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Prep Time: 25 minutes   Cook Time: 8 Minutes

Homemade Mayonnaise

(from Diet Solution Plan)

What You Need

• 1 small avocado, pitted, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp grated lime peel
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 8oz crab chopped
• 1 roma tomato, seeded and diced
• 3 tbsp fresh cilantro
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise (see recipe)
• 4 eggs, hardboiled, cut in half, and egg yolk removed (set aside yolk, can mix with mayonnaise for taste if desired)
  OR you may choose to use a grilled pinapple instead of the egg whites.
• sea salt and pepper to taste

 

Method:

1. In a medium bowl combine avocado, lime peel and juice; toss to coat. Add crabmeat, tomato, cilantro, mayo and pepper; toss lightly to mix.
2. Fill egg white halves with above mixture. If using the extra egg yolks for taste, make sure to add them into the mayo before adding above.
3. Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes.

 

Nutrition:

Make 8 servings

(per tbsp)
Calories 104,
Fat 5g,
Saturated Fat 2g,
Sodium 100mg,
Carbohydrate 1g,
Sugars 0g,
Protein 11g
Fiber 1g

Multivitamins

What You Need to Know: Recent research shows Americans are meeting their dietary guidelines—but only one week out of the year. “If you find yourself skimping on fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains, a multivitamin is a practical way to help fill that nutrient gap,” says Blumberg. But that doesn’t mean you can get away with eating junk for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “No supplement can hold a candle to a good diet,” says Jason Theodosakis, M.D., Family Circle Health Advisory Board member and associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

If you’re premenopausal, Kroger Complete Ultra Women’s Health and Walgreens One Daily for Women multivitamins—each just six cents a day—are good choices, says Tod Cooperman, M.D., president of ConsumerLab.com, an independent firm that tests supplement safety. (For a free trial, go to ConsumerLab.com/FamilyCircle.) Nature Made Multi for Her 50+ is the best value for postmenopausal women, he says, because it costs 12 cents per day and contains enough calcium and vitamin D for bone health but no iron, which usually isn’t necessary at this age.

Who Should Take It: Vegans, women on macrobiotic or 1,500-calorie-or-less diets and those who eat poorly. If your blood work is good, your doctor may instead recommend specific, individual vitamins and minerals to fill holes in your diet.

What to Watch Out For: Don’t go over the Daily Recommended Intake (DRI). Switching to a multivitamin is usually a safe way to prevent this. “It’s easy to consume too much of a nutrient when it’s taken as a single vitamin,” explains Blumberg. And megadosing—taking high doses of a single nutrient—can cause anything from nausea to kidney damage.

Get It Naturally: Eat at least one and a half cups of fresh fruit and two to two and a half cups of vegetables daily, and be sure at least 50% of the grains you choose are whole. Go to myplate.gov for recommendations on how to eat to meet nutritional guidelines.

 

Vitamin D

What You Need to Know: Few foods inherently contain vitamin D, and some of us may not spend enough time in the sun for our bodies to produce sufficient amounts on their own. But unless your doctor recommends this supplement to treat a deficiency or to reduce your risk of osteoporosis, you should probably skip it, says Patsy Brannon, R.D., Ph.D., professor of nutritional science at Cornell University and a member of the panel of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). In fact, some studies suggest too much D may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. If you do need it, check the label for D3, which may be more effective than D2, the other type used in supplements.

Who Should Take It: Postmenopausal women at risk for osteoporosis due to family history, small frame size, sedentary lifestyle or low calcium intake.

What to Watch Out For: Megadoses of vitamin D can cause high blood calcium (hypercalcemia) and excessive calcium in the urine (hypercalciuria), both of which put you at risk for damaging your kidneys and bones.

Get It Naturally: Fortified foods (including breads, cereals and orange juice) can have more vitamin D and calcium than milk. Fatty fish, like tuna and salmon, and canned light tuna are also good sources.

Vitamin B12

What You Need to Know: After age 50, your stomach secretes less acid to break down and absorb vitamin B12, so compensating for what you’re losing can be important. Recent research suggests a diet rich in B12 lowers the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, but it’s unclear whether taking a pill may have the same effect. Since B12 is needed for cell replication, DNA and blood cell production, B12 deficiency is associated with fatigue.

Who Should Take It: Vegans, people with gastrointestinal disorders and those with pernicious anemia, an autoimmune disease.

