Standing on an overcrowded train clutching a packed lunch might seem
like an unfortunate part of daily working life, but new research
suggests it might actually be doing us some good.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Thursday, March 19, 2015
15 Delicious Breakfast-For-Dinner Dishes Under 400 Calories
Ever heard the saying that breakfast is the most important meal of
the day? Well, if you missed it this
morning, you can still make it
tonight using these 15 delicious breakfast recipes you’ll be glad to
serve for dinner. The recipes use timeless breakfast ingredients
including egg, spinach, potatoes and cheese, and incorporate plenty of
veggies—all under 400 calories.
1. Broccoli & Sun-dried Tomato Quiche | Homemade in Half the Time
Broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, eggs and cheese come together on a flaky
pie crust in this quiche recipe. With tangy sun-dried tomatoes and
tender broccoli florets, you get plenty of vegetables in your meal. If
you don’t like this veggie combo, switch it up with peas and carrots,
spinach and sweet potatoes or whatever else you have in abundance.
Recipe makes 6 servings.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories:
394; Total Fat: 31g; Saturated Fat: 13g; Monounsaturated Fat: 8g;
Cholesterol: 138mg; Sodium: 652mg; Carbohydrate: 18g; Dietary Fiber: 4g;
Sugar: 3g; Protein: 14g
2. Sausage & Vegetable Egg Bake | The Lean Green Bean
This yummy sausage and vegetable egg bake is a delicious way to fit a complete meal (and some extra veggies) into one pan. Each
mouthful is dense with flavor and eggy goodness! The egg bake can be
prepared ahead of time, refrigerated, and popped into the oven when
you’re ready to serve. Recipe makes 4 servings at 1/4 of a 9×9 pan
piece.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories:
387; Total Fat: 20g; Saturated Fat: 10g; Monounsaturated Fat: 7g;
Cholesterol: 355mg; Sodium: 465mg; Carbohydrate: 20g; Dietary Fiber: 2g;
Sugar: 8g; Protein: 23g
3. Gluten-Free Zucchini Quiche | Healthy Nibbles & Bits
For our gluten-free friends, here’s a zucchini quiche complete with a
nutty, gluten-free crust made from almond meal and flaxseed meal. This flavorful
quiche is filled with colorful strips of zucchini noodles and orange
bell pepper, and makes for an impressive main dish. Recipe makes 6 servings.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories:
261; Total Fat: 19g; Saturated Fat: 3g; Monounsaturated Fat: 2g;
Cholesterol: 113mg; Sodium: 528mg; Carbohydrate: 7g; Dietary Fiber: 5g;
Sugar: 3g; Protein: 14g
4. Leek, Broccoli and Mushroom Frittata | Eat Spin Run Repeat
Itching to use that cast iron skillet? This leek, broccoli and mushroom frittata is an eggcellent
way to make breakfast-for-dinner for the whole family! A frittata is
basically a crustless quiche so for all you low-carbers out there, this
breakfast is for you. Note that the recipe calls for unsweetened almond
milk but you can also sub in hemp milk if you want it to be nut-free. Recipe makes 4 servings.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories:
185; Total Fat: 11g; Saturated Fat: 1g; Monounsaturated Fat: 4g;
Cholesterol: 423mg; Sodium: 181mg; Carbohydrate: 8g; Dietary Fiber: 2g;
Sugar: 3g; Protein 15g
5. Savory Bacon and Cheese Waffles| Hungry Healthy Girl
How’s this for a breakfast-for-dinner idea? Combine crunchy cooked
bacon, chives and cheese into a yummy waffle. Serve along with a side of
your favorite veggies, and you’re set for dinner. Recipe makes 2
servings at 1 large Belgian-style waffle each.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 293; Total
Fat: 8g; Saturated Fat: 3g; Monounsaturated Fat: 1g; Cholesterol: 11mg;
Sodium: 814mg; Total Carbohydrate: 37g; Dietary Fiber: 6g; Sugars: 3g;
Protein: 18g
6. Huevos Rancheros Tacos | Cooking Light
This decadent knife-and-fork taco features
a soft, runny egg atop beans, cheese, pico de gallo and so much more.
