Weight of the Nation

Can you be thin and still be obese? YES. What this means is that just because you are thin in appearance your insides may not be as healthy as your outsides look.  You might just have genes that allow you to not gain excessive amounts of weight but your diet could be full of fat and/or sugar and you are not physically active. 

Being obese is more than just being overweight.  Overweight and obese individuals are at increased risk for many diseases and health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, chronic pain, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. With that said you can also be in perfect physical condition and have these medical issues because of your genes.  The only difference is losing some of the weight can help you to better manage your medical problems and live a longer and healthier life. 

So what causes obesity? Energy imbalance – we eat too much and exercise too little. It’s that simple.  Making small changes can make a BIG difference.

Why am I bringing this up?  HBO is showing a two part documentary on Monday, May 14^th and Tuesday, May 15^th for free on HBO or HBO.com called The Weight of the Nation and I’d like everyone to watch it.  I think it will be a real eye-opener to confronting America’s obesity epidemic.  Check out this website for more information.  http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/?cmpid=ABC1215

Some more eye-opening facts:

Over one-third of U.S. adults (~36%) are obese. That number is way too big!

Approximately 12.5 million children and adolescents aged 2-19 (17%) are obese. Again a huge number!

BMI helps determine obesity. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight. A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese. To find your BMI, click HERE.  To find your child’s BMI click HERE.

I belong to the FANNS group - Food and Nutrition Network of Solano County and we are currently working on ways to get this documentary and message to our community.  Once we have some events scheduled, I will be sure to post them on my FACEBOOK PAGE  So if you are not a fan, please "like" my page to stay involved.

Powdered Peanut Butter?

PB2 aka Powdered Peanut Butter is something my sister in law introduced me to.

I just ordered some and thought I’d share what I know about it with you.

From the container: “Superior quality peanuts are first slow roasted then pressed to remove the fat and oil. The result is an exquisitely natural roasted peanut butter flavor that’s deliciously rich in taste, easy to enjoy and wonderfully healthy.”

What you do to create traditional peanut butter from this powder is simply mix it with water. 

The greatest part about this product is that it has 85% less fat calories than traditional peanut butter.  Two tablespoons of PB2 has only 45 calories, 1.5 grams of fat (zero grams of which are saturated) and still contains 2 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein.  The ingredients are roasted peanuts, sugar and salt. 

The only difference when compared to natural peanut butter is the addition of sugar. The natural peanut butter I have on hand is Adams crunchy peanut butter and this product contains only peanuts and salt and in two tablespoons you will get 200 calories, 16 grams of fat (2.5 grams of which are saturated), 2 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein.  Both products contain only 1 gram of sugar.

So which is better?  Well I love the taste of my natural peanut butter but today I mixed some PB2 and it wasn’t too bad. I may have to get used to the taste like I once had to when I switched from Jif to natural peanut butter.

Another great thing about PB2 is the variety of ways you can use it.  You can add a scoop to your favorite smoothie or protein shake or even sprinkle some on ice cream.  Visit www.bellplantation.com for many more recipe ideas. 

Oh and one more thing, PB2 also has a chocolate powdered peanut butter which adds the ingredient cocoa powder – a delicious way to get in some more antioxidants.

And a final side note, Bell Plantation (makers of PB2) takes the oil they press from the peanuts, bottle it up and sell it, so there is virtually no waste! So what do you think? Will you try some?  You can order it from the website above or on Amazon.

Yonana

Do you crave sweets after dinner?  Are you always grabbing that half gallon of ice cream or forbidden cookie from the cupboard?  Well now you don’t have to feel guilty about satisfying your sweet tooth because there is a product that turns fruit into dessert in less than ten seconds.

What I’m talking about is the Yonana Machine.  It makes delicious, creamy, low-cost, healthy frozen treats that taste like soft serve ice cream.  The added bonus is that you will easily be able to get your daily serving of fruits using this simple machine.  Fruits contain so many vitamins and mineral essential for overall health and not enough Americans eat 2-3 servings of fruit/day.

I love this machine because it saves our over-ripe bananas.  We often have bananas that are ready to be trash so instead of wasting them, I peel them and put them in the freezer to be used in our protein shakes.  Well now we can turn those frozen bananas into a cool treat.  Yes the machine is made for bananas specifically but you can add other frozen berries, dark chocolate and even nuts to create a healthy and delicious dessert.  The Yonana machine parts are dishwasher safe and comes with a recipe book.

Here are some banana facts from the Yonana website.

·         Bananas are high in potassium, a mineral that helps in the building of muscles and protein synthesis as well as brain function.

·         Bananas contain all natural energy from three natural sugars: sucrose, fructose and glucose.

·         Bananas contain no sodium, fat or cholesterol

·         Bananas contain vitamin B6 and tryptophan which help elevate feelings of pleasure

Yonanas are sold at Target, Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, Amazon, Kohls and other retailers.  Check it out online at http://www.yonanas.com/

I love ice cream and this totally convinced me that I don’t need it on a daily basis to curb my sweet tooth.