Paint Your Plate Red for the Health-Protective Power of Tomato Products

Scientific evidence is pointing out that tomato products, a key ingredient in delicious cuisines around the
world, may help protect your health in a number of ways. Tomato products including canned tomatoes,
tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato soup, tomato juice, and ketchup are inexpensive, always available,
shelf-stable, and easy to use—making them the perfect ingredient to reach for when you’re on the quest for
a healthy meal to make in minutes.

Health Benefits Linked with Tomato Products

Tomato products are packed with important nutrients such as vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and the powerful
antioxidant, lycopene—all in a low-calorie, low-fat bundle. In fact, the lycopene found in processed tomato
products is even more available to your body compared with fresh tomatoes. Eating more tomato products—
the second most popular vegetable only to potatoes—is also an easy way to help you get closer to the
recommended nine servings of fruits and vegetables you should be eating every day to protect from
conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and obesity.

Researchers have found a number of health benefits linked with eating more tomato products, from helping
to protect against the sun’s damaging rays to promoting healthy bones. But the strongest proof for eating
more tomato products is linked to their ability to fend off heart disease and certain types of cancer, particularly
prostate cancer. The nutrients in tomatoes help put the brakes on free radical damage and inflammation,
which is at the root of many disease killers of our age such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Get Your Red On!

With so many reasons to enjoy more tomato products, start putting red into your diet every day. Here are a
few tips to get you started:

• Make a pot of soup each week featuring canned tomatoes or tomato juice as a base.
• Include canned, diced tomatoes in casseroles such as tamale pie or ratatouille.
• Serve baked tomatoes as a side dish by sprinkling canned tomatoes with herbs, bread crumbs, and olive oil before baking.

• Feature a pasta dish that includes tomato sauce (like lasagna or spaghetti) for dinner at least once a week.
• Enjoy Latin dishes that feature tomato sauce or salsa (like tacos or enchiladas) at least once per week.
• Try Indian tomato-based curries as an aromatic, flavorful meal choice.
• Fill your crock pot with canned tomatoes, dried beans, onions, and seasonings to create a healthy bean stew.
• Make home-made pizza starting with whole grain pizza crust, pizza sauce, and lots of veggies.
• Don’t miss out on the power of tomato-based condiments, from ketchup to salsa, to help up your tomato
• product intake.

This edition of SCANNERS was made possible through support from the Tomato Products Wellness Council.
© 2008 ADA. Reproduction of this fact sheet is permitted for educational purposes. Reproduction for sales purposes is not authorized.

Shaved Fall Vegetable Salad

Sparkling cider and cider vinegar amplify the apple flavor in this fresh seasonal salad.  If you wanted to add chicken or some goat cheese and toasted nuts I think it would complete the salad to be more like a meal.  I love fall veggies!  

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons  sparkling apple cider
• 1  (1-pound) butternut squash, trimmed and cut into (1-inch-thick) slices
• 1  (12-ounce) celery root, trimmed and cut into (1-inch-thick) slices
• 1  large Granny Smith apple (about 7 ounces), cored and cut into (1-inch-thick) slices
• 1  large carrot, peeled
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt, divided
• 2  tablespoons  cider vinegar
• 1/2  teaspoon  honey
• 6  tablespoons  grapeseed or canola oil
• 4  cups  trimmed arugula leaves
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Hold each squash slice by an end; shave into ribbons with a vegetable peeler to measure 4 1/2 cups. Repeat procedure with celery root, shaving to measure 1 1/2 cups. Repeat procedure with apple, shaving to measure 1 cup. Repeat procedure with carrot, shaving to measure 1/2 cup. Combine vegetable ribbons in a large bowl; add 1/4 teaspoon salt, tossing to combine.
2. Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, vinegar, cider, and honey, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add canola oil, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add vinegar mixture to squash mixture, tossing gently to coat. Let stand 30 minutes. Add arugula just before serving, tossing to combine. Sprinkle with pepper.

Nutritional Information

Calories:  155

Fat:  10.4g (sat 1.5g,mono 7.4g,poly 1.2g)

Protein:  1.6g

Carbohydrate:  15.9g

Fiber:  2.8g

Cholesterol:  0.0mg

Iron:  0.9mg

Sodium:  171mg

Calcium:  62mg

Adam Cooke, Adam Cooke, Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2009

Lose weight by reading? How to decode food nutrition labels

By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

Walking down the aisle can be nerve-wracking — especially when it's the grocery store aisle, says Bonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietitian in private practice in New York City.

Her weight-loss clients often tell her they wish she would go food shopping with them to help them sort through all of the choices.

