This is a guest post by Isabella York.

photo credit: miheco

As a mother, proper nutrition for my children is first and foremost on my mind. To raise healthy children, I must pay attention to what I feed them. It is common knowledge that living right means eating well, and that a healthy lifestyle starts at a very early age. My kids are on the younger side (Girl Child is 6, Boy Child is 4), so it’s easier to instill the practices that lead to good health. Lately I’ve been transforming family meals, and I’m proud that I’ve got several nutritious dishes on hand that are easy to prepare and that my children enjoy. While researching, I came across several web articles on cooking methods. It seems that how you prepare food in general has a huge impact on its nutritional content.

Of course, our earliest ancestors had no qualms about nutrition, with food being mostly about survival. Most viands were eaten raw until the discovery of fire, which came much, much later. With the knowledge of planting and harvesting, vegetables and other grains were introduced. At this time various cultures, mostly the Egyptians and Chinese, were all about spices as a form of enhancing the taste of their food. Once the trade routes were firmly established, this practice quickly spread to other parts of the world. Very soon, new dishes were being introduced to the general public and this resulted in the publishing of the first cook books. Cuisine evolved with the demand for new gastronomic delights, and now there is a focus on the nutritional content of food – and how preparation methods affect that nutritional value.

Any type of food preparation entails a loss of nutrients to some degree. However, some aspects of the process of preparing food cannot be overlooked due to other health purposes. For example, some forms of raw food may be harmful to your health, such as raw eggs that cause Salmonella poisoning. The main objective of proper food preparation is to ensure that the food isn’t over processed. For optimal nutrition, cook only as much as necessary to maintain essential vitamins and minerals, and here’s how:

Meat

The main health deterrent in meat and poultry dishes is the grease that comes from the use of too much cooking oil. This practice not only detracts from the taste but piles on the pounds as well. It’s ideal to use techniques that don’t include oil or batter. Shorter cooking times are also desired in the event that large amounts of grease cannot be avoided. These methods include:

• Grilling:When using this method, avoid overcooking or burning the meat. Charred portions of meat present significant health hazards. This is an ideal technique for low fat delicacies.
• Broiling:Low fat meats are also recommended with this method. The high heat and quick preparation time ensure that very little nutrients are lost. At my house, we’re big fans of broiled chicken and vegetables. In the fall I slice some apples and broil them with the chicken; the house smells of an autumnal heaven.
• Pressure Cooking:Tough meats are made tender by this cooking technique. It also preserves nutrients by making short work of the preparation time.
• Stir-fry:Only small amounts of oil and fat are required when doing a stir-fry. It decreases the amount of grease while preserving vitamins and minerals with the quick cooking time. Stir fry is quick and nutritious when the kids are howling for food. They munch on carrot sticks and hummus while I prepare. I’m not the most creative cook in the kitchen, so the internet has been a wonderful source for a variety of recipes. This Thai stir fry recipe is one of my favorites; I make a double batch of sauce and preserve half of it for later in the week. It tastes so fresh and light, and the jasmine rice is so fragrant.

Fruits/Vegetables

This food group possesses vital nutrients, and improper cooking methods could detract from their precious store. Even before the actual cooking begins, fruits and vegetables must be properly washed, peeled, and cut.

Most nutrients are present in the skin and just below the skin of fresh produce. More often than not, it is advised that they be eaten raw after washing in cold water, since hot water tends to dehydrate them and results in a loss of moisture and possible nutrients. When peeling, keep the amount removed as thin as possible and avoid including the fleshy portions. Cutting fruits and vegetables should also be done with care to avoid bruising which results in loss of nutrients.

Steaming and stir frying are ideal to cook vegetables. These techniques do little to detract from valuable nutrients and, in the case of steaming, do more to lock them in and preserve them in the food. Boiling, on the other hand, should be avoided since the prolonged cooking time inevitably depletes vegetables and fruit of their nutrients. If you are preparing vegetable soup, this method is suitable since the nutrients lost from the vegetables remain in the broth.

