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Nutritional Issues

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"
Apples and Oranges "
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We're back!. But, just in case you didn't see the first or second "Apples and Oranges", we will briefly re-introduce ourselves and restate the purpose for "Apples and Oranges". "Apples" and "Oranges". (Net Names) are by profession, Registered Dietitians. We created "Apples and Oranges", the Title of our articles, with the mission to inform you of nutritional issues and provide you with information to help you make intelligent decisions. Our main goals are for you to enjoy eating and remain healthy.

Are you confused about Supplements, Snacks, Nourishments?
With all the advertisements and publicity about commercial supplements, high calorie drinks, vitamins, snack bars, and the like, it’s no wonder we haven’t bought some hoping either we’ll have more energy or feel younger than our years. That’s what the ads would have us believe! Though food gives us energy and helps keep us healthy, Apples and Oranges are not convinced that the commercial supplements are as great as they are advertised to be!

In general, the commercial supplements, like most foods, have protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins, minerals, and calories. But what we really need to take a look at and determine is--are these products best for you? Often times, we do as well by eating foods and drinking beverages we have enjoyed all our life. Why change now? And besides, adding new products to our shopping list may be expensive, taste different from what we are used to, and may be the same nutritionally, as the foods we like. Apples and Oranges, in keeping with our premise, will give you information about nourishing foods and commercial supplements so that you will be better informed to make your decision as to what is best for you.

To Nourish
To provide with food or other substances necessary for life and growth; feed.

Supplement
Something added to complete a thing, make up for a deficiency, or extend or strengthen the whole...

Let's put these definitions into perspective with your health and your nutritional status. If you are healthy, have appropriate weight, and have nutritional labs within normal levels, chances are, you are eating just fine, and do not need additional foods, snacks, or commercial supplements. However, if your nutritional labs indicate that you have below normal levels in certain vitamins, minerals, and protein, or if you are underweight, perhaps you should consider some additional nourishment.

As we grow older, often our life-style changes and sometimes these changes affect our appetite and the foods we eat. There are many reasons for requiring additional nourishment and calories. Our appetite is smaller, we’re not eating as well as we used to, our medication is affecting the taste of foods, or we have recently lost weight. There are other factors affecting our food intake; s ometimes changes in living arrangements such as limited access to stores, and cooking facilities, changes in people we eat with or perhaps we now eat by ourselves, and a change of income. Despite the changes in our lives, if we want to be as healthy as possible, we must eat healthy.

Today's Topic:
Eat Well, Eat Healthy and Enjoy What You Eat

Multivitamins, Calories, Protein, Cholesterol, and Glucose

Multivitamins

Usually our vitamins and minerals come from the food and beverages we eat. However, some vitamins and minerals are available in pill form. Of course, we prefer you eat healthy so that you receive your vitamins and minerals by food or beverage but we do recognize that there is a need for some people to take vitamins/minerals in pill or liquid form or as a medication. The best advice that we can give you is to read the label. Be aware of the vitamin/mineral content of a tablet or teaspoon if liquid, compare brands, and compare cost. If you have questions, ask your pharmacist. Pharmacists are usually willing to help customers. Often, a manufacturer will have high prices for vitamin pills with the same content as a lesser-known brand. You may want to consider a one-a-day multivitamin pill, but anything beyond that, we strongly recommend you discuss with your physician.

Calories

Calories, a word we all have heard. We probably have counted calories at one point in our life and now in our older years we may be counting calories again! But this time the reason may be different. We need to count calories to insure that we maintain our weight and that our weight is above the minimum standard for our height. Calories are important— inadequate calories, we lose weight: adequate calories, our weight remains the same: more than adequate calories, we gain weight.

Yes! Calories make a difference! If we have a small appetite, we need to pack as many calories as we possibility can into each bite of food and each sip of beverage.

Include eggs, meat, fish or poultry, fruits and vegetables, milk, breads and cereals for meals for healthy eating. If you have room, desserts such as cakes, pies, puddings for extra calories or consider having these foods for snacks between meals. Other good snacks to increase your calories are cheese and crackers, milk; ice cream, or add ice cream and flavored syrup to milk; cookies; ½ peanut butter and jelly sandwich or any other sandwich you like; instant breakfast made with milk; apple, pineapple or cranberry juice; yogurt, cookies.

Protein

Protein is essential for good health. Protein is found in all living cells. Protein is essential for growth and repair of tissue and is necessary for the proper functioning of our body. There are several types of proteins (amino acids) and protein-rich foods differ in the type of protein they contain. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you select a variety of foods for your protein intake.

Foods and beverages which are good sources of protein are milk, cheese, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, Yogurt, Instant Breakfast, peanut butter, and commercial supplements. One ounce of meat, fish, poultry or fish, an egg, an eight ounce glass of milk, or an 8 ounce yogurt contains approximately 7-8 grams of protein. A serving size of meat depending on your appetite, is usually 2 to 3 ounces or 14 to 21 grams of protein. We suggest you read the labels for commercial products for the protein content.

You already know what the foods and milk taste like. The instant breakfast, in our opinion tastes something like a milkshake, and it does come in many flavors. The commercial supplements may have a different taste from what you are familiar with. They also come in various flavors.

Costs vary, but generally, foods especially eggs, poultry, peanut butter and milk are the most economical based on the amount of protein per serving. The commercial supplements are usually more expensive per gram of protein.

Cholesterol

You may be completely surprised to find out that the trend is to allow the elderly more cholesterol in their diet. One thought is that if your cholesterol is at appropriate levels why is it being restricted in your diet? You may want to discuss with your physician the possibility of a cholesterol test to determine your cholesterol level. If your cholesterol is elevated, you may want to discuss with your physician medications available to control cholesterol levels.

Many high-protein foods contain cholesterol. Protein is essential to maintaining your health and we suggest that you enjoy your egg for breakfast! Eggs are one of the best sources of protein. For many of you, breakfast is your favorite meal.

Glucose

The trend for the elderly with diabetes or elevated blood glucose is to eat a nutritious diet. Many elderly have been placed on a house diet with monitoring of blood glucose and adjusting medication as needed. You may want to discuss with your physician the possibility of being in a program which allows more flexibility in your diet. There are several new foods now acceptable for diabetics and are listed in the diabetic exchange lists. For further information, we suggest you contact your physician or the American Diabetes Association.

There are probably many resources in your community that provide assistance to the elderly. Some possibilities are Meals on Wheels Program in which meals are delivered to your home, home delivery by stores and pharmacies, local transportation to stores and malls through senior citizen organizations, and home health services.

Hope we have helped you to decide the right nourishment, snack, or supplement for you and remember enjoy what you eat.

Bye for now. See you next time on the Net

Till then---HAPPY EATING

Apples and Oranges

1. 2. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Issue #1 of Apples and Oranges

Issue #2 of Apples and Oranges



HERE ARE SOME GREAT LINKS YOU MIGHT FIND HELPFUL:

Mayo Clinic - Food and Nutrition Center.

RecipeSource - Searchable Online Archive of 37,000 Recipes


   

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