Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well

Blog has MOVED

2010-09-15T22:48:00.006-06:00

This blog site it "dormant."

I now blog at:
http://newmexicodietitian.wordpress.com/.

Please join me there. Thanks.

Good Fats: Unsaturated – Mono and Poly

2009-03-10T21:30:00.005-06:00

Some people still argue that we should avoid all fats. No! Fat is essential, necessary for nerve function, protecting the organs, essential for proper brain development and absolutely necessary for the transport and storage of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. So, a low or moderate fat diet, yes. A NO fat diet – no way!

Now it is important that we choose the correct types of fat. There are healthy fats and unhealthy fats.

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans state:

Keep total fat intake between 20 to 35 percent of calories, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.

Why such a range of 20-35 percent? It provides that people who choose the higher range follow a higher mono- and polyunsaturated fat diet with lower amounts of carbohydrates. However, some people follow a higher carbohydrate diet (athletes for example) and the 20 percent fat is appropriate and should still be high in mono- and poly-unsaturated fats.

Why mono- and poly-unsaturated fats?

Polyunsaturated fats have a positive effect on LDL-cholesterol by helping lower it.

Monounsaturated fats have positive effects on LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol by helping lower LDL and raising HDL.

Where can you find the unsaturated fats?

Nuts: pecans, macadamias, hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pinon/pine nuts, cashews, pistachios.
Nut butters that go with the nuts above (i.e.: almond butter, peanut butter, etc.)
Dominant in oils such as: Canola, olive, sesame, corn, safflower oils
Seafood – such as salmon, tuna, sardines, and herring. Fresh or canned is good. Just don’t fry it.
They are also found in avocadoes and olives.

These foods and oils are a blend of mono-, poly- and saturated fat, but the predominant fat(s) are the unsaturated fat. Remember that 1-ounce of the nuts contains between 160-200 calories and 1 tablespoon of oil is 120 calories. The avocado, while a fruit and good for you, can add up to 325 calories in a medium avocado.

These are the healthy fats – mono and poly. Make sure these dominate over the unhealthy fats. Unhealthy fats, saturated and trans-fats, next time

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well – with 20-35% fat.

Dietary Fat – All Those Recommendations!

2009-03-03T20:30:00.004-07:00

Over the years dietary fat has been the source of a myriad of messages and recommendations. From recommending consumption of a low-fat (before we knew there were different types of fat) to recommending a low saturated fat diet, to now no trans-fats.

As a nutrition expert it is my job to keep it straight, but I feel the pain of the general public: I too would want to throw up my arms and give up.

However, I will help distinguish the difference between the fats as we know them today and how much of each of them we should have as a portion of our calories.

First, the US Department of Health and Human Services and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) puts out the Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years. They were last released in 2005 and will next be released in 2010. Here are the recommendations for fats from 2005.

FATS

Consume less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids and less than 300 mg/day of cholesterol, and keep trans fatty acid consumption as low as possible.
Keep total fat intake between 20 to 35 percent of calories, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.
When selecting and preparing meat, poultry, dry beans, and milk or milk products, make choices that are lean, low-fat, or fat-free.
Limit intake of fats and oils high in saturated and/or trans fatty acids, and choose products low in such fats and oils.

Lots of recommendations I know, but over the next several weeks I'll cover each of the types of fats, where they can be found, and how much of each you should aim to get (or not have).

As you read about these fats and their respective recommendations, this keep this in mind: a long time ago people thought the earth was the center of the universe; then it was discovered that the earth rotated around the sun and that the sun was the center of the universe…now of course we know the earth and the sun are both microscopic in the spectrum of the universe and nowhere near the center of the universe.

The point is, with science like astronomy and nutrition, things change as we learn through research and experience. As we learn, we have the responsibility to change our recommendations in the best interest of our clients/patients/general public.

What I tell you in this blog is based on the most current information and research we have today.

Coming next – the healthiest fat: monounsaturated fat.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well - with a moderate amount of fat.

For Your Heart - Soy Protein

2009-02-24T19:20:00.003-07:00

The final installment of my “American Hearth Month” theme for February I continue with heart disease issues on this and my other blog NewMexicoWellness.blogspot.com. Here continues the discussion of heart healthy foods.

Since 1999 the FDA approved a claim on foods containing 6.25 grams of soy protein be allowed to carry a claim on its label/packaging that is can lower the risk of heart disease when combined with a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

However, nutrition is a science. And like any science, we must evolve and as new evidence reveals itself, we need to revise information and be responsible and provide that information to the public.

Research regarding food, nutrition, and how it is beneficial, or not as beneficial as we once thought, to our health reveals itself and we must bring that information forward to the public.

About a year ago, the FDA began its open comment period regarding the claim of soy protein and coronary heart disease. The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association chose to respond based on reviewing scientific literature and the effects of soy protein and isoflavones on the many risk factors for heart disease including blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides.

