Friday Finds

Interesting reading from this week:

Popcorn is a great whole-grain snack food.  It's so easy to make your own, and any popcorn can be microwaved; there's no need to buy microwave popcorn.  Check out a basic recipe and lots of seasoning ideas:

http://markbittman.com/real-popcorn

Lack of sleep is a "ticking time bomb": Getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night is linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1354980/Lack-sleep-ticking-time-bomb-recipe-heart-attack.html

The National School Lunch Program feeds more than 31 million children every school day.  Lunch Line, a new documentary focusing on the past, present, and future of the school lunch program, will be playing at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring this coming Monday and Tuesday:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/lunch-line,1206660.html#

Another school lunch item, this one an editorial from USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2011-04-12-editorial12_ST_N.htm

And to end the week on a fun note -- Doritos celebrates adding its one millionth ingredient:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/doritos-celebrates-one-millionth-ingredient,19914/

Have a good weekend.

Friday Finds

It's asparagus season, and tomatoes are coming soon!  Try this great combination of the two:
http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/quick-easy-side-dish-recipes-00400000058734/page6.html

A Princeton University study published in February's issue of the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior suggests that HFCS leads to greater abdominal fat and weight gain than ordinary sugar does:
http://consumerist.com/2011/03/studies-hfcs-leads-to-much-more-weight-gain-than-sugar.html

Martha Rose Schulman offers up five healthy and tasty muffin recipes:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/do-you-know-your-muffin-pan/

Pulitizer prize winner Tina Rosenberg looks at the positive side of peer pressure in her new book, Join the Club:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/08/mind-reading-using-peer-pressure-to-change-the-world/

And I can't imagine why, but I'm sure there are some who would say I'd like this chopping board:
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2011/04/ocd-chopping-board-.html

Wishing you a happy spring weekend!

Friday Finds

We love the Happiness Project!  Here are Gretchen Rubin's 12 tips for getting regular exercise, along with a discussion of how exercise benefits health and happiness:

http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2010/08/12-tips-for-nudging-yourself-to-exercise-regularly.html

An NPR story on nudging grocery shoppers toward making healthier choices, with quotes from Brian Wansink at Cornell's Food and Brand Lab:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131074210

An excellent story from Cooking Light on how calories really count:

http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/how-calories-really-count-00412000070740/

And from Oprah.com, a conversation with Thich Nhat Hanh about mindful eating and his book, Savor:

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/A-Conversation-with-Thich-Nhat-Hanh-About-Savor