Eating For Health

Who doesn’t love some pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or any other time of year?   Fall is a great time to enjoy some fall foods and many of these foods, like pumpkin, are loaded with good nutrition.   I always tell my students to enjoy their pumpkin pie or some pumpkin pudding. Pumpkin – a very healthy, nutritious food.   So, enjoy some pumpkin pie, pumpkin pudding, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, or pumpkin muffins.   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, or enjoy some pumpkin pancakes.   Good information on the surprising heal...

Do you know anyone trying to lose weight?   Have you asked them what weight-loss diet they are on?   Many people look towards fad diets promising quick weight loss.   Some people go on a cleanse diet.   But is that fad diet healthy?   Is the fad diet missing food groups, missing nutrients your body needs?   Watching TV, I heard a newscaster say, “I am going on the Whole30 diet.   I do it every January.”    Sad for her as she is choosing to go on a diet ranked as one of the “Worst Diets” by U.S News & World Report.   Last week we talked about weight loss diets that will help you lose weight and are good for your health including:   Weight Watchers (WW) , the Flexitarian Diet and the Volumetrics Diet .   If you are overweight, losing weight is a good choice.   But you don’t have to choose an unhealthy fad diet to lose weight.   Too many people want a quick fix and then choose diets that are actually bad for their...

Getty Images/TODAY Introduction:   In the nutrition class I teach, students were asked to write a blog post on a nutrition topic.   One of those students, Sophia Cable, wrote an interesting blog post on whole grains.   Students were also asked to conduct some of their own “research” on their nutrition topic and that research is shared in her post.     I welcome Sophia Cable as a guest author for this week’s blog post. Grains are commonly thought of as bread, rice, pasta, and oats.   Many people think that they should not be eating bread daily, or that they should never eat a plate of spaghetti.   This is not true. Foods like this can be very healthy and beneficial to incorporate into your diet.   The only thing is to make sure to choose the healthier options.   You may be asking how can bread or pasta ever be healthy?   The answer is simpler than you would think…choose whole grains.  To gather a little more information abo...