Principles

I really enjoy nutrition. Here are the main principles I strive to follow. I'm planning on writing many more posts in the future, I just thought I'd throw a few things here in order to create a "Health" tab on the main page :)

Use whole grains as much as possible
Have vegetables fresh or frozen at every lunch and dinner. (I don't like canned. I've read they still retain their nutrients but the color is gone and the taste is off so I rarely use them) A variety of fresh fruits available to snack on
I try to pair proteins and carbs as much as I can -
A balanced meal includes proteins, carbs and vegetables.
I try to sneak the calcium in at breakfast, snacks and desserts.
Fats... they get an undeserved bad name. I try to buy lean cuts of meat but all the milk products I choose are full fat!!!

I boycott:
Trans Fats - Partially Hydrogenated oils and Mono & Di-Glycerides
High Fructose Corn Syrup
BHT & BHA
Sodium Nitrite
Food Coloring
Bleached flour
Aspartame

A friend of mine had questions about some of the above mentionned substances or principles. I'm copying the answers I gave her to possibly benefit others too :)

What is BHT? BHT & BHA are preservatives. They have been shown by some studies to be carcinogenic. The State of California has actually declared BHA to be carcinogenic. They are found mostly in very processed foods (that we shouldn't anyways) but most cold cereals also use it in their packaging. How much exposure do we get from the cereals being in contact with the substance I don' t know. I prefer to stay away from them altogether. Most cereals have high fructose corn syrup too anyways. Cheerios uses Tocopherols (vit E) as a preservative which is great. The brands who don't are just trying to cut cost at the expense of the consumers' health. I've also found found that most gum as BHA ot BHT in it....

What are sodium nitrites? It's a meat preservative mostly used in deli meats (ham, hotdogs). The biggest danger is that nitrites can be converted in nitrosamines which are highly carcinogenic. This conversion more readily occurs when the meat reaches frying temperatures, think bacon and breakfast links! Here's a good article I found. The statistics are compelling... http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/07/08/22/the-dangers-of-nitrites-the-foods-they-are-found-in-and-why-you-want-to-avoid-them.htm

What do you consider to be good carbs, the kind to pair with a protein? Think Whole Foods (ie, the way God gave them to us :) ) Whole grains and fruits. Chemically, eating protein by itself is fine. It's when we ingest carbs that we can benefit from the blood sugar regulating effect of proteins.

Why do you feel it's okay to eat full fat dairy products? Taste? Yes, I use full fat because of taste. And it is the way God gave them to us... :) We need fat to utilize the calcium from dairy products because Vitamin D, which is required for fat utilization, is fat soluble. Sure, the fat doesn't have to come from the milk product. But then again, it's prefectly ok if it does. So cheers to whole milk and sunshine!

Here's another good article. http://www.sweetpoison.com/food-additives-to-avoid.html