Table salt vs. Sea Salt

Question: I've heard that sea salt is better for you than regular salt. Is that true?

Answer: It's a popular thought, but it's actually a myth. If you compare food labels, you will find that they contain the exact same amount of sodium per teaspoon. However, sea salt generally has a more potent flavor and, therefore, you may use less and decrease your sodium intake that way.

Happy Memorial Day, readers! For any further questions, plese email me at mypersonaldietitian@gmail.com

Swine Flu: Should it affect what I eat?

Question: With the recent and ongoing scare of Swine Flu, I'm wondering how we know if the pork we are eating is safe and if it isn't wise to avoid pork until the Swine Flu epidemic calms down and we know more about it?



Answer: It is wise to take the swine flu seriously as it is an illness that mainly affects the lungs. It's called the swine flu because it is caused by a virus that usally infects pigs. However, you CANNOT become infected with swine flu from eating pork or pork products that have been properly handled and cooked.

Symptoms of swine flu are: dry cough, tiredness/weakness, diarrhea and vomiting, headache, fever and sore throat.

Rather than avoiding pork, the best thing you can do is to wash your hands as often as you think about it.

Stay Healthy! For any further questions, please email me at mypersonaldietitian@gmail.com

Eating Healthy: Preparation is Key!

Question: I have never had proper healthy eating habits, but recently I decided to start taking better care of myself by eating healthy. I'm not overweight but I know I could be so much healthier with diet and exercise. I want to find a nutritionist or dietitian to help me plan out healthy meals because I have no idea where to start and I'm a picky eater. I love steak, mashed potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, shrimp, and other things that I know are healthy but I tend to eat things like Eggo waffles, Chef Boyardee, Campbells soup, a bagel with cream cheese, and other quick fix things. I use the excuse that I have a one and two year old but I know if I could just learn what healthy things I need to eat, I would be able to make time. I hope you can give me some advice... I need to exercise more but my energy and motivation for that is low, mainly due to my poor diet I'm sure. Please help me become a healthier person.
Megan

P.S. I forgot to mention any recipe with meats that includes sweet and meat together I can't stand... if I need to I will eat it but I can't make it a daily routine because I know I would end up breaking that routine.

Answer:
Megan, I loved your email because so many people can relate to your concerns. You want to eat healthy, but you don't because, with 2 small children, you need your life to be quick and convenient. You want to exercise, but don't because it's too hard to find the time. There are things you know are healthy, but you have to force-feed yourself because you don't like them.

Good News! First of all, you never have to eat anything you don't like. Eating should be an enjoyable experience! If you don't like fish, don't eat fish. There are other ways of getting omega-3 fatty acids. If you don't like sweet tasting things with meat, then don't eat that combination! There are so many different types of food and so many different combinations of all those food options, that there is absolutely no reason you should ever have to eat something you don't like. As long as your diet consists of some foods from each "slice of the pyramid" (see http://www.mypyramid.gov/), you'll be fine. And it doesn't hurt to take a multivitamin and calcium supplement for good measure.

Secondly, the answer to your major concern of eating healthy is PREPARATION! You need to plan ahead and that is the key. If you don't know what you are eating for dinner tonight, you will end up opening your pantry and grabbing that Chef Boyardee because it's there and it's quick. I will tell you what I do: Each Saturday morning, I sit down and make a list of what we are going to have for dinner for each day of the week. I make my grocery list as I go. I'll throw in a crockpot meal or a Lean Cuisine skillet meal for the nights where I know time is limited. I then add some staples and breakfast/lunch items to my list (such as bread, yogurt, milk, cereal, oatmeal, fruit, etc) and my list is complete. The process takes about 10 minutes once you've done it a couple of times. It saves a ton of time throughout the week because you can start making dinner whenever you have a few minutes (like during nap time) because you know what you're having and you have all the ingredients. It also saves a lot of money if you stick to your list and don't buy random things as you're passing through the aisles.

