I love to SHOP

Posted by AMelane in foods, nutrition, shopping, wellness

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Hello All,
Sorry for the long gap between post, but May has been a busy month, but the summer is right around the corner!!!
I love grocery shopping, I can spend hours, just browsing the isles. Here are some tips to remember when shopping.

Key points to remember before heading to the store:

Extra calories added to traditional foods, with the invention of high fructose corn syrup in 1970, this cheaper alternative is being added to food from anything to ketchup to some whole wheat breads…is cheaper, has a longer shelf life and it can be incorporated to foods that never received sugar treatments. Look at your food labels and if you see this as a top 3 ingredient, STAY AWAY. It's SUGAR

Time bombs, trans fats,… a generation ago it was hard for manufacturers to create baked goods that would last on store shelves, most baked goods require oils and oil leaks at room temperature…so since 1960s manufacturers had been baking and restaurants have been frying with trans fats…trans fat is cheap and effective. It makes potatoes chips crispier and cookies tastier…it also lets fry cooks make pound after pound of fries without smoking up their kitchens . But Trans fats increases your bad cholesterol, lowers your good cholesterol and greatly increases your risk for heart disease.

Animals we eat aren’t as healthy, as they used to be. The average piece of chicken has 266% more fat than it did in 1971, while it’s protein content has dropped by a third….mainly because chickens aren’t roaming and are being kept in cages and fed antibiotic laced soy-corn and other unnatural foods…so if this is happening to the food we eat, what is it doing to us! So if possible, look for organic meat or "naturally raised"
Rules when shopping at the grocery store:

1. Work the edges, in general the healthiest foods in the store is found along that walls…the dairy case, produce, and meats/seafood. The inner isles can be a nutritional dead zone with boxes, bags, and cans of highly processed foods.
2. Look high and low. One reason why good foods at the store can be harder to find, is because the big food companies overwhelm most smaller companies. Most big manufactures pay a slotting fee to have prime placement of their products…where they are easily reachable. So healthier foods typically on the top or bottom shelves.
3. More packaging=less nutrition. The closer you get to the earth the better. The process of shipping, cooking, refining, and packaging foods all helps strip out essential nutrients, leading to empty calories.
4. Learn the lingo. Differences between whole grain and multi grain.
5. Fewer the ingredients the healthier the food. Read labels
6. Watch the ingredients on the food label…listing in order of abundance.
Picking the produce that is in season…cheaper and better quality

Break out of Breakfast's Mold

Posted by AMelane in breakfast, foods, nutrition, wellness

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Everyone know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day right???????

But a lot of people rarely eat breakfast. it could be because of lack of time, but mainly lack of preparation. Not only does breakfast give you fuel to sustain your day, it can also help with any weight loss goals. Here are some of the ways regularly eating a healthy breakfast may help you lose excess weight and maintain your weight loss:

Eating breakfast reduces your hunger later in the day, making it easier to avoid overeating. When you skip breakfast, you may feel ravenous later and be tempted to reach for a quick fix, such as candy from the vending machine. In addition, prolonged fasting — which occurs when you skip breakfast — can increase your body's insulin response, which in turn increases fat storage and weight gain. In fact, skipping breakfast actually increases your risk of obesity.

Eating breakfast gets you on track to make healthy choices all day. People who eat breakfast regularly tend to eat a healthier diet — one that is more nutritious and lower in fat. When you skip breakfast, you're more likely to skip fruits and vegetables the rest of the day too.

Eating breakfast gives you energy, increasing your physical activity during the day. A healthy breakfast refuels your body and replenishes the glycogen stores that supply blood sugar (glucose). Skipping breakfast is associated with decreased physical activity.

