Blog Posts by The Editors of EatingWell Magazine

By Gretel H. Schueller, Contributing Writer for EatingWell

Camembert cheese and buttery croissants are staples of French cuisine, so you'd think France would be the last place where the government would police fat content in food. Yet, in an effort to reduce obesity, France's Senate recently approved an amendment to triple taxes on products containing one unhealthy fat in particular: palm kernel oil, which is extracted from the palm seed of palm oil trees. (The lower house of parliament still has to vote on the tax.)

Don't Miss: 7 of the Healthiest Foods You Should Be Eating (But Probably Aren't)

It turns out that palm oil is a major ingredient in one beloved treat in France: Nutella. The French, who love to smear the creamy hazelnut-chocolate spread on toast and crepes or just eat it with a spoon, account for 26 percent of world's Nutella consumption, according to French newspaper Le Monde. The proposed tax has incited outrage among Nutella lovers. As outrageous as the

By Wendy Ruopp, Managing Editor of EatingWell

In its classic form, chicken parm (short for Parmesan, but of course you knew that) is a dish you order at a family-style Italian restaurant when you want a big piece of chicken breast fried, coated in buttery, cheesy breadcrumbs, topped with melted mozzarella and served with a pile of pasta and tomato sauce and a solid dusting of Parmesan cheese. To replicate this dish at home, you'd go through the process of dredging and breading the chicken breasts, then getting them crispy and golden in a frying pan with plenty of oil, followed by baking them in the oven topped with gooey cheese--not to mention the homemade sauce. So delicious. So much work.

Want to enjoy this favorite dinner at home for a fraction of the effort (and calories)? EatingWell's genius recipe makeover of chicken Parmesan (pictured above) gives you all that Italian-restaurant enjoyment without the overstuffed feeling, lots of time in the kitchen--or having to wait

By Hilary Meyer, Associate Food Editor, EatingWell Magazine

Nothing beats fresh produce. Still, in the kitchen, using canned or frozen fruits and vegetables can be a lot more convenient--but is it worth it? Are you giving up nutrition for convenience? Although a fresh fruit or vegetable would never be considered unhealthy, surprisingly there are a few circumstances where frozen and even canned could offer you more health benefits than fresh. Here's a closer look at a few examples of fresh foods vs. their canned or frozen counterparts.

Fresh Tomatoes vs. Canned Tomatoes
If you've ever eaten a tomato in February, then you are well aware of the challenges that a fresh tomato faces. It's a seasonal food. But even in season, canned tomatoes offer something that fresh can't. Tomatoes are preserved using heat, which releases lycopene--a carotenoid that may help prevent prostate and breast cancer. And canned tomatoes are super-easy: they're already peeled, chopped and ready to

By Wendy Ruopp, Managing Editor of EatingWell

Quick. Easy. Tasty. There's just something about casseroles. People love them: we're all just looking for comfort and deliciousness in one dish. While the word might conjure nostalgic memories of a well-coifed 1950s housewife in a frilly apron combining cans of creamy soup with leftovers to make dinner, our palates today call for dishes that are healthier and even more delicious.

Don't Miss: Classic Chicken Casserole Recipes Made Healthier
How to Make Awesome Meatloaf

EatingWell's healthy casserole recipes aren't "open cans and dump everything in one pan" casseroles. For dinner tonight try our Sauerkraut & Sausage Casserole (pictured above, recipe below). It's warming and tangy and satisfying with sausage (turkey kielbasa), sauerkraut and mustard and topped with thinly sliced potatoes. If you have a food processor with a slicing attachment or a mandoline, it's easy to slice the potatoes thinly and deal them out over the filling

By Wendy Ruopp, Managing Editor of EatingWell

You heard the buzz (Everybody's talking about quinoa!) and succumbed to the lure of its popularity (Everybody's eating quinoa!), so you bought some quinoa. Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is a delicately flavored grain and one of the only plant foods that is a complete protein, meaning it has balanced quantities of 9 essential amino acids. Both white and red quinoa are available in most natural-foods stores and the natural-foods sections of many supermarkets. Toasting the grain before cooking enhances its flavor and rinsing removes any residue of saponin, quinoa's natural, bitter protective covering.

Learn All About It: How to Cook Quinoa

So now that you have the hot grain-of-the-moment in your very own kitchen-you need to know what to do with it. I think you should make an amazing casserole with it. Here's a new recipe, from the September/October issue of EatingWell, for a vegetarian quinoa casserole topped with pureed squash that

The Biggest Thanksgiving Calorie BombBy Hilary Meyer, Associate Food Editor, EatingWell Magazine

There's a lot that's changed about Thanksgiving in the years since the Pilgrims gathered for their first meal of thanks. For instance, they weren't were watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while they basted their bird (that started in 1924) or rummaging through sale racks for a bargain sweater the day after on Black Friday. Here are a few fun Thanksgiving food facts to mull over while you enjoy your meal.

1. Thanksgiving Hasn't Always Been a National Holiday
What do nursery rhymes and Thanksgiving have in common? Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor who also happened to write "Mary Had a Little Lamb." She lobbied for making Thanksgiving a national holiday. Seventeen years and five presidents later, Abraham Lincoln finally established Thanksgiving as a holiday in 1863. You go, girl.

2. Thanksgiving Hasn't Always Been on the Same Date
Abraham Lincoln declared in 1863 that Thanksgiving fall on

By Matthew Thompson, Associate Food Editor for EatingWell Magazine

I love being in the kitchen on Thanksgiving. Between the delicious smells, nice company and constant foot traffic (everyone finds a reason to stop by the kitchen on Thanksgiving!), it's the place to be in the lead-up to the year's most sumptuous meal. But anyone who's ever hoisted a turkey out of the oven or chopped so many veggies their wrists have cramped knows that making Thanksgiving dinner can be hard work. And though a lot of attention is paid to the calories consumed on Thanksgiving, not that much thought is given to the calories burned. It turns out to be a lot.

Don't Miss: The Best & Worst Thanksgiving Foods for Your Health

We decided to calculate the number of calories burned while making Thanksgiving dinner for the November/December issue of EatingWell. Using some of the Mayo Clinic's research into working metabolic rates (and some simple calculating), we were able to work out just how much you

By Matthew Thompson, Associate Food Editor for EatingWell Magazine

Thanksgiving is quickly becoming my favorite holiday. And why not? It's a great time to hang out with family, watch football and, of course, eat an amazing meal.

Most people think of Thanksgiving dinner as being a bit of a calorie bomb. And, really, it is: in a recent issue of EatingWell we estimated that the Turkey Day meal clocks at least 2,800 calories.

How to Cut 1,273 Calories at Thanksgiving Dinner (and Never Miss Them)

Sure, it's only once a year and no big deal when balanced against healthy eating habits the rest of the time. But that argument obscures an important fact: even while it's high in calories, the Thanksgiving menu is full of healthy foods. Check out some of the healthiest foods on your Thanksgiving menu.

1. Turkey--Turkey is one of the most straightforward dishes on the Thanksgiving table. Sure, there are ways to up the sinful factor (some recipes call for slathering the bird