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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Monday, February 19, 2007 9:19 PM CST
French fries shouldn’t be considered a vegetable when figuring nutrition

By BEVERLY COMBS, Nutrition and Wellness Educator
UI Extension Office

Americans eat more potatoes than any other vegetable, consuming an average of 140 pounds per person per year. Unfortunately, a large percentage is as french fries, which probably should not be considered a vegetable when determining how many cups of vegetables you consume in your daily diet because of the amount of fat they contain!

Soft drinks make up 6.4 percent of Americans’ total caloric intake but the percentage is higher for teenagers.

Soft drinks account for 10 percent of the calories in a male teenager’s diet and nearly 9 percent of a female teenager’s calories.

A 12-ounce can of “regular” soda pop contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar; drinking one can a day can add about 15 extra pounds of weight in a year.

Question: What is the difference between whole-wheat pastry flour and regular whole-wheat flour? I also have recently seen white whole-wheat flour. Is it good for my family?

Answer: Whole-wheat pastry flour is milled from a soft variety of wheat, which has less gluten-forming potential than regular whole-wheat flour, and is therefore an excellent choice for tender baked goods.

White whole-wheat flour is a special variety of hard wheat. Although it has a lighter color and sweeter flavor than regular whole-wheat flour, this flour contains all the benefits of whole-grain flour including fiber because it is milled from the entire wheat berry. It is starting to be available in various supermarkets. Give it a try.

Did you know: More than 90 percent of the poultry and poultry products sold in U.S. supermarkets and consumed by Americans comes from just 10 large companies.

Women hold stronger beliefs about nutrition than men and are more likely to have tried several different diets.

The average United States consumer eats 231 morning snacks, 283 afternoon snacks, and 261 evening snacks in a year!

For more information on Nutrition and Wellness, visit the Coles County Web site at: http://coles.extension.uiuc.edu/. Click on Nutrition and Health.

Beverly Combs is an Extension educator, nutrition and wellness, for the University of Illinois Extension

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