Caring For Your Life

Registered Dietitians…

 Bring Food and Nutrition

Who is a Registered Dietitian?

Registered dietitians are food and nutrition experts who translate the science of nutrition into practical solutions for healthy living. The expertise, training and credentials that back a registered dietitian are vital for promoting positive lifestyle choices

Trust a Registered Dietitian

When you need food and nutrition information based on fact or need to know how a healthy diet improves health and fights disease— rely on qualified professionals in the field.

RD=Expert

Registered dietitians know the science of nutrition. They have degrees in nutrition, dietetics, public health or a related field from well-respected, accredited colleges and universities.

Looking for a Registered Dietitian?

When you need trusted, accurate, timely and practical nutrition advice, seek the services of a registered dietitian. To find a registered dietitian in your area, visit www.eatright.org and click on “Find a Registered Dietitian.“ 

Expertise to the Table

Registered dietitians draw on their experience to develop a personalized nutrition plan for people of all ages. They are able to separate facts from fads and translate nutritional science into information you can use. A registered dietitian can put you on the path to lowering your weight, eating healthfully and reducing your risk of chronic disease.

Thank You to all the Bridgeport Hospital Registered Dietitians and Registered Dietetic Technicians for your hard work and commitment to providing our patients and the community exceptional care.

March is National Nutrition Month®.   National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign that is created annually by the American Dietetic Association. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.

The theme for March 2010 is “Nutrition From the Ground Up.”  The key to a healthful diet is improving your nutrition from the ground up.  When planning a diet, most people have no idea what to do and what to eat.  An easy way to get started, is to just focus on improving your eating habits and adding exercise into your daily activity.  Start slowly from the ground up by building a good foundation, working toward a healthier happier lifestyle. 

Here area few tips

1.  Increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat daily.

2.  Focus on eating only multi-grain breads, cereals, pastas etc.

3.  Increase your daily fiber intake to 30 g/day.

4.  Eat more nuts and beans.

5.  Eat low-fat dairy.

6.  Eat two vegetarian meals/week.

7.  Increase the Omega 3’s in your diet – eat fish twice a week, add flax seed to your oatmeal, use olive oil instead of butter.

8.  Don’t drink your calories.

9.  Exercise 150 – 300 minutes/week.

10.  Make calories count by focusing on foods with more vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

Improve your nutrition from the ground up.

If you have lung disease, you may wonder why you feel more breathless when the thermometer drops.

For some people with chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) and asthma, breathing cold, dry air can cause constriction of the airways.  The airways are the hollow tubes that connect the mouth and nose to the alveoli. Alveoli are thin walled balloon-like structures where gas exchange occurs. The constriction of the airways may reduce the flow of air into and out of your lungs, which adds to the feeling of breathlessness and may even cause wheezing. This can be frightening and sometimes even dangerous.

What to do? Well, you certainly don’t want to have to stay in the house. Living well with lung disease is important for our bodies and our psyche, and that includes getting outside. But do pay attention to severe weather and wind chill alerts. There are certain times you should stay inside and extreme weather would be one of those times.

Here are some tips for coping with the cold and its effects on your lungs. 

• Wear a soft scarf over your nose and mouth.
• Breath through your nose as this filters, warms  and humidifies the air before it enters your lungs.
• Exercise indoors. We know that exercise is so important for people with lung disease so even though the temperature drops you still need to remain active. Exercise in your home or go to the mall and walk. Most malls open early for just this purpose.
• Use your bronchodilator, your rescue inhaler, 30 minutes before you go outside. The inhaler will open and relax the airways making it easier to breathe. Also carry it with you when you go out into the cold.
• If it is very cold and dry a home humidifier may help but be sure you clean it properly.
• Avoid wood burning stoves and fireplaces as the smoke from these can irritate your airways and combined with the cold cause worsening breathlessness.

Be prepared for the cold weather and you may just find it can still be enjoyable!

Excitement, parades, floats, costumes, colors, music playing, delicious food and fun, fun, fun;  It’s MARDI GRAS!  Mardi Gras has been traced back to Medieval Europe, so bring a little tradition and an essence of New Orleans into your supper meal tonight.  Find some delicious Mardi Gras meal ideas in any of your favorite cookbooks or on the internet.  Here are a few of my favorite recipes.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_mardi_gras_recipes

http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/mardi-gras/index.html

So spice up your meal tonight, and enjoy Fat Tuesday … It’s MARDI GRAS!

Chocolate and Valentine’s Day go hand in hand. Not only is chocolate a sweet gift, but dark chocolate, when eaten in moderation, is a healthy treat. Not only is it satisfying, dark chocolate provides nutritional value because in contains healthy antioxidants, phytochemicals and flavonoids. The flavonoids come from the cocoa bean extracts in dark chocolate, while the high percentage of cocoa gives your body healthy antioxidants.

A recent study in The Journal of The American Dietetic Association showed that the ingredients in dark chocolate offer many health benefits. The primary benefits of chocolate are the antioxidants responsible for preventing cholesterol from sticking to your artery walls as well as the flavonoids that contribute to heart health. Eating 2 oz. (50g) of plain chocolate a day with a minimum content of 70% chocolate solids provides protection against heart disease and high blood pressure. Did you know that dark chocolate contains some of the same healthy compounds that are found in red wine and tea? So, eating 1 ½ oz of dark chocolate a day may provide as many cancer-fighting antioxidants as a 5 oz. glass of red wine.

Chocolate contains both saturated fat and unsaturated fat but does not appear to increase blood cholesterol levels. In fact, chocolate contains a type of oil that has been shown to help maintain a healthy heart. There are also chemicals in chocolate that decrease the risk of sugar damage to your teeth.

Chocolate has a variety of trace elements and nutrients such as iron, calcium, potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Vitamin E. Some types of chocolate are now enriched with plant sterols, which have been shown to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels.

Don’t believe the myth that chocolate contains a lot of caffeine. While it is true that chocolate does contain caffeine, the amount is actually very small. One ounce of milk chocolate has only 6 mg of caffeine, and 1 oz. of dark chocolate has 20 mg of caffeine. In comparison, 8 oz. of decaffeinated coffee has 3 mg of caffeine, but 8 oz. of regular coffee has 85 mg of caffeine.

Some other interesting chocolate facts:
1.  50% of food cravings are for chocolate.
     40% of women and 15% of men report chocolate cravings
2.  Chocolate stimulates secretions of endorphins producing a pleasurable sensation similar to a “runner’s high.”
3.  In 1847 Joseph Fry of Bristol, England produced the first chocolate bar.
4.  In 1861 Richard Cadbury created the first known heart-shaped box for Valentine’s Day, and in 1868 he produced the first chocolate box.
5.  Today 36 million heart-shaped boxes are sold each year.
6.  It would take about 875,000 chocolate chips to provide one average-sized adult with enough energy to walk around the earth.
7.  And how about this one? In 1775, Thomas Jefferson wrote John Adams a letter declaring that chocolate was superior to coffee and tea. Wow, he knew something that we are just discovering!

Are you confused about the different types of chocolate? Well, hopefully this will help:
1. Unsweetened Chocolate is called baking or bitter chocolate. It contains no sugar. It has a strong bitter taste and it is used for cooking.
2. Bittersweet Chocolate is a dark chocolate but it is a little sweeter than unsweetened chocolate. It has less sugar and more liquor that semisweet chocolate. It can contain up to 75% cocoa solids and a little or no sugar. Bittersweet chocolate can be interchanged with semisweet chocolate.
3. Semisweet Chocolate is slightly sweetened during processing. Semisweet chocolate is a favorite chocolate of homemakers. It is often used in frostings, sauces, fillings, and mousse.
4. German Chocolate is a dark but sweeter chocolate than semisweet chocolate. German chocolate is a predecessor of bittersweet chocolate. German chocolate has no connection to Germany but was developed by a man named German.
5. Milk Chocolate is candy bar chocolate. It consists of chocolate with whole milk or skim milk powder added. It is rarely used in cooking because the protein in the added milk solids interferes with the texture of the baked products. Milk chocolate contains only 20% cocoa.

You can find some chocolate recipes on these websites
http://www.mms.com/us/baking/
http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/
http://www.ghirardelli.com/bake/recipes.aspx

A video history of chocolate can be viewed at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/A-Brief-History-of-Chocolate.html

And if you want to play some chocolate games, try M&M’s website http://www.mms.com/us/becomeanmm

This Valentine’s Day, give dark chocolate to your special someone!

Healthy Latkes … are possible

Is it possible to make a healthy latke? The answer is yes…but what are latkes?

Latkes are also known as potato pancakes. The word latke is of Yiddish origin and may have possibly come from Russia or Germany. As Jews immigrated to the United States, so did the tradition of preparing latkes. 

Latkes are shallow-fried pancakes made of grated, raw potatoes (usually russets), egg, salt and are sometimes are flavored with a bit of green onion. The latkes are patted into patties, usually about 2 inches in diameter. Once formed, the latkes are fried in heated oil until they are golden brown on each side. Latkes are usually served hot and may be accompanied by applesauce, sour cream or both. 

Latkes are a traditional dish often served during Hanukkah. They have gained popularity as a Hanukkah dish because they are fried in oil, commemorating the lamp oil in the biblical story that miraculously provided light for eight days.

Some believe that during Hanukkah, latkes should be made with cheese instead of potatoes. During ancient times, latkes could not have been composed of potatoes because potatoes are a New World food. Instead, it is thought that latkes were made with grated cheese and a bit of egg, and then fried. However, the introduction of the potato to Europe in the 18^th century forever changed the latke.

Today, ancient latke recipes containing cheese are often forsaken in preference to a potato latke. Many families prepare these pancakes from recipes that are over 100 years old. Therefore, even though the recipes are not prepared as in ancient times, potato latkes have a rich history as well.

Potato pancakes are also a traditional food of many other ethnic groups and nationalities, including Hungarians, Poles, Ukrainians, Germans and Russians, among others. A form of the potato pancake known as the “Boxty” is a popular traditional dish in most of Ireland, and the Swedish version of the potato pancake is called rarakor. 

As you can see, Latkes, potato pancakes or any of the various versions such as potato doughnuts, potato cakes, potato waffles, hash browns, Gamjajeon, Rosti, Boxty, bubble and squeak are popular worldwide.

The secret to making a  healthy latke is to pan fry it in a small amount of oil (1 or 2 tablespoons) for only a couple of minutes and then place it in an oven and cook it until it is golden brown and crunchy. 

Here is one link to a healthy Latke Recipe, but search the web and look at low-fat cookbooks for many other versions.

Since ancient times, cinnamon has been one of the world’s favorite spices. The sweet aroma of cinnamon is an unmistakable fragrant scent that fills the air in bakeries and coffee shops. Oh, the smell of a cinnamon roll or cinnamon bread baking in a hot oven! Yummmmmmmmm!

Cinnamon is actually the bark from the tender shoots on the laurel tree, a tropical evergreen tree. The bark is stripped and dried, giving it the curled up look that we know as cinnamon sticks. During the fast-approaching holiday season, cinnamon sticks are used for decorations around the house and to provide the house with a pleasant seasonal scent. Cinnamon is also ground into a fine powder and used in the kitchen for baking or cooking.

Cinnamon has an interesting history. It has been recognized for both its taste and medicinal uses by the Egyptians, ancient Romans, Chinese, modern Europeans and others who consider the spice more precious than gold. Cinnamon was first mentioned in a Chinese botanical book written around 2700 BC. The Egyptians drank it and used it in the embalming process, while the Romans burned it during funerals. Others used it as a preservative to delay the growth of bacteria in meat and to mask odors. More recently, cinnamon has been studied for its health benefits.

The health benefits of cinnamon that were discovered over 5,000 years ago continue to be studied today. Some recent studies show that these health benefits  include improving the insulin response of people with Type 2 diabetes, controlling blood sugar, reducing the risk of blood clots, boosting brain power as well as improving colon and heart health. One study showed that chewing cinnamon gum or smelling cinnamon improves attention span, memory and motor speed.

Cinnamon is also said to help relieve congestion, digestive upset, stiff joints and muscles. Since cinnamon has an anti-inflammatory process, some believe that it may help reduce arthritis pain. 

Here is a surprising fact: Did you know that cinnamon is a source of calcium, manganese, iron and fiber? This makes cinnamon very beneficial to our colon health, because the calcium and fiber in cinnamon bind to the bile salts that often damage the colon cells. It will be interesting to see if there will be any future research studies on whether cinnamon can actually help reduce cholesterol, because once the bile is removed, the body has to break down cholesterol to make more bile. I think that I’ll be stopping by the store tonight to buy some cinnamon gum and candy.

I love cinnamon and use it daily in my oatmeal and in my cappuccino. The recommendations that I have call for adding 1 teaspoon of cinnamon per day to your diet to potentially gain the health benefits that cinnamon is thought to have. Cinnamon tea anyone?

Next Thursday, November 19, is the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) annual Great American Smokeout. This is the day when we encourage all smokers to quit for one day and to commit to a long-term cessation plan. Tobacco use is still the number one preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States.

If you smoke, do yourself a favor and quit for that day. Come see us of the 19th at Bridgeport Hospital, where we are having a free Great American Smokeout health fair to help folks understand the dangers of tobacco and give them the tools to help with quitting tobacco products. We will have offer carbon monoxide testing for smokers, and tips on quitting, good nutrition, preventing  weight gain when quitting, stroke prevention, cardiac wellness  and “cold turkey” raffles. We will also provide educational materials and coupons to help you save money on cessation products.

The health fair will be in the main lobby of the hospital, 267 Grant Street, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Smokers quite often tell me that “now is not the time for them to quit.” Well, there is very rarely an ideal time. What we do know is that statistics show that those who quit with help, including Bridgeport Hospital’s own Quit Smart program, are more successful. So stop by and let us help you quit that habit for good.