Sometimes making food decisions "feels like it requires being a mathematician, dietitian and librarian," says Taub-Dix, author of the new book Read It Before You Eat It: How to Decode Food Labels and Make the Healthiest Choice Every Time.

She advises clients to study products' nutrition-facts panel, which is loaded with helpful information. Many shoppers try to follow that advice, up to a point. Consumers say they are most likely to read the calories, sodium, fat and sugar content on the panel, a recent poll found.

"People read the nutrition-facts panel more often when they are looking at a food product for the first time," says Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, a registered dietitian with the International Food Information Council Foundation, which sponsored the survey. "They use the panel to compare products more than they do to balance their overall daily diet."

She says some public health advocates are calling for changes to the panel to make it more user-friendly, including making the calorie information more prominent.

A study published recently in the Journal of the American Dietitic Associationfound that 61.6% of participants reported using the nutrition-facts panel and 47.2% read the serving size at least sometimes when deciding to purchase a food product.

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing package labels, "including whether the listing of calories should be bigger and more prominent," says FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey. The agency also is looking at whether the serving sizes listed on packages still fit today's eating habits.

In the meantime, the current panel is useful for those who want to eat a more healthful diet, Taub-Dix says.

"I don't think people realize how many food decisions we make a day, and how little time we put into making them," she says. "We often spend more time thinking about what we put on our body — shopping for clothes and shoes — than what we put in our body when we go food shopping."

So how do you read the current nutrition panel?

Taub-Dix explains what the different items on the panel mean:

Serving size/Calories

The information is based on one serving. Read this carefully because it can be deceiving, she says.

•A packaged muffin may contain 300 calories a serving, but if the serving size listed is 1/2 muffin, there are two servings per package and the actual muffin contains 600 calories.

Saturated fats and trans fats

These are often called "bad fats" because they raise cholesterol and increase a person's risk of developing heart disease.

Saturated fats come from animal products such as butter, cheese and fatty meats. Most trans fats come from partially hydrogenated fats, found in shortening and stick margarine.

The American Heart Association advises:

•Limit total fat intake to less than 25%-35% of your total calories each day.

•Limit saturated fats to less than 7% of total daily calories and trans fats to less than 1%.

•Get remaining fat from sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as nuts, fish and vegetable oils.

Cholesterol

"This word became more popular than disco in the '70s," Taub-Dix writes. "Everyone knew they should avoid it but they didn't know where it was hidden in the foods they were eating."

The American Heart Association advises:

•Limit cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams a day.

•If you have heart disease or your LDL (bad) cholesterol level is 100 or greater, limit your cholesterol intake to less than 200 milligrams a day.

Fiber

A food containing 5 grams or more of fiber per serving is considered to be high in fiber, Taub-Dix says.

Sodium

Many processed foods are loaded with it, she says. "We get more sodium from processed foods than from the salt shaker at the table."

U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines say:

•Most adults — including those with high blood pressure, African Americans, the middle-aged and the elderly — should consume no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day.

•Others should consume less than 2,300 milligrams, or less than a teaspoon.

% Daily value

This tells you how much of a certain nutrient you will get from eating one serving of the food, she says.

• If the label says 20% after the word calcium, that means you'll get 20% of the calcium you need for the day from one serving of that food.

•The "% daily value" is based on consuming an average diet of 2,000 calories a day, so if you eat fewer or more calories in a day, you need to adjust your thinking accordingly.

A great snack: Chocolate Milk

Ingredients:
8oz of Skim Milk
2 tsp of Ovaltine or other chocolate mix. (I like Ovaltine because it has vitamins and minerals)
Instructions:

Place milk in a glass, add Ovaltine and enjoy!
Studies have shown that milk can be an excellent recovery drink. It is an excellent source of high quality, highly absorbable protein, B vitamins and electrolytes. So it is the perfect storm of nutrients for recovery. Chocolate milk as opposed to plain milk adds a bit more sugar which after a hard workout can be very beneficial to replete glycogen stores.
Here is an article on chocolate milk as a recovery drink. Enjoy!

Milk does a body good, especially athletes  | ajc.com

Breakfast on the go

The morning can be the worst time for nutrition because we are typically pressed for time to get out of the house, fight traffic and get to work on time!  But breakfast is the most important meal of the day!   Many time we stop at the coffee shop or run through the drive through on the way to work to get the much needed breakfast that we need.  Here is an article on different healthy breakfasts on the go, maybe it will help you  to make some healthier choices if you have the option.

