Myth Buster: Coconut Oil

4:06 PM

Question

I have started noticing more coconut oil at the grocery store and have heard it is better for you than a lot of other oils. Is that true?

Answer

I've also noticed that coconut oil seems to be catching on these days. Coconut oil is about 90% saturated fat, which is a higher percentage than butter (about 64% saturated fat), beef fat (40%), or even lard (also 40%). Too much saturated fat in the diet is unhealthy because it raises "bad" (LDL) cholesterollevels, which increases the risk of heart disease. So it would seem that coconut oil would be bad news for our hearts.

But what's interesting about coconut oil is that it also gives "good" (HDL) cholesterol a boost. Fat in the diet, whether it's saturated or unsaturated, tends to nudge HDL levels up, but coconut oil seems to be especially potent at doing so.

Saturated fat is divided into various types, based on the number of carbon atoms in the molecule, and about half of the saturated fat in coconut oil is the 12-carbon variety, called lauric acid. That is a higher percentage than in most other oils, and is probably responsible for the unusual HDL effects of coconut oil. But plant-based oils are more than just fats. They contain many antioxidants and other substances, so their overall effects on health can't be predicted just by the changes in LDL and HDL.

Coconut is a wonderful flavor and there's no problem using coconut oil occasionally. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so cooks are experimenting with using it instead of butter or vegetable shortening to make pie crust and other baked goods that require a solid source of fat. And if you're preparing a Thai dish, cooking with coconut oil may be essential.

But, for now, I'd use coconut oil sparingly. Most of the research so far has consisted of short-term studies to examine its effect on cholesterol levels. We don't really know how coconut oil affects heart disease. And I don't think coconut oil is as healthful as vegetable oils like olive oil and soybean oil, which are mainly unsaturated fat and therefore both lower LDL and increase HDL. Coconut oil's special HDL-boosting effect may make it "less bad" than the high saturated fat content would indicate, but it's still probably not the best choice among the many available oils to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Related: "Cracking the Coconut Trend"

Original source: “Ask the Doctor: Coconut Oil” by Walter C. Willett, M.D. and Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information for teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for teens. For more information visit www.bestteendiets.org

Fruits Veggies

Recipes: Dips Two Ways

12:00 AM

Healthy Snacking

Delicious snack recipes on the way...

9:16 PM

Fad Diets

What "skinny" and "healthy" are saying to us

8:31 PM

Have you been hearing what we've been hearing? "Skinny" is the new "low-cal" and "healthy" really means "okay to eat more". Huh? Let us explain.

"Skinny"

The word "skinny" is being used on food products more recently to appeal to customers who are looking for healthier, waist-friendly choices. But whether or not they are actually healthier or waist-friendly is up for question. "It personifies food and makes it more endearing and doesn't have the negative connotation that the word 'diet' has," says a consumer-research psychologist and professor. It allows for guilt-free indulgence as part of a maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The co-founder of SkinnyPop (pictured above, center) uses the word 'skinny' to give the impression of "few ingredients, better-for-you and a lifestyle".

We took a look at the "Multigrain Skinny Buns" (pictured above, right) and compared them to Oroweat's "Healthy Multigrain" sliced bread. The nutrition facts of one bun and one slice of bread are nearly identical. The difference is only one gram of sugar, one gram of protein, and 5 mg of sodium. That means you could make a sandwich on a whole skinny bun (top and bottom) or make half of a sandwich (one slice of bread) and the result would be essentially the same. Not to mention, the buns list "enriched wheat flour" at the top of their ingredient list while the bread lists "whole wheat flour". You know what that means... The buns are not actually whole wheat but the multigrain bread is!

"Healthy"

'Healthy' is another term to consider. A study published in this month's International Journal of Obesity looked at how much people eat according to the label "healthier". They found that people served up a larger portion of 'healthier' coleslaw than the "regular" coleslaw even though both versions were the same number of calories. People also felt less guilty about having the 'healthier' version, which would explain the larger portions.

