Creating school programs designed around growing better for you foods is catching on in school.  Liberty Union High School in Thurston, Ohio is well on its way to meeting the new USDA school lunch requirements requiring schools to slash sodium, limit calories and offer students a wider variety and larger portion of fruit [...]

FOX News reports that one mother was outraged after school officials told her 4-year-old daughter that her home-packed lunch was not healthy enough to eat.   A lunch inspector at a N.C. school told the student she couldn’t eat her turkey sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice. Instead, the inspector recommended a USDA-approved lunch: one [...]

Food marketers have an opportunity to help consumers who are seeking healthy foods by providing easy-to-understand nutrition information on-pack, according to a new report from Nielsen.  The research company polled 25,000 consumers in 53 nations and found that more than half consider themselves overweight and even more (59%) admit having trouble reading nutrition [...]

Better4You brand managers beware of partnerships with breads and comfort foods!  Heather Bauer, an RD who writes for the Huffington Post, slams the foods as part of her new book on emotional eating, Bread is the Devil. Bauer writes: “Whether it’s happy, sad, depressed, elated, your mood can often affect your food choices.   There’s [...]

The Huffington Post’s Charity Curly Matthews asks “why does the all best comfort food have to be so packed with butter, sugar or bacon?  She suggests five comfort food makeovers that consumers should try.  Smart thinking on her part as brands look for ways to serve up better4you recipes to moms.    Bacon and Cheddar Macaroni [...]

Here’s a great opportunity for a better4you brand to improve the nutrition habits of one needy state.  South Dakota’s fruit and vegetable consumption is lacking, according to the most recent research. “In fact, it’s quite dismal,” said state nutritionist Kristin Biskeborn.   According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that measured adult [...]

Food marketers should lead by example and make some smart dietary decisions as we begin the New Year.  Better4You adviser Amy Hendel offers this advice:   Temptations abound in bakery windows, mall- shopping arenas and especially in the food baskets we receive from well- intentioned friends and family.  So can you truly have success [...]

Giving consumers simple calorie equivalents can help make better4you food choices.   Showing the amount of time you’d need to jog in order to burn off the calories from a sugary drink, rather than showing a calorie count, may be more effective in dissuading you from consuming those beverages, new research suggests.    “People are [...]

Consumers are cooking more at home not solely because of economics but because of health, a new Mintel study shows.  Half of home cooks claim that a better for you diet is a key incentive, stating that home-cooked meals are healthier than either restaurant food or prepared foods sold in grocery stores.  Older cooks are somewhat more likely to cite health [...]

More than nine of 10 Americans consume fewer fruits and vegetables than the daily amount recommended by the U.USDA guidelines, according to the “Fruits and Veggies — More Matters” health initiative, a national program aimed at increasing consumption of plant-based foods.  Don’t blame it on the nutritionist community.   Nutritionists have been talking to us for [...]