by kelsey | Sep 25, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Etc., Family, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
This last weekend, our Nurse Practitioner Beth Schultz and her family represented Brown Clinic in the Chili Cookoff. They made up an outstanding batch of chili that won 1st Place-Judge’s Choice! Chili is a great way to combine a bunch of healthy ingredients into one dish that everyone loves! Incorporating lean meats, beans loaded with fiber and protein, and plenty of great vegetables makes chili a balanced and healthy meal! Beth and her husband Auston along with their girls did a great job representing the clinic and showed how eating healthy can be enjoyable and taste great! Congratulations Beth, Auston, and girls!
Delicious Chili
BC’s Booth with Auston hard at work!
by kelsey | Sep 24, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Heart Health, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
September is National Cholesterol Education Month. Whether you have high cholesterol of not, it is important to know what your cholesterol levels are and what you can do to help control them so you can reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke.
According to the American Heart Association, one out of every three people in the United States is affected by heart-related diseases. There are many risk factors when it comes to heart disease including: excess weight, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure (to name a few). In addition to working with your doctor, you can minimize these risk factors by your dietary intake and physical activity.
For a healthy heart you want to consume a diet low in sodium, low in saturated and trans fat, and cholesterol. Challenge yourself to replace these with some of the foods and food components listed below:
- Fruits and Vegetables- Many fruits and vegetables contain fiber, which helps your body take in more nutrients, can lower cholesterol levels, aid in achieving a healthy weight. Fruits and vegetables not only contain fiber, but they also contain potassium and antioxidants. Potassium can help with blood pressure by blunting the effects of sodium on blood pressure. Antioxidants may help prevent disease and keep your body working properly.. At the grocery store, be sure to choose a variety of deeply colored fruits and vegetables like carrots, apricots, broccoli, beets, berries and kidney beans to maximize your intake of vitamins and minerals.
- Whole Grains-There are many components within whole grains which provide benefits. Whole grains provide fiber, vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants. To reap the benefits, aim for at least 3 daily servings of whole grains. On the label, look for the phrase “whole grain” or “whole” before the grain’s name. Some examples include: whole grain breads, cereals and pasta, brown rice, oatmeal and popcorn. Using a supplement such as ground flax seed (shown in the picture) is beneficial to improving total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. You can work up to using 2-3 Tbsps/day for improved levels. This is often mixed into cereal, oatmeal, or used like granola with yogurt…you can also bake with it.
- Heart Healthy Fats- A diet of moderate fat intake is beneficial to your health. You can enjoy the healthy benefits by choosing oils and spreads rich in unsaturated fat, such as olive, canola, safflower, sunflower, corn, or soybean oils. Salmon, sardines, herring, trout, and tuna are terrific sources of the omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which are types of polyunsaturated fats that may reduce the risk of heart disease. If you are unable to get fish into your diet, you should consider taking a fish oil supplement of 1-4g/day with at least 1g of DHA and EPA.
- Stanols and Sterols- These plant-based food components help block the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine, which has a beneficial effect on blood cholesterol. They are found in foods like corn, soy, wheat and some fortified foods like orange juice and yogurt. 1-3 grams of stanols or sterols are needed each day to see beneficial effects.
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Sep 17, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Last night we started our fall session of STRIVE 2 Survive. I am so excited to get to work with another awesome group of people! Besides getting to help people improve their health and wellness, one of my favorite parts about STRIVE is the treats County Fair Foods provides us (yes dietitians actually do enjoy food!). Last night’s treats were new ones to us and were excellent! Be sure to give these a try! All of the ingredients can be purchased at our friendly County Fair Food Store.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars
1 Box of angel food cake mix (one step kind–the kind that says just add water)
1 can of pumpkin puree (15 oz)
3/4 c water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 8oz package of light Cream Cheese
1) Mix together the cake mix, pumpkin puree, water, and cinnamon.
2) Separately mix cream cheese with a couple tablespoons of water to make it smooth and thinned out.
3) Grease baking dish
4) Fill the baking dish with HALF of the pumpkin cake mix and HALF of the cream cheese
5) Run a knife through the mix making figure 8s for a fancy design
6) Then put the rest of the pumpkin cake mix in the baking dish and rest of the cream cheese mix. Again run a knife through the mix making figure 8s for a fancy design.
7) Bake for 35 minutes on 375 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes, then cut and enjoy
Mock Tuna
This is a chickpea spread that tastes like tuna salad. Great served in a sandwich or with crackers or pretzles as a dip.
1 (19oz) can of garbonzo beans
2 Tbsp light mayo
2 tsp spicy mustard
1 Tbsp sweet pickle relish
2 green onions chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1) In a food processor combine beans, mayo, mustard, relish, chopped onions, salt and pepper and mix well.
2) Chill.
3) Serve and enjoy!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Sep 4, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diabetes, Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
As summer starts to fade into fall and schedules start to become even more jam packed with school events and sports, it starts to become even harder to sit down and eat balanced meals. The summer picnics are replaced with faster on the go meals that are sometimes not the best choices when trying to eat healthy. This busy time puts an even greater emphasis on meal planning. Meal planning can seem like a daunting task if you have never done it before, here are some quick tips for getting started with meal planning.
- Start with a basic template for each day that includes a protein, vegetable, fruit, and a starch. Then sit down with your family during the weekend and plan out what everyone would like on each day. Then on a weekend day, go grocery shopping for all the ingredients that you will need for that weeks menu.
- Take a look at your child’s school lunch menu to try and plan a meal that is different than what your child ate at lunchtime.
- Make meal planning a family event by including everyone in the decision making process. Split up the meals by family members so each member has a day they are in charge of.
- Batch cook: prep some of the food items on the weekend when you have time such as browning up the hamburger, slow cooking the chicken breasts, making a large batch of chili or a large casserole and separating it into smaller containers for freezing and using now.
- Make enough to have leftovers for the next day meals.
- Keep the recipes simple with minimal ingredients for shorter prep time and incorporate your family’s favorite Crockpot recipes.
With these quick and easy tips meal planning can become a fun and enjoyable family process that will save you time and help your family eat healthy while on a busy schedule. Below are some sandwich ideas for the lunch box and easy breakfast ideas to help your child start the day off right!
Sandwich Ideas
- Whole wheat bread with deli meat (try to avoid bologna, pepperoni, and salami)
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
- Bagel with light cream cheese or peanut butter
- Crackers and cheese
- Pita with hummus
- Ham and cheese rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla
- Dinner leftovers
- Chicken noodle soup
- Quesadilla
- Cheese pizza
5 Fast and Easy Breakfast Ideas:
¨ Fruit and cheese
¨ Fiber rich cereal with lowfat milk or yogurt
¨ Peanut butter, banana , & whole grain toast
¨ Carnation Breakfast Essentials
¨ Simple smoothie– low fat milk, frozen fruit, and ice
-Written by Alex Loes, SDSU Dietetic Student
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
by kelsey | Sep 3, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diabetes, Diet, Food, Weight Management
Fall is a wonderful time of year, the leaves begin to change, children are returning to school, and the temperature starts to cool off. With all of these changes that are taking place you may find it hard to get away from all of the summer time BBQ and picnic eating habits. A way to help you get back to healthier eating habits is to start using some seasonal vegetables. Fall vegetables are great tasting and easy to cook with. Swapping out a regular potato for a seasonal sweet potato is a simple and easy way to get more bang for your buck. Sweet potatoes are much more nutrient dense which means that they contain more nutrients in a serving compared to a regular potato of the same size. A quick and easy recipe for sweet potatoes is to make sweet potato fries in the oven. Another fun way to incorporate seasonal vegetables is to make Kale chips in the oven. These make for delicious and healthy after school snacks for your children when paired with a low-fat cup of milk.
Baked Sweet Potato Fries: First, peel and wash the potatoes and cut them into strips around a ¼ in thick. Second, place in a bowl and toss with olive oil, paprika, salt, and pepper then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lastly, place the baking sheet in a preheated 450-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or golden brown and crispy.
Kale Chips: kale is classified as a super food and is packed with antioxidants along with vitamins and minerals. First, cut up the kale into bite size pieces then in a bowl drizzle olive oil over the pieces then toss so the olive oil coats the pieces evenly. Second, salt and pepper the kale to taste and then place on a baking sheet and place into a 350-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until edges are slightly brown.
-Written by Alex Loes, SDSU Dietetic Student
-Kelsey Raml, MS, RD, LN
by kelsey | Aug 28, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day! Yes, you have probably heard this before, but are you a breakfast eater!? Having a good breakfast is a great way to start out the day. It’s not only important for our body, but our mind too. Many times we’ll have excuses such as I was running late, I didn’t feel like eating, I’m not hungry in the morning, and this actually accounts for about a 1/4 to a 1/3 of the population! Starting the day without breakfast is like driving your car on a low tank of gas. We know we can’t go on forever on a low tank of gas, so we shouldn’t do that to our bodies either! Those that skip breakfast tend to snack more on high fat and lower nutritious foods…and are more likely to overeat at lunch because they are over-hungry. Studies have also shown that those working on weight loss are more successful when they eat breakfast as this really jump starts their metabolism and starts their day off right. In addition, eating a healthy breakfast helps our kids excel in school as it helps fuel the brain!
So what should you eat for breakfast? It’s important to get a balance at your meals and especially include a source of protein and a whole grain as these provide satiety. Here are some examples for you:
- Ready-to-eat cereal (>3g fiber, <2-3g fat, a ratio of greater than 4 g carbohydrate:1 g sugar)
- Hot cereal (oatmeal)
- Bagel with low-fat cream cheese or peanut butter
- Yogurt Parfait
- Fruit and yogurt smoothie
- Peanut butter or hummus on whole-wheat toast
- Breakfast quesadilla with low-fat cream cheese and sliced fruit
- Breakfast burrito or taco
- Toasted whole-wheat English muffin with lean ham and low-fat cheese
- Toasted pita with scrambled egg and low-fat cheese
- Low-fat milk and 100% fruit
If you are one who is not a fan of breakfast but understands the importance of it, I encourage you to try a variety of these options and see which one works best for you. I also encourage you to plan ahead. You may need to wake up 5 minutes earlier to fit breakfast in or make your smoothie the night before so all you have to do it pull the bottle or container out of the freezer or fridge in the morning and drink it on your way to work. Starting your day with a full tank will provide long lasting benefits to you and your body!
-Kelsey
