Month: October 2015

Breakfast foods have the potential to start your day off right or blow your diet completely. If you do like I used to and eat sweets for breakfast, that’s not so good. However, if you make wise choices, you can start your day with a bang, get some great nutrients in your body, and set yourself up for a whole day of healthy eating.

I’ve put together a list of nine low calorie, great for your diet breakfast options. Use this list as a springboard for your culinary creativity.

1. Basic Green Smoothie

Green smoothie recipes are all over the Internet. Here is a basic recipe you can start with. Be warned though. If you have children, they might gasp in horror at the color. Place one banana, 1/2 cup of apples or berries, 2 cups of leafy greens, and some water in a blender. Mix until combined. I recommend you drink the smoothie right away because it becomes unappetizing if you let it sit too long.

2. Cowboy Eggs

I did not know how to make omelets for the longest time so instead I made a dish I called cowboy eggs. Beat 2 eggs in a small mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoons each of chopped green peppers, chopped red peppers, and an onion. Cook the egg mixture in a cast iron or nonstick skillet until done.

3. Overnight Oats

If you love steel cut oats but don’t have time to let them cook for 30 to 45 minutes, overnight oats are your solution. Combine 1 cup steel cut oats, 1/2 cup dried cranberries (or other dried fruit), 4 cups of liquid (milk, almond milk, or water), and a dash of vanilla in your slow cooker. Cook overnight on low for 6 to 8 hours.

4. Good for You Egg Muffins

Although I used to love McDonald’s Egg McMuffins, I gave them up when I switched my diet. An easy way to get the taste without the calories is to toast a whole wheat English muffin, scramble an egg or two, and place the eggs between the two muffin halves. It’s a great on-the-go breakfast.

5. Greek Yogurt with Add-Ins

A quick breakfast that takes little thought (which might be good for you in the morning before you fully wake up) is to mix plain Greek yogurt with one of the following add-ins:

– Berries

– Dried Fruit

– Slivered Almonds

– Dark Chocolate Chips

– Honey

– Sunflower Seeds

6. Last Night’s Leftovers

Believe it or not, there is no rule stating you have to eat traditional breakfast foods for breakfast. I often heat up a bit of leftovers from the night before and have them for breakfast.

7. Egg and Avocado Wrap

Because I’m not a fan of avocado by itself, I like to add it to other foods. Lay a whole wheat tortilla on a plate. Add 1/4 of a thinly sliced avocado to the tortilla. Scramble an egg or several egg whites in a skillet. Add the egg mixture to the avocado. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, roll up the wrap and enjoy.

8. Good Morning Stuffed Peppers

I reserve breakfasts like this for when I have time to cook a whole breakfast. For me, that’s usually on the weekends. Cut the top off the number of peppers you will be making. Get whatever color peppers you like.

Cook a bit of onion, one chopped tomato, and one garlic clove in water or olive oil until they are soft. Remove from the heat. Add 1 beaten egg per pepper to the vegetable mixture. Carefully pour the mixture into the waiting pepper. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

9. Greek Yogurt Protein Pudding

This pudding is one you’ve got to prepare the night before for best taste. Mix 8 ounces of plain Greek yogurt, one scoop of your favorite chocolate protein powder, and 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder together. Refrigerate overnight and enjoy in the morning.

It might seem odd for a dietitian to love Halloween so much, but I can’t help it. The energy in the air is so contagious! It’s all just so fun.

I’m supposed to be the big stick in the mud who reminds everyone how completely unhealthy a night devoted to candy is, especially for our beloved children. Did you know the average Trick-or-Treater collects an estimated 3,500 to 7,000 calories in candy? That’s almost three cups of sugar, depending on the candy. You (or your kid) would have to walk 180 miles to balance out those extra calories!

Sound the alarm, people! This is not a drill!

Here’s the thing, though: Halloween is really just one night. The average American child consumes 32 teaspoons (2/3 cup, over four times the daily maximum), of sugar every single day. That’s basically like going Trick-or-Treating once a week. Cut out the Trick-or-Treating on this one night a year, and we still have a huge health problem on our hands.

Still, the heavy emphasis on candy surrounding Halloween doesn’t help. If we get creative, it can be a fantastic opportunity to make holidays in general healthier without losing that wonderful spirit.

WHEN IT COMES TO GIVING OUT TREATS…

You don’t have to be the lame house that gives out pencils. No one gets excited about pencils. Consider these tips for balancing out healthy treats with a healthy dose of fun:

– If you’re going to stick with candy, at least go for the fun-size bars. Yes, the houses that give out full-sized bars are the talk of the town, but when kids are loading up pillow cases with candy, a smaller portion size can make a big difference.

– Look for brands without all of the “junk” in them. High fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, dyes, and artificial colors can all be avoided with a little attention to the label. Candies without these ingredients will still contain refined sugar, but it’s a step in the right direction.

