Consumer Health:* Some 325,000 Americans are hospitalized each year for food-related illnesses; more than 5000 die annually.

* Two thirds of Americans are overweight, and 30% are medically obese. The rate of obesity among children and adolescents has risen from 4% in the 1970s to nearly 15% today.

* Diet and physical activity are now the second leading cause of preventable deaths in America, after tobacco.

* Medical costs to treat these diet-related ailments, such as diabetes and heart disease, run $78 billion a year — nearly 10% of all US medical expenditures.

Environment

* Factory farms, packing thousands of animals into barns and feedlots, produce more than 1.3 billion tons of waste each year — enough to fill 52 million 18-wheeler semi trucks.

* US agriculture dumps nearly 500,000 tons of pesticides — many of them carcinogenic — on food crops each year.

* Agricultural pesticides kill an estimated 67 million birds annually.

* Over the past 30 years, nearly half of all pesticides studied have been found in stream sediment and in 64% of edible fish and other aquatic life.

* In California’s Central Valley, 2.6 million cows have become the region’s top emitter of reactive organic gases, a major smog ingredient. Workers:

* Roughly 20% of meatpacking workers are injured on the job each year, many crippled by carpal tunnel syndrome.

* Sixty-one percent of farmworkers earn incomes below the poverty level.

* Nearly 500 farmworkers suffer acute pesticide poisonings every year — in California alone.

* The federally approved line speed limit for chicken processing plants is 91 birds per minute.Food and Farming, Inc.

* More than 17,000 farmers go out of business each year — one farmer every half an hour.

* Four corporations control 80% of the American beef business; four firms control 67% of the US seed market.

* The top five food grocers in America, led by Wal-Mart, take in nearly half of all retail food sales.

* Supermarket markups of farm produce run as high as 900%. For instance, farmers in February 2004 were getting $.19 for a pound of lettuce for which consumers paid up to $1.92.

* There are now as many prisoners in America as there are farmers.

(Note: All source information is available in the book.)

Gestational Diabetes Diet : Gestational diabetes is usually a temporary condition that develops if your blood sugar (glucose) is too high during pregnancy. Generally, this type of diabetes goes away after the birth of the baby, however there is a strong possibility that you may get diabetes in future if you have had it during your pregnancy. When the body fails to produce the required amount of insulin, your blood sugar levels shoot up causing diabetes. Many pregnant women succeed in controlling with the help of diet alone by eating three meals and snacks for about a couple of times each day.

The carbohydrates consumed through the food get converted into glucose, which is a major source of energy for the body. Starchy foods such as pasta, breads, rice, potatoes, and grains are the main providers of carbohydrates. Fruits, vegetables, sweets, sugar, and dairy foods are also rich sources of carbohydrates. However, gestational diabetes diet for pregnant women should include carbohydrates, protein, and fat in right quantities. If insulin is being administered for the sake of controlling blood sugar, you need to take your doctor’s advice in order to choose the right gestational diabetes diet. Health experts insist on carbohydrate counting for pregnant women with gestational diabetes to control their blood sugar. Carbohydrate counting refers to monitoring the amount of carbohydrates consumed every day. Foods and beverages that contain added sugar should be avoided and other food items such as honey, jams, and jellies are also not recommended for gestational diabetes.

Calorie chart and food diary: Do you want to look slim and trim without spending a fortune on the gym? Then just log on to the Internet to discover just how many calories you need to maintain a healthy weight and a slim waist. Health and nutrition related sites provide all the information and resources to stay slim and fit. However, in order to stay fit, you will first need to know the ideal calorie intake you require, and how much your daily consumption is, and then plan a diet accordingly.

For doing so, you will need the help of resources like calore charts, food diaries and calorie counters to find out about food nutrition, and keep track of consumption. While a calorie chart is a comprehensive table that provides the calorie counts in food and beverages, a calorie counter helps you to calculate how many calories you consume in a day. A food diary, on the other hand, can be used to record what food you consume each day, and accordingly refer to the chart to know your calorie intake.

Free online calerie chart: These online fitness resources are for free. You can even print out a calorie chart or free food diary from the Internet. These online health sites not only provide free tools like calorie charts to make healthy food choices, but they also give information about bad diets that harm the body. They also feature discussion forums that provide support and camaraderie from fellow dieters that help you to achieve your goal.

You can even customize these free calorie charts according to your food intake and daily eating schedules. In addition to free dieting resources, some sites also provide an exercise log that enables dieters to keep track of the calories burned during various physical activities, which you can crosscheck with your calorie chart to know how many calories you have burned in a day.

Calorie chart and counters: The health sites maintain a huge food database for their calorie charts, with tens of thousands of food items along with their calorie counts. Those who are interested in maintaining a food diary or want to calculate their calories via the calorie counter can download these calora charts from these sites. The calorie charts contain information about almost all food items from fruits to fast food.

