Eats « Weekly Gravy

Watching your cholesterol intake has gotten easier. Nutrition experts now agree that certain foods high in cholesterol, like shrimp and eggs, don’t have the impact on your blood cholesterol that was once thought. Even better, some foods can help lower your blood cholesterol level. Walnuts have healthy unsaturated fats that help lower LDL — that’s the unhealthy type of cholesterol. Almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios are good choices, too. Beans and oats have a magic bullet — soluble fiber, which helps flush cholesterol out of your system before it can do harm and also helps with digestive health. Enjoy hot or cold oat cereals and experiment with beans in place of meat. Avocados are rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids and can help lower LDL. Mash a few tablespoons to spread on sandwiches instead of mayo and dip raw veggies rather than chips in fresh guacamole. Plant-based foods, in general, naturally contain sterols and stanols, substances that fight off cholesterol, another reason to boost your intake. Top sources include wheat germ and wheat bran, peanuts, almonds, sesame and olive oils, and Brussels sprouts. Studies have found that getting 2 to 3 grams a day can lower LDL up to 14%. Your overall diet plan can help lower cholesterol, too. Options include the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), also designed to lower blood pressure, and the… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Eating out can be stressful if you have a food allergy. Before you leave for the restaurant, you should read the menu, call ahead and speak to the manager, says the Food Allergy Research and Education organization. When at the restaurant, FARE suggests: Tell your waiter about your allergy. Ask what is in your dish and how it’s prepared. Keep the dish simple. Avoid fried foods. Be especially careful when ordering dessert.

Many packaged foods have the potential to give you vitamin overload, especially if you’re already taking a daily multivitamin. Here’s what you need to know. Manufacturers have been adding nutrients to foods for decades. In fact, it started nearly 100 years ago with the addition of iodine to salt. Vitamins and minerals are added to foods in two key ways. Foods and beverages can be “enriched.” This means putting back nutrients lost in processing, like the longstanding practice of adding B vitamins to packaged breads and cereals made with refined flours. Keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily make them as nutrient-dense as foods made with whole grains, because not every natural micronutrient lost in processing can be replaced. Foods and beverages can be “fortified.” This means adding one or more nutrients not normally found in the food in its natural state. Sometimes this is helpful — adding hard-to-get vitamin D to milk, adding calcium to non-dairy milks and orange juice for those who are lactose intolerant, and adding omega-3 fatty acids to eggs for people who don’t eat enough fatty fish. But some foods are fortified with levels of nutrients that exceed limits set by the Institute of Medicine. And sometimes they’re just not necessary for you. For instance, according to a University of Toronto study, the most common vitamins added to fortified waters… read on >

If you’re an older woman, your heart disease risk might be shaped by the shape of your body. Researchers report that if you look more like an apple than a pear, your chances of heart trouble are heightened, even if you are a normal weight. Interestingly, women who carried their weight in their legs had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease, the study authors added, though the study did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. “Our findings suggest that postmenopausal women, despite having normal weight, could have a varying risk of cardiovascular disease because of different fat distributions around either their middle or their legs,” said study author Dr. Qibin Qi, an associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. For the study, researchers gathered data on nearly 162,000 postmenopausal women who took part in the Women’s Health Initiative study between 1993 and 1998. The women were followed until February 2017. The investigators found that women whose fat was stored mostly around the middle (apple-shaped) had almost twice the risk of heart disease or stroke, compared with women whose weight was stored in their legs. On the flip side, that risk was 40% lower in women whose weight was mostly in the legs, compared to those who had the least weight in their legs. The greatest risk of heart disease… read on >

Infants and young children with vitamin D deficiency may have a heightened risk for elevated blood pressure later in childhood and in their teens, a new study finds. Researchers followed 775 children in Boston from birth to age 18. Most were from low-income families in urban neighborhoods. Compared to children born with normal vitamin D levels, those born with low levels — less than 11 nanograms per millimeter (ng/ml) in cord blood — had a 60% higher risk of elevated systolic blood pressure (upper number in a reading) between ages 6 and 18. Systolic pressure, the upper number in a reading, is the force of your blood pushing against your arteries when your heart beats. Diastolic pressure measures force between beats. High systolic pressure increases heart disease risk even when diastolic pressure is controlled, the researchers noted. Kids with consistently low levels of vitamin D (less than 25 ng/ml) through early childhood had twice the risk of elevated systolic blood pressure between ages 3 and 18, the study found. However, the findings only reflect an association rather than a cause-and-effect link. The study was published July 1 in the journal Hypertension. “Currently, there are no recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics to screen all pregnant women and young children for vitamin D levels,” lead author Dr. Guoying Wang said in a journal news release.… read on >

