FitSugar

How Do You Normally Buy Veggies?

FitSugar — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:00:33 PDT

I love Spring because it means that the fresh produce in my CSA box is going to be more colorful and varied. It's not that I don't love potatoes, beets, and turnips, I just miss seeing green amidst all those hearty root veggies. Regardless of the season, I tend to stick to fresh produce when I eat veggies. I also live in California, which means that I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to what kind of produce I have access to all year round.

How often you cook at home, how close you live to the grocery store, and what time of the year it is can all be determining factors in whether you buy veggies canned, fresh, or frozen. Tell me . . .

Freeze Fruits and Veggies Before They Spoil

FitSugar — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:00:14 PST

In the morning I always make a breakfast smoothie using fresh produce. But sometimes our household goes a little overboard in the amount of produce we buy. Instead of throwing out spoiled fruits and veggies, we freeze our produce to preserve its nutritional content and halt the ripening process. Freezing produce is also a good way to stock up on fruits and veggies that are on sale or going out of season.

If there's an abundant amount of produce in our house, we estimate how much we'll need to last the rest of the week and then freeze the rest. Produce is best frozen when it's perfectly ripe, and it can last in the freezer for up to a year.

To find out how to freeze produce at home,

Canned Veggies vs. Frozen Veggies

FitSugar — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:00:21 PST

Summertime offers an abundance of fresh veggies at lower costs, but now that Winter is on the horizon, the produce aisle isn't exactly overflowing with inexpensive produce. Since your choices are limited (and pricey), opting for canned or frozen veggies may be your only choice, but which is healthier?

Learn which comes out on top in canned veggies vs. frozen veggies when you

read more. Store-bought frozen veggies are usually processed soon after being harvested - at their peak ripeness. The first step of freezing veggies does involve blanching them in hot water or steam to kill bacteria, which breaks down some of the water-soluble vitamins such as B and C. But once the produce is flash-frozen, the rest of the nutrients are locked in. Actually, frozen foods may even be more nutritious than the same fresh veggies that have been sitting out or in the fridge for an extended period of time. That's because fresh produce is often picked before it's had time to fully ripen, which means it has less time to develop all its vitamins and minerals. Then there are canned veggies. Usually inexpensive, they're also convenient since they have a long shelf life and won't take up any space in your freezer. Many canned veggies unfortunately contain sugar, salt, and other preservatives. They also undergo a heating process, which further decreases their nutritional value. So if you can't buy fresh veggies and eat them within a few days, frozen veggies are the next best option.

Texas Woman Faces Frog in Frozen Beans

YumSugar — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:30:26 PDT

What's the deal with frozen green beans? Last Fall, a New Zealander discovered a shrunken mouse's head in hers, and, proving we're just as prone to the situation stateside, a Texas woman reportedly opened a bag to find a frog's face staring back at her.

Chasity Erbaugh from Tyler, TX, went to stir butter into her green beans and encountered the whole front end of a frog, spinal cord attached, with its tongue hanging out. Horrified, she notified county health inspectors, who got in touch with the Wal-Mart where she purchased the beans to have the rest of the lot pulled from shelves. Although the county health department filed a complaint with the FDA, it also urged consumers to look closely at their food before eating it. But Erbaugh has lost her confidence with frozen foods. Moving forward, she vows to only buy fresh vegetables, even if the measure is at her expense. "Do you know how much my grocery bill is fixing to go up?" she said.

After hearing about a shopper who - almost literally - got a frog in her throat, are you less likely to buy frozen fruits and vegetables? Do you agree with the health department, which insinuated that the responsibility lies with each diner to ensure he is eating safe food? Have you ever found something that's less than kosher in your frozen produce?

Frozen Spinach Does the Body Good

FitSugar — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:30:00 PST

The canned spinach that made Popeye's muscles go crazy was probably loaded with sodium and ultimately not the best method for eating this super green, leafy veggie.
On the other hand, frozen spinach might just be more nutritious than fresh. The nutritional benefits of spinach start to breakdown after the leafy green is picked. In fact, four days in your crisper can reduce the amount of beneficial nutrients health-boosting carotenoids and the folate (a B vitamin) in spinach. Yep, even if you refrigerate this veggie, it can still lose its nutritional value. For this reason it is a great idea to use frozen spinach. It is generally processed immediately after being picked, locking in the nutrients. This is a great option if fresh spinach is scarce or really expensive. Check out this recipe for Tomatoes Stuffed With Spinach and Ham, which conveniently uses frozen spinach!

Fit's Tip: Remember, it is recommend that you eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables daily - fresh or frozen. So if the fresh produce at the grocery looks old and depleted, experiment with using frozen veggies or fruit. Frozen fruit is a great addition to any smoothie.

Is there a frozen veggie or fruit that you use regularly? Share the details in the comment section below.

Source

Nutrition Myths: True or False

FitSugar — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:30:00 PDT

Short quiz on nutrition myths.

