17 million US households lack proper diet: report

A shelf in the food pantry at the Bridgeport Rescue Mission is seen nearly empty …

Over 17 million US households -- or 14.5 percent -- were unable to eat properly in 2010, either due to small portions, or chronically unhealthy diets, a government report said Wednesday.

Households living near or below the poverty line, single-parent households, and black or Hispanic households, were mostly affected, said the report from the Department of Agriculture.

Among those affected, some 6.4 million homes (5.4 percent) were particularly affected by food insecurity, said the report, facing smaller portions, unhealthy diets, hunger and weight loss.

Some 9.8 percent of households with children faced similar food insecurity, down slightly from 10.6 percent of the same demographic in 2009, the report said.

The "study underscores what we know, that the food security remains a serious problem," said USDA under secretary Kevin Concannon in a conference call with reporters.

The USDA last month noted that nearly 46 million people, or one-in-six Americans, were in April this year living with government-issued food stamps. Sourced By: Yahoo news

Sugar is hiding in some surprising places.

Whole-grain cereal and English muffins don't scream sweet, yet these and other seemingly healthful foods can be sugar minefields. "During the fat-free craze of the '80s and '90s, manufacturers removed fat from packaged foods and replaced it with sugar to make up for the lack of taste," Farrell says. Since then, fat has come back—and the sugar has stayed. But finding the stuff that doesn't belong isn't easy. Nutrition labels list only total grams of sugar, lumping together those that were added with those that occur naturally in the ingredients. To discover what's really in there, look for the word sugar in the ingredients list and also its aliases. Most common are syrup (high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup), juice (evaporated cane juice) and words ending in -ose (dextrose, fructose, glucose, sucrose), say SELF contributing experts Stephanie Clarke, R.D., and Willow Jarosh, R.D. Honey, agave nectar, molasses and maple syrup count as well. Sidestep sneaky offenders at every meal with these quick sugar-slashing tricks. More...Yahoo Health