An article was published today in The New York Times Magazine entitled "The Fat Trap." It discusses the trials and tribulations that people face while trying to maintain weight loss. Long story short, many people attempt to lose weight but few manage to keep the pounds off. There are a few studies that have researched why it seems only a few people are able to maintain weight loss.
The National Weight Control Registry currently tracks over 10,000 people who have maintained a 30-pound weight loss or greater for at least a year. Surprisingly, there was no one way people initially took the weight off. The ways people lost weight ranged from joining weight-loss support groups to popular diets to weight-loss surgery. One of the most widely recognized ways people lose weight is through the help of support groups such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig.
Even if people in the weight control registry did not lose the weight the same way, they did have similar behaviors that assisted in maintaining their new weight. Ninety-eight percent of registry members have modified their food intake in some way. For physical activity, 94% have increased their activity with 90% exercising about one hour a day. Other common behaviors of those that have maintained weight loss included keeping a food diary and weighing themselves frequently.
The USDA recommends for losing weight and maintaining weight loss people should get 150 minutes of moderate activity each week, although some cases may need up to 300 minutes a week. Three hundred minutes is equal to five hours. It is recommended that this time is spread out throughout the week rather than all in one shot. The registry found that the average member does a four-mile walk 7 days a week. This means that if the person averages a 15-minute mile, they are getting 420 minutes of moderate exercise per week. This is well above what the USDA suggests for weight loss and maintenance.
Researchers have found that a person who has lost weight needs fewer calories to maintain their lower weight than a person naturally the same weight. It is still unclear as to why this occurs. One study found that the muscle fibers of people who lost weight burn 20- 25% fewer calories during everyday activity and moderate exercise than people naturally that weight. This means the number of calories the treadmill tells that person they burned is substantially higher than what they actually burned.
It is unknown how long people who lose weight need to restrict energy intake and/ or increase their activity level for. Early research from Columbia University suggests it could last six years, but potentially may be for the rest of that person's life. Obesity is a newer epidemic and it will take time to gather information for long-term weight maintenance. It may also be hard to find people who are able to maintain their new weight for a substantial amount of time, such as their life span. The average registry member has maintained a 66 pound weight loss for 5.5 years.
The picture of weight maintenance after weight loss may be looking a little bleak to you (to put it mildly). Do not despair just yet; I have a few tools for you that can help.
Log It If you put it in your mouth or do it, write it down. This will help you recognize how much you are actually eating and moving. You can use your logs to help you see where you're doing well and where your downfalls are. After comparing notes these logs can help you to create a plan to get you over your hurdles. Logs can be kept with a pen and paper, on a website, or on a smart phone app.
Know Your Numbers Learn to appreciate your scale and not loathe it. Numbers may fluctuate weekly, if not daily. Even the time of day you weigh yourself may make a difference. Pick a time of day, once a day, to weigh yourself. Using your weight along with your food and activity logs will help give a basis as to how you are doing. Do not weigh yourself pre- and post-workout and consider weight loss there as fat loss. Weight loss during a workout is from sweating, so grab your water bottle and rehydrate!
Partner Up Get your family, get your friends, get everybody on board! Studies show time and time again that support groups help in weight loss and weight maintenance. If you have the help of others you are less likely to backtrack. If you have the people you spend the most time with on board they can help keep you accountable. Keep an eye out for those who may try to sabotage you. For example, the person who says "Just try one cookie, it won't hurt." or "After a day like today, you deserve Happy Hour." Cheating on your new lifestyle only cheats yourself.
Weight gain doesn't happen overnight, nor does taking it off and maintaining it. As with most things in life, losing weight and learning to maintain it will take time. But the health, and the more apparent physical, benefits are well worth the work. Remember to keep focused and modify your plan as necessary to achieve your weight loss goals.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
YourPlate
In the beginning of June this year the United States Department of Agriculture released MyPlate, the replacement for the difficult to interpret MyPyramid. The plate is divided into four sections of the various types of food you should be consuming at each meal with a circle (equating to a glass) representing dairy on the side. Pretty self explanatory, right? Half of your plate should be fruit and vegetables, the other half should have a slightly smaller portion of protein in comparison to grains.
As it turns out, making your plate into MyPlate is pretty hard. Americans eat as MyPlate instructs 2% of the time. That's about one week of the year or 21 meals a year. Twenty one of the 1,095 meals we potentially eat each year. NPD deducted this number from the days people reached at least 70% of the daily recommendation of all of the food groups and considered those days to be MyPlate days.
The NPD group reported their finding based off of their National Eating Trends (NET) research. NET research has tracked the eating and drinking habits of US consumers for 30 years by examining two-week food diaries of 5,000 people. There is the potential for error when it comes to self-reported food diaries. Judging by the fact that this research was carried out by a private organization and not done in a clinical setting, people may be less likely to lie about what they eat. However, participants may still underreport how much they eat.
These findings are not all that surprising. The typical American dinner has a vegetable, a grain, and protein. Not only does the typical dinner not include fruit, but it does not include dairy either. It is also uncommon to have vegetables with breakfast. Making the need for following MyPlate more apparent, 65% of the participants in NPD's research are classified as overweight or obese.
On the days that people had a MyPlate day, they were more likely to consume more than 3 meals a day and to weigh less. This shows that following the MyPlate guidelines can help in leading a healthy lifestyle. They also found that people who snacked on fruit, vegetables, and yogurt also tended to have a lower body mass index.
Additionally, there are a few healthy diet tips that are not explicit on the MyPlate diagram. Americans should replace solid fats with oils. You should also try to make half of your grains whole-grains. The goal of MyPlate is for you to enjoy your meals, while eating less and still getting a high nutritional value.
Knowing how little of the time Americans follow MyPlate shows that education is needed. Americans need to be educated on what MyPlate is and how to apply it to their everyday life. With the number of obese and overweight Americans on the rise, education as a tool for intervention has never been more necessary.
Now that you've seen MyPlate try to make it YourPlate. Hopefully it lasts longer than a week.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Call to Arms
Dear Naughty Nutrition Reader,
This a plea that you will help the nation in the fight against obesity by allowing Medicare and Medicaid recipients to be covered to see medical professionals who are truly qualified and focused on treating their condition rather than their primary care giver alone. Recently, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decided that Intensive Behavioral Therapy for Obesity could only be furnished by primary-care providers in the primary-care setting. Meaning medical professionals, such as registered dietitians and clinical psychologists, can no longer be reimbursed by Medicaid or Medicare for providing these services to obese Medicare/ Medicaid recipients. Primary-care providers, who have significantly less training on obesity counseling, are now being asked to show positive outcomes in treatment of obesity. Interestingly, a recent survey of primary-care physicians showed that 78 percent said they had no prior training on weight-related issues. Of those, 72 percent said no one in their office had weight-loss training. This hardly justifies what Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has done.
Many states in this nation are afflicted by the obesity epidemic and the numbers are continuing to rise. According to the CDC one-third of U.S. adults are considered obese. An even gloomier outlook, 12.5 million children and teens (or 17 percent) from age 2 to 19 are considered obese. This is a large number of people whose options for treatment are down to one person who may have little to no training in that area.
Obesity can lead to numerous chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and cancer. The results of these conditions are not pretty, nor are they inexpensive. Take type 2 diabetes for example, in 2003 researchers performed a study to find out how much it will cost to treat an obese person with type 2 diabetes. In 2003 it cost $1,700 dollars for white men and $2,100 dollars for white women. This amount is minus the cost of what it would be to treat complications of diabetes. Obviously, not all patients with type 2 diabetes are white, but for the sake of this example and the lack of research concerning the cost of type 2 diabetes, I'll assume that treatment for blacks, hispanics, and asians would cost about the same. Coincidentally, most people with type 2 diabetes are not white but are black, hispanic or asian.
Now for a little math, shall we? According to the American Diabetes Association there are 25.8 million people in the US with some form of diabetes. Of that, 5 percent have type 1 diabetes. That knocks us down to 24.51 million people with type 2 diabetes. For the sake of trying to guess how many of each sex has diabetes, I'll average the costs to $1,900 a person to treat type 2 diabetes without any complications.
I failed to mention something, the $1,900 cost I used was just using diet therapy. Not many primary-care givers automatically recommend diet alone. I say this because someone near and dear to me was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He was told, "No white bread, no regular soda, and take this pill before every meal. I'll see you 3 months." Not what I wanted to hear. I wonder what advice that primary care doctor will give an obese patient. I am fairly certain it will include "take this pill."
Multiplying $1,900 by 24.51 million patients we get $46.569 billion to treat type 2 diabetes. These costs and patient numbers are from 2003 and 2007. Inflation since 2003 has likely increased how much it costs to treat diabetes. The number of people with type 2 diabetes has also increased. In actuality this number is a little low. The cost of treatment per person increased 10-90% depending on if drugs or other diseases related to diabetes occurred. If their diabetes lead to kidney failure and they required dialysis the cost increased 11-fold. Those are some big jumps in cost and these costs are passed on us, the tax payers, for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.
Type 2 diabetes is just one example of a chronic condition that can stem from obesity. Keep in the mind there are ten health conditions related to obesity. All of them requiring different types of treatments and therapies. All of these conditions can cost an astronomical amount of money, whether it be for the treatment or the economic loss of an individual being unable to work and needing assistance. All of these chronic health conditions may be prevented if proper and adequate action is taken to treat obesity.
This is the first year there are no blue states on the map. Welcome to the club Colorado.
We can have an impact on these chronic conditions by stomping out obesity. Tell Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that medical professionals such as RDs and clinical psychologists can help people with obesity in conjunction with (and maybe even better than) their primary care giver. If you or someone you know has been diagnosed as being obese and has benefited from the help of a RD you owe to yourself, that family member/friend, and that RD. You can sign the petition here: http://wh.gov/DWX.
Thank you and good night.
This a plea that you will help the nation in the fight against obesity by allowing Medicare and Medicaid recipients to be covered to see medical professionals who are truly qualified and focused on treating their condition rather than their primary care giver alone. Recently, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decided that Intensive Behavioral Therapy for Obesity could only be furnished by primary-care providers in the primary-care setting. Meaning medical professionals, such as registered dietitians and clinical psychologists, can no longer be reimbursed by Medicaid or Medicare for providing these services to obese Medicare/ Medicaid recipients. Primary-care providers, who have significantly less training on obesity counseling, are now being asked to show positive outcomes in treatment of obesity. Interestingly, a recent survey of primary-care physicians showed that 78 percent said they had no prior training on weight-related issues. Of those, 72 percent said no one in their office had weight-loss training. This hardly justifies what Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has done.
Many states in this nation are afflicted by the obesity epidemic and the numbers are continuing to rise. According to the CDC one-third of U.S. adults are considered obese. An even gloomier outlook, 12.5 million children and teens (or 17 percent) from age 2 to 19 are considered obese. This is a large number of people whose options for treatment are down to one person who may have little to no training in that area. Obesity can lead to numerous chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and cancer. The results of these conditions are not pretty, nor are they inexpensive. Take type 2 diabetes for example, in 2003 researchers performed a study to find out how much it will cost to treat an obese person with type 2 diabetes. In 2003 it cost $1,700 dollars for white men and $2,100 dollars for white women. This amount is minus the cost of what it would be to treat complications of diabetes. Obviously, not all patients with type 2 diabetes are white, but for the sake of this example and the lack of research concerning the cost of type 2 diabetes, I'll assume that treatment for blacks, hispanics, and asians would cost about the same. Coincidentally, most people with type 2 diabetes are not white but are black, hispanic or asian.
Now for a little math, shall we? According to the American Diabetes Association there are 25.8 million people in the US with some form of diabetes. Of that, 5 percent have type 1 diabetes. That knocks us down to 24.51 million people with type 2 diabetes. For the sake of trying to guess how many of each sex has diabetes, I'll average the costs to $1,900 a person to treat type 2 diabetes without any complications.
I failed to mention something, the $1,900 cost I used was just using diet therapy. Not many primary-care givers automatically recommend diet alone. I say this because someone near and dear to me was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He was told, "No white bread, no regular soda, and take this pill before every meal. I'll see you 3 months." Not what I wanted to hear. I wonder what advice that primary care doctor will give an obese patient. I am fairly certain it will include "take this pill."
Multiplying $1,900 by 24.51 million patients we get $46.569 billion to treat type 2 diabetes. These costs and patient numbers are from 2003 and 2007. Inflation since 2003 has likely increased how much it costs to treat diabetes. The number of people with type 2 diabetes has also increased. In actuality this number is a little low. The cost of treatment per person increased 10-90% depending on if drugs or other diseases related to diabetes occurred. If their diabetes lead to kidney failure and they required dialysis the cost increased 11-fold. Those are some big jumps in cost and these costs are passed on us, the tax payers, for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.
Type 2 diabetes is just one example of a chronic condition that can stem from obesity. Keep in the mind there are ten health conditions related to obesity. All of them requiring different types of treatments and therapies. All of these conditions can cost an astronomical amount of money, whether it be for the treatment or the economic loss of an individual being unable to work and needing assistance. All of these chronic health conditions may be prevented if proper and adequate action is taken to treat obesity.
This is the first year there are no blue states on the map. Welcome to the club Colorado.
We can have an impact on these chronic conditions by stomping out obesity. Tell Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that medical professionals such as RDs and clinical psychologists can help people with obesity in conjunction with (and maybe even better than) their primary care giver. If you or someone you know has been diagnosed as being obese and has benefited from the help of a RD you owe to yourself, that family member/friend, and that RD. You can sign the petition here: http://wh.gov/DWX.
Thank you and good night.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Read What You Eat
The Food and Drug Administration recently warned Alexia Foods about misleading food labels. Most of the Alexia Food products have "All Natural" on the front of the package right above their name. As it turns out, however, not everything they produce is as natural as it claims to be.
