Author Archives: dianne rishikof

Family Meals

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It has been known for a while: the family meal provides numerous benefits to the children. Several studies over the years have been done on this.

Children who eat one meal a day with their family as a whole:

  • eat more fruits and veggies
  • are less likely to do drugs
  • are less likely to bully and be bullied
  • are less likely to be overweight and obese

A study came out recently on the last bullet. Here is a quote from the abstract:

“Family meals may be protective against obesity or overweight because coming together for meals may provide opportunities for emotional connections among family members, the food is more likely to be healthful, and adolescents may be exposed to parental modeling of healthful eating behaviors”

In our busy lives, it is easy to forgo a sit down meal with the whole family. Since family meals have so many significant benefits, it is important to make the effort and build your day around one family meal.

Snack Ideas

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apples

Children need to eat regularly. Ideally on a schedule (no grazing) and with the proper surroundings (at a table and NO TV).

Snacking is an important part of a child’s overall nutrition. And because snacking contributes to the nutrient needs of your child’s day, a snack needs to be healthful.

Look at a snack as a mini meal. Would you give your child a pile of chips and a juice box for dinner? (Let’s put it this way-if you did, your child wouldn’t get the protein, vitamins, minerals and other things he needs.) So a snack should be no different.

Here are some ideas:

  • Cheese
    • With crackers
    • Stick pretzels through slices or cubes
    • Make cheese and fruit kabobs
  • Peanut butter
    • And apples
    • And celery
    • And banana
    • Add raisins and/or shredded coconut to any of the above
  • Homemade bread or muffins
    • Zucchini
    • Pumpkin
    • Carrot
    • Banana
  • Hummus
    • Crackers
    • Carrot sticks
  • Fruit
    • Make it fun: eat a banana like a monkey, clementines into pumpkins
    • Kabobs
    • Rainbow of fruit
    • Served in an ice cream cone
  • Ants on a log variations
    • Original: celery with pb and raisins
    • Celery with ricotta cheese and tomatoes
    • Celery with hummus and olives
    • Celery with cream cheese and fruit
  • Smoothies
  • Yogurt
  • Popcorn
  • Nuts
  • Avocado
    • And tomato salad
    • Smeared on cracker or bread
  • Deli meat
    • Ham and cheese rolled up and cut like sushi
    • Turkey, ham, cheese kabobs on a pretzel
  • Corn chips and
    • Salsa
    • Bean dip
    • Guacamole

Save things like:

  • dry cereal
  • granola bars
  • pretzels
  • whole portable fruit

for when you are on the run.

For more ideas go to the kids board on my pinterest page or just go to pinterest and search around!

 

photo: freedigitalphotos.net

How to Help Your Child have a Healthy Gut

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I have written a lot about your gut flora, why it is important and what happens when it goes bad.

For us adults, we have to work on setting our gut right. But for us parents, we have to work on keeping our child’s gut right. The microbiome (all the bacteria and other microbes that share our body with us) can help prevent or help cause: allergies, cancer, obesity, autoimmune diseases, to name just a few. People in undeveloped countries don’t have any of these problems, because their microbiome has never been disturbed.

A vaginal birth is ideal, as the baby gets coated in tons of protective bacteria that lay the groundwork for a healthy microbiome. Breastfeeding aids in this too. But sometimes these two factors are beyond our control.

What else to do to help them keep and cultivate the good bacteria and stave off the bad:

  • Avoid antibiotics unless it’s absolutely necessary (They kill off the good bacteria)
  • Sugar and refined starches to a minimum (They feed the bad bacteria)
  • Plenty of green veggies (feed the good bacteria)
  • Plenty of fresh fruit (feed the good bacteria)
  • Yogurt or other probiotic containing foods
  • No juice
  • Avoid steroid medicines or NSAIDs (aspirin)
    • Use Tylenol instead

What happens in your young child’s life can get his/her microbiome set up or destroyed, having tremendous impact on his/her long term health.

Pecan Pie Pudding

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My father’s pecan pie is legendary. But what about for those of us with a gluten allergy or sensitivity? What about if we have gut dysbiosis and need a low FODMAP dessert?

Easy: crustless!

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Ingredients:

  • 9 eggs
  • 2-16 oz bottles of dark Karo syrup
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 2 cups of pecan halves/peices

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Instructions:

  • preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  • crack eggs into a bowl. blend eggs very well with a wisk
  • add salt
  • mix Karo syrup into bowl (with wisk)
  • add vanilla
  • fold in pecans
  • pour in baking dish
  • bake for 45 minutes covered
  • then 15 additional minutes uncovered
  • let cool
  • serve!
    • (You can serve with vanilla ice cream. In that case it would still be gluten free but no longer low FODMAP or dairy free)

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Are Your Bacteria Working for You or Against You?

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http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-human-digestive-system-dna-image6285781

I wrote recently about our 100 trillion bacteria living in our gut. If all circumstances are ideal, these bacteria are good and diverse. And keep us in good health

Good healthful gut bacteria are very delicate. And harmful ones are hearty. Here are the things that change your gut bacteria for the WORSE:

  • The foods you eat
  • C-section birth
    • A woman’s body actually pours tons of protective good bacteria into the birth canal during labor so that the baby is covered during birth. These protective bacteria are the baby’s first exposure to any microbes.
  • Antibiotics
    • Even one course of antibiotics can alter the ratio. Some species are killed off completely
    • Most of the antibiotics used are in the animal industry and we are consuming them in the meat we eat.
  • GI infections
  • Chronic stress
  • Environmental Toxins
  • Low stomach acid
  • Excessive hygiene

The term for having a poor ratio of good bacteria and low diversity of microbes is gut dysbiosis.

