Holiday MyPlate

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Stephanie Ronco

As a special holiday bonus, I want to offer you the wonderful MyPlate handout that accompanies the Holiday MyPlate poster. If you like what you see, it’s not too late to pick up some last minute-holiday resources in the Nutrition Education Store — now’s the perfect time to prepare for those New Year’s resolutions…

Holiday times are here! This means a lot more activity and disruption to regular meal and exercise patterns. The good news is that you can remember MyPlate’s most important message to lower calories and eat healthier! Make half your plate fruits and veggies.

Here is how to adopt that message during the crazy holiday rush:

#1. Fill appetizer plates halfway with vegetables.

Look at the savings:

Plate 1: 546 calories

4 mini quiche: 240
2 slices cheddar cheese: 226
5 crackers: 80 calories

Plate 2: 145 calories

1 cup carrots and celery 25
2 mini quiche: 120

Visualize a plate before you eat snacks (and bring your snacks!).

Are you zooming through the mall and tempted by large pretzels, cookies, and cinnamon rolls? They smell great and offer holiday spirit except they are really bad news for your waist. We have become oblivious to lare sizes because they are everywhere. Picture that item on a dinner plate. Does a cinnamon roll or pretzel likely take up a whole plate? That is too much! Bring an apple in your bag or choose a healthier item from the food court.

#2. Fill dessert plates halfway with fruit.

Instead of filling up your plate with pie, cake, brownies, and cookies, fill it up with fruit and leave room for a small slice or piece of one favorite treat.

Consider the savings:

Plate 1: 900 calories

Pecan pie slice: 500
1 butter cookie: 200
Peppermint brownie: 200

Plate 2: 145 calories

1 cup fresh fruit: 90
1 cookie or 1/2 of a pie slice: 200 calories

Hint: bring a beautiful fresh fruit salad or bowl of fruit so you can have this option.

#3. Make a healthy plate for lunch and dinner.

No matter where you eat, using the MyPlate method of portion control can help you lower calories.

1 big bowl of pasta with meatballs: 900 calories
MyPlate method: 1/4 pasta, 1/4 meatball, and 1/2 veggies = 400 calories

Make MyPlate at home, when you eat out, and when you are a guest somewhere else. It works in the cafeteria, the food court, the drive through and office parties!

#4. Eat a healthy snack plate with fruits and veggies before going to a party.

Okay so we realize it is not always easy to eat MyPlate at someone else’s house or the office party. So here is one more strategy. Eat your MyPlate fruits and veggies before you go out. Eat a small salad and a piece of fruit — that way when you go somewhere you can have a smaller serving of what they are offering and you won’t arrive starved only to fill up on a whole plate of fried chicken or fatty roast beef and fritters.

Will this be helpful for you or your clients? If so, don’t miss the free PDF handout available below. Normally it’s exclusive for people who buy the Holiday MyPlate poster, but I want to make an exception today…

Eat More Vegetables: 3 Activity Ideas

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Stephanie Ronco

Help your clients improve their eating pattern with these 3 great activity ideas…

Inspire Together! Have participants look up their daily vegetable needs at www.choosemyplate.gov. Divide everyone into groups based on how many vegetables they need each day, then have each member of the group share his or her favorite way to eat vegetables with the rest of the group. Have each group elect a spokesman who can write down the most popular suggestions. Once the groups have finished sharing, come back together as a class and have each spokesman share the most appealing ways to serve vegetables from his/her group.

With this activity, your participants will all get a few fun new ideas about ways to eat more vegetables each day.

Team Transformations! As a class, brainstorm some traditional meals that are generally low in vegetables. Divide your audience into groups of 3-4 people and give each group a different meal to make over. How can vegetables be added to the meal in an appealing way? After their discussions, have each group pick their top three ideas and share them with the rest of the class.

Now a few staple meals can be transformed into vehicles for more veggies.

Get on Board! Have your participants think about their favorite vegetable snacks. Ask each person to find a photo or draw a picture of these snacks at home or on their own, then reconvene as a group to post those images on a blank bulletin board that you’ve set up. Title the board Healthful Vegetable Snacks.

With this activity, you will get an engaging and unique display, made by your own students. Plus, this board will offer fun ways to try new vegetable snacks, which in turn can help your participants improve their eating patterns.

