Healthy Cooking for Twelve

My family has a great tradition of getting together every year in North Carolina between Christmas and New Year’s. We catch up on the year’s activities, go for walks, read books that we were given for Christmas, and swim in my grandparents’ pool. But mostly, we eat.

We talk about what we’ll be eating next, we shop for the next meal, we plan for when the next meal will take place, we clean up from the last meal. In the past we would pile into cars and descend upon local restaurants but with mobility becoming more of an issue, these days we mostly take turns cooking. This is made especially challenging by a variety of food allergies, tastes, preferences, and dietary restrictions. There’s a shellfish allergy so severe that it rules out all seafood, several people who don’t eat beef, even more who don’t eat pork, a strong aversion to onions, a person with type 1 diabetes, a low-salt restriction, and a most-of-the-time vegan.

Barley Stew with Leeks, Mushrooms, and Greens

This year I decided to make an exclusively vegetarian meal and used my roommate’s inspiration to go all red and green for the holiday. I started out with this Barley Stew with Leeks, Mushrooms, and Greens recipe from Epicurious (kale! whole grains!), which I doubled, then served stuffed peppers with a side of whole-wheat bread. I love making these peppers because they’re easy to make for a crowd, they’re healthy, and they make a good presentation.

Red and Green Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Whole Grains

Serves 12

Ingredients:

1/2 package whole-wheat orzo (they sell this at Whole Foods but I haven’t seen it anywhere else)

6 large bell peppers, a variety of red and green

2 cucumbers, chopped into tiny cubes

2 containers of grape tomatoes sliced in half

2 cans garbanzo beans, drained

1 container feta cheese

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Salt and pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Boil water and cook the entire package of whole-wheat orzo according to package directions (you can use the rest for leftovers).

Cut peppers in half vertically and remove seeds and white parts. Fill a large dish with a thin layer of water and put peppers facedown in the water. Cover and microwave for 3-4 minutes. You may have to do this in batches depending on how big your microwave is. The peppers should still be firm but soft to the touch. Place steamed peppers face up in a large baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl combine 1/2 of the cooked orzo, all of the chopped tomatoes, the chopped cucumbers, garbanzo beans, and feta. Douse with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper (if your guests will tolerate it) and mix. Fill peppers with the stuffing mixture and bake for 15 minutes. There will be a bowl of the orzo mixture left; place either in the oven or microwave to heat, then place on table so that people can add more orzo mixture to their plate.

Red and Green Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Whole Grains

This recipe is easily customizable; you can add or remove vegetables depending on guests’ preferences, you can change the type of cheese or the grain. How about Southwestern Stuffed Peppers? Just replace the garbanzo beans with black beans, replace the orzo with brown rice, replace the feta with shredded cheddar, and mix some taco seasoning in with the stuffing. Or Greek Stuffed Peppers with feta, Kalamata olives, and couscous? The sky is the limit for this healthy main course.

Airport Eating: Just Plane Healthy

At this time of year I often find myself in airport after airport. I fly home for Thanksgiving (2 flights each way). I fly back home for Christmas (2 flights), then on to visit relatives (2 flights), then back to Boston (only 1 flight!). This year as an added bonus I'm taking a trip a few days after I get back. So as you can imagine that's a lot of mealtimes spent in airports. Sometimes even if you've planned ahead and packed healthy snacks, when you're in an airport you might need to buy a meal or two.

Often the thought of airport (or bus station, or train station) eating brings to mind fast food chains; there may be regional differences, but what it boils (or fries) down to is that it's not hard to get a burger and something fried. It doesn't help that traveling can be a stressful experience and airport providers know that people want comfort food when they're stressed out. Luckily, according to this article in USA Today, airports are slowly beginning to offer healthier choices. In fact, in the Detroit airport, they claim that every single one of their 58 restaurants has at least one low-fat vegetarian option. According to the article, a survey of 15 major U.S. airports found that 83% of restaurants have at least one vegetarian item on the menu — low in fat, high in fiber and good for your heart which is up from 57% a little more than a decade ago.

Last week I was lucky enough to find a low-fat vegetarian meal - with whole grains no less - in two different airports, Boston Logan and Chicago O'Hare. Of course just because airports are allegedly offering healthier options does not mean that they are advertising them out in the open. Sometimes it takes two important skills: sleuthing and imagination. In Boston I asked for a side of brown rice and a side of black beans - add some hot sauce and you're good to go! In Chicago I was delayed so had time to wander around until I found the Argo Tea Cafe which had not one but several whole grain bowls (I had the garden lentil salad with bulgur which was surprisingly filling).

Next time you're in an airport and grabbing food on the go, challenge yourself to see just how healthy you can make it. From Bistro Boxes at Starbucks to sushi or a burrito made with brown rice and vegetables, you might be surprised what you can find if you put your mind to it.

Healthy, Cheap, Easy Last-Minute Gift Idea!

Tis the season for finding last minute presents that are fast, cheap, and leave a lasting impression. I’m sure that the Internet is rife with homemade gift ideas, and here’s another one that fits the above criteria – plus it’s healthy! I got this idea after I made muffins for a brunch on Sunday that called for cornmeal. I got to thinking that I don’t have much use for cornmeal and worried that it might sit unused, like my large bag of white whole-wheat flour has been for a few months. Growing up, we used to sell cookie mixes in my parent’s gift shop that had all of the dry ingredients – just add a few specific things and voila! Cookies. They were sort of like cake mix in really nice packaging.

