Tuesday, August 7, 2012

New Look on Eating Right

“Choose My Plate” – the new look to Eating Right
   Shivani Sharma R.D L.D C.L.T

On June 2nd 2011 First lady Michelle Obama along with the Agricultural secretary Tom Vilsack gave us all a new reminder on eating right. My plate is the new icon to remind us about how to eat a balanced and healthy meal. We are now saying good bye to food guide pyramid and welcoming My Plate method of eating.
                               Description: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPDE7TAyAeQXr8YL2ecgogwOrSjCO1ZCMa2OGaMrQJ8KWt1QHZKgDescription: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPDE7TAyAeQXr8YL2ecgogwOrSjCO1ZCMa2OGaMrQJ8KWt1QHZKgDescription: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPDE7TAyAeQXr8YL2ecgogwOrSjCO1ZCMa2OGaMrQJ8KWt1QHZKg

So what does this really mean to us? It’s colorful, simple, attractive and easy to follow.  This means making your meal balanced and including food from all different food groups.
First most important thing is the size of the plate. We are not talking about big hyderabadi biryani thali here that is covered to the top with rice. We are talking about a regular dinner plate, that will help us control the portion size of our meals.
What are the four sections? In simple words our food should be a combination of Grains, Protein Sources, Vegetables, Fruits and Milk.
Now let’s compare this plate to our Indian Thali. Do you think our South Indian Thali, Gujrati Thali or Hydrabadi Biryani Thali is somewhat equivalent to the new plate? I guess NOT.
Let’s see how we can make our same Indian vegetarian Thali a little Healthier –
Grains: Choose to use whole grains. That means choosing chapatti made from whole grain flour (atta). Using more oatmeal, brown rice, whole corn meal and cracked wheat will help you add more fiber and nutrition to your meals. Avoid using refined flour (maida), white rice, sooji  and sabutdana on a regular basis.
Vegetables: Make one-fourth portion of your plate full of vegetables and salad. Use more of green leafy vegetables like spinach, mustard, methi, lettuce, turnip greens and watercress. Other vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, okra, eggplant and kale can also be used. Use tomato, onion, ginger, garlic and peppers for palatability and for good digestion in all your preparations. Vegetables like potato, colacasia (arvi), corn, beans and peas are starchy vegetables but should be included with your vegetables. Key is to use vegetables of all different colors spread over the week so you get all the nutrients.
Fruits: Choose fruits over fruit juices. Eating fruits not only will provide more fiber, minerals and vitamins but also are rich sources of phytonutrients and antioxidants. Choosing seasonal fruits will also provide better nutrition. Fruits like watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon are good fruits to be included in summer.
Protein: Choose low fat sources of Protein. For vegetarians, lentils, beans and nuts are great sources of Protein. Moong sprouts, chand dal, chick peas (chole), kidney beans (rajma) and all other whole lentils like sabut moong, sabut urad, sabut moth and sabut masoor all are very high in protein and fiber. Sambhar and Rasam are also very good choices as they not only contain lentils but also have good amount of vegetables in them.  Beans and lentils contain complex carbohydrates or good carbs that will keep you full for a longer period of time. In ‘My Plate’ it would cover one fourth of the section or by measure we could say one cup cooked dal.
Milk: Choose low fat milk and milk products. Milk and milk products should be an essential part of the vegetarian diet. Milk provides important nutrients like calcium, magnesium and vitamin D that are extremely important for our bones. You can also add thin lassi or raita made from low-fat yogurt. Cucumber raita, mint raita or vegetable raita are also good options especially during summer time. Low fat greek yogurt can also be used to add more protein to the diet. People who are lactose intolerant can use lactaid, soymilk, ricemilk or almond milk.
My Plate also recommends avoiding foods like frozen meals, canned soup and bread that are high in sodium. Replacing sugary drinks with water is also an important aspect of a healthy meal plan.
These are just general guidelines. For accurate information on your nutritional needs specific to your health condition, it is important to contact a Registered Dietitian or go to www.rightfoodchoice.com.

Hydration 2.0

We are in the generation of growing technology, from 1.0 to version 10.0. But the hydration story has always been the same. H20 or water is still the same, no upgrades. 
But did we ever realize the importance of same old version of water.

Are you ready for summer! It’s very important for us to keep our bodies well hydrated. 

But for hydration we often end up drinking coffee, soft drinks or other drinks that are loaded with sugar. Sugar in soft drinks not only add extra calories, also give you cavities in your teeth.
‘WATER CONTAINS NO CALORIES’ can you imagine that!

