Turning Tricks into Treats

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! The time of year every kid loves, but parents probably not so much. There’s certainly nothing wrong with having a sugary treat or two, but it can Halloween can get out of hand, especially when it involves pillowcases of candies and sweets and healthy eating goes out the window. There are however many ways to keep both food and healthy the focus. Below some festive treat ideas parents can try for costume parties, family suppers, trick or treating, and more.

Treat #1: Sweet tasting fruits like mandarin oranges and fruit cups. Small clementines, or fruit cups individually packaged in water or juice can make a fun tasty treats. Place spooky stickers on packaged fruit cups, or use a black marker to draw pumpkin faces on oranges. These treats are perfect if you prefer not to hand out treats or want to pack a festive nutritious snack for a brown bag. Other packaged ideas aside from the candies and chocolate can include: animal crackers, packaged pretzels, granola bars, mini raisin boxes, plain dark chocolate, sugarless gum, trail mix, small bags of roasted pumpkin seeds or prepackaged cheese and crackers.

 

 

Treat #2: It’s no trick that fresh veggies can be made fun too. Try using chopped pieces, like celery, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, and baby tomatoes to arrange in the shape of a human or animal skeleton. Plate baby carrots to assemble a festive pumpkin. Add sliced cucumber halves for the mouth and dips for the pumpkin eyes. These treats are great for an afterschool snack or party at school.

 

 

Treat #3: Have fun with spooky shapes. Larger cookie cutters are great to make sandwiches fun. Small cookie cutters can be used to make cheese and fruit like melons into fun ghost, pumpkin and witch hat shapes. There’s also so much to do with the color orange, i.e. reference to pumpkins. For supper try carved pumpkin faced stuffed peppers, salad stuffed in pumpkin faced hallowed oranges, or even Halloween cookie cutter sweet potato fries.

Treat #4: The pumpkin! How many people crave the pumpkin and roast the seeds, but then that’s it? Instead of buying one pumpkin buy two. One for the craving, and the other for eating. The orange flesh that’s left inside after seeds have been scooped out is vitamin A rich. Fresh pumpkin is something we can usually only get this time of year. Canned pumpkin is quite expensive. Baked pumpkin can be a delicious addition to baked goods like cookies, cakes and muffins, and is excellent as a soup.

Treat #5: Cooking together as a family. Fun ideas like mini mummy pizzas, edible pretzel and cheese broomsticks, and spider crackers can help kids get excited about preparing healthy food and curate essential cooking skills that will last a lifetime. Another fun festive snack can be apple slices spread with nut butter or jam each on one side with between the slices, marshmallows for a mouth with teeth, or sliced almonds for a mouth with fangs. All cute ideas for kids Halloween parties.




For many of these fun healthy ideas I’ve referenced Pinterest (pinterest.com). If you’re not familiar this site it’s an online pinning board where you collect your thoughts and see those of others. There are so many unique Halloween food ideas posted there. Don’t let Halloween scare you as it doesn’t have to be all about the junky foods. Think about it in the opposite - a fun way to get kids to eat healthy while trying and gaining an appreciation for new recipes and foods.

As seen in The Telegram October 29, 2012

Is Phosphorus the New Trans Fat?

Phosphorus is an important and essential mineral which can be found in every cell of our bodies. I say essential because our bodies cannot make this element and we need to rely on food in order to get it. Phosphorus has many functions in the body, and I recently had the opportunity to learn more about this mineral by attending the Food Nutrition Conference and Expo in the US, the largest conference of dietitian and nutrition professionals across the world. A new revelation in the dietary world is that high dietary exposures of phosphorus may be increasing our risk for heart disease. Let me explain.

Phosphorus is an essential mineral which adults need about 700mg per day. One of its main roles is to work with calcium building strong bones and teeth, but it has several others as well. It’s found mostly in protein rich foods such as milk and milk products, and meat and meat alternatives like beans, lentils and nuts.  Whole grains can also be a source of phosphorus too, whereas fruit and vegetables provides very little. By drinking two cups of milk and having two servings of meat, poultry or fish per day, don’t worry, you’re well on your way to getting enough. It’s not foods in their natural form we need to be worried about though. It’s the phosphorus additives in our foods. They’re apparently abundant because they are cheap and multipurposeful. They are known to preserve changes in moisture, or color, or act as a stabilizer, acidifier, anti-caking or leavening agent. Unlike phosphorus in foods which about 60% is absorbed, the phosphorus consumed in additives is 100% absorbed by our bodies. It’s hard to say how much we are exactly getting in our diet as any food analyst software programs don’t take into account the extra phosphorus from preservatives in food and it’s not always listed on labels. Most people though are completely unaware of phosphorus additives in foods. I have to admit, I never really thought about them much before now either. But so you know, they are often sourced in processed, ready to eat convenience such as chicken nuggets, hot dogs, deli meats, frozen chicken or turkey that has been enhanced with a broth, biscuits and snack cakes, processed and spreadable cheeses, instant puddings and sauces, soft drinks, flavored waters and fruit drinks.  