– Experiment with darker chocolates. Kids tend not to love super-dark varieties, but even a 72% can help increase antioxidants and fiber while minimizing added sugar.

– More and more, kid-friendly brands of non-candy foods are coming out with Halloween-friendly packages, but take a moment to consider whether they’re really much more nutritious. Fruit snacks, pretzel sticks, and graham crackers are also pretty empty calories that break down in the body quickly into sugar. Fruit leather made from 100% fruit (not juice), air-popped popcorn, or a mini fruit-and-nut bar make better options.

– Think outside the candy wrapper! Stickers, bouncy balls, temporary tattoos, and bubbles are just some of the ideas that are a bit more fun than a pencil or eraser, but not food-based. I tend to shy away from plastic trinkets that will likely wind up in the trash the next day, but something they can nevertheless be a nice alternative to candy.

– Consider going allergen-friendly this year, either with non-food treats or allergen-free ones.

WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR OWN CHILDREN….

– Drum up the fun by putting a larger emphasis on the fall season than Halloween itself. Go pumpkin and apple picking, spend a day on a farm, come up with homemade costumes together, or host a party full of healthier snacks and spirited activities.

– If you can, try to send them off trick-or-treating with small bags or baskets as opposed to large pillow cases.

– Rather than them trading candy with friends, encourage them to pare down their haul and donate ones they don’t like as much.

– Freeze some to pull out later in the year: Gingerbread house decorating, Valentine’s Day, Easter, or just the occasional snack in the context of an overall well-balanced, nutrient-dense diet.

– Bake up a delicious dessert together that you can share with friends, family, or neighbors. It’s still dessert, but sharing it with many people can spread the candy out, and it gives you and your kids an activity to participate in together.

– Turn it into a competition! My sister and I would always try to see who could make their candy last the longest; it wasn’t at all uncommon for me to still be savoring my stash into the new year. (Guess you can’t take the dietitian out of the girl, huh?) If your child doesn’t have siblings, the same concept can be applied to cousins, friends, or even just a personal record carried from year to year.

In the end, it is just one night. Try not to let all of the spooky statistics paralyze you. Build a healthy foundation for your children every other day of the year, do your best to celebrate the holiday in creative ways, but not matter what, enjoy it.

Happy Halloween!

Certain foods have no place in your pantry or your refrigerator. The best way to avoid ever indulging in them is not purchasing them at all. While some may even seem healthy, if you look closely you’ll understand why they’re far from safe. As you prep for this week’s grocery trip, make sure you leave these items off the list:

1. Conventional Meat, Eggs, and Dairy

This is one of those no-brainers when it comes to choosing organic. Unless you’re buying locally and you’re completely sure that the farmer doesn’t use hormones or antibiotics, stick to organic.

Conventional livestock is often raised using hormones and antibiotics in order to hasten the growing process and get animals fatter quicker and to the market sooner. The sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics is still rampant in the animal husbandry industry in the U.S., meaning that animals are fed a steady diet antibiotics in their daily feed whether they are sick or not. In all, around 80 percent of all antibiotics sold today in America are fed to livestock. This overuse of antibiotics has led to antibiotic resistance. Each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 2 million people become infected with antibiotic resistant infections and 23,000 people die from those infections. The bottom line is that the overuse of antibiotics today is rendering what used to be life saving drugs, ineffective against deadly infections.

2. Margarine

Margarine is so 1985. It was all the rage a few decades ago because people thought that saturated animal fats would cause early death. And while the jury is still out on saturated fats, we know that trans fats, found in foods like margarine, are awful for your health. Trans fats clog your arteries by increasing LDL or bad cholesterol and lowering HDL or good cholesterol. Margarine is manmade junk food that’s more of an industrial experiment than real food. And lets not forget it’s high in sodium.

3. Donuts

While they may be yummy, it’s no secret that donuts aren’t exactly healthy. Like many other highly processed baked goods, as well as the cholesterol double whammy listed above, donuts contain trans fats. Remember trans fats are that partially hydrogenated concoction that will cause you to keel over into your coffee. Donuts also contain tons of sugar, artificial colors and flavors, and virtually no nutrients. That means you over indulge on that Boston cream or powdered beauty and in an hour you’ll be hungry again.

4. Processed Meats

While we discussed the problems with conventional meats above, it’s worth mentioning processed meats separately because they’re so bad. Processed meats like hot dogs, salami, and bacon contain nitrites and nitrates, a preservative that gives them their bright pink hue. They make the meat more appetizing but they’re a doozy for your health. These chemical additives have been linked to cancer. One study even found that eating a hot dog a day can increase your risk of colorectal cancer by 21 percent, shockingly – more than smoking cigarettes.

5. Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners are a frightening invention that’s used in everything from diet soda to sugar-free candies, but they’re terrible for your health. Aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose are just a few of the offenders with brand names like NutraSweet, Sweet’N Low, and Splenda. The jury is still out as to whether artificial sweeteners are linked to cancer, but they have showed signs of increasing your risk of metabolic syndrome. According to Harvard Health, regular consumption of diet drinks is linked to a 36 percent greater risk of metabolic syndrome and a 67 percent increased risk for type 2 diabetes.

6. Microwave Popcorn

Most microwave popcorn is not only made from genetically modified corn, which is usually grown with healthy dose of pesticides like glyphosate (which was declared by the World Health Organization as ‘probably carcinogenic‘ to humans), and it’s also made with a host of nasty additives. And that fake butter flavor, it comes from diacetyl, which has been linked to lung disease. Popcorn is also loaded with artificial flavors and colors, not to mention inordinate amounts of salt and zero nutritional value. If you want to eat popcorn, buy the organic variety, pop it yourself, toss it with some olive or coconut oil, add a few pinches of sea salt and you’ve created a delicious snack (I even sprinkle some nutritional or brewer’s yeast over my popcorn for added umami flavor).

Urban fruit trees are by all accounts beneficial to urban dwellers. They have virtually no carbon footprint, especially if the plants and trees are free of pesticides. What’s more, if you grab a garden peach on your morning walk to work, the fruit is 100 percent local. By enjoying an apple grown on a tree in your yard rather than one flown in from New Zealand, you’re reducing your impact on the earth significantly. Not to mention that fruit trees are visually pleasing and make for a pleasant walk through the city.

But is urban fruit safe to eat? And is it as healthy as fruit grown in the countryside?

Contaminants in Urban Soil

Cities are inherently more polluted than the country. From busy roads to industrial waste and leaky gas tanks, chemicals abound. But the news isn’t all bad.

While these chemicals can leave less than desirable traces of arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals in the soil, that’s most likely where they’ll stay. According to Acta Horticulturae Workgroup, heavy metal concentrations in fruit from trees tend to be very low even if they are grown in contaminated soil because the fruit doesn’t come in contact with the ground or soil. Others even claim that urban grown fruit is even less contaminated with pollutants than fruit that is grown by big agriculture because it’s not chemically treated with pesticides, fertilizers or post-harvest treatments.

Airborne Pollutants Are Different

While soil pollutants don’t end up polluting the fruit, airborne pollutants are a different matter entirely. Airborne pollutants can cling to the skin of that juicy plum and the potentially dangerous pesticide residue can get into your lungs. That’s why it’s best to avoid fruits from trees and bushes that are planted in heavy industrial areas or next to busy roads where all the exhaust has most likely taken its toll.

Digging into the Soil Directly

It’s also different if you’re an urban gardener digging into contaminated soil directly. Urban growers can be exposed to soil contaminants by direct contact with the soil. These contaminants are particularly harmful to children that are still developing. So it’s important to get to know the history of the site where you’re gardening.

For instance, was it once the site of a dry cleaning operation, gas station or industrial factory that used a number of potentially dangerous chemicals? If that is the case it may be best to stay clear. Do some research and get your soil tested with a simple kit (you can order them online), then you’ll know exactly what’s in your soil.

Other best practices for gardeners include wearing gloves, taking care not to track dirt into the house, and thoroughly washing produce. Also, consider adding topsoil and mulch to crops to reduce soil dust and using raised beds to garden when the soil just isn’t up to snuff.

Skip the Pesticides

Whether you’re enjoying a pear grown in the city or the country, pesticide residue is still an unwelcome addition to any piece of fruit. Do some due diligence and ask around if the tree you’re about to harvest fruit from has been treated with pesticides or look for signs that denote it’s been sprayed.

Urban or rural, when it comes to growing and eating fruit, avoiding synthetic pesticides is the healthiest choice for you, your family and the planet. While it’s difficult to control the amount of contaminants that may be found in the soil and those that go airborne from a car’s exhaust, you can control or preferably eliminate toxic, synthetic pesticides, especially if you’re growing the tree at home. Not only do they further contaminate the soil and groundwater, they contaminate the fruit or vegetable making it less healthy for our planet and human consumption.

Urban fruit isn’t perfect. It can contain contaminants. But in most cases, these toxins don’t actually make it into the fruit, they stay put in the soil. This means that heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic don’t contaminate the tree. What’s more, if you grab a hanging apple on your walk to work, you’re eating about as local as you can get. That piece of fruit would just go to waste if it fell to the ground or no one ate it.

The bottom line is it’s probably safe to eat urban fruit, especially if the tree is free of added pesticides. If you want to be extra cautious, rinse it thoroughly before you chomp down. Enjoy the best of the local bounty by eating some urban fruit.