Michelle Obama will be featured in a segment with four young children and introduce the idea of vegetable gardening. She’ll show them, and Big Bird, how planting seeds in the ground will yield fresh, healthy vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce.

Last week Michelle Obama announced childhood obesity as one of the issues she would focus on, and Sesame Street is a fitting place to share that message, encouraging young children to eat a balanced diet that includes many vegetables.

It’s also fitting segment as the first lady introduced the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt. A recent episode of Biggest Loser showed contestants harvesting vegetables from that garden to make a delicious and fresh White House Salad.

Tune-in for a blast of nostalgia, or with your kids and introduce a new generation to this iconic children’s show that has taught the ABCs and 123s to a global audience for nearly half a century.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Tune In: Michelle Obama on Sesame Street

No, I’m not kidding. Spinach is a fine food and a great addition to an entire roster of dishes – but not, in my mind, a yummy addition to my beloved chocolate chip cookies. Which are just fine on their own.

I think that vegetables are a tricky subject for many kids. Vegetables have strong flavors, and many children are averse to them, but in my mind sneaking them into other, less nefarious foods is the wrong tact to take. Don’t get me wrong – I frequently add shredded carrots to my bolognese sauce, for extra flavor, and have been known to add cauliflower chunks to my homemade macaroni and cheese – but my kids know that I’ve done so.

The carrots add a sweet taste and cauliflower with cheese sauce is just yummy, no matter how you prepare it. But adding pureed veggies to other foods doesn’t teach your child to appreciate the subtle nuances of a fresh carrot, the brilliant hues of steamed broccoli and the strong flavor of fresh brussel sprouts. Any mom can tell you that it takes exposing a child to a new vegetable more than a few times before a child can appreciate it, but once your child has learned to enjoy it, it’s a good feeling indeed. Sneaking nutrition into a sweet robs the child of that experience.

One way that we’ve solved the veggie issue is to to offer fresh veggies 30 minutes before a meal and allow the family to eat as much of the tray as they want. I also let the kids pick the vegetable for dinner, and they often prepare it; and we do use a generous sprinkling of grated cheese on broccoli and peas. Also, I’ve tried a few of the recipes involving veggie purees added to foods you wouldn’t ordinarily pick, and they were not very palatable to me or my kids.

I think it’s important for your child to try new foods and learn to like them, but I know it’s a highly volatile issue. What has been your experience?

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Sneaking Vegetables Into Food Cheats Kids

Fruits and vegetables are the backbone of a healthy diet. They are almost always low in fat and calories, and packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and so much more. And oh, there’s no cholesterol.

But, according to the 2009 State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, only 14 percent of American adults are eating the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. The government study says that even less (10 percent) of high school students are getting enough fruits and vegetables.

The report is meant to shine a light on a campaign to get at least 75 percent of Americans to eat two or more daily servings of fruit, and for at least 50 percent to consume three or more daily servings of vegetables.

“A diet high in fruits and vegetables is important for optimal child growth, maintaining a healthy weight, and prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, all of which currently contribute to health care costs in the United States,” says Dr. William H. Dietz, director of the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity.

No state in the Union even came close to the national objectives for adult consumption of fruits and vegetables. So, how can we start moving in the right direction?

According to the government report, they would like to see grocery stores stock more “high-quality fruits and vegetables.” This suggestion is a little puzzling, since every grocery store I’ve been to has plenty of fruits and vegetables to choose from.

The second suggestion is perfectly logical: increase the availability of healthy foods in school cafeterias and vending machines.

Lastly, the report suggests that states create “food policy councils” that evaluate the access to fresh produce on a community and state level.

(via: Health News)

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Americans Not Eating Enough Fruits and Veggies

At least one-third of annual cancer deaths in the United States are related to dietary factors. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption can reduce cancer risk, but less than one-third of U.S. adults eat the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Eating healthy, including fruits and vegetables loaded with phytochemicals (powerful antioxidants), and following a low fat diet helps people manage weight and prevent disease! Think about it, every day you have choices of what to eat. You have the power to keep yourself healthy from the inside out.

What’s even more is that if you do get breast cancer, you can actually prevent recurrence by following a low fat diet.

The Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS) has shown that breast cancer survivors who cut their fat intake and increase their fruit and vegetable intake reduce their recurrence rate by 24 percent. For survivors with estrogen-receptor-negative tumors, the reduction is 42 percent.

