We’re ready for another installment of friend or foe, but this time with the beloved coconut oil.

Coconut oil has been getting a good bit of press lately.  People use it on their hair, face and in cooking.  So what is this mystery oil all about?

Coconut oil is the oil extracted from the meat of the coconut.  Oddly enough, this oil is a plant-based saturated fat.  Saturated fats are termed this because they are “saturated” with hydrogen molecules.  These fats are typically solid at room temperature.  Most saturated fats are found in meats and animal products.  The biggest difference between this plant-based saturated fat and one found in meat is the triglycerides it contains.  Coconut oil has mostly small and medium chain triglycerides (MCT) where as, most saturated fats contain long chain triglycerides (LCT).  The good thing about MCT is that it is quickly burned in the body upon ingestion.  LCT has to travel through the circulatory system before being burned, which allows for the loss of some fat deposits onto surrounding tissues during travel.

For the most part, we are currently recommending that most saturated fats in the diet get replaced with unsaturated fats like, vegetable oil, sunflower oil, etc.  This is again to avoid the transfer of fat deposits during the travel of saturated fats.  However, because coconut oil doesn’t contain as many of these LCT, we are seeing that more research on this product needs to be done.

A perk of not having many LCT means that coconut oil has a neutral effect on blood lipids like cholesterol.  This is important, as cardiovascular disease is a major issue in our society.  There is even some research that coconut oil could help increase HDL or “good cholesterol”, which protects against heart disease. 

Overall, there are some very beneficial properties to coconut oil.  However, not enough studies have been done for us to replace our entire fat intake with this product.  The best bet is to have a variety of healthy oils that can be used in your diet and including coconut oil as one.  

I don't remember where I first heard this, but i've used it in almost every session i've ever taught as a dietitian.  I also have it hanging on my office door: 

"Your body is like a car.  If the gas tank in your car is unexpectedly empty, you have to fill up at the first gas station you come to, regardless of cost, quality etc.  If you learn to understand your car and acknowledge when the gas light comes on, noting it's near empty, you have plenty of options and can search around for the best quality, cost, etc."

"If your body is starving, you'll fill up on the easiest and first option, no matter the quality or cost to your body.  If you learn to read your body cues, you can make better choices and have more options to give your body the best nutrition possible". 

I feel as though this is a great food for thought and a wonderful way to get us all more into the habit of mindful and intuitive eating.  Learning to read our body cues is almost as important as the types of food we choose.  If my body is a car, I want to be driving a Mercedes Benz!

Happy Hump Day!

Another great, but busy weekend.  We had two house guests this weekend, which made the weekend more fun, but definitely busier.  

I was looking for something quick and easy for breakfast on Saturday morning, but was still in the mood to cook. We had a bunch of apples lying around and apple scones sounded like a delicious remedy.  I'm trying to be more aware of the types of ingredients I use, so I made up a recipe of my own.  I plan on keeping it though because it was delicious. 

Now the funny part is that when I pulled the beautiful pastry out of the oven, the boy was confused.  He was used to scones being small, individual pastries.  My mom always prepared scones for us in one big circle and then cut it like a pizza.  Different strokes for different folks!  Whichever way you'd like to go about this, everything will turn out just fine!

The scones ended up being the perfect blend of crispy and soft.  Try out the recipe below: 

Cinnamon Apple Scones
Ingredients: 
1/4 cup brown sugar or sugar substitute *additional for topping if desired
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon *additional for topping if desired
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 apple, diced

Instructions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet. 
2. Combine sugar, four, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. 

3. Add coconut oil and cut in.  Once cut in and beginning to crumble, use hands to form a dough. (The dough at this point may seem too dry.  Don't add any liquid.  The apples will soften the dough once added. )
4. Add diced apples and fold into dough. 
5.  Place in large circle on pan and flatten or create small balls/scones and place on pan. 
6. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon or cinnamon/sugar mixture.

7. Bake for ~15-20 minutes or until golden brown. 


Enjoy!  Happy Monday!

The boy recently brought up a good topic of discussion that he gathered from his morning talk show.  In the midst of Lent, one of the hosts was talking about her children giving up fast food.  However, they came to a stand-still at putting a definition on fast-food.  After a big conversation, they decided that fast-food is anything that has a drive-thru.  Sayonara McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, Hardees and even some Panera's.  For this purpose, I feel as though that is a pretty good description of fast-food and an easy way to target the majority of it.  However, let's look at the true definition of fast-food. 

Fast-food, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is "of, relating to, or specializing in food that can be prepared and served quickly; designed for ready availability, use, or consumption with little consideration given to quality or significance"[ Side Note-Wow!  That last part really hit me.  Not only is fast food readily available, but this food is defined as low in quality]. 

