Author Archive
Want Kid Friendly Dinners?
April 16 2014
Eating healthy nutritious foods should start at an early age. But many kids get seduced by the marketing campaigns from fast food outlets and giant food corporations that care nothing for your child’s health. All they care about is making a profit.
So what’s a parent to do when faced with this advertising onslaught?
Get back to real food. That means cooking your meal at home. Sometimes it’s hard to know what they will eat. You end up preparing a meal and set it on the table to a chorus of “I don’t like that”. It can be frustrating.
One of the best ways to open up your children to experience more nutritious foods is to get them to help out in the kitchen with meal preparation.
Depending on their age, kids can help out with setting the table, peeling vegetables and even some chopping and actual cooking. It might sound dangerous to handing your 6 year old a sharp chef’s knife but with proper education and supervision kids can learn the basics at an early age. In fact, according to a new cookbook, it’s dangerous not to teach kids to cook — it’s a basic survival skill. The case Elton makes for teaching cooking to kids is also the case for her new book, Starting from Scratch: What You Should Know about Food and Cooking.
The British organization, Children’s Food Trust, which advocates for kids’ nutrition and works to build a body of evidence-based research, found in a recent study that children who cook before the age of eight are 50 per cent more likely to prepare at least five meals from scratch a week when they grow up. Cooking when young builds skills for later in life – and sets a kid up for making healthier food choices. That’s because when you make food from scratch, you get to decide what goes into your body.
There’s research showing that children are more likely to eat healthy food if they’re involved in the cooking, and even more so if they are involved in the growing. Which makes perfect sense: I’m not going to try something icky-looking of unknown provenance, but if I’ve labored to make the thing, of course I’m going to eat it.
In France, a cooking school associated with a Michelin-starred chef where they teach kids, as well as adults, to pan-fry fish or prepare escargots. Kids get to handle knives at the age of six!
While it may seem a bit reckless to be handing junior a 9” chef’s knife, isn’t it in fact more dangerous not to be teaching him how to cook and eat nutritious foods?
With that in mind, we’ve created a new Kid Friendly Meals cookbook available to all our members. In it you will find family favorites and healthy alternatives to fast food meals that kids will not only enjoy but can help prepare as well.
Good food habits begin at an early age.
We call it Mindful Eating
April 03 2014
A Yale University study published recently, which examines everything from “low carb” diets to the Paleo diet concluded that the best diet is, to quote Michael Pollan, to: ”Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”.
That’s called portion control. That’s called eating real and not processed foods. That’s called Mindful eating. You can read the whole report here.
Want to reduce your chance of death by almost 50%?!!!
April 02 2014
A new study says that eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day reduces your risk of death at any point in time by 42 percent compared to eating less than one portion. This is the first study to link fruit and vegetable consumption with all-cause, cancer and heart disease deaths in a nationally-representative population, the first to quantify health benefits per-portion, and the first to identify the types of fruit and vegetable with the most benefit.
It’s that simple, eat more fruit and vegetables and you’ll increase your chances of living a longer healthier life. Stop your reliance on processed foods and start making healthy meals at home…your body will thank you.
What do your kids eat?
March 31 2014
We get asked all the time here at MealEasy if we have any “kid friendly meals”. And to be honest, we’re often at a loss on how to answer this question. What defines a “kid friendly meal”? Is something nutritious? Then yes we have those. Is it something quick to prepare? Yes, we have those meals too. Is it something straight out of a package or from a fast food joint? Then NO; those we don’t have.
You cannot be expected to come home after a hard day’s work and make dinner for yourself and your spouse as well as something completely different for the kids. With that in mind, we at MealEasy have compiled an eBook of our most “kid friendly” meal ideas that is set to be released to our subscribers in the near future. We know that this eBook will not only appeal to the kids in your family but will also be loved by the adults as well.
With 15 of our nutritious, healthy and quick to prepare favorites in an easy to reference eBook, we know this will simplify what to make for dinner and will be a hit with even the pickiest of kids…or adult.
Look for the MealEasy Kid Friendly eBook coming soon.
New study shows saturated fat may not be so bad for you after all
March 20 2014
If you want to eat a healthy diet, avoid red meat, cheese and butter. That’s how the conventional wisdom has been dispensed for the last several decades after a few studies showed a connection between saturated fats and elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol.
A new study raises questions about current guidelines which generally restrict the consumption of saturated fats and encourage consumption of polyunsaturated fats to prevent heart disease. The research was published in the March 18th issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
An international research collaboration led by the University of Cambridge analyzed existing cohort studies and randomized trials on coronary risk and fatty acid intake. They showed that current evidence does not support guidelines which restrict the consumption of saturated fats in order to prevent heart disease. The researchers also found insufficient support for guidelines which advocate the high consumption of polyunsaturated fats (such as omega 3 and omega 6) to reduce the risk of coronary disease.
While the Canadian Heart and Stroke foundation and the American Heart Association have yet to weigh in on the subject, this study could lead to new guidelines being brought forward. A shifting view on the health profile of saturated fats isn’t a license to eat a T-bone drenched in butter every night. But the evidence supports the idea that beef and other animal fats can be part of a nutritious diet when used in moderation. At MealEasy, we’ve always stressed that mindful eating and consuming a variety of homemade, non –processed foods is the key to a healthier you. Consuming saturated fats IN MODERATION has always been MealEasy’s way of thinking.
It’s so simple, it could work!
March 17 2014
Brazil has come up with a novel way to fight obesity. Unlike food guides in Canada and the United States, it does not include arranging food groups in pie or pyramid shapes, adding up recommended servings listed in grams, or color-coding nutrient groups that correspond to sectors of the agricultural industry – dairy, meat and grain. Nor does it require people to measure servings of pasta by the half-cup, or carve up steak into helpings the size of a deck of cards.
The authors of Brazil’s proposed dietary guidelines boiled down the 87-page document into 10 basic steps:
1. Prepare meals using fresh and staple foods.
2. Use oils, fats, sugar and salt in moderation.
3. Limit consumption of ready-to-eat food and drink products.
4. Eat at regular mealtimes and pay attention to your food instead of multitasking. Find a comfortable place to eat. Avoid all-you-can-eat buffets and noisy, stressful environments.
5. Eat with others whenever possible.
6. Buy food in shops and markets that offer a variety of fresh foods. Avoid those that sell mainly ready-to-eat products.
7. Develop, practice, share and enjoy your skills in food preparation and cooking.
8. Decide as a family to share cooking responsibilities and dedicate enough time for healthy meals.
9. When you eat out, choose restaurants that serve freshly made dishes. Avoid fast-food chains.
10. Be critical of food-industry advertising.
Buy real food you can cook at home….that’s the key!
Great News with Easter Just Around the Corner
March 12 2014
It might seem too good to be true, but dark chocolate is good for you and scientists now know why. Dark chocolate helps restore flexibility to arteries while also preventing white blood cells from sticking to the walls of blood vessels. Both arterial stiffness and white blood cell adhesion are known factors that play a significant role in atherosclerosis. What’s more, the scientists also found that increasing the flavanol content of dark chocolate did not change this effect. This discovery was published in the March 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal.
“We provide a more complete picture of the impact of chocolate consumption in vascular health and show that increasing flavanol content has no added beneficial effect on vascular health,” said Diederik Esser, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Top Institute Food and Nutrition and Wageningen University, Division of Human Nutrition in Wageningen, The Netherlands. “However, this increased flavanol content clearly affected taste and thereby the motivation to eat these chocolates. So the dark side of chocolate is a healthy one.”
To make this discovery, Esser and colleagues analyzed 44 middle-aged overweight men over two periods of four weeks as they consumed 70 grams of chocolate per day. Study participants received either specially produced dark chocolate with high flavanol content or chocolate that was regularly produced. Both chocolates had a similar cocoa mass content. Before and after both intervention periods, researchers performed a variety of measurements that are important indicators of vascular health.
During the study, participants were advised to refrain from certain energy dense food products to prevent weight gain. Scientists also evaluated the sensory properties of the high flavanol chocolate and the regular chocolate and collected the motivation scores of the participants to eat these chocolates during the intervention.
“The effect that dark chocolate has on our bodies is encouraging not only because it allows us to indulge with less guilt, but also because it could lead the way to therapies that do the same thing as dark chocolate but with better and more consistent results,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “Until the ‘dark chocolate drug’ is developed, however, we’ll just have to make do with what nature has given us!”
Be careful of what you read
March 08 2014
“People who eat diets rich in animal protein carry similar cancer risk to those who smoke 20 cigarettes each day,” reports the UK’s Daily Telegraph, CNN and other news sources.
We have decades of very good evidence that smoking kills and – fortunately for meat lovers – this latest unhelpful comparison with high protein diets largely appears to be a triumph of PR spin.
The warning was raised in a press release about a large study which found that for people aged 50-65, eating a lot of protein was associated with an increased risk of dying.
However, the study, which assessed the diets of Americans in a single 24-hour period (rather than long-term), found in those aged over 65, that a high protein diet was actually associated with a reduced risk of death from any cause or from cancer. These differing findings meant that overall there was no increase in risk of death, or from dying of cancer with a high protein diet.
In this study, on average people ate 51% of their calories in the form of carbohydrates, 33% as fat and 16% as protein (11% animal protein). This is likely to be higher in fat and lower in carbohydrates than that recommended in the food guide which shows the relative proportions of food that we should aim to eat.
