Andrea Beaman is one of the most sensible and kind voices out there on the topic of feeding and treating yourself right. What other health and nutrition guru would admit to smoking the occasional cigarette (but only after a couple of drinks!), and explain it in a way that shows us how to quit all our unhealthy addictions?

Andrea was FitFam's guest on the December Member Call. Listen online (60 min) or download the mp3 below to discover:

• several healthy holiday treats
• whether short fasts during the holiday season will make things better or worse
• the mindset shift that allows anyone to "find the time" to prepare healthy food every day
• three convenience foods that can turn anyone into a healthy short-order cook on a moment's notice
• how to quit smoking by not quitting smoking
• the secret to breaking food addictions without struggling or feeling deprived

In today's Disease-Proof Blog, Gerald Pugliese writes in a sad and amazed tone about the American love affair with fried food:

America is obsessed with fried food! And you don’t need to be a health expert to see it. Fried and deep-fried foods are all around us, from French fries to deep-fried Twinkies, Oreos, and Coca-Cola—like drinking it isn’t bad enough. Yes America, we’ve got a frying fetish!

Never is it more evident than at local carnivals and state fairs.

Well, your intrepid FitFam blogger has done the unthinkable: I went undercover to the North Carolina State Fair last month, and managed to capture these exclusive photos of ACTUAL signs advertising ACTUAL fried foods that I could smell, see, and get that tickling feeling in the back of my throat that preceeds an urgent need to vomit.

I'm no Morgan Spurlock, willing to actually put it into my body, but I still think it took a lot of intestinal fortitude (literally!) to take these pictures. Gerald, please sit down before viewing…  Keep Reading…

Students in England's state schools are up in arms over the government ban on junk food lunches, according to an article in today's New York Times:

Five months after the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver succeeded in cajoling, threatening and shaming the British government into banning junk food from its school cafeterias, many schools are learning that you can lead a child to a healthy lunch, but you can’t make him eat.

The fancy new menu at the Rawmarsh School here?

“It’s rubbish,” said Andreas Petrou, an 11th grader… “We didn’t get a choice,” he said of the school food. “They just told us we were having it.”

Goodness! What is this evil and draconian menu foisted upon the helpless children of the Empire?

The government’s regulations, which took effect in September, have banished from school cafeterias the cheap, instantly gratifying meals that children love by default: the hamburgers, the French fries, the breaded, deep-fried processed meat, the sugary drinks.

Now schools have to provide at least two portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day for each child, serve fish at least once a week, remove salt from lunchroom tables, limit fried foods to two servings a week and cut out candy, soda and potato chips altogether.

Why is this so objectionable? Two reasons:  Keep Reading…

For those of you unable to attend the North Carolina State Fair this week, your intrepid fitness reporter brings you the latest in culinary suicide: Fried Coke. Keep Reading…

Brian Wansink's new book, Mindless Eating, is due out in a few days. The Cornell professor has conducted fascinating experiments looking our how much we eat, and why most of us seem to be eating way more than we need.

His conclusions are fascinating, and they speak to the large topic of mindlessness. For example, moviegoers in Chicago were given buckets of 5-day-old popcorn to eat as they entered the theater. Those given large buckets ended up eating 53% more stale popcorn than those with smaller buckets. And they didn't even enjoy it!  Keep Reading…

The New York City Board of Health looks like its serious in its efforts to keep New York residents safe from trans fats, the synthetic oil and butter substitutes that do nasty things to our insides. They voted to limit the amount of trans fat per serving in the city's 20,000 restaurants.

Many restauranteurs are upset, of course, in the same way bar owners were ticked off when they weren't allowed to poison their staff with cigarettes, and the way car manufacturers were outraged when they were forced by the government to put in seat belts, air bags, and other life-saving technologies.

Keep Reading…

Check out these Banana Oatmeal Cookies from the Vegan Lunch Box blog.

I'd add raisins and sesame seeds, and possibly some apple juice if the bananas aren't mushy enough.

Also by Vegan Lunch Box, nice looking fruit and nut bars. Although they're touted as "wheat-free," they do have a cup of spelt flour, which is pretty much the same as wheat, at least as experienced by folks with wheat allergies. If you're concerned, substitute a cup of oat flour, which you can make in any insanely expensive blender like a VitaMix.

Brief Commercial Interruption: I wouldn't trade my VitaMix for anything (except possibly a Mahogany-backed 1937 Martin Dreadnought with mother of pearl inlay). If you want to buy one from my reseller account, I get a small kickback – er, referral fee – and you get free shipping. Go to www.VitaMix.com or call 1-800-848-2649 and use code 06-001400.

Experiment and post your thoughts to comments.

Q: I travel a lot for business, and often find myself limited to fast food restaurants. I'm trying to eat healthier, but there aren't many healthy options a lot of the time. What do I do? Keep Reading…

Yesterday, my family joined some friends on an outing, after which we all went out to eat at the Panera's in Chapel Hill. I saw something new in restauranting – a binder with the ingredients and nutritional profile of every item on the menu. Just as if they were a supermarket, and this labeling was required.

Two reactions: Keep Reading…

Q: I want to eat right, but I find it hard to make the right choices all the time. Help! Keep Reading…