Pasta/Grains

This is a category I generally stay away from, as I don’t like how I feel after I consume gluten, and I’m not a fan of gluten-free pastas and breads, and their alternatives. What I and my family like is rice. It is a nice alternative, especially because it comes in so many forms and can be healthy. For Mother’s Day two years ago the kids bought me a rice cooker (Smart Husband gave me pretty earrings), and it saves me a lot of time; it allows me to cook without having to think about cooking. I use simple, old-time preparation methods for the lentils – I buy Goya lentils and I soak them overnight. To get the kids to eat wild rice and lentils, I add a dash of sea salt to their servings. It’s a simple, nutritious solution.

Now that you know, always keep in mind that it’s not only what you eat but also how it’s prepared. Hopefully, these methods will help in preparing healthier meals for your children as well as yourself. Of course, don’t forget to add imagination to every dish so that they will be not only nutritious and appealing to the palate, but they’ll also be attractive to the eye as well. Your children will definitely enjoy meal times from now on.

Isabella York is a mother dedicated to a healthy and organic lifestyle, without giving up her life in the process. Along with raising her son, she works for Balsam Hill, a purveyor of Artificial Christmas Trees and Christmas Trees.

©2011 Littlestomaks.com

Ask The Expert is a weekly column on Littlestomaks.com. The idea is to have a reader-submitted question answered by a nutrition expert or a pediatrician. Feel free to submit your question in the comments section below.

Packaged snacks offer the convenience of a quick bite to eat when you are on-the-go with your kids, but they can contain potentially harmful additives and preservatives.  This week, Registered Dietitian Danielle Omar offers a handy list of what to avoid and what may be ok. Bottom line, read the nutritional facts label and scrutinize the ingredients list. And yes, don’t fall for the front-of-the box labeling!

Question: What additives and preservatives should I avoid when choosing packaged snacks for my kids?

Answer:

Although we would all love to offer our children only fresh fruit, veggies, and whole foods for snacks, packaged food is sometimes a convenient necessity when feeding kids.  Unfortunately, there’s a huge market for these types of foods and the nutritional value ranges from good, to not so bad, to really, really bad!   As a Dietitian and mom to a 2 ½ year old, I know it’s a little unrealistic to shield my daughter from all packaged snacks, but armed with the right information I can make the best choice possible.

Besides the well-known offenders (high fructose corn syrup, white flour, and Trans fat), there are actually certain food additives and ingredients that you should limit or avoid when selecting snacks.  In studies, artificial ingredients like flavoring, coloring, and preservatives have been linked to allergies, hyperactivity, asthma, eczema, headaches, and fatigue in children.

When choosing packaged snacks, the best defense as a parent is to read the food label.  Front of package labeling is part of product advertising and may be misleading, so the best place to look first is the ingredient list.  This is where you’ll find all of the ingredients listed in descending order – from the most prevalent to the least.  The first few ingredients are going to be making up most of the food item, so you will want to pay special attention to what is listed there.  You also want to be cautious of how many ingredients are listed; in general, the more ingredients the food has, the more processed it is, and the less healthy it may be.  This is because the farther away from “real food” the product is, the more artificial flavor, color, fillers, and preservatives it will need to look and taste like the real thing.  Below is a detailed list of preservatives and additives that get the “OK” and those that should probably be limited (and in some cases completely avoided) when choosing packaged snacks.  For speedy label reading I suggest keeping a list in your purse or wallet.   Processed foods will inherently contain additives and preservatives, but with some careful consideration and good label reading, you can make the best choice possible for your family.

Limit or Avoid these ingredients:
Additives & Preservatives:

• Artificial and natural flavoring
• Sulfites: sodium sulfite; sodium bisulfate; potassium bisulfate; sodium metabisulfite; potassium metabisulfite
• Nitrates: nitrates (may be listed as sodium nitrate; sodium nitrite)
• Benzoate preservatives:  butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA);  butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG): may be listed as autolyzed yeast extract; hydrolyzed vegetable protein; yeast extract; disodium inosinate; disodium guanylate

Fat substitutes:

• Olestra

Artificial Coloring:

• Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, Red 3, and Yellow 5 & 6

Artificial Sweeteners:

• Acesulfame Potassium
• Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
• Saccharin (Sweet & Low)

Salt:

• Listed as sodium on Nutrition Facts Panel or sodium chloride on ingredient list
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)and sodium benzoate also add to sodium levels

These ingredients are OK:
Additives & Preservatives:

• ascorbic acid and ascorbyl palmitate; alpha tocopherol; calcium or sodium propionate
• alginate; cellulose or cellulose gums; carrageen
• citric acid and sodium citrate; lactic acid; malic acid; tartaric acid
• dextrin; gelatin; glycerin; inulin; lecithin
• mono and diglycerides
• phosphates; polysorbate 60; sorbitan monstearate

Coloring:

• fruit and vegetable extracts; beet juice concentrate; beta carotene; carmine

Sweeteners:

• honey, agave, fruit or fruit concentrate; cane juice; brown rice syrup; molasses; oligofructose

©2010 Littlestomaks.com. All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer – Information provided in Ask The Expert column on Littlestomaks.com is intended to give you general guidance on a question related to toddler nutrition. It is not meant to be treated as medical advice. You are welcome to contact this expert for a detailed consultation on your specific situation to determine what actions, if any, you should take regarding nutrition and health of your toddlers. We do not recommend you to take any action based solely on the information presented in this column. Experts have agreed to provide their professional opinion on toddler nutrition related questions on a voluntary basis and no compensation is offered to them by Littlestomaks.com.

Greetings! It is Friday again, which means it is time for our usual Five for Fridays, a compilation of interesting food and nutrition news from the week. The focus this week was on salt content of foods as the Institute of Medicine came out with a report which recommended setting mandatory national standards for sodium content.

That is why I want to focus on this problem, especially when it comes to popular foods for children. You will be surprised by the amount of salt in these 5 common foods listed below.

It is no secret that the amount of daily salt in an average American diet is too high. According to some estimates, Americans consume 3400 mg of sodium (about 1.5 tsp) per day far in excess of the national dietary recommendation of no more than 2300 mg.

There is a biological reason why we prefer salt in our food – our body needs it for maintaining the electrolyte balance which is essential for normal functioning of our muscles and brain. However, too much salt is now known to be linked high blood pressure, which leads to heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure and kidney disease.

The culprit?

The finger is being pointed at processed foods and restaurant meals. The issue is not without its own politics however. Although the calls for policing the salt content in foods are getting louder, the FDA has avoided a knee-jerk reaction by suggesting a federal working group and encouraging food companies to voluntarily cut salt from their products. I think it is a smart strategy because I believe that we don’t need any more regulation; rather the market should reject salty foods and demand healthier options. It is not going to happen overnight, but it has the best chance of forcing the food companies to innovate.

Major food companies already see the writing on the wall. According to the Wall Street Journal, General Mills and Kraft Foods have announced plans to cut salt and rework their products. PepsiCo made a similar announcement to cut salt by 25% by 2015 by adopting new salt reduction technologies.  Although these are incremental moves, and I don’t support their desire to proliferate even more snacks in the marketplace, it is a step in the right direction.

Here are 5 foods, loved by most children, but surprisingly high in salt (and other bad stuff!):

Hot Dogs

Hot dogs have become a cultural icon! Kids get hooked on them early and even adults cannot resist them when presented with the opportunity. But did you know that even half of an Oscar Mayer beef frank contains over 400 mg of sodium? Other brands are not much better either and a single serving (typically 1 hot dog) can count for as much as 20% of the daily recommended value. As if that is not enough, most of the calories are from fat with loads of saturated fats and cholesterol. You definitely want to keep this dog on a tight leash as much as possible!

Mac ‘n Cheese

Kraft’s Macroni and Cheese is the big dog in town, another favorite of most kids. In case you haven’t noticed the nutrition label, you may be in for a big surprise because a single serving of about a cup contains over 500 mg sodium. This is unbelievable! Rely on plain pasta instead and make your own cheesy sauce if needed. We like to cook elbow pasta, toss it in a little olive oil and sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese. Another simple recipe uses Alfredo sauce along with some veggies and shrimp for a full meal!

Cheetos

There are so many different types of chips out there which kids like to munch on, but we focus on our attention on Cheetos when it comes to salt content. A 2 oz single serving size pack contains nearly 600 mg sodium. Pay attention to the serving size on the nutrition label because it might show the numbers for only half a pack (that is 1 oz.) but we all know that once you pop the bag, you can’t stop until all of it is gone! We have a strict no-chips policy, particularly no-Cheetos, inside the house. Exceptions are the Disney parks where our twins first got exposed to Cheetos and now they clearly link the two. Good thing we don’t go there very frequently!

