The Truth about Pregnancy & Nutrition!

Pregnant and confused about what foods you should be consuming and which you should avoid? Here are some tips on how to make the healthiest choices for you and your baby.  Mothers need to realize that the foods they are eating are the main sources of nutrients for the baby. First off, make sure you are eating three meals- having a good breakfast is very important.  Take your time while eating and make dinner your smallest meal.  Don’t be alarmed if you are more hungry then usual–you are eating for two now! Give your body what it wants.  Try to choose raw vegetables, fruit, and yogurt for snacks.  Drink lots of water- as much as you’d like! Don’t stop exercising! Go for a 30 minute walk or maybe for a nice swim.  Avoid contact sports though.  Do not consume too much caffeine!  Try to avoid soft drinks and limit your coffee & tea intake.  Do NOT consume alcohol or drugs and do NOT smoke while pregnant.  These increase risk factors for both you and the baby.  During the first trimester of your pregnancy you should only gain between 2-5 pounds.  During the second trimester you should be gaining about 1 pound each week.  Your overall pregnancy weight gain is based on your pre-pregnancy BMI.  If you have a low BMI (<19.8) then your weight gain should be between 28-40 lbs.  If you have an average BMI of 19.8-26 you should gain 25-35 pounds.  If you were overweight before pregnancy and had a high BMI of 26-90 you should onlybe gaining 10-20 pounds throughout pregnancy.  Being overweight puts the mother at a higher risk for gestational diabetes. The mother should be taking a multi-vitamin as well as folic acid and possibly vitamin B12 to help with brain development.  If your multivitamin does not contain iron than an iron supplement would be good to take as well.  You should consume many calcium rich sources of food in your diet.  For women who have trouble affording healthy foods and supplements for their babies they should contact WIC (Women, Infants, and Children).  They offer nutrition counseling and other social services to no charge for the participant until the child is 5 years of age.  Although nutrition and health are very important while pregnant, you should continue to make healthy choices for you and the baby in the years to come!

http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/aboutwic/

The Truth about the Obesity Epidemic!

America is expanding—and not in a good way! Obesity is becoming the number one health risk for Americans.  People do not seem to understand the dangers in this but nearly 400,000 Americans die each year from problems caused by Obesity.  When looking at our population of people 18 years of age and under–Can you believe that 15% of these children are obese? Also, don’t think that obesity is only affecting those people– it is actually costing our nations economy close to $122.9 billion dollars! EACH year!!  Many problems result from being obese ranging from depression, anxiety, harder social situations to hypertention, heart disease and diabetes.  And remember- there is a different between being overweight and obese!  Obesity is an excessive amount of body fat and a BMI over 30.  For a more in depth description of these differences try this website–> (http://www.diffen.com/difference/Obesity_vs_Overweight)

The main causes for obesity today are lack of physical activity and diets high in fat and calories, although there are some genetic causes.  Think of all the fast food restuarants we have!  And the high levels of stress that Americans are put under day after day! Many people seem to eat what is most convient and takes the less time to prepare and others lean towards eating their emotions.  Unforunately many Americans have become rather lazy as well.  Some people will go out of their way to use an elevator, escalator, or call for  a taxi.  Can you believe that TWO thirds of American adults are overweight, ONE third of these being obese.  That leaves only one third of American adults at a healthy weight.    Right now our current population is over 310 million people–you do the math!  As for kids, recess times are being cut down in length and school lunches are serving french fries as their vegetable portion!  Things really need to be changed in the school systems.  Kids should recieve at least an hour each day of free play/exercise. Weight loss is gradual, and a challenge for people to earn.  People need strong support systems and a helpful environment.  Our environment in American seems to do the opposite of promoting weight loss.   We need to find ways to promote healthy eating and offer healthier choices for a smaller cost.  It is not all about weight loss though but also about PREVENTION! People need to be educated in nutrition in schools and children need to switch out the video games for a trip to the playground! If we all work together, we can do this! Let’s make a change in America and put cost in health before cost in dollars!

