whole grains = good for the soul

Last Monday, I did a whole grain spiel for the high school kiddies. We talked about how to identify if a product is a whole grain (there's a lot of misleading food stuffs out there!), good sources of fiber, what fiber does in our bodies, what happens to a whole grain when it is refined, among other things, like how whole grains keep you fuller for longer, which helps you maintain a healthy weight.

Oh, and for the record, saying "poop" in front of high schoolers definately works if you need to get their attention.

And then we made homemade granola bars to celebrate whole grain goodness! My friend and fellow MPHer, Mita, and I came up with this recipe during our food service rotation at Dexter School System. We tested it out on Dexter High's finest guinea pigs...erm, I mean students...and we got rave reviews from them! The students on Monday also confirmed to the deliciousness of this granola bar, so I'd say that this recipe is a winner. The great part about these granola bars is that you can mix and match ingredients to make a different recipe every time! Some other delicious additions include:

Dried cranberries
Walnuts
Almonds
Diced dried apricots
White chocolate chips
Carob chips
Almond extract (instead of vanilla)

These granola bars are great for a quick and easy breakfast as you're racing out the door. They're a scrumptious pseudo-energy bar, as well. They also can be dipped into nutritious things like yogurt, Greek yogurt, or cottage cheese. Top one with fruit! Zap it in the microwave! (This will make it warm and cookie-like). Use your imagination!

Chocolate-y Raisin Granola Bars

3 cups oatmeal

½ cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

½ cup raisins, chopped
½ cup chocolate chips, chopped

2 tsp. cinnamon

¾ tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

½ cup canola oil

½ cup applesauce

2 tsp. vanilla extract

½ cup honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, raisins, chocolate chips, cinnamon, and salt.

Make a well in the center, and pour in the egg, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and honey. Mix well.

Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut. DEVOUR.

we interrupt this program for an important message

Well, not a super important message but more like a disclaimer. I have gradually been entering RD-Exam-Studying-Hibernation-Mode, which means two things:

1. Cramming things into my brain

2. Fewer Miss Nutritionist posts

As for number 2, I apologize, but I very much so want to pass this exam on the first try. Nothing like a 100% pass rate on the first try from UM SPH's past dietetics classes to get your boo-tay in gear for studying.

operation: carrot-apple juice

I want to understanding juicing, I really do. Especially since I've heard so many health claims out there about having more energy, eating clean, etc. etc. when you juice it up. Funny how we don't hear about these claims during graduate school, huh? Or maybe we did and I missed that day. Regardless, many nutrition sites out there boast the benefits of juicing and that it is the thing to do to get your bod in prime health.


The claims state this: Cooking destroys food's nutrients and enzymes that our body would otherwise use for bodily functions. Therefore, juicing allows us to absorb all of the nutrients that these fruits and vegetables have to offer in their raw form. Juicing is easier on your body, specifically the digestive system, since drinking your extra large salad per se will elicit fewer gastrointestinal symptoms than eating it by the forkful. Juicing makes it easier to get in your fruit and vegetable servings each day.


Doesn't this mean that digestion would be easier due to less fiber in the resultant juice? I've never actually seen a juicer, but I would be curious to find out where all of the fiber is going - either sitting helplessly among the crevices of the juicer machine or in the juicee, AKA person drinking the juice. I would like to think (and hope) that when juicing, the ENTIRE fruit or vegetable is sucked through the juicer (without seeds and stem, of course) with the peel in order to get that fiber in the juice. And if there is fiber left behind in the nooks and crannies of the juicer, hopefully they are dumped into the glass of juice for consumption.


However, as I Google-image search "juicing", I pull up various juicy pictures, some including more fibrous-looking beverages than others:

That green one on the right looks like it has fiber in it, the others...not so much.

However, I do suppose that if you are going to drink juice, making your own fresh juice without added sweeteners is the way to go. Not to mention the fact that juicing allows for an endless array of juicy combinations. Spinach, apples, bananas, oranges, carrots, wheat grass, celery, cucumbers, fennel, lettuce, mangoes, and the list goes on and on. This means that you are getting the nutrients from these fruits and vegetables (in a novel way) that you might not necessarily be inclined to consume if you were to eat them whole.

But. What about the fiber?

Fiber or not, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Already knowing that I like the combination of carrots and apples together, I cut up an apple, chopped up a carrot, splashed in some almond milk, and threw it all in the blender, since I do not own a juicer. Then I would be sure to get my fiber, too! Disclaimer: Yes, yesss, this very fact might mean that I had an inaccurate first time "juicing" experience without the correct equipment, but it was the best I could do.

Before...

...and after!

I was hopeful, yet skeptical. "It doesn't look so bad!", I thought as I peered into my glass.

"And you like the color orange," I reminded myself.

However, perhaps my mistake was staring at my fibrous drink, which was happy to see me, and chock full of vitamins A, C, and approximately 10% calcium, for a few seconds too long.

Because it soon began to look like this:

Please cue the music before proceeding to following image...

GULP.

And I don't mean gulping down my carrot-apple juice. Maybe adding a little Winnie the Pooh action would help?

Nope. Not delicious.


Sigh. It would've been so much easier to eat my carrots and chomp through an apple.


However, I want to try a decent juice from a juicer, I really do! So, fellow readers, if you know of a delicious juice concoction for a first time juicer, hit me up! I want to taste what all the rage is.

Photo creds: http://www.squidoo.com/juicing-recipes-for-stress-relief 

who, me cook? (part 2)

I have to say...after all that complaining about cooking, hem and hawing, bippity boppity boo, my pasta creation came out DELICIOUS the other night. However, I did swap the gorgonzola cheese for garlic and herb goat cheese from Trader Joe's, and oh my goodness, was it a party in our stomachs or what. I ended up putting a dollop of the goat cheese on top of the cooked pasta and mixing it in to create a sort of creamy brothy sauce. Also, whole wheat angel hair was not to be found in my house, so regular pasta had to do this time!  Here is the low-down so you can make this, too:

Olive Garlicky Pasta

Get it? I-love-garlicky-pasta? Hehehe...

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 (mine were 5.75 oz. dry wt per can) cans black olives, drained and roughly chopped

2 (15.5 oz.) cans butter beans, drained and rinsed

1 (10 oz.) bag spinach, rinsed

32 oz. low-sodium broth (I used chicken broth)

1 (1 lb.) box angel hair pasta

Goat cheese (I used Silver Goat Garlic & Herb)

Salt, pepper, and spices to taste

Set a large pot of salted water to boil on the stove.

In a large skillet (it is best to use one that is a tad deep, too, about 1-2 inches), heat olive oil and add garlic. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add olives and beans, and saute with a wooden spoon, until oil and garlic is uniformly incorporated among them. Add pepper and any other spices you chose. Basil would be delicious in this!

Add spinach to oil and garlic mixture. Depending on how large and deep your pan is, it may be helpful to add spinach in two separate additions. A lid placed on top of the pan will help the spinach to cook down more quickly. Once spinach is cooked, mix into the oil and garlic mixture until evenly incorporated.

At this point, hopefully the large pot of salted water is boiling. Add pasta to pot and cook according to directions on back of the container.

While pasta is cooking, add broth to the oil and garlic mixture. Let simmer.

When pasta is done, drain and place in serving bowl. Stir broth mixture into pasta. Devour. But not before you top with a dollop of goat cheese. Then devour.

Mix and match your favorite beans, add-ins, and cheeses to make it your own delicious dish! Since I have dreams of pasta with luscious chunks of gorgonzola mixed in, that is what I will be trying in this next.

Okay. And I haven't dreamt of gorgonzola pasta....yet.

who, me cook? (part 1)

Confession: I am not the world's greatest cook. Not that I'm horrible at it or anything, cooking is just not my forte. It's just so...meh, I don't know, wouldn't you just rather eat a brownie and be done with it??

Okay, that wasn't a very nutritionist-like thing to say. But everything in moderation, right? That means brownies, too.

Anyway, we're talking about cooking-woes because that is what's on my mind. I have to come up with a creative dinner to serve my friends tonight. The phrase "my friends" is very important because as some of you might know, cooking for yourself and cooking for other people are two very, very different things.

When I used to cook for myself when I lived away at school, I'd basically throw anything into cooked noodles that sounded relatively appetizing. And nine times out of ten, it would come out delicious! Like this creation I concocted long ago that I lovingly called Garlic Pasta Dump:

 

Looks delicious, huh? And it was! The catch?

There's no sauce on this pasta.

