Per Serving: 473 calories, 35 grams protein, 9 grams of fat, 55 grams of CHO,  13 grams of fiber,  1826 mg sodium.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes  Cook Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 15 oz chunky medium or mild salsa
• 2 cups cooked chicken (you can use store bought oven or rotisserie roasted chicken or poached chicken)
• 15 oz  can black beans or cannellini, drained
• 3 cups chicken broth (use low sodium to cut salt)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1  16-ounce package frozen corn
• 2 green onions, chopped
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 cup crushed whole wheat tortilla chips

Instructions

Empty salsa into a large sauce pan. Heat 2 minutes over medium high heat. Then add chicken, beans broth, cumin, corn and chili powder. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Top each serving with onions, sour cream and chips.

Shopping List

• 15 oz chunky medium or mild salsa
• chicken breasts
• 15 oz  can black beans or cannellini
• chicken broth (use low sodium to cut salt)
• ground cumin
• chili powder
• 1  16-ounce package frozen corn
• 2 green onions, chopped
• Sour cream
• Whole Wheat Tortilla chips

When increasing your strength for overall health, you need a resistive force applied to your body that is greater than normal. This resistance can be provided by machines, your own body weight, free weights, or rubber resistance tubing or flat band.

Looking Good & Stronger for the Long Haul

Strength/resistance training  can help me get that toned arms buff look so I can wear those sleeveless dresses & tops.  Not only do exercise bands help with the toning but they also help make me stronger so I can carry my grandkids when needed & play with them, too.

Even though I personally have access to weight machines and free weights when I travel  I always take my exercise tubing. When I am stuck in an airport waiting, I can briskly walk to get my heart rate up then use my exercise tubing to help tone my arms. Using my own body weight, doing push-ups in airport might be a little over the top.  Unlike weight machines, strength bands are portable and inexpensive and offer a versatile workout.

Inexpensive Way to Increase Strength

The exercise tubing is a 4 foot-long tube with plastic handles. You can get the tubes at Target®, Walmart® or Dick’s®. The bands range in price from $5 to $15. Some bands come with instructions on how to perform the exercises effectively. You can also purchase instructional videos for $20 to $50.  You can also hire a personal trainer to teach you how to effectively use the bands to help make you stronger. Nothing worse than investing your time in fitness only to find out you were inappropriately doing the exercises and you get injured or don’t get the results you intended.

Choosing the Correct Strength & Fitness Level

It’s best to go by your current strength and fitness level, not by what strength or fitness level you would like to be. Picking the correct level will help you to work your muscles more effectively and prevent injuries as well. The product packaging should specify what level the tubing is rated for. It might be worthwhile to get at least 2 resistance levels. You can use the lighter levels for smaller muscle groups and more resistance for large muscle groups.

• Extra light – rehab, frail people
• Light – rehab, some women
• Medium – average, untrained women, some older men
• Heavy – average untrained men, active women
• Extra-heavy – active men, strong women
• Ultra-heavy – strong men, women bodybuilder

Don’t Delay Pick Up Your Strength Today

Strength training is as easy as 1,2, 3 if you use exercise tubing at least twice a week. You’ll look great, feel good and be able to get stronger and maintain the strength so you can do all the things you want to do to keep active.

Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition.  The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use, Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers.  Barbara has private practice, DayByDay Nutrition, www.DayByDayNutrition.com, where she counsels clients on weight loss, cholesterol management, performance nutrition and an array of other medical issues.  Barbara writes nutrition and health columns for www.LiveStrong.com. She also designs and presents employee wellness programs to small and large businesses. Barbara is a runner, cyclist, hiker and a mother and grandmother to 9 grandchildren.

