That’s the takeaway from a major study published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine. Scientists led by a team from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that people who most closely adhered to at least one of four healthy eating patterns were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, cancer or respiratory disease compared with people who did not adhere as closely to these diets. They were also less likely to die of any cause.
“These findings support the recommendations of Dietary Guidelines for Americans that multiple healthy eating patterns can be adapted to individual food traditions and preferences,” the researchers concluded, adding that the results were consistent across different racial and ethnic groups. The eating habits and mortality rates of more than 75,000 women from 1984 to 2020 over 44,000 men from 1986 to 2020 were included in the study.
The four diets studied were the Healthy Eating Index, the Alternate Mediterranean Diet, the Healthful Plant-Based Diet Index and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index. All four share some components, including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. But there are also differences: For instance, the Alternate Mediterranean Diet encourages fish consumption, and the Healthful Plant-Based Diet Index discourages eating meat.
The Alternate Mediterranean Diet is adapted from the original Mediterranean Diet, which includes olive oil (which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids), fruits, nuts, cereals, vegetables, legumes and fish. It allows for moderate consumption of alcohol and dairy products but low consumption of sweets and only the occasional serving of red meat. The alternate version, meanwhile, cuts out dairy entirely, only includes whole grains and uses the same alcohol-intake guideline for men and women, JAMA says.
The world’s ‘best diets’ overlap with study results
The Mediterranean Diet consistently ranks No. 1 in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Diets ranking, which looks at seven criteria: short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, effectiveness in preventing cardiovascular disease, effectiveness in preventing diabetes, ease of compliance, nutritional completeness and health risks. The 2023 list ranks the top three diets as the Mediterranean Diet, the DASH Diet and the Flexitarian Diet.
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet recommends fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, poultry, fish and low-fat dairy products and restricts salt, red meat, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages. The Flexitarian Diet is similar to the other diets in that it’s mainly vegetarian, but it allows the occasional serving of meat or fish. All three diets are associated with improved metabolic health, lower blood pressure and reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and co-author of the latest study, said it’s critical to examine the associations between the U.S. government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans and long-term health. “Our findings will be valuable for the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which is being formed to evaluate current evidence surrounding different eating patterns and health outcomes,” he said.
Reducing salt intake is a good place to start. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration issued new guidance for restaurants and food manufacturers to, over a two-and-a-half-year period, voluntarily reduce the amount of sodium in their food to help consumers stay under a limit of 3,000 milligrams per day — still higher than the recommended daily allowance. Americans consume around 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day, on average, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people consume less than 2,300 milligrams each day.
Related: Eating 400 calories a day from these foods could raise your dementia risk by over 20%
Parents and doctors are looking for new strategies to help adolescents with obesity. One controversial approach drawing the interest of some families is intermittent fasting, which limits people to eating for just a part of the day or week.
Intermittent fasting has gained traction among adults who use it to try to manage weight and improve health. Doctors have largely avoided trying it with adolescents out of concern that introducing a fasting period to their schedules might result in nutritional gaps or trigger eating disorders when teens are rapidly growing and developing.
Now, a small number of doctors and researchers are evaluating types of intermittent fasting in adolescents, searching for solutions as rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes rise. One pediatric endocrinologist in Los Angeles is launching a clinical trial looking at eating within a set time window in adolescents with obesity. Researchers in Australia are completing a separate trial, the results of which they expect to publish later this year.
Roughly one-fifth of children in the U.S. are considered obese, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pediatricians are so concerned that the American Academy of Pediatrics for the first timethis month recommended physicians offer weight-loss drugs for children with obesity.
Any approach that limits when and how an adolescent eats must be handled cautiously, doctors say.
Families and doctors need to be very careful with any form of intermittent fasting in youth as it can be a slippery slope with a potential risk of eating disorders, says
Jason Nagata,
a pediatrician and eating-disorder specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. Doctors have also raised questions about the potential long-term effects of intermittent fasting on developing bodies.
Courtney Peterson,
an associate professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who studies intermittent fasting in adults, says she would be worried about adolescents’ getting enough nutrients. “I think it’s worth testing but testing with caution,” she says.
Her research has found that adults with obesity who ate between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. lost on average an extra 5 pounds more than a control group eating over 12 hours or more, and adults with prediabetes who ate over a six-hour period starting early in the day showed improvements in blood-sugar levels.
Intermittent fasting is an umbrella term for eating strategies that involve fasting. One such strategy, time-restricted eating, or TRE, limits eating to a set number of hours a day—often eight—with no limitations on what or how much you eat. In the remaining hours, you refrain from eating or drinking except for water.
Alaina Vidmar,
a pediatric endocrinologist and obesity-medicine specialist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, is starting a clinical trial to evaluate whether an eight-hour window of eating, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., results in changes in insulin and glucose response for teens with obesity.
The researchers are also looking at weight loss and body-fat mass, as well as blood pressure and cholesterol.
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The research stems from conversations Dr. Vidmar had with families of patients with obesity in recent years. Some had asked her about time-restricted eating, or had tried it and said they liked it. She tested the concept in teenagers with obesity to see if setting an eight-hour window of eating was feasible in a pilot study published in the journal Nutrients in 2021.