For more information and statistics head on over to this website!

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

The Truth About Herbal Supplements!

Herbal Supplements are becoming very popular today but most people wonder:  which are safe? That is what I am here to tell you!  I understand why people want to move to natural remedies and stay away from perscription drugs that are handed out like candy these days.  Evidence has been shown that they can be beneficial when consuming a healthy diet as well.  We just need consumers to be cautious and make sure they are selecting safe herbal supplements!  One important thing to note is that the FDA does not over look the safety of these supplements- meaning they are unmonitored and not all ingredients may be listed.  Below are a list of safe herbal supplements:

Chamomile- A popular herb that has been used to improve sleep patterns, soothe a sore throat, settle the stomach, relieve congestion, ease the pain of arthritis, reduce symptoms of hemorrhoids, relieve nausea and heartburn, reduce menstrual cramps, and stimulate appetite. It acts as an antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory.  You should not take Chamomile if you are pregnant, allergic to daises, or are taking an anticoagulant.

Echinacea- Popularly known as the herbal supplement for preventing the common cold.  Many people take this to boost their immunity.  Feel free to try this unless you are allergic to ragweed or have an autoimmune disorder.

St. John’s Wort- This herbal supplement is used to treat mild depression, stomach upset, nausea, insomnia, skin wounds, burns, and other skin irriations.  It may reduce the effectiveness of oral contraceptives though so be cautious if you are using both.

Green Tea- One of my favorites! (As well as Camomile).  It has  been shown to reduce your risk for developing certain types of cancers, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, help heal gum infections, promote a longer life, eliminate tooth decay, reduce your risk for cardivascular conditions and much more.

Flax Seed- Known as one of the most powerful plant foods it can help to combat chronic diseases, lower cholesterol, fights menopausal symptoms, promote regular bowel movements, and help maintain clear arteries.  It contains omega-3 fatty acids as a main ingredient which fight inflammation in the body as well as  fiber which is very important in the diet.

A full list of herbal supplements as well as their descriptions can be found at this website!

http://www.vitamins-supplements.org/herbal-supplements/

Make sure to avoid Ginseng, Kava Kava, Ma Huang, Pennyroyal, Senna, Red Yeast Rice, and many others.  Always research the safety of a supplement if you are not sure 🙂

The Truth About Antioxidants!

 

What are antioxidants anyways? Most people know they’re beneficial for you but have no idea exactly what they are or how they work!  Our cells need oxygen to perform vital tasks such as transfering energy stored in food or for powering our muscles.  When our cells use energy they produce a by-product known as free-radicals (which are organic molecules). Think of yourself cutting wood–sawdust will be produced from this right?  This is the by-product of the wood and is naturally produced during the process just like free radicals are to oxygen.  Unforunately these free radicals are damaging to our bodies.  They can lead to aging, tissue damage, cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases.  This is where antioxidants come in.  They are here to prevent and repair the damange of the free radicals.  Studies have been done on cell cultrues to prove that antioxidents can slow down or prevent the formation of cancer.  Clinical trials are still be investigated more on this subject though. The most common antioxidents are Vitamins A, C and E, as well as Carotenoids, Lutein, Lycopene, and Selenium.  Below are a list of foods to help you find these antioxidents!

Vitamin A and Carotenoids– Carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, apricots, cantaloupe- Look for BRIGHT colored fruits and veggies! **If you didnt know- carotenoids are naturally occuring pigments in foods (mostly red, yellow and orange- but also many dark green) that can sometimes be converted into vitamin A in your body, like beta-carotene for example.

Vitamin E– Nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables, vegetable oil, whole grains

Vitamin C– Oranges, limes (and other citrus fruits), strawberries, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, broccoli

Lutein– Kale, broccoli, kiwi, spinach, brussel sprouts and other green leafy vegetables (green pigment carotene)

Lycopene– Grapefruit, watermelon, tomato products (Lycopene is a red carotene pigment)

Selenium– Eggs, red meat, grains, fish, shellfish, cihcken, garlic

This list came from http://www.healthcastle.com/antioxidant.shtml and has information on other antioxidants available!

antioxidant and cancer study: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/antioxidants

The Truth About “Superfoods”!

What do you think of when you hear the word super food? Foods with super powers? Close! Superfoods are foods that are packed with nutrients and antioxidents that your body needs! They promote weight loss and lower your risk for disease.  Luckily, these are foods that you can easily include in your everyday dishes.  Who wouldn’t want foods that are low in calories and high in nutrients! They have also been shown to reduce your cholesterol, and reduce your risk for heart disease and cancer.  Superfoods will put you in a better mood which tends to improve your overall wellness! Now you are probably curious to know: what are these superfoods?

Here are a list of superfoods for you to include in your diet!

Berries– They may be little but they are full of nutrients! They are high in vitamins c, potassium, fiber, and loaded with antioxidants (which protect our body from free-radicals).  They also have a high water content and are good for controlling your blood sugar levels. If you are craving something sweet, head for the berries!  Blueberries are the number one berry because they are so easily available and contain the most antioxidents.

Nuts– Yes they are high in fat but a handful a day is very beneficial!  Plus, they are monosaturated fats AKA the GOOD fats.  Aside from this they are high in protein, antioxidents, and fiber. In small portions they have been shown to promote lower cholesterol levels and weight loss.

Yogurt– Another great superfood (make sure it is fat free or low-fat though).  It has the highest amount of calcium than any other dairy product and is also a great source of potassium and protein (I’ve found it a great protein source as a vegetarian!)  It has as much protein as 1 egg and 1 ounce of meat and as much potassium as a banana.  There is live bacteria in yogurt which helps your body in digestion and protection against harmful bacteria.  Greek Yogurt, (which is my absolute favorite kind by the way!) has more protein than the average kind of yogurt.

Beans– Fiber, fiber and more fiber! Beans contain both insoluble and soluble fiber which aid in lowering cholesterol, keeping you full, and getting rid of waste in your body.  They are also a good souce of protein, potassium, magnesium and are low in fat content.  It is easy to substitute beans into your foods.  Try adding some into your soups or substituting them for your meat!

Other superfoods include: Eggs, salmon, oats, broccoli, soy, spinach, tomatoes, green or black tea, oranges, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, quinoa, and kiwi.  Easy to prepare. Easy to find. Kids will love them. What gets better than this? For a full list of superfoods and why they’re so important head to this website:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/10-everyday-super-foods?page=2

The Truth About Caffeine!

Is Caffeine good or bad for your health? This question is one that is always being tossed back and forth.  The truth is, that there are both good AND bad effects!  Benefits from caffeine come from moderate amounts, so make sure you aren’t consuming excessive quantities of it.  Caffeine has the ability to improve your concentration, lessen your fatigue, improve your physical endurance, increase your memory, and increase your awareness.  Overall, caffeine can help to improve your cognitive function and may decrease your risk for (or already present symptoms of) Alzhemiers.  To give you a better estimate of how much you should consume consider this–for optimal benefits you should drink no more than 4 cups of coffee per days and 1-8 cups of tea.  Unfortunately there are also many negative outcomes from consuming too much caffeine.  The most obvious risks of caffeine are dehydration, disrupted sleeping patterns, headaches and possible anxiety and panic attacks after the caffeine wears off.  Surprisingly, it may make getting pregnant more difficult and could possibly cause the birth of an underweight baby.  Did you know that if you were to take two pain relievers you would be consuming the same amount of caffeine as two to three cups of coffee?  For example, excedrin caplets contain 65mg of caffiene (one cup of coffee contains 20 mg).  So for all you coffee lovers- you’re fine with your morning cup!….or two 🙂

https://blackboard.unh.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/truth-about-caffeine

(picture above was taken via clipart from microsoft word)

The Truth About The Food Revolution!