Based on the AHA information and review of research since 1999, research indicates that large amounts of soy protein needs to be consumed, and that more than half of our protein needs to come from soy, and it may have a positive effect on LDL-cholesterol by a few points only when it replaces animal protein. The data also reveals that this occurs mainly in individuals who already have high cholesterol, and only affects the LDL-cholesterol and does not affect HDL, triglycerides, or blood pressure.

In the end, the AHA recommended to the FDA, that the soy and heart disease health claim be reevaluated, especially since the current data is less conclusive than what is once was.

Many people tell me that people in China or Japan eats a lot of soy and suffer very little from heart disease. While this may be true, I don’t know statistics myself, I remind people that we in the United States cannot take bits and pieces of peoples diet and/or lifestyle from another country and apply it to ourselves. If we wish to do that, we need to go to the beginning of our life and start over – or embrace the entire lifestyle: walk to market, work in a field, take on the entire lifestyle and genetic history of the country we wish to emulate. It just doesn’t cross over to the U.S.

Bottom line on soy and heart health: it isn’t as great as we once thought it was a helping to lower LDL-cholesterol. You can continue to eat/drink your soy, but it may not be helping your heart as much.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well - and enjoy your soy.

For Your Heart - Plant Sterols/Stanols

2009-02-22T17:32:00.004-07:00

The fourth installment of my “American Hearth Month” theme for February I continue with heart disease issues on this and my other blog NewMexicoWellness.blogspot.com. Here continues the discussion of heart healthy foods.

Plant sterols and stanols are forms of phytosterols. These are components in plants that are similar to cholesterol in animals in their form and function. Many people don’t realize that cholesterol found in animals, we make our own cholesterol in our liver, and not found in plants or foods that come from plants at all. (Peanut butter never had cholesterol since it comes from a plant!)

We get plant sterols and stanols in our diet primarily from plants (fruits, vegetables, beans, grains) and in some foods that have been fortified with them. But why do we care about plant sterols and stanols, and why are foods being fortified with them?

For over 50 years now, researchers have looked at the effects of plant sterols and stanols on our blood cholesterol, more specifically how it helps lower LDL-cholesterol (the one we want to be low).

We do consume plant sterols and stanols regularly, assuming that we are consuming plant foods…ahem… However, the amount needed to have a difference in our cholesterol levels is higher than what we can reasonably consume through diet.

So, innovations in food manufacturing in the past five to ten years have included plant sterols and stanols in foods such as margarine, salad dressing, yogurt, and orange juice. There are also dietary supplements that contain plant sterols to help lower cholesterol.

Even if you consume these foods with the plant sterols and stanols – generally need 1.3 grams/day of plant sterols or 3.4 grams/day of plant stanols – you still need to consume a low saturated fat diet and watch the dietary cholesterol. Just as when you are taking prescriptions to help lower cholesterol, it does not mean you can still eat an unhealthy diet.

So, eat a variety of plant foods, and if you have high cholesterol or want to keep it healthy, consider integrating additional plant sterols and stanols into your regular diet.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well - and toast to the plant sterols.

For Your Heart - Fish

2009-02-10T19:52:00.005-07:00

Continuing with the “American Hearth Month” theme for February I continue with heart disease issues on this and my other blog NewMexicoWellness.blogspot.com. Here continues the discussion of heart healthy foods.

Fish is the next thing on the list of heart healthy foods. Now this list is in no particular order, but I tend to start with the oatmeal and nuts, since it is easier to start the day with those items. But because fish is the third item or food category I mention does not mean it isn’t more important than the next foods I mentions, or less important than the previous foods mentioned.

What makes fish so special?

Certain fish (and I’ll tell you soon which ones) contain omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fats are good for us, and have particular benefit to those who are at risk for heart disease, regardless of where that risk comes from.

Fish is a great source of protein, but doesn’t contain a lot of the saturated fat that some of the other animal products can contain. It does contain fat though, but the good ones as already mentioned. Which can

Omega-3 fats are both eicosapentaenic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and have been shown to help reduce inflammation in the body.

This is what makes fish so special…

What fish is special?

Not all fish falls into the category of being high in omega-3’s and therefore being beneficial to you and your risk of heart disease. Fish like salmon, herring, mackerel, albacore tuna, anchovies, and lake trout are the ones you need to shoot for. The good news here is that if you come from a land locked area/state, like say, New Mexico, with the exception of the trout, these are are all the fish you can commonly find in a can!

Unhealthy Fish!

The fish that I tell people to avoid – fried fish. That lake trout is only going to be good for you if you grill, bake or broil it. If you bread and fry any fish in oil – even canola or olive oil, this just isn’t going to be a healthy option.

Also, there are mercury warnings for some classes of fish, so if you are eating fish more than twice a week, check the Environmental Defense Fund Website for a great chart on safe fish choices.

How much?

Adults without heart disease the recommendation is to eat a wide variety of fatty fish (the ones mentioned above) at least twice a week. One serving is 3-6 ounces.

Eat Well, Live Well, and Be Well – and enjoy

For Your Heart - Nuts

2009-02-02T21:50:00.005-07:00

Continuing with the “American Hearth Month” theme for February I continue with heart disease issues on this and my other blog NewMexicoWellness.blogspot.com. Here continues the discussion of heart healthy foods.

