Mega Red Packet

Increase your understanding of trans fatty acids -- harmful artificial fats that the Federal Government now requires to appear on nutrition labels -- with the help of University of Maryland Medical Center registered dietitian Mary Beth Sodus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration shed light on a potentially serious health threat recently when it announced that products containing trans fatty acids require stringent nutritional labeling starting in 2006. And one city in the U.S. has gone further. In December 2006, New York City became the first city in the nation to ban artificial trans fats at all restaurants. Restaurants in the city will be required to eliminate the artificial trans fats from all of their foods by July 2008. Trans fats are artificial fats made when hydrogen gas reacts with oil. They can be found in cookies, crackers, icing, potato chips, margarine and microwave popcorn.Trans fats can be natural or artificial. Small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in beef an...

The glycemic index measures how fast a food is likely to raise your blood sugar. This can be helpful. For example, if your blood sugar is low and continuing to drop during exercise, you would prefer to eat a carb that will raise your blood sugar quickly. On the other hand, if you would like to keep your blood sugar from dropping during a few hours of mild activity, you may prefer to eat a carb that has a lower glycemic index and longer action time. If your blood sugar tends to spike after breakfast, you may want to select a cereal that has a lower glycemic index. The numbers below give that food's glycemic index based on glucose, which is one of the fastest carbohydrates available.  Glucose is given an arbitrary value of 100 and other carbs are given a number relative to glucose.  Faster carbs (higher numbers) are great for raising low blood sugars and for covering brief periods of intense exercise. Slower carbs (lower numbers) are helpful for preventing overnight drops in...