For instance, their Roasted Red Potatoes and Baby Portabella Mushrooms contain disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (DDP), a synthetic chemical preservative. This product was deemed misbranded by the FDA under legislation that states a food is misbranded if its labeling is false or misleading. The DDP in this product is used to keep cut potatoes from turning brown due to oxidation. DDP can also be used as buffer, leaven, quality modifier, ferment agent, emulsifier, nutriment, and adhesive in foods.
Image taken from: http://mywoodenspoon.com/
While doing some research I came across another product that contained DDP. Once again the product contained potatoes. The FDA noted that the product in their initial warning might not be the only offender in Alexia's product line and suggested they ensure other products are not misbranded as well.
Currently, the FDA does not a formal definition of what is considered 'natural.' The FDA considers use of the term 'natural' on a food label to be non-misleading when nothing artificial or synthetic has been included in, or added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.
The FDA typically has definitions for the terms commonly seen on food labels. For instance take the term 'fresh.' 'Fresh' can be used on a label to suggest that a food is unprocessed or in a raw state, that has never been frozen, nor has it underwent any thermal processing or form of preservation.
You may have encountered labels that have 'fresh frozen' or 'frozen fresh' on them. This means that the food was gathered and quickly frozen, all the way to the center of the food, by the use of freezing system in order that no deterioration of the food could have taken place between harvest and freezing. In this case, blanching the food is considered okay prior to freezing. Other foods that can have the label 'fresh' include the addition of waxes and coatings, post-harvest approved pesticides, or foods that have been treated with a ionizing radiation (that does not exceed a specific dose).
The specific definition for 'fresh' was created in 1993. It is likely that this definition was created during a time when consumers were putting down canned vegetables and opting for the produce section instead. With the ever growing trend of consumers wanting to purchase 'all natural' products, it is the likely the FDA will have to create a formal definition for 'natural' in the near future.
Alexia Foods has 15 business days to respond to the FDA with the actions they will take to correct this problem.
A link to the actual warning letter sent to Alexia Foods can be found here.
For instance, their Roasted Red Potatoes and Baby Portabella Mushrooms contain disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (DDP), a synthetic chemical preservative. This product was deemed misbranded by the FDA under legislation that states a food is misbranded if its labeling is false or misleading. The DDP in this product is used to keep cut potatoes from turning brown due to oxidation. DDP can also be used as buffer, leaven, quality modifier, ferment agent, emulsifier, nutriment, and adhesive in foods.
Image taken from: http://mywoodenspoon.com/
While doing some research I came across another product that contained DDP. Once again the product contained potatoes. The FDA noted that the product in their initial warning might not be the only offender in Alexia's product line and suggested they ensure other products are not misbranded as well.
Currently, the FDA does not a formal definition of what is considered 'natural.' The FDA considers use of the term 'natural' on a food label to be non-misleading when nothing artificial or synthetic has been included in, or added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.
The FDA typically has definitions for the terms commonly seen on food labels. For instance take the term 'fresh.' 'Fresh' can be used on a label to suggest that a food is unprocessed or in a raw state, that has never been frozen, nor has it underwent any thermal processing or form of preservation.
You may have encountered labels that have 'fresh frozen' or 'frozen fresh' on them. This means that the food was gathered and quickly frozen, all the way to the center of the food, by the use of freezing system in order that no deterioration of the food could have taken place between harvest and freezing. In this case, blanching the food is considered okay prior to freezing. Other foods that can have the label 'fresh' include the addition of waxes and coatings, post-harvest approved pesticides, or foods that have been treated with a ionizing radiation (that does not exceed a specific dose).
The specific definition for 'fresh' was created in 1993. It is likely that this definition was created during a time when consumers were putting down canned vegetables and opting for the produce section instead. With the ever growing trend of consumers wanting to purchase 'all natural' products, it is the likely the FDA will have to create a formal definition for 'natural' in the near future.
Alexia Foods has 15 business days to respond to the FDA with the actions they will take to correct this problem.
A link to the actual warning letter sent to Alexia Foods can be found here.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Tantrum Meal
Like many cities, San Francisco is looking for ways to make their public healthier. Starting today it is illegal to give away a free toy with a kids meal if it does not meet certain nutritional standards. McDonalds being the geniuses they are, are now charging 10 cents for the toy with the purchase of a Happy Meal. Did I mention that all the proceeds from the toy go to the Ronald McDonald House of San Francisco? Very clever. Not only does a kid still get a cheap toy (literally and figuratively) but an ill child has the opportunity to have their family around.
Way to tug at those heart strings Mickey D's.
Charging for the toy was not the immediate response that McDonalds had to the new ordinance going into affect. In fact, they initially attempted to make their Happy Meals healthier. They offered low-fat milk and fresh sliced apples; eventually they want to add another vegetable option. The portion of fries was cut by more than half. They did a few other things too, but I'll let their gifted PR team explain it themselves. Even with these changes the kids meals were still not up to San Fran's new guidelines.
So McDonalds did the next best thing. Asked you for some change.
If you're like me, you may be starting to wonder what these new guidelines were and how this whole thing started. Back in 2004 the California's Congress passed a resolution to curb unhealthy marketing to children. As you can imagine, giving away free toys with kids meal purchases was deemed to be unhealthy marketing.
This makes sense. Remember the Beanie Baby craze back in the 90s. McDonalds would release a new Teenie Beanie each week and I was there. You know those hunks of fabric filled with foam and beads were going to be so valuable I might be able to pay for my college once I sold them off (at peak price nonetheless). This is a lesson on why you save, and not spend, money. Here was the caveat to obtaining a Teenie Beanie, I knew you could purchase the toy without having to get the meal. (Editor's note: That is not my collection pictured above. I'm pretty sure it didn't survive long after I left for college with zero beanie baby scholarship money.)
Can you imagine people going into McDonalds just to buy the toys on a regular basis? (Besides the collectors with rooms dedicated to the junk?) That probably doesn't happen. People get the kids meal because their kids require food, it's made especially for them, and the kid gets a hunk of plastic to entertain them for the afternoon with. Happy Meal sounds a lot better than Tantrum Meal.
Under the new ordinance, for restaurants to offer the free toy they must meet certain nutrition requirements for the kids meal. These kids meals have to have fewer than 600 calories and less than 640 milligrams of sodium. These meals also must have one serving of fruit and one and a half servings of vegetables (in non-breakfast meals). The drinks offered must have less than 10 percent of their calories from added sugars. Looking at the breakdown, this isn't too far off from what school lunches need to provide as sides under the National School Lunch Program.
Playing around on the meal builder I created what I thought most kids would eat. Chicken nuggets with BBQ sauce, french fries, and orange drink. (Because some adults are responsible and know their kids need their vitamin C.) This meal came in at 460 calories and 690 milligrams of sodium. McDonalds misses the new requirements because its higher in sodium and you have a fruit or fries option. Once McDonalds has a fresh vegetable option, adds another side item to the meal, and drops the sodium content in it they would qualify to hand out free toys again.
These healthier kids meals McDonalds has currently are set to be out across the United States by April. But will McDonalds add those healthier options at a higher price to them and possibly consumers to qualify to give out free toys? Or will they add a cape to Ronald McDonald's costume to illustrate how McDonalds helps sick kids by playing by their own rules?
Way to tug at those heart strings Mickey D's.
Charging for the toy was not the immediate response that McDonalds had to the new ordinance going into affect. In fact, they initially attempted to make their Happy Meals healthier. They offered low-fat milk and fresh sliced apples; eventually they want to add another vegetable option. The portion of fries was cut by more than half. They did a few other things too, but I'll let their gifted PR team explain it themselves. Even with these changes the kids meals were still not up to San Fran's new guidelines.
So McDonalds did the next best thing. Asked you for some change.
If you're like me, you may be starting to wonder what these new guidelines were and how this whole thing started. Back in 2004 the California's Congress passed a resolution to curb unhealthy marketing to children. As you can imagine, giving away free toys with kids meal purchases was deemed to be unhealthy marketing.
This makes sense. Remember the Beanie Baby craze back in the 90s. McDonalds would release a new Teenie Beanie each week and I was there. You know those hunks of fabric filled with foam and beads were going to be so valuable I might be able to pay for my college once I sold them off (at peak price nonetheless). This is a lesson on why you save, and not spend, money. Here was the caveat to obtaining a Teenie Beanie, I knew you could purchase the toy without having to get the meal. (Editor's note: That is not my collection pictured above. I'm pretty sure it didn't survive long after I left for college with zero beanie baby scholarship money.) Can you imagine people going into McDonalds just to buy the toys on a regular basis? (Besides the collectors with rooms dedicated to the junk?) That probably doesn't happen. People get the kids meal because their kids require food, it's made especially for them, and the kid gets a hunk of plastic to entertain them for the afternoon with. Happy Meal sounds a lot better than Tantrum Meal.
Under the new ordinance, for restaurants to offer the free toy they must meet certain nutrition requirements for the kids meal. These kids meals have to have fewer than 600 calories and less than 640 milligrams of sodium. These meals also must have one serving of fruit and one and a half servings of vegetables (in non-breakfast meals). The drinks offered must have less than 10 percent of their calories from added sugars. Looking at the breakdown, this isn't too far off from what school lunches need to provide as sides under the National School Lunch Program.
Playing around on the meal builder I created what I thought most kids would eat. Chicken nuggets with BBQ sauce, french fries, and orange drink. (Because some adults are responsible and know their kids need their vitamin C.) This meal came in at 460 calories and 690 milligrams of sodium. McDonalds misses the new requirements because its higher in sodium and you have a fruit or fries option. Once McDonalds has a fresh vegetable option, adds another side item to the meal, and drops the sodium content in it they would qualify to hand out free toys again.
These healthier kids meals McDonalds has currently are set to be out across the United States by April. But will McDonalds add those healthier options at a higher price to them and possibly consumers to qualify to give out free toys? Or will they add a cape to Ronald McDonald's costume to illustrate how McDonalds helps sick kids by playing by their own rules?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Red and Green Alert!!!
Or blue and white depending on which way your religion swings.
It is that time of year again. One station on your radio dial is all holiday music all the time. Your neighbor lit up his decorations the day after Thanksgiving complete with lights that are timed to flicker on and off with the music on his outdoor sound system. In the back of your mind you may be wondering when you need to break out the holiday fat pants. You know, the ones that only come out once a year typically right around New Years Day.
You think to yourself, "this year will be different." It's post Thanksgiving and you've already made it to the gym (once). Your healthy eating is back on track (after you finish off that last bit of pie tonight).
You know what? This year can, and will, be different. Go ahead and keep those holiday fat pants in the closet. (You may even re-name them New Years Day Recovery pants.) I have a few helpful tips to help you maintain your weight, and maybe even your sanity, this holiday season.
About Bob
This is the new name of your neighbor, the one really excited about his decorations. Why let him have all the fun? Why don't you get outside and get moving. Start hanging those lights and decking the halls. For a 140 pound person, one hour of decorating can burn almost 300 calories.* You may be curious as to how many calories would be burned by kicking Bob's behind. Naughty Nutrition does not condone violence against Bob and hopes that you will head to the gym for a kickboxing class to release some of that aggression (which it would be over 600 calories for an hour of that particular class).
Snow Day
Remember how exciting it was to have a snow day? Revive that excitement, after clearing off your driveway and sidewalk. Grab a sled, skis, skates, or crampons. Who says you need to go to a gym to get your heart rate up? Get outside and enjoy what the cold weather has to offer before you are too bitter about it to do something.
If not for you, do it for the kids. Outdoor winter activities are a great way for families to bond over the holiday break. When family battles start to heat up in the kitchen now is the perfect time to exit with your kids/ nieces and nephews/ cousins into the snow. This may gain you the joy of being duty-free in the kitchen for post-meal cleanup for getting the little rascals out.
Added bonus: If you are able to execute the perfect snowball hit, preferably in front of a window where people are known to be congregating, on the perfect snowball target, preferably not on one of little darlings, you might cause such a laughter that people may forget what they were even fighting about. Hit the little darling, however, and you just made a target of yourself. At that point, take up winter camping.
Give More
Christmas is known for one thing. Presents. It's also well recognized for giving back. Most people tend to give donations of food and money to organizations to help less-fortunate families have a nice holiday. How about giving your time this year instead? Wrap presents, help out at a food bank, maybe prepare holiday meals. There are various ways to volunteer during the holidays. It will help you appreciate what you have and keep you active in your community. This also keeps your hands off of cookie plates and silences your inner Grinch.
Like the Grinch, I stole this from tvguide.com.
Pre-Game
It's the morning before your big office party or family gathering. You know that tonight will be the mother load of holiday goodies. First things first, do NOT skip meals to "save calories" for that night. We are not hibernating bears. Our bodies do not automatically use fat stores for energy, instead valuable muscle tissue is used. If anything you will be hungrier at dinner and will be more likely to overeat. As an alternative, have a couple light meals rather than none at all.
Attempt to eat foods you know you are less likely to be eating later. If you know that you won't be having fruit as an appetizer or at dinner, make it part of your breakfast and lunch. Remember if you eat something earlier, you won't need it later. Have a fruit and low-fat yogurt parfait to curb how much high-fat cheese you may eat later and still get your calcium.
Communal Fondue
The office party. The one potluck a year people actually try to make something appetizing. This may be the one time a year your manager shows a little appreciation and rents out a venue complete with hors d'oeuvres and a full bar. Either way the twinkling lights that were hung to look festive are looking more like an alarm system. All your hard work seems to be slipping away as the fondue pot catches your eye. As you make your way over to it you notice not only do they have cheese... they have chocolate too! Gasp! Happy holidays to you!
Before you plunge your skewer into that ham cube and twirl it around in that creamy vat of cheese, take a step back and look around. Assess all of your options before you start filling your plate with random odds and ends. Chances are a few things always look good, but when you bite in you are reminded about why you only have it once a year (hint, hint: it rhymes with ducks). Like many holiday treats fondue is okay to have, in small amounts. Go ahead a have a little, but try to dip fruits and vegetables over the ham and marshmallows. Like MyPlate suggests, make half of your plate fruits and vegetables.
