blog #35: theme dietary diseases: surviving the battle of Ciliac Disease

One of my best friends, Emily, is an inspiring, fun-loving, and humorous woman who enjoys life to the fullest. Emily has celiac disease but she doesn't let this stop her from leading a normal life. In fact, Emily makes the best of every situation by learning more about food and her restrictions/limitations. Emily was diagnosed with this autoimmune disease as a child.

People with celiac disease have to eat a gluten-free diet, which requires a completely new approach to eating, in order to avoid wheat-containing foods entirely.

Celiac disease is genetic, meaning it runs in families. Sometimes the disease is triggered—or becomes active for the first time—after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection, or severe emotional stress.

People with celiac disease can eat a well-balanced diet with a variety of foods (but it’s not easy).

American Dietetic Association recommends these foods:

Allowed Foods
amaranth arrowroot buckwheat cassava corn flax Indian rice grass Job’s tears	legumes millet nuts potatoes quinoa rice sago	seeds sorghum soy tapioca teff wild rice yucca
Foods To Avoid
wheat including einkorn, emmer, spelt, kamut wheat starch, wheat bran, wheat germ, cracked wheat, hydrolyzed wheat protein		barley rye triticale (a cross between wheat and rye)
Other Wheat Products
bromated flour durum flour enriched flour farina	graham flour phosphated flour plain flour	self-rising flour semolina white flour
Processed Foods that May Contain Wheat, Barley, or Rye*
bouillon cubes brown rice syrup candy chips/potato chips cold cuts, hot dogs, salami, sausage communion wafers	French fries gravy imitation fish matzo rice mixes sauces	seasoned tortilla chips self-basting turkey soups soy sauce vegetables in sauce

^* Most of these foods can be found gluten-free. When in doubt, check with the food manufacturer.

In my Advanced Nutrition class, we are learning the effects of celiac disease on a cellular level, which if untreated can lead to lymphoma (a form of cancer). A gluten-free diet is essential, because gluten causes a problematic immune reaction in the small intestine. This reaction results in damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients from food.

Emily has to follow a gluten-free diet in order to be healthy.

Not following the diet can lead to:

·         Damage to her small intestine

·         Bone loss

·         Abdominal pain

·         Diarrhea

·         Anemia

·         Vitamin deficiencies

·         Gastrointestinal cancer (especially lymphoma)

Some people with this disease refuse to follow the diet and still eat cakes and other products with gluten. The consequences of eating against what is tolerated will lead to escalation of the disease.

YOU DONT WANT THIS, SO EAT WHAT YOU CAN TOLERATE!

Emily makes the best of her situation by being extremely healthy, cooking her meals, and being extremely active. She swims religiously and cross-trains by running and lifting weights most days of the week. Emily is finishing culinary school to be a professional chef and she even works in a restaurant in Arizona. She doesn't let her disease get her down.

Emily is a truly exceptional woman; despite her autoimmune disease, she sets the bar high for how to be healthy and understand what to consume (and why). I hope that more people with this disease will understand that they, too, can lead normal lives by adjusting their dietary intake to healthy non-gluten foods just like Emily.

blog #34 how to eat a salad

How to eat a HEALTHFUL salad involves picking nutrient dense toppings.

Spinach is a good start

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 cup (30.0 g) 1 bunch (340.0 g) 1 leaf (10.0 g) 1 package (10 oz) (284.0 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 7 Calories from Fat 1

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 0.1g 0%

Saturated Fat 0.0g 0%

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 24mg 1%

Total Carbohydrates 1.1g 0%

Dietary Fiber 0.7g 3%

Sugars 0.1g

Protein 0.9g

Vitamin A 56% • Vitamin C 14% Calcium 3% • Iron 5%

Nutrient-dense foods have a high nutrient/calorie ratio.

Salads are a great way to get your daily dose of raw vegetables from different colors and textures like carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes. Salads contents should be nutrition dense which means that they are rich in nutrients when compared to their calorie content.

Non nutrient dense food examples are iceburg lettuce which provides no calories or nutritive value.

If you load up on a salad with cheeses, croutons and an overload on protein then the nutritional value diminishes as the caloric level increases. (shown below is a BAD CHOICE!!!)