Homemade Muffin Mix

So this year I decided to make my own muffin mixes to give out as last-minute presents. At a locally-owned hardware store I bought a package of 12 wide-mouth quart-sized Ball canning jars for $9.99. I used the cornmeal and other dry goods I had on hand, and bought some extra cranberries at the grocery store. Here is what to do if you want to make your own:

Mix 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Mix well with a whisk. Pour into a clean quart-sized canning jar. Put 1 1/2 cups of cranberries into a zip-lock bag and place on top of flour mixture in the jar. Close the lid and decorate as desired! Make sure to attach this label so that the recipient knows what to do when they get the gift:

Cranberry Lemon Muffins

Adapted from a recipe from Eating Well.

Ingredients not provided are in bold.

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Whisk 1/2 cup sugar, 3/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt, 1/3 cup canola oil, 1 egg, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a medium bowl.

3. Add yogurt mixture to the provided dry ingredients and fold until almost blended. Gently fold in chopped up cranberries.

4. Divide the batter among 24 mini muffin cups. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon zest in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the tops of the muffins.

5. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Let cool then serve.

Per mini muffin: 93 calories, 3.5g fat, 2g protein, 1.5g fiber.

Healthy Holiday Habits

Now that you've gotten all of your holiday shopping taken care of, it's time to think about holiday parties. Is it possible to eat healthy at a holiday party? Opinions differ, but I've come up with a few tips that I personally plan to follow this holiday season. Have some of your own? Leave them in the comments section, I'd love to hear them!

A little disclaimer about these tips. A lot of them have to do with self-control and willingness on the part of the participant. The tips are for those that want a reminder that it is possible to survive the holidays in a healthy way. If you look forward to cookie and egg-nog fueled parties all year and don't make a habit of overindulging, then enjoy! Just realize that you'll feel better if you practice: (you guessed it!) moderation.

Eat a healthy dinner before you go. Just like with grocery shopping, arriving at a holiday party really hungry can make it difficult to exert self-control. This is one I struggle with personally because I really dislike being hungry - so if I arrive at an event hungry and there aren't healthy options, I'm likely to eat unhealthy food. Make sure your dinner has plenty of veggies to fill you up as well as some healthy fats to keep you full. Which leads me to my next tip...

Bring something healthy. You may remember over the summer when I suggested bringing gazpacho to a barbeque so that you'd have something besides charred meat to enjoy. The same goes for holiday parties. Veggies and hummus are a good option, or if it's more of a dessert and drinks event, try some seasonal fruit like baked apples or spiced pears.

Limit yourself. This is a big self-control tip. If you really want to try all of the delicious goodies, try picking a few that you think you'll enjoy the most and then eating only one of each. It can be helpful to visualize all of the cookies that you plan on eating (or have eaten) either on a plate. As you reach for that sixth cookie, think about whether on a normal day you would really sit down and eat six cookies. Is it worth it? The same goes for alcoholic drinks. Alcohol in it's pure form is 7 calories per gram. I'll let you look up the calories of your favorite beer or cocktail on your own, but it's safe to say that you could easily rack up over 500 calories just by having a couple of drinks (and those calories are not going to fill you up, are likely to become fat once in your body, and may cause you to make unhealthy eating choices later in the night).

These snowmen know how to keep active during the holidays!

Know when you're going to exercise. If you've already scheduled a run for the next morning or you put in an hour at the gym earlier that day, you're more likely to make healthy choices (in my opinion). It's not much fun running with a hangover or having sore abs plus a stomach ache from overeating. I realize it can be hard to carve out time when you're busy planning for parties, so try to challenge yourself. For example, see how many crunches you can do while the cranberry nut bread is baking in the oven. And chances are you'll want to shower before attending the party anyway, so why not get sweaty with a quick workout video before hoping in?

Eat, Drink, and be Active Gift Guide!

Chances are if you’re reading this blog that you know someone besides yourself who likes to eat, drink, and be active. And since the holiday season is upon us, there’s also a chance that you’re in the market for a gift for said person (or persons). Well you’re in luck! Just in time for holiday shopping, it’s the Eat, Drink, and be Active Gift Guide!

Because I was raised within the culture of my parent’s gift shop I’ve been at this for a long time (and loved every second of it, as you can see in this photo).

Please try to buy local for these products if you can, but I've included Amazon links if you're having a hard time finding them.

EAT

This time of year you can barely walk into a national chain or open a catalog without seeing at least one “kitchen” item. You know the ones I mean: the electric donut maker, the magic spaghetti cooker, the hot dog toaster… These gadgets don’t exactly encourage healthy eating (or show class on the part of the gift giver). Here are a few gift ideas for that person on your list who is making an effort to eat healthier this year.

Veggie Steamer – The old metal veggie steamer inserts wouldn't have made much of an inpired-looking gift. But with silicone technology, now the gift of a veggie steamer is a fun, colorful option. Pair it with a few colored silicon spatulas and a complimentary-colored kitchen towel and you’ve got a great gift set. On Amazon: Chef'n SleekStor Veggie Steamer

Knives – It can be hard to want to cook at home more if you’re cooking with dull or old knives. Even the person who has “everything” can benefit from a few new good, quality knives. A good knife makes chopping veggies a breeze. On Amazon: OXO Good Grips Professional Santoku Knife

Lunch Tote – I remember the days when lunch totes came in only less than appealing designs. But these days it can be hard to tell a lunch tote from a designer handbag! That may be a stretch, but bringing your lunch to work is more fun when you have a cute bag and this will prevent you from grabbing fast food or getting your sustenance from the vending machine. On Amazon: Built Neoprene Lunch Totes

DRINK

With new studies coming out every week on the benefits of coffee drinking and red wine consumption (hello phytochemicals!) giving the gift of drinking accoutrements is never a bad idea. Here are some ideas for the wine snob or coffee addict in your life.

