New Guide for Pregnant and Nursing Moms

The USDA announced a new addition to MyPyramid. They now have a section for pregnant and nursing moms. This is great news because not everyone has the ability to sit down with a Registered Dietitian and pregnancy and nursing are critical times for optimal nutrition.

All a pregnant woman has to do is enter her age, height, weight, and due date into the website and it will give her a meal plan and advice to follow. For breastfeeding moms, you type in the age of baby, mom's age, and if baby is nursing only or also supplementing with formula.

In addition to giving a calorie range and number of servings from each food group, the MyPyramid site has numerous resources for pregnant and nursing moms. Food safety is so important during this time, and there is a whole section with tips on how to keep yourself from getting food borne illness. There is even a section on mercury in fish.

If you are confused on how much weight to gain while pregnant, the site gives you a lot of good info on how to gain weight in a healthy manner. They also have tips on general guidelines for pregnant women.

For those women who are nursing but want to also lose some of their pregnancy weight, an entire section is devoted to helping you lose the weight while keeping your milk supply and diet quality high.

I am so glad to see such a great resource created with our government dollars.

Visit www.mypryamid.gov and play around on the site. There is great information for everyone on that site, and now pregnant women and nursing moms can get specialized advice!

Labels: MyPyramid, nursing, pregnant, Tara Gidus

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Road Trip

Hello again! I have not posted in a week because I was on vacation and freed myself from internet and email. I brought my computer along intending to write posts and keep in touch with my email, but my husband convinced me to really actually take a vacation from work! It was nice to actually be free from the computer.

We traveled to visit friends in the mountains to view the fall colors. Living in Florida, I miss seeing the leaves change and the crisp air. Our first stop was in Cumming, Georgia. Cumming is about an hour north of Atlanta and is a short drive from the mountains. Even though it was rainy, we still had a nice drive and hike around a lake in Unicoi State Park. Since this blog is about food, I will have to mention all of the yummy treats I had. We ate at a fun place in Dahlonega called the Crimson Moon Cafe. I had the Kalamata Greek Salad with falafel added. YUMMY! Our friends cooked dinner that night and we had a great piece of salmon with veggies and brown rice. Nice and healthy. Then we ruined it with a rich piece of homemade tiramisu cake that their neighbor had brought over. My philosophy is life is too short not to have dessert.

We left North Georgia to go to South Carolina then on to Charlotte, North Carolina. Our friends there cooked us some tuna meatballs with pasta and a nice salad of spinach and pears. Who would have ever thought ot make meatballs with fresh tuna instead of ground beef? They were delicious!

We left our friend's house and went on to Asheville. This was our only night in a hotel and not staying with friends, so we had to eat out. What a sacrifice in Asheville. Our lunch was at one of my favorite restaurants, the Laughing Seed Cafe. I visited Asheville several years ago and remember eating there. When a restaurant sticks in your head several years later, you know it was good. The Laughing Seed Cafe is an all vegetarian restaurant with some of the most creative, tasty dishes ever! Our dinner was at a place called Rezaz. I had some yam gnocchi that came with mushrooms and cauliflower and some sauce so incredible I told my husband that if I was at home I would pick up my bowl and lick it clean.

Our last stop was in Tracy City, Tennessee, a small town outside of Chattanooga. Our friends did a lot of the cooking, but we did go to breakfast at the Dutch Maid Bakery that had really good pullapart bread that reminded me of sticky buns growing up.

I hope you enjoyed my culinary highlights of the vacation!

Labels: Tara Gidus, travel

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Autumn Apples

Fall is definitely here, and we even had a "cold front" come through Florida last week when it got down into the low 60's overnight and high 70's and low 80's during the day. While I love living in Florida, I do miss the change of seasons. My favorite season is fall and it is tough to get into the spirit when you live down here. I miss crisp Saturdays watching football and the leaves changing.

One food that always reminds me of fall is a good crisp apple. A caramel apple is especially good, but be careful because just one could top off at over 500 calories. Instead, enjoy the natural sweetness of the apple itself without drowning it in added sugar. I also remember the sign going up at the local apple orchard advertising "Fresh Cider." Cider is different from apple juice in that it contains solids from the apple and is often not pasteurized.

Apples aren't just for eating whole or in the great American Apple Pie. You can use them in stuffing, slice them into salads, or even bake them with chicken or pork. Sliced apples go really well with a little bit of peanut butter or a slice of cheese.

