Posts filed under ‘Health and Wellness’
On a Lighter Note – Meal Planning On the Lighter Side
From the Diet Friendly Collection at emealsforyou.com
Great Grilled Chicken
Watching your weight, taking better care of your body or just simply being careful of your diet; we have the great tasting recipes to help you succeed in reaching your goal. Good for you, balanced recipes for a healthier lifestyle. The secret to success is to maintain your nutritional balance throughout the day. Three meals and two snacks evenly spaced will accomplish this. Our affiliation with registered Dietitian Lisa M. Ronco, MS RD CDN, along with our Diet Friendly 4- week plan will help you get to your health goal. Would you like an entire weekly plan to control your weight and your life? Our Careful and Carefree weekly Meal Planner, complete with shopping list; scaled down but not out Meal Plans will help you get the desired results.
Here is a sample of one day’s plan for a new you at emealsforyou.com.
Day 1 Breakfast – Spanish Omelet
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 1 |
| Category: | Diet Friendly |
| Meal: | Week 1 (Careful and Carefree MealPlans) |
| 1 | medium | egg |
| 2 | medium | egg, whites |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
| 0.5 | spritz | PAM |
| 2 | medium | mushrooms, sliced |
| 1 | Tb | onions, chopped |
| 1 | Tb | peppers, jalapenos |
| 1 | small | tomatoes, plum |
| 1 | oz | ham, shaved |
| 0.5 | whole | grapefruit |
Spray pan with Pam, sauté onion, peppers and mushrooms until tender, dice tomato and add to pan along with the ham. Cook for 2 minutes, remove all to a bowl. Beat eggs and egg whites, add salt and pepper. Heat pan, pour egg mixture into pan. Push the egg from the side of the pan until it begins to set. Add mushroom mixture into half the pan, cook until done. Slide onto a plate and finish by folding the other half over the mixture, Cut grapefruit in half and plate along with eggs.
Each serving has 145 calories, 5.2g fat, 11.5g carbs, 1.8g fiber, 21g protein.
Day 1 AM Snack – Apple
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 1 |
| Category: | Diet Friendly |
| Meal: | Week 1 (Careful and Carefree MealPlans) |
| 1 | medium | apple |
Each serving has 93 calories, .5g fat,21.6g carbs, 3.8g fiber and .3g protein
Day 1 Lunch – Chicken Caesar Salad
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 1 |
| Category: | Diet Friendly |
| Meal: | Week 1 (Careful and Carefree MealPlans) |
| 0.25 | head | lettuce, Romaine |
| 0.5 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 0.5 | Tb | lemon, juice of |
| 0.5 | cloves | garlic, minced |
| 0.125 | cup | cheese, Romano, grated |
| 2 | oz | chicken, deli sliced |
| 0.5 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
In a large bowl place oil, lemon juice and garlic, press garlic into bowl with a wooden spoon to distribute. Whisk ingredients together. Tear (don’t cut) lettuce into small pieces, put in bowl on top of dressing, cut chicken into strips and place on lettuce. When you are ready to serve toss salad and add romano and toss again.
Each serving has 273 calories, 16.5g fat, 3.4g carbs, 1g fiber, 27.7g protein.
Day 1 PM Snack – Goldfish Crisps
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 1 |
| Category: | Diet Friendly |
| Meal: | Week 1 (Careful and Carefree MealPlans) |
| 25 | each | Goldfish Crisp |
Each serving has 110 calories, 7.2g fat, 16.5g carbs, .7g fiber, 2.9g protein.
Day 1 Dinner – Great Grilled Chicken
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 1 |
| Category: | Diet Friendly |
| Meal: | Week 1 (Careful and Carefree MealPlans) |
| 4 | oz | chicken breasts, boneless, skinless |
| 1 | oz | soy sauce, low sodium |
| 1 | oz | soda, lemon-lime sugar free |
| 1 | Tb | oil, canola |
| 0.125 | tsp | garlic, minced |
| 1 | small | potatoes, baked |
| 0.5 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 1 | medium | tomatoes, fresh |
| 0.5 | tsp | lemon, juice of |
| 0.5 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Mix oil, soy sauce, garlic, and soda in large Zip-lock plastic bag. Put chicken breasts in marinade and marinate for at least 3 hours. Remove from marinade and grill over medium heat for 10-15 minutes per side. Chicken is done when juices run clear.
