by The Daily Beast Info

How does the lighter fare at restaurants stack up? From garlic shrimp to a 370-calorie sirloin, The Daily Beast finds the healthiest entrees at America’s largest chains (no salads allowed).

Can you dine out and stick to your diet? The short answer is yes, with some intelligent ordering. And even better, you can forget the salads-sans-dressing shtick.

Previously, The Daily Beast has chronicled the worst of the worst—the burgers with a day’s worth of calories, the fries with more saturated fat than a stick of butter, and the salads with more fried chicken than greens. But while fast food is notoriously gluttonous, the meals at chain restaurants can be worse… a lot worse. Not only are they packed with sodium and fat to increase taste on the cheap, they are presented in oversize proportions.

To improve the nutritional quotient of their menus, several chains have created healthier entrees to appease finicky eaters and calorie-counters. Applebee’s has a portion of its menu devoted to “unbelievably great tasting” meals under 550 calories and Chili’s offers “Guiltless Grill” choices that are much lower in calories and fat than their 1,600-calorie ribs and tacos. Accordingly, The Daily Beast decided to look at which restaurants are doing their part to help whittle our ever-growing waistlines.

In weighing the healthiest options, we considered the three lowest-calorie entrée options at more than a dozen of the nation’s largest chain restaurants that provide nutritional information. We eliminated choices that derived more than 35 percent of calories from fat—the USDA’s threshold for healthy eating. The final list was ranked with equal weight given to calories, saturated fat, sodium, and carbohydrates.

The Top Ten! Check out the rest on http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsmaker/hungry-beast/

September

Vegetables

• eggplants
• pumpkins
• tomatoes
• spinach
• lettuce

Fruits

• grapes
• pomegranates

October

Vegetables

• sweet potatoes
• pumpkins
• winter squash
• broccoli
• spinach lettuce

Fruits

• cranberries
• apples
• pomegranates
• grapes

November

Vegetables

• pumpkins
• winter squash
• sweet potatoes
• broccoli
• mushrooms
• spinach

Fruit

• cranberries
• oranges
• tangerines
• pears
• pomegranates

Danny designed a special breakfast menu that helped promote the importance of oral health by using foods that naturally help clean and strengthen teeth and also remind us to floss. Recipes and pictures of the event are below.

The Perfect Omelet

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. whole milk
• 2 Tbsp clarified butter or whole butter
• Salt and ground white pepper, to taste

Preparation:

• Crack the eggs into a glass mixing bowl and beat them until they turn a pale yellow color. Heat a heavy-bottomed nonstick sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the butter and let it melt.

• Add the milk to the eggs and season to taste with salt and white pepper. Then, grab your whisk and whisk like crazy. You’re going to want to work up a sweat here. If you’re not up for that, you can use an electric beater or stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whatever device you use, you’re trying to beat as much air as possible into the eggs.
• When the butter in the pan is hot enough to make a drop of water hiss, pour in the eggs. Don’t stir! Let the eggs cook for up to a minute or until the bottom starts to set. With a heat-resistant rubber spatula, gently push one edge of the egg into the center of the pan, while tilting the pan to allow the still liquid egg to flow in underneath.
• Repeat with the other edges, until there’s no liquid left.Your eggs should now resemble a bright yellow pancake, which should easily slide around on the nonstick surface. If it sticks at all, loosen it with your spatula.  Now gently flip the egg pancake over, using your spatula to ease it over if necessary. Cook for another few seconds, or until there is no uncooked egg left.
• If you’re adding any other ingredients, now’s the time to do it. (See note.) Spoon your filling across the center of the egg in straight line.  With your spatula, lift one edge of the egg and fold it across and over, so that the edges line up. Cook for another minute or so, but don’t overcook or allow the egg to turn brown. If necessary, you can flip the entire omelet over to cook the top for 30 seconds or so. Just don’t let it get brown.
• Gently transfer the finished omelet to a plate. Garnish with chopped fresh herbs if desired.

NOTE: There’s no limit to the number of fillings you can use with this basic omelet recipe.

Some suggestions include:

• Grated cheese
• Sautéed mushrooms
• Diced and sautéed onion
• Chopped cooked bacon
• Diced ham

Yummy!

Super Smoothie!

Ingredients

1 container (6 oz) Fat Free French vanilla yogurt

1/2-cup water

1 cup frozen raspberries or fresh raspberries

1 medium banana, sliced (1 cup)

1/2 cup Blue Berries

Method

1. Place ingredients in blender or food processor. Cover; blend on high speed about 30 seconds or until smooth.

2. Pour into 2 glasses. Serve immediately.

Morning Glory Fruit Salad

Ingredients

3 Pears, peeled, pitted, and chopped

3 Apples, peeled, pitted and chopped

1/2-pound seedless red grapes

3 bananas, peeled and diced

1 cantaloupe melon, diced

1 cup crushed cashew nuts

Dressing

1/2-cup pineapple juice

1-teaspoon chili flakes

1tbls honey

Method

1: Combine chopped and sliced fruits in a large serving bowl; toss gently.

