Choosing a Pasta Sauce
by Shereen Jegtvig
Many of us enjoy the convenience of opening a can or jar of pasta sauce compared the hours it might take to make a pasta sauce from scratch. And some of us like to take that jar of pasta sauce and add a few extra fresh ingredients to boost the flavor (and if you add tomatoes, spinach, garlic, or mushrooms, you can boost the nutrition and health benefits too).
There are a lot of different brands and varieties of pasta sauces, some made with tomatoes and some white sauces. How do they stack up nutritionally? In general, pasta sauce made from tomatoes are lower in fat and calories than the white cream sauces, and the red sauces are rich in a phytonutrient called lycopene that is good for your heart and for men’s prostates. This is one of those times when a processed food is better than raw – you’ll get more lycopene from tomato sauce than you will from raw fresh tomatoes. Of course there’s a drawback; cooking the tomatoes cuts out part of the vitamin C. Read more
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Omega-3 Fatty Acids: What Role Do They Play?
by Shereen Jegtvig
Fats can be confusing. Some are bad for you, if you eat too much of them, like the saturated fats and trans fats, but some are good for you, like the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. But you even have to be a little careful with the good fats, because all fats are high in calories. One gram of fat has nine calories, almost twice as much as the same amount of carbohydrate or protein. You need fats, but not a lot of them and some, like the omega-3 fats are essential – your body can’t make them for you – so you need to get them from your diet.
Omega-3 fats are necessary for good health – they’ll help protect your heart, slow down macular degeneration (the leading cause of blindness in the elderly), and reduce inflammation in your body. Your brain and nervous system need omega-3 fats for normal function, and in fact, it’s crucial for pregnant women to get lots of omega-3 fats during the third trimester of pregnancy as well as through the first three months of nursing, so that the baby’s brain and eyes develop normally. Read more
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Cheese: Healthy Lifestyle or Fattening Indulgence?
by Shereen Jegtvig
Cheese is one of those foods (like chocolate) that’s good for you in the right amount, but too much probably isn’t so good. Cheese is a dairy product so it’s a good source of protein and calcium, but it’s usually high in saturated fat and sodium. Too much saturated fat may lead to cardiovascular disease and inflammation, plus all that fat adds a lot of calories (cheese is a very energy dense food). Then there’s the sodium.
People who have high blood pressure have probably been told to cut back on their sodium intake to around 1500 milligrams every day. Those of us without high blood pressure should probably eat no more than 2400 milligrams sodium daily. The obvious source of sodium is the table salt you add to recipes or to foods at the table, but that only accounts for about 11% of your daily sodium content.
In order to get the health benefits of cheese, you need to do three things. Read more
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Quick Meals – Be Picky with the Pasta Dinners
by Shereen Jegtvig
I know that a big reason so many people have developed poor eating habits is the perception of not having enough time to prepare healthier meals. A lot of you are just too busy to spend a couple of hours cooking dinner. So that means you’re more likely to rely on convenience foods, like those boxed pasta dinners. They’re easy – just boil the pasta and add the sauce – and lots of people love the taste. But here’s the problem, they’re loaded with sodium and food additives.
Eating too much sodium is connected to having high blood pressure, which increases your risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and stroke. Highly processed foods are usually high in sodium because they contain lots of additives and flavor enhancers that contain sodium. Those boxed pasta dinners might be some of the worst for high sodium content. Take a look at the huge amounts of sodium per 100 grams of food product with these pasta dinners: Read more
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Food Tip: Let’s Talk Turkey
by Sherren Jegtvig
Turkey is big at holiday time, especially Thanksgiving, but turkey can be a terrific part of your healthy diet any time of the year. Turkey meat is a good source of protein, magnesium and selenium. And, unless you drown it in gravy, turkey is low in calories and saturated fat, so it can be a very heart-healthy food.
Unless you’re cooking for a large group, or you love leftovers, you might find that a whole turkey is just a bit too much. In that case, you can buy just the turkey breast or if you’re in a money-saving mood, just the big turkey drumsticks, and roast them in the oven. You can also buy frozen turkey cutlets or go to the deli and order a pound or two of sliced turkey for sandwiches. If you’re feeling real adventurous, you might try some turkey ham, turkey bacon or ground turkey for hamburgers. Sounds healthy, doesn’t it? Read more
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Sodium and Salt – How Much is Too Much?
by Shereen Jegtvig
Sodium is a dietary mineral that in the right amount is essential for your health. It’s called an electrolyte mineral, which along with potassium and chloride, helps to keep the fluids balanced in your body. Sodium also aids in muscle contractions and is necessary for nerve impulses. Too little sodium could result in low blood pressure and eating too much sodium may contribute to high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
Most likely, you already get enough sodium from the foods in your diet, and actually it’s very likely that you get too much sodium. Experts calculate that healthy people should keep to no more than 2400 milligrams sodium every day, and people with high blood pressure should drop their sodium intake to less than 1500 milligrams. Sodium is naturally found in salt, which is half sodium and half chloride, milk, cheese, beets and celery and some tap water. Read more
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Drink Vegetable Juice & Lose Weight
According to a study (which was partly funded by Campbell Soup Company) from foodnavigator , low sodium vegetable juice can help overweight people with metabolic syndrome increase weight loss.
“What this study shows is that by taking simple, proactive steps such as drinking low sodium vegetable juice while watching calorie intake, people can begin to control their weight, which helps reduce the risk of long-term health implications,” said study author John Foreyt, PhD. Read more
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One Brand, But Several Differences in Varieties of Pita Pocket Bread
by Shereen Jegtvig
Pita pockets are great for making healthy sandwiches or for dipping into hummus or olive oil, both of which contain healthy fats. Of course, you’ll want to keep it healthy by choosing the best pita pocket breads. Let’s check them out on our FoodEssentials database. We find seven pita pocket breads, all of which come from one manufacturer, Kangaroo. It will be interesting to how the much the varieties differ with their ingredients and nutritional benefit. Read more
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What to Look For When Choosing Vegetable Juice
By Shereen Jegtvig for foodessentials
Most people need to eat more vegetables every day. We need five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables, but most people get less than five. Vegetables are particularly good for you because they’re rich in nutrients and generally low in calories, so they nourish your body and help you to feel full longer. Read more
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Cheese – good for you or bad for you? – What to look for:
It seems that even cheese can be quite a controversial food or possibly it may be that there is some kind of controversy with most food. Some people feel that cheese is an evil cholesterol spewing, article-clogging, fat accumulating pariah, responsible for heart disease throughout the US. Others claim that the benefits of this miracle food include reduced risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Read more
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