KTK-Nutrition

This week my husband showed me an interesting article in TIME, Can Taurine Slow Aging?   Who isn’t interested in slowing down father time?   Then my husband asked me if I knew what taurine was.   I said, “sure, it is an amino acid in some proteins.”   So, what does taurine have to do with slowing aging?   What foods have taurine?   Are there ways to increase taurine levels in your body besides eating certain foods?   What is taurine? As noted in my blog, How can you add some high-quality protein foods to your day? , proteins are made up of building blocks called amino acids.   Your body can make some amino acids but some you have to get from the foods you eat.   For babies taurine is an essential amino acid but adults can make the amino acid, taurine.      Taurine levels decline as you age. Although adults make taurine, the amount we make decreases substantially with age.   For example, in 60-year-old individuals,...

  Eating out at a Fast-Food place?   What sandwiches are healthier options and which sandwiches should you skip?   WebMD has some good suggestions for you.   Why should you skip some sandwiches?   Calories for one.   Some sandwiches are loaded with calories and often loaded with fat.   Here are some sandwiches to avoid and some sandwiches to enjoy. Burger King What to skip?   Skip the Triple Whopper with Cheese .   Good to have the lettuce, tomato and onion but not so good to have the 3 beef patties.   This sandwich packs a whopping 1299 calories and that is before you add any sides like a sugared soda and some fries.   Why so many calories?   Because this sandwich is loaded wit 90 grams of fat.   Since fat has 9 calories a gram, that is 810 fat calories.   More fat than many people should have in an entire day. What to choose?   Instead of the Whopper, choose the Original Chicken Sandwich .   Ye...

Who doesn’t love a bowl of soup on a cold winter’s day?   Soup can be a way to add to your daily nutrition.   However, there are some soups that one should leave on the shelf.   Eat This, Not That recently wrote,   The Worst Chicken Noodle Soups on Shelves.   What soups are ones you should be putting in your grocery cart and which ones should you avoid?   What about homemade soup?   How can you make a healthy soup at home? Chicken Noodle soup is a favorite of most people.   A great soup when you are feeling ill or just want something hot on a cold day.   What to watch for in canned soups? Sodium – we all know we should “watch our sodium” but canned soups can pack a high amount of sodium in each serving.   Little or no vegetables – a good way to get some nutrition in your day is to choose a soup that has some vegetables in it.   Even tomato soup is a healthy Added sugar – we don’t need added sugar in our soup.   Mo...

Does what you eat affect how you sleep?   My daughter sent me an interesting article discussing how the food you eat and the beverages you drink affect how well you sleep.   The author said she tried a new diet and found that she slept better.   She based her “diet” on information she learned from The Sleep Doctor who was on the TODAY show offering advice.   The Sleep Doctor not only has a website offering sleep advice, he also runs an online course, “ How to Sleep Better Course” .   Along with the Sleep Doctor a clinical psychologist also provided some diet advice that this article reviewed and the author tried.    If you want a better night’s sleep, what are some things you might want to try? 1.  Coffee  a.      Wait 60-90 minutes before your first cup of coffee:   The Sleep Doctor recommends you forgo coffee until 90 minutes after you wake up.   This would be a challenge for many people who grab their ...