by kelsey | Nov 26, 2013 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Holidays, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Happy Thanksgiving to you! The Thanksgiving holiday is always a fun one enjoyed by all as we stuff ourselves and then resort to the couch to watch football or the start of the holiday tv shows. Here are some tips for you to get through the holiday without putting on all those undesired extra pounds.
- Survey the entire table before you take any food. Decide what foods are worth eating and what can be ignored, and then stick to that decision. Why waste calories on foods that don’t bring you pleasure?
- Eat a snack before you leave home. If you arrive at a party starving, you’ll be more likely to overindulge.
- Eat your calories instead of drinking them. Stick to lower calorie or calorie-free drinks (diet sodas, water, light beer, or wine spritzer) instead of punches, eggnogs, and mixed drinks that can have up to 500 calories per cup.
- Sip a large glass of water between every alcoholic drink or non-alcoholic punch or eggnog. This will help keep you hydrated and you’ll drink fewer calories by the end of the night.
- When you are the host or hostess, include nutritious and lower-calorie foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats on the menu. When you are a guest, bring along a lower-calorie dish to share.
- Try not to hang out near the food. Find a comfortable spot across the room and focus on people instead of eating.
- Watch your portion sizes. Don’t cover your plate completely with food. In most cases, especially when it comes to holiday sweets and alcoholic beverages, less is better. Use a smaller plate or bowl and have just a sliver of pie like the picture shows.
- Drop out of the “clean plate club”. Leave a few bites behind every time you eat, especially if you are eating something you don’t really care for.
- Enjoy your favorite holiday treats but take a small portion, eat slowly, and savor the taste and texture of the wonderful foods of the season.
- Skip the pie crust and go for the filling.
- Choose light meat over dark meat.
- Use home-made cranberry sauce over canned cranberries that are jam packed with added sugars.
- In soups, sauces, puddings, and desserts: Replace whole milk or cream with low-fat milk, evaporated fat-free milk, or nonfat dry milk.
Lighten up your recipes:
- To make dips and toppings: Use low-fat or nonfat cottage cheese or sour cream, or non-fat Greek yogurt.
- To make salad dressings: Use nonfat Greek yogurt or low-fat buttermilk.
- In place of 1 whole egg in recipes: Use 2 egg whites or 1/4 cup egg substitute.
- In place of regular cheese: Use fat-free or reduced-fat cheese.
- In place of full sugar: replace half with Splenda or reduce half completely.
- In place of fats: use unsweetened applesauce or oil (1-1 replacement), or prune puree (1 cup of fat=1/2 cup puree).
More importantly is ENJOY your family and friends and all that have to the THANKful for!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Nov 14, 2013 | Diet, Holidays, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting really excited for the holidays to be here! Two weeks from today, we’ll all be celebrating Thanksgiving by eating a lot of really good food, visiting with friends and family, and watching some football or good holiday shows on tv! The holidays can bring out a variety of emotions and when food is at every holiday party or gathering, it can be challenging to practice portion control and make good choices. The first step in overcoming emotional eating is to recognize what emotions cause you to eat more. Keeping a food log that includes your feelings and emotions in relationship to your intake will help you increase your awareness. Once you know what is causing the urge to overeat, the next step is to figure out how to avoid or overcome that situation or feeling. Think about what needs to change in your life to break the pattern of emotional eating, how can you reduce your stress, and channel your energy in another direction that is away from food. If certain foods are more tempting to you, then do not buy them or keep them in your home. If you slip up from time to time, do not get down on yourself! Instead, overcome it and get back on track the next meal or snack and examine each fall back as a way to find out more about what is causing your emotional eating. Exercise is also helpful as it produces natural endorphins that boost mood, so next time you get the urge, get moving!
As you prepare for the holidays, be sure to include a few healthy or safe foods on your list that you can enjoy without guilt, be sure to get your exercise in, and remind your self the real point of the holidays: being thankful for all that we have and enjoying our time with friends and family.
Stay tuned to next week’s posts for some more tips on holiday eating.
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Nov 12, 2013 | Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
My great-grandma Mary was a great role model for my family as she showed us that no matter what your age was you could always learn new things and keeping active was key to longevity. Many of you who know my family probably remember Grandma Mary. Grandma Mary lived to be a few months short of 95 years old and she lived independently until she was about 94 years old. She was truly one of a kind as she never missed any activities in our family, never missed Sunday church, and would jump on the opportunity to learn new things. At her age, it would have been very easy to throw in the towel and give up, while letting others cater to her needs, but she had a spirit to live that was in-stopable. Her son, my grandpa Marshall (my dad’s dad) had the same personality and it really showed through with his battle with cancer.
