Even though I’m not big on making new year’s resolutions, it’s hard not to be in a reflective mindset at this time of year.  As I’ve been spending time reflecting, I realize that I have gotten into a bit of a rut with my eating habits, tending to eat the same few things for breakfast each day and rotating a limited variety of foods at lunch and dinner.  At the same time, there are new and interesting items appearing on grocery store shelves every day, and more and more interesting research touting the health benefits of different foods.  To this end, my reflecting has led me to a new year’s resolution:  to try and eat more of certain foods in the new year.  Here’s my list so far:

Pommelos. (NuVal® Score: 99 )  Last year, I noticed this fruit in the produce section of the store, sitting betweentraditional grapefruit and ugly fruit.  I was intrigued by the size of the pommelo, so decided to splurge and try it.  It’s much larger than a grapefruit, and the skin is much thicker.  Once I got through the skin, and took my first bite, I was hooked.  The pommelo is much less bitter than a grapefruit, and feels lighter in flavor to me.  I like eating it just plain, as a snack.  Somewhere between last winter and this winter, I had forgotten about the pommelo, but with only 230 calories per whole fruit (I can never eat more than a half at a time) and 6 grams of fiber, my goal is to enjoy it more often this year.

Fish and Seafood. Once upon a time at a conference, I ate salmon (NuVal® Score: 87) and got food poisoning.  Since then, I haven’t eaten salmon.  But there are countless other options in the fish and seafood category, and I realize what’s stopping me from eating them more is that I’m not good at cooking fish and seafood.  So this is my goal, to find a few really good and easy fish and seafood recipes that get me eating these foods more often.  I think my first attempt will be a shrimp (NuVal® Score: 75) chowder as I’ve been craving it since ordering it recently at a restaurant.

Chia Seeds. As a kid, I loved Chia Pets. As an adult, I crack up every time I see a Chia Pet (see left) at the local drug stores. What’s not to love about growing fake grass/hair out of a terra cotta pot in the shape of an animal?  But more recently, chia seeds have become popular as a nutritious food.  Chia seeds are high in omea-3 fats (think healthy fats) like flax seed, but they don’t spoil as quickly as flax does.  Additionally, if chia seeds are soaked in water, they form a gel.  Some experts believe that this can happen in the stomach, making you feel full longer.  I recently saw a smoothy recipe that included chia seeds, so this will be my first taste of this food.

Legumes and Beans.  I tend to eat fairly well overall, getting a variety of foods, focusing on fruits and vegetables, etc.  But I know that I still don’t get enough fiber.  My goal here is to get more beans into my weekly eating habits – pinto beans (NuVal® Score: 93) in chili, garbanzo beans (NuVal® Score:  91) in salads, homemade hummus.  When I do focus on these foods, I am amazed at how full I feel for how long, and as we slog through the winter months in the Midwest, it’s a great way to keep weight from creeping up.

Less Starchy Vegetables. One of the real powers of vegetables is that they can be nutrient-dense – packing a lot of nutrients for not many calories.  But vegetables can fall into two camps – the starchy kind (think potatoes and corn) and the less starchy kind (think peppers, zucchini and broccoli).  With an active, teenage boy in my house who can plow through the calories, it’s easy to use the starchy vegetables as fillers.  But my goal is to focus on the less starchy ones – get the benefit of their nutrition but minimizing the calories.  Zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach (NuVal® Scores: 99 or 100)  – they’re all on my list.

What foods will you try and eat more of in 2012?

Visit www.nuval.com to find high scoring foods that you might want to eat more often in this new year.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a professional meeting in one of the greatest culinary cities in the country – New Orleans – with a group of dietitians who work in the culinary world.  These dietitians teach cooking demos, write cookbooks, and their goal is to combine the sheer enjoyment and pleasure of food with nutrition.  Spending three days with them and dining at great restaurants reminded me of a key issue that we often forget.  Food, not nutrients, is what we eat and should be enjoyable.

My favorite dish, Shrimp and Tasso Henican, at brunch at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans.

Too often, heath professionals (myself included!) and researchers whittle food down to a microcosm, to the individual nutrients it includes and their impact on our health.  Instead of talking about the type of oil that is best – canola or olive or soybean or butter – we talk about the type of fat – omega-3 vs. monounsaturated vs. saturated vs. trans.  Instead of researching the impact of milk on bone density, researchers look at calcium levels in eating habits and what that means for osteoporosis risk.  We encourage people to get more fiber, separating the nutrient from all the glorious whole grains (think quinoa and millet), beans (think navy, pinto, garbanzo), and vegetables (think purple cauliflower, crunchy red peppers) that are naturally great source of fiber but just as importantly, enjoyable to cook with and eat. 

