I’m diabetic, and have this terrible issue snacking at night. I’ve tried different things like popcorn (sorry, it’s the microwave kind), trail mix, sunflower seeds (without the shells basically a busy snack), and pistachio nuts (found that they contain A LOT of carbs). Do you have any other suggestions?

First, let’s talk about your nighttime snacking. A case of the munchies could mean your blood sugar is low. To address that, try eating smaller, balanced meals throughout the day to keep your blood sugar levels stable. If you find you’re still hungry in the evenings, choose a snack that has a mix of protein, fat and carbohydrates to keep you satisfied. You should also watch portion sizes and eat your snack mindfully so you don’t spend the whole evening munching on empty calories.

Second, while you may be snacking too much, several of your choices are perfect evening snacks if you only choose one and make sure to limit yourself to a single serving. Some good choices are nuts and seeds (their carb content is perfectly acceptable), low-fat cheese with a few whole grain crackers, or vegetables with hummus dip. You should try to avoid snacks that are almost all carbohydrate (like your popcorn), though, and watch out for snacks that might seem like a good balance but are usually full of hidden sugar, like trail mix.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

It’s time to answer another question in our Ask Your RD series. Thanks to our Twitter friend @KitchenParade, we’ve got another great question. @KitchenParade’s question references the Glycemic Index, so before we get to the answer, let’s start with some background information for those who aren’t familiar with the Glycemic Index (GI).

What is the Glycemic Index?

The Glycemic Index rates foods based on how they affect a person’s blood sugar levels. Foods are rated as High (70 or above), Medium (56 to 69) or Low (55 or below) on the index. The lower a food’s GI rating, the less fluctuation in blood sugar and insulin levels it causes.

What are the benefits of eating according to the Glycemic Index?

Some studies have shown that eating a diet that includes mostly low-GI foods and limits high GI foods as well as foods high in saturated fat can decrease the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and possibly even heart disease. The basic tenets of GI-based diets (eat more whole grains, high-fiber fruits and vegetables and limit sweet treats, refined grains and high-fat foods) are good healthy living guidelines, whether your aware of the GI value of your foods or not.

And now for the question:

Do steel-cut oats have a lower glycemic impact than old-fashioned rolled oats?

It turns out that the GI rating for steel-cut oats and old-fashioned rolled oats is very similar. Both types of oats fall into the Low to Low-Medium range (about 45-59) on the Glycemic Index, depending on the brand and how they’re prepared. So no matter which type of oats you choose to eat, they’ll probably have a very similar affect on your blood sugar and insulin levels.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

With the recent FDA approval of stevia what can you tell me about Truvia & how it compares to Splenda? ~ @AngEngland

Stevia is an herb used widely in South and Central America as a natural sweetener that, until recently, was not FDA approved. However, stevia and stevia extracts have been widely available in the US as an herbal supplement.

While the stevia leaf and other stevia extracts are still only available as herbal supplements, the purified stevia extract Rebaudioside A (Reb A) has been given a generally regarded as safe (GRAS) rating by the FDA. Reb A is the compound stevia-based sweeteners like Truvia and PureVia contain.

Splenda, on the other hand is a sucralose-based sugar substitute. Sucralose has been approved by the FDA since 1998 and is about 600 times sweeter than sugar. To offset this difference in sweetness, Splenda is sold in a variety of forms, including a baking blend and a bulked up form that alters the sweetness and allows you to replace sugar with Splenda cup-for-cup.

Stevia-based sweeteners like Truvia and PureVia don’t come in bulked-up forms and can be more than 200 times sweeter than sugar. Like most artificial sweeteners, adding stevia-based sweeteners to your food will take adjustment, although websites for each of the major brands offer suggestions for cooking and baking with them.

So there you have it; the basics of stevia and sucralose. The choice to replace sugar with either a sucralose- or stevia-based sweetener is a personal one. They’re both FDA-approved and neither increases blood sugar levels. And if you’re looking to reduce your calorie intake, using a sugar substitute may be an effective way to do it.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

I am on a diet at the minute and have tried diets in the past but have always failed to stick with it, what foods can I eat that will encourage me to stick with my diet or recipes? – Comment from reader Kate

The reason why so many diets fail is that they require us to give up our favorite foods or extremely limit our food intake. While that can work in the short term, the weight loss that results usually won’t be permanent. If you want to lose weight and stay motivated, try something revolutionary: Don’t diet.

