Eating For Health

Trying to drop a few pounds for summer?   Everyone knows that better nutrition and exercise are good ways to burn off calories and drop some pounds.   But are there some easy tips that can enhance weight loss?   Sometimes it is stress that is adding pounds, especially to our stomach area.   How?   According to Dr. David Greuner from New York City Surgical Associates, when we are stressed our bodies produce more cortisol.   This causes our blood sugar to rise and our bodies to store more fat.   Not a good picture. So reducing stress may help reduce those inches around your midsection.   What are some tips to try to lose a few pounds or to keep that weight off?   1. Kitchens – keeping healthy snacks handy is one way to be sure you are eating healthier.   Researchers have studied snacking behaviors in cluttered kitchens and in a more organized, standard kitchen.   They found people ate more cookies in a cluttered kitchen.   So maybe straightening the kitchen counters and putting out

What foods should we eat together?   How do some foods help our health when eaten together?   Environmental Nutrition has an interesting article on Food Synergy Boosts Nutrition .   What food combos should you eat together to boost your nutrition? 1. Add some fat to your salads – so many times we hear, “cut the fat” out of our diets.   Yes, we should cut the fried food but healthy fats we need to add to our diet.   Especially when we are eating salads.   a.        SALAD + FAT – forget the fat-free salad dressing and reach for reduced fat or full fat dressing.   Why?   Salads, such as mixed spring salad mix are loaded with vitamins like vitamin A, E, K and folate.   They are also loaded with antioxidants. To best absorb these healthy nutrients, we need some fat in the meal.   A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that some fat on your salad improved absorption of antioxidants like lutein and the vitamins A,E,K and beta-carotene.   Not surprising since t

Fast Food anyone?   Who doesn’t like an Egg McMuffin for breakfast or some grilled chicken at KFC?   Or, a good Subway sandwich and chips?   Can you enjoy Fast Food and still be healthy?   Registered Dietitian, Christy Brissette, has some easy rules to follow for Fast Food.   Her motto is the 80:20 rule.   At least 80% of the time, eat healthy.   Less than 20% of the time, “treat yourself” and enjoy some junk food.   Brissette wrote that a client asked her, “How often can I get away with eating junk food?”   She has given this advice to many of her clients and found that it worked well even with chronic dieters.   You have met these folks.   People who are always “on a diet” and then have one cookie or a Fast Food meal and they have “blown” their diet.   Learning to eat healthy and enjoying “treats” is a way to learn healthier eating habits and get off the on-again, off-again dieting spiral.   Brissette notes that once her clients who are on these “forever” diets are allowed some