Katina's Nutritional Coaching Corner: Spiralize your way to a healthy meal!

By Katina Sayers

Eating on the Run: Will it Spiralize? Will it Rice?                          

Source: Clean Eating

How many vegetables can be spiralized? Riced? The staff at Clean Eating (January/February 2019) set out to answer that question and it turns out that over 30 vegetables can stand up to either spiralizing or ricing. These days, it’s easy to purchase a spiralizer at your favorite cooking store or prepackaged offerings can shorten-up dinner preparation. A food processor will be necessary to rice vegetables. (Note: always use raw vegetables with the spiralizer or food processor.) With a push to reduce the amount of refined carbohydrates in our diets, spiralized and riced vegetables are a good substitute for rice and pasta/noodles in just about any dish. I personally love the color combinations on my plate when I spiralize zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots as a base for pasta sauce.

Spiralize these:

• Apples
• Beets
• Bell peppers (use these to make a colorful salad base)
• Broccoli stalks
• Butternut squash
• Carrots
• Celeriac
• Chayote
• Cucumber
• Daikon
• Melon
• Onion
• Parsnip
• Pear
• Potato
• Radish (use to garnish salads or tacos)
• Sweet potato (a base for pasta sauces and stir-fries)
• Turnip
• Yellow squash
• Zucchini

Rice these:

• Beets
• Broccoli (ideal base for a bowl)
• Butternut squash
• Carrots (adds sweetness to any dish)
• Cauliflower
• Daikon
• Jicama (a good substitute for rice; very crunchy texture)
• Parsnip
• Plantain
• Romanesco
• Rutabaga
• Sweet potato
• Turnip
• Yellow squash
• Zucchini

Nutrition in the News:  What Does a Healthy Meal Look Like These Days? 

Source: Boston Globe

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health recently released (February 2019) a set of simple eating guidelines for Americans. Citing Walter Willet, M.D., professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Boston Globe reports that these simple guidelines can help Americans wade through the confusing and sometimes conflicting sea of nutrition information.

Here’s what we should be eating according:                        

• Lots of vegetables and fruit (this should be the biggest part of your plate/bowl; limit fruit juice)
• Whole grains
• Beans
• Nuts
• Fish (about two times per week; canned is ok)
• Lean poultry
• Moderate amount of healthy plant-based fats
• Add-in herbs and spices to make food taste good
• Eat a variety of foods; don’t limit yourself

Here’s what we should be avoiding:

• Sugary beverages (sodas and energy drinks)
• Trans fat (avoid deep fried foods)
• Too much red meat (eat grass-fed beef when possible just a few times a month)
• Cheese
• Other forms of saturated fat
• Refined or the “bad kind” of carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, sweetened cereals, and pastries

The bottom line, according to Willet, “Choose healthy forms of protein and fat (keep animal fats low), eat whole grains and lots of vegetables, and some fruit, and you’ve got it.” 

How well does your current diet match these simple guidelines? What could you be doing better?

Katina Sayers is the owner/operator of Katina’s Nutritional Coaching Corner.   She has an extensive background in health and education that began with degrees in exercise physiology, health and physical education, community health, and culminating with a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction.  She completed an advanced certificate of study in Integrative Nutrition and Health Coaching from the renowned Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York City. For the last four years, she has worked one-on-one with clients, presented a multitude of nutrition topics for large and small audiences, contracted with businesses to implement worksite wellness initiatives, and currently manages day-to-day food service operations at a local non-profit agency, as well as directs activities related to nutrition and health.  Katina can be reached at ksayerswalker@gmail.com.