Jennifer’s Blog 

Did you know that Saint Louis is considered the Beer Capital of the US? I didn’t, but as always, research for my blogs always teaches me something new!  This weekend (May 8-10th) Forest Park hosts its annual Saint Louis Brewers Festival.  The website hosts a wealth of historical Saint Louis facts and in particular, explains how Saint Louis earned its beer making reputation. For $35 a ticket, you get a commemorative beer glass, a sampling of 60 or more beers from Saint Louis Brewers such as The St. Louis Home Brewing Club, Morgan Street Brewery, Schlafly’s, and Square One Brewery, and local live music! Sounds like fun!

In addition to beer’s ability to boost our spirits, there are several other potential reasons why knocking back (1 for women & 2 for men) a beer might improve our health. Beer contains vitamin B6 and folate which help keep a chemical called homocysteine in check. Abnormal levels of homocysteine have been associated with increased risk of heart disease. The ethanol found in beer also acts like aspirin by keeping blood flowing quickly through our vessels, and decreases the chance of stroke or vascular disease. It has also been theorized that beer may benefit bone mineral density because it contains silicon, which has been shown to promote bone health. And…its fat-free!

But what about the beer belly? Yes, good point.  Foods aren’t “site-specific” on where they choose to be stored. So, you can throw the whole beer belly theory out the window. However, alcohol (7kcal/g) does contain more calories per gram than carbs or protein (4kcals/g), so we have to be aware of how many calories we “drink” or we will pack on the liquid pounds, and yes, some of it will go to our midsection. 

Unfortunately, some of my favorite beers are the higher calorie ones.  The higher the calorie level reflects a higher percentage of alcohol. For instance, my favorite light beer, Amstel Light is 3.5% alcohol and contains 95 calories. One of my favorite Belgium White beers, Blue Moon, is 5.4% alcohol and contains 171 calories.

Other than taking in too many calories, the health benefits of beer don’t continue to increase as you keep drinking. In fact, more than the recommended amount is detrimental to your health and that is why the recommendation for alcohol is associated with the word “moderation.” Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out yet how to taste the 60+ beers at the festival in “moderation.” (:

So I turn 30 on Sunday, and I am throwing my own birthday party. It doesn’t bother me though, I love birthdays. It’s just another great reason to celebrate. I do have one requirement, a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins. It has been a staple on April 27th since I turned 5 years old.  The fiance has been notified.

I went to the grocery store yesterday (actually 3 of them) to search for all the perfect ingredients for my recipes. I left the store with with a variety of canned, fresh, and frozen foods.

This reminded me that I still needed to answer a question someone posted last week about retaining nutrients. His question pertained to whether he would get more nutrients from a banana (eating) or a banana smoothie (drinking).

My best answer to his question is that he would be getting approximately the same nutrients in this particular situation.  Nutrient retention is mosted affected by things such as exposing the food to heat, air, and changing the pH of the environment that the food is in (ie exposing the food the acidity in your stomach).  

 In general, we retain the most nutrients from a food when it is local & fresh, because it has less “food miles.”  Food miles refers to the distance your food travels from its site of production to your plate. The lower its mileage, the more nutritious!

Vitamins such as E, C, B1, folate, and retinol are some of the more fragile nutrients and tend to be the most affected through cooking, processing, and aging.  Minerals and the main macronutrients (protein, carb, and fat) are typically the most hardy and more likely to survive.

I am not for sure if any of my guests will be asking me about the nutritional quality of the foods at my party, hopefully they will just be asking for my recipes and enjoying the fresh fruit in their Sangria!

This week I gave a talk on the nutritional considerations of the Female Athlete Triad for a physical therapy workshop.  The last time I had given a talk on this topic was several years ago as a dietetic student.  Since then, there have been several updates, and we know a lot more about this disorder than we used to.  

The components of the female athlete triad include 1) disordered eating, 2) amenorrhea (lack of menstruation for 3-6 months), and 3) osteoporosis.  This triad does not only occur in the athletic female population, but can occur in any active female.  

The main cause of the female athlete triad stems from a condition we call “low energy availability.” For athletes, energy availability may be thought of as the amount of today’s dietary energy remaining after exercise for the body’s other processes (ie. maintaining body temperature, building new cells, immunity, reproduction, and locomotion).