Nuts tend to scare people off due to their high fat content. While nuts are high in fat (and in calories) the primary fat in most popular nuts is the healthy kind – unsaturated fat.

Unsaturated fats, the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, which have mostly positive benefits on your cholesterol (meaning lower LDL, and improved HDL) is a good thing.

What else is in nuts that are good for your heart? It is a plant, so it has fiber. A high fiber diet helps lower cholesterol and which reduces risk of heart disease. Nuts have vitamin E and selenium, which are antioxidants. Antioxidants can help prevent the aging of the arteries and keep them elastic as well as helping reduce the risk of blood clots.

And when referring to nuts, this includes walnuts, almonds, pistachios, pecans, pine nuts, hazelnuts (aka filberts) macadamias, and peanuts (even though it is technically a legume). You can also include seeds as well and get some health benefits from them, such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and flax seeds.

Coconut is a nut, but is full of saturated fat, which is not good for your heart. It raises LDL cholesterol and can be truly unhealthy when consumed on a regular basis.

Now keep this in mind – when integrating nuts in your diet, make sure you are replacing them for something else in your diet and not adding them. One servings or one-ounce of nuts is about 180 calories (one small handful or about ¼ cup). So, if you started adding that every day without taking something away – could add 15-20 pounds over the course of a year! You have got to make sure you are adding them in after you take something out.

Oh yes, and if it is covered in chocolate or salt, it’s not so healthy for you, so go for the plain nuts! Save a chocolate covered nut for a special occasion and make sure it is dark chocolate too.

Eat Well, Live Well, and Be Well – with a handful of unsalted nuts.

For Your Heart - Oats

2009-01-28T19:13:00.007-07:00

As January comes to a close I remind people to review the goals they set earlier this month and remember them as we roll into February, and the sweets begin to make a come-back: heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States.

Since 1963 congress has require the president to proclaim February as “American Heart Month.”

On both this and my other blog NewMexicoWellness.blogspot.com, I will be dedicating the rest of January and all of February to heart disease issues.

When I have patients/clients see me for high cholesterol, one of the many risk factors for heart disease, I often get the question: “does oatmeal really help lower cholesterol?”

Yes, it does, so here is what you need to know about oatmeal. It has soluble fiber in it, which helps lower your LDL cholesterol, the one you want to be low. It seems that soluble fiber helps lower the absorption of cholesterol.

Ideally we would be getting 10 grams of soluble fiber a day, and we would find it in not just oatmeal, but also oat bran, apples, pears, prune, and beans to name just a few sources. Fruits and vegetables in general are going to help you out - big surprise!

Your oatmeal would ideally be the cooked kind rather than the instant, but they both have soluble fiber in them. Adding some fruit would add more fiber. You could also have a cold cereal made from oats or oat bran, like Cheerios.

In 1997, the FDA authorized the claim on foods such as oat bran and whole oat, as well as oat flour to bear health claims such as "Soluble fiber from foods such as oat bran, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease." or "Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include soluble fiber from oatmeal may reduce the risk of heart disease." The stipulation was that “diets low in cholesterol and saturated fat” must be included in the claim.

The evidence/research has shown that one needs to consume about 3 grams of soluble fiber per day to have an effect on cholesterol levels (it does help with other things too). The primary issue is that the effect lasts only as long as the consumption. So, consuming oatmeal every day for a week or a month, just won’t be beneficial a year from now. To have the benefit long-term, it needs to be consumed on a regular basis long-term, not temporarily.

Here is a recipe for you to try this weekend: Cherry-Hazelnut Oatmeal from Cooking Light.

To your heart health – Eat Well, Live Well, and Be Well

Thinking About Going Vegetarian? Try Being a bit “Flexitarian”

2009-01-19T20:43:00.012-07:00

In the 21st century some people equate eating meat to smoking a cigarette – you just don’t do it if you want to be healthy.

Some people are set on believing that going vegetarian, in its various forms, is a more righteous way to eat and an automatic way to healthier eating, and in some cases, automatic weight loss as well.

While research has shown that overall vegetarians do consume less fat and cholesterol and suffer less from the ill effects of having too much of these nutrients than their meat consuming counterparts, research has also shown that people who follow a vegetarian diet exercise more, smoke less, and generally have less stress.

One must note, that following a vegetarian diet does not automatically make the diet “healthy.” Vegetarians can eat unhealthy diets as much as a non-vegetarian. Candy, chips, soft drinks, and other snack foods can each qualify as vegetarian and someone who calls him/herself a vegetarian can easily not eat fruit and vegetables just as easily as a non-vegetarian.

If you are considering a vegetarian route, think about this: how do you eat now? Do you plan your meals and eat a balanced diet and pretty healthy already? Why are you choosing to cut out or reduce your animal product consumption? Is it for your health? Is it for ethical reasons?

If it is for ethical or religious reasons, be careful in that you are still getting plenty of plant-based foods: fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Get your protein from plants like beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy products.