French Press Travel Mug – I use my French press every morning and often enjoy the luxury of having 5 minutes to sit down to drink it. However, there are those mornings when I’m running out the door and don’t have the time and what happens then? I spend money on subpar coffee somewhere else. If this sounds like a problem you or someone you know also faces, consider this snazzy French press travel mug. On Amazon: Bodum Travel Coffee Press

Wine Aerator – When I came home a few years ago and my dad was serving wine through this interesting looking contraption I was a bit puzzled. I’d heard of decanters, but this was completely different. It’s much easier to use and faster than decanting wine and you can impress your friends by extolling the benefits of air bubbles in your vino. Pair the aerator with a bottle of red and you’ve got a gift just about anyone would love. On Amazon: Rabbit Wine Aerating Pourer

Electric Water Kettle – The other kitchen appliance that I use the most is my electric water kettle. A staple in most European households, it’s great for making tea or cocoa or even heating up water to cook with. On Amazon: Bodum Electric Water Kettle

BE ACTIVE

I recently went to a Black Friday sale at a locally-owned triathlon store where we got 40% off the entire store for a few hours. It was all I could do not to buy everything in site, just in case I happened to need those $125 compression tights someday. While being active is not something that you necessarily need a lot of gear to do, there is a lot of gear out there. Here are a few of my favorites (without getting too sport or activity specific).

Clif Bars – Full disclosure, I do work for Clif Bar. However, it doesn’t take working for them to know that they’re delicious and in my opinion they make great stocking stuffers.  And, as if they weren’t good enough stocking stuffers on their own, they come in fun seasonal flavors like Iced Gingerbread and Spiced Pumpkin Pie. On Amazon: Clif Bars

The Stick – Anyone who is active probably at some point has sore muscles. While massage gift certificates are one-time use, the Stick is forever. It comes in several sizes and colors and works wonders. Visit their site for retail outlets and ordering information.

Road ID – If you know someone who is active, they should have a Road ID. You customize them to have emergency contact info for those times that you are being active without bringing identification with you. These come in a couple of different colors and styles; I have the one that velcros onto my shoe so I don’t even notice that it’s there (but  always take comfort in the fact that it is). Visit their site for ordering information.

Still stumped? How about creating your own gift certificate for a local CSA share or offering to pay the registration fee for the season’s first race. Or, you could make a donation in someone’s name to a foundation that does good through food or sports like Girls on the Run, Back on My Feet, or a local food bank or pantry. Did you think of something I missed that is a must-have for active people this holiday season? Leave it in the comments section!

Be Thankful! (in Moderation...)

Being thankful is not something that you should limit on any day, especially on Thanksgiving. However, when consuming the celebratory meal that reflects that thankfulness, you may want to consider practicing that lovely word that you may be tired of hearing so often these days: moderation.

It's true that there are ways to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal healthier. You can make green beans without condensed soup. You can make the mashed potatoes with skim milk and garlic instead of cream and butter. You can eat the white turkey meat instead of the dark. You can make stuffing from scratch with whole grain bread, mushrooms, celery, and cranberries instead of from a box (basically refined flour and salt). You can eat pumpkin or sweet potato pie instead of warm, gooey, delicious pecan pie.

But the reality is that Thanksgiving comes but once a year and many people don't want to do Thanksgiving 'lite'. They want all the fixings from the creamy gravy to the browned marshmallow crust on the sweet potatoes. And that's OK to have! That is, as long as you have it in moderation. But don't just take my word for it. Let's look at a possible scenario...

You wake up on Thanksgiving morning and eat breakfast. Then you watch the parade and cook for several hours (tasting dishes along the way or snacking on appetizers). Then you sit and eat dinner for a couple of hours and then sit and watch football for another several hours. Then you either go to sleep or head for the mall to sit in line waiting for black Friday sales to begin.

The person that I've described probably burned around 2,000 calories that day being mostly sedentary. The Calorie Control Council estimates that the average Thanksgiving dinner contains 3,000 calories. First of all, eating that much in one sitting is going to make you feel very uncomfortable (if you've ever felt like you were going to explode after eating, you know what I mean). Plus, that is 1,000 extra calories that their body does not need and cannot use at the moment. Assuming that the extra calories are a mixture of carbohydrates, protein, and fat, guess what it will all turn into once you've eaten it? FAT. Extra fat stored in the body equals extra weight which is a heck of a lot harder to get rid of than it was to put on.

This Thanksgiving, the choice is yours: healthy portion control even if the dishes aren't as healthy as they could be, or reckless abandon complete with stomach ache and more fat stores. Whatever your choice, I hope you're able to spend the holiday relaxing with family or loved ones. And don't forget (after you've done all of the eating and drinking) to be active!

I'll leave you with a scene from my family's Thanksgiving morning five years ago:

Decoding DRIs

In the world of nutrition it can be hard to remember how much of what you need to be eating on a daily basis. Add to that confusing abbreviations and the whole absorption issue and many are left scratching their heads. If you’re one of those people, you’re not alone. It can even be hard for those of us in (or soon to be in) the profession of nutrition to keep track of it all!

Here’s a quick guide to some abbreviations you may see for suggested intakes of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals:

DRI – Dietary Reference Intake. This is based on gender and age group for people living in North America. The following abbreviations all fall under the category of DRIs.

EAR – Estimated Average Requirement. By figuring out the EAR for a nutrient, half of the population will be getting enough of it and half won’t be getting enough. That’s why this is rarely used as a recommendation and is instead used to figure out the RDA.

RDA – Recommended Dietary Allowance. This is the EAR plus 2 standard deviations, which makes it so that 98% of people will be getting enough of the nutrient.

AI – Adequate Intake. This is used as a measure for nutrients when there is no known EAR and is based on known amounts that people can handle of a specific nutrient.

