Archive for the ‘Nutrition’ Category:
Don’t drink your calories!
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans advise us to limit our consumption of added sugars. After all, almost half of all the added sugars in the average American’s diet come from soda, sports drinks, fruit drinks and other sugary choices. Here are 6 ways to lower your beverage calories to “Maintain, Don’t Gain” this holiday season:
1. Make better coffee choices.
Some coffee house beverages pack as many calories as a meal! Watch out for coffee options that are high in fat and sugar and drink your coffee black most often.
2. Choose whole fruit instead of smoothies or juice.
While most blended drinks do contain fruit, they also often include frozen yogurt, sherbet, cream, and/or added sugar, all of which add calories. When you eat pieces of fruit you get the fiber which is missing in fruit juice, too.
3. Limit sodas or choose diet soda.
Super-sized or extra-large beverages may be a bargain per ounce, but they are a disaster for your waistline. Did you know that a ‘child-sized’ soda in a fast food restaurant contains the same amount of liquid as a 12-ounce can?
4. Go easy on alcohol.
Drinks containing alcohol add lots of extra calories with few nutrients in return. And, the alcohol may weaken your resolve to make other healthy choices. At holiday parties, choose diet soda or water with a twist of lemon.
5. Drink skim milk instead of whole milk.
An eight-ounce serving of whole milk contains 160 calories (that’s like 8 ounces of skim milk with two pats of butter floating in it!) The same-size serving of skim milk contains just half as many calories with the same amount of calcium.
6. Make the best choices every day.
Make it a habit to choose unsweetened drinks most often– water, coffee, tea, diet sodas. Stock the fridge with grab-and-go bottles of water and low-calorie beverages. Having the right foods and beverages on hand is key to controlling your calories. This helps keep you from making a bad ‘on the run’ choice when away from home.
Source: Food and Health Communications“Knowledge for Life” provided by the Finney County Extension Office and K-State Research and Extension.
Subscribe to the comments for this postMyPlate Luncheon Program
In June, First Lady Michelle Obama introduced MyPlate, the new logo for government nutrition education. The circular plate image is designed to give a fast, easily-understood reminder of the basics of a healthy diet.
Now you can learn more at the free Extension luncheon program “MyPlate: Eating for the Health of It” on Monday, November 14, at 12:00 noon at the Grandstand Meeting Room on the Finney County Fairgrounds in Garden City.
This fun and festive program will include a delicious MyPlate-style lunch, the MyPlate prize wheel, and helpful information to help you put MyPlate on the table. All activities and materials are free, thanks to a grant from the Finney County Center for Children and Families.
“MyPlate: Eating for the Health of It” is sponsored by K-State Research and Extension in Finney, Kearny Scott and Wichita counties.
Pre-registration is required to reserve your spot for lunch. Please call the Finney County Extension Office at 620-272-3670 by Thursday, November 10. Lunch will not be guaranteed for those who register late.
MyPlate is intended to make healthy eating easy and enjoyable. Plan to attend this free Extension lunch program for facts, food and fun!
“Knowledge for Life” provided by the Finney County Extension Office and K-State Research and Extension.
Thirsty? Rethink Your Drink!
Thirsty? The heat of summer increases the need to drink plenty of fluids. But which beverages can we choose to quench our thirst without sinking the grocery budget?
Drinks are one of the easiest places to save money on your food bill. In order to do this, we have to be willing to let go of old, expensive habits and open the door to newer, cheaper ones.
Beverages: Basics vs. Luxuries
When we’re thirsty, it’s a signal that our bodies need water. Nutritious beverages like milk and fruit juice also play a valuable role in maintaining good health. But, most other beverages besides water, milk and juice are luxuries. These include such favorites as soda pop, sports drinks, fruit drinks, lemonade, coffee, tea, and almost any other beverage you can imagine. They add calories, caffeine, sugar, fizz and flavor to our diet. They do not add significant nutritive value. When we buy these types of luxury beverages, we are paying for someone to combine water and flavorings and then package them in a container that probably costs more than the beverage itself.
This doesn’t mean we need to give up our favorite drinks. It does mean that we need to recognize them for the luxuries they are. Then it’s a lot easier to put them in their proper place in the budget.
Beverage Priority Ranking
One way to approach the beverage budget is to assign a priority ranking for the drinks we may want to buy. Below is one example. Your list may be different, but it gives an idea of how to begin to rethink your drinks:
High Priority - Tap water, lowfat milk, nonfat dry milk, fruit juice concentrates.