Chicken Nuggets

Another kid favorite and a regular item on most fast food restaurant menus. 5-6 pieces of them contain over 500 mg of sodium! Frozen chicken nuggets from popular brands like Tyson and Perdue are no better and carry about the same amount. Don’t let the small size of individual nuggets fool you! They all add up very quickly.

Condensed Soups

Chances are you have at least half a dozen cans of condensed soups in your pantry on any given day. Chicken rice, chicken noodle, cream of mushroom and tomato soup are common household stock items. The soup aisle in any grocery store usually rivals the cereal aisle with a very broad range of soups from many different brands. Condensed soups have become a substitute for a meal but they do come with a lot salt. Even the so-called 25% less sodium chicken noodle soup from Campbell’s contains nearly 700 mg sodium!

Our kids like Campbell’s kids soups and although they contain less sodium (at about 500 mg), it is still quite high. Campbell’s is ahead of the curve in reducing sodium, and although we are encouraged by their efforts, they still have a long way to go. In the meantime, we manage the portion size and add more water than prescribed when making these soups.

Clearly, it is a challenge for most parents to manage salt in their family’s diet because these foods are very popular, easily available at a decent price point, and ready to eat. You don’t need to go cold turkey on any of them, but certainly you have to exercise caution and manage portion size. And whenever possible, choose a simple, home-cooked meal with fresh ingredients.

Enjoy and let me know what is on your mind.

Photo Source: heliosphan on Flickr

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

The theme of this year’s National Nutrition Month is Nutrition from the Ground Up! To some, the notion of “Nutrition from the Ground Up” means going back to basics, while to others it is about food from the ground. Here are a few more comments in response to my question What does Nutrition from the Ground Up mean to you?

Jill Castle, a pediatric dietitian and author of Just The Right Byte wrote:

Nutrition from the ground up, to me, being a pediatric dietitian, means real, whole foods from the start—and without major compromise. I encourage parents to not fall into the trap of processed foods, junk foods, and overly sweet foods in the home. As young children move into the world, and all its temptations and food norms, a solid, healthy, “real” food environment at home is the best defense against any friend’s home, school nutrition program, or church donut routine. Children need to feel that they have a safe, supportive, nourishing food environment in the home—the “ground”. Build nutrition knowledge, healthy eating habits, and positive food relations from there!

Megan Carroll of  Tomato Tots offered a very different perspective about what real food means to her twins:

My children like to eat their foods, that look like foods. It probably has something to do with the way we cook and the way we eat. If they see the process of any single ingredient and what it goes through then it is more appealing to them. For example, we recently went to a Chinese restaurant that specializes in Alaskan King Crab and squab. They brought the crab to our table alive to show it to us first, and then back fully cooked in the shell. My daughter (twin A) ate it up, she loved taking the meat out of the shell. She does the same thing at home with local Dungeness. Our son (twin B) wanted to share the other specialty with Daddy… my husband had been telling him about pigeon and even had shown him a picture of what the cooked bird looked like, sadly for him it did not come to the table alive….. When it did come to the table my son asked for the mouth. Of course that is not the edible part or at least the restaurant figured we didn’t want it, so it wasn’t served to us like that but it did come with its little legs and wings splayed.

At home when we cook a chicken we usually do it whole and they ( both of them) love the drum sticks and the parts that look like recognizable parts. Other examples are we cook whole fish, and they will eat it up, but not touch fish sticks. We went to a fish dock one day to buy some seafood and our daughter would not let us leave until we bought our prawns with their heads on.

This is not just a meat phenomenon, because they love their vegetables in whole form as well. Peas are best out of the pod. We tried to mash them the other day and they wouldn’t have anything to do with them!

Deana Coleman answered my question on LinkedIn by suggesting that we stop relying on synthetic supplements and go back to real, natural food:

I’m in my final year of studying nutrition and each day I am becoming more and more disillusioned by the modern process of merely subscribing nutritional supplements. I am a firm believer that we should be putting those micronutrients and minerals back into the soil we have damaged so we are producing real food again. Supplementing ourselves with all sorts of synthetic micronutrients is doing more damage to our food system as we all seem to be prepared to just accept how badly damaged our soil is and believe in all the marketing garble and hype that supplement companies are spinning to us.

Get back in the garden and back in the kitchen and away from the supplement shelf in the store!!

