While we have always known garlic to be a healthy addition to our diets, a new study came out with further evidence proving the benefits of eating garlic. According to a New York Times article, a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study shows that eating garlic appears to boost our natural supply of hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide acts as an antioxidant and transmits cellular signals that relax blood vessels and increase blood flow. So with that said, start eating more hummus, guacamole, roasted garlic, tomato sauce, garlic bread, stir fries…

Quizno’s, a fast food chain that sells salads, subs and soups, goes public with their nutritional information. Don’t be fooled, the tuna salad sub has 2,090 calories & 175g fat!!!! See their complete nutrition menu for additional information.

The New York Times has a huge variety of Thanksgiving recipes and articles in their Dining and Wine section. There appear to be a lot of good, simple, down-to-earth recipes highlighted here. Check it out.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Help your child maintain a healthy diet by reading Super Baby Food, a book on babies’ digestive development, healthy food options and creative recipes.
Important Side Note: No one can be the superwoman health food crazed mom like the author. Take everything you read with a grain of salt.

This Japanese salad-flavored drink sounds pretty disgusting, but supposedly it tastes pretty good, “It’s like a lite fruit punch. Not even as sweet as Gatorade…”

The vitamin-enhanced drink is marketed primarily to women and is supposed to be a “meal in a can.”
From Functional Ingredients magazine:

“Water Salad” belongs to the “near water” category. It is a light reddish colour, almost transparent and contains tomato extract as both a natural vegetable colorant and as a nutrient. “Water Salad” takes advantage of the marketing value of tomato extract by claiming on the bottle label that lycopene is “reported to control active oxygen.”

I would very much like to eat one of these heritage turkeys for thanksgiving this year. This NY Times article talks about “heritage” turkeys versus the now standard “broad-breasted white” line of turkeys we all see in our supermarkets. I look forward to the day when these heritage birds become more widely available and affordable in the US. I probably won’t be paying $200 for a heritage turkey this year, but will be on the lookout in the years ahead for these vintage breeds of turkey to enjoy. I’m still looking forward to preparing and eating a broad-breasted white for thanksgiving this year; I’m sure the heritage birds are much better but I find the standard bird to be pretty delicious anyway if it’s prepared properly. Enjoy!

This is a great recipe to make a large batch of and take to work for the week. Easy and healthy!

Ingredients (a little of this, a little of that):

• Canned chickpeas (1-2 cans)
• Cherry tomatoes (1 container)
• Low-fat feta cheese (about 1/4 block)
• Cut up cucumber (1/2 - 1 cup)
• Balasamic Vinegar (2-3 tablespoons)
• Extra virgin olive oil (1-2 tablespoons)
• Salt and pepper

Steps:

1. Combine everything except oil and vinegar and mix.
2. Add enough to make it varied and colorful.
3. Add oil and vinegar to coat ingredients.
4. Enjoy!

Keith Brainard has a great article up on savingadvice.com about how to make your own delicious beer without spending a lot of money.

Making beer is easy. The best way to get started is using malt extract. With extract brewing, you take a few cans of malted barley syrup, dilute it to a few gallons, boil it for a while, top off up to five gallons, add yeast and ferment. A few weeks later, after fermentation is done, you bottle it, and then you drink it a few weeks after that.

It is a nice post with ten easy steps to follow. Keith is a beer consultant and writes his own blog here.

October Cover story for the Journal of American Dietetic Association:

Article: Breastfeeding and Infant Weight

Research Design: Random cluster of 420 children aged 6 months to 10 years from the Northern Mariana Islands were measured during one time period. Children measured for height and weight and trained researchers asked caregivers about past feeding habits.

Sample at a Glance: 73% of children were ever breastfed; 53% still breastfed at 6 months and 22% at 1 year. 5% of children underweight, 15% at risk for overweight and 19% were overweight.

Link of Overweight to Breastfeeding: Children who had been breastfed had a substantially lower body mass index compared with children who had not been breastfed, after controlling for age, sex, birth weight and years of mother’s education. The duration of breastfeeding or breastfeeding exclusively did not impact the effect.

Limitations of this research: Study didn’t follow children over time; children were not racially diverse (does not apply to general population); had a limited snapshot of additional social, behavioral and environmental factors in the lives of these children.

Future Research Questions: How does breastfeeding help lower BMI - what are the mechanisms?

Bottom Line: This research study and additional research has shown that breastfeeding may be one of the factors positively associated with a lower BMI (leaner) children.

The best site to figure out your BMI (Body Mass Index) to see if you are at risk for disease is the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute site. An additional way to measure your disease risk is to measure your waist - people who hold weight around their bellies may be at increased risk for disease. If you are seeking consultation to lose weight, you may email me questions directly at dietitianscorner@gmail.com.