National Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2016
Nutrition, Educational Seasonings, Spotlight Program, Eating Disorders
Sunday, February 21st kicks off National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. This year's campaign stresses early detection and intervention, a key focus in all SAGE communities. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, over 30 million Americans will struggle with an eating disorder—and many begin that struggle young. Children as young as seven have been diagnosed with eating disorders. While genetic predisposition is a factor in the development of eating disorders, environmental cues also make a huge impact—in combination with stressors...
How Sweet It Is
Nutrition
Our love affair with chocolate goes all the way back to the Aztecs, who paid their taxes with cocoa beans. During the Revolutionary War, cocoa was such a prized ration that the Continental Congress imposed price controls. Today, chocolate is still a hot commodity, and we have many more choices than the simple cocoa and water our ancestors enjoyed. Here's a brief “chocolate dictionary” to help you figure it all out: Chocolate for Baking Hint: When deciding which chocolate to...
New Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Nutrition, Spotlight Program
The long-awaited 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans have been released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The recommendations, designed to assist Americans in achieving lifelong health, are strikingly similar to the standards we have held at SAGE for more than 25 years. The five basic guidelines: 1. Follow a healthy eating pattern across the lifespan. 2. Focus on variety, nutrient density, and amount. 3. Limit calories from added sugars and saturated fats and reduce sodium intake...
Eliminating Trans Fat
Nutrition, From Our KitchenWhile SAGE believes that all foods fit into a nutritious diet, there is one nutrient out there that doesn't fit. It has no redeeming quality, and it's called trans fat. Trans fat is directly linked to heart disease. It raises levels of bad cholesterol and lowers levels of good cholesterol. This information has led the FDA to propose a ban on trans fats for good. If the decision is approved, partially hydrogenated oils will be phased out of all foods...
Eat What You Can, Can What You Can't
Nutrition, Sustainability, From Our Kitchen, Gardens
Canning fruits and vegetables has made a big comeback. Sales of home canning equipment have surged since 2008, in large part due to a growing interest in eating more healthfully and reviving traditions from a simpler time. Late summer is a great time to take advantage of the bounty of your home garden or your local farmer's market and create some treats that will last through the winter. Canning has become so popular Ball canning jars has partnered with Canning...
5 Rules for Picking Summer Produce
Nutrition, Sustainability, From Our Kitchen, GardensHave you ever bought produce only to find it's too ripe, or not ripe enough? It can be challenging to choose perfect produce every time. We've put together five simple rules to guide your purchases this summer: Trust your sense of smell. The scent of some produce can help determine whether it's ripe. Fruit should smell fragrant, particularly melons, berries and stone fruits like plums, peaches and nectarines. Handle with care. Ripe fruits like plums should yield to gentle pressure...
Living With Celiac
Nutrition, From Our Kitchen
Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but for those of us who can't eat gluten, it can also be a huge hassle. Conventional breakfast foods like toast, bagels, donuts, pancakes, waffles, cereal, and most oatmeals are all off limits. Gluten-free baked goods have improved by leaps and bounds over the last decade, spurred on by increasing interest in the diet. Taste-wise, however, they still haven't caught up. These products tend to be dry, chalky, or tasteless...
A Mom's Food Allergy Journey - Part 2
Nutrition, From Our Kitchen
Guest blogger and SAGE Director of Nutrition Lesley Vogel wraps up her two-part series on being the parent of a food allergic child. Here are her tips for adjusting to a new way of life: "Looking back on our food allergy journey, I can honestly say we are in a good place. So, how did we get to this point? Let me share what I've learned so far. Here are my 'food allergy mom and dietitian' top four tips: 1-...