Get Some Sleep- New Years Resolution Series

When doing a nutrition assessment, one question a dietitian will ask is "How many hours of sleep do you get each night?. We aren't just asking this to see if you go to bed at a decent hour! We are asking this to make sure you are getting enough rest to help your body recover from today to prepare for tomorrow. While you're asleep, your brain cleans house; it gets rid of toxic byproducts and helps file away new memories into your brain. Your brain is repairing, helping your body grow, and release hormones. Without adequate sleep, your body can't try to keep you healthy and ready for the next day! Everyone shoudl strive for 7-9 hours of sleep a night, and this definitely should be a part of your health and wellness resolution.

Tips to sleep better-

1. Try to go to sleep and get up at the same time everyday
2. Get as much natural sunlight as possible
3. Move vigorously during the day—don't sit for more than an hour
4. Limit caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and big meals at night
5. Take time for relaxing activities before sleep
6. Create a calm and restful sleep environment

Follow these steps and you'll be sleeping like a baby! 

Drink More Water- New Years Resolution Series

Through my Community Nutrition internship this past fall semester, I have seen a variety of nutrition presentations directed towards adults and the aging. I gave a presentation on high blood pressure, talked about food safety, worked a health fair table about MyPlate, taught proper portion sizes, and choosing better beverages. The presentation I enjoyed the most and thought the audience got the most out of was, Water-The Better Beverage Choice. After reflecting on my semester and presentations I have given, I thought that this was one of the most important topics I talked about.

Soda and sweetened drinks are everywhere. They are in the check-out line at Wegmans, sitting in the aisle at Home Depot, and at children's eye level in gas stations and rest stops. They are sweet, fruity, fizzy, and oh so addicting. BUT, soda and sweetened beverages are the common downfall of people's diets and healthy habits. I'm not saying that you need to cut out soda and sweetened beverages from your diet completely. I am asking that, maybe, you switch a few of your sodas or sweet teas to water. Better yet, let's make it fruit infused water.

It is proven that the human body cannot go more than 3 days without water, and it is true that we do get some of our water from foods we eat, as well as other beverages like milk, tea and coffee. But that doesn't mean that we are getting enough of it! The human body needs about 30mL/kg of body weight daily. Here's how to figure out how much you need-

Take your weight and divide it by 2.2 to find out your weight in kilograms
135/2.2=61.36 kg

Take your weight in kilograms and multiply it by 30 to get the ammount of mililiters you need
61.36 x 30= 1840 mL

Then divide that number by 240 (which the is amount of mL in a cup)
1840/240=7.67c

So, if you weigh 135 pounds, you need 7  2/3 cups of water each day to ensure that you are hydrated!

If you want to drink something more flavorful without sacraficing up tons of empty calories, cut up some of your favorite fruits and put them into your water! There are water bottles at stores like Target and Walmart that have special compartments in them to diffuse the fruit flavor into your water. The best part about this is, is that your getting all the antioxidants and vitamins from the fruit!

Here are some of my favorite infused water mix-ins
-cucumber and mint
-watermelon and basil
-strawberries, blueberries and raspberries
-orange, lemon and lime
-cherry and lime

You can use frozen fruit instead of fresh to cut cost, and keep your water cold
Get creative as you like! I've even seen someone out jalapenos and pineapple in their water! This will cut sugar and calories off your diet, and help keep you healthy!

Quick Dinner Tonight!

 

Trying to come up with something for dinner that the whole family will love and that is nutrient dense too? Check out this recipe! I was perusing Pinterest the other day and found this recipe. I love P.F. Chang's, especially their lettuce wraps. So when I saw that I could make them at home, I got very excited! My roommate and I headed to the grocery store after class to pick up the ingredients and get started. We are both nutrition majors, so we are both very health conscious individuals and love when we find tasty recipes that are very nutritious too! The only changes we made to this recipe was we used ground turkey instead of ground chicken, and we did not have any soy sauce (what travesty!), so we put a little extra of the hoisin and rice wine vinegar. We were going to use romaine for the wrap part of the dish, but we could not find any that did not look old. Some possible additions to the recipe could be chopped carrots or maybe some snow peas to add color. Pair it with rice and you have a balanced dinner!

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps

Yield 4 servings                    Prep Time- 10 Minutes               Cook Time- 10 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha, optional
• 1 (8-ounce) can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 head butter lettuce

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground chicken and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.
2. Stir in garlic, onion, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and Sriracha until onions have become translucent, about 1-2 minutes.
3. Stir in chestnuts and green onions until tender, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style.

This recipe was obtained from damndelicious.net

Setting SMART Goals-New Years Resolution Series

With the new year approaching, most of America is thinking of what their New Years Resolution will be. Whether its to lose weight (like a lot of resolution goals), to eat more at home, to meal prep for the week ahead, or just be a better person, everyone has a goal in mind. That goal, however, may not be realistic. For example, I have heard and see some people say that their goal is to lose 30 pounds in a month. Sorry guys, that's not going to happen, at least not a safe way nor would you keep it off! When setting goals they must be S.M.A.R.T. Saying you are going to lose 30 pounds in a month is outrageous! Us dietitians, and doctors too, support a weight loss of 10% of the starting weight within 6 months. So, if you were 150 pounds, a reasonable goal would be to lose 15 pounds, and keep it off, within 6 months. Let's look at how to make S.M.A.R.T. goals-

S-Specific
Your goals have to be specific. A specific goal has a much better chance of being accomplished, than a very general goal. When making sure your goal is specific, you can ask yourself-Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How? Here's an example
Who-Me and My family
What- Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables
When-At lunch and dinner
Why- My brother isn't the biggest fan of fruits and vegetables, and they are not always served at meals
How-Buy more fresh fruits and vegetable when we go grocery shopping, and finding more recipes that incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables.

M-Measurable
Establishing measurable goals helps to hold yourself accountable and make sure you are on track to meeting your goal. Its best to set mini goals within your goal, for example-start with incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet 2x a week within the first 3 weeks. Once you reach that, you can bump it up to 3x a week, 4x a week and so on. To determine if your goals measurable, ask yourself -How much/How many? How will I know when I've accomplished this goal?

A-Attainable
Goals must be attainable and realistic. If its not possible, it won't be met. Saying you will lose 30 pounds in a month is not attainable. Nor is it realistic. Saying you will go from eating zero fresh fruits and vegetables to eating them 3x a day every day is not attainable. Establishing steps to reach the goal and a time frame can help to make sure your goal can be reached. Setting little goals can help you to reach the major goal at the end of the road.

R-Realistic
To be a realistic goal, it must represent an objective of something you are willing and able to work toward. If I do not like a certain type of fruit, it would be silly of me to that I am going to eat it every day, or least multiple times a week. It can be a very high goal, but still reachable. The mini goals I talked about in the previous letter can help to make sure you reach your realistic goal. You must ask yourself, is my goal realistic? If not, then think of a new one! 30 pounds in one month is not realistic!

T-Timely
Your goal should have a time frame. Without a time frame, there is no sense of urgency to reach the goal. If you want to lose weight, or increase fruit and vegetable consumption, when are you going to do this by? Saying it'll happen someday means it'll never happen at all!

SMART goals are the best goals!

Also, this is the first post of a series I am doing on New Years Resolutions. Check back next week for