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Four Veggies That Deserve More Love
Tweet Share on Facebook February 28, 2013 CommentThese days, the fact that so many fruits and veggies are dubbed "superfoods" makes you wonder if a food that isn't considered super is even worth eating. As a fighter for the underdog—one who roots for the Mets instead of the Yankees—I'm here to tell you about the many vegetables that deserve more recognition.
Peas. I'm not sure how this happened, but many of my patients think peas shouldn't be eaten because they're too high in calories. (For the record, cooked peas have 62.5 calories per ½ cup serving.) What my patients don't realize is that one serving of peas is loaded with more than 4 grams of fiber and protein each, which is more than many other vegetables. Peas are also an excellent source of vitamins C and K, as well as folate, iron, niacin, potassium, and zinc. They're also packed with phytonutrients, including flavanols, phenolic acids, and carotenoids.
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How to Take a Stand Against Junk Food
Tweet Share on Facebook February 27, 2013 CommentClearly, I pressed on a raw, sugar-coated, nerve last week.
To briefly reiterate, it seems we've somehow allowed our society to get to the point where we've so normalized the constant provision of candy and junk to children that questioning this new normal is more often than not taken as an attack. Sometimes it's portrayed as a personal attack on the individual providing the candy. Sometimes it's portrayed as an attack on civil liberties. And sometimes it's portrayed as an attack on the joy and fun of childhood.
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Envisioning an End to the Gluten-Free Diet?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 26, 2013 CommentEach time a patient newly diagnosed with Celiac Disease comes to me for counseling on the gluten-free diet, I can see the mental gears turning as his or her new reality sets in. Inevitably, the question arises: "Will I never be able to eat gluten again?"
On the record, I repeat the party line: A strict, gluten-free diet for life is the only treatment to manage Celiac disease. For many patients, this restricted diet is a small price to pay for relief from often-debilitating symptoms that may have plagued them for years before diagnosis. But for others, the prospect of life without a good New York bagel, a flaky croissant, or a slice of pizza from their favorite neighborhood joint is a very tough pill to swallow.
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How Too Little Sleep Affects How We Eat
Tweet Share on Facebook February 26, 2013 CommentMost of us know, all too well, that losing even a little bit of sleep can sap us of energy and make us feel far less productive in all that we do. But emerging research suggests that too little sleep may also affect the food choices we make and how much we eat and potentially contribute to excess intake and eventual obesity.
[See How to Stop Sabotaging Your Health]
Although researchers are still trying to figure out how inadequate sleep relates to food preferences and eating habits, some lab studies have found that shorter sleep was associated with greater hunger—especially for high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods—lower levels of leptin (a feel-full hormone), and higher levels of ghrelin (the hunger hormone).
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Nutrition Myths and Common Sense
Tweet Share on Facebook February 25, 2013 CommentBamboo is notoriously poor in nutritional value. And yet, it is not only adequate sustenance for giant pandas, it is the one and only food they can eat. Were there no bamboo, there would be no giant pandas—at least not as we know them.
Similarly, eucalyptus leaves would make a very poor dietary choice for a human being marooned on a desert island. We couldn't hope to survive on them. But koalas do, and they couldn't survive on anything else.
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A Dietitian's Lunch: Chicken and Mozzarella Salad
Tweet Share on Facebook February 25, 2013 CommentHappy Monday, everyone! Can you believe that February is almost over? It's been so cold and gloomy that I'm sure most of us can appreciate that spring is less than a month away. Mondays are a little like spring. They're each week's new beginning, when we can forgive and forget any weekend slip-ups and get back on track with our healthy habits. Many of us fall into that cycle of amping up our health habits at the beginning of the new week, month, season, or year. But why wait until then to be the best you? Make a commitment to your health now. That's my challenge for you all today and during this last week of February: Make new goals, or revisit to the resolutions you set out to conquer on January 1. And don't forget that we're in this together!
Follow this blog, in which I describe what members of my nutrition practice, Nutritious Life, are bringing to lunch. Hopefully, you'll love our delicious and filling foods, and be surprised at just how easy it can be to eat healthfully all year long.
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Women and Heart Disease: Prevention May Be the Cure
Tweet Share on Facebook February 21, 2013 CommentIf you knew you could have stopped that balsamic vinegar from splattering on your favorite white sweater, would you have done something to prevent it from happening? And if you knew you were going to drive into a pothole, causing your tire to go flat, would you have taken a different route? I'm sure you also wish your child had moved the toy he tripped over so that he wouldn't have hurt his knee.
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Why Is Everyone Always Giving My Kids Junk Food?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2013 CommentI have three lovely little girls who range in age from 3 to 8. All three go to school, participate in organized, after-school activities, enjoy birthday parties and play dates, and have a cadre of friends. And everywhere they go, they're being smothered with junk.
Last week my 3-year-old's pre-school had a "color war." An email sent to parents explained that there would be a fruit snack and "a treat of course." It's not so much the treat that's the problem, it's the "of course."
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The Oscars: A Starlet-Approved (Healthy) Red Carpet Menu
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2013 CommentLet's be honest, the Oscars are the female equivalent of the Super Bowl. Women get just as excited about the Academy Awards as men do about the biggest day in football. We invite our friends over, serve special food and drinks, and speculate at length about the winners. There's even a pre-game show: Red carpet coverage starts at 4:30 p.m. (and some fashion news will start even earlier)—a full four hours before the actual awards show begins at 8:30 p.m. EST.
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Confessions of a Dietitian With a Muffin Top
Tweet Share on Facebook February 19, 2013 CommentDietitians face a major occupational hazard: the underlying pressure to remain a model of good health and fitness. After all, you probably wouldn't trust a dentist with bad teeth, or a mechanic with a jalopy. Would you trust a dietitian with a muffin top?
Of course, we dietitians are people, too. Occasionally, we also get too busy to squeeze in our "nine a day" of fruits and veggies. Some of us are mothers whose childcare obligations make a regular gym commitment difficult to manage and whose post-baby bodies are quite worse for the wear. After a long day at work or at home with our kids, we're equally tempted to plop down on the couch and eat dinner in front of the TV, even though we know that's a recipe for disaster. And so it shouldn't surprise anyone to learn that once in a while, we dietitians may find ourselves a few pounds over our own goal weights—or several hours under our weekly exercise targets.
