I just wanted to formally update my readers that I am now accepting Blue Cross Blue Shield and Harvard Pilgrim health insurance.  If your policy covers nutrition services and you are in the Boston area, it's as easy as a co-pay!

I received an email from Diana Limbach, program manager for Take Back the Kitchen (TBK), a program at The Haley House in Boston.  She informed me that TBK is proud to host a free open cooking class for youth of all ages this Saturday, Jan 23 from 3-5 pm.

This evening I have the pleasure of giving a seminar on "Food & Mood" to a group of 15 friends who live in the Boston area.  They all decided to chip in and hire me to give a nutrition seminar to their group of gal pals.  I was so impressed that they wanted to spend their time with me, hearing about nutrition!  What a great way to bond and strengthen friendships in a healthy way.

Delicously steamed veggies often play center stage in many of my meals.  And after talking to a lot of clients, I realized that many of you are cooking veggies in a pot.  Stop!  Pot cooked veggies deplete many of the precious vitamins and minerals and leave your veggies soggy and overcooked.  Ugh.

I highly recommend buying an affordable food steamer.  Mine practically stays on my kitchen counter we use it so much.  It's awesome for perfectly cooking broccoli, green beans, asparagus, sweet potatoes, you name it!  I often give my veggies a light steam, then transfer to a pan with a bit of olive oil and crushed black pepper for a bit of flavor.

I googled steamer options and found what looks like a fantastic and highly affordable option at Target.  Check it out.

Here is a recipe created by yours truly for deliciously steamed green beans.

Marci's Nutritious & Delicious Zesty Lime Green Beans

Green Beans
Olive Oil (couple of tsp.)
Fresh lime juice (couple of squeezes)
Freshly minced garlic (1 clove)
Crushed red pepper (to taste)
Crushed black pepper (to taste)

Steam green beans to desired consistency (10-15 min.)
Heat remaining ingredients in a pan for 30 sec. over medium heat
Place steamed beans in pan and saute on high for a couple of minutes.
Serve hot and ENJOY!

Marci Anderson, Registered Dietitian, Licensed Nutritionist
Cambridge, MA

My friend Kate shared her fabulous Black Bean and Sweet Potato recipe and it tasted so good I wanted to share it with all of you.  It's packed full of smoky flavor and I love the contrast of the sweetness from the potatoes and creaminess from the beans.  Mmmm!  It's also packed with natural sources of high fiber and plant-based antioxidants.  Pair it with some steamed broccoli for a delicious winter meal.  Plus it makes great leftovers.  Enjoy!

Kate’s Black Bean Sweet Potato Enchiladas

3 cups raw sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (I used one large)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups cooked black beans (I used one can)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
8 flour tortillas (I use whole grain)

Saute sweet potatoes and onion in a large frying pan in olive oil just until tender. Add cumin and cinnamon and cook until fragrant. Add beans and cook until heated through. Divide bean mixture among the tortillas and roll up. Place in a 9 x 13 inch baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Smother with prepared enchilada sauce (see below). Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Garnish with avocado, etc.

Enchilada Sauce
From Cooks Illustrated

1 medium onion , chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 medium cloves garlic , minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
1 cup water

Combine the onion, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the onions have softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water, bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Your neighborhood dietitian in Cambridge,
Marci

Marion Nestle, author of “Food Politics,” “Safe Food,” and “What to Eat” and professor in the nutrition, food studies and public health department at New York University was recently interviewed by the San Fracisco Chronicle about her food prediction trends for 2010.  I highly recommend checking out Nestle’s blog for a ton of really reliable/non-biased nutrition information.  But in the mean time, here are Nestle’s Top 10 predictions with regards food, nutrition, and diet.

Q: What do you think will happen with food and nutrition in 2010?

A: I wish I could read the leaves while I drink tea, but the best I can do is tell you which issues I'm going to be watching closely this year. Hunter Public Relations recently asked 1,000 Americans which food-related issues they thought were most important in 2009. The top three? Food safety, hunger and food prices. For the decade, the winner was childhood obesity.

I have my own top 10 list of hot-button issues for 2010, and here they are:

Hunger: More than 35 million Americans get benefits to which they are entitled under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly, food stamps). The economy may be improving, but not quickly enough for millions who have lost jobs, health care and housing. Will Congress do anything this year to strengthen the safety net for the poor? It needs to.

Childhood obesity: Rates of childhood obesity may have stabilized, but we all want to figure out how to prevent kids from gaining so much weight that they develop adult chronic diseases. I expect to see more efforts to improve school food and make neighborhoods more conducive to walking to school, riding bikes and playing outside.

Food safety regulation: Congress is sitting on a bill to give the Food and Drug Administration some real authority for food safety. The bill does not do what is most needed - establish a single food-safety agency - but is a reasonable step in the right direction. Let's hope Congress gets to it soon.

Food advertising and labels: The long-dormant FDA and Federal Trade Commission are getting busy at last. In the wake of the Smart Choices fiasco (go to sfgate.com/ZIZT), the FDA is working to make package labels less misleading and easier to understand.

The agencies have proposed nutrition standards for products marketed to children. These voluntary standards fall far short of my preference - an outright ban on marketing junk foods to kids - but puts food companies on notice that their products are under scrutiny.

The FDA is also working on designs for front-of-package labels. I'm hoping it chooses a "traffic-light" system that marks foods with a green (any time), yellow (sometimes) or red (hardly ever) dot. Expect plenty of opposition from the makers of red-dotted products.

Meat: The meat industry has been under fire for raising food animals under inhumane conditions, using unnecessary hormones and antibiotics, mistreating immigrant labor, and polluting soil and water. Now it is also under fire for contributing to climate change.