“They enjoyed doing it, they felt like their whole family could do it, and over time they were losing weight,” Dr. Vidmar says of the teens.
Now, her lab is enrolling 100 youth between 12 and 21 years old with Type 2 diabetes and obesity in a 12-week trial. Participants are screened and monitored for any negative eating behaviors, she says. So far, she hasn’t found that time-limited eating “impacts eating behaviors or worsens disordered eating in any way,” she says.
In Australia, researchers are studying how teens with obesity respond to a different form of fasting called intermittent energy restriction.
In this approach, for three days a week you eat roughly one-quarter of the calories you normally do, says
Natalie Lister,
a researcher and dietitian at the University of Sydney. On the other four days, you have no calorie limits.
Dr. Lister says she and colleagues started looking into intermittent fasting in adolescents with obesity a few years ago when patients started asking about it. They conducted a pilot trial with 30 adolescents, published in 2019. Now, the researchers are completing a trial whose results they expect to publish later this year.
The health team monitors for eating disorders and depression, and the study doesn’t enroll anyone with a high risk of disordered eating, says Dr. Lister. Dietitians provide guidelines to help ensure participants are meeting nutritional requirements.
In adults with obesity, the data on TRE is mixed when it comes to weight loss, but two systematic reviews of the existing research both found a modest weight-loss benefit overall, says Dr. Peterson. Studies have also found that adults experience improvements in measures such as insulin resistance, reducing blood-glucose levels, particularly when their eating window starts early in the day.
Matthew Muros, a 15-year-old in Carson, Calif., struggles with his weight and prediabetes. Matthew participated in Dr. Vidmar’s pilot studies last year. The first two weeks were challenging, he notes.
“I did feel really hungry. I just kept on drinking water,” he says.
He says it got easier, and when the study was over he decided to stick with the schedule. He has lost about 30 pounds, and his blood-glucose levels have improved.
He has also changed his diet, having less soda, fast food and carbohydrates. “I’m trying to eat a little bit more healthy,” he says.
This Starbucks employee is all worked up into a froth over her coffee clientele.
Keicha Halsell — a k a Keke Not Palmer on TikTok — is blowing the plastic lid off of the worst things customers can do when ordering a cup o’ joe at the Seattle-based coffee chain.
The barista revealed in a since-deleted viral video the most annoying “icks” that people give her when they buy coffee, the Daily Mail reported.
The Florida native — who has nearly 20,000 followers and more than 1 million likes on the platform — began her now-viral clip by declaring: “I’m pretty sure I can get in trouble for this video — but I’m gonna do it anyways.”
She then went on to state her Top 5 grievances that irk her while she’s whipping up caffeinated drinks: Halsell’s first pet peeve is when people are on line and then they take “another whole five minutes to tell us what they want” when they get to the cashier.
“I’m pretty sure I can get in trouble for this video, but I’m gonna do it anyways,” barista Keicha Halsell began her clip.TikTok / @kekenotpalmer
Halsell — one of a growing number of alleged Starbucks workers attempting to shine a light on workplace grievances in viral videos — also despises those who order milk alternatives such as almond, oat and soy products, but then proceed to ask for sweet cream cold foam to top the iced drink with.
She noted that the ones who are unable to drink dairy shouldn’t be adding heavy milk and cream to their beverages as the additions won’t be beneficial to them.
The worker’s next issue is with customers who order new items they have never consumed before — and in turn wind up not liking the drink.
She then has to make a “cuppa five times” until the purchaser is satisfied. “How is that on me? [It] gets on my nerves,” she groaned.
Her next irritation is when others demand a mystery drink that isn’t on the menu or is derived from TikTok, thanks to the 32.1 billion videos labeled with the #Starbucks tag.
Halsell often shares her experiences working for the Seattle-based coffee chain on TikTok.TikTok / @kekenotpalmer
Halsell explained: “They don’t know the recipe so I have to sit there for two minutes and watch a barista on TikTok do a drink that took two minutes to make and then take two minutes to write it down and five minutes to make it.”
Her last annoyance is when she is brewing a latte — and then, all of a sudden, the person changes their mind and claims they “forgot to say ‘iced.’ ” She added that the patron should have said that little fact earlier when Halsell was typing in the order.
One of her main issues with customers, is when they ask her to make a drink that’s not on the menu.TikTok / @kekenotpalmer
According to the Daily Mail report, viewers of the since-deleted clip took to the comments and divulged that it’s workers like Halsell that make going to Starbucks an uneasy experience.
“This is why I have ordering anxiety. That’s why I’m staying home to make my own coffee,” one user sniped, while another chimed in: “This is why I just get my coffee at Speedway. Starbucks is just too much pressure.”
But there were a few fellow baristas thrown into the mix that came to Halsell’s defense with their own customer horror stories.
“My favorite was always ‘is this mine?’ ‘No ma’am. That hot coffee with the name Brian on it is in fact NOT your frap,’ ” one supporter said.
Another commenter wrote: “I use to have a lady who would tell us we weren’t making her drink right so she could get a free drink coupon from whatever store manager was working.”
A new study shares some sympathy for a much-maligned vegetable: the potato.
It found that the way the potato is prepared — including what people add to it — is what’s associated with Type 2 diabetes, rather than the “humble” vegetable itself.
