KTK-Nutrition

Everyone says to “eat healthy” but many people aren’t quite sure what this means.   To some it means Pop Tarts and Sunny D as these foods are “fortified” with vitamins.   But they are not really healthy foods as they are full of sugar, white flour and few nutrients.   Eating healthy means including nutrient dense foods in your daily diet.   Not exclusively, as we all like our treats.    But our meals and many of our snacks should be focused on nutrient dense foods.    The January 2015 edition of Environmental Health had an excellent article, Make your Diet More Nutrient-Dense.   The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics refers to these foods as nutrient-rich foods. What are nutrient-rich or nutrient-dense foods?   These foods contain the most nutrients per calorie.   Usually they are the least processed foods and foods not diluted with a lot of added sugar or added fat. What foods are considered nutrient-rich? Whole gra...

  MSN had a great article on How to Stay Slim During the Holidays.   Then I read a great suggestion about High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT.           1.   Break up Your Exercise – yes, you are supposed to exercise an hour a day but it doesn’t have to be an hour all at once.    It can be 10 minutes here, fifteen minutes there.   Park your car far from the front door, go up and down the stairs a few extra times.   Go for a 15 minute walk if you don’t have time for a longer walk.         2.   Exercise with a friend – more fun to go for a walk or to the gym with a friend.                 3.    HIIT – Geralyn Coopersmith, global director of performance and fitness training at NIKE, Inc.  recommends HIIT. (BHG.com).  She notes that this type of training burns more calories and more fat. ...

Who doesn’t love the holidays with freshly baked cookies, eggnog, boxes of chocolates given as gifts and food buffets galore?   So how does one eat their way through the holidays without gaining 10 pounds?   The Washington Post provided some helpful guidelines in their 5 ways to fight the winter holiday bulge .          1.    Holiday Party - beverages  - Stay hydrated    Eat something before you go – don’t get to the party starving as you will then overeat.   Try some salad and some protein so you won’t be over hungry at the start of the party.      If cocktails, other alcoholic drinks are offered, have a drink or two.   But alcohol can affect your judgment and then affect how much you eat.   Rebecca Scritchfield, R.D. suggests alternating alcoholic drinks with regular beverages such as sparkling water.   Having ice water is another way to stay hydrated at a party.  ...

Some nutrition articles this week were interesting.   Peeling that apple, then maybe you are losing some nutritional benefits.   Is there a mineral that helps prevent cancer?   Apples Many people don’t like the peel of apples and thus cut it off or buy apple slices in a bag with no peel.   Eating fruit is a healthy habit.    The   Centers for Disease Control and Prevention     reports, “Statistics from a 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey show nearly 40% of Americans eat fruit less than one time a day”.    The good news is, over 60% of us are eating fruit one or more times a day.   So eating apples is good, eating apples that are not peeled is even better. Double the fiber – leaving the peel on doubles the amount of fiber you get from eating the apple Potassium – the peel adds 25% more potassium Vitamin A – apples are not a great source of vitamin A, but leaving on the peel adds 40% more vitamin A ...

The Food and Drug Administration announced new calories rules for restaurants.   This is part of the Affordable Care Act.   So what will be changing?           1.          Chain restaurants (those with 20 or more locations), pizza parlors, movie theaters will be required to post calories on their menus.          2.        Beverages on Menus – calorie content of beverages, including alcohol will be posted but not for mixed drinks at a bar.          3.        Grocery stores – buying a sandwich or a salad for yourself, then the calories will be noted.     Buying a rotisserie chicken or other item designed to a number of people and the calories need not be noted.           4.      ...

So much good information is coming out about coffee that some health professionals are wondering if they should recommend coffee for good health.   So what are some of these great health benefits and how much do you need to drink to get these benefits?   Health Benefits of Coffee      Reduced risk of many diseases including cardiovascular (heart) disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes – all these benefits for just drinking coffee. Reduced risk of skin cancer - about 3 cups of coffee a day reduced risk of skin cancer Reduced risk of depression , at least in women – 2-3 cups a day, helped lift one’s mood according to a Harvard University Research study Why is drinking coffee healthy?   Phytochemicals – coffee contains more of the phenolic phytochemical than tea or red wine, other phytochemicals in coffee are flavanols Antioxidants – these prevent damage to the cells in your body.   Coffee provides these benefic...

In the health class I teach, it is a challenge to get parents to serve fruit and veggies to kids.   Then when they do, they say the kids won’t eat the fruits and veggies.   Some of my students work in day care centers and the center tries to serve healthy fresh fruit and vegetables only to have the kids turn up their noses.   So how can parents, day care centers and others who work with kids, get the kids to eat more fruits and veggies?   For good health kids should eat a minimum of 5 A DAY – five fruits and veggies a day.   Many eat none.   So here are some tips from the Centers for Disease Control: 10 Ways to Help Kids Eat More Fruits and Veggies 1.     Keep a bowl of fresh fruits on the counter.   Keep cut up fruits and veggies in the fridge in small bags to easy snacks.                           ...

It is amazing how many people have no idea what a whole grain is and what foods are whole grain and which are just refined grains.   To have a healthy diet, one needs whole grains in their diet, yet so many people have no idea what that means.    I was presenting at a high school class while the students ate their lunches.   All the students said they ate whole grains.   When I asked them what on their lunch tray was whole grain they pointed to the white roll, the breading on their fried chicken, the mashed potatoes.   Of course, none of these foods are whole grain.  Fortunately, I was there to help them learn what whole grains were.     I’ve asked many adults what whole grain bread is and they respond, if the bread is dark in color, any brown at all, it is whole grain.   Not true. What is whole grain?   To be whole grain, the food needs to contain 100% of all parts of the grain seed including the bran, endosperm and germ. ...