If you are thinking of going vegetarian for your health, consider this: rather than going vegetarian "all the way" consume meat, poultry, and/or fish a one, two or a few times a week. The rest of the week, consume primarily plant-based foods and protein like beans, nuts, and seeds, and soy products.

Can’t do it? What are you going to do when you are a vegetarian? Many people turn to pasta with pasta sauces for all of their non-meat or “vegetarian” meals, and this just isn’t the way to go.

"Flexing" your way to a part-time vegetarian diet just might help you out, and help your health. And it is much more reasonable. That way you can have your meat and not eat it too.

For more information about a flexitarian diet – check out the book The Flexitarian Diet: The Mostly Vegetarian Way to Lose Weight, Be Healthier, Prevent Disease, and Add Years to Your Life by Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, LDN

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well – with just a bit of meat…

Little Luxuries – Can’t Wait to Try Them!

2009-01-14T21:52:00.005-07:00

So many people think that dietitian’s don’t “do” indulgences and don’t “allow” others to do it either. It couldn’t be farther from the truth – at least among the levelheaded dietitians that I know. We love our food, and we love our good food.

I personally love my sweets – desserts. Chocolate, usually. Lemon something or a good crème brulee stands out. But I’ll go with just about anything except perhaps a Black Forest or a meringue, but the rest is pretty much open.

I get frustrated when I go out to eat however, because I often find that when I’m finished with my meal, I’m too full to have dessert, let alone enjoy dessert. And I do want to enjoy dessert!

So, my husband and I, and sometimes our son, and sometimes all by myself, go to a great place here in Albuquerque: Flying Star Café. They have fantastic desserts made daily. If you go early afternoon to early evening you can get a pretty good selection. As the day goes one they start to run out, and once they are out, you outta luck… My favorite is Chocolate Mousse Cake, which tends to disappear pretty quickly and isn’t there if we go in the later evening. So my second choice is generally a toss up between the Crème Brulee, Carrot Cake and the German Chocolate Cake (which is best when left in the car for about an hour on a warm day). But I do try some of the new items that pop up too.

The one downfall here is these desserts are extraordinarily large, at least from my view. I have conservatively estimated some of them to be my entire days calories in a single piece, probably more with the items that have nuts. I have asked, even though I don’t think I really want to know about the nutrition information on some of the food items. Unfortunately, they do not currently have nutrition information on their foods, which is pretty common at locally owned restaurants.

When I get these always-great desserts, I really have to struggle to finish them. I also inevitably have a sugar headache the next day! One would think I would be willing to forego these “Large Luxuries” for the headache. I do…for a month or two, but then I just have to go for it, and deal with the sugar hangover the next day.

If only I could have the wonderful dessert in maybe a half portion…? It is so rare that my husband wants chocolate – so sharing? Out of the question!

My dreams have come true! Today I in my email, my Flying Star Frequent Flyer eNews announcing the forthcoming “Little Luxuries”…smaller pastries to satisfy my sweet tooth and just might not give me a headache! Just might not give me an extra (ahem) calories. And best of all, I don’t have to sacrifice what I really want and share a non-chocolate dessert with my husband!

Flying Star, here are my requests for the Little Luxuries Line: Chocolate Mousse Cake, Crème Brulee, Carrot Cake, German Chocolate Cake, the Kahlua Chocolate one…and maybe a smaller version of the Bread Pudding. I’ve always wanted to try the bread pudding, but it is just too much.

I will be there in February asking for the Little Luxuries line. And I’m telling my friends!

Eat Well, Live Well, and Be Well – and enjoy those Little Luxuries in small amounts.

Eating Breakfast – Just Try It!

2009-01-06T19:50:00.005-07:00

For years we have heard it over and over, from our mothers, from health experts, from everywhere: eat breakfast, it is the most important meal of the day.

But just saying it doesn’t do the trick for people. If saying something was the way to get people to do things, then that would make so many of our jobs so much easier! We have to experience it for ourselves, and sometimes it is trial and error before we finally get the hang of it.

Excuses abound: “I’m not hungry.” “I don’t feel like eating.” “I tried it, but when I did, it was starving 2 hours later, so I stopped.”

So, let’s get to the bottom of this. There is loads of research on the benefits of breakfast including that is heaps keep weight down throughout life (the research covers child, adolescents, and adults). That tends to be the important for most people.

By the very definition of the word, break-fast, you need to fuel your brain and your body after the long fast you have had for the past 8-10-12 hours, depending on when your last meal was.

Breakfast should be within a couple of hours after you wake/get up, and it doesn’t have to be big. You can also spread it out over a couple of hours if you don’t tend to be hungry. It should total about 300-500 calories. Coffee or tea can be with your breakfast but shouldn’t be considered breakfast.

Your breakfast should consist of a whole grain carbohydrate, some protein with healthy fat, and some fruit. If you have just carbohydrate, like oatmeal and don’t have protein, you will digest it within an hour and, guess what? You will be hungry within a couple of hours!

