NutritionDoc

It is tough to complain about a burger joint selling a Spinach Chicken Salad. After all, it is among the best things you can buy at Wendy's. There is just one teensy little problem with the ads. "Crisp romaine with baby spinach, chopped egg and bacon topped with tender chunks of savory chicken breast and a delicious sweet and sour bacon dressing, with only 2.5 grams of fat," they say. Everything is fine . . . up to the last comma. Turns out the 2.5 grams of fat is only for the dressing. The rest of the salad has 14 grams of fat, 4.5 of them saturated ( thanks to the eggs and bacon). The Spinach Chicken Salad is one of the healthiest foods on Wendy's menu. It is just not one of the most honest.

The difference between margarine and butter?

Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

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And now, for Margarine...

Very high in trans fatty acids...

Triple risk of coronary heart disease..

Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol)

Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) ..

Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold...

Lowers quality of breast milk ..

Decreases immune response...

Decreases insulin response.

And here is the most disturbing fact....

HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING! Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC.

This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

YOU can try this yourself: purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things: no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it. (That should tell you something.) It does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value, nothing will grow in it.

Why? Because it is nearly plastic.

Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends and butter them up!

Madison Avenue has your number. Ad agencies know that most people want to stay slim and eat delicious but healthy foods yet spend as little time as possible preparing them. Soooooooooooo, they recycle some of their old tricks. they make artificially flavored sugar look like fruit, sweetened oil look like milk, and "creamy yogurt lavor" sound like yogurt. But their ads also incorporate a few new ploys. Some hide behind the handy disclaimer: "This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration." Some are part of a coordinated campaign to make preliminary evidence sound like solid science. And some flat-out lie. What is the government doing? A few unlucky companies will get a slap on the wrist from the Federal Trade Commission . . . a year after their ad campaigns end. The rest get away scot-free. So, while I am on my "high horse" I will send out some emails that you might find interesting. I sent one out earlier as a teaser regarding Newtons.

Suddenly it's simple to turn your coffee into a delicious latte." says Nestle. Just pour some Coffee-mate Latte Creations into your coffee and voila! You have a latte. Actually, you have got coffee with sugar, corn syrup solids, coconut oil, nonfat milk, maltodextrin, artificial flavors and some other equally appetizing ingredients. A real latte is mostly steamed milk, so at least you are getting calcium, magnesium, B-vitamins, and protein with your espresso. Just two tablespoons of Coffee-mate Latte Creations have virtually no protein, vitamins, or minerals. Instead, they deliver four to five grams of saturated fat (20 to 25 percent of a day's limit) to your unsuspecting heart.

For years I have said that some granola, energy and cereal bars are nothing more than individually wrapped cookies. Now the food industry has the nerve to sell bars with cookie names . . . and pretend that they are good for you. "At last, your sweet tooth and your health kick can peacefully coexist," claims the ad for Strawberry & Yogurt Newtons Bars. "With luscious fruit, creamy yogurt flavor and moist golden cake, they are good source of calcium, like cereal bars. Plus, they have a wholesome taste that can only come from Newtons." Can you spot the trick words? "Wholesome taste" means little or no yogurt. (Each bar has more baking soda than yogurt. What looks like yogurt is largely sugars and partially hydrogenated oil.) And the "luscious fruit" is mostly a mixture of sugars, strawberries, and dried apples. A single strawberry supplies 10 percent of a day's vitamin C. A Newton Bar has no C. And Nabisco apparently has no shame when it pretends that Strawberry & Yogurt Newton Bars are equal to a cup of yogurt with fresh strawberries.

If you want to keep your blood pressure under wraps but you are not exactly a Julia Child around the kitchen, Mrs. Dash can make life easier. Check out her line of 12 saltfree, MSG-free spice mixtures and you will forget why you ever needed a salt shaker in the first place. Mrs. Dash's three new Grilling Blends work in the oven as well as on the barbecue. Just drizzle a little olive oil on some sliced red peppers, asparagus, and muchrooms, sprinkle with Mesquite Blend and roast. Serve as is, wrap them in a whole-wheat tortilla, or use them as a topping for chicken, fish, or homemade pizza. Even the most finicky vegetable eaters will not complain. Look for the foldout of recipes attached to the cap. The real gold mine is www.mrsdash.com.! It has recipes galore, from Salmon with Red Pepper & Corn Salsa to Grilled Mushroom Sandwiches to Penne with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto & Broccoli. One quick stop at the spice aisle and you will be Mrs. Dinner Splash.