Stepping into a Whole Foods can be an eye-opening experience. From the produce aisle to the deli, it’s impossible to make an unhealthy decision, right? Wrong. We hate to break it to you, but just because it’s sold at Whole Foods doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
Up ahead, we share the top so-called ‘health foods’ to avoid while grocery shopping at Whole Foods.
Veggie straws
Whole Foods has a stellar snack section. That said, it’s not entirely healthy. In fact, many of the chip alternatives aren’t good for you at all. Case in point: veggie straws. While they may claim to be made with real vegetables, they should never count towards your daily serving. And at the end of the day, they’re really just chips and are more of an indulgence than a snack.
Organic dressings and sauces
Just because an item says organic, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. When shopping for organic dressings and sauces at Whole Foods, pay close attention to the ingredients and nutrition facts. Many are still super high in saturated fats and sugar.
Naked Juice Smoothies
While we love Whole Foods for their grab-and-go drink section, not every drink in their lineup is considered healthy. Case in point: Naked Juice Smoothies. While they claim to have no added sugar, they still house a shocking amount. You’re better off having a smoothie made at their juice counter.
Annie’s products
Annie’s products get a lot of attention for being a healthier option for packaged and canned goods like ravioli, macaroni and cheese, and so on. That said, just because they’re a healthier option, doesn’t mean they’re the best option. Many items from Annie’s lineup are high in sodium and sugar.
Dried fruit
If you want to avoid a spike in sugar levels, you may want to steer clear of dried fruit at Whole Foods (or, any other health food store). Dried fruit is extremely high in sugar and should be treated more like candy than fruit. Instead, head over to the produce aisle and pick up some antioxidant-rich berries.
‘Healthy’ baked goods
Another food item that houses the illusion of healthy at Whole Foods? Their bakery items. These items are no different than the items sold at a regular grocery store bakery. Step away.
Back to Nature cookies
Speaking of sweets, Back to Nature makes some of our favorite crackers and cookies in healthier forms. And while they’re made of more real ingredients (especially compared to Oreos and other highly processed cookies), they’re still high in sugar and not the best for you.
Omega-3. You've seen the word (and number) splashed across cereal boxes, tins of tuna and one of Australia's most popular supplements: fish oil.
These famous fatty acids are thought to have a vast range of health benefits.
So how can you make the most of them?
Omega-3 is short for omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. They're a family of "essential fats" that play an important role in the way our cell membranes work.
"Omega-3 fats are 'essential'. What that means is that we are unable to synthesise them in our body … so we must obtain them from our diet," says Manohar Garg, professor of medical nutrition at the University of Newcastle.
Fats tend to get a bad rap, but polyunsaturated fats are the good guys. They help keep cholesterol balance in your body, decreasing the bad cholesterol and increasing the good cholesterol.
When it comes to the health benefits of omega-3, here's what you need to know.
Fatty acids linked to heart health
The strongest evidence for the benefits of omega-3 fats comes from studies of heart disease.
Research shows people who regularly consume fish (the best source of omega-3) tend to have lower rates of heart disease and stroke — and that may well be down to omega-3.
These fats are known to help lower your heart rate, reduce the risk of clotting, lower triglycerides (an unhealthy fat in the blood), decrease blood pressure, improve blood vessel function and delay the build-up of plaque in coronary arteries.
"Omega-3 fatty acids cut down the blood fat — blood cholesterol and blood triglycerides — and they also cut down inflammation in the body. These are the two underlying causes of cardiovascular disease," Professor Garg says.
Those anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3 have been used to help people with rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.
But the evidence for omega-3's protective effects against other chronic diseases is less clear.
"In respect to the role of omega-3 in cognitive function and neuro-degenerative diseases, the evidence is building up," Professor Garg says.
"There is evidence that people with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and people with dementia have low levels of omega-3 fatty acids … but we need to do more randomised clinical trials."
High-fish diet recommended
While omega-3 fats can be found in plants, seafood, and to a lesser extent, eggs and meat, the best way to boost your intake of fatty acids is to increase the amount of oily fish you consume.