The study was published in Diabetes Care, a peer-reviewed journal by the American Diabetes Association for health care providers.
Previous research had shown an association between diabetes and total potato intake.
A team of Australian researchers, led by Dr. Nicola Bondonno from Edith Cowan University’s Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute, explored the relationship of vegetable intake and the incidence of Type 2 diabetes.
The researchers also examined the relationship of potato consumption and the incidence of Type 2 diabetes.
Over 54,000 participants, ages 50-64, were recruited from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort, which examined the relationship between dietary components and the incidence of cancer and other chronic diseases.
The participants filled out a 192-item “food frequency questionnaire” at the start of the study.
Those who took part noted how often they ate a particular food for the past 12 months, said co-author Pratik Pokharel, a PhD candidate who worked on the analysis for the paper.
“The intake of foods and nutrients were then estimated using standard recipes and the software FoodCalc,” Pokharel told Fox News Digital.
Eating more vegetables may equal a lower risk of diabetes
The researchers found that those with the highest total vegetable intake had a 21% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes — compared to the group with the lowest intake of vegetables, after adjusting for lifestyle and demographic confounding variables.
They also found that participants with the highest potato consumption had a 9% higher risk of Type 2 diabetes, compared to the group who ate the lowest daily amount.
Boiled potatoes are key
“When we separated boiled potatoes from mashed potatoes, fries or crisps, boiled potatoes were no longer associated with a higher risk of diabetes. They had a null effect,” Pokharel said in a press release.
The study found that those who ate the most potatoes also consumed more butter, red meat and soft drinks, which are known to increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
“When you account for that, boiled potatoes are no longer associated with diabetes,” added Pokharel in the press release.
Plain boiled potatoes had no association with diabetes. Getty Images/iStockphoto
“It’s only fries and mashed potatoes, the latter likely because [they’re] usually made with butter, cream and the like.”
Most people don’t eat enough vegetables
Approximately 90% adults don’t meet fruit and vegetable recommendations, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s latest dietary guidelines.
The guidelines recommend that most adults consume two “cup equivalents” of fruits and two-and-a-half “cup-equivalents” of vegetables daily.
Experts suggest aiming for four half-cup servings of fruit and five half-cup servings of vegetables every day to put these recommendations into practice.
The American Heart Association suggests fruits and vegetables should fill half the plate for each meal to meet these goals.
“One cup of raw leafy vegetables or a baked potato should be about the size of a baseball or average-sized fist,” the association added on its website.
We need to diversify our diet
Pokharel recommends eating a variety of foods.
“It is good to replace white rice and pasta with boiled potatoes, as potatoes have fiber, vitamin C and other nutrients — and potato is still a vegetable,” he said.
“We get other nutrients from potatoes that we do not find in white rice or pasta,” he also said.
Refined grains are low in certain nutrients, such as fiber, so they can lead to nutritional deficiencies, he said.
Know the study’s limitations
The study had certain limitations, including that the participants’ diets were self-reported and that the researchers only measured their diets at one point in time.
Pokharel said repeated measurements of dietary intake would give a more accurate estimate of a complete diet.
He also said the study is only a prospective study — so it cannot establish a causal link between vegetable intake and diabetes, such as noting that eating less vegetables actually causes diabetes.
Don’t blame certain foods — understand the context
“People eat food rarely in isolation,” Pokharel said.
“We should look at the bigger picture while assessing the relationship between dietary intake and disease incidence,” he added.
“It is crucial to look at the underlying dietary pattern and food processing method to see what other culprits are rather than blaming on one food,” he also said.
Ultra-processed foods might make our lives easier and taste delicious, but they might have detrimental impacts down the line — possibly leading to dementia.
A new study published in JAMA Neurology on Monday found that people could be at a higher risk of cognitive decline if more than 20% of their daily caloric intake is ultra-processed foods.
That’s about 400 calories a day in a diet of 2,000 calories a day. An order of small fries and a regular cheeseburger from McDonald’s is 530 calories.
Other examples of ultra-processed foods include frozen pizza, hot dogs, sausages, sodas, cookies, cakes, candy, doughnuts and ice cream.
In the study, researchers defined ultra-processed foods as “industrial formulations of food substances (oils, fats, sugars, starch, and protein isolates) that contain little or no whole foods and typically include flavorings, colorings, emulsifiers and other cosmetic additives.”
“Fifty-eight percent of the calories consumed by United States citizens, 56.8% of the calories consumed by British citizens, and 48% of the calories consumed by Canadians come from ultra-processed foods,” co-author Dr. Claudia Suemoto, an assistant professor in the division of geriatrics at the University of São Paulo Medical School, said.
Those who consumed the most ultra-processed foods had a 28% faster rate of cognitive decline.Getty Images
The part of the brain involved in executive functioning — the ability to process information and make decisions — is especially impacted by the risk of cognitive decline, according to the study.
More than 10,000 Brazilians between 35 and 74 years old were followed for up to 10 years for the study, which aimed to see how eating this kind of food affected brain power.
A new study found that people could be at a higher risk of cognitive decline if more than 20% of their daily caloric intake is ultra-processed foods.Getty Images
Participants were tested at the beginning and end of the study to see if their mental state had changed. Tests included immediate and delayed word recall, word recognition and verbal fluency. They also had to complete food questionnaires to determine how much ultra-processed foods they consumed.
