Nutrition Tidbits
Welcome to the Nutritional Corner!
Having trouble getting your kids to eat their veggies?? Check out the new cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld as she puree's her main vegetables and throws them into all her kids foods and snacks, without them ever knowing. This is a great idea and I have tried some of the recipes as well and we love them! You can easily purchase this book at Amazon.com or your local bookstore!
Another great way is juicing! Make your kids a nutritious smoothy with yogurt and some fresh or frozen fruit and throw in a few veggies. They will never know they are in there and makes for a great afternoon snack. You can also freeze your smoothy mixture into great popsicles as well, a hit around our house this summer.
Flax, flax, and more flax! Get one of the best sources of fiber into your diet through the addition of ground flax meal. You can sprinkle this on cereal, put this in your morning oatmeal or add some to your favorite recipes like spaghetti or homeade breaded chicken to slow down your digestion. Flax has so many benefits, but one of the best is to your bodies digestive system!
What are these ingredients all about??
hydrogenated oils
high fructose corn syrup
sugar
enriched flour
trans fat/animal fat
gmo's
hydrogenated oils
high fructose corn syrup
sugar
enriched flour
trans fat/animal fat
gmo's
Hydrogenated oils or partially hydrogenated oils are terrible for the body because they take a healthy oil and add hydrogen to it so that the molecules go from soft to rigid. This allows for your foods to have a really long shelf life and not break down so fast because they strip the good nutrition out, leaving only damaged goods. This is like an insurance policy for stores, long expiration dates create sales and short ones create left over stock. The other really bad thing about these oils is once hydrogen is added, to make vegetable oil turn into Crisco, our bodies can't break these oils down anymore and use them as energy, so we store them in our arteries and thighs. What to do? Use oils like olive oil, sesame seed oil, canola and yes even vegetable oil in its pure form! The body can handle this in measurable amounts.
High fructose corn syrup is one of the sweetest sugars the market can buy. One drop is like a cup of raw table sugar! This stuff is great because a little goes a long way. No surprise then why sugar pop consumers that have 2 pops a day (not diet) gain on average of 10 pounds of fat per year from that extra sugar consumption and in one months time have consumed a 5 lb bag of sugar! There have been some studies done recently trying to link HFCS to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. There appears to be much research going on regarding the affects of fructose (found in high concentrations in HFCS) on obesity, triglycerides and insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes.
High fructose corn syrup also blocks a chemical that is released from your brain called leptin, which tells your brain that you are full. The problem - you will overeat and food companies love this because it provides for great sales! There are so many other ways to sweeten food, stick to using raw sugars so that your body can recognize and break these down. High Fructose Corn Syrup is just as sweet as sucrose (table Sugar) but is very cheap to produce and transport. Many enzymes and chemicals are used to produce a high grade corn syrup and most of these enzymes used are genetically modified (GMO- see below)
Sugar is a substance that we know is well loved and definitely is needed in many foods, but our culture has lost sight of "normal" amounts! The long term damage of eating foods that are high in sugar is to the pancreas, which releases insulin to regulate the level of sugars in your bloodstream. We know for a fact now that young kids are developing diabetes at epidemic rates - the root cause has been found to be caused from the high sugar diets many of our kids follow from very young days. These diets are wearing out their pancreas and this damage is not reversible. Sugar is a substance that is fine to eat, but in moderate amounts. This is an addictive substance as well, so keep this one in proportion when developing your daily dieting habits. Keep yourself and your kids well hydrated with WATER and remove the pop and so called energy drinks which strip the calcium right from kids bones out of your houses!
Enriched Flour - what is this? Some kind of super powered flour! Well, if this was the case we would all be super powered people but the truth lies in that the process of enrichment delivers the stripping of the good stuff out of the whole flour and then they just put a little bit back in. This process allows for the foods we eat to have an extra long shelf life, which to the buyers means they will have a longer period of time to sell these products and that is great for them, but for us it means we are eating empty foods that lack a great amount of fiber! We need to have 30 grams of fiber a day for proper digestion and allow for your foods to digest slower which will sustain hunger. We are hungry because we fill ourselves with foods that are stripped down and lack any real nutritional value. People often say that eating well costs a lot of money, whole and organic foods are expensive but if you just ate a diet rich in whole foods, you would actually feel full for a normal period of time and will only need a serving instead of eating the whole bag of something and then reaching for more.
Animal Fat comes from 4 legged fat and the problem lies in that when animal fat is at room temperature it remains a solid, but when you heat them up they turn to liquid. The problem - when we eat these foods they do the same exact thing in our bodies. Our arteries are getting filled with these saturated fats and eventually lead to heart disease and other medical issues. Meat that comes from 4 legged animals is good for your diet in moderation and there are plenty of things you can do when preparing these items that will reduce these saturated fats like boiling the meat, straining the meat after you cooked it, or use paper towels to pat down or allow the fats to be soaked up into the towels and then use the meat for whatever you are preparing. Enjoy your meat, but eat from a variety and don't just stick to our 4 legged friends!
Trans Fat -Trans-fatty acids (TFA) or hydrogenated oils tend to raise cholesterol levels more than saturated (animal) fats. TFA raises the LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowers the HDL (good cholesterol). Eating foods with TFA can increase your risk of heart disease. The "trans" form of this fat occurs during processing which changes the structure of the fat. There is some naturally occurring TFA in meats and milk, but in small amounts. As of 2006 all food labels will have to list the amount of TFA in the product.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO'S):
When living organisms such as animals, plants or bacteria are genetically altered through technology, the term "genetically modified" is used. When genes are combined from different organisms, the resulting organism is said to be "genetically modified" or "genetically engineered". At this time, it is not mandatory to list on a food label that the food contains GMO's. Organic foods are free of GMO's and will usual state that on the food label. While there are benefits to using genetically modified products such as: improved resistance to disease and pests, less time for crops to mature and enhanced taste and quality, there are also many controversies. Some safety issues include allergens, anti-biotic resistance and un-intended transfers of GMO's through cross-pollination.
When living organisms such as animals, plants or bacteria are genetically altered through technology, the term "genetically modified" is used. When genes are combined from different organisms, the resulting organism is said to be "genetically modified" or "genetically engineered". At this time, it is not mandatory to list on a food label that the food contains GMO's. Organic foods are free of GMO's and will usual state that on the food label. While there are benefits to using genetically modified products such as: improved resistance to disease and pests, less time for crops to mature and enhanced taste and quality, there are also many controversies. Some safety issues include allergens, anti-biotic resistance and un-intended transfers of GMO's through cross-pollination.
Start today with one goal and set out to conquer it so that success and a lifetime of health is your life!
Katherine
Owner
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