Keeping the Color in your Vegetables!

Written by Elaine Twigg
Part of National Nutrition Month 2012

Vegetables are an important part of our diet, largely because many are either good or excellent sources of a variety of nutrients.

But did you know that the way you prepare your vegetables would drastically alter how many vitamins you are actually getting from them? Cooking losses can occur during many methods of cooking depending on how water-soluble the vegetable is, how much water it is cooked in, how high of a temperature the vegetable was cooked to, and how long it was held at that temperature.

Tips for preserving nutrients in your vegetables:

• Steam, broil, or microwave your vegetables instead of boiling them! You want to cook your vegetables in as little water as possible.

• Buy fresh produce instead of canned! Canned vegetables undergo a lot of heat processing, causing a loss of a lot of their nutrients.

• Serve your cooked veggies as soon as possible! The longer they sit, the more nutrients will be lost.

• Eat your veggies raw!

• Store your veggies in the fridge! Leaching of nutrients and wilting occurs at higher temperatures.

To demonstrate, I steamed one 12 oz. bag of broccoli and boiled the other 12 oz. bag of broccoli. Can you see the difference?

Here, you can actually see the color that has leached from the broccoli into the cooking water!  

Like this post?  Read more Get Your Plate in Shape posts!  

What's On Your Plate?

Written by Brett Gwaltney
Part of National Nutrition Month 2012

Where did all the color go on our plates? Having a balance plate is necessary for developing a strong and healthy body.  As shown above, most of our plates consist of fried, starchy, and unhealthy food. We have lost focus on the importance of our left side of the plate. Even if you are on a budget, fruits and vegetables can easily join your plate. 

Fresh fruits and vegetables have more nutritious than frozen or canned but if you know how to cook them properly you can succeed in getting all the nutritious that is packed in them. The key in buying fresh fruits and vegetables are buying them in season. This is when they are most abundant to the consumer thus being the cheapest. 

If fresh is just too expensive, frozen vegetables are the next best thing. You must remember not to over cooking them or in too much water. Over cooking the vegetables will cause you to lose a great deal of the nutrient as well as diluting them in too much water. Since the whole reason to eat them to begin with is because they are packed with nutritious that is essential for a healthy body. The best way to cook frozen vegetables is to steam them. 

Finally, canned fruit and vegetables are the cheapest route to go if you cannot afford anything better. You need to be aware that canned fruits or vegetables can be eaten without cooking since they have already been cooked to a safe level. A simple heating will do the trick. Another thing is to read the nutrition guide on the back since most canned ideas have a great deal of salt which can defeat the purpose of eating them.

References
Tenpoundhammer (Artist).  (2011).  USDA's My Plate vs. My Real Plate [Artwork].  Retrieved from http://www.tenpoundhammer.com/2011/06/usdas-my-plate-vs-my-real-plate-pic.html

Like this post?  Read more Get Your Plate in Shape posts!  

Less is More!

Written by Brooke Kuhn
Part of National Nutrition Month 2012

The old saying is true, at least when it comes to eating healthy. Most of us know that eating smaller portions throughout the day is better for you than three large meals, but what many people don’t know is that eating those small portions might be harder than you think! Research shows that compared to 20 years ago, people are eating larger servings, both at home and eating out. But why? Are people hungrier now than they were 20 years ago? Well, it seems that cup and plate sizes are the culprit.

Dinner plates at restaurants have increased from 10 inches across to 12 inches. This may seem insignificant, but that increase allows for 25% more food on a person’s plate! People are getting more food, which means more calories, and they don’t even know it. But don’t worry- the threat of the growing plate can be avoided. The key is to eat slowly, and take time to enjoy your food. This gives your body more time to realize you’re full, so you will eat less and avoid that uncomfortable feeling of over eating. Eat until you feel satisfied, NOT until you’ve cleaned your plate.

Also, always keep in mind the My Plate food guide to make sure you’re getting the right amounts of the food groups. About half your plate should be fruits and vegetables, with a quarter for grains and a quarter of meat or other protein. So remember, when it comes to portion sizes and serving yourself, less is more.

References

Associated Press.  (2006, December 6).  Portion sizes growing with American waistlines. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16076842/

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  (2012).  Food, nutrition and health tips from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Retrieved from http://www.eatright.org/NNM/content.aspx?id=5342

Davis, C. (Photographer). (2011). Birdseye vegetable chicken plate. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://foodfamilyfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Birdseye-Vegetable-Chicken-Plate.jpg

Like this post?  Read more Get Your Plate in Shape posts!  

New Books: February 2012

We've acquired quite a few new, interesting books over the past month!  As usual, I've selected a few to showcase here that I think you may be particularly interested in.  If you'd like to view the entire list, simply go here.  Remember, you can request an item if you don't see it on the new books list, but would like to!

And, as always, all the books below are available for check out--until someone else checks them out, of course! Simply click on the title to view the Addison record, call number, and location for each book.

Sweet Invention:  A History of Dessert

Read a quick summary!
Read some reviews!

Carrot City:  Creating Places for Urban Agriculture

Read a quick summary!

Diet for a Hot Planet:  The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Doabout It
Read some reviews!

The Student's Guide to Research Ethics

Read a quick summary!

Health Sciences Literature Review Made Easy: The Matrix Method

Read a quick summary!

We're Blogging National Nutrition Month!

It's March! To me, that means unpredictable weather, basketball, AND National Nutrition Month!  In order to celebrate, eatright.org hosts a blogging festival, among other activities, to help focus attention on making informed food choices and developing healthy physical activity habits.  As we did last year, we (me and my fabulous blog contributors) will be publishing posts related to this year's theme:  Get Your Plate in Shape.



 It's official--check out the widget!


Throughout the month of March, posts from students in HNFE 3224:  Communicating with Food will be published to this blog.  All posts will be tagged with National Nutrition Month and Get Your Plate in Shape, along with two other tags that the students suggested based on the content of their post.  Additionally, eatright.org will put this blog on their NNM blogroll!

For more information about National Nutrition Month, visit:  http://www.eatright.org/nnm/.  And stay tuned for lots of exciting posts throughout the month of March.

Office Hours, Spring 2012

Greetings, all!  This semester has certainly started off in a very busy way!  Over the past two weeks, I've been able to meet with six HNFE classes, and am scheduled to meet with eight more this week.  Those classes that I've already met with know about my office hours for Spring 2012, but I wanted to go ahead and post the hours today for those that I haven't yet met with.

This semester, I will be in Wallace Atrium from 9:30-11:30 every Monday morning.  

If you happen to notice the time stamp on this blog post, you'll notice that I *should* be in my office hours right now!  However, I am preparing for several classes today, the first of which starts in just about 30 minutes, so I am not going to be making it over to Wallace this morning.  However, with the exception of the following dates, I will be in Wallace Atrium every Monday through the first week of May.  Because of conference presentations and other commitments, I will not be holding office hours on the following dates:

Monday, February 20

Monday, March 19

Monday, April 9

Monday, April 16

Despite being unavailable on these four dates, I am always available by appointment, so don't hesitate to contact me.  This semester, I will also be posting when I will be staffing the 4th floor (SciTech) Reference Desk in Newman Library, which should give you more opportunities to ask me all of your burning research- (and other) related questions!

Exciting Changes at Newman Library!

It's a new year, and a new Newman Library!  We're expanding our hours and our services, and are excited to let you know about the new ways that we are able to support you.  As many of you are probably now aware, Newman Library is now open 24/5.

Last night was our first night staying open ALL night, and the building is still standing.  So, for all those night owls out there, we are now available as a study space throughout the night and the wee hours of the morning.  You can view a full calendar of our current semester hours here.

In addition to our new hours, we have several other exciting changes that we hope will make life easier for you and help you succeed in your research and other studies.  First of all, we now offer text messaging for library notices (courtesy notices, overdue notices, and hold/pickup notices).  To take advantage of this system, you need to opt into receiving text messages from us; you can find information on how to do that here.  Speaking of hold/pickup notices, we now also have a new way for you to request items.  Previously, you could only request items if they were currently checked out or if they were in storage.  Now, all items in Newman Library can be requested through Addison, and held for pickup at the Circulation Desk.  We're calling this service Request It, and you can read all the details about it here.  This should save you lots of time--instead of searching for books yourself, simply request it, and pick it up at the Circulation Desk when you're ready for it!

In addition to checking out books from the library, you can now check out all sorts of of electronic devices, including iPads, cameras, Macbooks, digital video cameras, digital voice recorders, and calculators.  You can read about the check out periods and other details here.

Finally, we have an entirely new printing/photocopying/scanning system.  The printing is no longer centralized on the 4th floor of Newman Library.  Rather, there are printers on every floor of the library, and these printers can print, photocopy, and scan.  We now have a wireless printing system, which means that you no longer need to search for a public computer to print.  You can print from a laptop, or directly from a flash drive--simply plug it right into the printer itself! Information about updated fees for printing and photocopying are available, as are instructions for connecting to the wireless printing network.

I think that's enough for now, but stay tuned for more exciting news about new services and resources from University Libraries!