To Stuff or Not To Stuff. How to Safely Make Thanksgiving Stuffing

Source:  FDA

With over 45 million turkeys being cooked on Thanksgiving, the question of the day is whether or not you plan to cook your stuffing inside or outside the bird.  Either way can be deliciously safe to eat if the stuffing is cooked to an adequate temperature in order to kill foodborne pathogens that could ruin the day’s festivities.

Here are some food safety stuffing tips from the FDA and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics no matter how you cook it:

• Whether it is cooked inside or outside the bird, all stuffing and dressing must be cooked to a minimum temperature of 165ºF.  If the temperature of the turkey and the center of the stuffing have not reached a safe minimum internal temperature of 165°F, further cooking will be required.
• Do not remove the stuffing from the turkey before it reaches 165°F because the undercooked stuffing could contaminate the cooked meat.
• If you stuff poultry, do it just before roasting and stuff loosely.
• The turkey should be stuffed loosely, about 3/4 cup stuffing per pound of turkey.
• Do not stuff turkeys to be grilled, smoked, fried, or cooked in the microwave.
• For uniform doneness and optimum safety, cook stuffing separately from the bird.

This chart will help you determine how long to cook your turkey:

Source:  FDA

Happy Thanksgiving, Joan

If you have topic you would like me to cover on my blog, please email me at: salge@bu.edu

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The Easiest Way to Reduce Calories and Hunger on Thanksgiving

Source: GBFB

I have a strategy that will help you cut out some excess calories from your bountiful Thanksgiving this year and feel even better about yourself when you are sitting down at your dinner.  It involves distributing your Thanksgiving calories from your plate to somebody else’s.  Please read on.
Last week, I trekked my 25 Boston University (BU) Community Nutrition students over to Boston Medical Center (BMC) for the annual class pilgrimage to visit their very busy food pantry.  The students deposited their food donations on an old cart outside the pantry, and then we all attempted to squeeze in to a tiny food pantry, about half the size of their classroom.  As I glanced around the pantry, I noticed something missing from the shelves…..food.  The shelves are almost bare.  The food pantry was pantry without food.   While I had bought two bags of food to donate, I wished I had toted a third.

Latchman Hiralall, Food Pantry Manager, passionately explained to us that “the pantry was designed to provide healthy foods to 500 individuals monthly but averages over 7,000 users per month.”  During the holidays, this number typically exceeds 8,000 a month.  Hence, the shelves were bare.   Latchman explained that he would have to make an additional call to the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), which is their No. 1 food supplier, to restock the shelves.

GBFB is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country.  Last year, they distributed 48 million pounds of food, enough to provide healthy meals to as many as 545,000 people.  The GBFB acquires food through food industry product donations, food drives, and financial contributions that enable them to purchase additional high nutrient quality food at wholesale prices.

So here is my waist-trimming Thanksgiving strategy:  Since a typical Thanksgiving dinner serves up thousands of calories, consider making less turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pies to fill your stomach, and donate the money saved to help those whose Thanksgiving isn’t so bountiful.   Instead of buying a 20-pound turkey at $1.00 a pound, lug home a 15-pound bird and donate the $5 difference.  Forgo either the sweet potato casserole or mashed potatoes (how many spuds do you really need at one meal??) and donate the cost savings.   Is a pumpkin pie, apple pie, and the pie your aunt brings every year, really necessary?  Drop one from the menu and save about $10.  All total, you will not only remove hundreds of tempting calories from your dinner and waist but your feel good gesture will also brighter somebody else’s holiday.

Click here to donate your savings to the BMC Food Pantry or here to give it to the GBFB.  I promise you will feel lighter and happier on Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Joan

If you have topic you would like me to cover on my blog, please email me at: salge@bu.edu

                                        Follow Joan on Twitter at:  joansalgeblake

5 White Foods That Should be on Your Plate

Source:  Apre.org

White foods have gotten a bum rap as being totally worthless when it comes to providing good nutrition.   Granted, white bread and white rice can’t hold a candle to fiber-rich whole grain bread and brown rice, but to eliminate white vegetables based on their lack of color is no longer PC in the culinary and nutrition world.   

The biggest myth about white veggies is that they are missing healthy phytochemicals.  Whereas the phytochemical, beta carotene, provides the orange color to carrots, cantaloupe, and winter squash, and another phytochemical, anthocyanins,  gives the purple and red colors in blackberries and purple grapes, white vegetables can also have these plant compounds.  Some white foods can contain colorless phytochemcials, as well as other nutrients that make them as nutritiously powerful as their vibrant color cousins in the produce aisle. 

Here are 5 white foods that should be on your plate this season:

Cauliflower:

As a member of the cruciferous family, which includes broccoli and Brussels sprouts, cauliflower is a potent source of glucosinolates, a sulfur-containing phytochemical.  Glucosinolates break down during cooking and digestion into several active compounds that may help reduce the risk of certain cancers such as prostate and lung cancer.   Don’t know how to cook it?  Here are 20 healthy recipes.

Garlic and Onions:

Both garlic and onions, as well as shallots, chives, and leeks, are pungent sources of the phytochemical, allium.  Some research suggestions that both garlic and onions may help reduce the risk of stomach, colon, and rectal cancer.  Health aside, grilled, roasted, or sautéed garlic and onions will all add so much delicious flavor to vegetable side dishes that you will be able to skip using the salt shaker.  Try this Garlic Green Beans and Onions recipe that doesn’t contain any added salt.

White Beans:

White beans (also called navy beans) are chockfull of soluble fiber, which can help lower your blood cholesterol levels.   Once consumed, the soluble fiber in the beans latches on to cholesterol in your GI tract and blocks its absorption in the blood.  Because beans are also a good source of protein, they also provide satiety, or that feeling of fullness, at your meals.   Add them to soups to keep you warm, healthy, and full as the temperature drops. 

Potatoes:

For the money and your blood pressure, you can’t beat a traditional baked spud.  A cup serving of potatoes (about one small baked potato) costs less than 20 cents, yet will provide over 650 milligrams of blood pressure-lowering, potassium.   Since most Americans are falling short of this nutrient, a potato is a cheap way to fight high blood pressure.  Nutritional bonus:  a small baked potato is only 113 calories so do not believe that old wives’ tale that baked potatoes are “fattening.”  Stuff a spud with veggies, lean ham, a small amount of cheese for a filling, but low cost and low calorie meal.

Mushrooms:

Source: Mushroom Council

Since most Americans are falling short of their daily fiber needs, you may want to look to mushrooms to beef up the fiber in your diet.  A cup of cooked mushrooms provides more than 3 grams of fiber or over 10 percent of the Daily Value for a waist-friendly, mere 44 calories.  Try this Mushroom Scramble Mug to start your day with a fiber boost.

When it comes to fashionable vegetables to serve and eat  this season, consider white is the new black.


Do you have a nutrition topic that you would like me to write about?  Please email me at: salge@bu.edu.

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The Dangers of Dining Out With Food Allergies

Source:  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

It’s always a dining adventure when Pam makes a reservation for herself and daughter, Jessie, at a restaurant.   Pam is allergic to crustacean shellfish (crab, lobster, and shrimp), and Jessie has to carry an epi-pen (epinephrine by autoinjector) because consuming even a morsel of peanuts or tree nuts (almonds, walnuts, and pecans) can cause her to have a severe immune system anaphylaxic reaction.  Her throat will swell up and the airways in her lungs will constrict, which throws her into a state of panic worried that she will have difficulty breathing and could die. 

Between the both of them, Pam and Jessie have 3 of the 8 major foods  -- milk, eggs, wheat, soybeans, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, and peanuts that cause 90 percent of all food allergic reactions.  Currently up to 15 million Americans suffer from food allergies and need to avoid not only certain foods, but any ingredient that contains proteins derived from them.
  
In the supermarket, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that all food labels clearly identify in the ingredients listing all sources of these eight most common food allergens, as well as any protein that may had come from these foods.  Unfortunately, when dining out, the restaurant menu may just give a brief description of the dish without disclosing every minute ingredient used in the recipe, causing some restaurant patrons anxious about what they should order. 

Because of this, Pam and Jesse must spend several minutes during every restaurant meal outing clearly communicating to the waitstaff about their food restrictions and concerns.  Jessie’s allergy is so severe that she also needs to make sure that cross-contamination doesn’t occur in the kitchen, such as when a spoon or dish comes in contact with multiple foods, including a food allergen, in error.

Luckily, if you have a food allergy or know someone who has one, dining out has just become less stressful, thanks to AllergyEats.  This website offers a free online guide to over 600,000 allergy-friendly restaurants nationwide.  AllergyEats is the brainchild of Paul Antico, CEO, founder, and father of three food-allergic children.  Four years ago, Paul quit his day job to passionately become a food allergy advocate. 

On a crusade to educate the food industry about food allergies, AllergyEats recently sponsored a conference in Boston that catered to restaurant and food service establishments.   Experts from the National Restaurant Association, allergists from Boston Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Vanguard Medical Associations and notable restaurants that excel at accommodating food allergies provided valuable information about how eateries can accommodate food-allergic guests, allay their fears about food allergies, and build customer loyalty.

AllergyEats has also created a mobile app that allows you to choose an allergy-free restaurant on-the-go. It is free and designed for the iPhone or Android.

I am emailing the link to Pam and Jessie ASAP.








Do you have a nutrition topic that you would like me to cover?  If so, please email me at salge@bu.edu.

Follow Joan on Twitter at:  joansalgeblake

Getting the Children Involved

My youngest son loves to help my husband restore his old 68 mustang. He drops what he is doing when he sees his father in the garage, and he runs and asks if there is anything he can do to help. I think it is important to teach our children various skills so that they can handle adulthood better.

I consider it important that my boys  leave home with certain life skills, and that my daughter will do the same. My husband and I don't push it on them, we involve them in what we are doing instead. It makes them feel important that we value their help in what we are doing. Eventually they know the skill themselves and they can do them on their own. 

My husband is explaining certain things about the engine and what he is working on for the moment. My husband always tries to come up with things for Alex to do when he comes and wants to help out.

Alex is very proud that his father trusts him to work on his mustang. 

Sometimes tiny fingers can do a job easier than big fingers.

My husband involves Alex in the discussions and asks him what he thinks. It is a great way to encourage free thinking and problem solving.

Alex gladly leaves the heavy jobs to big brother. He rather plays with his sister when it comes to heavy stuff. 


Do your children help out too?


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Do Not Go Overboard Celebrating the Trans Fat Ban

Source:  FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hit a grand slam yesterday by issuing a Federal Register notice stating that they are preliminarily considering that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) are no longer “generally recognized as safe,” also known as GRAS, in the food industry.   PHOs are the major source of trans fat in the diet and are found in many processed foods such as grain-based desserts (cookies, cakes, and pies).

Research has shown that trans fat not only increases the “bad” LDL cholesterol but also lowers the "good" HDL cholesterol in the body.   In essence, it causes a double whammy in your body.  “If the FDA does determine that PHOs are not GRAS, it could, in effect, mean the end of artificial, industrially-produced trans fat in foods," says Dennis M. Keefe, Ph.D., director of FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety.

But before you order the celebratory donuts for everyone in the office, keep in mind that when you take the trans fat out the donut, you are still left with a donut.  The baked good did not miraculously get converted into an apple or banana.  

The No. 1 source of daily calories in the American diet is grain-based desserts.  Yup…..bakery items.  Americans are eating close to 140 calories of grain-based desserts daily, which is also the No. 1 source of heart-unhealthy solid fats such as saturated fat.  With over 65 percent of Americans currently overweight, few of us have a lot of room in our daily diets for desserts, whether or not  they contain trans fats.

Again, bravo to the FDA for considering this new science-based, health policy.  But please celebrate with a basket of fruit.

Do you have a nutrition topic that you would like me to cover.  If so, please email me at salge@bu.edu

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Learn More About Essential Oils

Learn more about essential oils:

Read this Before You Start Using Essential Oils

10 Benefits of Using Essential Oils

Getting Started With Essential Oils

How to Use Essential Oils

Essential Oil Testing

Click on the pictures.

          

 

Apps That Help You Get Dinner on the Table

Bryan, an accountant, husband, and father of two young boys, is also the top chef in the family as he arrives home on most weekdays before his accountant wife.  While healthy, family meals are important to him, the nutrition quality often gets put on the back burner as time is king.  The meal needs to be fast and easy to make so his limited repertoire of dinner options consists of pasta, hot dogs, veggie burgers, and hamburgers.   Bryan reached out to me asking, “I need some help with fast and healthy recipes, but I don’t have the time at night or on the weekend to find dinner ideas. Do you have any suggestions?”    

Understanding his dilemma, I knew there had to be an app for this so I scoured the Internet.  Surprisingly, there are numerous available and affordable apps designed with busy families in mind.  

Here is what I uncovered:

  

Source:  Eating Well

Eating Well’s Healthy In A Hurry app offers 200 free recipes that you can sort by categories. Since they know that time constraints are the biggest factor when it comes to getting a healthy meal quickly on the table, a  key feature of this app is that you can search by preparation time—15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or 1 hour.  Each recipe has a beautiful and delicious image and includes a detailed nutrition analysis, which is vetted by their team of registered dietitians.  The app is easy to use, which makes selecting a fast and healthy dinner simple.  It is designed for iPhone, iPad and Android users.

The Cooking Light Quick and Healthy Menu Maker app provides more than 300 recipes and lets users design delicious, quick menus in an interactive way.  You can swipe through the thousands of gorgeous photos of chicken, beef, pork, fish and vegetarian entrées and then add two sides plus one dessert to make healthy and complete dinners.  If your selections exceed Cooking Light’s nutrition recommendations, the app alerts you with green and red indicators.  It is available for $3.99 and designed for iPad and iPhone.

SparkRecipes offers a free app that is linked to the “world’s largest healthy recipes website” serving up over 450,000 recipes. The app allows you to search by not only preparation time but also ethnic cuisine and course.  Uniquely, all of the recipes have been tried and tested by novice cooks just like you, so success is guaranteed.   It can be downloaded to your iPhone and will automatically resize each recipe so that it is easy to view while preparing in your kitchen.

Meal Makeovers app was developed by two registered dietitians with a passion for feeding families with a super healthy diet. Meal Makeovers features healthier versions of classic recipes families love, such as  kid-friendly Spinach Mac & Cheese, Have-It-Your Way Tacos,  and Turkey Meatballs  (new recipes are  added  weekly).  The app also provides a customized shopping list, nutritional analysis, podcasts, and cooking and mealtime tips videos.  It is available for $1.99 for both the iPhone and iPad.

 

Do you have a nutrition topic you would me like to address?  Please email me at: salge@bu.edu

                                         Follow Joan on Twitter at:  joansalgeblake