You may wonder why I am even sharing these stories with you as they do not relate to food or nutrition, but in reality a spirit to live and the desire to make those small efforts at healthy living is key to success! We don’t expect you to take everything we recommend or talk about and do it all at once, but focus on one thing at a time and remember something is better than nothing!
It’s easy to come up with every excuse in the book to not exercise and not eat healthy, but we need to throw the excuse book out the window and focus on small changes or modifications and remember something is better than nothing! If you know you need to increase your fruit intake, start by adding one serving to your daily intake. If you know you need to get more exercise, start by adding a 10 minute walk to your day’s routine. Push yourself to learn new things and stay as active as you can be as this will not only help improve your health, it will help you live a long and healthy life like my Great Grandma Mary! Start by doing some reflection and prioritize your tasks and goals. The sky is the limit!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Nov 7, 2013 | Diabetes, Diet, Wellness/Health
There’s a lot of buzz about carbohydrates….are they good? Are they bad? How much should you have? , etc etc etc. Since we are discussing diabetes in celebration of National Diabetes Month, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the main (and best) source of energy for your brain and central nervous system. Carbohydrates are essential for energy; however they raise your blood sugar levels higher and faster than any other kind of food. Carbohydrates are essential for your body to be able to sustain energy, so just like a car needs the right type of fuel (gas) to run, you need the right kind of fuel (food) to function and be healthy. To sustain energy, your body needs adequate carbohydrates: 50-60% of your total calories should come from carbohydrates. Cutting out all carbs can be very detrimental to our body, especially our brain, central nervous system, liver, kidneys, and heart. Because they are an excellent source of energy, but they do raise blood sugars, it’s important to recognize the types of carbohydrates and how to count them in efforts of controlling your blood sugars while still maintaining good health and adequate energy..
Carbohydrates are found in the following:
Starches: found in grains, some vegetables, and beans.
- Grains: bread, pasta, cereal, tortillas, rice
- Starchy Vegetables: potatoes, peas, corn, yams, squash
- Beans: kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, and lentils
- **The best and recommended sources of starches are whole grains…choose them over the white, refined grains!
Sugars: found naturally in foods or added to foods.
- Natural Sugars: fruits, fruit juices, dairy products, honey, and molasses.
- Added Sugars: desserts, processed foods, candy, regular soda, and fruit drinks.
- **Natural sugars are better than added sugars, but large quantities of them can still raise your blood sugars…we recommend getting at 2-3 fruits and 3 servings of veggies/day. Anytime you can limit or eliminate the added sugars, do so!
To aid in ideal blood sugar control, we recommend a moderate intake of carbohydrates which means about 45-60g/meal and 15-30g/snack with several small meals and snacks throughout the day. I visit with patients daily about finding the right balance in their intake. If you would like help managing your blood sugars, to learn more about diabetes self care, or a personalized nutrition plan, be sure to contact me for further help!
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
by kelsey | Nov 6, 2013 | Diabetes
November marks American Diabetes Month. November is a time to bring awareness about the disease and promote healthy living, in efforts to decrease risk for this disease. Statistics show that nearly 26 million children and adults in the U.S. have diabetes and another 79 million have prediabetes. The estimated cost to care for those diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S. is about $174 billion (eatright.org). Diabetes is a disease that can be fairly well controlled by proper diet, activity, and med management. If not managed appropriately, diabetes can have serious long term side effects such as blindness, leg and foot amputations, kidney disease, and even death.
Your providers at the Brown Clinic provide you with a top-notch multidisciplinary team to give you the best care for treating diabetes and prediabetes. Care always starts with your primary provider (MD, CNP, PA) to help you create the best plan of treatment. Your provider may then refer you to other disciplines for specialized help such as myself for nutrition therapy, Deidra Van Gilder, PharmD for medication and insulin management, and Dr. Torness for your foot care needs.
If you have prediabetes or diabetes and you see me for nutrition therapy, we will review your diet and discuss ways to improve it to help improve your blood sugars. We may also discuss carb counting/exchanges, portion sizes, label reading, plate method, weight management strategies, and ways to be more active. I also provide education on diabetes self care and glucometer use. Sometimes all of these topics can be confusing and you aren’t sure what to believe when you read about it online or you need further education, thus a Registered Dietitian, like myself can help you create a plan to fit your needs and your lifestyle and help you learn and understand what is best for you and your needs. If light of Diabetes Month, we encourage you to put you and your health first and learn more about ways to prevent and manage diabetes. If you would like to learn more about our services, be sure to contact us today!
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
