Today is an auspicious day for people like me who love food and nutrition. It’s Registered
Dietitian day and it’s Pi day. RD day was created to help increase awareness of RDs as the go-to source for credible scientific information about food and nutrition. For more information, check out the links below from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics:

• What is a Registered Dietitian
• Top 10 Reasons to see an RD
• Every Day Eating Tips

Today is also Pi Day because it’s March 14 (or 3.1415926535….). I can’t think of anything better than to combine the two into one delicious lunch! Pie for lunch? Of course, as long as it’s this delicious vegetable pie (well actually a tart but it’s still round so you can use it to calculate Pi if you want!). When I put a big wedge of this on my plate alongside some greens and a poached egg, I know my plate will be balanced; about half vegetables, a serving of grains (cornmeal), a serving of dairy (cheese) and protein.  Happy RD day and happy Pi day!

So yesterday I completed my first road race, the Hyannis Half Marathon. I feel really good
about completing one of my goals that I set when deciding that this would be the year that I challenge myself! I also feel great physically, mostly because I trained slowly and steadily and followed my plan which included a lot of rest last week. Before I get to my food for the day, I’d like to share some things that are great about running an organized race.  Some of you might have already run plenty of races and feel blasé about these particular things, and some of might not have completed any organized races before, but here are some of the things that I enjoyed yesterday:

• You don’t have to carry water! This is such a nice bonus after doing long training runs while carrying a bottle of water. On top of it all there are such great volunteers working hard to make sure that everything goes smoothly for you!
• There are all sorts of great people cheering you along the race route! My favorites were the kids that lined up to give high-fives to as many runners as they could. I’m sure they were there to cheer on their own Mom, Dad, Auntie, Uncle or whoever (and they held some pretty wonderful signs too) but they also cheered on every other runner that passed!
• The great camaraderie of being with a big group of people all looking to complete the same goal! Sure there were plenty of “hard core runners” who weren’t too friendly, but there were many more friendly people out to have a good time. I had some great mini-conversations people and had the pleasure of running alongside Dick and Rick Hoyt for a moment just before mile 3.
• Running on the double yellow lines down the middle of the street! How often is that going to happen? After the stress of dodging cars when running around town, it was pretty great to be able to just run down the middle of the street in the same direction as everyone else and not look over my shoulder once!
• The great music I listened to! Well, this isn’t specific to running an organized race but I wanted to slip this in. I made myself a playlist that was loaded with all sorts of music that I knew would put a smile on my face. This is one more area that is very personal to each of us because taste is very individual, but no matter your taste it’s important that you come up with something you like. Every 3-5 minutes when a new song came on, it made me smile which made running easier!

So, now for what I ate to fuel that run. The race was at 10 am, so I woke up early enough to

have my usual latte plus oatmeal cooked with a chopped up apple and milk (plus a splash of vanilla and a dash of cinnamon) delicious! I also made sure to drink down a tall glass of water. I didn’t have my usual breakfast since it is so high in fiber and I didn’t want to have “issues” later on! Then by about 8:15 as I was driving, I had a fig bar; once again this is something with plenty of complex carbohydrates but little fiber so it wouldn’t spend too much time in my stomach and cause trouble mid-race. During the race I ate fruit jellies – pure sugar. These are a candy that I cut up into pieces and portion into two bags of about 25 carbohydrates each. I’ve found that they go down easy for me because they aren’t too chewy like gummy options. I had my first little bite at about 30 minutes, then spread the rest of the first bag from minutes 45 to 60. The second bag I spread from 1:20 to the end. I found that by spreading out my intake, my stomach doesn’t get upset and it’s a more steady rate of delivery than eating things like Gu. Like I’ve said before however, this is totally individual, I know that my approach works for me because I had tested it out prior to race day.

After the race the first thing I did was to drink down a carton of chocolate milk and also

begin drinking more water. Even though it’s winter and I stopped at every water stop, I still needed quite a bit to rehydrate! After I took a shower, I headed off to a lovely french cafe in Hyannis (Pain D’Avignon) for some lunch. I had a delicious warm chickpea salad with goat cheese and several cups of water. I really concentrated on getting some high quality carbohydrates along with some protein to speed my recovery. I also picked up some tasty bread to bring home for dinner!

