Adding more fibre to our diet is a good thing. Fibre not only helps to reduce our cholesterol, risk for heart disease and certain types of cancer, it keeps us regular. Whew! That’s a relief. 

Fibre is found in plant foods only and there are two important kinds: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fibre is a soft fibre found in foods like oatmeal, oat bran, legumes, broccoli and oranges. These foods help to lower our blood cholesterol levels, control blood glucose levels, and improve our risk of developing heart disease. Insoluble fibre (the roughage or bulk) is found in wheat bran, whole grains and some vegetables. The fibre in these foods promotes regularity and a healthy digestive system.     

The Dietitians of Canada recommend that women from 19 to 50 consume 25 grams of fibre each day while men of the same age should aim to consume 38 grams per day.  Whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes (all good sources of fibre) should be part of our diet on a daily basis.  By choosing leaner cuts of meat, fat-reduced dairy products, fish and combining them with foods high in fibre, we can significantly reduce our risk for heart disease. Fibre will also keep you feeling fuller longer so you won’t be tempted to snack on sugary foods.    

Featured High-Fibre Recipe:  Broccoli, Chicken & Pesto Rotini Salad

This delicious pasta salad is low in saturated fat and high in fibre. For additional fibre switch the tri-coloured pasta to whole wheat (still firm).  The Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) recommends 3 to 4 servings of whole grains each day. “People who eat more whole grains have 29 percent lower risk of heart disease compared to those who don’t,” states the HSF.

Fibre doesn’t have to be boring. For delicious healthy recipes like this, select high fibre in our recipe categories at this link http://chicken.ca/recipes/category/high-fibre/.

We’ve all heard these phrases at some point in our lives, “easy on the sodium; it’s bad for your health; salt is the silent killer,” whether it was from a health care provider, the media, or our parents. Today we find ourselves extolling these words to our children, as we keep a careful eye on the salt shaker during mealtime. But, should the salt we add to our meals be the only source of our concern?

A certain amount of sodium is good for us, even essential to our health. Too much sodium, however, is an ingredient responsible for high blood pressure – a contributing factor for strokes and heart disease.   Most Canadian adults consume more sodium than is necessary and our children are no exception. Many dietary surveys indicate that children are increasing their risk of developing high blood pressure, strokes and heart disease through the amount of processed foods they consume. Processed foods can have high sodium content and account for a high percentage of our daily sodium intake.

Not all processed foods are bad choices, though. Some of Canada’s restaurants, retailers and processors are tackling this health issue by offering consumers healthier choices. New easy-to-read labels and icons indicating lower sodium alternatives have become a sign of an emerging corporate-consumer responsibility for health.

But, if you are a busy parent juggling work and family schedules, it can be hard to keep an eye on sodium content. This is particularly true when deciding what to put in those brown-bag lunches. With so many lunches to pack throughout the week, it can be tempting to load them with convenient, pre-packaged food. Planning ahead, and involving our children, can be a fun way to eat healthier and eat more fresh food.  Here are some tips:   

• Use a calendar or weekly menu planner to jot down your ideas.
• Have fun preparing your grocery list by having children identify foods as close to the farm as possible (i.e. fresh vegetables, meats, dairy, etc).    
• Take your children grocery shopping and encourage them to read the labels. Most packaged foods have a “Nutrition Facts” panel which will identify the sodium content. Have children pick out the brands with the lowest sodium content.  
• Get your children involved in making their brown-bag lunches. The more involved they are, the more likely they are to eat it.

One sodium reducing tip is to cook more! Roasting two whole chickens for a Sunday dinner provides extended options for meals the next day, as well as control over their sodium content. Skinless, non-breaded chicken strips with a few tablespoons of home-made hummus are low in sodium and a great source of protein. A yummy choice for a brown-bag lunch! 

For more information on sodium see our Nutrition Fact Sheets, Issue 5:  Protect Your Health – Get Salt Savvy!

