Food Moment

I came up with a list of 10 foods that I think are good to have in your refrigerator or a cupboard at all times. These foods are healthy and nutritious and can be used as healthy snacks or in healthy meals!

1. Yogurt – either plain yogurt that you can mix with something sweet or flavored yogurt. Good source of protein and calcium! Yogurt also contains beneficial bacteria and is especially good to eat when you’re taking antibiotics.  I recommend Activia because it’s small and handy.

2. Cottage Cheese – another good protein & calcium source. It’s relatively low in calories as compared with other cheeses. Good to snack on with fruit.

3. Avocado – high in calories but packed with healthy fats! Avocado is also a good source of vitamin E, vitamin C, folate, antioxidants and fiber!  ½ of avocado contains 6-7 grams of fiber. It gets pretty soft when ripe and is perfect to use as a spread on your bread ( in place of butter).

4. Spinach – dark leafy green veggie that contains iron and vitamin K! It is also a good source of folate. You can do several things with this veggie, quick boil it and serve it as a side veggie or use it instead of iceberg lettuce with your salads. Iceberg lettuce is boring anyways!

5. Whole Grain Bread – I recently purchased really delicious thin sliced bread at Trader Joe’s called European Whole Grain Bread. It resembles Pumpernickel bread.  It’s packed with seeds and tastes great.  1 slice contains 4 grams of fiber and 120 calories. I like to snack on it with a little bit of cream cheese and avocado.

 6.   Carrots – get the baby carrots and have them available in a zip bag. Try eating them with your favorite dressing (just watch out how much of the dressing you’re using, or switch to low-fat or non-fat, whatever floats your boat) or they are also great to munch on without anything. Go carrots!

7.    Walnuts – these don’t have to be in the fridge but have them available for snacking somewhere in your kitchen! Another fiber and protein rich food that is also packed with healthy fats including omega-3s! Yes, the very same fat that is present in salmon. Don’t eat too many at once as they are high in calories.

8. Kiwi – why not? Aren’t you tired of apples? Kiwi is a power house of vitamin C! Just one kiwi will provide you with double the vitamin C that you need in one day!

9. Extra Virgin Olive Oil – so you already know olive oil is super good for you but should you cook with the extra virgin kind? I recently attended a cooking demo at the Culinary Institute of America and one of their chefs said that extra virgin olive oil is great not just for salads but for every day cooking! It’s the good quality stuff so go ahead and cook with it!

10. Quinoa (keen-wa)  – this is a whole grain that contains complete protein, imagine that! Makes a great protein source for vegetarians. Also good source of iron and B- vitamins. Go out there, buy it and try it out!  You can buy it by weight at Elliot’s Natural Foods and I believe Trader Joe’s sells it in boxes.  It’s recommended that you rinse it out first to prevent bitter taste.

Curious how to cook it? I took this out of one of my books called 101 Healthiest Foods by Dr. Joanna McMillan & Judy Davie (great book by the way)

“Place the quinoa in a saucepan with one part grain to two parts water. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook until the grains become translucent and you can see the spiral germ on each grain. This should take about 15 minutes. “

Holy Moly!!!

I almost want to scream, “I hate you but I love you!”

My interval timer showed up in the mail today and I just got to try it out for the first time!

So, what’s the big deal?

I was able to set up two intervals on it :

1st interval: 20 seconds

2nd interval: 10 seconds for rest

Of course, the times are up to you!

Then I was able to set how many interval repetitions I would like and I set that up to 9 because I planned on doing 9 different exercises.

With that set up, I was doing an exercise for 20 seconds ( as many repetitions as I managed to do) and then I got 10 seconds of rest where I well rested a little, wrote down how many reps I did and got ready for the next exercise. Note that the timer beeps every time an interval ends so you know when to rest or switch exercise. Once all of my 9 intervals were done, I took a 1 minute break and then repeated the whole exercise again. The whole exercise lasted only 9 minutes but it was very high intensity! I was sweating and panting once I was done and even got a little bit of a headache. I’m not used to this yet and I hope to get better.

I’m still trying to figure out what exercises I will be doing with this. I stole some from p90x today and did the following:

• jump squats
• jump squat reach up
• run stance squats
• leap frogs
• squat jacks
• military march
• mary katherine lunges
• burpees
• plank knee tucks ( I made that name up but it makes sense doesn’t it?)

These are just a few examples but boy did that kick my butt! I’m planning on using this timer on a regular basis. It’s challenging, fun and makes exercising a bit more structures and disciplined.

I want to dive into the meaning of eating smart.

