The Campaign Against Sugar Sweetened Beverages

When you're studying to become a dietitian, you end up talking a fair amount about sugar sweetened beverages. That's the official name for soda, juice, sweet tea - pretty much any drink that's full of calories but doesn't fill you up. SSBs, as we refer to them, creep their way into many different conversations. Should kids in schools have access to them? Should people be able to use food stamps to buy them? Is giving your kid a soda every day akin to child abuse? And now the conversation has entered the public arena with the recent ban on certain sizes of soda in New York City. Whether or not that law will go into effect remains to be seen, especially since the beverage industry has begun to fight back. But regardless, it's gotten the general public, and not just people in the nutrition industry, to talk about SSBs.

My internship director recently passed along this video about The Real Bears put out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. I debated whether or not to share it here; while I agree with the message that soda consumption needs to be greatly reduced in many people's diets, I'm not sure if this video is an effective way of getting that message across. Take a look and then let me know your thoughts!

Get Active! Get Dirty...

So you've been a runner, you've tried the whole cycling thing, maybe even started swimming so that you could do all three and call yourself a triathlete. But where's the fun in pounding clean pavement, coasting down pristine roads, swimming in (hopefully) crystal clear waters? If you're ready to take your workouts to the next level and get good and dirty, then it might be time to try something new.

Soiled Runners

Tough Mudder Vermont 2012

When you're ready to combine running with getting good and dirty, plenty of options await you. Perhaps you want to get dirty but not covered in dirt - then you could find a local Color Run where you where white and get pelted with colored corn starch during the race so that you end up looking like a rainbow. Or if you need obstacles mixed with dirt, try a Warrior Dash, a 5K that has boot-camp style elements. Want to mix in some blood with that dirt? Take it one step further and do Tough Mudder race, where not only do you have obstacles which will likely involve you falling into cold water, running through fire, and on your hands and knees in the mud, but you get shocked by electrical wires at the very end, after jumping (and smacking yourself up against) a half pipe which is, of course, covered in water and mud.

Riding Rugged
I always assumed that if you were a cyclist and you wanted to get dirty, you picked up mountain biking. Mountain bikers, in my experience, enjoyed the dirt, liked the fly recklessly down bumpy mountainsides with their fat knobby tires, and did very little uphill riding. Well, turns out that if you want to get your skinny tires dirty, there is a sport for you too! I recently attended the Gran Prix of Gloucester, a championship cyclocross race. In cyclocross, participants ride several laps of a course featuring any number of obstacles such as sand, stairs, wooden risers, hairpin turns, muddy pits, etc - all on a road bike (or a special cyclocross bike which looks a whole lot like a road bike). Sometimes they have to dismount and un-clip their pedals, or if they're really skilled they can bunny hop up and over (jumping while still on your bike). The riding goes on for approximately 45 minutes and whoever finishes the course first wins! For local races in your area, check out the race calendar.

Gran Prix of Gloucester 2012

Gran Prix of Gloucester 2012

Love that Dirty Water
I like to at least pretend that all of the water that I swim in is clean - or at least a very safe level of unclean - so I won't focus on races you can do if you're a swimmer who wants to get dirty. However, because of the nickname, here is information on the Charles River Swim, a 1-mile race that takes place each June, assuming that the water has been deemed safe and free of toxic algae by the government...

Good, Nutritious, and Cheap: Can it Be Done?

Before starting my dietetic internship in a couple of weeks, I have to complete an assignment where I eat for three days with the budget suggested by the USDA Thrifty Meal Plan. Based on my age and the fact that I only cook for myself, that will give me about $19 to stretch for three days. Oh, and I have to attempt to get in all of the suggested amounts of macro and micro nutrients with that money. I'm actually really looking forward to the challenge and have been contemplating various meal combinations over the past few days.

Today I ran across a link to this site, the Environmental Working Group's Good Food on a Tight Budget. While eating for cheap and still getting nutritious food is going to be hard enough on its own, it's interesting to think of the added challenge of also picking foods that have the fewest pesticides or the least amount of added chemicals. Take a look at their lists of good food on a tight budget and see if it inspires you to make a change in the way that you grocery shop. And if you have any suggestions for my three days of eating with a budget, let me know!

Eggs Still Excellent

www.freedigitalphotos.net

Perhaps you've seen the recent headline about how eating eggs is just as "dangerous" as smoking cigarettes. I know it caught my eye on more than one occasion, especially as multiple news outlets picked it up and ran with it. The gist of the recent study is that egg yolks can clog your arteries just as much as smoking tobacco can clog your arteries. If I had more time on my hands I'd read the study to figure out just what kind of correlation they were basing this headline on. Luckily, the editor over at Livestrong did that already, so here's the link to his article: Do Eggs Cause Heart Disease?

