The Sunshine Vitamin

Vitamin D has long been known as the “sunshine vitamin,” but some people have recently been calling it the “nutrient of the year” because it has been the topic of heated discussion in the medical field. Why is it such a hot topic? Because recent research has shown that higher levels of vitamin D may help decrease the risk of certain cancers, such as colon and breast cancer. These same researchers feel that the required levels of vitamin D are too low and people need more than what they have been told.

In case you’re not familiar, vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps your body absorb calcium and store calcium in your bones. It also plays a role in immune function and reducing inflammation. Without vitamin D, you are at increased risk of osteoporosis and possibly cardiovascular disease.

Currently the adequate intake of vitamin D for adults younger than 50 is 200 IU (International Units), but most health professionals agree that more (about 800-1000 IU) is needed per day. While 200 IU isn’t such a difficult amount to take in from food, 800 IU is. Why? Because the best source of vitamin D is what the body makes naturally from sunlight exposure (hence the name “the sunshine vitamin”), which is limited during the winter months in northern climates and is decreased because of the use of sunscreen, which blocks out the UVB rays that help you make viatmin D.

Dietary sources of vitamin D are more limited and need to be eaten in large amounts to get the preferred amount. They include fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna, herring, mackerel, and sardines; mushrooms; fortified foods, such as milk, breakfast cereal, and orange juice; and a small amount from egg yolks.

Find out more about the causes of vitamin D deficiency and what to do about it tomorrow!

Tackling Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is this coming Sunday! It’s the biggest game of the season and probably the most calorie-filled! To help you enjoy the big game without turning into a linebacker follow these nutritioulicious™ tips:

1) Skip the wings. Everyone loves chicken wings, but they’re high in fat from the skin and from being deep fried. They are also lower in protein than other chicken dishes. For a healthier option that’s actually easier to prepare, marinate chicken breast tenders in barbecue sauce, grill or bake, and serve with additional sauce on the side. Choose the sauce carefully — many BBQ sauces have high fructose corn syrup as one of the first ingredients. I like Bone Suckin’ Sauce or Annie’s Original BBQ Sauce.*

2) Lighten up the burgers. If you’re a burger fan, opt for turkey or veggie burgers — they’re leaner and can be just as delicious as regular burgers! Top them with caramelized onions, roasted peppers, or roasted tomatoes.

3) Snack smart. Chips are a staple that don’t need to be avoided. You just need to choose wisely and read the nutrition label. Frito-Lay snack chips like Tostitos are made with just 3 ingredients: corn, healthier oils such as corn and sunflower oils, and less salt per serving than a slice of bread! Plus they have no trans fats!**

4) Make a healthier dip. What goes better with chips than some dip? Chips are a great vehicle for getting in veggies and protein if you make the right kind of dip. Instead of all of those cheesy and creamy dips, opt for a veggie-rich salsa or some guacamole. Avocados contain the healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fats and contain nearly 20 vitamins and minerals, including antioxidants vitamins C and E, folate, potassium, and beta-carotene. You can also make other yummy side dishes and salads with Avocados from Mexico.

5) Drink wisely. It’s easy to fill up on drinks like beer and soda, so stock up on light beer, diet soda, and even wine for the best options. And don’t forget to hydrate! Have a glass of water between every drink — it will also help stave off that hangover the next day.

6) End on a sweet note. Rather than brownies and cake, serve some fruit with a twist. Instead of a regular fruit salad, grill some pineapple, poach pears, or bake apples. You can even jazz it up with a small scoop of low-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt.

*Note: I am not a spokesperson, nor do I consult or work for these products.
**Note: I am a media spokesperson for Frito Lay.

Wednesday Wonders: Freezing Fruit

Q: Hi! I’m a berry lover and buy strawberries even during the pricey winter months because I enjoy having them each morning for breakfast.  I am getting ready to go away for a few days and have some left over.  Can I cut them up and freeze them for when I return? Thanks! — Berry Lover

A: Hi Berry Lover!