According to experts like to Dr. Geoffrey Block, a Denver Nephrologist, higher phosphorus intakes, thought to be easily achieved from the addition of phosphorus additives to our food, can be dangerous to our health. New evidence is telling us that blood levels of phosphorus, even within the normal range, may be independent predictive factors in heart disease and death for adults regardless of having chronic kidney disease. (As a little background info, often when people have chronic kidney disease they can have high blood levels of phosphorus, and other minerals, which can really damage the body, including the heart).  It’s suggesting that healthy kidneys or not, high phosphorus might be bad for the heart. How does it connect to heart disease? Well the Coles Notes version to this is if your kidney function is impaired you are less able to excrete extra minerals like phosphorus. If the extra phosphorus can’t be used by the body or peed out it can end up in other tissues, causing them to harden. Hardened artery walls is our laymen’s term for arthrosclerosis, a major risk factor for heart disease.

As Newfoundlanders and Labradorians our diet is heavily laden with processed, quick and easy ready-to-eat foods. The same can really be said across Canada, so we’re not in that boat alone. We know rates of heart disease and diabetes are high and expected to go higher in the years to come. We’ve already watching the waistline, dietary saturated and trans fat intake, cholesterol, and sodium, but in the future there certainly could be more foods added to that list. The message here is similar to many others and good news is that it’s simple. Eat less of the convenience and readymade type foods. Choose whole foods. Whole, unprocessed foods (think hard cheese versus cheese whiz) will contain lower amounts of additives and preservatives. If you want to play it really safe, organic will have none. Phosphorus additives can be identified on an ingredient list, but that being said, there is no current legislation for labelling in terms of phosphorus. Meaning it won’t always be there (e.g. many broths). If you do want to try and source it, look for ‘phos’ among the long hard to pronounce chemical names. Dicalcium phosphate, potassium tripolyphosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate. Can you spot it?

As seen in The Telegram October 22, 2012

World Food Day in Newfoundland

Reports from the United Nations last week tell us there are almost 870 million hungry people in the world. That’s one in every eight, or just under 13% of the world’s population suffering from hunger. To put it into perspective, it’s more than all the people in Canada, US and across the multiple countries of Europe combined. What is unfortunate and fact is that the world has enough resources to feed each and every hungry person. Growing up many of us heard that we should be thankful and eat our veggies as hungry people across Africa, Asia or the like would be certainly be happy to have them. But hunger isn’t just a problem we see just in the third world. It affects us right here in Newfoundland and Labrador as well. Data from Food Banks Canada say just under 6% of our population, and 9,090 of NL households used food banks last year. Tomorrow is World Food Day. It’s being recognized here in Newfoundland and Labrador, across Canada and several other countries as well. I spoke with the Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador (FSN), a provincial non-profit organization that actively promotes comprehensive and community-based solutions to ensure physical and economic access to adequate and healthy food for all, to find out more about this day and the events happening around our province.

World Food Day is an internationally observed day to heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world. This annual celebration began back in 1981 and is now recognized in over 150 countries as a day for raising public awareness concerning global food issues – as we know there are many. (For the 870 million people that remain hungry, our world is increasingly faced with a double burden of malnutrition co-existing with obesity and related diseases affecting billions of people worldwide).

October 16^th will be used as a day for communities to celebrate food and raise awareness of food security issues. For the next few days across our province there will be events including community gardens, farmers’ markets, local food and food advocacy groups hosting community meals, harvest celebrations, film screenings, and more. In St. John’s on October 19^th Oxfam and the FSN will be hosting an event consisting of a three-course meal from local ingredients showcasing fish, vegetables, & fruit and a documentary entitled, End of the Line, which looks at the impact of overfishing on oceans. Events are also taking place in Riverhead, St. Mary’s Bay, Hopedale, and Carbonear, and have already happened in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Harbour Breton. 

If there isn’t an activity going on in your neck of the woods, or you don’t have the time to make it to an event, do take some time tomorrow at home or work to think about food and hunger. One thing we all can do to make an impact is to be conscious and reduce food waste. Perhaps you’ll decide to make less to eat, share meals with a family member or friend, repack leftovers for lunch or freeze for later use, compost, or maybe just buy and eat less overall. Each year in our country we waste almost as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa. In case you’re wondering, that’s 230 million tonnes. Each person in our country also wastes on average between 210 and 250 pounds of food a year. While people living in many of the hungriest parts of the world, say sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia throw away a mere 13 to 24.

As seen in The Telegram October 15, 2012

Canada’s Latest Beef with Beef

We’re amidst the largest beef recall this country has ever seen. With more than 1500 products being recalled in all Canadian provinces and territories and extending to just about all the states in America too. The beef with our beef?  E.Coli, or Escherichia Coli bacteria.

E.Coli is the bacteria that lives in the intestines of animals, and people for that matter too. There are several different strains. Some of much are harmless and can be an important part of healthy human intestinal tracts. Others however, like E.Coli 0157:H7 which are pathogenic and can cause illness like diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness, and at extremes kidney failure or even death. It’s usually transmitted through contaminated food, water, infected people or animal and common culprits and improper hand washing and cooking of beef. Symptoms of infection to watch out for include abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea (which may or may not be bloody). They can appear anywhere within one to ten days, but are usually seen in three to four days, and last anywhere from five to ten days. The remedy is plenty of fluids and rest, but if symptoms are severe medical attention is advised.  