Those who consumed the most ultra-processed foods had a 28% faster rate of cognitive decline and a 25% faster rate of executive-function decline compared to those who ate less than 20%.
In addition to cognitive decline, ultra-processed foods can be linked to an increased risk in obesity, heart and circulation problems, diabetes, cancer and a shorter life span.
Examples of ultra-processed foods include frozen pizza, hot dogs, sausages, sodas, cookies, cakes, candy, doughnuts and ice cream.Getty Images
One way to prevent ultra-processed foods from impairing your cognitive health is by cooking and preparing the food from scratch, according to Suemoto.
“People need to know they should cook more and prepare their own food from scratch. I know we say we don’t have time, but it really doesn’t take that much time,” she said.
“And it’s worth it, because you’re going to protect your heart and guard your brain from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. That’s the take-home message: Stop buying things that are super processed.”
Carb lovers rejoice! This delectable starch, long a guilty pleasure, just might be a secret weapon when trying to “lose weight with little effort.”
Researchers have discovered the surprising health benefit of potatoes — as it turns out, these spuds are incredibly nutrient-dense and could be a crucial “part of a healthy diet,” according to a new study by researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The root vegetable has long been snubbed as too starchy for people with insulin resistance, and was once thought of as a contributor to type 2 diabetes. But the tater’s bad rap might be rectified now that scientists claim it can be part of the ideal diet.
This is great news for those who loaded up on grandma’s famous mashed potatoes over Thanksgiving, or who over-indulge in carbs at holiday feasts come December and New Year’s.
Because the starch is low calorie but very filling, researchers found that filling a plate full of potatoes can contribute to a shrinking waistline.
“People tend to eat the same weight of food regardless of calorie content in order to feel full,” professor Candida Rebello, a co-author of the study, told SWNS. “By eating foods with a heavier weight that are low in calories, you can easily reduce the number of calories you consume.”
The versatile root vegetable once gained a bad rap for diabetics and the obese, as it was previously thought to contribute to weight gain and insulin resistance.Getty Images
The study included 36 people between the ages of 18 and 60 who were overweight, obese or had insulin resistance. Participants were given two different diets, both high in fruits and veggies and swapped 40% of the typical American meat consumption with beans, peas or potatoes.
Beans have been touted as a diabetes superfood, as doctors once crowned the legume the best at keeping blood sugars stable — but these researchers were putting that theory to the test.
“The key aspect of our study is that we did not reduce the portion size of meals but lowered their caloric content by including potatoes,” Rebello continued. “Each participant’s meal was tailored to their personalized calorific needs, yet by replacing some meat content with potato, participants found themselves fuller, quicker and often did not even finish their meal.”
Rebello’s buzz quote: “In effect, you can lose weight with little effort.”
Potatoes contain vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium, folate and fiber, which all promote health, and have also been found to have antioxidants.
The potatoes were boiled — with the skins on — then placed in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours to maximize their fiber. The spuds were then included in lunch and dinner for the participants in the form of mashed potatoes, shepherd’s pie, wedges, salad and scalloped.
Upon nutrient comparison, scientists discovered potatoes were just as healthy as beans and peas.
“We demonstrated that contrary to common belief, potatoes do not negatively impact blood glucose levels,” Rebello stated. “In fact, the individuals who participated in our study lost weight.”
The study, which was published in the Journal of Medical Food, confirmed that people can still maintain a healthy diet and indulge in some potatoes, challenging what was previously believed about the once-damned starch.
The study is a godsend for carb-lovers, who wouldn’t dare give up their favorite side dish.Getty ImagesThe starchy spuds actually could shrink eager eaters’ waistlines.Getty Images
“People typically do not stick with a diet they don’t like or isn’t varied enough,” the professor continued. “The meal plans provided a variety of dishes, and we showed that a healthy eating plan can have varied options for individuals striving to eat healthy.”
Obviously carb lovers can’t only chow down on potatoes, but foregoing them altogether also isn’t necessary. In fact, potatoes are “fairy inexpensive” and are easily incorporated into everyday meals.
Dr. John Kirwan, the study’s lead investigator and the executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, used the study to research the effects of food on diabetes and obesity, saying there is more to know about “complex disease” and how to solve it.
“Obesity is an incredibly complex disease that we are tackling on three different fronts: research that looks at how and why our bodies react the way they do, research that looks at individual responses to diet and physical activity, and policy-level discussions and community programs that bring our research into strategies our local and global communities can use to live healthier lives,” he said. “These new data on the impact of potatoes on our metabolism is an exciting addition to the arsenal of evidence we have to do just that.”
A study published in July 2022 in Neurology, a journal from the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that eating whole foods might decrease dementia risk. The research was done on 72,083 adults over age 55 with no dementia at baseline in the UK Biobank.
The authors investigated the association between ultra-processed foods (UPF) and dementia, where participants’ diets were evaluated based on how much UPF was consumed. The highest group had a diet of 28% UPF compared to the group with the lowest consumption of UPF at 9%.
The results implied that for every increase of 10% in the daily dietary intake of UPF, the risk of dementia increased by 25%. Conversely, replacing 10% of UPF foods with whole (unprocessed or minimally processed) foods was associated with a 19% lower risk of dementia.