Here are some suggestions:

Whole grain toast with peanut butter and banana
Whole wheat English muffin with an egg, one ounce of cheese, and slice tomato
Oatmeal with chopped nuts and sliced or dried fruit
Yogurt with fruit and granola (or high fiber cereal)
Smoothie with fruit, soy milk or yogurt and 1/4 cup uncooked oatmeal (try it!).
Half whole grain bagel with cream cheese and fruit or vegetable juice (be careful, bagels tend to be between 350-400 calories each without the cream cheese).
Tortilla or pita with egg, cheese, and green chile only. If you start adding bacon and potatoes then you start adding calories, trade out something else, like the cheese for the bacon. (Classic New Mexico breakfast burritos can pack a 800-1200 calorie punch!)

Set a goal to have breakfast three times this week and work you way up to five times a week in a couple of months. Before you know it, it will be a part of you daily habit.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well – Starting Tomorrow Morning Sunshine!

Too Many Holiday Treats to Eat Dinner?!

2008-12-22T20:56:00.005-07:00

With a day of baking sugar cookies and making holiday fudge and other treats, some people find themselves in the late afternoon having sampled too many of the goodies along the way. (My Mom used to call spatulas “child cheaters” since it left less in the bowl for us to lick.)

Come 5-6-7 pm, it is time for dinner and with having sampled ones way through the day we: a) don’t NEED any more calories, and b) just aren’t HUNGRY!

But before writing off dinner altogether, we have to have a strategy that will prevent us from venturing back to the kitchen to nibble on another “tiny” bite of fudge or just a small cookie before bed.

It’s a tough thing, and this tends go against some conventional dietitian wisdom, but we want to make sure things start out “right” tomorrow. We need to eat a balanced “dinner” or light snack tonight, and do it at a reasonable hour.

If you have eaten too much sugar today, you will likely not feel your best tomorrow to start out right. Tomorrow will be the day to start all over (not next week, or New Years Day, tomorrow), so to head off any sugar hangover or headache, we need to make sure it is balanced out today.

To help out, have some protein and whole grains for dinner. If your calories went too high from the snacking, definitely go with something “light,” but balanced – between 250 – 400 calories.

Remember too many calories today won’t lead to overall weight gain. It is too many calories over many days, consistently, that will lead to weight gain.

Even though this dinner or snack is going to put you over your daily calories some more, keep this in mind over the next couple of days, and don’t over sugar yourself again – and really watch the calories over the next several days. Keep the calories in line for you and a bit under (exercise helps here).

Here are some ideas for the light snack/dinner:

Light or nonfat yogurt with a tablespoon each of wheat germ and chopped nuts (you can add fruit if you wish).

Half to whole sandwich: peanut butter (1-2 Tb.) and jelly/honey or lean turkey (1 oz.) with mustard on whole wheat bread.

Any kind of bean soup and toast – if you are lucky enough to have any leftover homemade have that! I do so love the classic Campbell’s Bean with Bacon Soup. However, there are so many soups out there now that is easy to keep in the pantry – any of them are good. I just recommend the bean soups since they are full of healthy protein. Choose the lower sodium versions when available (since sodium will aid in fluid retention).

These are a few small suggestions to balance the baking binges, should you find yourself a “victim” – whether they are light baking recipes or not…

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well. And balance the unintentional sugar binges with light healthy foods too!

Holiday Baking at My House

2008-12-14T10:09:00.004-07:00

For some of us it is part of the holiday tradition to bake. Fudge and sugar cookies and pies – which can easily add up to a LOT of calories if the baking is for just you and your family.

I have two rules when it comes to making my holiday treats:

I give my baking treats away as gifts, in small amounts (about 5 cookies per person).

I use mostly Cooking Light recipes for my cookies, bars, pies and cakes.

There are two exceptions to this rule: a family fudge recipe (which I have switched to non-fat evaporated milk) and sugar cookies. My family insists on them, and I love them too.

Using the Cooking Light recipes doesn’t mean we can get away with eating more cookies and treats, but it helps me ensure that the cookies are at least a bit healthier than their original counterparts, by being either lower in calories or lower in saturated fat from what the “traditional” recipe would be.

When it comes to making the recipes, another thing we must remember is the serving sizes! One (new) recipe I made yesterday was Chocolate, Cherry and Hazelnut Biscotti. The recipe made 2-dozen cookies/biscotto. When it can to cutting the dough into the 24 pieces the cookies come out smaller than what we are used to. Once they were all finished, I could tell why they needed to come out that size: they are rich and the small size is just right.

This years baking day I made four different cookies and a batch of bars! The above mentioned biscotti (94 calories), Chocolate Shortbread, Lemon Shortbread, Brown Sugar Shortbread (each of which are ~75 calories per cookie), and some Cranberry-Oatmeal Bars (135 calories). Each of these recipes made 24 pieces, and if I give my 10 friends/co-workers two pieces of each item (to share with her family), then really, there is very little left in my home!

This is how the baking at my house works – I bake it to go!

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well and share!