Quarter tomato, drizzle lemon juice over top and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with baked potato with butter.
Each serving has 366 calories,11g fat, 27.1g carbs, 3g fiber, 39.6g protein.
See the full 4-Week Diet Friendly Collection at emealsforyou.com.
Exciting News!!!
We are pleased to announce our new additions to our website: www.emealsforyou.com. We now have great recipes and meal plans designed for Sodium Reduced, Gluten Free and Diabetic Healthy needs. Our Sodium Reduced offers everything from easy entrées to recipes for making your own condiments. In the Gluten Free category we offer meal plans and recipes that the whole family will eat, even great homemade pasta. No more making one meal for you and an entire other meal for the rest of the family. Our newest category is Diabetic Healthy; meals that are good for you, portion controlled and low in sodium.
Not only do we provide great recipes but our powerful software makes it easy to create meal plans based on the number of people you are feeding. Simply pick the number and we do the math. Then let us create a shopping list so that you can whip right through your grocery; giving you more time to spend with your family.
With over 500 recipes and meal plans, www.emealsforyou.com provides you with the ideal tool to eat healthier, control your grocery costs and take the headache out of the “What’s for dinner?” conundrum.
Use Sponsoring Identifier EMEALS-53 and get $6 off the $36 full-year membership
On Having a Healthy Halloween
A short reminder from Lisa Ronco MS, RD, CDN.
Halloween is a festive night and everyone should enjoy the festivities. Sweets abound as “treats”. The key word here is moderation. First pick your “poison”; if you try to avoid your favorite candy, chances are you will end up eating EVERYTHING but your favorite. Second, treat your choice of sweets just like you would birthday cake – you don’t eat birthday cake everyday. Utilize a healthy way to incorporate the treat into the day allowing it to fit your daily balanced caloric intake.
Note: Lisa Ronco MS, RD, CDN writes occasions blogs for us and provides customized, individual care for those who wish a more dedicated program. (see Lisa M. Ronco)
See How Easily You Can Prevent Cancer and Diabetes with Maple Syrup – A Guest Post
Are you looking for a natural solution to reduce the risk of diabetes and slow down the growth of cancer cells? Your search is probably over because recent studies have shown that maple syrup holds the key to these problems.
US researchers have found that maple syrup has the ability to substantially decrease the risk of diabetes. The syrup also showed great potential in slowing down the growth of cancerous cells. Maple syrup has thirteen active antioxidant substances. These antioxidants were previously unknown but were discovered only recently.
Because of these antioxidants, researchers have firmed up that maple syrup has a great potential in fighting cancer growth, diabetes, and infections.
Food for Diabetic Sufferers
Maple syrup contains increased levels of abscisic acid and phytohormone. These substances can effectively defend your body against diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The acid has a unique role in controlling diabetes.
It releases insulin through the pancreatic cells and promotes enhanced sensitivity of fat cells to insulin. Because of these unique actions, maple syrup can control diabetes. The results of the studies were presented to the American Chemical Society in San Francisco. These results were carefully reviewed by other experts in the field.
The Anti Cancer Potential of Maple Syrup
Quebec researchers, on the other hand, conducted a study to probe the impact of maple syrup on cancer cell growth. The results of this study were published in the Journal of Medicinal Food. According to the researchers, your favorite maple syrup can significantly slow down the growth of cancerous cells.
It has been found that the syrup is effective in inhibiting the growth of brain, prostate, and lung cancer. However, the efficacy of the syrup on breast cancer growth was less significant.
Your Tasty Alternative to Fight Cancer and Diabetes
Maple syrup can serve as your tasty alternative in fighting cancer and diabetes. There are many anti-cancer foods today like blueberries, tomatoes, broccoli, and carrots. However, recent studies have shown that maple syrup is more effective against cancer compared to other anti cancer foods.
