Dinner Tonight

Dinner Tonight

Healthy Cooking for a Healthy Texas

Fiber

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Fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains all contain dietary fiber, a type of carbohydrate that provides minimal energy for the body. Although the body cannot use fiber for fuel, it’s an important part of a healthy eating plan and helps with a variety of health conditions. Focus on your fiber intake!

  • Heart disease: Fiber may help prevent heart disease by helping reduce cholesterol.
  • Weight management: Fiber slows the speed at which food passes from the stomach to the rest of the digestive system – this can make us feel full longer. Foods that are higher in dietary fiber often are lower in calories as well.
  • Diabetes: Because fiber slows down how quickly food is broken down, it may help control blood sugar levels for people with diabetes by reducing blood sugar levels after meals.
  • Digestive issues: Fiber increases bulk in the intestinal tract and may help improve the frequency of bowel movements.

The recommended amount of dietary fiber is 14 grams for every 1,000 calories per day, or, about 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men each day. Your exact needs may vary depending on your energy needs.

Whole grains and beans tend to be higher in fiber than fruits and vegetables, but all are sources of dietary fiber and contribute other important nutrients. Make sure to include a variety of these foods regularly to meet your dietary needs. These are a few tips to help increase your intake from foods:

  • Mix in oats to meatloaf, bread or other baked goods.
  • Toss beans into your next salad or soup.
  • Chop up veggies to add to sandwiches or noodle dishes such as pasta or stir-fry.
  • Blend fruit into a smoothie or use it to top cereal, pancakes or desserts.

It also is important to drink plenty of water and to increase your fiber intake gradually in order to give your body time to adjust.

Learn more from the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics here.

Have a Better Breakfast with Eggs

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1-breakfast-with-eggsBreakfast is often the meal of the day that you eat in a rush, on-the-go, or not at all. And when we we think of breakfast foods, we usually think of donuts, pancakes, pastries, and coffee, all filled with sugar. But breakfast doesn’t have to start out sugar-filled.

Eggs, and other foods, can be added to your morning routine for a power-filled breakfast. For more information, take a look at what the Egg Nutrition Center has put together.

 

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Get Fresh with Fruits and Vegetables

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With so many fruits and vegetables, it can be hard to remember how to store everything to keep it fresh for as long as possible. Stretch your dollar by properly storing your fruits and vegetables. Print the guide below to help you remember what gets stored where. Keep it near the refrigerator so you and your family can easily access it later!

 

 

 

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Composting during the Holiday Season

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home-compostingEvery holiday season we seem to have an abundance of food leftovers. Often these food leftovers are thrown out or left to spoil, which contributes to the nearly 38 million tons of wasted food in the United States.

Composting is simply the process of organic material decomposition.

The resulting substance is called compost. If we composted many of the things we throw away, such as kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves, and other landscape debris, we could divert 20 to 30 percent of the trash currently going into landfills. By composting these materials, we can reduce the amount of waste we generate and produce organic matter and nutrients for our garden, landscape and yard.

Every garden benefits from the addition of compost because it supplies many of the nutrients plants need. Composting also:

  • Improves the soil’s physical characteristics
  • Increases the soil capacity to hold water and nutrients
  • Increases soil aeration

4-home-composting-reduce-food-waste

To learn more about how to compost and help reduce wasted food, check out the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Easy Gardening Series.

Source: Joseph Masabni, Assistant Professor and Extension Horticulturist, and Patrick Lillard, Extension Assistant, Easy Gardening – Composting.

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