What to Watch Out For: Aspirin, certain antibiotics, oral contraceptives and acid-blocking medications like Nexium and Prilosec can interfere with B12 absorption.

Get It Naturally: Poultry, eggs, clams, fish and meat are rich sources, as are fortified breads and cereals.

Iron

What You Need to Know: Unlike other nutrients, excess iron cannot be excreted by the human body, causing it to build up in the brain and other tissues and organs impacting the liver. Premenopausal women, especially those with heavy periods, may benefit from iron supplementation, but it’s not usually necessary after menopause.

Who Should Take It: Vegans, anemic women and people with gastrointestinal problems.

What to Watch Out For: Constipation. Iron can also decrease the absorption of some antibiotics and drugs prescribed for thyroid problems and can contribute to osteoporosis.

Get It Naturally: Fish, poultry and red meat are good sources.

Calcium

What You Need to Know: Calcium strengthens bones when you’re young and prevents osteoporosis in later years. However, recent studies suggest supplements are associated with greater plaque buildup in the arteries, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease. “It’s a very slippery slope,” says C. Noel Bairey Merz, M.D., director of the Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “Calcium supplements mildly strengthen bones but may increase the risk of heart disease.” More studies are needed to confirm this risk.

Who Should Take It: People who avoid dairy and those who have or are at risk for osteoporosis.

What to Watch Out For: Too much calcium supplementation can increase the risk of kidney stones and may also interfere with your absorption of iron. People with digestive issues or who take acid-blocking medications, like Nexium or Prilosec, should use products with calcium citrate, such as Citracal.

Get It Naturally: Cheese, milk and yogurt are high in calcium, as are fortified breads, cereals and nondairy milk.

Omega-3s

What You Need to Know: Omega-3s are known as good for the heart and have been shown to slightly lower blood pressure. But they’ve only been proven to reduce the chances of heart attack in people who’ve already had one. Some doctors recommend omega-3s for eye and joint health, lowering excessively high triglycerides (500mg/dL and above) and more.

Who Should Take It: Women who’ve suffered a heart attack or have excessively high triglycerides.

What to Watch Out For: Potent capsules can cause stomach upset and fishy burps; storing pills in the fridge may reduce side effects.

Get It Naturally: Cold-water fatty fish like halibut, salmon and sardines.

Buy Wisely

Not all dietary supplements are created equal. “It’s a postmarket world, and the FDA can only get at these products after they hit the shelves,” says Dan Fabricant, Ph.D., director of dietary supplement programs for the FDA. More than 400 products have been recalled since 2008 for containing prohibited ingredients. Shop smart by learning how to decode a label.

• Check for an intact safety seal to make sure that the product hasn’t been tampered with.
• Choose products that are made by big pharmaceutical companies, nationally recognized brands or store brands from a trusted retailer. They invest a lot of time, resources and effort to ensure their products live up to their reputation. There are also small, trustworthy companies that specialize in a handful of products. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for recommendations.
• Be mindful of the delivery format (tablet, capsule, softgel, powder, liquid). Some brands show an image with the words “actual size.” It may stop you from buying a bottle of hard-to-swallow pills.
• Look for a seal of approval from trustworthy organizations like the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), ConsumerLab.com or NSF International.
• Beware of unlikely assertions, such as a pill claiming to have no side effects or claiming to work quickly like pharmaceuticals often do. That’s a red flag, says Fabricant.
• The list of all components includes nutrients and other ingredients used to formulate the supplement, in decreasing order by weight.
• The Percent Daily Value (%DV) tells what percentage of the recommended daily intake for each nutrient is provided by the supplement. If the numbers look high, ask your doctor.
• Look for an expiration date to let you know how long the product is effective, a lot number or a series of letters and numbers to track the product, and the manufacturer’s contact information in case you have a concern or an adverse reaction.
• Milligram (mg) and microgram (mcg) are units of measurement for water-soluble vitamins (such as C and B complex) and minerals. International Unit (IU) is a standard unit of measure for fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E.

Sources: Council for Responsible Nutrition; Dan Fabricant, Ph.D., director of dietary supplement programs for the FDA; Paul M. Coates, Ph.D., director, Office of Dietary Supplements, NIH

Originally published in the April 2012 issue of Family Circle magazine.

All content on this Web site, including medical opinion and any other health-related information, is for informational purposes only and should not be considered to be a specific diagnosis or treatment plan for any individual situation. Use of this site and the information contained herein does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Always seek the direct advice of your own doctor in connection with any questions or issues you may have regarding your own health or the health of others.