Help you reduce weight? How? Did you know water is great appetite suppressant? It can keep you full and help you avoid eating junk food in between your meals.
Under normal conditions you lose a minimum of 8 cups of water a day through your skin, lungs, feces, and urine.
‘Go a month without food and you can survive. Go a few days without water and you may not make it.’

So how much do we really need. Based upon Dietary Reference Intakes adult male should take about 3.7 L/day and females should take about 2.7L/day. You can also calculate as 30ml of water per kg of actual body weight for an healthy adult. These value may differ if you have different health condition or if you are an athlete.

STRATEGIES TO BEAT THE SUMMER HEAT
  • Have a big jar or bottle filled up in the morning  and making a goal to finish it by the end of the day.
  • Have at least half a gallon bottle filled up and take it to your work.
  • Have a Water Break instead of a coffee break
  • Substitute your soft drinks for water.
  • Carry water everywhere you go.
  • Have a timer that beeps every few ours to remind you of drinking water
  • Make a habit of drinking at least two 8 oz glasses of water in the morning and two glasses of water before going to bed.
Other options to keep our bodies well hydrated:
Spicy Buttermilk: Low fat buttermilk with added spices is an amazing cool off option. Add some roasted cumin powder and salt and enjoy the cooling effect.
Lemonade: How about some freshly squeezed lemon with salt and pinch of mint and sugar in one glass of water
Ginger ale : Add grated ginger, lemon and 1 tsp of honey in one glass of cold water. 
Coconut water: Fresh coconut water is extremely refreshing and also provides ample amount of vitamins and mineral. It is also called as natural sports drink.
Watermelon juice : Loaded with vitamins and minerals, fresh watermelon juice with crushed ice is fabulous.
LOC water: Make your own Lemon, Orange and Cucumber water. Have a jar full of water and slices of lemon, orange and cucumber.
Chia Drink: Soak 2 tsp of chia seeds in a glass of water. Let it sit for 20-30 min. You will see a gel like formation in water . Just stir and drink ! 

Amazing chia seeds will  not only keep you cool but also have some great health benefits. Look for  my blog on Chia Seeds - coming up next!


Saturday, August 4, 2012

Vegetarian diet


Be Vegetarian, Enjoy Good Health! Well, this statement is only half true. You may be eating a Lacto-vegetarian diet or may be a vegan but if you are still consuming a diet that is high in fat & a sugar , it may not be as healthy as you think.

Like any other diet, to get adequate nutrition from vegetarian diets, it is very important to consume well-balanced & well planned meals. Scientific studies have shown that a well-planned vegetarian diet not only provide adequate nutrition for all ages including children, adolescent, pregnant & lactating women & elderly people but also have health benefits. Its very important to have a good balance of carbohydrates, fats and protein to get health benefits of vegetarian diet.

According to ADA’s position “appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.” 

According to USDA dietary guideline for American people 2005, “Vegetarians of all types can achieve recommended nutrient intakes through careful selection of foods.” However they do recommend that vegetarian people not consuming milk and milk products should pay special attention to protein, iron, vitamin B12, calcium and vitamin D intake.

Vegetarian diets being low in saturated fats, cholesterol and animal protein and high in fiber and antioxidants, have been associated to provide various health benefits. Research studies have shown that usually vegetarians have lower body mass index, and are at lower risk for developing chronic degenerative diseases like coronary artery disease, hypertension, type II diabetes, obesity, prostrate,  colon cancer, diverticular disease, renal disease, gall stones, rheumatoid arthiritis, renal disease and dementia.

Be vegetarian, keep your diet low in fat and sugar and enjoy good health ! 

Have a Healthy Day!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

GLOW - A Fulfilling Event

It was a very fulfilling day to be able to give back to the community today! The event ‘GLOW’ was a day of encouraging and pampering women from several homeless shelters in South Dallas. These women were recovering from alcohol and drug abuse, prostitution, physical and mental abuse, have been in jail or prison and are working to get their lives back together.


The highlight of the day was writing on an APPLE and COLOR MY PLATE QUIZ. Everyone who came was asked to write one good thing about themselves and their favorite healthy food. People got to thinking. Writing one good thing about themselves helped them change their attitude towards themselves and writing their favorite healthy food  helped them to  think how they could make a right food choice. I encouraged them to always remember what they wrote, so when  they go out for grocery shopping they could make a better choice.




CHOOSE MY PLATE QUIZ was a fun thing to do! They were shown the picture of new plate method of eating for three seconds and after that they were asked to color the paper plate and write the names of the food groups. Who so ever was closest got the ’10 SIMPLE STEPS' booklet from SCAN/ADA. People just loved it! In addition to that everyone got handouts on “CHOOSE MY PLATE” method of eating.