Super Fast and Super Good Dinner Tonight: “Barbecued” Chicken-and-Black Bean Burritos

2008-12-10T18:51:00.004-07:00

Tonight I had to make dinner super fast. I got home at 5:20 and my kiddo needed to be in bed, or heading to bed, by 6:00 – 6:30. He works for UPS loading the package cars, and is currently starting work at 3 am, meaning he is up at 2:30 so he can eat breakfast before work. Yes, he CAN make dinner on his own, but he had arrived home at only 5:15 himself, and we like to eat together at least a few times a week.

Anyhow, this dinner is one of my favorites, and in my mind, a Cooking Light Classic. I use Cooking Light recipes almost exclusively. I’m not creative enough to make my own recipes, so I trust Cooking Light to do the “work” for me. I’ve been a subscriber to the magazine for 10 years, and have the Annual Recipes cookbooks since 2000, along with a few others.

This recipe, "Barbecue" Chicken-and-Black Bean Burritos, which can be accessed from the Cooking Light website, makes four servings and has 460 calories per serving when made as directed. Add a serving fruit as a side and it is a perfect meal in my opinion. But then, any meal that is done in 30 minutes and is filling, healthy AND tastes good is “perfect” in my book.

It does call for four 10-inch flour tortillas; it is a burrito after all. Despite being from New Mexico, I choose the Mission brand 96% fat free “heart healthy” whole wheat tortillas. These have 140 calories per tortilla, 2 g fat, 0.5 g sat fat (compared to 210 calories, 5 g fat, and 2 g sat fat in their regular 10-inch flour tortillas). Any place that we can cut calories and fat and add some whole grain is great!

Sometimes we have just three burritos and have some leftover “barbecue” chicken-and-black beans. It’s a great lunch the next day without the tortilla too, and even more calorie savings.

Hope you enjoy the recipe and you Eat Well, Live Well, and Be Well.

Rinse and Drain – Please!

2008-12-09T18:32:00.004-07:00

Of all the “talks” I had as a parent to a child, I though we had covered everything with our 18 year old son:

No drinking and driving, it is illegal, and you are underage. Check.
Don’t do drugs, they are illegal. Check.
Don’t have unprotected sex, always use a condom. Check.
Don’t get those credit cards at school, they could ruin your credit. Check.

What did I miss? It seems that Dad and I covered it all the "important" things in life.

Nope - missed one! And I discovered it tonight. For dinner tonight he made one of the perennial favorites of a first year college student: spaghetti with meat sauce. And he had started it before I left work and it was nearly ready upon my arrival home.

Unfortunately, as I check in at the kitchen I could tell right away I had failed miserably in one of my parenting-teaching-cooking tasks when I looked at the skillet that held the meat sauce. To my horror I could see the oil slick – the ever so slight layer of fat on the top of that otherwise healthy tomato sauce. And there was nothing I could do! I grabbed a paper towel in an attempt to blot the oil, but was just absorbing the lycopene and wasting paper towels!

Luckily, I had, as always, purchased the extra lean ground beef, the 93% kind. Some people believe that anything less is acceptable – 85%? 90%? Not in my house! At least not when I’m doing the shopping!

But still there was that 7% fat and I just couldn’t have that saturated fat invading my body or be responsible for it corrupting the body of my family! You see, I always drain the meat, place it in a colander and rinse it with hot water, and squeeze it dry with paper towels. I also wipe the skillet with another paper towel before returning the ground beef to the pan warming it back up and adding the sauce.

How much does this help our health? I don't know for sure, but it is less fat, and less saturated fat, and allows us to have a little more in other places another time. Or not.

The men in my household don’t see the point of this ritual. My husband will at least drain (at least when I’m around). Unfortunately my son has not been taught. My son cooks the meat (at least until there is no pink), and then adds the sauce! No draining! No rinsing! If he had at least drained! If he had skipped the rinsing, I could bear it, but definitely drain!

I must implore parents to teach their children, don’t drink, no drugs, use condoms, beware of the credit cards – and if you are going to eat ground beef, go with the lean stuff and please, please drain it! Buy your child a good colander for college!

Eat Well, Live Well and Be Well and drain well too...

Thanksgiving Tradeoffs…

2008-11-24T17:07:00.005-07:00

On the fourth Thursday in November we in the United States do something that is so… American. We have a holiday set aside to celebrate the abundance of food. And while we are far from the 1600’s and a good percentage of us BUY our food for this holiday, and have done nothing to grow it ourselves (of course with a few exceptions), it is safe to say that most will be eating far more than what the Pilgrims and Indians ate at the first Thanksgiving celebrations.

So, while I try my best to not throw cold water on most celebrations, I offer up several tradeoffs on the Thanksgiving traditions and encourage families to adopt new ones.

If you have not already kicked off the eating season nearly a month ago with Halloween, you are surely about to start now. So, I always encourage people to “go easy” on Wednesday and Friday (and even Saturday and Sunday). This means, lighten up on your “normal” calorie intake on these 2-4 days to allow for the excess calories you will inevitably consume on Thursday.

Go for that Turkey Trot or any other activity on Thursday morning. Check out active.com and look for a local event and sign up for a 5K run or walk. Any little bit helps. Not in the mood to fork out $20-$30 for a run? Then do it on your own! I see so many people on the trails around my house on Thanksgiving morning, you would think there was an event in my own neighborhood.