UL – Upper Tolerable Limit. Most people will have adverse affects when consuming a nutrient above this amount. There is an UL set for some vitamins (for example) when a large amount could cause toxicity, but many others have no UL because excess amounts will have no effect.

So let's look at calcium. The recommendation for adults is 1,000 mg/day. That means that your body needs 1,000 mg of calcium each day in order to do important things like rebuild bone which helps prevent osteoporosis. Right? Wrong. The recommendation takes into account a little thing called absorption. Your body does not treat all nutrients equally; some are absorbed better than others. Your body actually only needs 300 mg of calcium each day. But the rate of calcium absorption is around 30% (this is called the bioavailability) so the recommendation accounts for that, saving us all from doing lots and lots of math each time we plan a meal! And what happens to the other 700 mg of calcium that you're consuming each day? In one end, out the other...

Whole Grains for Life

If you pay attention to current nutrition recommendations, you may have heard that you should be eating more whole grains. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released this past winter, say that at least half of the grains that you eat should be whole. I personally attempt to do this by cooking and eating only whole grains when I'm at home. It can be such a challenge to find whole grains in a restaurant (save for the occasional offer of brown rice, which will often cost you extra money) that I figure whole grains at home is a good attempt to balance that out. My friend and teammate Stephanie recently passed along this article where Michael Pollan answers reader's questions. Someone asked "what is the single best food we all should be eating every day?" and he responded (in more words than this): "whole grains." So why should you want to eat more whole grains? In brief, they're less processed than refined grains and contain healthy fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They've been shown to help with weight maintenance and provide a lowered risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of attending a gluten-free culinary summit where a woman from the Whole Grains Council spoke. I was surprised to hear that there was such a thing, and even more surprised to learn about a bunch of whole grains I'd never even heard of! (Teff anyone?) The council has lots of information and recipes on their website, and they make it easier for consumers to purchase products that contain whole grains by putting this stamp onto products:

Yes, there are products out there that are whole grain that don't have the stamp, but it's a good place to start if you're unsure (click here for a full list of stamped products). Also, when purchasing wheat products, be careful - it needs to say in the ingredient list "whole wheat flour" not just "wheat flour." It might be brown and it might say "wheat bread" but if the first ingredient is "unbleached enriched wheat flour" then it's not made from whole grains.

Lest you think that whole grains are limited to brown rice and whole-wheat flour, here's a list of whole grains (the gluten-free grains have an *):
Amaranth*
Barley
Buckwheat*
Bulgur
Corn*
Farro
Kamut
Millet*
Oats* (gluten-free when certified that they have not been cross-contaminated)
Quinoa*
Rice (brown)*
Rye
Sorghum*
Spelt
Teff*
Triticale
Wheat
Wild Rice*

So, go whip up a batch of buckwheat pancakes, have a snack of rye crackers with low-fat cheese, enjoy a lunch of quinoa salad with beets and goat cheese, and finish the day off with a bowl of mushroom barley soup and a berry crumble made with oats and you'll be well on your way to living a healthy, whole-grain lifestyle!

Happy Halloween!

While hosting my annual pumpkin carving party the other night, one of the guests inquired about the nutritional value of the delicious toasted pumpkin seeds that I was serving. I made an educated guess that they're high in fiber (when you eat them whole with the white part still on, not the green pepitas that you can buy at a grocery store) and protein, but wasn't exactly sure about the nutritional breakdown.

Delicious toasted pumpkin seeds!

Questions like that are a great reason to do some research! Turns out that I was definitely right about the protein; a quarter cup of seeds has almost 8.5 grams of protein, which is 17% of your daily value (approximately). However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend eating a quarter cup of pumpkin seeds on a daily basis (first of all, that would be a lot of pumpkins to carve, even for those of us who love to carve pumpkins) because they are pretty high in fat. That quarter cup contains 25% of your daily fat allotment (again, approximately) which is a mix of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated, with most of the polyunsaturated comprised of omega-6 (rather than omega-3s which you may have heard are super duper good for you). BUT! It's not all bad news. In addition to being little protein power houses and a decent source of dietary fiber, pumpkin seeds contain healthy doses of magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and vitamin K. So as with all tasty treats this holiday season, enjoy them, just do it in moderation.

Kat's Protein Powerhouse Pumpkin Seeds
At least 3 pumpkins
Olive oil
Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Carve several pumpkins. This works best if you have a party! Or a family.
2. Separate the "guts" from the seeds. Discard guts. Rinse seeds in a colander.
3. Spread seeds on a cookie sheet and place in the oven for around 10 minutes to dry off a bit from the rinsing.
4. Remove from oven and douse in olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
5. Return to oven. Cooking time will vary depending on how wet they are and how crowded the seeds are on the pan, so check them every 5 or 10 minutes and remove them when they're slightly brown and look dry (see photo above). Enjoy!

Source of nutritional info: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=117

Today is FOOD DAY!

But you knew that already, right? Maybe not. Well, it appears that 2011 marks the inaugural national Food Day, which is sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Here is the blurb from the website:

Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. We will work with people around the country to create thousands of events in homes, schools, churches, farmers markets, city halls, and state capitals.

Healthy affordable food produced in a sustainable humane way?? Sign me up! Visit the website, www.foodday.org, to find out what Food Day events are happening in your community. Not the organized get-together type? Celebrate on your own by making sure that all of your meals today are made from "real" food. It'll taste better, be better for the environment, and make you feel better in the long run. Happy Food Day 2011!

Has Vegan Gone Mainstream?

