Fast Food {Grocery Store Style}

On-the-go and need some fast food?  Why not stop at the local grocery store instead of a fast food establishment?  Make a quick trip in and out spend the same or less & get great nutritious food to eat.  Need some examples for a quick visual....? Think about single serving things that you can buy and eat easily while in the car or out and about. 

Here are some ideas:

1. Single cup yogurts
2. A piece of fruit-remember you can buy 1 banana or 1 apple if you would like to, the bags are just there if you are shopping for the entire week!
3. A pack of no sugar added or "in it's own juice" fruit cup or applesauce.  These won't go bad if not refrigerated!
4.  On-the-go tuna salad packages-open and make, but don't add all the mayo and relish & that will save you a few calories
5. Buy a few slices of deli meat and a slice of low-fat cheese and have a meat/cheese roll up.  Who said you had to buy a full pound of meat?
6.  Single serving carrot & celery packs with dip-found in the produce section-while they may be more expensive than a giant bag of carrots or a whole celery stalk you are paying for convenience.
7. Of course, pre-prepared Health One Meal Replacements are great too!

Now that you have a few ideas, there is no excuse for stopping at that fast food establishment! Don't let it ruin you meal plan.

For the Love of All Things Fall: Apples

Fall is a great time to discover or rediscover your love for apples.  Apples are yummy and for ~60-100 calories each (of course depending on size) you can get vitamins and minerals as well as insoluble fiber and soluble fiber! Sounds like a lot for a little, right? So, plan on heading out to the nearest apple orchard and doing a little u-pick (for the physical activity) and collecting some delicious apples.  Not sure what to do with them?  Here are 5 ways to incorporate apples into your meal plan:

1. Make homemade applesauce! Follow THIS link for detailed instructions. Add a bit of zero calorie sweetener if more sweetness is desired

2. Simple as a sliced apple-cut that baby up and chow down with some low-fat yogurt as a dip!

3. On-the-go. Easy as that.

4. Apple Salsa-sounds like a fiesta, huh?  Follow THIS link for the recipe.

5. Top your Vanilla Health One Meal Replacement 1 x 1 with sliced, cooked apples and sprinkle with cinnamon for an apple cobbler..mmmm

Are you feeling the fall-ness yet?

Lacking Water? Get a Hydracoach!

   Are you struggling to get 3 quarts of fluids in each day?  With 2/3 being water-it can be a challenge. Devise a plan to help you be successful in drinking the amount you need each day. After all, our bodies are ~75% water and that needs to be replenished and kept up each day.  If a plan isn't enough, you may need a Hydracoach.  Hydracoach is a "revolutionary interactive fluid measurement device that automatically calculates, monitors and provides instant feedback on fluid consumption", states their website.  Yet another tool to keep you accountable in achieving your fluid intake goals!

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Don't Ignore the Calories in Fruits & Vegetables

A recent study in the Obesity Journal provided either solid fruits/vegetables or fruits/vegetables in juice form to the study participants (half the participants were lean and half were overweight/obese).  After 8 weeks of consuming the solid fruits/vegetables the lean participants compensated for the extra food by cutting other foods out of their diet and gained no weight while the overweight/obese participants given solid fruits/vegetables did not compensate and gained 4 pounds.  When the participants were given the same amount of calories (roughly 20% of total intake for the day) in juice for 8 weeks, the lean participants gained 3.5 pounds and the overweight/obese participants gained 5 pounds!

Concluding evidence that solid fruits and vegetables or fruits and vegetables in whole form are better for weight maintenance or weight loss than juices.  However, if extra calories are not compensated for-even from whole fruits and vegetables- weight gain is probable.  What does this mean?  If you eat too many calories from fruits and vegetables or anything that is 'good' for you, you could potentially gain weight.  Key point....Calories Matter....so make sure you are counting them!

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Fill in the Nutrient Gaps!

We posted about the updated 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines earlier this year. You can read about that HERE.  The Advisory Committee singled out 7 nutrients that many Americans are not consuming in adequate amounts.  The seven are: Vitamin D, Folic Acid, Vitamin B-12, Iron, Calcium, Fiber & Potassium. 

Fiber & Potasssium are the two of the seven listed that are not available in supplement form and therefore need to be supplied by consuming foods! Here is a list of a few foods that are rich in fiber & potassium and are great for filling in these two nutrient gaps.

• baked potato
• apricots
• peaches
• broccoli
• bok choy

 

Can We Trust the Nutrition Facts Label?

Many Registered Dietitians promote using the nutrition facts label to understand basic concepts of nutrition such as calories, protein, carbohydrates, etc. It is a great tool for necessary record keeping.  However, knowing and understanding the nutrition facts label is another story. 

Have you ever seen a product's nutrition facts label say 0 calories, 0 fat, 0 this, 0 that....0 everything! This is GREAT, right?? Wrong!  What the label (or better yet, the manufacturer) is trying to tell you is 'buy me I'm 0 calories', but what you should know is the FDA has a list of Food Labeling Guide Rules that manufactures must follow.  One of those "rules" is that if the product has less than 0.5 grams of total fat in the labeled serving size it can be marketed as Fat Free and therefore be labeled as 0 grams total fat.  Did you get that?  The product still has 0.5 grams or less per serving size.  So, if the serving size is 1 tbsp and you eat 4 tbsp, you could potentially be consuming up to 2 grams total fat when you thought it you were consuming 0 grams of total fat! Follow this link to see these kind of claims & the rules.

Now for a real food example, spray butter.  Parkay or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter are the most popular and wide spread-both are marketed as 0 calories, 0 grams fat, 0 grams trans fat...etc.  Read this to understand what is really going on with this Fat Free & Calorie Free food-an awesome example to keep you on your toes when you think what you are eating is 0 calories!  Spray butters are a great way to reduce calories and still get that buttery, savory flavor that is desired. However, if you are dumping the bottle on a ear of corn and thinking you aren't adding any calories-guess again.  The entire bottle has 832 calories & 93 total grams of fat-hardly calorie or fat free!

The nutrition facts panel is still a great resource, but we want you to understand and know that when something is too good to be true...it probably is! Be informed before making choices. Know what you can expect in certain claims made on nutrition facts labels. 

 

5 Ways to Slim a Sandwich

  

1. Opt for 35 calorie bread instead of a large bun or hoagie
2. Choose lower calorie condiments, for example mustard or hummus vs. mayo
3. Make a veggie style sandwich loaded with veggies vs. including meat
4. Select 2-3 ounces of lean meat vs. using nut butters (peanut butter, hazelnut butter, etc)
5. Switch regular cheese to low-fat cheese or 1 tbsp of fat free cream cheese