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Christian Living

Health

Say It Ain't So!

CBN.com - Chicken Fingers Anyone?

Yee-ha! Chicken fingers! No doubt, your kids will be high-fiving (in more ways than one) when you let them order those tasty strips from the restaurant menu. A typical five-finger order will hand them more than 600 fried, trans-fat-laden calories! Want some fries to go with those fingers? 400 artery-clogging calories. To get the upper hand where your children’s health is concerned, forget the fingers and point to the baked chicken or grilled chicken sandwich more often. (pg. 83)

Say It Ain’t Soda!

No doubt you’ve heard that soft drinks have about 10 cubes of sugar per can. And you’ve probably glanced at those scary posters in the dentist’s office showing how pop decays, corrodes, and discolors our teeth. If the prospect of rotting teeth doesn’t stop you (or more importantly, your kids) from guzzling gallons of the carbonated, sweet stuff, maybe rotting bones will: Did you know that something called phosphoric acid in soft drinks causes calcium to be leached from our bones? Can you say osteoporosis? Remember: Soft drinks= soft bones. (pg 89)

Milkshakes are Not Our Friends

Shake your bon bon! Shake your groove thing! Shake your booty! Just don’t shake your….shake! A large milkshake from a popular fast-food joint will shake you up with its seam-splitting 1,030 calories and 29 grams of fat. And to think that’s just an “add-on” to your order of a burger and fries. It won’t be a happy meal when you realize you’ll need hours on the treadmill to shake it off. (pg 136)

Deep-fried Onions, Please?

Feel like a good cry? Then mosey on over to any one of the popular steakhouse chains and order their most drooled-over appetizer: a colossal, deep-fried, batter-dipped onion. Cut open to look like a pretty flower and served with creamy dipping sauce, it may score points for presentation, but its nutritional profile will bring you to tears. Each onion has more than 2,000 calories and 150 grams of fat, for crying out loud! You’d be a bloomin’ idiot to eat one all by your lonesome. Even if you share half with a friend, you’ve consumed the same amount of fat and calories found in two burgers! And to think it started out as an innocent vegetable. Oh, what a frying shame! (pg 147)

Step Away from the Vending Machine

If you’re craving a afternoon snack, don’t let the office vending machine push your buttons. That’s because nearly every processed snack food sold in vending machines contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and its wicked offspring, Trans fat. Chocolate bars, licorice, chips, candy, and even a seemingly healthy snack like cheese popcorn can tip the trans-fat scale. A simple guideline: If the snack leaves your fingers feeling greasy, you can bet it’ll leave your heart feeling queasy. (pg 157)

No More Big Buns

Bless me father, for I have cinnamon buns! Okay, okay. Just admit it. There you were, just mindin’ your own business at the mall food court, nowhere near sniffing distance (or so you thought), when all of a sudden that devilishly irresistible aroma wafted over and led you straight into temptation. Oh well, it’s just a little ol’ harmless snack to tide you over ‘til dinner, right? The true confession: This sinfully delicious pastry’s 670 calories may stop you from fitting between the Pearly Gates! Better split one with a friend, and live by this commandment: If you’re praying for buns of steel, don’t covet buns of cinnamon! (pg 174)

FAT OR FICTION?

You should take up drinking red wine for the health benefits.

If media reports about the health benefits of red wine are driving you to drink, you should know that not everything about de-wine is de-vine. Yes, there’s plenty of research praising red wine’s antioxidant properties. The perceived health benefits revolve around a plant chemical called resveratrol, found in grape skins and seeds. When scientists saw promise for resveratrol in preventing heart disease and cancer in animal studies, Merlot mania was uncorked. Before having grape expectations, don’t forget the damage that alcohol and its empty calories can cause.

Booze, whether in beer, vodka, or wine, raises blood sugar, spurs appetite, and slows fat burning. In fact, studies show a mere three ounces of alcohol can slow fat-burning by one-third or more! If you’re trying to lose weight, better go on a low-cab(ernet) diet! Because alcohol in any form is tough on the liver, and even moderate amounts have been linked to breast and colon cancers, bone loss, and other health problems, medical experts suggest if you sip on a Shiraz, make it one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men, max.

Fortunately, there are plenty of other, less risky ways to give your heart a boost: Eat garlic, fish, and olive oil; curb the junk food; quit smoking; hug your kids; pet your dog; stop and smell the roses; be kind to strangers; give to a charity—none of which will leave you with a hangover!

Thought of the Day

Why is it that lemonade and lemon pie filling are made with artificial lemon flavoring, but dish soap and furniture polish are made with real lemon juice?

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