Don’t eat the whole SuperBOWL!

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week – Don’t eat the whole SuperBOWL!

Sunday is the Superbowl, which involves football, fantastic commercials, socializing with friends, and lots of food and drinks. The Superbowl has never been equated with healthy eating. Here are some suggestions for living the SWEET Life at a Superbowl party:

If you are giving the party, serve healthier versions of Superbowl classics:

Instead of:	Serve:
A variety of chips	veggies, popcorn and pita chips
Dip	Hummus
cream cheese	cheese or cottage cheese
fried egg rolls	tortilla roll-ups
Hot wings	grilled chicken breast skewers
Salami sandwiches	turkey sandwiches
Beef chili	turkey or vegetarian chili
sausages	chicken drumsticks
pre-made sandwiches	sandwich bar
pulled pork in barbeque sauce	roast pork
potato salad	green salad
Macaroni salad with a mayonnaise-based sauce	Pasta salad with Italian dressing
Waldorf salad or canned fruit cocktail in syrup	Fresh fruit salad

If you are going to a party:

· BYOF: Bring any of the healthy food choices above, so you know there will be at least one healthy thing to eat.

· CHOOSE which foods you will eat and not eat, such as:

· veggies and dip, but not chips and dip

· chili, but not sausages

· mini quiches, but not hot wings

· one of any of the desserts, but only one, etc.

In either case:

· Eat a healthy breakfast & lunch that day; then only eat at halftime (dinner).

· Serve a portion onto a plate or cup, rather than constantly dipping your hand into the bowl.

· After serving your portion, walk away from the food table, sit down and eat. Don’t sit near the bowls of snacks.

· Don’t eat bad-tasting food! Leave it on the plate. Don’t be a garbage disposer!

· Remember the “socializing with friends” aspect of the game and get too busy talking to eat.

· Drink water between each alcoholic drink.

· Don't let your friends drive home drunk.

I read recently that every minute is a chance to change and improve yourself, so if you find yourself at halftime having eaten a lot of junk food, it’s time to stop yourself and decide you’ve eaten enough for the whole game.

Look for another topic next week, and keep living the SWEET Life!

Suzanne

How to add whole grains to your day (instead of “enriched” flour)

Appraising Your Success

The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.

How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week -- How to add whole grains to your day (instead of “enriched” flour)

Whole grains are a new trend, which is both good and bad. It’s good because it’s easier to find more whole grain products than just a few years ago. It’s bad because everyone wants to jump on the whole grain bandwagon, whether or not their products are really made from whole grains. As much as we all hate reading the ingredients, it’s important to read the list. The good thing is that whole grain should be the first ingredient, so you don’t have to read any farther than that. If whole grain is not the first ingredient, then just imagine that your product is made from white, enriched flour, with a touch of whole grain thrown in so that it can be marketed as whole grain.

So what’s the big deal about whole grains? A little history: over a hundred years ago, millers figured out how to separate the three parts of a grain: the bran, the endosperm and the germ. The bran is the outer shell, which contains the fiber. The endosperm is the middle part, which contains the starch. The germ is the inner part, which contains most of the vitamins and minerals. Using only the endosperm produces beautiful, “refined,” white flour, which makes great pastries and lovely white breads, compared to the dark, heavy, dense breads produced by using the whole grain. In the early 20th century, there were a lot of diseases related to malnutrition, so bakers added vitamins to “enrich” their beautiful, white flour in order to make up for those vitamins that were pulled out when “refining” the grain. By the 1940’s the FDA required flour to be “enriched” with specific vitamins. However, stripping out and adding in vitamins and minerals is not as good as simply using the whole grain from the start.

From a health standpoint, the insoluble fiber in whole grains helps with the digestive process from the intestines on down and out the back door. The soluble fiber in whole grains helps you feel fuller because it slows the digestive process. It also reduces insulin levels, improves “good” HDL cholesterol, and decreases “bad” LDL cholesterol. Eating whole grains also reduces your risk of getting heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes, and stroke.

Now that you know how healthy you’ll be, here are some examples of whole grains: Wheat & wheat flour, oats & oatmeal, corn & corn meal, popcorn, rice, couscous, barley, spelt, quinoa, bulgur, millet, buckwheat, rye, amaranth, sorghum, and triticale.

That’s a long list, but how can we incorporate them into our meals? Here are some suggestions:
First of all, write “whole grain” before each grain product on your grocery shopping list. Secondly, be willing to try some grains you’ve never eaten before. Check the package’s cooking directions because some of them take a long time to cook. I tried quinoa because it’s as easy to make as rice (in the rice cooker), and now my kids love the squishy/crunchy texture.