If you’re a person with a full time job, a house, kids, pets or basically what we call a “life,” you probably often run out of time to think about healthy food. It is not realistic for you to go home and make pasta from  scratch, is it? It’s probably not realistic for you to go to the Farmers Market two times a week and buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Of course, you try and do your best but your fruit goes bad and you end up getting more at Safeway on your way back home. This Safeway fruit will last you a bit longer.

Does that mean you’re failing at eating healthy? The answer is no. You’re working with what you have.

My definition of eating smart is doing your best considering circumstances.

Of course, it is healthier to cook everything from scratch but in our society that is not realistic today. It might be realistic for Joe because he has been doing it that way for a long time but Sue who is married with three kids and a full time job doesn’t have time to make home made ravioli. Maybe eventually she will get there but for now she has to settle with the ready to go ravioli and she will try to pick the healthiest available option.

Ideally, everyone should never eat out, only cook  from scratch, only eat fresh foods and nothing else. I used to think that’s what I should tell my clients as a dietitian – to eat nothing but the best and healthiest food out there.  I will only do that if I want that person to fail at eating healthy.

As a little kid I ate nothing but fresh foods. That’s how I was brought up and that’s all I knew. I lived in a place where everyone ate fresh foods. That was the norm. You’d think that I still do, right? I was raised that way then I must really be on top of it right now. Well, I’m in a different world now and I do best with the options I have. I’d like to eat that way but it’s not possible 100% of the time.

So, with that said, you should now have an idea what eating smart means. It simply means being on top of your game on a daily basis if you have limited healthy food options, being on top of your game when your boss takes you to a bad restaurant where everything is covered with cheese, making healthy choices based on what you’re being offered. Most of all, exercising portion control which I think is the king of eating smart!

 Eating smart does not necessarily mean:

• cooking everything from scratch ( please do whenever you have a chance but I don’t expect you to!)
• only eating fresh foods ( again, I encourage you to but I won’t judge if you have canned peaches!)
• never eating out (are you nuts?!)
• eating everything organic (hmm, that’s doable sometimes, right?)

Be realistic, be smart and be healthy…

It’s Friday afternoon and you’re already planning your happy hour or tonight’s bar hopping adventure. Keep in mind that alcohol has a lot of calories. It’s funny because people tend to think of it as water. Oh no! Not even close.

I did a little research and came up with a list of “to have” and “not to have” drinks when you go out tonight and tomorrow night!

Drinks to Have:

• Bloody Mary – one of my favorites! Supposedly it’s not a night out on the town type of drink but a morning one but you can still order it any time! 5 oz glass – 120 calories
• Red Wine – duh! you already knew that. Low in calories ( as compared to other drinks that is) and will keep your heart healthy!
• Light Beer – if you’re going to order beer, try the light kind, that will save you some calories (about 45-50 calories less per glass)
• Gin & Tonic – not too bad, 7 oz glass will supply you with 200 calories
• Tom Collins – that is if you like lemon! 8 oz glass only has 120 calories!
• Whiskey Sour – 8 oz glass gives 160 calories, not horrible!

You ready for the worst drinks out there? Ok here we go!

Drinks to Not Have:

• Pina Colada – avoid this one! It sure is good but 8 oz glass can have as much as 800 calories, ouch!
• Long Island Iced Tea – this is a trouble maker for sure, 8 oz glass has about 500 calories
• Margarita – so good yet so bad for you! 8 oz glass will give you about 400 calories
• White Russian – I mentioned this one because I recently tried it, it is also the “dude’s” favorite drink, 6 oz glass=360 calories

As you see calories will add up quickly. Just a few drinks can result in about 2000 calories! Holy cow!

Be reasonable when you’re out there. Drink smart! And of course, don’t drink and drive.

What motivates you to exercise?

It wasn’t until this year that I became very serious about exercising. I decided it is time to quit making excuses and get to work. About a month ago, on December 12th of 2010 I did my first exercise routine and I have been exercising regularly ever since then. That is not to say that I haven’t worked out before that. Oh, trust me I have! I would be serious about it for about 2 weeks and then I would stop because I would either get bored, tired or just busy with something else. That is why I call it my first exercise routine because it was the first workout of a long term habit.

You’re probably wondering how I have been able to keep going without getting bored. The answer to that is very simple, I have found something that drives me to it. I have found something that I really like about exercise that keeps me coming back for more.

So what’s this motivation? For me, it is the physical strength and endurance. That is my new exercise motivation. It’s not so much about keeping my stomach flat anymore or having toned arms (of course, those are the benefits too!) but it’s more about how much strength I can gain from exercising and how much longer I can run without getting tired. I don’t want to run the average distance that any other person can run, I want to be better and stronger!

