Eating For Health

Who among us doesn’t like to snack?   On a recent trip to France, my daughter and I brought snack foods with us.   Europeans enjoy their meals but snacks can be hard to come by.   We brought granola bars, nuts, and dried fruit to ensure we had snacks on the bus or wherever we were on the tour.   So what are some healthy snacks you can munch on between meals? Fruit – fresh fruit is always a healthy choice.   My daughter’s boyfriend is into apples as Weight Watchers gives apples only a few points.   All fruit is good, full of vitamins and antioxidants for good health. Nuts , especially almonds – go for a handful of nuts, not the whole container or buy a small bag at the convenience store.   Easy to take to work, pack in a lunch for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon pick up.   I carried a few baggies of nuts in my suitcase and then would grab a bag as we headed out of our hotel for a day of sightseeing. String cheese – great at any time but a very good high protein snack food.   I

How many people do you know who are on a diet?   All of us have relatives or friends that are always bragging about the latest diet they are trying.   Juicing is now in.   I have many relatives that are buying their juicers and lots of fruits and vegetables.    At least this diet craze packs a nutrition punch rather than taking foods and nutrients out of one’s diet as many fad diets do.   But rarely do we hear, “I need to lose weight so I am pumping up my exercise.”   I like my desserts and I like to eat so rather than diet I try to hit the gym, walk, bicycle and up my exercise.   This method seems to be supported by the latest research which indicates many overweight people aren’t overeating but under-exercising.   Stanford University researchers noted the strong correlation between the rise in obesity to the significant drop in time spent exercising.   They didn’t find Americans are eating more but they did find many of us are exercising less.   Researchers noted from 1988 t

Who among us isn’t trying to reduce the size of our bellies?   Are there really foods that can help cut the belly fat?    MSN listed foods this week that are worth a try.   Even if you don’t add all of these, some are really easy to incorporate into our diet and daily routine.         Onion and leeks – so easy to add to our diet.   Onion slices on our hamburger, onion in our salads.   How do they work?   Onions produce butyrate which is a prebiotic that encourages the growth of good bacteria in our intestines.   The butyrate also helps one burn body fat.            Artichokes and asparagus – on a recent trip to the Cheesecake Factory, my daughter and I enjoyed the fire-roasted artichoke appetizer.   Absolutely delicious.   Asparagus is now plentiful at our local farmers markets where I live and a great health food.   These two are also prebiotics and they produce acetate.   Acetate sounds awful but this also help us burn fat and recover from inflammation.   MSN suggests roasting

In the nutrition class I teach, I always emphasized how important it is to eat “5 A DAY”, five fruits and vegetables a day.    Then I had a student that LIMITED her fruits and vegetables to 5 a day thinking more was harmful.   So now I emphasize eating AT LEAST 5 fruits and vegetables a day.   But the Canadians do us one better and recommend 7-8 servings for women and 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables for men.    New research supports the Canadians as more fruit and vegetables can lead to a longer life.   Research:   An English study looked at 65,000 adults over 7.7 years.   Those who ate more fruits and vegetables lived longer with the greatest benefit seen in those eating seven or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day.    Participants who ate 7 or more fruits and vegetables a day were 42% less like to die than those who ate less than one serving of fruits and vegetables a day.   (Hard to believe there are people eating less than one serving of fruits and vegetable