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Even when you know better than eat fast food there may be times when that is your only choice.

Think family road trips, business travel, or kids who won’t have it any other way.

The author of “Eat This Not That” has compiled a list of 14 meals at the most popular fast food places to make your choices easy.

These are not the healthiest options overall but in a pinch you are armed with information to get the most out your foray into fast food.

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The connection between sugar and Alzheimer’s can not be disputed.

The New Scientist Magazine, September 3, 2012 issue explains the sugar-Alzheimer’s link as the condition by which our muscle, fat, and liver cells stop responding to insulin.

The cells no longer metabolize glucose properly thereby leading to insulin resistance or pre-diabetes.

This, then causes the pancreas to produce excess amounts of insulin even as excess glucose builds up in the blood causing insulin spikes which overwhelm the brain.

Insulin also regulates neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, which are crucial for memory and learning and is also important for the function and growth of blood vessels, which supply oxygen and glucose to the brain.

There’s also research tying brain dysfunction directly to excess sugar consumption. In a 2012 study, UCLA scientists fed rats a heavy ration of fructose (which makes up roughly a half of both table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup) and noted both insulin resistance and impaired brain function within six weeks. Interestingly, they found both insulin function and brain performance to improve in the sugar-fed rats when they were also fed omega-3 fatty acids. In other words, another quirk of the American diet, deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids, seems to make us more vulnerable to the onslaught of sweets.

Another facet of our diets, lots of cheap added fats, may also trigger insulin problems and brain dysfunction. New Scientist flags yet another recent study, this one from University of Washington researchers, finding that rats fed a high-fat diet for a year lost their ability to regulate insulin, developed diabetes, and showed signs of brain deterioration.

Government subsidies of corn and sugar have made these commodities incredibly inexpensive for the food industry which puts sweeteners in almost everything we eat.

This, at the same time Alzheimer’s costs $200 billion a year in health care alone.

The U.S. government has declared a mandate to find a cure for Alzheimer’s by 2025.

Cheap sugar comes at a very high price, indeed.

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The key to maintaining normal body weight lies in regular exercise and getting weight under control before puberty.

Even though some teenagers may eat less than their thinner peers, fat cells laid down in the body at an early age never go away.

Lack of exercise and an abundance of fat cells alter body chemistry and create an environment where fewer calories in cause more weight gain.

And obesity expert Matthew Gillman of the Harvard School of Public Health says the amount of physical activity kids participate in is key. “When you’re less physically active, you actually need fewer calories to maintain your weight,” he explains.

But if that weight is already higher than it should be, that could signal the beginning of a long-term problem.

“Once you become overweight, there are changes in your body that make you different from someone who’s not [overweight],” explains Sophia Yen of Stanford School of Medicine. “You have extra fat cells, and you have different insulin levels,” which can make it feel like you’re eating less than you are.

Being fit at at early age is crucial and tackling weight gain before it begins can provide a lifetime of good health.

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It seems that buying organically produced food does’t provide all of the solutions that we are looking for.

Researchers at Stanford University help shed some light on this debate.

In this interview the most common questions are asked and answered to help you understand what you’re paying for and what you’re getting when you choose organic.

So if you ask people, they say that the two main reasons they eat organic food are because it’s nutritious, and because it’s good for the environment. But she also finds there are a whole bunch of emotional values that are tied up with eating organic food. So people who eat organic food tend to value altruism. They tend to value benevolence. They tend to value spirituality. And organic food has gotten wrapped up in all of these values that don’t necessarily have to do with the very specific things that science studies.

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Wine definitely has health benefits.

Cardiovascular health, lowered blood sugar and healthy weight maintenance are all benefits of polyphenols and antioxidants in red wine, however, research has shown that without the alcohol the benefits are just as effective if not more so.

Although there have been many studies on the impact of moderate drinking on health, the findings have been mixed, with some studies showing a benefit and others suggesting none. The new study found that 3 ounces of gin a day had no impact on blood pressure, while consumption of regular red wine led to a small, but not statistically significant, improvement.
The new study suggests that if you’re going to have a drink, red wine would be the healthiest choice, said Dr. Kelly Anne Spratt, a heart disease prevention specialist and a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.