Butternut Squash Soup

Posted on October 30, 2013 by karenplcdietitian

Add some warmth to your evening meal tonight with this vegetarian soup!  With its high vitamin A content, butternut squash is a flavorful and colorful way to support eye health. 

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, divided

4 cups diced butternut squash

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic

1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

Nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

1. In large pot over medium heat add 3 cups broth, butternut squash, onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce to low and simmer uncovered, about 30 minutes.

2. Pour small batches of the mixture into a blender or food processor and purée.  Return the mixture to the pot.

3. Bring to boil. Then, reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for another 30 minutes.

 4. Add remaining broth as desired.

 Garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg and serve.

 Makes 8 servings.

Per serving (not including salt/pepper to taste): 50 calories, 0g fat, 14g carbohydrate, 4g fiber, 1g protein, 75 mg sodium, 230% DV vitamin A, 30% DV vitamin C

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5 Healthy Gift Ideas

Posted on October 29, 2013 by karenplcdietitian

Get a head start on holiday shopping and encourage your loved ones to lead healthy lifestyles with these useful gifts!  

– Salad-to-go kit: A convenient, stylish way to transport a salad!  Each kit comes with a bowl, lid, dressing cup and insulated sleeve.  There are 6 colors to choose from and each kit is just $20! Available at the Container Store

– Spice Gift Boxes:  The Pepper Lover’s Gift Box from Penzey’s comes with a Peppermill and 3 jars of peppercorns (white peppercorns, black peppercorns and green peppercorns).  All for under $55!  They also have a Salt Free Gift Box containing 8 jars of fresh spice and herb combinations that would make a perfect gift for the flavor-lover in your family or circle of friends!

– A Glass Water Bottle:  A dishwasher safe, BPA-free way to support the environment and to help your loved one stay hydrated.  This is also a great way to transport a smoothie! Life Factory offers 3 different sizes and a variety of colors to choose from with prices ranging from $20-25.

– A Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity + Sleep Wristband: This thin band tracks calories burned, steps taken and sleep cycles.  You can set goals, sync stats to a computer or phone to track progress and can pair it with a variety of calorie-tracking apps to create a motivating diet and exercise tracking program.  Buy one for yourself too and you can set up a friendly competiton with your family & friends to see who can take the most steps or burn the most caloires!  Check out www.fitbit.com/flex for more information  

– A trendy Medical ID bracelet: Help your loved one make a fashion statement while keeping their medical information close by (if its ever needed in an emergency) with a custom fit and beautifully designed Medical ID bracelet.  Medical ID Fashions has more than 300 styles to choose from and their id plates are interchangeable between bracelets.

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Picture This: What 1,500 and 2,000 Calories Looks Like

Posted on October 4, 2013 by fairfaxrd

We hear and read about calories all the time, but how does that translate into actual food choices?

Here’s a great video that shows what 2,000 calories looks like.  It’s interesting to see how different foods stack up.  Two Chipotle burritos has the same calories as 19 bananas.  While I know many of you may be thinking: “I’ll take the burritos,” the video does show how eating less processed foods generally allows you to have a bigger portion for fewer calories. While foods such as nuts are more calorie-dense (in other words you get a lot of calories in a smaller package), we still want to include them in our daily eating since they contain heart-healthy monounsaturated fat as well as other key vitamins and minerals.

Wondering what a day’s worth of healthy eating looks like?

Here’s a link that shows what a 1,500 calorie diet looks like from eatingwell.com.

What I like about this visual is again how you can eat a larger volume of food when eating healthy.  It also shows by eating a variety of foods, you get a colorful, nutrient-rich diet.

Find anything surprising?  Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

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Tired but Wired? Nutrition Strategies for Dealing with High Stress

Posted on October 2, 2013 by fairfaxrd

Stress.  We all have it.  Sometimes it seems to ebb and flow like the waves of the ocean or often we go through periods of our life where stress seems like a daily overwhelming tsunami in which we can barely keep our head above water.

This daily deluge of stress takes a mental and physical toll on us.  A recent Washington Post article talks about how this can cause adrenal fatigue since our bodies are in constant “fight or flight” mode, continually spewing out stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.  This can lead to the “tired but wired” syndrome in which we wake up exhausted in the morning, need lots of caffeine and sugary snacks to get through the day, and then burn the midnight oil because we’re too wired to go to sleep.  Other symptoms of stress overload can be poor memory or “brain fog,” difficulty concentrating, depression, constant fatigue that is not relieved by rest, weight gain or sluggish metabolism, digestive issues (such as bloating), poor caffeine or alcohol tolerance, and poor stress tolerance.

If this sounds like you, here are some dietary approaches to help support your adrenal glands and provide you a solid nutrition foundation to help deal with stress.

  • Eat at regular times throughout the day.  Eating at regular intervals can support your digestion by keeping your blood sugar and energy levels stable, thereby reducing the stress on your body.
  • Eat small, frequent meals containing protein.  Protein slows the release of food from the stomach.  This slowed digestion helps to provide a more steady flow of energy rather than a huge spike and then drop when eating more sugary, refined carbohydrates foods, such as cookies, crackers or candy.  Great sources of quality protein include lean cuts of meat such as chicken breast, turkey breast, fish (especially fatty oily fish such as salmon), seafood, eggs, egg whites, low fat dairy products, beans and lentils.  Limit red meat but when choosing look for lean cuts with the words “loin” or “round” in the description and ideally choose grass-fed.
  • Perk up with plant-based foods.  Aim to get at least 2 pieces of fruit each day and 2-4 cups of vegetables.  Snack on nuts and seeds, such as almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, or sunflower seeds.  Just be modest with your portions and eat only a small palmful or about 1 oz at a time.
  • Avoid the lure of “instant energy” foods.  You’ve hit the mid-afternoon slump and the vending machine is calling to you like a siren of the sea.  Sweet cravings are often the body’s signal of low blood sugar.  Resist the urge to reach for sugary sodas, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, candy or chips and instead reach for fruit, nuts, or low-fat dairy products.  Some easy snack options are 100-calorie pack of almonds, a sliced apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter, a container of Greek-style yogurt, or even a couple of low-fat string cheeses.

Eating high quality food on a more regular basis will help support your body through tough times and help you re-discover the energy you’ve been missing.

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Pace Yourself!

Posted on September 27, 2013 by kbaldyga2013

How many times have you gone out for a run and five to ten minutes in you already want to quit?  Usually this feeling is due to over running at the start and not pacing yourself, causing your muscles and cardiovascular system to fatigue quickly.   The body uses the anaerobic system when sprinting but can only last up to 2 minutes.  This is because it does not utilize oxygen.  Once those energy stores deplete, the body has to turn on the aerobic system otherwise you will fatigue very quickly.

Learning to pace yourself takes practice, and that is why it’s important to train for any kind of race or just running for pleasure.  Before starting any training, you need to figure out what your goal time is to finish the given distance.  This way, you can monitor your splits and determine what the differences are between your slow and fast pace.

Finding out your goal pace may take a few runs to determine what is comfortable and how you felt going at different speeds.  Try running a mile and see how long it takes you and how you felt at each aspect of it.  You will get an average pace, but when you add in additional miles to run, you know that some will be faster and some will be slower to bring you to that goal.

No matter what the distance is, the first half mile to mile should always be the slowest.  This is sometimes difficult for people to do since this is when you feel your best.  Your legs are fresh and you can’t feel any fatigue setting in.  The more you practice this, the easier it is to execute during a race or run.  That way, even if your adrenaline is up and you feel awesome, you still know that you need to start out slower to come out on top.

Some extra tips:

  • Wear a heart rate monitor.  This will allow you to see how hard your heart is working and how you feel at those intensities.
  • Practice your breathing.  If you do not have steady and controlled breathing, you will mimic hyperventilating which uses more energy and can slow you down.
  • Use a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale.  This will give you a gauge of how hard you think you are working and feeling at certain speeds.
  • Use music.  Putting slower songs on to start your run can make you more conscious to slow your pace down.  As the run progresses, you can put faster songs on with higher beats per minute.
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3 Tips for “Cleaner” Eating

Posted on September 5, 2013 by karenplcdietitian

With hectic lifestyles and little time for cooking, it’s easy to overlook food safety at home.  Here are 3 tips to help you eat “cleaner” food at home:

  1. Clean the can!  Rinsing off jars, canned foods like canned beans and soups as well as soda/seltzer cans with warm water before opening them can help eliminate harmful bacteria that is likely to be ingested if not cleaned properly.  And don’t forget to clean the can opener with warm water and soap after opening cans!  In addition, when storing cans and jarred goods, choose a cool, dry place and avoid using cans/jars with dents, cracker or bulging lids as these are signs of a potential food borne illness threat.
  2. Rinse ALL fruit & vegetables.  Many of us know the importance of washing ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables before eating them, but studies show that more than half of us skip washing peel-and-eat fruits and vegetables such as oranges, bananas, and carrots. Fruit and vegetable peels might carry bacteria that can spread during cutting or peeling, so always be sure to rinse them first even if you aren’t going to eat the skin/peel.
  3. Wash surfaces like counters and cutting boards before and after preparing foods.  And don’t forget to wash refrigerator shelves often. Here is a “recipe” for making a safe & effective bacteria killer*:

Ingredients:

One 16 oz. bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide (3%)

One 16 oz. bottle of White Vinegar or Cider Vinegar

Two Plastic Opaque Spray Bottles (16 oz. or larger; avoid translucent or transparent bottles as light can lessen the effectiveness of the hydrogen peroxide)

Directions:

– Label one bottle “hydrogen peroxide” and pour the hydrogen peroxide into it. Label the other “vinegar” and pour the vinegar into it. Do not pre-mix the hydrogen peroxide and the vinegar into the bottles as this makes the “recipe” ineffective.

– When you are ready to disinfect your counters, cutting boards, and other surfaces that have been in contact with food, spray the surface generously with hydrogen peroxide.  Then spray generously with vinegar.  Rinse/wipe the surface with water afterwards.  It doesn’t matter which you use first – you can spray with the hydrogen peroxide followed by the vinegar or vice versa. You can also use these solutions for cleaning vegetables or fruit if you prefer to do more than just rinse them with water; just spritz them with the vinegar and then the hydrogen peroxide (or vice versa), and then rinse them off under running water.

* In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces, possibly making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or commercially available kitchen cleaner. The best results came from using one mist right after the other (it is supposedly 10 times more effective than using either spray by itself and more effective than mixing the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide in one sprayer, so follow the directions carefully!).

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Perfect Portable Snacks for Travel

Posted on August 12, 2013 by karenplcdietitian

By Mary Perry, RD

Whether you are planning to go on a summer vacation or you have to travel a lot for work, a little preparation goes a long way when it comes to healthy eating.  When preparing for a trip, packing snacks is as important as packing your clothes.  Having key items gives you choices when traveling so you’re not forced into making an unhealthy choice just because you have no other options.  Here are some ideas:

  • If driving, bring along a small cooler with ice packs to keep your snacks fresh. Individually wrapped portions of string cheese can be kept in the cooler with the fruit and vegetables. They are a great source of calcium and protein.
    • While all fruit and veggies are a great choice, apples and bananas as well as celery sticks, baby carrots, olives, cherry tomatoes are good choices as they can stand a lot more jostling than softer produce.
    • You can also pack sandwiches made with lean meats and keep these in the cooler, too.
    • Another great choice for the cooler are individual containers of low fat cottage cheese or Greek-style yogurt since they tend to be higher in protein and lower in sugar than regular yogurt.
    • Bring plenty of water. It will keep you hydrated and help prevent fatigue from lack of fluids.
    • Bring baked whole grain crackers along on your trip. This is good for added fiber and nutrients.
    • Individual serving size packets of peanut, almond or cashew butter are great to squeeze onto whole grain crackers or an apple.  Justin’s and Nutiva are two brands that offer boxes of single serving packets.
    • Protein powder and a shaker bottle or ready-to-drink protein shakes.  If mixing your own, all you need to do it add water, milk or milk alternative and you’ve got a shot of protein ready-to-go. 
    • Hard-boiled eggs are a great choice.  You can either pack them in your small cooler but they can also be found at most convenience stores.
    • Don’t overindulge in greasy chips. There are baked varieties that have a lot less unhealthy fats. You need to watch how much you eat of those too, however, since they don’t offer much in the way of nutrition.
    • Nuts such as almonds, cashews, pistachios and walnuts contain polyunsaturated fats and are easy to take on a trip in either individual bags or larger containers. 
    • Soy nuts are also a good choice since they’re high in protein, fiber and healthy fats.
    • Trail mix and dried fruit are a great portable snack but I recommend packaging individual portions in snack size baggies since you get a lot of calories in a little serving size.
    • Vacuum-sealed tuna packets or tuna-salad kits (complete with light mayo and crackers). Like Lunchables, but for grown-ups.
    • Low-sodium turkey or ostrich jerky. Jerky is a great portable protein just look for ones with 20% or less of your daily sodium intake.
    • Packets of plain instant oatmeal. Empty one into a travel mug before a flight, ask an attendant for boiling water, and you have a quick breakfast with no cup necessary.
    • Whole grain cereal. Instead of chips, pack some high fiber cereal in a snack size baggie for easy munching. Look for cereals with at least 5 grams of fiber per serving and ideally less than 5 grams of sugar.  Kashi brand has several varieties of cereal that meet these guidelines.
    • Natural nut butter sandwich. Make your own sandwich with either peanut, almond, or cashew butter on whole wheat bread or crackers. Pack it in a small Tupperware container to prevent it from getting squished.
    • Energy bars. Energy bars are an easy grab-n-go snack. Look for more brands such as Lara, Luna, Pure, Kashi, Kind, or the Zone.
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By: Kimberly Baldyga, MS ACSM HFS

The summer months are in full affect, but that doesn’t mean you have to compromise your workout.  If you enjoy running, biking or exercising outdoors you can still take part in those activities as long as you know the pre-cautions to take.

Even when you exercise indoors, your body temperature rises and places stress on the body to try to cool it down.  Now take that same exercise and bring it outdoors with the sun and high temperatures.  The body will need to work even harder to cool itself off and try to circulate blood flow through the skin.  This in turn takes blood away from your muscles which increases your heart rate because now you need to work even harder.

There are a few things you can do to help offset some of the stress and be more efficient for your body.

  • Drink plenty of fluids before, during and after your workout.  As your body cools itself off, you will sweat and lose fluids.  If you are going to exercise for a long period of time at a higher intensity, try drinking a sports drink or a beverage with electrolytes.
  • Exercise in the early morning or early evening.  This will help you avoid when the temperature and sun is at the highest point, usually around noon or midday.
  • Wear light clothing, avoid dark colors and be sure the fabric is something your skin and sweat can breathe in.
  • Don’t try to overdo your workout if it is your first time in the hot weather or sun.  You need to gradually get your body acclimated to the temperature and elements.  Start with a lower duration or intensity and build up to your regular workout.
  • Be aware of how you feel.  If you start to get cramping, light headed, chills, become dizzy or disoriented, you may be suffering from a heat illness.  Don’t try to work through it.

Exercising outdoors in the summer can be very enjoyable and refreshing from the usual indoor routine, but be sure to take the right steps to avoid illness or unneeded stress on the body.

Posted on July 26, 2013 by kbaldyga2013 | 1 Comment

Unique Medical Program for Highly-Traveled Clientele Announced

Posted on July 22, 2013 by andrealanzaplc

PRINCETON LONGEVITY CENTER AND CASTLE CONNOLLY LIFESTREAM MD ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO OFFER A UNIQUE MEDICAL PROGRAM
FOR HIGHLY-TRAVELED CLIENTELE

Two Nationally Recognized, Executive-Focused Health Companies Join Forces to Offer Peace of Mind On the Road, Domestically and Abroad

PRINCETON, NJ, July 22, 2013 / Princeton Longevity Center, the Northeast’s premier preventive medicine center and a leading international health advisory company – Castle Connolly LifeStream MD – have announced their partnership to bring unique medical services to their highly-traveled executive clientele. By partnering with LifeStream MD, Princeton Longevity Center patients will now have optional LifeStream MD access to nationally recognized physicians, the finest hospital and physician care in over 80 countries, detailed electronic medical records, security services and emergency medical evacuation around the world, 24-hours a day while traveling for business or leisure.  LifeStream MD’s renowned physicians are screened and selected by the experts at Castle Connolly Medical, publishers of the prestigious “America’s Top Doctors®.”

“Our partnership with LifeStream MD seemed like a natural fit,” said David Fein, MD, Medical Director of Princeton Longevity Center. “Many of our executive clientele travel frequently for work and pleasure. Travel in itself carries medical risks and for the patients whom we find silent medical issues – having instant access 24/7 to a Castle Connolly LifeStream MD physician who can immediately take over a medical crisis and arrange medical treatment or evacuation if necessary is invaluable to our clientele and their families.”

As a leader in high-level Executive Exams, Princeton Longevity Center employs the latest technology for early disease detection for problems like cancers, aneurysms and coronary artery disease – problems which can be devastating when diagnosed and treated out of the country without access to personal medical records and vetted physicians and hospitals. Princeton Longevity Center provides a unique and individualized plan for addressing health issues that are discovered as part of their executive clients’ one day exam and can prepare their traveling clientele for their health risks abroad. Princeton Longevity Center will enable Castle Connolly’s LifeStream MD clients to not only have the peace of mind that comes with knowing medical assistance will be there for them in emergency regardless of where there are, but also be prepared for their traveling risks.

“Castle Connolly LifeStream MD is very excited to offer its members access to the unique diagnostic services of Princeton Longevity Center – a leader in Preventive Medicine” says Dr. Michael Wolf, Executive Vice President of LifeStream MD. “Caring for our LifeStream members on an emergent basis wherever they travel is largely reactive. Having PLC’s physician-led team identify incipient disease and health issues months or years in advance allows LifeStream physicians to be proactive. Knowing in advance the kinds of health or medical issues our LifeStream members are facing lets our LifeStream physicians serve with greater efficiency and speed in times of crisis.”

For additional information or to locate a centers visit: www.PrincetonLongevityCenter.com.

For information on Castle Connolly LifeStream MD, please visit: http://www.lifestreammd.com.

About Princeton Longevity Center
Founded in 2003, Princeton Longevity Center is a leading preventive medicine center headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton Longevity Center specializes in full-day Preventive Medicine Exams and Executive Health Exams with locations throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

For more information, visit www.PrincetonLongevityCenter.com or call (888) 800-0752.

About Castle Connolly LifeStream MD
Castle Connolly LifeStream MD was founded in 2009 to provide high net worth individuals, families and busy executives access to world-class healthcare advice, medical records and support anytime, anywhere. LifeStream MD’s leadership has over 60 years of combined experience in direct patient care, healthcare management and administration, and medical information technology.

For more information, visit www.lifestreammd.com or call (877) 760-3418.

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Flawed Study Links Fish oil to Prostate Cancer

Posted on July 19, 2013 by karenplcdietitian

by Mary Perry, RD

For the past week, the media and headlines have been proclaiming:  “Study Links Fish Oil to Prostate Cancer.”   This is based on a new study, Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acids and Prostate Cancer Risk in the SELECT Trial, published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.  Not so fast.

The report published July 10 is based on observational studies and not randomized controlled studies.  Observational studies simply look back in time at data.  Researchers used data from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial to make their conclusions.  These assertions were not based on the gold standard of randomized controlled studies in which one group gets the treatment and the other group gets a placebo.  Instead, inferences were based on a study whose purpose was not even to address the question related to the relationship between omega-3 fatty acid levels and prostate cancer.

The researchers compared blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids in more than 800 men later diagnosed with prostate cancer with blood samples from nearly 1,400 men who did not develop the disease.  This study looked at blood levels of long-chain fatty acids such as those found in fish (EPA and DHA).  The association between higher blood levels and prostate cancer was only found for DHA. No association was found between EPA or ALA (the plant-based form of omega-3 found in flaxseeds).

It’s important to keep in mind that blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids are not a reliable indicator of long-term omega-3 consumption since it is subject to significant day-to-day variability.  These levels can be influenced by a single meal or timing of a supplement.  In addition, only one blood sample was taken at the start of the study and not when participants were diagnosed.

These new findings don’t show a cause-and-effect relationship between prostate cancer and omega-3 fatty acids. Instead, these studies point to associations.  It is important to remember that correlation is not causation. 

Researchers did not “control” for such variables as family history, age and race and most importantly diet.  A number of other factors might have come into play:

  • 53 percent of the subjects with prostate cancer were smokers.
  • 64 percent of the cancer subjects regularly consumed alcohol.
    • 30 percent of the cancer subjects had at least one first-degree relative with prostate cancer.
    • 80 percent of the cancer subjects were overweight or obese.

We need to keep in mind that there have been numerous positive studies published on omega-3 fats showing their health benefits.  It’s also important to remember that nutrition is a highly complex and nuanced area. 

As a dietitian I recommend focusing on food first and continuing to eat good food sources of omega-3 fatty acids from fatty, oily fish (such as wild-caught salmon or sardines), walnuts, leafy green vegetables (such as collard greens), grass-fed beef, and ground flaxseed.  As Hippocrates said: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”  Good advice.

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