Dietary Salt Cutbacks Bring Few Heart Health Benefits, Study Finds

Flickr/Sgt. Pepperedjane​ It's not an excuse to let it pour like the girl on the Morton's box, but cutting salt intake doesn't have a significant impact on cardiovascular disease, a British study has found. Limiting salt consumption may reduce blood pressure slightly, but the research, which ... More >>

Diet Sodas Make You Fat, Study Finds

Flickr/GoodNCrazy​ They may be calorie-free, but diet sodas can still make you fat, apparently. A 10-year study by the University of Texas, San Antonio has found that diet sodas can actually make you gain weight, especially in the stomach area, the London Daily Mail reports. The beverages and ... More >>

Why Los Angeles Schoolkids Get Lousy Meals

Cookbook Review: Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

​Will we ever see the day when a whole grain baking book completely omits the word "healthy" in one of its many thinly veiled forms (health-conscious, nutritious, guilt-free)? Ancient Grains for Modern Meals gets pretty close. Most of the health-touting is on the publisher's sales pitch side i ... More >>

Weird Science: Blueberries May Fight Fat

The cardiovascular benefits of consuming blueberries, with their high polyphenol content, are well-known, but it turns out they may also help fight the formation of fatty tissue -- at least if you're a mouse. Shiwani Moghe, a researcher from Texas Woman's University evaluated whether "blueberry po ... More >>

Hide the Dressing: DailyBurn's New iPhone App Tracks Calories Through Photos

​ The Calorie Counters will have their way. First, they took the fun out of fast food, and now they've found a way to use our own (i)phones against us. Today, DailyBurn released a new app called MealSnap with one very fancy and terrifying feature: it can identify and track the calories in ev ... More >>

Lose Weight with the Beer Diet: Just Read the Fine Print

Flickr/pixelens photography​ The path from beer belly to six pack abs just got a whole lot more appealing. According to a new study out of Spain, drinking beer can be good for the waistline. Go ahead, pop open a cold one; we'll wait. The Daily Mail reports that Spanish researchers studied 1,2 ... More >>

Formerly Vegan Blogger Threatened by Angry Vegans

Flickr/jonny.hunter​ What happens when a prominent vegan defects and becomes an ardent omnivore? Death threats, of course. After years of living as a self-professed "vegangelical," Natasha, a well-known vegan blogger at Voracious, ended up with debilitating health problems. Her doctor urged ... More >>

Gallic Pride: French Cuisine Named to UNESCO World Heritage List

Flickr user arthurohm​ At long last there is validation for those of us who find the beauty of a multi-course French meal (avec wine pairings bien sûr) on par with the Great Barrier Reef or the Walled City of Baku. UNESCO, the UN cultural organization, which designates cultural and natural s ... More >>

Cook This, Not That! Hits Shelves Eat This, Not That! Guessing Game

amazon.com​The 2011 edition of Eat This, Not That!, which stemmed from a popular feature in Men's Health magazine, has hit bookshelves in recent days, along with a new version of spinoff, Cook This, Not That! - the second cookbook in the series, this time featuring recipes under 350 calories. ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Cooking With Wholegrains, A 1951 Primer A Whole Wheat-Cornmeal Gingerbread Recipe

​One could presume that Mildred Ellen Orton, founder along with her husband of the Vermont County Store ate a lot of whole grains. Straight up (she died this year at the age of 99 years-old). And so it seems fitting that her 1951 cookbook -- pamphlet, really -- Cooking with Wholegrains: The Ba ... More >>

CSPI Releases Its Annual List Of The Fattiest Foods In America

KFCThis did not make the list​Some restaurants, it seems, are trying their best to kill you as quickly as possible. While we knew that most dishes at places like The Cheesecake Factory and Outback Steakhouse were incredibly unhealthy, we still didn't know which ones were the absolute worst of ... More >>

List of the Worst Fad Diets To Avoid in 2010: No Elvis Sandwiches For You

If you're contemplating a fad diet to work off some of the excesses of the holiday season, you can forget about the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Maple Syrup Diet, and, yes, the Blood Group Diet (not making this up). The British Dietetic Association, the professional association for registered dietitians i ... More >>

Our Bodies, Their Solutions

The rise and fall of one more fad diet

Fat, the Bastard

The war over oil may be taking place in your head