Apples might be one fruit you might want to consider to purchase organic. They are high on the list of pesticide residue. If you do not buy organic apples, make sure you wash them and wipe them vigorously before eating to remove as much as possible.

Fun facts:

• A large apple has about 100 calories and 5 grams of fiber
• Contain phytochemicals called phenolics found in the skin of the apple
• The largest source of phenolics in the American diet
• High in antioxidants, specifically quercetin, catechin, phloridzin, and chlorogenic acid
• The antioxidants and phytochemicals in the apple, especially the peel, may be very potent against cancers of the breast, liver, and colon
• An apple a day may indeed assist in prevention of many diseases including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes
• The fiber in apples may assist in lowering cholesterol
• The average US consumer eats 19 pounds of apples per year, or about one per week
• More than half of apples grown for fresh eating in the US are grown in Washington state
• There are nine major varieties of fresh eating apples
  

Check out this recipe for Sage Apple Chicken with Brie

For more apple recipes, click here

Photo courtesy of http://www.bestapples.com/Recipes/

Labels: apple, fruit, Tara Gidus

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Hearty Hardee's

Have you seen the new breakfast sandwich advertised by Hardee's? It is called the "Country Breakfast Burrito" and is a two loaded omelets filled with bacon, sausage, diced ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy, all wrapped inside a flour tortilla. The burrito contains 920 calories and 60 grams of fat. To put this into perspective, the average women needs about 1800 calories and should eat less than 60 grams of fat for the day while the average man should be below 2200 and 73 grams of fat per day.

Many restaurants serve breakfast meals even higher than this burrito, but I guess I am just shocked at the marketing that Hardee's is doing. They are advertising that this is "an entire country breakfast that fits in the palm of your hand." They are actually encouraging people to eat it in their cars. Seriously? Not only is Hardee's doing you the favor of serving up 60 grams of fat in one breakfast sandwich, but now they are also encouraging you to eat it in the car while driving? I guess if the fat won't get you, maybe a car accident will?

If the burrito isn't enough for you, you can also return to Hardee's for lunch for their famous "Monster Thickburger." This sandwich has a price tag of 1420 calories with 108 grams of fat and 43 grams of saturated fat. That is more saturated fat than you should have in 3 days.

I am not trying to blame Hardee's or any fast food restaurant for the obesity epidemic and heart disease in America. It comes down to personal choice of what you put into your mouth. I commend McDonald's and other fast food restaurants who are actually spending a great deal of money offering healthier options.

If we want to see change in the fast food environment, we need to put our money where our mouths are: Literally. Hardee's and Burger King (Enormous Omelet Sandwich) would not be developing these obscenely high calorie items if people were not buying them. Restaurants have been saying for years that they will offer healthier options and many do. However, these healthier options disappear off of menus quickly because we are not buying them. We say we want them and then our dollars mysteriously go somewhere else.

If you want to see change in our restaurants, do not support high calorie items with your dollars. Purchase the lower calorie, healthier foods. Write to restaurants and tell them what you want to see them offer and then back it up with your food dollars.

To look up nutrition info on Hardee's menu items, click here.

Labels: fast food, Tara Gidus

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Milk Straws

Growing up in Wisconsin, we had milk served at every meal. I had milk on my cereal for breakfast and a glass of milk with lunch and dinner daily. Our family of four went through 3 gallons of milk each week. Every once in a while my Dad would sneak one of those gallons as chocolate milk past my mother. My dad and brother and I would have the chocolate milk gone in no time!

I saw a really cool new product that I just had to tell you about. Milk consumption has been declining for years, especially in the diets of children and adolescents. Surveys have found the children will drink more milk if it is flavored. The concern is that the flavoring adds more sugar and calories and is less nutritious.

MyPyramid recommends 2-3 cups of milk or other dairy on a daily basis. It is well documented that milk is a nutritional powerhouse of nutrients, including an excellent source of calcium, vitamin D, protein, riboflavin, potassium, phosphorus, and others.

At my conference last week I saw these new "Sipahh" straws that are only 15 calories with 2 grams of sugar. You basically put the straw into an 8-ounce glass of milk and as you drink the milk it tastes sweet and has the flavor of the straw. The straws come in chocolate, strawberry, banana, and cookies and cream.

I could not believe that they were only 15 calories. They use a blend of sugar and splenda to keep the calories down. If your kids aren't drinking enough milk or ask for chocolate milk all the time instead of regular milk, give these straws a try. Hopefully the end result will be your kids drinking more milk (and they work for adults, too!) without all of the added sugar.

For more information on Sipahh, visit www.sipahh.com
Logo courtesy of www.sipahh.com

Labels: calcium, children, dairy, milk, Tara Gidus

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Thank You Emergency Medicine Grand Rounds

Thank you to Adam at NY Emergency Medicine for publishing my blog post on Competetive Eating on Grand Rounds 4:4 this week. Grand Rounds is a compilation of medical blogs from the past week. There are usually some very interesting reads, so check it out!

Labels: Grand Rounds, Tara Gidus

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Chocolate Fun Facts

I had so much fun writing the Health By Chocolate blog that I didn't save enough room for fun facts about chocolate. This post will be dedicated only to fun but interesting and fairly useless facts about chocolate.

Fun Facts

• Monkeys were the first to find the cacao plant edible and delectable, not man. The monkeys would eat the pulp and spit out the beans. Ancient people followed the monkeys’ example, and only ate the delicious pulp. This was probably what Mother Nature had in mind: the seeds were disseminated throughout Mesoamerica, making cacao trees plentiful in South and Central America and guaranteeing cacao’s evolution.
• The Aztecs thought it gave their warriors strength.
• Early doctors used to prescribe it to cure ailments.
• Aztecs called it "xocoatl" for bitter water.
• Mayan burial tombs have been found that contain offerings, including ancient potteries that bear witness to cacao’s importance. The vases are covered with paintings showing Mayan gods fighting over beans and kings waiting to be served cacao creations.
• Africa generates 70% of cocoa beans in the world.
• Latin America and the Caribbean also produce a fair amount of chocolate.
• Like wine, chocolate reflects the distinct flavors of the region where it is grown. Click here to see how the flavors vary by country.
• The cocoa bean goes through an amazing 8 step process in order to become chocolate.

Cocoa vs Cocao
Cacao (pronounced Ka-Kow) refers to the tree and the beans inside the pods
Cocoa (pronounced K0-Ko) refers to the two byproducts of the cocoa bean, the cocoa butter and the cocoa powder

Ever wonder what the difference is between baking, bittersweet, and semisweet chocolate?

Want to try all kinds of different chocolate? Here are some tips on how to set up your own chocolate tasting party! Please make sure you send me an invitation! :-)

Or you could learn how to pair wine and chocolate together.

To learn how to cook with Chocolate, click here
For chocolate recipes, visit www.allchocolate.com/recipes

Photos courtesy of www.allchocolate.com

Labels: chocolate, Tara Gidus

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Health By Chocolate

If you are a chocolate lover like me, I am sure you have heard the news about chocolate being good for you. Is it true or is this just another one of those foods that is good for us one day only to be found bad for us another day?

Chocolate comes from the seeds of the fruit of the Theobromo cacao tree. These seeds are rich in phytochemicals, specifically the flavanols.

Potential health benefits

• Chocolate research has picked up for the past 20 years, and some of the findings are as follows:
• May reduce blood pressure in people who are hypertensive
• May improve insulin sensitivity in healthy adults
• May improve endothelial function, which affects blood flow in the heart.
• May decrease LDL cholesterol levels
• Contains potent antioxidants which protect against cell damage
• May increase blood flow to the skin and brain
• Chocolate milk may help you recover from exercise better than a sports drink

As you can see the list is long, and as you can also see, the word potential is key. Don't expect chocolate to fix all of your ailments, but if it isn't as bad as we thought and may even be good? Excellent!

How much chocolate is healthy?

There is not a recommended level established for flavanols, and that seems to be the compound in chocolate that provides the potential health benefits. Some of the research with the results listed above was done on as little as 30 calories of dark chocolate daily. That is about the amount of one dark chocolate Hershey Kiss.

Is dark better than milk or white chocolate?

This is the most common question I get asked regarding chocolate. White chocolate contains no cocoa solids. Since the flavanols are in the cocoa, it makes sense that the darker the chocolate, the more cocoa it contains and therefore the more flavanols. However, processing can strip the flavanols very quickly. For the antioxidant activity content of various chocolates (and other foods), click here.

When you see the percentages on chocolate labels, it is referring to the cocoa solids it contains. The higher the number, the darker the chocolate and also the less sugar it contains.

M&M Mars uses a process called Cocoapro to process their cocoa for some of their products that the company claims maintains the flavanol content. They only use Cocoapro in CocoaVia and Dove chocolate, not in all of their products.