What it (hard) boils down to is that eggs are a great source of protein and the yolks are full of important vitamins and minerals. Yes, they also contain cholesterol, so as you would with any food that has some good parts and some less-amazing aspects, enjoy in moderation!

Talking Nutrition with Triathletes

Healthy food for hungry triathletes!

Last night I gave my first of (hopefully) many talks about nutrition to athletes. It helped that the athletes in question were members of my triathlon team and helped even more that I had the support of Nicole Cormier, RD of Delicious Living Nutrition in case there were any questions that I couldn't answer! Back in my former life as an editor, I hired Nicole to work on several nutrition books, which she's still doing. It's great to be working with her in a different capacity now.

The talk was at the bike shop that sponsors my team, Wheelworks in Belmont and about 17 teammates came out for the "Everyday Nutrition for Triathletes" talk. I brought lots of fresh fruit and veggies along with hummus, greek yogurt mixed with dill, and two healthy dishes, recipes below. We talked through daily calorie needs based on the Harris Benedict Equation, daily protein and carbohydrate needs, and talked a bit about pre- and post-race nutrition and hydration. I think it went really well and people were really receptive. It's always great to get little reminders of why you've made life changes like this - I love talking to people (especially athletes) about healthy eating, and look forward to continuing to do it for a long time!

Southwestern Protein Fiesta

1 bag Trader Joe’s frozen Fire-Roasted Corn, defrosted

1 bag frozen edamame, defrosted

1 can black beans (no-salt added), rinsed

1 bunch cilantro, rinsed and chopped

1 container fresh salsa

 

Mix all ingredients together and bring cold to a potluck or BBQ, serve warm over rice or quinoa for dinner, roll it in a whole-wheat tortilla for lunch, throw it over salad, or put in your morning eggs!

Whole-Grain Mediterranean Toss

½ cucumber, diced

½ container cherry tomatoes, halved

1 can garbanzo beans (no-salt added), rinsed

1 package low-fat feta cheese

3-4 cups cooked whole grain (quinoa, brown rice, whole-wheat orzo, or barley)

¼ cup fresh basil, chopped

Balsamic vinegar, pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve hot inside steamed halved peppers, cold at a picnic, or as a side with grilled chicken!

Go Nuts!

I'm a huge fan on snacking on raw almonds. They've got protein, calcium, monounsaturated fat (the good kind), potassium, vitamin E... the list goes on. So this morning I was excited to read in the Tufts Health Letter that new research by the USDA Agricultural Research Service shows that almonds actually have 24% fewer calories than originally thought! The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the article, which shows that for some foods like nuts, the original way of figuring out how many calories a food contains could be inaccurate. They got real nitty gritty to measure this, by analyzing "output" shall we say, from people participating in the study. Here's an article that summarizes the study. Keep in mind that this new information only applies to whole, raw almonds, not chopped or roasted or those covered in wasabi, honey, or chocolate!

Fantastic Farmer's Market Finds

It drives me crazy that my local farmer's market doesn't open until mid-June. But then when it does open, I walk through turning up my nose at things labeled "green-house grown." I want fresh and local, and I want it now! Which means I have to be patient. Luckily I was able to bring home some pretty good finds yesterday and while I've been considering what to do with them, I thought of some handy tips for shopping at a farmer's market.

• Try new things. If you aren't sure what something is, it's OK to ask the purveyor how it is generally used or what dishes it might complement. My best suggestion for trying a new vegetable is to first saute in olive oil with a little bit of salt and pepper; that way you'll get a sense of the true flavor before tossing it in with other veggies and seasonings. You'll be able to figure out yourself what it would pair well with!
• Bring cash and ask for weights. I'm not great at eyeballing what a pound of squash might look like, so it can be tricky to know how much to ask for when items are sold by weight. Yesterday I only had $3 left by the time I reached the final booth and the pattypan squash were $2/lb so I asked the woman for $3 worth. I ended up with a whole lot more squash than I actually wanted! But that's OK because it's delicious and I can share with friends. But I probably would've been better off asking how much a couple of small squash would cost to begin with.
• It's in season if there is a lot of it. A few years ago I was so excited that a stand had eggplant for just $1 each. Then the next summer I had a recipe in mind and went to the farmer's market all ready to purchase them only to find that I was several months too early for eggplant at such a cheap price. In the beginning of the season you're likely to find lots of lettuce and other leafy greens; tomatoes and other more colorful vegetables come a bit later.

Pattypan squash from the farmer's market

If you're looking for motivation to try a new fruit or vegetable, try doing an internet search for the health benefits. For example, I just got the newsletter from SCAN, the Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition subgroup of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In it, I learned about the aerobic exercise performance enhancing qualities of beets, rhubarb, and arugula. One study showed that eating 7-8 beets 3 hours prior to performance can improve performance in addition to improving circulation! Another study showed that consuming tart cherries made for faster muscle recovery. So if you're looking for performance benefits or just looking for something delicious, head to your local farmer's market and get cooking.