Tips For Healthy Eating Lifestyle

Written by:
Lee Ann DiBiase MS,RD/LD
Clinical Dietitian
Summa Wellness Institute

Making Wise Food Choices is the easiest diet you can follow!!!!!
• Balance: Eat a variety of foods every day
Why: fun, not boring, tasty
Balance the healthful choices with the sweets, treats, and fried foods

• Smart snacks: Snacks are a good way to keep up your energy level during the day
Choices: Prepare it and offer just that:
Veggies cut up in baggies
Low fat dipping bowl or salsa
Cut up fruit or fruit kabobs
Apple slices with dips
Cheese stick or cubes eaten with toothpicks
Whole wheat crackers with cheese or peanut butter
Served with apple or pear
Yogurt mixed with fruit
A snack combining a protein (nut, dairy, meat) with a carbohydrate (fruit, vegetable, whole grain breads or crackers) is the best combination.
Other choices: bean burrito
Cheese quesadilla with lettuce
Yogurt and fruit smoothie with graham crackers
Bowl of whole grain cereal, low fat milk, and fruit

• Snacks and meals should be spaced 3-4 hours apart
Breakfast: 6:15 am
Snack: 10:00 am
Lunch: 12:00 pm
Home: 3:00 pm snack
Dinner: 6:00 pm

• Portion size: Super size is not super-follow normal portion sizes
Bread: 1 slice
Bagel: hockey puck
Pancake: CD
Piece of fruit: baseball
Pasta: tennis ball
Veggies: baseball or fist size
Cheese cubes: 2 dice

Stay away from POP!!!! Limit juice to 1-2 glasses a day.
Drink: water, milk, flavored waters

Eat when hungry and STOP when you start to feel full.
Try to eat with the TV off- eating should be in the kitchen/dinning room only

When you have a treat enjoy it.


• Eat breakfast: it is the most important meal of the day and it will keep you from falling asleep during morning classes
Choices: Have carbohydrates for energy, protein to feel full longer.
Two slices of whole grain bread with peanut butter and apple slices.
One cup of vanilla yogurt, mix in cereal, top with fruit
Leftover veggie pizza and a glass of milk
Whole grain waffles topped with pb, fruit or ricotta cheese
Hot cereal
Peanut butter on a bagel with fruit
Breakfast smoothie
Vegetable omelet
Ham on toasted English muffin
Leftovers

Facts about the” D” word
Diets are usually designed to restrict your choices.
Many diets focus on eating a single type of food or eliminating whole food groups
Diets based on deprivation make people want more of the restricted food
Diets are designed to fail, they do not teach proper and fun choices

EAT BEETS

Many people are averse to beet having only experienced crinkle-cut slices steeped in overpowering vinegar. This is a shame because fresh beet has much to commend it in terms of flavor (sweet, slightly earthy), texture (smooth and velvety) and color (dark red/purple, or an appealingly lurid pink when combined with cream or yoghurt).
These attributes make it a key ingredient in many fabulous salads such as Beet Koshumbir And if you haven't tried fresh beet juice you may be pleasantly surprised at how subtle it is, particularly when offset with a sharper ingredient such as orange or apple.

HISTORY
Beet evolved from wild seabeet which is a native of coastlines from India to Britain. Two thousand years ago, prior to being modified by cultivation techniques, beet had a carrot-shaped root and only the leaves were eaten (the small root was used for medicinal purposes by ancient Greeks and Romans). The familiar rounded root variety was developed around the sixteenth century and gained widespread popularity in Europe a couple of hundred years later.
Today beet is common throughout much of North America and Europe. It is used extensively in Scandinavian, Eastern European and Russian cuisine.

BIOLOGY
The beet plant, Beta vulgaris, has deep tap roots and can grow in a variety of soil conditions. Other members of the genus include chard, sugar beet, spinach and samphire. The red variety is dominant but golden and white beet is grown on a smaller scale.

NUTRITION
Beet has a higher sugar content than most vegetables. It is rich in vitamin C, fiber, potassium, magnesium, manganese, and folic acid. The leafy tops are an excellent source of beta-carotene, iron and calcium.

BUYING TIPS

Beet should be firm with a smooth, undamaged surface. Smaller roots are more tender - avoid any larger than about 2½" diameter as they may have tough, woody cores.
If you want to use the leaves they should be crisp, fresh looking and not too long or thick (if you don't, it doesn't matter too much if they're a bit limp as they deteriorate much more quickly than the root).