For more ideas in planning low sodium meals click on our low sodium recipes here http://chicken.ca/recipes/view/.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the commercials “Make Death Wait”. If you haven’t, then you must because these commercials are a real eye opener. Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of women of all ages today?

Whether you’re young or old, you are at risk if you are not taking proper care of your health.

Here are some interesting facts from the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation web site. http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.5889207/k.11DD/Women_and_heart_disease_The_Heart_Truth.htm

• Heart disease and stroke is the leading cause of death among women in Canada. More women die from heart disease and stroke than cancer.
• More women died from heart disease and stroke in 2008 than men.
• Only 13% of Canadian women identify heart disease as the greatest health problem for women. It is because of this lack of awareness that The Heart Truth campaign is so critical.
• Heart disease and stroke kills seven times as many women as breast cancer. Yet 37% of Canadian women perceive breast cancer to be the greatest health problem, compared to 13% for heart disease.
• Women often fail to make the connection between risk factors, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and their own chance of developing heart disease.
• The health system often under treats women for heart disease, which is still perceived to be a man’s disease. For example, after a heart attack, women are less likely to be admitted to intensive care settings, cardiac rehabilitation programs or to receive interventions such as bypass surgery.
• Certain ethnic groups, such as South Asians and members of First Nations communities, are particularly vulnerable to heart disease.
• South Asian Canadians are more likely to die from a heart attack earlier than the general population, even when they appear to be at a healthy weight.
• First Nations members are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to develop heart disease than the general Canadian population. They are also more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a family history of heart disease.

There are many things you can do to prevent heart disease including eating a healthy diet that is low in cholesterol. Following a proper diet can be difficult if you don’t have the proper information to get you started. If you’re not sure where to start, check out our Nutrition Fact Sheets here but more specifically our nutrition fact sheet on Healthy Eating for Your Heart.

Exercise is also a key component to keeping your heart in check. All you need is 20 – 30 minutes a day. Taking a walk everyday is an easy way to start and can be easily fit into a busy schedule. Why not walk away from your desk during lunch hour and get some fresh air? Your heart will thank you for it!

Just because you have tiny tots doesn’t mean you have to stop dining out. In fact, it’s important to teach table manners, appropriate restaurant behaviour and the ability to sit patiently to young children. Plan ahead. Do some homework ahead of time to find restaurants you know will have something on the menu that’s healthy and appeals to the whole family.

• Simple is often best when ordering for young ones, and a side dish of steamed vegetables can be the perfect order for toddlers.
• A plain baked potato or sweet potato mashed at the table is a great dinner with a bit of your chicken added to your kid’s plate.
• Restaurants with salad bars can be a good choice, as everyone can load up on their favourite veggies.
• Stir fries or pasta where you get to pick the add-ins are often good ways to find pre-schooler approved ingredients.
• Avoid the ‘kids menu’. It is usually full of high fat, high sodium selections with few vegetables or fruits. Instead, order from the adult menu and ask for a smaller portion, or ask for an extra plate and share your meal.
• Keep it healthy. Try ordering low fat salad, pasta with marinara sauce, chicken, baked fish, soup or a potato.
• Share a menu item with your child.
• Don’t be afraid to try something new. My friend’s daughter in Grade 2 LOVES sushi - you don’t always have to limit toddlers to typical kids’ menus. Lots of kids enjoy the adventure of trying something different.
• Keep your kids busy – a dietician friend recommends asking for carrot sticks and dip right away while you wait for the main meal to arrive.
• If you do opt for fast food, try to stick with a plain hamburger, fruit, milk and a salad.
• Encourage kids to order fat free milk, plain water or make your own ‘soda’ by mixing equal parts fruit juice and sparkling water.

Until next time, keep well,

Judy Foodie (Judy Scott Welden)

Want to cut calories but still enjoy satisfying snacks? It’s easy to shave significant calories off  your daily intake without sacrificing taste or treats. Think of it as creative calorie conservation. For example, a pound of lettuce has only 77 calories while a pound of chocolate has a whopping 2172 calories. Now I know no-one wants to eat a pound of lettuce and I’m not suggesting you do! I’m only pointing out that with a little creative substitution you can save calories, lose weight and still feel full.