The Heart Foundation recommends including two to three serves of fish (with the skin on) in your diet each week (150 grams per serve), as well as one gram of plant-sourced omega-3 fats each day.
"You can add fish to stir-fries, casseroles, pasta and soups, or simply have it in a sandwich or in a salad."
Good sources of marine omega-3s include salmon, blue-eye trevalla, blue mackerel, herring, canned sardines, canned salmon and some varieties of canned tuna.
When it comes to plant sources, walnuts, linseed, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, tofu, leafy greens and vegetable oils such as canola and soybean are all good options.
Vegetarian alternatives on the horizon
If you don't eat fish, it's important to maximise your intake of plant-based sources of omega-3.
However, the type of omega-3 fatty acid found in plants (alpha-linolenic acid) is nowhere near as effective as the types found in marine sources (docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid).
"From the plant sources, we do not get the fatty acids which are present in our body — we only get the precursors of those omega-3 fatty acids," Professor Garg says.
"So, they're not readymade … our body has to work hard, and the conversion of plant omega-3 fatty acids into docosahexaenoic acid is extremely slow.
"The conversion rate is almost less than 1 per cent."
Given the modest conversion rate, the Heart Foundation says it's important vegetarians and vegans still include marine-sourced omega-3 fats in their diet.
The foundation recommends omega-3 supplements derived from algae — which is actually where all marine-sourced omega-3 originates.
Professor Garg says there may be more omega-3 alternatives available for people who don't eat animal products in the near future.
"Tree nut oils, for example, are being genetically manipulated to contain long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. So that might be available in the next few years, but at the moment the choices are limited."
Little evidence for supplements
While some research shows fish oil supplements may help to reduce triglycerides in your blood, it's unclear whether they reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.
Recent studies suggest the supplements may not be as helpful as previously thought in reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke.
Look at the big picture
Although omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to good cardiovascular health, molecular nutritionist Emma Beckett says it's much more important to look at your diet overall, rather than focusing on individual nutrients.
"If you just focus on omega-3, that's really what we call a reductionist approach to nutrition … thinking about nutrients instead of food," she says.
Dr Beckett says the benefits of omega-3, as with most nutrients, are likely to come from consuming whole foods.
"It's not just the omega-3 you're getting with eating fish, it's the fact that the fish would be displacing something else potentially negative from your diet."
This event comes just days after the rare super blue blood moon that took place on January 31 and is also the second solar eclipse in six months.
On Thursday, February 15, sky-gazers will be treated to a gorgeous celestial event, when the moon will block a portion of the sun, leading to a partial solar eclipse.
This event comes just days after the rare super blue blood moon that took place on January 31 and is also the second solar eclipse in six months.
While it won't be as remarkable as the August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse, spectators and enthusiasts will be able to note a slight change in the shape of the sun.
What is a partial solar eclipse?
A partial solar eclipse happens when the moon only blocks a portion of the sun. This can happen only at new moon when the sun and the moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth in an alignment referred to as syzygy.
Where will the eclipse be visible?
The partial solar eclipse will be visible in Antarctica and a sliver of southern South America, experts say. Skygazers in Uruguay, Argentina, southern Chile, far western Paraguay, far southern Brazil and Antarctica can see the celestial event on Thursday, February 15 for approximately two hours.
What time can we view the partial solar eclipse?
Antarctica will experience the partial eclipse between about 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm UTC or 9:00 am local time. Then, the end of the eclipse will be visible in Uruguay, Argentina, southern Chile, far western Paraguay, and far southern Brazil.
How to view the eclipse?
According to the guidelines set by NASA, one should avoid looking at the sun directly/with the naked eye. Pinhole cameras or the filtering eclipse glasses should be used.
2018 will witness two more partial solar eclipses which are expected for July 13 and August 11 respectively. On July 13, the Sun would appear crescent-shaped over Australia and Antarctica, while the August 11 will play over the North Pole, northern Europe, and parts of northern and eastern Asia.
North Korea`s United Nations mission on Monday slammed the UN and U.S. for the strict sanctions imposed on the country due to its nuclear weapons programme.
