For most of us, we should strive to eat healthy most days of the week. However, “cheat” days are part of our lives and on some eating plans, encouraged. So what do you eat on splurge days? Pizza, pasta, hamburgers, sweets or hotdogs? Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences published findings in Nature Food detailing their newly developed Health Nutritional Index, analyzed individual foods based on their composition to calculate each food item’s benefits using 15 dietary risk factors.
According to the author’s calculations, a beef hot dog on a bun resulted in a loss of 36 minutes of healthy life “largely due to the detrimental effect of processed meat,”. The interesting news is that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was associated with an increase of 33 minutes. Foods like baked salmon, salted peanuts, and rice with beans were also associated with gains between 10 and 15 minutes.
It is important to know that swapping 10% of daily caloric consumption from beef and processed meats for fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and certain kinds of seafood could reap significant health benefits, with the team citing a gain of some 48 minutes per person per day making these foods the winners and gave us precious more minutes.
So knowing this, I am saying no to hot dogs. NO MORE HOTDOGS on my menu as well as limiting highly processed meats. I am looking forward to more wonderful days of enjoying this great life and good health. Hotdogs and highly processes meats, you lose, health, you win!
Everyone loves the holidays, but let’s be honest, it can get expensive, especially when you have several guests to feed. Our NC State colleagues on the More in My Basket team have created a great six-part series on how to prepare and get ahead of the holiday meal cost. They recommend planning your menu in advance because it allows you the opportunity to be sure all your favorite dishes are included. You also want to stick to your menu items and buy in advance over the course of several grocery trips. This will help spread out the expenses and lower the impact on your monthly food budget.
If you don’t have time to implement all of the planning strategies before Thanksgiving, use what you can and plan ahead for your next big holiday meal.
View the links below to read more on each topic and get downloadable pdfs for each part of the series.
Getting Ahead of the Holiday Meal Cost 6-Part Series:
Whether you use the word “fitness” or “exercise” or “physical activity” to describe your daily movement, everyone could benefit from a change up to their current routine no matter how small. Some of us really enjoy running or going to the gym, while others find joy in other forms of movement. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with running or going to the gym (these are amazing ways to engage in physical activity!), there are countless other ways to get our bodies moving. If you are looking to try a new routine or new activity, look no further!
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend adults engage in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity OR 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week. Aerobic activity can be moderate or vigorous intensity. Moderate-intensity activities, like brisk walking, make your heart beat a little faster than normal. Vigorous-intensity activities, like jogging or running, elevate your heart rate even further. We can meet this recommendation through a variety of activities. The goal is to find activities you enjoy – that is your fitness connection!
Are you looking to start a new routine?
Check out these sample programs from our colleagues at Eat Smart, Move More NC. Feel free to modify or adapt them as you see fit to meet your current fitness levels. Change up your walking or jogging route for some added variation.
Are you looking to try a new activity or change up your current routine?
Review the list below and pick one new activity to engage in. Many can be done easily from home and require little to no equipment. Others may require access to an outside facility or fitness studio, but are worth looking into if you are interested.
Swimming or Water Aerobics: Low-impact aerobic exercise that engages most muscles in the body.
EMOM: A type of HIIT workout, every minute on the minute workouts are also very adaptable. Choose 1 or 2 exercises and a number of repetitions for each. Every minute on the minute you complete the exercises and repetitions and then rest for the remainder. Follow this format to create a short and effective workout.
Boxing/kickboxing: Cardio boxing workouts focus on air punches and do not require any equipment. If you have access to a gym or boxing studio, these classes can be a great way to get your blood pumping and relieve stress.
TRX: Total resistance exercise training utilizes suspension straps and your bodyweight for a great muscle strengthening workout.
Yoga: Mind-body exercises that involve strength, flexibility, balance and core training. Start your morning off with these simple yoga stretches for a relaxing start to your day.
Pilates: Low-impact muscular strength and endurance and flexibility training. A great bodyweight workout you can do from home.
