This is a guest blog post by Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD

Getting your fruits and vegetables may be the last thing on your mind on Superbowl Sunday. Don’t give it another thought. These winning munchies are so delicious that your family and friends may forget they’re good for you, too. Serve the dips with baked snack chips or toasted whole wheat sandwich wraps broken into chips.

All recipes appear in MyPlate for Moms, How to Feed Yourself & Your Family Better, by Elizabeth M Ward, MS, RD

Snack #1: Salsamole

Makes 2 cups.

Simple, nutritious, and delicious. Use as a dip or sandwich spread.

1 cup fresh tomato salsa

1 cup fresh guacamole

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Instructions: Combine all ingredients in medium serving bowl.

Per serving (1/4 cup): 94 calories; 6 grams carbohydrate; 3 grams fiber; 8 grams; 1 gram saturated fat; 2 grams protein; 229 milligrams sodium; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 20 milligrams calcium.

Snack #2: Mango and Black Bean Salsa

Makes 2 1/2 cups.

High in fiber, and pretty to look at, this salsa tastes even better the next day.

2 cups diced fresh mango

2 cups black beans, rinsed and drained, if canned

1/2 cup diced red onion

1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped, seeded jalapeno pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions: In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients.

Per serving (1/4 cup): 69 calories; 14 grams carbohydrate; 4 grams fiber; 0 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 3 grams protein; 199 milligrams sodium; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 10 milligrams calcium.

Snack #3 Crispy Chickpeas

Makes 4 servings.

Beans are the vegetable with the most protein and fiber, which makes them a perfect snack.

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients, tossing to coat beans completely.

3. Spread beans in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

4. Bake for 20 minutes. Stir beans, and cook for another 20 minutes. Allow beans to cool before eating.

Per serving: 185 calories; 24 grams carbohydrate; 5 grams fiber; 8 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 5 grams protein; 314 milligrams sodium; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 30 milligrams calcium.

Elizabeth M. Ward, M.S., R.D. is an award-winning author of several books, including her latest, MyPlate for Moms, How to Feed Yourself & Your Family Better. She writes about nutrition and health for WebMD.com, USATODAY.com, and Men’s Fitness.

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Have you seen those Pringles Multigrain commercials? Trying to convince you that despite the fact that they are made with something that sounds healthy, they are still very tasty. Here is the copy edit they use on their website:

Pringles Multigrain succeeds where many others fail, giving you a multigrain snack that tastes great. So, while the can says “multigrain”, the three new delicious flavors will leave your taste buds saying “MMMMMM.”

What you need to know:

Pringles is a very processed product. Despite the heath halo attributed to healthy grains, there is a very tiny amount of them to be found in this product. Here is the ingredient list for the plain flavor:

RICE FLOUR, VEGETABLE OIL (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: CORN OIL, COTTONSEED OIL, SOYBEAN OIL, AND/OR SUNFLOWER OIL), DRIED POTATOES, CORN FLOUR, MALTODEXTRIN, WHEAT STARCH, MODIFIED RICE STARCH, SUGAR, AND TRIGLYCEROL MONO-OLEATE. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, WHEAT BRAN, DRIED BLACK BEANS, SALT, AND CITRIC ACID. CONTAINS WHEAT INGREDIENTS.

Note that the main ingredient is refined rice flour. In fact the barley flour and wheat bran are way at the bottom of the ingredient list in the “less than 2%” section. Although the consumer is led to believe that this is a healthful snack, there is only 1 gram of fiber per serving. And most likely the fiber is from the added dried black beans. Oh well at least it’s not fake fiber.

Bottom line: If you see “multigrain” on a snack, be very suspicious. It does not mean whole grains, and does not mean you are getting any health benefits at all.

What to do at the supermarket:

Don’t really on the package and marketing claims for your health information. You MUST READ the ingredient list.

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USDA MyPlate

Harvard scientists were not pleased with the government switch from the Food Pyramid to MyPlate earlier this year. Although MyPlate was lauded by experts as an improvement over the pyramid – it greatly simplified food choices – they believed it was oversimplifying nutrition. Additionally, MyPlate is smudged with the fingerprints of agro-corporate interests, according to Walter Willett, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Before you is Harvard’s attempt at a cleaner plate. One that puts aside corporate interests and does not oversimplify the message. Here is the Healthy Eating Plate:

 The main points:

• Mover veggies thans fruits. Makes sense, there is less sugar in vegetables. An important carveout – potatoes. They should not be considered in the veggie department because they raise blood sugar just like refined sugars and sweets. (The potato board will dispute this).
• Not just any protein is good. You should choose the healthier proteins from fish, poultry, beans and nuts. Beef should be limited (Oy vey, the Cattlemen lobby will say).
• Choose whole grains, not just grains. This is hard for many of us as we have gotten used to refined flours and white rice which are much easier to chew and prepare than brown rice and whole grain breads.
• Dairy is not a must at every meal. Drink water most of the time and limit dairy to 1-2 servings per day instead of 3 in MyPlate. This is sure to annoy the National Dairy Council.
• Oils (liquid fats) are not evil if they come from plant sources like olive oil or canola. Butter should be limited (Dairy council again).

In any case, below the fold is a much simpler suggestion that we very much enjoyed

Read more…

NY Times Healthy Recipes

A reminder from the NY Times to eat your beans, preferably black beans:

Beans are nature’s health food. They have an exceptionally high fiber content, and they’re a fine source of protein, as well as calcium, iron, folic acid and potassium. Black beans stand out because in that shiny black coating, there are at least eight different flavonoids, which are antioxidants. Called anthocyanins, they’re found in red grapes and red wine, red cabbage and other dark red fruits and vegetables. Black beans also contain small amounts of omega-3 fats, three times as much as other legumes provide.

Read the article…

What you need to know:

In these hard times, opting for beans as the protein source at dinner time saves money and provides a nutritious, filling meal.

A 15 oz. heat n’ eat  can of beans cost about $1.25 and serves 3 people. It has just 3 ingredients: Beans, water and salt. At $0.42 per diner, you get 27% of your daily fiber requirements and 7 grams of protein. The only downside of canned beans is 460mg of sodium, 19% of your daily allotment.

But even cheaper and healthier is to prepare your own. A 16 oz. bag of dry black beans goes for $1.25 and makes for 12 servings. That’s just over 10 cents per serving with the added benefit of you controlling the amount of sodium, as well as much less nutrient loss.

The recipe provided in the article is quite simple and requires only a few minutes of work. A few added suggestions:

1. If you tend to suffer from flatulence – soak the beans for much more than 6 hours, even a whole day, and then rinse the soaked beans thoroughly, using fresh water for simmering.

2. You can cook a large amount of beans in water, separately, till soft. Add the amount needed for today’s dinner to the rest of the ingredients, and freeze the rest for up to a month.

3. You can opt for organic beans for a funny price difference (just add a quarter to that $1.25 …)

4. Probably needless to say, but homemade fare is far tastier than canned food from the supermarket.

What to do at the supermarket:

Find out if your supermarket sells beans in bulk. If not, the ethnic aisles will most likely have 1 lb. packages of various types of beans available. If you’re in a rush, canned beans will also do.

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