Category: Blog

By Jacqueline Weiss, Cornell Nutrition Sciences Intern
Reviewed by Katy Bowen, MS, RDN, LD, Director of Community Outreach, CHEF
Edited by Andi Champion, Program Coordinator, CHEF

Exploring your local Farmer’s Market is the perfect Saturday morning family activity and a fantastic opportunity for your children to learn where real food comes from! Allow your children to pick out one or two pieces of produce and use it in a recipe that you can cook together. By letting them have a hand in the meal planning process and helping pick out your families’ produce they may be more willing to try new foods.

The Farmer’s Market is also a terrific way to learn about eating seasonally. With your children, pick out a fruit or vegetable to be the main ingredient for your meal and then find recipes centered around that item. For example, watermelons are in season from May through November. This refreshing fruit is a great way to beat the Texas heat and the recipe possibilities are endless! Check out our healthy, delicious, and CHEF-Approved “Fruit Ceviche” or Jicama, Cucumber, and Melon Salad to make with your kids. Or, replace the strawberries with watermelon in this spinach salad!

For more healthy inspiration, stop by the CHEF tent every Saturday at Pearl Farmer’s Market.

By Emily Kasmiroski, Baptist Dietetic Intern
Reviewed by Katy Bowen, MS, RDN, LD, Community Outreach Director, CHEF

Summer is upon us and while we think about vacations and spending the day in the sun, hydration is the key to beating the Texas heat! Hydration is a critical component for keeping you and your family healthy and on the go this summer. Water is considered an essential nutrient and is needed for all body functions. It also is sugar-free, caffeine-free, and calorie-free, making it the best choice for hydration.

While drinking water is the first thing that comes to mind when we think hydration, did you know that there are many foods that contain large amounts of water? Foods such as watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew melon, strawberries, tomatoes, green peppers, cauliflower, cucumber, celery, spinach, broccoli, and baby carrots all have high water content. These fruits and veggies all make great additions to add extra flavor to plain water.

Generally, your child should drink six to eight cups of water each day and eat the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables.

Enjoy this CHEF approved recipe for enhancing your water and staying hydrated!

Cucumber Mint Infusion

Ingredients:

• 1 English cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 small bunch mint
• 2 quarts water

Directions:

1. Combine cucumber, mint, and water in a large pitcher. Press down gently on the cucumber and mint with a wooden spoon to muddle a little.
2. Let the water infuse in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
3. Serve with ice. You may also top with a bit of seltzer water for carbonation.

https://www.eatright.org/fitness/sports-and-performance/hydrate-right/water-go-with-the-flow

By: Tori Parsons, Dietetic Intern, Texas A&M University
Reviewed by: Katy Bowen, MS, RDN, LD, Director of Community Outreach, CHEF

Finding it difficult to reach the 6-9 recommended servings of fruits and vegetables a day? Vegetables are rich in the vitamins and minerals our bodies need to stay healthy! Try these delicious combinations to boost the amount of vegetables in your favorite meals.

Cauliflower with rice or mashed potatoes: Add cauliflower rice to your rice dishes or mashed cauliflower to your mashed potatoes (1:1 ratio) to lower the carb content while boosting nutrients. Did you know 1 cup of cauliflower contains 75% of your daily vitamin C? Definitely a plus during cold and flu season!

Mushrooms with ground beef and sausage: Adding finely chopped mushrooms to your ground meat while it cooks will double the amount in your pan. Mushrooms are less than $2 for a whole 8 oz. container making this a great way to stretch your dollar and get some added nutrition when eating meat.

Shredded carrots, zucchini in oatmeal: Not a fan of vegetables at breakfast? Try this simple idea! Add thinly shredded carrots or zucchini to your morning oatmeal or use in almost any baked good for extra vitamins and fiber.

Including these simple ideas in your meals are sure to increase your vegetable servings each day. For more ways to add vegetables to your meals, check out the recipes on chefsa.org or attend a CHEF cooking class near you!

