Ok, I admit it. I love ice cream. Do you? What better way to cool down in the summer than with an ice cold creamy frozen treat.
This week on the podcast Margit Ragland, Health Director at Family Circle magazine, and I talk about five ice cream treats that don’t have to be off limits even when you’re on a diet. Their favorites include:
Or spend an afternoon in the kitchen with your kids and make cookies such as oatmeal raisin. Then put light ice cream or frozen yogurt between two for your personal version of an ice cream sandwich.
Turn your kitchen into an ice cream parlor. A couple of Sundays ago, a girlfriend and her two young girls came over. We decided to turn the kitchen into an ice cream parlor. We took light vanilla bean ice cream and sliced it into small pieces on a cutting board. Next we had a selection of blueberries, strawberries, chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips to choose from. The girls mixed them into the cut up ice cream.
Then we scooped the mixture into ice cream cones and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Do you think these were a hit? The kids had a blast choosing the items that they wanted to mix in and we loved saving a lot of money by making the cones at home. Give this a try…you’ll be the most popular Mom or Dad on the block.
Be sure and try this month’s recipe for Frozen Tiramisufrom the Family Circle kitchens. By using coffee flavored frozen yogurt, instant coffee and chocolate sauce, per serving stats come in under 200 calories and five grams of fat per serving.
According to the American Heart Association the average teen consumes about 34 teaspoons of sugar…or about 500 calories…in a typical day. It’s so easy to reach for snacks loaded with sugar and fat and empty when it comes to nutrition. With just a little planning, you can feed them well and feel good about it.
On the podcast this week, Margit Ragland, Health Director at Family Circle magazine joins me to share simple strategies for your kids’ snacks.
Try these simple strategies from Family Circle’s July issue:
Offer smart snacks. Choose options that override cravings for sweets such as peanut butter or almond butter and whole grain crackers or whole wheat bread. Try fun, prepacked freeze-dried fruit, trail mix or squeezable applesauce.
Focus on fruit. Fruit contains natural sugar or fructose plus a load of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Summer is peak season for a lot of fresh fruit. Serve it with frozen yogurt or make parfaits with granola, fruit such as blueberries and your favorite yogurt. I like to use Greek yogurt and make parfaits for snacks and breakfast.
Rethink drinks. Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are major culprits in over-the-top sugar consumption. Try mixing juice with sparkling water or seltzer, unsweetened tea, or try the lower-sugar fruit-juice-blend products. Don’t forget milk.
The Nutrition Facts label is very confusing when it comes to figuring out sugar intake. I hope that changes with the label update. For now, your simple strategy is to do the math so you know the amount of sugar in a product.
Determine calories from sugar: grams of sugar in a serving x 4 (4 calories/gram) = sugar calories
Teaspoons of sugar: grams of sugar per serving divided by 4 = teaspoons of sugar per serving
Remember that currently the Nutrition Facts label doesn’t separate out naturally occurring sugars such as fructose or lactose from the added sugars. You must go one step further and look at the ingredient label to see what sugars have been added.
In your body, sucrose which is sugar, molasses, honey, raw sugar, high fructose corn syrup or maple syrup are all sugars or sweeteners and the body doesn’t differentiate between them regardless of what the Internet scares tell you.
Each month Margit shares a recipe from the Family Circle kitchens and this month it’s a Berrylicious Shake. It’s quick and includes fresh blueberries which are in season now.
In the June issue of Family Circle magazine Food Director and registered dietitian Regina Ragone offers up strategies to slim down for the pool and beach. Her key to success is taking a few minutes to think and plan ahead.
For Work: find a lunch kit that works for you with washable and recyclable containers which are large enough for lunch and snacks. Packing your lunch saves money and puts you in control of what and how much you eat.
The Beach: update your Mom’s recipes for tuna salad and egg salad using light mayonnaise and whole-wheat wraps. Add ice-cold summer fruits including watermelon, grapes and cherries along with low fat cheese.
Road Trip: Regina talks about how the average gas station convenience store has her choosing between Twinkies, candy bars and potato chips. So she packs an insulated bag with single serve hummus and crackers, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and 100-calorie packs of nuts along with easy-to-eat fruits like baby bananas and grapes.
Thank you for your emails about trying on bathing suits and how you could relate to my college roommate’s comments. She made us laugh but also take a look at how we women are our own worst critics. Do you agree?
With bathing suit season rolling around, we’re focusing on day-to-day strategies to help you knock off the pounds. I’ve found that over time my greatest success with keeping my weight off comes from the way I live day in and day out…not from a crash diet. That’s why Regina’s strategies work. They give you the power to be in control and not food.
Each month Margit shares a recipe from the Family Circle kitchens and this month it’s Lighter Potato Salad from Food Director Regina Ragone.