Forty-two percent chance of preventing cancer recurrence?! That’s just amazing to me.

Here’s a run down on the fruit and veggie colors and what they can do for you:

• Red – Contain nutrients such as lycopene, ellagic acid, and Quercetin. They lower blood pressure, LDL (bad) cholesterol, and reduce the risk of cancer. Anti-inflammatory properties help with arthritis too.

• Orange and Yellow – Contain beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, flavonoids, lycopene, potassium, and vitamin C. They promote eye health, reduce the risk of prostate cancer, lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure, promote collagen formation and healthy joints.

• Green – Contain chlorophyll, fiber, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, folate, vitamin C, calcium, and beta-carotene. They reduce cancer risks, lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels, normalize digestion time, support retinal health and vision, fight harmful free-radicals, and boost immune system activity.

• Blue and Purple – Contain nutrients which include lutein, zeaxanthin, resveratrol, vitamin C, fiber, flavonoids, ellagic acid, and quercetin. They support eye health, lower LDL cholesterol, boost immune system activity, support healthy digestion, fight inflammation, reduce tumor growth, and act as an anticarcinogens in the digestive tract.

• White – Contain nutrients such as beta-glucans, EGCG, SDG, and lignans that provide powerful immune boosting activity. These nutrients also reduce the risk of colon, breast, and prostate cancers, and balance hormone levels, reducing the risk of hormone-related cancers.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Eat More Colors to Cut Cancer Risk

The job of your immune system is to protect your body from bacterial and viral infections, such as the ones that cause the common cold and seasonal flu. The immune system protects you in three different ways:

1. It creates a barrier that prevents bacteria and viruses from entering your body (your skin).
2. If a bacteria or virus does enter the body, the immune system tries to detect and eliminate it before it can make itself at home and reproduce.
3. If the virus or bacteria is able to reproduce and start causing problems, your immune system is in charge of eliminating it.

So, one thing is for sure, we all need a healthy immune system and what you choose to put on your plate can help! You need to eat food. Fad diets without adequate calories or nutrients are sure to suppress your immunity. Instead, eat healthy and low calorie by hitting your goals for fruits and vegetables daily.

The immune system needs vitamins A, C, and E plus minerals like zinc (Zn) and selenium (Se) to do its job. I’ve compiled a list of foods that best help you meet the needs for these vitamins and minerals.

1. Spinach. Who knew you could get so much nutrition in such a small amount of food? A one-cup portion of cooked spinach gives you 377% of your daily vitamin A needs, 30% of vitamin C needs, 20% of vitamin E needs, and 15% of zinc. As if you need another reason to include spinach, try adding frozen chopped spinach to your favorite soup, tomato sauce, rice-based dishes, or serve it as a side in its own right with a drizzle of peanut satay sauce and grilled chicken skewers. Stuff it in your sandwiches or mix it in your salads. You’ll be greening up your eating in no time!

2. Sunflower seeds. Just a quarter-cup of these tasty seeds and you’ll get 90% of your daily needs for vitamin E. That’s three tablespoons. Spread it out through the day by adding a tablespoon to your morning oatmeal, one to your lunch salad, and another one to your afternoon snack of low-fat yogurt. It’s one of the healthiest ways you’ll spend 200 calories.

3. Lamb. A modest four-ounce palm-sized portion of lamb has 50% of your daily selenium needs and 38% of your zinc needs. Keep your portion of lamb small since it is high in saturated fat. A good way to include it is to mix lamb with brown rice or quinoa (or your favorite whole grain) with some cooked spinach (which we now know is an excellent source of the important immune system vitamins A, C, and E).

4. Red bell peppers. One cup of raw red pepper has 291% of your daily needs of vitamin C – more than an orange! Not only that, but you also get 100% of vitamin A. You can top your salad or sandwiches with red pepper. Try making veggie fajitas with black beans, rice, and red peppers.

5. Crimini mushrooms. Known as “baby portabella,” one serving of crimini mushrooms has over 50% of your selenium needs for the day. You’ll also get 15% of your zinc needs. Sautee some in a pan and add a can of crushed tomatoes for a quick sauce. Combine with your favorite whole wheat pasta noodles for a hearty fall meal.

