Nutrition & Healthy
Recipes
Today’s culture is one of eating on the
run, power lunches, and socializing over dinner in restaurants. Part of the
challenge we all face is making sound choices without losing the enjoyment
of eating. Here are some tips how to eat out and stay on track with healthy
eating habits.
Get to know the restaurants in your area.
Find restaurants that will work with you. For example, restaurants that
provide menu selections that are heart healthy, that will cook with low fat
cheese, non fat milk, etc.
Cut back on how much you order. Although you
may think you are famished, you are not. Split a meal with a friend, or save
half for lunch the next day.
Order a low fat version of your usual order.
Have it broiled instead of fried. Have your dressing and sauces served on
the side. Be sure the food server understands what you want. Get them
involved in the process. Ask how a dish is prepared, or ask for the chef’s
recommendation for a low fat dish. Be a low fat advocate. Restaurants listen
to their customers. Praise the availability of low fat options, or request
them if they are not offered.
If you are offered a choice of side orders,
choose a lower fat alternative such as a green salad, a plain baked potato,
or a steamed vegetable dish instead of cole slaw, french fries, or fried
vegetables.
You do not have to eliminate desserts. Just
moderate them. Have just one scoop of ice cream, sorbet or non fat frozen
yogurt. Order fresh fruit. Split dessert with someone or the whole table.
Go ethnic and low fat. Try steamed or stir
fried (even meatless) ethnic dishes, BUT watch out for deep fried foods and
rich sauces.
The bread basket! Choose breadsticks, Rykrisp,
a small roll or slice of bread and pass up the butter, margarine and oil. Be
careful how much bread you are consuming. The wait for dinner can sometimes
be long. Don’t fill up before your meal comes.
Appetizers always sound and look great and
are fun to share. When ordering an appetizer, choose something that requires
lots of chewing, and share!
When choosing an entree, pick something with
less fat, cholesterol and calories like fish, poultry or lean cuts of red
meat. Remember to ask how it is prepared, if not indicated on the menu.
Vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals
and fiber, but be sure and ask about the cooking procedure. You do not want
to ruin the benefits of vegetables by loading them with unnecessary calories
and fat.
When looking at a menu, the following
descriptions will clue you into the high fat dishes:
Buttery or Buttered
Basted
Fried, French Fried, Crispy
Creamed, In gravy
Hollandaise
Au gratin or In cheese sauce
Scalloped
Rich
If you are looking for the low fat choices, the following descriptions
would include:
Broiled, Grilled, Roasted
(without added fat)
Stir Fried
Steamed
Au Jus, In its own juices
Poached
Raw
Garden fresh
When eating on the run, you are short on time
and stop off for a quick bite at a drive through:
Choose grilled or sliced
meat sandwiches rather than fried or breaded and deep fried sandwiches.
Have your hamburger without
cheese
Hold the sauce. Just use the
ketchup or mustard instead of mayonnaise based sauces on fish,
hamburgers, and other sandwiches.
Try the salad bar. Watch out
for high fat dressings, marinated vegetable salads, and salads mixed
with mayonnaise and salad dressing.
What to do when not given a choice: When eating at a banquet, convention,
wedding, etc., the choice you do have is in what you choose to eat. If fatty
food or food laden with sauce, remove the skin and scrape off the sauce. You
do not have to finish every thing on your plate
back
to
top
Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals and lots of other great stuff
our bodies need. In fact, Dr. John Potter, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Cancer
Prevention Research Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center says
"When it comes to preventing cancer, eating more vegetables is second only to
quitting smoking in its importance as a protective measure." With all that great
publicity... it's hard to believe that not all Americans eat the minimum number
of daily servings that health experts recommend.
"We should eat at least four servings a day, and six is ideal to maximize the
health benefits vegetables offer," says Potter referring to the range of daily
servings recommended in AICR's landmark report on the prevention of cancer.
"Four servings a day may seem a great deal to those who don't realize how small
a serving can be. A standard serving of cooked or raw vegetables, for example,
is just one-half cup, a very modest amount."
While this 4-6 serving per day recommendation is in line with the USDA's
current "five-a-day" campaign, newer research has shown that we may need more...
as much as 9 servings per day! What's the big deal, including more vegetables in
your diet isn't such a bad idea. Besides all the great health benefits,
vegetables are inexpensive, readily available and low in fat and calories.
Eating more could help you maintain your daily calorie needs and increase
the health benefits mentioned above.
But you don't like vegetables and choose to get your "five-a-day" by eating
fruits? While fruits may have some of the benefits of their less-sweet veggie
cousins... they usually aren't as chock-full of vitamins, minerals and other
healthful chemicals. The recommendations are to eat more vegetables than fruits
and to choose a variety for the most health benefits. Obviously five servings of
french fried potatoes doesn't offer the same benefits as 2 servings of broccoli,
1 serving of carrots, 1/2 tomato and 1 serving french fries.