Each taco delivers a good amount of protein and fiber, helping you feel
fuller and oh-so-satisfied. Recipe makes 4 servings at 1 taco each.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories:
272; Total Fat: 19g; Saturated Fat: 5g; Monounsaturated Fat: 5g;
Cholesterol: 206mg; Sodium: 354mg; Carbohydrate: 18g; Dietary Fiber: 4g;
Sugar: 1g; Protein: 13g
7. Asparagus Goat Cheese Breakfast Tart | The Endless Meal
Use your convenient frozen puff pastry dough to create this flaky
breakfast tart your family can enjoy for dinner. Caramelized onions
pairs with simple olive oil, asparagus, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese
to create a salty-sweet-melt-in-your-mouth combination. Recipe makes 4
servings at 1/4 of a tart each.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 390; Total
Fat: 27g; Saturated Fat: 10g; Monounsaturated Fat: 8g; Cholesterol: 5mg;
Sodium: 340mg; Carbohydrate: 34g; Dietary Fiber: 3g; Sugars: 5g;
Protein: 8g
8. Spinach Artichoke Egg Casserole | Two Peas & Their Pod
Get those eggs crackin’ and make this spinach artichoke egg casserole
featuring cheesy eggs and a healthy dose of vegetables. Fresh chopped
basil, oregano and mozzarella cheese creates a tasty Italian flare.
Recipe serves 6.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 252; Total
Fat: 16g; Saturated Fat: 7g; Monounsaturated Fat: 6g; Cholesterol:
308mg; Sodium: 719mg; Total Carbohydrate: 7g; Dietary Fiber: 3g; Sugars:
3g; Protein: 20g
9. Brunch-worthy Breakfast Salad | Food Fanatic
“Brunch-worthy” is a tip off that it’s good for any meal of the day,
including dinner. This salad is truly a marriage of two meals because it
combines peppered bacon with warm herbed potatoes, eggs and a side of
green salad. Assembly is required but it’s well worth it. Recipe makes 4
servings at 1/4 of salad + 1 egg + 1 slice bacon each.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories:
346; Total Fat: 18g; Saturated Fat: 5g; Monounsaturated Fat: 9g;
Cholesterol: 222mg; Sodium: 674mg; Carbohydrate: 32g; Dietary Fiber: 6g;
Sugar: 10g; Protein: 13g
10. Spinach Artichoke and Brie Crepes | Half Baked Harvest
Savory crepes make a delicious main meal, especially when they’re filled
with spinach, artichoke and cheese. With this recipe, you can make your
own thin crepes and layer them with your favorite combination of
vegetables and cheese. Recipe makes 6 servings at 1 crepe each.
Nutrition information doesn’t include sweet honey sauce, so remember
to include it if you decide to make the sauce.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 314; Total
Fat: 19g; Saturated Fat: 11g; Monounsaturated Fat: 1g; Cholesterol:
118mg; Sodium: 768mg; Total Carbohydrate: 21g; Dietary Fiber: 4g;
Sugars: 2g; Protein: 16g
11. Brussels Sprouts, Potato & Chicken Sausage Hash | Uproot from Oregon
Enjoy a light hash for dinner by incorporating fresh Brussels sprouts
and cutting back on starchy potato. With just 8 simple ingredients (that
includes salt and pepper) and a fry pan, you’ll enjoy this healthy hash
in no time. Recipe makes 6 servings.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 202; Total
Fat: 9g; Saturated Fat: 3g; Monounsaturated Fat: 2g; Cholesterol: 243mg;
Sodium: 396mg; Total Carbohydrate: 15g; Dietary Fiber: 4g; Sugars: 3g;
Protein: 16g
12. Sausage Potato Pie | Pinch of Yum
Transform your mealtime experience with this breakfast-for-dinner recipe
involving sausage potato pie using shredded hash brown potatoes, kale
and lean ground pork. You can make this pie with just 6 simple
ingredients and, since the potatoes provide a starch, you don’t even
need the crust. We suggest using lean ground pork or ground turkey.
