What are your numbers?

In celebration of summer coming to an end and me preaching Vitamin D into the Fall, I thought it was only fair to share my own numbers. Every year, each of you should get a Lipid Panel (cholesterol), Fasting Glucose (diabetes) & Vitamin D Panel (sunlight/seattle) done at your MD's office. Insurance pays for it and it matters to know where you stand health-wise on a cellular level. If you dont have insurance, I offer wholesale lab pricing and can get your labs pulled here at Crave Health for cheap.

So here are my own personal labs from June of 2011:

Lipid Panel

Total Cholesterol: 171

(Healthy Range = Less than 200)

Triglycerides: 80

(Healthy Range = 40-149)

HDL (Happy Cholesterol): 55

(Healthy Range = Greater than 40)

LDL (Lousy Cholesterol): 100

(Healthy Range = Less than 129)

Diabetes

Fasting Glucose: 78

(Healthy Range = 65-99)

Vitamin D Panel

Vitamin D 25OH: 40

(Healthy Range = 30-100)

**Now this is NOT to brag, its just to show you that I have to work hard to maintain my own health as well. I take 5000 IU's of Vitamin D per day to get that vitamin D level up, I work out 3-4 times per week, I take my multivitamin every day and I eat heart healthy fats like nuts and fish to keep my cholesterol low. Does that mean I eat perfectly? No. I still love pizza, wine, chips and salsa, etc. I just try to keep it balanced. At least its nice to know your dietitian is healthy though, right?!

Bring your labs in for an appt and Ill show you how to get them back into the healthy ranges through food, not medicine.

Ashley

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Butter vs. Margarine

Everyone will tell you something different. Grandmothers say they use the real butter and real cream because its the real stuff. Others say they grew up on one or the other and its a preference issue. And others will say they are watching their cholesterol so there is no way they'd use real butter.

I'd like you to use butter over margarine, but I also want you to understand WHY. Then you can help me spread the correct nutrition information to others :)

Lets look at Butter first.

Here is an example of a random unsalted butter at the grocery store:

On the front of the package there are 2 significant things:

1) Unsalted vs. Salted which depends on the recipe you are cooking from. Usually just buy unsalted.

2) rBST is a hormone found in some dairy products that you want to avoid. This says its made from cows NOT treated with rBST.

The back is where the nutrition label and ingredients are. The most important part. It tells us that 1 Tablespoon of this butter contains 100 calories, 11 grams of total fat, 0 grams of protein and 0 grams of carbohydrate. Now, butter is a fat so yes its going to have fat. Lowfat butter would defeat the nutritional purpose and be stupid. What is most important here is the breakdown of fat.

All dairy fat is Saturated Fat (sat fat). Sat fat is naturally occurring and our body can process through it and use it, but too much sat fat can cause high cholesterol, artery clogs and heart disease, so you want to make sure you are getting other sources of healthy fats (nuts, seeds, oils, avocado, etc) to balance it out.

Under trans fat, there is 0 grams. Also, under the ingredients, there is nothing that says "hydrogenated" which would indicate trans fats.

Now look at a random Margarine:

On the front, they try to pull you in with "lower in saturated fat" and "no cholesterol". Yes, that is true, it is lower in sat fat and dietary cholesterol, but how do you think they did that? In a lab, that's how.

Turn it over and check out the back, where the important stuff is. You see that 1 Tablespoon of this margarine is similar in calories, 100 calories and 11 grams of fat. 0 grams of protein and carbs. But look at the fat breakdown...

Trans Fat is something you want to avoid completely. The main reason I want you to consume butter over margarine is because of the trans fat issue. Trans fats were created in the 1950's to lower saturated fat and make foods more shelf-stable. However, we are just now finding out that all that did was create a fat that isnt naturally occurring that our bodies dont recognize. Now all those little trans fats we've been eating have been wrecking havoc in our bodies causing damage in the form of free-radicals and contributing to heart disease. This margarine may have less sat fat, but it has 2.5 grams of trans fat and that is 2.5 too many.

Another oddity is the ingredient list. It was only 2 ingredients for the butter, but 12 for margarine?? The word "hydrogenated" (which is just the process the labs use to create a trans fat) appears as the first ingredient. No thank you.

The moral of the story is that since butter is what it is...churned cream...just use the natural stuff. Yes it has sat fat, but your body knows what to do with it and as long as you are eating sat fat in small quantities you will be fine. Trans fats are man-made and its not worth consuming things made in labs to avoid a few grams of saturated fat.

The only exception to this Butter over Margarine rule is butter spreads made with plant sterols and stanols which Ill talk about next blog.

Now go check your fridge.

Ashley

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American Heart Month

February is American Heart Month. Cute because February is also full of valentine hearts!

Educate yourself on the risk factors and what you can do starting right now to lower your own risk or your family's risk of heart disease.