If you do the above and still feel like you want the guidance of "nutritionist of dietitan", I would highly recommend seeing a Registered Dietitian (RD). All RD's have a college degree in nutrition and have passed an intense registration exam following their degree and internship program. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, so you may not get the right advice by going that route. You can find a RD near you by going to the American Dietetic Association's website at http://www.eatright.org/

Please email me at mypersonaldietitian@gmail.com with any future questions. Thank you!

Defining Diabetes

Question: A family member of mine was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Can you explain, in a basic way, what exactly diabetes is and where to go from here?

Answer: Well, I could make about 1,000 different blog entries to answer that one question. Diabetes is a very complex disease and I'm a firm believer in treating the individual, not just the disease, so without knowing your family member, it is hard for me to tell you in a blog entry how to treat the diabetes. Rather, in answer to your question about where to go from here, I would tell you to make sure your family member has a fabulous Primary Care Physician (PCP) with whom he/she has a comfortable relationship. PCP's typically treat the diabetes until/if the diabetes gets into more advanced stages, at which time a referral may be made to an Endocrinologist. Further, I would highly recommend your family member consult a Registered Dietitian to get a specific meal plan. To find a Registered Dietitian near you, log on to the American Dietetic Association's website at www.eatright.org

But in answer to your first question in regards to defining diabetes, let's start with food. Your body changes much of the food you eat into glucose, which is then carry by the blood to the body's cells. Insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas, helps to move glucose from the blood stream into the body cells. Diabetes is the name of the condition when either your pancreas doesn't produce insulin at all (Type I) or your pancreas is not producing enough insulin or the insulin it's producing isn't working sufficiently (Type 2). Either way, the result is high blood sugar, which left untreated, can have devastating effects. However, when properly treated, you can have a long, productive and very happy and healthy life. Good luck!

For any further questions, please email me at mypersonaldietitian@gmail.com

Fruits and Veggies

Question: I have a question regarding juicing fruit and vegetables. I bought a nice juicer, because I thought it would help my family do better at eating our daily intake of fruit and veggies if we could just drink it when we are busy. So far it hasn't really helped, because I don't know how many cups of juice I need to make to meet our daily requirements. Also, do you know of any good juicing recipes that will help to mix the fruits and veggies together? And lastly...I have a 5 year old (almost) and 1 year old. How many servings of fruits and vegetables do they need?

Melody

Answer: Well, to answer your first question, the guidelines for fruits and vegetables for adults is 5 servings per day of EITHER fruits or vegetables. If you are concerned about weight, eat more vegetables than fruits because there are 25 calories in a serving of vegetables and 60 calories in a serving of fruit. Starch vegetables such as potatoes, corn and peas are 80 calories per serving. If eating in the juice form, one serving = 4 ounces. If weight is not a concern, then it really doesn't matter if your 5 servings come from fruits, vegetables or a combination because the vitamin and mineral content is so similar.

As for juicing recipes, one good website with some combo juicing recipes is http://www.healthrecipes.com/ You really have to be careful on the juicing recipe websites because so much of the information provided on those sites is not only inaccurate, but can even be harmful in terms of detox or cleansing recommendations or guidelines. But the juicing recipes on this particular site are pretty good and do include some combo recipes.

Nutrition for preschoolers..... One year olds have an amazing ability to "self-regulate." So, truthfully they should eat until they are full and don't want to eat anymore. 1/2 - 1 cup of fruits and 1/2 - 1 cup of veggies is a good rule of thumb. For your 5 year old, he/she should be having ~1 1/2 cups of veggies and 1 cup of fruit. This is in the whole food form, so it would be less if juicing. One of my favorite sites is www.mypyramid.gov This site is great for adults and children. You can type in your child's name, age and gender and it will calculate the appropriate serving sizes of each food group your child should have and create a personalized food guide pyramid with your child's name on it that you can print out.

For more questions, please email me at: mypersonaldietitian@gmail.com