No matter how committed you are to eating healthier and/or losing weight, making drastic changes can be hard. A better approach is to make small shifts in the foods you eat every day, according to the U.S. 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines. Here are 10 to aim for. To boost your diet efforts over time, try one a week. Shift from white bread to whole-wheat bread or a wrap. Shift from meat to seafood, or replace meat in recipes with beans and vegetables twice a week. Join the Meatless Monday bandwagon to gradually reduce the red meat — beef, lamb and pork as well as processed meats — in your diet. Shift from salted to unsalted nuts, and from regular canned soups and vegetables to low-sodium varieties. These are painless ways to reduce unnecessary salt. Shift from butter to olive oil, and from creamy dressings to vinaigrettes. This increases unsaturated fats in your diet while reducing saturated ones. Shift from whole milk to 2%, and then to 1% milk. Even though some studies have reported that full-fat dairy is not the health threat it was once thought to be, this shift will cut calories if you need help losing weight or maintaining a loss. Shift from cream-based pasta dishes to ones with red sauce. This also cuts saturated fat. Shift to roasted squash chunks from French fries.… read on >

Pickled vegetables are healthy and crunchy treats, and when you make them yourself, they’ll have great savory flavor with a lot less sodium than packaged varieties. Note that pickled foods are different from fermented foods, such as yogurt and kimchi. Pickling is soaking a food in a salty or acidic solution. Fermentation is the result of a reaction that occurs between a food’s own sugars and bacteria. Both are tasty and good for you. Firm veggies like radishes, green beans and fennel work best, because they won’t get mushy in the pickling liquid. Even if you’ve never been a radish fan, this recipe will turn you into one. Try them over Mexican dishes like black beans and rice, or nibble on them right out of the jar for a quick snack. Pickled Radishes With Orange Rind 1/2 cup white vinegar 2 teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup cold water 2 2-inch strips orange rind 1 pound radishes, thinly sliced 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced Place vinegar, sugar, salt and cold water in a large saucepan. Mix well and add orange rind. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 30 seconds until the salt and sugar totally dissolve. Turn off the heat and add the radishes and red onion to the liquid. Let stand until the vegetables reach room temperature. Spoon… read on >

It’s well known that omega-3 fatty acids, or omega-3s for short, are important anti-inflammatory nutrients that, along with many other functions, reduce heart disease risk. What’s unclear is whether you can get these benefits from a capsule. Studies involving supplements have recently been called into question. That’s why it makes sense to focus on foods rich in these fatty acids. Note: A prescription formula has been found effective to reduce triglycerides (a type of blood fat), with an omega-3 concentration much higher than suggested for the general population, but it must only be taken under a doctor’s direction. The easiest forms of omega-3s to absorb are DHA and EPA, and fatty fish (like salmon and tuna) and grass-fed beef are among the best sources. Walnuts, ground flax and chia are good sources of plant-based omega-3s, called ALAs, and are versatile cooking ingredients. Their absorption rate is lower than those of DHA and EPA, however. Here’s a tasty way to get your omega-3s. Walnut-Crusted Tuna 2 tablespoons ground walnuts 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed 2 tablespoons chia seeds 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper 1 egg, preferably omega-3 fortified 2 6-ounce tuna filets Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix walnuts, flax, chia seeds and black pepper in a pie plate. Whisk the egg in a separate dish. Dip tuna filets into the egg and then press into… read on >

Even a small increase in blood pressure during your first trimester could spell bigger trouble later in your pregnancy, new research suggests. Those troubles can include gestational high blood pressure, which develops after the 20th week of pregnancy, and preeclampsia (high blood pressure and protein in the urine), the researchers explained. Both conditions increase the risk for stroke in an expectant mother and for stillbirth, preterm birth and low birth weight. Preeclampsia also increases the risk of life-threatening seizures in the mother (eclampsia). In this study, the researchers analyzed data from about 8,900 pregnant women in the United States. Of those who had elevated blood pressure in the first trimester (120/80 to 129/80 mm Hg), just over 30% developed a high blood pressure disorder of pregnancy. This was a 42% higher risk than among women with normal blood pressure (less than 120/80 mm Hg) in the first trimester. Among women with stage 1 high blood pressure (130/80 to 139/89 mm Hg) in the first trimester, almost 38% developed a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, which was an 80% higher risk than among those with normal blood pressure, the findings showed. Stage 1 high blood pressure was associated with more than 2.5 times the risk for preeclampsia, according to the study. An increase in blood pressure between the first and second trimester also increased the risk of… read on >

Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds — we hear a lot about the “best” food groups for health. But what about the worst ones? What foods should you be eliminating or at least cutting back on? Research published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at dietary intake and 318,000 deaths from diabetes, stroke and heart disease. In addition to not eating enough omega-3 rich seafood, nuts and seeds, two problematic factors stood out. These deaths were associated with eating too much salt and too many processed meats. The two go hand-in-hand in sausages, hot dogs, corned beef, beef jerky, canned meat, meat sauces, lunch meats and bacon. Eating too much salty food was associated with nearly 10% of those deaths. Processed meats are a key source of salt, but so are snacks, prepared foods and even packaged vegetables, especially those canned in salt. A separate study of 400,000 deaths related to heart and blood vessel diseases presented at an American Heart Association scientific meeting came to similar conclusions — finding 9% of these deaths were due to too much salt. The very unhealthy trans fats were also on the dangerous foods list. Fortunately, these are being phased out of packaged foods. But again, what you’re not eating makes a difference, too. These researchers also found that not getting enough whole… read on >