Nutrition and fitnesss tidbits

The human body requires energy to move and function. The source of that energy is the food that an individual eats. Sound nutrition involves providing the human body with the six required nutrients in appropriate amounts. Unfortunately, considerable misunderstanding exists concerning what "sound nutrition" actually means. These 50 facts about nutrition are intended to provide insight into what constitutes proper nutrition, how to select particular foodstuffs to enhance nutritional levels, what some population subgroups like to eat, what role some foods play in preventing specific kinds of illnesses and how to lead a more nutritionally sound lifestyle.

1 Exercise trade-off. Expending 100 calories by exercising is the equivalent of burning two Oreo cookies, eight Saltine crackers or four cups of plain popped popcorn. You can burn 100 calories by cycling vigorously for 20 minutes, walking briskly for 25 minutes, playing 10 minutes of squash or racquetball, or bowling for 45 minutes.

2 Lighten up. Food that is labeled "light" must have 33 percent fewer calories, or 50 percent less fat or sodium, than the regular food item.

3 Steamed rice is nice. In order to eat healthy in a Chinese restaurant, avoid deep-fried foods such as fried noodles and egg rolls, and choose foods that have been boiled, steamed or stir-fried. For example, a cup of fried rice has 320 calories and 13 grams of fat, while a cup of steamed rice has 170 calories with 0 grams of fat

4 Daily stimulation. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the average American consumes about 200 milligrams of caffeine a day -- the amount found in approximately two or three cups of coffee.(no data available for mauritius)

5 Sugar fact. Six teaspoons of sugar in an eight ounce glass of water is equivalent to the concentration of sugar in some soft drinks.

6 Don't mess with stress. During stressful times in your life, try to eat enough protein. Stress may cause your body's tissues to break down faster and mend more slowly. Protein is important because it helps to repair tissue. Foods that serve as good sources of protein include fish, poultry, lean meats, milk products, dried beans and seafood.

7 Salt sense. The National Academy of Sciences suggests that you limit your daily intake of sodium to 1,100 to 3,300 mg (about one teaspoon of table salt). Merely bypassing the salt shaker is not enough. You also need to examine your intake of processed foods, which are often loaded with sodium in several forms.

8 Spread it thin. Butter and margarine have the same caloric content -- about 100 calories per tablespoon. Although butter has more saturated fat than margarine, saturated and unsaturated fat have the same number of calories. Because butter is an animal product, it also contains cholesterol, which margarine does not.

9 Sweet tooth. Chocolate is the food both men and women crave most often. In fact, the average American consumes about 12 pounds of chocolate each year, equaling approximately 28,000 calories.

10 Give it time. When you have a food craving, eat the food slowly. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes after you've eaten for your stomach to signal your brain that your craving has been satisfied.

11 C-mingly helpful. Some experts believe that vitamin C may help protect against the common cold and certain forms of cancer (e.g., esophageal and stomach). Vitamin C is found in its natural state in many types of fresh fruits and vegetables, including grapefruit, strawberries, green and red peppers, oranges, cantaloupe, tomatoes, broccoli, sweet potatoes and dark leafy greens.

12 Bugs Bunny had a good idea. One carrot a day has enough beta-carotene to lower the risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer. Other vegetables high in beta-carotene are beets, broccoli, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes.

13 Egg-xactly. The white of an egg is almost pure protein. All of the fat and cholesterol is in the yolk.

14 Almost a ton. The average American teenager eats 1,817 pounds of food in a single year.

15 Beerly 80 percent of normal. Light beer typically has 20 percent fewer calories than regular brew.

16 Heart smart. The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils appear to be protective against heart disease, probably by cutting blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels -- both significant factors for heart disease.

17 Good and lean. Meat, poultry and seafood which carry a lean label must contain fewer than 10 grams of fat per serving, with only up to four of those grams of fat being saturated.

18 A lot of fizzle. Americans drink carbonated soft drinks at the rate of 42 gallons per year. That's an average of 486.2 cans a year for every man, woman and child.

19 Less is better. Use common sense when ordering at a fast food restaurant. A single burger should be ordered rather than anything that is "double," "jumbo" or "super." Smaller portions are preferred over larger portions. For example, a large order of french fries has 400 calories and 22 grams of fat, whereas a small order of french fries has 220 calories and 12 grams of fat.

20 Coffee sense. For those of you who want to reduce the amount of coffee-derived caffeine you consume, merely switching to an alternative form of coffee can help keep your caffeine intake within an acceptable range. For example, percolated-brewed coffee has less caffeine than drip-brewed coffee, while instant coffee has less caffeine than brewed.

21 When the numbers don't jibe. The amount of fat in milk varies significantly. For example, 48 percent of the calories in whole milk comes from fat, 34 percent of the calories in "2 percent" milk comes from fat, and 5 percent in skim milk comes from fat.

22 Color-coded nutrients. In general, the darker the food, the more nutrients it contains. Pink grapefruit contains more than 30 times the vitamin A of white grapefruit. Romaine lettuce has twice the calcium and iron, eight times the vitamin C, and more than 10 times the vitamin A of iceberg lettuce.

23 Healthy to the bone. You can easily add calcium to your diet. Two tablespoons of nonfat, dry milk added to half a glass of skim milk boosts the calcium level in the beverage by 70 percent (from 150 milligrams to 255 milligrams). By eating a banana, you gain a generous portion of both potassium and calcium.