My biggest challenge this year are push ups. I got tired of only being able to do one push up. I’m 27 years old, I’m somewhat athletic, don’t have any health conditions and I’m only able to do 1 push up? No way Jose! 2011 came and I am already doing eight full blown, real push ups. I’m striving for more! Sky is the limit when it comes to my physical strength.

There are many additional benefits to exercising that I have already noticed myself. I have more energy than ever before, I sleep better, I strive to eat even better, and because I work so hard physically, I eat less junk food because I know how much work it takes to burn those calories off. You don’t appreciate calories my dear until you start working them off and feeling every burn of it!

Exercise is a big part of the Healthy Body Kick Off that which is this month’s theme for my blog. Summer is coming and we are taking eating and exercise very seriously. Keep up the good work!

For more information on exercise, please visit my friend Katie’s wonderful blog at : http://buildingsexy.blogspot.com/

Ahh, good old Starbucks! Don’t let your love for coffee stop you from reaching your healthy body goals this summer!

While getting a cup of coffee the other day at Starbucks, I stared at all the scones, muffins and other pastries they had available. They were all staring at me, looking delicious and extremely tempting.

I then looked over at the other section that was full of snacks and noticed that they were at a lower level so you had to really look down to notice them. They included sandwiches, salads, chocolate milk, and this particular snack that caught my attention.

Fruit, Nuts & Cheese…

Looking through my dietitian lens, I got very excited and quickly made a decision to purchase this snack. To be honest with you, I was quite satisfied with my choice.

The snack includes three different types of cheeses, almonds, dry cranberries, three apple slices and two cracker pieces. The brie cheese tasted amazing when combined with the almonds. Actually, the whole combo went great together.

I then looked at the nutrition label.

 This snack is nearly 500 calories! However, it’s packed with nutrient dense foods. You’re getting protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin A, C and iron. So really, would you rather have a high calorie snack that’s loaded with nutrients or a high calorie scone with nothing in it other than sugar and fat? Because this snack was so nutritious, it kept me feeling full for about 3 hours whereas a pastry only keeps me full for about 1 hour.

Some people may also say that they wouldn’t spend $4.95 for a few pieces of cheese, crackers and apples. But spending $3 on a fattening scone is better?

You’re on your way to a healthy body and so you have got to change the way you think about food. Another excuse might be, “why spend so much on a snack where I can get all of that at a grocery store and put it together myself.” Well, will you? Will you really buy it all and put it together? And while you’re shopping for all those items, will you be snacking on a 500 calorie scone?

 Healthy Body Kick Off is about eating less, making smart food choices and exercising. Every smart food choice that you make contributes to your success.

Food Moment is super excited to kick off a season of weight loss! Why? Because summer is on its way here and right now is an ideal time to start paying attention to our weight goals.

In the next 2-3 months, I will be focusing on portion control, exercise and choosing nutrient dense foods. Don’t worry if this sounds super confusing right now. If you pay attention closely and follow my tips, you will see how simple it is to make changes in your eating and exercise habits.

I have written about portion control before and I will be talking about this topic a lot in the next few weeks. I want you to understand how effective it is and see the beauty of it.

I hope you join me in this journey, your body deserves it!

Let’s toast to a great beginning and a year of health!

This baby isn’t worried and so why are you?! Just to remind you, food keeps you alive and provides you with pleasure. It’s enjoyable, brings people together, it’s part of celebrating. It’s everywhere!

Whether you are trying to lose weight, eat healthier ( or both) , you need to keep in mind that you can still enjoy food and not be stressed about eating. Don’t let food be this year’s obsession.

Here are my tips for you on how to prevent obsessing about eating:

1. Don’t count calories. Forget it! Eat small portions and don’t worry about the rest.

2. Don’t starve yourself. If you feel hungry, please, have a meal! Losing weight is not about starving yourself but eating small meals and eating often.

3. Respond to your cravings. Look, if you are craving something sweet, have a little piece of chocolate. This way you satisfy the craving and move on. If you ignore your body’s craving cues, they will keep adding on. Eventually you will lose control and eat a lot more chocolate at once than you ever wanted to. Once again, portion control. As you probably already figured, I’m all about that. If not, I will drill that into you over and over again until it registers!

4. Eat balanced meals but if you occasionally fail at this, do not worry. Even dietitians fail at this at times. We are only humans and we do our best, right?

5. Don’t beat yourself up over a bad day. We all have these days. I recently experienced a time where I failed at eating healthy foods. I ate pizza, had a soda, and a cookie. I didn’t feel very positive about that. What’s done is done though, can’t undo it. So forget about it and plan your next healthy meal. Move on!

Leave your worries behind, enjoy food, and celebrate!!! 

Now that I put my message across. What are your food obsessions, concerns or questions?