Eat breakfast. So many people skip breakfast thinking that it will be a tradeoff for all the calories they will be eating later in the day. The problem is they are so hungry by mid-morning or noon, they have snacked through the appetizers, are snatching up the skin, and you definitely don’t want them carving the turkey! There won’t be any left for you. Eat breakfast, and you will feel just fine for the meal later in the day. If you have a late Thanksgiving dinner (4 pm or later) then think about a light lunch as well. A hungry person makes poor choices.

Appetizers – a meal before the meal. What appetizers do you have? Chips and salsa/queso? Shrimp cocktail? Cheese and crackers? Veggies with dip? All of these are ok (the veggies are great, it’s the dip that can be calorie laden 2 Tb. = 120 calories!), but be careful in that you don’t consume 1,000 calories of snacks before you sit down to eat!

Alcohol is loaded with calories and can easily be overdone. Regular beer is 150 calories per 12-ounces (less in light beer, 110 calories). Wine is around 80-100 calories in a 4-ounce glass (that’s only ½ cup) and those mixed drinks can add up too. A shot of rum, vodka, whiskey, tequila, etc. is 100 calories (80 proof – higher proof will provide more calories). But keep in mind, if you have rum and Coke, add calories for the Coke, vodka and cranberry juice, add calories for the cranberry juice. Watch these calories, they are easy to lose track of, and very easy to desire, especially if you are the hostess/host.

Don’t drink? That’s ok – you can still load up on the calories. Punch, eggnog, cider and the soda standby will always have calories (except diet soda), so again watch the calories here. Just because you don’t consume the alcohol, don’t think you are “safe” from the drinkable calories.

If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. It took me many years, but I finally just quit taking that spoonful of dressing/stuffing. Stuffing scares me (food poisoning) and I just don’t like it anyway, whether it’s been inside a bird or not.

Get over the guilt. In so many traditional families, some individuals will eat things to not hurt someone’s feelings, or someone give someone a guilt trip over not trying something. Don’t fall for it. It is just food. I hate asparagus, and my mother-in-law makes it for every holiday meal. Everyone loves it! I’m the only one who doesn’t. In the early years, I would take one or two spears and choke it down in order to not offend her. (Early years: if only we could do them over again, it would be easier.) Now, I know it isn’t a big deal. I just skip it.

Take a(nother) walk. After you have finished dinner, and have HELPED with the dishes and leftovers, this is a good time to take a family walk. I know, I know. There is football on T.V. So go for a walk anyway! One year, it was just the girls. Some of your crazy neighbors will very likely have his Christmas decorations up already.

After you have burned some calories, now you can have dessert. Not sure what you want? We always have two types of pies and can never decide. So, have one of each, but not a full piece. SAMPLE each one. Have a half slice or smaller. Remember the crust is the unhealthiest part, so if you leave a bit of that behind all the better. Pumpkin is fewer calories than pecan. And definitely have some whipped cream instead of ice cream.

Doing all of these tips will save you some calories, but please remember to enjoy the day. You don’t need to avoid your favorite foods, just watch the overload and balance the days and calories in other places. These tips can be applies to any eating holiday.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well!

Chocolate IS Good for You

2008-11-03T21:29:00.012-07:00

Chocolate is good for you! I get people telling me this all the time. Unfortunately, most people just don’t know the details. Sometimes I ask those who “inform” me of this bit of health information "why exactly it is good for you"? They usually don't knnow.

Once I tell them the truth about what kind of chocolate they should be consuming and just how much is needed to be good, they often just roll their eyes at me, and go on eating their mini-Hershey’s or Reese’s peanut butter cups in the mistaken belief that they are doing something good for themselves.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a box of Junior Mints or a Mounds Bar myself now and again, but I don’t delude myself into believing that I’m eating a “health” food because there is chocolate on it.

Here is the truth: Chocolate IS good for you, but it is a very specific kind, and in this case, more is not better. There is quite a bit of research out there on the benefits of chocolate. Don’t YOU wish you had been in just ONE of those studies? Dare to dream.

In 2001 I was part of a focus group for one of the major candy companies, however it did not involve actual chocolate, not even a SAMPLE, just pictures. It was asking us how to market a new product to consumers. That product was CocoaVia.

Back to chocolate and how it is good for you. The health benefits are only through DARK chocolate, and this is the important part: the darker the better. Dark chocolate contains flavonols. Flavonols are the compounds found in tea, cranberries, blueberries, and many other fruits and nuts (all plant foods). It is also the compound in chocolate that gives it the bitter taste. That’s why we want darker chocolate; the higher percentage on the label the better.

What exactly are the health benefits? Here are just a few things that research has shown to date:

It helps keep blood vessels healthy by keeping blood flowing to your eyes, heart, head, fingers and toes, digestive system, muscles, and all the other places that need blood.
It helps keep the blood from clotting when it shouldn’t as well as keeping inflammation down (chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease and perhaps Alzheimer’s).
It helps reduce blood pressure when taken daily in small amounts (about 30 calories worth).
Preliminary research is showing that might help control blood sugar levels (really, chocolate controlling blood sugar!)