When in doubt, eat a variety of colorful foods each day. Include veggies with lunch and dinner and fruits with breakfast and a snack. Stay off the booze and get plenty of sleep. All these things will help you keep your immune system healthy and in “fighting” shape. You can’t keep yourself from being “germy,” but by all means, simple steps like washing your hands, getting a flu shot, and eating healthy will keep you smiling all fall long.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Top 5 Foods to Prevent Flu and Cold

Canned beans

Not just the “musical fruit,” beans provide complex carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. In fact, a one-cup serving provides one-third of your day’s protein needs, half your fiber needs, and 65% of your folate needs (an important B-complex vitamin that helps prevent osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, anemia, and homocysteine buildup in the blood). For less than a dollar a can, you can-not go wrong! Try cannelini beans, black beans, kidney beans, lentils and black-eyed peas. You can buy them with no salt added, low sodium, or rinse them before use to remove about half the salt.

Recipe ideas: add to salads, home-made bean dip, three bean chili, and breakfast burritos.

Frozen fruits and veggies

I’d love to highlight one particular fruit or vegetable, but the bottom line is they are all good choices! Frozen fruits and veggies are picked and minimally processed at their peak freshness. Freezing does not diminish the nutrition quality. Fruits and vegetables are “very good to excellent” sources of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber that help keep your body healthy. They are very low in calories too, so they help you lose weight without having to eat tiny portions. One cup of most fruits and veggies have less than 50 calories! Think about that, how full are you going to get from two cups of fruit and veggies versus the “100 calorie packs?” There’s no comparison.

Just glance at the nutrition facts label and ingredients list. Look for frozen fruits with no sugar added and look for veggies with little to no salt added. There are some great frozen veggies that come with a light sauce, just make sure the fat and sodium don’t diminish the health benefits.

Recipe ideas: thaw frozen corn and mix with canned beans and canned diced tomatoes for a quick side dish, steam broccoli and top with lemon zest, make breakfast or dessert smoothies with a cup of frozen fruit and a half-cup of low-fat milk or plain yogurt.

Canned fish

Canned fish is a low cost way to gain a lot of heart-healthy nutrition. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish at least twice a week because it’s a good source of protein and low in saturated fat. Fatty fish, including trout, sardines, tuna, and salmon, are also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Recipe ideas: toss canned salmon in with scrambled eggs and serve over half a whole wheat English muffin with a side of fruit for a balanced breakfast, mix canned tuna with low-fat plain yogurt, celery, and onion for a quick and low-fat tuna salad served in a pita with tomato.

What are some of YOUR favorite canned and frozen food finds and how do you use them to eat healthier and manage your weight?

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Affordable Nutrition in Frozen and Canned Foods

A Mediterranean diet is rich in vegetables and whole grains. In a new Italian study the subjects ate the Mediterranean way, with 30 percent of their calories from fat (mostly olive oil). They were better able to manage their disease without diabetes medications than those people who ate a low-fat diet with no more than 30 percent of calories from fat (with less than 10 percent coming from saturated fat choices).

The study was thorough. After four years, researchers found that only 44 percent of people who were on the Mediterranean diet required diabetes medications to control their blood sugars, while 70 percent of those who followed the low-fat diet needed medications.

Katherine Esposito, MD, of the Second University of Naples, says the results “reinforce the message that benefits of lifestyle interventions should not be overlooked.” Which is a fancy way of saying your diet is a factor in managing your diabetes.

It’s not that the low-fat diet was unhealthy. In fact, it was based on the American Heart Association guidelines, which is rich in whole grains, limited sweets, with no more than 30 percent of calories from fat and 10 percent from saturated fats. The weight loss between the two groups was pretty much the same. But, the Mediterranean diet not only was more beneficial with diabetes issues, the people also experienced an improvement in additional heart disease risk factors.

(via: WebMD)

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Mediterranean Diet Helps Diabetics

1. Dieting at Night – The key to weight loss is eating, believe it or not. You need to fuel your body with healthy food during the day, starting with breakfast and have a lighter dinner; then let the dieting begin right when you are winding down. I usually tell my clients to focus on “protein and produce” at dinner. Swap your salad at lunch for a tuna wrap (choose either light mayo or cheese not both) and have an entree salad at dinner.

2. Controlling Alcohol Intake – This is probably the #1 behavior I see with clients who are trying to lose weight when they first come in. They say they drink 1-2 times a week, but then their food journal shows 2 glasses of wine. When we talk about weekends they usually have 1-2 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That’s almost half of the week people. That adds up to 600 extra calories that you aren’t getting from food, let alone the temptation to eat salty snacks with alcoholic drinks. If you take my advice, you’ll limit alcohol to 1-2 drinks once a week.

