Freshman 15: Fact or Fiction

Ahh tis’ that time of year again, back to school! How can I tell you ask? Well between the backed up traffic/lack of parking spots on campus, dozens of annoying banks trying to get me to sign up for a credit card, and freshmen walking around like lost puppies, sometimes with tears in their eyes, I think it’s a pretty safe bet. With the return of freshmen, comes the threat of the mythical freshman 15. However, just because you may not be a freshman, you are not exempt from weight gain. Quite frankly,  it only gets more difficult to avoid weight gain from here on out. Welcome to the process of aging my friends, where your metabolism starts to slow down and you can no longer eat or drink whatever you want without gaining weight! First, let me first address this whole “freshman 15” thing.

Freshman 15: Fact or Fiction

The freshman 15 is in most cases fiction. It is fiction in that most first year college students gain on average around five pounds or so. This is good news I suppose, but for those of you have never taken a stats class, this is just an average and there are outliers to this. Some people gain more, some people gain less, and some people just don’t gain anything.  

Well Beth, what causes weight gain?

Scientifically speaking, eating more calories than you burn.  Is there any specific food(s) that make you fat such as fat or carbs or sugar? Without getting too nerdy on you, the answer is no. Eating fat doesn’t make you fat in that singing Beyonce in your car does not in fact make you Beyonce.

Carbs and sugar, are not necessarily bad and are part of a balanced diet. What is the secret you ask? Everything in moderation. For example, I love pizza and COULD eat it every day in the dining hall, but I don’t.  Most people tend to over do it on fat, sugar, and carbs, which leads to weight gain. 

The part where weight gain gets a little more intricate is the part where your body burns calories and all of the factors that can affect that. Without getting into too much detail, some of these factors include: age, sex, muscle mass, stress, etc. I'll save those for another blog though.

How can I avoid weight gain?

It is pretty simple actually. Eat right and exercise--No need for some magical (and expensive) diet pill, detoxes, or cleanses. I don’t know about you, but I am no Kanye…

Breaking it down

The freshman 15 is a myth, but it is not as mythical as big foot or aliens, so keep that in mind. I mean weight gain during freshmen year may or may not have even happened to yours truly.

Gasp! I know right, you probably don’t want to think about your nutrition hero like that, but I’m just going to be real with you; I put my pants on one leg at a time just like everybody else J Well if you will excuse me, I need to go move my car (Note: I may have a touch of road rage)...

Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,

Keep it Green,

Beth

Throwback Tuesday: Milk Alternatives

Ok so maybe Throwback Tuesday really isn't a thing, but I'll blame it on my ripe old age of being in my late 20s. Anyways, I was looking back through some old blogs and found one of my favorites that is still pretty relevant. What is this blog about you ask? Well my answer to this is embedded in this riddle (because old people love riddles). What do cows, soybeans, almonds and rice have in common? MILK! Without further ado, check out this oldie, but a goodie on milk alternatives...

What do cows, soybeans, almonds and rice have in common?


Well I am off to go drink my prune juice and live the...

Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,
Keep it Green,

Beth

Sports Drinks

Dear Diary,

My name is Beth Mack. My parents are Mark and Judy of Ohio. Whoever reads this, make an attempt to get this to them. Today marks the 12^th day of the Charlotte heatwave and it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. I have been putting in a lot of effort to stay cool, but my boss insists that I come to work and make the treacherous trek from the parking deck to my office while wearing my business casual clothes and risk dehydration. Sometimes I feel like I am just going to shrivel up during this journey. I have been sweating a lot and have an insatiable thirst. I can’t stop thinking about how good a sports drink or water would be. But then my inner health nut comes out and I think to myself, “Should I be drinking a sports drink?" I am not sure if I should, but I do know that all I want is to be this dog...

Ok so maybe I am being a tad dramatic, but it at least makes for an entertaining intro right?!? Anyways, I wanted to talk about another one of my pet peeves today, which is sports drinks.  

History of sports drinks

Before I jumped on my sarcastic soap box, I wanted to give you all a little history lesson to help me get my point across. I am not sure about the history of other sports drinks, but I do know that Gatorade was in fact developed at the University of Florida for the athletes on their football team to help with hydration, energy, and to help with recovery post workout. Not really sure about the exact story behind it, but my guess would be something along the lines of this...