Medium Priority - Canned and bottled 100% juices, unsweetened cocoa powder, store brand instant coffee and tea, cheap ground coffee and tea bags.
Low Priority – Whole or 2% milk, store brand soda-pop, store brand powdered fruit-flavored drink mixes and lemonade, most bottled fruit-flavored drinks and punches.
Seldom or Never- Fresh and refrigerated juices, chocolate milk, flavored coffee and tea, juice boxes or pouches, bottled water, name brand soda-pop, energy drinks, sports drinks, beer and other alcoholic beverages.
Your list won’t look exactly like this one, but it may be similar. Where there is room in the budget for a luxury beverage, by all means– indulge a little. Occasional treats make sticking to a tough budget a lot easier. Just be sure the important things are purchased first. For example, buying your favorite soda pop on sale is no bargain if you don’t have enough milk or juice to last until the next paycheck.
“Knowledge for Life” provided by the Finney County Extension Office and K-State Research and Extension.
“Just Add One” campaign for better nutrition
The Canned Food Alliance has a campaign called “Just Add One” which is short for just add one ingredient to make a recipe healthier. And the one ingredient is usually—you guessed it …. a canned fruit or vegetable.
I think the concept is sound. Many of us cook dishes that we can make from memory, rather than carefully following a recipe. The Alliance calls on us to just add one canned ingredient to make a go-to favorite even better without breaking the budget or complicating a busy schedule.
Check out their What’s for Dinner factsheet for ideas on how you can make starters, sides, entrées and desserts more healthful by adding just one can of vegetables or fruit. They also have great tips to increase nutrition, value, convenience and taste in family meals. Check it out!
Source: Spend Smart. Eat Smart. from Iowa State University Extension.
“Knowledge for Life” provided by the Finney County Extension Office and K-State Research and Extension.
Ten things to know about MyPlate
We have had three weeks to learn more about MyPlate, the new nutrition graphic from USDA. By looking carefully at the website and supporting materials, there is much to learn beyond the basic message of “make a healthy plate.” Here are ten more things to know about MyPlate:
- The food groups stayed the same as MyPyramid with regards to fruit, vegetables, whole grains, protein and dairy. But there are a few changes within these groups.
- Half of your grains should be whole grains. In a world full of pizza crust and fast food hamburger buns, whole grains can be hard to find. Choose whole grain options if you can find them when eating out, and then concentrate on whole grain breads, pasta, rice and cereal at home.
- Instead of the “meat and beans group”, this food group is now called the “protein group” to encourage more non-meat sources of protein like beans and legumes, peanut butter, eggs, nuts and seeds. The emphasis is on reasonable portions of lean meat and poultry, seafood twice a week, and more beans for protein and fiber.
- The dairy group is no longer called the milk group and it emphasizes getting calcium with a minimal amount of added fat and sugar. Cheese is one of the leading sources of saturated fat in the American diet, so switching to less cheese and more lowfat milk and yogurt is a healthy message.
- The MyPlate concept works even if you are going to a fast food place. You’ll be surprised at how the calorie outcome would change if you took fried chicken and macaroni and cheese and put everything in the right proportion. A fried chicken dinner goes down from 860 calories to 333 calories just because the chicken breast is cut in half, the mac and cheese reduced to 1/2 cup and the other half of the plate was green beans and corn on the cob (or salad and fruit, or you name it.)
- Many Americans have lost sight of what a standard food portion really is. It is shocking to bring home packaged fast food or processed snacks and put them on a plate. The portions are a lot bigger than you may realize and the food is often very fatty, much fattier than what we would make at home.
- While you can’t make the perfect plate every time, it helps to remember to make half the plate vegetables for lunch or dinner. And for breakfast go half fruit and choose fruits for snacks and desserts. Limit fruit juice to one glass a day and concentrate on whole fruit or fruit pieces instead, for texture and fiber.
- USDA provides a wonderful list of vegetables in 5 different groups and encourages variety. The reminder to “vary your vegetables” is valuable to keep in mind because it is easy to buy the same things all the time.
- Beans are both a protein and a vegetable- how cool is that! So stock up on more beans– they can be the protein centerpiece in the main dish or a healthful vegetable side dish, all for a very low price per pound.
- Dairy might be off to the side but it is a good reminder to drink milk with meals or include yogurt as a little side dish or dessert.