Holiday Spirits
The holiday season also offers holiday cocktails. These may have been created to help ease tense family situations back in the day. The most common suggestion is to forgo alcohol all together. However, this is the real world and like many holiday foods, these beverages don't come around every day. You have a few holiday options. Instead of a brandy alexander, try egg nog or tom and jerry with a dash of brandy and/ or rum instead. You may also try either of these drinks sans alcohol.
From epicurious.com I give you the Brandy Alexander.
If you would rather cut the calories from your drink mix rather than your alcohol, you have a couple options. If you normally prefer a brandy alexander, substitute whipping cream for imitation whipping cream (which is made with non-fat milk). There are plenty of low-fat egg nog recipes available online. I found this one from the Food Network.
Low-Fat Egg Nog
What you need:
2 cups nonfat milk
2 large strips orange and/or lemon zest
1 vanilla bean
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/3 cup sugar (You may try Splenda here; adjust the amount accordingly)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
White rum, bourbon, or brandy (optional)
Ground nutmeg, for garnish
What to do:
Combine 1 1/2 cups milk and the citrus zest in a medium saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds; add the seeds and pod to the saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl until light yellow.
Gradually pour the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, then pour back into the pan. Place over medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon in a figure-eight motion until the eggnog begins to thicken, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the remaining 1/2 cup milk to stop the cooking. Transfer the eggnog to a large bowl and place over a larger bowl of ice to cool, chill until ready to serve.
Remove the zest and vanilla pod. Spike the eggnog with liquor, if desired, and garnish with nutmeg.
Nutritional Info (per 1/2 cup serving):
Calories: 90
Fat: 2 g
Saturated: 1 g
Cholesterol: 96 mg
Carbohydrate: 13 g
Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 5 g
If these holiday drinks aren't your style, you're already a head in the calorie count. To cut down wine calories, make it a wine spritzer with club soda. Not drinking but don't want to feel left out? Try cranberry juice with diet tonic water. You could also have a Mock-mosa with orange juice and diet lemon-lime soda.
Tis the season for festive eating. Now that you are armed with some holiday activity and nutritional advice, go have yourself a merry little time.
*This estimate was based off of calories typically burned while gardening. Close enough to running around the yard hanging lights, right?
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Cranberry and Brie Crostinis
Happy Post Thanksgiving! If you are like most Americans, your insides might still be suffering from post-Thanksgiving traumatic stress. Whether it be from the multiple kinds of pie you just had to try or your uncle's graphic rendition of his kidney stone passing. Either way, it wasn't terribly pretty.
As an alternative to bringing something to go along with the plethora of sides already on the Thanksgiving day menu, I made an appetizer. This may be the best way to ensure that you won't have left overs, since this is put out when people are tired of starving themselves for dinner. These crostinis don't just go well with Thanksgiving, they are perfect with any holiday meal or potluck. I suggest making the Cranberry-Apple Sauce ahead of time to ensure it has enough time to thicken.
What you need:
1 Loaf of French Bread
Small Round of Brie
Cranberry-Apple Sauce (recipe below)
Cranberry-Apple Sauce
(Recipe taken from Clean Eating.)
What you need:
12 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen and defrosted
1 apple, cored and chopped into 1/3-inch pieces
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 T fresh ginger, finely minced
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/8 tsp salt
What to do:
Add all ingredients to a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and, stirring often, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until cranberries break down, apples soften and mixture thickens. The sauce will continue to thicken slightly as it chills.
Transfer to a storage container, cover and chill for 3 hours.
Crostini Assembly:
Turn the oven on to the "broiler" setting. Cut the french bread loaf into half-inch slices, discarding the ends, and laying the slices on a baking sheet. Top each slice with a piece of brie about a quarter of an inch thick and an inch long. Place in the oven for about 7 minutes or until the bread is toasted and the brie has begun to melt. Immediately remove from the oven and place the crostinis on a serving tray. Top each crostini with about a tablespoon of the Cranberry-Apple sauce. If you prefer, reheat the Cranberry-Apple Sauce prior to assembling the crostinis.
As an alternative to bringing something to go along with the plethora of sides already on the Thanksgiving day menu, I made an appetizer. This may be the best way to ensure that you won't have left overs, since this is put out when people are tired of starving themselves for dinner. These crostinis don't just go well with Thanksgiving, they are perfect with any holiday meal or potluck. I suggest making the Cranberry-Apple Sauce ahead of time to ensure it has enough time to thicken.
What you need:
1 Loaf of French Bread
Small Round of Brie
Cranberry-Apple Sauce (recipe below)
Cranberry-Apple Sauce
(Recipe taken from Clean Eating.)
What you need:
12 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen and defrosted
1 apple, cored and chopped into 1/3-inch pieces
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 T fresh ginger, finely minced
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/8 tsp salt
What to do:
Add all ingredients to a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and, stirring often, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until cranberries break down, apples soften and mixture thickens. The sauce will continue to thicken slightly as it chills.
Transfer to a storage container, cover and chill for 3 hours.
Crostini Assembly:
Turn the oven on to the "broiler" setting. Cut the french bread loaf into half-inch slices, discarding the ends, and laying the slices on a baking sheet. Top each slice with a piece of brie about a quarter of an inch thick and an inch long. Place in the oven for about 7 minutes or until the bread is toasted and the brie has begun to melt. Immediately remove from the oven and place the crostinis on a serving tray. Top each crostini with about a tablespoon of the Cranberry-Apple sauce. If you prefer, reheat the Cranberry-Apple Sauce prior to assembling the crostinis.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
If The Kids Only Knew
Last week I had the opportunity to work with the Edmond Public School District. I had worked with school districts before, but this was the first time I was able to serve lunch and observe the students. At EPS the cooks make most of the food from scratch, only a few years ago did they stop making their own bread. In case you aren't familiar with the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), I'll give you a little background.
The NSLP is a federally funded program that provides nutritionally balanced, free and reduced-cost meals to non-profit private and public schools and childcare centers. Many people scoff at the idea that these meals are nutritionally balanced. Nutritionally balanced is defined as following the Dietary Guidelines for Americans on recommendations such as no more than 30% of calories can come from fat and less than 10% come from saturated fat. The lunch must also provide one-third (since theoretically we eat 3 meals a day) of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, and Calcium. These lunches must meet the Federal requirements, but it is up to the local school food authorities to decide what is actually served.
In December of 2010 the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) was passed into law. With this act came a few more nutrition related requirements for NSLP, such as more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk. An example menu comparing how lunches used to look to how they can look with new act is located here.
This image was taken from the Houston Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association.
HHFKA does not go into effect until October 2012, but in Edmond they are getting a head start. For example, EPS recently switched to a whole grain pizza crust. I had to opportunity to try it and their pizza was far superior to the pizza that triggered my hunger protest in second grade. They also typically use turkey for their ground meat rather than beef. This is noted on all school menus so parents and students should be aware of this. I say should because the day I served lunch was Frito Chili Pie. A very popular day I might add and the meat in the chili was turkey. This didn't stop the kids from saying how much they liked their beef in the excitement of chili pie day. I would also like to note here that the Fritos were more of an after thought. The students only received an ounce of Fritos, which equates to about 6 corn chips. Hands down the healthiest Frito Chili Pie I have ever seen.
Back to the NSLP reimbursement, schools currently receive $2.77 for a free meal, $2.27 for a reduced-price meal, and $0.26 for a meal paid in full. With HHFKA comes an additional $0.06 for each reimbursement. Yes, that six in the right spot. Six additional cents to help schools provide more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk. Last time I was at the grocery store I didn't see one piece of produce that I could have purchased for 6 cents. Think about it, when is the last time you had a meal covering all of those specifications for $2.83?
Congress agrees with this sentiment that this isn't nearly enough to help fund school lunches. Being the rational people that we the people have voted for, they doing what makes the most sense. They are counting pizza as a vegetable. The two tablespoons of tomato paste on your pizza makes it a vegetable. Never mind that the USDA guideline for a serving of vegetables is a half cup of fresh, frozen, cooked vegetables or vegetable juice. Congress would also like to do away with limiting how often potatoes can be offered, the use of whole grains, and a sodium restriction. It's almost as if Congress doesn't have their constituents interests at heart. Oh wait, is the potato industry in your pants, Representative, or are you just happy to see me?
The NSLP is a federally funded program that provides nutritionally balanced, free and reduced-cost meals to non-profit private and public schools and childcare centers. Many people scoff at the idea that these meals are nutritionally balanced. Nutritionally balanced is defined as following the Dietary Guidelines for Americans on recommendations such as no more than 30% of calories can come from fat and less than 10% come from saturated fat. The lunch must also provide one-third (since theoretically we eat 3 meals a day) of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, and Calcium. These lunches must meet the Federal requirements, but it is up to the local school food authorities to decide what is actually served.
In December of 2010 the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) was passed into law. With this act came a few more nutrition related requirements for NSLP, such as more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk. An example menu comparing how lunches used to look to how they can look with new act is located here.
This image was taken from the Houston Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association.
HHFKA does not go into effect until October 2012, but in Edmond they are getting a head start. For example, EPS recently switched to a whole grain pizza crust. I had to opportunity to try it and their pizza was far superior to the pizza that triggered my hunger protest in second grade. They also typically use turkey for their ground meat rather than beef. This is noted on all school menus so parents and students should be aware of this. I say should because the day I served lunch was Frito Chili Pie. A very popular day I might add and the meat in the chili was turkey. This didn't stop the kids from saying how much they liked their beef in the excitement of chili pie day. I would also like to note here that the Fritos were more of an after thought. The students only received an ounce of Fritos, which equates to about 6 corn chips. Hands down the healthiest Frito Chili Pie I have ever seen.
Back to the NSLP reimbursement, schools currently receive $2.77 for a free meal, $2.27 for a reduced-price meal, and $0.26 for a meal paid in full. With HHFKA comes an additional $0.06 for each reimbursement. Yes, that six in the right spot. Six additional cents to help schools provide more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk. Last time I was at the grocery store I didn't see one piece of produce that I could have purchased for 6 cents. Think about it, when is the last time you had a meal covering all of those specifications for $2.83?
Congress agrees with this sentiment that this isn't nearly enough to help fund school lunches. Being the rational people that we the people have voted for, they doing what makes the most sense. They are counting pizza as a vegetable. The two tablespoons of tomato paste on your pizza makes it a vegetable. Never mind that the USDA guideline for a serving of vegetables is a half cup of fresh, frozen, cooked vegetables or vegetable juice. Congress would also like to do away with limiting how often potatoes can be offered, the use of whole grains, and a sodium restriction. It's almost as if Congress doesn't have their constituents interests at heart. Oh wait, is the potato industry in your pants, Representative, or are you just happy to see me?
Thursday, October 13, 2011
For The Love and PB & J!
Remember that awesome bit on Sesame Street as a kid when they go to a peanut butter factory? I loved it when they showed that. Maybe that's where my appreciation for peanut butter comes from. Or maybe it's from when my mom would make me open face peanut butter sandwiches with stars and smiley faces drawn into them. Any way you spread it, I am infatuated with peanut butter and it's endless possibilities. I am thankful almost everyday I do not have a peanut allergy, as I do not how one could live like that.
World's happiest kid ever? I think so. (Taken from Foodbeast.com)
Earlier this week I over heard a couple women in my office discussing how the price of peanut butter was about to almost double. Imagine my horror. I hadn't heard anything about it so I decided to look it up and make sure this wasn't just office hype. After checking with a few credible news sources, I can confirm that your PB and J may become a luxury item.
Since last year the price of unprocessed peanuts has went from $450 a ton to $1,150 a ton. That's over a 200% price increase. The reason the price of peanuts has sky-rocketed so much is because of a poor peanut harvest due to the heat and drought conditions summer.
Soon that cost will be passed on to us. Popular brands such as Jif , Peter Pan, and (my personal childhood favorite) Skippy have already announced price hikes between 24 and 40% starting in the beginning of November. The price hike is already having an effect on shelled peanuts, as one pound of shelled peanuts is up 50 cents from last year.
Consider yourselves properly forewarned. Now go forth my peanut butter loving minions and stock up.
World's happiest kid ever? I think so. (Taken from Foodbeast.com)
Earlier this week I over heard a couple women in my office discussing how the price of peanut butter was about to almost double. Imagine my horror. I hadn't heard anything about it so I decided to look it up and make sure this wasn't just office hype. After checking with a few credible news sources, I can confirm that your PB and J may become a luxury item.
Since last year the price of unprocessed peanuts has went from $450 a ton to $1,150 a ton. That's over a 200% price increase. The reason the price of peanuts has sky-rocketed so much is because of a poor peanut harvest due to the heat and drought conditions summer.
Soon that cost will be passed on to us. Popular brands such as Jif , Peter Pan, and (my personal childhood favorite) Skippy have already announced price hikes between 24 and 40% starting in the beginning of November. The price hike is already having an effect on shelled peanuts, as one pound of shelled peanuts is up 50 cents from last year.
Consider yourselves properly forewarned. Now go forth my peanut butter loving minions and stock up.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Chipotle Two Bean Chili
Months ago I was inspired to buy a small slow cooker while shopping for a bridal registry. My mind was filled with all the wonderful things I could create with it. The luxury of just throwing all my ingredients in, turning that puppy on low, and let it simmer while I did who knows what.
Image taken from keraladelight.com
By "months ago," I mean about a year and a half ago. All those "wonderful things" turned out to be one brisket. That is until a few nights ago. Being in school and completing a full-time internship leaves little time to be in the kitchen. What better time than now to break that bad boy out?
