Tag: tips

Celiac Restaurant Blogging Chronicles-Tavola Restaurant and Tapas Bar

Celiac Restaurant Blogging Chronicles-Tavola Restaurant and Tapas Bar

I haven’t done a restaurant review in quite some time but I have been to a few as of late! Most recently I ate with some friends at Tavola. It’s a quaint little restaurant located on Water Street in St. John’s. Previously, I had heard 

Pancakes for Days

Pancakes for Days

Are pancakes not the ultimate comfort food?! Every Sunday my husband and I take time out to make breakfast (let me pause here to take a moment as writing husband is still exciting to me, only married a week here!). We love experimenting in the 

5 Healthy Tips to Start Your 2017 Off With a Bang!

5 Healthy Tips to Start Your 2017 Off With a Bang!

Wow, 2017 is here already! Where did the last year go?! I think a lot of people are happy to see 2016 in the rear view mirror. So say so long and get on with the plan for this fresh New Year! A lot of people tend to base their resolutions on healthy eating and weight loss. There are so many diets out there that promise massive weight loss and quick results…but are they healthy? Are they effective? Do they last long term? One of the answers to these questions is yes, these diets are effective but long term they aid in creating bad to worse eating habits and the effects are usually short lived. So…let’s set you up for a win, a triple win. You want a plan that is healthy, effective and creates long term habits to maintain your healthy new lifestyle. The most important thing you want to do is find your motivation. Sometimes making changes are hard so you need to remember why you’re doing this. Is it to better your health, help you feel more energetic, improve your self-confidence, maybe it’s to keep up with your kids. It doesn’t matter. Just remember you set out on this path for a reason, so stay focused on the end goal…a long healthy life!

  1. Make a plan: Part of being successful is having a plan. It’s hard to stay focused when you aren’t organized with all of the right tools for success. Set aside an hour each week…for most people it’s a Saturday or Sunday afternoon but it could be a Tuesday night, whenever is convenient for you! Make a meal plan for the week and then write up your grocery list to go along with that plan. That way you have all the necessary ingredients for all the food you need and you’re not scrambling during the week to come up with ideas only to realize you don’t have all the ingredients and you end up making 2-3 extra trips to the store. Moral of the story…less time thinking and running around means more time preparing and less chances that you will end up eating take out or something less healthy (not that take out is bad but it should only be a once a week kind of option). Involve the family in the planning too! If everyone gets a say in which meals are prepared than you double your chances of success!
  2. Clean out your cupboards: Do a little spring cleaning early! Clear out all the chocolate, candies, chips and cookies from Christmas (wow…apparently all the delicious treat foods start with ‘C’!) and make a space for all of your healthy ingredients. Keep your absolute favorites and tuck them away. Make sure you clear out a space for healthy go to snacks which I will get to later. Maybe a shelf in your cupboard or a crisper in your fridge.
  3. Start small. Making too many big changes at once can be intimidating. When making your plan, keep some of your regular dishes the same, make sure you include your favorite foods! Maybe your plan includes trying 1 new recipe a week. Maybe it includes trying 1 new fruit or veggie a week. Remember every change no matter how small or large makes an impact and sets you in the right direction.
  4. Create your own healthy snacks on the run. Wash, cut and organize fresh fruits and veggies so they are readily available for snacking. Get out a ¼ cup measure and measure out any kind of nuts you like (unsalted) or make your own granola bars (http://www.newfoundbalance.com/recipes/healthy-snacks/chocolate-peanut-butter-granola-bites/). Make sure you have zip lock baggies or lots of tuperware containers handy. Again, it’s all about setting yourself up for a win. If you set aside an hour for prep every week then when you are pressed for time you will have healthy food to grab on the run!
  5. Don’t skip breakfast! Feeling tired around 11 or 2 is about more than lack of caffeine or sleep. Food is fuel and after all night fasting your body needs energy first thing in the morning. Try a high fibre option like oatmeal because it will keep you full longer and spreads out your energy. Fibre also aides in weight loss and can keep blood sugar and cholesterol stable. Try this delicious recipe here.

Hopefully these 5 tips will start you on your way! AND, remember when I mentioned keeping your favorite treats? Enjoy those too, set aside a day of the week where you sit down and enjoy your treats with the family. You can’t maintain your new healthy life without being able to enjoy your favorite snacks! Good luck with your New Year’s resolutions. Reading this article is definitely the first step!

Signing off,

Adrianna Smallwood, Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Expert

Tis The Season…To Eat And Be Merry

Tis The Season…To Eat And Be Merry

The holidays are coming! It’s almost December and I bet most people are struggling between making a New Year’s resolution to eat healthier in some capacity and tallying up the calories of all the food they will eat over Christmas.  I myself have made quite 

Fruits and Vegetables: Getting to the root of the problem!

