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Cheeseburger addiction is among the episode lineup for TLC's new show, "Freaky Eaters".

If someone does something weird, there shall be a reality TV show about it, and TLC has poached weird food addictions off the list of televise-able disorders for their new series: Freaky Eaters. Each episode features one “freaky eater” and rehabs them within a half-hour time slot; most of the eating problems seem to revolve around emotional eating, but some are simply adult picky eaters.

Is it just us, or is this TV trend getting a little played out? Making a spectacle of eating disorders and overweight, unhappy people (like a diabetic who’s addicted to cheeseburgers) seems a bit cruel, and though it’s all done under the guise of helping resolve unhealthy food addictions while providing educational programming for viewers, we’re still suspicious. Will this reality show really educate and encourage people to adopt healthy lifestyles, or is it just another chance to ogle people who are worse off than us?

Do you have any weird food addictions? Tell us about them in the comments section, below – and tell us what you think about shows like TLC’s Freaky Eaters, while you’re at it.

via Los Angeles Times

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Freaky Eaters: What Are Your Food Addictions?

We’ve all seen a vegan who looks like they could use a steak and a tall glass of milk, but that’s not to say we don’t think vegans can be healthy; they can. With the right amount of planning and know-how, there are plenty of completely animal-free foods to keep a vegan’s vitamin and mineral intake high. Here are some plant-based vitamin and mineral sources that you should know about if you’re starting to leave meat and dairy behind:

Calcium

• green leafy vegetables and broccoli
• tofu
• many legumes, especially chickpeas
• almonds
• seeds, including sunflower, sesame, and flax
• dried fruit, especially figs

Iron

• green leafy vegetables
• nuts and seeds
• cereals
• whole grains

Magnesium

• brown rice
• beans and legumes
• almonds and nuts
• green leafy vegetables, especially broccoli and cooked spinach
• cooked oatmal
• whole grains, especially wheat germ/bran
• bananas
• peanuts

Phosphorus

• nuts, especially almonds
• pinto beans, lentils and dried beans
• peas
• brown rice
• avocados
• yeast

Potassium

• bananas
• spinach (raw or cooked)
• sweet potatoes and winter squash
• raw cauliflower
• tomatoes
• fruit, including oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, honeydew melon, and cantaloupe
• avocados

Zinc

• whole grains, cereals, and wheat germ
• legumes
• lentils
• nuts and seeds
• soy products
• raw collard greens and spinach

Selenium

• brazil nuts
• whole grains
• kidney beans
• yeast

For more information, check out Care2’s article on vegan sources of other vitamins and minerals.

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Vegans Can Get Vitamins, Too

photo: Thinkstock

A recent Huffington Post slide show about different types of milk has us thinking: What kind of milk do Blisstree readers enjoy? You’ve got more choices about what to pour over your bowl of cereal than we ever though possible. Let us know which you prefer and feel free to defend your choice in the comments section.

#MicroPollDiv_274994 { width: 250px; margin: 0px auto; }

via Huffington Post

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Reader Poll: What's Your Milk of Choice?

photo: Thinkstock

While downing a big glass of milk after working out doesn’t sound overly refreshing, new studies show that milk might be even more effective than sports drinks when it comes to repairing your body after vigorous exercise.

According to the studies, the type of carbohydrates and nutrients in milk make it ideal for reviving your muscles after they’ve been worked, and people who drink milk after training are able to work out longer the next time compared to people who drank sports drinks or water. Of course, some of these studies were funded by the dairy industry.

Have you tried drinking milk after an exercise session?

via MSNBC

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Tough Workout? Reach for Milk

A great way to start your morning, circa 2000:

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Cracklin' Oat Flakes (Now with Ecstasy): Video of the Day

from Flickr user gesika22

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It's Apple Season: Photo of the Day

Congrats to Monica R. Oliva, the winner of our Guy Fieri Santoku Knife Set Facebook Fan Giveaway!

You know Guy Fieri, the energetic, dive-loving chef and host of Food Network’s Guy’s Big Bite and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, as well as the NBC game show Minute To Win It. Well, when he’s not cooking or hosting or working on his endless list of projects, Guy also sells knives. He calls his line of Japanese Santoku knives, “Knuckle Sandwich,” and Monica won two of them – just for being a fan of Blisstree on Facebook.

Guy’s new 2-piece Santoku Knife Set includes a 5.5-inch Chopper Santoku Knife with Crisscross Crusher, perfect for rocking and chopping fruits and vegetables, and a 4-inch Lil’ Guy Paring Knife, for peeling and cutting small fruits and vegetables. Both knives have hollow ground blades, and the Chopper also has a special crisscross knurl on the end to pulverize garlic and nuts. (Who knew that was called a knurl?) The set retails for $150.

Don’t want to miss our next giveaway? Then become a fan of Blisstree on Facebook ASAP. Just click here and hit the “Like” button at the top of the page to become a fan.

And don’t worry, if you didn’t win Guy’s knife set, you can purchase it directly from Food Network here. And sign up for Food Network’s newsletter to learn about special promotions at the Food Network store.