For this demonstration in slow cooking cookery I made chili. Instead of going to the internet for a recipe or buying a prepackaged chili seasoning mix I decided to wing it, which was a first in chili preparation for me. The night before I threw my ingredients into the stoneware piece and then put it in the fridge overnight.
When I got up the next morning I added water, put the stoneware in the heating base, and turned it to low. Later that day I was talking with a co-worker about my experiment. Long story short, he was pretty convinced that my creation was scorched to the bottom of stoneware and my apartment was going to be smokier than a sweat lodge. That is, if I still had an apartment. Knowing my cooking skills and uncanny ability to have something catch fire, or at the very least set off a smoke detector, I high-tailed it home.
There were no fire trucks, that was a good sign. My neighbors were no where to be seen, which was normal, so that made it a plus. Upon entering my apartment I was greeted by the aroma of chili pepper spices. Very good sign. In the slow cooker my chili was brimming with water, which was merrily bubbling up the sides. Nothing was dried out nor smoking nor scorched. The cooking of the chili was deemed a success.
Then it came time to try the chili and it was by no means is a wimpy chili. I had exercised selective memory to spice when I added the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, which meant sour cream and a glass of milk went a long way. For a tamer chili, I suggest cutting the adobo sauce with tomato paste or completely substituting the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce with tomato paste.
Chipotle Two Bean Chili
*This recipe is meant for a 1.5 quart slow cooker. Adjust ingredients as necessary.
What You Need:
4 Roma Tomatoes, diced
1/2 Medium Raw White Onion, chopped
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1 Medium Celery Stalk, chopped
1 Can of Mushrooms, Pieces and Stems
1.5 c. of Canned Black Beans
1.5 c. of Canned Dark Red Kidney Beans
1 c. Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
1 T. Chipotle Seasoning
1/2 T. Smoked Paprika
1/2 c. Water
What To Do:
Spray the inside of the stoneware dish with cooking spray. Drain the mushrooms. Drain and rinse the black and kidney beans. Layer all the ingredients in the dish except for the water. Before putting the stoneware dish in the heating element, add the water. Set the heating element to low and cook for 5 hours. Try to stir it at least once while cooking. The chili can stay on longer than 5 hours if need be.
Nutrition Information:
Serving: 1 cup
Calories: 162 calories
Fat: 1.6 grams
Carbohydrates: 32.4 grams
Protein: 8.2 grams
Image taken from keraladelight.com
By "months ago," I mean about a year and a half ago. All those "wonderful things" turned out to be one brisket. That is until a few nights ago. Being in school and completing a full-time internship leaves little time to be in the kitchen. What better time than now to break that bad boy out?
For this demonstration in slow cooking cookery I made chili. Instead of going to the internet for a recipe or buying a prepackaged chili seasoning mix I decided to wing it, which was a first in chili preparation for me. The night before I threw my ingredients into the stoneware piece and then put it in the fridge overnight.
When I got up the next morning I added water, put the stoneware in the heating base, and turned it to low. Later that day I was talking with a co-worker about my experiment. Long story short, he was pretty convinced that my creation was scorched to the bottom of stoneware and my apartment was going to be smokier than a sweat lodge. That is, if I still had an apartment. Knowing my cooking skills and uncanny ability to have something catch fire, or at the very least set off a smoke detector, I high-tailed it home.
There were no fire trucks, that was a good sign. My neighbors were no where to be seen, which was normal, so that made it a plus. Upon entering my apartment I was greeted by the aroma of chili pepper spices. Very good sign. In the slow cooker my chili was brimming with water, which was merrily bubbling up the sides. Nothing was dried out nor smoking nor scorched. The cooking of the chili was deemed a success.
Then it came time to try the chili and it was by no means is a wimpy chili. I had exercised selective memory to spice when I added the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, which meant sour cream and a glass of milk went a long way. For a tamer chili, I suggest cutting the adobo sauce with tomato paste or completely substituting the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce with tomato paste.
Chipotle Two Bean Chili
*This recipe is meant for a 1.5 quart slow cooker. Adjust ingredients as necessary.
What You Need:
4 Roma Tomatoes, diced
1/2 Medium Raw White Onion, chopped
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1 Medium Celery Stalk, chopped
1 Can of Mushrooms, Pieces and Stems
1.5 c. of Canned Black Beans
1.5 c. of Canned Dark Red Kidney Beans
1 c. Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
1 T. Chipotle Seasoning
1/2 T. Smoked Paprika
1/2 c. Water
What To Do:
Spray the inside of the stoneware dish with cooking spray. Drain the mushrooms. Drain and rinse the black and kidney beans. Layer all the ingredients in the dish except for the water. Before putting the stoneware dish in the heating element, add the water. Set the heating element to low and cook for 5 hours. Try to stir it at least once while cooking. The chili can stay on longer than 5 hours if need be.
Nutrition Information:
Serving: 1 cup
Calories: 162 calories
Fat: 1.6 grams
Carbohydrates: 32.4 grams
Protein: 8.2 grams
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Who Needs a Pumpkin?
Every year about this time I talk up myself on how this will be the year I carve a pumpkin. And every year I conveniently let the time pass and "forget" about it. Mainly because, I'll be honest, carving pumpkins can be a real pain. When you're a kid, mom or dad is ever so helpful by taking off the top for you. Then you are given the joy of ripping out the cold, slippery insides of the it. After approximately 2 hours your entire upper torso is sticky and there are pumpkin guts just about everywhere other than the newspaper you laid out. Then with those gooey hands you're given a little, blunt "safety" knife and told to carve a pumpkin. You can barely get the knife out after your first plunge without the handle breaking off. Sounds like an awesome way to spend a Saturday night, right? The icing on the cake were when the nimrods down the way would be ever so kind to put your pathetic, one-eyed crooked-mouth pumpkin out of it's misery by smashing it. Personally, this pumpkin is a little more my style.
This surely instilled fear in many pumpkins.
I honestly can't recall the last time I carved a pumpkin. I think I was in middle-school, maybe. Or did I paint one instead? Either way, it became way easier just to buy a pumpkin and put it on the front porch. Then if someone did smash it, I could at least hope that they would be speckled with pumpkin guts instead of me.
Dimitri Tsykalov has the right idea. He backed away from the whole idea that carving was only for pumpkins... or wood or clay. Instead he uses other veggies, and even fruit, as his medium. This article about him is from the DailyMail . Being that Halloween is the next major holiday, I suggest you take a look at it. It will probably put your pumpkin to shame, but maybe you'll feel inspired to carve something else.
This surely instilled fear in many pumpkins.
I honestly can't recall the last time I carved a pumpkin. I think I was in middle-school, maybe. Or did I paint one instead? Either way, it became way easier just to buy a pumpkin and put it on the front porch. Then if someone did smash it, I could at least hope that they would be speckled with pumpkin guts instead of me.
Dimitri Tsykalov has the right idea. He backed away from the whole idea that carving was only for pumpkins... or wood or clay. Instead he uses other veggies, and even fruit, as his medium. This article about him is from the DailyMail . Being that Halloween is the next major holiday, I suggest you take a look at it. It will probably put your pumpkin to shame, but maybe you'll feel inspired to carve something else.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
I Love Beef
Greetings from OKC! It has been some time since I have updated my blog with with nutrition-related information. Today's post I have some thing good and something bad, really bad, for you all. This is all brought to by the Oklahoma State Fair and the letter "B" as in Beef Council. So sit back, grab a food on a stick, and read on.
This little guy (little because he isn't even half-way to full grown) was not used in my recipe, nor did a Sooner fan accost him.
"I Love Beef" is what my apron read. Truth be told, I appreciate all parts of a cow. This post is dedicated to the parts of a cow they are most known for (other than methane). Beef and Cheese. This past Friday I had the joy of presenting a cooking demo at the Oklahoma State Fair in conjunction with the Oklahoma Beef Council. The recipe I prepared for the hungry audience members was for Adobo Beef Tacos with Pickled Red Onions. These tacos have a nice spicy, smoky flavor with a tangy onion contrast. Not only are these tacos delicious, but are also a great source of protein and zinc.
Ingredients:
Pickled Red Onions
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
The Rub
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning (If you are unable to find adobo seasoning, abodo sauce makes a nice trade. Plus the chipotle peppers that come in the adobo sauce can be used to add a little heat to a side of beans)
1 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder
The Beef
2 beef shoulder top blade (flat iron) steaks (about 8 ounces each or 1 16 ounce steak) (Flank steak is a nice substitute)
8 small corn tortillas (6 to 7-inch diameter), warmed
1 cup crumbled queso fresco (mild feta cheese if you can't find queso fresco)
What To Do:
1. Combine Pickled Red Onions ingredients in medium bowl; stir well. Cover and refrigerate while preparing beef. You can make these a few hours to a couple days in advance. The extra time gives the onions a chance to pick up a little extra tang. Tang is a good thing.
2. Combine seasoning ingredients in small bowl; press evenly onto beef steaks. Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes to 2 hours.
3. Place steaks on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 10 to 14 minutes for medium rare (145°F) to medium (160°F) doneness, turning occasionally. If a grill is unavailable, use your broiler in your oven. The cooking time remains about the same.
4. Meanwhile, drain pickled onions well. Carve steaks into thin strips. Top tortillas evenly with steak, queso fresco and pickled onions. Sprinkle with cilantro, as desired.
This recipe is easy and pretty quick. This recipe is listed in the appetizer section, but can very easily be made into a meal by adding a side of pinto or black beans and rice. For more great ideas of what to do with beef visit: beefitswhatsfordinner.com
No visit to a state fair would be complete with out something deep fried. Most places like to put things on a stick. I, for one, don't mind getting my hands a little dirty while eating. If it's going to coat my intestinal tract with grease, it might as well coat my hands too. Before coming to the fair I read that a stand won Best Unique Savory Food with Jalapeno Cheese Curds. Now being from Wisconsin, I know a good cheese curd when taste one, let alone see one. I was up to the challenge of trying out what Oklahoma claimed to be a cheese curd. These are what I was presented with:
Hardly what I would consider a cheese curd. It appeared to be cheese curd on steroids, but when I bit in it was more like a few cheese curds plastered together by batter. There were a few jalapenos in each curd-ball which were a tasty addition, but didn't provide the kick I was anticipating. The stand did, however, appropriately provided ranch for dipping. Given it had been a few months since I've had cheese curds, these curd-balls would do.
Signing off in Okie Land,
Naughty Nutritionist and RD-in-training
This little guy (little because he isn't even half-way to full grown) was not used in my recipe, nor did a Sooner fan accost him.
"I Love Beef" is what my apron read. Truth be told, I appreciate all parts of a cow. This post is dedicated to the parts of a cow they are most known for (other than methane). Beef and Cheese. This past Friday I had the joy of presenting a cooking demo at the Oklahoma State Fair in conjunction with the Oklahoma Beef Council. The recipe I prepared for the hungry audience members was for Adobo Beef Tacos with Pickled Red Onions. These tacos have a nice spicy, smoky flavor with a tangy onion contrast. Not only are these tacos delicious, but are also a great source of protein and zinc.
Ingredients:
Pickled Red Onions
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
The Rub
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning (If you are unable to find adobo seasoning, abodo sauce makes a nice trade. Plus the chipotle peppers that come in the adobo sauce can be used to add a little heat to a side of beans)
1 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder
The Beef
2 beef shoulder top blade (flat iron) steaks (about 8 ounces each or 1 16 ounce steak) (Flank steak is a nice substitute)
8 small corn tortillas (6 to 7-inch diameter), warmed
1 cup crumbled queso fresco (mild feta cheese if you can't find queso fresco)
What To Do:
1. Combine Pickled Red Onions ingredients in medium bowl; stir well. Cover and refrigerate while preparing beef. You can make these a few hours to a couple days in advance. The extra time gives the onions a chance to pick up a little extra tang. Tang is a good thing.
2. Combine seasoning ingredients in small bowl; press evenly onto beef steaks. Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes to 2 hours.
3. Place steaks on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 10 to 14 minutes for medium rare (145°F) to medium (160°F) doneness, turning occasionally. If a grill is unavailable, use your broiler in your oven. The cooking time remains about the same.
4. Meanwhile, drain pickled onions well. Carve steaks into thin strips. Top tortillas evenly with steak, queso fresco and pickled onions. Sprinkle with cilantro, as desired.
This recipe is easy and pretty quick. This recipe is listed in the appetizer section, but can very easily be made into a meal by adding a side of pinto or black beans and rice. For more great ideas of what to do with beef visit: beefitswhatsfordinner.com
No visit to a state fair would be complete with out something deep fried. Most places like to put things on a stick. I, for one, don't mind getting my hands a little dirty while eating. If it's going to coat my intestinal tract with grease, it might as well coat my hands too. Before coming to the fair I read that a stand won Best Unique Savory Food with Jalapeno Cheese Curds. Now being from Wisconsin, I know a good cheese curd when taste one, let alone see one. I was up to the challenge of trying out what Oklahoma claimed to be a cheese curd. These are what I was presented with:
Hardly what I would consider a cheese curd. It appeared to be cheese curd on steroids, but when I bit in it was more like a few cheese curds plastered together by batter. There were a few jalapenos in each curd-ball which were a tasty addition, but didn't provide the kick I was anticipating. The stand did, however, appropriately provided ranch for dipping. Given it had been a few months since I've had cheese curds, these curd-balls would do.
Signing off in Okie Land,
Naughty Nutritionist and RD-in-training
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Watch What You Read
Recently a story was published on Lifehacker entitled, "Eat Yogurt, Not Potatoes If You Want to Lose or Maintain Weight." My interest was piqued as I am in the school of thought that weight loss/ maintenance is about calories in versus calories out, not about what magic food you're eating. According to the author a new study that was published claims that if you eat yogurt you can stay in your skinny jeans, but if you eat meat and potatoes you're going to become Tubby McTubberson. I'll admit I am overdramatizing what the author wrote, but only to prove a point. She made some pretty big assumptions about what the Harvard study actually did.
