Interested in Nutrition Advice? April 24, 2008

Nutrition Simply…Plans and Programs

By Anne Mahon, RD, LD, MSPH

__  Quick & Simple Nutrition  30 minutes:  Calculation of your calorie needs, handouts on what to eat from eat food group in order to get the nutrients you need while staying within your calorie budget  (This one can be done in groups as well, with additional time for questions and answers).

__ Nutrition for Your Lifestyle  60 minutes:  Calculation of your calorie/nutrient needs, review of your medical history if appropriate, information on amounts of food you need daily from each food group.  If desired, this can also include a review of a typical day’s intake and recommendations for changes.

__ Personalized Nutrition Coaching  This option is appropriate for people that desire to optimize their eating habits, whether it be for athletic competition, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, recovering from a heart attack, food allergies, or to lose weight.  The initial session includes everything in Nutrition for Your Lifestyle, but it also includes follow-up sessions every 1-4 weeks on reading labels, grocery shopping, dining out the healthy way, recipe alterations to maintain flavor while boosting nutrition, menu planning, as well as a review of and advice on the client’s eating patterns.  This can be by individuals as well as families, and can be beneficial where each member has different goals (teenage son wants to gain muscle, mom wants to lose weight, dad has high cholesterol, etc).

­__Meal Planning  30-60 minutes:  This can be done as a group workshop or as an individual initial or follow-up consult.  Meal planning is crucial for healthy eating, and can lower your food budget as well as your waistline.  Your lifestyle, budget, schedule, and taste preferences as well as nutritional needs will be used to develop a one-week menu; you will also receive handouts on the key elements of meal-planning.

__Quick & Easy Grocery Shopping  Think grocery shopping takes too much time?  Learn how to navigate your way through the store and get a week’s worth of nutritious food in 30 minutes or less!

__Kitchen Makeover  Eating healthy and tasty meals and snacks may seem like a challenge, but it’s much easier if your kitchen and pantry are arranged and stocked the right way.  Because the makeover is based on your personal nutrition goals, this option is not available alone, but only as a follow-up to Quick and Simple, Nutrition for your Lifestyle, or Personalized Coaching.

__ Cooking Made Simple 30-60 minutes:  Not sure where to start in cooking nutritious meals?  Join Anne for a cooking demonstration using healthy food preparation techniques.

For more information or to set up an appointment, please email nutritionsimply@gmail.com

 

Split It, Save It, Toss It April 2, 2008

Before I begin I have a confession to make:  I love chocolate.  I could eat chocolate every day, multiple times a day, and lots of it throughout the day.

It was my birthday recently, and of all the restaurants in Houston I decided to celebrate at The Chocolate Bar.  For those of you who have not had the good fortune to go there yet, it is truly a chocolate lover’s paradise with chocolate candies, ice cream, cake, and other chocolatey confections. 

OK, so why is a blog about nutrition including a post on a most un-nutritious eating establishment?  I won’t even attempt to justify it by claiming dark chocolate is chock-full of healthy antioxidants (even though it really is.)  I admit my excursion to chocolate heaven because I firmly believe that every diet has to have a little flex room in order to keep nutrition simple.  And the guideline for splurging can be summed up in one word:  moderation.  And at The Chocolate Bar where portions are anything but moderate, I got to practice my split/save/toss rule of thumb. 

For starters, we Split the chocolate cake and cookies, and then Saved some of the cake for dessert the next day  The ice cream wouldn’t have made it back home so we had to Toss some of it.  It worked out well – we all were able to sample a variety of the delicious goodies, some of us enjoyed it again the next day, and nobody had to go home feeling sick from eating too much chocolate.  And as much as I hate to admit it, it is possible to eat too much chocolate, even for a chocolate lover like me.  It is hard to discipline myself to eat just a little of such good food, but it is well worth the effort because it allows me to enjoy outings like this, and then to savor both the memories and the flavors of those foods again the next day. 

kitchen staples April 2, 2008

We’ve all been there– the day is just a little more hectic than we had planned, just one (or two or three) more activities squeezed in, and no time to go grocery shopping.  So what’s for dinner?  Here’s what I try to keep on hand in order to have a variety of potential meals on those crazy days.

Meat:  frozen chicken breasts, frozen ground lean beef or turkey, frozen fish

Vegetables:  frozen stirfry mix, frozen broccoli, and frozen mixed veggies

Cans and jars:  Spaghetti sauce, cream of celery or cream of chicken soup (lowfat/lowsalt), peanut butter

Dry goods:  quick-cooking brown rice, high-protein spaghetti

Other:  Chicken boullion, parmesan cheese, teriyaki or low-sodium soy sauce, shredded cheese, lemon pepper

so on that busy day which may turn into a busy week, I can have spaghetti with meatballs, spaghetti with meat sauce, chicken parmesan (all with mixed veggies or broccoli on the side) , lemon pepper fish/chicken with rice (mixed with boullion for extra flavor) and broccoli, or even chicken pot pie (with the cream soups and mixed veggies) if there happens to be lowfat bisquick in the pantry.   And then of course, there’s peanut butter.  I like adding a small dollop to apples, bread, or even carrot sticks to give it a little more staying power.

It is possible to have a few meals always ready, even with a small pantry like mine.  It just takes some planning and a good system of keeping those favorite items always stocked.