Look at the Sugar..

Another big hit was SUGAR IN MY DRINK.  Everyone was just amazed to see how much sugar is present in thick shakes that are available in different restaurants. Some of them were as high as 168 grams of sugar and about 1100 calories in one shake. People were amazed to see the amount of empty calories that they were taking and pledged not to take it anymore. I hope this activity will have a long lasting impact on their minds. I also emphasized on replacing these shakes with low fat milk and water.
Winner of Color My Plate Quiz
Another Winner of Color My Plate getting '10 Simple Steps'

Person who colored the best!
My Special thanks to people who organized the GLOW event, Dallas Dietetic Association for all the updates, American Dietetic Association, (SCAN) Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition and choosemyplate.gov.
With the time that we have we can choose to make right choices in life and make a difference, one person at a time.




Monday, June 13, 2011

“Choose My Plate” – the new look on Eating Right
   Shivani Sharma R.D L.D C.L.T

On June 2nd 2011 First lady Michelle Obama along with the Agricultural secretary Tom Vilsack gave us all a new reminder on eating right. My plate is the new icon to remind us about how to eat a balanced and healthy meal. We are now saying good bye to food guide pyramid and welcoming My Plate method of eating.

                                                                       
                                
So what does this really mean to us ? It’s colorful, simple, attractive and easy to follow.  This means making your meal balanced and including food from all different food groups.

First most important thing is the size of the plate. We are not talking about huge platter that is covered with rice to the top. We are talking about a regular dinner plate, that will help us control the portion size of our meals.

What are the four sections? In simple words our food should be a combination of Grains, Protein Sources, Vegetables, Fruits and Milk.


                                                         Not a Healthy Plate for sure....

Now let’s compare this plate to our Indian Thali. Do you think our South Indian Thali, Gujrati Thali or Hydrabadi Biryani Thali is somewhat equivalent to the new plate? I guess NOT.

Let’s see how we can make our same Indian vegetarian Thali a little Healthier –

Grains: Choose to use whole grains. That means choosing chapatti made from whole grain flour (atta). Using more oatmeal, brown rice, whole corn meal and cracked wheat will help you add more fiber and nutrition to your meals. Avoid using refined flour (maida), white rice, sooji  and sabutdana on a regular basis.
Vegetables: Make one-fourth portion of your plate full of vegetables and salad. Use more of green leafy vegetables like spinach, mustard, methi, lettuce, turnip greens and watercress. Other vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, okra, eggplant and kale can also be used. Use tomato, onion, ginger, garlic and peppers for palatability and for good digestion in all your preparations. Vegetables like potato, colacasia (arvi), corn, beans and peas are starchy vegetables but should be included with your vegetables. Key is to use vegetables of all different colors spread over the week so you get all the nutrients.
Fruits: Choose fruits over fruit juices. Eating fruits not only will provide more fiber, minerals and vitamins but also are rich sources of phytonutrients and antioxidants. Choosing seasonal fruits will also provide better nutrition. Fruits like watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon are good fruits to be included in summer.
Protein: Choose low fat sources of Protein. For vegetarians, lentils, beans and nuts are great sources of Protein. Moong sprouts, chand dal, chick peas (chole), kidney beans (rajma) and all other whole lentils like sabut moong, sabut urad, sabut moth and sabut masoor all are very high in protein and fiber. Sambhar and Rasam are also very good choices as they not only contain lentils but also have good amount of vegetables in them.  Beans and lentils contain complex carbohydrates or good carbs that will keep you full for a longer period of time. In ‘My Plate’ it would cover one fourth of the section or by measure we could say one cup cooked dal.
Milk: Choose low fat milk and milk products. Milk and milk products should be an essential part of the vegetarian diet. Milk provides important nutrients like calcium, magnesium and vitamin D that are extremely important for our bones. You can also add thin lassi or raita made from low-fat yogurt. Cucumber raita, mint raita or vegetable raita are also good options especially during summer time. Low fat greek yogurt can also be used to add more protein to the diet. People who are lactose intolerant can use lactaid, soymilk, ricemilk or almond milk.

My Plate also recommends avoiding foods like frozen meals, canned soup and bread that are high in sodium. Replacing sugary drinks with water is also an important aspect of a healthy meal plan.
These are just general guidelines. For accurate information on your nutritional needs specific to your health condition, it is important to contact a Registered Dietitian or go to www.rightfoodchoice.com.