Tag: Nutrition

By Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, LD
So you’re standing in front of the refrigerator staring at a “sell by” date on food and you have the internal debate: Do I throw it in the trash or take my chances?

You’re not the only one. Upwards of 91 percent of consumers have thrown food out based on the dates on packaging. But the dating system isn’t as clear as it seems. Nobody wants food poisoning — no fun — but few people want to waste food, either.

Here’s another addition to the Third Age video collection. Press play to start learning.

By Andrea Cespedes, PT, Yoga Instructor, Chef

A pledge to focus on healthy eating will do you no good if you still have cheese curls and chocolate chip cookies calling to you from your pantry. Sound familiar?

Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!

You stand in front of the refrigerator staring at a “sell by” date on food and have the internal debate: Do I throw it in the trash or take my chances?

You’re not the only one. Upwards of 91 percent of consumers have thrown food out based on the dates on packaging. But the dating system isn’t as clear as it seems. Nobody wants food poisoning — no fun — but few people want to waste food, either.

Let’s get some clarity.

By Jon Yaneff

There is a classic Simpsons episode where Homer and Bart chant to Lisa, “You don’t win friends with salad.” This popular television family would mark any occasion with donuts and Duff beer, if Homer had anything to do with it.

Unless you’ve been living in another solar system, you’ve repeatedly heard the news that resveratrol, a component of red wine and grapes, is associated with reducing LDL (bad) cholesterol, heart disease, and some types of cancer. Also found in blueberries, cranberries, mulberries, peanuts, and pistachios, resveratrol is associated with beneficial health effects in aging, inflammation and metabolism. Yet researchers have not been able to explain how and why resveratrol works its magic.

 

Anyone who’s ever had a high-fat meal knows how sluggish it can make you feel. (Thanksgiving dinner, anyone?) To get the most from your exercise routine, you need to eat healthy and nourishing foods. Here, from the Mayo Clinic, are some suggestions:

1. Eat a healthy breakfast

By Jon Yaneff

People show their creativity in different ways. You may sing, dance, rap, paint, sculpt, design, direct, write, cook, or go with the flow with something else and give it your own unique spin. Your canvas can be anything that you desire, including your plate.

Here, from the Cleveland Clinic, some smart advice on creating healthy salads you’ll actually want to eat, plus a listing of the vitamins you’ll get with every forkful!

1. Start off strong

Lettuces: The darker and redder, the better – think romaine and leaf lettuces (Vitamin C, folic acid, potassium)

Greens: Jazz things up with spring mix, kale mix, baby greens or arugula (beta – carotene, antioxidants)

Note: Steer clear of iceberg and other pale lettuces. Their high water content means fewer nutrients.

To help manage your body weight, you need to reduce the amount of time you spend being sedentary. For many of us, that includes time (lots of it) spent in front of a screen, whether you’re watching TV, playing video games or using the computer. A sedentary lifestyle can easily lead to excess weight and even obesity, with its myriad health risks.

“Low-calorie” menus may not be so healthy after all, because they can lead people to eliminate good foods right away, a new study shows.

“People have come to expect low-calorie food to taste bad or not fill them up,” write authors Jeffrey R. Parker (Georgia State University) and Donald R. Lehmann (Columbia University).  “We propose that by calorie organizing a menu, restaurants make it easier for people to use the general ‘low-calorie’ label to dismiss all low-calorie options early in the decision process.”

Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!

Want to try eating smaller? These tips from choosemyplate.gov can get you off to a great start:

We’ve all been guilty of “portion distortion” – of believing that we’re eating a lot less than we actually are.  Avoid that trap by figuring out how big your portions really are:

Researchers have found that the snack food ingredient olestra speeds up toxin removal from the body.

The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Cincinnati’s medical school, was published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Olestra is a zero-calorie fat substitute found in low-calorie snack foods such as Pringles. Researchers said it could reduce the levels of serum polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in people who had been exposed to PCBs.

High PCB levels have been linked to hypertension and diabetes.

What causes “good” brown fat to turn into “bad” white fat? Boston University researchers say the unfortunate transformation happen when you eat too many high calorie foods. They found that this habit not only leads to an increase in white fat cells (the type prominent in obesity) but that it also makes brown fat cells (the type that generate heat and burn energy) “whiten”. The results were published in April 2014 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.