Don't Let Nutrition Take a Back Seat During Soccer Season

Sports season doesn’t have to mean fast-food season, so don't let good nutrition takes a back seat.  Here are 4 ways to simply your soccer-mom schedule while keeping everyone nutritiously fed:

• Kids are starving after school and need something on their way to practice or game that is easy to keep in the car - maybe a make-your-own trail mix (cereal, pretzels, dried fruit and nuts) & water bottles. about 100-150 calories  is all they need, make sure it is packed with nutrients not just empty calories.                                                                                                          
• Your turn for team treats:  the bane of every soccer mom’s existence to find easy, healthy treats for the soccer team. Keep in mind, that game treats are more of a tradition than a nutritional necessity so keep them small and healthful.  Avoid anything but water bottles.  We drink WAY too much sugar in this country and I could to on and on for quite a while on that soapbox, but I'll save that for another post.  Go retro with the classic orange wedges, or a frozen yogurt tube or string cheese or Babybel.  Small, nutritious and avoid added sugar.

• When an orange and water bottle don’t cut it: post-competition for those older, higher-intensity athletes (track, cross country, conditioning) whose extended, intense workouts require some recovery nutrition, think: milk - plain, chocolate or flavored and 1/2 pb&j.  That way with about 200 calories you can provide carbs to replenish their glycogen stores and protein to help rebuild muscle.  
• Being the busy chauffeur doesn’t make the drive-thru a must: don’t skip the family dinner table.  Even a late family dinner is better than hitting the drive-thru. In this case, the crockpot is your friend.  

Try this simple 5-6 ingredient, 5 minute recipe that is versatile enough to provide 4 different meal variations.  

Mexican crockpot magic meal:

Dump into your crockpot: 

1 can drained, rinsed beans

1 can fire-roasted tomatoes

1 cup or so of salsa

1 cup or so of frozen corn (can use canned corn, just be sure to drain and rinse)

1 lb. meat (chicken breast, stew meat, or pork roast)

Let cook on low 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.  (I personally like to add a dash of chipotle chili powder, some smoked paprika and cumin, but that is completely optional and up to your personal tastes.)

Serve with tortillas as a taco, enchilada or tostada filling.  

Vegetarian variation: 

omit the meat and add instead a second can of beans of a different variety.

Soup variation:

Add 2 cups chicken broth and you have instant chili-type soup

Cowboy Caviar variation:

skip the meat and the crockpot and toss the ingrendients together cold, as soon as you get home.  In 5 minutes, you've got 

a great basis for hearty "macho" nachos  

Taco Salad variation:

Save your leftovers for another night and serve cold over a bed of lettuce for taco salad.

Painless Ways to Up Your Nutrition

Just as a few degrees in the navigation of an airplane significantly changes the flight's destination, so can a few tweaks to our nutritional habits lead us to the health outcomes we desire down the road. 

•   Choose wisely when it comes to cereal. In all honesty, cereal is one of the main go-tos not only for breakfast, but snacks and other meals as well.   

            Swapping out your cereal for a higher fiber, lower sugar version is a simple way to get more bang for your buck nutritionally.  Aim for at least 3 grams fiber and 9 or less grams of sugar per serving.  If you have some cereals that you are loathe to abandon, try mixing them half and half with a healthier cereal. 

•   Whole Wheat Pastry flour: We know that whole grain is better, but swapping whole wheat flour into some recipes just doesn’t turn out the way we intend.  Whole wheat pastry flour comes to the resuce. 

It provides fewer calories than white flour, and 4 grams of protein, compared to white flour’s 1 gram.  Because whole wheat pastry flour doesn’t contain as much protein, it doesn’t work as well for yeast breads, but it is perfect for any baked product using baking soda or baking powder as leaveners.  Cookies, muffins, waffles, quick breads all benefit from this simple, swap and because it has a fine texture and doesn’t have the same “wheat-y” flavor, it doesn’t alter the finished product.

•   Dairy swaps:

•                      Greek yogurt for sour cream: using plain greek yogurt instead of light sour cream gives you half the calories and twice the protein
•           Sharp cheddar for mild.  This is a simple swap, but one that I love because I’m all about increasing flavor and food satisfaction.  Using sharper cheeses means you get more flavor while using less.  For example, a casserole that calls for 1 cup of mild cheddar cheese would taste just as cheesy and less greasy with 2/3 cup sharp cheddar.
•                      Flavor your own yogurts: 6 oz lowfat, plain yogurt with 1 tbsp. jam (tip about reduced sugar pectins) provides 35 fewer calories and added sugars plus more protein, calcium, & B12 than 6 oz fruit-flavored lowfat yogurt

•   Bacon.  Yes, we should definitely address the topic of sausage, bacon, and other breakfast meats that some may consider more of a dietary liability than asset. 