And the dressing…oh forget about it.

I recommend: choose toppings that have a high water content like :

Cucumber

Tomato

Examples of nutrient dense foods are :

Spinach

Beans

Broccoli

Whole grains

For satiating toppings choose omega 3 fatty acids containing foods like:

Olives

Olive oil

flax seed

So you still think you need a lot of protein ?

unless you are an athlete like a bodybuilder you don’t need a high intake of protein. Veggies offer protein as well as beans, so if you need to add meat or a meat substitute measure it, or be consciousness of how much and what you are eating.

choose :

Lean protein sources like tuna

boneless skinless grilled or steamed chicken

tofu (shown below and such a good looking salad!)

and about salad dressings.....stay tuned that’s a whole different blog.

blog #34 theme: cultural nutrition: spotlight on haiti

I chose Haiti to write about for my Nutrition Education cultural class assignment.

"You can call Haiti the Cleopatra of countries—its ravishing natural assets, thrilling history, and magnetic culture have long made select visitors swoon. Its tortured past, however, has made it the Caribbean nation that tourism largely forgot. But this, reports Amy Wilentz, may have to change"

Love and Haiti is a wonderful article about Haiti in in Conde Nast

I visited two Haitian stores in Flatbush Brooklyn to identify with the culture and see, feel, smell and taste the foods offered. The store Au Petit Marcha (as pictured above) had Senna herbs, ju ju mushrooms, cannel annis, and star spices. The mushrooms are used to blacken rice, and the herbs are used to liberally spice everything. The avocados were 10 times the size of an average whole foods avocado that I am use to seeing.

Health concerns for Haitians include: High blood pressure, Malnutrition, Hypothyroidism, Anemia and Diabetes.

Nutrition Tips for Haitians by

Nicole Jean, Registered Dietitian, LDN adresses issues for Haitians diets like:

fruits and vegtables of haiti

tips for a healthful haitian diet

dieting advise for Haitians with Diabetes

nutrition a game of true of false

common dishes include:

• rice and beans with chicken (skin is typically removed)
• deep fried plantains (savory) and deep fried pork topped with habanero peppers, vinegar & onions
• “Soupe Jaune” aka Squash soup filled with lots of vegetables and choice of chicken or beef (shown below)
• Salt fish (most of the salt is removed by several soaks in water), with oil and hot peppers and onions served with either white rice or boiled sweet or savory plantains
• 
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blog #33 theme: Dietary supplements

Some people follow whole dietary systems, others take various kinds of supplements.

According to the FDA dietary supplement will be taken to either affect structure or function of the body, or to supplement the diet.

• Food is consumed for its taste, aroma or nutritive value.
• Only drugs are classified as being able to diagnose, cure mitigate, treat or prevent disease.
• Cosmetics are applied to the body for cleansing, beautifying or altering appearance
• Algorithm of Dietary Supplement and Associated Definitions

Reading a dietary supplement label is much like reading a nutrition facts label.

• The most commonly used dietary supplement in the United States is a general multivitamin–mineral supplement (used by 36% of females and 31% of males in the US)

• vitamin E and vitamin C are also popular supps

Current Trends in Dietary Supplement Use:

nHigher intake with increasing age, white race, and females

nDSHEA definition of a dietary suppliment: “a product (other than tobacco) that is intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total daily intake, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combinations of these ingredients.”

n

blog #32 theme: fitness upper body big 3!

In blog #13 i wrote about "the golden three" which are the most important lower body exercises. This blog addresses the most important upper body exercises which should be added into your routine.

The big three upper body exercises are :

pull ups

push ups

dips

These exercises can be made all level! I break down the levels.....

tricep dip:

tricep dips can be done either from a vertical position (level 2) or with the legs bend while hands supported on a platform in a seated position (level 1)

pull ups can be done either with support of a machine (level 1) or without as shown above (level 2.) Pull ups are hard but they are SOOO GOOD FOR YOU!

push ups: on your knees (level 1) or fully extended legs (level 2) but you must GO ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FLOOR OR IT DOESN'T COUNT AS A REPETITION!