By: Amanda Diaz, Graduate Dietetic Intern
Reviewed by Celina Paras MSc, RDN, LD.

Your taste (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami) preferences are innately preset to prefer sweet, over bitter or sour.  However, these innate tendencies can be modified through repeated exposure, positive and negative experiences, and influential factors that reflect the types of food preferred.  Taste preferences develop before birth and continue to change throughout life.  Understanding how taste preferences develop can help you and your family form healthier eating habits.

Introduction of flavors
The shaping of taste preferences begins early in life.  Babies in the womb experience flavors from the maternal diet from swallowing amniotic fluid and after birth through the mother’s breast milk.  Taste experiences with baby formula can impact taste preferences as well.  The introduction of solids is an exciting milestone for you and your child.  During this transition, it can take up to a dozen tries for your child to accept a new food.  Food aversions are normal, but can be combated by offering new foods in various ways, offering smaller amounts of disliked foods, and making mealtime a positive experience.  To alter innate preferences, limiting exposure to overly sweet and salty foods may prevent your child from developing more of a taste for these foods.  These early experiences can help set the stage in establishing life-long healthy dietary habits.¹

Factors that influence
As your child grows to an adolescent, various factors can influence the palate to change affecting food choices and dietary habits.  Your child’s food preference can be influenced by their independence, influenced by peers, growth spurts, education about food, and family environment.  Energy-dense foods and sweetened beverages may be consumed more often than they were before.  To encourage your child to eat healthy foods, keep healthy foods readily available and in eyes view.  Avoid bringing food items into the home that you don’t want them to eat or drink.  Continue to involve your child in their food selection and preparation to teach them to choose and prepare healthy meals and snacks.²

The Aging palate
As you age, taste buds diminish, saliva production decreases, and chewing problems occur, affecting your sense of taste.  Aging can also affect all of your other senses, all of which can make eating less pleasurable.  Sometimes certain diseases and medications can contribute to altered taste.  To enhance the taste of foods, you may find that more salt or sugar is added which could have a negative effect on the body such as increased blood glucose and blood pressure levels.  Adding herbs such as cilantro, oregano, parsley, rosemary, basil, mint, and chives are great ways to enhance flavor and taste.  Substituting extra salt for spices and aromatic foods such as cayenne, chili powder, turmeric, curry, cinnamon, garlic, and onion may make eating food more pleasurable without the negative effects.³

Understanding some of the factors that affect taste preference is essential for understanding how preferences can be modified to reflect a healthy lifestyle for you and your family.

1. EUFIC.org. Taste Differ: How taste preferences develop. 2018. Retrieved from http://www.eufic.org/en/food-today/article/tastes-differ-how-taste-preferences-develop Accessed April 2018.
2. Johns Hopkins Medicine. Healthy Eating During Adolescence. Retreived from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/healthy-eating-during-adolescence. Accessed April 2018.
3. Boyce JM, Shone GR. Effects of ageing on smell and taste. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2006;82(966):239-241. doi:10.1136/pgmj.2005.039453.

by Alexandria Garcia, Graduate Dietetic Intern at The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio
reviewed by Celina Parás, MSc, RDN, LD, Nutrition Education Specialist, CHEF, The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio 

Most children have a tendency to dislike food based on its texture, appearance, taste, and smell. If your child is a picky eater, then this is all too familiar. Having healthy meals may be a challenge, but working together with your child can be the start to expanding their palette.

Be Adventurous
Involve your children in choosing new foods. This will give your child a sense of control. Go to a grocery store and pick out a new fruit or vegetable. The produce section can be colorful and is the perfect place to explore. Go home and research interesting facts about the new food. For example, where it grows, what vitamins it has, and how you can cook it.

Test Out Textures
Texture may be the main reason your child does not enjoy a food. Remember, texture is how a food feels in the mouth as opposed to its flavor. For example, the squishiness of a fresh tomato. Chop it up and make salsa or blend it to smooth out the texture. Use this mixture to make pasta sauce and use it on our Bolognese Zucchini Pasta for a better-for-you Italian style meal.