Here's a brief overview of what the researchers at Harvard did. The researchers took a look at lifestyle factors and weight changes of participants in four year intervals. Lifestyle factors included what the participants were doing and what they eating. In this study, people who ate potato chips, potatoes, and red meat gained more weight than those who ate fruit, vegetables (for some reason the researchers think potatoes are no longer vegetables), whole grains, nuts, and yogurt. Yogurt consumers had the most weight loss compared to others.
The study is missing a key thing here. We don't know how many calories these participants are consuming compared to how many calories they require.
It's not shocking that potato chips can cause weight gain, they're deep-fried potatoes. But I do not buy into the fact that potatoes are inherently evil and will destroy your diet. What we don't know is what people put on their potato. Think about it, when is the last time you had a plain baked potato? Plain as in no butter, no sour cream, no cheese, no nothing. Just a good ole' Idaho Russet? I know I can't think of the last time I did. The 20 to 50 calories added to your baked potato can add a pound to your frame over time (if you do nothing to counteract those calories).
Now let's move on to the yogurt eaters. It's been shown in numerous studies that people who eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains tend to weigh less and be more active individuals. It may be that yogurt eaters' may also be fruit, vegetable, and whole grain eaters. In addition, they may also tend to be more active.
The moral of the story is this: don't take a news story's advice until you look at the study. More often than not, the author is not completely familiar with the area they are reporting on. News sources are looking to fill space and grab your attention. Attempt to get nutrition advice from someone with the credentials (i.e. RD, MS and/ or PhD in Nutrition) and expertise.
P.S. There is no need to fear the tater either. If anything, aim for one the size of your fist instead of your head. And try not to put a stick of butter on it.
Here's a brief overview of what the researchers at Harvard did. The researchers took a look at lifestyle factors and weight changes of participants in four year intervals. Lifestyle factors included what the participants were doing and what they eating. In this study, people who ate potato chips, potatoes, and red meat gained more weight than those who ate fruit, vegetables (for some reason the researchers think potatoes are no longer vegetables), whole grains, nuts, and yogurt. Yogurt consumers had the most weight loss compared to others.
The study is missing a key thing here. We don't know how many calories these participants are consuming compared to how many calories they require.
It's not shocking that potato chips can cause weight gain, they're deep-fried potatoes. But I do not buy into the fact that potatoes are inherently evil and will destroy your diet. What we don't know is what people put on their potato. Think about it, when is the last time you had a plain baked potato? Plain as in no butter, no sour cream, no cheese, no nothing. Just a good ole' Idaho Russet? I know I can't think of the last time I did. The 20 to 50 calories added to your baked potato can add a pound to your frame over time (if you do nothing to counteract those calories).
Now let's move on to the yogurt eaters. It's been shown in numerous studies that people who eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains tend to weigh less and be more active individuals. It may be that yogurt eaters' may also be fruit, vegetable, and whole grain eaters. In addition, they may also tend to be more active.
The moral of the story is this: don't take a news story's advice until you look at the study. More often than not, the author is not completely familiar with the area they are reporting on. News sources are looking to fill space and grab your attention. Attempt to get nutrition advice from someone with the credentials (i.e. RD, MS and/ or PhD in Nutrition) and expertise.
P.S. There is no need to fear the tater either. If anything, aim for one the size of your fist instead of your head. And try not to put a stick of butter on it.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Mediterranean Tostada
Mexican food's great, but it's essentially all the same ingredients, so there's a way you'd have to deal with all these stupid questions. "What are nachos?" "...Nachos? It's tortilla with cheese, meat, and vegetables." "Oh, well then what is a burrito?" "Tortilla with cheese, meat, and vegetables." "Well then what is a tostada?" "Tortilla with cheese, meat, and vegetables." "Well then what i-" "Look, it's all the same sh*t! Why don't you say a spanish word and I'll bring you something."- Jim Gaffigan
Not too far off from Mexican food, anything with "Greek" or "Mediterranean" in its name will contain at least the same four ingredients- spinach, tomatoes, onion, and feta cheese. If your fridge right now contains those few things, you already have a few of the ingredients needed for my Mediterranean Tostada, the Greek cousin to it's Mexican counterpart.
Ingredients:
4 Whole Wheat Pitas
4 tsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup of Reduced-Fat Feta Cheese
2 cups of Fresh Spinach, stems removed
1 cup of Grape Tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup of Onion, chopped
1 cup of Chickpeas
12 Kalamata Olives, quartered
Cooking spray
Balsamic vinegar
What To Do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pitas on a baking sheet, coated with cooking spray, and brush one teaspoon of olive oil on each pita. Next, spread a quarter cup of feta cheese onto each pita. Place in the oven and bake for 7 minutes.
While the pitas are in the oven, wilt the spinach in a pan coated with cooking spray over medium heat. You can cover the pan with a lid to help speed up the process. It should take about 3 minutes to wilt the spinach.
Remove the pitas from the oven and spread the tomatoes, spinach, and onion on top of them. Turn the oven temperature up to "Broil" and place the pitas back in the oven for 4 minutes.
Remove the pans from the oven and evenly spread the olives and chickpeas each pita. Sprinkle with the balsamic vinegar.
Congratulations! You have now transformed that boring pita in your fridge into a Grecian treat- oompa!
Not too far off from Mexican food, anything with "Greek" or "Mediterranean" in its name will contain at least the same four ingredients- spinach, tomatoes, onion, and feta cheese. If your fridge right now contains those few things, you already have a few of the ingredients needed for my Mediterranean Tostada, the Greek cousin to it's Mexican counterpart.
Ingredients:
4 Whole Wheat Pitas
4 tsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup of Reduced-Fat Feta Cheese
2 cups of Fresh Spinach, stems removed
1 cup of Grape Tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup of Onion, chopped
1 cup of Chickpeas
12 Kalamata Olives, quartered
Cooking spray
Balsamic vinegar
What To Do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pitas on a baking sheet, coated with cooking spray, and brush one teaspoon of olive oil on each pita. Next, spread a quarter cup of feta cheese onto each pita. Place in the oven and bake for 7 minutes.
While the pitas are in the oven, wilt the spinach in a pan coated with cooking spray over medium heat. You can cover the pan with a lid to help speed up the process. It should take about 3 minutes to wilt the spinach.
Remove the pitas from the oven and spread the tomatoes, spinach, and onion on top of them. Turn the oven temperature up to "Broil" and place the pitas back in the oven for 4 minutes.
Remove the pans from the oven and evenly spread the olives and chickpeas each pita. Sprinkle with the balsamic vinegar.
Congratulations! You have now transformed that boring pita in your fridge into a Grecian treat- oompa!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Ve-can Do It!!!
This is the fourth, and final, installment of Naughty Nutrition Does National Nutrition Month by partaking in a new diet. For this final week I am trying out the vegan diet. A vegan diet is more of a lifestyle choice and there is no shortage of them here in Madison. A vegan diet is also a suggested medical nutrition therapy for arthritis. However, it is not an official medical nutrition therapy seeing as the evidence that suggests it is more anecdotal than scientific. One theory is that people lose weight on the vegan diet and when people lose weight there is less pressure on the joints. It could also be that vegan diets can be higher in omega-3 fatty acids, which can produce an anti-inflammatory response.
People on the vegan diet not only do not eat any animal flesh, but no animal products either. These animal products include eggs, milk, cheese, and even honey. You read that right, bees are spared the anguish of having their honey stolen from them. I am pretty confident though that a bee cannot tell the difference between a vegan and an omnivore. Vegans are probably stung by bees just as much as people who do eat honey. Unless of course the vegan is wearing pachouli, then everything with a sense of smell in a 100-yard radius stays as far away as possible.
What does one eat on a vegan diet? Fortunately the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans come to the rescue with recommendations. The guidelines do eliminate eggs, milk, and milk products. Similar to the lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, nuts and seeds, soy products, and beans and peas are the main sources of protein. Instead of milk, it is suggested that one consumes calcium-fortified plant based beverages. These include soy, almond, and rice milks. It is also recommended that people on a vegan diet take a supplement containing vitamin B12. This is because B12 is produces by microbes in the gut of animals. When you consume other animals and their products, you get some B12 from them. If B12 is eliminated from one's diet it can lead to neurological disorders. Fortunately these issues can be prevented and corrected by simply taking a B12 supplement. You may also want to take an iron supplement as well just to ensure you are receiving adequate nutrition.
Starting with where I usually start my week, we'll begin at the grocery store. I was in power grocery shopping mode, determined to get of the store in record time. However, my impending vegan-ism provided me with enough hurdles to ensure I wouldn't be out of there in a reasonable amount of time. I really only spent an extra 15 minutes there, but the greatest obstacle was food labels. I found that some frozen meals in the organic and natural food section were kind enough to put "Ingredients (Vegan):" on their labels. Now had I not been in the habit of reading labels in reverse (i.e. from the end to the beginning) as a random form of amusement, that would have saved me some time. I also ended up purchasing three different types of milk because I was unsure of which type would suit my fancy... or could tolerate. As for the total bill, it was once again about $20 more than my usual bill. For someone trying to avoid buying a ton of ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatory prescriptions, a vegan diet may not only save them money, but the stomach and intestinal distress those drugs may cause as well.
Day one was a little rough for me, as I have never used soy milk for more than on cereal before. I first tried 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soy Milk. I attempted to get myself excited about trying soy milk by telling myself that it was going to be better than cow's milk. Just awesome. At first it tasted a little bit like suntan lotion, as I drank more I found that it was better to follow each gulp with food or to hold my breath until after I had finished drinking. After I completed my first glass I thought that maybe soy milk was an acquired taste, maybe at lunch it would better. Nope, not better. Fortunately I also purchased Chocolate Silk, which was way better than the vanilla soy and I had that with dinner. Then I decided to have a gluten free Choco Loco bar for dessert, the chocolate from the bar negated the taste of the chocolate in the soy milk leaving me with just a soy milk taste. The next day I decided to make a smoothie with the soy milk in order to make it tolerable. This proved to be the best way to disguise the soy milk's taste.
On day two I went to dinner with a friend. I did my research beforehand and we decided to go to Monty's Blue Plate Diner, which is known for it's vegetarian options. According to their website, they had a vegan menu as well. I was little nervous because all their vegan options seemed to include tempeh. Tempeh is a fermented soy product, meaning it's soy beans held together by mold. Kind of like the blue cheese of soy. I had only tried it once prior to this in a food science class when we made chili with it. I wasn't a fan then and was hoping that the amount of seasonings I saw on the menu in the TNT BLT would fool me. Then our waiter came along and suggested a different tempeh containing sandwich. It didn't have any special seasonings, the tempeh was simply pan-fried with mushrooms and onions. I decided to put on my big girl pants and go for it. It was at that point that I decided I would opt for the waffle fries as well. He mentioned that they may contain animal products and he would go check for me. I did not want to be that pain in the butt customer that had my waiter running to the kitchen every time I had a question, so I confided in him that I wasn't really vegan. So we decided that waffle fries were a safe vegan food.
When the waiter came back with my sandwich he told me he was tempted to have them put the provolone cheese on it and say it was his mistake. The sandwich was a little intimidating at first glance. Like most restaurant sandwiches it was so full with fillings that the hoagie bun wouldn't close. This meant I would have to dare to eat tempeh not hidden in bread and other ingredients. The sandwich looked a lot like a philly cheesesteak minus the cheese; I bet it would have been awesome with the cheese on it. My fork managed to stab one lone piece of tempeh about three bites in. I took a deep breath and went for it. This tempeh tasted way better than the the tempeh I had in the chili. It was a little savory, with a slight meaty taste to it. I finished my entire sandwich and was still hungry. The other thing that Monty's is known for are their pies. Low and behold, they did have some vegan pies on their menu. Who was I not to try one of these pies out. I opted for the apple pie and by the time I finished it I felt full for the first time in over a week.
Later in the week I tried a few other products to get my calcium in with. Now I could not have the soy cheese because it contained casein, which is a milk byproduct. I was somewhat disappointed but to be honest I knew it just wouldn't be the same. Who really wants a cheese made from soy anyway? I did try a soy yogurt though. Here is where being vegan got a little tricky. I didn't find much of anything about vegans not containing microorganisms, like cultures in yogurt or alcoholic beverages. Probably because vegans wouldn't be able to move without killing or hurting these little bugs. The soy yogurt I bought was made with soy products, but the cultures used in the yogurt were grown in milk. I decided that the bugs used to make the yogurt only used the milk to grow on (because microorganisms aren't vegan) and it was okay to eat the yogurt. This proved to be a wise decision because the soy yogurt wasn't bad and it then cut out one glass of soy milk for that day. Looking at the nutrition label of soy products, most of them are full of sugar. I'm going to assume that this is done to make them tolerable. I tried a chai latte with soy milk as another option to get my soy milk in, but it didn't work. The combination of the tea and the soy milk made my chai latte taste more like dirt than usual. I also tried almond milk after I ran out of soy milk. I heard from numerous people about how great almond milk was. I tried it once, but I had made the fatal mistake of buying the unsweetened version. Almond milk also contained a ton of sugar and was really low in protein, which is probably why it doesn't leave you feeling satiated after drinking it. The almond milk wasn't bad alone, but it was even better when I mixed it with the chocolate soy milk.
When I first started telling people about this nutrition experiment, one person asked how my boyfriend felt about all this. I hadn't really thought about it until that point. What kind of person really puts these types of limits on themselves? Why would someone purposely restrict what types of foods they could eat? Out of the numerous vegans I have known, I have only met one of two that were actually pleasant. Most of them just question why you eat what you do and get all high and mighty about how moral they are. Around Madison there are billboards and ads on buses for simplyvegan.net, which for some reason utterly annoy me. Which probably makes this all the more perplexing on why I would do such a thing. I apologized in advance to the people I normally come in contact with that I may not be the most pleasant person to be around the last week of the month. But you know what? I haven't been too bitter or crabby this last week. The only time I started to get a little bitter was when I watched a show about BBQ and admittedly that was my fault. In fact I was joking around about it with people, albeit these were really bad jokes that one's uncle might make. For example, when I was telling my coworkers my theory about getting myself excited soy yogurt I told them it was "going to be soy good!" (Heck, just take a look at the title for this post.) From this I gathered that my good mood and lame jokes were being caused by the fact I was hungry and becoming delusional.