I'll be honest, it's getting harder and harder to pick topics to write about - not for lack of topics, but because I am constantly being bombarded with new information and studies; in school, in my inbox, and in the mainstream news. Every day I see at least a couple of things that I think to myself "I should blog about that!" but then something else takes my attention away and much as I try to make a mental note to come back to it, sometimes that doesn't happen.

I think it's best to just sit back and absorb all of the information and then let topics align themselves into a posting.... sort of like today when I realized that I'd been immersed in information about veganism.

Being vegan is like, totally hip now.

Last week I finally got a chance to watch the documentary Forks Over Knives which details how a vegetable-focused diet can prevent (and improve) many chronic diseases. The next night I went to an upscale vegan restaurant in Somerville, True Bistro and at my roommate's suggestion tried the delicious cornmeal-crusted oyster mushrooms with horseradish and dill aoli. Today I spent time researching whether or not children can benefit from a vegetarian diet for a lab report (they can).

Yet, when I read on CNN.com just now that veganism is "officially mainstream" I had to stop and think. To me, a health conscious, active, nutrition student, a vegan diet is something that I'm extremely familiar with (though I don't follow it myself). But is it really possible that cutting out meat and dairy products has become mainstream? Would you be able to find a single restaurant in say, Alabama, that would be happy, willing, and able to provide a nutritious vegan meal? I'm doubtful, but hopefully nonetheless.

What do you think? Will we see the day when a vegan has not one, but several options on the menus of restaurants across the globe?

Denmark's New Fat Tax

You may have heard the news that Denmark recently imposed a "fat tax" where they will be taxing foods which contain more than 2.3% saturated fat. That means a tax on every single food item that contains saturated fat, including meat and butter and milk. According to one article, the money raised will fund obesity-fighting measures. (For two British viewpoints check out this Guardian article and this Telegraph article.)

When I first heard about this, my initial thought was 'why Denmark?' Danish people tend to be pretty healthy in general. When I was there this summer I was talking about nutrition with our friend who is a doctor. I mentioned that the US had the 5-a-day campaign for fruits and vegetables - and she mentioned Denmark's 6-a-day suggestion. Cities around the US are just now starting to have bike sharing programs and hyping the importance of sharing the road with bikes. In Denmark you're hard pressed to find a street that doesn't have a bike lane and most towns have at least one enormous bike parking area complete with free air pumps for your tires. According to Telegraph article, less than 10% of Danes are obese. According to the CDC, 33.8% of American adults and 17% of American children are obese.

While there are likely a slew of political reasons why Denmark of all countries has decided to impose this tax, it feels a little bit like they're taking one for the team (the team in this case being all other countries that have an obesity issue). Other European countries are definitely taking note, and perhaps America should as well. I'm often frustrated by the fact that there doesn't seem to be one logical place to start solving this problem in the states (especially since a lot of unhealthy foods are subsidized by the government and backed by lobbyists). However, I think that taxing saturated fat would at least a more logical place to start than taxing soda as has been suggested by various people and publications. At least putting a tax on something like saturated fat indicates to the public that they should be consuming less of that specific nutrient. Picking a specific product like soda could send the message that as long as you're not drinking soda, you're being healthy. With processed foods full of chemical additives lining grocery store shelves, soda is just one of many products that people would be healthier living without.

The $5 Meal Challenge: Part II

As I mentioned in a previous post, this past Saturday I took part in the $5 Challenge presented by Slow Food USA. I love all of the conversations I've had with people about the goal, the message, the challenges, etc and thanks to everyone who came over for dinner! I had a total of 10 people, so my budget was $50. I did not take into consideration things like olive oil and flour which I already had on hand. However, there was so much food left over that in all likelihood people ate for more like $3 per person even if you figure in the olive oil!

In case you're curious, or you'd like to try this yourself, here is what was on the menu:

When people arrived: 

Bread with two different dipping choices, olive oil and vinegar or olive oil with Parmesan cheese and cracked pepper

 

Main course:

Vegan eggplant and tomato stew

Corn on the cob

Creamy spinach

Roasted potatoes, carrots, and onions (all from the farmer's market) seasoned with salt, pepper, and thyme

2 whole roast chickens, flavored with garlic and fresh rosemary

Dessert:

Whole wheat biscuits with strawberries and whipped cream

Not too shabby for fifty bucks, right? Here's how I did it...
The veggies: All of the fresh veggies were from the farmer's market. I got what was cheap - for example, eggplants are in season and only cost $1. The tomatoes in the eggplant stew were canned and the spinach in the creamy spinach (as well as the strawberries in the dessert) was frozen.
The chickens: Were on sale for 99¢ per pound. If I wasn't on a budget I could've taken into consideration things like cage-free or free-range, but that's not a luxury that a lot of people have.
The most expensive items: Probably the capers for the eggplant stew and the fresh rosemary for the chickens.
The nutritiousness of it: The meal altogether was pretty healthy when you consider how many vegetables were served. However, the chickens were whole and therefore not altogether a lean protein. The spinach was made creamy by using non-fat plain yogurt and the biscuits were made with 100% whole wheat flour.
The recipes: I used this roasted chicken recipe, this whole wheat biscuit recipe and the rest were things I'd either made before or just experimented with.
The best part: That night (at one guest's suggestion) I made chicken stock with the remaining bones. The next day I made chicken noodle soup using the stock and some left over chicken; today I made chicken salad. And there is STILL more chicken in my refrigerator!

The photos:

Starting things off nice and classy with bread and oil for dipping.

The full spread.

Note to self: next time start making stock immediately after dinner, not at 11:00pm.

What went wrong: Yes, things do go wrong. For example, you could spend the better part of the morning roasting, peeling, and chopping beets. And then drop the bowl.

Sad beets.

