It's National Nutrition Month!

Happy National Nutrition Month (NNM) everyone!!! I feel like it is Christmas in March! 

          As a volunteer in the Nutrition Department a nearby children’s hospital, I get to have a hand in all the NNM events going on this month. My first job was to choose 2 recipes for my upcoming cooking demonstrations, which take place in the family center of the hospital. This center is just remarkable; it has everything a patient’s family would need during a prolonged stay at the hospital. There is complementary laundry, massages, haircuts, computers, craft lessons, a fitness center, and even a movie theatre with movies being shown throughout the day. At least once a month, I have the pleasure of educating patient families, employees, and members of the community on various nutrition topics in the family center. In the past, I have presented on ‘Eating Healthy on a Budget” and “The Importance of Family meals”, which both generated discussions amongst participants and received excellent feedback (which is awesome for my first big nutrition debut!). 

Brochure to hand out

Handout

Table tents for the cafeteria and doctor's dining! 

Site for all presentations (except cooking demonstrations)

  For my “National Nutrition Month: Get Your Plate in Shape” presentation, I decided I will whip up some skillet granola for our make-your-own yogurt parfaits. To my dismay, I found out the family center is not equipped with a stove top…so my skillet granola has now been replaced with baked granola. Ironically, I don’t have a stove in my apartment, so I can’t practice this cooking demo! In addition to preparing a fun treat to eat, I will be teaching the participants the benefits of whole grain, flax seeds, wheat germ, honey, and probiotics...how exciting!!!

          My next presentation has been named, ‘Whole Grain for the Whole Family”. Here I plan to get the children involved as much as possible by making pita faces with whole grain pitas, hummus, and vegetables. I hope to erase any negative connotation children (and their parents) have against eating vegetables!  


Please visit National Nutrition Month resources to find all sorts of fun nutrition education materials! Happy National Nutrition month! 

...He can smell it and know it's low fat?

 

Before I moved myself into my new apartment, I’d say I was the queen of microwaving. I knew the science to piercing the plastic that covered Lean Cuisines.  I memorized the method of heating it up for 2 minutes, stirring it around so there were no surprise frozen spots, and the continuation of heating for 1:30 more minutes. Once you hear popping noises that usually not a good sign! For my first 10 months of graduate school, I lived in efficiencies that weren’t equipped with ovens (or stove tops, or dishwashers, or washing machines, or dryers, or internet ((minor details)).  Therefore, I turned to the microwave.

It was quite ironic really, because as I sat in Nutrition Education class, I was being lectured on the dangers of high blood pressure associated with demographics that relied solely on frozen dinners, canned foods and packaged cured meat.  Every time there was a potluck of some sort for school…I was the one to bring the paper plates and cups since I couldn’t exactly contribute! (Well, now that I think about it, I could have just gone to Publix, which would have tasted better than anything I cooked anyways!)

Allow me to introduce you to my cooking experiences. None of them are positive ones.  Many times my mom and my sister tried to get me sit down long enough to watch them cook but my attention span is less than impressive (you would know this if you attended my Spinning class). 

I remember one time I decided to cook my significant other a special 6 layer chip dip. This dip was a dream! Colorful, large, delicious aroma…what could go wrong? Secretly, I replaced the regular cheese with fat free cheese, the sour cream was definitely low fat, the black olives were plentiful, the black beans were even more plentiful, and the salsa was perfect.  So I present to him my delicious treat I spent hours (not really) on…and he looked at it strangely…smelled it….made a sour face and said “it’s Trans Fat free”.

First of all, it wasn’t trans fat free, smart guy! But how could he tell something was different by just eyeballing it?? I was just trying to help. I’ve been known to hide the salt shaker to help lower his blood pressure!  He jokes that I go outside and pick “beans and berries” when I’m hungry. I think he knew something was up, since I was just too excited about this chip dip. Needless to say, my college roommate appreciated my lower fat snack and we devoured it while watching “Bridezilla”…while my significant other ate an entire pizza. So much for my genius meal!

My next cooking experience was an actual cooking experience.  Over the holidays, I thought it would be cute of me to make lasagna and green bean casserole while my significant was at work.  I knew his family was coming in town later that night so the pressure was on!  The green bean casserole called for milk. To me, milk means skim milk-no questions asked.  I followed the directions, put it in the oven, took it out, and it was soup. Soup I tell you! Lesson learned that skim milk and whole milk yield different results! As embarrassed as I was, the guests sipped the green bean casserole with a smile!