2: Whisk together remaining ingredients in a small bowl or 1 cup measure. Pour dressing mixture over fruit and toss gently to combine.

3: Cover and chill the fruit salad thoroughly before serving.

This fruit salad recipe makes enough to serve about 10 to 12 people.

(Photo/Robin Goodman, Group Editor Dental Tribune America, www.dental-tribune.com)

June

Vegetables

• corn
• lettuce

Fruit

• watermelon
• strawberries
• cantaloupe
• cherries
• blueberries
• peaches
• apricots

July

Vegetables

• cucumbers
• tomatoes
• summer squash
• corn
• green beans
• lettuce

Fruits

• watermelon
• strawberries
• cantaloupe
• blueberries
• peaches
• apricots
• kiwi
• raspberries
• plums

August

Vegetables

• cucumbers
• corn
• eggplant
• tomatoes
• summer squash
• green beans
• lettuce

Fruits

• watermelon
• strawberries
• cantaloupe
• blueberries
• peaches
• apricots
• kiwi
• raspberries
• plums

April

Vegetables

• zucchini
• rhubarb
• artichokes
• asparagus
• spring peas
• broccoli
• lettuce

Fruits

• pineapples
• mangoes

May

Vegetables

• okra
• zucchini
• rhubarb
• artichokes
• asparagus
• spring peas
• broccoli
• lettuce

Fruit

• cherries
• pineapples
• apricots

June

Vegetables

• corn
• lettuce

Fruit

• watermelon
• strawberries
• cantaloupe
• cherries
• blueberries
• peaches
• apricots

By Steven R Arnold /http://ezinearticles.com/?Obesity-Statistics—The-Facts-Presented-by-Modern-Research-on-Obesity&id=1919602

Modern research on obesity presents us with obesity statistics that are simply mind-blowing. Obesity in America is at epidemic levels and it is far past time to begin addressing this life-threatening issue.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_R_Arnold

These thank you’s come from just a few of the 100′s of kid’s over the past year (K-6) that have played “Is it a Fruit or is it a Vegetable!!!?” tasted a power smoothie and have spread the word of “Don’t YUK my YUM”, I will continue to keep spreading the word of food education until I am convinced a change in food culture has arrived!

My team at Crash Bang Boome and I are working very hard at the moment on bringing a better curriculum and food culture to local government ,class rooms, offices, warehouses and homes.  Join the conversation on Twitter,Face Book and You Tube @DannyBoome, tell us your thoughts hopes and needs, we are listening.

dannyboome.tv will be posting monthly updates on how to feed educate and develop the whole family’s taste buds and eating habits! Every thing from gardening to food camps, fun recipes to handy advice on how to introduce a healthier diet and way of living.  This summer holidays use our posts to spend some quality time creating options, conversation and interest about the who’s what’s and where’s of the foods you love to eat.

Join us on Twitter, Face Book and You Tube @DannyBoome…. join the conversation and share your experiences recipes and results with the whole gang!

How Honey Curbs the MRSA Superbug

A dark, bitter kind of honey can cripple infection-causing bacteria, including the highly virulent strain known as MRSA, and now researchers think they know how the honey fights the superbug.

Manuka honey is made when honeybees primarily consume the nectar of the manuka bush, a flowering plant native to Australia and New Zealand.

Researchers already knew that manuka honey has antibacterial properties, but why and how it works has been a mystery.

“Manuka honey has an extra [unidentified] component that isn’t found in other honey, which gives it an extra kick,” said study team member Rowena Jenkins of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.

“It may even be several components working together.”

Honey Thief

In a new experiment, Jenkins and colleagues grew MRSA in the lab with and without manuka honey for four hours.

MRSA, or meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a type of staph infection that isn’t affected by many common antibiotics.

(Related: “Drug-Resistant Staph Infection Spreads to Gyms, Day Care.”)

The team also grew batches of MRSA with and without sugar syrup, to check whether the honey’s high sugar content was solely responsible for fighting the bacteria.

In general, many bacteria can’t grow in high-sugar environments, since the sugars tie up water that the bacteria need to survive. (Get more germ-filled facts with our infectious diseases quiz.)

Jenkins and colleagues found that the MRSA bacteria treated with manuka honey more often lacked a particular protein necessary for synthesizing fatty acids, which are required for building cell walls and internal structures.

The crippled bacteria “don’t have the necessary proteins to complete their life cycles,” Jenkins said, so they are unable to reproduce and eventually die.

Since the sugar syrup didn’t have the same results, the researchers think some other, unidentified component must be disabling the bacteria.

Not Exactly on Store Shelves

Finding out more about manuka’s mystery ingredient could lead to new treatments for drug-resistant bacteria strains, the study authors say.

Still, the researchers caution against treating wounds with commercially sold manuka honey.

Unlike medical-grade honey, store-bought honey is not sterilized and could contain microbes and spores that might make an infection worse, Jenkins said.

Findings presented September 7 at the annual meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Edinburgh, Scotland.