Back to School Lunch Solutions

This week I visited the 10! Show in Philadelphia and Bridge Street in Central New York to share some tips to make back to school lunches a little more exciting (and healthy too) plus ways to make whole grains part of your day.

Here are some more details and tips to get you ready for back to school.

Make Fruit and Veggies Easier: At the start of the week, fill a bin in your refrigerator with single serving bags or containers of sliced and prepared fruit and veggies! Then each day when filling lunch boxes aim to have half of the contents be fruit and/or vegetables.

Be creative! Use sandwich cutters like those from The Lunch Punch (http://www.thelunchpunch.com/lp) to create fun shapes. Or switch up sandwiches with a sandwich on a stick: use cubes of meat, cheese, bread and veggies!

Think Outside the Sandwich: Try kid 'sushi'! Mix together chopped veggies (like broccoli and carrots) with light cream cheese or tofutti (cream cheese substitute), spread the mixture evenly over a multi-grain flat bread or tortilla. Then roll up the flat bread and cut into slices. This lunch idea was inspired from some of my aunts on family vacation.

Work in Whole Grains: Whole grains are nutritional powerhouses, some examples include: whole wheat bread, brown rice, millet, buckwheat, oats and quinoa. They get all of their nutrients because the whole grain is intact and provides fiber, vitamins and minerals. Make it a goal to have whole grains at all meals and snacks like: KIND Healthy Grains granola with fruit for breakfast, whole wheat bread or wraps for lunch and mini funny face pizza on whole grain flat breads for snack.

For more ideas on back to school, head to my Website to watch the video segments from this week!

Benefits of Morinda citrifolia (Noni fruit) to herbal traditional part1

All past of Morinda is beneficial, both in leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits, stems or roots. Benefits of Morinda citrifolia (Noni) in traditional various aspects

Leaves of Morinda (Noni fruit)

- Fresh leaves can be used to wrap meat and part of cooking or used as feed for livestock such as silk worm rearing. It can cure ulcers and headache or fever.

- It can be used as an herbal poultice to treat malaria, analgesics, and treatment of tuberculosis, sprains, joint pain and venom from insect bites.

- The noni fruit leaf extract can treat high blood pressure, upset stomach, diabetes, decreased appetite, urinary tract infections, hernia and vitamin A deficiency. Roots

- Used for carving.

- Juice from the root is used cure severe inflammation Flowers

- It can be used to treat a stye

The culture of eating Noni fruit

We can find a lot of the noni fruit in Asia, India and the islands in the Pacific and East Indies Islands.

Sometimes, it is called that cheese fruit or vomit fruit. It is like an egg and it looks like it has eyes all around. The length of Noni fruit is about 4-7 cm.

Noni fruit looks like it has eyes all around

When this fruit is immature, it is green. Then it changes to yellow and almost white, when ripe. This fruit has a strong smell and bitter taste, but it has been very popular in the consumer either raw or cooked.

Some islands in the Pacific Ocean, this fruit are the staple food they eat. Southeast Asians and Australian Aborigines consume the fruit raw, dipped in salt or mixed with curry powder. The noni fruit seeds can be eaten, when roasting until done.

Types of Fat

Unsaturated fats, specifically mono-and polyunsaturated fats, are often referred to as “good” fats because they have a positive effect on cardiovascular health. These fats are typically liquid at room temperature. Monounsaturated fats can be found in some oils, such as canola and olive, and foods such as avocadoes, olives, and nuts. Polyunsaturated fats can be found in oils such as flaxseed and safflower, and from foods such as fish, walnuts, and flax products. The majority of your fat intake should come from mono-and polyunsaturated fats.

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are “essential” polyunsaturated fats, meaning your body cannot make them and they must be consumed through the diet. These essential fatty acids serve many important functions including blood pressure control, assisting in blood clot formation, regulation of blood lipids, and lessening the inflammatory response to injury and injection. They are also essential for normal growth and vision in infants and children.

Saturated fats are typically solid at room temperature. The chemical structure of saturated fats causes them to react differently in the body than unsaturated fats. High saturated fat intake negatively affects cardiovascular health by elevating blood cholesterol, particularly “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and promoting cardiovascular disease. Saturated fats are present primarily in meat, butter, dairy fats, and cheese. Plant sources of saturated fats include coconut and palm oil, and solid vegetable shortening. Commercially prepared cakes, pies, cookies, and other desserts are also typically high in saturated fats.

Trans-fats naturally occur in our foods; however, most trans-fats from our diet are artificially created through a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation is a process that takes a liquid vegetable oil and changes it into a solid fat. This process allows food to be more shelf-stable or last longer. The American Heart Association recommends avoiding both saturated and trans-fats because of the negative impact the have on cholesterol levels. While focusing on mono- and polyunsaturated fats is recommended, consuming some of the less healthy fats is acceptable in a well-balanced diet.

