KTK-Nutrition

Last week we talked about some eating habits that promote healthy eating.   What are some eating habits to avoid ?   Added sugar – Americans eat way too many foods loaded with added sugar.   And some people equate “sugar” with “added sugar”.   The natural sugar in foods is not what we need to cut back on.   Rather we need to cut back on foods and beverages with lots of added sugar such as sugary drinks.   Not just soda/pop but also lemonade, sweet tea, juice drinks, sports drinks can be loaded with added sugar.   Coffee has virtually no calories until you add milk, cream, sugar such as ordering a coffee latte.   A large caramel latte from Starbucks contains over 13 teaspoons of added sugar.   It is easy to cut back on sugary drinks.   Start reading the ingredients in the beverages you choose to see if sugar, or sugar in its many forms, like high fructose corn syrup has been added.   Many people buy “juice” but it isn’t real juic...

Hard to avoid “processed” food.   Some of my students say that to eat healthy one should avoid “processed” food.   But most of the food we eat is “processed” to some extent.   Eating whole wheat bread is healthy but bread is “processed” as they harvested the grain, milled the grain, made the flour and then made the bread.   Cereal, even whole grain cereal, is processed.   Canned vegetables are processed as is canned fruit in syrup.     But some food is “ultraprocessed” so much so that this processing adversely affects the nutritional processing of the food.   What are ultraprocessed foods and how is the nutritional value of this type of food affected?   Are there any consequences to your health if you eat a lot of ultraprocessed food? What are ultraprocessed foods ? Not only are these foods processed but often these foods have lots of added sugar, salt, and fat as well as preservatives and many have artificial colors.   Foods that ar...