You know how people always say that when things taste good, they’re bad for you? And when things taste bad, they’re good for you?

Well, in the case of Kardea Nutrition, food not only tastes good, but it’s also very good for you.

Kardea’s snack bars deliver 50% more heart healthy soluble fiber than found in oatmeal, and each provides 1 gram of cholesterol lowering plant sterols.

Robert Leighton created Kardea in order to enable and empower people to manage their cholesterol naturally and nutritiously. Leighton founded Kardea as part of a personal mission to lower his own cholesterol. When he was 47, Leighton found himself moving from “border line” high cholesterol to outright high cholesterol, due to both diet and genetics.

Rather than rely on medication, Leighton took his love of culinary creations and belief in the science of natural cholesterol management and founded Kardea.

Kareda’s snack bars are available in four flavors: Banana Walnut, Chai Spice, Cranberry Almond and Lemon Ginger.

Each contains 1 gram of plant sterols, 7 grams of fiber with 5 grams soluble fiber, 3 grams of viscous soluble fiber (50% more viscous soluble fiber than oatmeal), and 7 grams of protein with 3.5 grams of soy protein.

Each bar is Kosher certified, has only 150 calories, contains no trans fat, and features a lower glycemic formulation. In addition, all are vegetarian-friendly and two, Chai Spice and Banana Walnut, are vegan.

I’ve tried ‘em all, and they are all great.

The Chai Spice is subtle and not to spicy, the Banana Walnut is the perfect blend of nutty banana flavors, the Cranberry Almond is a flavorful breakfast pick me up, and the Lemon Ginger will satisfy any sweet craving.

If your local Co-Op or other grocer doesn’t carry the bars yet, you can purchase them online here.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Call me crazy, but when I hear about a gadget that is not only eco-friendly but also helps fight teeth stains, well, I’m all for it.

Enter Wisdom Wands.

The Java Wand and Health Tea Wand are both made form hand-blown glass. The Java Wand’s filtered straw saves on electricity (up to three times less energy than that used by coffeemakers), electricity use (electricity costs for an average auto drip coffeemaker is 5.3 cents per cup, compared to heating water for a single cup at 1.9 cents per), use your own mug or travel cup and eliminate plastic and paper use (to go cups, lids, straws, filters), cleanup time and counter space.

Both are available in biodegradable cases and reduce teeth stains, and the tea version works with cold beverages like sodas, as well as red wine and berry-based drinks.

Interested? Click here to learn more.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Believe me when I tell you I so wish I was headed to the 24th Annual
Vegetarian Food Fair in Toronto. The Fair runs September 5 (4 to 9 p.m.), 6 (11 a.m. to8 p.m.) & 7 (11 a.m. to 6 p.m.) at the Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Canada, for those of you lucky enough to be in the vicinity).

This event is free to the public and features over 100 exhibitors, plenty of cooking demonstrations, free food samples, workshops, music and performances, an all-veg world café and much more. It even encourages BYOR (Bring Your Own Reusables–plates & cutlery).

The event kicks off with Rock Out! featuring a fierce band. Saturday will be a day filled with a celebration of diversity. And Sunday ends things off with a little family time with children’s entertainment.

For more information, click here.

Please also note that for the month of September, I will be blogging here only once per week, every Tuesday. If you miss me, be sure to stop by ThatDogBlog, PetSavvy, SavvyCooking, and SavvyHalloween, where I will also be blogging once per week this month. See you there!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s Friday, and it’s happy hour somewhere, so why not enjoy a glass of “green” wine?

According to a recent study presented at a meeting of the American Association of Wine Economists, bag-in-box (BIB) wine is better for the environment than bottled wine. It also keeps better, as the BIB packaging locks oxygen out, making the shelf life six weeks. In addition, the lighter packaging means more fits inside a standards shipping container, which decreases carbon emissions per liter.

BIB wine options include J.P. Chenet 3L Premium Cask, the
world’s best-selling French wine brand, in Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Other brands are Boho Vineyards, Killer Juice, Angel Juice, Fish Eye, Pinot Evil, Corbett Canyon, Casarsa Vineyards and Pacific Peak.

For more information, click here.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What better way to combine two passions (environmentalism and chocolate) than through companies that make delicious chocolate treats that don’t impact the environment?

First up, Endangered Species, which donates 10 percent of net profits to wildlife habitat conservation projects. Their Supreme Dark Chocolate bar has 72 percent cocoa content in 3 oz., and is gluten free and vegan, and made with all-natural, shade-grown, ethically traded supreme dark chocolate. The label features chimpanzee artwork from Judi Rideout and is printed on recycled paper (see above photo). The chocolate is ethically or fair traded, guaranteeing the workers fair wages and humane working conditions. This product is also certified Kosher by Orthodox Union. On the inside of the label you can learn about the plight of the chimpanzee as well as additional information on Endangered Species Chocolate.

Green & Black’s, which was the first chocolate bar awarded with the British Fairtrade Mark in 1994, is another company that makes eco-friendly chocolate treats. I’m a caramel freak, so I’m partial to their Caramel bar, which blends classic caramel and cocoa-rich milk chocolate and add a pinch or two of sea salt to cut through the sweetness. It’s deliciously decadent and available in 3.5oz bars.

I buy both brands at my local Co-Op.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Trish?a Yearwood is the latest in along line of celebrities to lend her mug to the Got Milk? campaign.

Her ad touts the nutrients in milk, which help maintain weight, as well as the protein, which helps build strong bones and muscles.

Yearwood joins many other famous Milk Mustache women, including Martha Stewart, Marg Helgenberger, Ali Vincent (winner of NBC”s “The Biggest Loser), Brooke Shields, Glenn Close, Laila Ali, Sara Ramirez, Mariska Hargitay, Kathy Smith, Beyonce and Tina Knowles, Elizabeth Hurley, Sheryl Crow and Serena Williams.

To check out some of the other ads, click here.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report sheds new light on food marketing to children and adolescents. The report, “Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation”, finds that 44 major food and beverage marketers spent $1.6 billion to promote their products to children under 12 and adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the United States in 2006.

The report also finds that the landscape of food advertising to youth is dominated by integrated advertising campaigns that combine traditional media, such as television, with previously unmeasured forms of marketing, such as packaging, in-store advertising, sweepstakes, and Internet.

These campaigns often involve cross-promotion with a new movie or popular television program.

Analyzing this data, the report calls for all food companies “to adopt and adhere to meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12.”

The Commission obtained the data for this report through compulsory process orders requiring financial and marketing information from beverage manufacturers and bottlers; producers of packaged snacks, baked goods, cereals, and prepared meals; makers of candy and chilled desserts; dairy marketers; fruit and vegetable growers; and quick-service restaurants.

The report finds that approximately $870 million was spent on child-directed marketing, and a little more than $1 billion on marketing to adolescents, with about $300 million overlapping between the two age groups in 2006.

Marketers spent more money on television advertising than on any other technique ($745 million or 46 percent of the 2006 total.) But for most food products, they employed the full spectrum of promotional techniques and formats when advertising to a young audience: themes from television ads carried over to packaging, displays in stores or restaurants, and the Internet.

That same year, cross-promotions tied foods and beverages to about 80 movies, television shows, and animated characters that appeal primarily to children. In total, the companies spent more than $208 million, representing 13 percent of all youth-directed marketing, on cross-promotional campaigns. For some food categories, such as restaurant food and fruits and vegetables, cross-promotions accounted for nearly 50 percent of reported child-directed expenditures.

For example, characters from Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean appeared in ads that were shown in movie theaters; and on television, product packaging, the Internet, and in-store displays. According to the report, food marketers created special limited-edition snacks, cereals, frozen waffles, and candies “in honor” of these movie characters.

In cross-promotional campaigns, television ads and packaging often directed viewers to a Web site where they could enter a sweepstakes to win a related premium, such as movie posters, character action figures, and cash. Consumers might also be directed to “advergames” (video games advertising a product), free downloads such as screen savers and ring tones, podcasts, and online video episodes known as “Webisodes.”

The report finds that, although there is room for improvement, the food and beverage industries have made significant progress since the FTC and the Department of Health and Human Services co-sponsored the Workshop on Marketing, Self-Regulation & Childhood Obesity in 2005.

The report cites the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, launched by the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) in 2006, for taking “important steps to encourage better nutrition and fitness among the nation’s children,” by changing the mix of food and beverage advertising messages directed to children under 12 and encouraging them toward healthier eating and better physical fitness.

To date, 13 of the largest food and beverage companies – accounting for the majority of food and beverage expenditures directed toward children – have adopted the initiative, pledging either not to advertise to children under 12, or to limit their television, radio, print, and Internet advertising to foods that meet specified nutritional
standards.

In addition, several major food and beverage companies have adopted the Alliance for a Healthier Generation guidelines, which are designed to lower the caloric value and increase the nutritional value of foods and drinks sold in schools outside the school meal program.

The report recommends that all companies that market food or beverage products to children under 12 adopt meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products – standards that extend to all advertising and promotional techniques, including, for example, product packaging and in-store marketing.

Companies also should improve the nutritional profiles of products marketed to children and adolescents, whether in or outside of schools; cease the in-school promotion of products that do not meet nutritional standards; and improve the quality and consistency of the nutritional criteria adopted for “better for you” products. The report also recommends steps to enhance the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ initiative.

Finally, the report recommends that more media and entertainment companies restrict the licensing of their characters to healthier foods and beverages that are marketed to children, so that cross-promotions with popular children’s movies and television characters will favor more nutritious foods and drinks. Media companies also should consider limiting ads on child-directed programs to those that promote healthier foods and beverages.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Whenever my husband and I go on vacation (or really, any time we know we’ll be away from home for a few hours), we pack some Odwalla bars just in case we get hungry.

Odwalla (pronounced Oh-dwa-la) is a juice company founded in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 1980 and is now headquartered in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

The Odwalla brand includes juices, smoothies and similar health beverages, as well as protein bars.

The protein bars are available in a variety of flavors, including Banana Nut, Berries GoMega, Choco-Walla, Chocolate Chip Peanut, Odwalla Superfood, Peanut Crunch, Strawberry Pomegranate, Super Protein, Sweet & Salty Almond, Sweet & Salty Peanut, and Trail Mix.

We’ve taste tested them all over the years, and the two we keep coming back to the most are the Superfood and Super Protein. They’ve stood in for breakfast, lunch and even dinner in a pinch, and we buy them at our local Co-Op, although they are carried in a lot of grocery stores, too.

Not only are Odwalla bars wonderful, but I use their Carrot Juice in my daily smoothies for ad added vegetable serving that tastes great. 

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Speaking of sugar, there’s one item (besides baked goods) in which Stevia will not do, and that is the highly addictive phenomenon known as Kettle Corn.

If you’ve never before tried this sweet-and-salty popcorn made with granulated sugar, salt, and oil, walk–no, run!–to your nearest fair, amusement park or open air market, where you will most likely find a Kettle Corn vendor preparing the delicious stuff.

In the close but no cigar vein, you can also find Kettle Corn in the microwave popcorn section of your local supermarket.

Or DIY with one of these recipes:

Kettle Corn
Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn

But to me it’s kind of like salads and/or sandwiches, both of which always tastes better when someone else makes them. You haven’t ad Kettle Corn until you’ve bought it freshly made and piping hot from a vendor.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If, when you think of sweeteners, immediately you start humming “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, you’re not alone.

Generally speaking, there are two types of sweeteners, nutritive and non-nutritive. Among the nutritive are sugar alcohols, honey, fruits, and syrups (including maple, sugar beet, corn, cane, golden, barley malt, Molasses, brown rice, and agave).

Non-nutritive sweeteners include Acesulfame potassium (also known as Sunett), Alitame (also known as Aclame), Aspartame (also known as Equal or Nutrasweet), Saccharin (also known as Sweet ‘n’ Low), and Sucralose (also known as SucraPlus and Splenda).

The rule of thumb is that natural is always better than synthetic sugar, however, white refined sugar has been linked to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.

Over the years, I’ve gone from using the blue packet, to the yellow, and, finally, I’ve landed on Stevia, or “sweetleaf,” an herb that has no calories and provides a natural sweetener that’s concentrated (It’s about 30 times sweeter than sugar!).

I get mine at my local Co-Op, where it’s sold in a tincture bottle. It’s convenient enough that I bring it with me when I’m dining out to sweeten tea and coffee. I’ve even used a drop or two in recipes in the past, but I don’t recommend baking with it, as baking recipes need the bulk granulated sugar provides.  

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.