Thanks again to everyone who made the evening (and the leftovers!) a huge success. I think we proved extremely well that a $5 meal can taste must better, and be much better for you, than a fast food burger or sandwich.

New Healthy Eating Plate

General consensus when the USDA switched from the pyramid to the plate in suggesting what Americans should be eating was that it was an easier to understand image. The previous rainbow pyramid with the figure walking up the side to represent being active didn't exactly inspire anyone. However, I thought that the new plate image didn't go quite far enough in suggesting healthy eating options. Luckily, I wasn't the only one who had that thought! Harvard School of Public Health has unveiled their Healthy Eating Plate to make it even more clear what healthy choices people should be making when they sit down to dinner:

Copyright © 2011, Harvard University. For more information about The Healthy Eating Plate, please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, www.thenutritionsource.org, and Harvard Health Publications, health.harvard.edu

What do you think? Will the change from "protein" to "healthy protein" along with suggestions of what those proteins should be help people eat healthier, more balanced meals? Will the fact that potatoes and french fries don't count as a vegetable scare people away at first glance? I'm curious to see what, if any, affect this new healthy plate will have. I know I've got my fingers crossed that healthier meals will result!

The $5 Challenge: Part I

A couple of weeks ago someone posted on facebook about the $5 Challenge sponsored by Slow Food USA. Here is the challenge, from the website:

THE CHALLENGE: This September 17, you're invited to take back the 'value meal' by getting together with family, friends and neighbors for a slow food meal that costs no more than $5 per person. Cook a meal with family and friends, have a potluck, or find a local event.

WHY: Because slow food shouldn't have to cost more than fast food. If you know how to cook, then teach others. If you want to learn, this is your chance. Together, we're sending a message that too many people live in communities where it's harder to buy fruit than Froot Loops. Everybody should be able to eat fresh, healthy food every day.

I completely agree with this theory - that fresh food should not cost more than processed foods. [Sidenote: we had an interesting conversation in one of my classes the other day about the fact that while processed foods might be cheaper to purchase in a store, they actually end up costing more due to the price of health care (because the foods might contribute towards chronic illnesses such as diabetes) as well as the cost to the environment. But more on that some other time.] So, I decided to host a small dinner party with the idea that I would make sure that each serving costs only $5; partly because I really enjoy cooking when there is a challenge attached and partly because I just like hosting get-togethers!

As I considered what to make for the dinner, some obvious options came to mind: pasta is extremely inexpensive, as are many frozen vegetables and dry beans. However, it's still summer (barely) and the farmer's markets are still in full swing so I decided to go there for inspiration. I overheard someone say the other day "I can't afford to shop at farmer's markets." I can see that - sometimes produce can be pricey when it hasn't been flown in from another country (which is crazy, but again, more on that some other day). Since I was on a budget, I decided to just go, purchase whatever seemed in season (at a farmer's market you can often tell what is most in season by what is cheapest), and figure it out from there. Here is what I purchased today, for a total of $15...

4 ears of corn, 2 giant eggplant, 4 pounds of potatoes, 4 onions, a bunch of carrots, and a bunch of beets

Check back next week to see what I ended up making with this bounty (your guess is as good as mine at this point)! And consider this challenge as you cook dinner on Saturday night. Even if you don't sign up through the challenge website, it's good to think about the fact that a $5 meal doesn't have to come in a box or takeout container.

Functional Frozen Foods

I had the wonderful opportunity a little while ago to spend a week with my grandparents in North Carolina. My grandfather injured his back and is on bed rest, so I figured I'd go down and see if I could help out at all. Of course most of what I was offering to do was cook and shop, two things that I thoroughly enjoy doing under almost any circumstance!

It can be hard to know exactly what to do when offering help in a situation like that, so when I got there I analyzed the situation. My grandfather was the one who usually did the grocery shopping, so I knew that fresh produce wasn't something that was coming in regularly. I also found that my grandmother, in having to deal with constant phone calls to doctors, nurses, pharmacies and such, was not always able to find the time to prepare a balanced meal for herself.

Apple muffins made with whole wheat flour and pumpkin puree

My plan of action: fill the freezer with delicious, nutritious food. I flipped through The Everything Freezer Meals Cookbook (Everything Series), which it just so happens I edited when I worked at Adams Media. There are lots of great recipes in the book that you can freeze and then pop into the oven to cook for a family. However, I knew that what I needed was recipes that I could freeze in single serving sizes and that would reheat easily (no cooking necessary besides thawing or reheating) so I focused on those recipes that were easily adaptable. I also made sure to sit down and talk with my grandmother before making any of the recipes to make sure that it was something that she would enjoy. Of course this isn't always an option if you're bringing food to help someone you don't know that well, but checking ahead of time for food allergies, or making something that does not contain most of the major allergens (nuts, fish, milk) can be a good idea.

Most recipes can translate to single serving sizes and freezing. Make sure to write on the outside of the frozen bag/container what is in it, the main ingredients, the date that it was prepared, and how it should be thawed or reheated. That way if someone other than the original recipient of the food is preparing it, they can know whether or not they can eat it (if they have allergies) and how to serve it.

Making someone food in a time of need is a great way to help. Giving someone frozen food is a good way to ensure that your help will last longer than a day or two. And making sure that what you give them is healthy is the best way of all to help - because stressful situations can be harmful to the immune system, making sure that the food you bring has fruits and/or veggies can be extra beneficial!

Eating = Love?

There are very few websites that I check regularly, but Hungry For Change is one of them. A recent post got me thinking. The article, called The Recipe for Love? Similar Eating Habits, is about vegetarian (or vegan, or "veg-curious") speed dating in Berkeley, California.

Ok, so obviously if you have the same eating habits it can make things easier in a relationship - not having to cook two different things each night or make concessions for one person or the other when meal planning. And, presumably, if you're both vegetarian or vegan you both care a lot about either your health or the environment or animal cruelty (you get the picture).

But I think the recipe for love may go even beyond that, to eating preferences. I've been on a slew of dates recently where the topic of food has come up in the getting-to-know-you conversation. One guy said he can't handle spicy food. Which makes me think of all of the amazing heat-fueled dishes we'll never share. Another greatly dislikes cilantro. Which makes me imagine eating salsa and gazpacho and pesto - alone. The real kicker though, came when someone told me that he doesn't like Thai food (or other Asian cuisines). Is it wrong that Thai food is so much a part of my life that I decided right then and there that we had no future together?

In introductory nutrition classes you learn that a person's eating habits are based on social, religious, cultural, environmental, economic, and political factors. So really it's no surprise that, if what you like to eat stems from all of those factors, you'd be drawn to someone who likes to eat what you like to eat. Which is why I think maybe the next advent of speed dating should be based on food preferences instead of eating habits. I'd definitely go to a speed dating event at my local favorite Thai restaurant. Heck, I'd probably be there anyway, digging into a steaming bowl of spicy, cilantro-laden deliciousness.

Guest Post! Dynamic Stretches for your Adductors

Your adductors are the muscles in the groin area of your legs that are tight in most people.  Groin pulls are a common injury that can result from a tight muscle and insufficient preparation for activity.

Two stretches that will improve the length in your adductors and prepare the tissue for exercise are the kneeling adductor mobilization and the lateral lunge.  To make a dynamic stretching routine pick (1) ankle mobility stretch, (1) hamstring stretch, and (1) adductor stretch.

Kneeling Adductor Mobilitization – perform 12 times each side

You will feel this stretch in the groin area of the straightened leg.  For a deep stretch, rock back as far as possible.

Lateral Lunge – perform 8 times each side

Keep your toes pointed straight and push your butt back as far as possible in this stretch.  Hold the down position for 2 seconds and then switch to the other side.

-Chris

Chris works at the Boston Sports Club in Westborough, MA as a personal trainer where he helps clients with goals ranging from weight loss to athletic performance.  He graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in May 2010 with a BS in Kinesiology.  Chris is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).  In the fall of 2010, he completed his internship in the Rehabilitative Services department at the Fallon Clinic in Worcester, MA.  During his senior year, Chris worked as a Manager and Personal Trainer at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Residential Wellness Centers.

How Do You Meet the Moment?

Full disclosure: I work for Clif Bar. I also love the products, and the company. They're all about staying true to who they are (as in, not selling out to a big corporation), treating the environment well, giving back to the community, and of course, making delicious, nutritious bars. So, I'm obviously a huge fan of something they've got going right now called Meet the Moment. The idea behind this campaign is for people to share how they "meet the moment" by uploading a photo and adding text to it in order to inspire others. And, as if that wasn't already pretty cool, they donate $5 to your selected charity when you upload your first photo. So, what are you waiting for? Share your Meet the Moment here.

Need inspiration? Here's mine (might look familiar!):

Guest Post! Dynamic Stretching for the Hamstrings

Get off your butt and stretch your hamstrings!  When we are seated, our hamstrings are stuck in a shortened position, which leads to a great tightness in the back of our legs.  You might even be so tight that the closest to touching your toes is just past your kneecaps.

Well, what have you been doing about it?

Your hamstrings are responsible for flexing your knee and extending your hip.  If they are so tight that you cannot come close to touching your toes, chances are you are also a poor runner.  Tight hamstrings significantly shorten the length of your running stride.

Use dynamic stretches to get some length in those hamstrings!

My two favorite dynamic stretches for the hamstrings are the inchworm and squat-to-stand.  Pick one of the ankle mobility stretches and then pick one of the following stretches for your hamstrings.

Inchworm – perform 5 times

In the inchworm you get the added benefit of a calf stretch and you are working your abdominals too when you reach out your arms.  The stretch starts with your feet together and you reaching down to touch your toes.  Walk your hands out slowly as far as you can while keeping your feet flat for as long as possible.  Once your arms are fully extended, slowly inch your feet back to your hands, and get your heels on the ground as soon as possible.

Squat-to-Stand – perform 6 times

This stretch is great for stretching the hamstrings and for improving hip mobility.  Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart and toes pointed slightly outward.  Curl your toes up and reach your hands under your toes, keeping your knees straight.  Then, sit down into the stretch and get your butt as close to the ground as you can.  Keep your arms inside your legs and push your knees outward with your elbows so you get a stretch in your adductors (groin).  Keep your head up with good posture and do not shrug your shoulders…relax them!

-Chris

Chris works at the Boston Sports Club in Westborough, MA as a personal trainer where he helps clients with goals ranging from weight loss to athletic performance.  He graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in May 2010 with a BS in Kinesiology.  Chris is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).  In the fall of 2010, he completed his internship in the Rehabilitative Services department at the Fallon Clinic in Worcester, MA.  During his senior year, Chris worked as a Manager and Personal Trainer at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Residential Wellness Centers.

How Your Brain Affects What You Eat

I recently attended a nutrition symposium presented by the Harvard Medical School called "Your Brain Can Help You Eat Better." The sessions were all extremely interesting and each warrant their own post, but in the meantime I wanted to give a brief summary of a few things that I got out of some of the talks that I was able to attend. Hopefully they'll give you something to think about next time you reach for that large bowl or consider whether or not you really have time to exercise...