Great question. The answer is yes — you can definitely freeze them.  I’ve previously talked about frozen produce and what a great way it is to save money when fresh produce is out of season. However, if you have access to out of season produce or just really like to have the fresh stuff all year round, you definitely don’t want it to go to waste — especially if you’ve spent a lot on it. Here’s how you can freeze fresh berries for them to keep well:

1. Wash the berries and let them drain very well. You want to be extra careful with strawberries to make sure there is no moisture left. Strawberries are like sponges, they soak up water, which can leave them mushy.
2. Spread the berries on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze them for a few hours or overnight.
3. Once frozen, place the berries in a resealable bag, remove all the air, and store in the freezer.

Your frozen berries should be good for a few months, and can easily be defrosted to top your morning bowl of cereal, add to yogurt, or make into a smoothie. Keep in mind that you can also buy berries during the summer when the prices are cheaper and freeze them for winter use.

Do you have a Wednesday Wonder? Keep on sending your nutritioulicious™ questions to me at  jessica@nutritioulicious.com!

Happy Heart Month

February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in Americans, and interestingly, more women die of heart disease than men. Regardless of your gender, it’s important to recognize what puts you at risk and what you can do to prevent heart disease.

There are 5 lifestyle factors that affect your risk of heart disease:

1. Healthy diet
2. Physical activity
3. Moderate alcohol intake
4. Normal body weight
5. Not smoking

Here are some tips to follow a heart-healthy diet and reduce your risk of heart disease:

• Eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Try to get in at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
• Increase your intake of fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids and omega-3-rich plant foods like walnuts, flaxseed, and canola oil.
• Eat more plant proteins, such as beans, nuts, and soy protein.
• Choose fat-free and low-fat dairy products and lean meats to reduce animal fat.
• Reduce intake of food and drinks with added sugars.
• Limit your sodium intake to 1500-2300 mg per day.
• If you drink alcohol, limit intake to 1 drink a day for women and 2 a day for men.
• Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day most days of the week.
• Maintain a healthy weight — Body Mass Index between 18.5 and 24.9. Calculate your BMI.
• If you smoke, quit now!

This coming Friday, February 5th, is National Wear Red Day — “a day when Americans nationwide will take women’s health to heart by wearing red to show their support for women’s heart disease awareness.” Learn more about The Heart Truth campaign and wear your most glamorous reds on Friday!

Salt Shakedown

Perhaps you’ve heard some recent news about sodium — it seems to be the topic of 2010 (at least so far). And it’s certainly creating a stir here in New York City.

Last week, Mayor Bloomberg and the NYC Health Department decided to take on salt as the next food additive to reduce in our food (he already won the war on trans fats), in an effort to make us a healthier nation. Bloomberg proposes that the food industry (restaurants and food manufacturers) reduce the amount of sodium in a variety of food products. The goal is to cut the nation’s salt intake by 25% over five years. And just yesterday a new study came out in The New England Journal of Medicine that lowering salt intake can reduce the cases of certain diseases.

Why is sodium such a big deal? Most people take in way too much of it (3000-5000 mg per day instead of the recommended 1500-2300 mg per day), and it can lead to high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, calcium loss and osteoporosis, kidney disease, and more. In fact, salt plays such a big role in our health that it can actually lead to weight gain. Recently, the Nutrition Twins, Lyssie Lakatos and Tammy Lakatos Shames, identical twin dietitians, wrote The Secret to Skinny (which I contributed to!), which is all about how salt affects your weight and what you can do about it.

So what can you do about it? Check out some of my tips in yesterday’s Indy Star: 4 Ways to Reduce Sodium for Healthier Eating.

What do you think about Bloomberg’s campain to reduce salt?

Darling Clementine

As I’m sure most of you know, I love fresh fruit, and I rarely go a day without getting in a full three servings of it. During the winter though, it’s slim pickings when it comes to available fresh fruit. Unlike during the spring and summer when there’s a plethora of fruit available, winter fruit is limited mainly to apples and citrus fruit. As much as I love my apples (Gala and Braeburn are my faves), clementines are my favorite winter fruit.