“Ultra-processed foods are meant to be convenient and tasty, but they diminish the quality of a person’s diet,” said study author Huiping Li, Ph.D. of Tianjin Medical University in China.
“These foods may also contain food additives or molecules from packaging or produced during heating, all of which have been shown in other studies to affect thinking and memory skills negatively.”
“Our research not only found that ultra-processed foods are associated with an increased risk of dementia, but it also found replacing them with healthy options may decrease dementia risk.”
More: 4 things you can do to fight dementia and improve your memory
UPF vs. whole foods
UPF is made for convenience. Think ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat. These foods are high in sugar, fat, and salt and low in protein and fiber. A few examples of UPF include fatty, sweet, savory, or salty packaged snacks.
Also, baked products made with ingredients such as hydrogenated vegetable fat, sugar, yeast, whey, emulsifiers, and other additives, ice creams and frozen desserts, chocolates, candies, pre-prepared meals like pizza and pasta dishes, and distilled alcoholic beverages such as whisky, gin, rum and vodka.
On the other hand, whole foods are unprocessed or minimally processed, such as fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, seafood, legumes, milk, eggs, grains, spices, meat, and fermented alcoholic beverages (think alcoholic cider and wine).
Minimally processed foods leave the nutrients intact. This contains methods like canning, vacuum packing, and refrigeration – which extend the food item’s life, including adding vitamins and pasteurization (as in milk).
How to tell the difference?
Lena Beal, media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says that labeling is the answer.
“Ultra-processed foods involve baked goods, snack cakes, chips, and candy at the grocery store’s check-out counter. They also include soft drinks, sweet breakfast cereals, ice cream, mass-produced bread, and flavored yogurts.”
Beal advises, “Look at two labels: Cheetos and tortilla chips. Then, look at the long list of ingredients on the Cheetos bag compared to tortilla chips. Tortilla chips have corn, salt, and some plant seed oil, right? So, it could be safflower, sunflower, or canola. Three ingredients.”
Related: Want to slow, delay or reverse dementia? Try this classic game.
Why are UPFs so popular in the U.S.?
“Two words: convenience and cost,” says Beal. In the U.S., UPF consumption increased from 53.5% of calories (2001-2002) to 57% (2017-2018). During the same period, whole food consumption decreased from 32.7% to 27.4% of calories.
According to Beal, “Americans eat 31% more packaged food than fresh foods than nearly any other country. Ultra-processed food comes from substances extracted from food through processes like milling or extrusion with added ingredients. They are highly manipulated and take on more of a chemical presence than food.”
The perceived convenience and the cost of UPF play a factor in their popularity. Not to mention advertising. Marketing UPF makes them seem delicious and harmless, but learning to read nutritional labels is essential.
In addition, choosing to eat healthier might entail prepping your meals at home. Why? Because it can be a special time shared with family or a partner as well as a nutritious path to adding more fruits and vegetables (fresh, pre-cut, or flash-frozen) to one’s diet.
When it comes to wholesome go-to’s, “use nuts (full of Omega-3s for heart and brain health), raisins, and dark chocolate to make a trail mix,” suggests Beal. “Seeds, nuts, cut-up fruits, and vegetables are nature’s fast food. Make a smoothie out of fresh fruit and dairy. Use peanut butter on celery sticks.”
Traveling and eating out
Beal suggests asking for condiments and dressings on the side when dining out. For instance, choose a sauce you can see through instead of cream sauce. Also, order baked meat or fish instead of fried, skip the pre-meal bread or eat less of it (whole wheat is also a better alternative to white bread).
Lastly, when traveling, locating a grocery store near where you are staying will make finding whole foods easier than getting all your food from restaurants.
Related: This is now the No. 1 preventable cause of Alzheimer’s in America
The bottom line
Good news! You are in charge of your diet. So each time you choose what to eat or drink, ask yourself: what is the best, minimally processed, healthy choice for nutrition?
Learning to evaluate food labels and ingredients is critical. Begin to prepare food at home and opt for small healthy lifestyle changes to improve how you age and feel your best.
Rebecca Myers, MSN, RN is a freelance health journalist with over 15 years of nursing experience (including critical care, vascular access, and education). Through her writing, Rebecca has a passion for uplifting others and helping them live their healthiest lives. She lives with her husband outside Houston, and they enjoy spending time at the beach together.
A study published in July 2022 in Neurology, a journal from the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that eating whole foods might decrease dementia risk. The research was done on 72,083 adults over age 55 with no dementia at baseline in the UK Biobank.
The authors investigated the association between ultra-processed foods (UPF) and dementia, where participants’ diets were evaluated based on how much UPF was consumed. The highest group had a diet of 28% UPF compared to the group with the lowest consumption of UPF at 9%.
The results implied that for every increase of 10% in the daily dietary intake of UPF, the risk of dementia increased by 25%. Conversely, replacing 10% of UPF foods with whole (unprocessed or minimally processed) foods was associated with a 19% lower risk of dementia.
“Ultra-processed foods are meant to be convenient and tasty, but they diminish the quality of a person’s diet,” said study author Huiping Li, Ph.D. of Tianjin Medical University in China.
“These foods may also contain food additives or molecules from packaging or produced during heating, all of which have been shown in other studies to affect thinking and memory skills negatively.”
