Fruits Helping Diabetics?

Hooray! I was delighted to see a new study about the role of dietary fruit in diabetic patients, entitled
Fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective longitudinal cohort studies, published this week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).  Over the years, I have found that many of my diabetic patients purposefully avoid all fruits, fearing that the sugar in fruits will raise their blood sugar values and worsen their diabetes. However, fruits are a wonderfully nutritious part of a healthy diet, and I will forever attest that eating too many fruits or vegetables is NOT the major contributing factor to becoming diabetic or overweight.

This particular study reviewed diets (based on scheduled food questionnaires), and found that for every three servings per week of whole foods consumption of blueberries, prunes, grapes and raisins, apples and pears, bananas, grapefruit, and even peaches and apricots,  the risk for developing diabetes was significantly REDUCED!

Fruits are packed with wonderful nutrients, phytochemicals, vitamins and fiber, all of which have long been known to help prevent untoward health consequences such as heart disease and cancer. Hopefully this new study will help convince everyone that FRUIT belongs in the pre-diabetic and diabetic diet as well. The key to improving diabetes in overweight or obese people is weight loss: consuming fewer calories than you burn. Colorful diets packed with fruits and vegetables are the best way to get you moving that direction.

Of note, drinking fruit juices was actually associated with a slight increased risk of developing diabetes. Once again, we see that eating the WHOLE FRUIT is better than making it into a juice or condensing it into a pill...

BOTTOM LINE: Up your intake of whole fruits, especially blueberries, grapes, raisins, apples, prunes and pears, and decrease your risk of developing diabetes. 

Colorful Diet does NOT mean M&Ms!

In the rush of the holidays, are you grabbing handfuls of red and green M&Ms more than handfuls of strawberries and grapes? How can you keep up your 5-10 servings of fruits and veggies per day during the holidays?

Not surprisingly, the answer is the same as the rest of the year- PLAN AHEAD. Start your morning with a smoothie (the picture above was from our breakfast)- frozen fruits like strawberries stay the same price year-round, even though they are out of season. Do you notice the banana is over-ripe? No worries- in a smoothie, it doesn't matter!

BEFORE YOU HEAD OUT TO A PARTY, have a large healthy snack and a big glass of water. If you're not starving when you enter the party, you will be way less likely to overload on high calories offerings.

TAKE SNACKS TO WORK. Apples are still cheap and plentiful, so I take a couple to work each day, along with a small container of my nuts of choice (cashews or almonds, usually.) If I don't eat these, I will be way to tempted by chocolate-covered everything at the office!

BOTTOM LINE: This time of year more than any other challenges our time and waistlines; PLAN AHEAD and PUSH UP the vegetables, fruit and water in your day!

BYOB Until You Get One of THESE New Machines!

Yea! Let's here it for vending machines selling...brace yourself... HEALTHY SNACKS! I was delighted to see "The Great Banana Challenge: How to dispense healthy snacks from a vending machine: design a fruit elevator" in the Wall Street Journal this week. It's hard to imagine walking up to a vending machine and expecting food to be, well, FRESH- but that's exactly what happens in these new machines.

Apparently, they've developed technology that allows for different refrigeration temperature zones as well as gentle "elevators" to lower the food and padded retrieval bins to avoid bruising. New packaging for the fruit itself extends the shelf life to nearly double its life outside of the wrapping.
For all of us who do not have these delightful new machines yet, don't worry! When in doubt, BYOB...Bring Your Own BANANA, that is!

BOTTOM LINE: The MORE we demand fresh fruits, vegetables and healthy snacks, the more innovative solutions our free market will create!

But It's Too EXPENSIVE to Eat Fruits & Veggies!

Okay, this is one of the top excuses I get from patients when we start talking about improving their diet, and getting them to focus on MORE fruits and vegetables. (Keep in mind, our goal is 5-10 servings per day, and a serving is what you can hold in your hand.) So back to the discussion- is the perimeter of the grocery store really more expensive than the boxed, processed junk in the middle?

Of course, if you look at the BIG picture, it's easy to see that no matter what, you are better off buying the fruits and vegetables. Diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol medicines cost a small fortune, even if you are "only" paying the co-payments. Part of the incentive to improve your health (and yes, lose weight in the process) is that MANY people can reduce or even eliminate these medications, which will save them a very significant amount of money!

In the short term, though, what is the cost? Obviously it depends on what you choose. My friend and excellent dietician, Daniela Knight, RD, recommends that her patients check out the weekly ads. "If bananas are on sale, load up on those and skip the $5 per carton blueberries that week." Lettuce, carrots, onions, apples, oranges and potatoes are typically inexpensive year-round. Frozen fruits and vegetables are packed with the same nutrients as fresh ones, yet often cost much less. Additionally, there is nothing wrong with canned vegetables or fruit, either, despite the incorrect notion that they are vastly inferior. Yes, watch for sodium in canned goods, but the nutrients are fine!