These opinions reflect just how far removed we have become from the source of food we eat. Food to us is what comes out of  a box, not what is produced in a farm somewhere, even though the picture on the box attempts to make us imagine that. What we eat is the list of ingredients on the box, not the real food it was intended to be!

What do you think? What does this notion of Nutrition from the Ground Up mean to you? What small changes have you made to your family’s diet recently?

Please share in your comments below. I would love to hear from you!

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

This is the National School Lunch Week. Improving the quality of school nutrition is one of the ways to address the problem of childhood obesity. It is encouraging to see that the USDA has established the HealthierUS School Challenge to recognize schools that promote good nutrition and physical activity. This week, Secretary Tom Vilsack is recognizing schools who have achieved the “Gold” status in this program. My question is: how come more schools are not participating in this program? The Secretary should address the barriers to his program’s adoption and measure performance in a transparent way. Only then he can hope to achieve the scale needed to truly address childhood obesity.

Here are the 5 nutrition related news that caught my eye this week. Enjoy and drop me a comment to share your thoughts.

Honey! I shrunk the food ingredient list

In a positive trend, Registered Dietitian Janet Helm (@JanetHelm) points out that packaged food producers are scrambling to simplify and shrink the list of ingredients on their products. Michael Pollan should feel happy – after all, he is the one who has been telling people not to buy foods that contain more than 5 ingredients or difficult to pronounce ingredients! Actually, I agree with him and welcome this trend. Even though all these ingredients including additives, colorants and preservatives are considered to be safe, it just doesn’t make sense to me when I pick up a product which has over 20 ingredients. Why process the food so much?

Some of the new products – Haagen-Dazs five ice cream for example – now claim to be made just like the way you would make at home with only a handful of ingredients. Hmmm…I wonder if they cost more than the regular products! That would be a brilliant marketing idea – make more money with less!

Rice eaters have healthier diets – really?

A new study based on national food consumption surveys finds that rice eaters in general tend to have healthier diets because they eat more grains, more vegetables and dietary fiber, less added fat, less saturated fat and less added sugar. Rice is cheap and provides a rich source of carbohydrates.

I was intrigued by this news, not because we eat a lot of rice in hour household, but because the correlation implied that people should switch to rice! But then upon a closer look at the story I found that this research was sponsored by the USA Rice Federation. There is nothing wrong in urging people to eat more rice, but then the study should also point to the risks of eating too much rice. White rice is a refined grain and even when enriched with added vitamins and minerals, it is nutritionally inferior to brown rice. It also has a high glycemic index which will make your blood sugar rise rapidly. On the other hand, brown rice comes with an expiration date, may be more expensive, takes longer to cook and you may not like its chewy texture.

Just because someone eats rice, does not mean their diet is healthy on its own.

Home remedies for the common cold not backed by science

No doubt, eating warm chicken soup when you are down with the cold and flu is very comforting. But is there any scientific evidence that home remedies like the chicken soup, drinking plenty of fluids, vitamin C, zinc, echinacea, honey and garlic can treat or prevent your sickness? In an extremely well-researched article, Dr Ayala (@DrAyala) concludes that there is no solid scientific evidence on food, nutrients and relief from the common cold. Her advice – you can try these home remedies for comfort, and they don’t hurt except that you need to be careful about supplements.

I do take vitamin C every day, but I am under no illusion that it is the magic bullet for preventing cold and flu. The best way to prevent cold and flu is to avoid contact with sick people and frequently wash your hands. Vitamin C is an immunity booster, not an immunity builder. Proper nutrition, healthy lifestyle, good hygiene are the building blocks for good health. Not an isolated supplement!

New York City bans bake sales in schools

Would banning bake sales from schools solve the childhood obesity problem? New York City regulators seem to think so! They seem to be on a roll because in their zeal to impose a wellness policy, they are going after everything they can find which can be labeled as nutritionally evil for the health of our children. This is nutritionism at its best without regard to the cultural norms.

You might be wondering why it bothers me so much! After all, I don’t live in New York City and my children are too young to go to school.

What I find troublesome is that regulators and policy makers feel that simply by making new rules and demonstrating their power, they can change unhealthy behaviors. It is only the stick, never the carrot! In this case, everybody is rightly upset that they will lose a very traditional way of raising funds for school activities. But are the regulators providing any alternative? A few exceptions to the new rules are provided, but they are practically useless in terms of fundraising.

They should try to focus on encouraging children to make the right choices about their eating habits in the long run. Not simply ban stuff without providing alternatives.

Parents magazine offers tips for turning your baby into a veggie lover

Dr Greene, the author of Feeding Baby Green, has a nice article in the November issue of the Parents magazine. He advises to build on your child’s curiosity about colorful things by introducing him to colorful fruits and veggies. Start early, keep trying,  and introduce variety right from the very beginning. A lot of parents are concerned about allergies, so they do not introduce new foods quickly. He disagrees with this approach and offers scientific data which suggests that babies learn to love new flavors best when they are introduced to new foods in rapid succession. He gives you a nice list of 21 plant families you should sample with your child before he reaches the age of 1.

It may work, or it may not work – and of course, all bets are off in the toddler years! That is when they get picky and nothing seems to work anymore. Here are a few articles we have published to help you with fruits and veggies:

Ask the Expert – Developing a Taste for Fruits and Veggies
Help! My Kids Don’t Eat Enough Fruits and Veggies
Ask the Expert – Getting Complete Nutrition on a Vegetarian Diet
Help Your Child with Autism Have Fun with Food

Enjoy and do let me know you think. I would love to have you share your best tips in comments below.

Photo source -tomhe on Flickr via everystockphoto
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

It is great to see orange everywhere in the neighborhood these days! Some people have already put up their Halloween decorations. We don’t get to enjoy the Fall colors as much in Florida. So these decorations – along with the cool evening air – remind us of the changing season. It is great to be outdoors these days!

It seemed like a busy week for nutrition related news. Probably because I discovered a great website which aggregates news from different sources and organizes them in different categories. It is called Alltop and it is created by none other than the Marketing Guru Guy Kawasaki. I was delighted to see my blog listed on Alltop’s Top Nutrition News page. Check it out!

Here are the 5 nutrition related news that caught my eye this week. Enjoy and drop me a comment to share your thoughts.

Watch out, eating hamburgers can paralyze you

I was shocked beyond belief to read the unfortunate story of 22 years old Stephanie Smith, who got really sick after eating a hamburger contaminated with E. coli. She was so sick that doctors had to put her in a coma for nine weeks, after which she could no longer walk because she was paralyzed from the waist down. A very heavy price to pay for a cheap hamburger all of us assume safe for eating without much thought.

Turns out there are serious gaps in the food inspection system which is supposed to test packaged meat for E. coli contamination. Ground beef is produced by processors from beef trimmings and other parts which they buy from many different suppliers. Not all of these incoming supplies are tested for contamination before grinding. The result is that  contaminated cow parts can sometime enter the ground beef supply undetected. Does not happen very frequently, but it does happen often enough to make the news. 8000 people have become sick from 16 E. coli outbreaks in the last 3 years.

No matter how many regulations and inspections are put in place, there is no way to be 100% safe because of the way meat is processed in modern plants. My advice – cut down on beef in the first place – it has been shown to increase the risk of various types of cancer. And if you do want to enjoy a burger, make sure you follow the safe handling procedures and cook it thoroughly so that the inside of the hamburger reaches 165 °F.

Food insecurity increases the risk of childhood obesity

Sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? Food insecurity is defined as lack of access to food, or nutritionally adequate food. So it is surprising that new research from the American Dietetic Association concludes that there is a link between food insecurity and childhood obesity. In particular, girls from households facing food insecurity are more likely to be overweight or obese. Girls 2-5 years old from household with food insecurity were 47% more likely to be overweight compared to those from food secure households. Boys of the same age did not show this correlation.

What could be the cause of this? Researchers are not sure yet, but suggests that food insecurity creates stress which affects behavior including food choices. Add to that the availability of cheap, energy dense, nutrient-poor foods and binge eating and you can see why this could happen.

I believe that hunger and obesity are two sides of the same coin. In poor countries, food insecurity is real and energy-dense foods are not affordable. There you see severe malnutrition and low weights. In developed countries, food insecurity causes malnutrition on the other end – that is energy dense foods leading to overweight and obesity. The common factors are distribution, quality and cost of food. This is where organizations like Share Our Strength are so critical. I have supported them by writing blog posts and will continue to do so in future.