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution that is! 😉  Does this name ring a bell?  Jamie Oliver is a British chef who has come to America to try to set our school lunch programs straight! He wants to help change societies eating habits and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stoke, and other nutrition related problems that are on the rise.  It is scary to know that our generation of children are not expected to out live their parents.  Let’s take a stand with Jamie Oliver! Tune into his new upcoming season starting April 12th on ABC.  Take a look at the preview below.

Jamie Oliver is truly inspiring and made me realize the truth behind our school lunch programs.  Pizza, chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, hamburgers…I don’t know about you but this sounds just as bad as fast food to me.   And come on, a french fry counting as a vegetable? Now that is just not right.  You cannot expect a kid to chose raw veggies over friench fries if they were given the choice.  It was sad to see on the first season of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution that most of the kids in elementary school could not even identify between different types of vegetables.  Both parents and their chilren need to become more aware of the foods they are consuming and the amount of knowledge they have on nutrition.  The USDA has come out with a new set of school lunch guidelines this year to be set into place which will hopefully be a good change. –> http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

The Truth About Fat!

Most people think they should be avoiding fats in their diets- but this isn’t completely true! There are both good and bad fats…and very bad ones as well! Lets start off with the bad and save the good news for the end.  Saturated fats should only be consumed in small amounts.  An excess of saturated fat in your diet is found to lead to cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, cancers, and of course, obesity.  It can also lead to clogged arteries which can then cause a heart attack or stroke.  These fats are found predominantly in animal products such as meat (especially red meat), dairy products and eggs.   You can also find saturated fats in some vegetable products such as coconut oil, palm oil, and cocoa butter.  When you have a liquid fat and want to convert it to a solid you have to use the process of hydrogenation.  This is how trans fats are produced which tend to be more harmful than saturated fats.  They have been shown to increase coronary heart disease and raise LDL cholesterol (which is your bad cholesterol).  Unfortunately trans fats are found in 40% or products on grocery shelves.  Make sure to check labels next time you buy something!  But don’t worry, some fat IS good and you DO need it in your diet.  These fats are called unsaturated fats and there are two kinds- polyunsaturated and monosaturated fats.  Polyunsaturated fats contain omega-3 fatty acids which produce potential benefits in decreasing your risk for heart disease and lowering blood triglycerides.  You can find these omega-3’s in cold water fish such as tuna, salmon and halibut, as well as walnuts, soybeans, corn, canola oil.  These are extremely important to get through your diet because your body cannot produce them naturally.  Monosaturated fats are found in olive oils, sunflower oil, vegetable oil, avocadoes, nuts, and peanut butter.  Monounsaturated fats have a slightly more positive outcome on your bodys health.  Both types of fat reduce your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) but polyunsaturaed decreases your HDL cholesterol as well (which is your good cholesterol).  Monounsaturated fats do not lower your HDL, only LDL.  Overall fats should account for 20-35% of your diet as a whole.  Another reason we need fat in our diet is because it is the carrier of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K and E.  Fat moves these vitamins into and around the body and stores what is not needed at the time.  So in other words, you need fats in your diet but try to make them the good fats! To avoid bad fats in yoru diet try to consume less packaged and higly processed foods.  Cook from scratch!  Also, eat lean meats and other sources of protein such as whole grains, legumes, and vegetables. You can do it 🙂

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/good-fats-bad-fats

The Truth About Vegetarians!