Breakfast: whole grain cereal, bread, bagels, muffins, muesli, pancakes or waffles

Lunch: your usual sandwich on whole grain bread. Try whole grain rye for a change.

Snacks: whole grain crackers or goldfish

Dinner: Whole grain pasta, tortillas, bread, rolls or buns. Trader Joe’s has a whole grain pizza dough that’s easy to prepare, and a delicious Brown Rice Medley. I recently tried whole wheat bagels instead of hamburger buns, and the bagel was better than a bun because of its firmer texture and nutty wheat flavor.

When buying grain products, there’s, unfortunately, the Costco factor: At this point, Costco has few whole grain products, but they have huge quantities of grain products that we all use for very low prices. That creates a dilemma: should I buy a 6-pack of 1-lb packages of pasta for $6 at Costco, or should I buy a few packages of whole grain pasta at the grocery store for $1.50 each? I find myself stuck in this dilemma all the time, so I try to think of the nutrition per dollar, rather than the quantity per dollar. The whole grain pasta gives you a lot more nutrition than regular pasta, and you can find it on sale for $.99, so focus on nutrition and stock up on whole grains, especially when they are on sale.

In conclusion, try to buy whole grain products every time you purchase any grain products and check the label for the first ingredient to be “whole grain.”

Sources:
http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100110618
http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/grains.html

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

How to Add Fruits & Vegetables to your Day

Appraising Your Success

The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.

How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week -- How to Add Fruits & Vegetables to your Day

I was surprised to find out that after so many years of having breads and grains at the base of the food pyramid (and expanding American waistlines), the Dietary Guidelines for Americans now recommends eating more fruits and vegetables than any other food group. They suggest that half your plate consist of fruits and vegetables every time you eat! For good reason: colorful fruits and vegetables contain a huge variety of important nutrients your body needs. Some of the key nutrients in fruits and vegetables include: fiber, folate, magnesium, iron, potassium, and vitamins A and C. They contain no saturated fat, cholesterol, or other unhealthful components. I always say, “No one got fat eating fruits and vegetables!”

In addition, fruits and veggies come in a huge range of colors, textures, shapes, sizes and packages. Canned and frozen products are convenient and have a long shelf life, and with today’s production methods, they hold onto their nutrition. You need to eat a rainbow of fruits and veggies everyday in order to give your body the variety of nutrients it needs. Here are some examples of each color:

· Dark green: broccoli, spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, spinach, watercress, collard greens, turnip greens
· Green: green beans, celery, cabbage, iceberg lettuce, honeydew melon, asparagus, bok choy, kiwi, zucchini, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, artichoke, bell pepper, lime
· Yellow: bell peppers, squash, corn, lemon, pineapple, banana, star fruit, plaintains, quince
· Orange: carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, winter squash, oranges, apricots, cantaloupe, peaches, tangerines, nectarines
· Red: tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, raspberries, apples, watermelon, cherries, radishes, beets, pomegranate
· Purple: egg plant, plums, purple onions, purple cabbage, grapes, figs, blackberries, raisins, prunes
· Blue: blueberries
· White: cauliflower, potatoes, onion, mushrooms, pears, jicama
· Starchy: white potatoes, corn, green peas
· Dry beans: black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, split peas, chickpeas, lentils

Here’s a link to what’s in season: http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?page_id=674

With a colorful array of fruits and vegetables in our heads, the question becomes: how can we incorporate them into our meals? Here are some suggestions:

First of all, here’s a list of simple ways to add more fruits and vegetables to your day:
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?page_id=113&iCat=22

Next, here’s a per meal breakdown of suggestions:

Breakfast: 100% juice, any fruit, add avocado, onions, bell peppers, or other veggies to eggs; smoothies; raisins in oatmeal, yogurt or bread; add chopped fruit to pancakes or waffles; eat pancakes or waffles topped with fruit or applesauce instead of syrup

Lunch: any fruit; baby carrots, broccoli florets, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, etc. dipped in hummus; lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, avocado, cucumber, or other veggies in a sandwich, veggie soup (or vegetables added into any type of soup, add any leftover cooked veggies to whatever you are eating

Snacks: (same as lunch and) raisins or other dried fruit

Dinner: in addition to having a cooked vegetable as a side dish, have a salad, soup, stir-fry, veggie pizza, grilled veggies, fruit salad for dessert, or add some fruit into a vegetable salad, add veggies to your spaghetti sauce, use spaghetti squash instead of pasta with marinara sauce

In conclusion, enjoy eating a huge variety of colorful fruits and vegetables throughout every day in every way, shape and form.