Hershey's now is labeling the flavanol content on a few of it's products. Thank you! They also have some new milk chocolate products with higher antioxidant content for people who do not like the dark chocolate.

Isn’t chocolate fattening?

Chocolate does contain sugar and fat, which push up the calorie content. As with any food, you need to balance your intake of calories with your expenditure. Chocolate will not raise your cholesterol as previously thought, though. One of the predominant fats in chocolate is saturated fat, but much of that is stearic acid, which does not raise cholesterol levels.

Want to read more about chocolate? Check out www.allchocolate.com

Photo courtesy of jo-h

Labels: antioxidants, chocolate, Tara Gidus

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Competitive Eating: A Sport?

Have you heard about the sport of competitive eating? Yes, I did say sport. You have likely heard of the occasional hot dog eating contest at the county fair, but competitive eating is fast becoming a sport and there are fairly large cash purses as prizes at the competitions.

There is actually an organization that supervises and regulates eating contests all over the world. They International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). To be fair, they do not recommend trying this at home. They caution against “at-home training” and also “discourages younger individuals from eating for speed or quantity under any circumstances.” Most of the competitive eaters out there do indeed “practice” by expanding their stomachs with large quantities of food, and may go on a special liquid diet for several days before competition.

My problem with competitive eating is this: Since when did binge eating become a sport? And with 2/3 of Americans overweight or obese, do we really need to encourage and reward binge eating? There are a handful of professional competitive eaters out there, but more and more these eating contests are showing up in our communities without the large cash purses and attracting the average American. This is dangerous and really not sending the message of moderation in our diets.

ESPN is actually airing these eating contests and people are coming out in the tens of thousands to watch them. The purses for the contests reaches as much as $35,000 (for the Krystal Hamburger eating contest). One of the top ranked competitive eaters in the world is a 105 pound woman, Sonya Thomas. She has very impressive records, including eating 8.31 pounds of Vienna sausage in 10 minutes.

Harmful effects

Competitive eaters have not really been studied medically as a group, but I can only assume that they are at risk for intestinal problems in the short and long term. The competitors do have to stretch their stomachs, setting themselves up for risk of gastroparesis and obesity in the future when they don’t feel full from normal quantities of food. If they vomit up the food (many do when practicing) then that creates a whole new set of problems.

I personally do not find binge eating entertaining and hope that this new trend of competitive eating does not gain in popularity creating a whole new “sport” in which Americans seem to be excelling at.

For more information, check out these articles on competitive eating:
Competitive eating a man-eat-dog world on espn.com
Competitive eating: how safe is it? on webmd.com

Photo courtesy of chadmill

Labels: binge eating, Tara Gidus

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How Low Can You Go?

I read an excellent article today on calorie restriction. Have you heard of this? I know you have heard dietitians and doctors talking for many years about reducing your calories to lose weight. But this concept of “calorie restriction” (CR) is taking it to the extreme. People subscribing to the CR philosophy eat far fewer calories than they need, to the level of a starvation diet. Some research has shown that it could prevent many chronic diseases and possibly extend life.

My problem is this: I love food. I love cooking food, eating food, socializing with friends around food, visiting new restaurants, trying new foods, etc. I have a sweet tooth and love chocolate. I work at balancing my intake with my exercise to maintain a healthy weight. If I were to subscribe to the diet recommended by advocates of CR, it would mean the end of a lot of fun times involving food.

As a dietitian, I advocate eating healthy most of the time. I believe in the 80/20 rule where most (80%) of your food is pretty darn healthy, but some (20%) of your diet can include foods that are not so healthy (but pretty darn tasty). An extremely low calorie diet as advocated with CR would not include that 20%. In addition, you would have to train your body to expect a lot less food, therefore feeling hungry quite often. It is well documented that very low calorie diets lead to a slower metabolic rate, causing people to continue to have to restrict calories to prevent weight gain.

To lose weight, you do need to somehow eat fewer calories than you are burning. But there is a big difference in what I advocate to lose weight and what is recommended with these CR diets. If you want to lose weight and reduce risk of chronic disease, cut out a few hundred calories and burn an additional few hundred calories.

My question is this: What is it worth it to you to potentially live a few more years? Is it worth it to you to literally starve yourself for years on end just to gain a few years when you are in your 90’s? I personally would rather have my cake and eat it, too (in moderation, of course). I have known many people in their 90’s who are independent and sharp. However, this is not the norm. Most elderly people need assistance for simple tasks of daily living and are not enjoying a happy life into their golden years.

