Wellness Wednesday Content provided by our partner Dr. Martin Fried ~
Now that Valentine’s Day is behind us, we can take a serious look at the foods we eat when snacking and having desserts. There are many choices available and it isn’t that difficult to make smarter decisions that will have an overall positive impact on your nutritional health.
Dr. Fried created simple guidelines to help you with this process:
Serve small portions. You do not to eliminate all sweets and desserts. Try using smaller bowls and plates and portion sizes. Consider sharing a portion of birthday cake or candy bar.
Sip Smarter! Soda and sweet drinks contain sugar without providing any nutritional value. Offer water or consider alternatives to sugar drinks. Try diluting them in half with water as a better option.
Choose not to offer sweets as a reward. Be kind and give yourself other rewards instead of food-especially sugar containing foods.
Make fruit the dessert of choice. Serve baked apples, pears or a fruit salad instead of high calorie desserts.
Make new snacks from dry whole grain cereal and unsalted nuts or seeds. Provide ingredients that allow for healthier options that are low in sugar and processed foods.
Read labels and choose foods that have the lowest amount of sugar. I recommend under 10 grams of sugar per serving as a guideline.
Treats- are great once in a while, but not an everyday thing. Limit sweet treats to special occasions and make sure these special occasions don’t happen daily.
Try not to replace meals with candy or cookies. If you don’t eat a healthy meal, having high sugar foods is not a good substitute.
Call 732 -682- 3425 to contact Dr Fried and learn about the importance of eliminating sweet treats and desserts from your diet. Dr. Fried is a gastroenterologist in Ocean, New Jersey who combines the practice of medicine with a specialization in nutrition. He is one of only 300 doctors across the country who specializes in this area of medicine. As a Physician Nutrition Specialist, Dr. Fried brings a unique point of view to his patients because his training and his approach is more comprehensive than traditional primary care physicians.
“Your health and wellness is my primary concern,” Martin D. Fried, MD