Basically:

Dietary intake - calories spent in exercise = calories needed for basic physiological functions

Low energy availability tends to occur more often in athletes due to the effect that they burn a significant amount of calories through exercise, yet don’t take in the calories to match it! Therefore, non-essential things suffer or stop….including menstrual function which appears to be one of the first things to be disturbed.  Consequently, low circulating estrogen (a hormone which helps to protect our bones), low calorie intake, and low micronutrient levels (such as calcium) negatively impact our bones causing them to become weak and more susceptible to fractures, etc.

The sunny side of this blog today is the news that the SLU athletic department is funding one of the nutrition department’s Registered Dietietian to work 20 hours a week with our SLU athletes! What a natural fit!

One of the first responsibilities this RD will tackle are issues related to the Female Athlete Triad and will provide nutrition education for our athletes and faculty. 

The female athlete triad can result in damage that potentially can’t be undone. Let’s prevent the cascade from occurring to begin with.  Kudos to athletic department for bringing a dietitian on-board and taking a proactive stance!

Creme Brulee, Hazelnut, French Vanilla…I love purchasing the latest flavor of cream to foo-foo up my morning coffee at home.  But today after reading an article in one of our lay journals I realized that it is time to take a closer look, and my next grocery store purchase won’t be the usual creamy suspects.

Unfortunately, we are not fully informed when it comes to getting accurate information on food labels. Manufacturers are able to use the “round-down law” which allows companies like Nestle to put 10 calories per teaspoon on their food label instead of the actual 14.83 calories per teaspoon of Coffee-mate powder. Just a reminder…that is for 1 teaspoon.  If you use cream, who puts only 1 teaspoon in?!  So for the normal individual that might splurge an add 1 Tablespoon, while they think they have just added 30 calories, they have actually added 45 calories. So you might think, big deal, that is only 15 calories…The calories aren’t the only misleading piece of information, the amount and type of fats can be misleading as well.

Let’s look at trans-fats. The recommended amount of trans-fats (the bad fats that increase bad cholesterol and decrease good cholesterol) per day should be less than 2 grams (health professionals really would like to recommend ”0″).  However, if a product contains less than 1 gram of trans-fats, the food manufacturer can legally put “0″ on the label.

Now to critcally analzye the creamer in my refrigerator door at home-CoffeeMate liquid hazelnut.  On its nutrition label, it states 0 trans-fats, but as the article I read today uncovered, it actually contains 0.31 grams of trans fats.  For an individual who drinks three 12-oz mugs of coffee a day and adds 2 tablespoons of creamer, he or she would be consuming 2.76 grams of trans-fats (more than a day’s worth of trans-fats).

Another thing that might slide right past you is the serving size. The serving size listed on the nutrition label is typically 2 TEASPOONS, not 2 Tablespoons. I don’t know many individuals who use less than  2 teaspoons of creamer in their coffee. That minute amount of cream doesn’t give you a “creamy” look at all!

So what is the coffee lover supposed to do? First of all, look at the “ingredient list.” If you spot the words “partially hydrogenated” you can be sure it does contain trans-fats. In addition, look for alternative creamers such as Land O’ Lakes fat-free half and half. It contains only 20 calories in 2 Tablespoons and contains 0.3 grams saturated fats and 0 grams of trans fats.

You could also select some other “healthier” creamers like the International Delight Fat-Free which contains 60 calories in two Tablespoons with no fat, saturated fat, or trans fats.

Don’t forget about good old milk. Even 2 Tablespoons of whole milk contain less calories, saturated fat and trans fats than the misleading creamers.

This morning I had a live TV interview on Fox 2 News. When I started my job at SLU a couple of years ago, I had no idea how much of an opportunity I  would get to interact with the media.  I realize nutrition and health topics are of interest to most people, and I am relieved that the media utilizes our faculty from SLU instead of consulting the author from the latest diet book.

Live interviews are pretty scary. Even though I have now done ~10 of them, I still get sweaty palms and a heart beat that beats so hard I am afraid the camera man could capture. My hair is always an issue too, no matter how much hairspray I apply it always seems I have one or two hairs that want to stand straight up and say HI!! The camera light usually catches them just perfectly.