Back at home, my husband had made a wonderful dinner of pot roast, roasted

vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots and shallots), broccoli and mashed potatoes which went along nicely with the bread I brought home. You can see by my plate (sorry for the poor quality of the photo!) I really loaded on the veggies. I also had a snack of some greek yogurt later that evening and kept on drinking fluids.

Well, there you have it! Now I just need to decide if there is another half in my future…

I get questions about the latest food fads all the time. The miracle properties of sea salt, bananas, pomegranates, chia seeds, açaí berries and a million other so called ‘Super Foods’ have been touted by everyone from Dr. Oz to Oprah. It sometimes seems impossible to eat all of the foods we “should” be eating according to all of these experts. One of the latest miracles out there is tart cherries.

Tart cherries have been shown to ease muscle soreness by reducing inflammation in muscle tissue after exercise in quite a few studies. In most of these the subjects drank the juice for several days before strenuous activity as well as after. The reason inflammation was decreased is thought to be the high amount of antioxidants in the tart cherries. What’s the bottom line? The first thing I notice is that most of the studies have been funded by cherry juice manufacturers or those who have financial holdings associated with tart cherries. When looking at any study, the first question has to be the motivation for those who have funded the research, we also have to look at the numbers of subjects involved and the methodology used. Most of these studies have not been very large, plus they compare the tart cherry juice with a placebo but they have not compared it to any other fruits high in antioxidants.

Should you start making tart cherries a habit? Well, maybe. What it really comes down to is 1-Do you like tart cherry juice? 2-Can your activity level support the added calories? 3-Can your wallet support the cost? There are many other fruits that have high antioxidant levels and other things that you can do to ease muscle soreness after strenuous exercise. The first thing you want to do is make sure that you are typically consuming a diet that is high in a variety of brightly colored vegetables and fruits. All of the antioxidants in these will add up to form an inflammation fighting army within you. Notice that the studies have people consume the juice prior to the demanding exercise; by eating well on a daily basis, you too can reap the benefits of antioxidants. What else can you do? Massage has been shown to decrease inflammation and speed the process of healing in muscle tissue; bring on the foam roller! Lastly make sure that you have your recovery meal or drink soon after strenuous activity. Giving your body a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein will help give muscles the energy (carbs) and building blocks (protein) to make needed repairs to muscle tissue.

There are many different fruits and vegetables out there high in antioxidants and many antioxidants that haven’t even been discovered yet! This lack of knowledge is one reason why there are ‘new super foods’ coming out all of the time and it’s also the reason that when taken as a powder or pill, specific vitamins and antioxidants don’t stack up as well as whole foods when compared in studies. There are components of foods that work within our bodies in ways we haven’t yet begun to understand. What is known, is that eating a varied diet low in processed foods and high in whole foods will do you a world of good!

As I mentioned in my last post, fiber and whole grains are linked together often, but are not synonymous.  Now you know that fiber can be found in vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains and beans. So what’s so great about whole grains if you can get your fiber from so many other sources? Grains have much more going for them than just the fiber!

First I’ll explain what whole grains are. There are three parts to a grain seed: the bran, the endosperm and the germ. The bran is the outer husk, this is where the fiber is as well as some B vitamins and antioxidants. The germ is actually the embryo of the seed (you can think of it as similar to the yolk of an egg) and this contains B vitamins, minerals, protein, and healthy fats. The endosperm is what is sold as white flour; this is the largest part of the seed and is mostly starchy carbohydrate and protein with small amounts of vitamins and minerals. You can get the idea from this that when you take away the germ and the bran, most of the micro-nutrients go with them. Processors are required to add back some vitamins and minerals but refined grains still don’t come close to the nutrition of whole grains.

When you are looking at labels in the supermarket there are a few things to look out for. Lots of companies are now putting “made with whole gains” or “multi-grain” on the front of the box or bag in an attempt to get you to buy them. These products might have only a sprinkling of whole grains in them. Take the time to turn the package around and read the ingredients list. Since Ingredients must be listed from greatest quantity to least, you want to see whole grains at the top of the list. The word whole along with whatever grain it is must be there (as in whole wheat flour) if it says wheat flour then it is refined. Some other whole grains you may see on packages include barley, corn, oats, brown rice, rye, and quinoa (to name just a few). Did you notice corn on the list? Yes, corn is a grain, and air-popped popcorn is a great whole grain snack!