Food can help to prevent inflammation which will help fight cancer, heart disease, stroke  and neurodegenerative disease.  Here’s some foods that have anti-inflammatory properties: Salmon and healthy fats like olive or canola oil, walnuts and flaxseed which contains omega-3 fats; fruits and vegetables that have lots of color contain flavonoids and antioxidants; whole and cracked wheat like brown rice, whole grain bread and pasta, cereal like oatmeal and oat bran, and beans and legumes all of which contain dietary fiber, B vitamins and an assortment of minerals.  Fruit superstars are berries like blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries, citrus fruits like oranges and clementines and also grapes.  Vegetable superstars are sweet potatoes, spinach and kale, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, tomatoes and butternut squash.   Soy also has anti-cancer properties. Soy foods include tofu, soymilk, soybeans, soynuts and tempeh.  Garlic and the flavonoids in green tea have been shown to help prevent cancer.

Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition.  The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use, Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers.  Barbara has private practice, DayByDay Nutrition, www.DayByDayNutrition.com, where she counsels clients on weight loss, cholesterol management, performance nutrition and an array of other medical issues.  Barbara writes nutrition and health columns for www.LiveStrong.com. She also designs and presents employee wellness programs to small and large businesses. Barbara is a runner, cyclist, hiker and a mother and grandmother to 9 grandchildren.

Per Serving: 283 calories, 9 grams protein, 5 grams of fat, 54 grams of CHO, 9 grams of fiber,  274

mg sodium.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped mixed dried fruits (apples, pears, apricots, prunes, cranberries)
• 2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 ½ cups whole wheat quick cook couscous
• ¼ cup chopped scallions (optional)
• Salt to taste

Instructions

In a large pot, heat oil and sauté onions over medium heat. Add dried fruit and continue cooking for 3 minutes.  Add cumin. Continue stirring and cooking for one more minute. Add vegetable broth, couscous, and chickpeas. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn heat off. Let stand for 5 minutes.  Fluff with fork.  Add salt to taste. Sprinkle with chopped scallions before serving (optional).

Shopping List

• olive oil
• chopped mixed dried fruits (apples, pears, apricots, prunes, cranberries)
• low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas
• 2 medium onions
• ground cumin
• whole wheat quick cook couscous
• chopped scallions

What about calorie counts? I’ve heard I should avoid bananas because they are high calorie and full of sugar.

Fruits are typically nutrient dense because they can be good sources of minerals like potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron low in calories as well as good sources of vitamins like Vitamin A, C and folic acid. Fruits also contain dietary fiber.  Fresh is always best if possible but frozen is a great option, too.  I often use frozen fruits (blueberries, blackberries or raspberries) to top my oatmeal in the morning.  You can typically get them on sale.  Choose the ones that are flash frozen without sugar. You can use these in smoothies and my grandkids like to eat them frozen, too.  A great online resource for information about calories, nutrients, selection, preparation and cooking of fruits can be found at http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org.  This website also contains some excellent recipes that are kid friendly (adults like them, too).  In addition, there are many other resources for families that can help teach them about the health attributes of fruits (and also vegetables, too).

Image from: Brooklawn.org.

Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition.  The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use, Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers.  Barbara has private practice, DayByDay Nutrition, www.DayByDayNutrition.com, where she counsels clients on weight loss, cholesterol management, performance nutrition and an array of other medical issues.  Barbara writes nutrition and health columns for www.LiveStrong.com. She also designs and presents employee wellness programs to small and large businesses. Barbara is a runner, cyclist, hiker and a mother and grandmother to 9 grandchildren.

When you are trying to lose or maintain weight, knowing how many calories you are eating each day is important. The 100-calorie packets are convenient but expensive. Many of these are junk food. Here’s some 100 calorie food suggestions for you: 29 pistachios, 12 Quaker® Quakes Cheddar Rice Snacks, 40 Rold Gold® Classic Pretzels Sticks, 1 hard boiled egg & 1 slice of Melba Toast, 2 cups of raspberries, 28 grapes, 1 cup blueberries, 45 steamed edamame, ½ red bell pepper dipped in 3 tablespoons of hummus, ½ cup low fat cottage cheese with 5 medium size strawberries, 60 Pepperidge Farm® Whole Wheat Goldfish Crackers, 1 Laughing Cow® Creamy Garlic & Herb Cheese Wedge plus 3 Triscuits®, ½ medium cantaloupe, 15 medium strawberries dipped in ¼ cup Cool Whip® Lite, 1 Healthy Choice® Mocha Fudge Swirl Bar, 1 Skinny Cow® Fat Free Fudge Bar, and 5 Nabisco® Nilla Wafers. Keep in mind, you can burn approximately 100 calories by running 10 minutes or walking about 20 minutes.

Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition.  The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use, Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers.  Barbara has private practice, DayByDay Nutrition, www.DayByDayNutrition.com, where she counsels clients on weight loss, cholesterol management, performance nutrition and an array of other medical issues.  Barbara writes nutrition and health columns for www.LiveStrong.com. She also designs and presents employee wellness programs to small and large businesses. Barbara is a runner, cyclist, hiker and a mother and grandmother to 9 grandchildren.

Per Serving: 303 calories, 21 grams protein, 10 grams of fat, 39 grams of CHO, 7 grams of fiber, 457 mg sodium.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tsp curry powder
• ½ cup fat-free or reduced-fat mayonnaise
• salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 whole-wheat tortillas, each cut in half
• 8 oz thinly sliced turkey
• 4 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
• 2 cups thinly sliced, seeded and peeled cucumber
• 1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, chopped (about 1 cup) or  cup mango chutney
• ½ ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, cut into 8 thin slices

Instructions

Heat curry powder, stirring constantly, in a small skillet over medium-low heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer curry powder to small bowl.  Stir in mayonnaise and lemon juice.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Chill, covered, until ready to use.

When ready to serve, place one-half tortilla on a work surface.  Spread with about 1 tbsp curried mayonnaise and lemon juice.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Chill covered, until ready to use.  When ready to serve, place one-half tortilla on a work surface.  Spread with about 1 tbsp curried mayonnaise.  Place one-fourth of the turkey in the center.  Top with ½ cup lettuce, ¼ cup cucumber and 2 tbsp mango or chutney.  Top with an avocado slice.  Roll up like a burrito.  Repeat process for remaining wraps.  Serve or make up to 4 hours ahead and refrigerate wrapped tightly with plastic wrap.  Bring back to room temperature before serving.

Shopping List

• curry powder
• fat-free or reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 4 whole-wheat tortillas
• 8 oz thinly sliced turkey
• romaine lettuce
• 1 large cucumber
• 1 ripe mango or mango chutney
• ripe avocado

With permission from: American Institute for Cancer Research www.aicr.org

Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition.  The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use, Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers. Barbara has private practice, DayByDay Nutrition, www.DayByDayNutrition.com, where she counsels clients on weight loss, cholesterol management, performance nutrition and an array of other medical issues.  Barbara writes nutrition and health columns for www.LiveStrong.com. She also designs and presents employee wellness programs to small and large businesses. Barbara is a runner, cyclist, hiker and a mother and grandmother to 9 grandchildren.

I recently attended a Capitol Connection breakfast sponsored by Greater Louisville, Inc. Representative John Yarmuth (Democrat-KY) was the featured speaker. He was asked to talk about Obamacare & Business. Business men and women like me were in attendance. Some of the attendees were small business owners and some were with larger businesses.

Dysfunctional Media Caused Americans Not to Want New Health Law & Too Repeal

The first words out of Yarmuth’s mouth in defense of Obamacare was that many people are not in favor of Obamacare because of “the dysfunctional media – Fox and MS NBC.”

He suggested that many Americans are not in favor of Obamacare because just “they don’t know the facts”.  He suggested the dysfunctional media has been unwilling to present the facts as he sees it or as the Congressional Democrats see it.  (But now the bill has been passed and little bits of pieces of the actual costs have surfaced.  Americans are beginning to see  the reality of what Obamacare is and what it is not. They realized the 2700 page bill has many pitfalls).

