yydjjk

How many times do you hear people say, “I am watching my carbs.”   Have you ever heard someone say, “I am watching the fat in my diet”?   Probably not.   So much focus on carbs but so little focus on fat in one’s diet.   Since February is heart health month, let’s look at what fats you should be “watching” in your diet.   We need fat in our diets but we also should cut back on saturated fats in our diets.   The Dietary Guidelines offer specific recommendations about saturated fat: Limit calories from saturated fat by consuming an eating pattern low in saturated fats.   Specifically, by consuming less than 10 percent of calories per day from saturated fats.   Why the focus on lowering our saturated fat intake? The Dietary Guidelines and the American Heart Association recommend lowering our saturated fat intake because: The recommendation to limit intake of calories from saturated fats to less than 10 percent per day is a target based on evidence ...

In honor of American Heart Month, this week we will look at heart health and what you can eat for a healthier heart.   The Centers for Disease Control notes even small changes in your diet and lifestyle can lead to healthier changes for your heart.   Why be concerned about heart health?   CDC states, “heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women”.   Another great source of information is The American Heart Association, the go to place for questions about heart health and how to adopt a heart healthy lifestyle.   What are some of their recommendations in terms of healthier eating and exercise?   Eating for a healthy heart:   Small steps to take Eat at home at least 3 times a week.    By skipping the fast food and restaurant meals you can prepare meals that are lower in fat, especially meals lower in saturated fat, and lower in sodium. Use more herbs and spices when cooking – keep the flavor while cutting back on the amount of ...

Last week I shared 4 of the Healthy Eating Habits the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition recommends.   The Council has Eight Healthy Eating Goals , and this week we will look at the remaining 4 healthy eating habits you can adopt in 2017.   So many people think healthy eating means giving up food.   But for many people, healthy eating means adding food to your day – adding more fruits and vegetables, adding whole grains.   Yesterday, I was in a grocery store and the mother of a toddler was buying a carton of Juice Drink boxes.   She probably thought this was a healthy choice but she was really buying mostly sugar water for her young child.   Had she bought real juice she would have been offering her toddler something with nutritional value rather than a drink of empty calories.   Making some small changes in the foods we choose to eat and buy each day can have a major impact on our health.   Simply buying real juice instead of ju...

Almost everyone is interested in healthy habits but then seem confused by nutrition myths as to what is healthy.   So many people are “watching their carbs” or avoiding starches, avoiding bread.   But none of these are really healthy habits.   Adopting good, healthy eating habits and making even small changes in daily habits can result in good things for your health.   The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition has Eight Healthy Eating Goals .    We will review 4 this week and 4 goals next week.   They recommend making small changes each week towards a healthier diet and a healthier you. Goal 1:    Make half your plate fruits and vegetables :     Eating more fruits and vegetables is so very important to good health.   The easiest way to do this is 5 A Day – aiming for eating at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day.   Have a serving of fruit at breakfast, a fruit and vegetable serving at lunch and then 2 vegeta...

Who doesn’t enjoy a cup of hot tea, especially in winter?   Does tea have any health benefits?   Do different kinds of tea have different health benefits?   Yes.   An interesting article, in Environmental Nutrition discussed teas for various health reasons such as weight, insomnia and improving your immunity. Many people make health claims for herbal teas, but what health claims are true and reliable?    Weight – are there herbal teas that promote weight loss?   Green, white and oolong teas:   These 3 teas have chemicals in them called catechins .   In the lab at least, these chemicals do affect fat metabolism.   Green tea is especially rich in catechins.   Roobios tea :   This is a different tea, a red tea with a different chemical.   This one has the chemical, aspalathin.    One study showed it helped improve fat metabolism. Peppermint tea:   a real treat on a cold winter day.   The smell of peppermi...

Making a resolution to lose a few pounds in 2017?   If so, what are the best diets to be on for those interested in dropping a few pounds?   So many weight loss diets are “bad” diets as they are fads, diets that take away food groups and take away nutrients.   Diets that don’t change your lifestyle but offer a quick solution but for many a temporary solution.   You may lose some weight but once you go “off” the diet, you gain the weight back.   US News & World Report not only ranks the best diets for overall health (last week’s blog topic) but also the Best Weight-Loss Diets .    What makes a weight-loss diet a winner?   The experts ranking the diets looked for both short and long term weight loss results.    They noted some diets did well in the short term, people lost weight on the diet, but long-term results, not so good.   A diet really isn’t successful if you gain all the weight back that you wanted to say good bye to. ...

What does “eating healthy” mean?   What are healthy diets to follow?   Not for weight loss or weight gain, but just a healthy eating pattern?   I recently heard a person say they were on an “anti-inflammatory” diet.    They had given up fruit and dairy – 2 important food groups for good health so already not a good choice.   Another person said they were eating healthy and following the Whole30 diet.   US News & World Report gives the Whole30 diet a poor rating and a low ranking.   Why?   The diet is quite restrictive and excludes grain (an important food group), dairy (another important food group), legumes, even peanut butter.   Any diet that excludes a food group, excludes nutrients that the food group provides, is not a healthy diet.   Each year, the US News & World Report evaluates the “Best Diets”.     For 2017, they evaluated 38 popular diets and determined which ones are best for your health and fitness. ...