How much should you be eating? For the average adult, the minimum amount is 3-4 oz per day. Since a slice of bread or 1/2 of an english muffin is a 1 oz equivalent, you can see that it’s easy to reach the minimum. The recommendation is also to make sure that half of all the grains you consume are whole grains. I’m going to stick with my usual recommendation to stay away from processed foods as much as possible. The more foods are processed, the fewer vitamins, minerals and other beneficial nutrients remain in them and I need all the nutrients I can get!

For more information you can visit the Whole Grain Council website. If you see one of their stamps on a product you know it contains whole grains, but don’t let that limit you! There are plenty of products out there that contain whole grains which don’t carry the stamp. In order to use the stamp each company must pay a fee as well as show that their product complies. There are some good store brands which do not bother to go through this process; the most foolproof method is to read the ingredients list.

You may have noticed an uptick in the marketing of whole grains and fiber lately. From pasta to sugary breakfast cereals, many products are now being touted as containing whole grains or more fiber with the hope that you will buy them. So what’s the deal? You know that whole grains and fiber are supposed to be good for you so this is a good thing, right? Well… yes and no…. let me explain. Fiber and whole grains are two things that while linked, are not synonymous and hopefully I can help clear up the differences between them. This first post will focus on fiber and I’ll follow up with one on whole grains soon.

The recommendation for fiber intake is 14 grams per 1,000 calories consumed; so if you eat about 2,000 calories per day you should be consuming about 28 grams of fiber.  What is Fiber? It is the indigestible part of the foods we eat (some people refer to it as roughage). There are two types of fiber which are typically referred to as soluble or insoluble; the big difference being that soluble fiber absorbs water and becomes gelatinous. Some types of soluble fiber can be used by gut bacteria as fuel, which is important to know because the by-product of this is gas (we all know what that is!).

Are you wondering why we need fiber if it’s something that our bodies can’t digest? Fiber actually has many health benefits. Think of fiber as the broom that helps to clean out your digestive tract, helping to eliminate waste and prevent constipation, but that’s not all! Fiber also helps to slow the rate of digestion which is helps to make you feel full longer and slows the rate of sugar entering your bloodstream which helps people maintain bodyweight and control diabetes. Fiber also helps to reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood by binding with fatty acids which can help prevent heart disease.

So fiber is great, right? Well, not all fiber is created equal. Fibers that are naturally occurring in foods (like the fiber in vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains and beans) have the added benefit of supplying your body with vitamins and minerals that can improve health in other ways. Other types of fiber that are used as additives in foods just so that they can carry a high fiber label may or may not be as useful and can cause quite a bit of gastric distress if eaten in large quantities. Some words to look out for on labels include: psyllium husk, beta-glucan, inulin, resistant dextrins or resistant starch, fructans, xanthan gum, cellulose, modified starch, guar gum, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), and oligo- or polysaccharides, and various brans.

If you are one of the millions of Americans that needs to increase fiber intake, the first thing you need to remember is go slowly! If you are not used to fiber and you suddenly up your intake it could spell constipation, gas and discomfort! It is also important to increase your water consumption to help prevent constipation as your intake increases. If you focus on adding more vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains and beans instead of just looking at the number of grams in processed foods, your body will thank you!

As I mentioned in a previous blogpost, I’m training for a half marathon. One thing that often gets overlooked when it comes to training is what to eat and drink. Consuming food and beverages are the only way to fuel your body for hard work. Think about that for a minute; Food is fuel. In the same way that it is impossible to drive a car very far when the tank is approaching empty, it is impossible to run very far when you haven’t fueled up beforehand! Additionally, it’s important to think about what you consume during exercise (when working hard for more than 60 minutes) and after exercise for recovery. Since this is such a huge topic, I’ll break it up into two posts.

First for the fluids. It’s important to start out hydrated and keep it that way. Water is essential for almost every chemical reaction that occurs in the body. Ensure that you keep hydrated on a daily basis by sipping water throughout your day. To figure out just how much fluid you will need during exercise, weigh yourself before and after; every pound of bodyweight lost is equal to about 16 oz of fluid (don’t forget to take into account how much you drank during that workout!). This is something that will be variable between individuals and from season to season.