Take Your Time With Tasting
Tasting a new food can be scary for your child, so be patient. Go through the motions of eating from plate to mouth one meal at a time. First, by lifting the food to the mouth and then touching to the tongue. Next, by taking a small bite, big bite, and finally, eating it all. Offer these new foods with some they already eat to make it less stressful.

Cook Together
Cooking together is another creative way to tie in all of these exercises and engage their senses. Pick a healthy recipe and cook it for fun at home or try out one of our CHEF classes. Be creative and play around with different shapes by using cookie cutters. Let your child be a scientist and create a new flavor. Take this time bond and learn about how healthy eating can be an overall positive experience. Lastly, enjoy the food you have prepared as a family.

Although these exercises may not cure your child’s picky eating overnight, they are a great way for your child to build a positive relationship with food.

Sources:
Tanner A, Andreone BE. Using Graduated Exposure and Differential Reinforcement to Increase Food Repertoire in a Child with Autism. Behavior Analysis in Practice. 2015;8:233-240.
Nutrition Therapy for Selective Eaters. Public Home Page – Nutrition Care Manual. https://www.nutritioncaremanual.org/client_ed.cfm?ncm_client_ed_id=308.

By Rachel Brownlee Kurita, MS, RD, LD
CHEF Kitchen Lead & Community Dietitian, Boys & Girls Club of San Antonio/Mays Family Clubhouse

Warm, sunny weather means the perfect time to take your family to a nearby park for an afternoon of playing, hiking, and picnicking in the bluebonnets! Packing food to fuel your family that is convenient, healthy, and fun for your picnic can be a little tricky. Here are some ways to make healthy food a part of your outing:

Grab Bags:

Instead of buying potato chips and fruit snacks on your grocery store run, grab ingredients to make trail mix and a bag of fresh fruit like oranges or apples. You can put a handful of trail mix into a zipper bag for each member of your family and give the fruit in the bag a quick rinse before heading out. These snacks are easy to transport, and the salty/sweet, juicy/crunchy combo make them satisfying! Try our Make Your Own Trail Mix and Spice-Roasted Almond recipes for tasty and convenient snack options.

Throw Everything on the Grill:

Bringing food to grill at the park offers a great opportunity to relax and socialize around the picnic table. Grilling is not only a great way to cook up lean meats like chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, or top round beef—you can make a complete meal by grilling veggies along with your choice of protien! Choose colorful veggies such as zucchini or yellow squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions. To prepare ahead, cut longer vegetables into strips or planks about 1/2 inch thick, brush lightly with olive or canola oil, and sprinkle with your favorite dried herbs or spices (Italian seasoning with garlic powder work well). Pack the veggies in aluminum foil, and you have a pre-made cooking container to put on your hot grill at the park.

Keep Foods Cold:

If you are going to grill up some marinated chicken and veggies, make sure to transport everything in a cooler bag surrounded by ice. Keep raw meats in a separate bag from fruits, veggies, and grains. This should keep your food safe to eat for the time it takes to get to your relaxation spot and set up camp.

Bring Water:

It is easy to get so into our hike or outdoor activities that we forget to drink until we are thirsty! In general, for low-intensity to moderate activity of an hour or less, water is the perfect thirst quencher to keep our bodies cool and working right. If you are a go-getter who climbs up hills for hours on a hot Saturday morning, carry a cool sports drink with you on your trek. Be sure to remind the kids to take water breaks with you! Our Cucumber Mint Infusion is a refreshing option to keep you cool.

By: Tori Parsons, Dietetic Intern, Texas A&M University
Reviewed by: Katy Bowen, MS, RDN, LD, Director of Community Outreach, CHEF

March is National Nutrition Month! Every year the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics focuses on a central message that encourages everyone to make positive changes toward a healthy lifestyle. The theme for 2018 is Go Further with Food. It reminds us that the food we choose is not only an opportunity to benefit our health, but also to save money and reduce our food waste.