What do you think? What are your favorite activities to promote eating more vegetables?

Don’t miss these top vegetable resources from the store!

Lettuce Eat Light Vegetable Poster 12X18

$22.75 ~~$25.50~~

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Vegetable Poster - Slicing, Chopping, and Cooking Guide

$22.75 ~~$25.50~~

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Vegetables Bulletin Board Kit

$49.00 ~~$55.00~~

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New Study: Mushrooms and Vitamin D

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Stephanie Ronco

We know that vitamin D is considered a nutrient of concern by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which means that most people don’t get enough of it. But according to the latest study from the Journal of Dermato-Endocrinology, the situation is more dire than that. In fact, the authors of the study Photobiology of vitamin D in mushrooms and its bioavailability in humans declare that “Vitamin D deficiency is a pandemic.”

Since vitamin D deficiency has raised the risk of a variety of chronic diseases and skeletal diseases, getting enough vitamin D should be high on your clients’ to-do lists. Getting enough vitamin D will reduce the risk of disease and boost health, which can make selling this goal to your clients much easier. In fact, Keegan et.al. assert “obtaining vitamin D from sensible sun exposure, foods that naturally contain vitamin D, and from supplementation with vitamin D is imperative to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

So, it’s time to look at the study and determine how mushrooms could play a role in good health.

But, before we begin, we want to draw your attention to the disclaimer we found at the bottom of the article…

“This work was supported by The Mushroom Council and from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Translational Science Institute Grant UL1-TR000157. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01815437.”

Anyway, now you know who supported this study and to what degree. Let’s move on to the science.

According to the study, “Mushrooms exposed to sunlight or UV radiation are an excellent source of dietary vitamin D2 because they contain high concentrations of the vitamin D precursor, provitamin D2.” Furthermore, “ingestion of 2000 IUs of vitamin D2 in mushrooms is as effective as ingesting 2000 IUs of vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 in a supplement in raising and maintaining blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D which is a marker for a person’s vitamin D status.”

In other words, mushrooms are as effective as vitamin D supplements when it comes to raising vitamin D to reasonable levels in the body.

But how do mushrooms become vitamin D powerhouses?

The researchers explain, “When exposed to UV radiation, mushrooms become an abundant source of vitamin D2.” That’s how they can be used as vitamin D boosters to help people reduce their risk of disease.

The study concludes, “Therefore ingesting mushrooms containing vitamin D2 can be an effective strategy to enhance the vitamin D status of the consumer. The observation that some mushrooms when exposed to UVB radiation also produce vitamin D3 and vitamin D4 can also provide the consumer with at least two additional vitamin Ds.”

So, the bottom line is that most people don’t get enough vitamin D, but consuming mushrooms exposed to UV radiation could help people improve their vitamin D profiles.

Want to help your clients eat more mushrooms? Here are the top 5 mushroom recipes from Food and Health Communications!

And, because I love ya, here’s a free handout that features the Chicken with Mushrooms recipe. Share it with your clients and help them get enough vitamin D!

For More Information:

Photobiology of vitamin D in mushrooms and its bioavailability in humans by Raphael-John H. Keegan et. al. and published in The Journal of Dermato-Endocrinology
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Vitamin D deficiency treated by consuming UVB-irradiated mushrooms by Andrew Ozzard and published in The British Journal of General Practice
Vitamin D Factsheet from the NIH
Vitamin D in Mushrooms from the USDA

For More Nutrition Education Resources:

Check out the Nutrition Education Store — here are a few recent educator favorites…

Basic Nutrition Handout Set

Exercise Poster

Nutrition Basics PowerPoint

Avocados: Yea or Nay?

Posted on April 29, 2015 by cheryle

“They’re high in calories.”
“They’re high in fat.”
“But it’s a good fat.”

Those are all statements I frequently hear about the avocado.

What about you? Do you shy away from avocados because of the fat or calories? Or do you make them a part of your diet?

Today, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the humble avocado.