So the next time you grocery shop or find yourself harping on your spouse about fat intake or struggle to put something “healthy” on the table, take a minute to focus on the pleasure and enjoyment that food – including nutritious foods – can bring.

Visit www.nuval.com to see scores of the total food’s nutrition.

Earlier this week, I spent 3+ days at the Food and Nutrition Conference Expo put on every year by the American Dietetic Association.  While there is much to learn in the educational sessions presented at the conference, I often learn more in the conversations I have with colleagues outside of the sessions.

The biggest topic of conversation at the show was definitely about how we are missing the forest for the trees when it comes to nutrition.  We are so focused on the minutia – reducing sodium levels in all foods, taking trans fat out of restaurant foods – that we are missing the big picture.  There is always a demon nutrient of the year;  this year it is sodium, last year it was trans fat.  At the same time, there is a revered nutrient, one we believe will cure everything.  Right now that nutrient is definitely vitamin D.  Ah, the trees. . . .

A colleague mentioned a slide he had seen during a presentation, showing that the increase of two-income households over the past 50 years is correlated with the rise in the obesity rates.  This is part of the forest.  Another colleague mentioned that in the United States, we don’t have our own distinct food culture.  This, too, is part of the forest.  Young adults, gen Xers, do not know how to cook.  Again, the forest.

Food is an integral part of our culture.  The study of sociology and anthropology consider food.  Nutritional content is only one part of food.  And somewhere along the way we have lost this perspective.

The question is has someone left a trail of breadcrumbs to get us back to where we need to be?

Visit www.nuval.com to learn about a system that lives both in the forest and in the trees.

Last weekend, I attended an out of town wedding with some of my former co-workers.  They told me the craziest story.  Our friend Gretchen, whose wedding we were heading to, apparently has her GPS set to talk in squirrel.   After we laughed hysterically, we verged into an entire discussion about nuts (yes, my former coworkers are nutrition and regulatory types).  GPS to squirrels to nuts – makes sense, right?

 I admitted it to them, and I’ll admit it to you.  In my past, I was one of those people who avoided nuts in my eating habits.  It was the calories that got to me.  Like many of you, I was worried about stopping at the one-ounce portion – getting the health benefits without overdoing it on the calories.

Then one day, a package from the Almond Board of California appeared on my desk.  It showed great ways to measure the portion of almonds, including a little mint tin (all the options are visible here). Both professionally and personally, I loved the marketing campaign, and it made me rethink the roll of nuts in my eating habits.

Today, nuts are a go-to product for me as a late morning snack.  Since I work full-time out of a home office, around 10:00 am, I’ll head down to the kitchen for a cup of instant coffee and a light snack.  A handful of nuts is perfect.  Nuts provide the satiety I need at that time of day.  Just a small handful fills me up.  Plus I know I’m getting good fats, vitamin E, protein and fiber.  Nearly a perfect food in my mind.  My favorite nut product is Archer Farms Mixed Nuts, Unsalted, a blend of walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, hazelnuts.  The flavors are a perfect blend.

I wonder what Gretchen’s GPS would say about my mid-morning snack?

Visit www.nuval.com to check out scores on your favorite nuts.

Let’s play a variation on Where’s Waldo.

It’s a Saturday morning in July.  7:00 am.  Where am I?

Most likely you’ll find me wandering the aisles of the St. Paul Farmers Market with my college friend Lori and my walking partner neighbor Laurie.  They’re the ones who actually suggested I blog about the market, and here’s why.

The sights and smells of the fresh-picked produce are a sensory experience that can’t be beat.  Many of the berries are picked fresh that morning.  The colors of all the variety are overwhelming.  My walking partner Laurie decides to give the brussel sprouts a try as she’s heard the fresh ones taste so much better than the frozen version she’s tried before.  I buy the perfect-sized cucumbers to make my favorite refrigerator pickles.  My college friend Lori grabs a deal – cauliflower for $1 a head.  I even sneak in a bundle of flowers from my favorite vendor to freshen up my house.

My trips to the market make the point that food is about more than just nutrition.  It plays an integral role in our family and social structures, it helps manage and treat diseases (both positively and negatively) and it is experiential.  And it can be all of these together.  For me, this is the draw, the appeal of the Farmers’ Market at its high season – the colors, the smells, the textures, the chatting with the local producers. 

Visit http://www.nuval.com/ to see the nutritional value of your favorite farmers’ market finds.