Recipe makes 8 servings.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 293; Total
Fat: 20g; Saturated Fat: 8g; Cholesterol: 177mg; Sodium: 546mg; Total
Carbohydrate: 14g; Dietary Fiber: 2g; Sugars: 2g; Protein: 15g
13. Skillet Sweet Potato Chicken Sausage Hash | Skinnytaste
If you’ve got extra sweet potato and rotisserie chicken on hand, why not
make breakfast-for-dinner using this hash recipe? Crack in some eggs
and sprinkle with a liberal dose of chives for added flavor. Recipe
makes 4 servings.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 265; Total
Fat: 10g; Cholesterol: 222mg; Sodium: 328mg; Total Carbohydrate: 18g;
Dietary Fiber: 3g; Sugars: 3g; Protein: 25g
14. Citrusy Quinoa Breakfast Salad | The Muffin Myth
It’s not too late to get your daily dose of vitamin C, especially if you
decide to make this breakfast salad for dinner. Fluffy quinoa is tossed
with orange, grapefruit, arugula and avocado for a refreshing, tangy
dish. Plus, each serving provides a whopping 146% of your daily value
for vitamin C. Recipe makes 3 servings.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 295; Total
Fat: 15g; Saturated Fat: 2g; Monounsaturated Fat: 6g; Cholesterol: 0mg;
Sodium: 15mg; Total Carbohydrate: 34g; Dietary Fiber: 5g; Sugars: 14g;
Protein: 7g
15. Garlic Spinach Potato Pancakes with Poached Egg | The Kitchen Paper
Garlicky potato pancakes are another reason why you should make
breakfast for dinner. These savory pancakes are a gluten-free option
made with mashed potatoes instead of flour with wilted spinach to add
moisture and texture. Serve alongside a poached egg, and consider dinner
complete. We suggest garnishing with 2 medium sliced tomatoes and 1/4
chopped green onions (included in nutrition info). Recipe makes 4
servings.
Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 383; Total
Fat: 9g; Saturated Fat: 2g; Monounsaturated Fat: 4g; Cholesterol: 282mg;
Sodium: 238mg; Total Carbohydrate: 61g; Dietary Fiber: 6g; Sugars: 3g;
Protein: 16g
Monday, March 16, 2015
Panel suggests that dietary guidelines stop warning about cholesterol in food
Warnings against eating foods high in cholesterol, like eggs or
shrimp, have been a mainstay of
dietary recommendations for decades.
That could change if the scientific advisory panel for the 2015
iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans has its say.
A summary of the committee’s December 2014 meeting
says “Cholesterol is not considered a nutrient of concern for
overconsumption.” Translation: You don’t need to worry about cholesterol
in your food.
Why not? There’s a growing consensus among nutrition scientists that
cholesterol in food has little effect on the amount of cholesterol in
the bloodstream. And that’s the cholesterol that matters.
Nutrition experts like Dr. Walter C. Willett, chair of the Department
of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, called the plan a
reasonable move. Dr. Steven Nissen, chair of cardiovascular medicine at
the Cleveland Clinic, told USA Today “It’s the right decision. We got
the dietary guidelines wrong.”
Keep in mind that this isn’t a done deal. The panel, which is
formally known as the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, makes
recommendations for the next guidelines update, but these
recommendations aren’t always followed.
The cholesterol connection
Cholesterol has a bad reputation, its name linked to heart attacks,
strokes, and other types of cardiovascular disease. Yet cholesterol is
as necessary for human health as water or air.
Cholesterol is a type of fat, or lipid. It is an essential building
block for cell membranes and other crucial structures. It is needed to
form the protective sheath that surrounds nerve fibers. The body uses
cholesterol to make hormones such as testosterone and estrogen, the bile
acids we need to digest and absorb fats, and vitamin D.
Cholesterol is so important that your liver and intestines make it
day and night from fats, sugars, and proteins. In the average person,
the body’s production of cholesterol far outstrips any contribution from
cholesterol in food.
Why is blood cholesterol a concern? Too much of it, especially in the
wrong kind of particle, can cause trouble inside blood vessels (see
“From cholesterol to crisis” below). Harmful low-density lipoprotein
(LDL) particles ferry cholesterol to artery walls. Protective
high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles pull cholesterol out of
circulation and deliver it to the liver for destruction.
Doing away with the beware-cholesterol-in-food warning would simplify
the art of choosing healthy foods. And it would let people enjoy foods
that contain higher amounts of cholesterol, such as eggs, shrimp, and
lobster, without worrying about it. A better focus is on reducing
saturated fat and trans fat in the diet, which play greater roles in
damaging blood vessels than dietary cholesterol.
Science, including nutrition science, is a process of change. New
findings emerge that nudge aside old thinking and prompt new
recommendations. That’s easy for someone like me to say, since I closely
follow nutrition science and research and understand how they work. But
for folks who don’t, a change in the recommendations about cholesterol
in food is likely to be seen as another dietary flip-flop and undermine
confidence in what’s known about healthy eating.
