A Dragon in Sheep's Clothing» Diet

Why sauerkraut is good for you

Heidi — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:43:41 +0000

Just learned today that fresh sauerkraut is a “probiotic” food. Yep, it’s one of those “good bacteria” sources, not unlike yogurt or other fermented products. (Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage. I know, sounds less appetizing that way. Let’s stick to “sauerkraut.”) Basically, it supports the good bacteria in your digestive system.

Sauerkraut and other fermented foods are recommended to help minimize Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Sauerkraut Recipes from Great Lakes Kraut Co. (Krrrrisp Kraut) >>

P.S. The probiotic thing applies to pickles, too.

Yay! …sort of

Heidi — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:40:01 +0000

Being 25 pounds overweight doesn’t appear to raise your risk of dying from cancer or heart disease, says a new government study that seems to vindicate Grandma’s claim that a few extra pounds won’t kill you.

The news isn’t all good: Overweight people do have a higher chance of dying from diabetes and kidney disease.

However, having a little extra weight actually seemed to help people survive some illnesses — results that baffled several leading health researchers.

Obesity researcher Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill notes that the study “is about death. This is not about health and sickness.”

It doesn’t address whether cancer and heart disease occur more often in overweight people — something that has been suggested by other research.

Diet Dr Pepper update

Heidi — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:27:37 +0000

Quick update on my Diet Dr Pepper experiment.

No adverse effects like headaches or digestion problems. Yay! Although it does seem like I have to pee a little more often than when I drank regular Dr Pepper.

Since I’ve had good results, I’m going to start trying other diet sodas and see how they are. Topping off my list are Diet Pepsi Jazz and Diet Rite, mostly because the sodas with additional flavors are likely to cover up the taste of sugarless sweeteners most effectively. Diet Rite actually uses Splenda, which holds promise, although I have found on occasion that Splenda somehow makes things too sweet. Pepsi Jazz has a combination of aspartame and “ace-k” sweeteners.

Diet Dr Pepper experiment

Heidi — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:55:48 +0000

I made the decision this week to try switching to Diet Dr Pepper. I usually avoid diet soda because I can taste the aspartame. Yes, I can. I year ago I tried Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke, thinking the flavors might cover the aspartame, and I couldn’t even finish one 12 oz. can. I felt nauseous. (And to think that I used to drink Diet Coke in high school!) Diet Dr Pepper, however, has somehow managed to cover the taste of aspartame well enough that I don’t really think about it. It definitely tastes different than regular — more syrupy, I would say — but at least I can drink it.

Anyway, the most important reason for the switch is to free up those calories that I get from regular Dr Pepper. I usually drink 3-4 cans a day. They’re my caffeine boost at work. (I don’t have any at home, but I need something to get me going in the morning. Since I don’t do straight coffee or tea, this is the next best thing.) So at 3 cans, that’s 450 calories a day from regular Dr Pepper. I’m thinking that if I have at least 450 extra calories to work with, I could lose weight, or at least feel less guilty about indulging in a Krispy Kreme.

The experimental part of this… experiment.. is to see if I can stomach the Diet Dr Pepper and to see how my body reacts in general. Like I said, the taste is much better than the other diet sodas I’ve tried, but I’ll wait a couple of weeks to see if I build up an intolerance before I’m convinced this is a permanent solution. And then there are headaches. My best friend used to get headaches from diet soda, but she never knew it until she switched to regular while she was pregnant and became headache-free. So I’m also on the look out for headaches.

It’s been 4 1/2 days so far…. and so far, so good!