And now to the point that you care about…the nutrition tips. Today’s interview was on fast food restaurants and their attempt to sell you something healthy for breakfast.  Steak N Shake gladly brought over all 4 of their new breakfast smoothies to model on the set.  If they had only known I was going to bash them…I did start off by discussing the smoothie’s strong points. The smoothies are made with fruit, milk and low-fat frozen yogurt, so naturally, it is high in calcium, vitamin C and A.  On the flip side, the smoothie contains 550 drinkable calories, and includes 21 teaspoons of sugar, and 6 grams of saturated fat. 

Although some individuals might actually need 500 calories for breakfast (since it is the most important meal of the day); the average individual does not need to “drink” this amount of calories, in addition, calories which come from a large amount of sugars and unhealthy fat.

If you decide that you can’t spare 5 minutes in the morning to throw a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave and grab a banana. Here are some of suggestions:

1) Choose an English Muffin, bagel, or toast for your sandwich instead of the croissants, biscuits, or pancakes (think McGriddle).

2) Pick only 2 ingredients, like ham and egg, or cheese and egg. 

3) If you leave off the cheese, you save ~100 calories and ~8grams of fat.

4) Order the kiddie size.

5) Don’t be afraid to get creative with the menu and order things a la carte. However, this might create a delay in your order and create frustration in the line of cars behind you.

The most important message here is not to skip breakfast. Those who eat breakfast tend to eat less the rest of the day and have improved mental function and focus…very necessary for live TV interviews.

I am participating in one of my first nutrition graduate’s research project, and I have already messed up the protocol. I ate some dried cranberries I got from Trader Joes, and I will tell you later why that was a “no no.”

The student’s research question looks at the power of omega-3 fatty acids (found in foods such as fish and flax) and their ability or lack of ability to reduce inflammation after lifting weights.  Scientists first discovered the benefits of omega-3s after studying Eskimos in Scandinavia, Greenland who had low rates of heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions even though they were eating a diet high in fat. The researchers guessed that the type of fat, fish oils, might be the protector.

Since then, many studies have verified the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, and their ability to protect the heart by preventing irregular heart beats, reduce plaque in arteries and decrease blood clots, triglycerides, blood pressure and inflammation.  Therefore my graduate student’s interest lied within the potential of omega-3s to reduce inflammation in the exercised muscle.

The procedures of the study (in a nutshell) include: 

1) eat a omega-3 free diet for a week, which is called the “wash-out period” - this is the step I am currently in

2) create inflammation by doing bicep curls

3) measure the inflammation from the curls

4) eat a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids (by taking omega-3 supplements)

5) create inflammation again with the bicep curls

6) see if the inflammation was less after taking the omega-3 fatty acids than it was on a low or “no” omega-3 fatty acid diet

Of course the night before I started the study, I made a huge pot of seafood chowder, and found out Monday I couldn’t eat any of it due to my wash-out period (should have read the protocol first).  Although I was very careful not to eat any fish this week, I messed it up by eating some dried cranberries on my breakfast cereal this morning.  The cranberries from Trader Joes had been enriched with 360 mg of omega-3 fatty acids. Luckily, I didn’t eat very many, so I am not kicked out.

Next Monday, I get to re-create the bicep soreness and start my supplements. I have never taken fish oil supplements, but I have heard some of the side effects include burping and fish breath. Maybe that is why I choose to eat real fish to get the healthy fats in my diet.

I’ll let you know how it goes, and whether I can give you one more good reason to eat more fish!

I will admit I have been glued to the coverage on the Roger Clemens trial, and as much as the world of pro-athletes and some of their behaviors disgust me, my real concern lies with the average student athlete who spends his or her (harder to come by) money on supplements that do not live up to their purported results, and may even cause harm.

Although new performance enhancing or “ergogenic” supplements come out on the market daily, I had a request by a friend to speak on one in particular, a supplement which claims to increase nitric oxide in the body. 

Nitric Oxide : What is it? What is it supposed to do for the athlete?

Nitric oxide is a colorless, free radical gas commonly found within our tissues.  You might have heard of its use in medical treatments, such as nitroglycerin which helps those with heart problems increase necessary nitric oxide to the blood vessels that supply the heart.  The supplements that reportedly increase nitric oxide levels within the body are currently being marketed as powerful muscle builders that increase muscle size and strength. Other claims also include an increase in fast-twitch muscle fiber strength, endurance, and power output.

What does the research say?  

