KTK-Nutrition

 Have you ever heard someone say, “I have a slow metabolism”?   I have.   But have you ever heard someone say, “I have habits that are slowing my metabolism”?   There are habits that can help rev your metabolism and there are habits that can slow down your metabolism .   Some of these habits you may not be aware of and some you may have heard of before.   It is always interesting to me to listen to someone who wants to lose weight and then they go on a diet that slows down their metabolism and actually makes it harder for them to lose weight.   Do you have any habits that may be slowing your metabolism down? What are some habits you may be doing that may be slowing your metabolism?     1.  Not taking in enough calories – Everyone knows to lose weight; you should decrease calories and increase your exercise.   But some people decrease their calories too much and end up slowing their metabolism down.   A person going on essentially a starvation diet has a body that will work hard t

Hard to avoid “processed” food.   Some of my students say that to eat healthy one should avoid “processed” food.   But most of the food we eat is “processed” to some extent.   Eating whole wheat bread is healthy but bread is “processed” as they harvested the grain, milled the grain, made the flour and then made the bread.   Cereal, even whole grain cereal, is processed.   Canned vegetables are processed as is canned fruit in syrup.     But some food is “ultraprocessed” so much so that this processing adversely affects the nutritional processing of the food.   What are ultraprocessed foods and how is the nutritional value of this type of food affected?   Are there any consequences to your health if you eat a lot of ultraprocessed food? What are ultraprocessed foods ? Not only are these foods processed but often these foods have lots of added sugar, salt, and fat as well as preservatives and many have artificial colors.   Foods that are considered ultraprocessed include: Frozen mea

Who doesn’t enjoy some popcorn?   Many people love to indulge in some popcorn when they go to the movies or pop their own at home when watching a movie on TV.   So, what is the bottom line? Is popcorn good or bad for your health?   Well, that depends on how you prepare the popcorn and what you put “on” the popcorn. Does popcorn have any nutritional value? Popcorn is actually loaded with good nutrition.   A few years ago, I was preparing for class and a student came in early and was eating a snack.   I happened to walk by her seat and she hid the snack bag as fast as she could.   I asked her what she was snacking on and she sheepishly pulled out a bag of popcorn.   I told her popcorn is whole grain and a very healthy snack – good choice.   She then proceeded to openly enjoy her bag of popcorn.   Popcorn is whole grain.   Corn is unusual in that it can be a vegetable when we eat corn on the cob, whole kernel corn, creamed style corn, etc.   But corn can also be a grain, like popco

Who doesn’t enjoy some fresh watermelon?   So juicy and naturally sweet.   We have some sliced watermelon in our fridge as my husband went to the farmer’s market this week. Many people enjoy watermelon and don’t realize how healthy it is.   A dietitian, Julie Upton, provides some great news about watermelon in her article, One Major Side Effect of Eating Watermelon, Says Dietitian .   We do hear a lot about superfoods like blueberries but we don’t hear much about other fruits like watermelon.   Watermelon packs a big nutritious punch. One reason why watermelon is so good for your health is that it is loaded with many vitamins and minerals as well as fiber.   Vitamins : watermelon is a good source of vitamins A, C and many B vitamins.   One cup of watermelon balls provides 12.5 mg of vitamin C, almost 25% of daily needs.   One cup also provides 876 IU of vitamin A, almost 20% of daily needs.   Minerals :   think potassium.   Almost all fruit provides this important mineral whic

Many kids are going back to school in August and not just via Zoom.   Kids need snacks after school – but healthy snacks. Some parents won’t give their kids snacks thinking snacks are unhealthy, snacks spoil a kid’s appetite, or that kids just don’t need snacks.   But kids do need snacks. Pre-school kids need snacks twice a day -morning and afternoon.   School-age kids need an after-school snack.   One reason kids need snacks is because they have small stomachs and eat smaller amounts at meals and then get hungry between meals.   They also need snacks to meet their daily nutritional needs. If you give kids healthy snacks, the snacks contribute nutrients and good nutrition that kids need to grow.   Snacks should be small enough to help curb hunger pains but not too filling the child eats less at meal time. Deana Hildebrand, a nutrition specialist with the Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Services notes :   “The trick is to provide snacks that are just filling enough to