Making one change — getting more fiber — can help with weight loss
Getting to a healthy weight and staying there is an important way to
prevent heart disease, diabetes,
some cancers, and other serious
conditions. Many of us know firsthand just how hard it can be to reach
and maintain that healthy weight. And there’s no shortage of ways to try
to get there: You can count calories, carbs, or points. You can cut
back on fat or sugar. You can try any number of popular diets that
forbid certain foods, or focus on just one (the grapefruit diet,
anyone?). Any of these approaches might work for you. Or they might not —
in large part because they are complicated.
A study published in today’s Annals of Internal Medicine
suggests that something as simple as aiming to eat 30 grams of fiber
each day can help you lose weight, lower your blood pressure, and
improve your body’s response to insulin just as effectively as a more
complicated diet.
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School
compared the effectiveness of two diets with help from 240 volunteers.
Half were asked to follow the American Heart Association’s (AHA) diet
for preventing heart disease, in which you try to eat more fruits,
vegetables, high-fiber foods, fish, and lean protein but also cut back
on salt, sugar, fat, and alcohol. The other half were asked to follow a
diet in which the only goal was to eat 30 grams or more of fiber each
day. Neither group received advice or recommendations for exercise. All
of the volunteers had metabolic syndrome — that is, all of them had high
blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, and were
overweight. This cluster of health issues greatly increases the risk for
developing diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
The participants in each group averaged 19 grams of fiber a day. Both
groups lost weight, lowered their blood pressure, and improved their
response to insulin. Those following the AHA diet lost a bit more weight
(5.9 pounds) than those on the high-fiber diet (4.6 pounds), but both
groups were able to maintain their weight loss for 12 months.
The results of the study don’t prove that a high-fiber diet is
necessarily as good (or better) for health than the AHA diet or the
highly in-vogue Mediterranean diet. What it does tell us is
that one simple step can make a difference and that encouraging healthy
behaviors may be more effective than discouraging unhealthy ones.
“In addition to weight control, higher fiber diets can also help to
prevent type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” says Dr. Frank Hu,
professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of
nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. But,
he cautioned, it’s best to get fiber from food, not from supplements.
Adding fiber to your diet can be easy and delicious (see “Good
sources of fiber,” below). A high-fiber cereal or oatmeal with berries
on top is a great way to start the day. For lunch, enjoy a salad
sprinkled with chickpeas or kidney beans and some nuts (almonds,
peanuts, walnuts, or pecans). Make a stir-fry for dinner using a variety
of vegetables, and top with pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
Snacks offer another opportunity to get fiber. Whole fruit, nuts, and
seeds, or a berry smoothie with wheat bran or flaxseed are good
options, as are dried fruit (prunes, raisins), popcorn, and bean dips
paired with veggies or whole-grain crackers.
Good sources of fiber |
||
| Food | Serving size | Fiber (grams) |
| CEREALS | ||
| Fiber One | ½ cup | 14 |
| All-Bran | ½ cup | 10 |
| Shredded Wheat | 1 cup | 6 |
| Oatmeal (cooked) | 1 cup | 4 |
| GRAINS | ||
| Barley (cooked) | 1 cup | 9 |
| Brown rice (cooked) | 1 cup | 4 |
| BAKED GOODS | ||
| Whole-wheat bread | 1 slice | 3 |
| Bran muffin | 1 | 2 |
| VEGETABLES | ||
| Spinach | 1 cup cooked | 4 |
| Broccoli | ½ cup | 3 |
| Brussels sprouts | ½ cup | 2 |
| Carrots | 1 medium | 2 |
| Green beans | ½ cup | 2 |
| LEGUMES | ||
| Kidney beans (cooked) | ½ cup | 6 |
| Lima beans (cooked) | ½ cup | 6 |
| Baked beans (canned)* | ½ cup | 5 |
| FRUIT | ||
| Pear (with skin) | 1 medium | 6 |
| Apple (with skin) | 1 medium | 4 |
| Banana | 1 medium | 3 |
| DRIED FRUITS | ||
| Prunes | 6 | 12 |
| Raisins | ¼ cup | 2 |
| NUTS AND SEEDS | ||
| Peanuts* | 10 | 1 |
| Popcorn* | 1 cup | 1 |
| * Choose no-salt or low-salt versions of these foods. | ||
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)