Less than 100 calories per serving and only three grams of fat, the horseradish along with fresh chives and scallions pump up the flavor factor of the potato salad. Enjoy!
It’s the third week of January. Have you thrown your New Year’s resolutions in the trash yet? Many people have by now. That’s one of the reasons I’m not a fan of diets. I like small and simple changes that don’t overwhelm you. Life can be overwhelming enough. Weight is the big focus at the beginning of the year but weight is just part of the picture. I want you to think about your overall health. Do you know your total cholesterol number and whether the good and evil cholesterol levels (HDL and LDL) are where they need to be? What’s your blood pressure? When was the last time you had it checked? I’m talking outside of your doctor’s office. After all, white coat hypertension can push blood pressure up abnormally. White coat hypertension is the stress you feel when the doc comes in the room to see you and you can’t remember all you wanted to discuss.
Are you shaking your head and saying to me, “I have no clue?” Your energy level and day to day health are affected by more than weight. So take some time for you…just like an oil change for your car, everyone needs preventive maintenance. If you don’t take the time for you, it’s not going to happen, right? You’re worth it…ok? You can find helpful information about all things heart related….your heart, cholesterol, blood pressure and related questions at hearthub.org part of the American Heart Association.
I bet if I ask you what food has a negative effect on your heart and health, you could easily tell me……pastries and goodies made with trans fat, double stacked cheeseburgers, sausage. But what about food that is beneficial to your heart and health? This week on my podcast, Margit Ragland, Health Director at Family Circle joins me to discuss must-have foods that benefit the heart. I don’t like to focus on what not to do but rather the steps you can take to make a difference in your health starting today. A few of the foods we take a look at include:
Red bell peppers, grapefruit, strawberries, mixed salad greens, kale, spinach, broccoli
Asparagus, orange juice
Guacamole
Salsa
Pudding, nonfat milk and low-fat yogurt
Canned or pouch tuna and salmon
Be sure andcheck out our Cyber Weight Loss Club. Share your story and photos and we’ll enter you in a drawing at the end of January to win a copy of the book by TV’s The Biggest Loser, Ali Vincent called Believe It, Be It.
Family Circle shares an easy way to get your heart healthy fish with a recipe for Teriyaki Salmon with glazed broccoli salad. Pick up the February issue of Family Circle for a full list and discussion of the heart healthy foods we talk about plus others that will surprise you.
Are you excited about the New Year? 2010 is just two days away. I always look forward to the New Year which brings a fresh approach and a new look at areas in life that may have gone a little stale…know what I mean? If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I’m not about gimmicks, miracle diet pills and products or diets that don’t work. I’m all about real life and how to make tweaks in your life so you feel better, have more energy and enjoy every day…not to mention eat good food. So how’s this for a ‘diet?’ All food is allowed….nothing is prohibited. Otherwise the denial, deprivation and overeating cycle sets in. You deny yourself something you really want to eat and then begin to feel deprived. Finally you can’t stand it any longer so you overeat on the food you denied yourself to begin with and the vicious cycle starts. You don’t win…ever.
In the January 2010 issue of Family Circle magazine, there’s a nice article on smart eating. This week’s podcast welcomes my regular guest, Margit Ragland, senior editor at Family Circle to chat on smart eating tips. Get your New Year’s health on and try these four tips this January.
1. Leave two bites at every meal (about 100 calories total per day). Cutting just 100 calories every day in 2010 results in a ten pound weight loss. Not bad. How would you like to weigh 10 pounds less at the end of next year and accomplish this by slightly cutting your portions?
2. Cook at home one more night each week. Most home cooked meals tend to be lower in fat and calories plus smaller in portion than what you typically get eating out.
3. Turn off the kitchen lights at 8 p.m. Cut out mindless eating at night.
4. Serve your meals on eight inch salad plates. Compared to a standard dinner plate size of 10 inches (or more), the smaller size looks like more food and you have less room to load up.
To start the New Year off right, we have a new spin on eggplant parmesan. Be sure and try the Panko-Crusted Eggplant Parmesan recipe posted at the WDBO.com Nutrition & Health Center.
I look forward to my favorite comfort foods this special time of year. Don’t you? My top three are probably Southern pecan pie, homemade cornbread dressing and sweet potato casserole or maybe Christmas Stollen, the yeast bread I’ve talked about before. As you can tell, I have quite a few. Many of the most popular holiday foods are not only delicious but super healthy.
Among my list of super foods are cranberries, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and potatoes, baked apples, and pecans.
