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 grains - are rich in nutrients as the many vitamins and

  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.   A study of women working out 3 times a week, 20 minutes at a time using HIIT, burned more calories and more fat than women who worked out twice as long but at a slow and steady pace.   He

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.          2.   Buffets Go over the lineup of food and decide what you really want to eat.   Treating you

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                   Compounds such as polyphenols and ursol