| One dietitian's lunchbox |
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Food for Thought
By Ginger Hoffman, RD, LDN
Registered Dietitian for Fitness Unlimited
Healthclub for Women
Milton, Massachusetts USA
What do you eat? I get asked this question ALL the time from clients, coworkers, friends and family. Here's a list of some of my favorites to pack for lunch:
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Sandwich: whole wheat bread, sandwich thins or whole grain wrap; peanut butter & jam or humus & veggie
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Yogurt: always! Stonyfield is my favorite, but occasionally I'll buy Dannon All Natural or Chobani Greek (blueberry)
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Fruit: I love pineapple, but I'll eat any. Mostly I have bananas, apples, melons & berries
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Vegetables: usually carrot sticks, but lately I've had a lot of grape tomatoes from my garden; sometimes salads or vegetable soups; low sodium V8
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Polly-O lite string cheese or BabyBel light cheese(I like the wax wrapper)
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Kashi granola bars: usually Trail Mix or Pumpkin Flax spice
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Nuts or trail mix: I like any nut, but mostly buy almonds & walnuts. Rubbermaid makes cute 1/2 cup containers that I fill half with nuts, half with raisins or other dried fruit
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Ok, sometimes less-than-healthy snacks make their way into my cupboards too. I love Fritos so occasionally I'll buy the 1 oz snack packs. Quaker makes cheese flavored mini rice cakes called "Quakes" which are tasty, too. Sometimes chocolate chips find their way into my trail mix as well. Sweet, salty & crunchy = yummy!
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| Veggies are medicine |
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Food for Thought
By Ginger Hoffman, RD, LDN
Registered Dietitian for Fitness Unlimited
Healthclub for Women
Milton, Massachusetts USA
It's summertime and the veggies are fabulous! Now is the time to build more into your diet for weight management or just to stay healthy. Did you know potassium in tomatoes & potatoes can lower blood pressure, vitamin K in spinach may build bone density and eating 5 or more servings of any vegetables daily can lower your risk of heart disease? It's true!
Not all vegetables are created equally. That's a good reason to have a variety of them, but also to focus on what I call the "powerhouses." Here's how they rank:
Awesome: all dark green leafy (kale, spinach, turnip greens, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce, curly endive, bok choy), deep orange (canned pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, butternut squash), and red (tomatoes, red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes)
Not-too-shabby: Snow peas, asparagus, red cabbage, zucchini, cauliflower, okra, wax beans, potato w/skin, celery
No-vegetable-is-bad-for-you: parsnips, rutabaga, beets, mushrooms, onion, eggplant, garlic, turnips, cucumber, corn
Certainly this list is not inclusive, but as a general rule of thumb go for the brightly or deeply colored ones for the biggest nutrition punch. With a rainbow of colors on your plate they will be hard to resist!
Some information provided by Nutrition Action Healthletter Jan/Feb 2009; www.cspinet.org
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| Got Cravings? |
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Food for Thought
By Ginger Hoffman, RD, LDN
Registered Dietitian for Fitness Unlimited
Healthclub for Women
Milton, Massachusetts USA
Summer is finally upon us (I think!) and with the warm weather comes... ice cream! But haven't you worked hard all spring to get in shape for that bikini or sleeveless top? One little scoop couldn't do much harm, could it?
Yes. It's not the little scoop so much as it's the permission you've granted yourself. If you have an ice cream, why not fried clams and french fries too? You've worked hard and you deserve it, you tell yourself.
Try this approach: exercise your resistance muscles. This is revolutionary thinking from "the Beck Diet Solution" by Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. Dr. Beck believes that "to weaken the intensity and reduce the frequency of cravings, you have to stop giving in to them." Sure it will be hard to resist, at first. After you've said no once you'll feel empowered and it will be easier to say no the next time you're faced with unhealthy choices. And you'll honor your health or weight loss goals.
Happy Summer!
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| Don't let vacations derail you! |
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Food for Thought
By Ginger Hoffman, RD, LDN
Registered Dietitian for Fitness Unlimited
Healthclub for Women
Milton, Massachusetts USA |
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My favorite part of blogging is writing after I've been on vacation. There's something about being out of my usual routine that surprises me, even though my brain knows it shouldn't. So since I've written last I've taken 2 trips: 1 skiing in NY and 1 visiting family in the South. Let's start with skiing.
First of all, I like to be in control of my food. I think my profession warrants that, but I'm also a Taurus: practical, logical and enjoy routine. This has to go out the window when you're someone's guest, of course! Skiiing was great- nice and cold and plenty of snow. And then... the lodge. How can you avoid hot chocolate when EVERYONE around you is ordering steaming hot cups of it, dripping with whipped cream? Me. I've looked up the calorie & fat content of many cups of cocoa for clients that I knew it wasn't worth it. Instead: coffee w/a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream. Coffee has ~nil calories and Bailey's is 95 per 1oz. Hit the spot!
Then, my trip to Alabama to visit family. Sonic is a very popular drive-in fast food joint, very prevalent in the South, and I've never been to one. My brother wants to stop in for a cherry limeade. Sounds tasty, until I get home and look up the nutrition facts: large size has 340 calories and 88 grams of sugar. That's equal to nearly 1/2 cup sugar, almost as much as a cookie recipe calls for! I'm glad I only had a sip! I won't tell you about the large chocolate shake from McDonald's at 1160 calories, 27 grams of fat and 168 grams of sugars that also found it's way into our rental car:(
But after all the pizza, pasta, sandwiches and snacking, I was ready to be home eating my fruits, veggies, humus, veggie burgers and yogurt again. Vacations are really nice for a change of pace, but I like how I feel when I eat simpler foods.
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