An avocado is nutrient dense. Nutrient-dense foods provide substantial servings of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in proportion to the number of calories they contain. Although avocados are high in fat, most of that fat is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, avocados are loaded with dietary fiber, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, and folate. They’re also cholesterol- and sodium-free. One avocado contains about 700 milligrams of potassium. In fact, avocados have more potassium gram for gram than bananas! Furthermore, avocados are loaded with the phytochemicals that are thought to reduce the risk of some types of cancers and other chronic diseases.

So what about the calories?

The calories in an avocado are not messing around. Two tablespoons of mashed avocado (that’s 1/5 of the whole thing or about 1 oz) provide about 55 calories. So, if you eat a whole avocado, then you’re getting about 275 calories. That’s a lot of calories, especially if you’re on a calorie-restricted diet.

However, the key word is moderation.

A little avocado can add some real nutrition and variety to a meal. Plus, sometimes avocado can offer a nutrient-rich alternative to another less-healthful fat. Try slicing and spreading 2 tablespoons of avocado on your sandwich instead of mayo or butter. This will save you almost 40 calories! Yes, you get the fat, but it’s definitely a better-for-you fat than those other spreads. And you really can’t beat the flavor it adds.

When buying avocados, pick fruits that have firm skins, but which yield to gentle pressure and have no soft spots. These are the kind of fruits that will ripen after they’re picked. Put unripe avocados in a paper bag at room temperature and they will ripen in the next 2-5 days. If you want them to ripen more quickly, add a ripe banana or apple to the bag. Why? These fruits give off a natural ethylene gas that helps to ripen the avocados. Once they’re ripe, use them right away. You can also put them in the refrigerator, where they will last for a couple days.

So, when you ask whether you should make avocados a part of your diet, I say yea!

By Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University

Looking for more cooking and nutrition resources? Look no further! We’ve got you covered! We are here when you want to look your very best right now.

Drinks, Portion, Whole Grains, Fruit and Vegetables, and Nutrient Alphabet

Nutrition Poster Set

MyPlate Wristband

Real Food Grows Banner

You made it all the way to the end! For your persistence, please enjoy a brand-new free handout! It’s the perfect guide to avocados.

A Fresh Look at Hummus

Posted on April 22, 2015 by cheryle

There are several foods in my refrigerator on a regular basis that weren’t there five years ago. One of these is hummus.

I’ve been buying hummus as an alternative to sour cream or mayo-based dips, and it has now become my favorite appetizer. I try to “walk the talk” as a health educator, and so I put out healthful snacks when we have people over. Hummus goes very well with fresh vegetables, whole grain crackers, or baked pieces of pita bread.

Recently I wondered if I could make my own hummus. Some of this is just my curiosity, but I was also looking for a way to save some money/calories. The commercial versions of hummus are at least $2 for just 12 ounces and declare that 50 calories are in just 2 tablespoons. (This is still better than the typical French onion dip that averages 60 calories per 2 tablespoons, with 75% of the calories from fat). But I was looking for something even more healthful.

The basic ingredient in hummus is the humble chickpea (a.k.a. garbanzo beans or cece beans). Chickpeas themselves are powerhouses of nutrients. They are high in protein and dietary fiber while staying low in fat and sodium. What a great base for this dish!

In addition to chickpeas, another traditional ingredient in hummus is tahini. Tahini is a paste that is made by grinding up sesame seeds. Not only is it expensive, but it’s really high in fat. According to the Nutrition Facts label on the jar, just 2 tablespoons of tahini contain 260 calories, and 200 of them are from fat! Wow! That adds up fast, especially when recipes call for 1/3 to 1/2 cup of tahini for each 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups of chickpeas.

Now, when it comes to the ingredients, I prefer to take things a bit farther. Most of the hummus recipes I found start with a can of chickpeas. But I wanted to be even more in control of the ingredients in my hummus, so I got dried chickpeas. If you’ve never purchased them, dried chickpeas are with the other dried beans and peas in the grocery store. I soaked them overnight in water, brought everything to a boil on top of the stove, and finished cooking them for 5 hours on low in the slow cooker. Made this way, they were perfect. Chickpeas can be cooked for a shorter period of time on top of the stove, but the slow cooker was easy for me to start and then do something else while the chickpeas cooked.

