Watermelon Taboule Stacks with Grilled Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 pieces 3 X 5 inch thin slices of seedless watermelon

14 ounces prepared taboule

4 pieces 3 or 4 grilled skinless chicken breasts, chilled and sliced

1 piece minced fresh chives and parsley for garnish

Instructions:

Place a watermelon slice on each of 4 plates.

Spoon half of the taboule over the 4 watermelon slices in as even a layer as possible.

Place another slice of watermelon over the taboule.

Spoon the remaining taboule over the top slices of watermelon.

Arrange the chicken slices over the taboule.

Dust the chicken slices with chives and parsley. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Information:

Calories 313 , Protein 37.3g, Total Fat 6.5g , Saturated Fat 1.5g, Carbohydrates 28.5g , Cholesterol 87mg, Sodium 340mg , Fiber 5g , Sugar 6.7g

Source: www.watermelon.org

Weight management is often touted as simple as calories in vs. calories out. In reality, weight management is a complex balance between food choices, physical activity and hormone regulation, but calories still count! One strategy to help us determine how many calories we are consuming is to check the calorie content in our favorite restaurant meals. These values are often available on the website or menu of many chain restaurants. This nutrition information is used by many people to incorporate dining out as part of a healthful diet, which is why the results of a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association is so disheartening.

Researchers from Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University investigated how many calories are in popular restaurant dishes and compared these values to those reported by the restaurant.They randomly collected 269 food items from national fast-food restaurants and sit-down chain restaurants in Boston, Indianapolis and Little Rock, AR and measured their actual calorie content in the lab.

In nearly 20% of all samples tested, the real caloric value was about 100 calories higher than reported by the restaurant. One food was even 1000 calories more than listed. Interestingly, there was greater error in sit-down restaurant meals than fast food chains which can likely be attributed to human error regarding portioning in the kitchen.

Bottom Line: The only way to really know what you are eating is to cook at home. If you eat out often, you need to educate yourself about portion sizes and ask questions about food preparation when ordering. 

Source: Accuracy of Stated Energy Contents of Restaurant Foods. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2011; 306 (3): 287 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2011.993 

Many people know that red meat comes with a heavy dose of saturated fat and cholesterol which are both bad for the heart. Now, new evidence shows that skipping the beef, pork and poultry can protect against a common bowel disorder called diverticular disease; a condition that affects the large bowel or colon and causes painful abdominal cramps, bloating, gas, constipation and diarrhea. One speculation for the cause of this disease is the lack of fiber in most Westerners' diets.

Researchers from the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford used data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Oxford study, following 47,033 British adults for an average of 11.6 years. They found that over that time frame, there were 812 cases of diverticular disease. After adjusting for health factors such as smoking, alcohol and body mass index (BMI), vegetarians had a 31% lower risk of developing diverticular disease compared with meat eaters.

Bottom Line: Cutting out meat and poultry "cold turkey" can be difficult.  Try to start small by reducing the amount of animal flesh you eat weekly. Adding fiber-filled, plant-based meals can help keep your heart and your colon in tip top shape.

Source: Diet and risk of diverticular disease in Oxford cohort of European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC): prospective study of British vegetarians and non-vegetarians. BMJ, 2011; 343:d4131 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d4131