Soy isoflavones reduce risk of diabetes and heart disease

I was quite excited to read about new research from UMass (my alma mater!) which attempts to explain how isoflavones from soy rich foods work with fat cells to regulate glucose uptake and increased insulin sensitivity. This mechanism is similar to how anti-diabetic drugs work in the body. This is a very important discovery because soy rich foods have been known to lower diabetes risk, increase insulin sensitivity and reduce cardiovascular disease risk, but the cellular mechanism was not well understood.

Isoflavones are plant-based antioxidants found almost exclusively in beans such as soybeans. They are also known as polyphenols because of their chemical structure. Many of these isoflavones act as dietary estrogens. Some studies have shown a reduced risk of breast cancer especially if the soy-rich diet is given in early childhood.

Although much research still remains to be done, particularly in humans, these results are quite promising.

Michael Pollan considers rules to eat by

What are your rules of thumb that affect your food choices? Do you follow the advice of your Mom or Grandma, or do you make these choices by nutritional labels, diet trends or advertisements? Michael Pollan, the highly acclaimed author of The Omnivores Dilemma is compiling genuinely useful, nutritionally sound examples of popular wisdom about eating via the Well blog on the New York Times. He is writing  a book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual based on these responses due to be published in January.

Pollan is known for his skepticism about modern nutrition science and food marketing claims. At the core, he believes that how we eat has been, and should be, influenced by culture based on our collective wisdom accumulated over generations. In short, have more faith in what your Mama told you and skip the advice based on nutrition science.

I have a little bit of a problem with this. What is culture? How do we know that the wisdom of culture is still relevant today? I agree, that culture strongly drives our behavior, but culture is constantly changing. More so than ever now because we live in the age of the Internet. I say, listen to your Mama, but also learn the science so you can make your own decisions. If you leave the decision making to others, even if they are scientists, you are really giving up responsibility for your own health. Science and culture are not mutually exclusive; use the power of information to make your own decisions. I would love to hear Michael’s thoughts on this.

What do you think? What are your favorite rules?

Preservative-free doesn’t make salty processed foods any healthier

Annie of PhD In Parenting wrote a very nice post this week about how Nestle responded to her question on high sodium content in Stouffer’s frozen foods. This was precipitated by Nestle’s claim on Twitter that Stouffer’s meals contained no preservatives.

The No Preservative claim on processed foods is getting quite common these days because customers are getting more sensitive to chemical additives in foods. What they don’t realize is that just because a certain processed food claims to contain no preservatives, it doesn’t mean that it is healthy for them. Most of them still contain loads of salt, fat and sugar.

Nestle’s response to Annie’s question based on their expert opinion is quite ridiculous! They want you to control your toddler’s salt intake by managing the portion size – that is don’t give the adult size serving to your toddler! As if your child is a robot that you can dial in a serving size to manage their salt intake. The right thing to do is to reduce the sodium content in the food.

Instead of hiding behind the numbers in their so called “expert” response, I would have liked to see them take ownership of the sodium problem and announce specific goals to reduce them to a certain level in their products ahead of regulations. That would have shown true leadership and concern for the consumer.

What do you think?

Photo source -Barbara L. Hanson on Flickr via everystockphoto
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take a closer look at our weekly grocery shopping. I was interested in finding out how much money, in terms of percentage of the total, we were spending each week on different food groups. For this particular week, here is how the various food groups ended up in our shopping cart:

The top 4 food groups were dairy, meats, fruits and vegetables, which together accounted for about 83% of the total. I was pleased to see that about 38% of our overall grocery dollars went into fruits and veggies. Dairy and meats together were at 43%. Clearly, we are buying a lot of protein and vitamins, but a higher portion of them is coming from animal sources. Not a huge concern right now since both of these groups seem to be in balance for us.

The other consideration is fresh vs. processed foods. Here is how this split turned out for us:

More processed food, but overall split is about even. Here, I considered frozen vegetables as processed foods.

So what is in your grocery cart?

Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding off.
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Greetings! Hope you all are having a great week so far. Here is another set of 5 nutrition related news and articles from this week that I found interesting. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section.

