Cara Lynch Nutrition

03/18/2021

Hello! I’m back after a long hiatus, and ready to talk food again…starting with snacks!
The snacks I remember as a child were pretzels, Fritos, potato chips and cheese curls. Today, a variety of foods are being puffed, baked, fried, and bagged as snacks. The choices are overwhelming, and many are advertised as healthy alternatives to our old favorites. But are they truly a healthy choice for you?
This post will discuss Potato Chips, and two “healthier” alternatives:

Pirate’s B***y Veggie Sticks
From the ground up Cauliflower Crackers
Kettle Brand Potato Chips

The Pirate’s B***y Veggie Sticks are baked and have a non-greasy, crunchy texture. 38 sticks make up a substantial serving. Powdered kale, spinach and beet appear at the end of the ingredient list, after the salt, so these veggie powders represent the smallest proportion of total ingredients. The top ingredients are corn and bean meal, followed by potatoes and lentil grit. Nutritional info per serving is 110 calories, 3.5 g fat, 210 mg sodium, 0g added sugars and 3g protein.

The Cauliflower Crackers are light and crunchy and have an appealing flavor. The crackers are tiny – think Life Cereal size - so it takes 50 of them to make one serving. A lot goes into these, namely cauliflower, rice, cassava, potato starch, rice flour, potato flakes, cassava starch, palm oil, salt, sugar, sunflower lecithin, lentil flour, a vegetable “blend” of spinach, broccoli, carrot, tomato, beet, shiitake mushroom, and a few spices. A serving of 50 crackers contains 100 calories, 2g fat, 325 mg sodium, .5g added sugars, and 2 g protein.

Kettle Brand Potato Chips are everything a classic potato chip should be, including the greasy feel. The ingredients are straightforward and simple – potatoes, oil, and salt. A 13-chip (who stops at 13??) serving is 150 calories, 9g fat, 110 mg sodium, 0g added sugars and 2g protein.

My thoughts: While these are all processed snacks, our good old potato chips are by far the least processed. They most closely resemble the original food. The starting points of the other two snacks are unrecognizable in the finished form. The Potato Chips are the highest in fat and I consider their serving size to be the least realistic of the three. The Veggie Sticks lose points because while lentils, beans and corn ARE considered vegetables, they are also potential allergens, and consumers who avoid these foods may not expect to find them in a product marketed as Veggie Sticks. I give the manufacturers of the Cauliflower Crackers props for using sunflower instead of soy lecithin, but overall, this is quite a slew of unusual ingredients to find in a cracker, and the possibility exists that these ingredients could trigger a reaction in some folks.

The bottom line is always look behind the health claims of ANY food. And when we are talking about the “healthiness” of a food, it is not something that can be measured in fat or sugar grams. Just because it is different from the norm does not mean it is a healthy choice for YOU. The question you want to ask is – how will this food affect ME? Is it going to nourish me or is it just a filler?

10/01/2017

It's a great time of year to add beets to your diet! In addition to being delicious, beets are full of Vitamin C, fiber, and lutein (an anti-oxidant that helps protect eyes as they age.) Scrub the beet roots and slice or dice (no peeling required) and put in your steamer basket. Top with the rinsed chopped beet greens (use the whole plant!) and steam for 10-15 minutes. Add a little salt and pepper and you have the perfect side dish, or main course 😋

08/31/2016

Fact for the day...To lose a pound one needs a deficit of 3,750 calories, through eating less and/or exercising more. Studies have shown that people consume about 600 fewer calories per day when they use an online food and exercise tracker. This can add up to 4200 fewer calories per week and safe, sustainable weight loss! Two great (and free!) apps to try: My Fitness Pal and Lose It!

08/27/2016

I am sharing an interesting article from the Johns Hopkins Health Review on the positive effect intermittent fasting can have on brain health. This is not fasting as in starving yourself - I would never recommend that! There are two types of fasting described in the article. One is the 5:2 diet in which a person eats a normal range of calories five days a week, but on two non-consecutive days intake is limited to 500 calories. The second method involves shortening the eating window to 8 hours - eat the usual amount of calories, but allow the body to go 16 hours without taking in food. Read on to learn more about this exciting research and how it could help you!

http://www.johnshopkinshealthreview.com/issues/spring-summer-2016/articles/are-there-any-proven-benefits-to-fasting

You probably know that too many calories aren’t good for your waistline, but as it turns out, they aren’t good for your brain either.

08/21/2016

How I spent the rainy afternoon....

08/20/2016

Hi there - I'm back, with a post about pesto! This summer has been a great one for all of my herb plants but the basil in particular is thriving. This picture shows two varieties - Italian basil in the back (which started as a tiny plant in the produce section at Harris Teeter) and lemon basil in the fore, which came up on its own this spring. While basil is the traditional herb for pesto, other herbs like parsley or oregano can be used....really ANY herb can be used depending on the cook's tastes! If the basil (or other herb) taste is too strong, the pesto can be cut with spinach to soften the flavor a bit. Pesto goes well with a lot more than cooked pasta - lately I have been enjoying my pesto over chilled marinated vegetables, and roasted sweet potatoes. The following recipe can be varied endlessly. Try lightly toasted pumpkin seeds and parsley for a delicious departure from traditional basil pesto. Enjoy!

2 cups fresh basil leaves (rinse and dry)
1/3 cup raw walnuts or pine nuts
1/3 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 tsp sea salt and black pepper
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast or 3 Tbsp vegan Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Put everything in a large food processor and process until combined ...don't overmix; you don't want it to be too smooth because it will get watery. Season to taste. The pesto will store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks and it can also be frozen.

01/18/2016

Stevia....when you least expect it! An experience I had recently prompted me to discuss Stevia. After a cup of herbal tea last week, I had a strange taste in my mouth and my stomach didn't feel so great....the exact opposite of my normal reaction to herbal tea! So I checked the ingredients on the tea and, yep, there was Stevia, last on the list. I am not bashing Stevia, and I know it definitely agrees with some individuals. But I also know a lot of people, self included, who cannot tolerate it. And I certainly didn't expect to find it sweetening my tea. Plus, it's a highly processed food. While it does come from the leaves of the Stevia plant, turning a green leaf in to white crystals takes some heavy duty magic...raw honey is a much better choice when you need a little sweetness. After the tea incident I did some research in the grocery store and found Stevia in several packaged sauces, breads, and even soups. The point of this post is that if you, like me, are sensitive to Stevia and are experiencing some unexplained stomach upset, check the labels of the foods you are eating - Stevia could be the culprit!