A Healthier Holiday Season

Maintaining your weight over the holiday season can be challenging but very manageable with a few simple changes. Here are the top ten ways to prevent weight gain during the holidays:

1) Exercise daily. Exercising daily such as taking a long walk during the holiday season helps to prevent weight gain and allow you to maintain your weight! Shopping luckily burns a lot of calories when you walk the mall as well…
2) Treat yourself only once per day. When you are constantly surrounded by holiday parties and special sweet treats, it’s hard to resist temptation. Allow yourself one special treat per day, whether it’s a holiday cookie or small piece of candy. Limiting yourself to just one treat per day should allow you to maintain your weight, particularly if you exercise.
3) Eat healthily whenever you can. On days you are not going to a holiday party or gathering, take advantage of the opportunity to eat your best! ½ plate full of vegetables, ¼ plate lean protein, and ¼ plate healthy starch or whole grain.
4) Keep a food diary. This is the single best way to keep pounds off and keep track of your special treats.
5) Wear a pedometer. The more you move, the more calories you burn, helping you to maintain your weight. Try to get to 10,000 steps per day.
6) Limit leaving treats around the house. If you see it you will eat it. Keep treats out of sight and out of mind. Limit trips to office kitchens to avoid mindless eating.
7) Look for low-fat recipes. Explore healthier versions of holiday recipes from cookinglight.com and eatingwell.com to keep the calories down.
Limit alcohol. Choose alcohol or dessert and keep alcohol to 1-2 drinks per day maximum. 1 drink is equal to 4 oz of wine, 1.5 oz of hard alcohol, or 12 oz of beer. Avoid high calorie, high sugar alcoholic and mixed drinks as much as possible.
9) Limit stress. It’s hard to stay calm around family at the holidays. Stress leads to weight gain and poor food choices. Help yourself to relax daily with exercise or something you truly enjoy, like taking a bath.
10) Don’t try to lose weight now. Aim for weight maintenance during the holiday season. Don’t stress about small over-indulgences. Stay active and keep up the portion control and you should be fine.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Amy Santo, MS RD CDN

Healthy Eating For Busy People

When you’re on-the-go all the time, it can be hard to be a healthy eater. Here are some strategies to help you out and keep you on track.

1) Plan your meals ahead of time and shop accordingly. With everything we have to do after work, we don’t need to add grocery shopping to the mix. Take time on the weekends to plan your meals (including breakfast and lunch) for the week ahead, make a grocery list, and buy all the ingredients on the weekends.

2) Prep your veggies as soon as you get home from the store. Preparing fresh veggies can be especially time consuming. By washing and chopping as soon you get home from the grocery store, you save time on meal preparation during the week.

3) Make extra portions. Cooking a meal every night can be a daunting task. Aim to cook 3 meals per week and make enough to last the other 2 nights. Portion out your dinner when plating your meal and put the rest away to avoid overeating. Space out your leftovers to keep yourself interested.

4) Package meals and snacks in individual containers. Don’t give yourself yet another thing to do in the morning. After dinner, prep leftovers for lunch the next day in pre-portioned plastic containers. Pre-portion your snacks in plastic bags for the week.

5) Take turns with meal preparation. Making dinner shouldn’t just be one person’s responsibility. Cook dinner as a family or take turns during the week to lighten the load. Share in clean-up duties as well to give yourself more time to relax and make the experience more enjoyable.

6) Keep some frozen veggies in the freezer for emergencies. Although fresh veggies are always the best choice, when you’ve had a really busy week, it’s nice to have a safety net. Keep sodium-free veggies in the freezer for easy meals, such as omelets.

–Amy Santo, MS RD

Fruits and Veggies Make “Genes” Fit Better

According to a new study, diets high in fruits, raw vegetables, and berries weaken a dangerous gene that can cause heart attacks. The gene, 9p21 was studied in nearly 30,000 people of different ethnicities. If you are unlucky enough to have the dangerous form of this gene, a healthy diet reduces your risk of heart attack to that of those who don’t have the gene. It is recommended that you consume more than five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

How to choose your lean meats

Lean red meats are a perfectly healthy protein to include in your diet a couple of times per week. But why lean? Higher fat meats contain a larger portion of saturated fats. When excess amounts of saturated fats are consumed, excess LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol or “bad” cholesterol is used to transport saturated fats to the tissues for cellular and structural functions. When you have too much LDL cholesterol, too much saturated fat is delivered to your tissues, such as your arteries. Over time, this process can cause coronary heart disease, possibly leading to a blockage in your arteries, causing angina or a heart attack.

 

OK so which cuts of meats should I choose?

 

Decrease

Chuck blade roast

Short ribs

Rib roast or steak

Rib-eye roast or steak

Cubed steak

Fresh brisket

Corned beef

Skirt steak

Organ meats

Beef lunch meats

Chipped beef

Frankfurters

Canned, smoked, or salt cured meats

<95% lean ground beef

 

Choose

Chuck arm pot roast

Top loin steak

Tenderloin

Filet mignon

Wedge bone sirloin steak

Porterhouse steak

T-bone steak

Top sirloin steak

Eye round

Top round steak

Bottom round roast

Round tip roast

Shank cross cuts

Flank steak

95% lean ground beef

 

The most important thing about choosing meats is portion size. One serving of lean meat should be no bigger than ¼ of your plate or bigger than the palm of your hand (about 4-5 oz). To enjoy your lean meats cooked in the healthiest ways possible, try grilling, roasting, baking, braising, broiling, and sautéing in olive oil. Enjoy delicious recipes by preparing your own marinades with fresh herbs, garlic, olive oil.

