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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 14, 2007

Need a few gifts for the nutrition geeks in your family? Try these:

Food Tees: www.dietdetective.com/tshirts. Cute cotton T-shirts illustrated with simple pictures of fruits and vegetables and short messages such as celery "stalker", cauliflower "flower child", and carrot "eat me." 877-367-6199, ext 88

"Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," Brian Wansink, PhD, Bantam Books, 2006. Based on solid research, this author outlines ways to recognize and deal with the triggers that cause us to overeat.

"The Traveler's Diet: Eating Right and Staying Fit on the Road," Peter Greenberg, Villard Books, 2006. For the traveler on your Christmas list.

"Food Allergies for Dummies," Robert A. Wood, MD, Wiley, 2007. Ways to recognize potentially harmful ingredients on menus and food labels, including suggestions for treating allergic food reactions.

"Gluten-free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide," Shelley Case, RD, 2006. A comprehensive list of gluten-free foods and companies that make them. Includes recipes, baking tips and menu ideas.

"The New Family Cookbook for People with Diabetes" by the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association, Simon and Schuster, 2007. More than 400 recipes plus information on carbohydrate counting, exercise and other tips. www.diabetes.org/shop-for-books-and-gifts.jsp

"Month of Meals" by the American Diabetic Association. For the carb-conscious on your list. Balanced breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack ideas that fit into meal plans for people with diabetes. store.diabetes.org/

"What Einstein Told His Cook 2: The Sequel: Further Adventures in Kitchen Science," Robert L Wolke, Marlene Parrish; W.W. Norton and Co., 2005. For the intellectual "foodies" on your list, this second book by the same name explains "kitchen science" and debunks misconceptions about food and nutrition in plain, nontechnical language.

"Weight Loss Confidential: How Teens Lose Weight and Keep it Off — and What They Wish Parents Knew," Anne Fletcher, MS, RD, Houghton Mifflin, 2006. For teens who struggle with their weight, this book features inspiring real-life stories for teens and their parents.

"Your Child's Weight: Helping without Harming," Ellyn Satter, MS, RD, LCSW: Kelcy Press, 2005. www.ellynsatter.com. Practical guidance on feeding kids from one of my favorite child-nutrition experts.

"Endurance Sports Nutrition," 2nd Edition, Suzanne Girad Eberle, MS, RD, Human Kinetics, 2007. Training menus and nutrition advice for marathoners and other endurance athletes on your list.

The Monterey County Herald

Test Your Nutrition IQ

WebMD.com has a lot of helpful information when it comes to good health. Try one of its quizzes to test whether you can sort truth from fiction in nutrition.

1. Chocolate is a healthful snack.

True or false?

2. A serving of cottage cheese is a better source of calcium than a serving of milk or yogurt.

True or false?

3. Butter and margarine have the same number of calories.

True or false?

4. Spinach builds strength.

True or false?

5. People who snack are always the ones who are overweight.

True or false?

6. Fresh fruits and vegetables have more nutrients than canned or frozen ones.

True or false?

Source: www.webmd.com

Answers: 1) True, but in moderation. 2) False. 3) True. 4) False. Spinach is rich in folate and iron, but what builds strength is exercise. 5) False. If you don't eat too many calories, snacking won't cause weight gain. 6) False. There is little difference in nutrients, but do be cautious about added sugar and sodium.

- The Sacramento Bee

Can Diet Soft Drinks Be Bad For My Health?

Nutrition experts from The Beverage Guidance Panel came out with recommendations for beverage consumption in the United States. The panel's leader, Barry Popkin, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health, was inspired to educate Americans about how beverage consumption has contributed to our obesity epidemic.

Here are some of the panel's wise concepts: Most of us now consume 150 to 300 more calories per day than we did only 20 years ago; about half of these extra calories come from soft drinks and fruit drinks; we're also drinking more alcohol and more fancy coffee and tea drinks, which has added lots of sugar and fat to our diets (keep in mind that Paleolithic humans drank only breast milk and water). In fact, about 20 percent of our daily calories now come from the stuff we drink. Why have beverages contributed so much to our weight gain? Those calorie-laden drinks don't suppress our appetites the way solid foods do, so we tend to consume more calories per day when we drink them.

How can we start to reverse this trend? The Beverage Council has created a beverage pyramid much like the USDA's food pyramid to help guide us back to healthier drinking habits. The chart above compares the council's ideal amounts with current U.S. consumption; the ranges below offer guidelines using minimums and maximums.

Level 1: Water: consume 2.5 to about 6 cups per day

Level 2: Unsweetened coffee or tea: 0 to 5 cups per day (can substitute for water).

Tea has antioxidants and flavonoids that may reduce the risk of chronic disease; coffee seems to decrease the risk of adult-onset diabetes and Parkinson's disease. However, more than 300 mg per day of caffeine can increase the risk of miscarriage and low birth weight if you are pregnant; more than 400 to 500 mg/day can have adverse effects on mood and well-being. And, adding milk, cream, sugar or flavorings to your favorite caffeinated drink can really boost your caloric intake for the day.

Level 3: 1 percent or skim milk or unsweetened/fortified soy drinks: 0 to 2 cups per day.

Milk and calcium-fortified soy drinks can be a good source of calcium, vitamin D and protein, but they do add calories to your diet and don't suppress your appetite the way solid foods would. If you need more calcium than you're getting in 2 cups of these beverages, try eating more dairy or fortified soy foods instead.

Level 4: Diet drinks: 0 to 4 cups per day

When we replace sugar-loaded sodas and fruit drinks with diet drinks, we do tend to decrease our calorie intake, but the panel felt strongly that diet drinks condition us to crave other sweet foods and drinks and thus contribute to weight gain. Some people also worry about the safety of artificial sweeteners used in diet drinks, but for the otherwise healthy person, they have not been proved to have harmful effects on health.

Level 5: Caloric drinks with some nutrients: 0 to 2 cups/drinks per day

100 percent fruit juices: 0-1 cup per day

Alcohol (women): 0 to 1 drink per day

Alcohol (men): 0 to 2 drinks per day

Fruit juices are calorically dense and can pack on the calories; we're probably better off eating the whole fruit instead. Alcohol in moderation may protect against heart disease; in excess, it increases the risk of heart failure, liver disease and certain cancers (one drink equals 12 fluid ounces beer, 5 fl. oz. wine or 1.5 fl. oz. distilled spirits).

Level 6: Soft drinks, fruit drinks and sugared smoothies: 0 to 1 cup/day

The nutrient content in these is limited at best, and they can really pack on the calories. These beverages also have replaced milk in the U.S. diet, resulting in a reduced intake of essential nutrients, including calcium, vitamin D and protein, especially among children and teens.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Drink water whenever possible and limit your intake of any other drinks with calories.

Want to lose weight? Try cutting out two sodas or fruit drinks per day; if you change nothing else in your diet and exercise regimen, you'll lose a pound in a little more than two weeks; that adds up to 21 pounds in one year. And you thought weight loss was hard

The Sacramento Bee

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