Getting out of the salt-fat-sugar trap

No doubt we have become a nation of fast food lovers. Certainly it is a marvel of modern technology which delivers a full meal in 10 minutes or less, costs you 10 dollars or less, and which you can enjoy driving in your car at 60 miles an hour. But the real magical formula behind its success is what Dr. David Kessler calls the trap of sugar-fat-salt  in his recent book “The end of overeating“. In an excellent review of this book, Dr. Ayala explains how we can end overeating and eat healthier by first recognizing what fast food truly is – highly addictive and of poor nutritional value. Develop a taste for simple, wholesome foods made from fresh, quality ingredients and you will actually feel more satisfied and healthier. Encourage your kids to develop this taste, and you can be sure they will make the right choices even when presented with these outwardly appealing foods. I don’t necessarily agree when Kessler draws a parallel between addiction to nicotine and fast food. But I do agree that when consumers begin to change the definition of what is acceptable as food, the food industry will innovate to satisfy that demand.

Recession is shrinking wallets but expanding waistlines

Compared to last year, we now have 5.5 million more people in America who are considered obese based on their BMI (body mass index). Blame it on the recession? That is what some researchers have concluded based on recent Gallup-Healthways data which has prompted the question “Is the recession making Americans fatter“? The theory goes like this – recession causes stress and price of healthy foods has gone up, so people are satisfying their appetites and improving their moods by reaching out for comfort foods, which tend to be high in fat, sugar and calories. There  a trend here as I commented in a recent Five for Fridays that this recession has a sweet tooth and candy sales are on the rise. Whatever the reason might be, the high rates of obesity can no longer be ignored. Four out of the top10 chornic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer) have clear links to poor nutrition and obesity. Blame recession all you want, but at the end of the day, we need to act and not just point fingers!

Going gluten-free? Be sure to get complete nutrition

Gluten-free diets are quite popular these days. New recipes and products claiming to be gluten-free are being launched almost on a daily basis. Sales of such products have more than tripled since 2004. Whether it is a new diet fad or because more and more people are being diagnosed with the celiac disease or gluten intolerance, no one can tell for sure. If you happen to be following a gluten-free diet, and reaching out for some of these new products, be aware that they may be lacking in dietary fiber and several B vitamins. In a very informative article Getting out the gluten, experts recommend eating foods made from the “super six” nutritionally balanced ingredients namely amaranth, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, sorghum and teff. These are rich in fiber, proteins and vitamins and do not contain gluten. I am not familiar with most of them except quinoa, which has become a regular substitute for basmati rice in our diet. Chicken with quinoa is one of our favorite recipes if you need ideas! Share your favorite gluten-free food or recipe if you are on a gluten-free diet.

No grapes, no nuts and now no place in the market for this jaw crusher

Amused as I was to read about the decline in market share of Grape Nuts, the news that this venerable cereal is facing crunchtime didn’t really break my heart! I have never been a fan of this brand, even though it has existed in the market for over 100 years. What I found intriguing about this story was not the changing fortunes of this product, but how processed foods are marketed to consumers. Grape nuts is people eating advertising is how one brand manager puts it as if to indicate a certain sense of pride in having fulfilled the requirements of the job description. Clever language can be used to convince consumers of almost anything it seems. But the fact remains that processed food can hardly be considered “food”, even though it is considred fit for human consumption. So far removed it is from the natural existence of its ingredients that it can be made to look, feel and taste almost anything the food scientist or the imagiative marketer desires. My guess is that the package costs more than the “food” inside it, which means that we are really eating advertising after all!

Teaching nutrition to children improves health behavior knowledge

Sounds logical;  if you include nutrition in the school curriculum, you should expect that it would improve their knowledge of healthy behavior. Reading Across My Pyramid is a nutrition literacy program targeting lower elementary school children of low income families in California. In a recent evaluation of its effectiveness, researchers found significant evidence that it increased the importance of exercise in the minds of children, knowledge that the heart pumps blood through the body, and knowledge that computer use and television watching are not exercise. Correlations were also observed between a child’s knowledge of healthy foods and parent reported soda consumption. Although on a lot of other items related to health behavior, no significant change was seen after implementing the program, these few positive results are encouraging in my opinion. Development of healthy eating habits is equally dependent on availability of information and healthy food in schools, and we seem to have neither of the two in our current education system. Is it a surprise then childhood obesity is on the rise and that Type 2 diabetes is now reported in children as young as 4 years old? How many studies will it take before we begin to see real change in our schools?

Enjoy your weekend!

Photo source – Eggz on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com