Although nitric oxide has many important functions in the body, its role as a muscle growth stimulant is not one of them.  After researching the current literature on all claims such as increasing protein synthesis, muscle cell contractile strength, “fast-twitch” muscle strength, endurance, and power output, I found zero scientific evidence or researched documentation (either on their web sites or by a literature search) of these findings, but only in the marketing claims. 

My advice to those seeking assistance from a supplement is to contact the supplement company and ask them to “show you the research”.  If they can get you a reference, that is great, but an actual research study showing you that this supplement (in this case nitric oxide supplementation) actually increased the nitric oxide above the control group, and that the data demonstrated an increase in lean muscle mass, significantly more than the group without elevated nitric oxide production.

Buyer Beware

Supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and therefore, there is no guarantee that what is stated on the supplement label is actually what is in the supplement. In addition, if you are a college athlete, you have to be even more careful because of the potential to test positive for a NCAA banned substance. Many athletes have fallen prey to banned substance that were not listed on the supposedly legal supplement label.

Another helpful source are websites such as “Supplement Watch“  and “Consumer Lab” which provide independent test results and information to help people evaluate and select dietary supplements. Products that pass Consumer Lab’s testing are eligible to bear the CL Seal of Approval.

I have a growing appreciation for those individuals and athletes whose accomplishments are solely reached by their work on the field or in the gym and who have fueled this work by the perfect combination of macro and micronutrients: whole foods.

I didn’t think getting engaged would change my already wonderful relationship very much. However, I do believe it has increased the honesty between us! For example, last weekend we traveled to California for my fiance’s national sales meeting. The cumulation of the weekend was an “Oscars” party that all of the members of the company attended. Naturally, I was excited to take part and get all dressed up! The day before the party, my honest fiance, said he noticed some hairs above my lip. A mustache, I replied? I raced to the hotel mirror to check things out. I reminded him that we all have a little fuzz above our lips…it’s just a matter of how dark the hairs are before any action is necessary! I didn’t really think it was that bad, but regardless of how minor the issue was, I called down to the hotel salon. As I was speaking to lady with the cute Swedish accent, I could not think of the proper name of my requested service, so I asked if she could wax my… mustache. She replied, “Sure, Ms. Ebelhar, we can wax your upper lip.” Right…that is the how you request it, upper lip. The wax itself went fine, minus the fact that my entire upper lip broke out in a dry rash afterwards (just in time for the Oscars!). Next time, before I take action on any honest comments, I will inquire about the repercussions.

The other honest moment I experienced happened yesterday in picking out his Valentine’s card. Typically, when you are “dating” someone, picking out the Valentine’s card is no easy task. You have to be careful about words such as “always” and “love of my life” so you don’t scare off the boyfriend. This year, I got to be as cheesy, sappy, and… actually honest as I wanted to be in my card selection.

Well, to sign off, I would like to offer some Valentine’s advice for both those single and taken. Check out Bailey’s Chocolate Bar. This place is amazing! You can order desserts like their Chocolate Voodoo Pudding or drink your dessert and order a Stout Beer Milkshake or Thin Mint Martini. Just don’t go on Friday, it might get too crowded, and that is when I plan to go with my fiance, Honest Abe. (:

My favorite spectator sport is coming to an end, but at least we all get to celebrate it with a party! In doing some research for this blog, I realized that Super Bowl Sunday ranks 2nd (after Thanksgiving) in the amount of calories/day consumed by Americans! I had no idea! I guess it does makes sense…for instance,

1) we are surrounded by food and drink for more than ~6 hours

2) touchdowns by the opposing team can cause emotional eaters to eat more

3) we have a hard time leaving our couch potato position so we don’t miss the commercials

For those of who might be interested in a Super Bowl meal make-over, I have a couple of ideas…

1) Chili: Chili, chocked full with beans, tomatoes and other vegetables is an excellent health food! Leaving out the meat or using lean ground beef, lean turkey breast or soy crumbles can decrease overall calories and saturated fat. I think it is a good idea to start with chili as an appetizer. The beans and vegetables in chili are very satisfying and filling, and it just might be a good strategy to tame our linebacker appetites.

2) Hot Wings: Some might find this idea far from their beloved chicken wings, but try dipping chicken breast tenders in buttermilk or egg whites and then coating them in a plastic bag with crushed breakfast cereal (cornflakes) and spices. Bake the chicken tenders and offer up sauces like wing sauce, BBQ sauce, or honey mustard.