North Korea`s United Nations mission on Monday slammed the UN and U.S. for the strict sanctions imposed on the country due to its nuclear weapons programme.
North Korea`s United Nation mission on Tuesday slammed the UN and United States` decision of imposing sanctions on the isolated country due to its persistent nuclear missile tests.
In a written statement, the North Korean mission called the sanctions "despicable" and "criminal", saying they are "suffocating" people`s livelihood and public health in North Korea, the Anadolu news agency reported.
"This clearly proves that the UN Security Council, overpowered by high-handedness and arbitrariness of the U.S., has only turned into the tool of infringement on people`s rights and barbarous state sponsored terrorism.
Such "illegal" sanctions threaten the exercise of human rights of the North Korean people," said the mission in a statement, blaming the US Government.Last week, US Vice-President Mike Pence said Washington D.C. was planning to impose "toughest and most aggressive" sanctions against Pyongyang.
The US has repeatedly made its position clear that North Korea should first abandon its nuclear weapons programme if it wanted talks with the US on ending sanctions.
The US and North Korea have long been engaged in back-and-forth barbs over the latter`s threat of a nuclear attack.
The UN Security Council had imposed new sanctions on North Korea, seeking to limit its access to refined petroleum products and crude oil after the latest intercontinental ballistic missile test by Pyongyang in December last year.
US President Donald Trump threatened to rain "fire and fury" on North Korea and also called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "Little Rocket Man", while North Korea denounced Trump as a "mentally deranged" US dotard.
The massive turnout of black women in 2017’s elections was only the start, predicts Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
There’s nothing Republicans can do to win them back, she says, and they’ll keep electing Democrats to push the GOP from power.
Bottoms has a distinctive vantage point. In December, she won her first term, making her both the most prominent black woman to win a major election since Donald Trump was inaugurated and the most prominent black female executive in the South—and one of the few in the entire country.
There will be more, she said—and soon.
“Black women are realizing the power of their vote and of their influence,” Bottoms told me in an interview for POLITICO’s Off Message podcast.
“It’s taken what we are dealing with on a national level, I think, to really get us energized and not taking anything for granted, but I do think we are recognizing and exercising our power in a way that we’ve never done before, and that’s exciting,” Bottoms said. “We are becoming engaged, and we realize the danger of staying home.”
Black women pouring out in big numbers already put Ralph Northam in Virginia and Doug Jones in Alabama over the top. There’s a reason Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called them the “backbone” of the party back in December.
But with Bottoms winning—and black women also winning historic races for mayor in Charlotte, North Carolina, and New Orleans in 2017—Bottoms and others warn Democrats not to misread what’s driving them, or fall back into taking them for granted. They can’t stand Trump, but they’re going to need more than that to keep showing up.
“That’s the challenge we’ve seen in the Democratic Party. Black women are treated as monolithic, but then they receive underinvestment or very superficial investment,” said Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic leader in the Georgia state House and a candidate for governor who is a black woman herself. “The question is not who they will vote for. The question is how many will vote. The party and too many candidates have stopped at the beginning of that equation.”
The stakes are immediate across the midterms, and at home in Georgia, too: Democrats see the glimmering of a path in the governor’s race—with Abrams in a primary against Stacey Evans, the star of a viral announcement video about growing up poor and making it as a lawyer, and who is white but has support from prominent black leaders like former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and Bottoms suggesting she might be on board, too. But Democrats locally and nationally are still burned by putting their hopes in winning the House special election in the Atlanta suburbs last year which went national, brought in $50 million, and which Republican Karen Handel won anyway.
Though Bottoms has now signed on to the Georgia Democratic Party’s executive committee and pledged to campaign for statewide officials, she’s privately expressed surprise when people have pushed her to realize her responsibility to the party as the most prominent elected Democrat in the state.
“She understands Atlanta’s potential,” said DuBose Porter, chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party, who pointed out that Democrats have registered 200,000 voters since losing the 2014 gubernatorial and Senate races by about 200,000 votes. “And she understands what her role now has the potential of being.”