When I learned that cooking class was required for the Nutrition program, I had an immediate raise in blood pressure! Having a grade and a tuition fee involved made it a little more serious! For this class, we are required to be dressed from head to toe in an entire chef getup, which makes me giggle every time I have to wear it! The class has to line up against the wall and get a uniform check…we can’t even paint our nails! How is a girl supposed to keep a boyfriend with bare nails?

Brown and Yellow Brown and Yellow!

With the discontinuation of the food guide pyramid to the new “My Plate” aims to promote a colorful plate full of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. The question is raised whether these guidelines should contain actual pictures of foods, for those individuals who do not know examples of these food groups. 

Here are some recipes I have dabbled with throughout my rookie cooking season that are perfect for the fall season! I chose these for their vibrant colors that will decorate your plate!

1.    Candied Sweet Potatoes

2.    Baked Butternut Squash

3.    Braised red cabbage with apples

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Yield: 6 Servings, 4 oz. each

Ingredients:

Sweet Potatoes, 2 lbs

Brown Sugar, 5oz.

Water, 2 fl. Oz.

Whole butter, 2oz. (Can be modified with “I can’t believe it’s not butter!”)

Vanilla extract, 1tsp

1.    Wash the sweet potatoes and cut as necessary to promote even cooking.

2.    Bake the sweet potatoes on a sheet pan at 350 degrees F until cooked but still firm, approximately 30 minutes.

3.    Combine the sugar, water, and butter and bring to a boil. Add the vanilla extract and remove from the heat.

4.    Peel the potatoes and slice or cut as desired. Arrange the potatoes in a baking dish and pour the sugar mixture over them.

5.    Bake for 20 minutes, basting occasionally with the sugar mixture.

One serving yields 340% Vitamin A and 60% Vitamin C Daily Value!

Baked Butternut Squash

Yield: 4 servings, 4oz.

Ingredients:

Butternut Squash, medium dice, 1 lb

Clarified butter, as needed

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Cinnamon, ¼ tsp.

Cardamom, ground, 1/8 tsp

Brown Sugar, 2 Tbsp

Lemon juice, 2 Tbsp

Whole butter, melted, 2 oz

1. Place the squash in a buttered pan. Season with salt, pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, and sugar
2. Drizzle the lemon juice and melted butter over the top of the squash
3. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degrees F oven until tender, approximately 50 minutes
4. ENJOY a delicious side filled with vitamin A and C

Braised Cabbage with Apples

Yield: 16 servings, 4 oz. each

Ingredients:

Red cabbage, 3lb

Bacon, medium dice (can me modified with turkey bacon), 12 oz

Onions, medium dice, 8 oz

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Red wine, 8 fl. Oz.

White stock, 8 fl. Oz.

Cinnamon sticks, 2

Apples, tart, cored and diced, 12 oz.

Brown sugar, 1 oz

Cider vinegar, 2 fl. oz

1. Shred the cabbage
2. Render the bacon. Add the onions and sweat in the bacon fat until tender.
3. Add the cabbage and sauté’ for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the wine, stock and cinnamon sticks. Cover and braise until the cabbage is almost tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Add the apples, sugar, and vinegar and mix well
5. Cover and braise until the apples are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the cinnamon sticks before serving.

High in Vitamin C, which is a super antioxidant!

Hidden Dangers of the...HOSPITAL!

A hospital is a place to make the sick well. It’s a clean establishment and a friendly environment, paired with a genius medical staff.  However, there is one area that goes against the norm. Allow me to introduce to you the hospital cafeteria.

Let me first start off by stating that I began volunteering at the hospital in hopes to learn more about the food service operation in regards to nutrition.  There are many different areas of the hospital that gain volunteers, but I wanted to go somewhere different. Somewhere that was frequented by all employees and patient families. Somewhere that was not even on the volunteer department list. (dramatic drum roll please….)This place was the cafeteria.

On my first day on the job, I was a “runner”. I stocked the refrigerator shelves consisting of milk, creamer, juice, water, yogurt, and other breakfast goodies.  Then, I moved up in the world and began cleaning the dining room and organizing the condiments. I originally chose the cafeteria because I wanted to deliver food to the patients. Little did I know, patient food deliveries were at 11:30am, and my shift ends at 11am. Regardless, I was given the special job to rewrite the job duties for all the cafeteria employees. This caused a slight cramp in my style because I was the only native English speaker within miles. More importantly, I don’t know  3 words of Spanish! (Well, I’ve learned “papitas”, “Hammone” ((and I most likely spelled that wrong, but the word is supposed to mean ham)), “Dale” means let’s go, “playa means beach”…). SO, instead of asking the employee what their job details are, I decided to shadow them so I could learn by their actions, not their words.