I know it seems counter intuitive, but diets are designed as a short-term approach to weight loss. Diets are extreme and usually impossible to maintain for extended periods of time. They require commitments to behaviors that most of us can’t stick to for more than a few months at a time. Diets work to help you drop pounds quickly, but when it’s time to keep that weight off, they’re useless.

So instead of jumping into another diet, I’m suggesting that you take a long-term approach to your weight loss. Consider what type of eating and exercise routine you can stick to—forever. Yes, forever. Or at least for the foreseeable future. If you can’t imagine yourself giving up chocolate ice cream for good or exercising for an hour every single day for the next year, then don’t. Instead, come up with two or three things you are willing and able to do and commit to them—for the long term.

The results won’t be as dramatic as the would if you were following the most recent fad diet, but they’re much more likely to last. And isn’t that what we’re all really looking for?

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

I keep hearing and reading that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I just can’t seem to squeeze it into my busy morning routine. Can you recommend some simple, on-my-way-out-the-door breakfasts that I can eat on my way to work?

Starting your day with breakfast is very important. It gets your metabolism going and boosts your energy for the day. If you don’t have time to sit down and eat a good hearty breakfast, try one of these on-the-go morning meals. They can all be purchased in single servings or made ahead of time and portioned.

Breakfast Bars

If you’re purchasing breakfast bars for a quick morning meal, stick to ones that are low in added sugar and high in fiber. For healthy homemade version, try the recipe below:

Oat and Almond Bars
Makes 24 bars, about 155 calories each

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups uncooked old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13×9 inch pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix the oil, honey, vanilla and egg until well blended. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir the oats, flour, sugar, almonds, wheat germ, raisins and salt until well mixed. Using a rubber spatula, stir the liquid mixture into the oat mixture until well combined.

Scrape the mixture into the lined pan and pat the mixture out evenly. (It may help to wet your hand to keep the mixture from sticking.)

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the edges are pale golden. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack, cooling about an hour until completely cool.

When cool, use the foil to transfer the baked oat sheet to a cutting board. Cut the sheet lengthwise into 4 bars. Then cut each bar into 6 pieces. To store, keep in an air-tight container at room temperature. Keeps up to 2 weeks.

Breakfast Sandwiches

You can usually find these in the frozen food section, but watch out for ones that are high in fat or sodium. You can also make them yourself using the simple recipe below.

Ingredients:

6 eggs
6 whole grain English muffins, toasted
6 slices low-fat cheese

Instructions:

Coat the bottom of an empty cottage cheese container (or microwaveable container of similar size (about the diameter or an English muffin) with non-stick cooking spray. In a small bowl, whip one egg. Place in the microwave and cook on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until egg is firm throughout but not over cooked. Allow to cool for a minute or so. Slide a knife along the edge of the container and flip the egg out onto a plate. Repeat this process with the remaining 5 eggs, until you have 6 egg “patties”.

Assemble the sandwiches by placing one egg patty on one half of each English muffin. Top the egg with one slice of cheese and cover with the other half of the English muffin. To store for quick breakfasts, wrap each sandwich tightly in plastic wrap and place all six sandwiches in a freezer-safe plastic bag. Place in the freezer.

To reheat, remove one sandwich from the plastic wrap and microwave on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Let stand for 1 minute before eating.

Smoothies

A number of yogurt brands have started offering yogurt smoothies so they’re easy to find in the store and drink on the go, but again, you’ll want to check the ingredients for added sugar. If you want to make them at home, try adding your choice of ingredients (fruit, milk, juice, yogurt, nut butter, etc.) to your blender’s pitcher and putting it in the refrigerator the night before. Then all you have to do is put the pitcher on the base in the morning and give it a quick blend. You could also blend everything, pour it into a travel cup and put it in the refrigerator ready to go the night before. Just grab it from the refrigerator on your way out the door.

Other Ideas

Anything that includes whole grains and some protein and can be easily carried with you makes a great on-the-go breakfast idea. If you’re still stumped or want some variety, try one of these:

• Small homemade bran muffin and an apple
• Slice of homemade banana bread and a cheese stick
• Whole-grain crackers with peanut butter and a piece of fruit
• Peanut butter and jelly on whole grain toast
• Hard-boiled egg, whole grain crackers and a piece of fruit

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

This week’s question for the dietitian is a common one we get here at Feed the Soul.