How do you get your Weekly Bliss? Subscribe to Blisstree’s free weekly email newsletter that brings our best health, wellness, eco-friendly, and relationship content directly to your inbox every Thursday.

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Hey, Monica: You Won Our Guy Fieri Knife Set Facebook Fan Giveaway

Why Didn’t We Think of That? 8 simple diet tips from around the world. (via Reader’s Digest)

Post from: BlissTree

photo: Thinkstock

We wish we had our own, personal dietitian who would follow us around all day and gently remind us of the foods we should be eating. Up til now, that hasn’t happened, so BettyConfidential has 10 ways to eat like a dietitian, straight from the (very healthy) horse’s mouth.

1. Eat a wholesome, hearty breakfast. Make it a habit to have whole-grain cereal, fresh berries, and skim milk for breakfast.

2. Buy what’s in season. Knowing which fruits and vegetables are in season will help you buy the freshest produce possible, which means that it has the most nutrients.

3. Ask when to shop. The next time you’re at the grocery store, ask when the produce is delivered. If you buy fruits and vegetables right away, you’ll have longer to eat them at home.

4. Sit down to eat. If you’re snacking while flying around the house doing chores, chances are you aren’t enjoying that snack too much. If you sit down to eat, you’ll be getting more satisfaction for the calories.

5. Only indulge when it’s worth it. If you’re just eating that doughnut because a co-worker brought in a box, you aren’t enjoying it enough for the calories it contains. Only eat treats that you really enjoy.

6. Spice up your meals. Spices like curry, garlic, chili powder, and ginger are full of antioxidants. They’ll also help add new life to old-yet-healthy favorites.

7. Twice a week, have some fish. Eating fatty fish like salmon or tuna fights inflammation. They’re also jam-packed with omega-3 fatty acids.

8. Don’t overeat. This one seems obvious, but how often do you find yourself eating past the point of comfort? Stop eating before you feel like you need to unbutton your pants.

9. Enlist your kids for help. Getting your kids to help you make healthy foods will get them started in the right direction when it comes to eating nutritiously.

10. Have multicolored meals. Eating bold-colored fruits and vegetables will give you the most boost of antioxidants.

via BettyConfidential

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10 Ways to Eat Like a Dietitian

photo: Thinkstock

Low-carb diets have been shown to have a lot of health benefits, but not all are equal. A Harvard study found that people who eat a low-carb, high-protein diet where most of the protein comes from meat have a 14% increased risk of dying from heart disease, and a 28% increased risk of dying of cancer. This is compared to people who eat a low-carb, high-protein diet with most of the protein coming from plant-based sources.

Is this research enough to make you change your eating habits?

via CNN

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Low-Carb, Animal-Based Diet Linked to Higher Risk of Cancer and Heart Disease Deaths

photo: Thinkstock

We got this post from Sarah Jane Shagraw for YourTango, and thought you might like it. Let us know in the comments section if you’d radically change your diet to start or save a relationship.

Candlelight, red wine, freshly made pasta. Flirting at a small table in a corner infrequently visited by the waiter. Such are the makings of a great date.

But not if you can’t eat what they’re serving. What if you must start with a ten-minute interrogation: Can the scallopine be prepared without a dusting of flour? Can I forgo the bed of pasta and just have the red pepper salmon? Does the chef use anything to thicken the risotto? Embarrassing. Your waiter takes a few trips to the kitchen to speak with the chef, and your date progresses in fits in starts. And — let’s be honest — you might seem a little high-maintenance (think Sally Albright, the picky heroine who ordered everything on the side in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally).

However, if you have Celiac Disease – a condition where the immune system reacts negatively to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye – your questions aren’t a matter of preference. You must avoid the flour and pasta! Even if you aren’t a vegetarian or vegan or suffer from an intolerance or allergy, chances are at some point you’ll dine out with someone who is. In these situations, how do relationships fare?

Read the full post here at YourTango.

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Diet Craze: Would You Go Vegan For Love?

For some twisted reason, tons of you ardently love that terrifying Lipton Green Tea commercial featuring the singing half-human half-fish monsters. But guess what? We were right! We knew there was something off about that ad. Turns out, the FDA has cited claims against parent company Unilever, saying that Lipton Green Tea’s labeling is misleading because it suggests that the drink could prevent or treat disease. (The FDA also says that the labels don’t follow federal guidelines.)

Who’s laughing now, Mr. Franken-fish? Unilever has 15 days to respond with an outline for fixing its labeling problems. May we also suggest a new marketing campaign?

via Yahoo! News

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FDA Cites Lipton Green Tea (We KNEW Something Was Off!)

Good planning is the key to eating well – and not paying a fortune for it or spending hours tracking down your next meal. Now that you’re back from Labor Day weekend and ready to get back into a routine for Fall, it’s a good chance to sit down and revamp your food routines. Fun as BBQs and summer vacations are, they make eating well and saving money difficult, and we’re ready to get back to business, so we’re taking a close look at SELF’s food planning tips:

1. Print a blank calendar on Friday afternoon.

2. Make a loose meal plan on your way home. Choose three breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that you want to make for the next week, and write them into the days of that week.