A ”Flexitarian” Diet Meets in the Middle

— By Liza Barnes, Health Educator

“What do you eat?!” may be the question most often heard by vegetarians, as if meat is the only food group available. Obviously, as the five million thriving vegetarians in America have shown, there’s a lot to eat, without choosing meat—and they’re healthier as a result.

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, vegetarians have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and asthma. While simple recipes abound for tasty meatless fare, vegetarianism is a leap that many aren’t prepared to take. But you can still have many of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet without trading your turkey for Tofurkey by trying “flexitarianism” on for size. Flexitarians, or semi-vegetarians, are “sometimes” vegetarians, meaning people who reduce some of their meat consumption and fill the gap with other plant-based food groups—eating a mostly vegetarian diet, yet remaining flexible.

Although the name is new, the idea is not. In fact, a few generations ago, meat was most often eaten in side-dish portions, while other food groups took center stage. Beans, vegetables, and grains supplied the bulk of a meal, while the meat supplied the flavor. This might sound backward, but many nutrition experts agree that our health would benefit if we took this “old-fashioned” approach to eating.

Eating less meat and more grains, beans, fruits and veggies means you’ll be consuming fewer calories, less saturated fat and cholesterol, and higher amounts of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. And that adds up to a lot of health benefits. On average, people who eat less meat are leaner, less apt to weight gain than people who eat the most meat, less prone to cancer, especially colorectal cancer, and suffer from fewer heart problems.

Another benefit is that you’ll save money. Meat costs more per pound than most foods. You can use that extra cash you save to get a gym membership, new running shoes, or an iPod for your workouts.

Committing to a 100% vegetarian diet isn’t necessary to achieve the health benefits that vegetarians enjoy. There aren’t specific guidelines to exactly how much meat to cut out to achieve these benefits, but cutting back even slightly is a positive change. A national health campaign known as Meatless Monday promotes cutting out meat one day each week, but you could try meatless lunches during the week for the same effect.

Now, replacing a sirloin steak with a can of pinto beans might not appeal to you. But how does roasted tomato-eggplant ratatouille with rice, or spicy black bean chili and cheesy cornbread sound? There are many meals like these that taste so good you won’t even think to ask “where’s the beef?” Eggplant parmesan, pasta salad, bean burritos, and vegetable fajitas are some good examples. Admittedly, a flexitarian diet will call on your creativity. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Stock up on vegetarian cookbooks. Some good ones to try include Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison and The New Moosewood Cookbook, by Molly Katzen. These and many other titles are available at your local library, so you can check them out before you commit.

• If you’re cooking at home, make your main course meatless and serve meat on the side. You could have vegetarian lasagna and a salad topped with cubed chicken, roasted eggplant and zucchini sandwiches with antipasto, or spinach frittata and a side of organic sausage.
• Pick a meatless day each week. Or go vegetarian during the week and omnivore on the weekends. This will give your body a break from processing all that cholesterol and saturated fat, and balance your overall caloric and fat intake.
• • Try some meat substitutes. Most vegetarians enjoy cold-cuts as much as anyone, but theirs are made from soy, and are lower in fat and cholesterol-free.
  • When dining-out, scour the menu for vegetarian options—restaurants usually offer at least one. If not, choose an entrée that is served with veggies and grains—like pasta, or stir-fry.
  • Fill up in the garden. Imagine your dinner plate is divided in quarters. Fill two quarters with veggies, one quarter with grains, and the last quarter with meat.
  • Eat your veggies first. Along with vitamins, they’re also loaded with fiber, which will begin to satiate you before you dig in to the meat.
  • Bank your meals for the future. If you go to a restaurant and order a steak, order a take-away container along with it. Cut off a section about the size of a deck of playing cards, and that’s your dinner. The rest will make a great lunch tomorrow and maybe even more—all for the price of one meal.
  • Skimp on cheese. There is a common pitfall for anyone attempting a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diet—substituting one saturated fat (meat) for another (cheese). Remember that cheese is high in saturated fat too, and can contribute to health problems if over-consumed. Rely on vegetables and whole grains to fill in the gap instead.
  • Check out www.MeatlessMonday.com for more ideas and recipes.

   

  • What it all boils down to is balance and moderation. Although moderation never sounds exciting, the benefits to your health, your waistline, and your wallet can be very exciting indeed!

By Lou Schuler,

Our modern world conspires to make us fat and keep us fat. Here are the weapons that can help you fight back.