FOOD AND NUTRITION'70

85. It’s okay to eat an egg with a blood spot. That does not indicate that an egg has been 
fertilized or is old. Most eggs with blood spots are removed during the grading process, but they 
are safe to eat.
86. Don’t shy away from shellfish. Many types—notably crab, scallops, mussels, clams, and 
lobster—are actually slightly lower in cholesterol than chicken or beef. Even though shrimp and 
crayfish have about twice as much cholesterol as meat, they contain much less fat, and their fat is
largely unsaturated and includes heart­healthy omega­3 fatty acids.
87. Drink the leftover milk from your breakfast cereal bowl. A significant amount of the 
vitamins added to fortify most cereals winds up in the milk, so it’s especially nutritious.
88. Try carrot juice. A cup has as much beta carotene and vitamin C as three medium carrots. Unfortunately, it has less fiber than one carrot.
89. Don’t think that fruit­only preserves are healthier. Most jams and jellies are about half
fruit, half added sugar. Fruit­only preserves are usually sweetened with fruit juice concentrate,
which is mostly fructose and has as many calories as table sugar and no nutritional advantage.
90. Cook in cast­iron pots to increase the iron in foods cooked in them. The more acidic the 
ingredients (such as tomatoes) and the longer you cook them, the more iron ends up in the 
finished dish.
91. It’s safe to refrigerate meat or poultry in store wrapping. Actually, by not rewrapping it 
you may reduce the health risks, since every time you handle raw meat you increase the chance
of bacterial contamination.
92. Don’t shy away from olives. They are high in fat, but the fat is mostly monounsaturated and 
thus heart­healthy. An ounce of pitted olives (about four “jumbo”) averages only 30 calories and 
3 grams of fat. Olives also supply some calcium, fiber, vitamin E, and healthful phytochemicals, such as phenols and lignans. The main drawback is sodium, about 200 milligrams per ounce—  but you can rinse off some of this.
93. Look for lean cuts of pork. Many cuts are about one­third leaner than they were 25 years
ago. The leanest is pork tenderloin, which has just 4 grams of fat and 135 calories in a well-
trimmed 3­ounce cooked serving.
94. Eat that parsley. Fresh parsley contains relatively high amounts of beta carotene and 
vitamin C. But you have to eat about seven sprigs of it to get 10% of the RDA for these nutrients, so try parsley as a salad green, not just as a garnish.
95. Marinate meat only in the refrigerator. Don’t put cooked meat or poultry back into an 
uncooked marinade, and don’t serve the used marinade as a table sauce unless you heat it to a 
boil for at least one minute. The used marinade may have been contaminated by bacteria from 
the raw meat.

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