What makes cranberries carry the popular title of a super fruit? The United States Department of Agriculture or USDA has a list of common foods and their antioxidant rating. Cranberries have a high ranking in what is called the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity score or ORAC score. They contain proanthocyanidins, a naturally occurring antioxidant that may help protect against urinary tract infections by preventing bacteria from sticking to cells in the urinary tract.
Here is a simple recipe for fresh cranberries that you’ll love and can make year around. Fresh cranberries will keep in the freezer for about a year so you can enjoy them anytime. I’m not a stickler about amounts in this recipe thus one reason it’s so easy. Basically, I wash a package of fresh cranberries and place them in a saucepan. Then I add the zest of an orange and a lemon. After you zest the fruit, cut it in half and squeeze the juice into the pan. Add an additional cup of orange juice and some sugar…about ½ cup or more. Remember that fresh cranberries are very tart so you need the sweetness of the sugar. The orange juice provides a little sweetness. Bring the mixture to a bubbling or rolling boil for 3 or 4 minutes until the berries begin to burst. Remove the cranberries from the heat and cool. That’s it. After 30 minutes or so, taste the mixture and see if it’s sweet enough. Remember, it’s a cranberry relish so you want it somewhat tart. It will jell slightly when cold and makes a great side to turkey or pork. I like it as a spread on my turkey sandwiches. And yes, this recipe is posted at the WDBO Nutrition & Health Center.
Next up on my list of powerful holiday super foods is pumpkin. When you have that slice of pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread pudding, remind yourself that the pumpkin you’ve just eaten is a valid source of vitamin A for healthy eyes and contains fiber which most of us need a lot more of. The bright orange color tells you that pumpkin naturally contains alpha and beta carotene and other carotenoids tied to good health plus iron and potassium.
Let’s not forget sweet potatoes, another super food. When you cut the sweet potato open, the bright orange color means vitamin A and beta carotene just like you find in pumpkin in chart topping amounts. Plus a medium sweet potato contains almost four grams of fiber. Fiber is like a chocolate chip cookie to your colon. Your colon loves fiber as it helps reduce the risk for some cancers plus it helps keep your colon healthy. By the way, it’s so easy to microwave a sweet potato. Prick it four or five times with a fork so it doesn’t explode, place it on a paper towel or microwave-safe dish and microwave on high for about four to five minutes.
Let’s not forget potatoes. Just like bread, potatoes are popular and back in a big way. Why? Let’s peel back the truth. How about 110 calories for a medium size spud, naturally fat free, plus 45% of the vitamin C you need daily and more potassium than a banana when you eat the skin. Did I mention nearly five grams of fiber? From yellow Yukon golds to the ever popular Russet or the colorful blue and purple potatoes, there’s a choice for everyone and every dish. Running short on time? How about two quick-fix microwave recipes for Mashed Potatoes and Roasted-Style Potatoes from the United States Potato Board? We just posted the recipes at WDBO.com’s Nutrition & Health Center. Be sure and follow the easy directions as you are NOT going to poke holes in the potatoes before your microwave them for mashing. The steam stays inside the potato and prepares them for mashing.
Next up are apples. Granny smith, red delicious and other apples have significant antioxidant levels. You may have heard that apples are part of a cholesterol lowering diet. This is because apples are a source of soluble fiber that works in your body similar to a sponge to help mop up excess cholesterol. Baked apples never looked so good! Toss a few pecans with chopped dates and a little brown sugar into the center of the apple before baking it.
Nuts have received a lot of attention lately for their heart health benefits. Pecans, the staple in pecan pie, pecan squares and other foods like baked apples, contain both heart healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats along with antioxidants, vitamin E and fiber. Nuts are calorie dense so you do have to be aware of the amount you eat.
Can drinking water be cool? You bet it can when it’s infused with fruit, vegetables and herbs to create extraordinary thirst-quenching beverages. How does Blueberry Twist sound or Honeydew-Mint Mist? My guest on this week’s podcast is Brian Preston-Campbell author of the new book Cool Waters, 50 Refreshing, Healthy, Homemade Thirst Quenchers. Brian is a professional food stylist and former chef who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. He has brought his talent for food styling to ad campaigns for companies such a Starbucks and Godiva.
The photographs are delicious as are the recipes which are caffeine free with no added sugar. You can enjoy your refreshing beverage while keeping down the calories you consume. A terrific feature is that each recipe has food pairings listed at the bottom. Useful and fun, the food pairings help you put together quick menu ideas.
One of my favorite recipes is ‘Squirt of Citrus’ which is just as it sounds…the ingredients include the juice from a fresh orange, lime, lemon and grapefruit. Be sure and check out the Nutrition& Health Center at WDBO.com for a few of Brian’s recipes.
Ok, I admit it. I love ice cream. Do you? What better way to cool down in the summer than with an ice cold creamy frozen treat.
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