Bottom Line

Medical science is advancing and people are living longer. However, I think we need to look at what is sacrificed to live that long. And more importantly, what is your quality of life going to be when you are 90? Enjoy food, enjoy life, but do everything in moderation!

Photo courtesy of celebdu

Labels: calorie restriction, maintaining weight loss, Tara Gidus

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More Matters

Did you know that it is estimated that 90% of us are not getting enough fruits and vegetables? I know you have heard it all before, but mom was right! We DO need to be eating our fruits and vegetables every day!

Why eat them?

• Because your mom told you to
• Low in calories
• High in fiber
• High in antioxidants (prevent cancer, heart disease, diabetes)
• Loaded in essential vitamins and minerals
• Low in fat, saturated fat, and sodium naturally
• Fruits are naturally sweet and can be eaten in the place of a high sugar dessert
• Help us control our weight due to low calories and high fiber
• They taste good!

How much to you need?

Children 2-3 years: 1.5 cups veggies and 1 cup fruit = 2.5 cups total

Children 4-8 years: 2 cups veggies and 1.5 cups fruit = 3.5 cups total

Teen girls, children 9-13, adult women: 2.5 cups veggies and 2 cups fruit = 4.5 cups total

Teen boys and adult men: 3.5 cups veggies and 2 cups fruit = 5.5 cups total

How much is a cup? Click here to find out!

How are you supposed to get all of those cups in each day? Click here for some tips on incorporating more fruits and veggies into each day. It can be as easy as having a piece of fruit with breakfast, enjoying a salad with lunch, some dried fruit as a snack, and some cooked veggies with dinner.

All forms of fruits and veggies count: fresh, canned, frozen, dried, raw, cooked, etc. Make sure you get a variety from the different color groups: green, yellow, orange, red, blue/purple, and white. Different colors have different nutrients, so mix it up as much as possible!

Fruits and veggies usually don’t have a food label, so it can be difficult to know calories, carbs, protein, etc. I found an awesome website that tells you everything you would want to know and more about storage, handling, and nutrition information for the most common produce.

Click here to search through the fruit database

Click here to search through the vegetable database

Ever wonder which fruits and vegetables are in season at certain times of the year? Click here to find out!

Want to know how to get your kids involved? Get them to go grocery shopping with you, help you plan meals, and cook with you. Click here for some more tips on getting them involved.

And of course, I would not leave you without a source for some recipes. Click here to search for tasty recipes that include fruits and veggies.

For more information, visit the Produce for Better Health Foundation

Also check out www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov

Photo courtesy of istockphoto.com

Labels: fruits, Tara Gidus, vegetables

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Pecan Goodness

The race for the healthiest nut is on! I was at the American Dietetic Association’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Exhibition over the weekend and I was overwhelmed with all of the different nuts competing for which is the healthiest! All nuts are pretty good, but they all have slightly different nutritional profiles. I learned a little bit more about pecans, so I thought I would pass the info along to you.

Pecans are actually the highest antioxidant nut! The USDA measures the antioxidant content of foods and they found that pecans were the highest in terms of total antioxidant activity. Not only are they the highest nut, but they are actually one of the top 20 foods tested. Why is this important? The higher the antioxidant content, the better a food is at killing off free radicals leading to heart disease, cancer, and other health problems.

The Dietary Guidelines recommend eating four to five nut servings per week, and pecans definitely can be included in that recommendation. Also, did you know that pecans are actually perishable? Because they have such a high fat content, once they are shelled they should be kept in an airtight container either in the fridge or freezer.

Info on pecans (courtesy of Georgia Pecan Commission):

• About 200 calories per 1 ounce serving
• Rich in Vitamin E, thiamin, magnesium, manganese, copper
• Good source of fiber
• Contains oleic acid, which can help lower LDL cholesterol
• There are over 500 varieties of pecans
• Georgia leads the nation in pecan production, averaging 88 million pounds per year
• Pecan trees are often used for lumber to make beautiful furniture
• Pecan trees are the only tree nut native to the United States
• Each pecan pie uses about 78 pecan halves
• Georgia pecan wood was selected to make the handles of the torches for the 1996 Olympic Games

Here is a great recipe for Spiced Snapper with Georgia Pecan Crust

Click here for more Pecan Recipes

Check out www.georgiapecansfit.org

Photo courtesy of foepoooey

Labels: antioxidants, nuts, pecan, Tara Gidus

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