Laboratory testing results also show that the syrup is more potent compared to the maple sap. It is also ideal to use the pure dark syrup rather than the lighter syrup.
Dark syrup has high color oxidation. This is the reason why darker maple syrup should be preferred. So if you want a better alternative to fight cancer and diabetes, then your favorite maple syrup is a good option.
Reference: Journal of medicinal food. 01/02/2010; ISSN: 1557-7600, OI: 10.1089/jmf.2009.0029
About the Author – Sandy W. Harris writes for the diabetic snack list blog,her personal hobby website focused on healthy recipe ideas to prevent, cure and manage diabetes.
Diabetes and Diet
by Lisa Ronco MS, RD, CDN
Diabetes is on the rise in the US. Whether you have “Type 1″ or Insulin dependent or “”Type 2″ non-insulin dependent, a healthy diet is critical for controlling diabetes.
A few basic rules to remember:
Exercise: Helps in weight control and stress reduction not to mention the cardiovascular and physical benefits.
Glucose monitoring: Frequent checking of blood glucose can help you keep diabetes under control.
Nutrition: To keep blood glucose or sugar stable, it is better to eat several small meals per day instead of sporadically grabbing “something” on the go. Ideally eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with a small snack in between each with a p.m. snack before bed. Whether you have diabetes or not; eating several small meals per day can help you consume the recommended servings of all food groups.
One of the easiest ways to eat “right” with diabetes and keep blood sugar well controlled is to follow the exchange system, which many diabetics do. Others may prefer to do carbohydrate counting. Whichever method you prefer, the outcome is basically a well balanced diet throughout the day. I prefer the exchange system for its ease of use.
As we know blood sugar increases more when we eat carbohydrates or “carbs.” Carbs are found in dairy products (lactose), fruits (fructose) and grains and starchy vegetables. Each of these foods has about the same amount of carbs …12grams /serving and is thus “exchangeable.” This doesn’t mean eat only fruit or only dairy products, instead choose food from each group.
So a typical day would look like this:
Sample Menu:
Breakfast:
1 fruit …………………………..1/2 c orange juice 2 starch/bread ………………..1 slice whole wheat toast, 3/4 cup Cornflakes 1 meat …………………………1 boiled egg 1 fat …………………………….1 teaspoon butter 1 milk …………………………..1 cup skim milkSnack:
1 fruit …………………………….1sma ll appleLunch:
1 fruit …………………………….1/2 banana 2 starch/bread …………………..2 slices rye bread 2 meat ……………………………1/2 cup tuna 1 fat ……………………………….1 teaspoon mayo 2 vegetable ………………………1 large tomato, 1/2 cup vegetable juiceSnack:
1 milk ……………………………..6 oz. Non-fat yogurtDinner:
1 fruit ………………………………1 1/4 cup strawberries 2 starch/bread ……………………1 small baked potato, 1 slice whole wheat bread 3 meat …………………………….3 ounces roast beef 1 fat ………………………………..1 teaspoon butter 1 vegetable ……………………….1/2 cup broccoliSnack:
1 meat ……………………………..1 slice low fat cheese 2 starch/bread …………………….3 whole grain crackersKeep in mind this is just a template for a “typical” day. The beauty of using the exchanges comes in handy for those special occasions such as a birthday. For example you want to have a slice of birthday cake at dinner; so one way to incorporate the cake is to “use” some exchanges for the cake. During the day possibly use the breakfast milk in exchange for the cake. As long as you use all the exchanges during the day, you will keep your blood sugar consistent. Use more than allowed; your blood sugar goes to high and by not using enough exchanges your blood sugar drops too low.
Lisa Ronco MS, RD, CDN
Is there life after the Doctor says lower your salt intake?
(www.emealsforyou.com Recipes/Sodium Reduced/Chicken Piccata)
This post is in conjunction with Lisa’s St. Paddy’s Day post below, “Don’t Pass the Salt”. Most people I know are constantly trying to lose weight or watch their weight. A good percentage of these have been told by their doctors to lower their sodium intake. The majority of these think their food enjoyment days are over. Well I am here to call “bs” on this. As Lisa says, moderation and walking away from processed food where possible is key to a healthier life style.
