KTK-Nutrition

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...

Are you using coconut oil and thinking it is a healthy choice?   Many people I talk to and a number of students in my classes think coconut oil is healthy.   Not true.   If you are using coconut oil, there are many healthier choices.   A recent article on getpocket.com says , Stop cooking with Coconut Oil .   Why do some people think coconut oil is good for your health? The article notes that two studies in 2003 claimed coconut oil would reduce your belly fat.   Not only that but coconut oil would rev up your metabolism.   Based on these claims, some health advocates pushed coconut oil and a surprising number of people listened to them.   People started cooking with coconut oil, adding coconut oil to smoothies, and even adding some to their morning coffee.   More claims were provided as to how eating coconut oil would improve your memory , lower cholesterol, boost your immune system and even promote good digestion.      ...

So many people are now at home and more people are cooking at home.   This can be good for your health.   When you are preparing food for yourself and your family, what cooking oil are you using?   Just like most things in nutrition there are a lot of myths about what cooking oils are good for your health and what cooking oils are not so good.   Why would a person buy a cooking oil that is bad for their heart health?   I noted this before but I was watching a couple in the cooking oil aisle struggling to figure out what cooking oil to buy.   They would pick up a bottle, look at it, talk about it, put it back and then pick up another bottle.   Choosing and buying a healthy cooking oil is not hard.   Here are some tips. One might think most cooking oils are the same.   And they are pretty much the same when it comes to calories and fat content.   But, the type of fat in the oil really makes a difference health wise. Healthy Choices for...

So many food fads come and go.   In the nutrition class I teach, it is interesting to hear about the latest food fad trends.   A current trend is alternative milk.   For some reason people are shunning real milk for fake milk.   Another faux milk is coming to a store or coffee shop near you.   Some food fads are really unhealthy fads like coconut oil.   Almost every week I hear someone talking about adding coconut oil to their diet.   Thankfully, this unhealthy fad seems to be coming to an end.    1.  Oat milk – yes, you read this correctly, the newest alternative to real milk is made from oats.   Time magazine’s article, The dairy aisle’s next new thing , describes this faux milk and why it is being used as yet another replacement for real milk.   Apparently, almond milk was the number one faux milk but has fallen from grace recently.   Why?   According to Time, almond milk was linked to the drought in Californ...

Is coconut oil healthy?   So many people think so.   So many students in my class have told me they use coconut oil as someone recommended it to them as being good for their health.   Not surprising since the NY Times reported that 72% of Americans think coconut oil is healthy.     Even more surprising is that 37% of nutritionists thought coconut oil was healthy.   A recent article in USA Today highlighted on MSN probably says it best as the title of their article is:   Coconut oil is about as healthy as beef fat or butter . What does the American Heart Association say about coconut oil? The go to place for information on heart health is the American Heart Association, at heart.org.   There are so many misconceptions about coconut oil, the American Heart Association has released a report advising against coconut oil.     Why is coconut oil bad for you? Coconut oil raises your bad, LDL cholesterol.   Why?   Prob...