Finn Crisp: Real taste, real crunch, real food nutrition

How are you living up to that New Year’s resolution to lose a bit of weight? We all fight the battle of the bulge, but it can be a lot easier if we’re not constantly denying ourselves something satisfying and tasty. Fortunately, whole grains have been shown help you lose weight and keep it off - and the crispy crunch of Scandanavian ‘crackers’ are a nifty way to eat right while eating a little.I’ve been a lifelong fan of these crispbreads - growing up in a predominately Swedish family. They’re so easy to top with good things like hummus, nut butters, low fat cheeses and more, and yet only pack about 30 to 45 calories per slice. More importantly, you get the goodness of real whole grains and intact fiber - rather than the empty fiber (inulin, oat fiber, wheat fiber or polydestrose ) contained in a lot of the current crop of big name brands. These empty, isolated fiber sources that fill the popular big brands ramp up the overall fiber content - and that looks great on the label - but they offer little nutritionally speaking.

Interestingly, since these great little crisps are imported from Finland, they have honest ingredient labeling - like we could have here were it not for the lobbyists running our government. Note the percentages of each ingredient are given:

Wholegrain rye flour (59%), linseeds, oat flakes (8%), wholegrain wheat flour (6%), wholegrain oat flour (6%), wholegrain barley flour (6%), sesame seeds, water, yeast, wholegrain buckwheat flour (2%), salt (1,2%) and emulsifier (E 471).

Here in this country, you have to guess according to the order the ingredients are listed. Ignorance is bliss - or obese.

At breakfast, crumble these into a bowl and top with berries and plain yogurt for a fast out-the-door meal that is super low calorie, low sugar, low fat and high nutrition.

For lunch, you can top them with Tsatziki made with non-fat, high protein Greek yogurt for a snack that will keep you filled up. You might also try low-fat neufchatel cheese with shrimp and fresh dill, chopped egg and anchovy, buffalo mozzarella with salsa, tuna salad with cornichon pickles.

In the evening, they go great with soups and stews instead of bread. And nibbling on them with just a bit of nut butter and jam, with some hot tea, makes a low guilt bedtime snack.

Give ‘em a try. They’re always in my pantry as a healthy go-to when I’ve got the ‘crunchies’.

-maven

Snacking: A necessary evil that can be tamed

Normally, I don’t approve of snacking between meals. I mean, really, if your a normal, reasonably healthy person and you can’t get through three to four hours without feeding yourself …. get real. Snacking is usually a symptom of:

1- Being bored or thirsty.

2- Not having eaten a proper meal, such as a healthy breakfast or sat down and mindfully eaten your lunch or dinner. Scarfing faux food on the fly is one reason you’ll be driven to snacking on unhealthy, unsatisfying choices.

Snacking mindlessly, on unhealthy faux-foods, is where it really goes off the tracks and into the dietary ditch. So, why not arm yourself with the right snacks, if you’re snacking inclined?

Click to read more ...

Health and wellness factoids

Courtesy of the University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter, April, 2009 issue:

For the first time, more Americans are obese than merely overweight. about 34% of us are now obese, up from 23% two decades ago, while the percentage for overweight has stayed at 33%. And 6% are severely obese, double the earlier number. For someone 5’8” tall, overweight is 165 to 196 pounds, obese is over 197 pounds, and severely obese starts at 263 pounds, based on body mass index (BMI). To figure out where you stand, go to the BMI calculator at the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute.

Click to read more ...