Being vegan probably was not the cause, but I needed to blame it for something.
People on the vegan diet not only do not eat any animal flesh, but no animal products either. These animal products include eggs, milk, cheese, and even honey. You read that right, bees are spared the anguish of having their honey stolen from them. I am pretty confident though that a bee cannot tell the difference between a vegan and an omnivore. Vegans are probably stung by bees just as much as people who do eat honey. Unless of course the vegan is wearing pachouli, then everything with a sense of smell in a 100-yard radius stays as far away as possible.
What does one eat on a vegan diet? Fortunately the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans come to the rescue with recommendations. The guidelines do eliminate eggs, milk, and milk products. Similar to the lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, nuts and seeds, soy products, and beans and peas are the main sources of protein. Instead of milk, it is suggested that one consumes calcium-fortified plant based beverages. These include soy, almond, and rice milks. It is also recommended that people on a vegan diet take a supplement containing vitamin B12. This is because B12 is produces by microbes in the gut of animals. When you consume other animals and their products, you get some B12 from them. If B12 is eliminated from one's diet it can lead to neurological disorders. Fortunately these issues can be prevented and corrected by simply taking a B12 supplement. You may also want to take an iron supplement as well just to ensure you are receiving adequate nutrition.
Starting with where I usually start my week, we'll begin at the grocery store. I was in power grocery shopping mode, determined to get of the store in record time. However, my impending vegan-ism provided me with enough hurdles to ensure I wouldn't be out of there in a reasonable amount of time. I really only spent an extra 15 minutes there, but the greatest obstacle was food labels. I found that some frozen meals in the organic and natural food section were kind enough to put "Ingredients (Vegan):" on their labels. Now had I not been in the habit of reading labels in reverse (i.e. from the end to the beginning) as a random form of amusement, that would have saved me some time. I also ended up purchasing three different types of milk because I was unsure of which type would suit my fancy... or could tolerate. As for the total bill, it was once again about $20 more than my usual bill. For someone trying to avoid buying a ton of ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatory prescriptions, a vegan diet may not only save them money, but the stomach and intestinal distress those drugs may cause as well.
Day one was a little rough for me, as I have never used soy milk for more than on cereal before. I first tried 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soy Milk. I attempted to get myself excited about trying soy milk by telling myself that it was going to be better than cow's milk. Just awesome. At first it tasted a little bit like suntan lotion, as I drank more I found that it was better to follow each gulp with food or to hold my breath until after I had finished drinking. After I completed my first glass I thought that maybe soy milk was an acquired taste, maybe at lunch it would better. Nope, not better. Fortunately I also purchased Chocolate Silk, which was way better than the vanilla soy and I had that with dinner. Then I decided to have a gluten free Choco Loco bar for dessert, the chocolate from the bar negated the taste of the chocolate in the soy milk leaving me with just a soy milk taste. The next day I decided to make a smoothie with the soy milk in order to make it tolerable. This proved to be the best way to disguise the soy milk's taste.
On day two I went to dinner with a friend. I did my research beforehand and we decided to go to Monty's Blue Plate Diner, which is known for it's vegetarian options. According to their website, they had a vegan menu as well. I was little nervous because all their vegan options seemed to include tempeh. Tempeh is a fermented soy product, meaning it's soy beans held together by mold. Kind of like the blue cheese of soy. I had only tried it once prior to this in a food science class when we made chili with it. I wasn't a fan then and was hoping that the amount of seasonings I saw on the menu in the TNT BLT would fool me. Then our waiter came along and suggested a different tempeh containing sandwich. It didn't have any special seasonings, the tempeh was simply pan-fried with mushrooms and onions. I decided to put on my big girl pants and go for it. It was at that point that I decided I would opt for the waffle fries as well. He mentioned that they may contain animal products and he would go check for me. I did not want to be that pain in the butt customer that had my waiter running to the kitchen every time I had a question, so I confided in him that I wasn't really vegan. So we decided that waffle fries were a safe vegan food.
When the waiter came back with my sandwich he told me he was tempted to have them put the provolone cheese on it and say it was his mistake. The sandwich was a little intimidating at first glance. Like most restaurant sandwiches it was so full with fillings that the hoagie bun wouldn't close. This meant I would have to dare to eat tempeh not hidden in bread and other ingredients. The sandwich looked a lot like a philly cheesesteak minus the cheese; I bet it would have been awesome with the cheese on it. My fork managed to stab one lone piece of tempeh about three bites in. I took a deep breath and went for it. This tempeh tasted way better than the the tempeh I had in the chili. It was a little savory, with a slight meaty taste to it. I finished my entire sandwich and was still hungry. The other thing that Monty's is known for are their pies. Low and behold, they did have some vegan pies on their menu. Who was I not to try one of these pies out. I opted for the apple pie and by the time I finished it I felt full for the first time in over a week.
Later in the week I tried a few other products to get my calcium in with. Now I could not have the soy cheese because it contained casein, which is a milk byproduct. I was somewhat disappointed but to be honest I knew it just wouldn't be the same. Who really wants a cheese made from soy anyway? I did try a soy yogurt though. Here is where being vegan got a little tricky. I didn't find much of anything about vegans not containing microorganisms, like cultures in yogurt or alcoholic beverages. Probably because vegans wouldn't be able to move without killing or hurting these little bugs. The soy yogurt I bought was made with soy products, but the cultures used in the yogurt were grown in milk. I decided that the bugs used to make the yogurt only used the milk to grow on (because microorganisms aren't vegan) and it was okay to eat the yogurt. This proved to be a wise decision because the soy yogurt wasn't bad and it then cut out one glass of soy milk for that day. Looking at the nutrition label of soy products, most of them are full of sugar. I'm going to assume that this is done to make them tolerable. I tried a chai latte with soy milk as another option to get my soy milk in, but it didn't work. The combination of the tea and the soy milk made my chai latte taste more like dirt than usual. I also tried almond milk after I ran out of soy milk. I heard from numerous people about how great almond milk was. I tried it once, but I had made the fatal mistake of buying the unsweetened version. Almond milk also contained a ton of sugar and was really low in protein, which is probably why it doesn't leave you feeling satiated after drinking it. The almond milk wasn't bad alone, but it was even better when I mixed it with the chocolate soy milk.
When I first started telling people about this nutrition experiment, one person asked how my boyfriend felt about all this. I hadn't really thought about it until that point. What kind of person really puts these types of limits on themselves? Why would someone purposely restrict what types of foods they could eat? Out of the numerous vegans I have known, I have only met one of two that were actually pleasant. Most of them just question why you eat what you do and get all high and mighty about how moral they are. Around Madison there are billboards and ads on buses for simplyvegan.net, which for some reason utterly annoy me. Which probably makes this all the more perplexing on why I would do such a thing. I apologized in advance to the people I normally come in contact with that I may not be the most pleasant person to be around the last week of the month. But you know what? I haven't been too bitter or crabby this last week. The only time I started to get a little bitter was when I watched a show about BBQ and admittedly that was my fault. In fact I was joking around about it with people, albeit these were really bad jokes that one's uncle might make. For example, when I was telling my coworkers my theory about getting myself excited soy yogurt I told them it was "going to be soy good!" (Heck, just take a look at the title for this post.) From this I gathered that my good mood and lame jokes were being caused by the fact I was hungry and becoming delusional.
Being vegan probably was not the cause, but I needed to blame it for something.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Better Banana Bread
It is not very often that I have the opportunity to make banana bread. Not because I lack the motivation to put overripe bananas to use, but rather they don't last long in my kitchen. I go through a bunch a week myself, while the banana my boyfriend packs in his lunch Monday may take up residence in his bag all the way to Friday. More often than not, I don't have the problem of brown, shriveled bananas on my counter top.
That is of course if I don't go to the store for something during the week and when I see those perfectly yellow crescents I go into Great Depression Mode and buy more just in case. It is after those times I end up with a few brown bananas.
Last week was one of those weeks. I got a little excited and decided that it was time to revamp a baking recipe. Baking recipes make me a little nervous, mainly because baking ingredients are science-based unlike typical cooking ingredients. Baking ingredients all play a specific role. They can be so specific that if you replace one ingredient with the wrong thing (or don't use enough of it), a super fluffy cake may become a super dense brick. Putting candles on that brick cake doesn't improve it either, you still have a bad cake disguised by frosting and fire.
The source recipe I used was from the Food Network for Flour's Famous Banana Bread. Click the link for their recipe and look below to see what I did.
Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of Splenda Baking Sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup of lite cinnamon applesauce
2 small bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tablespoons of light sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ounce of walnuts, chopped
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the loaf pan with cooking spray.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy. Drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts.
Pour into the loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Makes 10 servings.
Nutritional Breakdown:
Calories: 162
Fat: 1.4 grams
Carbohydrates: 32 grams
Protein: 3 grams
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
For the Love of Babe
Last week on my drive home from Chicago I passed a semi-trailer carrying cows. It was dark, so I couldn't tell if these cows were meant for milk or hamburgers. For some reason my brain jumped to the latter and I was struck with a sense of sadness. The kind of sadness I felt after watching the movie Babe in middle school. Perhaps the reason I jumped to that conclusion was because I was about to embark on being a vegetarian.
A vegetarian diet is not a form of medical nutrition therapy, but rather a lifestyle choice. There are many reasons people decide to be vegetarian. Some people may have decided that an animal losing their life for the sake of adorning their dinner plate was not morally okay. Others may have read up on big industry meat slaughtering practices and now their stomach turns each time they so much as glance at the meat section. For whatever the reason a vegetarian may have, it's their choice to do so.
Being a vegetarian is not as simple as cutting out the meat and filling in the gaps with other foods. Cutting meat out of one's diet can make it more difficult to get adequate protein. It can also affect their intake of micronutrients such as iron. Previously the USDA did not have recommendations for vegetarians. Perhaps this is why some of the vegetarians I have talked with acknowledged they were vegetarian the "wrong" way and simply replaced meat with grains and cheese. These people knew they needed to replace the calories they were missing from meat, but were unaware of nutrients they needed to replace.
This being said, in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, there are recommendations for lacto-ovo vegetarians. Lacto-ovo vegetarians are able to have animal products such as milk and eggs. Basically, if the animal did not have to die to produce what is on your plate (or in your glass), then it's okay to eat/ drink. Eggs, nuts and seeds, beans and peas, and soy-based products are what fills out the lean meat portion of the food guide pyramid. That's where the changes end. Vegetarians following the guidelines do not need to increase their grain, fruit, milk, or even their vegetable consumption.
Starting with where I usually begin my week, I went grocery shopping. The bill this time was about $30 higher than my usual bill. However, my bill did include gluten-free chicken nuggets for my final day on the Celiac diet. With that in consideration, my bill was closer to what I spent on the DASH diet. Time wise, I spent about the same amount of time I typically spend grocery shopping.
On to what I am actually eating. Given what is recommended, I'm hungrier than usual. I think this partially due to the fact that what is recommended to replace lean meats are nuts, seeds, and soy-based products. When it comes to nuts and seeds, a half of an ounce of nuts or seeds is equal to one ounce of lean meat. Have you ever measured out how much that is? Take that handful of trail mix and cut it half... twice. You're left with about 5 peanuts, 10 sunflower seeds, 3 almonds, a cashew, and a couple raisins.
I have also tried tofu for the fourth time in my life, second time actually preparing it myself. With the right seasoning and cooking procedures, it can almost pass as meat. A real soft, not nearly as satisfying, meat. The other night out of sheer laziness I cooked up some Tofurky Italian Sausages on my indoor grill. Surprising to no one, there was approximately two drops of "fat" in the drip pan. This may be part of the reason why one is not left feeling totally satiated after eating tofu. As some who misses eating meat, it tasted close enough. This experience may have made me brave enough to order tofu next time I dine out.
But tofu will never replace my bacon.
A vegetarian diet is not a form of medical nutrition therapy, but rather a lifestyle choice. There are many reasons people decide to be vegetarian. Some people may have decided that an animal losing their life for the sake of adorning their dinner plate was not morally okay. Others may have read up on big industry meat slaughtering practices and now their stomach turns each time they so much as glance at the meat section. For whatever the reason a vegetarian may have, it's their choice to do so.
Being a vegetarian is not as simple as cutting out the meat and filling in the gaps with other foods. Cutting meat out of one's diet can make it more difficult to get adequate protein. It can also affect their intake of micronutrients such as iron. Previously the USDA did not have recommendations for vegetarians. Perhaps this is why some of the vegetarians I have talked with acknowledged they were vegetarian the "wrong" way and simply replaced meat with grains and cheese. These people knew they needed to replace the calories they were missing from meat, but were unaware of nutrients they needed to replace.
This being said, in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, there are recommendations for lacto-ovo vegetarians. Lacto-ovo vegetarians are able to have animal products such as milk and eggs. Basically, if the animal did not have to die to produce what is on your plate (or in your glass), then it's okay to eat/ drink. Eggs, nuts and seeds, beans and peas, and soy-based products are what fills out the lean meat portion of the food guide pyramid. That's where the changes end. Vegetarians following the guidelines do not need to increase their grain, fruit, milk, or even their vegetable consumption.
Starting with where I usually begin my week, I went grocery shopping. The bill this time was about $30 higher than my usual bill. However, my bill did include gluten-free chicken nuggets for my final day on the Celiac diet. With that in consideration, my bill was closer to what I spent on the DASH diet. Time wise, I spent about the same amount of time I typically spend grocery shopping.