STORAGE:

Cut off the leaves and store in an unsealed plastic bag in the fridge. The leaves should be used within a day or two but the root will keep for a couple of weeks.
PREPARING:

Tender baby roots can be grated raw in salads. Mature beet can be boiled (better for smaller, younger beet) or wrapped in foil and baked (better for larger, older roots).
To preserve the beet's color and nutrients, rinse and brush clean but do not remove the skin or root until after cooking. Cook until a skewer easily penetrates to the core (anything from 40 minutes to 2½ hours boiling or 1½ to 3 hours baking at 350°F). You may want to wear rubber gloves when cutting and handling beet as the pigmentation leaves a pretty stubborn stain.
The leaves can be cooked like spinach - steam uncovered in a pan with a small amount of boiling water (around ½" depth).

"COOKING WITH FLAVOR"

Restaurant Chefs are contently change flavor profiles and starting new food trends.
Home chefs can create their own flavors & trends by selecting different herbs & spices or by using different cooking techniques to enhance the food.
Here are two techniques selected by Chef Bill Bailey
Spices & herbs have been enhancing food since biblical times.
Using fresh or dried herbs, toasted or whole

The history of spices parallels the history of the exploration of our world. The use of herbs & spices most likely happened by accident. Some caveman wrapped meat in a leaf from some bush and to his surprise this discovery enhanced the flavor of the meat. In ancient times spices were used to mask unpleasant taste and odor of foods before the use of preserving and refrigerating foods.

Roots, stems, seeds, berries, buds, pods, bark…spices come in many different native forms from all over the world. They’re valuable flavors have been traded for centuries, so valuable Arab traders controlled the demand.

Many people associate the word spicy with hot foods and certainly there are a number of warming spices, such as cinnamon, ginger, paprika, and cumin. All forms of chilies—fresh and dried, chili powder and cayenne pepper—are hot and some are really fiery. However many other popular spices are aromatic rather than hot giving foods an almost perfumed flavor.

Whether your tastes lie with fiery chili, pungent cumin, or sweet coriander. Spices add exciting depth and range to all kinds of dishes. A pinch of cumin here and a sprinkle of ginger there can transform a weekday meal into an exotic feast.

Citrus-Ginger Chicken
1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup lime juice

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger root

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black and red pepper blend

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/4 pounds)

1 medium seedless orange, peeled and cut into slices

Additional fresh thyme leaves, if desired

Makes 4 servings.
Preparation 10 minutes, cooking time 20 minutes

Mix orange juice, lime juice, honey, ginger root and 1 teaspoon thyme in medium bowl.
Pour mixture in a ziplock baggy then add chicken and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
Spray 10-inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper blend over chicken. Cook chicken in skillet 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until brown. Stir in orange juice mixture. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Remove chicken from skillet.
Serve sauce over chicken and orange slices. Sprinkle with additional thyme, if desired.

Nutrition information per serving: 235 cal., 7 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 80 mg chol., 240 mg sodium, 17 g carbs., 1 g dietary fiber, 27 g pro.

Oven Roasted Mediterranean Veggies

"Bring out the natural sweetness of these Mediterranean vegetables."

Serving Size : 8
Yield: 1 serving
Start to Finish Time: 1:00
Amount Measure Ingredient Preparation Method

1whole Eggplant, whole 1-inch thick
1 bunch Fresh asparagus 1-inch thick
3 whole carrot peeled and chopped
1 whole peppers Green, Yellow, Red cut 1-inch thick
1 whole Onion cut into wedges
1/2 pound green beans Fresh
2 tablespoons canola oil
4 cloves garlic bulb -- Fresh
1 teaspoon Thyme
fresh ground black pepper
Salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut Eggplant & asparagus in 1 in. pieces. Cut
peppers into 1 inch pieces. Cut carrots into 1 inch pieces. Cut onions
into 1/2 inch wedges. In roasting pan, toss vegetables with oil and herbs.
Place evenly on a sheet tray then roast for 30-45 minutes until tender,
stirring occasionally

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 108 Calories; 4g Fat (28.8%
calories from fat); 3g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg
Cholesterol; 17mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Vegetable;
1/2 Fat.

Serving Ideas :
*Serve with Polenta
*Add Red Skins
Serve over Jasmine Rice

NOTES : This recipe can be grilled.

Copyright: 2008

Superfood: Spinach

Add a serving of leafy spinach to help protect against heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, and certain cancers. —

By: Holley Johnson, M.S., R.D. Myrecipes.com, Food Editor

Superfood: Spinach

Leafy green spinach is loaded with an army of beneficial nutrients to protect the body from cancer and disease. Specifically, spinach has 13 different flavanoids that act as anti-cancer agents and antioxidants. These help to fight cancer, protect against age related memory loss, and prevent heart disease.The magnesium in spinach helps to lower high blood pressure and protect against heart disease, while vitamins C and A also benefit the heart by preventing cholesterol from becoming oxidized in the body. These nutrients, along with folic acid and fiber, help to fight cancer, especially of the colon, lung, and breast. Spinach also contains vitamin E that may help slow the loss of mental function, and vitamin K that helps maintain bone health.