3. Sleeping 7-8 hours most nights of the week. Turn off the T.V. Stop surfing the ‘net. You have to get sleep if you want to lose weight. Sleep allows you to recover from your workouts (that you ARE doing because you know you will do better with long term weight loss if you exercise.) Sleep also keeps your hormone balance in check, especially leptin and ghrelin. According to researchers at Stanford, people with short sleep (5 hours a night) have reduced leptin (thin hormone) and elevated ghrelin (hunger hormone). Based on what the hormones do in the body, the researchers claimed the differences in leptin and ghrelin are likely to increase appetite, possibly explaining the increased BMI observed with short sleep duration.

4. Fitting in the Veggies. It might sound old, but you need your veggies. The fiber makes them filling. The low calories makes them “figure friendly,” the phytochemicals and antioxidants help prevent diseases (like many cancers), and they help repair blood vessel damage. Try these fun ways to have veggie “finger foods” on the go:

• celery and almond butter
• avocado stuffed cherry tomatoes
• blanched broccoli with lemon
• prosciutto wrapped asparagus

All these choices make great snacks! Personally, I recommend that people keep carbs as low as possible at snacks and save them for meal times.

5. Eating Mindfully. Mindfulness is a state of being aware, ‘in the moment,’ present, and engaged. Rarely do we spend time in the day being truly mindful, especially when it comes to food. It’s amazing the mental and emotional transformation that happens when people take back the pleasure of eating. When you choose nourishing foods and take your time to enjoy them bite-by-bite, you engage all your senses – not just “taste.” Notice the colors, smell the aroma, appreciate your food choice for all the ways it is going to give health to your body.

All of a sudden, the drive-through window and 100-calorie packs become less appealing. If you make one change, try making each meal last 30 minutes and spend the first five engaging all your senses except taste. When eating mindfully, you will notice that it gets easier to choose healthy from the start and stop eating when you feel satisfied not when the plate is clear.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

5 Weight Loss Rules You aren’t Following

Container gardening has become a growing trend and a great way to grow fresh produce at home that hasn’t traveled over 1,500 miles or been sprayed with all types of pesticides and herbicides. I started small with some herbs, tomato plants and jalapenos. Not feeling quite confident, as I don’t have the greenest thumb, I thought it was a great start I could build off of each year once my first crops were produced.  

Getting started is simple!

The four things you will want to get yourself are some containers, soil, seeds and of course water from your local hardware store or nursery. Make sure to get a container large enough based on what you plan on growing; I found my local nursery very helpful in picking mine out. You will also want to check on what is in season, as all produce have their own times of the year for harvest. If this is your first time trying container gardening like me, keep it simple, some produce can be more temperamental than others to grow and you want it to be easy and fun.

My first tomato just arrived on the vine this week and should be ready to be picked very shortly. I can’t wait to make a salad with my fresh vegetables I have grown on my own, giving my body wholesome, nutritious food that I didn’t have to go out to the store and buy. So, whether you have a big yard, small yard, window sill or any form of outdoor space, try growing some produce of your own.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Container Gardening Ideal for City Living

Researchers believe that these finding may explain why the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) helps lower blood pressure. The DASH diet is low in sodium and includes lots of vegetables, whole grains, and beans. Beans are also a great source of vegetable protein.

The nearly 5,000 participants in the study were from all over the world, including residents of the U.S., U.K., China, and Japan. The researchers found that when the participants simply increased their glutamic acid intake by five percent as a percentage of their total protein, they lowered their blood pressure. The systolic blood pressure was lowered by an average of 1.5 to 3.0 points and diastolic blood pressure by 1.0 to 1.6 points.

While the reduction is modest, it doesn’t take much to make a big difference in your health.

“It is estimated that reducing a population’s average systolic blood pressure by two [points] could cut stroke death rates by six percent and reduce mortality from coronary heart disease by percent,” says researcher Jeremiah Stamler, MD, professor emeritus in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.

According to the American Heart Association, that six percent reduction in stroke deaths would be equivalent to saving 8,600 lives. If there was a 4 percent reduction in heart disease deaths, that would save 17,800 lives a year.

(via: WebMD)

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Vegetable Protein Can Save Lives