Nutrition Articles

Food for Thought: Five Healthy Eating Tips for the Holidays

‘Tis the season for eating… turkey, stuffing, pies, cookies, cakes, ham and all the sides! But how do you stay on your healthy eating track when it is so easy to get sidetracked with the holidays?

Experts weighed in (no pun intended) on this topic and have come up with these five healthy eating tips to help you keep those diet goals and still enjoy the delicious meals of the season!

1. “Holiday-proof” your diet. How you ask? Try to eat as close to your normal eating times as possible, offer to bring a healthy treat to the meal, if you want to eat dessert maybe cut back on other carbohydrates during dinner and don’t skip meals to save up for dinner.
2. “Outsmart the buffet.” Ways to do this include eat on a smaller plate and resist seconds, eat slowly so you feel fuller, start with vegetables so you fill up quicker and avoid (or limit) your alcohol.
3. Add your favorites instead of eliminating them. If you only eat pumpkin pie once a year, then eat the pumpkin pie! Just make sure that you account for that in your diet plan/calorie count.
4. Keep up with your exercising. While the holidays can be a busy time, make sure that you still try to fit your physical exercise in like you normally would. Being active can help you offset that extra eating that you will be doing and reduce your stress.
5. Get your sleep. Because the holidays are such a busy time, you might be going out more and staying out later. Sleep loss may make it harder for you to stick to your diet and exercise plan. Getting your sleep will also prevent late night snacking.

Most of all, when you celebrate with the people that you care about, you will find that you are focusing on the fun not the food.

Eating Healthy: Spotlight on Cranberries

• Cranberries contain high amounts of vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants. They also include only 45 calories per cup.
• Cranberry's juice can be used for the prevention of urinary tract infections and bacterial adhesion in the stomach.
• The same bacteria preventing ability of the cranberry juice can avert the formation of plaque, which leads to fewer cavities. 

 Recipe: Easy Cranberry Bread 

• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon, rind of
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1 3/4 cups cranberries, chopped 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add egg, finely grated orange peel, lemon peel, and orange juice all at once; carefully stir until the mixture is evenly moist. Fold in cranberries. Spoon and spread evenly into a greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. 

Recipe: Cranberry Sauce 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 4 cups (1 12-oz package) fresh or frozen cranberries
• Optional: Pecans, orange zest, raisins, currants, blueberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice. 

Place the cranberries in a colander and rinse them. Pick out and discard any damaged or bruised cranberries. Put the water and sugar in a medium saucepan on high heat and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar.  Add the cranberries to the pot and return to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until most of the cranberries have burst.  Once the cranberries have burst you can leave the cranberry sauce as is or dress it up with other ingredients. We like to mix in a half a cup of chopped pecans with a few strips of orange zest. Some people like adding raisins or currants, or even blueberries for added sweetness. You can also add holiday spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice. Remove the pot from heat. Let cool completely at room temperature, then transfer to a bowl to chill in the refrigerator.

Food 101: Never Do This with Your Potatoes

Potatoes are one of the most popular vegetables in Americans homes and a quick and easy item to have on hand for meals. But did you know that there are some things that you should never do with potatoes?

Here are what you shouldn’t be doing with your spuds:

Never store your potatoes with your apples- apples produce high amounts of ethylene gas, which causes potatoes to spoil prematurely.

Never store them in a cold, dry environment – instead, keep them in cool, dark place away from other fruits and vegetables.

Never store potatoes near bananas, melons, onions, pears, peaches, avocados, and tomatoes – these also produce high levels of ethylene gas and should be stored separately.

Food for Thought: Pumpkin vs. Sweet Potato – Who Wins the Nutritious Fall Battle?

Two delicious, and very similarly tasting, foods of fall – pumpkins and sweet potatoes – are both popular, but which one packs more of a nutritional punch?

Here we put these two fall favorites to the nutritional test…

Reducing the risk of chronic disease:

High amounts of beta-carotene are found in both pumpkins and sweet potatoes. Experts say that diets high in beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and protects against heart disease. One cup of cooked pumpkin contains 5,140 micrograms of beta-carotene and one cup of cooked sweet potatoes contains 31,000 micrograms of beta-carotene. Winner? Sweet potato.

Immunity-boosting vitamins:

Both pumpkins and sweet potatoes are both rich in vitamins that boost immunity, like vitamin A. One cup of cooked pumpkin contains 245% RDI (recommended daily intake) of vitamin A and 19% RDI of vitamin C.

Yet sweet potato knocks pumpkin out of the park with one cup providing 774% of vitamin A and 53% of vitamin C. Winner? Sweet potato.

Gut Health:

Good sources of fiber encourage a healthy gut. With 8.2 grams of fiber in one cup of sweet potato, this one once again beats out pumpkin with only 3 grams of fiber. Winner? Sweet potato.

The Final Result?

Although both vegetables are great fall food choices when you place them in a side-by-side comparison, sweet potatoes edge out pumpkin due to its nutritional make-up from vitamin A to fiber to protein. Pumpkin is a light, lower sugar option, but if you want a heavy, nutritious food that gives your body more nutrients then sweet potatoes is the choice to make.

Winner: Sweet Potato.

Healthy Living Foods that You Shouldn’t Keep in Your Refrigerator

Since 1913, refrigerators have been keeping our foods cold, but not everything stays fresher in the fridge!

Here are the top foods that you shouldn’t be keeping in your refrigerator, thereby keeping your foods fresher and freeing up some space on your shelves.

Avocados – they will reach their peak ripeness at room temperature.

Basil – best left at room temperature with stems submerged in water. (This is also true for many herbs.)

Bell peppers – the skin loses its crunch when kept at cold temperatures.

Cucumbers – keeping them in the fridge make them watery and pitted.

Pickles – they don’t need to be refrigerated because they are already preserved.

Onions – store them in a cool, dry place but never in a plastic bag or near potatoes.

Garlic – keep it in a cool, dry place so it doesn’t become rubbery.

Potatoes – best stored in a paper bag. The moisture in the fridge makes them gritty and sweet.

Tomatoes – store at room temperature for optimal flavor.

Bananas – need warmer temperatures to ripen.

Berries – stay fresher in room temperature, as the moisture will ruin them.

Citrus fruits – leave those on the counter and be sure to get rid of moldy ones, as the mold spreads quickly.

Melons – whole melons should be left at room temperature. Only refrigerate once they are cut.

Hot sauce – only creamy condiments should be refrigerated.

Soy sauce – thanks to fermentation, soy sauce can be left unrefrigerated for a year.