Realizing the growing impact of calorie charts on the sale of fast food items, popular fast food retailers like McDonalds have introduced new lines of fast food items for calori conscious people, along with giving a calorie chart to all its customers. The chart given by fast food retailers contains the calorie information of all their products.

Calorie chart - An aid to burning calories: In addition to the calorie chart, you can also download a Calories Burned Chart. This chart helps you to find out how many calories you burn for various activities like swimming, playing tennis, cycling or walking. Calories Burned Charts are directly related to exercise; the more you workout the more calories are burned. However, the exact number of calories you burn may vary according to the intensity of your workout and your weight.

The Calories Burned Chart can then be compared with the caloria chart, which will let you find out your fitness level, and how much food intake you require to maintain your energy level. Thus, you can plan a diet and exercise regimen to maintain your weight and energy requirements. Plus, you can also refer to the calorie chart to formulate a plan wherein you get a completely balanced diet.

Type 2 diabetes diet: With more than 14.6 million Americans suffering from diabetes, it has become a major health concern in the United States today. Type 2 diabetes diet needs to be coupled with a healthy lifestyle in order to put a check on type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes diet along with regular exercise, can be of significant help in controlling your blood sugar and managing your diabetes. By reducing your calorie intake and including exercise in your routine, you can make your body more sensitive to its insulin. Ideally, you need to follow a diet plan that reduces your intake of simple sugars and refined carbohydrates. A diet rich in fiber and complex carbohydrates is recommended for type 2 diabetes patients. Complex carbohydrates found in fruits, whole grains, and vegetables are broken down very slowly as a result of which the release of glucose in the bloodstream is slowed down. On the contrary, simple carbohydrates are broken down within no time leading to a rapid rise in the blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetic patients can include less saturated fat in their diet.

Diabetes diet plan: A diabetes diet plan should be followed only after consulting an expert physician. Your doctor will also take into account any other health problems, if any, before prescribing you a diabetes diet plan.

Diet recommended by American Diabetes Association: The diet recommended by American Diabetes Association is all about making healthy food choices. The diet lays more emphasis on fruits, non – starchy vegetables (carrots, spinach, green beans, broccoli), dried beans, and lentils. You may choose to eat whole grain foods instead of processed grain products and also include brown rice in your diet. The diet recommended by American Diabetes Association can help you manage your diabetes effectively provided that you watch the portion sizes while eating. Even healthy foods, if eaten in large quantities, can increase your weight making diabetes management more difficult.

Mediterranean diet pyramid: The traditional Mediterranean diet pyramid is based on the healthy eating habits of the people who live in the Greek island of Crete, southern Italy and other areas in Greece in the early 1960s. The life expectancy of adults in these areas at that time was among the longest in the world. Plus, the incidence of certain cancers, heart disease, and other health problems was among the lowest.

According to researchers, the lifestyle and diet of the region were the key factors of the good health. Mediterranean diet pyramid is a blend of plant-based foods, along with dairy products, meat, and other food items that are typically found in the classic USDA Food Guide Pyramid. The serving sizes for each food group are intentionally absent. Rather, the pyramid is designed to be a visual snapshot of the importance of these food items in the diet, and not a strict eating plan. It is geared towards healthy adults. However, before making any dietary changes it is important to consult your health care professional.

New Mediterranean diet: To stay healthy and ward off diseases, Mediterranean nutritionists recommend exercising regularly, drinking six glasses of water per day, and consuming moderate amounts of wine. Purple grape juice is recommended for those who do not consume alcohol, as it has the same health benefits for the heart. For more information on the new Mediterranean diet plans and the Miami Mediterranean diet, you can visit various sites on the Internet. Besides the Mediterranean diet plans, you can also get details on the new researches that have been conducted on this diet and download a copy of it. You can also plan a menu, based on the food items in the diet.

Nutrition through Fibromyalgia Diet:
Energy level and immune system enhancement being the key word, it is high protein fybromyalgia diet that the doctors are prescribing along with a wide range of vitamins and minerals and organic food. The prescription, if followed, can also change one’s eating patterns for a high metabolism that keeps the energy levels up. A balanced diet of complex carbohydrates, lean animal protein, vegetable protein, and healthy plant fats are what that create the magic and is sure to make the patient feel better and lead a life more normal and healthy. Add to these cold-water fishes like salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines etc. that contain high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants through natural carotenoids, vitamin A, hesperidin and vitamin C and E, a relief from the nagging pain won’t be too far off.

Fibromyalgia Diet and High Protein:
Fibromyalga Diet and High Protein share a candid relation that became evident from the recent surveys, though elimination of red meat is essential for the saturated fat that triggers the pain all the more. A safe alternative is thus poultry and fish, to be eaten about 2-3 times a week. The consumption of egg-white protein powder and soy protein also helps in reducing fibro-pain as well.