If you’re making mashed potatoes or many other potato dishes, what do you do? Cube the potatoes and throw them in a pot of water to boil? If you want to hang on to the potassium potatoes offer, it’s best to boil the potato whole – skin and all. When potatoes are cubed or shredded then boiled, studies show a 75% loss of potassium.
Also, good news if you like to soak your potatoes in water overnight. Soaking potatoes does not result in a significant loss of nutrients to the water they’re soaked in.
For regular heart health and weight loss tips from dietitian Lisa Nelson, be sure to sign up for The Heart of Health ezine.
Sometimes people wonder about the health benefits of the black walnut versus the more common English walnut, so I’m going to provide you some quick info.
The English walnut contains more omega 3 fatty acids per ounce than the black walnut (2.6 grams versus .57 grams). To promote heart health, increasing your omega 3 fatty intake is a good step to take, so opt for the English walnut (which is easier to find anyway).
Another component to keep in mind:
The type of omega 3 fatty acid contained in walnuts is ALA (alpha linolenic acid). The conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA (the two types of omega 3 fatty acids linked to health benefits) is inefficient.
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Wearing a pedometer is a simple way to track your activity.
First, wear a pedometer everyday for a week and write your daily steps on a calendar. By the weeks end, you’ll have a idea of how much you move each day.
Next, find ways to increase your steps, such as an extra walk, taking the stairs versus the elevator, parking further from the store, etc.
Make your final goal 10,000 steps (~5 miles) each day!
Normally, the high sugar, high fat, high calorie beverage and menu items offered by Starbucks were reasons to steer clear if you struggle to lower triglycerides, lower cholesterol, or shed extra pounds.
Starbucks is typically not the best place to grab a quick breakfast with a Frappuccinno, while scanning the daily paper.
Simply selecting a Grande Frappuccino and Cranberry Orange Muffin would start your day with a whopping 850 calories and 30 grams of fat!
In the past Starbucks has not embraced the idea of offering more nutritious items. They did remove trans fats and started offering nonfat milk this past year, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.
The good news is Starbucks has decided to revamp their breakfast menu to offer six heart friendly breakfast options. The goal was a menu with fewer calories, more protein, more fiber, and more fruit.
New menu selections include:
Apple bran muffin – 330 calories, 8 grams of fat, 7 grams fiber
Baked berry stella – 280 calories, 9 grams of fat, 6 grams fiber
Power Protein plate with peanut butter – 330 calories, 16 grams fat, 5 grams fiber
Chewy fruit and nut bar – 250 calories, 10 grams fat, 4 grams fiber
Perfect oatmeal – 140 calories, 2.5 grams fat, 4 grams fiber
These new options provide reduced calories and fat grams, while boosting dietary fiber content. All good moves if you are looking to be heart friendly.
You still need to use your head when choosing a beverage. Starbucks is not removing its’ high calorie, fat, and sugar beverage options. One of the best choices is a simple Caffe Americano (15 calories, 0 grams fat).
So, if you enjoy the Starbucks ambiance, you’ll now be able to enjoy a heart healthy breakfast, too. Hopefully, the taste of the new menu items lives up to the flavor of their coffee!
To receive regular heart health and weight loss tips from dietitian Lisa Nelson, subscribe to The Heart of Health ezine.
I’ve always recommended clients make a switch from white rice to brown rice as a way to boost dietary fiber intake. A diet high in dietary fiber (ideally 25-35 grams/day) is linked with reduced heart disease risk by lowering LDL and total cholesterol levels.
The FDA just approved a new ruling that will allow brown rice to use a health claim on its label. So, when you’re shopping for groceries, be on the look out for the new whole-grain logo added to the brown rice packaging and don’t forget to reach for the brown rice over the white! A 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice contains two grams of fiber.
Brown rice takes extra time to prepare (~45 minutes). I checked out the nutrition label on brown “minute” rice recently and it’s another option, still providing 2 grams of dietary fiber per 1/2 cup serving. Best of all, only takes ~10 minutes to prepare. Haven’t tried it yet, so can’t vouch for its flavor, but I have added it to my shopping list.
Summer vacation’s have come to a close. The girls and I returned home from about 3 weeks in Kansas on August 11th and hit the road for 4 days in Glacier National Park August 13th.
It meant another 8 hours on the road. . .spending this much time on the road back to back wasn’t our original plan. We had intended to visit Glacier in June, but after starting to plan to trip quickly learned June is not the best time to visit Glacier (trails are still snow packed).
Glacier is another beautiful park. I learned something new. I always thought it was named Glacier after the glacier’s present in the park today (down to 20), but it’s named Glacier after glaciers from millions of years ago that formed all the valleys and peak’s.
The two main goals of our visit included driving the Going to the Sun Road and seeing Grinnell Glacier (only glacier accessible via a trail). Beautiful views and features visible from the Going to the Sun Road (hard to believe it was constructed in the 20’s!).
We took in a couple short hikes, also. Here’s Katelyn getting a free ride.
Also, took a boat tour on St. Mary Lake (average depth 289 feet!).
We really enjoyed the hike to Grinnell Glacier. It was 12 miles round-trip (yes, we hiked it with a 2 year-old and 8 month-old!). We did shorten it 2 miles by catching a boat ferry back across a lake, so 10 mile hike for us.
Both girls did very well. Katelyn could hike up to a half-mile before needing back in the back-pack carrier. Keira was a trooper. I had to do some jogging on the way back down to make sure we caught the ferry across the lake (Eric and Katelyn were way ahead of us) and Keira just giggled while bouncing along. Here she is taking an afternoon nap while mom hiked.
We had lunch on the trail, saw wildlife (big horn sheep was perched directly over the trail), and had to hike through a small waterfall (which felt very good on the way back down!).
Here are a couple pictures about a half mile from our destination – Grinnell Glacier. Eric decided he needed to cool off (don’t blame him, Katelyn is pushing 40 pounds!). Keira’s all smiles at our pit stop and Katelyn shows off her hiking skills.
We made it! Here’s Grinnell Glacier. It covers 300 acres. Not sure its depth, but we learned in order to be classified a glacier it must be at least 100-150 feet thick. The pictures don’t do it justice, but you can pick out some of the large rocks stuck in the ice. I believe the rangers said Grinnell Glacier is the fastest melting glacier in the park.
We’ll have to add a new entry to the baby books – “Baby’s First Glacier”!
That’s our last road trip for awhile!A great place to visit, but it’s good to be home and get everything back in order.
As incentive to kick off a healthy fall season, I have planned a September bonus. Be sure to sign up for The Heart of Health to receive details on the September bonus, as well as, regular heart health and weight loss tips!