Unlike oranges, which can be difficult to peel, and tangerines, which often have seeds, clementines are easy to peel, seedless, and just plain easy to eat. They are also sweet and juicy, and full of health benefits.

Clementines are full of the antioxidants vitamins A and C, folate, fiber, and potassium. Clementines have been shown to help with vision and maintaining healthy, beautiful skin (due to the antioxidants). Researchers have also found that the scent of clementines triggers the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which regulates mood.

Clementines are also really low in calories. Each clementine has 35 calories, 9 g carbohydrate, 1.5 g fiber, 0 g fat, 1 g protein. Because they are so small, a fruit serving is 2 clementines, so make sure you grab two (like I have on my plate in the photo above) for a filling snack. They are in season from November through March, so go get your bag or crate of clementines before it’s too late!!

nutritioulicious™ Frittata

Last week I told you all about eggs in a guest post on the blog Around the Plate. As promised, here are some ways to enjoy eggs including a recipe for a nutritioulicious™ frittata!

Eggs can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, including:

• Hard boiled
• Omelets — try spinach, tomato, and feta for a Greek twist or make a Western one with peppers, onion, and cheddar (Nutritious Tip: use 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg per omelet)
• Quiches (Nutritious Tip: use half egg whites, half whole eggs)
• Poached
• Soft boiled
• Rocky mountain toast, aka Egg in a Hole (Nutritious Tip: use cooking spray, not butter!)
• Egg salad (Nutritious Tip: make it with more egg whites and low-fat mayonnaise to keep the calories in check!)
• Frittata (Nutritious Tip: use half egg whites, half whole eggs)

Andrew’s Frittata*
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 3 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons non-fat milk
• Salt and pepper, to taste



• cooking spray
• 1 medium to large onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange), diced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded

Preparation:

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine whole eggs, egg whites, non-fat milk, salt, and pepper, and whisk well.
2. Spray a medium ovenproof nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over a medium flame. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler.
3. Add onion to the skillet and cook until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add peppers and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Finally, add the tomatoes for 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables in the skillet covering them evenly. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and let cook until the egg mixture has set around the edges but is somewhat liquid in the middle, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle with the cheese.
5. Place the skillet under the broiler about 2 inches from the heat until the surface is set and golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Be careful not to overcook or the egg mixture will become tough.
6. Cut the frittata into wedges and serve.

Nutrition Information: 123 calories, 12 g protein, 8 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 5 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 162 mg cholesterol, 225 mg sodium

To round out the meal. I recommend serving the frittata with fresh fruit, like I did here,  and/or whole wheat toast.

*Named for my husband, who made it with my nutritious input!

Weekend Warrior

If you’ve been watching what you eat and following an exercise routine during the week, don’t let the fact that it’s a weekend get in your way. Instead, be a weekend warrior! A study in the journal Obesity* found that changes in lifestyle behaviors on weekends contributed to weight gain and a cessation of weight loss on the weekends.The main reason: people eat more and exercise less on Saturdays and Sundays.

The weekend isn’t an excuse to take a break from your goals. Here are some ways to stick to your diet and fitness routine and still enjoy the break from work, school, or whatever else you have going on during the week.

1. Start your day with breakfast. Just as you do (and should!) during the week, have breakfast first thing in the morning. If you sleep later than usual on the weekends but still get up a couple of hours before lunch, make sure you have something small to get your metabolism going.
2. Move your body. Go to the gym, for a bike ride, or to an exercise class you don’t have time for during the week. Whatever your preference, just do something active!
3. Don’t skip meals. Even if you’re going out for a big dinner, you still need to eat lunch and probably a snack before your night out. If you think you’ll skip meals to save up for dinner, you’re in for a rude awakening. You’ll end up eating more than you would normally and regretting it the next time you step on the scale.
4. Watch the alcohol. It’s easy to overdo the drinking over the weekend. Between dinner out, meeting friends for drinks, or perhaps a party or two, you’re likely going to be faced with many alcoholic beverages. Your best bet? Swap one or two alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic ones. Trust me — you’ll be happy when you don’t have a hangover the next morning.
5. Keep your goals in mind. Whatever you do, remember your goals. Put them in a place you’ll see them so you can remind yourself what you want to accomplish and not let weekend activities get in the way. If you haven’t made any goals, there’s no better time than now. Check out The Basics of Goal Setting if you need help setting some.

Have a great and nutritioulicious™ weekend!!

*Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 Aug;16(8):1826-30. Epub 2008 Jun 12.

nutritioulicious™ Talks About Eggs Around the Plate

Many of my clients ask me about eggs and whether they can be part of a healthy diet. An egg is such a simple, basic food that most of us keep a carton of in the fridge, yet eggs stir up a lot of commotion. Over the years there have been mixed opinions about how often eggs should be eaten. Are they too high in cholesterol? Maybe we should only eat egg whites and discard the yolk? Does the yolk have any benefits?

Today you can find out The Truth About Eggs in my guest post on Around the Plate, a nutrition blog by soon-to-be registered dietitian Kati Mora.

Later this week I’ll share with you some ways to enjoy eggs. Do you like eggs?

The Number One Secret That Burns More Fat

When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, I encourage my clients to follow a healthy diet (as in daily intake, not restriction) and exercise plan to stay in good physical shape. The goal of nutritioulicious™ is to help you eat healthy food that also tastes good, but unfortunately I’m not a fitness expert, so my services in that department only go so far. Lucky for me, I know a fabulous personal trainer who can give you the guidance I can’t. TrainerDiva Elena Ciccotelli is here to help you burn fat without sacrificing delicious food!

The Number One Secret That Burns More Fat

By Elena Ciccotelli

As we embark upon our 2010 fitness resolutions many of us are weighing in. It’s happening right now all across America. Can you hear it? The resounding thud of countless resolution-ers all stepping onto the dreaded scale, surveying the damage, and facing the music. Sound familiar? Of course it does, because we’ve all been there! But before you go running to the nearest treadmill for an hour sweat-a-thon, remember that weight training sessions are a much more effective fat burner than cardio. Here’s why.

Muscle is much more metabolically active, burns more calories, than fat. Therefore, when you spend more time on a weight training routine and less time on a cardio regiment, you are building more lean muscle in your body. This will ultimately help you burn more calories at rest. Did you know that one pound of muscle burns up to 50 calories at rest? This means you can burn up to 50 calories while doing absolutely nothing! Let’s say you added 10 pounds of muscle to your body. In one week you will burn an extra 3,500 calories just by sitting on the sofa. Not too shabby! Even better, the extra 3,500 calories you just burned is equal to one pound of fat.

However, don’t expect the number on the scale to drop drastically at first. Many of us weigh ourselves on the scale to determine our success rate. But ironically, weighing yourself on a scale is not the best way to measure improvement in health and fitness levels. In fact, just using this method of measurement will discourage you when you find out that your weight has not changed significantly since you started weight training. What the scale doesn’t tell you is that while your weight has not changed, your body fat to lean muscle mass ratio has probably changed. Muscle tissue takes up less space in your body than fat, therefore the volume or size of one pound of fat is much larger than one pound of muscle tissue. This explains why you may have dropped a few inches around the waist, chest, and legs but your weight remains the same.

So before you judge yourself too harshly or resign yourself to just eating celery sticks and tuna for the start of 2010, make sure you include weight training into your exercise program. Also, be sure to get your body fat percentage and size measurements of body parts (i.e. waist, hips, thigh, etc.) taken in order to get a more accurate baseline analysis. Just remember: inches always come off before pounds and before long you’ll notice the waist in your jeans getting a bit loose.

Since 2008, Elena Ciccotelli has been helping busy professional women feel empowered, lose weight and improve their quality of life. Her personal training sessions focus on total body resistance exercises, weight training, and stretching to safely achieve faster results and remain motivated. Ms. Ciccotelli is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College and a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer through the American Aerobic Association International & International Sports Medicine Association (AAI/ISMA). For more information, contact TrainerDiva, Inc. at trainerdiva.com.