KTK-Nutrition

This  week my husband saw an interesting slide show on MSN health and fitness, 35 simple tips to help you lose weight and keep it off too!    They have some great suggestions.    Their focus: We're not talking about drastic measures here, but quick and easy changes you can make in your daily life to help you achieve your weight loss goals.   If you want to see all 35 tips, click the link.   Here are a few they highlighted:      Don’t give up your favorite foods – how often do you hear someone say, “I ate a cookie and blew my diet.”   Nonsense, as Joyce Meyer says, “ eat the cookie ”.   But don’t eat the whole box.   MSN recommends limiting the number of times you eat your favorite or junk food to once a week and eat less of it than you normally do.     Opt for Whole grains – so many people forgo the whole grains when they are such a healthy addition to your diet.   My relatives are now into Ezekiel br...

Who doesn’t love pizza?   Buying a frozen pizza is simple, convenient and easy to pop in the oven for  a quick meal.   Are there ways to make healthier choices when choosing frozen pizza?   We enjoy frozen pizza about once a week.   We add ingredients and make healthier choices when choosing a frozen pizza and you can too.   The Healthiest and Best Tasting Frozen Pizza   lists a number of ideas for making healthier frozen pizza choices.    Thin Crust – you can save a lot of calories by choosing thin crust pizzas.   If you are ordering a pizza, choose thin crust.   If they offer a whole grain crust, that would be a healthier choice.   Skip the cheese-stuffed crust and skip those added calories.    Simple is Best – although the loaded toppings are tasty, they are also loaded with calories.   The “meat-lovers” pizzas are especially high in calories and in sodium.   Add veggies – we cut up and add some f...

Many of us are trying to cut back on calories and thus cut back on fat calories.   But do you need some fat?   The answer is yes.    Fat is important for many reasons but one is that fat soluble vitamins need some fat to be absorbed.   Thus, you may not want to use a fat-free dressing on your salad but a dressing with some fat.   If you want to cut back on fat calories, you can choose the light or reduced fat version of dressing and not the fat-free version.    In the classes I teach, many students come up with a snack for kids of carrots and Fat-Free Ranch Dressing.   Carrots are a healthy food but serving it with Fat-free Ranch means you won’t be absorbing all the nutrients in those carrots.   Not to mention the child will be hungry in no time as carrots are low in calories and Fat-Free Ranch also is low in calories.   Are there health benefits to using salad dressings with some fat such as regular Ranch or Light Ranch dressi...

Last week we talked about small changes you could make for a healthier you.   I had gathered some ideas from Jo-Ann Heslin, a registered dietitian.    I have adapted some of her suggestions for small changes families with children can make to be healthier. What are some small changes you as a parent can make for a healthier child?        1.    Eat together – in today’s go, go lifestyle so many families no longer eat together.   At least a few times a week plan a family, sit-down meal together.   Cornell University recommends eating together as a family at least 3 times a week.   Family meals means a focus on the family, so turn off the TV, the cell phones and focus on the kids.   According to Cornell University, ( Do Famiy Meals Really Make a Difference? ), family meals have huge health benefits:           a.        Children are 24% more likely to eat health...