 

–Amy Santo, MS RD CDN

Greenwich Cardiology Associates Gets Aetna’s Aexcel Designation

Greenwich Cardiology Associates was awarded Aetna’s Aexcel designation. This honor is awarded to practices who meet certain clinical performance and efficiency standards.

We strive to exceed the expectations of all our patients. The Aexcel designation means we are succeeding.

The Flex on Flax

Don’t like to eat fish and can’t eat enough walnuts everyday? There’s a solution to getting omega-3 fix: ground flax seed.

Flaxseed is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber, helping to reduce total cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and protect against cardiovascular disease. The fiber in flaxseed also promotes regularity and prevents constipation. Flaxseed is also the richest source of lignan, which is a phytochemical, or a chemical compound that is a powerful anti-oxidant. Lignans from flaxseeds can help lower blood pressure and help fight inflammation.

Flaxseed Nutritional Info: 1 Tablespoon or 7 grams

37 calories, 3 g fat (almost all unsaturated or “good” fat), 1.3 g protein, 2 g fiber, 1.6 g omega-3 fatty acids (all you need for the day!) *Nutrient content varies with brands

Choose ground flaxseed and refrigerate in an airtight container and preferably in a dark, dry place to extend freshness. Flaxseed may also be frozen for longer-term storage.

Try this flax filled recipe idea:

Dinner: “Turkey Flax Meatloaf”

Ingredients:

1 ¼ pounds turkey meat (mixture of dark and breast meat)

1 medium onion

1 egg

¼ cup tomato paste

¼ cup whole-wheat breadcrumb

¼ cup ground flaxseed

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp pepper

½ cup fresh parsley

½ cup tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the onion in half; thinly slice one half and chop the other half; put slices aside for later use. In a large bowl, mix together the chopped onion, turkey meat, egg, tomato paste, breadcrumbs, flaxseed, and spices; mix together with your hands. Form mixture into loaf and place into loaf pan. Place slices onions across the top of the loaf and pour the tomato sauce on top, covering the entire loaf. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until desired texture. * In terms of food safety, an internal temperature of 165 degrees F is recommended for poultry.

Other ideas:

Sprinkle flax on cereal, oatmeal, or yogurt.

Like to bake? Add ground flaxseed into any of your low-fat baked goods: muffins, cookies, breads, etc.,

It provides a light, nutty taste so any food you add it to so the options are limitless! Be creative and go flax-crazy!

–Amy Santo, MS RD CDN

Your Sweet, Salty, Cheesy, Creamy, Chocolately Fix

At the end of the day, I truly look forward to a sweet tooth fix, particularly if it has chocolate in it. But while trying to lose some weight for summertime, I want to be calorie conscious. With so many 100 calorie packs out there, how do you know what is a good pick?

 

Why have you done a good thing?

Portion controlled snacks that are around 100-150 calories are very important for weight maintenance. Especially during weight loss, it is great to include 1 mid-morning, mid-afternoon and after dinner snack and keep your meal portions small, so you are eating every 4 hours. However, it’s really hard to control yourself sometimes when the bag is just too big or when you are scooping out your own ice cream. Buying portion-controlled snacks is an easy, convenient way of planning your snacks for the day or sweet treat for the night without undoing all your hard work. But not all 100-calorie packs or low cal snacks are created equal. Many of these packs still contain trans fats and other chemicals as they are just miniaturized versions of the real thing.

 

Here’s a dietitian-approved list of snack fixes…sweet, salty, and savory alike.

 

The Creamy Side

Breyer’s Smooth and Dreamy Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bars (110 calories)

Ciao Bella Fat Free Blood Orange Sorbet Bars (60 calories)

Ciao Bella Individual Sorbet Cups (100 calories)

Edy’s Whole Fruit Creamy Coconut Bars (120 calories)

SkinnyCow Ice Cream Truffle Pops (110 calories)

SkinnyCow Ice Cream Lowfat Fudge Bars (100 calories)

SkinnyCow Ice cream sandwich (140 calories)

Tofutti Cuties Ice cream sandwich (130 calories)

Trader Joes Mango and Cream bars (60 calories)

 

Heavenly Chocolate

Emerald’s 100 calorie Cocoa Almonds Packs (100 calories)

Ian’s Organic Cookie Buttons (100 calories)

Hersheys and Reeses 100 calorie snack packs and bars (100 calories)

Kozy Shack Individualized Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding (110 calories)

Pretzel M&Ms Individualized Pack (150 calories)

Sensible Portions Cheating with Chocolate Packs (100 calories)

Smart Food Popcorn Clusters (110 calories)

Trader Joe’s 100 calorie chocolate bars

Trader Joe’s 100 calorie oatmeal chocolate chip cookie packs

Vitalicious VitaTops deep chocolate muffin top (100 calories)

Vitalicious VitaBrownies (100 calories)

Van’s Muffin Crowns (100 calories)

 

Cheesey Goodness

100 calorie pack of Goldfish cheddar cheese crackers

Babybell cheese (70 calories)

Sargento Light String Cheese (50 calories)

Cabot Serious Snacking 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar (50 calories)

 

Salty Fix

100 calorie bag of Popchips

100 calorie pack of PopSecret (regular popcorn and kettle corn)

100 calorie pack of Synder’s pretzels

Davids pumpkin seeds mini bag (90 calories)

100 calorie Sun Chip packs

Trader Joes 100 calorie multigrain crackers

Tribe Mini Hummus (100 calories)

 

Bars on the Go

Kashi TLC Granola Bars (130 calories)

Cascadian Farms Kid’s Sized Oatmeal Raisin Bars (80 calories)

Cliff Kid Sized Z-Bars Chocolate Chip (130 calories)

Gnu Flavor Fiber Cinnamon Raisin Bar (130 calories)

Mini Lara Bars (100 calories)

 

–Amy Santo, MS RD CDN