Savvy Snacking

Source:  Mintel

If you like to snack daily, you are among friends.   A recent survey conducted by Mintel uncovered that:

Interestingly, about 1/3 of those surveyed are snacking on healthier foods than they did last year, but the majority of those in the study wished that they had more healthy snack options, specifically nibbles that are both nutrient-rich and calorie controlled.

Savvy snacking between meals can be very waist-friendly if the planned snack contains protein, fat and/or fiber – food components that help you feel fuller longer.  This can help you avoid becoming so hungry during the day that you impulsively over-consume calories at the next meal.  Cutting total daily calories will help you shed excess weight.

Here are my top 5 healthy, savvy snacks that take little, if any, preparation:

Olives:  A staple of the heart-healthy Mediterranean Diet, savoring black or green olives mid-afternoon can help you pleasantly feel as though you are in Sicily rather than staring down ugly monthly reports.  Ten small olives provide a mere 37 calories of heart-healthy fat and some fiber, as well as iron, a mineral many women are falling short of daily.  Bonus Tip:  Add an ounce of a light cheddar cheese to this snack to add some tummy-filling protein and bone-strengthening calcium.

Nuts: Don’t leave home without them as this perfect snack provides protein, healthy fats, and fiber.  Keep to an ounce serving, which is the equivalent of a petite handful.  Bonus Tip: Research suggests that high-fiber almonds may actually contain 20 percent less calories than previously thought.  It appears their rigid cell structure prevents some of the calories in the nut from being absorbed.  If you can’t absorb it, the calories don’t count.  In essence, your mouth enjoys it, and your hips avoid it.

Navel Oranges: These Mother Nature, sweet-as-candy gems are rich in hunger-satisfying fiber (almost 4 grams) while meeting your daily need of vitamin C.  When on-the-go, bring along a high fiber, 70 calorie navel orange for a snack that will fill you up before it fills you out. Bonus Tip:  Pack the orange in a sandwich baggie so that you will have a pouch to collect the uneaten rinds.

Red Peppers and Salsa:  Since most Americans fall short of their daily vegetable needs, this is an easy fix to this problem.  At a mere 35 calories, a fiber-rich red pepper can sweetly replace higher calorie chips.  Dunk the pepper in ½ cup of a salsa for a zesty afternoon snack for less than 70 calories.  Bonus Tip:  Quarter the pepper to create hefty wedges that double as a spoon to scoop up the salsa.

Popcorn: Who knew that popcorn was a wholegrain and provides 5 grams of tummy-filling fiber for only 100 calories, the equivalent of 5 cups popped?  This warm and cozy, crunchy snack is perfect to fight the afternoon hungry horrors. Bonus Tip:  If you can entice everyone in your office to synchronize their afternoon microwave popcorn popping, your office would smell ridiculously delicious.  Double Bonus Tip:  Purchase the 100-calorie snack pack to control your calories or share a larger bag with your co-workers.

Be well,
Joan


Twitter:  @JoanSalgeBlake 

The Secret Weapon in Kids Sports

As a mother  of a serious baseball player from tee ball through college, I spent more time (and money) focusing on getting him pitching and hitting lessons off the field to help his on-field performance than I did on what he was eating prior to the game.   I may have struck out on this one.

According Jill Castle, a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), mother of four athletic children, and author of Eat Like a Champion, “a growing, athletic child’s nutrient needs are different than a mature adult’s.  Coaches and parents often overlook the importance of good nutrition for youth sports so these athletes do not eat to compete.  Rather, they are slowed down by poor diets, inadequate calories, and wrong foods, which can affect their performance and long-term health”.

While there are tons of research-based nutrition resources for adult athletes, the adolescent athletic market is very sparse as the research is just beginning to occur.  This is mind boggling when you consider that there over 35 million seven to 17-year-old kids who play recreational and/or organized sports, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

Castle wrote her book to not only help parents and coaches adequately feed their growing athletes but also because the emerging research conducted with young athletes is alarming.   A study of competitive adolescent swimmers uncovered that, on average, the youth fell short on bone-strengthening calcium and vitamin D during this critical, bone-building time.   Another study of female youth soccer athletes did no better in meeting their daily needs of these two nutrients and many also fell short of their dietary carbohydrate needs.  Carbohydrates are the key fuel needed during athletic competition and are found in abundance in grains, fruits, vegetables and dairy foods.