You can keep ALL the flavor in the foods you eat simply by cooking from scratch and adding the spices and herbs you prefer to your meals. At www.emealsforyou.com we are currently posting a category of Sodium Reduced recipes; these are our great recipes redone with an eye to reducing sodium and not flavor. Most of these can be prepared in less then 30 minutes and are “good” enough to feed to the entire family; no need to prepare food for dad and another meal for the kids. We have recipes for everything from Southwest Chicken to Peach Melba Sorbet.
I will make you a deal. If you find a recipe in one of our other 23 recipe categories, with hundreds of recipes, and would like us to make it reduced sodium just send us an email. I truly believe once you get used to cooking from scratch and not from cans you will enjoy the food more and more importantly improve your health. Don’t pass the salt but do pass the flavor.
Don’t Pass the Salt
March 16, 2008 by Lisa Ronco, MS RD CDN
Don’t Pass the Salt Excessive salt can make your blood vessels and body tissues swell and fill with fluid. This puts an extra strain on your heart and can increase blood pressure.
We Americans consume more salt than we should… an average level of 3,300 milligrams (mg) per day (about 1.5 teaspoons). The current recommendation is to consume less than 2,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium a day. That equals 6 grams (about 1 teaspoon) of table salt a day. The 6 grams includes all salt and sodium consumed; including that used in cooking and at the table.
Adopting a low sodium diet for hypertension can reduce blood pressure. Combining a low sodium diet for hypertension with what’s known as the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) can reduce blood pressure by an amount similar to that seen with medication. Studies show that people consuming diets of 1,500 mg of sodium had even better blood pressure-lowering benefits. A low sodium diet for hypertension also can keep blood pressure from rising and help blood pressure medicines work more effectively.
Most sodium is consumed in the form of sodium chloride, which is table salt. Other forms of sodium are also found in food; so watch out for salt AND sodium. Kosher salt and sea salt are just that… salt. Don’t forget to include them when adding up your sodium intake for the day. Processed foods account for most of the sodium and salt consumed.
Tips to remember:
-Check food labels… sodium is in some foods you might not expect; such as soy sauce and some antacids.
-Buy fresh, plain frozen or canned “no salt added” vegetables.
-Use fresh poultry, fish and lean meat rather than canned or processed.
-Use fresh herbs and spices and salt-free seasoning blends in cooking and at the table.
-Choose “convenience” foods that are lower in sodium.
-Cut back on frozen dinners, pizzas, packaged mixes, canned soups or broths and salad dressings… these often have a lot of sodium.
- Cook rice, pasta and hot cereals without salt.
-Cut back on instant or flavored rice, pasta and cereal mixes, which usually have added salt.
-Rinse canned foods such as tuna to remove some of the sodium.
- When available buy low-sodium, reduced-sodium or no-salt added versions of foods.
-Choose ready-to-eat breakfast cereals that are low in sodium.
Following a low sodium diet is actually quite easy as long as you are mindful with the salt shaker and Read the Labels!
Too much hearty, comfort food?
February 27, 2008 by Lisa Ronco, MS RD CDN
During the winter months, when it is cold outside, we just want to be warm and snuggly in our bodies and in our tummies. Thus the term comfort food or hearty foods come into our weekly if not daily vocabulary. It is not uncommon for folks to “put on a little winter weight” or just continue to add to the “holiday weight” during the cold and dark months of winter.
The key to enjoying your favorite hearty comfort foods like rich thick stews, soups and chili is not to avoid them, but rather to eat them just as you would any “rich or nutrient dense foods” such as cheese or birthday cake in moderation. Not only does moderation mean portion size but also frequency. It wouldn’t make sense to eat cheesecake every night would it? No, but if you monitored your portion size and frequency, you could easily enjoy a small slice of cake once a week.
Please keep in mind, this means you are active during the day, and not racking up hours on the couch. So go ahead and enjoy the foods of winter, but just like icy roads: proceed with caution!
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