How to Eat Healthy & Enjoy This Thanksgiving

• Don’t starve yourself all day so you can eat more at dinner
• Eat breakfast and lunch prior to dinner
• Won’t get over hungry and won’t over eat at dinner
• More than one Thanksgiving in the same day?
• Put a bite of each item on your plate and don’t stuff yourself at one dinner
• Remember, you still have another dinner so if you’re still hungry don’t go back for more
• Keep the general recommendation of half your plate vegetables, a quarter from carbohydrates (preferably whole grain) and the other quarter lean meat
• Remember to take the skin off of your turkey
• Take smaller portions of items so you can still try everything you want to taste
• Remember,  it is not a buffet
• Try to take smaller portions or limit your intake of the fattier options.
• These include anything creamy, buttery, and cheesy
• When trying to pick between apple pie or pumpkin pie, choose pumpkin
• Apple pie has a greater amount of crust and it tends to be flakier, which means more fat and more calories
•  If you’re cooking this Thanksgiving you can make your meal a little more healthy with these helpful substitutions:

Recipe Calls For	Substitution
1 whole egg	2 egg whites
sour cream	low fat plain yogurt or low fat sour cream
milk	skim or 1%
ice cream	frozen yogurt, frozen yogurt with live cultures even better!
heavy cream (not for whipping)	1:1 ratio of flour whisked into non fat milk (e.g. 1 cup flour + 1 cup of non fat milk)
whipped cream	chilled evaporated skim milk or other low fat whipped products like Nutriwhip
cheese	low-fat cheese
butter	light butter
cream of mushroom	fat-free cream of mushroom

What to do with all of that left over Halloween candy??

Donate it

Nursing homes, doctor's offices, and women’s shelters - everyone loves candy, and spreading the sweetness can be a great way to avoid gorging on it all yourself.

Send it to overseas troops

Chocolate may not be the best idea, but other candy is appreciated as a part of care packages for the troops (US only, not sure about other nations' deployments).

·         Operation shoebox:  http://www.operationshoebox.com/

·         Operation Care and Comfort: www.operationcareandcomfort.org/occshoplist/index.html

Art & Crafts

Make an Advent Calendar, Piñata, or Holiday Centerpiece

• http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/christmas-tree-decorations#slide_9
• http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/christmas-tree-decorations#slide_29

Make Halloween wreath for next year or for Christmas or Valentine’s Day

• www.craftbits.com/project/candy-wreath
• http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/12/10/how-to-make-a-candy-wreath/
• http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/holiday-wreaths#slide_17

Candy garlands or ornaments for the Christmas tree

Mosaics

Candy necklaces

Decorate the holiday gingerbread house

Christmas cards and gift wrapping decoration

Sugars: Our Eating Habits and Our Children

It’s no surprise to today’s society that obesity and being overweight is a current health issue that the majority of us are plagued with.  This excess weight is generally accompanied by several other health issues and an enormous expense.  This expense is seen in several different lights, the expense we are putting on our bodies, the extra expense we may pay for medical insurance or care, the extra money that comes out of our pockets for weight loss gimmicks and perhaps even a decreased salary. 

It is every parents dream for their child to have a better life than they had and knowing what we know about obesity and its effects I doubt any parent wishes their child to be overweight or obese; however children are seeing a huge increase in obesity rates.  From 1973-1974 there was a 5.6% increase in obesity’s prevalence among children, but in 2008-2009 there was a 30.8% increase.  This is an enormous increase and an even bigger health concern.  Children are seeing chronic health problems that typically only adults experiences such as diabetes type 2, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and several others.  In a recent study it was discovered that roughly 40% of our children (ages 2-18 years) are composed of so called “empty calories.”  These empty calories are referring to foods or drinks that provide calories but no other nutritive value meaning that our bodies do not get anything beneficial from them. 

How can we make changes so our children don’t have to experience the same health issues we are experiencing and at an earlier age?  It starts early and takes some investment.  This investment isn’t monetary and is perhaps the best gift you can give your child.  A healthy start!  Studies show that what mom eats when she is pregnant affects their child’s health.  High sugary foods predispose the child to have a taste for the same once he or she grows up.  Exposures during breast feeding also affect the child’s food preferences.  Once the child is eating on their own, starting at early infancy, it is imperative that their first exposures be composed of healthy foods and the empty calorie foods and high sugar foods not be introduced until later.  These exposures can take several tries ranging from 5 to 14 times before the child knows whether the food is one they like or dislike.  A recent study found that, “lifelong food preferences and eating patterns develop in infancy and childhood so limiting excessive exposure to sugar-sweetened beverages should potentially be considered during this critical time period.”  It is possible to do!  It just takes some effort, but its effort that is well worth it!

Source: “How Sweet It Is: Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption, Obesity, and Cardiovascular Risk in Childhood.”  Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Oct. 2010.  pp1456-1459. 

Picture: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://socialpsychologyeye.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/childhood-obesity-by-joe-hu.jpg&imgrefurl=http://socialpsychologyeye.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/help-our-overweight-children/&usg=__vM7a_hYG0rgNOs8d6mkzkLYuqpE=&h=338&w=500&sz=92&hl=en&start=0&sig2=uMtllCTIl75Ycb1k3jkiyQ&zoom=1&tbnid=zfZwWPgb2T-diM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=148&ei=7M63TLTpAYG4sQOE6OyoCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dobesity%2Band%2Bchildren%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1257%26bih%3D528%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=205&vpy=105&dur=140&hovh=184&hovw=273&tx=122&ty=107&oei=2c63TKuGHpLUtQPO8ZjrCA&esq=3&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

Energy Drinks

               Energy drinks are considered to be beverages that contain caffeine as well as other ingredients like taurine, guarana, and B vitamins. The term energy drink was coined by the beverage industry, and despite the common place term the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) do not recognize it.   

Literature is limited on the effects of energy drinks and it is not yet known if the reported effects such as improved mental and physical performance, driving ability when tired, and decreased mental fatigue during long periods of concentration. It is not yet known if these are due to the caffeine in the energy drinks or the combination of caffeine and other additives in energy drinks.

A recent study determined that if the average adult consumes less than or equal to 400mg of caffeine a day no adverse effects are shown. However it is easy to go over that amount considering that in an 8 fluid oz serving of coffee ranges from 134-240mg, tea ranges from 48-175mg, and soda ranges from 22-46mg. Most people drink more than one 8 fluid oz. serving of either one of these and then add an energy drink in later in the day and another 72 -150mg of caffeine is also added. However that number is also for one serving. Many energy drink cans contain 2-3 servings, which raises the mg of caffeine to about 294mg per can. Start your morning off with a can of monster or full throttle and later in the day you have some soda with your lunch and perhaps even dinner and you’re already well over the 400mg of caffeine without even adding any coffee or tea to your day. At risk groups, which are women of reproductive age and children are recommended to limit their consumption to less than 300mg and children to less than 2.5mg of caffeine per kg of body weight. Adolescents have been recommended to consume less than 100mg per day due to associated elevated blood pressure. Another thing to keep in mind when paying attention to caffeine content are the extra additives in the energy drinks. These additives are there to enhance the effects of caffeine and some like guarana contain caffeine (1g guarana = 40mg caffeine). The adverse effects of consuming more than 400mg of caffeine in a day, “include nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness, increased urination, abnormal heart rythms (arrhythmia), decreased bone levels, and stomach upset” (Heneman 1). 

Caffeine is considered an ergogenic aid and is known to increase endurance and has been banned by the International Olympic Committee. Research has shown that consumption of caffeine before heavy exercise is safe, however the effects of consuming caffeine along with the other additives in energy drinks before heavy exercise is not yet known and is not recommended at any age. 

Resources
Bakker, Anthony J. & Berg, Helen M.  (2002). "Effect of Taurine on Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Function and
     force in Skinned Fast-twitch Skeletal Muscle Fibres of the Rat."  Journal of Physiology. 10: 1113.