KTK-Nutrition

Who doesn’t eat processed foods?   Almost all the foods we eat undergo some processing.   Bread is processed, crackers are processed.   Real cow’s milk is pasteurized to kill some bacteria and is fortified with vitamin D.   But highly processed foods have many nutrients and fiber removed.   Now many health professionals are talking about ultra-processed foods.   Is some processing of foods needed? Yes.   As noted, cow’s milk is pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria.   They also add vitamin D to milk which is a good thing.   Some foods are frozen, like frozen vegetables and frozen fruit to prolong shelf life.   Grains are processed to make bread, crackers, cereal.   What type of food processing is not good for our health? You may have heard of refined grains.   All grains start out healthy as whole grains.   Then many grains are refined, which removes one or more parts of the grain.   White flour and white rice...

Blueberries – why are they considered a super healthy food?   Growing up, I went blueberry picking with my grandfather.   At first, more blueberries went into my mouth than into the bucket.   Who knew I was boosting my health every time I went blueberry picking? Why are blueberries so healthy?   What make blueberries a power food?   Health.com discusses the   5 Health Benefits of Blueberries, According to a Nutritionist .   1. Antioxidants – blueberries are “blue” or some say “purple”.   This coloring means blueberries provide different antioxidants than other colored fruit.   Berries , in particular, have higher antioxidant levels than other fruits.   Antioxidants are great for our health as they help protect our bodies and cells from damage and thus protect us from some diseases and “protect against inflammation ”.   Blueberries provide the antioxidant, anthocyanin which lowers our risk of certain cancers, helps our memorie...

Snacks – should kids have snacks?   Do snacks ruin a kid’s appetite?   Are snacks healthy?   So often I hear that kids shouldn’t have snacks.   So untrue.   All kids not only should have snacks but actually need snacks.   Kids, especially younger kids, have very small stomachs.   They can’t eat large amounts of food at meals so they get hungry between meals.   USDA sets a meal pattern for child care centers and this meal plan has a morning snack and an afternoon snack.   School-age kids should have an after-school or afternoon snack every day.   But this snack shouldn’t be gorging on junk food.   What are some guidelines for healthy snacks and what are some snacks kids can make for themselves? And, how can you use making snacks to teach some math, colors, shapes? What are some guidelines for healthy snacks for kids? Fruits and vegetables – a great way to get your kids to eat more fruits and veggies is to serve them at snack ...

 So much nutrition information on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and all over the internet.   Easy to find nutrition information, but what it true and what is a myth?   A while back I had a student in my class who seemed to know a lot about nutrition.   One day I asked him why he was taking my nutrition class as he seemed so knowledgeable about nutrition.   He replied that he wanted to know what was true and what wasn’t.   What were really the facts and what were myths and misinformation?   Just because something about nutrition is on the internet, doesn’t make it true.   What are some popular nutrition ideas that are in fact nutrition myths?          1.   Will going on a gluten-free diet promote weight loss? Will going gluten-free improve your health? Go to the store and package after package is labelled “gluten-free”.   Some are so odd like “gluten-free juice”.   Why would juice have any grains i...