Healthy snacks - Your path to fitness.

You voted and we listen! Blog readers overwhelmingly asked for tips on healthy snacking.

Let me start by refuting the belief that snacking is bad, unhealthy or somehow shows you lack will-power. Healthy snacks are an important part of a balanced diet. They help maintain energy, increase metabolism and give you an opportunity to eat foods you would not normally include in a standard meal.

In order to provide balanced energy, combine a high-protein food (meat, beans, eggs, nuts) with a high-carbohydrate food (bread, fruit, vegetables, crackers). Try these combinations or make up your own:

• Low fat cottage cheese + peaches or berries
• Apple + 1oz raw nuts
• Celery sticks + peanut butter
• Carrots + low-fat hummus
• Baked tortilla chips + black bean dip
• 1 Cup shredded wheat cereal + 1 cup skim or soymilk

If you have access to a grocery store, pick up 3oz of bean salad or sliced turkey from the deli. For about 100 calories, each will give you a hit of protein with little or no fat. If you are looking for grab & eat-solutions such as granola or protein bars, look for products with less than 10g sugar, less than 30% calories from fat and 10g or more protein. Happy snacking!

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Chocolate and cocoa to the rescue!

As a dietitian I am often the recipient of evil looks as I start to discuss sweets. “Just don’t take away my chocolate” a client says to me. Given this, I am happy to report each time research shows something positive about the treat.

First, let me explain the background. Think of our vascular system (arteries and veins) as a set of flexible tubes that span the body and through which the heart sends out nutrients. Each tube can expand or contract to allow more or less blood through. Atherosclerosis brings impaired ability to expand the arteries, called endothelial disfunction. People with diabetes and/or high blood pressure seem to be at an increased risk for developing endothelial disfunction.

A recent study found acute improvement in endothelial function with the consumption of dark chocolate or cocoa. Interestingly, sugar-free cocoa (90 calories) did a better job dilating the arteries and lowering blood pressure than did the full-sugar drink (460 calories). Thus, you can enjoy the improved vascular function without sacrificing your waistline.

Be careful not to run wild with these results. Another study failed to show benefit in cardiac patients fed daily cocoa. Also, chocolate (both dark and milk) is high in saturated fat which is known to increase harmful blood cholesterol.

Consider adding a box of sugar-free cocoa to your cupboard for the fall/winter. If you drink it on a day when you are feeling stressed, you will likely garner some benefit. Furthermore, consume dark chocolate in moderation and thoroughly enjoy it when you do.
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Faridi, Z, et. al., Acute dark chocolate and cocoa ingestion and endothelial function: a randomized controlled crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2008;88:58-63

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Thiamine - essential, yet fragile

Two weeks ago we told you that a slight thiamine deficiency can make you irritable. Now thiamine is the second nutrient in our series Watch What You Cook! It is destroyed by heat and quickly leaches into cooking fluids. If you are consuming the fluids, such as in soup, you retain most of the thiamine. If you drain the fluids, such as in pasta, you lose the nutrient.

Thiamine is essential for nerve function and is involved in metabolizing carbohydrates. Slight deficiency results in general malaise and confusion. Severe deficiency can lead to paralysis and heart failure. Thankfully, severe deficiencies are rare.

Get your daily dose of thiamine by consuming the richest food sources (dry cook the meats and fish):

Fortified breakfast cereal
Kellogg’s Complete Wheat Bran
General Mills Total
Oat bran
Pork tenderloin
Catfish
Ham
Navy bean
Black beans
Many vegetarian products (e.g., Morning Star Burger Crumbles)
*Enriched rich or flour

* Better Living advocates consuming whole grain flour and brown rice rather than enriched. The enriching process adds back thiamine that is destroyed by processing; however, other nutrients such as vitamin B6 and dietary fiber, lost in processing are not replaced.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiamin
Hands, Elizabeth; Nutrients in Food. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR20/nutrlist/sr20w404.pdf

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Watch what you cook - Part 1

We have all heard that eating fruits, vegetables staves off health problems. Research suggests this is due to the rich nutrients in these foods. However, despite eating the right foods you may not capture the health benefits if you expose the foods to heat. Are you cooking away the benefits?

There are 3 nutrients destroyed by cooking: vitamin C, thiamin and folate. Each of these nutrients is also susceptible to leaching out of foods into cooking fluids. This week we will cover vitamin C. In the coming weeks we’ll get to the rest.

Vitamin C is easily destroyed by cooking heat and readily leaches into cooking fluids. To retain vitamin C, foods should either be eaten raw or cooked quickly (e.g., steaming or microwaving). Broccoli, for example, loses little vitamin C when steamed or cooked in a microwave with minimal water. However, boiling broccoli takes out most of the vitamin C.

Aside from cooking, vitamin C can react with cooking fluids. One study showed a marked decrease in vitamin C in dishes cooked with soy sauce or miso. Think twice before dousing your bell pepper, onion and broccoli stir-fry with soy sauce!

Maximize your vitamin C intake by enjoying the following foods raw or steamed:

• Sweet red peppers
• Sweet green peppers
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Peapods
  

Strawberries, peaches, papaya, oranges and kiwifruit are also rich in C. Pick 3 to add to your diet this week.
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http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Nutrition:Vitamin_C
Gliszczynska-Swiglo A, et. al, Changes in the content of health-promoting compounds and antioxidant activity in broccoli after domestic processing. Food Additives & Contaminants. 23(11):1088-98, Nov 2006
Kishida E, et. al, Effects of seasonings on the stability of ascorbic acid in a cooking model system, J of Nutr Science & Vitaminology. 50(6):431-7, Dec 2004
Hands, Elizabeth; Nutrients in Food. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000.

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Feeling cranky? Try adding extra thiamin to your diet.

Vitamin B-1 or Thiamin helps our bodies transform carbohydrates into energy. Since our brains and nerve tissue require carbohydrate-based energy, even a mild thiamin deficiency causes irritability, poor concentration and muscle weakness.

Ensure you get enough thiamin with these tips:

• Stir a tablespoon of brewer’s yeast into your next protein shake or smoothie.
• Sprinkle pecans onto your breakfast oatmeal.
• Keep soynuts in your glove box for a quick and easy snack.
• Eat a thiamin-fortified breakfast cereal each morning.
• Take a multivitamin.
  

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Hands, Elizabeth; Nutrients in Food. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000.
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