Hewitt Health Wellness Network
Enjoying
A Healthy Lifestyle with
Bryant & Anita Hewitt
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Food To Chew On:
Say Thanks
Psalm 136:1 (NKJV)
Oh, give
thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
All of life
is one continuous thanksgiving.
7 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Your
Thanksgiving Meal
When it
comes to Thanksgiving, every year is delightfully repetitive: Turkey, stuffing,
mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pecan pie. Your uncle will make the same
insane political assertions; your young cousins will sulk. There will be
lipstick all over your cheeks. You'll vow to do a better job with the gravy --
and then it will taste familiarly paste-like, despite your best efforts. We
hate to interrupt this idyll of sameness, but we think there are a few things
you might not know about your Thanksgiving meal. And we're here to tell you.
1 Thanksgiving is responsible for the creation
of TV dinners
In late
November 1953, the food company C.A. Swanson & Sons had a problem: They'd
completely overstocked on turkey meat and Thanksgiving had already passed. With
260 tons of turkey, the company's founders presented their employees with a
challenge: Could anyone figure out what to do with the nearly quarter million
pounds of bird? Here's what happened next, as told in Gourmet magazine:
Gerry
Thomas, a shrewd Swanson & Sons salesman, traveled from his company’s base
in Nebraska to the kitchens of Pan American Airways in Pittsburgh. At the time,
Pan Am was testing single-compartment foil trays used to serve warm in-flight
meals to passengers. Thomas “borrowed” one of the trays (conveniently slipping
it into his coat pocket) and spent his return trip drawing up plans for a
three-compartment version that would ensure that peas and gravy would never
touch each other.
Thomas
helped devise a marketing strategy that focused on the new American obsession
with television, so that no one would notice the meals were simply leftover
Thanksgiving foods in a futuristic-looking box. And within a year, the company
had sold 10 million meals.
2 Light and dark meat turkey really are a bit
different
One of the main differences between
light and dark meat is a compound, myoglobin, which is found in very active
muscle because it helps muscles transport oxygen, according to a New York Times
explainer. Turkeys, because they walk a great deal, have myoglobin in the leg
and thigh tissue, but not nearly as much in the wings or breast meat.
Dark meat has about twice the fat
of light meat and contains saturated fat (which light meat does not), although
it is still low in overall fat content, and is also slightly higher in
calories. By replacing dark meat with light, you could save 45 calories and 6
grams of saturated fat per serving, according to EatingWell, but you'd miss out
on several vitamins that dark meat is rich in, including B6 and B12, iron and
zinc.
3
You probably don't really eat 4,500 calories -- you just feel like it
Yes, the Calorie Control Council
estimates that Americans average 4,500 calories on the day of Thanksgiving, but
as Tara Parker-Pope at The New York Times points out, the CCC represents the
interests of the diet food industry. Her independent investigation of a
substantial Thanksgiving meal yielded 2,486 calories, though it should be noted
that she didn't include alcohol or appetizers and finger foods in her
calculation. Our own inquiry, Unreal Eats, put the count at about 3,782,
although let it be said that we were generous with the portions.
No matter how many calories are
available to you, your body really does have several measures in place to help
you stop (if you're so inclined to listen to them). As Parker-Pope says:
"After about 1,500 calories in one sitting, the gut releases a hormone
that causes nausea. Average stomach capacity is about 8 cups, although it can
range from 4 to 12."
4
Cranberries' closest relatives are blueberries
It's hard to believe that the
almost bitterly tart bog berries count crowd-pleasing blueberries as their
closest relatives, but both are species of the genus Vaccinium. While crans are
hard and sour and blues are juicy and sweet, both are native to North America,
and boast high levels of the antioxidant class flavonoids and richness in
vitamin C.
5
This is not a yam
It's a sweet potato. Americans
refer to the orange-fleshed variety of tubers as yams and the paler versions as
sweet potatoes, but the truth is that they're all sweet potatoes. As HuffPost
Taste previously explained, yams are tropical tubers that typically have a
black, bark-like skin and pale flesh. Unless you're going to a specialty store,
chances are there are no yams in your casserole.
6
The human genome is 75 percent identical to the pumpkin's
If this doesn't drive the point
home for you, nothing will: DNA is what connects all living things. And, as
humans, we are 75 percent genetically identical to everyone's favorite pie
ingredient. Yes, we have the same earthly origins as a bulbous squash. Maybe
this year, be thankful for the other 25 percent.
7
Tryptophan isn't making you sleepy -- that extra scoop of 'taters is the real
culprit
A
Healthy Menu For
Enjoy a breakfast of 1 whole wheat
English muffin with 1 tsp. soft margarine and 1 tsp. no sugar jam, 1 small
orange, 1 cup nonfat milk and coffee or tea with a sugar substitute. For lunch,
choose ½ cup tuna on whole wheat pita bread, 1 tsp. low fat mayonnaise, ½ cup
green beans and ½ cup fresh blueberries. For dinner, have 3 oz. orange roughy,
½ cup roasted new potatoes, 1 small banana and 1 cup nonfat milk.
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