The take-away message:

The words "skinny" and "healthy" are just terms that are being used to try and get us to buy into a product. Don't give these products special treatment and assume they are what they say they are. Look at the label as you would any other product and see what about it is different from the "regular" version. When we become aware of the words that surround us in the grocery aisles, we can then decipher for ourselves what is "healthy" and what is trying to be.

Related: "Reading a Food Label", "Controlling Portion Size"

Articles referenced: Advertising Age, "How 'Skinny' Became the Hottest Phrase in Marketing" by E.J. Schultz and "People choose larger versions of 'healthy' food" by Keri Grens

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information for teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for teens. For more information visit www.bestteendiets.org

Motivation

Friday Inspiration: Something You've Never Done

1:33 PM

Grocery Shopping

15 Fresh Brown Bag Lunch Ideas

4:46 PM

If you're a parent of school-age kids, you're probably no stranger to brown bananas and smashed sandwiches aging in the bottom of your child's backpack. By the end of the school year, most kids are tired of eating the same bag lunch day after day at school. Even peanut butter and jelly sandwiches can grow old.

Summer brings a change of weather and daytime activities. Why not change what you pack in your children’s camp or summer school lunches?

These 15 kids’ lunchbox ideas are based on four key elements. Use them when you fix your summer lunches, too:

15 Fun Lunchbox Ideas for Kids

Try these menu items to jazz up bag lunches.

Pasta Lover's Lunch Salad. Pack a cold pasta salad and a plastic fork, and your pasta lover will love you, too! Make the salad with lean meat or low-fat cheese (so it has some protein), lots of vegetables to boost fiber and nutrition, and whole wheat or whole-grain pasta. Toss everything together with a light bottled vinaigrette made with extra virgin olive oil or canola oil.

Mediterranean Pita Pocket. Fill a pita pocket with falafel balls and some homemade or store-bought hummus. Some falafel balls come cooked and ready to add.

Fruit and Cheese Plate. Fill a divided plastic container with assorted cubes or slices of reduced fat cheese, easy-to-eat fruit such as apple and pear slices, grapes, berries or melon and whole-wheat crackers.

Peanut Butter Fun Pack. Make a peanut butter fun pack by spooning two tablespoons of natural-style peanut butter in a reusable plastic container, along with whole wheat crackers or whole wheat pita pocket wedges and raw vegetables such as celery, zucchini, or jicama sticks.

Everything Is Better on a Mini Bagel. Whole-wheat bagels are a wonderful foundation for hardy sandwiches that stand up to being in a backpack or locker all morning. Start with one regular or a few mini bagels. Add tuna or lean, roasted, and sliced turkey or roast beef. Top it off with reduced-fat cheese and fresh tomato, onion, and Romaine lettuce or sprouts. Two mini bagels can supply 6 grams of fiber to the meal.

Celebrate Lunch Salads. A plastic container can hold the makings of a delicious salad lunch. For a Cobb salad, fill it with spinach or chopped dark green lettuce, chopped hard-boiled egg, light cheese, and/or lean ham. Or toss in the ingredients for a Chinese chicken salad: dark salad greens, shredded chicken, shredded carrots, sliced green onion, and toasted sliced almonds.

The salad will stay fresher if your child adds the dressing at lunchtime. Put a light dressing into a small container, buy packets of light dressing, or use extra packets of dressing left over from a fast-food meal.

It's a Wrap! Wraps are a nice change of pace from the usual sandwich. Use a high-fiber multigrain flour tortilla, available in most supermarkets. Spread on mustard, hummus, light salad dressing, or green or sundried tomato pesto. Then fill 'er up with chicken Caesar salad or assorted lean meats, cheese, tomato, sliced onion, and shredded Romaine lettuce. Just roll it up and wrap in foil. Kids can eat it like a burrito -- by unwrapping it on one end and working their way down.

Noodle Soup Cups. Many schools offer a hot water dispenser so older kids (or young kids with assistance) can add hot water to packaged noodle soup cups. Even the more healthful soup options can be high in sodium, however, so you may not want to pack them in your child’s lunch more than once a week.

Some brands are lower in sodium and fat, and higher in fiber, than others. The nutrition label tells the story. If your child has access to a microwave, you can pack one of the more healthful microwaveable individual soup containers now available from major brands.