One of the biggest myths in youth sports, according to Castle, is that parents think that they don’t have to worry about the child’s weight if he or she is active.  This isn’t true.   Research looking at the diets of youth sports participants revealed that these kids were chowing down more fast foods and sugary beverages than those who didn’t participate in sports.   Just take a peek inside a concession stand and you will see that you don’t even have to leave the sporting event to find these less nutritious foods.   The kids are eating them as post-recovery foods on the way home in the mini-van.

Unfortunately, the latest research suggests that kids who frequently eat fast foods and drink sweetened beverages are at a higher risk of becoming obese.  Since eating habits are developed early in life, when the organized sporting activities end, the weight may begin to pile on, if the calories aren’t also reduced in the diet to offset the inactivity.  An overweight young adult is at a higher risk of becoming an obese adult as he or she ages.

If you have an athletic child, paying attend to good nutrition may be one of the best kept competitive secrets during this active growing period and beyond.  For personalized advice, consider meeting with a RDN who specializes in pediatrics and sports nutrition.  You can find one here at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Personally, I wish Castle’s book was available decades ago.  I would have read it during my son’s pitching and hitting lessons.

Be well, Joan

Twitter @JoanSalgeBlake

German Chamomile Essential Oil

Chamomile is incredibly popular, but there're two types - Roman chamomile and German chamomile (3 if you count blue tansy). Here we'll look at German chamomile essential oil and get into its properties, benefits and even a few uses of the oil.

Quick Glance at German Chamomile Essential Oil

Pros: German chamomile oil is anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial. And it can help with wound healing and acne.

Cons: -

Precautions: German chamomile oil is very mild but you should still check with your doctor before using it.

German Chamomile Essential Oil Properties

Here are a few properties of German chamomile oil you should probably be aware of.

Name

German chamomile has quite a few names. You may see it sold as wild chamomile or blue chamomile. And it has multiple botanical names too but Matricaria chamomilla and Matricaria recutita are the most common ones.

You should verify these botanical names when buying this essential oil. Also, keep in mind Roman chamomile has these botanical names: Chamaemelum nobile or Anthemis noblis.

Color & Scent

You'll find German chamomile essential oil has a wonderful deep blue color, similar to blue tansy and yarrow essential oils. The oil also has a pleasant smell, similar to straw.

Compounds

There is tremendous variation in the quantities and compounds in German chamomile essential oil. But, for the most part, the oil contains chamazulene (which is responsible for the oil's blue color), alpha-bisabolol, alpha-bisabolol oxides, alpha-farnesene, beta-farnesene, farnesol and germacrene-d.

These compounds may have complicated names, but they are the reason for all the benefits of German chamomile essential oil.

German Chamomile Essential Oil Benefits

Here are just a few benefits of German chamomile essential oil for you to consider.

1. It is antioxidant

There are several studies proving German chamomile has antioxidant benefits.

You may know free radicals are harmful compounds that can damage your cells and potentially cause wrinkles, age spots and even cancer. But antioxidants neutralize these free radicals and so reduce the likelihood of skin damage due to free radicals.

Vitamins C and E are powerful antioxidants that are used in many beauty regimes. Interestingly though, several studies including these 2010, 2014 and 2015 studies found German chamomile essential oil and its components have relatively the same antioxidant activity as these vitamins.

How amazing is this oil?! The studies went further to show chamazulene and bisabolol were the compounds responsible for the oil's radical scavenging, antioxidant benefits.

2. German chamomile oil inhibits cancer cells

Again, there are quite a few studies proving these German chamomile oil benefits. One in vitro study tested ten essential oils (including lemon, grapefruit, cinnamon and thyme) on human prostate, lung and breast cancer cell lines. The results were incredible. They showed chamomile oil inhibited the cancer cells, even at very low concentrations (of less than 0.1%)!

3. It is anti-inflammatory

The anti-inflammatory benefits of chamomile has been well established for several decades. And a 2009 study determined alpha-bisabolol is the main compound responsible for this benefit.

4. German chamomile essential oil eases pain

Besides being anti-inflammatory, German chamomile oil may help with pain relief. A 2014 animal study used a modified 'paw-pressure' test conducted on rats to prove these effects. And the study went further to suggest bisabolol oxides were the compounds responsible for these possible benefits.

So use German chamomile to ease tired, aching muscles and inflamed joints.

5. It helps with wound healing

Another animal study done in 2010 looked at the effects of German chamomile extract applied topically to the wounds of Wistar rats. The results showed the extract helped to reduce the wound area faster and assisted with overall wound healing.

Way to go chamomile!

6. German chamomile oil for acne

Acne is typically the inflammation of the sebaceous glands. And the bacteria Propionibacterium acnes is one of the many causes of acne. It can damage your glands and causes acne scars to form. So getting rid of the bacteria is imperative to clearing up your acne.

Well, German chamomile essential oil will definitely help!

It's anti-inflammatory and has been shown in (a 2010 study) to kill the bacteria.

The study actually tested 10 popular essential oils like ginger, lemon, grapefruit, thyme and cinnamon. The results were remarkable. They showed very little oil - in the order of a 0.125% concentration - was needed to kill the bacteria, Propionibacterium acnes.

Isn't German chamomile essential oil amazing?

7. It's antibacterial

This should go without saying, given the study mentioned above! But you should know the study showed german chamomile oil had stronger bactericidal activity than grapefruit, lemon and ginger essential oils.

8. It is anti-fungal too

Besides being antibacterial, german chamomile also has great anti-fungal benefits. A 2012 study demonstrated these benefits.

It used the oil on 10 fungi species, some of which are responsible for athlete's foot, jock itch, and nail infections. The results were excellent! German chamomile oil was able to inhibit all fungi species tested. And the researchers suggest this oil would be excellent in antifungal treatments for dermatophytosis and other fungal infections.

So if you got athlete's foot, nail infections or any other fungal related skin problems, reach for German chamomile oil.

9. German chamomile is also anti-viral

German chamomile oil benefits also include anti-viral effects. That is according to a 2008 study.

The in vitro study tested the inhibitory effects of several essential oils including anise, ginger and sandalwood on the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). All oils showed tremendous virucidal activity with concentrations under 0.01%.

But the study singled out chamomile essential oil as a promising candidate for developing a topical antiviral agent for the treatment of herpes genitalis. Amazing right!

10. It is insecticidal

This is quite a list of the benefits of German chamomile essential oil. But there's one more! It has insecticidal properties, although it isn't as powerful as say camphor or peppermint essential oils.

A 2009 study demonstrated these moderate effects. It tested five essential oils (camphor, onion, peppermint, rosemary and chamomile) on flies and the buffalo louse. While camphor showed the most potent insecticidal properties, chamomile at a median concentration of 19% was lethal to the insects tested.

The oil also showed repellent and ovicidal activities.

And there it is - the proven benefits of German chamomile oil.

German Chamomile Essential Oil Uses

German chamomile essential oil benefits are truly extensive and impressive. But let's look at the uses of German chamomile oil.

Inhaling

You can add a few drops of German chamomile oil to your diffuser to get a wonderful straw-like smell.

And you can add other essential oils too. German chamomile blends well with Roman chamomile (obviously!), bergamot, geranium, lavender, jasmine, ylang ylang and clary sage essential oils.

Massaging

As with all essential oils, you must do a skin patch test to see if you are allergic to German chamomile oil.

To do this, simply add 2-3 drops of the oil to a carrier oil (like jojoba or coconut oil) and dab a little of this mixture onto the inside of your elbow or behind your ears. Check those spots for any burning, redness or irritation. If you don't notice anything, then you aren't sensitive to German chamomile oil and can use it on your skin.

Also, you can add a drop or two of the essential oils mentioned above to the mix in order to create a wonderful massage blend.

More Precautions

There are several studies (including this 2011 one) that shows German chamomile oil is not genotoxic (i.e. doesn't affect your cells and DNA). That means it is a pretty mild oil.

But you should still get the OK from your doctor before using German chamomile essential oil, especially if you are pregnant or nursing.

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