Here are some key tips to Go Further with Food:

• Eat a variety. Include sources from all food groups regularly throughout the week to be sure you are eating all the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy.
• Be mindful. Eat and drink the right portion sizes for your body. This will not only help you maintain a healthy weight, but will also help you stretch your dollar and save money!
• Plan ahead. Before grocery shopping, check your refrigerator for food you already have on hand. Buy only enough that you plan to eat or freeze within the next few days to prevent spoilage and reduce food waste.
• Stay active. Food fuels our bodies with the energy we need to live a fit, active lifestyle. Find physical activity you enjoy to move your body each day!

What can you do to “Go Further with Food”? What healthy change can you make today to benefit your health, wallet, or reduce food waste?

By: Kristen Keith, Dietetic Intern at the University of Texas at San Antonio
Reviewed by: Celina Paras, MSc, RDN, LD

What does in-season mean? The seasons (think fall, winter, spring, and summer) essentially determine when a plant can grow its best. Have you ever wondered why you don’t see very many watermelons during the winter months, but they seem to be everywhere during the summer? In Texas, watermelons grow their best between May and early winter; making them highly available during these months¹.

Benefits of eating in-season produce:

• Eating certain foods during “their season” can ensure you get the maximum amount of flavor from your food.
• Fruits and vegetables that are currently in-season are usually cheaper during those times of the year. Although we can import peaches into Texas when they aren’t in-season locally, they are usually higher in price. Contrastingly, when Texas is producing peaches (think the summer months into September), they can be found at significantly reduced prices in your grocery store. Buying in-season produce will ensure that your grocery bill stays low.
• You can even impact your environment by choosing local, in-season foods. Because we don’t have to transport, refrigerate, freeze, or package them as extensively, we save on energy and fuel (both impact our planet!).
• Variety is another reason eating in-season produce is beneficial. Because we are aware of what is available, we might be tempted to try something new. Every fresh produce item offers its own unique set of nutritional benefits. We can often find ourselves in a rut; only eating certain foods and certain combinations. By exposing ourselves to the local farmers markets, we can increase the nutritional and taste value of our meals through variety.

How can we stay up-to-date on the locally available produce?

• Your local grocery store: ask an employee what their local produce is for the week or the season. You can even ask them what they think will be going on sale in the future.
• Local Farmer’s Markets: While you’re there picking up some fresh fruits and vegetables, you can ask the farmer what he or she is currently planting or harvesting.
• Newspaper Events Section
• Helpful websites:
  • Texas Produce Availability Chart: http://www.gotexan.org/Portals/1/PDF/produce%20availability%20brochure%202015-nocropmarks.pdf
  • Seasonal Food Guide: https://www.seasonalfoodguide.org/about
  • USDA SNAP-Ed Seasonal Produce Guide: https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/seasonal-produce-guide
• Going on a trip or planning to move? Different plants may be in season in your new area. Inquire online and around town to determine what produce is now in-season.

References:

1. https://www.thespruce.com/texas-seasonal-fruits-and-vegetables-2217166

by Katy Bowen, MS, RDN, LD
Director of Community Outreach, CHEF

February is Heart Health Month and what a better way to celebrate than to get in the kitchen and cook something healthy and fun! The key to heart healthy cooking is to use plenty of fruits and vegetables, while limiting ingredients that are high in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Fruits and vegetables, along with whole grains, are high in fiber, which can lower cholesterol and help decrease your risk for heart disease. Here are some helpful tips for heart smart cooking:

• Add vegetables, such as bell peppers, to mixed dishes to add flavor without adding salt.
• Use low-fat or fat free dairy products.
• Make your own salad dressings with heart healthy olive oil, garlic, fresh or dried herbs, and white wine vinegar.
• Choose leaner cuts of meat or trim excess fat.
• Use light meat poultry (breast) instead of dark meat, which is much fattier.
• Put your salt shaker in your kitchen cabinet instead of next to the stove so you are less likely to add salt. Reducing salt intake can help lower your blood pressure.
• Eat more fish. Fish contain heart healthy fats known as omega-3s. Eating one to two servings of fish per week can significantly decrease your risk of dying from a heart attack.

