JANUARY 2010 NUTRITIONAL NEWSLETTER

Holiday Healthy Eating Tips: CaCao Nibs

http://hangproud.com/Files/Articles/raw %20cacao%20nibs.jpg What is it? - are bits of roasted cocoa beans. - are the whole foods version of ALCOHOL chocolate! - have not been sweetened or otherwise processed - are bitter, a little grainy, a little crunchy Nutritional Profile: - are high in antioxidants (more than red Copyright 2008, Brainandspinalcord.org wine and green tea) - contain stearic acid, a cholesterol Alcohol Absorption: Don’t drink alcohol on an empty neutral sat fat - have all the great benefits of chocolate inter Break is coming Alcohol cannot be stored, and w/o the added fat, sugar, and and it’s about time to therefore our body must remove it the additional processing Wrelax after finals. For from circulation. Alcohol can - can be used as accents for salads and/or those of you, who love to have only be oxidized in the liver, baked goods alcoholic drinks during a party, where enzymes are found to Use in foods: please make sure you eat initiate the process. However, the * Cookies, Bread, Biscuits: replacing BEFORE drinking. rate of liver metabolism is limited. chocolate chips with cacao nibs adds Unlike other nutrients (remark: Blood alcohol concentration great health benefits Alcohol is NOT a nutrient but (BAC) reaches its peak at 40 * Grilling Steaks: rubbing the with yields 7kcal/g), no digestion is minutes after drinking ground cacao granules can add required for alcohol. Small regardless how crunchiness and highlight the meat flavor amounts of alcohol are readily many drinks even more absorbed in mouth, esophagus, you take. It * Salads: sprinkle on top of green salads and stomach once you drink it. takes an just like any other nuts The primary site of alcohol additional * Oatmeal, Granola Parfait, Trail Mix: it absorption is in upper small (continued on can be a good combination with other intestine. page 4) kinds of grains and cereals Food for Thought – Does turkey make you sleepy?

hen my extended family gathers for the holidays, Wcopious amounts of home- cooked food are inevitably involved. The kitchen is a chaotic exchange of hands stirring and feet shuffling and folks fighting over the last burner on the stovetop. Finally, when the table is set and the adults are sitting at their table and the kids (read: the under 25) at theirs, we eat. And we eat, and we eat. And then we promptly fall asleep on the nearest cushioned apparatus. A quiet calm falls over the house—a significant contrast to the noisy madness of three hours prior. http://vanelsas.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/turkey-dinner.jpg For a long time, I was a part of the crowd that blamed the lethargy meat you might have at the table. high enough to instigate a on Thanksgiving turkey, but no What’s more, the may significant spike in the production more. Postprandial , not be the culprit at all. of these compounds. the trussed-up name for your Researchers have found that Instead, educated fingers are drowsiness after feasting, has not although this amino acid is a pointing at the dessert course of been definitively linked to the precursor to and your feast. The produced traditional bird. , substances both after that slice of pecan pie As it turns out, the levels of associated with sleep, it is unlikely (continued on page 4) tryptophan—the substance that one might consume allegedly at fault—in turkey are dietary quantities of tryptophan not much higher than in any other

Food Chemistry - Food Chemists Slice Up Healthier Pizza

Food chemists have shown that making a pizza crust with whole wheat flour and cooking it longer releases more antioxidants - which are thought to reduce the risk of cancer and disease, increased by 82 percent when baked at a higher temperature, by 60 percent when baked twice as long and doubled when the dough was left to rise an extra day. In America, we eat 350 slices of pizza every second, despite they are usually viewed as unhealthy food. Pizza bakers have known for some time that longer baking times and higher temperatures can enhance the (continued on page 4) Nutrition Myth Cracker: Mega Doses of Vitamin C Cure Colds

y mom has been telling me to take more vitamin MC pills whenever I catch a cold or during each flu and cold season. This idea has been instilled in me ever since I was a little girl. It turns out that this belief of Vitamin C as a so- called “Nutraceutical” treatment to prevent and cure colds is commonly held by people with different cultural and ethnical backgrounds all around the world. The term nutraceutical is used to market nutrients having pharmacological effects. I did not start to ponder the validity of this popular claim until I have received in-depth education in the field of nutrition. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/18109.htm The common cold is a viral infectious disease of upper respiratory system in humans, 75 mg for women, mega doses of This myth remains questionable. primarily caused by rhinoviruses. vitamin C are often believed to Instead of taking Vitamin C No approved drugs have shown have a therapeutic benefit. supplement, ample amount of promising results for curing colds Researchers in the past proposed a vitamin C can be easily achieved but served as palliative treatment. small therapeutic benefit from by a balanced diet with a variety Mega doses of Vitamin C mega dose of Vitamin C taken at of fruits and vegetables. Rich supplements are popular remedies the onset of a cold, including sources of Vitamin C are not to prevent and cure colds. Vitamin shortening the duration and limited to citrus fruits such as C performs a variety of functions reducing the severity of oranges. Half a cup of sweet red in our body, but the best known symptoms. However, it is difficult and green bell peppers, broccoli, for its function as an antioxidant. to assess the validity of mega brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes Cells of the immune system doses of Vitamin C supplements can be a delicious addition to your maintain high levels of vitamin C in preventing and treating daily intake of vitamin C. to protect themselves from free common colds because our bodies radicals generated during the cannot absorb excessive Vitamin assaults on bacteria and invaders, C. Any amount more than 500mg Chief Editor: Queenie Wong which including the viruses that taken at one time is lost through cause common colds. This boost Editing: Jessica Soldavini urination. In short, studies to date Layout/Design : Nicole Ng of the immune system by Vitamin have shown inconclusive verdicts Writers: Sammi Kung, Jiaqi Kay C is thought to be protective on whether vitamin C can reduce Yang, Jennifer Lee against colds. While the daily the incidence, duration and recommended value (DRIs) of severity of common colds. Vitamin C is 90mg for men and Continued....

Food for thought- continued from Food Chemistry- continued from Alcohol- continued from page 1 page 2 page 2 six hours for our body to encourage the uptake of amino acids flavor of pizza. The new study by metabolize absorbed alcohol. by your tissues, which lessens the food chemists at the University of Swedish researchers had a group competition for transport proteins Maryland shows that these intense of people consume a few drinks that tryptophan normally faces. baking conditions may also boost after an overnight fast. The next Improved transport of tryptophan to antioxidant levels in dough, day they had the group consume the brain means increased especially whole wheat varieties. the same amount of alcohol in the production of serotonin, which can They believe that the antioxidant same amount of time after eating a translate to a handful of ZZZs for boosting effect used in the study will modest breakfast. After having you. be less obvious in pizza dough made breakfast, the group had a much My suggestions for approaching with refined lower average blood alcohol level your next food-focused shindig: --- only 75% of the BAC reached 1.) Eat slowly, and stop when you "The important message is ... the when drinking on an empty are three bites away from feeling little things you do at home may stomach. full. It will take about twenty make your diet better," says Liangli minutes for your body to send you Lu, Ph.D., a food chemist from the Food, especially food with satiety signals. University of Maryland. proteins, fats and dense 2.) Load your plate with plenty of carbohydrates, dilutes alcohol and veggies and have the turkey playing Pre-made whole grain dough is delays the speed at which food and second fiddle. readily available in some grocery drink leave the stomach. Hence, store. With the use of vegetable having food before drinking can toppings such as fresh basil, tomato, help slow down intoxication. zucchini, squash, we could now However, it cannot help you to enjoy a slice of healthier pizza. sober up quickly. It takes time for your body to get all the alcohol out of your system The bottom line: Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach leads to intoxication more quickly and should be avoided.