Not because I don't like sauce, oh no. It was because I was too lazy to make sauce, or didn't even have it on hand. But I didn't mind because I thought it was delicious just the same, and I was also extremely hungry. See what I mean? Cooking for only yourself equals diminished cooking expectations, at least for some people, and this is definitely the case for me. Cook for others, and the tables turn a tad. In the case of this pasta, I just wouldn't have felt right serving sauce-less pasta to friends or fam.

The moral of the story: College has made me a lazy cook. However, we are still at square one and I still don't have a dinner planned for tonight!  Let's procrastinate a bit more, however, and talk about the rest of this dinner. These potluck dinners occur between myself and two of my good friends from undergrad, and we rotate which part of the meal we make - main dish, side, or dessert. Me, I try to get the dessert portion of the meal as many times as possible since as a nutritionist, that is what I happen to "cook" best. My two friends are actually fabulous cooks - Raluca dominates all things pasta, spices, and garlic; Andy is King of the Meats, especially pork chops and fresh caught perch. And me? I should have tempeh, worldly spices, and only the freshest vegetables growing out of my ears, right? Being a Master of Public Health Nutrition, right?

Hah!

So what do I do when in this predicament? Maybe there are some of you out there who also find cooking real-food a minor inconvenience to daily living. My tips for you: Try to fit 3-4 food groups into a meal, never underestimate the power of canned and frozen vegetables (they are as nutrient dense as fresh, if not more!), and garlic, salt, and pepper alone can do wonders for flavoring up a meal. And be creative!  For tonight, I'm thinking:

Whole wheat angel hair (good source o' fiber)

Chicken broth (low sodium!)

Butter beans (heck yes, plant-source protein)

Spinach (vitamin A! iron!)

Olives (monounsaturated fats)

Garlic (to fend off vampires)
 Gorgonzola cheese (minor calcium contribution, major deliciousness contribution)

Salt n' peppa

Basil

I'll let you know how it goes. Pictures à la my new camera to come in the near future!



P.S. Meet my new camera, Cornelius (yes, I name my electronics)...

 ...who takes pictures like THIS!

He's pretty swell.

peanut butter & berry sandwich (and what it means to be an RD)

Goodness gracious, if my stats are correct, this blog is getting a decent number of views! Just wanted to say a big ol' THANK YOU for those who are reading, commenting, and are (hopefully) being entertained by this blog! And as always, feel free to pass on the nutrition-love to your friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, dog, dog's girlfriend, and what have you.

I do, however, want to explain the differences between a Registered Dietitian and a nutritionist, since there is often much discussion about this. A Registered Dietitian (RD) is someone who:

1) Earns at least a bachelor's degree in a program like nutrition or dietetics

2) Completes a dietetic internship (AKA supervised dietetic practice in the real-world)

3) Passes the registration examination

4) Stays up to date on current nutrition information by maintaining continuing education requirements 

If you would like more details on what the RDs in your life have gone through or how to become an RD yourself, click here.

Nutritionists are basically....everyone else. And yes, anyone can call themselves a nutritionist. This is because the term is not regulated like the all-powerful RD title, allowing RDs greater access to certain job opportunities, such as in hospitals and clinics. It's also important to note that RD certification is not right for everyone. There are many qualified nutritionists out there in research, teaching, and management positions. It all depends on your career and personal goals of what you want to accomplish in the field. On the flip side, there are also many unqualified nutritionists out there who have taken one or two classes on the matter and have given themselves the nutritionist-title. Moral of the story? Do your research on who you're getting your information from, especially from the internet.

Personally, I have completed my degree in dietetics and dietetic internship, and I am currently preparing to take my registration examination. Hopefully, I will be able to join the RD ranks within the next month. This is why I am calling myself a nutritionist for now since the RD term is legally regulated and, really, we don't want to mess with the law. However, I do realize that the URL for this site contains the word "dietitian" (www.missdietitian.blogspot.com), and this is only because Blogger allows certain words to be used (many are already taken by other blogs) when blog URLs are created. I wanted to reserve "Miss Dietitian" for my using, and will change my blog's header when I pass my exam.

That's all my legal-jabber for today; let's talk about FOOD! Or more like, let's talk about one of the most favorite lunches for kids and those of us who are kids at heart.

Yes, my friends, IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!

However, today I gave my PB&J a make-over. I had some frozen strawberries in my freezer and thought, what if...I defrosted those berries and spread them in my sandwich instead of using jelly?!

It worked.

Not only does it help rack up your fruit tally for the day, but this new method also has less sugar and can make for a more natural peanut butter sandwich. And the best part is, it tastes delicious! Try it with other berries, like blackberries and raspberries for a twist.


A few more words on peanut butter. Per 2 tablespoon serving, it's a great source of unsaturated fat, the "good fat", which helps us stay fuller, longer. It also keeps the satiety centers in our brain happy, AKA where our appetite is controlled in our brain (at the hypothalamus). This means that we feel satisfied after we eat foods with higher amounts of fat, which can be good in moderation to maintain a healthy weight.


Key word: moderation. Let me reiterate that the serving size for peanut butter is 2 tablespoons. And let me tell you that it is so, so easy to pile on the peanut butter without even realizing it! You are talking to a first class peanut butter lover right here, so I have definitely done it before, too. As long as you keep your portion size in check, peanut butter can be a part of a healthy diet.


However, not all peanut butters are created equally. I love Trader Joe's natural peanut butter, especially because of the price - usually under $2! It's a natural peanut butter, which means that there will be that layer of oil that needs to be mixed in before schmearing it on. This layer of oil is the natural, unsaturated fat that is in peanuts and occurs because natural peanut butters are free of hydrogenated oils, or the fats that manufacturers put in products to increase their shelf life (Jif, anyone?) Natural peanut butters also need to be kept in your refrigerator!


I recommend this site - Peanut Butter Lovers - if you would like more peanut butter recipes, information, and love in your life.


Oh, and while we're on the recipe-train, here's another version of the Summertime Oatmeal recipe we talked about a few days ago:

Are you ready for your close-up?

This guy has blackberries and walnuts. Yum!

Have a fabulous Wednesday, everyone! Go out and enjoy some sunshine! It's 83 degrees in the Mitten today!

how sweet it is: beverages

So today I had the opportunity to teach high schoolers about nutrition! The kids were awesome and it was a great time! I believe this is beginning to solidify the fact that I actually really enjoy talking in front of people (I never thought I would say that), especially teenagers! They have so much energy, great questions, hilarious questions, and are just a good time to be around.


What did we talk about today that might be of interest to y'all?


Sugar. Okay, and MyPlate, basic MyPlate guidelines, sneaking fruits and vegetables into your diet, eating out, and portion distortion. However, let's sidetrack a bit and let me explain this deal with sugar: I don't mean to talk about sugar all the time, but my educated guess is that we are discussing it frequently for this reason:

Lent.

Yes, my friends, you are talking to a nutritionist who has frequent love affairs with sugar and every Lent, I give up desserts. So I'm guessing that while dessert is not in my body, it's on my mind. At least subconsciously.

Anyways, before I go all USDA on you and demand that you make half your grains whole, I want to give you a little more sugar-low down. Today with the kids, we talked about sugar in sweetened beverages and we calculated how many teaspoons exactly were in certain drinks. Let's take a look:

My favorite has got to be the Vitamin Water. There's so many enhanced waters out there - Vitamin Water, Life Water, etc. etc. - that claim that their drink has electrolytes! B-vitamins! 10,000% percent daily value of vitamin C! Improves energy! Improves focus!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

You're wasting your money! Sure, these enhanced water drinks may taste good. Sure, they do tend to have less sugar than other sugary beverages. But the vitamins that these drinks boast about are what we call water-soluble vitamins.  These vitamins are not stored in the body, so it's important to replace them every day.  Water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C and B-complex vitamins, like thiamin (or vitamin B1), riboflavin (or vitamin B2), niacin, folate, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, biotin, and pantothenic acid. To get even more in the nitty gritty of it, these vitamins help with a slew of functions in our body, like maintaining metabolism, keeping the nervous system working properly, skin health, and red blood cell formation.

While these are all critical functions for good health, this is where the manufacturing companies get us. If we are in good health, it is very, very difficult (if not, impossible) to have toxic levels of water-soluble vitamins accumulate in our bodies due to the efficiency of our kidneys. When we consume water-soluble vitamins in excess, they go in...our pee. Meaning that this relationship is true in regards to consumption of enhanced waters in most situations:

'Tis true, my friends. So moral of the story is, think twice before you spend $2 on a Life Water. If you're drinking it because you a pop kind of guy or gal and are trying to make a healthier choice that has a little bit less sugar, then it's a good stepping-stone drink to reducing your sugar intake. But if you drink them day after day, that sugar will add up very quickly, as will your dollars!