KTK-Nutrition

What a great time of year to enjoy some fresh berries.   Last week my husband brought home some freshly picked strawberries.   Raspberries are soon to be plentiful but you can buy them all year.   Blueberries are considered a superfood.   My husband now says it is getting harder to even buy blueberries as they are sold out in many stores he goes to.   He now has to go to a store farther from our home in search of blueberries, but he did find a huge container of blueberries at Costco.   Searching out and stocking up on berries is worth it.   Why?   Because berries and other fruits and vegetables are so good for your health.   (See Superpower Fruits to Add to your Diet and Superpower Vegetables to Add to Your Diet .) Berries contain lots of different “phytochemicals” Berries are loaded with phytochemicals.   This sounds bad, but phytochemicals are good for your health.   Plants produce phytochemicals for protection .   “Phytochemicals are a plant’s way of protecting itself.   They

Are you in the habit of taking a morning walk?   If not, should you start?   Scientists have found there are many health benefits to starting your day with an early morning walk.   Eat This, Not That! has a great article , What Going for a Morning Walk Does to Your Body, Says Science .   And it doesn’t have to be a long walk, even 10 minutes can benefit your health. A brain boost – Your brain relies on sugar (glucose) for energy and this glucose is in your blood.   Walking increases the amount of blood going to your brain and thus increases the amount of fuel going to your brain.   Researchers from New Mexico Highlands University found that a steady walk significantly improved blood flow to the brain.   Want some tips on improving your walk, then Harvard has some for you, The Secret Trick for Walking for Exercise .   What is the “secret”?   To start, just walk at a steady pace for 5-20 minutes a day a few days a week.   Get your body moving.   But then up your pace to get your he

Last week we talked about how important fiber is for feeding the good bacteria in your gut.   To have a healthy gut you need to populate it with good bacteria by eating yogurt and then you need to “feed” those good bacteria by adding some fiber to your diet.   Fiber is not only good as a food source for your good gut bacteria, fiber is also good for your heart.   A recent article in our local newspaper points out “ Four ways fiber helps your heart ” taken from an article by a registered dietitian, Carolyn Williams.   She acknowledges fiber is good for your gut but also your heart by saying, “to put it simply, eating more fiber means a healthy gut, and a healthy gut means a healthy heart.”      So how does fiber promote heart health?   Fiber lowers your cholesterol .   Have you seen the oatmeal and Cheerios packages?   Right on the front of Cheerios, it states, “Can help lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet”.   Foods like oatmeal and Cheerios, which is made from oats, hav

  So many of us are doing everything we can to kill bacteria and have a cleaner home.   But did you know there are “good bacteria” that are actually good for our health?   We want those “good bacteria” to multiply in our gut so we can have a healthier gut. What are the “good bacteria”?   It actually doesn’t sound too healthy but good bacteria are good for a healthy gut.   NIH defines the healthy bacteria in your body as all the bacteria, fungi and viruses that live on or inside our bodies.   NIH notes this “microbiome” actually contributes to our health in many ways including:   protecting us against bacteria that can cause disease, helping your immune system, and helping our bodies digest food.   Dr. Mullin from Johns Hopkins University notes , “Your gut bugs help determine your overall health in a good way – or a bad way.” Can you change the population of “good bacteria” in your gut?   Yes, you can and diet is one way to do so.   The foods you eat can help feed the good bacteria

  So often I hear people say they had some juice to drink and when I ask them what juice, they respond with lemonade or a fruit punch.   Neither lemonade or fruit punch are real juice but mostly sugar water.   Students in my class have to keep a 24-hour record of all the foods and beverages they eat.   They then put the foods and beverages into the right food group.   A student put a well-known brand of fruit punch under fruit as she thought it was a juice.   I looked up the ingredients and there was actually no fruit and no juice in this beverage.   It was just flavored sugar water.   This student actually had no fruit or juice in her diet that day. How do you know if what you are drinking is real juice?   Consumer Reports has a great article, Decoding Fruit Juice Labels that helps you understand what is real juice, part juice and just flavored sugar water.   100% Juice – this is the healthy choice as it is all juice with no added sugar.   Actually, the Food and Drug Administrat