KTK-Nutrition

Everyone has heard of “processed foods”.   But now they talk about “ultra-processed” foods.   When teaching nutrition we did talk about why processed foods can be unhealthy but only recently has the term “ultra-processed” foods come into vogue.   In a previous blog post, Should You Avoid Ultraprocessed Food? , I noted that some of my students say that to eat healthy one should avoid “processed food”.   What they did not seem to understand is that most of the food we eat is processed to some extent.   Whole wheat bread is a healthy choice but bread is a “processed food”.   They harvest the grain, mill the grain, make the flour and then make the bread.   Cereal, canned vegetables, frozen vegetables, 100% juice – all are processed to some extent.   But now there is “ultraprocessed food”.   These foods are not only highly processed but often contain a lot of added sugar, salt and fat as well as preservatives and many have artificial coloring ad...

Nutrition in the news talks about how exercising can help you eat a healthier diet and maybe you should enjoy that dessert and not skip it.   March is National Nutrition Month so learning more about nutrition and good health is a key focus this month.   Time has some interesting articles discussing food this month.          1.   Exercising Might Help You Make Healthier Food Choices – a recent study has found.   How does increasing your exercise help you eat better?    A study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that those who exercised on a regular basis ate healthier.   Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin studied 2,680 adults who were not exercising or on a diet.   After starting an exercise program, the study participants started to eat healthier.    They chose lean meats, ate more fruits and vegetables and cut back on fried foods.   They also cut back on the sug...

Fast Food anyone?   Who doesn’t like an Egg McMuffin for breakfast or some grilled chicken at KFC?   Or, a good Subway sandwich and chips?   Can you enjoy Fast Food and still be healthy?   Registered Dietitian, Christy Brissette, has some easy rules to follow for Fast Food.   Her motto is the 80:20 rule.   At least 80% of the time, eat healthy.   Less than 20% of the time, “treat yourself” and enjoy some junk food.   Brissette wrote that a client asked her, “How often can I get away with eating junk food?”   She has given this advice to many of her clients and found that it worked well even with chronic dieters.   You have met these folks.   People who are always “on a diet” and then have one cookie or a Fast Food meal and they have “blown” their diet.   Learning to eat healthy and enjoying “treats” is a way to learn healthier eating habits and get off the on-again, off-again dieting spiral.   Brissette notes that once h...

Can you lose weight without dieting?   Can you eat what you want and lose weight?   New year, new goals.   If one of your goals is to take off a few pounds, do you need to count calories, go on a diet, or just watch the clock?   There is a new weight-loss strategy called, “time-restricted feeding” or TRF.   Apparently, this TRF strategy is not only for weight loss but also to help prevent diabetes, lower your blood pressure and increase your longevity. Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal, “ A Diet Strategy That Counts Time, Not Calories ” and other publications outlines what this strategy is and how it works.    What is TRF?   (Time Restricted Feeding)? With TRF, you eat what you want but not when you want.   Your eating is limited to a 12-hour period of time each day.   So, if you eat your breakfast at 7 AM, you need to finish your dinner and evening snacks by 7 PM and then not eat again until your breakfast at 7 AM. ...

Celebrate! Parties, dinners, cookie exchanges, buffets, what a fun time of year.   We all want to indulge and enjoy ourselves over the holidays.   How can you be merry, eat and drink this holiday season and not pack on the pounds?   I told my husband that the CommonHealth offered 10 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain .   He responded, “What are they?   Stop eating?”    Well stop eating would work but that is not one of the tips.    Many others, like Brianna Elliott, RD , also offer some tips on avoiding weight gain during the holiday season.   What are some of their tips?     Hydrate – did you know that if you are thirsty, you are becoming dehydrated?     We are so busy this time of year, with shopping, going to parties, going to chorales, plays, and other holiday events that we may forget to stay hydrated.   The goal of 8 glasses of water a day is still a good one.   Keep some water or hot tea in your ca...

The World Health Organization created quite a stir recently when they announced we should cut our added sugar intake to only 5% of our daily calories ( WHO | Draft Guideline: Sugars intake for adults and children ).     Sounds easy?   Not really as manufacturers sneak added sugar into almost every food we eat.   The WHO focused on all sugars, but in this blog I will focus on ADDED sugar, what manufacturers add in processing.   Added sugars are n ot sugars naturally present in foods like fructose in an apple or lactose in milk.    So what did the WHO propose and why?   Currently, WHO recommends added sugars should make up less than 10% of our daily calories. WHO Draft guidelines:   Sugar should be less than 10% of our total calories with even more health benefits if we reduce sugars to less than 5% of our daily calories. What is 5%?    This means reducing our sugars to about 25 grams a day or 6 teaspoons for adults. ...