You may think filling your own bottle with water is too much trouble, but have you thought about how much cooler your water can be?

When it’s hot out and you’re sitting by the pool, wouldn’t it be oh, so nice to have a bottle of water than stays cool?

Forget the disposable plastic water bottles that can leach BPA. Go with something cool like an insulated BPA-free water bottle.

My favorite water bottle for keeping things cool is the thinksport.

I’ve been using my thinksport water bottle since 2009 and it has never failed me when I wanted a cool drink, even when it’s 100 degrees out!

(ok, even though it’s been a long time ago, i feel you should know that I got this water bottle for free to review. however, i’d really not still be talking about it years later if I didn’t clearly love it!)

And, if you missed my last post on this, please do catch up with the Decline of Pink Slime.

Soon, you may have to worry a little less about the ground beef you buy. Pink slime is in an amazing 70 percent of grocery store beef, but it looks like that percentage will be decreasing. If you haven’t been following the news lately on the beef filler dubbed “pink slime,” then here are the highlights:

• Beef Products, Inc. has announced that they’re suspending operations at three of their four plants that produce the filler.
• The USDA has given schools the power to stop buying beef containing pink slime.
• McDonald’s, the largest restaurant chain in the country, stopped using beef containing pink slime.

Here’s why there’s so must grossness: Lean, finely textured beef  (the technical name for pink slime) is so bacteria-ridden that it must be treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella. Yuck. Yuck. And. Yuck. (In case you’re wondering, those lean trimmings come from bits of meat taken from muscle and connective tissue.)

By the way, you won’t find lean, finely textured beef on the ingredients list of any packaged beef. Companies aren’t required to tell you about it.

Even if you don’t believe in the necessity of buying organic foods, you can surely see how this cheap beef filler is nasty. Most people probably don’t think much about their ground beef containing a filler, and that’s exactly why I believe there’s been so much outcry over pink slime.

We feel duped. And we won’t take it anymore. Keep complaining to your local grocer, and let’s stop all production of pink slime, forever. I want you to be able to buy any brand of beef anywhere and not worry about whether it contains a disgusting filler.

Do you think about pink slime when buying grocery store beef?

The famed soup company has said they’ll phase out the use of BPA in their can linings. They say that efforts have already started and it shouldn’t cost them much to make the change.

If Campbell’s follows through with their promise, many folks will have a bit less BPA flowing through their veins. And that’s a good thing.

The scoop on BPA

The chemical bisphenol A, unlovingly called BPA for short, is an endocrine disruptor that can mess with the body’s hormones. It mimics the human hormone estrogen.

Girls who were exposed to BPA in the womb are more likely to have behavioral problems in their toddler years, say researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health. (Read more about the BPA study.) And that’s just one of several studies that cast doubt on the innocence of this chemical.

A report by the Breast Cancer Fund found that Campbell’s products contain some of the highest levels of BPA among canned foods they tested. And it seems that products targeted toward children, like Campbell’s Disney Princess and Toy Story soups, had the highest amounts of BPA. Another BPA study found that after eating only fresh foods for three days, BPA levels in families plummeted by an average of 60 percent.

The FDA keeps saying that some exposure to BPA doesn’t pose a health threat. They claim that the low levels in food packaging shouldn’t alarm us, but most people understand that they aren’t fully considering the cumulative effects of this chemical in so many different foods. Like many people, I try to avoid canned food, but don’t always succeed. (Used some canned coconut milk in my Chicken Korma tonight!)

If you’re happy that Campbell’s has made this promise to hold the BPA, please tell them so. Even better, stay after them to follow through with this promise. The Breast Cancer Fund has made it easy for you to send an online letter to Campbell’s Soup Company, General Mills and Del Monte. They even give you some facts to state in your letter.

(image credits: flickr; flickr)

Sometimes food gets caught up with war. And the right to food can get trampled. Drought can make famine worse, but it’s not the complete cause.

In the Horn of Africa, people are being denied the right to food. Millions are facing death, many of them young children.

The famine in the Horn of Africa is the worst in 60 years. It’s not some passing thing any of us should forget until a solution is found.

Today is World Food Day and Blog Action Day. Bloggers from 100 countries are talking about food today. (Use hashtag #BAD11 on Twitter.)

What can you do?

Read about the crisis in the Horn of Africa. Pass on the facts. One.org is a great place to start.

Money isn’t everything. Groups like One.org are more interested in hearing you speak out about this crisis.

If you want to give, USAID from the American People, www.usaid.gov/fwd/, makes it easy.

Could it be that you’re eating a slice of cheesecake with 59 grams of saturated fat, a shake with more than 2,000 calories, fries with 930 calories, or a pasta dish with more than 1,500 calories? Uh, most of us only need 2,000 calories for the entire day!

If you’re feasting on dishes from any of the Xtreme Eating Awards recipients, then those crazy numbers should be in your head.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has honored Cheesecake Factory, Denny’s, Applebee’s, IHOP, Cold Stone Creamery, Morton’s Steakhouse, and Great Steak with their eight Xtreme Eating Awards for 2011.

The Cheesecake Factory received two of those awards: One for Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake, which contains 1,540 calories per slice, and another for The Farmhouse Cheeseburger, which has 1,530 calories.

Read a full list of the honorees and their unhealthy dishes at CSPI.

What’s the cure for all this craziness?

When restaurants are finally made to list their calorie counts on menus, I think some of the more fatty options will fall out of favor. If you do choose to eat out, you can try looking up nutrition info on the restaurant website, but a recent study by Tufts University has shown that 19 percent of dishes studied had 100 or more excess calories not reported on restaurant websites! Major chains like Olive Garden were found guilty on that one.

The one thing you can do for yourself is to eat at home. By the time you drive to a restaurant, order, wait for food, wait for check, then drive home, you could have cooked yourself a great meal.

In addition, when you cook at home, it’s much easier for you to choose organic or locally grown ingredients. Plus, you’ll save money!

Need some inspiration for home cooking?

Here are some great places to find recipes:

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food

How to Cook Everything, Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food

250 Treasured Country Desserts (because some dessert is OK!)

Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals

Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes: A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast

Where do you find your best recipes?

I explained that organic fruits and vegetables are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides. I also told her that some foods like lettuce and strawberries retain more pesticide residue than certain foods like pineapples or watermelon. (Organic meat and dairy are topics for another day.) I also talked a bit about the effects of pesticides on wildlife and how pesticides end up in water.

Then my cashier said that a lot of people are buying organic and she wants to try it too. I found her statement rather awesome considering I wasn’t at a fancy health food store like Whole Foods.

So, in case you’re also wondering why you should choose organic, here are some good reasons:

• In studies, pesticide exposure has been linked to birth defects, prostate cancer, childhood cancer, neurological damage and even possibly the early onset of Parkinson’s disease. (source: NRDC)
• Organic is also better for the earth. Research indicates that if 434 million acres of cropland in the United States were switched to organic growing practices, the carbon dioxide savings would be like eliminating 217 million cars. (source: The Rodale Institute, OTA)
• Buying organic supports farmers who use eco-friendly growing practices.
• When you buy certified organic food, it’s been inspected by third-party independent groups. Certified organic growers adhere to strict guidelines for hygienic and safe food production. Despite rumors, no reputable studies have shown that conventionally grown food is safer than organically grown food. (source: OTA)
• Pesticides may contaminate groundwater, which is used for drinking water by around 50 percent of the population of the U.S. (source: USGS)
• Pesticides can harm or kill wildlife when creatures consume contaminated food or water, breathe pesticides, or absorb pesticides through their skin. (source: NDSU)

If you can’t buy everything organic, at least buy organic when it comes to foods that are on the 2011 Dirty Dozen list for containing the most pesticides:

• Apples
• Celery
• Strawberries
• Peaches
• Spinach
• Nectarines (imported)
• Grapes (imported)
• Sweet bell peppers
• potatoes
• Blueberries (domestic)
• Lettuce
• Kale/collard greens

Foods on EWG’s Clean 15 list have the lowest amounts of pesticides:

• Onions
• Sweet corn
• Pineapples
• Avocado
• Asparagus
• Sweet peas
• Mangoes
• Eggplant
• Cantaloupe (domestic)
• Kiwi
• Cabbage
• Watermelon
• Sweet potatoes
• Grapefruit
• Mushrooms

Which foods do you try to always buy organic?

As you can imagine, I was excited to read a book with the subtitle Healthy Living One Carrot and Cupcake at a Time.

Carrots ‘N’ Cake by blogger Tina Haupert allows readers a long glimpse into the struggles, motivations and ultimate successes of one sweets-loving woman who is very determined to live the healthy life of her dreams.

Carrots ‘N’ Cake is not a Mayo Clinicsort of dieting book. In other words, Haupert’s book isn’t an information-packed textbook that makes you feel a bit like you’re in school, but rather it’s like reading a personal journal/blog with just over 50 interesting recipes mixed in.

