NutritionDoc

Cracker Barrel, with more than 400 units around the country (though mostly in the South), features homestyle cooking. It is one of the few restaurants that offer a decent selection of veggie side dishes. And like Macaroni Grill and Red Lobster, it is one of the few that give kids a choice of fried or grilled chicken.

Cracker Barrel's 3 oz portion of grilled chicken tenerloins has only 110 calories and 1 gram of bad fat. Whether kids end up with a healthy meal depends on which of the chain's 15 side dishes they add and how much of the free corn bread or biscuits they scarf down. The veggies - like baby carrots, corn, and green beans - add fewer calories, less harmful fat, and more nutrients than the steak fries, hashbrown casserole, or dumplins.

Get the chicken with carrots and a (free) glass of OJ instead of a Coke and your kid ends up with a healthy 320 calorie meal.

Grilled chicken is on virtually every adult menu. Why do so few restaurants bother to offer it to children?

What are the top table service restaurants feeding our children ( and my grandchildren)? Fried chicken (fingers or nuggets) are on every one of the kids menus. A hamburger are on 85% of the menus and french fries are on all of the menus.

On half of the chains I looked up, fries were the only side dish on the kids' menu. Most chains allow you to substitute a (hopefully better) side dish for the fries if you ask - but only half of the big chains I looked at offered a substitute.

Extras make it worse. Kids' meals often come with free (fatty) biscuits and a complimentary dessert or beverage. (Why drink water when you can have a free Coke?)  At most chains kids can choose from soda, juice or milk but refills are only for soda.

A handful of restaurants are starting to change. Like fast food chains, they may be worried about lawsuits or maybe the table service chains sense a new market.

Young Red Lobster patrons now get a free appetizer of applesauce or fresh carrot sticks and cucumbers with a ranch dipping sauce. And the new entrees - which include Snow Crab Legs, Grilled Mahi-Mahi, and Grilled Chicken - come with steamed veggies. Gone are the fried shrimp, hamburgers, and cheesesticks, though popcorn shrimp and fried chicken fingers - which both come with french fries- are still on the menu.

I am a Grandma in search of a good place for my grandchildren to eat sooooooo continue to click on and see what I can find.  Choose wisely . . . live well

Obesity rates in children have doubled since 1980. While there is no one cause, the restaurant industry's view that kids' food means fast food has not helped. Granted, some children are picky eaters. But the more adventurous youngsters would move beyond fried potatoes and chicken fingers, greasy cheeseburgers, and fatty pizza if they were exposed to healthier foods at an early age. Worldwide, children dig into bowls of beans (Latin America), chickpeas (Middle East), and vegetables (Asia).

US restaurants serve fingers, burgers, and fries because they are the lowest common denominator, they are familiar, ande they are cheap. Cheap for the restaurant, that is. The cost to children who face a greater risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease and cancer does not show up on the menu (nor do calories, sodium, or damaging fat).

Maybe restaurateurs do not know that arteries start to show early signs of heart disease in the second decade of life. Maybe they do not know that children aged 2 and older need to cut back on sat and trans fat. Maybe they figure that kids can eat unlimited quantities of fatty, salty, sugary, high calorie foods and "burn it off."

Maybe it is time they realized that as long as they are feeding children a steay diet of fattening food, their family friendly reputations are not worth the crayons and color- your- own placements they hand out at the door.

Is making a sandwich such a burden that we need Oscar Mayer's Lunchables, a high priced, over packaged, fat filled "lunch" with meat, cheese and crackers? The Fun Snacks line also missed the mark - cookies or brownies with spread your own frosting, sprinkles and chocolate chips, just fat laden empty calories.

Despite the TV commercials, so called energy boosters like Ensure, Sustacal,Boost and ReSource will not "add life to your years." Instead, they encourage people to pass over natural fruits, veggies and grains in favor of a mix of water, sugar, corn syrup and casein(milk protein). A multivitamin followed by a milkshake would accomplish the same thing, but coast less and taste better.

Kellogg's newly formulated Smart Start Soy Protein and Smart Start Antioxidants, launched as adult cereals, really miss the boat. The multigrain cereals are heavily fortified with 100% of the DV for 10 vitamins and minerals and are loaded with sugar. Not very "smart".

For a typical Moroccan dessert, peel a fresh orange, slice it into rounds, then sprinkle with cinnamon and a touch of powdered sugar. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

It is not because they are 100%whole grain. It is not because each cookie has about a gram of fiber. The best reason to try Nabisco 100%Whole Grain Fig Newtons or 100% Whole Grain Chips ahoy cookies is much simpler: They tast better.

