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| photo by Chris Forster |
Current Nutrition articles:
Cholesterol:
Redefining the standards
Wheat
and Gluten-free Update.
Did you know?
Cholesterol: Redefining
the standards
Cholesterol is a naturally occurring lipid (fat) that
circulates in the bloodstream. Our bodies make it, and we take it
in through foods we eat. When we have too much cholesterol in circulation
it clogs up the arteries and can cause heart disease. Cholesterol
is contained solely in animal products such as meat, poultry, seafood,
eggs, cheese, milk, and yogurt. No foods of plant origin contain
cholesterol. The "bad" cholesterol circulating in our
bloodstreams is elevated by eating saturated fat and trans-fat as
well as by consumption of cholesterol. Saturated fat is found in
animal products, such as those listed above, and in varying degrees
in vegetable oils. Most vegetable oils have a higher proportion
of beneficial liquid oils to saturated fats except for coconut oil
and palm oil (not to be confused with palm kernel oil). The beneficial
fats in vegetable oils are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats,
which help promote "good" cholesterol levels (see explanation
below). These beneficial fats are found in olive oil, canola oil,
almonds and avocados, to name a few sources. Trans-fat elevates
blood cholesterol even more than saturated fat. Trans-fat is a liquid
oil that has been chemically altered to behave more like a solid
fat, and it does so in the body. It is listed on ingredients labels
as hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil, vegetable shortening,
or margarine.
Total cholesterol is not the best indicator of the
health of your arteries. Cholesterol subcategories and triglycerides,
another type of fat, are better indicators. LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein)
is the "bad cholesterol" that makes deposits in the arteries,
and HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) is the "good cholesterol"
that carries excess cholesterol out of the bloodstream. You want
low levels of LDL, which is affected by diet. And you want HDL above
a certain level, which is affected by diet as well as exercise.
Keeping triglycerides low is also beneficial for heart health. Triglyceride
levels are elevated through eating sugar and sweets as well as starchy
foods like refined flours. Refined flour is one that is not listed
as "whole" on the ingredients label, such as "wheat
flour" or "flour" rather than "whole wheat flour".
The new guidelines for healthy cholesterol levels
were released last May by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
The new criteria almost tripled the number of American adults who
don’t meet the healthy guidelines. They are listed below.
| Cholesterol Goals |
| Types of Cholesterol |
Old Guidelines (1993) |
New Guidelines (2001) |
| LDL Cholesterol |
Less than 130 mg/dl |
Less than 100 mg/dl |
| HDL Cholesterol |
More than 35mg/dl |
More than 40mg/dl |
| Triglycerides |
Less than 200 mg/dl |
Less than 150 mg/dl |
Wheat and Gluten-free
Update
We introduced a number of wheat and gluten free products last summer.
Customers love the gourmet Foods by George. Those Pecan Tarts really
rock! We carry them in the Cambridge store and will soon have them
in Jamaica Plain. (JP got them in when we introduced the products,
and they sold right away - but they accidently weren’t reordered,
sorry JP!) Compare our prices with other natural foods stores! The
Glutino bagels have had a delivery problem. We are working on it
and hope to have them back soon!
Foods by George
The gourment Foods by George, Brownies, Crumbcake, and Pecan Tarts
have been selling well in the Cambridge store. We recently moved
them to the new bakery shelving at the end between aisles 1 and
2 facing the cheese cooler. Those delicious Pecan Tarts with the
buttery crust have been flying off the shelf. The moist chocolaty
brownies are so good you’d never guess they were not made with
wheat flour.
The crumbcake is soft and flavorful, wonderful warmed
and served with some of those local tree-ripened peaches! What a
great breakfast or desert. We hope to have them back in JP soon!
Bagels, English Muffins, Pizza
Shells
The samples we received from Glutino were moist, chewy and delicious.
I was very excited about these products, as a wheat-free bagel is
hard to find! However, we’ve had some difficulties with deliveries.
They are shipped all the way from Canada. Customs seized the first
order coming across the border, (for no particular reason, I wonder
what they thought was in those bagels anyway?) so by the time they
decided they were not contraband or whatever, and released them
for shipment to Harvest, they were very stale! The company sent
us another order UPS to replace that one, and the boxes arrived
crushed.
We finally had some on the shelf for a while in both
stores, but they turned stale very quickly, so we pulled them off.
We are working with the company to get a delivery schedule that
brings us fresh, intact bagels and maybe english muffins. Let us
know if you’d like them back and we’ll keep trying. (email
Dawn Olcott, or call her at 617-661-1580 X129 and leave a specific
message)
Did you know?
By weight, broccoli has more vitamin C than an orange and has as
much calcium as milk?
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