Should you eat cherries and waterrmelon?

Semi typical bbq spread

As summer approaches, one of the food perks is increasingly exciting fruit. Over Memorial Day weekend, I received a couple of emails from clients wondering “can I eat cherries and watermelon?”  The easy answer, if you’re at let’s say a barbeque is if you’re choosing between cherries or watermelon and this

then let’s be sensible, fruit is always the healthier pick. This seems obvious but if cherries and watermelon are mentally categorized as “all sugar” things get confusing.  If we’re comparing “apples to apples” or in this case cherries to apples, how do we judge a fruit and which are best to eat?

Pesticides

When you’re at a market or farm stand, if everything isn’t organic you want to choose wisely.  Many of your berries are on the dirty dozen list. Cherries are higher pesticide and really should be purchased organic. Watermelon on the other hand is a member of the “Clean 15” a low pesticide fruit. If organic isn’t an option, watermelon is one of your best choices. If you're unconvinced about organic, plug a few favorite fruits into this site; they list pesticides and type (carcinogen, endocrine disrupter the appetizing list goes on) it's eye opening to say the least. 
Score 1 for watermelon.

Antioxidants

Another gauge for fruits is ORAC a measure of antioxidants. While cherries don’t have an ORAC score as high as blueberries or blackberries, they have a commendable 3747. Watermelon comes in at 140. These scores are per 100 grams of food so the water content of watermelon works against it here.
Cherries a winer here.

Calories, Fiber, Sugar

All fruit is fairly low in calories. Watermelon and strawberries are some of the lowest with cherries and grapes almost double in calories. Fiber all stars include raspberries and blackberries with 8 grams per cup. Cherries have 3 and watermelon only 1 gram. For me, this is a drawback of these fruits. Fiber helps promote satiety and regularity. I advise clients to keep lower fiber fruits for snacks; at breakfast higher fiber choices are preferable to start your day. Another great measure for foods is Glycemic Load (different from glycemic index as it takes into account commonly consumed portions). Most non-dried fruits are low GL (less than 10). Grapes, bananas and cherries are higher and watermelon, apples and strawberries are less than 5 or very low.
Watermelon lower in calories and Glycemic Load.
Cherries have slightly more fiber.

Bragging Rights

With Father’s day approaching, if you’re stumped on what to get for dad (or your husband, father in law, grandfather etc.), you may want to consider watermelon . Watermelon contains more lycopene than tomatoes making it my #1 prostate health food. Cherries have their own reasons to brag. Cherries and more potently cherry juice is on par with aspirin as a pain reliever. It’s useful for pain from both gout and exercise and has been tested in studies with athletes. Cherries also have notable melatonin content.

So, are watermelon and cherries good to eat? They are, they’re both healthy. If you’re actively trying to lose weight I would choose watermelon over cherries. And just for a reminder with all the delicious summer fruit, in the name of knowledge is power it is possible to overfruit.

Are you a cherry and watermelon eater or are you "sugary fruit"phobic? What are your favorite fruits and approximately how much fruit do you have a day?  Any fruits you limit? For extra credit who said “knowledge is power”?

“Googling is cheating”

 Lauren Slayton

 nutritionist, googler and hypocrite

Our contribution to baseball snack this weekend (watermelon). The next day someone brings doughnuts to game with some silly "Bloomberg says these are ok" disclaimer/joke, not funny.

My Popcorn Secrets

I’ve been the bearer of bad news lately. First it was skim milk, then salad dressing and last week I was urging you to “just say no” to nonstick cookware. It’s generally more fun to add than subtract and I’m happy to be here today to tell you to eat more of something. That “something” is popcorn and it happens to be a family favorite of ours.

A couple of weeks ago I experienced a popcorn convergence of sorts. We were in San Francisco at the divine Ferry Building/Market. My boys and I made our way through the various vendors. We hit Happy Girl Kitchen Co. where my son selected cinnamon, plum jam and I snagged a small jar of Meyer lemon and ginger marmalade. My salty son settled on porcini salt and we purchased gifts for both Granny and nanny.  As I was picking up some fruit and nuts for the plane ride home,  I came across a bag with what looked like red rice in it. It wasn’t red rice though, it was Rancho Gordo’s “Premium Crimson Popping Corn” and I couldn’t wait to try it.  The only problem was that I was heading back to a hotel so the Rancho Gordo I purchased would have to wait.

