More than 20,000 new food and drink items hit our grocery store shelves each year and, with so much conflicting information about health and nutrition floating around, it can be challenging to know what you should and should not be putting in your body. Here are five foods with unwarranted health halos that aren’t doing your body any favors, especially if you’re trying to reduce or maintain your weight.

It's never too early to show children the importance of eating snacks that provide calories and replenishment. You want to fuel-up your little athletes, not bog them down, so the snacks you choose should:

• Provide energy for working muscles to power through the activity (pre-exercise)
• Supply fluids for hydration and to maintain the body’s temperature (before, during and after exercise)
• Provide nutrients for growth and development
• Promote recovery after hard exercise

Most of us have experienced the overwhelming grouchiness that takes over when we’ve gone too long without food. Turns out, there’s some science to explain why this happens. Here’s what you need to know and how you can help your clients cope when hanger strikes.

The official definition of hanger is "a feeling or showing of anger due to hunger." As humans, we have the choice to listen to our hunger. Yet, in our busy and overbooked lives, we often choose to ignore this signal, waiting far too long to feed our empty stomachs. The body's response to being ignored is to cause an emotional reaction (like anxiety and stress) to prompt a reaction. And the longer the body is deprived, the greater the emotional response.