You can boost your veggie intake by...
- Add skewered veggies to the outdoor grill. Grilling and broiling
intensifies and sweetens their flavors.
- Increase the proportion of veggies in one-pot meals like stir-fry, soups,
etc.
- Eat vegetable-based meals a couple times per week.
- Make veggies the main topping on pizza. Order "half the cheese" and you'll
reduce the amount of calories and fat.
- Add veggies to pasta, rice and pilaf dishes.
- Eat them raw for snacks, with or without a dip.
- Make healthy dips with pureed vegetables.
- Hide shredded, pureed or diced veggies in prepared foods like pasta sauce,
macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, etc.
- Drink vegetable juice or make your own at home with an inexpensive juicer.
Combine different veggies, fruit or juices to create different flavors.
- Add veggies like dark green leafy veggies (raw spinach, etc.), tomato,
sliced cucumbers to sandwiches
Other tips...
- Don't overcook veggies. They loose some of their valuable vitamin and
minerals when overcooked. Veggies should be cooked crisp-tender to retain
their healthy qualities, texture and fiber.
- Don't cook vegetables in large amounts of water (boiling) unless you're
planning to eat the cooking liquid (that would be soups, stews, etc.)
- Raw is best... fresh, raw vegetables have more nutrients. When fresh
veggies aren't available choose frozen. Frozen vegetables retain more
healthful nutrients than canned veggies, which are heated and stored in
liquid.
back to top
No one food is a magic tonic for better health, but some
pack a bigger nutritional wallop than others. These seven superfoods may not
turn you into an action hero overnight, but they will deliver the vital
antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals you need to stay buff, day in and day out.
Tea A cup a day can keep the cardiologist away, according to a recent
study from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The study found that people
who drink one or more cups of black tea each day were 44 percent less likely to
suffer a heart attack than those who didn't sip. Tea is chock full of flavonoids--substances
that keep the blood from clotting--which may reduce heart attack risk. (Note:
Some research indicates it may take up to six cups a day to achieve the
heart-healthy effect.) Animal research shows that green tea is also loaded with
antioxidants (called polyphenols) that may prevent arthritis and certain
cancers.
Sweet potato "One of the most nutritious vegetables you can eat," raves
the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Six ounces of sweet potato
provides the RDA (15 mg) for beta-carotene, a carotenoid (plant pigment) with
cancer-fighting antioxidant properties. Sweet potatoes are also rich in vitamin
C and potassium.
Oats What oats lack in romance they more than make up for in nutritional
value. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital found that women who ate two
to three servings of whole grains per day (that includes whole grain bread,
popcorn, brown rice, and oatmeal) reduced their risk of heart disease--the
leading cause of death among women--by 27 percent. Oats have also been found to
improve gastrointestinal function and glucose metabolism while decreasing blood
cholesterol.
Tomato Several studies indicate that tomatoes, and specifically a
carotenoid called lycopene, may help prevent cancers of the breast, pancreas,
prostate, and colon as well as cardiovascular diseases: Mediterranean
populations with diets rich in tomatoes have a low incidence of these chronic
diseases. Raw tomatoes aren't as beneficial as cooked ones, though, so break out
the sauce pot: The cooking process releases the lycopene so it's more readily
absorbed by the body.
Broccoli Once snubbed by former president George Bush, broccoli is the
superstar of the vegetable aisle. It is full of the B vitamin folacin (one cup
delivers 80 mg), which may protect against some birth defects and heart disease,
and contains a healthy dose of calcium. As with tomatoes, cook your broccoli for
maximum benefits.
Soy For centuries, Eastern cultures have reaped the benefits of a diet
rich in soy protein: Studies indicate that soy's isoflavones--natural compounds
that act like estrogen in the body--can lower blood cholesterol, may prevent
hormoneÃ?related cancers of the breast and prostate, and can alleviate menopause
symptoms such as hot flashes. Soy is also a good source of calcium, soluble and
insoluble fiber, and protein--an eight-ounce serving of tofu contains about the
same amount of protein (16g) as a 3.25 ounce steak. Experts recommend eating 17
to 25g of soy protein a day. (An 8-ounce serving of soy milk contains 7g.)
Blueberries Not since Fats Domino's classic song topped the charts has
this vibrant fruit garnered so much attention. In a recent Tufts University
study, elderly rats (about 70 in human years) were fed a diet rich in
blueberries (approximately one cup a day), which radically improved their
declining balance and coordination skills. "I've never seen anything like it,"
says the study's leader, Jim Joseph, Ph.D., chief of the neuroscience lab at the
USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts. The fruit's polyphenolic
compounds (the antioxidants that give blueberries their color) are natural anti-inflammatories,
says Joseph. Cooking the berries or freezing them right after picking increases
their antioxidant properties.
back to top
