Category: Diet

March 01, 2019 at 08:15AM by CWC Even if you live in a city with endless restaurant options, chances are you still end up at Olive Garden from time to time. (Those breadsticks are everything.) But with “endless,” “bottomless,” and “never ending” options galore on the menu, sticking to a health-minded eating plan isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Fortunately, there are a decent amount of healthy options to choose from if you know what to look for, says executive chef and registered dietitian Jessica Swift, RD. Her general advice: Share your order or take half home for later, since Olive Garden’s serving sizes are pretty massive. “I would also suggest taking advantage of the vegetable side dishes, like asparagus with minced onions, instead of just focusing on the pasta,” Swift says. But if you’re craving pasta, opt for one that has a tomato-based sauce rather than a creamy sauce to save on calories and saturated fat. And unless you have a gluten allergy, you don’t need to sub their GF pasta for the sake of better health. “Nutritionally, the gluten-free pasta is right in line with the regular pasta,” she says. “It’s actually lower in protein because it’s made with potato starch and not wheat.” However, if you’re on an eating plan like Mediterranean diet, ketogenic, or Whole30, things can get a little more challenging when navigating the menu. Here, Swift gives tips on how to enjoy Olive Garden—in all its glory—while still sticking with your health goals. Mediterranean diet Menu picks: Herb-Grilled Salmon; Chicken Giardino What an

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February 22, 2019 at 02:15AM by CWC Even though the Mediterranean diet is once again basking in the sunny spotlight, plenty of people are Team Keto. The low-carb/high-fat ketogenic diet was the buzziest eating plan of 2018, with advocates raving about how they experienced weight loss, fewer sugar cravings, and even reduced anxiety. Even brands have caught on, crowding the market with “keto-friendly” products that make sticking to the eating plan easier. Not among the legions of keto fans: registered dietitian Brigitte Zeitlin, MPH, RD, owner of BZ Nutrition. “The keto diet was created by doctors to help treat children with seizure disorders, like epilepsy, from whom medication was no longer working and it was monitored under medical supervision,” she says. “This diet was not intended for generally healthy people to use—and it wasn’t intended for weight loss. The fact that the children were under medical supervision is a pretty good indictor that this diet was not created for the general public to adapt. I was actually really surprised that this form of medical nutrition therapy has become the latest in fad dieting.” Yet here we all are. While many do say the keto diet has been beneficial for them, Zietlin is wary of anyone sticking to it long-term. Unlike the Mediterranean diet, for example, the ketogenic diet is so new (at least in terms of how people are using it as adults) that scientists haven’t been able to study what the effects are of keeping up with it for a longer period of time.

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