Once I had finished preparing my chickpeas, I found that I got 8 cups of cooked beans out of a single pound of dried chickpeas. That’s about four times the amount of beans you’d get in one can. Plus, that larger amount costs the same as a small can of beans, and this version has no added sodium.

I was also impressed with the flavor — I found it to be so much better than the canned version.

Now that the chickpeas were ready to roll, I started to experiment with actual hummus recipes. I found one particularly intriguing recipe from the free recipe database at Food and Health Communications — this recipe used plain yogurt instead of tahini. I tried it that way and loved it, and what a savings in terms of calories and fat!

From there, making hummus is a snap! I slowly processed all the ingredients in my food processor, adding more yogurt until I got the consistency I liked. After a few experiments, I found that I prefer Greek yogurt in my hummus because it offers a little more body than more traditional yogurts.

Once it was well blended, I seasoned my hummus with lots of garlic, lemon juice, and parsley. Drizzling it with a little sesame oil and sprinkling with toasted sesame seeds gives it a hint of tahini flavor and makes the presentation super appealing.

I guess I’m not a “hummus purist,” but I like this lower-cost and lower-fat version.

By Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS, Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

Want to offer your clients a guide to healthful, tasty hummus? Get a free PDF recipe right here! This page is an excerpt from The Home Run Cooking Book, which is a fantastic introduction to healthful cooking. It goes over kitchen tips and techniques, discusses cooking equipment, and offers the most popular healthful recipes, all of which have been rigorously tested and audience approved. It’s the perfect educational resource. Try this hummus and see for yourself!

Remember, we are here when you want to look your very best right now. Here are some wonderful options to help encourage your clients to choose balanced diets…

Vitamins, Minerals, Fiber, MyPlate and Much More!

Nutrition Poster Value Set

This CD has our top 6 grocery PowerPoints, all in one place!

Healthful Shopping Presentation

Beverage Banner and Stand

Sprouts for Health?

Posted on March 11, 2015 by cheryle

A local health department sanitarian and I were recently teaching a food safety class for restaurant managers. When we talked about children’s menus and potentially-hazardous foods, one item the sanitarian said that she avoids all the time is sprouts. Especially raw sprouts.

This surprised the class.

Sprouts seem like foods that are super healthful in our culture. They could be alfalfa sprouts on a sandwich, mung bean sprouts in a stir-fry, or radish sprouts on a salad. In an attempt to get more vegetables or to add variety to a meal, sprouts seem like a great idea. Right?

Well, maybe not.

While sprouts do contain protein and vitamins, they may also contain something we don’t want: pathogens that cause foodborne illnesses.

Think about it. Sprouts grow in warm and wet places. So does bacteria.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, in the last several months there have been at least two outbreaks of foodborne illness in the United States that were related to sprouts. In one outbreak, five people were hospitalized and two of them died. The pathogen found here was Listeria monocytogenes.

Then, in another outbreak, a total of 115 people got sick because of mung bean sprouts. It was a different pathogen this time — Salmonella enteritidis. Those who fell ill ranged from age 1 to 83. One quarter of those who got sick had to go to the hospital, but luckily no one died from this outbreak.

These aren’t the only examples.

Over the past 20 years, sprouted seeds have been associated with at least 55 foodborne illness outbreaks, with more than 15,000 people getting sick. All of this came from eating something that those people thought was good for them.

In general, raw sprouts are risky. The only way to reduce this risk is to avoid eating them or to only eat them when they’re cooked. In most cases, cooking would destroy the risky pathogens. Cooking really isn’t practical for some of those smaller sprouts like radish or alfalfa, but it is the only way to help ensure food safety.

Have you ever noticed that sprouts aren’t an ingredient on children’s menus? Young children are at high risk for getting a foodborne illness, because their immune systems have not completely developed. Foods that are known to be susceptible to foodborne illnesses are not permitted on children’s menus. The restaurant can’t specifically offer them to children, but what a parent gives their kids food from the adult menu, then that is their choice.

Others at higher risk for foodborne illnesses are the elderly, pregnant women, and those with chronic illnesses or who have had organ transplants. All of these folks have weakened immune systems and should completely avoid raw or undercooked sprouts.

