KTK-Nutrition

Added sugar.   Seems like most foods we eat have added sugar.   Last week we talked about all the added sugar in foods, especially sugar-sweetened beverages like soda pop, sweetened tea and fruit punch.   The Star Tribune ran some interesting articles about added sugar, one about readers challenged to give up on added sugar for a month.      Journalist , Erica Pearson, began noticing how many foods have added sugar.   Not just the donuts, cakes, pies, cookies that we all know have added sugar, but the salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, ketchup, even chicken stock.     The Star Tribune challenged readers to take a sugar break – a bread from added sugar for 28 days.   They called it the “28-day Sugar Free Challenge” which they held in February.   Why February?   They said it was the shortest month which made the challenge somewhat easier. Goal – cut out the added sugar in one’s diet for 28 days.    This was to include not just the sugar you added to your morning cereal or cup

Added sugar.   We have all heard about added sugar but so many people are confused as to what foods have added sugar, how to know if a food has a lot or a little added sugar.   At the gym this week a mom was giving her toddler some Cheerios as a snack.   Good choice as Cheerios are easy to eat and very healthy.   Then the mom said she avoids the Goldfish as they are too high in sugar.   I asked, “even the whole grain Goldfish?”.   She didn’t know about that.   I came home looked up Goldfish.   The Goldfish Cheddar has 0 Sugar grams.   The ingredient list does list “sugar” but it must be an amount less than 4 calories as the label says 0 grams of sugar.   I then looked up Baked with Whole Grain Cheddar and again sugars = 0 grams.   The ingredient list has no sugar listed.   The first ingredient is Whole Wheat Flour so it is a healthy choice.   The crackers also contain real Cheddar Cheese and some heart healthy oil.   I couldn’t find a reason not to served these fun crackers to kids.

Look around and you will see so many kids who are overweight.   Often these kids also have parents who are overweight.   CDC reports that childhood obesity in the USA has become a very serious problem.   Being overweight puts adults and children at risk for poor health.   How many kids in the US are obese? For kids ages 2-19 years of age: 18.5% are obese which equates to 13.7 million obese kids in the USA 13.9 % of kids ages 2-5 are obese 18.4% of 6-11-year olds are obese And 1 out of 5 or 20.6% of 12-19-year olds are obese Moms (and Dads) play an important role in helping prevent obesity in their kids.   Medical Press has a good article discussing 5 healthy habits of Moms that can reduce obesity risk in their kids.   The article published by the journal BMJ discusses research about 17,000 female nurses and their 24,289 kids and looked at five healthy habits of the moms.   These 5 healthy habits lowered their kids risk of being overweight by 75%.    5 Healthy Habit

Nutrition in the news talks about how exercising can help you eat a healthier diet and maybe you should enjoy that dessert and not skip it.   March is National Nutrition Month so learning more about nutrition and good health is a key focus this month.   Time has some interesting articles discussing food this month.          1.   Exercising Might Help You Make Healthier Food Choices – a recent study has found.   How does increasing your exercise help you eat better?    A study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that those who exercised on a regular basis ate healthier.   Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin studied 2,680 adults who were not exercising or on a diet.   After starting an exercise program, the study participants started to eat healthier.    They chose lean meats, ate more fruits and vegetables and cut back on fried foods.   They also cut back on the sugared sodas.   What is a surprise is that none of these participants were instru

What are some easy ways to add some whole grains to your day especially in March as March is National Nutrition Month?   When I told my husband that March was National Nutrition Month, he said, “I plan to celebrate by having an extra banana and carrot.”    Very funny.   But he did suggest healthy choices.   You can also celebrate National Nutrition Month by adding some whole grains to your diet.   What are some health benefits of whole grains?   Do you have to give up chips to have healthier snacks?    I like chips and snacks and it isn’t hard to make some healthier choices.     1. Why are whole grains so good for our health? The Mayo Clinic writes , “Why whole grains are the healthier choice”.   They state if you want to eat healthier, you need to add some whole grains to your day.   A dietitian at the Mayo Clinic notes, “The healthiest bread option is something made with whole grains.   It needs to say whole grain.”   Heart Health – eating whole grains can lower LDL cholest