“Our research not only found that ultra-processed foods are associated with an increased risk of dementia, but it also found replacing them with healthy options may decrease dementia risk.”
More: 4 things you can do to fight dementia and improve your memory
UPF vs. whole foods
UPF is made for convenience. Think ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat. These foods are high in sugar, fat, and salt and low in protein and fiber. A few examples of UPF include fatty, sweet, savory, or salty packaged snacks.
Also, baked products made with ingredients such as hydrogenated vegetable fat, sugar, yeast, whey, emulsifiers, and other additives, ice creams and frozen desserts, chocolates, candies, pre-prepared meals like pizza and pasta dishes, and distilled alcoholic beverages such as whisky, gin, rum and vodka.
On the other hand, whole foods are unprocessed or minimally processed, such as fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, seafood, legumes, milk, eggs, grains, spices, meat, and fermented alcoholic beverages (think alcoholic cider and wine).
Minimally processed foods leave the nutrients intact. This contains methods like canning, vacuum packing, and refrigeration – which extend the food item’s life, including adding vitamins and pasteurization (as in milk).
How to tell the difference?
Lena Beal, media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says that labeling is the answer.
“Ultra-processed foods involve baked goods, snack cakes, chips, and candy at the grocery store’s check-out counter. They also include soft drinks, sweet breakfast cereals, ice cream, mass-produced bread, and flavored yogurts.”
Beal advises, “Look at two labels: Cheetos and tortilla chips. Then, look at the long list of ingredients on the Cheetos bag compared to tortilla chips. Tortilla chips have corn, salt, and some plant seed oil, right? So, it could be safflower, sunflower, or canola. Three ingredients.”
Related: Want to slow, delay or reverse dementia? Try this classic game.
Why are UPFs so popular in the U.S.?
“Two words: convenience and cost,” says Beal. In the U.S., UPF consumption increased from 53.5% of calories (2001-2002) to 57% (2017-2018). During the same period, whole food consumption decreased from 32.7% to 27.4% of calories.
According to Beal, “Americans eat 31% more packaged food than fresh foods than nearly any other country. Ultra-processed food comes from substances extracted from food through processes like milling or extrusion with added ingredients. They are highly manipulated and take on more of a chemical presence than food.”
The perceived convenience and the cost of UPF play a factor in their popularity. Not to mention advertising. Marketing UPF makes them seem delicious and harmless, but learning to read nutritional labels is essential.
In addition, choosing to eat healthier might entail prepping your meals at home. Why? Because it can be a special time shared with family or a partner as well as a nutritious path to adding more fruits and vegetables (fresh, pre-cut, or flash-frozen) to one’s diet.
When it comes to wholesome go-to’s, “use nuts (full of Omega-3s for heart and brain health), raisins, and dark chocolate to make a trail mix,” suggests Beal. “Seeds, nuts, cut-up fruits, and vegetables are nature’s fast food. Make a smoothie out of fresh fruit and dairy. Use peanut butter on celery sticks.”
Traveling and eating out
Beal suggests asking for condiments and dressings on the side when dining out. For instance, choose a sauce you can see through instead of cream sauce. Also, order baked meat or fish instead of fried, skip the pre-meal bread or eat less of it (whole wheat is also a better alternative to white bread).
Lastly, when traveling, locating a grocery store near where you are staying will make finding whole foods easier than getting all your food from restaurants.
Related: This is now the No. 1 preventable cause of Alzheimer’s in America
The bottom line
Good news! You are in charge of your diet. So each time you choose what to eat or drink, ask yourself: what is the best, minimally processed, healthy choice for nutrition?
Learning to evaluate food labels and ingredients is critical. Begin to prepare food at home and opt for small healthy lifestyle changes to improve how you age and feel your best.
Rebecca Myers, MSN, RN is a freelance health journalist with over 15 years of nursing experience (including critical care, vascular access, and education). Through her writing, Rebecca has a passion for uplifting others and helping them live their healthiest lives. She lives with her husband outside Houston, and they enjoy spending time at the beach together.
Waiting on Meghan Markle and her handler turned out to be a royal pain for Michael Cecchi-Azzolina, maitre d’ at NYC’s Michelin-starred restaurant Le Coucou in 2017. His head reservationist passed him a note about an “irate” woman who had dropped the “I’m bringing in royalty” card and demanded a private table, something the restaurant could not accommodate.
“She said, ‘It’s for someone who is dating a prince,’ ” Cecchi-Azzolina recalled, telling The Post that the handler copped an attitude when told the restaurant could not keep adjacent tables open. “I said, ‘I still don’t have a private table for you.’ ” He suggested a corner table instead and the woman finally acquiesced.
“They came in with an attitude,” Cecchi-Azzolina said, of the duo showing up 20 minutes before their reservation. After welcoming them to have a drink with the commoners at the bar, the escort allegedly became enraged.
Cecchi-Azzolina recalls getting inundated by a handler for Meghan Markle in 2017 and other instances like getting heckled by fashion influencers demanding a table while he was maître d’ at Le Coucou. Tamara Beckwith/NY PostA handler for Meghan Markle in 2017 reportedly demanded a private table at Le Coucou. GC/Getty Images
“Are you aware my guest is dating Prince Harry and about to be a duchess?” Cecchi-Azzolina writes in his forthcoming book, “Your Table Is Ready,” out December 6. “ ‘Don’t you have a private area for us to wait?’ My first impulse was to laugh. I could give two s–ts about Prince Harry’s date, and by the attention the escort was drawing from the crowd at the bar, nor did anyone else.”
