RDtipoftheday's Gift Guide for your Chef, Baker, or Foodie Friends: Under $10

The Christmas season can be hurried and rushed. Sometimes, we lose focus on what's important. This season should be a time to be thankful and remember our foundation for hope.

If you are like me, I sometimes take on too much, get too busy, and miss the importance of this season. What I'd like to do is help free up some of your time. Be a helping hand. Over the next few days, I'm sharing some gift guides for your favorite chef, baker, or foodie friend. My hope is that these gift lists will be a time saver. You can find great gifts for your family and friends. And, have more time to focus on the season. Merry Christmas!

 

Cooking Tools 
These make a great gift. You can choose from silicone, wood, or nonstick. Some of my favorites come from William Sonoma and Crate & Barrel.

Kitchen Towels

I LOVE kitchen towels. It seems like you can never have too many. I love the size and absorbency of the towels I recently got from Crate & Barrel. They make a great gift and really cute gift wrap.

Striped Dish Towel $5.95

Tomato Dish Towel $5.95

Steamer
I love this steamer basket from World Market.  It is stainless steel and turns any pot into a steamer. It works great steaming vegetables. This is a great gift for someone working on eating healthier or someone with a small kitchen. This steamer is compact and under $5!  

Measuring Spoons

Every chef and baker needs measuring cups and spoons. Why not get cute ones? Anthropologie has really cute sets of cups and spoons. I also love my stainless steel measuring spoons from William Sonoma.

 

Special Ingredients

Some spices and herbs are expensive, but they can make a great gift. I like gifting pure vanilla extract or vanilla beans, homemade spice blends, or herb plants make great gifts. Considering gifting a rosemary, basil, lavender, or thyme plant for your favorite foodie.

4 ounces Vanilla Extract; Image via Wikepedia

Vanilla Beans

Please note this is not a sponsored post. I'm simply wanted to share some of my favorite tools and products with you to save you time and focus on having a Merry Christmas.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

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Spring Salad Recipe: Fresh Fruit and Spinach Salad

I love Spring! Everything seems green, new, and alive! I even love the rain . . . it's good for naps (hahaha). And, we all know April showers bring May flowers.

This year, I started a small herb garden. We will see if I have my grandfather's green thumb . . . or not. Let me know if you have any tips for growing herbs in containers. I would love to hear from you.

I love herbs! They are a great way to add flavor to dishes without adding fat, sugar, or salt. Since I am a clinical dietitian (aka I work mainly in a hospital setting), I have many patients who are trying to limit added fat, added sugar, or sodium in their diet for various health reasons. 

So this week, I plan to share some healthy recipes that are limited in added sugar, added saturated fat, or sodium. These recipes are healthy and full of flavor! How can that be?!? Well, we are using some fresh, seasonal ingredients. We are also going to be using local herbs (out of my garden) and aromatic vegetables to bring tons of flavor without all the fat, sugar, and salt. Stay tuned!

Today, I am featuring one of my favorite salads. It reminds me of Spring and provides fruit and vegetables in one dish! I made this for my family on Easter, and it was a hit!

Ingredients
Strawberries
Blueberries
Pecans
Spinach
Mint
Vinaigrette (I used a raspberry vinaigrette; it was delicious)
*Feta 
(*Optional: you may omit the feta if you don't like this cheese, or if you are watching your sodium or saturated fat intake.)

Wash all fruits, herbs, and vegetables. Toss all the ingredients together. Dress with vinaigrette before serving. Enjoy!

If you've never tried a salad that mixes fruits and vegetables, this is a great one to start with. If you have a friend or family member with a sweet tooth, this is also a great salad to make for them. Try it!

For even more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter .

Healthy RD Challenge: Day 2

How are you doing with the #HealthyRD Challenge? I hope you are doing well. Don't be discourage if you've hit some roadblocks on your journey to becoming healthier. Obstacles are a normal part of change. Here's a reminder of what I've done for the Healthy RD Challenge: Day 1.

What is the Healthy RD Challenge?
This is my challenge for each of us to take one step a day on the road to being healthier . . . the healthy road or #HealthyRD if you will. If you participate in the #HealthyRD challenge, make sure you use the hashtag #HealthyRD and tag or tweet me, @RDtipoftheday, for a chance to be featured! I am sharing the five healthy choices I'm making each day this week. 

