Category: Healthy Eating Tips

Practical tips for improving your nutrition

What’s the optimal timing for meals and exercise?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Every week, there seems to be a new study or analysis on these questions, such as the one I reviewed in last week’s Nutrition Diva podcast, and others that I’ve tackled in countless other posts and podcasts over the years.

Having spent so much time reviewing all this evidence, I thought I’d share with you my typical eating/exercise schedule. Continue reading “What’s the optimal timing for meals and exercise?” >

How to Start a Healthy Lunch Club

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Bringing your own lunch to work can help you eat healthier and spend less money.  But with all the other demands on you, it can be really challenging to find the time and energy to plan and prepare healthy lunches every day. That’s why I love this new trend that’s been catching on in workplaces around the country: Healthy lunch clubs.

This article is also available as a podcast. Click to listen.

Coworkers take turn bringing in healthy lunches for each other. You get a healthy, home-cooked lunch every day but only need to plan and prepare lunch once every week or two. Instead of eating the same old yogurt and protein bar at your desk every day, participating in a lunch club brings some welcome variety to your lunch menus and a chance to connect socially.

And if you think you can’t afford to take an actual lunch break, studies have found that workers who step away from their desks for lunch are actually more productive than those who eat hunched in front of their computers.

It’s genius!

Six Tips for a Successful Lunch Club

If all that sounds like something you’d like to try, here are some tips for setting up a successful lunch club.

1.  Keep it small. The ideal size for a lunch club is 4-8 members. Although a bigger group means you’ll be on the hook to cook less often, it also means you’ll have to cook for a crowd. If you have 30 people interested, consider setting up several smaller groups.

2. Do some match-making. Lunch clubs can be a fun way to get out of your food rut and try new things. At the same time, your club will be more successful when members have compatible dietary styles and goals. If you have a vegan in the group, for example, everyone would need to be willing to stick to vegan lunch menus. If someone has Celiac disease, all the meals must be gluten-free or have a gluten-free option. Those who are trying to lose weight might find it easier to team up with others who are also restricting calories—but those following a strict low-carb approach and those doing Weight Watchers may want to set up separate clubs.

3. Talk through the details. Your club can set any rules it wants to, as long as everyone is on board.  You can set guidelines on how much members should spend on meals or how the schedule will be managed, or agree that all animal products will be organic, or that no raw garlic will be used, or that meals will include at least 2 servings of vegetables, or whatever other priorities the group agrees on. A group trying to support weight loss, for example, might stipulate that members select recipes that provide nutrition information, which can then be shared.  Some clubs make it a practice to share all the recipes—some even start Pinterest boards, Instagram feeds, or Facebook groups to share and archive photos and recipes for future inspiration. This is also a good time to figure out a back-up plan in case someone is unable to deliver lunch on their appointed day.  Because that will happen.

4.  Consider the logistics. Take into account the resources at your workplace and plan your menus accordingly. Is there enough refrigerator space to store the food until lunch? How will you heat it up? Where will the group eat? What will you serve the food on and with?  Some clubs make good use of slow-cookers or counter-top pressure cookers  to prepare hot food onsite but be sure to always follow safe food handling procedures. For example, it’s not safe to reheat cooked food in a slow cooker on the low setting because it takes the food too long to reach a safe temperature.

When it’s your turn to prepare lunch, do your best to serve up something that’s tasty, wholesome, and satisfying.

5.  It’s OK to keep it simple. When it’s your turn to prepare lunch, do your best to serve up something that’s tasty, wholesome, and satisfying—bonus points if it’s unusual and/or Instagram-worthy. But you needn’t feel pressured to spend hours on complicated recipes. A meal also doesn’t have to be full of expensive ingredients to be a winner.  If you’re someone who enjoys fancy cooking, there’s no reason to hide your light under a barrel—as long as everyone (including you) is clear that such above-and-beyond efforts are completely optional and do not mean that everyone else must reciprocate in kind.  Alternatively, you could form a lunch club with other more ambitious culinarians.

(Here’s a fantastic Pinterest board dedicated to Lunch Club inspiration.)

6.  Feed your family while you’re at it. Finally, why not get even more return on your effort by making enough to feed your family as well as your club members? Once you’ve found your recipe and made your shopping list, doubling the quantities is easy. Take half to work for your lunch club and put the other half in the fridge or freezer to enjoy with your family another night.

Originally published at QuickandDirtyTips.com

Can an anti-inflammatory diet ease aches and pains?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Q. “My physical therapist suggested I go on an anti-inflammatory diet to help with joint pain. From what I can find on the Internet, this is a diet that limits saturated fat and simple carbohydrates (white flour, sugars) and concentrates on fruits, veggies, fish, olive oil and whole grains. Is there evidence that an anti-inflammatory diet can help with pain?” Continue reading “Can an anti-inflammatory diet ease aches and pains?” >

Are there nutritional benefits to dehydrating fruits and veggies?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

“I read that dehydrators are the in thing this year. Clearly dried fruits are going to contain more sugars per handful than the original fruit but might there be nutritional benefits from drying foods?”