The Healthiest Fast Food Breakfasts

Next time you’re in a hurry, fuel up with these quick yet healthy fast food breakfast options. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. By: Karen Ansel, RD

• 
  

  Breakfast On-the-Go

• 
  

  Starbucks: Protein Plate

• 
  

  Subway: Western Egg White & Cheese Muffin Melt

• 
  

  Au Bon Pain: Large Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

• 
  

  Jamba Juice: 12-oz Mango Peach Topper™

• 
  

  McDonald’s: Scrambled Eggs + English Muffin

• 
  

  Jack in the Box: Breakfast Jack®

• 
  

  Burger King: 3-Piece French Toast Sticks

• 
  

  Einstein Bros: Pumpernickel Bagel with Smoked Salmon and Whipped Reduced Fat Garlic and Herb Cream Cheese

• 
  

  Dunkin’ Donuts: Egg White & Cheese Wake-Up Wrap

Entire Cooking Light Article:  http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/smart-choices/healthy-fast-food-breakfasts-00412000067619/page13.html

Pasta Fagioli Soup

This Italian soup derives its name—fagioli—and its high fiber content from kidney beans. Serve with crusty Italian bread and a Caesar salad for a quick weeknight supper.

Yield: 5 servings (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups soup and about 1 tablespoon asiago cheese)

Ingredients

• 12  ounces  Santa Fe chicken sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced (such as Amy's)
• 3  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2  cup  uncooked small seashell pasta
• 2  cups  coarsely chopped zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained
• 1  teaspoon  dried basil
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1  (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/3  cup  (about 1 1/2 ounces) shredded Asiago cheese

Preparation

Heat a large saucepan over high heat. Add sausage; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth and pasta; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes. Add zucchini and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 minutes. Stir in basil, oregano, and beans; cover and simmer for 3 minutes or until pasta and zucchini are tender. Sprinkle with cheese.

Nutritional Information

Calories:  319 (26% from fat)

Fat:  9.2g (sat 3.3g,mono 3.8g,poly 0.8g)

Protein:  21.9g

Carbohydrate:  39.7g

Fiber:  9.6g

Cholesterol:  56mg

Iron:  4.4mg

Sodium:  858mg

Calcium:  56mg

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2005

FOOD RETURN ON INVESTMENT

What is Food ROI?  It is the amount of value we receive from the foods we eat!  It is making sure we choose the items that give us the biggest return on our investment for the calories we consume.

When we are making decisions about what to eat, we need to look at three things in order to get the best ROI:

1) Is what I am eating going to give me long-term energy or cause a spike in my blood sugar followed by a crash in my energy?

**We want the foods we eat to stay with us so we are not hungry again quickly and that we do not want to experience highs and lows in our energy level.  So we need to stay away from sugary foods that causes the spike in blood sugar and then a crash.  For example, we are choosing a snack in the afternoon and we know it will be about 200 calories, we can spend the 200 calories on a candy bar and receive very little nutritional value unless the manufactures add vitamins or minerals to the candy bar or we can choose a low fat yogurt that contains naturally occurring vitamins, protein and is a good source of calcium to help our bones and our muscles.  So the return on the investment of the calories is much higher with the yogurt than the candy bar which may be an equal amount of calories consumed.**

2) Am I going to receive a balance of carbs, proteins and fats with what I am eating?

**When choosing foods, it is important to have an idea of the balance of carbs, proteins and fats that are contained in the food.  The more we expose ourselves to new and different foods the more we will learn about how to read labels and approximate nutritional values when eating out.  I use the following website to look up the values of foods, just so I have an idea of their nutritional values.  http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/   Check it out, it is pretty interesting!

For example, when choosing a carb to eat think about what other nutritional elements you are going to get from that carb.  If we choose whole grain carbs we get protein as well as fiber and low saturated fats.  Therefore, choosing a whole grain or wheat will give you a better ROI than choosing a processed or fat laden carb.  Thinking about what else we get from the food we eat besides the taste is an interesting exercise all by itself!**

3) Is what I am eating a good source of 'real' vitamins and minerals or are they processed or synthetic?

When we choose foods we want to make sure we are getting enough naturally occurring vitamins and minerals because our bodies are able to process and utilize naturally occurring vitamins and minerals more readily than those vitamins and minerals that are manufactured and/or added to foods.  This is why 'At least 5 fruits and vegetables per day' is recommended by the USDA, the AHA and many other health related organizations.  Vitamins and minerals aid in the digestion of foods, the contraction of muscles, the production of red and white blood cells and proper function of our heart and immune system.  It is critical to our well-being that we receive these vitamins and minerals from foods so that our body can easily process and utilize them for efficient function. For example, you are faced with eating Lance peanut butter crackers or an apple with natural peanut butter - the apple and PB is going to give you a greater ROI because of the vitamins, minerals and fiber it contains! **

Remember to think about Food ROI when making decisions!  It is not always about fat, protien and carbs, there are so many other elements we recieve from food!  Make sure your 'health bank' is full of good investments! 