Primary Obesity: Automatic Effects of Food Marketing presented by Jennifer Harris, PhD, MBA

Take away: During studies done at Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity they discovered that when food advertisements were shown to kids during a TV show, the kids ate 45% more. Adults shown snack ads also ate more. Seeing food ads caused people not just to eat more during the show that they were watching, but after as well. Pre-schoolers were given the exact same food; one from a package with a cartoon character and one in a plain package. They thought that the one coming from the package with the character tasted better.

Thought for Food: How Imagined Consumption Reduces Actual Consumption presented by Carey Morewedge, PhD

Take away: Imagined consumption reduces actual consumption. People who imagined consuming 30 M+Ms (one by one) then ate fewer M+Ms than those who imagined eating either three or none at all. Thinking about something like a spider can cause the same affect in your body as actual seeing it in person; the same is true with food, if you think about the look, taste, and smell it can have a similar affect (in your brain) as eating it, so you'll then actually consume less.

Effects of Exercise on Brain and Cognitive Function presented by Kirk Erickson, PhD

Take away: Exercise, even modest amounts, and even if you don't start until later in life, can:

• increase brain volume (even after just 6 months!)
• improve cognitive function
• increase functional connectivity
• increase brain perfusion
• improve task-evoked brain function

The more fit the person, the greater the volume of the hippocampus. However, the exercise must be aerobic (vs stretching/toning). There is not yet a good understanding of why the brain is getting bigger.

A Limited Resource Model of Self-Control: Implications for Eating Better presented by Kathleen D. Vohs, PhD

Take away: The more you use self-control in one situation, the less self-control you have left in the next situation. For example, if you're told to suppress emotion when watching a sad movie, then you are given food, you'll eat more than if you weren't told to suppress emotion (this is if you're actively dieting).

Combating the Sugar, Salt and Fat Addiction presented by David Kessler, MD

Take away: You can probably read this for yourself in his book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. He looked at why we're so overweight now vs in the past. One reason is that the barriers are gone: food is available 24/7 and on every corner. People in the past would never have eaten walking down the street, in their cars, in class, etc. Another point is that processed food, which has lots of salt, sugar, and fat, is self-stimulating and addicting. There's a lot more than that and it's all very interesting so definitely check out his book.

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think presented by Brain C. Wansink, PhD

Take away: This was probably one of my favorite presentations. I had learned about a lot of his studies in my nutrition classes already. You should also check out his book, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. Based on studies that he has performed, you should:

• Eat out of a smaller bowl (you'll eat more out of a bigger bowl even if you don't like what you're eating)
• Put the healthy options at eye-level in your cupboard (you're more likely to eat what you see first)
• Only eat in your kitchen or dining room (in one case study even just putting a fruit or vegetable on the table, not necessarily eating it, caused a couple to lose weight)
• Think about the layout/design of the places you eat most and how that might affect the choices that you make (see his article in the Washington Post about getting kids to eat better in a school cafeteria without them knowing it)
• Not necessarily trust your stomach to tell you that you're full (in a study with refillable soup bowls participants said that they were not full because they thought that they had only eaten a half of a bowl of soup).

So, as you can see, there is a lot to think about when it comes to how your brain affects what (and how much) you eat! If you're interested in watching the webcast of these talks, they'll be posted soon here.

Guest Post! Getting the Most Out of Your Warm-Ups

Today's guest blog post about stretching comes from personal trainer Chris Chapman, a friend who suffered through Organic Chemistry with me this past spring. Chris will be guest blogging more in the future, so feel free to leave questions for him in the comments section...

Are you getting the most out of your warm-ups?

Before beginning a workout, whether it is a 3-mile trail run or an upper body strength day, you need prepare your body for the specific demands of that workout.  Done are the days where before we start exercising we do some arm circles, maybe a toe touch, and of course, the standing heel-to-butt quad stretch.

The best way to prepare the body for exercising is to use dynamic stretching (a.k.a. mobility drills).  Dynamic stretching is a sport-specific movement that prepares the body for exercise by actively moving a joint through range of motion used in your sport or activity.  Contrary to static stretching (holding a stretch for 15-30 seconds to lengthen a single muscle), dynamic stretching forces muscles to work together while raising your body temperature and increasing blood flow to the muscles. 

You are wasting your time by walking on the treadmill for 10 minutes or running a couple of laps to “warm-up” the body and then picking a couple of stretches to hold for 15 seconds.  A proper warm-up should take 10-15 minutes, and most of that will come from dynamic stretches (remember these will increase your body temperature and blood flow).

Over the next couple of weeks I will tell you which dynamic stretches you should be using that will increase your mobility (the quality of your joint’s movement), reduce the chance of injury in your exercise, and best yet, improve your performance in your activity! 

ANKLE MOBILITY

One source of knee pain is poor ankle mobility.  If you do not have quality movement in your ankles, your knee becomes less stable and this increase in force on your knee can lead to pain.  Luckily there are drills you can do before you exercise that can decrease the stiffness in those ankles!  My two favorites are the Wall Ankle Mobilization Drill and the Rocking Ankle Mobilization.  Alternate which days you use each drill and perform 12 repetitions on each ankle.

Wall Ankle Mobilization

Eric Cressey does a great job of explaining this drill. 

Rocking Ankle Mobilization

In this drill it you want to rock back onto your heel as far as you can, and curl your toes up off the ground, then you will point your toes as straight as you can.

Check back soon to see my dynamic stretching recommendations for your hamstrings!

-Chris

Chris works at the YMCA of Central Massachusetts as a personal trainer where he helps clients with goals ranging from weight loss to athletic performance.  He graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in May 2010 with a BS in Kinesiology.  Chris is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).  In the fall of 2010, he completed his internship in the Rehabilitative Services department at the Fallon Clinic in Worcester, MA.  During his senior year, Chris worked as a Manager and Personal Trainer at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Residential Wellness Centers.