Barre: Ballet-influenced exercises that involve strength, cardio and flexibility. You can opt to use light weights or bodyweight.
POUND: Did you know drumming can be a full body workout? POUND combines cardio, strength, pilates and yoga to get your heart rate up while drumming along to the music.
Powerlifting or Olympic lifting: These require specific equipment and techniques but certain gyms offer small group or personal training.
Rock climbing or bouldering: If you have access to an indoor climbing center, it may be worth checking out. All equipment is available on site and the courses are generally changed at some frequency for added variation and challenge. Bouldering is a form of free climbing that does not require a harness.
Hiking: If you live near a trail, lace up your shoes and get moving.
Think Outside the Box Activities
FootGolf: A sport that combines soccer and golf. The main goal is similar to the main goal of golf: to get the ball from the teeing ground into the hole in the least number of shots possible.
Pickleball: This sport is played on a badminton court and combines badminton, tennis and ping pong. It is a fun way to stay active and with a smaller court, it places lower stress on your knees and joints than tennis.
Geocaching: A treasure hunt of sorts, geocaching could be a fun way to change up your walking route. All you need is a phone or GPS.
Plogging: Picking up trash while jogging, or plogging, is an environmentally friendly way to get moving and keep your community clean.
If you need more guidance or inspiration, check out our suggestions for more free ways to exercise at home for additional online resources. Let’s get moving!
Stress can be a powerful and often unnoticed force in your life. It can influence weight, mental health, quality of sleep, and have effects on blood pressure, heart rate, and the immune system. When chronic stress is present, a hormone called cortisol is released which increases glucose in the bloodstream. This increase in glucose is the reason you are more likely to reach for a doughnut or cookie during stressful times. There is typically no shortage of stressful situations (and sweets) during the holiday season. But the good news is, you can manage it. Take away the effect that stress has on your life with these strategies:
Ensure you are getting 7-8 hours of sleep at night. You can tackle almost anything life throws your way after a good night’s sleep.
Take a few moments for yourself. Clear your mind by listening to your favorite song or podcast or read a few pages of a good book.
Exercise. All types of exercise have been shown to reduce stress. Stretching and meditating exercises such as yoga or Tai Chi are excellent ways to distance yourself from the stress and refocus your mind. Cardio exercises release endorphins which can create positive feelings.
Breathe. Take a few deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. See our tips on mindful breathing.
Take some time out of your day right now to pause and do a quick activity that will relieve stress. Some ideas for quick stress relievers can be found here.
Bonus tip:
During times of stress, eating a healthy, balanced diet is perhaps even more important to support your body’s needs. Here at Eat Smart, Move More, Prevent Diabetes, we love to eat the Med way! A Mediterranean-style eating pattern is an evidence-based approach to a lifestyle of healthy eating. For more information and resources, check out medinsteadofmeds.com.
Tracking is once again a winner when it comes to helping us achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Tracking has long been a key strategy included in most weight management programs, including the Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less and Eat Smart, Move More, Prevent Diabetes programs. Writing down everything that we are eating and drinking and how we are moving, helps us become more mindful about these important behaviors. It is only when we are more mindful about what we are currently doing that we can put a realistic plan in place to make healthy changes.
While the research has sung the praises of tracking for decades, a recent Duke University study confirmed these results. Researchers found that even without following a particular eating plan, those who tracked their daily food consumption using a free smartphone app lost a significant amount of weight. The results are encouraging and show that using automated, free tools, rather than more costly in-person interventions could be an effective low-cost route to weight loss.
Which apps are best? Below are some recent reviews of the top tracking apps (in no particular order):
MyPlate Calorie Counter
Android rating: 4.6
iPhone rating: 4.7
Price: Free with in-app purchases
MyPlate is a comprehensive tracking tool that tracks both food and exercise on an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android Phone. The bar code scanner finds and tracks food easily. Create custom foods and meals. Keep track of weight and progress over time. Set up a personalized daily calorie goal based on profile information.
