Food You Can Feel Good About: The Clean Food Movement

“This dish could really use some potassium sorbate, right?”

Yeah, that’s something you’re never going to hear and pretty much sums up the importance of the Clean Food Movement—a new push for ingredient transparency that we think will mean better food made from simpler ingredients.

Why come clean? Because we think, quite often, the simpler the ingredient, the better it tastes. Food should make you feel good—it should do good things for you and the world around you. When ingredients are simple and readily identifiable, you’ll feel better about every bite you take.

Why the FDA Can't Be Totally Sure Your Food Is Safe

You read all food labels and stay away from artificial ingredients. You nosh on plenty of whole fruits and vegetables daily and squeeze in some lean protein at every meal. But what about the ingredients lurking in that gluten-free pasta you're about to cook? You may be putting yourself at risk without even knowing it.

There's a certain level of trust we put in the hands of food manufacturers. But it seems an antiquated law may be allowing them to slip in new ingredients without prior approval from the FDA. The Food Additives Amendment, which has been around since the 1950s, allows manufacturers to self-proclaim ingredients "generally recognized as safe" (or GRAS), after which they can be used in products without any special warnings on the packaging.

Exercise makes low-calorie food more appetizing

By Shereen Dindar | Shine On

As many of us pledge yet again to make this the year we finally get to the gym and banish those unwanted pounds, some new research might give us a little incentive to keep at it.

New research shows that physical activity makes low-calorie foods seem more appetizing.

In a small study published last month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers from the University of Birmingham found that after exercising the brain regions associated with reward were more active when viewing images of healthy food verses unhealthy food.

"Exercise increases neural responses to images of low-calorie foods and suppresses activation during the viewing of high-calorie foods," write the researchers.

New Study Says it Costs Less Than You Think to Eat Healthy

That's the average amount of money a healthy diet costs over an unhealthy one, according to a new study published in the medical journal BMJ Open. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health studied healthy and unhealthy diet patterns in ten wealthy countries and found that across the board, diets rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts, cost more than those heavy in processed foods and refined grains. On average, the healthiest diets came in at $1.50 more per day.