What’s in sports drinks?

Well, mostly water but also sugar and electrolytes. The sugars help replenish your energy stores that you use when you exercise. Electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, etc) help your body function normally and are present in sweat.  Unfortunately, when you sweat a lot you lose electrolytes. If you are curious about this whole sweat thing, check out Gatorade’s website for more info.

Should I drink a sports drink?

Sports drinks are designed for athletes that have you have completed a workout of moderate to vigorous activity for 60 minutes or longer. Now the terms moderate to strenuous exercise tend to trip people up a bit as well. Prancercise...

...does not count as moderate to vigorous exercise. Think more along the lines of running, cycling, playing soccer or football or basketball, hiking, etc.

PSA: Softball and baseball do not count either

Well what about coconut water?

Luckily for you, I have already talked about coconut water in a previous blog. For those of you who do not feel like clicking on that link, here are the cliff notes:

• If you actually need a sports drink, coconut water is a good alternative
• Lower in sodium, which could be an issue if you happen to be a marathoner or ironman person

Breaking it down

Sports drinks are designed for people who are doing moderate to vigorous exercise for 60 minutes or more. The only other time there is some benefit to consuming them is when you have had some serious and extenuating GI distress or if you have been outside for an extended period of time doing some serious sweating. By drinking sports unwarrantedly, you may as well just be drinking a soda; it isn’t going to help you any. In most cases, plain old water will do just fine. Should you be drinking a sports drink just because there is a torturous heat wave outside? No. Should I have to work in this torturous heat wave? No...

Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,

Keep it Green,

Beth

Juice

One of my pet peeves as a Dietitian is juice. Everybody thinks its healthy. I mean look at this picture for crying out loud…

Unfortunately, just about all juices are not made that way, and even if they were, juice still is not the best decision.

Why are you so ant-juice Beth?

Well I am glad you asked, I just need to get this off my chest. My disdain for juice can be summed up in one infographic…

Yes, 100% juice does contain natural sugars, which is great,  however, your body cannot differentiate between the two. To the body sugar is sugar.

Another common thing that keeps me up at night is people drinking juice in place of eating fruits and/or vegetables. Why you ask? Well, I just covered the whole sugar piece as to why this may not be the best idea, but the other big things that jumps out at me is the lack of fiber. Ah yes, everybody's favorite nutrient. Riddle me this, what keeps you fuller for longer drinking a glass of orange juice or eating an actual orange? (The correct answer is eating an actual orange) One of the reasons for this is because of the fiber found in the actual orange, which is removed when juice is made (unless you take your oj extra pulpy), helps with satiation (say-she-ation).  

Well what if I want to drink juice?

That’s fine, everything in moderation. Here are some things to look for to make your juice drinking decision a little healthier:

• Look for 100% fruit juice. Note: this will require you to actually read the label not just look at the pictures on it. Case in point:

Fruit drink and fruit cocktail is essentially fruit flavored water with tons of sugar added to it...the equivalent of soda or pop for my Midwestern friends. Yes, 100% fruit juice does contain some nutrients that soda does not, but it is not going to dramatically improve your health.

PSA: Juice cleanses

Here are my sentiments on juice cleanses…

Essentially this is a giant waste of time and money. Your body has a thing called a liver and not one, but two kidneys that “cleanse” your body of toxins.

Breaking it down

Not saying that you should never drink juice, but just be mindful that it does contain calories. Does it come from fruit? Yes, the 100% kind sure does. Does that make it "healthy"? Well, Ketchup comes from tomatoes, does that make it healthy? Not sure about you, but I don't see anyone (willingly) drinking ketchup. Anyways, I prefer not to drink my calories; rather I like to actually eat food and feel full. Again, moderation is key and NEVER drink OJ after you have brushed your teeth. Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,

Keep it Green,

Beth

Is sugar addictive?

I spent Memorial day weekend with my family and was fascinated with my nieces abilities to manipulate my dad and I into giving them anything with sugar in it...it didn't take much arm twisting to convince my dad aka pawpaw. You want some sprinkles in your pancakes? Sure! I mean you do make a good point, it will definitely make them look prettier. You want marshmallows AND whipped cream in your hot chocolate? Well you are just a little culinary genius aren't you! I have been doing it wrong for years!