Compare bacon, sausage and Canadian bacon (fat, calories & sodium).  Generally the best solution is go with thinner slices of either bacon or Canadian bacon instead of sausage.  Or for every slice you eat, you have a serving of fruit to keep things in balance.

The last two tips are more swaps of habits than of specific products, and in all honesty will add more to your health long term because it involves a healthy pattern.

•   Swap a processed snack food in your grocery cart for a produce snack food. 

This way you can keep your grocery bill the same, but improve your nutrition significantly.

•   5 minute post-shopping, pre-portion.  Planning 5-10 minutes at the end of your grocery shopping trip results in some of the best health benefits all week.

Make the healthy choices convenient so you actually end up eating them (produce, nuts, cereals) prepped and visible, while putting the sweets and once-in-a-while treats more out of the way (freezer is a great place to store things like chocolate, cookies, etc. since you really have to search it out, and wait for it to thaw, it makes the decision to eat it more conscious instead of mindless grazing).

Bite into a Healthy Lifestyle: Forest vs. Trees

You've all heard the saying about missing the forest for the trees right? Well, a couple years ago, we took the kids on a family vacation to northern California and one of the highlights was the awe-inspiring redwood forests.  Not surprisingly, there were some pretty gigantic trees.  But that was just part of the charm of area.  The truly amazing aspect that sets these amazing forests apart is not a single or a few spectacular trees, but hundreds and thousands of them.  To walk among such an ancient forest was not to focus on merely one tree, but the ambience created by an entire forest.

So my take on this year's National Nutrition Month theme of Bite into a Healthy Lifestyle is just that - it is a whole, healthy lifestyle, not one single tree (or in some extreme cases one leaf).  In this country especially we have become very adept and conditioned to view food as a package of specific nutrients (trees) and often focus solely on one nutrient labeling it as good or bad, or therapeutic (leaf).  Instead, let's embrace and focus on the whole lifestyle (forest).

Take a step back and instead of agonizing over a nutrition label or the current count on your phone's diet tracker, instead ask yourself if you ate real food (not packaged, food-like products) that you enjoyed and savored.  This month I'll be posting more tips on how to see the forest instead of the trees when it comes to healthy nutrition and healthy lifestyle.

Kids and Veggies Don't Have to be Mutually Exclusive Terms

93% of kids don't get the recommended amount of daily fruits and veggies. Come to think of it, adults fare slightly better. So how does one encourage your kid to eat more vegetables without resorting to sneaking them into foods. I'm not a fan of deceptive feeding techniques because trust is a fragile thing and you don't want to risk damaging the trust your child has in you or in food. So here are a few up-front tips to up veggie intake at your house:

1. Take your kids shopping. Let them explore around the produce department and choose a vegetable to try that week. 
   
2. Involve kids in cooking and preparation.  Whether it is just using the can opener, heating something in the microwave or garnishing with a little parsley, getting kids involved in the preparation makes them fell more invested in food and more willing to try it.  
   
3. Be aware or preferences.  Just because they don't like string beans from a can doesn't mean they won't like them raw of freshly steamed.  Often food preferences are more about texture than flavor, so try raw, cooked and even frozen versions.  (My daughter loves peas, but only frozen or fresh in the pod).
   
4. Be creative.  A cookie cutter makes turnips magical.  A simple "N" cut transforms broccoli stalk into entrancing eats.  Even offering your child a whole carrot - top and all - is more fun than the usual baby-carrots.  
   
5. Be the example.  Nothing replaces the influences of your own parental example.  How many veggies do you eat every day?  How many do you serve at dinner each night?  When they consistently see you with half of your plate filled with veggies, that counts much more than any other gimmick.  

Sweets for the Sweet: Choose Wisely

We are a country of sweet-tooth addicts.  Notice that I didn't say "sugar-addicts"?  There's much more to the story than just table sugar.  It's true that sugar is very prevalent in our current food supply of processed, packaged food-like substances.  However, sweeteners of all kinds may be just as much to blame.  

The size and extent of the sweetener aisle in the grocery store says it all.

Artificial sweeteners may be more of a diet de-railer than other sweeteners since they trigger  the sweet-reward center of the brain more than natural sweeteners. Drinking diet may actually amp up your brain's sweet tooth and cause you to get caught up in the unhealthy loop of more and more craving. 

Is there any cure?  You bet!  We can all retrain our tastebuds.  After 2 weeks of cutting down the amount of sweet foods you eat you'll start to notice that you are more content with less sweetness.   A few months will turn that into a habit, and soon you'll lose the desire for overly sweet treats altogether.  

Case-in-point: my nephew could down soda, candy and other sweet things with the best of his teenage peers, but after spending 2 years in Ghana and consuming essentially no added sugars, he lost his taste for sweet.  Just prior to returning home, he was served pancakes with syrup and had a hard time choking it down because it was sickeningly sweet to him.  

Do we all need to remove sweeteners altogether from out diets?  No - which is good news since apart from moving to Africa or some other low-sugar country, it would be very difficult.  The take home message is this: Don't miss the forest for the trees.  The forest - or the big picture - is our out-of-control sweet tooth and the trees are the sweeteners.  Moderation, moderation, moderation.  

• Enjoy nature's dessert (fruit) more often
• Don't drink sweet 
• Enjoy sweet treats on an occasional basis.  

Beauty of a Brown Bag

I know, this is hardly high art, but I think it's beautiful nonetheless. Here's 5 reasons why I think so:

1. Simplicity. Mine had a pb&j, clementines, grapes, carrot sticks and snap peas. Ok, in the spirit of full disclosure I did include a little dark chocolate. 
2. Time. It takes about 5 minutes at most to pack a stellar sack lunch. You don't have to wait in line, wait for a server or any other time-wasting activity. You haveore time to enjoy your food in a leisurely fashion, allowing your body time to savor, digest and register fullness. 
3. Money. You can easily save $2,000 per year by packing a lunch instead of eating out. I don't know about you, but there's lots of ways I'd rather spend 2 grand than on extra sodium, calories and styrofoam containers. 
4. Balance. Assuming you don't stuff yor bag with chips, cookies, crackers and candy bars, your bound to end up with a more nutritionally balanced lunch than you would probably end up with from takeout. 
5. Freedom. Have bag will travel - literally. You are free to eat lunch anywhere. You're welcome to stray from the cafeteria, desk or drive-thru. In fact, think about all the relaxation and stress reduction that awaits you when you take that bag out in the fresh air of the outdoors. 

So there you have my top 5 reasons I think a crumpled up lunch bag on a park bench is a beautiful thing - that, and the fact that I got to brown-bag it with my daughter on the last field trip of her elementary school career. After drinking it in, I highly recommend packing a beautiful brown-bag lunch break. 

Healthy Food Relationships: Food & Emotion vs. Emotional Eating

Food at it's most basic level is fuel, but that one statement fails to capture all of the roles that food fills, and in my informed opinion, is designed to fill.  Food is culture and history and pleasure.  Right now you may be asking yourself, "wait a second, this is starting to sound a lot like emotional eating and that is a fate worse than death, right?"  Don't get your turnip greens in a twist just yet.  Most of us understand that there are dangers associated with emotional eating.  However, emotional eating is distinct and separate from evoking emotion with food. Let's differentiate between emotional eating and evoking emotion with food:

Emotional Eating:

With emotional eating, healthy coping skills are lacking and food is used as an emotional salve, emotional numbing agent, or even a substitute therapist. Often food is consumed in inappropriate quantities in a mindless matter - for example, after a particularly stressful and emotional day, plopping down on the couch and 30 minutes later noticing the pint of ice cream is empty and you still have to check the label to see just what flavor it was.  Food should not be used as a mindless method of drowning your sorrows or emotions.  Yes, that behavior is unhealthy and negative and ok, I'll just come right out and say it: bad!

Evoking Emotion with Food:

There’s nothing wrong with sharing a romantic dessert of heart-shaped, chocolate-dipped strawberries with a loved one.  Food that makes you smile and pay more attention to the eating experience is actually a healthful, connected way to eat.  This ties you to traditions, to memories of family and often strengthens your relationship with others as well as your own identity of self.  

Evoking emotions with food is a hallmark of good culinary culmination.  Chicken soup that is so hearty and soothing it transports you back in time to your grandma's kitchen, or eating a salad of heirloom tomatoes that have such vibrant flavor it takes you back to a warm August afternoon are just a few examples.  Food nourishes us in many ways, and nutritionally is just one.  Food also nourishes and sustains us in cultural, familial and historical ways.  There is a distinct difference between manipulating behavior with food restrictions or rewards and showing someone how much you care by preparing them a special meal.  So don't be afraid to communicate some emotion with food whether it be a love note cooked into a pancake, or passing on a favorite recipe to a friend. 

Keep in mind that our bodies are designed to absorb and utilize more vitamins and minerals from food that is appealing and appetizing to us.  So there is design connection in our physiology that links our emotional and nutritional health together. In fact, the more we accept this connection, the less we will be tempted to abuse food with unhealthy, disconnected, emotional eating.   

Couldn't say it better myself Louise!