KTK-Nutrition

So much bad information about carbs.   People are always “cutting their carbs”.   There are some carbs you should cut, but other carbs are quite healthy and ones you need in your diet.   Environmental Nutrition has a great article on “ Are Carbs the Enemy?   Six Myths about Carbs ”.   Ever go out to eat with someone and they take off the bun from the hamburger because they think “bread is fattening” but then they go on to eat the French fries and a large dessert?   My daughter observed some women going past the bread aisle because “bread is fattening” but then loaded their shopping cart with pastries.   One has to wonder why bread is fattening but somehow pastries aren’t? Myth #1:   Grains are bad for you Actually, you want grains and carbs in your diet.   About half the calories you take in each day, should be carb calories.   Grains are a great way to get carbs, especially whole grains as whole grains add so many important nu...

What are ultra-processed foods and how might these foods add to your waist line and your weight?   The obesity epidemic in the USA is blamed on many factors:   less exercise, more Fast Food, more and more screen time, more riding in a car instead of walking.   New research is focusing on how ultra-processed foods contributes to more weight on the scale and bigger waist lines.    What are ultra-processed foods vs minimally processed foods?   Think of the foods we all love to eat that are high in fat, salt and added sugar and usually loaded with additives.   Although these foods taste good, they often are lacking in vitamins, minerals, fiber and the healthy antioxidants.    White Bread would be an ultra-processed food Ultra-processed Foods: A Brazilian nutrition researcher named Carlos Monteiro defined ultra-processed foods to include foods with additives like preservatives, colors, added sweeteners but not whole foods like frui...

So much confusion about fruit.   So many people avoid or cut back on fruit because they say, “fruit is high in sugar”.   What is the truth about fruit and its sugar content?   The Washington Post had a great wellness article , “The sugar in fruit doesn’t make it bad for you, despite some trendy diet claims”.   The article is written by a dietitian who notes more and more dietitians are hearing from their client’s phrases like, “fruit has too much sugar”, “don’t eat bananas, they are too high in sugar”.   One quote in the article is, “fruit is toxic”.   Now that one I haven’t heard.   But there is so much confusion about fruit.   In the class I teach one student said to avoid Naked Juice as it has too much added sugar.   Yet, Naked Juice has NO ADDED SUGAR and is one of the healthier juice choices because they provide juice blends with no added sugar.   Naked Juice now offers juices with half the “sugar” from fructose, called “ Half Nak...

Now that spring is here and summer is around the corner, time to make some delicious and refreshing infused water.   Isn’t it great when you walk into a hotel lobby and there is a large glass container of infused water, ice cold?   We stayed in a hotel one summer and every day they had a different infused water in the lobby.   Refreshing and without the calories.   You can skip the calories in sweetened ice tea and sodas and refresh yourself with water infused with fruits, veggies and some herbs.   The Food Network Kitchen and other websites have a wealth of infused waters to try out.   Here are some infused waters you may enjoy this spring and summer: 1.   Strawberry-Cucumber Water – Stem and thinly slice about 8 ounces (about a 1/2 pint) of strawberries.   Cut ½ of a cucumber into thin slices.   Put these in a 2-quart pitcher and add 2 quarts of water.   Then refrigerate for 2-4 hours.   Stir and serve.   You can remove ...

We all have heard that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”.   I always emphasize to students how important breakfast is to children’s health and recent research is showing to adult health as well.    Adult Health Research in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that breakfast skippers increase their risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke.   And the risk is huge.   The study found that people who skipped breakfast had not only a higher risk of dying from heart disease but breakfast skippers had an 87% higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who took the time to eat breakfast every day.   And it just wasn’t a study of “old” people.   The 6,550 study participants ages ranged from 40 to 75.    How often did the people in the study skip or eat breakfast? 5.1% never ate breakfast 10.9% rarely ate breakfast 25% had breakfast sometimes 59% ate breakfast every day  Unfortuna...

Want to lose a few pounds before swimsuit season starts?   If so, losing fat, not muscle should be the goal.   Many fad diets proclaim losing 5 or more pounds in one week.   Yes, that may be possible but along with some fat loss you will be losing some muscle and a lot of water.   Often people find when they go off the crash diet, the weight piles back on.   And losing muscles means you slow your metabolism as muscle burns more calories than fat.   So, how can you drop some pounds with more of the loss being fat and not the muscle you want to keep?   An article on “ 4 Rules for Losing Fat, Not Muscle ” has some suggestions.        1.    Cut the calories but do it gradually To lose weight you do have to cut back on calories in versus calories out.   But cutting back on too many calories at once can slow your metabolism, make it hard to get the nutrients you need, and cause you to lose muscle mass along with some...