On to what I am actually eating. Given what is recommended, I'm hungrier than usual. I think this partially due to the fact that what is recommended to replace lean meats are nuts, seeds, and soy-based products. When it comes to nuts and seeds, a half of an ounce of nuts or seeds is equal to one ounce of lean meat. Have you ever measured out how much that is? Take that handful of trail mix and cut it half... twice. You're left with about 5 peanuts, 10 sunflower seeds, 3 almonds, a cashew, and a couple raisins.
I have also tried tofu for the fourth time in my life, second time actually preparing it myself. With the right seasoning and cooking procedures, it can almost pass as meat. A real soft, not nearly as satisfying, meat. The other night out of sheer laziness I cooked up some Tofurky Italian Sausages on my indoor grill. Surprising to no one, there was approximately two drops of "fat" in the drip pan. This may be part of the reason why one is not left feeling totally satiated after eating tofu. As some who misses eating meat, it tasted close enough. This experience may have made me brave enough to order tofu next time I dine out.
But tofu will never replace my bacon.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Hold the Crouton
For week 2 of National Nutrition Month I have been on the gluten-free diet. A gluten-free diet is currently the only form of treatment for Celiac Disease. In Celiac Disease a person has an immune response to the protein gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, and barley products. When a person with Celiac consumes a product containing gluten it can cause intestinal discomfort similar to lactose intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome. Due to how similar it is to these disorders, Celiac is commonly misdiagnosed. It is believed that as many as 1 in 4 Americans have a gluten intolerance such as Celiac Disease.
The havoc that Celiac can wreak on one's digestive tract is not limited to gas, bloating, and the big D. The immune response to gluten damages cells of the digestive tract. When this damage occurs, it can make it difficult for the intestine to do it's job, which is to absorb nutrients. If Celiac goes untreated it can lead to anemia, soft bones, arthritis, and dry, itchy skin. Sounds like a blast, right?
When a person with Celiac begins a gluten-free diet, it's not like a switch is flipped and they are magically cured. It can take at least 2 to 8 weeks for their digestive issues to subside. If the person developed any of the problems listed above, it can take months or years for those issues to be resolved. The key is to identify Celiac Disease as the problem early on in order to avoid having to resolve any accompanying issues too.
Being gluten-free isn't as easy as looking at the label for wheat, barley, or rye. Products, such as modified food starch or hydrolyzed vegetable protein, can be made from wheat, corn, soy, or a combination of these. Oats are considered to be a safe grain, however oats are commonly processed in plants that also process the gluten containing grains. It is important to read the packaging to make sure that the oats are gluten-free. I found the Celiac Sprue Association has a comprehensive list of food and food products commonly found on labels. Their list gives these foods a red, green, or yellow light to signify their safety consideration for a gluten-free diet.
My first endeavor while on the gluten-free diet was to go grocery shopping. Typically it takes me about an hour in the grocery store to do my shopping. With having to read all the labels (and an awkward conversation concerning locker room etiquette with a former gym member) my trip to the store took an hour and a half. I suppose this time would go down as I became more familiar with the products I was looking at and price comparing. Leading into my grocery bill, it came in at about $10 more than my usual bill.
This week I've been on the move as well. My first adventure was meeting a friend from class for lunch. She was kind enough to allow me to select where we went for lunch. After what happened at Qdoba, I decided to take a look at restaurants that had posted nutritional information. I would have went for sushi, since the main grain involved is rice. However, soy sauce, contains gluten. I'm the type of person who requires wasabi and soy sauce for my sushi, so that option was out. I ended up choosing Chin's Asia Fresh, which does list on their site what entree and sauce options are gluten free. Fortunately I made my decision before I arrived at the restaurant because this information is not readily available at the restaurant.
The next day I headed to Chicago for an internship interview. Since it was a three hour drive and I was close to 3 Floyds (one of my favorite brew pubs), I decided to stop by and pick up a bomber for my boyfriend. While there I decided to get lunch as well. I decided on Green's (Gluten-Free) Triple and their Beet Soup (minus the crouton). Green's Gluten-Free Triple was my first taste of a gluten-free beer. Besides the water, hops, and yeast always found in the brew, it contained buckwheat, rice, sorgum, and millet. Surprisingly, but probably shouldn't have been, it tasted more like a cider than a triple.
Do you know what else is gluten-free? Shamrock Shakes!!!!! Note: I looked that up before I left for my Chicago Trip in the off chance I finally broke down and got my first one of the season.
For dinner last night I tried out a quinoa spaghetti instead of my usual whole wheat. I tried one piece plain and it had a texture similar to ramen. It didn't taste too far off from regular pasta either. I did notice, however, that I had a hard time twirling it on my fork. That kind of made it hard to eat. Some of it also formed a clump after it had been drained as it sat out for a bit. When I bit into that clump it had different texture that was undesirable, so the one piece that was easy to get on a fork was inedible. I would have the pasta again, however the pasta draining to putting sauce on it time will have to be quicker.
Today I am midway through the week and this morning I ran out of my gluten-free cereal. Now the one I had first chosen wasn't bad, but I thought why did I not just pick up Rice Krispies when I was at the store last time? While at the grocery store I checked the Rice Krispies' label today to see if they were gluten-free. Looking at the box you would think, "It's puffed rice, how could it not be gluten-free?" Upon further investigation I noticed that it contained "malt flavoring" which is derived from barley. I would have the nix the Rice Krispies and opt for the organic, gluten-free option in the natural food aisle.
When it comes to the lunches and snacks that I typically pack, it now takes more space to get the same amount of grains. It takes 3 rice cakes to equal one crunchy granola bar. The snack bars I picked up by Enjoy Life are actually pretty tasty. They have a texture and taste pretty similar to a Clif bar. Now for the cons, first they are a $1.50 more than what I usually pay for my crunchy granola bars. They also only contain 5- 1 ounce bars per package rather than the 8- 1 ounce bars I get when I buy granola bars. When I went to get more cereal for this week I ended up getting another box of bars. With the additional bananas I needed it added another $10 to my grocery bill for the week. That puts the gluten free diet at about the same as the DASH diet when it comes to grocery cost.
This week has been a little more difficult than the DASH diet. It definitely takes more planning when it comes figuring out meals and snacks. I also find it hard to know what is considered safe when I go out to restaurants unless I do my research before hand. This week I have one more trip to Chicago planned for a conference. The breakfast there is going to be sponsored by Kellogg's, I wonder if there will be anything there I could eat?
The havoc that Celiac can wreak on one's digestive tract is not limited to gas, bloating, and the big D. The immune response to gluten damages cells of the digestive tract. When this damage occurs, it can make it difficult for the intestine to do it's job, which is to absorb nutrients. If Celiac goes untreated it can lead to anemia, soft bones, arthritis, and dry, itchy skin. Sounds like a blast, right?
When a person with Celiac begins a gluten-free diet, it's not like a switch is flipped and they are magically cured. It can take at least 2 to 8 weeks for their digestive issues to subside. If the person developed any of the problems listed above, it can take months or years for those issues to be resolved. The key is to identify Celiac Disease as the problem early on in order to avoid having to resolve any accompanying issues too.
Being gluten-free isn't as easy as looking at the label for wheat, barley, or rye. Products, such as modified food starch or hydrolyzed vegetable protein, can be made from wheat, corn, soy, or a combination of these. Oats are considered to be a safe grain, however oats are commonly processed in plants that also process the gluten containing grains. It is important to read the packaging to make sure that the oats are gluten-free. I found the Celiac Sprue Association has a comprehensive list of food and food products commonly found on labels. Their list gives these foods a red, green, or yellow light to signify their safety consideration for a gluten-free diet.
My first endeavor while on the gluten-free diet was to go grocery shopping. Typically it takes me about an hour in the grocery store to do my shopping. With having to read all the labels (and an awkward conversation concerning locker room etiquette with a former gym member) my trip to the store took an hour and a half. I suppose this time would go down as I became more familiar with the products I was looking at and price comparing. Leading into my grocery bill, it came in at about $10 more than my usual bill.
This week I've been on the move as well. My first adventure was meeting a friend from class for lunch. She was kind enough to allow me to select where we went for lunch. After what happened at Qdoba, I decided to take a look at restaurants that had posted nutritional information. I would have went for sushi, since the main grain involved is rice. However, soy sauce, contains gluten. I'm the type of person who requires wasabi and soy sauce for my sushi, so that option was out. I ended up choosing Chin's Asia Fresh, which does list on their site what entree and sauce options are gluten free. Fortunately I made my decision before I arrived at the restaurant because this information is not readily available at the restaurant.
The next day I headed to Chicago for an internship interview. Since it was a three hour drive and I was close to 3 Floyds (one of my favorite brew pubs), I decided to stop by and pick up a bomber for my boyfriend. While there I decided to get lunch as well. I decided on Green's (Gluten-Free) Triple and their Beet Soup (minus the crouton). Green's Gluten-Free Triple was my first taste of a gluten-free beer. Besides the water, hops, and yeast always found in the brew, it contained buckwheat, rice, sorgum, and millet. Surprisingly, but probably shouldn't have been, it tasted more like a cider than a triple.
Do you know what else is gluten-free? Shamrock Shakes!!!!! Note: I looked that up before I left for my Chicago Trip in the off chance I finally broke down and got my first one of the season.
For dinner last night I tried out a quinoa spaghetti instead of my usual whole wheat. I tried one piece plain and it had a texture similar to ramen. It didn't taste too far off from regular pasta either. I did notice, however, that I had a hard time twirling it on my fork. That kind of made it hard to eat. Some of it also formed a clump after it had been drained as it sat out for a bit. When I bit into that clump it had different texture that was undesirable, so the one piece that was easy to get on a fork was inedible. I would have the pasta again, however the pasta draining to putting sauce on it time will have to be quicker.
Today I am midway through the week and this morning I ran out of my gluten-free cereal. Now the one I had first chosen wasn't bad, but I thought why did I not just pick up Rice Krispies when I was at the store last time? While at the grocery store I checked the Rice Krispies' label today to see if they were gluten-free. Looking at the box you would think, "It's puffed rice, how could it not be gluten-free?" Upon further investigation I noticed that it contained "malt flavoring" which is derived from barley. I would have the nix the Rice Krispies and opt for the organic, gluten-free option in the natural food aisle.
When it comes to the lunches and snacks that I typically pack, it now takes more space to get the same amount of grains. It takes 3 rice cakes to equal one crunchy granola bar. The snack bars I picked up by Enjoy Life are actually pretty tasty. They have a texture and taste pretty similar to a Clif bar. Now for the cons, first they are a $1.50 more than what I usually pay for my crunchy granola bars. They also only contain 5- 1 ounce bars per package rather than the 8- 1 ounce bars I get when I buy granola bars. When I went to get more cereal for this week I ended up getting another box of bars. With the additional bananas I needed it added another $10 to my grocery bill for the week. That puts the gluten free diet at about the same as the DASH diet when it comes to grocery cost.
This week has been a little more difficult than the DASH diet. It definitely takes more planning when it comes figuring out meals and snacks. I also find it hard to know what is considered safe when I go out to restaurants unless I do my research before hand. This week I have one more trip to Chicago planned for a conference. The breakfast there is going to be sponsored by Kellogg's, I wonder if there will be anything there I could eat?
Thursday, March 3, 2011
DASH Diet
Start your engines, National Nutrition Month has begun! For this first week of National Nutrition Month I am experimenting with the DASH Diet. For those of you who are not familiar with DASH, please allow me to elaborate. The DASH Diet is not the latest celebrity diet craze promoted by three sisters in California who own a store by the same name, nor does it include a frantic run before (or after) each meal. DASH stands for "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension." Hypertension is the medical term for High Blood Pressure. The DASH diet emphasizes the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and nonfat dairy; while still including lean meats, nuts, and grains as.
What DASH limits, however, is the amount of sodium. In the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, it is recommended that Americans get no more than 2,300 mg of Sodium per day. The same applies to DASH, but the lower your sodium intake is the better. DASH also limits the amounts of sweets one consumes. One sweet is considered to be equal to 1 tablespoon of sugar or jelly, 1/2 cup of sorbet or gelatin, or 1 cup of lemonade. Please note these aren't small servings of cookies, cakes, and brownies, all of which can be high in saturated fat.
DASH promotes weight loss which is a treatment for obesity, a common risk factor for hypertension. The WELL study showed that participants with weight loss on the DASH Diet had a further decrease in blood pressure compared to participants with the same weight loss on low-calorie diets alone.
Now that you have the background on DASH, let me share my experience this week using DASH. I typically follow the Food Guide Pyramid when making my food choices through out the day. Comparing the Food Guide Pyramid and the DASH plan, they aren't totally different. In fact, I chose this diet to experiment with first because it isn't too far off of what I normally eat so I would be able to ease myself into this endeavor. According to DASH, my consumption of fruits is the only thing that is increased. My recommendations for grains, vegetables, and milk all remain the same. What does decrease though is my consumption of lean meat. Allow me to note here that it is recommended that I consume seeds, nuts, or legumes at least 4 times a week. I should also note that I am allowed 5 sweets or less a week. After my sugar binge that lasted from January through February, this may be rougher than I anticipated.
Day one of this experiment I was flying back from Vegas. I could have postponed trying DASH for one day, but the way I look it life doesn't pause when you're diagnosed with a chronic disease. So I threw caution into the wind and went with it.
Prior to my trip I had packed bananas and granola bars in my carry-on. I picked bananas because I view them to be a self-contained fruit. No need to wash them, they have their own wrapper, and they're not easily squish-able. That last part would prove to be a fatal mistake for the extra pants I packed just in case my luggage was lost. Now it was the morning I was to begin my challenge and the remaining banana was looking pretty beat up from being in my carry-on. I knew that fruit options would be limited so bit the bullet (or banana in this case). In actuality, the banana looked worse than it actually was. One serving of fruit done, three more to go.
