KTK-Nutrition

Who among us doesn’t like to snack?   On a recent trip to France, my daughter and I brought snack foods with us.   Europeans enjoy their meals but snacks can be hard to come by.   We brought granola bars, nuts, and dried fruit to ensure we had snacks on the bus or wherever we were on the tour.   So what are some healthy snacks you can munch on between meals? Fruit – fresh fruit is always a healthy choice.   My daughter’s boyfriend is into apples as Weight Watchers gives apples only a few points.   All fruit is good, full of vitamins and antioxidants for good health. Nuts , especially almonds – go for a handful of nuts, not the whole container or buy a small bag at the convenience store.   Easy to take to work, pack in a lunch for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon pick up.   I carried a few baggies of nuts in my suitcase and then would grab a bag as we headed out of our hotel for a day of sightseeing. String cheese – great at any time but a very ...

How many people do you know who are on a diet?   All of us have relatives or friends that are always bragging about the latest diet they are trying.   Juicing is now in.   I have many relatives that are buying their juicers and lots of fruits and vegetables.    At least this diet craze packs a nutrition punch rather than taking foods and nutrients out of one’s diet as many fad diets do.   But rarely do we hear, “I need to lose weight so I am pumping up my exercise.”   I like my desserts and I like to eat so rather than diet I try to hit the gym, walk, bicycle and up my exercise.   This method seems to be supported by the latest research which indicates many overweight people aren’t overeating but under-exercising.   Stanford University researchers noted the strong correlation between the rise in obesity to the significant drop in time spent exercising.   They didn’t find Americans are eating more but they did find many of us are exe...

Who among us isn’t trying to reduce the size of our bellies?   Are there really foods that can help cut the belly fat?    MSN listed foods this week that are worth a try.   Even if you don’t add all of these, some are really easy to incorporate into our diet and daily routine.         Onion and leeks – so easy to add to our diet.   Onion slices on our hamburger, onion in our salads.   How do they work?   Onions produce butyrate which is a prebiotic that encourages the growth of good bacteria in our intestines.   The butyrate also helps one burn body fat.            Artichokes and asparagus – on a recent trip to the Cheesecake Factory, my daughter and I enjoyed the fire-roasted artichoke appetizer.   Absolutely delicious.   Asparagus is now plentiful at our local farmers markets where I live and a great health food.   These two are also prebiotics and they produce acet...

In the nutrition class I teach, I always emphasized how important it is to eat “5 A DAY”, five fruits and vegetables a day.    Then I had a student that LIMITED her fruits and vegetables to 5 a day thinking more was harmful.   So now I emphasize eating AT LEAST 5 fruits and vegetables a day.   But the Canadians do us one better and recommend 7-8 servings for women and 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables for men.    New research supports the Canadians as more fruit and vegetables can lead to a longer life.   Research:   An English study looked at 65,000 adults over 7.7 years.   Those who ate more fruits and vegetables lived longer with the greatest benefit seen in those eating seven or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day.    Participants who ate 7 or more fruits and vegetables a day were 42% less like to die than those who ate less than one serving of fruits and vegetables a day.   (Hard to believe there are peopl...

We have all heard that you should drink 8 glasses of water a day for good health.   But is this true?   What if you drink coffee, tea and only 4 glasses of water a day?   Are you unhealthy?   Now that it is summer, paying attention to fluid intake is a good idea.   How do you know if you are becoming dehydrated?   Thirst is the first sign of dehydration.   So if you are thirsty, get something to drink to replenish your body fluids. Does coffee, tea count as fluid?   Yes.   Both are fluids that can help you stay hydrated.    Popular belief says these drinks contain caffeine so they don’t count as “fluids” or part of the 8 glasses a day.   But that isn’t true.   Researchers have found that the caffeine in these beverages doesn’t cancel out their hydration effects. Does milk, juice or even foods like watermelon – other foods count towards our “water” intake?   Yes.   All liquids count towards your fluid inta...

Many of us hear the word “exercise” and we groan.   Simple walking is exercise.   But to be healthy we need to add some aerobic exercise to our routine.    Why aerobic exercise? Heart – our hearts are a muscle and as such we can strengthen our heart muscle with aerobic exercise.   This will increase the size of your heart and make it stronger and pump more efficiently.   An athlete has a heart that is about a third larger than a normal heart because they have strengthened their heart muscle.   Cardiac efficiency – a stronger heart pumps more blood with each beat.   This delivers more oxygen and nutrients to your cells.   Heart rate – a stronger heart pumps more blood with each beat so it needs to beat less.   This gives you a lower heart rate which Is good for your heart and your health.   Your heart just doesn’t have to work as hard to get oxygen and nutrients to the cells in your body. Exercise recovery – do a sprint and ...

Just returned from a 10 day trip to France.   I was looking forward to all their great bread and cheese.   It was a group trip, about 31 people in all: many college students and some adults.   Our first day we got off the plane in the morning, stored our luggage at the hotel and our tour guide began our tour of Paris.   Yes, we did take the metro into Paris proper but then the walking tour began including Notre Dame and many sites near there.    In a park a French teacher had a group of elementary students out for a picnic lunch.   What was striking was there were no overweight kids in the class.   Then a group of high school students came with their lunch, again no overweight students.   As we continued our walking tour, I noticed many Parisians walking to lunch, to the metro, carrying their 2-3 foot long baguettes.   Again, I observed that no one was obese and almost all were normal weight.   That night I looked at my pedomet...