The Google definition even goes a step further to include all "food that can be prepared quickly and easily and is sold in restaurants and snack bars as a quick meal or to be taken out".  If we look at that description it includes many many more foods and fast-food is hard to escape in our society.  This means that any processed food (crackers, cookies, chips), any pre-made carry out food and any vending machine or snack bar food is fast-food.  I would say that a good majority of us are consuming this definition of fast-food on a regular basis.  

Now, this doesn't mean that all fast-food is terrible for us.  There are absolutely better options when it comes to fast-food and there are certain situations where we have less of a choice to avoid it.  However, I think that we have to start looking further into our daily intake and realizing that many of us can fall into a rut that relies heavily on fast food.  And that this type of food, by definition, is lower quality than others that we could be providing our body.  What changes can we make and are we willing to make to give our body the fuel that it needs? 

Food for thought on this Friday!  

Monday night the South was devastated with an inch of ice/freezing rain.  The difference between South Carolina and Northern Virginia is that we don't get cold weather/precipitation quite as much down here so it is a much bigger deal.  Due to the weather, I had the nice ability to work from home on Tuesday and live up "Fat Tuesday" in style. 

Fat Tuesday/ Shrove Tuesday is the day before the Lenten season begins for the Christian faith.  The tradition for this day is to eat lots of "rich" foods before a period of religious fasting and avoidance of certain foods/actions.  However, the main food tradition for this day is pancakes!  

To celebrate, the boy and I had a few friends over and made blueberry and regular pancakes.  We accompanied these pancakes with breakfast potatoes and sausage.  A very gluttonous meal left me quite satisfied and ready to start the Lenten season.  

For Lent, i've decided to give up processed foods in my diet.  I was inspired by my own knowledge about processed foods, but also by the blog 100 Days of Real Food.  

I'm excited about this challenge and the recipes that I can come up with during this time.  I'm obviously also excited to see how I grow spiritually during this time, as this is one of my favorite seasons.  I'll try to keep you all updated as how this challenge progresses. 

Happy Ash Wednesday and Mardi Gras!

Even though this weekend was quite a cold one, we still managed to have a wonderful weekend and a great Valentine's Day.  We started Saturday with a quick stop by Dunkin Donuts for some heart shaped donuts!  

They weren't the most amazing in the world, but let's be honest...i'm a sucker for heart shaped things on Valentine's Day.  

On our way to our next location we stopped by a few Habitat for Humanity ReStores.  We were looking for pieces for our next DIY, hopefully to be on the blog soon!  After a few purchases (yay!), we made our way down to Clemson to see the Clemson/Virginia Tech Basketball game.  

These are probably the most trying times of our relationship as we are both competitive and are obviously cheering for separate teams!

Unfortunately, the game didn't go in my favor, but it was still a lot of fun!  We rounded off our Saturday celebrating our friend's birthday at a local bar.  

I hope you all had an amazing weekend and Valentine's Day.  

As a side note- If you're ever looking for an inexpensive, but unique and awesome Valentine/Birthday/any Celebration, see below: 

The majority of my clients have tried every diet under the sun to try to lose weight.  They’ve tried meal replacements and fat-burner pills, but haven’t had success with any of it.  So why aren’t these methods working as effectively as we think they should.  They always say that you can learn from your past so let’s take a look back at the past years of dieting. 

Essentially, over the past 20 years we have looked at the 3 meal components (carbohydrates, protein and fat) and tried to eliminate one.  It would make sense that if we take away one of the "bad" meal components we’ll lose weight and be healthier...right?!  

One way we went about this was cutting out carbohydrates.  We went rouge and tossed all our bread, rice, pasta and even fruits and starchy vegetables out the window.  And guess what?!  We lost weight.  But, then we decided that we sorta liked some of those foods and the moment the carbohydrates came back in, the weight came back on. 

We also decided that if carbohydrates aren’t the bad guy, then fat must be.  So we started to eliminate all our fat.  We did fat-free everything, but unfortunately that just meant that more of our food became processed.  Once again, we didn’t end up losing any weight in the long run.  

Over all this trial and error we realized that our bodies don’t work as efficiently when we eliminate major groups.  

So after looking at where we’ve been, let’s see where we’re going.  


What if rather than eliminating foods we created a healthy balance between foods.  What if we look for good foods, with high nutrients, that can fuel our bodies.  What if we look for less-processed foods that our body can digest and use.  The key is not to cut out any particular group, but choose the best options from each group to create a well-balanced diet that our body can thrive off of.  


So this weekend, take a look at your daily intake and see what changes you can make to help you and your body. 

