Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
by Shereen Jegtvig
Mmmm…I love the flavors used in Mexican cooking, especially chiles and cilantro. And what about refried beans? They taste great and they’re good for you, right? Well, yes, beans are are great source of protein and fiber, however traditional refried beans are made with lard so they’re high in saturated fats and calories. But, no worries, you can find fat-free refried beans (or substitute black beans – just rinse and heat).
When you look for canned Mexican foods, or taco and fajita kits, be sure to choose the products with the least saturated fats and sodium. You can choose whole wheat tortillas instead of fried corn tortillas and make your own tortilla chips by baking them in the oven, or choosing baked chips instead of fried.
As with most canned or prepared foods, be sure to look over the ingredients list to hunt for MSG, unwanted preservatives and artificial colors. Here’s a look at Mexican – ready made meals & refried beans arranged by presence of flavor enhancers: Read more
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Choosing Canned Meat
by Shereen Jegtvig
Chances are, most of the meat you buy at the grocery store is either fresh or frozen, but there are several types of meat available in cans. The most popular canned meats include fish like tuna and salmon, plus you can also buy shrimp, clam and crab meats in cans. It’s a convenient way to buy and use seafood.
Beyond seafoods, you’ll find chicken and other meat products in cans too, such as deviled ham, the often maligned Spam, corned beef and perhaps your grocery store carries a canned pate or two. These products are good for sandwiches, as additions to salads and as ingredients in recipes. And they last for a long time in your kitchen cabinets.
Some of the canned meat products will combine the meat with potatoes, like corned beef and hash, or other ingredients. These foods are easy to use, just heat and serve, but are they good for you? The main problem with canned meats, as with most canned goods, is the high amounts of sodium from salt and additives. Look for low-sodium varieties whenever possible. Some cured meats sold in canned form also contain sodium nitrite, which has been linked to increased rates of some types of cancer. Read more
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The Goodness of Grapes
by Shereen Jegtvig
According to the Journal of Nutrition, eating grapes and grape products may have some powerful health benefits. Grapes might help to prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes and tooth decay, plus eating grapes may help to keep your immune system strong, which is important as we head into flu season.
Grapes contain phytochemicals, which are natural chemical compounds that your body uses to protect your health, including the well-known resveratrol. You’ll get the health benefits from grapes when you eat them fresh (or frozen as a sweet treat) or if you drink the juice. Grape juice is naturally sweet, but that doesn’t mean some food manufacturers won’t water it down and add high fructose corn syrup. Be sure to read the labels to buy 100% juice. Read more
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Avoiding the Freshman Fifteen: How To Keep The Pounds Off
by Shereen Jegtvig
We’re still in the first weeks of fall semester at most colleges, which is an interesting, exciting and possibly bewildering time for a lot of college freshmen. For most, it’s their first home away from home, there’s classes, homework, new social groups – it’s really a stressful time of adjustment. And along that stress and excitement can be accompanied by the dreaded “freshman fifteen” which is the extra pounds that young people often gain when they go off to college for the first time.
Why does it happen? Maybe there are more choices and less supervision. Without Mom or Dad to provide the healthy snacks, college kids may succumb to the temptation of a junk food diet. Now it’s easy to keep junk foods in the dorm room as snacks. Or maybe some students use comfort foods to cope with the added stress of school and living away from home for the first time. Read more
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Snacking on the Rise
by Shereen Jegtvig
According to a new report, Americans are snacking more often and that trend is going to increase. As it is, snacking isn’t good or bad, really, it depends on how you do it. Eating snacks can be bad if you choose foods high in calories with lots of sugar and unhealthy fats, or snacking can be good if you choose healthy snacks that can boost your daily nutritional intake. Of course, even with healthy snacking you’ll have to watch your calories if you need to maintain or lose weight. Adding a 250 calorie snack every day will also add about one extra pound of fat to your hips or belly every two weeks. If you snack, be sure to know how much you are eating and reduce the same number of calories from one of your regular meals.