Now onto the pre-workout fuel. What you need will depend upon what time of day you are exercising and how recently you’ve eaten. If you have had a meal within the past few hours you are probably good to go (I’m assuming you had a well balanced meal with vegetables and fruit included!).  If it’s been more than 3 or 4 hours, a small snack that has a combination of carbohydrates and protein (such as fruit with cheese or peanut butter) will probably be enough to top off your tank. If you exercise first thing in the morning (like me), I encourage you to get up early enough to eat before you start your activity. If this is something that upsets your stomach there are a few things you can try: wake up a little earlier so that your breakfast can settle, or try different types of foods (depending upon your symptoms fat, fiber or something else may be to blame). For persistent issues, working with a Dietitian can be very helpful.

Every person is individual so what works for me won’t necessarily work for you. I like to have a bowl of cereal, coffee and a large glass of water.  The cereal is a big bowl of two different types mixed together which I eat dry (since I’m making lunches, getting kids fed, dressed, and off to school – it would get too soggy otherwise!). The coffee is a latte made with a cup of skim milk and no sugar (believe me it doesn’t need it!) and the water just helps me to rehydrate (sometimes I have a little more than one glass). I usually start my exercise about 2 hours later (plenty of time for that breakfast to settle) and I will often have a piece of fruit to top me off before I begin. This is a good mix of fluids, carbohydrates, protein and fiber (about 22.25g of protein and 95g of carbohydrates) and has proven to work well for me. Would the same exact thing work for someone else? Maybe not. What we eat is very individual – just make sure that you do eat!

My next blogpost will cover what to eat during activity (for those of you who are exercising for more than 60 minutes at a time) and what to eat for recovery. Stay tuned!

Have you ever heard the term “health halo”? It’s when you perceive a food as healthy because of the way it is packaged and marketed or because of another association such as being linked with healthy foods or endorsed by a trusted celebrity. For example, we’ve all heard about Jared losing weight by eating at Subway, right? So when many of us think about Subway now, we think of them as having healthy food. While they do have healthy options, they also have things like the 6″ Philly Cheesesteak which has a whopping 1310mg of Sodium! You had better not add soup to that meal or you’ll easily meet or exceed the recommended Upper Limit for Sodium which is 2400mg (read more in this previous blogpost).

What do you think of when you hear the words organic, natural, made with whole grains, fat-free, fair-trade, pure, made with real fruit…. I could go on and on! These are all words that clever marketing firms use in order to make us feel that a food is healthy so that we will want to buy it. Some of these words are regulated (like the term USDA Organic) and some (like Natural) are not. When a regulated term is used, you still need to be careful! An Organic Soda (like this one) is still full of added sugars and has absolutely no health benefits.

What is the best way to avoid falling into the “health halo” trap? Make sure that the majority of the food you eat is unprocessed. By unprocessed I’m talking about whole fruits and vegetables as well as lean protein sources. Ironically, these are also the kinds of foods that typically don’t have a nutrition label in the grocery store and don’t get a lot of marketing hype! Eat more foods like these and your body will thank you!

For a little more information on labels, you can read what the Center for Science in the Public Interest has to say.

What’s so fun about training for a half-marathon? That’s what I used to ask myself… Then I signed up for one as a part of my New Year’s Resolution to challenge myself more.

Racing is something I have always shied away from for reasons you may or may not find familiar. I have a tendency to be very hard on myself (as many of us do!) and the thought of not only training for a race, but then having my time recorded for all to see was too much for me. If I heard that someone finished a 5K in 30 minutes I would think – “Could I do that?” “Is that a good time?” “Could I run it faster?” These were not calming positive thoughts! Then I read this New York Times article a while ago and it helped me to start thinking about races as something fun to do, and not something to win or lose. It got me really thinking about how to go out and enjoy the process without being so focused on the end result. So the first part of my personal challenge is to enjoy the process and not set a goal for a certain time or compare myself with others running the same race. I need to let go of the idea of perfection. I cannot judge myself (or anyone else) on how fast I run this race, I can only ask “Did I do my best?” as long as the answer is yes, then I should be very happy indeed.