 Vegetarians DO get health benefits if you have a well-planned vegetarian diet!  I have only been a vegetarian for about 3 months but I love it.  I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian, meaning I do consume dairy products and eggs but no meat.  I gave up beef for about a year then decided to try to give up meat all together, and I think it has been very beneficial!  Some think it is too difficult and takes too much effort to plan meals but it’s really not that hard!  Others wonder how I get sufficient amounts of protein- which is the thing I worry about the most.  I make sure to consume a lot of legumes, nuts, yogurt, chickpeas, soy products, etc.  I have recently been trying to incorporate protein rich foods like tempeh and tofu into my diet. One cup of tofu contains 20g of protein! That’s almost half of your daily needs (45g).  Most people that each a variety of foods, including meat, get more protein than they actually need! Good amounts of iron come from many of these products I have listed and others that I often have including hummus, peas, and spinach!  Since I still incorporate dairy products into my diet I am getting enough calcium and vitamins b-12 also.  See? It’s really not as bad as it sounds! 🙂  It has been shown that vegetarians have future health benefits.  Our diets usually contain less fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol along with higher levels of magnesium and folate.  Since these diets are often times geared towards fresh fruits and vegetables, a vegetarian will be consuming high amounts of antioxidents, dietary fiber, and phytochemicals which help prevent cancer.  It was also shown that vegetarians are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes.  This website goes in depth on each subject if you are interested.  If not, at least try to incorporate meatless Mondays into your schedule!http://www.vegetarian-nutrition.info/updates/vegetarian_diets_health_benefits.php

This link is to a research study done in the UK on vegetarians and nonvegetarians for 12 years.  The results also show that vegetarian do show future health benefits.http://www.aafp.org/afp/2009/0401/p541.html

The Truth About GMO’s!

Genetically Modified Organisms, better known as GMO’s, are not beneficial to the environment or human health.  They are not natural; we are combining genes that would never naturally interact.  GMO’s are made by taking a non-native gene and putting it into the gene of another organism.  These are often completely unrelated genes- for example, they put a fish gene put into a tomato for extended shelf life.   Gross!  The use of these genetically modified organisms are destroying sustainable farming practices, exhausting our grounds, contaminating our soils, and proposing future health risks for humans.  If modern farming practices continue we are going to slowly run out of resources for farming in the future.  We cannot let bio-tech companies creating GMO’s monopolize agriculture.  Our country needs to start thinking about cost in dollars vs. cost in our health and the environment.

There have been many issues associated with GMO’s.  Problems such as allergies and other complications could be likely to occur from GMO’s in our foods.  The genes could also mutate and cause a problem in our bodily functions.  It has been found that some genes have been having resistance to antibiotics which could be very dangerous.  Different tests have been done on animals resulting in precancerous growth, damaged immune systems, and many more harmful effects (Pusztai Arpad).  Now that is scary! Even the FDA has had doubts of the safety of GMOs.  They are not only impacting humans, but also our environment.  GMO’s seeds from one farm are spreading to organic farms nearby causing contamination to their seeds.  Monsanto (which is the largest GM seed producing company) has sued many small farmers because of the cross pollination of GM seeds, also known as Loose Gene syndrome.   Most farmers had no idea that the GM seeds were even on their property;  I do not see how this is fair.  The plants with GM seeds are made with toxins that release into the root of the plant and contaminate the ground which degrades soil and water and destroys genetic diversity.  Another important thing to think about is the large areas of land needed for this, and deforestation has been on the rise (Buiatti, Marcello).  This is causing the loss of many animal habitats which pushes animals toward extinction.

An important thing to know is that GM seeds are made up of a terminator gene, they are only sterile for one generation, meaning they do not produce offspring.  This means that farmers have to buy new seeds each year which ends up costing them a lot more money.  It is so sad that small farmers are going out of business because they cannot keep up with the fast pace of modern farming systems. Thank about it! And next time your out shopping, stop at a local farmers market 🙂 Or try organic so that you can be completely sure that there are no GMO’s!

Sources:

Buiatti, Marcello. The “Unintended Effects” of Plant Genetic Engineeringhttp://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/sweden/rapporter-och-dokument/gmos-or-sustainable-agricultur.pdf

Pusztai Arpad. “Genetically Modified Foods: Are They A Risk To Human/Animal Health?http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/pusztai.html