Health and Fitness

Food Friday - July 4th

Posted by leah on Jul 4, 2008

Since the 4th of July is a big BBQ holiday, I’m taking a break from my health food of the week to give you some healthy grilling ideas.

• skinless chicken breast
• veggie burgers, salmon burgers, or turkey burgers instead of beef
• veggies like corn on the cob, bell peppers, onions, fancy mushrooms, and even tomatoes are good grilled

And some side dishes to serve with your BBQ:

• fruit salad
• sliced watermelon
• whole-grain buns for burgers or grilled chicken sandwiches
• tomato, onion, and lettuce for sandwiches/burgers
• green salad with dressing made from balsamic vinegar, a bit of fruit juice, and olive oil
• baked whole-grain chips with fresh salsa made from diced tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro - delicious!

Tomatoes

Posted by leah on Jun 27, 2008

Tomatoes are delicious added to many foods - salads, pastas, salsa, pizza, soups - and they are really good for you. They are a good source of vitamins C and A as well as the antioxidant lycopene. Studies have shown that lycopene helps prevent many cancers - for me, that’s a great excuse to eat more tomatoes and tomato-based foods.

With the recent recall of many tomatoes, unfortunately a lot of people are probably afraid to eat them. In California, my local news recommended buying from farmers markets since no California-grown tomatoes were connected with the recall. I prefer farmers market or homegrown tomatoes to grocery store tomatoes any day so that’s fine with me!

Almonds

Posted by leah on Jun 20, 2008

This week’s food of the week is almonds. One ounce of almonds (23 nuts) contains 163 calories, 14 grams of fat, 6 grams of carbohydrates, and 6 grams of protein.

Here are some benefits: 3.5 grams of fiber, good source of protein, good source of vitamin E, and the fat is mostly unsaturated.

The downside: high in fat and calories, so not a great diet food.

New Series - Healthy Food of the Week

Posted by leah on Jun 13, 2008

For the next couple months, my Food Friday posts will feature a different food and explain some of the health benefits of including that food in your diet.
I’ll start next week - and this week, just give you a healthy eating tip I heard recently: eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables. Cooking them depletes some of the vitamins they contain, so if you can, snack on uncooked veggies like carrot sticks, or have a piece of fresh fruit. Heading into summer there is so much really good fresh fruit, this shouldn’t be too hard to do!

Here’s how I’m adding some raw fruits and veggies to my daily diet:

Once a week, I go to the farmers market. Most vendors have samples, so I only buy fruit that tastes really good. I buy enough for me and my husband to have a serving or two a day for about three days - if I buy more than that, it ends up getting wasted. The rest of the week, we’ll eat bananas or apples from the grocery store, fruits that keep longer than a few days in the fruit basket.

I also buy a head or two of lettuce each week - usually romaine because I like it best, but sometimes I try other kinds - and during the week I make entree salads (lettuce + a protein + other veggies makes a good lunch) or add a few pieces of lettuce to my salads.

Besides lettuce, I buy at least one other veggie that we don’t mind eating as a snack. Broccoli, cauliflower, raddishes, carrots, and celery all work for snacking, and I make sure to clean and prepare them in snack sizes (or buy the pre-cut and washed variety) so that it’s convenient.

Make your own baby food

Posted by leah on Jun 6, 2008

For Food Friday, I found a great article on how to make your own baby food. I’m sure I’m not the only mom who has seen baby food recalls on the news, and wants to be sure her baby is getting healthy, safe food to eat. My son isn’t eating solids yet, but when he starts, I’ll definitely use the tip about freezing food in ice cube trays for individual servings.

Whole Grains

Posted by leah on May 30, 2008

This week’s Food Friday post:

Whole Grains are popping up everywhere - sugary cereals claim to be made with whole grains, there’s whole grain white bread, whole grain tortillas - and with good reason. Whole grains are good for heart health, and are a great source of fiber and nutrients. Whole grains are carbs that are good for you - and they can taste great too.

If you are buying packaged foods and you want to be sure you are getting whole grains, look at the ingredient list. Whole grains, such as whole wheat or oats, should be listed as one of the top two or three ingredients. Some foods claim to be made with whole grains on the package, but when you look at the ingredients you find out that the actual amount of whole grains is pretty low, so it’s always a good idea to read the label. Ingredients are listed from highest to lowest in terms of how much is in that food, so the first three ingredients are the ones you are getting the most of.

Eating by Color

Posted by leah on May 23, 2008

An easy way to make sure you are getting a good variety of nutrients in your diet is to include several different colors of fruits and veggies in your diet. Dark leafy greens have different nutrients from yellow/orange citrus, or deep red/purple berries, or bright orange/red tomatoes. If you don’t want to directly track how much of each vitamin you get from your diet, varying the colors of your fruits and veggies is an easy way to get a variety of healthy vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants without thinking too hard about it.

Vegan Dinners

Posted by leah on May 16, 2008

Even if you aren’t vegan, eating vegan food once in a while can be good for you - more fruits and veggies, less fat and cholesterol. Here are a few ideas for vegan meals:

1. Indian food - entrees made with chickpeas are filling, and with Indian seasonings
   you might not even realize there’s no meat
2. rice and beans - a classic vegetarian protein source - add some salsa and guacamole for flavor
3. pasta with marinara sauce - just make sure you are using egg-free noodles or it isn’t actually vegan
4. salads - this is probably obvious, but a salad with lots of veggies and some beans on it is filling and gets you lots of healthy greens

Smoothies

Posted by leah on May 9, 2008

Smoothies are almost as good as ice cream, and can be a lot healthier depending on what you put in them. One of my favorite quick breakfasts is a smoothie made from a banana, some frozen berries, low-fat or non-fat milk, and a little orange juice. You get a couple servings of fruit, and a little protein and calcium from the milk, and it takes less than a minute to toss all the ingredients in a blender.

Note: smoothies are not a low calorie food, so they might not be the best thing for someone trying to lose weight, BUT made with the recipe above, they are low in fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Just make sure if you are counting calories that you add up everything you put in.

Food Fridays

Posted by leah on May 2, 2008

Friday is food day!

I will post something about food/nutrition on Fridays.

Today’s topic: entree salads

A good healthy dinner is an entree salad. What is an entree salad? It is a salad that has veggies, carbs, and protein, so it can be a meal on its own. One of my favorites is to start with greens (any greens you like, could be a salad mix with lettuce, carrots and red cabbage, spinach, or any other leafy salad greens) and add a couple kinds of beans, corn, chopped up chicken, and croutons made from whole-grain bread. You can also add a little cheese, and your favorite dressing, but not too much of these since they tend to be high in fat and cholesterol.

If you are vegetarian or vegan, you could substitute tofu or fake chicken for the chicken and soy cheese for regular cheese.