Many studies show that eating the right lower calorie, denser foods provides longer lasting satisfaction and contributes to weight loss.

These options show that it’s not hard:'

• Try whole grain pasta, fruit, soup, salad and hot cereal instead of French fries and pizza.
• Rather than reaching for calorie-laden sweets like cookies, reach for a sweet orange or grapes.
• Craving chips and dip? Substitute pita chips and hummus or veggie sticks and low calorie dip – it gives you the same combination of creamy dip and crunchy food, but cuts down significantly on calories.
• Take a page from Canada’s Food Guide and eat a wide variety of foods.

The secret to cutting down on calories is eating more fibre and less fat, which fills you up with fewer calories.

Heading out to dinner? It can be hard on the waistline, but with a few tricks up your sleeve you can enjoy a night out without guilt:

• Choose a smaller portion or kids’ portion if you can – it will give you all the taste without overloading you with calories.
• Fill up first with a broth based soup and a salad instead of a massive bowl of creamy pasta (a very high calorie food!).
• When you order salad, ask for your dressing on the side and dip in the edge of a forkful for every bite.
• Trade the high fat salad dressing for vinegar and give your tired taste buds a wake-up call.

Remember, healthier choices actually keep you feeling full for far longer with fewer calories.

Until next time, keep well,

Judy Foodie (Judy Scott Welden)

It’s easy to think that since we represent chicken farmers , we’re going to push people to consume more protein. Well, yes and no. Let me explain:

We don’t want people eating more protein than they need.  True, we might like that protein choice to be chicken instead of something else, but the truth is, we all need variety in our diets. So, as much as we’d like it, we don’t expect you to eat chicken 24/7... well, maybe half of that time. Kidding...

I was just reading the April 2011 copy of the Canadian version of Nutrition Action Health Letter and the cover story is about how important both exercise and protein are, especially for an older population. If you have a keen interest in your health, this is a great little publication to get and read. It is well balanced and is based on science, not the latest trends.

This article talks about how when we age, starting in our late 30’s; we can lose about a 1/4 of a pound of muscle every year. The only way to stop or slow down this process is by doing weight or resistance training.

We’ve talked about the importance of exercise before in CFC’s nutrition fact sheets and elsewhere on our site and blogs.  We can’t stress enough how much this will help you. It will improve muscle strength, bone density, speed, balance, energy and your mental alertness, to name a few!

If you are already including weight or resistance training as part of your regular routine, then you might already know what I am talking about.  If, though, you are thinking about starting to get fit, the other important factor is making sure you get enough protein. Protein is extremely important; our bodies need it to build and repair tissue.

How much we need depends on our age and level of activity. The recommended daily allowance for protein is .36 grams per pound of body weight. This means a 126 lb person needs just over 45 grams of protein per day. Many professionals involved in health, diet or fitness believe that this number is too low – especially as we age and if we routinely weight train or if we are very active.

Also, as we age, our bodies don’t metabolize protein as well. The right amount of protein for the aging and those who are very active or weight train is likely .50 grams per pound of body weight. So that same 126 lb personactually needs 63 grams of protein per day.

It seems that our bodies can only use a certain amount of protein at a time, about 30 grams, which is about what’s in a 100 gram serving of lean, white chicken meat. So if you are eating the bulk of your protein needs at dinner, say in a ½ chicken dinner, your body is only able to use about 30 grams of that protein. The rest is either stored as fat or we burn it off.

So, it is very important to split up your protein intake throughout the day and consume it at breakfast, lunch, dinner and in snacks. This is even more important if you are elderly, because you might not even be absorbing 30 grams of protein from your meal.

If you weight train, protein is a very important element for building and repairing muscle.  Preferably within an hour of working out, you need to eat some kind of protein. This can be as easy as making sure you have a chicken breast when you get home, or a smoothie.