Main Risk Factors and Contributors:

• Diabetes Mellitus (Type 1 or 2)
• High Blood Cholesterol and Other Lipids
• High Blood Pressure (over 120/80)
• Overweight and Obesity (BMI greater than 24.9)
• Physical Inactivity
• Smoking
• Nutrition

NUTRITION ALONE CAN CORRECT HIGH CHOLESTEROL AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE! In some cases, some of the high results are genetic (but the chances that is you are slim). Here are some things you can start today to stay away from heart disease:

1. Eat deep water, fatty fish 3 times per week (salmon, black cod, tuna, mackerel and halibut)
2. Minimize your saturated fat intake (saturated fats are solid at room temp): butter, lard, tallow, bacon grease, dairy fat (high fat cheeses, creams and milks - the lowfat ones are okay), and anything with the word "fried" in it.
3. Eat more plant sterols and stanols - aka eat more vegetables and fruits and switch from butter to Benecol Light or Smart Balance Light
4. Increase your fiber intake (fiber cleans out excess cholesterol): eat more whole grains, whole wheat products
5. Take fish oil. My favorite brand is Nordic Naturals, all you need is the basic Omega-3 supplement which you can pick up at PCC, Whole Foods, Bartell Drugs, etc, etc.

Happy Heart Month and Happy Valentines Day! Try cooking the person you love a heart healthy meal that says "I love you, and I want you to stick around for a while." :)

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Have an Egg-Cellent Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Although Easter is about much more than bunnies, baby chicks and eggs - nutritionally, eggs seem to be the obvious choice for a nutrition education piece :)

Egg Types

Standard Eggs – Come from hens kept in cages, usually indoors with artificial lighting. Fed a high protein diet and are given antibiotics to help prevent disease.

Barn-Laid Eggs – Hens live indoors in a barn but are kept in pens rather than enclosed cages. Same high protein diet and antibiotic use depending on the farmer.

Organic Eggs – Hens have outdoor access to natural vegetation during the day and are fed an organic grain diet. No antibiotics or hormones used and will usually have a lighter colored yolk.

Free-Range Eggs – Hens have access to natural vegetation outdoors daily and spend night time in open barns without cages or pens.

Omega-3 Eggs – Hens are fed a special omega-3 rich vegetarian diet that consists of canola, linseed and flax seed. Their eggs contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than other types of eggs. These hens still may be kept in cages with artificial lighting, depending on the farmer.

Colored Eggs – Brown, White, Blue, Green, Tie-Died, egg-cetera. The color of egg has nothing to do with the nutritional quality; the color does not indicate more or less nutrients. The color of the egg shell comes from the breed of chicken that lays it. Some American chickens will lay dark brown or white eggs, where most Mediterranean breeds will lay white eggs. “Easter Egg Chickens” can lay blue, pink, green and even multicolored eggs. But the shell has nothing to do with the nutritional quality.


Size and Grade

Straight from the USDA Guidelines


AA – The shell must be clean, unbroken, and practically normal. The white must be clear and firm so that the yolk is only slightly defined when the egg is twirled before the candling light. The yolk must be practically free from apparent defects.

A – The shell must be clean, unbroken, and practically normal. The white must be clear and at least reasonably firm so that the yolk outline is only fairly well defined when the egg is twirled before the candling light. The yolk must be practically free from apparent defects.

B – The shell must be unbroken, may be abnormal, and may have slightly stained areas.
Eggs having shells with prominent stains or adhering dirt are not permitted. The white may be weak and watery so that the yolk outline is plainly visible when the egg is twirled before the candling light. The yolk may appear dark, enlarged, and flattened, and may show clearly visible germ development but no blood due to such development. It may show other serious defects that do not render the egg inedible. Small blood spots or meat spots (aggregating not more than 1/8 inch in diameter) may be present.


Eggs come in 6 different sizes as well, according to ounce weight:
Jumbo, Extra large, Large, Medium, Small and Peewee


Nutrition Fast Facts:

*A large egg provides 6 grams of protein: 3.6 g from the White and 2.7g from the Yolk

*Eggs have the highest quality protein in the food supply with the amino acid pattern almost matching the human requirement for essential amino acids

*Digestibility of egg protein is 97%. This means that 97% of the egg protein is absorbed as amino acids, which are available for new protein synthesis and replacement of lost protein

*Cooked egg protein is more digestible than raw egg protein. Cooked=90.9% and Raw=51.3%. (So stop drinking raw eggs and trying to be like Rocky…)

*The biological value of egg protein is 94%. Biological value is a measure of the rate at which the protein in food supports growth. Eggs and milk have the highest biological value and provide more amino acids for growth and tissue maintenance than even meat, including beef, chicken, pork and fish.


So…to Yolk or Not to Yolk?

Those with high cholesterol (you know who you are) need to be careful of their daily intake of dietary cholesterol. Our bodies make cholesterol as it is, so we technically don’t need to eat it, however there are lots of food that do contain cholesterol, all of which are animal based foods (meat, dairy, fish, eggs). The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) recommends consuming less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol each day. An egg yolk from a large egg contains about 210 mg, where the White doesn’t contain any. So you have a choice, you can eat your whole egg as long as you watch other sources of dietary cholesterol, or you can avoid egg yolk until you get your blood cholesterol levels back to normal. The choice is yours!

Enjoy your Easter egg coloring, time with friends and family and always be thankful for what you have.

Blessings,

Ashley

Sources:
United States Standards, Grades, and Weight Classes for Shell Eggs
AMS 56 - July 20, 2000
Egg Nutrition Center, Park Ridge, IL, enc@enc-online.org
Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, West Lafayette, IN. Animal Sciences, Choosing a Chicken Breed: Eggs, Meat, or Exhibition. Doug Akers, Pete Akers and Dr. Mickey A. Latour

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