Bottoms’ election was a rough one. Though she had the support of outgoing Mayor Reed, eight candidates made it to the last debate of the first round of voting, including the Bernie Sanders-backed state Sen. Vincent Fort, who slammed her for personal financial issues and for having a policy vision for the city which he deemed as not progressive enough. In the runoff in December, she faced an independent white woman with ties to Republicans, and won by all of 821 votes out of about 90,000 cast. More stark was how the election results looked on a map, with the city visibly divided north to south—the wealthier, whiter parts of the city going for her opponent, and the blacker, less affluent part of the city pulling for Bottoms.
That an election in a heavily Democratic city was ever that close shows just how deep the fights dividing the party nationally affect races locally. Progressives and those voters who backed other candidates stayed home in the runoff, as Bottoms—who is neither a fire-breather nor a firebrand—failed to ignite movement enthusiasm.
Bottoms says she was never going to pretend to be something she’s not. And she chalks up some of the struggles she faced as a candidate to an insidious mix of tacit sexism and racism.
“There were a lot of critiques and criticisms toward me that just would not have been thrown towards a man: ‘Will she be her own person?’ ‘Can she lead?’ ‘Will she be a puppet?’ Things that I know are never asked of men or weren’t asked during this race, and in my own right, I’ll put my résumé and my professional accomplishments up against anyone,” she said. “It’s often perpetuated against African-American leaders, that you can’t be accomplished and you can’t drive a nice car—you must be corrupt; there has to be something to it. And that was more concerning to me, just the underlying code words and language that was used.”
It’s literally impossible to drive through Atlanta without thinking of the civil rights movement, taking Andrew Young International Boulevard or passing signs for the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial on the way to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
Bottoms has lived the recent history of the city. Her father, Major Lance, was an R&B sensation when she was a girl. She remembers seeing women scream when they saw him on stage—which puzzled her, because in her eyes, he wasn’t the Jackson 5. She also remembers coming home one day at 8 years old and seeing police swarming the house, arresting him for selling drugs when his music career hit the skids, and then visiting him in jail over the next three years.
“What always struck me is … the prisons were full of men who looked just like my Dad,” she remembered.
Bottoms’ mother was and is a more looming presence in her life, who was so broke after separating from Lance that she couldn’t afford to buy new clothes and went to work as a file clerk dressed in the Ultrasuede suits she’d stocked her closet with to look the part of a musician’s wife. When her mother was working a second job, young Keisha would curl up in her bed to feel close to her, and learn with her older brother and sister how to stretch the couple of dollars left for lunch.
At first, she was reluctant to go public with many personal details, and though she told part of the story during the campaign, she went deeper in the Off Message interview than she ever had before.
She became a lawyer, worked her way up to be a local judge, realizing one day that she was serving alongside a man who’d been the prosecutor who sent her father to jail. After a brief stint on the Atlanta City Council, she jumped into the mayor’s race, backed by Reed, as he had been backed by outgoing Mayor Shirley Franklin eight years earlier.
She’s eager to return the favor, boosting the much-rumored idea that Reed will run for Senate in 2020 against David Perdue, capitalizing on presidential election-year coattails—“whatever he runs for, I think that it will be a nice next chapter, whatever it may be,” she said.
And she’s hoping that Democrats are fighting hard in Georgia’s presidential race by then. “I don’t think the resources have ever been put into the state in the way they need to be to make us truly competitive,” Bottoms said.
Put the money in, Bottoms said, and “absolutely” Georgia will be competitive.
“You’ve got to realize that it’s different than in Alabama, where Trump carried it with 65 percent. He carried Georgia with 51 percent. Georgia’s in play, the numbers are there if we turn out our base,” Porter said. “African-American women have always been a big part of it, and they definitely will be this year.”
Abrams, who for years has argued that Georgia could be competitive by lighting up voters who are already in the state, is hoping for a major turnout in her race this year, putting in the effort to appeal to black female voters she says other campaigns haven’t shown up with.
“The numbers bear out the capacity” for Democrats to win she said. “This is not a far-fetched idea. Winning an election is math.”
