What's the Deal with SODIUM?

Last night on ABC.com, a study was announced about the infamous food product: SALT.

According to the study, excessive salt consumption was linked to nearly 2.3 million cardiovascular deaths worldwide in 2010.

That's a lot of people.

Even worse, that means that 1 in 10 Americans die from too much sodium in their diet.

Now, this is only one study, so until more comes out, this cannot be taken too literally. BUT, the idea that salt can cause this much fatality is incredulous! It's almost saying that not only is sugar a silent killer, but so is salt.

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans already has about 1/2 of the population in America on a low sodium diet. They say healthy Americans should not consume more than 2300 mg/day, but if you are over the age of 50, have any disease, or are African American, one should not consume more than 1500 mg/day.

With food being so processed these days, it seems as if it is almost impossible to not eat at least 1500 mg of sodium per day!

So how do we combat this?

First of all, we eat less processed foods. Focus on incorporating whole foods into your snacks and meals. Rather than reaching for a protein bar, vegetables and hummus provide you with more nutrients and is less likely to have added sodium..

Also, we read nutrition labels. Food companies are allowed to be 20% off on those labels! Read them carefully, and ALWAYS TACK ON 20% MORE!

Finally, we exercise. Salt is sodium and chloride: two elements our bodies use as electrolytes. When we sweat, we get rid of those electrolytes. If you do eat a lot of salt one day, do some high intensity cardio so that you can sweat some of it out. *JUST NOTE YOU WON'T SWEAT IT ALL OUT, AND YOU NEED TO REPLENISH YOUR BODY AFTERWARDS*

Let's eat healthy everyone!

Love always,
Jo

Should I Go Gluten-Free?

The new trend in nutrition has been gluten-free products. People (mainly celebrities) have been switching to no gluten and seeing amazing benefits, making this one of the biggest trends in eating today. Some people are contemplating it but cannot seem to give up the bread of pasta. So, if you are wondering if the switch is right for you, keep on reading.

Gluten is protein that can be found in wheat, barley, rye, and malts. It's what makes dough rise, if you will. Gluten-free products starts becoming a "thing" when two different disorders started becoming prevalent in our population: celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

Celiac disease is a genetically linked autoimmune disease. For those with this disorder, gluten sets off an immune response to make the body rid itself of gluten created antibodies that attack and damage the small intestines. This is why it is known that if you have celiac disease, you may be at risk for cancer if you eat gluten.

Gluten sensitivity is just like celiac disease except that on the celiac disease test, you will come up negative.

Gluten-free diets are beneficial to those who have these disorders because it will halt all the symptoms, which include joint pain, anemia, diarrhea, constipation and fatigue.

For everyone else, going gluten-free won't do much for your diet. So, why is going gluten-free so popular? Well, it turns out that in about 1 in about 133 Americans actually have one of these two disorders. That is a pretty high number.

If you feel any of the symptoms, check with your doctor to see if a gluten-free diet is right for you.

Healthy Recipe #4: Chicken Stir Fry

Since I like to have most of my starchy carbs (if any) during the day, I often find myself just having protein and steamed veggies at night. Yesterday, I got tired of that so I decided to make stir fry. Granted, I had no idea how to make it, and I didn't have the means to get a recipe (my mom was occupying my computer), so I just went with it. WELL, it was so good that my little nine year old cousin begged me to make some for her.

This is giving me the idea of making my own cookbook haha.

Ingredients:

4 oz chicken (chopped into straw-like pieces)

unlimited green veggies! (I used kale, mushrooms, and broccoli)

1 tsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp. olive oil

In a pan, heat the olive oil and soy sauce at medium heat. Once they are heated throw in the chicken. You want to let the chicken cook a little (like 2-3 minutes) before adding the vegetables. Once one side of the chicken is cooked,  turn them over and add veggies! Cover the pan for about 3 minutes to let everything cook. Turn over the mushrooms and chicken and let them cook again.

In about 10 minutes, you have an amazing stir fry ready to eat and fill you up!

What exactly is this Glycemic Index?