Cecchi-Azzolina recalled that Markle, meanwhile, “didn’t say a word,” while her handler threw a fit that the table wasn’t ready before their reservation time, describing the actress-turned-royal as “aloof.” A rep for Markle did not return a request for comment.
“We get the most powerful people in the world that come here — no one really cares about you,” Cecchi-Azzolina said, adding that the escort sat down in a huff.
James Corden responded to the backlash of being “canceled” and later forgiven by restauranteur Keith McNally on Friday in an interview with The New York Times noting the drama was “beneath” him and “so silly.”Getty ImagesAfter skewering James Corden for being “abusive” toward his restaurant staff, Balthazar owner Keith McNally accepted Corden’s apology. Some industry insiders think he let him off easy.Keith McNally / Instagram
Restaurant industry insiders are serving up tales of entitlement, expletive-spewed rants, dine-and-dashers and serial complainers on the heels of restaurateur Keith McNally skewering British comedian James Corden as the “most abusive customer” his restaurant staff at Balthazar have ever seen in the Soho restaurant’s 25 years.
On Monday, McNally publicly announced on Instagram that he’d 86’d Corden (restaurant speak for canceled) for mistreating employees and demanding a round of drinks “this second” after Corden spotted a piece of hair in his main course. According to McNally, Corden then insisted the restaurant take care of the drinks tab, threatening to write a bad Yelp review.
In a separate instance, McNally said, Corden allegedly shouted at a staffer, saying, “You can’t do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself” after his wife complained egg white had made its way into her yolk-only omelette. McNally later said Corden had called him to apologize, and he accepted, saying Corden was welcome back to his restaurant and that “All is forgiven.” In an interview with the New York Times on Friday, Corden noted the drama was “beneath” him and “so silly.”
Some seasoned restaurant world vets say McNally let Corden off too easily, and that more celebrities should be named and shamed for their frequently bad behavior.
“You either get the celebrities that are very approachable and relaxed or some people who are just lunatics. You have people who are miserable in their own lives and they choose to take it out on service people,” Jason Kaplan, a New York City-based restaurant consultant at JK Consulting, told The Post.
“What I find kind of ridiculous is the fact that because he apologized, now you let him back into your restaurant? How does that excuse bad behavior?” Kaplan said of McNally.
And some celebrities are proving they have zero tolerance for disrespecting restaurant workers. Conan O’Brien reportedly fired a former crew member for being impatient and rude to a restaurant server, a former O’Brien staffer wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
Corden allegedly shouted at a Balthazar staffer, saying, “You can’t do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelet myself” after his wife complained egg white had made its way into her yolk-only omelet. William Farrington for NY Post
At CONAN there was a crew member who was fired because Conan witnessed him being impatient and rude to a server at a restaurant. Just remembering that now, for no particular reason.
— todd levin (@toddlevin) October 18, 2022
Corden is hardly the only offender leaving restaurant owners with a bad taste in their mouths. A source close to one Hamptons hot spot recalled an inflammatory incident two summers ago when the co-owner of a professional sports team allegedly called a hostess a “hooker” and a “bitch” when he couldn’t get a table out front or in the outdoor area, leaving the staffer “crying,” the source said. Management had to step in and chide them for using the foul language.
“Some of them think they own the world and they get really nasty,” the source said.
Influencers are another unlikable crowd. In his book, Cecchi-Azzolina recalls being told, “Do you know how many Instagram followers she has?” at Le Coucou when a fashion influencer and her crew called the restaurant 10 times in a week to get a table. They arrived at 7:30 p.m., an hour before their reservation and continued to use their social media following as currency.
Michael Cecchi Azzolina recalls the biggest celebrity restaurant nightmares in his forthcoming book, “Your Table Is Ready.”Phillip RomanoShowing up unannounced, demanding a table and then sending back food is another infamous move. Cecchi-Azzolina claims supermodel Naomi Campbell and high-powered editor Anna Wintour did just that while he was working the room at Raoul’s in Soho. Zandy Mangold for NY Post
“Do you know who this is! She has hundreds of thousands of followers. If you don’t seat the six of us now, she will close this restaurant down. No one will come,” one of the influencer’s minions said, according to the book.
Sometimes, bold-facers are so arrogant they walk out on the check. A source close to the now-closed restaurant Philippe Chow in Miami recalled a time around 2009 when Dennis Rodman allegedly came in with a fleet of 15 people and stiffed staffers on the $3,000 bill after racking up the tab with expensive bottles of Champagne.
“One by one they all started walking out. He was like f–k it. I’m not getting stuck with this bill. They all snuck out,” the source alleged. A rep for Rodman did not return The Post’s request for comment.
“He was flying on a private jet the next day. I [thought], of course you fly on a private jet because you don’t pay for things. You just go to places and don’t pay your bill. Shame on you,” the source said.
Around the same time, the source claimed, self-help guru Tony Robbins sat down to dinner with a crew of 10 to 15 people and allegedly left the staffers empty-handed when the bill of around $2,000 came.
