What You May Not Know about Pumpkins, Tomatoes, Wine, and Calories

There's no problem finding food items to write about. Food is always in the news and always of interest. We think you'll find these four pieces about food and drink useful and enlightening--even the final one on the most dreaded ingredient of all--calories.   

Pumpkins

In October, we carve them; in November, we eat them.  According to the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, that's a good thing because pumpkin (a fruit that's a type of winter squash and in the gourd family) is quite healthful.  Although it's 90% water, it also contains protein and potassium (one cup of cooked pumpkin has more potassium than a banana) as well as copper, manganese, zinc, iron, selenium, magnesium, vitamin C, riboflavin, and vitamin E.  Wow! That's a mouthful of health benefits.  Add to all that the beta-carotene, which may reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancer and prevent arthritis from getting worse. 

Of course, pumpkin pie is a required dessert choice on Thanksgiving Day.  However, there are other (and some healthier) ways to consume it, for example,  cubed as a vegetable or puréed in soups, waffles, pancakes, muffins,  biscuits, cake, or a pumpkin-maple custard.   You can buy canned puréed pumpkin. If you cut up your own, save and cook the seeds.  They're quite healthy, too.  

Just google "pumpkin recipes" to locate a huge selection of them on many different sites.

Tomatoes

If you think tomatoes don't taste as good as they used to, you're right. The University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter explains why.  For the past few decades, "nearly all tomatoes have been bred to start off uniformly green so that they can be picked at the same time and thus harvested efficiently, after which they turn the desired uniform red color."  The trouble is, when you mess with Mother Nature, she may give you a spanking.  In this case, scientists have discovered, the same gene mutation that creates the light green color also causes tomatoes to produce less sugar and less of some other substances that give them flavor.  So what's the lover of old-time tastier tomatoes to do?  The Wellness Letter has two recommendations: 1) Buy your tomatoes at farmers' and other specialty markets.  2) Don't put your tomatoes in the refrigerator! Keep them at room temperature.  The cold tends to make them lose flavor, and today's tomatoes need to hang onto whatever already reduced flavor they start out with. 

Wine

Looking for the perfect wine to achieve the perfect first date?  The matchmaking website theJMom has the answer. It recently featured Matt Levy, president of Kosher Wine.com, whose romantic recommendation is Don Mendoza Reserve Malbec.  Don Mendoza wines, Levy says, come from Argentina's wine country, from the province of Mendoza, "where the vineyards benefit from porous soils, very cold nights, hot days, and the purest water." Mendoza wines, he says, have intense aromas and fruity taste and are ideal with meat entrées and with pasta with meat and tomato sauce, making a second date inevitable. TheJMom is really into pushing romance along; the site gives old-fashioned match-making with a high-tech spin by encouraging Jewish moms with single adult children to scan the site for the ideal spouse for their progeny.

Required Calorie Counts on Menus

Soon, federal regulations will require all restaurant chains with more than 20 locations to post calorie information on their menu boards.   The Affordable Care Act--commonly called "Obamacare"--makes menu-labeling a national law. However, the exact regulations and the timetable have not yet been announced. Time has been allowed for complaints to be filed related to exemptions. When the new law goes into effect, vending machines will also have to post calorie counts. 

In some cities, calorie posting is already required, and many companies are jumping the gun and displaying this information now. McDonald's began posting counts in mid-September, which put pressure on their competitors to do the same.  Now, McDonald's customers are met with unhappy news that the M&M McFlurry (made with ice cream and M&Ms) contains 930 calories It's good to know that the Angus Bacon and Cheeseburger with fries and a drink total 1410 calories, while a side salad with low-fat dressing is only 55 calories.  Panera Bread and Starbucks are also adding calorie information ahead of time. 

Will horrifying numbers affect customers' food choices? It's too early to know for sure. At least one study (conducted by Stanford University) showed that in New York City (where calorie counts have been required since 2008) there has been a 26% decline in the total calories purchased at Starbucks.  

What's equally important is this: some fast food restaurants have added more food choices that are healthier and lower in calories.  Dunkin' Donuts and IHop, for example, have added oatmeal to the menu, a step in the right direction. Perhaps someday we'll stop thinking of fast food as junk food.

Soft drink companies are also getting on the calorie count bandwagon.  In early October, the American Beverage Association and PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Dr Pepper/Snapple announced the beginning of a new vending machine program designed to help fight obesity. The new program will start in 2013 in city buildings in Chicago and San Antonio. 

Dieters, cheer up.  Help is on the way. 

Source(s):

Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter, November 2012.

thejmom.com "The Perfect Wine for a First Date"

https://www.thejmom.com/blogs/19

University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter, October 2012.

newsnet5.com "Ignorance is no excuse any longer; chain restaurants staring positing calorie counts on menu items"

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/money/consumer/ignorance-is-no-excuse-any-longer-chain-restaurants-starting-posting-calorie-counts-on-menu-items

nytimes.com "McDonald's Menu to Post Calorie Data"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/business/mcdonalds-to-start-posting-calorie-counts.html?_r=0

foodpolitics.com "Currently browsing posts about: Calorie-Labeling"

http://www.foodpolitics.com/tag/calorie-labeling/