Who needs Mobil 1? There’s enough hamburger, bratwurst, and pork chop grease around the infield garages at Daytona International Speedway to lube every pushrod, crankshaft and exhaust valve in the joint.

It may not be 200 mph, but the speed at which pit crews, officials, and media types race around the garage area can be dizzying. There’s little time to lounge and enjoy the warm Florida sunshine, let alone a proper meal. What precious minutes crew members may have between adjustments and repairs are spent refueling themselves. It doesn’t take a keen eye to see there’s plenty of fuel around - and not the Sunoco kind.
FULL POST

In light of both the class action lawsuit alleging that Taco Bell's "seasoned beef" is in fact insufficiently beefy and the USDA's new dietary guidelines, Newsroom's Kyra Phillips and I chatted about the role of personal responsibility when it comes to your nutritional intake. (That is assuming that you're lucky enough to have a choice in the matter - as author Lawrence Ross pointed out on Twitter.)

Knowledge is power, but are you harnessing it for yourself?

The federal government plans to unveil new dietary guidelines Monday that urge people to eat less salt, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman said Monday.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius plan to formally unveil the guidelines at 10 a.m.

The guidelines, which are updated every five years, recommended that those over 51, African Americans and people with a history of hypertension, diabetes or kidney problems limit their salt intake to a little over a half a teaspoon. For everyone else, the daily recommendation remains at 2,300 milligrams - about one teaspoon of salt.

Read Feds: Eat less salt

Neanderthals were more like us than we thought.

A new study shows they cooked and ate veggies, challenging an earlier theory that the early humans were carnivorous.

Researchers found starch granules from plant grains in their teeth, leading them to believe the early humans did not - as previously thought - have an exclusively meat-based diet. It also debunks the theory that Neanderthals became extinct because of dietary deficiencies.

Neanderthals ate various plants and included cooked grains as part of a more sophisticated, diverse diet similar to early modern humans, according to the researchers at George Washington University and The Smithsonian Institute.

Read the rest of "Study: Neanderthals cooked, ate vegetables" on CNN Health

A powerful craving for chocolate candy takes hold. Imagine popping that chocolate into your mouth. Then crunch through its candy shell, chew the chocolate center as it melts in your mouth and swallow. Then go through this imaginary motion 29 more times.

The repetitive imagery of eating could help people consume less, according to a study released Thursday in the journal Science.

“If we imagine performing it, if we’re chewing and swallowing and imagining consumption, it decreases our desire for the food we imagine eating,” said Carey Morewedge, lead author of the study.

It may seem counter intuitive. Shouldn’t thinking about eating a delicious, melting chocolate candy make you crave it more?

Read "Can your imagination help you stop eating?" on CNN Health.

"You take an Advil and ten, twenty minutes later, you don't have a headache. We seem to forget that food has exactly the same effect," said the actress and author of Mariel's Kitchen.

Editor's note: all week, CNN Newsroom, Rick's List and Eatocracy are teaming up to take a look the effects our dining choices have on our minds, bodies and wallets. Tune into CNN Newsroom daily from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET for on-air coverage and join in the discussion here on Eatocracy. ALL COVERAGE

We all know that healthier eating is beneficial to our well being. It makes us feel better, look better, be more productive and energetic and possibly help us live longer. Those are all dandy things, but sometimes that plate of nachos just looks waaaaaay too delicious to pass up.

So what's an eater to do?
FULL POST