And, in those aged over 65, a high protein diet was actually associated with a reduced risk of death from any cause or from cancer.
There are several reasons to be cautious when interpreting the results of this study, including that the researchers did not take into account important factors such as physical activity in their study.
The claim in much of the media, that a high protein diet in middle-aged people is “as dangerous as smoking” is unsupported.
We need to eat protein; we do not need to smoke.
While certain diet plans, such as the Atkins diet or the “caveman diet” have promoted the idea of eating a high-protein diet for weight loss, relying on a single type of energy source in your diet is probably not a good idea. Consumption of some high-protein foods such as red meat and processed meat is already known to be associated with increased risk of certain cancers. Consuming red meat in moderation should be your goal.
Please remember,this is just one study. But it caught our attention because of the imbalance we often see in new and fad diets. One nutrient or food group is idolized, and the other is vilified. That’s just wrong.
The point here is that a healthy diet is a balanced diet. This means less processed food and more home cooking. This means a balance of proteins from plant and animal sources, along with complex carbs (whole grains, fruits, vegetables), and healthy fats.
Are you eating too much sugar?
March 06 2014
The World Health Organization (WHO) is again urging people to lower the amount of sugar they eat, suggesting there are health benefits to restricting so-called free sugars or added sugars to less than five per cent of one’s dietary intake.
What does that mean? Well, for the average adult, that would be about six teaspoons (30 millilitres) of sugar a day — less than the sugar contained in a single can of sugar-sweetened soda. For children, it could be as low as three teaspoons (15 ml) of sugar a day, said Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the WHO’s department of nutrition for health and development.
In the draft recommendations issued Wednesday, the global health agency said people should limit their intake of sugar to no more than 10% of their daily calorie intake, but if they could get to five per cent, that would be better.
“The five per cent would probably be the ideal one and the 10 per cent is the more realistic one,” said Branca.
Free sugars are sugars added to foods by manufacturers, cooks or the people eating the food — brown sugar on oatmeal, for example — as well as natural sugars found in fruit juices, honey, syrups and molasses. Intrinsic sugars are the sugars in whole foods like fruit; intrinsic sugars are not included in the WHO intake limit recommendations.
The sugar in an apple is intrinsic. The sugar in apple juice is free sugar.
The recommendations are likely to be contentious. And nutrition experts who have been waiting for the recommendations expect push back from the food industry, which would need to dramatically reformulate products if consumers were to be able to meet the targets and still eat prepared and packaged foods.
In 2004 when the WHO tried to include the 10 per cent sugar limit recommendation in its Global Strategy for Diet, Physical Activity and Health, the U.S. Congress — under pressure from the sugar industry lobby — threatened to withdraw U.S. funding for the agency. The direct reference to the 10 per cent figure was removed from the final report.
The American Heart Association suggests that added sugars make up no more than half of one’s daily discretionary caloric allowance, which it says would be no more than 100 calories or six teaspoons (30 ml) a day for most American women and 150 calories a day or about nine teaspoons (45 ml) of sugar for men.
Eating a diet of homemade whole foods and cutting back on sweets, processed foods and sodas is a great way to achieve these recommendations.
Here’s how to reduce your risk of stoke
March 03 2014
Your diet accounts for about 80% of the benefits you reap from a healthy lifestyle. But in order to truly optimize your health, your healthy lifestyle must include exercise.
Exercise helps in preventing obesity and diabetes, reducing stress, and lowering your blood pressure. By maintaining a fitness regimen, you can also go a long way toward warding off the risk of stroke.
Thankfully, up to 80 percent of strokes are preventable. Research shows that lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, weight, blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and smoking can have a direct bearing on your individual risk.
The study found that moderate exercise (such as taking a brisk walk) reduced women’s stroke risk by 20 percent. It also helped to mildly offset the increased stroke risk in older women using postmenopausal hormone therapy.
As a general rule, eating unprocessed, natural foods will help to reduce your risk of stroke. As for specific items to avoid, the following are at the top of the list:
• Trans fats are known to promote inflammation, which is a hallmark of most chronic and/or serious diseases, including strokes and heart disease. Women in particular would be well served to avoid trans fats as stroke rates are on the rise in middle-aged women, and poor dietary choices are likely a significant culprit. In one 2010 study, post-menopausal women who consumed the most daily dietary trans fat had a 30 percent higher incidence of ischemic strokes.
• Certain preservatives, such as sodium nitrate and nitrite found in smoked and processed meats have also been shown to damage your blood vessels, which could increase your risk of stroke.
• Artificial sweeteners may also increase your risk. Previous research has shown that drinking just one diet soda a day may increase your risk of stroke by 48 percent.