Recent films like "Food, Inc." and "Fresh" and books such as Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals" are encouraging people to become vegetarians or to eat less meat to promote the health of people and the planet. I'll bet the meat industry pushes back hard on this one.

Sustainable agriculture: The back-to-the land movement has loads of people buying local food, choosing foods produced under more sustainable conditions and growing their own food. The number of small farms in America increased last year for the first time in a century. Seed companies cannot keep up with the demand. It will be fun to follow what happens with this trend.

Genetically modified (GM) foods: My book, "Safe Food," comes out in a new edition this year, so I am paying especially close attention to debates about GM foods. The FDA's 1994 decision to prohibit labeling of GM foods continues to haunt the food biotechnology industry. By now, nearly all American soybeans and sugar beets (95 percent) are GM, as is most corn (60 percent). But when the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved GM sugar beets in 2005, it neglected to perform the required environmental impact assessment. On that basis, environmental groups want to ban further planting of GM sugar beets. The dispute is now in the courts.

Chemical contaminants: The FDA has yet to release its report on the safety of bisphenol A, the plastic chemical that acts as an endocrine disrupter. Shouldn't it be banned? The bottling industry says no. Watch for fierce arguments over this one.

Salt: Nutrition standards allow 480 mg sodium (the equivalent of more than 1 gram of salt) per serving. A half cup of canned soup provides that much. A whole cup gives you 4 grams and the whole can gives you 8 grams - much more than anyone needs. Nearly 80 percent of salt in American diets comes from processed and restaurant foods. Companies are under pressure to cut down on salt. Will they? Only if they have to.

Dietary advice: The new edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which the government publishes every five years, is due this year. What will it say? I can't wait to find out.

Those are the issues I am tracking these days. My one crystal-ball prediction? We will be hearing a lot more about them this year.

As I a dietitian who is constantly thinking about food and nutrition, I have some ideas about what will be hot topics this year.  What are your predictions?

I was recently invited to a friend's house for dinner and wanted to bring an appetizer that was tasty, easy to transport, and something different from my usual chips with bean salsa.  So I pulled this recipe from my "Recipes to Try" binder.  It was very simple and a great change of pace.  The flavors meld really well together, without being too overwhelming.  I served it with sliced sourdough bread. This recipe makes for a great party dip but my husband and I also enjoyed leftovers for a light lunch.  Enjoy!

Cashew-Mushroom Pate'
Ingredients
1/2 cup cashews
1 1/2 tablespoons nonhydrogenated vegan margarine
4 cups sliced mushrooms (buy pre-sliced this is the most time-consuming part of the recipe)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced (1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons cooking sherry
2 teaspoons chunky peanut butter
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Roasted red pepper strips, for garnish
Sourdough toast points, optional

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread cashews on baking sheet, and toast 7 to 10 minutes, or until pale brown, shaking pan occasionally.

2. Heat margarine in large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onion, garlic, curry powder, garlic salt, and cumin, and saute 10 to 12 minutes, or until mushrooms are browned and most of liquid has evaporated. Add sherry, and cook 1 to 2 minutes more, or until alcohol has evaporated. Transfer to blender or food processor, and add cashews and peanut butter.

3. Puree mixture in blender or food processor until relatively smooth. Transfer to bowl, and chill 2 hours, or overnight. Scoop pate into center of plate or bowl, sprinkle with parsley, and decorate with red pepper strips. Surround with sourdough toast points, and serve.

Here is a link to the recipe from the Vegetarian Times website.

Your food lovin' dietitian in Cambridge,
Marci

In my first blog posting on New Year’s Resolutions, I promised to provide some guidelines that may help you figure out how to make some resolutions that work for you.  Here they are.

Step 1: refer to the questions in my last blog post and spend a bit of time thinking and journaling about them

Step 2: based on the information you gathered, decide whether or not any of your past resolutions are worth keeping

Step 3: select one goal and use the “SMART goal” strategy to re-define it

S: Specific
M: Measureable
A: Attainable
R: Realistic
T: Timely

Here is an example of a goal that is not-so-helpful:
Eat healthier in 2010. (In fact that little picture I posted has a list of 7, totally unhelpful goals.)
This goal is vague, all-encompassing, intangible, and provides no action plan to changing your habits.

Here is an example of a SMART goal which actually helps you accomplish something:
Eat two pieces of fruit each day.
This goal is much more specific and trackable.  You can sit down at the end of the day and know whether or not you’ve accomplished it.

I’d also encourage you to consider using a tracking sheet for your goals.  I have one that I use with some of my clients.  If you’d like a copy, send me an email at marci@marciRD.com and I’d be happy to send you a copy.

Creating specific, realistic goals that actually empower you to make positive change is really hard work!  And changing nutrition habits is particularly tough because our food habits are heavily engrained from years of eating.  Plus they are also influenced by relationships, emotions, and even logistical planning!

So if you feel stuck with your goals- send ‘em in.  I’d be happy to give you a little feedback.

Wish you all the best for a healthy 2010.
Marci, Registered Dietitian

So I just saw this article on ABC's website.

Taco Bell is unleashing a weight loss advertisement campaign with Christine who lost weight on a Taco Bell diet like Subway's Jared Fogle. But dieticians are on the fence about whether these campaigns ultimately hurt or help a nation facing an obesity epidemic.

Check out Taco's Bell's new website for their "Drive-Thru Diet." I think it's hilarious that at the bottom of the page they state that "Drive-Thru-Diet® is not a weight-loss program."  Isn't that the crux of their markeing campaign?  Don't they want us to believe that we can eat Taco Bell all of the time and lose weight- just like Christine?

I would love to hear your guys' thoughts on this.  While having healthier options at fast-food restaurants is wonderful, is it really good promote it as a daily diet?

My two cents: Taco Bell is a company looking to sell a product...and weight loss sells.