3. Make a grocery list on Saturday morning based on your meal plan.

4. Spend one hour prepping food on the day you shop. Cut up vegetables and prep some salads for the week to save yourself time and ensure that you eat the food you bought throughout the week.

5. Find new recipes during your lunch hour or when you have some down time at home. Check online, in magazines, and in cookbooks, so that you have some ideas ready for the next week’s food plan.

6. Eat at home as much as possible. You can’t do it all the time, but the more you plan and stick to making your own meals, the more money you save and the healthier your meals will be.

via SELF

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Fall Food Planning: 6 Rules to Keep Your Diet (and Budget) on Track

At Blisstree, we’re not into fast food, but we’re very into these 4 Wendy’s training videos from the good ol’ 1980s. Our fave is the one with the hip blonde manager lady who “raps” about cold drinks and rhymes “same” with “again.” (via Urlesque)

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Organic Farming Is Better – Today in obvious scientific news: Organic gardening yields more nutritious fruit and better soil. (ScienceDaily)

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For every time we roll our eyes at a bad commercial for diet pills, there are apparently millions of Americans doing the same: A recent NPR/Thompson Reuters survey showed that only 15% of Americans have ever tried diet pills. More than half of those surveyed said they’d tried to lose weight within the last year, and many were overweight, so the result seems to indicate that even those looking for a way to lose weight are wary of using drugs.

The poll indicates that people required low cost and promise of significant weight loss in order to consider taking a drug, but ultimately, it seems the side effects scare them the most. So, OK, we might not be smart enough to eat well and exercise in the first place, but at least most of us recognize that the safest way to health isn’t through a diet pill.

via SocialWorkout

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Proof That Americans Aren't Stupid: We Don't Take Diet Pills

photo: Thinkstock

When you see a “Grade A” stamp on a carton of eggs, do you think that means they’re top-quality? Not necessarily. It’s just a USDA stamp that means there’s a grader in the egg-packing facility who checks the eggs’ size, shell, and color. This “Grade A” label is more a marketing ploy than an actual measure of quality, at least as far as eggs are concerned. If the carton is stamped with the highest grade possible, consumers will be more likely to buy it.

Do you buy Grade A, organic, or free-range eggs? And has the recent salmonella outbreak made you change your buying habits?

via The Wall Street Journal

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What Does "Grade A" Mean When It Comes to Eggs?

A post on Treehugger about the intelligence of octopuses raised an interesting question: Does an animal’s intelligence factor into whether or not you’ll eat it? As the article points out, we eat pigs, which are typically smart (despite the fact that they roll around in shit), yet eating the highly intelligent dolphin is socially unacceptable.

So, to all you carnivores out there — do you consider an animal’s intelligence level before you eat it? Let us know.

via Treehugger

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Meat, Greet, and Eat: Do You Consume Smart Animals?

photo: Thinkstock

We know that eating greens reduces the risk of cancer, but a recent Huffington Post article suggests that feeding your dogs organic kale could cut their risk as well. The article describes a dog with a tumor. Its owner added kale to the dog’s diet, and after four weeks, the tumor had disappeared.

When I think about feeding an animal a salad, I just have visions of lots of green poop. Would you consider feeding your dog kale?

via Huffington Post

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Pet Health: A Salad for Your Dog

Douglas McNish is back from summer vacation! Our friend Doug, head chef at Toronto’s Raw Aura organic and raw food restaurant, made his Blisstree debut sharing his original recipe for carrot and parsnip ‘fettuccine’. Then it was peppercorn-crusted tempeh steaks, massaged kale salad, quinoa pomegranate pilaf, quinoa and lentil burgers, a killer raw pizza crust recipe, plus a wicked marinara sauce and vegan cheese topping for your pie, cauliflower tabouli, and pumpkin seed refried beans for your dipping pleasure, an original summer Caesar salad, and avocado “fries” and ketchup. Last time it was his no-bake blueberry peach cobbler. Doug also teaches food workshops and gives cooking demos. He has tattoos. And he’s hot. Sadly, Blisstree can’t always get to Canada to visit Doug, so he’s kindly offered to come to us. Every other week, expect a surprisingly delish raw or vegan recipe from him. (Doug is into “cruelty-free” food – and we are into him.) Now dig into his 13th course for Blisstree.

Doug says: These burgers are really high in protein, and delicious served with my previous ketchup recipe and lots of fresh vegetables, with crisp lettuce leaves to replace the bread. You’ll need a dehydrator for this recipe.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Sunflower Seed Burgers

5 cups sun-dried tomatoes, soaked
4 1/2 cups sunflower seeds
2 to 3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 cups of carrots, chopped
4 1/2 cups of brown flax

1.    In a food processor, blend carrots, sunflower seeds, garlic, onion, and sun-dried tomatoes.

2.   Combine with ground flax, and check for seasoning. Form into patties and dehydrate at 105º for 12 to 15 hours.

Yields 8 to 10 large burgers

photo: Jo-anne Mcarthur

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Delish Raw and Vegan Burger Recipe? With Chef Douglas McNish, Anything's Possible