Nutrition Assessment and Ideas

What is "double starching"? This happens most often during the late summer and early fall when both potatoes and 'corn on the cob' are ready in the farm fields.  Both are irresistible at this time of year.  The truth is a cup of either of these foods is the same as eating 2 slices of bread.  Both are healthy foods but keep this in mind when deciding on your portions......................... Author:  nutritionassessment.com  

Last week a client said to me that she is conscious of the "quality of what she puts in her Shopping Cart in the grocery store".  That was the first time I had heard anyone express a measure of quality in relation to your shopping cart nutrition.  This really is a genuine self-assessment of how we judge ourselves in relation to purchases and health.  We could not judge this if we did not know what to compare it to. Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating is a great place to start the comparison For example. Does my cart have at least to 'meat and alternate' food groups? Does my cart contain healthy whole grain bread or pasta or enriched flour products or breakfast cereals ? Do I have 2 kinds of dairy in my cart (meat and cheese)? Do I have enough servings of fruit for everyone in my house for 5 days at 3 servings each? What kind of healthy snacks to I have for the coming week? Would you give yourself a good rating this week? Is there a healthy choice for...

We thought winter was over................  Time to run outside and drop the gym membership.  Aha...............as is the case every April my clients arrive in my office depressed and wonder why they have not had exercise for 2 weeks.  Do not despair you are not the only one.  Hang on to that gym membership until May.  It was cold last week.  This week it was too windy to run or bike or row and now its raining.  My pick would be run in the rain.  Its usually warmer and less windy.  Put on that sun screen early in the season too. Food ideas for this time of year. Bocconcini Salad (keep it simple) 2 cups romaine lettuce or spinach 4 large cheery tomatoes 1/4 cucumber 2 large Bocconcini balls 1 tsp olive oil 1 tsp vinegarette Fresh cilantro Enjoy summer is coming. Author:  nutritionassessment.com

I recently flew from Vancouver to Toronto on Air Canada.  The flight was great but I had delayed travel and had to stay overnight at an Airport Hotel.  If I did not have Susie's amazing brown bag lunch, the 30 hour ordeal would have been different.  I also ended up with a Via Rail train ride home for 2.5 hours from Toronto because the planes were not flying due to weather.  The great snacks kept me happy and cheerier with each delay and postponement.  I arrive back home on time to head for my office to work in good shape with a few snack items still in my bag. Susie's Travel Snacks: Melba toast, sliced cucumbers, baby carrots, sliced sweet peppers, 2 mandarins, a banana, peanut butter and jam sandwich, Baby Bel Cheese, Juicy Fruit gum, Fibre 1 bar, tea bag, nuts,  raisins and Dasani water.  You can always get hot water on a plane to make your own tea or take a Starbuck's sachet of Blonde Roast to keep your caffeine intake up. Author:  nutr...

It is the depths of winter and there is nothing like a hot breakfast. Try this.  It is high in protein, has some healthy oils and soluble fibre for a healthy heart. Excellent for the microbiome, IBS etc. Hot Breakfast Cereal 1/2 cup dried oats (large flake are great) 2 Tablespoons of Manitoba Hemp Hearts 1 Tablespoon Shaved Almonds 1 Tablespoon of raisins or dried cranberries 1 cup of water. Instructions Combine ingredient in a large cereal bowl and microwave for 2-3 minutes on Power of 7 or 8. Stir and add berries and maple syrup to taste. Theresa J Schneider BASc, RD, MPH

Enjoy your leftover food. Turkey sandwiches. Turkey soup. Keep in mind to avoid double starch servings again.  Have turkey and stuffing or turkey and potato and cook fresh veggies to go with it. Spread the candy and chocolate out over many days. Get outside and be active. For every day that we don't go to work we need an hour of exercise per day. Enjoy Author:  nutritionassessment.com

Make your xmas meals good food and good cheer. Appetizers - veggies and dip. Turkey............MMMMM Avoid tipple a quadruple starch: stuffing, mashed potatoes, breads. Add extra veg to stuffing. Enjoy a root vegetable. Enjoy a green gettable. Don't eat food you don't like just because its there. Happy Holidays   Author:  nutritionassessment.com

Holiday Travel is on everyone's minds this week.  Trains, planes, automobiles, boats and ferries are the usual modes of transport in Canada.  Food is not always supplied anymore on trips.  The family of the sage Mike Dowling in North Vancouver do not leave home without some of the most delicious sandwiches I have ever seen in tow.  This has been their practice for at least 40 years.  I always wonder why they don't just stop for a fast food meal.  I can only think of how much money they have saved and how much less salt they have taken in for their family of 6. I recently saw a family of 4 having their sandwiches sitting in a Service Centre on Highway 401.  Its okay to eat your lunch at a Service Centre.  It was good to see they were taking a break from driving. One of my clients is heading off to Halifax by car this Friday to pick up his wife and children and bring them back to Ontario for the Holidays.  He said "I get in the car and don't ...

Every year clients ask me how can I keep reducing weight through the holidays. My first response is 'don't try to loose weight at Christmas'.  Take the season as a time to eat food that you don't normally eat to help replenish and restore nutrients in your body after working hard all fall. Queen's University, Royal MilitaryCollege and St. Lawrence College student who do not go home for Chrismas and eat well will not recover from the work in the fall like other students will. The goal would be to stabilize weight with a mix of good food and healthy exercise. So don't eat every thing you see but make strategic choice to eat food you like and eat food that have high levels of nutrients.  For example root vegetables are very festive and we take the time to prepare more of these foods on the holidays.  My family loves Harvard Beets and they love Butternut Squash roasted in the oven with Brown Sugar and butter.  Beets are filled with fibre and Magnesium and squash ...

Canada's new food allergen labelling regulations came into force on August 4, 2012.  Patients are just now starting to reap the benefits from the new labeling guidelines.  When counseling patients about celiac disease ( gluten-free diets ) or people with food allergies, it is now easier to determine what foods to choose and foods to avoid. The Food and Drug Regulations require that most prepackaged foods carry a label and that the ingredients appear on labels in decreasing order of proportion. However, some ingredients used in food products which were previously exempt from declaration in the list of ingredients, ( e.g ., components of margarine, seasoning and flour) will now be required to appear on food labels also. Based on consultations with stakeholders, including allergy associations and the medical community, Health Canada developed amendments to the Regulations to enhance labelling requirements for specific priority allergens, gluten sources and added sulphi...