Yarmuth is unable recognize the fact that taxpayers may not be in favor of Obamacare because of the sheer cost and the fact that the federal government doesn’t run anything effectively.  Many Americans feel there might be total lack of access to care. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out  when 30 million+ more people get health insurance there may be a problem with access to care since we have too few health professionals to deal with the patients. (But the geniuses in Congress have been able to figure that out yet).

Health Insurers will Not Be Allowed to Raise Premiums After 2014

Yarmuth said in 2014 no one can be denied coverage and no increase in premiums will be allowed.  He said that the small business owner will get a new tax credit to over employees health insurance. However, he said that “98% of all small businesses are not covered by the new health law.”

Yarmuth is under the mistaken impression that Obamacare will allow people to go to a doctor and therefore they will not go to the Emergency Room for care.  (Dr. Larry Cook, a physician who is the Executive Vice-President for Health Affairs at the University of Louisville, sit next to me at the breakfast. I asked him if he thought Obamacare would affect the amount of people who seek care in the ER. He said no and in fact he thought more people would seek care at the ER because there will not be enough health care professionals to take care of the 30 million+ new patients).

New Health Law Will Not Low Cost of Health Care According to Yarmuth

The audience provided Yarmuth with lots of questions regarding Obamacare and business practices.  Yarmuth said Congressional Democrats “can’t promise the new health law will lower the cost of health care.”  (But, I thought that was the whole point!). Yarmuth suggested the president and Congressional leaders framed the new health law wrong. They should have said the “new health bill, I mean health law,  would help to slow down the increases in health care, not lower costs.”

One questions was regarding whether health insurers would increase premiums now before all the government regulations begin in 2014. Yarmuth said they are trying to come up with a plan that health insurers can’t increase their premiums. He also talked about the flimsy grandfather clause which will begin in 2019.

When asked about President Obama’s promise that you will be able to keep your same insurance when the health bill is passed. Yarmuth said you can keep your same insurance but most people won’t want to they will want to get a better deal through the state health exchanges.  He said people will get many more choices through the health insurance exchanges but in Kentucky only Anthem and Humana are allowed to do business. Obamacare did not deal with the selling of insurance across state lines for better pricing so we can hope Kentucky will allow more health insurance companies to do business. When Kentucky adopted Clintoncare, a pet project of Hilary Clinton, 15 health insurance companies left the state because of all the strict regulations leaving only 2 companies to insure the whole state.

Standardized Health Insurance Form will Save $40 Billion

One surprise fact that I did not know about is a standardized insurance form would save $40 billion according to Yarmuth.  I didn’t write down if he meant over the 10 years of the CBO’s scoring span for Obamacare or $40 billion per year. HUH! Why hasn’t someone come up with a standardized insurance form before now?

Yarmuth acknowledged that part time employees are excluded from businesses in term of covering employees. He said they will receive a subsidy from the Federal Government but if they chose not to buy health insurance they will have to pay a mandate of 12% of their income.

Yarmuth went on and on about the importance of the Preventive Care in Obamacare. He said in 2014 there will be no co-pays for any preventive tests according to Yarmuth. Yarmuth also said Medicare recipients will receive one visit a year for FREE to discuss prevention with their physicians.

40,000 Deaths Per Year Prevented by Having Health Insurance (Only Speculative on Yarmuth’s Part)

Yarmuth boasted that 40,000 deaths per year will be prevented when Obamacare officially begins in 2014.  He stated that 40,000 people die each year because they don’t have access to care. Yarmuth indicated that everyone will have access to care as a result of Obamacare assuming that if you have a health insurance policy you will have access to care whenever you want or need care.