3) Tater Skins: Top potato skins with light cheese, salsa and avocado instead of bacon and sour cream. Your baked taters are an excellent source of calcium, vitamin C, and potassium. Plus they are filling.

4) Pizza: If you are ordering out pizza, choose thin crust and leaner meats like Canadian bacon or chicken.  If you are making a pizza at home, you can buy pre-made whole wheat crusts (such  as Boboli), use light cheese, and add your some veggies (marinated artichoke hearts and roasted red bell peppers are some of my favorites).

5) Dips: Add refried black beans or hummus to cheese dips to increase fiber and reduce calories. Offer vegetable trays, baked chips, pita bread, or pretzels to dip instead of regular tortilla or potato chips.

No matter what you choose to eat or what team you are rooting for, I hope you enjoy the day and the commercials! Maybe the commericals will be really funny, laughing is not only good for the soul but burns calories too (:

A couple of weeks ago, one of my fellow bloggers asked me to write about eating healthy on a college budget. While eating healthy might seem difficult to do on a college student’s income, many of my adult (employed) clients also complain that it is too expensive to eat healthy. However, I am here to share a few tips on eating healthy on a limited budget.

Cut Back on Protein (Meat Sources)

A common misconception many Americans hold is the amount of protein one needs. Most of us get way more protein in our diets than is required. In addition, many think the best source of protein is animal protein. If you take a look at your grocery bill, you might find that protein is the most expensive. Therefore, a first step would be to decrease the portion sizes of animal protein in your diet and increase calories from healthy grains such as brown rice or oats. In addition, choosing more “meatless” sources of protein like beans, nuts or soy can be an excellent way to cut costs as well as get more fiber and less saturated fat in your diet.

If you have a freezer, buying protein in bulk, such as the large bags of chicken-breast or turkey-breast cutlets can save you money. You can buy a bag of chicken breasts, which should feed you for at least a month, at Sam’s Club for for less than $10 a bag.

Canned tuna is another lean, healthy source of protein. If you are concerned about the mercury content in tuna fish, choose “light” tuna over “white” or albacore tuna. Light tuna comes from a smaller tuna fish, and therefore contains less mercury and is just as nutritious.

Peanut butter is another great source of inexpensive protein. Don’t worry about buying reduced-fat peanut butter. It typically is more expensive, and the type of fat in peanut butter is heart-healthy. Reduced-fat peanut butter tends to contain more sugar as well.

Get Grainy

If your bread products tend to mold fast, store them in your freezer to make them last longer. In addition, buy grains that can be more versatile than bread. For example, tortillas can be used to wrap veggie pizza ingredients, tuna fish salad, egg salad, beans and cheese, etc. I didn’t do my research to see if crockpots or slow cookers are an “allowed” electronic device in the residence halls…but the crockpot can be a great cooking tool for anyone. Toss together brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, green chilies, broth-based soup and spices and voila…with a couple of 50-cent canned goods, you’ve created a meal for a week.

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies

I can’t write a blog without mentioning my two favorite food groups! When it comes to purchasing fruits, it is usually cheaper to buy them in bulk bags if possible. If you don’t feel you can eat them in a timely manner, share the fruit with other dorm friends and then you can take turns purchasing them. When it comes to purchasing vegetables, buy the frozen bags of veggies. Sometimes you can find them on sale for less than $1 per bag, and frozen veggies are just as nutritious. Pop them into your crockpot of soup and increase your veggies for the day.

On Sale Snacks

Healthy snacks such as string cheese, yogurt or granola bars are sometimes pretty expensive. However, it is pretty common to find at least one brand of each of these types of snacks on sale at any given time. In particular, look for the generic brands. Generic brands are just as nutritious as name-brand items. Compare the cost per unit to get an idea of savings between products.

Make a Request from Home…

One thing I never forgot to do in college was to raid my parents’ freezer or pantry for canned goods or frozen items that would last until they reached my dorm or apartment. A great tip I read last week was to have mom bake her meatloaf or meat “ball” type of casserole in a muffin tin. This makes it easy to use a little at a time for marinara sauce, form into a hamburger patty or throw into a casserole dish with some rice.

There are many more tips on the Web, but I hope at least one of my tips will find its way to your belly!