Eating For Health

Now that Thanksgiving is over, you may be enjoying some leftovers like pumpkin pie or some sweet potato casserole.   Fall is a great time to enjoy some fall foods and many of these foods, like pumpkin, are loaded with good nutrition.    Pumpkin – a very healthy, nutritious food.   So, enjoy that pumpkin pie or pumpkin pudding.   Pumpkin is loaded with beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.   The beta-carotene gives pumpkin its orange coloring. Beta-carotene is super healthy as it helps prevent cancer, protects against asthma and for older folks helps reduce the risk of getting macular degeneration.   Additionally, pumpkin adds fiber to your day and many Americans aren’t getting enough fiber.   Besides pie, there are many other ways to enjoy pumpkin: pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, and some even make pumpkin pancakes.   WebMD has a great article, 6 Surprising Health Benefits of Pumpkin .   These include: Weight loss – because pumpkin provides fiber, it helps slow digestion and ke

Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving?   All those delicious foods to eat.   What are some tips to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast and leftovers without adding those extra pounds?   Not easy since food is so plentiful and so tasty.   Not a day to be on a diet but a day we can enjoy every bite but not gain a lot as a result.   A couple of years ago I blogged about enjoying a guilt-free Thanksgiving.   How can you make some slight modifications in your Thanksgiving feast and still enjoy a tasty meal? What are some suggestions for enjoying all the food but not tip the scales days later? Consumer Reports wrote an article :   “Good to the Last Gobble” in which they outlined how many calories Americans eat at the Thanksgiving feast.   They cite the Calorie Control Council (who knew there was such a Council?) that says we consume 4,500 calories or more at our Thanksgiving feast.   That is a lot of calories for one meal, especially since our daily calorie intake should be between 1600 – 2000 for adult w

Everyone has a salt shaker in their home.   For years this shaker was filled with Morton’s salt.   Everyone used Morton’s salt.   Then sea salt seemed to be popular.   Now the rage seems to be “pink salt”.   It has been around for a while. Apparently Trader Joe’s started selling pink salt in 2009.   If you read the label, most pink salt seems to branded as coming from the Himalayas in Pakistan.   However, one source said it comes from just south of the actual Himalayas in Pakistan.   There are lots of health claims for using sea salt and pink salt in place of Morton’s salt.   What salt should people use?   What is the benefit of using Morton’s Salt? One reason to use Morton’s salt is to get enough iodine. If you look at a package of Morton’s salt you will see the words: “Iodized salt.   This salt supplies iodide, a necessary nutrient.”     Why is iodine added to Morton’s salt?   Someone asked the Mayo Clinic , “I rarely use salt anymore when cooking.   Instead, I like to use sea s

So many people are now at home and more people are cooking at home.   This can be good for your health.   When you are preparing food for yourself and your family, what cooking oil are you using?   Just like most things in nutrition there are a lot of myths about what cooking oils are good for your health and what cooking oils are not so good.   Why would a person buy a cooking oil that is bad for their heart health?   I noted this before but I was watching a couple in the cooking oil aisle struggling to figure out what cooking oil to buy.   They would pick up a bottle, look at it, talk about it, put it back and then pick up another bottle.   Choosing and buying a healthy cooking oil is not hard.   Here are some tips. One might think most cooking oils are the same.   And they are pretty much the same when it comes to calories and fat content.   But, the type of fat in the oil really makes a difference health wise. Healthy Choices for Cooking Oils     Most experts now recommend oil