Breakfast does not have to be traditional foods every day. It can be anything from waffles to a sandwich. It’s always a good idea to have quick0fix foods on hand or get breakfast foods ready the night before. If you’re running late grab some yogurt, a bagel with peanut butter or some cheese and crackers. Here are some good nutritious quick breakfast ideas:

· Fruit and milk with instant oatmeal
· Iron-fortified cereal with banana slices
· Peanut butter on toasted whole-grain bread, waffle, or tortilla
· Cheese slices melted on whole-grain toast
· Hard-boiled egg sliced on an English muffin
· Apple and cheese slices between whole wheat or graham crackers
· Bran muffin and yogurt topped with berries
· Whole-wheat waffle topped with fruit, nuts and ricotta cheese
Also you can try some of these ideas when you have a little more time:
· Add berries or other fruit to pancake batter. Also try grated/pureed carrots or zucchini work well too
· Try bagel with salsa
· Broil a bagel topped with apple or pear slices, sprinkled with cinnamon and low fat cheese
· Try using mashed avocado as a spread on bread
· Try raw vegetable with a cottage cheese or yogurt dip
· Add diced vegetables to a soft tortilla to make a breakfast quesadilla or burrito
· Add diced vegetables to an English muffin to make a veggie pizza
· Bake or steam an apple or pear
Try these recipes…they work great with kids too

Banana Dog or burrito

Whole wheat bun or tortilla, peanut butter, flax seed, banana, and jam
Spread peanut butter on bun or tortilla, sprinkle with flax seed, topped with a whole banana and a little jam on top.

Ready-To-Go Smoothie

Fruit, yogurt, Ziploc bags, milk, and juice
Measure ½ cup of your favorite fruit and ½ cup of yogurt, and spoon into an individual Ziploc bag. Place in the freezer. The next morning grab a bag, put it in a blender with ½ cup of milk and ½ cup of juice and blend until smooth.
A few fruit combos to try are: bananas and blueberries, banana yogurt and pineapple-orange-banana juice; strawberries and bananas with strawberry yogurt and orange juice; or raspberries and blueberries with vanilla yogurt and cranberry juice.

Food Friday!!!!!!!

Posted by AMelane in

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Hi guys, sorry it has taken me a minute to update, crazy last couple of weeks, but I have a lot on my mind, so stay tuned.... Now on for the good stuff FOOD FRIDAY!!!!!!!! The nutritionist in me is all for limiting fried foods, but the foodie in my loves some of them :-)
Here is a favorite of mine from "The Neeleys" show on Food Network. Enjoy!

Fried Green Beans

Ingredients
Peanut oil, for frying
1 cup beer
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt, plus more for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 pound green beans, ends trimmed
Directions
Preheat oil to 375 degrees F.
Whisk the beer, flour, salt and pepper until smooth.
Dip green beans into batter to coat, letting excess drip off. Fry in the peanut oil in batches, until they are golden and crisp. Remove from oil with a spider strainer to a paper towel lined sheet tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Served best with homemade ranch dressing...

As always just eat it moderation!

I LOVE to Cook

Posted by AMelane in foods, nutrition, wellness

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Hi Guys,

If you know me, you know I love to cook!! I don't do it as often as I would like, but Ima do better, since I want to be on Food Network on day. Here is a new recipe that I tried and liked it. It may seem like an odd combination, but try it out or try to modify it

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

Thai Curry Shrimp

1 tablespoon chile oil or vegetable oil
1 item scallion, sliced (including tops)
1 cup low-fat, low-sodium chicken
2 cup cubed sweet potatoes or white potatoes
3/4 pound large, shelled, deveined shrimp.
2 teaspoon lime juice.
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1 1/2 tablespoon red Thai curry paste
2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup light coconut milk

In skillet, heat oil until hot. Sauté scallion, about 1 minute. Stir in curry paste. Whisk in coconut milk and broth; bring to simmer. Add potatoes; cook, partially covered, until tender, about 10 minutes. Add shrimp, lime juice, peas and chopped cilantro. Simmer until shrimp are opaque and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Serve with couscous or rice. Garnish with sliced scallion, lime wedges and cilantro. Yields 4-5 servings


Nutritional Information
Per serving: 238 calories, 23 grams carbohydrate, 126 milligrams cholesterol, 9 grams fat, 18 grams protein, 242 milligrams sodium.

Let me know if you like it!!!

The Good and Bad of FATS

Posted by AMelane in

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Fats, Fats, and More FATS…

Last week I had a client that wanted me to help her cut fats out of her diet…she stated that if she stopped eating fatty foods, she would lose weight faster. After explaining to her about her need for some fats and reduction, I decided to write to help others understand the role of fats.