Our Roasted Salmon with Pistachio-Oat Crust is full of heart healthy fats. Combined with our Roasted Root Veggies with Parsley, you’ve got yourself a Heart Month worthy meal!

by Katy Bowen, MS, RDN, LD
Director Community Outreach, CHEF

Did you know the average 12 ounce can of soda contains 140 calories? These are considered “empty calories” meaning that they do not provide any nutritional value. Consuming too many empty calories can lead to weight gain and eventually obesity. Since obesity is linked to Diabetes, Heart Disease, and even certain cancers, maintaining a normal weight is extremely important. Finding alternatives to sugary beverages is a great way to improve your health!

Alternatives to soda:

• Water
• Low-fat or fat free milk
• Infused water
  • Add a splash of juice to your water
  • Infuse water with fresh herbs, fruits, and veggies

Check the label!

Starting in 2018, added sugar will be required on all food and drink labels! In the meantime, you can check the ingredients list for the following ingredients to see if sugar has been added to your drink:

• High-fructose corn syrup
• Dextrose
• Fructose
• Sucrose (Table sugar)
• Fruit juice concentrates
• Corn Syrup
• Honey
• Syrup

For refreshing, better-for-you drink options, try our Strawberry Lemonade with Chia Seeds and our Cucumber Mint Infusion.

by Celina Paras, MSc, RDN, LD
Nutrition Education Specialist, CHEF, The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio
and Andi Champion
Program Coordinator, CHEF

Love them or hate them, New Year’s Resolutions always tend to make us reflect on the year we’ve had and the things we’d like to do a little differently in the future. One of the most common resolutions for many people is to get healthier. While some people tend to go after this goal too aggressively, with overly restrictive diets that are impossible to maintain or intense workout regimens, it’s important to remember that the best New Year’s Resolutions are goals that are realistic and attainable. By making small, incremental changes in your daily habits, you are more likely to stick with your goals and to think of them as more of a lifestyle change than a quick fix.

With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of tips to help your family reach their health goals this new year. These simple steps can help you reset your habits and make positive changes that can last you a lifetime.

1. Organize and stock a healthy pantry. Stock your pantry with foods like dry whole grains, nuts/nut butters, seeds, canned low-sodium beans, healthy oils, and dried herbs & spices. This way, you can quickly throw a nutritious and delicious meal together.
2. Go with nature. Choose wholesome, natural foods that are in season, whenever possible. Limit foods with added sugars and avoid highly-processed foods. Choose foods closest to their natural state as these are usually more nutrient dense.
3. Discover a world of flavor. Develop flavor with ingredients like fresh herbs, spices, vinegars, and citrus fruits. Explore new flavors and turn everyday foods into a culinary adventure with different ingredients from all over the world.
4. Get the whole family in the kitchen. From washing, to cutting, to setting the table, there’s something for everyone in the family to do! Children of all ages can have fun learning simple cooking skills like washing fruits and vegetables, cracking eggs, and measuring dry ingredients.
5. Cook more at home. Remember that cooking is like a sport—the more you practice, the better you get at it! Making a delicious and wholesome meal doesn’t have to be complicated. Get confident with a few cooking techniques and use them often.
6. Dine at the table. Sit at the table and enjoy meals with family or friends. Take time in between bites and really savor your meal.
7. Get moving! Play more outside, dance more, take an easy stroll around the neighborhood or get the whole family out on a bike ride at one of San Antonio’s beautiful trails.
8. Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of water. Liven up water with natural infusions of fruits, herbs, and veggies. Try  our refreshing cucumber mint recipe (link to recipe).
9. Get plenty of sleep. Sleeping is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. A good night’s sleep leads to improved quality of life and physical health.
10. Smile and give gratitude. Remember to appreciate the good and simple things in life!

Looking for more healthy cooking inspiration? Check out a CHEF class! Our schedule can be found here.