Food dehydrators can be a great way to preserve fresh fruits and vegetables and to create portable, nutritious snacks. Although dried fruits are ever-popular, you can also dry vegetables and herbs.

So, when fresh garden tomatoes are overflowing your counter-tops in September, you can load them into your dehydrator and dry them to use through the winter. Green beans or kale leaves can be lightly salted and turned into addictive crunchy snacks. With a little extra prep, you can make your own homemade fruit leathers, crackers, and jerky! More ideas here. Continue reading “Are there nutritional benefits to dehydrating fruits and veggies?” >

Should I stop being vegetarian to reduce my risk of diabetes?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

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Q. I am a healthy, normal weight woman in my early 20s. I am also a vegetarian. Because there is a strong family history of type 2 diabetes (both parents and all four grandparents), my doctor suggested I adopt a relatively low-carb diet to reduce the risk of getting the disease myself.  But does going low-carb require me to give up my vegetarian lifestyle? Can a plant-based diet also reduce my risk, even if it’s high in complex carbs like whole grains and beans?

A.The good news is that being a vegetarian does substantially reduce the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes, despite the fact that vegetarians diets tend to be higher in carbohydrates than omnivorous diets.  Much of this risk reduction has to do with the fact that vegetarians are less likely to be overweight.

However, does this still hold true when diabetes runs in the family? Keep in mind that genes aren’t the only things that are passed down from generation to generation.  We also tend to inherit lifestyle habits and eating patterns. Continue reading “Should I stop being vegetarian to reduce my risk of diabetes?” >

This year, give thanks by reducing food waste

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

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Those of us in the U.S. are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow and I just read a disturbing statistic: Of the 700 million pounds of turkey that will be purchased for tomorrow’s holiday feasts, about 235 million pounds will end up in the trash.

Food waste is a problem year round, of course. But on a day when we gather to give thanks for abundance, let’s honor the harvest  by pledging to reduce the amount of food that goes into the trash this weekend.

The food advocacy group Foodtank has compiled an excellent list of tips for a food waste-free Thanksgiving. Tops on my list will be making sure that leftovers are put away promptly. Anything that won’t be eaten within a few days will go into the freezer for future use.

Using smaller plates and letting guests serve themselves not only reduces the amount of food that gets scraped off plates and into the trash but it may actually help you from over-eating. (Here are some other tips on how to avoid overeating on Thanksgiving.)

What are your plans for reducing food waste this holiday season?

New Ways to Use Whey Protein Powder

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

imagesAfter writing about the benefits of distributing your protein intake more evenly throughout the day, I heard from many of you that you were struggling to figure out how to get the recommended 25 – 30 grams of protein at breakfast and lunch–without eating meat at every meal!

So, when National Dairy Council challenged me to come up with some novel ways to incorporate whey protein powder into familiar meals and recipes, I jumped at the chance.

Why Whey?

Although there are lots of options, each with pros and cons, my protein powder of choice has always been unflavored whey protein. It’s a high-quality protein, neutral in flavor, versatile, relatively inexpensive and–unlike some of the legume based protein powders I’ve tried–doesn’t cause digestive issues (read: gas!).  I keep a big container of it in the pantry but until recently I only used it in smoothies.

As I’ve discovered, there are so many other ways to use whey protein powder to increase protein intake throughout the day. Getting the recommended amount of protein should be a snap. Continue reading “New Ways to Use Whey Protein Powder” >

Which is worse: Glucose or fructose?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

David posted the following interesting question on the Nutrition Diva Facebook page:

“Your podcast on nutritional trade-offs made me think of the following question: I try very hard to limit my intake of sugar. But some foods do need some kind of sweetener, and so I’m wondering about what alternatives to table sugar you recommend. Some are higher in glucose, and that brings with it a higher glycemic index. Others have a lower glycemic index, but are higher in fructose, which experts say to avoid. What do you think?”

Most sweeteners, including table sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar and so on, contain glucose and fructose in varying amounts. Table sugar is half glucose and half fructose. Agave nectar on the other hand is about 70% fructose and only 30% glucose.

These two sugars are metabolized through different pathways. Glucose is absorbed into the blood stream and fructose is metabolized in the liver. So agave nectar is going to cause a lower rise in blood sugar than table sugar. On the other hand, studies in rats suggest that too much fructose can increase the amount of fat stored in the liver and that’s not good.

So are you better off with a sweetener that’s higher in glucose or one that’s higher in fructose? Continue reading “Which is worse: Glucose or fructose?” >