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Do you ever stop to think about why you’re eating?

I’m betting that most of the time you eat on automatic pilot. But if you stop and really think about why you’re eating, you can learn quite a bit about how you use food in your life - or how food uses you.

For the next 24 hours, every time you reach to put something in your mouth - a meal, a snack, a bite off your child’s lunch plate, a sip of soda, snagging a couple of grapes from the bowl on the counter - write down why you’re eating.

• Are you eating because you’re physically hungry?
• Or are you bored and looking for something to fill the time?
• Celebrating with a friend?
• Tired and using food to help you stay awake?
• Sad and lonely hoping that food will help you feel better?

Another way of phrasing this is to ask yourself:  What is my intention with this meal?
Is my intention to improve my health - so I’m choosing fruit, vegetables and whole grains?
Is my intention to use food to take care of emotions like boredom, stress, or joy?
Is my intention to reward myself with food?

Food plays a variety of roles in our life, and understanding those roles will give you knowledge about your eating habits that you can use to your advantage. Look for the ‘why’ in your food choices and eating habits.

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the leftovers. It seems while everything was delicious and beautifully presented during the holiday meal itself, leftovers give us the opportunity to experience those same delicious tastes - with a twist.

In my kitchen, potato soup is created from the leftover mashed potatoes. Leftover cooked vegetables go into breakfast (or even lunch) fritattas. Any remaining raw vegetables are incorporated into salads. I bet you have your own family favorites as well!

Check out these delicious and healthy tips for Thanksgiving leftovers from the American Dietetic Association’s Kids Eat Right campaign. Be sure to fit in some outdoor activity inbetween the cooking, shopping, clean-up - and eating! http://www.eatright.org/kids/tip.aspx?id=6442459987

I’m not talking romantic dates - I’m talking fresh, delicious, dates that you eat.

Growing up in the Midwest, dates weren’t a part of our usual weekly fruit choices. In fact, I can only remember eating dates as part of my mom’s date nut bars that she made every holiday season. Last year I was introduced to fresh dates, and this summer I really enjoyed nibbling on dates as a snack or dessert.

Here are some cool date facts:
- in several countries, a bowl of fresh dates is always on the table as a sign of hospitality
- dates contain less water than any other fruit - they’re fresh, even though they seem like a dried fruit
- dates are fat free, saturated fat free, cholesterol free, sodium free, and a good source of fiber (1/4 cup provides 12% of the daily value for fiber).
- 3 dates are a serving (about 50-60 calories)
- dates keep for up to 1 year in the refrigerator - and you can even freeze them!

If you’re looking for a tasty fruit to add to your weekly choices, consider dates!

Today I tasted lower salt potato chips. Let’s face it - most of us love chips because they’re crispy, crunchy, and salty. If I didn’t know these chips contained less sodium, I would never have guessed. They also had a more pronounced potato flavor, maybe because the salt wasn’t masking the potato.

Lay’s Lightly Salted potato chips have 90mg of sodium per 1 ounce serving. I know what you’re thinking - who eats just one ounce? You can - if you serve a portion in a bowl, or purchase a 1 ounce package and eat mindfully. The regular chips have twice as much sodium - 180mg.

Full confession:  I used to love salt. I would eat celelry just so I could load it up with salt. Instead of sugar, I sprinkle salt onto my grapefruit. Over the past few years I’ve made a conscious effort to eat less salt, and I’m proud to say I now eat celery with no salt (but I still sprinkle just a bit on my grapefruit).

I like the new lightly salted chips, and while I don’t make chips a regular part of my food choices, I’ll certainly look for these in the store whenever I decide to purchase chips.

My take away message:  make small, simple, good-tasting changes in your food choices and you’ll inch your way toward better health.

Here in the Northeast, we’ve already had several inches of snow on top of our mountains and snow flurries down in the valleys. Until the time changes this coming weekend, it’s not light until after 7am, and dark enough to need a headlamp to run after 5:30pm.