Swiss Chard

There are a ton of veggies we pass by in the super market and never even consider buying mainly because we have never had them or have no idea how to cook them.  Swiss Chard is one of those power greens people are always talking about so I thought I would grab a recipe and share it.  I also found a little blurb describing Swiss Chard and its excellent nutrient content.  Enjoy!

Swiss Chard

Similar to spinach and beets with a flavor that is bitter, pungent and slightly salty, Swiss chard is truly one of the vegetable valedictorians with its exceptionally impressive list of health promoting nutrients. Although Swiss chard is available throughout the year, its season runs from June through August when it is at its best and in the greatest abundance at your local supermarket.

This chart graphically details the %DV that a serving of Swiss chard provides for each of the nutrients of which it is a good, very good, or excellent source according to our Food Rating System. Additional information about the amount of these nutrients provided by Swiss chard can be found in the Food Rating System Chart. A link that takes you to the In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Swiss chard, featuring information over 80 nutrients, can be found under the Food Rating System Chart.

• Health Benefits
• Description
• History
• How to Select and Store
• How to Enjoy
• Individual Concerns
• Nutritional Profile
• References

Reference:  http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=16

Sauteed Rainbow Swiss Chard

Recipe courtesy of Harvard University Dining Services

Serves 4

• 1 pound rainbow Swiss chard, washed in several changes of water and thoroughly dried, stems removed, and leaves chopped into 2-inch pieces (reserve the stems for another use)
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 teaspoons vegetable or canola oil
• Juice from half of a fresh lemon (optional)
• Salt (optional) and pepper to taste

In a sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat.

Smash the garlic clove with the side of a knife and add it to the pan. Sauté the garlic lightly in the oil and remove it from pan as soon as it starts to brown.

Add the chard pieces to the pan and sauté until just wilted, stirring frequently.

Remove the pan from the heat, add lemon juice, salt (optional), and pepper, to taste, and serve.

Calories: 40⁄ Protein: 2 g⁄ Carbohydrate: 4 g⁄ Fiber: 2 g⁄ Sodium: 220 mg
Saturated fat: 0.2 g⁄ Polyunsaturated fat: 0.8 g⁄ Monounsaturated fat: 1.4 g
Trans fat: 0 g⁄ Cholesterol: 0 mg

Ways to Shave Calories

From the ADA Times:


When it comes to healthy weight management, small steps add up. In fact, little changes in eating and activity level have a more positive impact on health than drastic ones. This is because you are more likely to stick with smaller changes over time. Extreme diets and intensive exercise regimens may work well at first, but they rarely last over the long term.
Healthy weight is all about balancing food intake with physical activity. Most of us could improve our energy balance by shaving just 100 calories a day off our usual intake. It’s not difficult:

• Lighten up your favorite coffee drink with non-fat milk and sugar-free syrup.
• Trim all fat from beef, pork and chicken. Remove the skin from poultry.
• Dish up slow-churned, reduced-calorie ice cream in place of regular.
• Enjoy raw vegetables with salsa or fat-free ranch dip instead of chips.

Small Changes Add Up

Here are more great ideas that will cut calories from your daily intake, possibly without your even noticing:

1. Downsize Your Dishes. Use smaller plates and bowls to help you eat less. We tend to fill up the dish we’re using and then eat it all. Our brains also think we are getting more when the same amount of food is placed in a smaller dish.
2. Savor Your Meals. Eating slowly helps you consume only what your body needs to feel satisfied. Eating too quickly, in less than 20 to 30 minutes, leads to overeating and feeling uncomfortably full afterwards.
3. Leave Some Food on Your Plate. This is especially important if you grew up in the “clean plate club.” By leaving even a few bites, you can focus more on your internal signals of satisfaction and less on eating food just because it is there.
4. Don’t Eat Out of a Bag or Box. When you eat out of a package, you are likely to keep eating until it’s all gone – no matter how many servings the package actually contains. Pour one serving into a small bowl.
5. Choose Your Glass Wisely. Here’s another place where our eyes play tricks on us. When glasses are short and wide, we tend to fill them with more fluid and to drink more. Use a slender glass for any beverage except water.
6. Rethink Your Drinks. High-calorie beverages like soft drinks, juice drinks, energy drinks, specialty coffees and alcohol add calories just like solid foods. Whenever possible, replace these drinks with plenty of water.