There are some misconceptions about fats, that they are all bad for us. But we need fats to survive. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning they can only be digested, absorbed, and transported in conjunction with fats. Fats play a vital role in maintaining healthy skin and hair (ladies don’t we all want this), insulating body organs against shock, maintaining body temperature, and promoting healthy cell function. Fats also serve as energy stores for the body; they are broken down in the body to be used in the conversion to glucose. Fat also serves as a useful buffer towards a host of diseases, storing the harmful materials until the body has time to excrete it.

It is nearly impossible to remove fat completely from the diet; it would be unhealthy to do so. Some fatty acids are essential nutrients, meaning that they can't be produced in the body from other compounds and need to be consumed in small amounts. All other fats required by the body are non-essential and can be produced in the body from other compounds.
And we get these useful fats from the foods that we eat, but not all fats are created equal. Some can be very harmful in excess and cause major health concerns. The major kinds of fats in the foods we eat are saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, cholesterols and trans fatty acids.

Saturated fatty acids have all the hydrogen the carbon atoms can hold. Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature, and they're more stable, that is, they don't combine readily with oxygen. The main sources of saturated fat in the typical American diet are foods from animals and some plants. Here are some examples of saturated fats from animal sources: whole milk, cream, ice cream, whole-milk cheeses, butter, lard and meats. Saturated fats are also in some plant oils, like palm, palm kernel and coconut oils, cocoa butter.

Cholesterol is required to build and maintain membranes, yet in excess it can have harmful side effects. Your body needs some cholesterol to work properly. But if you have too much in your blood, it can stick to the walls of your arteries. This is called plaque. Plaque can narrow your arteries or even block them. Cholesterol comes mostly from animal sources like: meats, egg yolks, dairy products, organ meats (heart, etc.), fish and poultry

Trans fats are unsaturated, but they can raise total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol. Trans fats result from adding hydrogen to vegetable oils used in commercial baked goods and for cooking in most restaurants and fast-food chains.
Cookies, crackers and other commercial baked goods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils may be high in trans fat. French fries, donuts and other commercial fried foods are major sources of trans fat in the diet.
Just note that all processed foods have some amount of trans fats. Even though claims are made by certain products or restaurants they don’t use trans fats, they are still involved in all frying processes.

Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids are two types of unsaturated fatty acids. They're often found in liquid oils of vegetable origin. The differences in the two are that monounsaturated fats will become solids upon refrigeration.

Polyunsaturated fats are the good fats. They tend to help your body get rid of newly formed cholesterol. Thus, they keep the blood cholesterol level down and reduce cholesterol deposits in artery walls. Recent research has shown that monounsaturated fats may also help reduce blood cholesterol as long as the diet is very low in saturated fat. Here are some examples of polyunsaturated fats in certain oils: safflower, sesame, soy, corn and sunflower-seed oils, nuts and seeds. Monounsaturated fats are also in certain plant oils, the major sources of these fats are: olive, canola and peanut oils, avocados

Both types of unsaturated fats may help lower your blood cholesterol level when used in place of saturated fats in your diet. But you should be moderate in eating all types of fat, because fats contain more than twice the calories of either protein or carbohydrate

Polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oils — and margarines and spreads made from them — should be used in limited amounts in place of fats with a high saturated fat content, such as butter, lard or hydrogenated shortenings.

So now that you know they different types of fat, here are the recommendations for them:
Limit foods high in saturated fat, trans fat and/or cholesterol, such as whole-milk dairy products, fatty meats, tropical oils, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and egg yolks. Instead choose foods low in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.

Here are some helpful tips:
Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Eat a variety of grain products, including whole grains.
Eat fish at least twice a week, particularly fatty fish.
Include fat-free and low-fat milk products, legumes (beans), skinless poultry and lean meats.
Choose fats and oils such as liquid and tub margarines, canola, corn, safflower, soy bean and olive oils.
Saturated fat intake should not exceed 7 percent of total calories each day. Trans fat intake should not exceed 1 percent of total calories each day.
Total fat intake (saturated, trans, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated) should be adjusted to fit total caloric needs. Overweight people should consume no more than 30 percent of total calories from fat.
Happy Monday!!

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar

Posted by AMelane in drinks, nutrition, wellness

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Sugar, Sugar, Sugar…

Today I had my first “regular” soda in a long time. After not eating any sweetened foods for over a month, it was like that first drink to a recovering alcoholic, I couldn’t get enough of it… and then I crashed 15 minutes later. I was sitting at my desk staring at the wall

This led me to really understand the effect that sugar has on our body. Most food has carbohydrates in them, and our body NEEDS carbohydrates to survive. They provide the fuel needed to sustain all bodily functions. Yet all sugar isn’t the same. There are complex carbs and refined carbs. The refined carbohydrates are white sugars, high fructose corn syrup, and added sugars in many processed foods. These carbs are easily digested, so they are released into the bloodstream quickly, but once they’re gone, they’re gone. Unlike complex carbs like whole grain and oatmeal that make our body work to digest them, so the sugar that is in them is released slowly, keeping your blood sugar regulated and not causing the crash effect that refined sugars cause.
Many of us who try to stay away from refined carbs in our foods still may be getting them in your drinks during the day….
Our recommended daily intake of these refined sugars is 40g. Look at the list below of some common drinks, and see if you are going over this during your day…


A-Coke: 20 ounces 65 grams of Carbohydrate, 13 Teaspoons
B- McDonald’s Sweet Tea: 32 ounces 59 grams of Carbohydrate, 12 Teaspoons
C- Gatorade: 12 ounces 22 grams of Carbohydrate, 4 ½ Teaspoons
D- Welch’s 100% Grape Juice: 10 ounces 53 grams of carbohydrate, 11 Teaspoons
E- Starbuck’s Tall Nonfat Caramel Macciato: 12 ounces 25 grams of Carbohydrates, 5 teaspoons
1 teaspoon = ~5 grams
Recommended daily intake of added sugar is 40 grams or 8 teaspoons based on a 2000 calorie per day diet

Super Charged...

Posted by AMelane in lunch, nutrition, wellness

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Everybody is super busy, with work, families, meetings, etc.
By the end of the day are you drained or do you even burn out by 1pm LOL

Well busy days need fuel to help you thru the day. We can drink a red bull or 5hr energy and try to make it thru. After you take these supplements you get a burst of energy and then you will eventually crash and crash hard. I had a regular soda (grape; my coworker was trying to kill me LOL), and I was going a mile a minute for about an hour and then I came down off of the sugar/caffeine high. It was not pleasant; I was just sitting at my desk staring at the wall. If this happens to you, stop relying on energy drinks to get you thru your day. Below are some energy boosting foods, for you to try. The foods are simple and common, but the combination of certain food groups gives your body the boost it needs, without the crash.

Lentil Soup and a salad: try an 8oz. bowl of lentil soup, whole wheat roll, and a side salad with a light dressing (vinaigrettes are great). This combo contains 490 calories, 14 grams of protein, 17 grams of fat, and 13 grams of fiber. It work to boost energy because of the veggies and beans are high in fiber and protein with will keep you full and energized. Broth-based and tomato soups by themselves won’t keep you full, so aim for something heartier like chili.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Broccoli, beans and cheese: Mix 1 cup whole wheat penne pasta, 1oz feta cheese, ½ cup cannellini beans, 1 cup chopped broccoli, with 2 tsp. of olive oil. This contains 480 calories, 19 grams protein, 19 grams fat, 13 grams fiber. The fiber/protein combo is the pasta is the ultimate energy lunch. The body digests whole wheat pasta slower than white pasta, which will help avoid afternoon fatigue.

Peanut butter and Banana Sandwich: Spread 2 tbsp. peanut butter on whole wheat bread with a sliced banana. This contains 511 calories, 25 grams protein, 19 grams fat, 8 grams fiber. Use no sugars added peanut butter and add 8oz. of skim milk. This can be a great midday alternative to the PB&J. The bananas are a good carb source with the benefit of fiber and potassium. This combo with the whole wheat bread will keep you feeling full from 6 grams of fiber and keep your blood sugar at a steady level. The peanut butter and milk provides the needed protein source.

Did you see the pattern with these meal ideas??? High fiber and High protein foods. These foods digest slowly, so your body can have fuel and a steady level for longer. Remember, the ideal lunch should be 400-600 calories with some fiber; at least 20% of food on your plate should be protein; don’t eat more than four hours after you have eaten breakfast, when you delay longer it causes you to over eat.

Happy Lunch All