The Glycemic Index (GI) has been the "new thing" on the nutrition newsfeed now. Most of the newest weight loss books have used it to determine what you should be eating and what you should avoid. The problem is that most people don't actually understand what the GI means and how it works. Even I sometimes don't understand it completely...and I'm studying to become a dietitian! So without further ado, here is a nice straight-forward way of explaining the Glycemic Index.

1. The GI ranks carbohydrates on a scale of 0 to 100 on how fast they raise your blood sugar levels after eating.
2. If the carbohydrate has a bigger number (70+), your body digests it really fast. Therefore, it spikes up your blood sugar level really fast as well.
3. If the carbohydrate has a lower number (55 or less), you body digests it slowly which produces a gradual spike in your blood sugar level.
4. You want to eat things that have a lower GI because they help control your appetite, delay hunger, and reduce insulin levels This is really good if you're a Type 2 diabetic or diabetes runs in your family (It runs in my family so this is really important for me).
5. Low GI Foods: bran, rolled oats, whole grain/wheat, most if not all vegetables, most fruits, hummus, wheat pasta, and most if not all beans

There you have it. A sure fire way to eat carbs and know that you are being healthy. Here is a full GI foods list if you want to see more foods that have low GIs as well as High GIs. Enjoy your carbs the right way from now on everyone!

Healthy Recipe #2: Peanut Butter Smoothies!

So, I decided to make weekend blog posts recipes because they are fast and easy to write (and therefore, give me time to enjoy my days off). So for today, I am writing out my favorite kind of smoothie for breakfast or a snack before dinner. All throughout high school, I don't think I touched a stove. Then, in college, I wasn't allowed to nor have anything more than a microwave and a fridge in my room. So, I am pretty new at all these recipes and what not. But, being the science geek that I am, I just pretend I'm in Chemistry lab (yeah. I know.), so now cooking is not only really easy but also one of my favorite things to do (in my defense, my parents are both chemical engineers. It was how I was raised to think!)

Anyway, a lot of recipes for "healthy protein" smoothies call for protein powders. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a protein powder that doesn't have milk products in it unless I order it. And if I order it, then I have to pay shipping and handling (and who wants to do that?). I remembered that one of my friends used peanut butter to make smoothies and I decided to give it a try. It's pretty good too! Tastes a lot like peanut butter though so if you're not a fan, you might want to add a lot more of the fruit. 

Here's my recipe for a peanut butter smoothie:

1 Tbs. peanut butter

1/2 cup fruit of choice (think of it as a PB&J sandwich. what's your favorite jam?)

1/2 cup ice (optional - if you don't freeze the fruit, you might want to add the ice)

1/2-1 cup of almond milk (play around with it!)

Put it all in a blender and enjoy!! (while blending, make sure you dance because...well, what else are you going to do?)

Today, I made this for breakfast. My fruit was strawberries!! Yesterday, I made it for a snack before dinner (I'm kind of obsessed with this), but I used blueberries. You can really do whatever you want with this and it will come out good!! Here's a video of my blueberries one: BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE

Healthy Recipe #1: Omelettes!

My favorite breakfast is an omelette. During the school year, the dining hall has a very limited breakfast option. My friend and I would always try to get there as early as possible before class (which for us meant about a half hour before our class) and get into the omelette line. Now that I'm home for the summer, I crave a delicious omelette almost everyday. Unfortunately, I had never made an omelette in my life...until this summer. After much experimenting, I have found my favorite way to make an omelette AND it includes tomatoes (which if you know me, you know I actually cannot stand tomatoes). Here it is!

Ingredients:
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup mushrooms
1/4 cup tomatoes
3 egg whites

Procedure:
Add some extra virgin olive oil (about a teaspoon) to a skillet set to medium heat. Also add about 1/4 cup of water. Saute the spinach and mushrooms until the spinach wilts and the mushrooms start to brown. Add the tomatoes. Now, wait until the water has evaporated completely before you add the egg whites. Then, cook for about 3 minutes and you should be good to go! Sometimes, you might mess up the omelette (I know I do), so just make it scrambled!

This is a perfect way to start the day if you have the time before work. Add a fruit if you don't think it will fill you up and you should be on your way!

Happy Eating!