You Pay For End of Life Extensions Not Federal Government if You Want

Yarmuth stated there are two things that are driving health care costs: poor lifestyle choices and the high cost of end-of-life care.  Yarmuth said 40% of the Medicare budget is spent on the last 6 months of life. Yarmuth said under Obamacare, Medicare will pay for physicians to discuss end-of-life care with recipients and their families. Yarmuth said “if you are not willing to spend the extra dollars yourself to keep granny alive, why should the government?”
Single Payer Health Insurance Only Way to Cut Costs!

When asked what he thought would be the best approach to deal with all the America’s health care problems – Yarmuth said adopting a single payer health system. He suggested that businesses should drop employee health insurance and let the employees decide what is the best health insurance plan for them and their families.

Yarmuth didn’t get to all the questions. There were a stack of questions unanswered.

I wanted personally wanted to know why Congressional Democrats left out $280 billion called the Doc Fix when the CBO scored Obamacare. Why are they now trying to add $6.8 billion to cover physician reimbursements for Medicare (DOC FIX) in 6 month increments?  Plus they deliberately left out administrative costs of  the Federal Government to manage Obamacare from the CBO scoring as well.

Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition.  The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use, Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers.  Barbara has private practice, DayByDay Nutrition, www.DayByDayNutrition.com, where she counsels clients on weight loss, cholesterol management, performance nutrition and an array of other medical issues.  Barbara writes nutrition and health columns for www.LiveStrong.com. She also designs and presents employee wellness programs to small and large businesses. Barbara is a runner, cyclist, hiker and a mother and grandmother to 9 grandchildren.

The National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine recommends that men 50 and younger should eat 38 grams of dietary fiber each day whereas women should eat 25 grams per day.  Men over 51 should eat over 30 grams of fiber and women over 51 should eat 21 grams.  There are two types of dietary fiber: insoluble and soluble. Insoluble fiber is found in 100% whole wheat products, wheat bran, nuts and many vegetables.  Soluble fiber is found in oats, peas, beans, apples citrus fruits, carrots, barley and psyllium.  Whole foods are better sources of fiber because they also provide other nutrients as well. You can find dietary fiber information of the food label.   A high fiber diet can help to prevent constipation, lower blood cholesterol levels, control blood sugar, plus it aids in weight loss and can lower your risk of digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome and diverticular disease.

Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition.  The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use, Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers.  Barbara has private practice, DayByDay Nutrition, www.DayByDayNutrition.com, where she counsels clients on weight loss, cholesterol management, performance nutrition and an array of other medical issues.  Barbara writes nutrition and health columns for www.LiveStrong.com. She also designs and presents employee wellness programs to small and large businesses. Barbara is a runner, cyclist, hiker and a mother and grandmother to 9 grandchildren.

Per Serving: 160 calories, 4 grams protein, 11 grams of fat, 13 grams of CHO,  2 grams of fiber, 207 mg sodium.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes Bake time: 10 minutes

Serves: 13 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole natural almonds
• 2 cups wheat, rice or corn squares cereal
• 1 ½ cups small pretzels
• 1 cup toasted oat cereal
• 1 cup sesame sticks, optional
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• ½ cup butter, melted

Instructions

Spread almonds in a single layer in shallow pan.  Place in cold over; otast at 350 degrees, 8 – 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted.  Remove from pan to cool.  Toss together all ingredients except butter.  Drizzle with butter and toss to coat evely.  Spread mixture in a shallow pan and bake at 350 degrees, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted.  Cool.  Store in airtight containers.

Shopping List

• whole natural almonds
• wheat, rice or corn squares cereal
• small pretzels
• toasted oat cereal
• sesame sticks, optional
• garlic powder
• butter

From with permission www.almondsarein.com

Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition.  The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use,Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers. Barbara has private practice, DayByDay Nutrition, www.DayByDayNutrition.com, where she counsels clients on weight loss, cholesterol management, performance nutrition and an array of other medical issues.  Barbara writes nutrition and health columns for www.LiveStrong.com. She also designs and presents employee wellness programs to small and large businesses. Barbara is a runner, cyclist, hiker and a mother and grandmother to 9 grandchildren.