Save! 6 Handy Tips For Packing Work Lunches

Emily Co — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:54:21 PST

Bringing lunch to work every day sure does save more than a few bucks and keeps you healthy at the same time. It's such an easy everyday saving trick, and it's a great option for those trying to cut costs on their daily expenses. Here are a few tips that get me through the week.

Mental Meal Plan: What do you want to eat for the rest of the week? Give it some thought before you make a trip to the grocery store to buy some ingredients. For inspiration, flip through Yum's list of delicious work lunches. While you're grocery shopping, read our savvy tricks for saving money at the supermarket.
Prep on Sunday: Buy all the ingredients you need on Sunday so that you won't have to desperately scramble around the night before. If you're planning on making one dish that you'll be eating all week (such as soup), you can either keep it refrigerated or, depending on what type of dish it is, you can also choose to freeze it in five ziploc packets that you can ration out throughout the week.
Keep It Separate: If you want to keep your lunch fresh, try to keep the pieces separate and assemble it right before you're having lunch. This works best for meals such as salads and sandwiches - soggy bread and vegetables are not appetizing!

Read on for more tips.

Turkey Pot Pie

OnSugar Blog — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:19:10 PST

Turkey pot pie is a necessary indulgence in the world of dieting and salads we all seem to be living in. Yoo Eatz gives us a straightforward, weeknight-friendly recipe for a comforting pot pie.

This holiday season came and went like the whirlwind it always is, and I sit here in the aftermath realizing that I have plenty of recipes to catch up on. So let's take a mini jaunt down memory lane to Thanksgiving, shall we?

Being the lucky recipient of my family's turkey carcass, I ended up with about 6 quarts of homemade stock, most of which sits in the freezer waiting for a chilly night when turkey noodle soup is a quick solution to the question "What's for dinner?" Unfortunately for the stock but quite happily for the rest of us San Franciscans, warm weather has taken up temporary residence in these parts, so soup has been on the back burner, so to speak. But back in late November when temps were still brisk in the low 50s (here, my East Coast friends may shout whatever expletives come to mind), comfort foods were definitely on the brain.

Purists will say that a pot pie must be just that: a pie complete with buttery, flaky crust on the top and the bottom. I get it (admission: I love Marie Calendar's frozen chicken pot pies dumped on a pile of hot white rice), but (1) who has time to whip up pie dough on a weeknight?, and (2) it's hardly a light meal. So I substituted store-bought puff pastry for the crust and focused on a rich, hearty filling for my turkey pot pie. For the recipe, read on.

Sip on This: Green Juice Loaded With Antioxidants

Anna Monette Roberts — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:52:51 PST

Fresh green juice might be the "next frozen yogurt" in terms of a trendy, healthy snack. What could possibly be better for you than a glass of homemade, fresh-pressed vegetables and fruits? This is a super easy, delicious, and addictive green juice recipe that you can happily indulge in to rake up your daily values. Apples are high in vitamin C and naturally sweeten the beverage. Antioxidant-rich spinach and parsley are also high in vitamin A and C and iron. Cucumber and lemon add flavor and immune-boosting phytonutrients. Warming and spicy ginger aids digestion.

See juice recipe.

5 Diet Foods That Are Making You Fat

Prevention — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:10:41 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

Improve your weight loss plan by avoiding these health diet disasters
By Alyssa Shaffer

Thanks to confusing labels and unearned reputations, it's difficult to know what's good for you. You might automatically reach for items with a "health halo," such as spaghetti sauce (love that lycopene!), or labels like reduced fat!, low sodium!, and whole grain! But unless you're a super savvy shopper, be warned: your diet may conceal some nasty surprises. That low-fat cottage cheese you love? It could be higher in sodium than potato chips. And the low-fat dressing you drizzle on your salad? It could contain nearly as much sugar as two chocolate chip cookies.

The truth is that no manufacturer wants to compromise on flavor, so even healthy-sounding products can contain appalling levels of sugar, salt, and bad fats. To save you time, we've flushed out some of the most surprising diet food offenders - and found some truly healthy alternatives.

5 Weight Loss Excuses You Can Overcome

Fast Food Chicken Caesar Salad
Culprit: McDonald's Premium Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken contains 890 mg of sodium - more than half the recommended daily limit. And that's without the Caesar dressing, which can pile on another 500 mg. (Select the low-fat Italian and it's even 30 percent higher!) In these ready-to-go salads, says Lona Sandon, RD, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, "the worst part is usually the chicken, which is often cooked in a high-sodium marinade for flavor and may also be injected with a sodium solution to keep the meat moist."

Smarter choice: Skip the entrée salad and go for the burger with a garden salad on the side. A McDonald's plain hamburger has 520 mg of sodium (250 calories, 9 g fat); add the side salad (20 calories, 0 g fat, 10 mg sodium) or snack-size fruit-and-walnut salad (210 calories, 8 g fat, 60 mg sodium).

Have you fallen prey to other "fake" diet foods? Keep reading to find out!