Here are some recommended food safety practices that could help you and your family avoid getting ill from eating sprouts:

Be an informed consumer. If you purchase sprouts or grow them for home use, know the risks and take care with who eats them.
Only purchase sprouts that are refrigerated. They should look fresh and green. Avoid sprouts that look slimy or which are sitting in water.
Take the recommendation to “refrigerate after opening” very seriously.
Rinse sprouts thoroughly with water before use. Rinsing can help remove surface dirt. Don’t use soap or other detergents. But remember that rinsing may not remove harmful pathogens.
Be aware that children, older adults, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts of any kind.
Remember that cooking sprouts thoroughly kills most harmful bacteria.
When dining out, ask that raw sprouts not be added to your foods.
If you’re growing your own sprouts, make sure to purchase seeds that have been developed for food use.
Know that homegrown sprouts aren’t necessarily safer. The harmful bacteria may be present on or in the seed.
Purchase sprouts from growers that follow the best known practices.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you see sprouts on a menu or in the store.

By Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University

Source: foodsafety.gov

Looking for more great nutrition education materials? Check out the incredible options in the Nutrition Education Store! Here are some of the newest resources for Nutrition Month…

Nutrition Month Banner

Whole Grain Bookmark

Interactive Nutrition Workbook

10K Steps Wristband

Thanks for scrolling to the very end! Here’s a helpful handout, loaded with great information about sprouts…

Pumpkin Ideas for Halloween and Beyond

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Stephanie Ronco

Cheryl Sullivan is here with a perfect pumpkin update!

Did you know that a single 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin provides 4 grams of fiber, no fat or cholesterol, and only 50 calories? Pumpkin also has more beta-carotene per serving than any other common food. Your body converts beta-carotene to vitamin A, and that may protect against heart disease and some cancers.

Let’s Talk About Fresh Pumpkins

Fresh pumpkins are available from late summer to well into the fall. Small sugar (a.k.a pie) pumpkins are the best for eating, though you can eat the large ones, too. Be sure the pumpkins are clean and dry, then store them a cool, dry, and dark place. Pumpkins may last for several months, depending on the storage conditions.

Cooking with Pumpkins

To prepare a pumpkin for cooking, cut off the top. Flip it over and cut a thin slice off of the bottom. That way, the pumpkin will sit flat on your cutting board. Using a large knife, cut slices of the skin off from top to bottom, working your way around the pumpkin, just like you would cut the skin off of an orange. Halve the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp, then cut the pumpkin into chunks.

To make pumpkin puree, steam those pumpkin chunks until they’re quite tender. Drain them, then puree in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, mash them as fine as you can with a potato masher. Press the mixture through a fine sieve or coffee filter and voila! Pumpkin puree is yours.

You can also bake unpeeled, seeded pumpkin halves at 325° until tender. This takes about 1 hour. Scoop the flesh out of the shell and puree it. Since this puree will be drier than the puree in the other method, you won’t need to drain it.

All homemade pumpkin puree may be frozen for up to six months.

You can also make pumpkins into a tasty side dish. Cut a peeled, fresh pumpkin into cubes and toss the cubes with 1 tablespoon oil, 2 tablespoons thawed apple juice concentrate, and a dash of nutmeg. Put the whole shebang into a baking pan coated with cooking spray and roast in a 400° oven for 30 minutes or until tender, stirring once.

Make a delicious and speedy pumpkin soup by heating 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin with 1 can of low-sodium broth, 1/2 cup of water or skim milk, and 1 teaspoon of mild curry powder. Heat the whole thing in a saucepan and serve warm.

You can even use pumpkin puree to make your own quick pumpkin ice cream. Soften 1 pint nonfat vanilla ice cream, then fold in 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 2 tablespoons sugar (or artificial sweetener), and 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Refreeze, then scoop into 4 dishes to serve.

What About Canned Pumpkin?

Canned pumpkin puree is easy to use and works very well in recipes. Be sure to purchase plain pumpkin and not the pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling is loaded with sugar and other ingredients. Read the label carefully to see which one you are buying.

What are you doing with pumpkins this year?

By Cheryl Sullivan, MA, RD.

Looking for other seasonal resources? Check out the holiday materials in the Nutrition Education Store! My personal favorites include…

Holiday Survival Tips Poster

Holiday Challenge Toolkit

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