KTK-Nutrition

Getty Images/TODAY Introduction:   In the nutrition class I teach, students were asked to write a blog post on a nutrition topic.   One of those students, Sophia Cable, wrote an interesting blog post on a whole grains.   Students were also asked to conduct some of their own “research” on their nutrition topic and that research is shared in her post.     I welcome Sophia Cable as a guest author for this week’s blog post. Grains are commonly thought of as bread, rice, pasta, and oats.   Many people think that they should not be eating bread daily, or that they should never eat a plate of spaghetti.   This is not true. Foods like this can be very healthy and beneficial to incorporate into your diet.   The only thing is to make sure to choose the healthier options.   You may be asking how can bread or pasta ever be healthy?   The answer is simpler than you would think…choose whole grains. To gather a little more information about what pe...

What are some healthy lunches to eat at home or to pack for work or for going on a car trip?   When we go on car trips, we usually bring along a picnic lunch.   Just recently I went away with my two daughters and one daughter brought our picnic lunch.   Lean deli meats, whole grain rolls, fresh fruit, some greens for our sandwiches and some sides of egg salad and potato salad.   My husband and I also pack our lunch when we go on road trips.   This week we ate our picnic lunch on the way to our destination.   Sandwiches of whole grain bagels, lean deli meats, fresh fruit, whole grain chips, yogurt and milk.   So much healthier than any Fast-Food restaurant meal and often less time consuming. What are some healthy lunches you can pack or make for yourself at home?   Eat This, Not That! asked some dietitians about healthy lunch options and here are some of their suggestions.   1.  Pack an adult or child “lunchable” meal. So popular wi...

Who doesn’t eat processed foods?   Almost all the foods we eat undergo some processing.   Bread is processed, crackers are processed.   Real cow’s milk is pasteurized to kill some bacteria and is fortified with vitamin D.   But highly processed foods have many nutrients and fiber removed.   Now many health professionals are talking about ultra-processed foods.   Is some processing of foods needed? Yes.   As noted, cow’s milk is pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria.   They also add vitamin D to milk which is a good thing.   Some foods are frozen, like frozen vegetables and frozen fruit to prolong shelf life.   Grains are processed to make bread, crackers, cereal.   What type of food processing is not good for our health? You may have heard of refined grains.   All grains start out healthy as whole grains.   Then many grains are refined, which removes one or more parts of the grain.   White flour and white rice...

Last week we discussed probiotics and how important it is to have probiotics like yogurt in your diet.   But we also noted that you have to feed the probiotics, the healthy bacteria.   One way to “feed” the healthy bacteria in your gut is to add fiber to your day.   Although our bodies can’t digest fiber, the good bacteria need it.   Fiber also plays many healthy roles in our body.    Why add fiber to your day ?                                      1.        Weight loss – fiber helps fill you up.   Fiber has no calories so adding it to your meal fills you up without filling you out.   Fiber also takes longer to digest so when you have fiber in your meal, you will fill fuller longer. 2.        Lower your...