KTK-Nutrition

We all have heard that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”.   I always emphasize to students how important breakfast is to children’s health and recent research is showing to adult health as well.    Adult Health Research in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that breakfast skippers increase their risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke.   And the risk is huge.   The study found that people who skipped breakfast had not only a higher risk of dying from heart disease but breakfast skippers had an 87% higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who took the time to eat breakfast every day.   And it just wasn’t a study of “old” people.   The 6,550 study participants ages ranged from 40 to 75.    How often did the people in the study skip or eat breakfast? 5.1% never ate breakfast 10.9% rarely ate breakfast 25% had breakfast sometimes 59% ate breakfast every day  Unfortunately, the study didn’t provide information on wha

Want to lose a few pounds before swimsuit season starts?   If so, losing fat, not muscle should be the goal.   Many fad diets proclaim losing 5 or more pounds in one week.   Yes, that may be possible but along with some fat loss you will be losing some muscle and a lot of water.   Often people find when they go off the crash diet, the weight piles back on.   And losing muscles means you slow your metabolism as muscle burns more calories than fat.   So, how can you drop some pounds with more of the loss being fat and not the muscle you want to keep?   An article on “ 4 Rules for Losing Fat, Not Muscle ” has some suggestions.        1.    Cut the calories but do it gradually To lose weight you do have to cut back on calories in versus calories out.   But cutting back on too many calories at once can slow your metabolism, make it hard to get the nutrients you need, and cause you to lose muscle mass along with some fat. Women should maintain at least 1200 calories a day for good he

Cinnamon, does it have any health benefits?   Last week we talked about turmeric and the many health benefits spices have.   Cinnamon is a spice that also has health benefits.   Like turmeric, cinnamon has been around for a long time , “since 2000 BC in Ancient Egypt”.   In the U.S. cinnamon ranks just behind black pepper as a popular spice.    What can cinnamon do for your health? Diabetes- some research has shown that cinnamon can help those with type 2 diabetes.   How?   By lowering blood glucose levels and also improving lipid levels.   Researchers monitored 60 people with type 2 diabetes who added cinnamon to their diets for 40 days. Those taking cinnamon lowered their blood glucose, their bad LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol.   Another study found taking 1/4 th teaspoon of cinnamon a day lowered the LDL bad cholesterol.   However, other research indicates that adding cinnamon didn’t help lower blood glucose or hemoglobin A1c. A metabolism booster ?   Some st

We all have heard of natural remedies for many health conditions.   Go to any drug store and walk down the vitamin aisle.   You will see hundreds of bottles of vitamins and minerals but also many so-called “natural” remedies for certain medical conditions.   Some of these remedies are bogus, unproven, and can even be bad for one’s health.   But other “natural” remedies seem to have some promise.   One of these natural remedies is a spice.   Spices have been known for a long time to have health benefits as spices are full of those healthy antioxidants.   Not only do spices make our food taste better, they provide few calories while providing good nutritional value.   One spice in particular, turmeric, is getting a lot of attention and praise from those in the health field. What is Turmeric? Turmeric is a yellowish spice , known for 4,000 years and used often in Indian cooking and the spice used in curry.   The chemical   in turmeric that provides health benefits is curcumin , wh