I’m trying to lose weight and I only have time for 30 minutes of exercise a day. Since my time is limited, I tend to focus on cardiovascular exercise like walking, but I know that resistance training is important, too. Should I alternate days of cardio and weight training or should I stick to my cardio-only routine?

If you’re trying to lose weight, burning calories is important and cardio exercise will generally burn more calories than weight training. However, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories your body burns at rest (increasing your metabolism). This means there is a big benefit to weight training if you want to keep weight off over the long term. Not to mention that strong, shapely muscles are just plain nice to have.

To address your time issue and still get in both cardio and weight training, you might want to try interval training. Alternate intensive bursts of cardio with several minutes of strength training or resistance work for the entire 30 minutes of your workout and you’ll find you’re burning plenty of calories and building muscle at the same time. If you need help coming up with an interval routine, consult a trainer at your gym or look for a workout that fits your schedule at Shape, Fitness or Women’s Health.

You might also want to consider fitting in a few strength training exercises throughout your day so that you can focus on cardio at the gym. It’s not as hard as you might think:

• Do pushups, squats and crunches during the commercial breaks of your favorite shows.
• Do biceps curls while you’re on the phone at work.
• Pick a few of your favorite strength exercises to do during your lunch break at work.

You’d be surprised at how much you can get done throughout your day if you focus on doing just one or two exercises at a time.

If you do find that you have some extra time in your schedule, you might also consider taking a Pilates or yoga class once or twice a week. While these classes are not as focused on building muscle as dedicated strength training is, practicing Pilates or yoga regularly can also improve your overall strength, balance and flexibility.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

Welcome back to our Ask the Dietitian series. This month we have another Twitter-provided question from @sammysanchez:

What are the three foods I should avoid in order to lose weight?

At Feed the Soul, we try to focus more on what you should be eating than what you shouldn’t be eating. That being said, it’s important for both overall health and weight loss that you monitor your fat, sodium and sugar intake. If we had to choose three foods to eliminate from a diet, we’d get rid of:

1. Foods fried in oil containing trans fats;
2. Processed foods containing more than 300 mg sodium; and
3. Store-bought sweets like cookies, cakes, pies and donuts.

Try limiting your intake of these foods and you should find you’re not only losing weight, but improving your heart-health as well.

As usual, if you have a question you’d like to ask, please feel free to leave a comment with your question on any post and we’ll add it to the queue.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

It’s that time again–time to answer another question in our Ask the Dietitian series. As usual, if you have a question you’d like to ask, please feel free to leave a comment with your question on any post and we’ll add it to the queue.

This month’s question comes from a twitter friend (@ahrycyk):

In regards to the good fats (like peanut butter) how much is too much? Is it better to focus on these good fats?

It’s good that you’ve recognized that fats are important to the functioning of our bodies, and shouldn’t be cut out of our diets altogether. Good fats (mono-unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids) should make up the majority of our fat intake and are significantly better for us than saturated fats, which shouldn’t make up more than 10% of our total fat intake.

However, don’t get lulled into thinking that eating a lot of a good fat is OK. While good fats are better for us than saturated fats or trans fats, we can still eat too much of them. Focus on eating mostly unsaturated fats, but watch your total fat intake, making sure it doesn’t make up more than 30% of your total calorie intake (1 gram of fat = 9 calories). Some foods that contain these healthier fats include peanut butter as you mentioned, as well as avocados, olive oil, almond or cashew butter, salmon, walnuts and seeds like pumpkin or sesame seeds.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

Welcome to the first post in our Ask the Dietitian series. We have a lot of great questions to answer and we’re planning to answer them regularly. We’d like to make this a regular and ongoing feature around here, so if you have a question you’d like to ask, please feel free to leave a comment with your question on any post and we’ll add it to the queue. Now, on to our first question.

If I want to lose weight, which is more important, cutting calories or exercising?

This is a great question, and one I hear often. In our efforts to lose weight, we always want to do the thing that will get us where we want to go fastest. Ultimately, cutting calories and exercising are both important–to your weight loss efforts and your health in general.

Losing weight basically comes down to burning more calories than you consume. To lose 1 pound of fat a week you will need to either burn or cut 3500 calories each week. You can do this by exercising more, eating fewer calories, or some combination of the two. Remember that, while exercise isn’t generally necessary to lose weight, it is important for your overall health and well-being. And you should never cut your calories to less than 1200 per day, no matter how slowly you’re losing weight.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."