Fruits and Vegetables: Getting to the root of the problem!

Fruits and vegetables are full of tons of nutrients! Here in Newfoundland we have some of the lowest rates of fruit and vegetable intake and for sure a lot of different options aren’t readily available on this wonderful island we call a rock…BUT there are 

Hold the Gluten

Hold the Gluten

Hey out there fellow Celiacs…or gluten intolerant readers as well! I have been baking gluten free for about 5 years now and I have had many successes…and failures…with my baking! I know it can be a struggle to find the perfect gluten free product that even closely measures up to the real thing and a lot of the commercially available products are super high in fat and sugar to try and replace those lovely textures that gluten provides…chewy, fluffy, soft, flaky…we miss those textures right?!

So here is my fool proof method for muffins, cookies and granola bars (I haven’t quite ventured in to those baking experiments that require yeast and the one time I did it was a complete flop…no pun intended ;). So stay tuned for future ideas!).

First there are a few things I keep in mind when experimenting with my gluten free recipes:

  1. Most gluten free recipes are low in fibre because of the types of grains they use in their products. I get around this by using Sorghum flour in my baking. It’s a higher fibre option. Also I replace flour in recipes with some ground flaxseed. I do this at a 4:1 ratio. For example, if a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, I add 1 ½ cups of flour and ½ cup ground flaxseed instead.
  2. Folate deficiency can also be an issue in those diagnosed with celiac. Folate is a B vitamin found in many different sources including leafy greens but it is also in ground flax so this little ingredient has multiple benefits.
  3. Calcium and iron deficiencies can also be an issue in Celiac disease but once you start eating gluten free your absorption of these should increase as your intestine heals. When I can I add Chia seeds to my recipes as well. These little seeds are high in fibre, calcium and iron.
  4. FAT! The 3 letter dirty word. Before I was gluten free I ALWAYS replaced the fat in my recipes with apple sauce and I was still left with a delicious and moist end product. STOP! You can’t do this with a gluten free product unfortunately. Leaving out the fat makes the end product crumbly whether it’s a cookie, cake or a muffin. A little fat doesn’t hurt you and the fibre boost you get with the other ingredients will help combat the extra fat!
  5. Flour has dif2530c224_sorghumflour_f_1800ferent properties and not 1 gluten free flour will provide all the properties of regular gluten containing flour so it’s always best to use more than 1 flour. I usually use half rice flour and half sorghum flour. I know a lot of gluten free recipes call for 3 and 4 but this can get pricey and a little annoying. This ratio always works for me so I tend to use it the most!
  6. I rarely use salt…I don’t even own it and there is plenty in Xanthan Gum, Baking soda and Baking Powder I feel to make up for that.
  7. Usually the amount of sugar in ANY recipe can be cut in half!
  8. Use Xantha1599c086_xanthangum_f_1800380d9ee22ef930aa3f01ce651e61336dn gum….this is our gluten replacer to give us those textures we miss out on when we hold the gluten. The Xanthan gum package usually lists on the back how much you should use based on each cup of flour and if you are making cookies, muffins, cake, ect.

So…let’s pick a regular ol’ recipe off Pinterest and change it to gluten free! Since its berry season I am going to go with a Blueberry Muffin! I simply just typed blueberry muffins in Pinterest and grabbed the first one that came up.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for muffin tops
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup (80 ml) neutral flavored oil; canola, vegetable and grape seed are great
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup (80 ml – 120 ml) milk; dairy and non-dairy both work
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 to 8 ounces fresh or frozen blueberries;see note below about frozen berries (about 1 cup)

Alright….this recipe calls for 1 ½ cups of flour. How does this balance out using my above techniques? Firstly we are going to replace some of the flour with ground flax. In this case we will use ¼ cup of ground flax so we are left with 1 ¼ cup of flour, half of which will be rice flour and the other half which will be sorghum flour. So you can use ½ + 1/8 of a cup of each for this recipe.

Next, we need to cut down on the sugar content. We can use 1/3 in this recipe if you want to sprinkle the extra on top like it suggests.

Leave out the salt!

Leave the baking powder (and/or baking soda, depending on the recipe), oil/butter, milk, vanilla extract and frozen berries the same. Make sure you are using a PURE vanilla extract and not an artificial one as most flavorings have gluten in them.

Lastly, add your Xanthan Gum. On the package it states that when making muffins you should add ¾ tsp of xanthan gum per 1 cup of flour. So in this case we are using 1 ½ cups of flour so we will use 1 1/8 tsp of Xanthan gum.

