KTK-Nutrition

Feeling down, anxious, under stress?   Many people turn to food to boost their mood but then choose junk food, foods high in sugar and fat.   Junk foods won’t really help improve your mood.   What are some foods that not only are mood boosters but also good for your health? Good fats and your mood: The Harvard Health Blog notes the healthy omega-3 fats actually travel to our brains and interact “with mood-related molecules in the brain.   These healthy fats are also anti-inflammatory which helps “relieve depression”.   And omega-3 fats may help stabilize any mood swings.   (See:   What are omega 3 fats and why are they good for you? )   Some ways to add omega-3 fats to your day: Fish:   A good source of omega-3 fats are fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, herring and sardines.   Oils:   flaxseed oil and canola oil. Seeds:   Flaxseeds, chia seeds Nuts:   walnuts are high in omega-3 fats Green, leafy vegetables lik...

Fat – we need fat in our diets.   So many people focus on cutting carbs but rarely do people focus on cutting the fat in their diets or changing their diet to include healthier fats.   And there are healthy fats we should be sure we have in our diets.   So, what are the fats we should be cutting back on and what are the healthy fats we should be choosing?   And where do we go to get advice on what fats we should be putting in our diets?    What are the fats we should cut back on, the bad fats? Saturated fats are the fats the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends we cut back on.   Why?   Because it is the saturated fats that raise your cholesterol, especially raising the bad cholesterol, or LDL cholesterol.   As the AHA notes, “high levels of LDL cholesterol in your blood increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.”    Foods with saturated fat Not easy to meet their recommendation though on how much saturat...

Can you eat to improve your memory?   Apparently so.   A recent article in CommonHealth describes how one can eat to essentially clog up those brain pathways or how one can eat to unclog your brain and improve your memory.   Another article reviews 15 foods to eat for a healthy brain.   What food clog up your brain? We all know that eating high fat foods, especially those high in saturated fat, can clog up your arteries and are not good for your heart.   Another fat, trans fat, is especially bad as it builds up in our blood vessels and damages them.   So those French fries loaded with fat and foods high in saturated fat like bacon, are not only not good for your heart, they might not be good for your brain. The Diets high in cholesterol and fat might speed up the formation of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain.   These sticky protein clusters are blamed for much of the damage that occurs in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. Recommendat...

America is growing, not just in terms of population but also in size.   The Editorial in our local paper reads:   Obesity rates remain a national concern .   As the editorial notes, too many Americans are getting bigger.   Trust for Americas’ Health released their 2017 Obesity report.   The report found that, “far too many Americans, both adult and children, are significantly overweight to the extent that it jeopardizes their overall health and well-being.”    States vary a lot in the number of adults who are overweight or obese.   West Virginia leads the nation as 37.7% of the adults in West Virginia are obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater. The state with the lowest rate of obese adults was Colorado at 22.3%.   If you are interested in your state, visit Adult Obesity Rate by State, 2016 .   Some states and their rankings are noted below: States % Obese Adults (BMI 30+) District of Columbia, H...