Which chocolate to choose? Brand does not matter; it is personal preference. I choose to go to Cost Plus World Market, or the natural foods stores and pick up a few bars of various percentages from several countries. Don’t choose 85%, as that is completely bitter chocolate – unless you want this. I choose something in the 70’s%, but no lower. Remember, the darker the better, so the higher percentage, the better.

How much? You must remember, as with any food, even the ones that are good for you, calories do count. One of the large bars that I get at Cost Plus is 100 grams = 3.5 ounces. That entire bar is 525-575 calories depending on the cocoa percentage. These generally are about 8-10 squares per bar, or 50-75 calories. Make sure you give yourself only one of these squares per day. If you eat the entire bar, you are NOT doing yourself any favors.

The Book pictured above: Chocolate A Healthy Passion by Shara Aaron, MS RD and Monica Bearden, RD is a book about the history and health benefits of chocolate with references. Recipes are included.

This was an item I received free at the ADA FNCE in Chicago in late October. There we DID get lots of free samples of DARK chocolate.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well - with a bit of DARK chocolate.

Sweet Product - Sweet Potatoes

2008-10-30T20:47:00.006-06:00

Earlier this week, October 25-28, I was among thousands of other nutrition professionals in Chicago at the American Dietetic Association Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE). It is a fantastic time of networking with peers and colleagues and getting together with friends.

One of the best parts of FNCE, and I make my co-workers jealous, is the Expo, where we learn about new products and foods that are or will soon be available to the public. We do get to sample and take home some of these products. I thought I would tell you about some of them over the next several entries.

Ore-Ida Steam n’ Mash Sweet Potatoes (found in the freezer section)

I just love sweet potatoes and I make baked or mashed sweet potatoes year round. Sweet potatoes are one of the most nutritious vegetables you can get your hands on. They are an excellent source of potassium; a great source of Vitamins A, C and E, and fiber is bountiful in them. Also, as with most vegetables, they have no fat and are not too bad in the calorie department.

But, whenever I want mashed sweet potatoes, I generally have to plan ahead by an hour to allot for peeling, cutting and boiling them so they will be done in time to have with the rest of dinner.

This product does the peeling and cutting for us. You can pop the bag in the microwave for 10 minutes, and they are done! You can eat them as is (in the chunks), or mash them up and dress as you normally would. Just remember when you add things to it, you add calories! I’m going to look for them on my next trip to the grocery store.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well - today!

Fasting - Pros and Cons?

2008-10-15T20:00:00.006-06:00

I was recently interviewed about the pros and cons of “fasting” and unfortunately I find that many people do it so I thought I would put in my 6 cents about the topic.

First, I want to clarify: What is fasting?

There are several variations of fasting, but here are three general categories as I define them:

Water only, no nutrients or calories of any kind for a period of time.

Juice fasts. This includes drinking fruit and/or vegetable juice for a period of time. This category I would also include other “liquid” fasts including the maple syrup/cayenne pepper concoction or the “cleansing teas” and similar variations – there are many.

Fasting by abstaining from certain types of food for a period of time – such as alcohol, caffeine, sugar, red meat, etc.

When I refer to fasting I’m referring to no food – looking at categories 1 and 2 above. Most often people choose to do this for the purpose of weight loss or “detox.”

I acknowledge fasting is appropriate in the following two instances: medically necessary prior to a blood test or surgery and religious purposes/observances as directed by certain religions for various holidays (ex. Ramadan, Lent, Yom Kippur).

For all other reasons I strongly urge people to NOT engage in fasting for several reasons. Here is my top five.

Your brain needs fuel and it needs it regularly and often. It will go through the glycogen it needs within a day and, if not replenished, it won’t be able to function properly.

Your body needs fuel. Basal metabolism, which is the basic amount of energy our body needs just to function daily, is still quite a lot of calories (mine is about 1200 calories). You add calories to that to support movement, like if you plan to get out of bed to take a walk to the fridge or take a shower. Feed your body regularly with GOOD healthy food, just not too much.

Weight loss (most people really want FAT loss rather than WEIGHT loss) will not happen during a fast, and really if you want a “jump start” – then quit eating unhealthy foods and start eating healthy foods. That is a good start.

“Detox” isn’t going to happen during a fast. Choose to not consume toxic substances anymore if you are concerned about toxins. Most toxins are filtered out through the liver. That is the job of the liver.

Finally, the biggest one, you want to keep your family and friend from hating you. If you plan to have any human contact during your fast, especially during the first 4-5 days, please have your family, friends, and co-workers sign waivers that they will not hold anything against you during this time. You are going to be one cranky S.O.B. and should not be held responsible for your actions. If you are already a cranky person, some people may not notice a difference. But if you get in a really bad mood when you go without eating for about 6-8 hours, this is going to be a really bad idea.

Truly, a fast of any kind is just silly, and a waste of some great days of healthy eating.

Don’t deprive yourself. You could miss out on some great food opportunities.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well – every day.