Gut Dysbiosis is associated with:

  • IBS
  • Bloating and distention
  • Celiac
  • Crohn’s and Colitis
  • GERD
  • Some cancers
  • Obesity
  • Allergies and food sensitivities
  • Heart disease
  • Mental disorders: autism, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression

It’s important to get your gut health back! Book an appointment today to get your gut flora in shape!

Why your gut bacteria are so important

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bacteria

I post a lot about your gut flora (the bacteria living in your gut). Research comes out everyday, showing us how these guys are way more important than anyone ever thought. After all, all disease starts in your gut. But let’s back up a minute. I will be doing a series of digestive posts, and need to lay the groundwork.

There are 100 trillion bacteria living in your digestive track. That’s 10 times more bacteria than human cells in your body. Most of these bacteria live in your colon. But some are in your small intestine. These make up your gut flora. (And these plus any microbes on your skin make up your microbiome)

The flora is made up of at least 800 species and 7000 different strains of bacteria. Some of these bacteria are good and some are bad. The amount, diversity, and ratio of good to bad are different for every person. Ideally you have more good than bad bacteria and they mostly reside in your colon.

The ones that are good are vital to your health. Perhaps the most important influence on your health.

Why are they so important?

  • they convert food into substances that nourish the lining of your digestive track
  • they protect the integrity of the GI lining-so that the good gets into your body and the bad stays out.
  • they create some vitamins and minerals
  • they help absorb some nutrients
  • they are your first line of immunity defense
  • they prevent gastrointestinal infections
  • reduce inflammation
  • prevent food allergies
  • regulate body weight
  • and all hell breaks loose when the diversity, number and ratio get altered for the worse

photo: freedigitalphotos.net

Bacteria that protects against food allergies

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More and more we are learning about our gut flora (those bacteria that inhabit our digestive tract) and how they help us out. They are part of our immune system, they help (or hinder) our digestion, and more and more research is pointing to these bacteria having a role in our food cravings, weight troubles, and even autoimmune diseases. If we can continue to learn about this perhaps we can prevent some of these health issues by discovering which bacteria are responsible for which action and then take the right probiotic as a supplement.

Today a research study found isolated the type of bacteria that can protect against food allergies. Clostridia is the bacteria. Read the whole article here.

Vitamin D, the wonder nutrient

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Vitamin D has always been unique. It is not just a vitamin, it is a hormone: a cholesterol substance in skin cells is converted to Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Therefore, it does not need to be eaten like all other nutrients. It can be made from sunlight. The amount of sunlight needed depends on the individual (skin color, age) and the time of day and time of year, and the location (near the equator or far).

Alas, if we are wearing sunscreen, those UV rays don’t get through and we do not make Vitamin D. In this case we need to eat it-from fortified milk, eggs and some fish. But the sources are not abundant. Sunlight is absolutely the best way to get Vitamin D.

Why is this such a wonder nutrient?

  • It helps your body absorb calcium from the GI tract and also regulate blood calcium and make sure enough gets into your bones.
  • It ensures normal development of some cells, in turn reducing cancer risk in those cells.
  • Vitamin D deficiency is a major risk factor in at least 17 varieties of cancer
  • Vitamin D might be the key in treating Seasonal Affective Disorder (we always thought sunlight was…and it is but because of this nutrient)
  • Sunlight lessens inflammation in the body. Inflammation leads to all diseases including heart disease.
  • Blood pressure: those exposed to more sunlight have lower average blood pressure than those who aren’t.
  • Vitamin D seems to help immune function and lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.

So get about 10 minutes a day of sun exposure before putting on your sunscreen.

photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Is sunscreen harmful?

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sun

You know the guidelines. Wear sunscreen, any time you are in the sun, for any amount of time. Wear hats and long sleeves. These advisories were for people living in high UV index areas-like near the equator. But in North America, where the sun isn’t so strong, it isn’t necessary, and may even be harmful.

Two recent studies from Sweden indicate that perhaps sunscreen is doing more harm than good. Women (30,000), in one study, were followed over 20 years. Women who avoided the sun had two times the risk of early death than women who received normal sun exposure. In the other study, sun exposure was associated with reduced cardiovascular death.

It is important to note, that these studies were observational. Correlation doesn’t equal causation. There were certainly variables that weren’t controlled for: such as diet!

But Vitamin D could be the answer. Sunscreen protects the skin from sun rays and therefore we don’t make the Vitamin D from the sun. This Vitamin has been associated with lower cancer risk, lower inflammation, less depression…the list goes on.

For a long time, as a dietitian, I have struggled with the Vitamin D vs Sunscreen debate. My answer has always been:

  • put sunscreen on your face
  • put sunscreen on areas that will get a lot of exposure (like shoulders)
  • leave arms and legs alone-get your Vitamin D there.

photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net