During the warm summer months, it’s especially important to stayhydrated. Many factors impact how much water you need, includingyour age, gender, activity level and overall health. • If you lose more water than you take in, your body can becomedehydrated. Dehydration can cause headaches, dizziness ordigestion problems. Medical attention often Read more…
Picnic with Your ToddlerHave a toddler or preschooler? During National Picnic Month, takeyour family’s meal outside and prepare a fun, nutritious spread! • You don’t have to travel far to have a picnic! The backyard is agreat place to enjoy a meal outside. If you don’t have a backyardor the Read more…
Below are some of my ideas for healthy easy lunches. It is coming close to end of August, and that means that most parents and students are getting ready to get back into the habit of packing lunches. Many lunch periods are short these days, so the need to make lunches quick to eat and nutritious is a serious challenge. My main goal for packing lunches is to provide a meal that is fun to eat and is balanced with whole grains, fruits, veggies, lean protein, and healthy fats. I hope that you and your kids will have fun making and eating the following options:
Tortilla Roll Up
Use a 6 inch tortilla, spread mustard or hummus on it. Top with 2 thin slices of turkey or ham, a thin slice of cheese and lettuce, shredded carrots, and thin slices of tomatoes. Then roll it up. This gives a fun and unique twist to your standard sandwich. To boost the fiber intake, consider using a whole wheat tortilla. To give variation to this lunch, swap between regular while flour, whole wheat, spinach and tomato based tortillas. Serve with a piece of fruit on the side.
Peanut Butter/Cornflakes/Graham Crackers Balls
This is a fun lunch that can be prepped the night before and stored in the fridge. Mix together 1/4 cup peanut butter to 1/4 cup cornflakes. Take the mixture and create balls about the size of a golf ball. (To get the correct consistency, you may have to add more peanut butter or cornflakes until the desired firmness for rolling the balls is achieved). Once balls are made, roll them in crushed graham crackers. Serve with fresh fruits such as apples, grapes, or peaches and small container of low-fat . These balls give a fun twist to your standard PBJ sandwich. **If your child has a peanut or nut allergy, then an alternative to nut butters is sunflower seed butter. (more…)
Since it is National Mediterranean Diet Month, I decided to test out a new recipe for a quinoa pinto bean burger. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. The Mediterranean diet is based more on fruits, veggies and whole grains. This burger incorporates beans and whole grains with some Read more…
May is National Mediterranean Diet Month! I absolutely love this “diet” and personally strive to “eat the Mediterranean way” each and every day. Research has shown that eating meals like the people in the Mediterranean region promotes health and reduces risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. By following meal plans based on the Mediterranean diet principles, you get to enjoy more fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, fish and poultry.
photo credit: Trace Nietert Eat healthy fruits and veggies bowl via photopin (license)
In today’s fast paced world of work schedules and kids’ schedules it is hard to find time to do home cooking. However, I challenge you to start cooking in more and eating out less. In the spirit of the National Nutrition Month® theme “Go Further with Food”, home cooking is a great way to help you and your family to go further in your journey to improved nutritional health and wellness.
When you take time to do more home cooking you enjoy healthier meals. This is due to your control over three key ingredients: salt, saturated fat and added sugars. Restaurants portion sizes are huge and often high in these ingredients. When you cook at home, you have better control over your portion sizes and your intakes of salt, saturated fats and added sugars.
Every March, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics celebrates National Nutrition Month®. This year’s theme is “Go Further with Food” . The Academy is highlighting how planning meals and snacks with real food ahead of time helps you to eat more healthy. I can’t agree more. Meal planning is key to a healthy diet.
In today’s busy world, many people think that the latest cleanse or shake is the way to get healthy. In my opinion, it is real food that gets you healthy. When you eat correct portion sizes with balanced combinations of complex carbs (whole grains, fruits, and veggies), lean protein (low-fat dairy, lean meats, fish, shellfish, and beans) and heart healthy fats (oils, nuts, and seeds), you will see a decrease in food cravings for sweets and other junk foods. This is why meal planning is so important. (more…)
People love to give chocolate on Valentine’s Day. But can it be healthy for you too? In the recent years cocoa and dark chocolate, have been studied for their potential health benefits. It is believed that cocoa and dark chocolate could reduce the risk for heart disease. This is largely due to the special antioxidants found in cocoa and dark chocolate, called flavanols. Research has shown that flavanols can help lower blood pressure, decrease the stickiness of platelets (potentially decreasing clotting ability) and improve blood flow to the brain and heart.
Do these positive findings mean that a supersized chocolate bar is good for you? No.
Super Bowl Sunday is one of my favorite Sundays of the year! Looking for ideas on how to make your menu healthy? Follow some of my tips below so that your food spread will be one that pleases everyone and keeps your waistline happy too!
Set out big trays of fresh fruits and veggies and pair them with protein rich hummus or my Peanut Butter Honey Yogurt Dip. These trays not only add a splash of color to your table, but they are the supreme “power snacks” combining high fiber complex carbs with protein and heart healthy fats. The combo of fiber, protein and fat help you to feel more full on less calories.
“My kids and hubby are meat lovers, but I prefer fish, tofu or beans with my meals.” Sound familiar? It is really hard to enjoy family meals together? I come across this situation many times with my clients, friends and peers. This situation is very common and often it is also complicated by the fact that many families are busy during the week and it is hard to eat together as a family. When you do eat together as a family you want everyone to be happy and to enjoy a peaceful dinner. How can you solve the dilemma of serving healthy meals that appeal to everyone?
Batch cooking.
photo credit: marcoverch Offener Kühlschrank voll von Nahrungsmitteln via photopin (license)
Batch cooking is the practice of cooking large quantities of foods ahead of time so that during the week you can easily assemble and reheat meals. Once you get used to planning your meals in batches, the practice is really quite simple. For my family, I set aside time on Sundays to batch cook grains, pasta, veggies and meats. I also take time to make 1 or 2 bean salads as well. I find that batch cooking saves me a lot of time during the week, and I feel good about serving my family healthy nutritious meals that meets everyone’s preferences. (more…)
