Can't finish your burger?

...try washing your windows with it!

Here's more from the Men's Health article I was telling you about yesterday:

Shocking Food Industry Secrets - Part 2

6. Smaller portions are equally as satisfying as larger portions. Participants in a Penn State study ate macaroni and cheese over four different days, and when presented with bigger portions, they consumed an extra 160 calories. Despite the extra food, they rated their fullness the same.

7. Between 1977 and 1996, the average cheeseburger grew in size by 25 percent. But you don't have to give up the burgers to stay thin Just order smarter. Order the smaller burgers and have what you want on them added. And avoid the 15 Worst Burgers in America.

8. What do hamburgers and fertilizer have in common? Turns out, hamburgers—especially the stuff served at schools and fast food restaurants—are routinely treated with ammonia to kill off E. coli bacteria. That’s the same substance used in fertilizers and household cleaners. I saw this on Food, Inc, too.

9. There's a good chance chicken will make you sick. In a 2006 Consumer Reports review, more than 80 percent of whole broiler chickens bought nationwide contained campylobacter or salmonella—the leading causes of foodborne illness in America.

10. Junk food is like a drug. A study in the journal of Nature Neuroscience found that eating junk food doesn’t just satisfy cravings—it creates them. That’s right; junk food is addictive. That's why manufacturers load their foods with sugar, salt, and artificial flavorings.

Remember this: If your food can go bad, it's good for you. If it can't go bad, it's bad for you.

Have you seen this video about McDonald's fries?

Oh poo....

... in Chocolate?

I'm always reading articles about health and nutrition. It seems there is just always something interesting to learn. Recently, an article from Men's Health came to my attention. It was full of interesting and maybe even scary information that I thought was worth sharing. Here's part of it:

Shocking Food Industry Secrets - Part 1

1. The average American has easy access to 2,700 calories each day, versus just 2,200 in 1970. If 500 calories a day doesn't sound like much, that’s 52 pounds a year.

Tip: Canadian researchers have found that daily e-mails (or tweets) that contain weight-loss advice remind you of your goals and help you drop pounds.

2. Between sodas, energy drinks, lattes, bottled teas, milk shakes, the average American drinks 450 liquid calories a day. (Here are the most sinister culprits—the 20 worst drinks in America.)

3. Fresh fruits and vegetables cost 10 times more than junk food, according to researchers at the University of Washington. A thousand calories of nutritious food cost $18.16, while a thousand calories of junk food cost a mere $1.76. How do they keep junk-food costs so low? Pretty simple, actually: flavor enhancers and other chemical additives. Speaking of . . .

4. There are more than 3,000 items on the FDA’s list of approved food additives—everything from acesulfame potassium (an artificial sweetener that animal studies have linked to breast cancer) to Yellow #5 (a food coloring linked to learning and concentration disorders in children).

Tip: Click here for a list of food additives to avoid.

And the top shocker for today:

5. Your food can legally contain maggots and rat poop. Sure, the FDA limits the amount of such appetite killers in your food, but that limit isn't zero. Trace amounts won’t make you sick, but the thought of them will. For more on this, check the FDA's Food "Defect Levels Handbook".

Come back tomorrow for more shocking secrets!