For the record, E.Coli usually disappears in our number two by the time the illness is resolved. Young children tend to carry it longer than adults, and some people may keep ‘shedding’ the bacteria for several weeks or even months, even after symptoms have disappeared. Good hand washing is smart and the best way to protect yourself, your family, and others.

The power of hand washing should not be underestimated. 80% of common infections are spread by hands. American Society of Microbiology studies show that 97% of females and 92% of males say they wash their hands, but in reality only about 75% females and 58% males really do wash. Of the people who do wash, how many people actually do it properly, i.e. more than just a quick flick under the tap. It’s something simple enough, but the majority of us just don’t do this properly. Sure we use warm water, soap and a dry towel, but the real culprit to washing hands ineffectively is not washing them long enough. You know you’ve washed them long enough when you can sing Twinkle Twinkle or Happy Birthday (and if at a public restroom preferably in your head) while doing so. Even if they appear to be clean, they can still carry germs. Washing your hands at least five times a day has been shown to significantly decrease the frequency of colds, flus and other infections. An alcohol based hand sanitizer can be useful when soap and warm water aren’t available. They can be useful are killing many bacteria and viruses, but are often not that effective for killing the bugs that cause diarrhea. For their maximal hand sanitizer effectiveness, use in addition to hand washing and make sure it contains at least 60% alcohol.

It’s useful to note that E.Coli bacteria can be killed by high heat temperatures. Best practice is to always use a thermometer to check internal temperatures of protein containing foods like fish, poultry and meat. Color or smell are not reliable indicators to say that meat is cooked, let alone ‘fit’ to eat. Ground and fresh beef is considered safe when it has reached an internal cooking temperature of 160°F. Other potentially high risk for E.Coli foods include unpasteurized juice, milk, cheese made with unpasteurized milk, and alfalfa sprouts. Prevent cross contamination in food areas by not only washing hands, but also counters, cutting boards, utensils and any other kitchen object that may come in contact with raw meat. Details for advisories and public warnings on foods, such as this recent beef recall, can be most reliably found on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website: www.inspection.gc.ca.

As seen in The Telegram October 8, 2012

Bringing Back Tradition

Thanksgiving brings many thoughts to mind. Turkey, pumpkin pie, and eating together as a family would certainly be my top three. Instead of talking about how to trim calories, and ‘holiday what not to eat’ (as many articles will feature on Thanksgiving I’m sure), I want to focus on one simple thing we need and can do more of. Take the time to sit down and eat together with family and friends. Family meals are deep rooted in our culture, but with lives getting busier and the days feeling like minutes, it’s something that has made its way far from our dinner plates. So why is eating together so important you ask? Eating with others has been shown to have huge benefits in terms of nutrition for all involved. 

It used to be that families sat down at mealtimes, talked about their day and ate without the distraction of TV or the internet. Today that picture paints a different story. About 43% of families eat together every day, 60% of us sometimes or always have the TV on, and another 15% of us are sometimes or always guilty of emailing, texting or using our phones during supper time. With the expanding waistlines of childhood obesity there has been a fair amount of research targeted on family and social influences and how these might make a difference on the eating patterns of kids. Put it this way, families who eat together eat better, nuff said. Kids who sit down to eat dinner together with family on average eat more vegetables and fruits, and consume more fibre, calcium, folate, iron, and vitamins B6, B12, C and E. They also eat less fried foods, sweets, salty snacks, soft drinks, and less of the so-called ‘bad’ saturated and trans fats. Adolescents having frequent and shared meals promotes greater intakes of fruit among males and females, and vegetables and milk products among females as well. If you consider average intakes of some of those healthful nutrients mentioned above, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians we can certainly do better in increasing our intakes in the nutrition department. According to 2012 data from Stats Canada, 29% of us consume fruits and veggies five times a day or more. Earlier data also tells us that as a province our fiber intakes are about half of what they should be and calcium intakes are also under par. All in all, a lot of these nutrients we tend to be lacking in collectively as a province have been shown to have greater intakes when people eat together. The chances of kids developing an eating disorder, being overweight or obese are also reduced when kids eat together with others. So take a moment and ask yourself how often you eat fruits and veggies a day? How often do you sit down with others to enjoy food?

There are other big benefits aside from nutrition and healthy weights, when people practice eating together.  According to studies from Columbia University, children who eat five times a week or more with family in comparison to peers eating meals alone or outside the home, are at a lower risk for developing poor eating habits, alcohol and substance dependencies, and performing better in school.

As Newfoundlanders and Labradorians we are deep rooted in tradition. During this Thanksgiving weekend spend time together with your family, eat good nutritious food, and give thanks. Give thanks that your family is happy and healthy and let this be the time your family decides to bring back the tradition on eating together and making mealtime a nightly family affair.

As seen in The Telegram October 3, 2012