Healthy RD Challenge: Day 2
Today, I worked on my garden, which is my #HealthyRD Day 2 healthy choice. My grandfather has a large garden . . . or a small farm depending on your viewpoint. I love the idea of growing things, but do not love the idea of meeting snakes in the garden. I do live in the South you know. I thought I would follow in my grandfather's footsteps with very small baby steps.

I love cooking with herbs and spices. Adding herbs to your recipes is a great way to add flavor without adding fat or sodium. If you are watching your dietary sodium or fat intake, try adding herbs to add flavor without adding fat or salt.

I started growing some herbs around Valentine's Day and Easter. I keep them indoors in a sunny spot because it still cold outside. I currently have basil, rosemary, sage, and mint. Since I recently started growing herbs, I would greatly appreciate any tips you have to keep herbs alive. Please comment on the blog, tag me on Instagram, or tweet me, @RDtipoftheday, with tips to keep my herb garden alive and healthy.

How will you choose to be healthy today?

Check with your personal RD or MD before starting a new diet or exercise program to make sure it is healthy, safe, and the right choice for you.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter . You can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin.

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Dietary Sodium and Heart Health: 10 Tips to Reduce Your Salt Intake

February is American Heart Health Month, so we are looking at lifestyle changes you can make to be more heart healthy.

So, how can you be heart healthy? 
- Eat a Healthy Diet
- Be Physically Active
- Check in with Your Doctor

Today we are focusing on healthy dietary choices to be more heart healthy. A diet low in sodium can help keep your heart healthy. High sodium diets are linked to many health consequences including: heart failure, enlarged heart muscle, kidney disease, kidney stones, osteoporosis, and stroke.

So where does sodium come from?
Most of our dietary sodium comes from table salt, which is sodium chloride. We get sodium in processed foods where it is added to increase shelf-life and enhance food's taste. Foods high in sodium include: cheese, condiments, deli meats, pizza, processed foods, soy sauce, and many more. We also add salt when cooking or eating foods. And, we get sodium from many foods consumed when we eat out. Many restaurants or "fast foods" are high in dietary sodium.

How much sodium should I consume?
The American Heart Association recommends reducing dietary sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams per day to promote heart health. The average American usually eats 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day. That's more than double what the AHA recommends! For reference, there are ~2,300 milligrams of sodium in 1 teaspoon of salt.

How can I reduce my sodium intake?
1) Choose low sodium foods

• Read the Nutrition Facts Labels when grocery shopping. Try to find things < or = 140 milligrams of sodium per serving. This will help keep your dietary sodium intake from processed foods low.
• Look for lower sodium substitutes. Many products offer reduced sodium alternatives. For example, most canned vegetables and soups have a lower sodium alternative.
• Choose food naturally low in sodium. Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium. Canned fruits and vegetables usually contain sodium. You can drain the liquid and rinse canned foods until not foamy (see picture). This will greatly decrease the sodium. 
• Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium, and eating fruits and vegetables has many health benefits. The DASH diet, which is an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, is low in sodium, high in potassium which is a mineral naturally present in many fruits and vegetables, and has been shown to decrease blood pressure (aka hypertension).

2) Add flavor without adding salt

• A lot of our dietary sodium is added while cooking. So, try reduce the amount of salt you add when cooking. 
• You can flavor foods with a salt substitute. Salt substitutes are made from potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride (table salt). Note: Some medications or disease require a low potassium diet, so check with your RD or MD before starting a salt substitute.
• Use herbs and spices while cooking. Salt adds flavor, so if we decrease salt we need to increase flavor with something else. For example, try using garlic powder or fresh garlic instead of garlic salt when cooking. You still get the garlic flavor but without the salt!
• Use aromatic vegetables to add flavor. I'm from Louisiana, and most Cajun or Creole recipes start with adding onion, bell pepper, and celery. Why? Because these three aromatic vegetables add flavor!

I hope these ten tips will help you reduce your salt and dietary sodium intake. Please check with your RD or MD before starting a new diet. Some medications and medical conditions require regulation of dietary sodium intake.

If you have a family history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart attack (myocardial infarctions), please check in with your doctor to get a physical. Tell your doctor your family history of heart disease, your concerns for your health, and ask about what screening you should do.

We will go through each of the dietary and lifestyle topics this week to look more in depth on how you can be heart healthy. Stay tuned.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter . You can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin.