Healthy Habits to Help Reduce the Pain of Arthritis

A friend of mine is going to a conference in NYC to learn about being an Ambassador for the Arthritis Foundation and asked that people support their favorite organizations to help find a cure for this painful condition. I said I would help with some nutrition advice.

Healthy eating habits can help the body in its efforts to heal itself, and in some cases, particular foods can lessen symptoms. To address the pain and inflammation commonly associated with arthritis, try the following:

· Decrease animal proteins toward 10 percent of daily caloric intake. Replace animal protein as much as possible with plant protein (whole grains, nuts, seeds, rice, beans and tofu and other soy products).

· Eliminate milk and milk products, substituting other calcium sources (soy milk and leafy green vegetables like kale, spinach, escarole, and broccoli).

· Eliminate polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all partially hydrogenated oils, and all foods that might contain trans-fatty acids (such as deep-fried foods). Use extra-virgin olive oil as your main fat.

· Increase intake of omega-3 fatty acids (eat walnuts, wild caught salmon, mackerel, sardines and flax).

· Eat ginger and turmeric regularly, both of which are natural anti-inflammatory spices.

· Reduce your consumption of foods made with wheat flour and sugar, especially bread and most packaged snack foods (including chips and pretzels). Actually, most packaged and/or processed foods contain ingredients that can exacerbate inflammatory conditions. READ THE LABELS!

· Eat more whole grains (not whole wheat flour products), beans, winter squashes, and sweet potatoes.

· Cook pasta al dente and eat it in moderation. (Half a cup serving size)

· Avoid products made with high fructose corn syrup and MSG-style additives

Add regular exercise to these tips and you should reduce the inflammation of arthritis.

Wishing you a pain free holiday season—Jamie Risedorph

You Say Potato and I Say Yam…

Okay, a little too much poetic license was taken in the title but I have to take up this discussion about yams vs. sweet potato as it was brought up on two occasions at the co-op last week while I was present. I decided to do some research because I was not really very clear on the difference as being something like all yams are sweet potatoes but all sweet potatoes are not yams and where they grow best or don’t grow at all.

As a nutritionist I have always recommended sweet potatoes as one on the most nutrient dense and delicious yet low calorie foods you can eat. They are packed with fat-soluble vitamin A and compared to yams, sweet potatoes contain significantly higher amounts of calcium, iron, and vitamin E, and twice as much protein per serving. However the yams come out the winner in the fatty acid category. Sweet potatoes contain less omega-3 fats than yams, and have nearly twice as many omega-6 fats, which are known to inhibit the body's ability to make use of the omega-3's..

However, those of you who suffer from arthritis, gout or IBS should take note that the sweet potato wins as it is packed with anti-inflammatory compounds. Yams can actually aggravate these conditions.

Both are low on the glycemic scale (16-17) and offer benefits for diabetics.

What about the botanical differences of the yam vs. the sweet potato?

Apparently the yam encompasses a very large variety of species and the sweet potato is only distantly related and is actually a member of the morning glory family. Other botanists say they are not related at all and that the yam is from the tuber of a tropical vine, Dioscorea batatas. The yam is popular in South America, Africa and the Caribbean while the sweet potato is the North American choice and grows well throughout the United States.

So are we all happy with this explanation? Let me know!

Bittersweet October

October is a bittersweet month for gardeners. The cool crisp air and brilliant sunshine lighting the glorious colored leaves and deep blue skies are the sweet part. The freezing temperatures and frosts that result from those brilliant cloudless skies with stars popping out like living beings causes the bitter part—dying vegetation that has sustained you as you nurtured it through spring and summer and early fall.

Of course the beauty of the season is not really the only sweet part. The fall vegetables not only taste great, they are amazingly nutritious. Oddly, the vegetable that we use more as a decorative symbol of the season or for pies, the pumpkin, is one of the most nutritious in the squash family.

Pumpkin is rich in the anti-oxidant beta-carotene and this makes it a great anti-inflammatory food that boosts the immune system and slows the aging process. The zinc present in pumpkin also boosts the immune system and promotes bones density. The high levels of potassium present help lower the risk of hypertension and if that is not enough to make you want to eat pumpkin as a food instead of just in pie, pumpkin has been found to reduce the risk of macular degeneration!

Pumpkin is also rich in calcium and magnesium, two of the three vitamins and minerals needed for bone health. The third is vitamin D and we should all be taking that as a supplement this time of year.

If you need more reasons to enjoy this delicious squash, here is a complete list of the nutrients present in one cup of boiled pumpkin:

• Calcium - 37 mg
• Carbohydrate - 12 gm
• Dietary Fiber - 3 gm
• Folate - 21 mcg
• Iron - 1.4 mg
• Magnesium - 22 mg
• Niacin - 1 mg
• Potassium - 564 mg
• Protein - 2 grams
• Selenium - 0.50 mg
• Vitamin A - 2650 IU
• Vitamin C - 12 mg
• Vitamin E - 3 mg
• Zinc - 1 mg

Calories - 49 

You say Tomato and I say Potato..

What a bountiful year for the nightshade vegetables! Beautifully red tomatoes and potatoes abound in my kitchen, and lets not forget the zucchini and beans! Now is the time of the season when we start to say, “How do I use all of this?”

A great topping for pasta or rice is simply chopping tomatoes and zucchini into bite size chunks, sauté them together with a clove or two of garlic in olive oil, add a couple of chopped basil leaves when the zucchini is tender and spoon over your pasta. (Adjust garlic and basil according to the amount of servings you are preparing)

An uncooked version would be to chop tomatoes and mix with minced garlic and chopped basil leaves and spoon over hot pasta—yum!

Salsa is the ultimate summer concoction. Chop up tomatoes, jalapenos, onion, garlic and cilantro and add some limejuice. AWESOME!

I love to boil the new potatoes, drain them and then just toss some Earth Balance (butter) and fresh garden peas in and serve. Add mint leaves if you have them. If not, basil is good here too.

If you still are at a loss of what to do with this abundant squash, freeze it! Grate it up and freeze in quart size freezer bags to extend the taste of summer into winter. Warm the house up making zucchini bread and you’ll wonder how you could have ever despaired of using all that zucchini!

Tomatoes also do not have to be jarred but can be frozen whole in freezer bags to use in the darkening winter days anyway you chose.

Celebrate abundance!

Foods for Healthy Summer Skin

Not only is the skin our largest organ, it is also the most visible indicator of our health. Keeping our skin healthy and young looking can be aided by healthy eating. Let me share 10 foods with you that you should eat more of not only for a glowing complexion, but also for improved overall health.

In general fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts have so many beneficial phytonutrients that they are all powerhouses of health. Studies have shown that vitamins and nutrients received from food sources are much more effective than those derived from supplements. Here’s my “skin specific” list:

1.      Avocadoes are excellent sources of vitamin E and lutein Vitamin E can help reduce the sun’s harmful effects and combat collagen breakdown. Lutein, a carotenoid found in leafy greens, increases skin hydration, improves skin elasticity, and protects against deterioration of beneficial lipids that keep skin plump and firm

2.      Berries, of all colors but particularly raspberries, cranberries, and strawberries, are excellent sources of ellagic acid, an antioxidant that helps protect skin against sun damage.

3.      Carrots and other bright-orange foods, such as sweet potatoes, are excellent sources of vitamin A, which is vital for skin maintenance and repair.

4.      Dark chocolate can help skin maintain a youthful appearance and its flavonols act like antioxidants, which help protect skin from harmful UV light. The most effective dark chocolate contains 85% cocoa or a minimum of 75%. CAUTION! No more than 1 ounce a day! High in sat fats!

5.      Flaxseed oil contains omega-3 and -6 essential fatty acids, both of which decrease skin roughness and scaling, In addition, omega-3 fatty acids build the cell membranes and reduce inflammation.

6.      Kiwis have one of the highest vitamin C concentrations of any fruit. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that quenches free radicals, which cause skin damage and is crucial to the production of collagen, a protein that helps maintain skin firmness and prevent sagging. Two kiwis a day keeps wrinkles away!

7.      Red grapes contain citrus flavonoids and vitamin C that help to build and repair collagen. If you prefer your red grapes turned into wine, go for it!

8.      Spinach (my personal favorite!) has one of the most impressive nutritional profiles of any vegetable, with more than 80 distinct nutrients. One cup of fresh spinach provides almost 200 percent of your daily vitamin K, which inhibits calcification that causes hardening of the arteries and limits skin elasticity, leading to wrinkles. Because the body cannot store vitamin K for long periods of time or in large doses, benefits are best obtained through food. Spinach, along with other dark, leafy greens, is also a rich source of skin-enriching vitamins A, C, and E.

9.      White tea is sky-high in antioxidants, fights cancer, boosts heart health, and protects skin! Because white tea is less processed than other teas, it contains higher levels of antioxidants that help block enzymes that break down collagen and elastin.

10.  Tomatoes are one of the best sources of lycopene—a plant pigment with strong antioxidant properties. Because lycopene is better absorbed when heated, tomatoes’ nutritional value increases when they’re cooked.

Thoughts on a Rainy Day

I just posted a piece from Nurses.com on my Facebook page because the nurse in charge of the Wellness Blog had written a piece that sounded just like conversations I have had with friends and nutrition clients over the past few years. Since I have become vegetarian and a nutritionist I have tried to walk the walk as well as talk the talk and this lifestyle has had some amazing consequences.

As a child, my favorite dessert snack was cookies; most notably, homemade chocolate chips or Oreos although I also liked others. As an adult I continued to bake chocolate chips but usually opted for the "healthier" oatmeal or pecan sandies, but as I am very petite (4'11") I usually only ate one to test them and left the rest for my husband. Somewhere along the way, he also opted out of the sugar addiction and so no baked goods or processed grocery store product entered our house or our blood stream. Our doctors told us we had the healthiest blood lipid levels in their practice!

But there was always the occasional temptation a work that I would give in to thinking an occasional transgression would not hurt. An example was the time one of my co-workers at the Wellness Center brought in so called monster cookies. Oy Vey! HUGE chocolate ships with double the sugar and brown sugar of anything I had ever experienced. After I ate this refined caloric nightmare I felt as if I had consumed a couple of martinis in the same amount of time it had taken to eat the cookie. My body was simply not used to that kind of assault! I felt like I needed to sit down, lie down, anything but continue to work in my usual energetic on my feet style!

Now don't misunderstand me--I am an advocate of the high carbohydrate diet as our entire nervous system runs on carbs and they should comprise 60% of our total caloric intake. If you are eating the right percentage of macro-nutrients (carbs, fats (30%) protein (10%)) and the right kind of complex carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits and whiole grains) you don't have to worry so much about calories as these items are generally low in calories but nutrient dense. And they don't cause those big shifts in energy (that's partially due to the fiber--yet another benefit to these life giving foods). Having a sweet refined carbohydrate kind of snack to give you a mid-morning lift for instance is counter productive.

I recently gave a talk at a luncheon in which I was focusing on the foods that can improve cognitive function, fight disease, improve energy levels, make you look younger and , as sort of a light-hearted addition, improve your sex life. There are foods that actually do this and they are foods that contain phyto-nutrients or plant chemicals. Sorry omnivores, meats have none of these life giving qualities. I can however, give a push for eating yogurt because of the probiotics which help keep the gastrointestinal tract healthy. Plant foods contain antioxidants which are the main chemicals that help prevent damage and help to bild your diversified cells while they actaully inhibit the growth of non-diversified cells such as cancer.

As I am just in a kind of introspective mood today, I am not going in to the details but I have posted the entire speech on my web page if you want specific (www.jamierisedorph.com)

Another part of my inner ramblings touched upon thinking about my degree in biology and the fact that biology actually means the study of life. I studied the life sciences. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Life sciences...so much more than food...

For some reason that thought meandered cross my mind as I was returning from a stroll through my vegetable and flower gardens, talking to them and encouraging them to continue to grow and be beautiful and productive. It just occurred to me, I need to take my own advice!

Enjoy tonight's full moon and the beauty and bounty of summer!

The Benefits of Beauty on Your Plate

As we await the bounty of our gardens beyond the tasty and healthy greens that so enliven our meals this time of year, here are some ideas to add color, flavor and bits of nutrients that most of you probably have ignored until now—Edible Flowers!

Our bounty tends to come all at once in the Great North East and we tend to grow impatient as we await the first pea, bean, zucchini or tomato to ripen on the vine in our little patches. Well here is a way to brighten any plate whether it be as humble as the nightly meal or extravagant as a major birthday celebration.

Edible flowers such as lilies, morning glories, nasturtiums, flax or bee balm can be used just beautify the plate or cocktail the way that restaurateurs have used kale and parsley for years or they can be made into part of the meal itself. Here’s a quick break down of culinary uses for flowers –but feel free to use the whole flower as garnish as well. We can never have too much beauty in our lives!

• Chop up marigolds (calendula) and /or nasturtiums for a peppery flavor that adds color as well as flavor to your meal.
• Use the flowers from any of the alum family--leeks, chives, garlic, garlic chives—to add their flavor and beauty to your creations. The entire plant of ths species is edible.
• Use the flowers from bee balm to compliment any meal or side dish that has mint as a flavoring.
• Clover flowers are sweet with a hint of licorice.
• We all by now know that I am crazy about dandelions—please comment on this post and I'll post an entire barrage of recipes in which you can use all parts of the dandelion—a food available for FREE all over the planet!
• If you have purchased impatiens for your window boxes or garden, the flowers are not exciting as far as taste, but are edible and attractive on a plate.
• Day lilies and gladiolas may be used in the same way squash flowers  are--batter dippped and fried or stuffed and batter dipped and fried. Don't eat these too often!
• Violets and Johnny JUmp Ups make beautiful tasty additions to your plate.
• Morning glories make a pectacular cocktail garnish; float one on a frozen Margarita or daiquiri.

There are relatively few flowers that can't be used--the smell will give you a clue. Obviously don't use any flower if you don't know what it is and if you do but don't know what it will taste like or if it should be eaten or not, drop me a line. I'll let you know!

The Dandelion, with Reverence by Jamie Risedorph

The Dandelion, with Reverence by Jamie Risedorph
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Today we discuss the dandelion; the sunny, bright flowering plant of the world. Weed exterminators everywhere have vilified this tenacious bane of lawn purists for at least the last one hundred years. Yet for centuries healers and nutritionists have recommended this herb as a fat busting, liver detoxifier and deliciously nutritious food. The flowers make a heady wine, the milk from its stem kill warts and the green leaves contain more vitamin A than carrots. The leaves also supply copious amounts of vitamins C and K as well as significant quantities potassium, protein, magnesium, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, thiamin, iron, sulphur, zinc, vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, and E
So why all the controversy? I have no idea! As soon as this wonderful plant shows its face in my yard, my husband and I go out and collect its delicious leaves. Many fans of the dandelion only collect its leaves early in the spring before they actually flower and use them as salad greens. That is fine but I prefer to take advantage of this wonderful free food as long as it grows—which is from spring thaw to snowfall. As with spinach, this mighty green provides iron but only when cooked. So I will now share with you my simple and nutritious recipe from a food you can obtain for free ( as long as you have not treated your lawn with expensive, toxic weed killers and fertilizers) or purchase from your friendly food cooperative.

Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into a pan heated over medium low and add one clove of minced fresh garlic. Add your rinsed, stemmed dandelion greens to the mixture immediately and move them about in the oil and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste and then a cup or two (depending on how many greens you have amassed) of water. Bring to a simmer, cover for 10-20 minutes (again depending on the amount of greens and their size), drain and serve. They are delicious with rice or on your favorite bread. Enjoy the bounty!

Free on the Range

I grew up less than a mile from a dairy farm where the cows happily meandered about the green pastures of their home until the snow fell and the temperatures dropped. I remember tasting the difference in the milk when the cows were being fed hay and silage and corn and noticing the change again in the spring when they returned to pasture.

Years later I became saddened by the lack of farmers continuing to allow there cows to graze in the green fields under the open sky, instead choosing to confine them to an indoor arena of dirt or, worse, cement. I was told indignantly when I questioned a friend about this practice that it was much healthier for the cows and the milk they produced. “They can get into all sorts of weeds and things out in the field!” she declared. Oh yes, much better to give them antibiotics to kill the bacterial infections from being crowded together and fed corn!

There has been a huge growth in the demand for organic dairy as people became aware of the addition of growth hormones to increase milk production and antibiotics to allow more cows to be raised in less space. Then there are people like myself who gave up meats and dairy because I believe animals should be treated humanely, not like machines producing a product.

The latest controversy is that much milk that claims to be organic is not from cows out grazing under blue skies in green fields as depicted in many advertisements for organic dairy products (Horizon, Aurora, etc.) The dairies that are being questioned say it because the regulations are vague. They are correct.

“The New York Times recently noted that "organic milk" essentially means "it comes from a cow whose milk production was not prompted by an artificial growth hormone, whose feed was not grown with pesticides and which had 'access to pasture,' a term so vague it could mean that a cow might spend most of its milk-producing life confined to a feed lot eating grain and not grass."”[1]

If you are concerned about the organic quality of your dairy products, talk to the suppliers of MHFC to see if they meet your standards, but please also advocate for the rest of the country who may not have access to cow-friendly farms.

To do more go to http://www.organicconsumers.org/ or http://www.consumeraffairs.com

Thank you for helping make our world a more peaceful and loving place

Weight Loss Group Participants Posting

The Community Wellness Center
Intense Workout and Healthy Weight Loss Diet



Main points:

To lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume

We are going to help you burn more calories by offering you an intense supervised workout and

You will cut down on calories consumed through portion control and eliminating about 500 calories from your daily diet

We will help you cut calories by providing a menu of healthy, balanced meals which include a pre-workout snack and an after workout glycogen-replacing smoothie (each will be about 200 kcal)

Your individual schedule and body type will be considered and the workout and diet plan will be tailored to your needs

To help us get you started you should
1) Count how many calories you eat in a normal day. Write down everything you eat starting tomorrow. Don’t start cutting portions or eliminating sweets and other foods you know are bad for you. The point here is to determine how many calories you have actually been consuming each day so we can use that as a marker to subtract from.
2) At the end of that day, add up the number of calories you ate/drank. Be as exact as possible. If you need help, I have some materials that list calories for all the major foods and if you have written down everything and how much you ate, we can find the calories provided by those foods (and beverages). Once you add it all up, you now have the total number of calories you consume daily. Also, weigh yourself.
3) Starting the day after you counted calories, eat 500 calories LESS then you normally do. So, if you counted 2000 calories, the rest of the week, you will eat 1500 calories a day. All you have to do is subtract 500 from the total number of calories you consume in a normal day, and eat this new number of calories every day for the next 7 days. If the meal plan provided goes over or under that amount of calories, you will have to adjust the portion sizes to be appropriate to your calorie needs. Do not eliminate any of the meals or snacks! I will help you cut or add calories if you feel unsure about this.
4) Instead of eating 3 big meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), or eating all day all the time, spread those calories out over 6 smaller meals. Eat one meal every 2 and a half to 3 hours. This “grazing” technique will speed up your metabolism, keep you from getting hungry and actually decrease the amount of calories you consume. Two of these “meals” will be scheduled around your workout.
5) The workout …it’s intense…..(Matt’s plan) Alternating days of cardio and weight training culminating in water aerobics and nutrition workshop on Saturday. This is the day I will adjust my diet plan to your individual needs.
6) At the end of the week, weigh yourself. You'll notice a difference just after one week! Now, don't expect to see a 20-pound difference. Losing anymore then 1 or 2 pounds a week is unhealthy. So look for a 1 or 2-pound weight loss at the end of the week. Doesn’t sound like much? You can lose 5-8 pounds a month! That's around 75 pounds a year! If you didn’t lose any weight, you need to adjust your intake again.
The Details
So far, I’ve been really easy on you; now comes the aggressive nutritionist’s rules!
For the next few weeks no fried foods, no cookies or chips, no red meat, no foods containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats or trans fats. I am not eliminating fats here, just the bad fats. And, sorry, but beef just contains too much saturated fat, even the leanest cuts, to fit into this healthy diet. Your lean meats will include chicken, turkey, pork (loin cuts only) and fish. They will be baked or broiled—not fried! and served with lots of vegetables and whole grains. You will also get more good fats from olive oil, flaxseed and nuts.
About 60 percent of your healthy diet will come from carbohydrates. Don’t raise your eyebrows and gasp! Your nervous system (that includes your brain!) runs on glucose, which come from breaking down carbohydrates. We are eliminating processed, refined carbohydrates and adding whole grain breads, pastas and cereals to our menu.
Just as important as the proper portions of all these good nutrient-dense foods is the consumption of water. Our body uses water for all of its metabolic work and produces water as a by-product. We must replace the water lost as waste through breathing, perspiring and urinating by drinking 8 glasses of water a day—soft drinks do not count! They are more air and sugar than water.
For more information on the energy nutrients—protein, carbohydrates and fats, use the workbook, which includes formulas for figuring out your healthy body weight, and how to determine how many calories are contained in any particular food.
Here are some tips for pre-workout snacking:
· A high carbohydrate, low fat snack is easily digested and normalizes blood sugar
· Avoid fatty meals or snacks, because they delay stomach emptying
· Meals should be moderate in protein, just enough to satisfy hunger
· Drink lots of fluids. Your snack can be a liquid meal such as a fruit shake (See recipes below)
· A light workout can be preceded with a light snack, but leave more lead time (an hour or so) for intense workouts

To maintain weight and muscle, snacks should contain 40 to 100 grams of carbohydrates, and be low in fat. Too much fiber may stimulate the digestive system at an inappropriate time. Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram so for our needs (weight loss) we are going to stick to 50 grams or 200 calories for our snacks. Fats have a whopping 9 calories per gram, so when using peanut butter as a snack, keep it to a plump tablespoon!
· Banana (25 grams)
· Yogurt (28 grams)
· Cereal (1 oz.) and milk (34 grams)
· Juice and pretzels (50 grams)
· Sports drink, 16 oz (30 grams)
· Sports bar and water (20-50 grams) read the label!
· Fresh fruits such as oranges or bananas (15-25 grams per)
· Low-fat vegetable soup, chicken noodle or tomato and crackers (40-50 grams)
· 6 crackers or English muffin, 1 tbsp. peanut butter (24 grams carb)
Recovery eating
After exercise, we need carbohydrate and fluid to replace glycogen and water losses during the exercise. The muscles store more glycogen immediately after exercise than they do later. The Wellness Center will provide you with a carbohydrate and fluid rich fruit smoothie after your workout to facilitate “recovery.” So you can do this at home or can eliminate “problem foods” from the recipe, I’ve included them here:
Fruit Smoothies
· 1/2 cup plain, low fat yogurt
· 1/2 cup fruit, fresh or canned
· 1 cup fruit juice

Place all ingredients in blender and whip until smooth. Add ice if desired. 250 calories, 50 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams protein, and 3 grams fat
You can use bananas and strawberries, orange juice and pineapple, or use milk or soymilk for the yogurt. To increase protein content, add powder skim milk or soy protein powder. Or try this:
Super Berry Smoothie
INGREDIENTS
1 cup vanilla soy milk
½ cup apple juice
1 cup blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or sliced strawberries
1 ripe banana
1 cup crushed ice

☺Eat a balanced diet every day so your body is fueled and ready for action.
A balanced diet means incorporating a variety of wholesome foods into your daily choices. Good nutrition means eating sources of carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins/minerals, and water. The first three (carbs, protein, and fat) are sources of energy. Carbohydrates are a source of instant energy, proteins build and repair muscle, and fats are a source of long-term energy. Choose foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, pasta, chicken, fish, and/or tofu, peanuts, etc.

“Do you want cheese with that?”

This is an article meant to be published in my local paper. There was a technical gliche so I'm publishing it here.

“Do you want cheese with that?”

We live in an age where the terms “super-size,” “low-carb,” and “low-fat” are part of our vocabulary; but how do these words and phrases affect our health? As Americans we get 45 percent of our calories from sugar, fat and soft drinks and only 7 percent from fruits and vegetables. Fifteen per cent of Americans are now considered obese and almost half are overweight. The top three leading causes of death are related to nutrition: heart disease, cancer and stroke (diabetes, also related to nutrition, is sixth on the list). One of the major factors affecting our nutrition is the “nutrient poor” status of the foods we are consuming. In other words, we are eating more of the “bad” foods and less of the good foods. So which are good and which are bad? And how much is too much of any one food? Let’s start with the portion problem.

Fast food portions past and present

In the 1970s when we went out for a burger and fries, we got on average a 2.8 oz burger (202 calories) with lettuce tomato and pickles on a sesame seed bun with a 2.4-ounce bag of fries (210 calories). The cola we got with it was about 8 ounces and a hundred calories, making the entire meal about 510 calories. The same meal now tops out at 1120 calories—which by the way is about what I consume in an entire day as I am less than 5 feet tall and over 50years old. The normal size of the burger has gone up to 4.3 ounces. Just think how many calories are in one of those double or triple burgers with bacon and cheese! (We’ll talk about the saturated fats contained in such a meal at another time.) The order of fries has almost tripled in size to 7 oz and 610 calories and the cola has doubled to 16 oz and 200 calories.
Then there is our love affair with cheese: we eat 162% more cheese than we did thirty-five years ago. I love it too, and it is a good food, but in moderation! A serving (1.5 oz) is three dominoes in size and that portion contains roughly 150 calories and 9 grams of fat, 5.5 of which are saturated fat! Nowadays there is cheese on almost everything, and pizza topped with cheese and stuffed with cheese. My husband and I went to a popular Italian chain restaurant and the waitress got so used to asking us if we wanted grated cheese on that, that she literally offered it with our coffee!
Don’t eat fast food you say? Well, good for you, except that when you order a meal out at your favorite steak house or Italian restaurant, the portions are all also at least twice what they should be. A serving of meat should be 3 to 4 ounces, not 8 ounces. A portion of pasta should be half a cup (the size of a standard computer mouse), not a plateful. What can you do to control portions?
· When at your favorite restaurant, select the portion you are going to eat and put the other half or so of the meal on the bread and butter plate.
· Speaking of plates, most of our plates are also super-sized, so use smaller bowls for your morning cereal and smaller plates for your meals at home.
· Put the appropriate amount of food on your plate and leave the rest in the kitchen for leftovers. Then when you are too busy to prepare a meal you have one ready to go.
· When at the grocery store’s meat counter or seafood department, order the correct portion. Ask for 4 ounces per person being served. If you’re making a roast or some larger meal, plan for ways to make casseroles or other interesting dishes with the rest of the meat. Don’t waste it, but don’t eat it all at once!
· Eat slowly. Chew thoroughly. Relish the flavors.

If you follow these simple steps to reduce portion size, you will automatically reduce the amount of calories, fats and sugars that you take in everyday. Combine that with 30 minutes a day of exercise and you will be on your way to a healthier, slimmer you!

The Good, the Bad and the Ordinary

One of the first things I tell my nutrition clients is to shop around the perimeter of the grocery store first. This is where most of the good, nutrient dense foods are: the fresh produce, dairy, meats and seafood. These foods are all whole, un-processed, or nutrient dense foods. But there is something missing from the outer aisles: grains. You have to venture down center aisles to find beans, rice, barley, flour, pasta and breads. Now things start to get complicated. The first three items are what they are, but one has to know how to read food labels to get the most nutrition and the least amount of processing and preservatives from bread and pasta. I’m afraid this will be yet another installment in this column! The one thing I will say about food labels now is “wheat bread” does not mean the same thing as “whole grain wheat bread.” We all know we should be eating more fiber, but the bread companies make it difficult by inferring you are eating healthy bread when in fact you might as well eat plain old low fiber white bread as some of the breads labeled “wheat.” If it says, “enriched wheat flour,” it is NOT whole grain. Enriched simply means they processed out the original 29 vitamins and minerals contained in the wheat grain and added back the iron, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin required by law since the 1940. Folate was required to be added to the enrichment process in 1996. Still, the enriched bread products contain only a quarter of the fiber, vitamins and minerals of whole grain bread.

In general, whole foods are good because they are nutrient dense. Processed foods are less good because they have less nutrients and, usually, added sodium, fat and preservatives. So fill your cart with fresh vegetables and fruits, add rice and other whole grains, sprinkle with cheese and you’re on your way to better health!

(A note on saturated fats: Saturated fats are the artery clogging fats that your doctor tells you to reduce to lower your cholesterol and improve your heart health. Red meats, even the leanest cuts, contain more saturated fats that any other meat. Yes! Chicken and fish are meat too! Only animal based foods—meat and dairy products, contain cholesterol.)


Jamie Risedorph has a Masters degree in holistic nutrition and is the nutritionist at The Community Wellness Center in Gloversville.