Some people prefer to eat six or seven snacks every day instead of three full meals. Some people believe this practice helps keep blood sugar level because you avoid the natural rise of blood sugar due to eating carbohydrates and fall of blood sugar due to the increased production of insulin. Other people just feel it is easier to control their calorie intake if they just nibble snack size meals all day. The key is to not let small snacks turn into full meals, which will lead to too many calories and weight gain. Read more
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Food Tip – Herbs and Spices
by Shereen Jegtvig
Using herbs and spices is a great way to add zest and flavor to your meals without adding sodium, fat or calories. Herbs and spices may have added health benefits too. You can use fresh herbs (or even grow your own herbs in a garden or in a flower pot on your kitchen window). Stock your kitchen with dried herbs and spices too – such as cinnamon, garlic powder, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, basil and any other favorites you may have.
If you’re not sure how to use herbs and spices in your cooking, you can choose seasoning blends that already contain the seasonings in the right amounts. You can find blends for Italian seasoning, Southwest cooking, Asian combinations and curry powder. One of the ingredients in curry powder is curcumin, which may help to keep your arteries clear and keep your heart healthy. Read more
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Food Tip – Choosing Canned Fruit
by Shereen Jegtvig
Fruits are sweet and delicious – and so good for you. Most fresh fruits offer lots of vitamins such as folate and vitamin C and minerals such as potassium. Unfortunately, fresh fruits aren’t always that convenient – they perish quickly – so many people prefer the ease of canned fruits.
There are a couple of things to think about when you’re buying cans of fruit. More nutrients are lost in canning as compared to freezing, especially vitamin C and folate, so you lose a bit of the nutrition. Canned fruits often contain added sweeteners, like high fructose corn syrup, and flavor enhancers and preservatives. These usually aren’t artificial enhancers and preservatives – usually pectins and vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Read more
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Flavored Coffee – Flavored The Natural Way!
by Shereen Jegtvig
I enjoy coffee. Actually, I can’t imagine a morning without a cup of coffee and breakfast. And coffee is simple. It’s just coffee – no artificial anything and no preservatives. Of course you don’t want to go overboard on the caffeine that can leave you feeling jittery all day, but a cup or two of coffee each day is fine for most of us.
But sometimes it’s fun to go for something with a little different – like a flavored coffee. There are a couple of easy ways to do that at home; just pour some flavored substance into your coffee, or use a flavored instant coffee powder. You can choose a variety of flavors – some low fat and some sugar free, but what are the nutritional consequences of choosing these flavored coffees?
Most of the time you’re going to get a dose of artificial flavors, although some brands use natural flavorings and you’re adding fat, sugar or artificial sweeteners to your diet too. There’s usually plenty of preservatives and other additives that you may not want and even a bit of trans fat lurks in many brands as partially hydrogenated oils (don’t let the label fool you – they can claim zero trans fat as long as there is less than half gram per serving). Read more
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What are BHA and BHT?
by Shereen Jegtvig
Food manufacturers add things to their products to keep them from going bad before we eat them. When you look on the package for the ingredients list, you might find BHA and BHT listed there. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are preservatives that keep fats from going rancid.
Both BHA and BHT protect fats from oxidation damage caused when the fats in the food product are exposed to oxygen. Actually, they work in a similar way as vitamin E (although that similar action doesn’t mean BHA and BHT are good for you). BHA and BHT are often added to potato flakes, dry breakfast cereals, enriched rice, and foods containing animal fats and shortening. Read more
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Reading Food Labels for Better Nutrition
by Shereen Jegtvig
An interesting food label survey conducted by an ingredient manufacturer Tate & Lyle shows 60% of consumers use food labels when they shop. The researchers also looked at the different ways consumers use food labels, like perusing the food label of a new product to decide if it’s worth trying or figuring out the validity packaging claims by gleaning more information from the Nutrient Facts label. A lot of people also use food labels to see if the food they’re looking at fits into their particular diet.
If you’re a regular reader of FoodEssentials.com, and you use our FoodEssentials tool, you already know how important food labels are, but let me give you a few tips to keep in mind when you are shopping: Read more
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