For example, Haupert explains how she tackles the challenge of maintaining her healthy lifestyle while on vacation, and follows that with recipes for Trail Mix, Spiced Pecans and Brownies with a Secret. After discussing workout motivation, she includes a recipe for Workout Cookies.

To encourage longer workouts, I’ve been sitting my iPhone on the elliptical machine to watch shows with my HBOGo app, but workout cookies are something I’ve never dreamed of! Yes, said cookies (in moderation) are healthy, providing good carbs and protein to get you through your workout.

While you get to know Haupert better, you’ll also learn her tricks for ordering healthy meals while dining out, planning ahead for an indulgent weekend, how to handle an out-of-control sweet tooth, and more.

Some of the ideas discussed in Carrots ‘N’ Cake are simple, but they’re things you may not have thought of applying to your daily life. For example, I always have walnuts, bananas and honey around, but I’ve never dreamed of putting them together for a quick snack. Haupert also suggests putting healthy snacks in clear containers in the refrigerator or at eye level in the pantry so you’ll be more likely to see them. Of course, you should try to hide the chocolate chip cookies from yourself.

Regular readers of Haupert’s blog and fellow bloggers will especially appreciate reading about Haupert’s transformation to her dream job — blogging and working in social media for a living! (Disclosure: I received a free review copy of Carrots ‘N’ Cake.)

The negative:

The book reads a lot like a blog without being a direct copy of Haupert’s blog posts. Being the English major nerdy type I am, I did find the structure of the book somewhat confusing at times, but I still think it has plenty to offer.

To sum it up:

Carrots ‘N’ Cake succeeds by inspiring and motivating you by example. Haupert isn’t perfect, but neither are we. She slips, but she gets back up. And a lot of her advice (and recipes) could stay with you, helping you to balance your carrots and cake too!

Carrots ‘N’ Cake: Healthy Living One Carrot and Cupcake at a Time.

I received a free copy of Carrots ‘N’ Cake for review. See privacy and disclosures for more info.

Lemon Chicken Skewers
By Tina Haupert,
Author of Carrots ‘N’ Cake: Healthy Living One Carrot and Cupcake at a Time

Chicken cooked on skewers is fun to eat, and preparing it like this is a good way to limit the amount of protein on my plate. These are delicious and super quick.

Ingredients
2 chicken cutlets
1/4 preserved lemon (store-bought), flesh discarded, peel finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed through a press
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

Soak 8 (6-inch) bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes.

Place the cutlets between sheets of waxed paper on a cutting board, and pound with a rolling pin or meat mallet until 1/4 inch thick. Cut the pieces into 1-inch strips.

Combine the preserved lemon, oil, garlic, pepper flakes, oregano, salt, and pepper in a bowl, and mix well. Add the chicken and toss to coat.

Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil. Thread the chicken strips into skewers. Place the skewers on the prepared baking sheet and broil the chicken about 6 inches from the heat source until cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes.

Makes 8 small skewers.

Copyright © 2011 Tina Haupert, author of Carrots ‘N’ Cake: Healthy Living One Carrot and Cupcake At A Time

Author Bio
Tina Haupert, is certified as a Nutrition and Wellness Consultant through the American Fitness Professionals and Associates (AFPA). She publishes her blog Carrots ‘N’ Cake on a daily basis and also writes another blog called Trading Up Downtown for a nutritional rating company called NuVal. Additionally, Tina writes a weekly feature for Health.com as part of their Feel Great Weight program, and she also promotes events online and via social media for a local fine wines company called Gordon’s Wines and Liquors. Tina lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with her husband, Mal, and her pug, Murphy.Com

Making fun of a woman for her weight isn’t funny. When a comedian I like makes a Kirstie Alley fat joke, I lose a bit more respect for that comedian. It’s sad. It’s too easy, and it needs to stop.

No, I don’t watch George Lopez who made a pig joke recently, but I do really wish that Conan and Letterman (or anyone) would stop it.

On Wednesday, George Lopez compared Kirstie Alley to a pig, saying that she did a nice job on “Dancing with the Stars,” with “her little hooves tapping away.” He also continued with some BS about her going to market, eating roast beef and going all the way home, followed by some Geico footage of a squealing pig.

Lopez: Does it make you feel better to put other people down? What you did is called bullying. It’s distasteful and wrong. And a Twitter apology just doesn’t cut it.

If you agree, let TBS know that you want the fat jokes to stop.