SuperFood – Healthy Recipes
Android rating: 4.6
iPhone rating: 5.0
Price: Free with in-app purchases
This app provides free access to many, many healthy recipes with regional ingredients that you can save in the grocery list. A calorie calculator helps to track calories and nutrients. Local and seasonal dishes including vegetarian recipes are available. Nutrient analysis is provided for each recipe. A cooking mode keeps the screen on while cooking.
Lose It! Calorie Counter
Android rating: 4.6
iPhone rating: 4.3
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Lose It! allows you to set up a profile with your current and goal weight and will calculate your daily calorie budget. Easily track your food, weight, and activity. The bar code scanner finds and tracks food easily. You can also take a picture of food to track. Extensive food database with more than 27 million searchable foods. Create your own recipes and choose among a library of workouts.
MyFitnessPal
Android rating: 4.4
iPhone rating: 4.7
Price: Free with in-app purchases
MyFitnessPal also allows you to set up a profile with your current and goal weight and will calculate your daily calorie budget. Easily track your food, weight, and activity. Use the bar code scanner to find and track food. Extensive food database with accurate nutrition facts for more than 14 million foods. Get ideas from the 250+ healthy recipes and 150+ workouts. You can also get support from a large online community.
MyNetDiary
Android rating: 4.6
iPhone rating: 4.8
Price: Free with in-app purchases
MyNetDiary comes highly rated and similar to the other apps, it also allows you to set up a profile to track your food, weight, and activity. A bar code scanner is provided to find and track food. Build a shopping list, track your water intake, and choose among the 370,000 recipe ideas. Mediterranean, vegetarian, and vegan recipes are provided, along with a large exercise database.
Nutrients – Nutrient Facts
iPhone rating: 4.2
Price: $4.99
Get a complete nutrient breakdown for tens of thousands of foods including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fats, fatty acids, sugars, sterols, and caffeine, to name a few. You can create your own recipes and then create a nutrient analysis. You can also track the foods that you eat every day and find out nutrients where you may be deficient.
References:
Duke University. “Tracking food leads to losing pounds: Those who tracked food and weight lost pounds in new study.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 February 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190228154839.htm>.
Michele L Patel, Christina M Hopkins, Taylor L Brooks, Gary G Bennett. Comparing Self-Monitoring Strategies for Weight Loss in a Smartphone App: Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2019; 7 (2): e12209 DOI: 10.2196/12209
Healthline: The Best Nutrition Apps of 2020. Accessed on 11.04.21. https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/top-iphone-android-apps
With almost 75% of the sodium intake of most Americans coming from processed foods, it is not the salt shaker on the table that is to blame for high salt intake. The Food and Drug Administration released new guidelines asking food service, restaurants, and food manufacturers to voluntarily reduce sodium levels in over 150 categories of food including processed, packaged, prepared foods, cheese, pickles, nuts, sauces, deli meats, crackers, and poultry products. The goal is to help American’s decrease their sodium intake by 12% over the next two and a half years. If successful, the average sodium consumption in America would be around 3,000mg – still well over the recommended 2,400mg but a step in the right direction.
Lowering sodium in the diet to recommended levels has been shown to decrease high blood pressure which is the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Medical professionals and nutritionists (including this RDN) are applauding FDA’s guidance and ask to food manufacturers to do their part in following the suggestions. It is my hope that this is but the first step to decrease salt in the American diet to a more modest level to save lives.
Next time you have overripe bananas lying around, don’t throw them out – make these delicious and healthy muffins instead!
Most muffins are just a step away from cake with lots of added sugar and unhealthy fat. Not these med muffins! These muffins utilize ripe bananas for natural sweetness and nuts for heart-healthy fats. Great for a breakfast on the go or a mid-afternoon sweet treat, these muffins provide you with sustaining energy any time of day.
Since we are not adding any sugar to these muffins be sure that your bananas are overripe. Think almost black and squishy. When a banana is overripe the starches within the fruit have started to break down and become simple sugars, aka sweeter. No overripe bananas around? No worries. Place your bananas into a brown paper bag with an apple. Fold the top over to seal the bag. Both fruits give off a natural gas called ethylene, which helps to ripen the fruit quickly. Wait 1-2 days and your bananas will be ready to go.