Veggie Sushi. Not all kids will go for this, but some children really like seaweed-wrapped sushi rolls. You can now buy pre-made sushi at many supermarkets. Choose sushi that is filled with veggies (such as avocado and cucumber) so there's no chance that it will get a little "fishy" in your child's backpack.

Fun Fried Rice. When made with eggs, tofu or chopped lean meat, and lots of veggies, cold fried rice can be a satisfying noontime treat. Make your own using brown rice. Or set some aside for the next day when you get take-out Chinese food for dinner.

Talk About Taquitos. Taquitos are easy to eat and easy to pack. In the morning, lay a few bean and cheese frozen taquitos on a small sheet of foil. Pop them into a toaster oven to crisp them up. Wrap them up in the foil and slide them in your child’s lunch bag. For a vegetarian option, bean taquitos are available in some stores.

BBQ Chicken Sandwich. Your child can assemble a yummy BBQ grilled chicken sandwich fresh at lunchtime. Just pack a grilled, boneless, skinless chicken breast with some lettuce and sliced tomato in one baggie and a whole-wheat bun in another. Add a packet of BBQ sauce and it's good to go.

Muffin Mania. Muffins can add flavor and flair to a bag lunch. If you bake them ahead and keep them in the freezer, you just have to pull out one or two in the morning. By lunch, they’ll be soft and ready to eat.

There are a few tricks to improving the health value of muffin recipes. Substitute in whole-wheat flour for at least half of the flour in recipes that call for white flour. Incorporate other whole grains when possible. Add in summer fruits such as berries or peaches or vegetables like corn or grated zucchini, when appropriate. You can also cut back on the sugar called for in a recipe when you add in fruit. Switch in smart fats (such as canola or olive oil), when possible, and reduced saturated fat options (such as reduced fat cheese).

Tasty Spanakopita Triangles. These spinach-filled filo puffs are vegetarian finger food that’s fun to eat. Some stores carry frozen spanakopita that you can bake in the morning or the night before and pack in your child’s lunch. Read the label to find a brand that's got plenty of vitamins A and C, plus iron and calcium.

Soy Much for Sandwiches. For a change of pace, make soy the center of your child’s lunch. There are more and more great-tasting soy-based products available. For example, specialty grocery stores carry meatless corn dogs. To prepare one for a bag lunch, heat it up in the microwave in the morning. Remove the wooden stick, crisp it up briefly in the toaster oven, and wrap it in foil. Meatless versions of chicken nuggets are also available and can be prepared just like the corn dogs. The trick is finding a brand your child enjoys that isn’t too high in sodium.

Tasty Side Dishes

Add some of these to round out your child’s lunch:

Fruit cups (with no sugar added)
Applesauce in flavors such as pomegranate or cranberry-raspberry (also with no sugar added)
Nuts or seeds in a shell (if age and allergy appropriate), such as walnuts, pistachios, peanuts, or sunflower seeds
Raw veggies (ready to pack) such as carrot sticks, sugar snap peas, celery, or jicama sticks
Cheese sticks -- available in 2% sharp cheddar, part skim-milk mozzarella, pepper jack, and more
Healthy snack bars (individually wrapped) with 3 or more grams of fiber, less than 10 grams sugar, and no more than 1 gram saturated fat
Yogurt in individual containers (keep it cold by packing them with a reusable ice pack or a small water bottle that has been frozen.)

Related: "Brown Bag Lunch Ideas"

Original article, “15 Fresh Brown Bag Lunch Ideas” by Elaine Magee, MPH, RD

Healthy Snacking

Like Recipes? Find more HERE!

10:50 PM

Fats

Fat: Not Always So Fattening

4:00 PM

By Kristi Tamaki, RD / Best Teen Diets Contributor

Good fats, bad fats, low-fat, fat-free.... All these terms can send us into a tornado of confusion. There was a time in my life when I thought that eating a salad plain, without any dressing and piled high with veggies and topped with some form of protein would be the best for me, even if it didn't taste nearly as good. Well it turns out that fat can make a salad better for me because some of the vitamins that are found in the veggies can't be used by my body without fat! Think of it like the vehicle that transports the nutrients from veggie to body. So I need fat? Yes.