Voila, you made a gluten free recipe out of a regular ol’ recipe by holding the gluten. You also managed to create a lower sugar and higher fibre end product. So…gasp…a HEALTHY gluten free recipe!

Hope you enjoyed! Good luck with your experimenting!

Signing off,

Adrianna Smallwood, RD

Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Expert

Eating on a Budget

Eating on a Budget

Yikes!!! Did anyone see the new Newfoundland budget?! Probably a rhetorical question right? Here we are in Newfoundland trying to make the best of it. We’re already paying twice as much for food as most provinces and now we might have to pay more?! And 

For The Love of Food

For The Love of Food

I began reading this book lately, it’s called “Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family. How to Eat, How to Raise Good Eaters, How to Cook.” I’ve heard so many great things about the author Ellyn Satter and this particular book has been on my reading 

New Year, New Goals!

New Year, New Goals!

It’s 2016 and I’m sure as soon as the clock struck midnight everyone was thinking about those little resolutions they were making the last few weeks of December. The new year always brings a fresh slate for me and I love thinking of all the possible things I can do to make life more fun…or as I’m getting older it seems to be more about healthy goals!

As I sit in coffee shops and in restaurants I’m surrounded by hopeful and anxious people talking about how this will be the year they will lose 25 pounds, or run the Tele 10 or cut “junk food” out of their diets completely….it inspired me to reflect on my year as an intern for Dietetics. I sat in a class and the instructor was talking about SMART goal setting and I thought…this is golden, more people should think about setting goals this way. So here it is. When you’re thinking about losing 25 pounds and running 16 km and right now you can’t run 1, you might be setting yourself up for failure. SMART goal setting is about making small, achievable goals and staying positive.

Steps To Goal Setting

Step 1: Identify Your Goals. What exactly would you like to accomplish?

Feeling better about yourself, Eating healthy, Becoming more active?

Consider the SMART Principle: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely

Step 2: What Is Important To You?

On a scale from 1 to 10, evaluate how important each of the goals are to you. The goals to focus on are those you score a 7 or higher. Pick which of the goals to tackle first. Try asking yourself which issues will make the biggest impact in your life and which goals are most relevant and positive.

For example: Goal 1: To eat 1 more piece of fruit and 1 veggie each day. Goal 2: Lose 25 pounds for a wedding your standing in (or your own wedding).

Which goal is more positive, relevant, attainable and long term? Goal 1 is simple and attainable and will certainly add more nutrients to your diet. Step 2 is more negative and stressful because you aren’t really trying to accomplish the goal for yourself or your health.

Step 3: Road Block Analysis

What road blocks stand in the way of you reaching your goals?

  • lack of knowledge or skills
  • physical environment
  • lack of social support
  • cost/complexity
  • social occasions/holidays
  • stress
  • time (time of day/week) or lack of time
  • weather/season
  • meals away from home
  • physical limitations (health conditions)
  • job
  • travel/vacation

**Think of strategies to get through each of the road blocks you come up with.

For example:

Road Block: You are traveling a lot (job, travel)

Solution: Try shopping at a grocery store and keeping some fruit, veggies and nuts in your hotel room.

Road Block: You aren’t sure what you should be eating or how to go about preparing a healthy meal (lack of knowledge/skills)

Solution: Ask your Doctor about a referral to a Registered Dietitian.

Let’s bring it all together. We have thought about what goals to set, how important they are to us and how to effectively swerve around any road blocks that could get in our way to reaching this goal.

So, how do we use this strategy to make a SMART goal?

S-Specific, this is the what, where, how when and with whom part of the goal.

For example: I want to run the tele 10

M-Measurable, break down the goal into things you can measure. Quantity and time can be measured.

For example: I will run the tele 10 in July

A-Attainable: Is the goal attainable? Will you actually be able to accomplish this goal by the date you have set?

For example: Its June and you have never run before, will you be able to run 16km by July?

R-Relevant, is the goal relevant to you? Do you like running or would you rather get your cardio from joining a rec hockey or ultimate frisbee league?

T-Timely, set an end date for your goal.

For example: I will run 1 km EACH week.

Now that we have created a SMART goal together I hope you are feeling better about your goals. Its better to make a goal like, I will only eat “junk food” on Saturdays, rather than, I will NEVER eat “junk food” again. Set yourself up for a WIN! 2016 is your year!

 

 

 

Increasing Fibre Intake-The Whole Grain Truth

Increasing Fibre Intake-The Whole Grain Truth

I often tell people that of all the things they can do, increasing their daily fibre intake is probably one of the most important (and magical). A diet low in fibre can result in loose stool and diarrhea, slow digestion and constipation. Fibre is responsible