I go to the gym very regularly and many of the guys talk about protein shakes and protein bars. While a smoothie with added protein is an important addition to your diet, it’s important to not have something with too much fat or sugar. Make your own protein smoothie at home with lots of fresh or frozen unsweetened fruit, soy or low fat milk, soy or whey protein (unsweetened and non-flavoured). Just put all the ingredients in a blender and voila, you have a smoothie. 

For our bodies to synthesize protein, we need all 20 amino acids. Our bodies can make 11 of the 20 amino acids necessary for protein synthesis, but we can’t make the other 9, which means that we must get them from other sources of protein. This is why eating protein is so important. Animal proteins are the best sources as they contain all 9 that we can’t produce.  

Further study of the role of amino acids has shown that, leucine, one of the 9 essential amino acids plays the biggest role in our body’s ability to build protein.  The highest complete source, with all 9 amino acids and the highest content of leucine is, hands down , a cooked, skinless chicken breast – at only 150 calories and 31 g of protein plus 2.4 g of leucine!

Beef, pork, fish and shellfish, tofu and quinoa (a seed) also have all 9 essential amino acids. The amount of protein and leucine are lower though.  I’m not picking on tofu – in fact, I do eat it occasionally. Just remember, you have to eat about twice as much tofu to get the same amount of protein and leucine as what’s in a chicken breast. As for quinoa you would have to eat 5 times the amount of quinoa as chicken breast.

There’s some food for thought – or protein for thought!

You can subscribe to Nutrition Action Health Letter at www.cspinet.org/canada.

Chicken Farmers of Canada’s Friend in Food, Theresa Albert, has just released her awesome new book, Ace Your Health. The publishers have is exactly right when they describe it:

Ace Your Health takes a huge topic and boils it down to simple, small shifts that you can easily integrate into your daily routine. The clever concept uses the fact that there are 52 weeks in the year and 52 cards in a deck. This book helps you "play your cards right" by making one simple play per week, and walks you through a year towards improved overall health.

Each "card" lays out a concise, accessible explanation of why you want to make this shift and what background information you need to know. Then, it follows up with a real life assignment on how to apply this new knowledge and ends with a dead easy, crazy tasty recipe. While the spades, hearts, and clubs sections focus on food and eating habits, in the diamonds section you will find advice on sleeping better, reducing stress and anxiety, stretching, and many other aspects that will help round out a new healthier (and happier) lifestyle. You will never again be gambling with your own life once you Ace Your Health.

- www.mcclelland.com

Supplementing the book is the launch of Theresa’s site www.myfriendinfood.com/.  It’s a great resource on food, health and wellness – and a great complement to our site at www.chicken.ca.

Theresa’s been running around like crazy these days promoting the book, so make sure you catch her on one of the many news and lifestyle shows she’s been on lately.

Also, check out Theresa’s many videos all about chicken - http://chicken.ca/cooking-tips/videos/

Sure, we’ve all heard about yoga. It’s exploded onto the Western fitness scene in the last decade, and is experiencing a renewed popularity. Yoga is no longer relegated to a small group of tree-hugging hippies, as it was a mere 20 years ago. It’s hit the mainstream with yoga studios popping up everywhere. It seems we all want to experience the benefits of this ancient Eastern spiritual practice.

What distinguishes yoga from other forms of exercise are its holistic qualities. Its effects are far reaching, not only on the physical body but on the mind, emotions, and our general outlook on life. Yoga reduces stress, and increases flexibility and strength. Many yoga poses also “massage” internal organs, allowing the body to detoxify and keep disease at bay. A regular yoga practice may also delay the effects of ageing by allowing the body and mind to function at optimal levels.

If you think yoga is not accessible to you because you aren’t flexible enough or feel that you have other physical impairments that may prohibit you from practicing yoga, think again. It’s  one of the most accessible forms of physical activity out there. People of all ages, shapes and sizes practice yoga.

