Edible Cannabis

Image via WikipediaIn my job as a candy and snacks buyer, I receive a lot of email newsletters related to the food industry.  One of the newsletters that I subscribe to is put out by Natural Food Merchandising magazine so that I can stay aware of any trends in the natural and organic snack markets.  This week, they had a rather interesting article about the use of medical marijuana in food product.

Now, I am not, nor have I ever been a marijuana use.  I did try it a couple of times in college with a couple friends of mind, but all it did was make me cough.  I just could not manage to inhale the smoke.  I did have some friends who did smoke on a regular basis.  Some of them talked about baking marijuana into brownies, and I remember  a particularly funny Barney Miller episode where the squad mistakenly got high off of marijuana laced brownies.

The gist of the article was about companies in Colorado who were working on a variety of gourmet food products that are infused with medical marijuana.  In particular, they mention a company called Simply Pure that makes a wide variety of products that goes beyond the stereotypical pot brownies.  Among their offerings are pizza, sodas, energy drinks, cheese cakes, and candies.  Their goal is to product all natural, organic, gluten-free and sugar free foods.

The article goes on to include quotes from a doctor who specializes in medical marijuana evaluations and nutrition.  He talks about the benefits of healthy and natural eating for everyone, but especially for those who require medical marijuana.  In addition to healthy eating as a whole, the good doctor say that consuming medical marijuana in foodstuffs may be more beneficial to patients than smoking, due to a slower absorption rate in digestion and burning through smoking can destroy some of the beneficial cannabinoids in the marijuana.

I do not intend to get into the arguments on whether or not medical marijuana is a good or bad thing for society.  There seems to be some evidence that it does help some people suffering from cancer and long term pain.  Of course there is always the opportunity for abuse.  I can see the benefit of ingesting medical marijuana in food form versus smoking, just based on my experience of not being able to inhale smoke.  Though I hope I never get so sick that I will require medical marijuana. 

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Winetime Bar

Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant found in fruits, especially in the skins of red grapes.   Since it is a part of red grapes, it can also be found in red wines, which accounts for some of the benefits of drinking red wine.  There are those that believe that the resveratrol found in red wine is responsible for the so called "French Paradox" in which the French have good cardiovascular health although their diet is high in fat.

Some of the benefits of resveratrol are thought to be:

* Protect cells from free radical damage
* Inhibit the spread of cancer, especially prostate cancer
* Lower blood pressure
* Keep the heart healthy and improve elasticity in blood vessels
* Normalize the body’s anti-inflammatory response
* Slow down the signs of aging and help prevent Alzheimer’s disease

Unfortunately, the amount of resveratrol needed to obtain these benefits would require drinking an awful lot of wine each day.  The excessive amount of alcohol would cancel out the benefits of the resveratrol.  So resveratrol supplements have become very popular.  There is also a company out of California who has produced a very tasty, nutritional bar called the WineTime Bar.

The WineTime Bar is a delicious chocolate nutritional bar that has as much resveratrol as 50 glasses of red wine, without the hangover.  In addition to the resveratrol, the WineTime Bar also contains seven additional super fruits; cranberry, noni, pomegranate, goji berry, acai, mangosteen and blueberry.  I have had the pleasure of trying the WineTime Bar and it is delicious.  It is a fairly new product, so it may be hard to find, but you can place orders for it on their website.  

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Red Meat & Prostate Cancer

Image by sean dreilinger via Flickr

A few weeks ago, I made the decision to try to eat better and lose some weight.  I am eating a lot more fruit and salads.  For breakfast, I usually have a few pieces of fruit.  Lunch consists of a salad and a can of tuna.  My snacks have gone from candy bars, chips, and cheez its to granola bars or nuts.  I have even cut way back on my alcohol consumption, because I found that if I had more than a couple glasses of wine I would find myself chowing down on junk food.  So far, it has been working as I have dropped about 10 pounds in three weeks.

Another thing that I have to be concerned about is prostate health.  I am currently taking Avodart for an enlarged prostate.  My father has also suffered from an enlarged prostate, elevated PSA levels, but thankfully no prostate cancer. 

So it was a little disconcerting to see the news the other day that the American Journal of Epidemiology has released a study linking consumption of red meat and processed meat products with an increased risk of prostate cancer in men. They also found an increased risk when the meat was prepared on a grill. Red meat has also been linked with an increased risk of colon cancer. 

Now, I like a good steak as much as the next guy, but in light of this study, I should really should cut back on the amount of red meat I eat.  Currently, I probably have red meat at least twice a week.  I don't think I could ever completely give it up, but I should cut back to no more than once a week.  Another new dietary goal to shoot for. 

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Welcome To My Blog

Image via Wikipedia

Diet.  The very word conjures up negative images.  While most people associate the word diet with denying yourself of some food and drink for the purpose of losing weight, in reality, diet really is more about the food and drink you consume on a regular basis.

I am a man in my late 40's.  Currently, I am not the heaviest I have ever been, but I am perilously close.  For a few weeks I have been telling myself that I really do need to lose some weight.  About a week ago, two things took place that made me finally start my quest to shed some tonnage.  First and foremost, I got tired of feeling crappy all the time.  Second was when I split the seat out of a pair of pants.  I am pretty sure that I caught my pants on something and that caused the tear, but the thought that it just might be my big behind was a concern.

Earlier this week, I weighed in at 226 lbs, about four pounds shy of my previous high.  In the past, I have always felt pretty good at around 200 lbs.  According to the weight charts and body mass index, I should weigh between 155-175lbs.  I have two goals right now.  There are currently 15 weeks left in 2009.  If I could lose 1.5 lbs per week, I could be at 200 lbs by the end of the year.  If I can make that, then I want to shoot for around 180 lbs by summer and try to maintain that weight.

While I do intend to touch on my weight loss adventure on this blog, the title of the blog is Dickster's Food & Diet Blog so I intend more to focus on the food aspect.  I have spent most of my life in the retail food industry.  I intend to review food items that I find that I particularly have enjoyed, recipes that I like, and any food and nutrition news that I come across in my travels.  Feel free to join in the journey.

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