The next day we headed home. I sat down at the American Airlines terminal with a green juice (gotta love the SF airport) and a stack of magazines. As I leafed through the September issue of O, I saw an article featuring Cat Cora of Iron Chef fame and creator of the best lamb chop recipe ever. Cat talked about her boys getting home from school famished and her love for popcorn. I ripped out her recipe for “Pizza Popcorn” and felt between the crimson corn and this article; the universe was trying to tell me something. The universe was saying, “eat more popcorn” and you have to listen when the universe talks.

Why eat popcorn?

Popcorn is a gluten free, whole grain. As much as I love quinoa (technically a seed) and brown rice if I can choose those grains or popcorn there’s really no contest. Popcorn is a fantastic fiber source.  Surprisingly, popcorn is also a good source of antioxidants particularly polyphenols. Polyphenols may sound familiar as they’re found in high levels in green tea and red wine.  And popcorn is a high volume food; you get to have a nice serving. Three cups of plain, air-popped popcorn have under 100 calories leaving a little room for toppings.

PYOP

When you’re buying popcorn, and I’m not naming names, you don’t want to go for the boxes with bags of microwave popcorn inside,. There are many problems with these products. First, some contain bad fats, second one of the chemicals used for buttery flavor has been linked to lung disease in popcorn factory workers (Google “popcorn lung” and then purge any boxes you own) and finally the same chemical in nonstick cookware or PFOA is also in the lining of the microwave bags. The bottom line? PYOP or pop your own popcorn.

How do you PYOP?

We use this handy glass popper we got as a gift from the NY Rangers. I find it infinitely more useful than a Stanley Cup though my offspring may disagree. It’s very similar to this from Crate and Barrel. The O article also mentioned placing ¼ cup popcorn and ½ tsp. oil in a brown lunch bag. Fold over the top and microwave for 2 minutes or until popping stops. My friend Julie Negrin changed my life when she posted about popping in a pot on the stovetop (same proportions as above) cover for 3-4 over med-high heat. And finally there’s the whirly pop that my friend D. swears by.

Popcorn toppings are endless. Nutritional yeast, truffle salt, fresh herbs such as rosemary and cayenne pepper are some of my favorite or try the Pizza Popcorn. It turns out there was a popcorn secret I didn’t know. That crimson corn? When you pop it, it turns white. It’s really the best popcorn I’ve ever had.

What are your popcorn secrets/how do you pop it? What are your favorite after school or after work snacks?

Lunch Dessert: Sweet Riot

I recently had a new client in my office. She was referred by a friend, another client we’ll call T.  After greeting my new client and guiding her to my office, we sat down and I asked her what brought her in. Common answers to this question are “I have a marathon I am running” or “I really want to lose some weight.” This new client responded differently saying, “I loved T’s lunch dessert.” It turns out she had lunch with T and after lunch T shared one of our Foodtrainers’ favorite snacks. She shared Sweet Riot.

In case you haven’t “rioted” before. Sweet Riot makes dark chocolate covered cacao nibs. I first discovered them at the Natural Products Expo a few years ago and have been hooked ever since. These 1-2 calorie, per piece, nibs are packaged in resealable (and reusable) tins. They come in different flavors or strengths of 50, 65 and 70.  The entire tin has 140 calories and is gluten free.  These nibs, the size of a Rice Krispy are fun to eat but intense. You really can have a few and be satisfied and leave the tin in your desk or purse for the next day.  They do the trick.

Cacao seeds or nibs are what cocoa and chocolate is made from. The fat in cacao and dark chocolate contains stearic acid.  This saturated fat doesn’t raise LDL (or bad) cholesterol and may in fact raise HDL. Cacao and dark chocolate also contain magnesium a mineral that can be decreased or depleted in times of stress. And they have an extremely high ORAC (antioxidant rating) score.  We still see Sweet Riot as a treat but it’s definitely a treat with benefits.This quote from the Sweet Riot Website says it best  "All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!" 
- Lucy Van Pelt, "Peanuts" 

Plus, though it's not something we promote, as T knows Sweet Riot makes a perfect lunch dessert.

Sweet Riot has generously offered to giveaway their Spring Fling 3-pack of tins. To be eligible comment here on the blog (include blog name or twitter handle) or share this post via twitter and include @Foodtrainers. U.S. residents only.

Have you tried Sweet Riot tins or bars before? Are you a chocolate person? Do you have lunch dessert?