www.lynngrieger.com

I was just in Chicago for the American Dietetic Association annual conference, one of about 5000 nutrition professionals who descended upon the Windy City and McCormick Place convention center to learn about new research, sample new food products, and discuss nutrition and health trends. Here are the top 3 things I learned:

1.  Probiotics are a hot topic. It seemed like everywhere I turned someone was offering a sample of a breakfast bar, cereal, or yogurt that contains probiotics. Probiotics support a healthy digestive system, but I’m not convinced we need a lot of foods fortified with them. Yogurt that contains live and active cultures contain probiotics, and they get my vote for a daily healthy dose.

2.  Fiber is king! I had a sample of a beverage that contains 10 grams of fiber, high fiber cookies, and higher fiber snack crackers. Evidently consumers now routinely read labels for fiber content. Here’s my tip:  first look at the list of ingredients, and choose something made with whole grains. Fruit, vegetables, and legumes are also excellent fiber sources.

3.  Adding vitamns and minerals to foods not necessarily considered ‘healthy’ is a growing trend. Look for soda fortified with calcium and sweet snack foods fortified with a variety of vitamins. My choice:  fresh fruit that naturally contains vitamins!

Post a note letting us know your thoughts on these topics!

Statin drugs, the drugs of choice to lower cholesterol levels and reduce risk of heart disease for many people, lower cholesterol levels approximately 30%.

Guess what! You can reach that same 30% decrease in cholesterol without medication - just by eating 1-2 ounces of nuts 5 times per week along with these other healthy eating habits:
-  decrease total saturated fat intake from red meat and many convienence foods
-  increase fiber intake by eating more whole grains and legumes (beans like lentils and chickpeas)
-  eat more fruit and vegetables - preferably 9 servings per day

pistachios

Any type of nut will have a cholesterol-lowering effect:  almonds, walnuts, even pistachios. The key is to keep your portions small. Look at the nutrition facts label on the nuts you purchase, and measure out a 1-ounce portion.  That’s about 47 shelled pistachios, 30 peanuts, 24 almonds, 20 pecan halves or hazelnuts, or 14 walnut halves. Eat too many nuts, and you’ll consume more calories than you need and most likely gain weight.

Check out these delicious and simple recipes using pistachios:  http://www.pistachiohealth.com/pdf/HeartHealthStudy_recipes.pdf

I tried both the muffins and the granola, and they’re fantastic! Do you have any favorite ways to incorporate nuts into your daily food choices? Be sure and post your suggestions here!

Ask yourself this question:  If I took fear out of the equation, what would I want to do?

What’s the first answer that pops into your mind?

A very wise person I know believes that fear can act both as a motivator and as a brake on our aspirations. Fear motivates us to get busy and accomplish something if we’re worried about our competition. But fear can also hinder our progress if we let fear take over so that we’re powerless to make any meaningful action.

Take fear out of the picture. If you know you’re not going to fail, what do you want to do?

Use your answer to this question to help you develop a broad, global vision for what you want out of your life. Once you’re certain about your overall goals and dreams, you can start to build a platform to make those dreams a reality. It all starts with a vision. What’s yours?

Do you ever have days where the only time you can possibly fit in exercise is what we fondly called in the Army “o-dark-thirty”?

In the summer, this isn’t a problem because the sun rises about 5am and I rarely see the need to get up any earlier. Yet in mid-October, it’s really not light until almost 7am, and that’s often the time I need to be in the shower.

There’s only one thing to do:  get out my reflective gear and go for a run in the dark! Twice this week I started running a bit after 6am. I rarely see any cars, and never anyone else walking or running. I love the peace and quiet, the way the moonlight and stars filter dim light through the trees, and being able to watch the world wake up.

Another bonus to running or walking in the dark:  you can’t see the hills, and just glide up them!

If you haven’t been out in the early morning hours before the sun comes up, give it a try. Make sure to wear reflective gear so cars can see you. The first step out of bed is tough. The step out the door isn’t always a lot of fun. But all of the next steps are pure adrenaline, even better than coffee to wake you up and zoom out into the day.

I just received one of the most powerful emails ever. You simply HAVE to watch this at: https://secure.pursuantgroup.net/pursuant4/deltadeltadelta/fall08/dddselect/flashstory.asp

If you’re female, this video speaks directly to you. If you’re a male and have female friends, you need to pay attention to this video. If you’re an adult who interacts with female children or teens, we can all learn how important our words are to young people.

Please watch the video and let me know your thoughts.

October is all about Halloween, right? While you’re in the midst of creating costumes and trying to decide which candy you’re least likely to overeat, take a few minutes to think about trying a vegetarian meal or two.

Everyone can benefit from including vegetarian meals in our weekly food choices. Enjoy lentil soup instead of chicken and rice soup for lunch one day. Make pasta with vegetables and chickpeas instead of meatballs. Serve tacos with black beans, tomato, lettuce, and avocado instead of chicken or beef.

Vegetarian sources of protein are lower in fat, contain no cholesterol or saturated fat that contribute to heart disease, and are higher in fiber than meat sources of protein. Legumes and soy foods are the primary vegetarian protein sources, but did you know that grains and vegetables also contain protein?

For more information and recipes, check out the Vegetarian Resource Group at www.vrg.org Let me know what types of vegetarian foods you try this month!

 If you knew how many calories were in the burger, fries, or shake you were planning on eating, would you still order them?

California and New York City passed legislation requiring chain restaurants to post nutrition information on a menu board for every customer to see. Today Yum Brands, parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut said they will voluntarily post nutrition information in all their restaurants.

Currently most chains have nutrition info available on their websites, but of course that means you have to want to see what you’re getting nutritionally.

Check this out:

Taco Bell has a very cool nutrition calculator on their website at: http://www.yum.com/nutrition/menu.asp?brandID_Abbr=5_TB 
A 7-layer burrito without sour cream (I really don’t like sour cream, and they allow you to customize the add-ons) has 450 calories, 15 grams fat, 5 grams saturated fat (the artery-clogging kind), 1330mg sodium, 9 grams fiber, and 16 grams protein.

A fresco-style 7-layer bean burrito (they don’t even give you the option of sour cream) has 380 calories, 8 grams fat, 2.5 grams saturated fat, 1190mg sodium, 9 grams fiber, and 13 grams protein. By ordering the fresco burrito I save calories, fat, saturated fat and sodium - all nutrients that we should try and reduce. I keep the fiber, and 9 grams is actually a good amount for a meal, considering most Americans only get a total of 15 grams of fiber per day (the recommended fiber total is 25-30 grams per day). There’s a bit less protein, but most of us get more protein per day than we need, anyway.

It only took me a couple of minutes to access this information on the website, but if I was standing in line at Taco Bell I could have read the nutrient content of the foods right along with the prices.

Until the nutrition info regularly is posted everywhere (they have until 2011), utilize the Web before you go out to eat to help make healthier choices.

www.mcdonalds.com
www.burgerking.com
www.pizzahut.com
www.kfc.com

Read ‘em and weep.