I might shy away from the idea.  No, it’s not because I don’t know how to write them or because they take a great deal of time (which they do in case you were wondering).  It’s because I want to teach you.  I don’t want to tell you what to do.  I want you to be excited about nutrition and learning what’s in your food.  I don’t want you to be confused by labels and ingredients.  I want you to understand the different meal components and how they all fit together.  I don’t want you to be unclear of the signs your body is giving you.  I like to stick to the saying, “teach a man to fish”...you know the rest. 

Now side note: i’m not putting down anyone who follows a meal plan.  I’m also not stating that a meal plan is never a good idea.  Many people with medical concerns or health issues need to follow a very strict meal plan.  Often, meal plans can also help jump start healthy habits.  However, that doesn’t mean that in all situations they should be relied on for life. They should be used as a resource and teaching method, not the ultimate guide.  With many of my solely weight loss clients, I like to take the no meal plan approach. 

This is why I try not to just write you a meal plan: 

1. If I give you a meal plan, will you be able to come up with your own plan once it’s completed?  I want all my clients to understand the various meal components and be able to form a meal whether at home or out- knowing full well that you can create a balanced, nutritious meal that is going to help your body run.  It’s important to understand the information that is discussed, not just be able to read the next meal on a page. 
2. Will you gain all your weight back if you stray from the plan?  Sure a strict meal plan will help you lose the weight, but will you be able to keep it off without consulting the meal plan? The ideal situation is to create a healthy lifestyle where no foods are off limits, but are eaten in the right “context”.  Understanding how foods fit in will allow the incorporation of all foods into your life!
3. Do you want to have to eat something if you don’t have a taste for it? A meal plan has a specific group of foods for each meal.  What happens if you decide that on Tuesday you don’t want to eat salmon, but it’s on the meal plan for dinner?  Working to understand the type of food that salmon is will allow the substitution of another food in its place, giving the body the nutrition it needs for that meal. 
4. Do you want to measure your food for the rest of your life?  Carrying around measuring cups daily would become quite cumbersome.  The goal is to identify and comprehend the messages and cues the body sends, so YOU can determine your proper portion size and when you’re full. 
5. Do you want me to be in control of your weight loss? Of course not!  You don’t want someone else to get the credit for something you ultimately did!  Doesn't it feel much better knowing that you're in control by having the foundation and knowledge to lose weight and keep it off!

I'm here to help anyone understand the information they need to create healthy habits for life.  With a little help, you can free yourself from the meal plan life and learn to eat for your body! 

This weekend was another one for the books, but lots of quality car time was spent.  We started Friday night with a trip up to Charlotte to see a Checkers game. 

The Charlotte Checkers are the affiliate ice hockey team for the Carolina Hurricanes.  We have the Road Warriors down in Greenville, but it was nice to get some variety in.  It was a great game even if they lost!

Saturday, we started out early to meet our friends and begin the trek to Atlanta.  One of our friends races cars and we went to see a race.  

This particular race was 12 hours long and they each take about 2-3 hour stents.  I'm too fidgety to sit and race for that long!  It was pretty neat to see all the different cars that people had refurbished and watch a pit crew up close and personal.  

Over 240 miles driven this weekend, but a great time!  And with the weather being so beautiful, I was able to get some great Vitamin D!

Happy Monday!

Working with collegiate athletes brings on different challenges than I face working with my bariatric population.  One such challenge recently is that many of the female athletes have been dealing with low iron.  I figured that all of us could use a little iron education. 

Iron is a mineral present in many foods and added to some food products.  It is an essential component of hemoglobin, which transfers oxygen from the lungs to body tissues.  It is also a component of myoglobin, which provides oxygen to muscles.  Iron is necessary for metabolism, growth, development, normal cellular functioning and synthesis of some hormones.

Forms of Iron:
Heme: Iron from meat, seafood and poultry
Nonheme: Iron from plants, iron-fortified foods, meat, seafood, and poultry

You’ll notice that meat, seafood and poultry contain both heme and nonheme iron.  Heme iron is better absorbed than nonheme.  Most dietary iron is nonheme iron.

Foods that affect iron absorption:
·      Meat, poultry and seafood increase absorption of nonheme iron
·      Vitamin C enhances absorption of nonheme iron
·      Calcium can reduce the absorption of heme and nonheme iron

Sources of Iron:
Heme:
            -Poultry, Meat, Seafood
Nonheme:
            -Enriched cereals, grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, tofu, squash, broccoli, nuts, seeds

So there you have it!  Incorporating more food combinations can help you increase your iron levels. 

The more you know!


Information a compilation from National Institutes of Health, WebMD and rd411.