“The reservation was under Tony Robbins and they all walked out on the bill. When we got in touch with Tony Robbins’ office he was like, ‘I was a guest there.’ He said, ‘I’m not paying the bill.’ I said, ‘You were sitting at the head of the table making speeches and wishing everyone well. You guys aren’t going to pay the bill or the staff?’ He was like, ‘I was there, but it’s not my reservation and I’m not going to pay.’ Two thousand dollars is not going to put you out of business, it’s what you charge for one seminar. He never paid us,” the source claimed. A rep for Robbins did not return a request for comment.
Showing up unannounced, demanding a table and then sending back food is another infamous move. Cecchi-Azzolina claims supermodel Naomi Campbell and high-powered editor Anna Wintour did just that while he was working the room at Raoul’s in Soho.
“Naomi Campbell would come, be rude, and complain about her food almost every time,” Cecchi-Azzolina writes in his book of Campbell, who would frequent the restaurant Raoul’s in the early 2000s.Getty ImagesAnna Wintour would “march in with no reservation and demand a table,” at Raoul’s while Checchi-Azzolina worked front of house there, he said.Getty Images
“Naomi Campbell would come, be rude and complain about her food almost every time,” Cecchi-Azzolina writes in his book of Campbell, who would frequent the restaurant in the early 2000s when she was dating U2 guitarist the Edge. A rep for Campbell did not return a request for comment.
“She was someone we dreaded coming in,” Cecchi-Azzolina told The Post. “She needed a lot of attention. She sent back her food quite a few times. I want to say it was the rack of lamb,” he said.
Vogue editrix Anna Wintour, meanwhile, was “absolutely horrid,” and would “march in with no reservation and demand a table,” Cecchi-Azzolina writes in his book, noting that Wintour always ordered a steak “very rare” and requested it be served “immediately.”
“God forbid it was the least bit overcooked. She’d look at the server as though he’d just served her rat and have it sent back and redone. You’d think the raw meat would make her less sanguine,” he writes. A rep for Wintour did not return a request for comment.
“She’d just walk in or call and say, ‘I’m coming.’ One time she came in and we were closing the back room and she insisted on sitting in the back room and we had to keep a waiter there and give her her own waiter. Boy, was that waitress pissed,” Cecchi-Azzolina told The Post, describing Wintour’s demeanor as curt.
“She doesn’t really talk to the staff. She’s like I’m having this and that’s it.”
When an unsafe or defective product hits the market, companies will recall the product as soon as possible to avoid liability.
Automobiles have been some of the most common recalls in recent months. Ford (F) on Sept. 1 recalled nearly 500,000 vehicles for blower motors and rear-view camera problems.
BMW in August recalled four models of its electric vehicles due to a risk of battery fires.
Also in August, Kraft Heinz (KHC) recalled 5,760 cases of its Wild Cherry flavored Capri Sun juice pouches, or about 230,000 juice pouches, that may have been accidentally contaminated with cleaning solution. A diluted form of a cleaning solution used to clean food processing equipment was “inadvertently introduced into a production line” at one of the company’s factories, according to a company statement.
Kraft Heinz became aware of the contamination after consumers called to complain about the strange taste of the drinks.
Those contaminated juice pouches are easily identified with a “Best When Used By” date of June 25, 2023. Consumers who believe they may have purchased contaminated pouches may contact Kraft Heinz at 800-280-8252 to arrange a reimbursement.
Kraft Heinz
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Be Careful Drinking Those Starbucks Coffees
Fans of Starbucks (SBUX) beverages have been on the lookout over the past year for drinks that might be unsafe for consumption.
Those drinks may not have been poured at a Starbucks coffee shop, though they might have been purchased at one of the chain’s locations.
Pepsico (PEP) , which produces and sells Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso drinks in cans nationwide, on Sept. 26, 2021 recalled over 250,000 cases of the beverages, but not for bacteria contamination or a foreign object in the drink. The company recalled the drinks, since the cans contained defective seals that could result in premature spoilage of the beverages, BGR Media reported.
The beverage company recalled three flavors of the Starbucks drink: Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso, Espresso & Cream (6.5 fluid ounces), Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso, Espresso & Light Cream (6.5 fluid ounces) and Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso, Espresso & Salted Caramel Cream (6.5 Fluid ounces). The company recalled 85,956 cases of each drink, which had a March 28, 2022, best-by-date. The drinks should all be off the market by now, but consumers could return them to the retailer where they purchased them for a refund if they still had them.
The recalls were terminated on March 3, according to Food and Drug Administration enforcement reports for Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso, Espresso & Cream; Espresso & Light Cream, and Espresso & Salted Caramel Cream.
History Repeats Itself
History can repeat itself, though, but this time it’s a little different. Pepsico issued a recall Aug. 15 in seven states for Starbucks Vanilla Espresso Triple Shot drinks in 15 ounce bottles, since the beverages might be contaminated with metal fragments. Pepsico reportedly issued the recall in Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
A Sept. 8 FDA enforcement report said that Pepsico recalled 221 cases of the drink. Since cases of the drink contain 12 bottles, the beverage company recalled a total of 2,652 drinks. The expiration date for the drinks have not been provided yet, and a date for termination of the recall has not been determined.