Lifehack: to prevent the muffin tin paper liners from becoming too damp or soggy pour a small amount of regular (not instant) rice into the muffin tin before placing the paper liners. You’ll want the rice to evenly coat the bottom of the muffin tin. The rice acts like a sponge, soaking up excess moisture during the cooking process. Take muffins out of the tin after baking and allow them to cool on a wire rack. Toss the rice after baking.
Recipe
Serves 12
Serving Size: 1 muffin
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
2 overripe bananas
1 ½ cup chopped apples
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, or almonds)
2 eggs
1 cup old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (you can use Chinese 5 spice for a different flavor)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400° degrees.
Line 12 muffin tins with an even layer of rice. Then line with muffin papers and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Mash bananas with a fork in a medium bowl.
Add apples, nuts, and eggs to the bananas; mix well.
In another bowl, mix dry ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and mix until just combined.
Spoon the muffin mixture into muffin cups.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the internal temperature of the muffin is 165° degrees.
Remove the muffins from the muffin tin and place on a wire rack for cooling.
Once cool, store in the refrigerator for 4-7 days.
Batch cooking
Once muffins have cooled, individually wrap each muffin in plastic wrap and place into a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. For serving: place muffin in the refrigerator overnight or remove plastic wrap and microwave for a few seconds.
Alterations
Not in the mood for walnuts? Feel free to substitute any nut or seed that you like. Some other options include: slivered almonds, chopped pecans, chopped pistachios, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds.
Don’t care for nuts? Try one of the seeds above or replace the nuts with dried fruit, such as raisins, or dark chocolate morsels for a decadent treat.
The non-nutritive sweetener sucralose is found in literally thousands of foods, most diet soft drinks are sweetened this way. The zero calories on the label signals that this food would help with weight loss, especially if it is being swapped for its full calorie version.
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found otherwise. This randomized trial found that women, particularly obese women tended to eat more and have increased cravings after consuming sucralose when compared to sugar.
These findings are consistent with other findings in similar studies. While more study is needed, it would seem that especially for women, diet soft drinks should be a sometimes food, not consumed every day.
Water continues to be the number one way to RETHINK YOUR DRINK.
Carbohydrates have gotten a bad rep – a really bad reputation. Carbs are not all created equal. Sugar and highly refined grains and foods made from white flour should be off the menu or at least consumed infrequently. What should be on your grocery list are whole grains; think brown rice and whole-wheat pasta.
I recently attended a professional seminar on pasta. The way pasta is made the protein component of wheat wraps itself around the starch portion and when that pasta is dried, it is metabolized slower than would be expected given the amount of carbohydrate in this food. To give your pasta an even bigger health boost, cook it, chill it, then reheat it. This creates something called resistant starch.
Resistant starch is a type of starch that is resistant to digestion. It acts much like fiber and passes through the GI tract. The benefits of resistant starch are lower insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar levels, reduced appetite and improved digestion.
What about rice? Do the same choose brown rice, cook, chill, reheat steps for rice for a dish that your body metabolizes much slower. Some studies have shown that the calorie savings can be substantial by adding the step of chilling and reheating as it creates resistant starch.
Lots of good news here about these high carb foods. However, it is not a license to eat all you want. Portions are still key. Measure your cooked rice or pasta and store it in the refrigerator in single serving containers (or the number of servings you would need for one meal for your family’s size). Add lots of vegetables and choose brown rice and whole-wheat pasta.
Here are some delicious new recipes at www.medinsteadofmeds.com to get you started! Be sure to add the cook then cool step to create resistant starch.
While the calendar says Fall, the 80 plus degree highs for most days still says summer. Before we say goodbye until next year. Try these two new salad recipes on www.Medinsteadofmeds.com.
Cucumbers are one of my favorite vegetables so I am always trying to land new recipes. This salad is bright and delicious. Serve right away for peak flavor.
