Could a Little Temptation Be a Good Thing? (from Jill)

When trying to lose weight, many people will often keep any tempting foods from their kitchens to prevent overeating them. However, a new study suggests that keeping some sweet treats around might be a good way to build willpower.
In three tests that presented female college students with tempting foods, researchers found that the women exerted greater self-control when they had previously been confronted with a sweet treat they had access to — rather than just pictures or smells. This is very different from the old way of thinking about ways to overcome overeating and the implication, say the researchers, is that challenging yourself to resist temptation may be more effective than banning all sweets and snack foods from the house for both short-term and long-term success. As with all research, there should still be more studies to determine if this is truly accurate or not but it's something to think about.....

Another reason to avoid trans fat (from Jill)

In the past few years, there had been many reports abot the dangers of trans fats and where these types of fats occur in our diets. Many people have made a concious effort to limit the amount of saturated fat in their diet to the recommended 1% of calorie intake. A new study from the Jewish Hospital Cholesterol Center in Cincinnati, OH has found a link that will be of great importance to one population of people, in particular - pregnany women. Their study found a link between women who had a higher percentage of calories from trans fat (4.7% of calories compared to 2.2% of calroies) and the rate of fetal mortality - 52% among the women with the higher intake compared to 30% among the women with lower intake. While more studies need to be done to confirm this link, it is certainly another thing to consider when choosing foods during preganacy. If you are concerned about the foods you are choosing while pregnany, or what to learn more about trans fats, make an appointment with your local TNT Health Educator, today.

Nut Allergies - from Jill

Peanut Free Diet Information- As many kids head back to school and many schools are not allowing peanut-containing foods onto school grounds, there are many quesitons parents have about what to send to school.

1) What IS considered “peanut free”?
Any of the following ingredients would be considered “peanuts” and so should not be part of any of the products you send to school with your child:
Peanuts
Peanut Butter
Peanut flour
Beer nuts
Cold-pressed Peanut oil (and heat-pressed should also be avoided)
Ground nuts
Mixed nuts
Nu-Nuts flavored nuts
Hydrolyzed plant protein
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
Goober peas or nuts

2) What types of products may contain these ingredients?
Candy
Cookies
Pastries
Crackers
Chocolate
Cereal
Granola
Ice Cream
Spaghetti Sauce
Soup
Chili
Ethnic dishes such as African, Chinese, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese
Marzipan
nougat
3) Are ANY nuts allowed? While peanuts and treenuts (i.e., almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, etc) are not related foods, the potential for cross-contamination is high. This means that where treenuts are found, peanuts are also commonly found. It is a good idea to avoid all nuts if you are peanut allergic! If the manufacturer has gone to the trouble of printing a warning such as “may contain trace amounts of …” or “processed in plant that contains nuts”, then that means that it is usually significant enough to cause an allergic reaction and should be avoided.

If you are looking for more infomation on healthy meals and snacks that are nut-free, contact your local TNT Health Educator and make an appointment today!

Disappointing ratings for charlotte (from Jill)

I read an article at the end of last week that listed Charlotte as the number FIVE consumer of junk food - IN THE COUNTRY! We were even ranked higher than New Orleans which is definitely not a health food destination! WOW! The rankings were based on a yearly grocery bill of products bought at major grocery chains throughout the country and counted the amount of "unhealthy" foods purchased. Anything from cookies, salty snacks, high fat condiments and higher fat frozen meals were included in the "unhealthy" category.
With all the media focused on healthy eating and other articles highlighting the plethora of walking paths, local farmer's markets and other opportunities for healthy lifestyles, this is a disappointing ranking and one that i KNOW we can do something about. If you are ready to improve your diet and lifestyle, please contact you local TNT Health Educator today :-)