Food Cravings… January 11, 2011

Ever wonder why you ‘crave’ certain foods? Sugar, salt, soda… What ever your craving may be, it actaully may mean you are lacking something. 

Check out this great chart on food cravings. You may not be able to justify that 2pm candy bar anymore 😉 

 

Hidden Sugar March 12, 2010

Average amount of hidden sugar, per person, per year:

1700’s – 4lbs

1800’s – 18lbs

1900 – 90lbs

2010 – 180 lbs ( 25% of the population consumes that much)

The other 75% probably isn’t far behind

Learn to identify terms that mean added sugars, including sugar, white sugar, brown sugar, confectioner’s sugar, corn syrup, dextrin, honey, invert sugar, maple syrup, raw sugar, beet sugar, cane sugar, corn sweeteners, evaporated cane juice, high fructose corn syrup, malt, molasses, and turbinado sugar, just to name a few.

Hidden Sugars in Foods

Food	Serving Size	Added Sugar
Cakes and Cookies
Angel food cake	4 oz piece	7 tsp
Banana Cake	4 oz piece	2 tsp
Brownie, no icing	1 oz piece	4 tsp
Cheesecake	4 oz piece	2 tsp
Chocolate cake, iced	4 oz piece	10 tsp
Chocolate chip cookie	1 cookie	2 tsp
Coffee cake	4 oz piece	5 tsp
Cupcake, iced	4 oz piece	6 tsp
Fig Newtons	1 cookie	5 tsp
Gingersnaps	1 cookie	3 tsp
Glazed doughnut	1 doughnut	6 tsp
Oatmeal cookie	1 cookie	2 tsp
Candies
Chocolate candy bar	1 bar	7 tsp
Chocolate mint	1 piece	2 tsp

 

Maximum Sugar Intake

Daily Calorie Intake	Grams of Sugar	Teaspoons
1,200	21	5
1,500	26	6
1,800	31	7
2,100	36	9
2,400	42	10
2,700	47	12

How much sugar are you eating?

How much is added?? October 20, 2009

Controlling Sugar Intake June 23, 2009

Interesting  news video I found:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=1220152n&tag=related;photovideo

I don’t think sugar is really good for you at all, so I really stay away from it as much as possible. If you don’t know how much sugar you are eating pay attention to what you eat and read ALL your labels. Scale back one week at a time 🙂

Cookies vs. Bananas and Strawberries February 19, 2009

When we eat, we want to choose foods that are high in nutrient density. This means eating the foods that give you the highest amount of nutrients for the least amount of energy (calories). Assume we had 3 cookies in one bowl and a banana and strawberries in another bowl and each bowl consisted of 150 calories. As you might conclude the bananas and strawberries are far more nutrient dense and supplies us with more nourishment per calorie.

 I believe eating more nutrient dense foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, brown rice…) is a better way to live. If we were to eat 2000 calories a day and it was filled with fast food, soda and candy we are going to be overweight and unhealthy. If we were to eat 2000 calories consisting of whole grains, fruits and vegetable, we would be healthier and have more energy. Some might think calories are just calories, but they aren’t. Sugar, fast food and processed products don’t offer any real nutrition leaving us tired and hungry for more. Eating fruits, vegetable and whole grains we are more likely to have more energy and feel fuller longer.

I challenge you for one week to take all the processed foods out of your life and eat more nutrient dense foods. Take note of how you feel and how much energy you have.

Energy Bars February 3, 2009

Clif Bar, Luna Bar, Balance Bar, PowerBar. Ever eaten one of these? Maybe you grab one before a long run or long bike ride …or maybe you grab one in the middle of the day to beat that mid afternoon slump. There are so many energy bars out there, what do you look for when you buy them? Do you fully understand all the ingredients in them? I pulled up the Clif Bar website and looked up some of the ingredients. Most ingredients I recognized, however, some ingredients I have no idea what they are like soy protein isolate. Sounds simple, but I don’t think it is as simple as it sounds. Also many of these so called healthy energy bars contain way too much sugar and processed ingredients.

 

I have found some energy bars that are healthy, have flavor and you actually recognize all the ingredients.

 

Energy Bar #1: Lara bars

–          Offer a wide variety of flavors

–          Sweetened with dates (natural sweetener)

–          My favorite is the Banana Nut (taste exactly like banana nut bread) and the Peanut Butter bar

–          Found at Trader Joes, WholeFoods, Henry’s and I have seen them at Vons/Safeway

Energy Bar #2: Bora Bora bars

–          Made mostly from nuts

–          Sweetened with agave syrup (natural sweetener)

–          My favorite is the Cinnamon Oatmeal

–          So far the only place I have been able to find these are at Costco, check your local markets I am sure they sold elsewhere (I think I saw them at Whole Foods, but I have not had time to confirm that)

Energy Bar #3: Trio Bar

–          Also made mostly from nuts

–          More of a crunchy texture

–          These are not particularly my favorite, but some of you might like them

–          Sweetened with dates (natural sweetener), evaporated cane juice, which isn’t the best, but at least you know what it is

–          I have also only seen these at Costco, but I am sure there are elsewhere as well

I do hope you get to try out one of these healthy energy bars. I am sure there are other healthy ones out there, but these are the ones I have tried, think they taste great and really recommend in place of your current energy bar.

Anti-Inflammatory Foods January 13, 2009

My friends bother was talking about doing an anti-inflammatory diet and that sparked the idea of this blog post! I am hoping he will blog about his experience!

 

Did you know that certain foods can decrease inflammation? Cherries are often known to ease inflammation as well as the seasoning turmeric. According to the University of Arizona turmeric may help prevent rheumatoid arthritis. Omega 3 is also known to greatly decrease inflammation. Omega 3 can be found in salmon, flax seeds and walnuts. Also the best vegetable juice to reduce inflammation is cucumber and celery.

 

Obviously, if there are foods that can reduce inflammation there are certainly foods that contribute to inflammation. Want to take a wild guess at what foods are “pro” inflammation? If you guessed sugar, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages you are right! Red meat is also a big contributor to inflammation as well as white flour, eggs, fried foods and vegetable oils like corn and soybean oil.

 

It is so easy to fall in to the “quick” meals and processed food life style, but we are what we eat. Everything we eat is going to affect our body in one what or another whether it is now or later in life. I encourage you to eat more fruits and vegetables and limit or eliminate all processed foods from your diet. Your body will thank you!