Fat is necessary, but don't just give yourself free reign. Instead, choose the healthy fats (unsaturated fats) that come from avocados, nuts, seeds, fish, and olive and canola oils. And use them in moderate portions. So I guess if you really liked your salads plain, a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar could work wonders for you without changing the taste too much. But sometimes we want that creamy dressing that we're told to stay away from. Say no more-- there's a healthy option for that! The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recently shared how we can make salads healthier and included this little tidbit of information:

"We've been conditioned to avoid full-fat salad dressings, but a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that, like avocados, the oils in salad dressings help us absorb the carotenoids in our salad veggies. In addition, fat, whether it's from a salad dressing or an avocado, helps us absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, says registered dietitian Lona Sandon. Finally, adding a little fat — one or two tablespoons of dressing — to your salad can help you feel fuller and more satisfied."

Original article "Healthy Salads: Top This! Five Surprising Toppings For A Healthier Salad" from The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information for teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for teens. For more information visit www.bestteendiets.org

How-To

How To: Cook Quinoa

5:32 PM

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa (any variety — white or golden, red, or black)

Olive oil (optional)

2 cups liquid, such as broth or water

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Tools

Fine mesh strainer

2-quart saucepan with lid

Spoon

Instructions

1. Measure quinoa and liquid. Measure out 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups liquid.

2. Rinse the quinoa. Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer, and rinse thoroughly with cool water. Rub and swish the quinoa with your hand while rinsing, and rinse for at least 2 minutes under the running water. Drain.

Why rinse quinoa? Rinsing removes quinoa's natural coating, called saponin, which can make it taste bitter or soapy. Although boxed quinoa is often pre-rinsed, it doesn't hurt to give the seeds an additional rinse at home. Some cookbooks suggest soaking the quinoa but, in our experience, this is unnecessary.

3. Dry and toast quinoa in saucepan. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat, and add the drained quinoa. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute, letting the water evaporate.

4. Add liquid and bring to a boil. Stir in the liquid and the salt (if using) and bring to a rolling boil.

5. Lower heat and cook covered for 15 minutes. Turn heat down to the lowest setting. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

6. Let stand covered for 5 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. Let stand for 5 minutes, covered.

7. Fluff and eat! After 5 minutes, remove the lid, fluff the quinoa gently with a fork, and serve. (You should see tiny spirals (the germ) separating from and curling around the quinoa seeds.)

Additional Notes:

One cup of dried quinoa yields about 3 cups cooked.
Some people like to add olive oil, butter, salt, or pepper. Cooked quinoa can also be used as the basis for pilafs, salads, breakfast porridges, and more.

Related: "Dining out at home: restaurant inspiration #2", "The secret to healthy eating you should know!"

View original post with more tips by The Kitchn, "How to Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa"

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information for teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for teens. For more information visit www.bestteendiets.org

Food

Tuna Melt Recipe Video

4:17 PM

Myth Buster: Coconut Oil

Recipes: Dips Two Ways

Delicious snack recipes on the way...

What "skinny" and "healthy" are saying to us

Friday Inspiration: Something You've Never Done

15 Fresh Brown Bag Lunch Ideas

Like Recipes? Find more HERE!

Fat: Not Always So Fattening

How To: Cook Quinoa

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa (any variety — white or golden, red, or black)

Olive oil (optional)

2 cups liquid, such as broth or water

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Tools

Fine mesh strainer

2-quart saucepan with lid

Spoon

Tuna Melt Recipe Video

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Ingredients 1 cup quinoa (any variety — white or golden, red, or black) Olive oil (optional) 2 cups liquid, such as broth or water 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Tools Fine mesh strainer 2-quart saucepan with lid Spoon

About me

Follow Us

recent posts

Blog Archive

Popular Posts

Follow Us

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa (any variety — white or golden, red, or black)

Olive oil (optional)

2 cups liquid, such as broth or water

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Tools

Fine mesh strainer

2-quart saucepan with lid

Spoon