By far the most entertaining was our visit to one of those DIY froyo places. I didn't know if my youngest niece's eyes could have gotten any bigger.  Her reaction was along the lines of this...

She was definitely in a sprinkle-froyo induced sugar frenzie and feeling good! She was running around trying to steal her sister's froyo despite still having plenty left in her bowl. Note: She was more successful when she practically jumped across the table to snag a bite from her sister's bowl. Anyways, all this got me to thinking, why are kids, and adults for that matter, so sugar crazed?

Obviously, it has been well documented that eating too much sugar is not a good thing for that girlish figure you may be working on or your overall health. There have even been some studies/headlines that compare sugar to drugs such as cocaine in its addictiveness properties. Is sugar addictive? Yes. Is sugar as addictive as cocaine? No. However, if you are a dork, such as myself, and are curious how sugar affects the brain and why we love sugar so much, check out this TedEd video...

Breaking it down
Keep your inner Buddy the Elf at bay...

But don't deprive yourself if all you really want is a doughnut...

My nutrition motto is everything in moderation. Well I am off to send my nieces a huge container of sprinkles. Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,
Keep it Green,

Beth

America & Burgers

With  Memorial Day and summer on the horizon, grills everywhere will come to life and there is nothing more American than burgers. In fact I googled American food and this was one of the first images that popped up...

For this blog, I wanted to talk about one of America’s favorite thing to grill, burgers. No, I am not going to talk about who has a better burger McDonald’s or Wendy’s, but rather the type of burger; beef, turkey, veggie, etc.

Type of burgers

• Beef: Red meat gets a bad rap for being fatty, which isn't undeserved in most cases, however you can get leaner varieties if you are really craving some red meat.  The most common type of ground beef used for burgers is 80/20, meaning 80% lean meat and 20% fat (by weight, not calories).  However, you can purchase leaner options such as 90/10 to make your burger a little healthier.
• Turkey: Yes, turkey is leaner than beef, meaning is it lower in calories and fat. However, if you are not paying attention to the type of ground turkey you are purchasing, this may not always be the case.  Often ground turkey contains more of the darker meat and skin, which bumps up the fat content, so aim for the leaner variety. 
• Veggie: These are almost always lower in calories, fat and protein compared to their meat counterparts, and higher fiber. (Side note: Americans get plenty of protein so don’t use this as an excuse to not eat veggie burgers) Also, ones purchased from the store, can be high in sodium and have a long list of ingredients that I cannot pronounce. If you want to avoid that (and are ambitious), try making your own. 

Toppings

Now that you have the 411 on some of the types of burgers, let’s look at what you are putting on your masterpiece.

• Bun/Bread: Of course what type of burger you get may be completed negated when you use doughnuts instead of a bun…

My inner dietitian wants me to tell you to opt for a whole wheat or whole grain bun. Surprise, surprise right? If you really just want to lighten up your burger, you can either skip the bun entirely or go naked and wrap your burger in a big piece of lettuce. (Note: I did not make that up, it is a real thing.)

• Cheese: Who doesn't love cheese?!? However, cheese does provide a good bit of calories, so you don’t want to get to carried away with it. 

Tip: One thing you could try is using sliced avocado instead. The creaminess of the avocado mimics that of cheese; Just a thought.

• Sauces: The healthfulness of sauces is all over the place. Condiments such as mustard, ketchup, and hot sauce are fairly harmless, but then you have mayo and aiolis that can sneak in  more calories than you realize. Simple rule of thumb, your creamier sauces will have more calories so don't go to crazy with them.
• Vegetables: Load up on these given that they are not fried.
• More meat/protein: This part is where a lot of people really get tripped up. Yes this includes your beloved bacon, but I have also seen burgers with a fried egg, BBQ pork, chili, etc, on them as well. Not really sure what to say about this as a vegetarian other than additional meat/protein is going to punch in more calories so make sure it’s worth it (tastes good and is your cheat day).

Sides

When I say peanut butter, what do you think of?

I would hope that you would think of jelly, if not you are un-American. Anyways, when I say burgers you probably think of fries; am I right? I mean who honestly wants to eat salad with a burger?!?!  Not me, and I am even a Dietitian AND a vegetarian, which is practically a rabbit right ?!? J Now, I don’t care if you call them French fries or Freedom fries…

but fries in general are not the healthiest for you, yes, even if they are sweet potato fries. It’s not that regular potatoes, or sweet potatoes for that matter, are bad for you. To make fries, they are cut up and fried in very hot oil or fat. Don’t get me wrong, French/freedom fries are delicious, but not something you should probably eat every day. Maybe try grilling some veggies or just be like Beyonce and go for the watermelon...

Breaking it down

At the end of the day, no matter what type of burger you chose, you are still eating a burger. Just because a veggie burger has the word veggie in its name does not automatically make it healthier. If you are watching your calories a little more closely, it might be a good idea to switch to a turkey burger. Don't like turkey burgers? That's ok, you can have your beef, just don't eat them everyday. Burgers aren't necessarily “bad” for you, but be mindful of both what you put on it and what you have with it.

My nutrition mantra is everything in moderation. Well I am off to go find some freedom to put on my burger...

Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,

Keep it Green,

Beth

Black Gold: Coffee

With finals on the horizon, I figure there is no time like the present to blog about coffee since most of you will be sustaining yourself on it for the next couple of days.  Now for this blog, I am just going to focus on plain old coffee, not your $5 tall, skinny, double shot, mocha latte with half the foam…

The Numbers

Coffee by itself is naturally calorie free, contains no carbs, fat or protein. It does contain some vitamins and minerals, but the two most important things of note are caffeine and antioxidants.

Benefits of Coffee

Well, the most obvious one is it keeps you alert/feel less tired/increase energy levels. Some of the other benefits of coffee include:

• Appetite suppressant: Meaning it holds of those hunger pains for a little bit.
• Slightly increases your metabolism: Read-you burn a little bit more calories, not really a significant amount though.
• Improves physical performance: Makes sense. When I am all jacked up on Mountain Dew, I feel like I could run a marathon too.
• Diuretic: Read-makes you have to urinate. I am not sure if this would be considered a “benefit” or not but I am just going to leave it here.
• Good source of antioxidants: Dorky fact-For those with a Western Diet (Americans) coffee is the main source of antioxidants. Yes, coffee is a good source of antioxidants much like fruits and vegetables; however people just are more likely to drink coffee than eat their fruits and vegetables.
• May help prevent diseases such as: type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, may lower risk of liver cancer, and despite the popular myth may actually be good for the heart.

Personally, coffee helps me focus (aka helps me write these blogs), so if you are at least mildly entertained by my blog, thank coffee.

Are there people who shouldn’t drink coffee?

Yes! Those people include people with high blood pressure and pregnant women (it is ok for pregnant men J). Coffee does mildly raise blood pressure so it may not be the best option for those with high blood pressure. For those that are pregnant, a little coffee in moderation is ok, but you want to be a little more mindful, I mean you are not just eating and drinking for yourself. You also have a tiny human who you are “feeding” as well who might not appreciate the caffeine.  

Over doing it

The saying is true, you can have too much of a good thing. Case in point chocolate…

Just to reiterate the above meme, MODERATION. It is the word that everybody hates. Anyways, drinking too much coffee can cause some issues for you such as anxiety and insomnia. Personally, I don’t enjoy shakiness or chest pains, but hey to each their own.

Oh, and don’t forget the fact that nobody likes coffee breath…

Breaking it down

Is coffee healthy? Yes, coffee in and of itself is healthy. It is the stuff that you may add to it is where you need to practice moderation, even if you are adding Splenda and soy milk. All that being said, I am going to tie a little disclaimer on to this; Just because coffee is healthy does not mean that you should drink 10 cups a day, one or two should suffice. While I am at it, I find it a little sad that the single largest source of antioxidants in the Western diet is from coffee; can we change that please by oh, I don’t know, eating more fruits and vegetables?!? Well I am off to go grab my coffee so I can at least pretend to listen when my coworkers talk to me today J 

Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,

Keep it Green,

Beth