Along with the darker days and colder temperatures, I’m finding myself looking for a change in beverages. This summer I loved brewing sun tea, switching up flavors from green tea to traditional black tea to even trying out some fruity teas. Tea is a great source of antioxidants to help us stay healthy and feel great, and I like that the sun brews my tea. All I add is ice!

Now I’m switching to hot, brewed tea. It’s fun to choose between several different tea varieties and flavors, and all types of tea have some health benefits. I recently found this interesting online quiz all about tea:  check it out! http://www.teausa.org/general/teatest/teatest9.html

Let me know how well you did on the quiz, and tell me about your favorite brewed tea.

People always tell me that if the dessert tastes good, it can’t be good for them.

Wrong!

There’s no reason why great-tasting foods, including desserts, can’t also provide essential nutrients and be low in fat, saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol.

Here’s one tasty example Cranberry Pear Tartlets

  Continue Reading »

Do you ever wonder what you should eat or drink after exercise? Or even IF you should eat or drink anything specific once you’re done working out?

If you exercise for longer than an hour, or do a shorter but very intense workout (like runing sprint intervals), then your body craves nutrition within 30 minutes after you finish exercise. This 30 minute window is the optimal time to refuel so your body is ready for the next workout. A combination of carbohydrate and protein gives your tired muscles the nutrients they need.

Many companies want you to believe that you have to use one of their commerical products for optimum post workout-out nutrition.

Guess what? Chocolate milk works even better than commercial shakes and supplements! That’s because chocolate milk contains two types of protein:  casein and whey. These types of protein are key for muscle recovery. The carbohydrate naturally present in chocolate milk from the lactose plus the sugar from the chocolate help move the amino acids in whey and casein into your muscles, plus help rebuild stored carbohydrate in your muscles.

Drink 8-16 ounces of chocolate milk within 30 minutes after finishing your workout, and you’ll find you recover faster and have more energy for the next workout. Plus you’ll get the benefit of the calcium and vitamin D in chocolate milk. Choose fat-free chocolate milk for the best nutritional profile.

Who said good nutrition can’t taste good, too?

A very wise colleague of mine recently put up a great new post on her blog about fresh, tasty, healthy - and gorgeous! summertime salads. With the wealth of fresh vegetables available this time of year, I love to try out new combinations. Check out her suggestions - and please share your own personal favorites. Enjoy!

http://foodandhealth.com/blog/2010/07/12-salad-presentations/ 

I  used to love to eat cereal for breakfast. In fact, I probably had cereal every day of my life during my school-age years, and on through college as well. I was never a big fan of eggs, pancakes or waffles, but I loved cereal.

Starting a few years ago, however, I got away from eating cereal. It never seemed to keep me full, so I started eating peanut butter on whole wheat toast with a glass of milk and a piece of fruit.

Now I’ve gone back to my childhood years and starting eating cereal again. Not just any cereal; Kashi GoLean is my new favorite. My husband laughs at the description on the front label:  “Naturally sweetened fiber twigs”. Believe me - fiber twigs are tasty! One cup of GoLean has only 140 calories, and those calories are packed with 13 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber to keep me full and satisfied longer, with only 1 gram of fat and 6 grams of sugar. An added bonus:  the sodium content is only 85mg, a measly 4% of the daily value.

All Kashi products are made from whole grains, which is my first criteria in bread, crackers and of course cereal. I routinely encourage my clients to eat a variety of different foods - and now with another breakfast choice, I can join them!

I love cookbooks and recipes, but sometimes I really want to see the food being prepared. If you’re addicted to the Food Channel, be sure and check out this very cool website/blog that contains video recipes. Even better, the recipes are based on supremely healthy ingredients that your family will love. You don’t need to tell them it’s good for them; they’ll know at the first bite it’s good-tasting.

http://foodandhealth.com/blog/