If you’d like to get started but aren’t sure where to begin, doing a quick online search of yoga studios in your area is a good start. Most studios have beginner-level classes, some offering 6 or 8-week beginner courses. If there are no studios in your area, there are many DVDs and books available online, or at major retailers such as Chapters, catering to all levels of practitioners. Typing in “beginner yoga” and “benefits of yoga” in your favourite web search engine will also yield copious amounts of information on the subject.

If you’d like to improve your overall health and well-being, yoga may just be the path for you.

If your New Year’s resolution is to drop those extra holiday pounds, then you’ve come to the right place.

We all know New Year’s resolutions are much easier to make than they are to keep, but keeping them doesn’t have to be hard if you have a plan. So put the thought of another Christmas cookie or a mashed potato and gravy slathered plate aside and let’s get started with these easy tricks that will keep you on track.

The most important tip I can give you is to keep track of the foods you are eating. Either write them down in a notebook or use one of our easy to follow food journals. This will help you determine how many calories you’ve consumed.

Keep your portions small. Try serving food on smaller plates. If you choose to use a large plate, load it with vegetables instead of your usual side dish, they are filling and packed full of vitamins.

Always wait 10–20 minutes after a meal to know if you’ve had enough. If you’re still hungry, have more vegetables or treat yourself to some sweet fruit. Your thighs will thank you for it.

Carefully check the nutritional values on packaged foods (how many servings the package contains and the fat and calories per serving).

Add more fibre to your diet. Fibre will keep you fuller for longer so you won’t be as tempted to snack on sugary foods. A great way to incorporate more fibre into your diet is with whole grains. If a recipe calls for white rice, substitute brown. Use whole grain bread instead of white when making sandwiches and omit the butter and mayonnaise or use their lighter versions sparingly.

If you must snack, slice up some of your favourite fruits. If you’re craving chocolate, have a small piece and savour it; avoid eating a whole bar. Have one cookie instead of a handful.

Stick with lean meats like chicken and fish. Use ground chicken in your favourite recipes as a substitute for fattier meat.

Avoid fried foods. Bake or broil whenever possible. Frying foods will just add on fat and empty calories.

Try to achieve 30 minutes of exercise 5 times a week. Walking is an inexpensive and easy way to work out. Get a well-fitting pair of shoes and a pedometer, your goal is 10,000 steps per day.

Drink plenty of water during the day and with your meals. Water will not only keep your appetite under control; it will keep you energized throughout the day.

Here are some healthy recipes from our web site that will help you on your way to trimming down.

Skillet Chicken with Balsamic Greens - http://chicken.ca/recipes/view/skillet-chicken-with-balsamic-greens/

Easy Chicken Stuffed Peppers - http://chicken.ca/recipes/view/easy-chicken-stuffed-peppers/

Thai-Style Chicken and Rice Soup - http://chicken.ca/recipes/view/thai-style-chicken-rice-soup-gluten-free/

Ground Chicken and Salsa Sloppy Joes - http://chicken.ca/recipes/view/ground-chicken--salsa-sloppy-joes/

For more low-fat recipes visit our site at www.chicken.ca.

Good luck!

Most of us like to keep our Christmas Eve traditions, but there’s nothing wrong with switching it up a little.  Although we all enjoy a good cookie from time to time, Santa Claus consumes more than his fair share of cookies in one night.  No wonder he’s so jolly! 

So this Christmas Eve, forget the traditional cookies and milk and consider some healthier food options for Santa.  You do want him to fit down your chimney after all.

So what are some healthy and easy alternatives?

Fruits such as apples and oranges are a good alternative especially for a sweet tooth like Santa.  Carrots and celery sticks and whole wheat crackers with peanut butter are healthy and nutritious.

But if you want to do something extra special for Santa then these kid-friendly oven baked chicken nuggets with sweet potato fries will keep Santa’s energy level at a peak.  Yes, they are kid-friendly which will be a perfect choice for Santa.  We all know that he’s a big kid at heart.

And of course, don’t forget the reindeer; they need their energy charged for the long trek ahead.