Known as "the little gems of the citrus family", kumquats are not really a citrus fruit… they only resemble one!  However, these little gems are a wonderful detour from the familiar!  Just seven of these tiny orange treats supply 80% of your RDA for vitamin C, which could lower your risk for stomach cancer.

If you’ve ever seen these tiny treats on your grocer’s shelves, your first instinct is to call them tiny oranges.    However, they are as unlike oranges as you can get.

According to the Purdue Web Site:

The fruit is oval-oblong or round, 5/8 to 1 1/2 in (1.6-4 cm) wide; peel is golden-yellow to reddish-orange, with large, conspicuous oil glands, fleshy, thick, tightly clinging, edible, the outer layer spicy, the inner layer sweet; the pulp is scant, in 3 to 6 segments, not very juicy, acid to subacid; contains small, pointed seeds or sometimes none; they are green within.

The fruit has a sweet outer skin and a tart inner flesh.  The fruit can be eaten whole or some people prefer eating only the skin.

The NY Times has even more to say about this pint sized fruit:

 The size and shape of a large olive, the kumquat is like an orange in reverse, with a sweet skin and tart pulp. So you don’t have to peel the kumquat; you simply eat the entire fruit. Thus its brilliance.

Need to add some zest to a salad? No more straining your knife skills by segmenting an orange. Just slice a kumquat into thin rounds and toss them in. Need to add acidity to a braise of pork, duck or lamb? Drop kumquats in whole during the last 30 minutes of cooking. Need an easy dessert? Simmer them in sugar syrup until tender, and watch as they become translucent and deflate like tiny tires as they cool; serve the softened kumquats with cheese. Slice them in half horizontally, dip their ends in egg white followed by a mixture of raw sugar and cinnamon and freeze them. They turn into sweet-tart ice cubes. Or just pile them in a bowl and pass them around after dinner.

So if you see these bite sized fruit on the shelves of your local grocer, pick them up and add a bit of variety to your diet!

Brian Armstrong has written a thought provoking post over at Life Hack.org titled Eating For Energy Or For Stress Relief?

In the post, he talks about how a simple SHIFT in his way of viewing food has had an incredible impact upon his diet.  In a nutshell, Brian reports:

The way I used to eat: I associated unhealthy food with pleasure, and healthy foods with pain.

The way I eat now: I associate unhealthy food with pain and healthy food with pleasure.

He goes on to challenge the reader to PAY ATTENTION to how you FEEL after a fast food meal and compare that with how you feel after you’ve eaten a healthy, well balanced one.

The problem is that MANY of us just aren’t paying attention to make the connection. 

When I moved 1200 miles from my parents, I made quite a few trips "back home" during the first six months.  Each time, I arrived home from the journey completely and totally drained.  I began associating trips back "home" with feeling awful, drained and completely worn out.  During one trip home, my feet were so swollen, I couldn’t wear shoes and my oldest son was physically ill by the time we got home.  Needless to say, we didn’t look forward to going "home" and our trips became less and less frequent.

Then, I began working with a behavioral nutritionist. Fortunately, working with her made my last trip home a completely different experience.  Turns out, the REASON I was feeling awful, drained and completely worn out was that I was subsisting on a diet of fast food during the trip. My poor food choices were what made the trip miserable. 

During my last trip, I paid careful attention to what  we ate.  We were careful to make HEALTHY food choices  and I made sure EVERYONE drank plenty of WATER instead of fast food SODA.  I shouldn’t have been surprised that the trip was MUCH more pleasant.  When we arrived home my oldest son wasn’t ill and my feet weren’t swollen up like water balloons.

By putting healthy fuel into our bodies, they just function better.  We think more clearly, we sleep better and we have more energy.  When you start paying attention to the cause:effect, it’s MUCH easier to adopt a healthy diet.

An article at the Independent is reporting that studies have been released showing that drinking soft drinks can not only be bad for your weight, they’re also bad for your health.

According to the article:

Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

The problem - more usually associated with ageing and alcohol abuse - can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.

The culprit appears to be the additive sodium benzoate and when combined with the additive vitamin C causes the carcinogen benzene. 

Sodium benzoate was studied by the World Health Organisation in 2000 and at that time, it was concluded that the additive was safe, however it was noted that the available science supporting its safety was "limited".  This most recent study appears to contradict the previous findings.

If you or your family are addicted to the fizzy stuff, it’s time to replace it with a safer more healthy beverage.  There is GREAT concern for the effects on children who consume large quantities of soft drinks.