Daniela also reminds her patients that you can buy an entire BAG of potatoes for less than the cost of a bag of potato chips, which are up to $3-$4. Pre-washed, packaged vegetables like broccoli and green beans are simple to pop in the microwave, and now you've got quick AND reasonably priced veggies.

BOTTOM LINE: Fruits and vegetables are worth every penny for your health, and can save you money in BOTH the short and long term if you buy frozen, canned and seasonal fresh produce!

Shake Up Your Summer Habits!

Okay, we're nearing the end of summer- are your kids bored? Have they (or you) fallen into some poor habits? Time to take stock and be proactive! Let's start with activities.

What are you doing in your spare time? Hanging out and reading blogs? Turn off the computer (after you finish reading this, of course) and head out to your garage. In a minute or two, I'll bet you can find plenty of outdoor "toys" to get you moving. My garage had this: skates, volley balls, soccer balls, basketballs, croquet, bikes, jump rope, hula hoops, a scooter and golf clubs.

Now, what about food? Our kids realized they were falling way behind in the fruit and vegetable department, so we pulled out everything in the fridge (and a bunch from the pantry) to see what our choices were. Happily, we had the five ingredients for hummus, along with a fresh bag of baby carrots, so we whipped up that delicious snack first. The overripe bananas paired up with some frozen berries, peaches, and yogurt to provide smoothies, and we were back on track.

The next step? I asked each kid to be in charge the menu for three days this week. The rules are that we need ten servings of fruits and vegetables per day (a serving is what you hold in your hand) and that only one of the nine meals could be from a restaurant. I'll let you know next week how it went, but today was terrific!

BOTTOM LINE: Take stock of your dietary and exercise habits, and make sure you haven't fallen into the summer doldrums!

Everybody Loves Parfait

"Donkey, what are you doin' here?" Okay, if you're a Shrek fan, you'll get the link. Otherwise, work with me. It's summer, and our family is recovering from a long car trip. We ate too much fast food, and so it's time to pay more attention to our nutrition.

What did we do this morning? Well, our younger daughter thought it would be fun to make parfaits for breakfast. She grabbed yogurt, bananas, blueberries and strawberries. I found a fun glass to make it look "official". Doesn't it look yummy? She had fun making it, and her body is thanking her for this delicious treat. I'll think we'll have them for dessert tonight, too!

BOTTOM LINE: Too many pop-tarts and cereal? Try making a parfait with yogurt and your favorite fruits!

Get Cooking! (Another Summer Suggestion)

In our BORED list earlier this week, I didn't have space to include COOKING. Summer is a wonderful time to encourage your kids to participate in the family meal plan, as well as learning to cook. It's easy to fall into the routine of hot dogs, burgers, fries, and pizza, if you are not paying attention. Kids in general love to cook, and with no homework to tie them up, they're free to help out in the kitchen. Teach them how to safely chop up vegetables, or create a salad (even if they don't like salads yet, they can pitch in during the preparation.) Supervise them tossing ingredients into a slow cooker in the morning, and then they are proud they prepared dinner.

Another summer suggestion is to make sure every day's diet includes five to ten servings of fruits and veggies. Fruit smoothies are delicious, and especially refreshing in the summer. Toss a banana in the blender, add in a cup of yogurt and a handful of frozen berries, and you're all set! Right there, you've got a couple fruit servings.

Grab some melons- I'll bet a watermelon will disappear in a heartbeat! I challenge everyone to set out a platter of cut up melon, strawberries and grapes in front of some teens and see how long it takes for them to inhale it. Add some cheese and whole wheat crackers, and you've got a healthy lunch.
BOTTOM LINE: Include the kitchen in your summer fun!

Unhealthy Vegetarian?

How can you be a vegetarian and NOT have a healthy diet? Take a look at this 24-hour dietary recall:
Breakfast: Chocolate Cheerios (yes, they exist!) with milk, coffee
Snack: Poptart
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Manicotti & Diet Coke
Snack: Microwave popcorn & tea
Dinner: Cheese quesadilla, refried beans and chips with a margarita & water
Dessert: Vanilla ice cream

Okay, we don't need to break out our calculators to add up the daily servings of fruits and veggies! This is a very typical example of an unhealthy vegetarian diet. What did I ask this person to do?
Primarily to ADD IN fruits and vegetables. Add some berries or slice a banana on those Cheerios; skip the poptart and substitute an apple; add a salad or carrot sticks to the lean cuisine entree; consider a taco salad; make it a banana split (use more banana and less ice cream!) ANY of those suggestions would improve the quality of this day's nutrition.

BOTTOM LINE: Remember that VEGETARIAN does NOT automatically = Healthy!