Whole wheat flour gives the cookies more character - more fullbodied flavor and texture. One bite and you will have no desire to go back to the blander, more homogeneous ( and less nutritious) white flour versions.

BONUS: Fig Newtons are one of the few cookies that supply some real fruit along with their sugar, flour, and fat. And Nabisco backs up its whole grain claim with a number - 100% - so consumers know exactly how much of the flour is whole wheat.

Of course, both the Newtons and Chips Ahoy are still, well, cookies. Each packs roughly 50 calories a pop. Even whole grain cookies should not squeeze baby carrots, cantaloupe, clementines, or other fruits and veggies out of your snack supply.

BUT if you are reaching for a cookie anyway, reach right here . . . that is until Pepperidge Farm, Mrs. Fields, Keebler, and other bakers get on the whole grain train. Whole grain Milanos????? It could happen. For more info and maybe a smile go to my blog at http://nutritiondoc.blogspot.com. Choose wisely . . . live well.

Pronounced KEEN-wah, the Inca's sacred staple is one of the best grain-like sources of protein. Quinoa's flavor is more delicate than that of other grains and its tiny bead like granules cook up fluffy and light expanding to 4 times its uncooked size. Yet it cooks in half the time of rice.

Not a true grain, quinoa is a vegetarian's delight, owing to its exellent protein quality, providing all the essential amino acids. It contains significant magnesium and is a surprising source of iron.

To prepare, combine one cup of quinoa with two cups of liquid, then boil or steam for 10 to 15 minutes.

Have the spices in your cabinet celebrated more birthdays than your grown children? If so, you are way overdue to replace them. Spices lose their color, pungency and beneficial properties over time. Keep ground spices no longer than 6 months. Whole spices ( whole nutmeg, cinnamon sticks) keep indefinitely. Spices like to be kept cool, dark and dry, so do NOT store them over the stove or dishwasher where steam and heat hasten their demise.

If you love beets, you need Melissa.  She trims, peels and steams her tender Baby Red Beets, then wraps them in a vaccuum sealed package to reserve that fresh cooked flavor. Its hard not to devour them right out of the package. Of course, you could also add them to a cold salad, serve them as a garnish, or warm them up for a fast, healthful side dish. If you want to get fancy, try roasting them with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Or slice them and mix with goat cheese, walnuts, orange sections, and sliced onions. Unopened, they will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 3 months. No matter how you eat your baby beets, each 1/2 package serving (2-3 small beets) delivers some 20 % of a day's folate and 4 - 8 % of a day's fiber, potassium, vit c and iron. While beets do not pack the nutritional punch of broccoli, sweet potatoes, or most other deep green or orange veggies, they have got only 40 fat free calories and 30 mg of sodium per serving.

So what's to lose . . . except all those excuses (too much time, too much trouble, too much mess) that stand between you and fresh beets. With Melissa's the beet goes on.  Melissa can be found  hanging out at Trader Joe's

 

Start a Mediterranean style diet- one rich in fruits, veggies, grains, nuts, seeds and healthful fats, such as olive oil - add regular exercise and expect your blood vessels to be healthier in only 8 weeks.

36.5 billion dollars is what Americans spent to battle obesity linked illnesses in 2002. That us up from 3.6 billion in 1987.

Here is what to check on your yogurt label:

 

Saturated fat - if a 6 oz yogurt has more than 1 1/2 grams of sat fat, leave it in the dairy case. That may not seem like much, but the daily limit (20grams) is easy to reach.

 

Calories - you can save 50 to 70 calories in a 6 oz. yogurt by switching from full fat to low fat or fat free. And you can save about as much by moving from sugar or fruit sweetened yogurt (150 to 200 calories) to plain or light (80 to 100 calories).

 

Artificial sweeteners - Splenda (sucralose) is the safest artificial sweetener. Avoid aspartame (NutraSweet),and acesulfame potassium, which has not been adequately tested.

 

Calcium - a 6 oz. yogurt should have at least 20% of a day's calcium. Most soy yogurts have less.

 

Vitamin D - if you are older than 50 and do not get much sun exposure, you may need more than the 400 IU you will get from just about any multivitamin. Vit D is added to Yoplait and Blue Bunny yogurts, as well as to all Dannon Light'n Fits except Creamy and Carb Control. Check the label.

 

Potassium - labels do not have to list potassium. If yours does, look for at least 300 mg in a 6 oz. yogurt.

 

Active cultures - yogurt's "friendly" bacteria - live and active cultures like L. bulgaricus and or S. thermophilus - appear to help people digest lactose . They may also prevent the diarrhea that is caused by taking some antibiotics. But the evidence is still scanty that yogurt can boost the immune system or prevent colon cancer, heart disease, ulcers, and other illnesses.