Second comes the issue of training. If you are going to run any significant distance, you need to train for it. Training involves more than just running; It’s also about challenging yourself at times with a variety of workouts and backing off at times to rest and recover. For me, the backing off and resting have always been very hard to do. This idea of challenging ourselves to work hard, but also listening to our bodies (and minds) and resting when we need to, is a great analogy for life. My personal challenge? Make sure to not overdo it; when I’m tempted to keep going on a day that is supposed to be an ‘easy’ day, I need to follow my training program and stop!

Another other important lesson with training is the planning involved. It takes both time and a plan of action to get from point A to point B. No one goes from couch potato to runner overnight. Planning can help you to achieve almost any goal that you have set for yourself (as long as it is a SMART goal!). Most training schedules for running a half-marathon are from nine to twelve weeks long at a minimum. Since I am a huge planner, this  isn’t as much of a big deal for me, but it’s something I need to do nonetheless. I have a plan and am following along week by week (including all of the rest and easy days!).

One more big component of all of this training and planning is what to eat for energy and recovery when running! For me this is the fun part. I have counseled other runners and triathletes about this before, but now it’s my turn to try out all of the options. Since food is very individual, I am testing out some different options to find out what works for me. I think I’ll save the details of this one for another post.

I have to admit that I love the idea of a good New Year’s resolution even though most of them are haphazard, poorly planned and seldom seen to fruition! I guess the thing I love most about resolutions, is the promise of what greatness we can achieve in a year. So how do we set resolutions for ourselves that will actually stick and make us feel good about ourselves this time next year? I’ll use the “this year I’m going to lose weight and get in shape” resolution as an example.

The first thing we need to do is look back. How can we possibly change for the better without evaluating our past? Not only are ”those who cannot remember the past condemned to repeat it” but there are many lessons to be learned by examining our own behaviors. For example, if your resolution is to lose weight and get in shape, ask yourself “what have I been doing that isn’t in line with my goals?” Then in a non-judgemental way, think about what you might be able to do in the future to turn those behaviors around.

Once you’ve evaluated your past, it’s time to think about the future. Being able to actually achieve your goals has a lot to do with how SMART those goals are. If you’ve never heard of the SMART acronym, it stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely (some SMARTER people include Evaluate and Reevaluate too). So for example – ‘I will eat one more serving of fruits or vegetables every day’ is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely! So is ‘ I will add 15 minutes of movement to my day, five days a week’. Both of these may sound very small, but small changes add up to positive change over time. As you begin meeting these goals, evaluate and reevaluate them; then challenge yourself a little more!

What is my New Year’s Resolution? I plan to find new ways of challenging myself in the new year. I have some SMART goals set for myself already and will let you all know as I start meeting them (teaser!) – Happy New Year!

I have been seeing more and more supplements emerge over the years and I think it’s a troubling trend. Some boast that they have more antioxidants than you could ever consume in vegetables and fruits alone. Others swear that they can promote muscle growth and burn fat while increasing your energy. It all sounds so enticing doesn’t it? Can supplements really be the answer or are you being sold dreams in pill form?  If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The first question I ask about anything I choose to swallow is, ‘are they safe and effective?’. The FDA doesn’t have to approve of supplements as safe or effective before they are marketed and sold to the public. Buyer beware, whenever a company has to put a disclaimer on their product like this (below), you need to ask yourself why.

• “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”

There are some outside organizations such as USP that set standards for the purity and strength of ingredients in supplements. In other words, if you see the USP logo on your bottle, that means that they have checked to see that it contains exactly what is on thelabel – no more, no less. Why on earth would that be necessary you ask? There have been instances where supplements contain more or less of the ingredients stated on the label as well as the addition of ingredients that aren’t listed. This can be particularly dangerous to those with allergies, those taking other medications or those with any number of medical issues.

I’m only touching the tip of the iceberg here because it’s such a huge topic. Supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry and I don’t see that changing any time soon. My own personal stance on supplement usage is to have your diet and lab values analyzed by a qualified professional, then only take those nutrients that you need and cannot get from food sources alone.

Below are some links with even more information about supplements. There are many websites out there trying to give you “information” about supplements so it can be difficult to find the truth. Look for multiple peer reviewed studies to back up any claim made about a given supplement and check with your health care provider before taking anything.

• What’s wrong with the Supplement Industry?
• Using Supplements Wisely
• Dietary Supplements Label Database
• Dietary Supplements, how to know what is safe
• Risky Dietary Supplements