Morinda citrifolia (Noni fruit)

Morinda citrifolia, known commercially as noni and it has many names, such as great morinda, Indian mulberry, beach mulberry, Tahitian noni or call in local languages such as noni (Hawaiian), nono (Tahiti), meng kudu (Malay), and ach (Hindi). It is a shrub or small tree in the family Rubiaceae. It is a fruit native of Southeast Asia, but they are propagation until spread all over India and the islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Noni fruit is fruit from Morinda citrifolia

Morinda citrifolia can grow in the jungle or along the coastal rocks or sand. It is mature when it reaches 18 months and fruits, which has combined weight about 4-8 kg per month throughout the year. Fruit of Morinda called the noni fruit. It is a plant tolerance to saline soils and drought conditions. This make it can spread to the general condition.

Noni fruit is unique that can be observed easily

Morinda may be as high as 9 m. Leaf and fruit are unique that can be observed easily. Its leaves are large look common and deep-leaf veins and they are dark green and glossy. It has flower and fruit throughout the year. Its flowers look small and white. Noni fruits are pungent odor when ripening.

Olympics

I love watching the Olympics. Learning about unfamiliar sports and seeing close finishes is exciting! I couldn't pass up an opportunity to talk about nutrition during the games in this interview with a local newspaper.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20120807/SPORTS/308070002/Torch-Talk-Nutrition-becoming-bigger-part-Games?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s

It Comes Down to the “W’s”

By Chris Freytag

Every pro athlete will tell you it’s about the “W’s”. That goes for you too -  don’t forget to celebrate your big and small wins. Each day, give yourself a chance for a “W”. Whether it’s heading to the gym when you don’t feel like it, or selecting a healthy lunch option, take time to congratulate yourself!

Toning Those Trouble Spots

It would be nice if we could choose to lose our trouble spots--take an inch off our inner thighs, a few inches off our waistline. But it simply doesn't work that way. When fat melts off your body, it melts off your overall body, not only in particular areas. And each person's body eliminates body fat differently, depending on a variety of factors such as age, genetics, hormones and intensity of exercise.

Here is the bottom line: You cannot "spot reduce" body fat. You cannot tone fat. You cannot tighten fat. The only way to get rid of extra body fat is the old-fashioned way...through cardiovascular exercise.

However, even though "spot reducing" body fat doesn't work, "spot sculpting" can!  Spot sculpting is focusing on specific muscle groups when strength training. You can pick the exact muscle groups you want to work each day of the week. The trick to spot sculpting is to be realistic about it. If you have overall body fat to lose, you aren't going to see your buff biceps without eliminating the excess insulation.

So the only win-win strategy to work on those trouble spots is to make your routine a combination of two important elements: cardio exercise for body fat reduction and a consistent strength training program to tone and sculpt your muscles. Work on them simultaneously for best results. 

Train for Running Success

Attention runners! Want to run stronger, faster and with more ease? The only answer isn’t more mileage. If you really want to improve your endurance and performance, you should also engage in weight training and plyometric exercises.The explosive nature of the plyometric exercises and the resistance of the strength exercises have been proved to increase running speed and economy by nearly 5 percent. Now that’s worth replacing some of those miles with!

Power of Pilates

If you are under the impression that crunches are the best way to tone up your abs, you may want to keep reading. Pilates isn’t only a secret for flattening the abs of Hollywood stars, everyday folks are reaping the benefits of a focused mat Pilates workout. 

Take a look at the “flat out” truth….Through a technique called “electromyography”, Auburn University researchers determined that 10 repetitions of the Pilates roll-up, hundred or double-leg stretch exercises activated the deepest abdominal muscles (i.e. transversus abdominis and internal obliques) better than 10 regular crunches. 

Joseph Pilates said, “It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality of the movement.” By making Pilates part of your routine, you may firm up faster. Be sure you find a Pilates instructor to show you the ropes or try a well instructed DVD or class . 

Bye Bye Belly Fat!

One of the most common complaints of women over 40 is that despite their best efforts to exercise consistently and eat properly, their mid-section is expanding. Truth be told, our bodies change as we get older.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. Like the old saying goes, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”  A University of Virginia study found that middle-aged women who exercised at a higher intensity for 16 weeks lost more abdominal fat than those who exercised at a low intensity. 

The low intensity group performed at 50-60% of their maximum effort, mainly through walking. The high intensity group took it up a notch and did a program of walking and jogging. Bottom line, a little extra effort may go a long way. 

High intensity exercise can be performed in intervals to help your body adapt. Start with 30 seconds of jogging followed by 2-3 minute of walking. Keep repeating throughout your workout. Increase the jogging intervals gradually over the course of a few weeks. Your increased intensity and elevated heart rate will result in more calories burned and a smaller waist line. This is good news for your belly and ultimately for your heart. 

About the Author

Chris Freytag is a health and fitness expert, blogger, author and motivational speaker. She has been teaching fitness classes and personal training for over 20 years. She is a contributing editor for Prevention Magazine; the fitness contributor for the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis; and sits on the Board of Directors for the American Council on Exercise.

Chris has authored 5 books; has created dozens of fitness DVD's; is a top trainer for Exercise TV; and sells her signature line of healthy kitchen and fitness products on QVC. Visit Chris' website, www.chrisfreytag.com, and Facebook page for more information.