Stay on Trend in 2014: Five Foods to Add to Your Grocery List

Check out the 5 popular foods of 2014 that will add something extra to your food repertoire while keeping it healthful and delicious.

Tea

Move over coffee, tea (in a hot or cold preparation) is front and center this year. In 2014, tea bars are opening that exclusively serve tea. But don’t limit yourself to just a tea beverage. Tea can be added to many dishes—try it on proteins—for an herbaceous flavoring similar to traditional seasonings. Along with its great taste and many varieties, tea is an excellent source of polyphenols: a type of antioxidant associated with lowering your risk for multiple chronic diseases. So toast the New Year with a delectable, hot cup of tea.

Asparagus

Roasted asparagus is a thing of the past; this year asparagus ribbons are in. Asparagus ribbons are the new base to the traditional leafy green salad. With a knife or mandolin, asparagus can be thinly sliced lengthwise to make ribbons. If high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems are a concern, the potassium in asparagus should help to reduce your risk. Try asparagus in its new or old form—it will always be delicious. (more…)

Jumpstarting Microresolutions

My young nephews, Trent (9) and Bryce (6) received tablets for Christmas. They’ve been nestled on the couch the very second the devices were fully charged. I’m hopeful  the novelty will eventually wear off, at least a little, right?

These two boys are very active. They play basketball and soccer. They play ‘tickle tackle’ outside in the yard for hours and look like they’re NFL-ready. Bryce will take your legs out from under you without fear. Trent will out run you and has cat-like agility. They burn calories at that enviable young boy rate.

They also eat very healthfully. Thanks to my sister’s insistence, fruits and vegetables are part of their vocabulary. They know what quinoa is and prefer kale chips to Lays. They love ChopChop magazine and ChopChop cookbook. Trent knows more about food labels than any dietitian I know. Bryce wants his plate to be colorful. Eating the right stuff fits seamlessly into their day. (more…)

Two Facts and A Myth: Vitamin A

“Two Facts and A Myth” is a series of nutrition topics that you can share at the dinner table, around the water cooler, or in line at a coffee shop. This series will bust popular misconceptions about nutrition while highlighting little-known facts. For this week, we will focus on Vitamin A.

Fact Vitamin A is important to your eyesight.

Vitamin A takes part in several key steps that allow us to see. The retina (the inner part of the eye) uses vitamin A to convert light into visual signals that are sent to the brain. So, carrots may not make your vision better, but they (and other foods with vitamin A) are important to eyesight.

Fact Vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness.

Night blindness is when your eyes have difficulty adapting from bright light to darkness. To treat night blindness, clinicians have prescribed diets rich in vitamin A to patients. This practice has been used for centuries. The first known treatment dates back to Hippocrates’ advice to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. (more…)