My first victim was the food tray line, which was attended by a lovely woman from Nicaragua.  She is the only person who showed my that there were black nylon hairnets, as opposed to the blue obnoxious one I had been sporting.

I jumped right in and said “how can I help you?!”.  She said “Serve people.” My immediate thought was how I got fired from my previous serving job…and I don’t think I’m all too well at this serving nonsense.  Nonetheless I grabbed a styrofoam to-go container and was face to face with my first customer. Ironically, at this same time, the tray line attendant (we will call her “Marcela”) decided to go take a break and disappear somewhere into the deep dark dungeon we call the cafeteria. My customer  pointed and said “tostada”.  Tostada?! The only time I have ever heard of tostada was the Tostada salad at Mimi’s Café. It was delicious by the way.  I said, “you mean, bread?”.  He said “where is the tostada lady?!?!”.

After that small slip up, I began to get the hang of serving the lovely hospital staff and patient families.  Their breakfast options that I was serving included but was not limited to bacon, sausage patties, breakfast potatoes, scrambled eggs, corn beef hash, biscuits, croissants, and hard boiled eggs.  As nutrition major, I almost passed out when I saw the breakfast options! I felt completely guilty that I was contributing to the obesity crisis by serving this heart attack with a side of diabetes.

I took a deep breath of fresh bacon aroma and took this so called “tostada” and placed it in the bread flattener. It is a 6 inch loaf of white bread, which butter in the middle, that is flattened until it is crispy and then served.  The customers love that cuban bread! I thought to myself, “is this made with some sort of special sauce that draws so many people?”. No, there’s not, because I am the one who later got the privilege of lathering the melted butter onto the bread loaves. There’s nothing special about that except free fat, that over time, may land you right back in the hospital. But as a patient this time!

As my shift went on, I found myself trying to cheat the system. Meaning, giving people only one sliver of bacon if they didn’t specify a quantity. Giving people just a small spoonful of scrambled eggs, allowing the grease to drip off the sausage patty before serving it, making small adjustments to conserve calories as well as the hospital budget J

My secret sabotage was aborted when a nurse came up and asked for corn beef hash. This was my first corn beef hash experience.  I was unfamiliar with the corn beef scooper (which was an ice cream scooper). I gave her what I would imagine would be enough (which in reality might have only been just a taste…). She said “Excuse me, are you afraid of the scoop??”. Crap! She figured me out! “No…scared of the scoop? Of course not”, I mumbled and I shoveled the light pink beef mush into her container. She was a little peeved that for a whole dollar, she definitely deserved more than what I was scooping her.  

After I left the hospital that day, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I was giving people meals with pure fat, although my career goal is to do the opposite. A little girl (don’t know if she was a patient or a friend) had me give her a plate full of bacon, sausage, biscuit, gravy, eggs, tostada…the works! (It was my job, I didn’t mean to!) I literally thought about that all day long. I even had one person tell me to give them extra bacon for good luck.

 I decided that this was a wakeup call that corporate dieticians have their work cut out for them! At first I decided that these registered nurses, operating room technicians, and speech pathologists, etc needed some helpful nutrition education so they know what choices to make while at the cafeteria. Then I reminded myself that medical professions require at least some sort of nutrition education while obtaining their degree. Maybe not advanced metabolism classes, but I believe at least “nutrition for non-nutrition majors”.  Medical staff or not, I think that people KNOW that oatmeal and yogurt is a better meal than bacon and sausage patties. The problem is that people don’t implement it, for whatever reason.

 I eat in that cafeteria every Wednesday, and there are healthy options found between those 4 walls. I have scoped it out! I feel as though the healthier items are harder to find. When I would stock the shelves, I would put the cottage cheese and yogurt right up front so no one can miss it! The chicken salad swimming in mayonnaise went to the back row, along with the puddings and pastries (don’t tell my secret!).  Wherever you find yourself, don’t be afraid to look deeper for better options to nourish your body. We tend to mimick our surroundings when everyone else eats a certain way. Be the inspiration others need! You may get criticized, you may get made fun of-but the put downs only occur when others notice your lifestyle change, and begin to evaluate their own wellness. 

I encourage you to take the extra five minutes to survey the scene for better food. Many chronic diseases can be avoided or downscaled just by diet alterations (and exercise, but that’s for a whole different blog)! It’s not the first time or the last time that I have been ridiculed for bringing a veggie burger to a barbecue, or fruit to a football tailgate. Don’t hate, appreciate!

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