At airport I had the task of finding food before the flight. I needed to have some sustenance with me seeing that our first flight would be too short to have more than beverage service and our layover before the next flight would be too short to pick up food. I first went to near by vendor and found a fruit and yogurt parfait and a mixed fruit cup. Both were $4.59 a piece and the parfait was a little high in sodium. I realized that being on a budget and on DASH was going to be a challenge. I walked down the way and spotted a kiosk with yogurt and fresh fruit. I was able to get a 6-ounce container of nonfat yogurt and an orange for $3.87. I had the yogurt at the airport and saved my orange for the plane to have with my granola bars.
Like I had anticipated, we just made our next flight after a run between terminals. Once I boarded I had my orange and granola bars. After that I was at the mercy of the airline as to what might be able to eat next. When the flight attendant came around, she had a box of snacks with questionable sodium contents. I nixed the peanut, pretzel, and cheese filled crackers right away. I decided to forgo the shortbread cookies (there was no way I was going to use up one of my sweets on those) for the pita chips. Surprisingly, they weren't too high on sodium, only 8% of my daily recommended needs. That could probably be attributed to the fact that the bag was the size of a wallet.
Judging by what I had consumed so far that day, it was safe to say that I would probably be getting dinner on the road. While on the plane I played with a restaurant app on my iPod to see the sodium content in foods. A hamburger from McDonalds has about 500 mg of sodium in it. Which isn't bad, but how many people have just one burger? Or pair that burger with fries? Most of the foods I found were high in sodium mainly due to processing.
After the plane landed, we were in the car on our way back home. Now home was an hour and half away and I was beginning to get really hungry. We decided to stop at Qdoba for dinner. I was unable to find nutrition information inside the restaurant so I was flying blind as to what to get for dinner.
From what I remembered seeing on my app, most food with meat tended to be saltier than the vegetable options. I ultimately decided on the grilled vegetable burrito. One reason was that it was described as being seasoned with garlic and herbs, also I had yet to get one vegetable in that day. I could have ordered a salad, but we were on the road and burritos are easier to handle. Without a second thought I opted for the black beans, corn salsa, cheese, and sour cream. I would calculate it out when I got home I thought as I tore into it.
I did just that. That one veggie burrito had over 1900 mg of sodium in it. That was 85% of my recommended daily sodium intake! After playing with their nutritional calculator I found that the major culprit for the sodium content was not what was inside the burrito, but what held it together. 700 mg of sodium came from the tortilla alone. I did feel little better when I calculated a chicken burrito that had all the add-ons I had on my burrito; a chicken burrito had 200 mg of sodium more.
Day 1 was not the greatest day I could have had on the DASH Diet. On Day 2 I went grocery shopping. First I had to make a list, but in order to know what I was going to need, I needed know to what I was going to make. I found that the Mayo Clinic had a great list of DASH Diet recipes. After I complied my list I headed off to the store and picked up what I needed. My bill was $20 more expensive than my typical bill. I did opt for a container of sorbet which added $4.50 and is not an item I typically buy. I figured that if I wanted something sweet I better have it on hand and people attempting DASH were likely to do the same. The extra $20 wasn't terrible, but spending an extra $20 could really have an impact on people's finances who are already on a budget.
As for how I have been eating since, days 2 and 3 weren't bad. In fact, they've been pretty good. I don't find myself starving through out the day or before bed. Sorbet has also been a good sugar fix when I'm looking for something sweet. The most difficult thing has been figuring out what to eat. I highly suggest sitting down and planning out a day worth of meals to ensure you're getting the calories and nutrients you need. Once you have your main meals figured out, it's pretty easy to fill in the gaps. The part to remember is that you don't need to be perfect, you just need to be close enough each day during the week that it all averages out.
Stay tuned to see what else National Nutrition Month has in store for the Naughty Nutritionist!
What DASH limits, however, is the amount of sodium. In the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, it is recommended that Americans get no more than 2,300 mg of Sodium per day. The same applies to DASH, but the lower your sodium intake is the better. DASH also limits the amounts of sweets one consumes. One sweet is considered to be equal to 1 tablespoon of sugar or jelly, 1/2 cup of sorbet or gelatin, or 1 cup of lemonade. Please note these aren't small servings of cookies, cakes, and brownies, all of which can be high in saturated fat.
DASH promotes weight loss which is a treatment for obesity, a common risk factor for hypertension. The WELL study showed that participants with weight loss on the DASH Diet had a further decrease in blood pressure compared to participants with the same weight loss on low-calorie diets alone.
Now that you have the background on DASH, let me share my experience this week using DASH. I typically follow the Food Guide Pyramid when making my food choices through out the day. Comparing the Food Guide Pyramid and the DASH plan, they aren't totally different. In fact, I chose this diet to experiment with first because it isn't too far off of what I normally eat so I would be able to ease myself into this endeavor. According to DASH, my consumption of fruits is the only thing that is increased. My recommendations for grains, vegetables, and milk all remain the same. What does decrease though is my consumption of lean meat. Allow me to note here that it is recommended that I consume seeds, nuts, or legumes at least 4 times a week. I should also note that I am allowed 5 sweets or less a week. After my sugar binge that lasted from January through February, this may be rougher than I anticipated.
Day one of this experiment I was flying back from Vegas. I could have postponed trying DASH for one day, but the way I look it life doesn't pause when you're diagnosed with a chronic disease. So I threw caution into the wind and went with it.
Prior to my trip I had packed bananas and granola bars in my carry-on. I picked bananas because I view them to be a self-contained fruit. No need to wash them, they have their own wrapper, and they're not easily squish-able. That last part would prove to be a fatal mistake for the extra pants I packed just in case my luggage was lost. Now it was the morning I was to begin my challenge and the remaining banana was looking pretty beat up from being in my carry-on. I knew that fruit options would be limited so bit the bullet (or banana in this case). In actuality, the banana looked worse than it actually was. One serving of fruit done, three more to go.
At airport I had the task of finding food before the flight. I needed to have some sustenance with me seeing that our first flight would be too short to have more than beverage service and our layover before the next flight would be too short to pick up food. I first went to near by vendor and found a fruit and yogurt parfait and a mixed fruit cup. Both were $4.59 a piece and the parfait was a little high in sodium. I realized that being on a budget and on DASH was going to be a challenge. I walked down the way and spotted a kiosk with yogurt and fresh fruit. I was able to get a 6-ounce container of nonfat yogurt and an orange for $3.87. I had the yogurt at the airport and saved my orange for the plane to have with my granola bars.
Like I had anticipated, we just made our next flight after a run between terminals. Once I boarded I had my orange and granola bars. After that I was at the mercy of the airline as to what might be able to eat next. When the flight attendant came around, she had a box of snacks with questionable sodium contents. I nixed the peanut, pretzel, and cheese filled crackers right away. I decided to forgo the shortbread cookies (there was no way I was going to use up one of my sweets on those) for the pita chips. Surprisingly, they weren't too high on sodium, only 8% of my daily recommended needs. That could probably be attributed to the fact that the bag was the size of a wallet.
Judging by what I had consumed so far that day, it was safe to say that I would probably be getting dinner on the road. While on the plane I played with a restaurant app on my iPod to see the sodium content in foods. A hamburger from McDonalds has about 500 mg of sodium in it. Which isn't bad, but how many people have just one burger? Or pair that burger with fries? Most of the foods I found were high in sodium mainly due to processing.
After the plane landed, we were in the car on our way back home. Now home was an hour and half away and I was beginning to get really hungry. We decided to stop at Qdoba for dinner. I was unable to find nutrition information inside the restaurant so I was flying blind as to what to get for dinner.
From what I remembered seeing on my app, most food with meat tended to be saltier than the vegetable options. I ultimately decided on the grilled vegetable burrito. One reason was that it was described as being seasoned with garlic and herbs, also I had yet to get one vegetable in that day. I could have ordered a salad, but we were on the road and burritos are easier to handle. Without a second thought I opted for the black beans, corn salsa, cheese, and sour cream. I would calculate it out when I got home I thought as I tore into it.
I did just that. That one veggie burrito had over 1900 mg of sodium in it. That was 85% of my recommended daily sodium intake! After playing with their nutritional calculator I found that the major culprit for the sodium content was not what was inside the burrito, but what held it together. 700 mg of sodium came from the tortilla alone. I did feel little better when I calculated a chicken burrito that had all the add-ons I had on my burrito; a chicken burrito had 200 mg of sodium more.
Day 1 was not the greatest day I could have had on the DASH Diet. On Day 2 I went grocery shopping. First I had to make a list, but in order to know what I was going to need, I needed know to what I was going to make. I found that the Mayo Clinic had a great list of DASH Diet recipes. After I complied my list I headed off to the store and picked up what I needed. My bill was $20 more expensive than my typical bill. I did opt for a container of sorbet which added $4.50 and is not an item I typically buy. I figured that if I wanted something sweet I better have it on hand and people attempting DASH were likely to do the same. The extra $20 wasn't terrible, but spending an extra $20 could really have an impact on people's finances who are already on a budget.
As for how I have been eating since, days 2 and 3 weren't bad. In fact, they've been pretty good. I don't find myself starving through out the day or before bed. Sorbet has also been a good sugar fix when I'm looking for something sweet. The most difficult thing has been figuring out what to eat. I highly suggest sitting down and planning out a day worth of meals to ensure you're getting the calories and nutrients you need. Once you have your main meals figured out, it's pretty easy to fill in the gaps. The part to remember is that you don't need to be perfect, you just need to be close enough each day during the week that it all averages out.
Stay tuned to see what else National Nutrition Month has in store for the Naughty Nutritionist!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Nutrition News
In honor of the impending weekend, and a few thoughts I have been meaning to put on here for your reading enjoyment, I have two things for you today.
First and Foremost: The research was compiled and after much debate the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) were release January 31, 2011. Yes, something that was supposed to be out in 2010 was released in 2011 by the federal government. Shocking. To be fair, it has taken me two weeks to post a blog about them.
For those of you who are not familiar with the DGA, these guidelines are what gives us the basis for the Food Guide Pyramid. Without further ado, here are some key points for you to think about when making food choices.
Foods and Food Components to Reduce:
-Reduce Sodium to 2,300 mg or less per day.
- Keep saturated fat intake to less than 10% of total calories.
- Keep trans fats as low as possible.
- Reduce intake of solid fats and added sugars
Food and Food Components to Increase:
- Increase intake of fruit, vegetable and whole grains.
- Increase intake of non-fat and low-fat milk and dairy products.
- Increase the amount and variety of seafood in your diet.
- Use oils to replace solid fats.
For more information, visit the USDA website link above.
Next up, March is National Nutrition Month. In honor of it I am going to try out a new diet each week of March. For weeks one and two I am going on a couple nutrition therapy diets. These diets are the DASH diet, used to treat hypertension, and Gluten-Free Diet, used to treat Celiac's Disease. I am doing these to have a better idea of the types of diets I may one day be recommending for my clients/ patients.
I am also going to try a couple lifestyle diets that are gaining popularity. For this portion of my experiment I will be Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian and Vegan. For both of these diets I will be following the USDA Food Patterns recommended in the 2010 DGA. I am trying these diets to get a better sense of what it is like trying to follow these diets. It has been noted, although it is antidotal evidence, that vegan-ism does have some implications on rheumatoid arthritis.
Each one of these diets presents a challenge for me. Let's face it, I'm a Sconnie Girl through and through. But just because someone is diagnosed with Celiac's doesn't mean they leave the state. I'm just going to have to be resourceful and mindful of my food choices. My goal is to go out to eat at least once a week because people on these diets aren't hermits, or at least the majority of them aren't. My intention is to update my blog at least weekly with my insights about each of these diets. Maybe I'll post a few recipes on here too.
First and Foremost: The research was compiled and after much debate the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) were release January 31, 2011. Yes, something that was supposed to be out in 2010 was released in 2011 by the federal government. Shocking. To be fair, it has taken me two weeks to post a blog about them.
For those of you who are not familiar with the DGA, these guidelines are what gives us the basis for the Food Guide Pyramid. Without further ado, here are some key points for you to think about when making food choices.
Foods and Food Components to Reduce:
-Reduce Sodium to 2,300 mg or less per day.
- Keep saturated fat intake to less than 10% of total calories.
- Keep trans fats as low as possible.
- Reduce intake of solid fats and added sugars
Food and Food Components to Increase:
- Increase intake of fruit, vegetable and whole grains.
- Increase intake of non-fat and low-fat milk and dairy products.
- Increase the amount and variety of seafood in your diet.
- Use oils to replace solid fats.
For more information, visit the USDA website link above.
Next up, March is National Nutrition Month. In honor of it I am going to try out a new diet each week of March. For weeks one and two I am going on a couple nutrition therapy diets. These diets are the DASH diet, used to treat hypertension, and Gluten-Free Diet, used to treat Celiac's Disease. I am doing these to have a better idea of the types of diets I may one day be recommending for my clients/ patients.
I am also going to try a couple lifestyle diets that are gaining popularity. For this portion of my experiment I will be Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian and Vegan. For both of these diets I will be following the USDA Food Patterns recommended in the 2010 DGA. I am trying these diets to get a better sense of what it is like trying to follow these diets. It has been noted, although it is antidotal evidence, that vegan-ism does have some implications on rheumatoid arthritis.
Each one of these diets presents a challenge for me. Let's face it, I'm a Sconnie Girl through and through. But just because someone is diagnosed with Celiac's doesn't mean they leave the state. I'm just going to have to be resourceful and mindful of my food choices. My goal is to go out to eat at least once a week because people on these diets aren't hermits, or at least the majority of them aren't. My intention is to update my blog at least weekly with my insights about each of these diets. Maybe I'll post a few recipes on here too.
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