Sources:

• http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?page_id=52
• http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?page_id=53
• http://www.health.state.ri.us/disease/ihw/nutrition-veggies.php
• http://vickids.tamu.edu/nutrition/blue.html
  
  Have a SWEET week!
  
  Suzanne

How to Add Protein to your Day

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week -- How to Add Protein to your Day
Protein is very important to your body. Protein is one of the big 3: protein, carbohydrates & fat, which are the major components our bodies need. Protein builds and repairs tissues, such as nails, hair, muscles, hormones, enzymes, bones, skin and blood. Protein also makes you feel satisfied longer after a meal. Our bodies do not store protein, so we must eat it every day. However, most Americans eat a lot more protein than their bodies need, which is five to seven ounces a day. That’s less than an 8 oz. steak or ½ lb. burger. Dieting women, on the other hand, have a tendency to skimp on protein because it tends to have more calories and fat than other types of foods. However, the focus should be on nutrient-dense foods, more so than on calories or fat content.

In order to consume an array of nutrients along with our protein, it is a good idea to eat a variety of sources of protein. Some examples are: fish, poultry, beans, nuts, whole grains, soy, low-fat dairy products, eggs, pork, and lean beef. For an exhaustive list of sources of protein, go to the USDA National Nutrient Database for protein at:
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR20/nutrlist/sr20w203.pdf
(The first five pages (out of 25) list the most protein-dense foods. But be sure to look at the “common measure” because some of them are rather high quantities, for example, half a duck.)

As important as which foods have protein is how to incorporate protein into our meals. Here are some suggestions:

Breakfast: an egg, ½ cup cottage cheese, 1 cup low-fat yogurt, milk or soy milk, 1 ½ oz. cheese, whole wheat bread

Lunch: Of course, the traditional lunch sandwich has meat, which contains protein, but some other ideas are: grilled cheese, tuna, peanut butter; soups such as lentil, split pea or chili; whole wheat macaroni & cheese

Snacks: a handful of nuts, edamame, apple or banana topped with peanut butter, pretzels dipped in cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese & apples

Dinner: Of course, the traditional American dinner has meat at its center, which contains protein, but some other ideas are: cottage cheese melted over cooked pasta (a protein-rich, alfredo-like sauce); nuts tossed on a salad; beans tossed on a salad or in soup; stew with beans, tofu, or meat; stir-fries with tofu or meat; burgers with patties made from lean beef, chicken, tofu, or protein-rich garden burgers.

In conclusion, enjoy eating protein, don’t eat too much, and eat it from a variety of sources.

Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/benefits-protein
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/good-protein-sources

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

Adding More Food Groups to Your Meals

Appraising Your Success

The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week -- Adding More Food Groups to Your Meals

I try to eat from 3-5 food groups in each meal and at least 2 food groups per snack. Here are some suggestions how to add more food groups to your meals and snacks:

Breakfast is more difficult than other meals, but I still try to include 3 food groups. For example, cereal with milk and fruit, toast with peanut butter and juice, or a fried egg sandwich: egg, cheese and toast.

Lunch is a great time to eat all five food groups in one meal. For example, a turkey and cheese sandwich with a piece of fruit and a handful of baby carrots or cottage cheese (protein and dairy) heated on cooked pasta (it’s like a healthy alfredo sauce) with a small salad and piece of fruit.

For snacks, I try to eat at least two food groups. There are different possibilities depending on whether I’m home or out of the house. Out of the house I have non-perishable snacks, such as peanuts, crackers, pretzels and raisins (or other dried fruit). At home, there’s carrots dipped in hummus, apples slices spread with peanut butter, yogurt and fruit, pretzels dipped in cottage cheese or cheese and crackers.

Dinner is my last chance to catch up on any needed food groups. I make sure to include at least protein, grains and vegetables, which are all typical dinner foods. Adding fruit can be done by adding fresh or dried fruit to a salad or having a fruit salad for dessert. Dairy can be added by topping chili, noodles or other foods with cheese or by adding yogurt to your fruit salad for dessert.

It’s not difficult to add more food groups to your meals; it’s just a matter of thinking about it, and sometimes getting creative.

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne