Grand-kid Approved

As a mother of three grown sons, a grandmother of three granddaughters and a school nurse, I understand the importance of keeping kids active during the summer.  Physical activity, as well as good nutrition and hydration, helps build and maintain healthy bones and muscles while providing psychological and social benefits.

When my sons were younger, one of their favorite games was whiffle ball. They would gather neighborhood friends in the backyard, divide up into teams, and play for hours!   After an active day of playing they would enjoy a homemade malted milkshake.

Now, my granddaughters keep busy in the summer months by building “fairy houses.” They gather bark, rocks, pine cones, acorns and other forest treasures to create their houses. Once their house is built, they hide and wait for a fairy to appear. In the quiet of the woods, with sunshine streaming through the trees, a fairy is sure to be heard if not necessarily seen! This imaginative fun may be very different from whiffle ball, but the girls still enjoy cooling down with homemade milkshakes just like their fathers.

There are so many time-tested games to keep kids active through the summer.  Some of my favorites include:

• Dodgeball
• Hopscotch
• Penny Step
• Frozen Tag
• Kickball
• Lightening Bug Hunting
• Follow the Leader
• Flashlight Tag
• Hide-and-Seek
• Capture the Flag

Don’t forget to apply sunscreen and keep hydrated when playing outdoors!  Milk is the perfect rehydration beverage for active, growing kids because it provides carbohydrates, protein and eight essential vitamins and minerals that are important for good health, including calcium, potassium and vitamin D-three of the four nutrients many children are lacking.

This grand-kid approved milkshake is a cool and delicious dessert that will refuel growing children with the nutrients they need!

Frothy Malted Milkshake

1 cup cold milk (reduced or low-fat)

2 ½ cups ice cream or frozen yogurt (vanilla or chocolate)

½ cup malted milk powder

Blend all ingredients in a blender

Pour into cups with straws

Enjoy!

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Guest blog by Mary Burch

Mary Burch is a registered nurse and health coordinator for the Erlanger-Elsmere School District in Kentucky.  Her involvement with the Kentucky School Nurse Association, including serving as president in 2012, has helped her to learn effective strategies to advocate for the health of children. In addition to her nursing care and attention to the children, Burch was instrumental in the development of two school-based health centers in the district, which allow for more specialized and immediate care of children. Her goal is to provide good school nursing practice for students, resulting in a healthier community.

Pamper Someone Special with Brunch in Bed

Ditch the humdrum and do something extraordinary: pamper someone with brunch in bed. Brunch is a festive meal perfect for many of life’s special occasions, including graduations and wedding celebrations. But don’t wait for an upcoming event to share this pleasure – brunch in bed can be the perfect way to give someone a little extra tender lovin’ care right now!

Giving someone brunch in bed alone says you care, but here’s a vegetable frittata recipe that will show just how much! Its goodness earned it the Grand Prize in the Build a Better Brunch recipe contest sponsored by the Southeast United Dairy Industry Association and Healthy Aperture. Making this will ensure your loved ones are getting the delicious dairy foods that provide a myriad of health benefits, including strong bones.

Together the skim milk, low fat yogurt and Swiss cheese in this recipe all deliver a unique combination of nutrients necessary for a healthy body: calcium, potassium, phosphorus, protein, vitamins A, D and B12, riboflavin and niacin. Enjoying dairy foods with your meals is an excellent and inexpensive way to meet daily protein needs necessary for maintaining or increasing skeletal muscle mass and improving body composition (increasing skeletal muscle and decreasing body fat). Dairy with meals also helps meet the requirements for important nutrients many Americans are lacking: calcium, potassium and vitamin D. Given the multiple benefits of dairy, it should not surprise you that recommendations are for 3 servings a day.

If I haven’t given you enough reasons to make this vegetable frittata here’s one more: convenience. Prepare this dish a day ahead; then reheating is all that’s necessary the day you serve it!  This recipe makes six servings. In the event you have any leftovers, savor them for lunch on a meatless Monday or simply eat breakfast for dinner.

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Guest Blog by Diane Boyd, MBA, RD, LDN

Diane Boyd has a background in clinical nutrition. She began her career as a hospital based registered dietitian providing medical nutrition therapy and eventually became the chief clinical dietitian at a teaching hospital in Michigan. She currently has a private nutrition practice in North Carolina where she specializes in medical nutrition therapy, weight management and eating disorders. She is the consulting nutritionist for Cape Fear Sports Enhancement and promotes nutrition via workplace programs and freelance writing. Her passion for fitness and eating well fuel the work she truly enjoys.

Post-Holiday Spa

Vacation is supposed to be restful and relaxing, right? Unfortunately, if you’re like me, after a holiday, you feel like you need a vacation day just to recover! Luckily, there are some foods that you can add to your diet to help you relax and feel rested.

Say Hello to the Farmer’s Market

This one might seem obvious, but after passing by the fruit and vegetable platters during holiday parties, it’s time to show them some love again. By pairing your fruits and vegetables with dairy, such as serving vegetables on a platter with low-fat cheese or fruit kabobs with a yogurt dipping sauce, you can help increase your potassium intake. This will help to remedy the fatigue, irritability and anxiousness associated with low potassium levels.

Milk It for All It’s Worth

When mom used to give you warm milk before bed to help you sleep, she knew what she was doing. Milk contains a protein called tryptophan, which when converted to serotonin, helps you relax and sleep. Try one of my favorites, the Chocolate Comfort Sipper.

Relax with Magnesium

Magnesium is known as the relaxation mineral. Fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds and especially dairy foods will provide you with magnesium.  Whether you start your day with a Chai Coffee or finish it on a sweet note with Blueberry Cheesecake Tartlets, you can be sure that relaxation is in your future.

What are some of your favorite ways to relax at home?

Lanier Dabruzzi, MS, RD, LD

Foods that Fight the Bulge

Who loves their muffin top? People will try anything that claims to trim, tone and camouflage the bulge. Sorry to disappoint, but cutting calories and exercising are non-negotiable. Although no one food can alter your physique, research shows that some foods may shrink the waist and boost your health.

Choose Red & Orange

Researchers for the Journal of Nutrition found that people with diets high in the antioxidants beta carotene and lycopene had smaller waists and lower amounts of abdominal fat. These phytochemicals are responsible for giving produce their brilliant red and orange hues. Eat a variety of radiant red strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes, red peppers or sunny oranges, carrots, or sweet potatoes daily.

Pick Potassium

A diet that provides a hearty dose of potassium will help rid your body of extra sodium and pounds. Excess sodium leads to a bloated belly and increases your risk for high blood pressure. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan recommend by the American Heart Association focuses on fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and fish which are all natural sources of potassium.

Enjoy Dairy Daily

Low-fat milk, cheese, and yogurt not only help you build strong bones, but can help whittle your waistline. Researchers believe the amino acid leucine found in dairy’s whey protein, is significant in stimulating the formation of lean muscle mass. Low-fat yogurt contains beneficial bacteria called probiotics that may help reduce stomach bloating.  Whether on a plate or in a glass, you ought to make low-fat dairy a part of every meal.

Remember to halt the salt  and avoid excessive amounts of carbonated beverages because both cause water retention and bloating.  Always focus on a well-balanced diet. Too many calories even from healthy foods will lead to fat accumulation everywhere — including your belly.

Rebecca A. Turner, MS, RD, LD

 

Opposites Attract!

What does a Houston Texan NFL football player have in common with a middle-aged, overweight man with a family history of high blood pressure and stroke? It’s certainly not the type of workout they do. Nor the amount of calories they eat. These two seem like opposites in terms of health habits, but they have more in common than you realize when it comes to the nutrient-rich foods they need to eat every day.

The Houston Texans have the hottest training camp in the NFL.  No indoor training facility and workouts in triple digit temperatures are common.  These players sweat buckets and must replace the fluid and sodium they lose every day. On the other hand, the middle-aged man at risk for high blood pressure must watch his fluid and sodium intake, too – not to replace, but to reduce! Opposites, right? Not exactly!

The Texans’ sports nutrition team is using food to fight the problem. They are salting foods above and beyond normal levels to help replace what’s lost in sweat. NOT a habit the average American needs to start. Too much salt can trigger high blood pressure and strokes, especially if you are at risk for these diseases already. How do the Texans balance that much salt? The answer lies in the types of foods they are super-salting: sweet potatoes, watermelon, even okra. New research shows that combining sodium with foods that are high in potassium can cancel out the negative effect of too much salt. This study of over 200,000 middle-aged adults reveals those who eat plenty of high potassium fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods are less likely to suffer a stroke. In fact, the stroke risk dipped with every 1000mg increase in daily potassium.  

Potassium and sodium are opposites that attract. Potassium balances the effects of sodium, keeping blood pressure down and protecting against heart disease and stroke. Eating too much salt is easy to do, since the average American consumes over 4000 mg sodium daily or 7/10 tsps, but only needs about half that number.  On the flip side, adults need double the amount of potassium as sodium, but eat less than half of the 4,700 mg needed daily. So what can we learn from the Houston Texans? Counter the impact of sodium by eating more potassium – easily found in nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods. Enjoying potassium rich foods everyday, like sweet potatoes (500 mg), melon (500 mg), beans (350-400 mg), low-fat yogurt (400 mg) and low-fat milk (375mg), makes it easy. These foods keep the Texans on the football field, and will keep you on the field of healthy living!

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Guest blog by Tammy Beasley, RD, CSSD, LD, CEDRD.

Nutrition consultant, speaker, author, and registered dietitian, Tammy Beasley brings years of qualified experience to her work.  She is a certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD) with the American Dietetic Association since 2007 and is a certified eating disorder specialist (CEDRD) through the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals since 1993.  In 1995, she was selected Florida’s Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year. After moving back home to Alabama in 1998, Tammy has continued her work in wellness, weight management and eating disorders. Tammy was recognized as Alabama’s Most Outstanding Dietitian in 2007 and Emerging Dietetic Leader in 2010. A 1984 graduate of Auburn University, she serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Human Sciences.  She published Rev It Up: The Lifestyle Diet that Puts YOU in the Driver’s Seat in 2009, based on the weight management and wellness program she developed in 2001 that has been or is now taught by registered dietitians in 27 states. Visit www.revitupfitness.com for more information on Tammy and Rev It Up Fitness.