24 Less jolt. For coffee drinkers who prefer lattes, a two-ounce shot of espresso in a latte has less caffeine than an eight ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee.

25 Sweet unknown. Food labels should be checked for sugar content. Sucrose, or table sugar, is not the only form of sugar that can be added to a food product. Other forms of sugar include barley malt, corn sweetener, corn syrup, grape sugar, dextrose, fructose, glucose, honey, lactose, maltose, mannitol, sorghum, sorbitol and maple syrup.

26 On the road again. More than 46 million Americans patronize fast food restaurants every day, usually consuming foods high in fat and calories.

27 Cooking smart. Stir-frying is one of the best methods for retaining nutrients while cooking vegetables, followed by pressure cooking and steaming. Boiling is one of the worst, as is deep-frying.

28 Not so obvious. A bread with jelly is a somewhat healthier choice for breakfast than a american sandwich. A bread with one teaspoon of jelly has about 200 calories and one gram of fat, while a sandwich has about 273 calories and 12 grams of fat.

29 Hidden salt. When eating out, watch out for terms that indicate a lot of sodium: au jus, in broth, cocktail sauce, pickled, smoked, soy sauce or teriyaki sauce.

30 Protein matters. An average-sized man needs about 63 grams of protein a day (slightly more than two ounces) and an average-sized woman needs 50 grams (slightly lest than two ounces).

31 Listen to Linus (Pauling). The RDA for vitamin C is 60 mg for adults (age 19 to 50), half of what you get from one eight-ounce glass of fresh orange juice.

32 Fighting radicals. Consuming a diet high in antioxidants (i.e., vitamin C, vitamin A and beta-carotene) may help protect the body's cells from damage by neutralizing free radicals. In general, green and orange fruits and vegetables are good dietary sources of antioxidants.

33 Vegetarian's delight. Soybeans have an abundant amount of all nine essential amino acids, and are consequently an excellent source of protein for those who avoid all products of animal origin.

34 Almost faster than a speeding bullet. Alcoholic drinks are absorbed so fast and so efficiently that about 20 percent of the alcohol in a drink reaches your brain within seconds after you have consumed it.

35 Flushed away. Vitamin C and the entire list of B vitamins all dissolve in water. This means that you cannot store large amounts of these nutrients in your body. If you take in more than you need, you will urinate away the excess.

36 Water logged. Your body is mostly (50 to 70 percent) water. Exactly how much water depends on how old you are and how much muscle and fat you have. Muscle tissue has more water than fat tissue.

37 Where's the beef? The average American eats three hamburgers a week while Americans consume 40 billion burgers annually. The number of hamburgers and cheeseburgers consumed in restaurants has jumped by nearly a fifth since 1990.

38 Variety is the spice of life. No one food or class of foods, regardless of the benefits, can give you all the nutrients that you need. A healthful diet means variety and eating foods from all five food groups -- grains, vegetables, fruits, milk products and meats.

39 Less than imagined. You may not be absorbing the bulk of the nutrients you take in. Even under the best conditions, calcium uptake rarely exceeds 50 percent of intake, and maximum iron absorption from certain foods may be only 5 to 15 percent.

40 A matter of gender. A 140-pound man can keep his weight steady while eating about 10 percent more than a 140-pound woman, who is the same age and performs the same amount of physical work. Why? Men have more muscle tissue than women and, consequently, burn more calories than women both at rest and during activity.

41 Keeping things in perspective. Even if you are watching your calories, eating a few "goodies" once in a while is not a crime. The following snacks have only 50 to 60 calories each: two chocolate kisses; eight chocolate-covered mini grahams; one low-fat, sugar-free ice cream bar; 12 jelly beans; one mini peanut butter cup; and one cracker "sandwich" filled with peanut butter or cheese.

42 Fiber fills. Fiber-rich foods, such as many fruits and vegetables, tend to be bulkier and help you feel more full on a low-calorie diet.

43 Fat-free doesn't mean calorie-free. If a food package label says the food is fat free, the product must contain fewer than 0.5 grams of fat per serving. Calorie-free items must contain fewer than five calories per serving.

44 Swift delivery. Cooked vegetables should be served quickly. After 24 hours in the refrigerator, vegetables lose about one-fourth of their vitamin C, and after two days, nearly half.

45 Unwelcome occurrence. Almost three-quarters of all allergy reactions to food are caused by three foods: eggs, milk or peanuts.

46 Cancer buster. Cabbage-family (cruciferous) vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and cabbages, appear to protect you against colorectal, stomach and respiratory cancers.

47 Perfect partners. If you take vitamin and/or mineral supplements, you should take them with food. Food helps improve the absorption of nutrients. If fat-soluble vitamins are consumed on an empty stomach, they are not efficiently absorbed.

48 Think zinc. Just as women lose iron during menstrual bleeding, men lose zinc at ejaculation. As a result, men who are extremely active sexually may need extra zinc. Zinc is found in a variety of breads and cereals, meat, poultry and fish. The RDA for zinc is 15 milligrams for men and 12 milligrams for women.

49 Keep it coming. You need a fresh supply of water every day to replace what is lost when you breathe, perspire, urinate and defecate. On average, this amounts to approximately 12.5 cups a day.

50 The great pyramid. According to the Food Pyramid developed by the Food and Drug Administration, the majority of what we eat daily should come from grains such as bread, cereal, rice and pasta. The recommendation is for six to 11 servings of grains a day (six servings for a small female and 11 servings for a large male).