NUTRITION COLUMNS

Comfort food
Do your kids gobble down chips or chocolate when they’re stressed or frustrated? Emotional eating is unhealthy and may lead to weight gain. Here are five ways to help your child break the habit. Cheers to a pound-free holiday
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, indulge in several workplace parties or family gatherings, you can avoid gaining extra weight this season. Here are five ways to steer clear of the holiday food traps. Should you buy organic?
Many parents wonder whether organic foods are healthier for their families than conventionally grown foods. Here’s what you need to know. Fibre up, bloating down
Most Canadians know that fibre is good for the heart. But how to get it into your diet without causing digestive upset? Try these nine tips to fill up on fibre without the uncomfortable side effects. Halloween tricks for treats
Creating a new tradition before and after the October holiday can help your children learn how to cut down on sugar, fat and calories – a lifelong healthy habit. Try these unique Halloween ideas parents have implemented that might be right for your family. Eggs 101
Worried that eggs may increase blood cholesterol? Wonder how many eggs can you eat a week? Learn the real facts about eggs. Brain food
Yes, what your children eat can have an impact on how well they do at school. Find out what foods can help boost grades, attention spans and general well-being. Top cholesterol-lowering foods
Want to keep your cholesterol in check? Try incorporating more lipid-lowering foods into your diet. Find out which ones work best. Fruit fun from farm to fork
Getting your children to eat more fruit is easier when you offer the ripest, sweetest, juiciest picks of the season. The green gems of the vegetable world
Summer brings forth a harvest of leafy vegetables that are good for the heart. Try something new this season. Learn how to pick and prepare kale, collard greens or Swiss chard. Avoiding summertime nutrition traps
An ice cream here, a bag of chips there, and it can all add up to unnecessary weight gain in your children. Hold the sugar
You’d be surprised how many food products these days are overly sweet – and packed with empty calories. Mom! I want that orange dinosaur cereal!
You’re at the grocery store. Your kid begs for the cartoon character cereal or other less-than-nutritious foods. What to do? Follow these tips and activities to help your child learn what’s really healthy. Building a better BBQ menu
Eating outdoors adds to the flavour and enjoyment of a summer meal. With these savvy cooking techniques and food safety guidelines, you can serve up your favourites without compromising your heart health. DASHing high blood pressure
Eating a healthy diet can go a long way in preventing and controlling high blood pressure. The DASH diet includes the recommendations in Canada’s Food Guide but goes a few steps further. How much fibre does your child need?
As a parent, you know that fibre is important for heart health. But how much is enough and what are the best sources? Here are the five most common questions parents ask me about fibre – and my advice. Stress-free lunchbox options
By this time of year, you’ve been packing school lunches for eight months and you (and your children!) may be getting bored of the standard fare. Fast food at home
After a busy work day, are you faced with the stress of what to serve for supper? While take-out foods are convenient, they are not the healthiest dinner option. Does your child need a multivitamin?
Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients in your child’s diet. While they are only needed in trace amounts, their many functions are vital. Each important nutrient – from vitamin A to zinc – plays a key role in a child’s body, from regulating the heartbeat to making important hormones to building strong bones. Shopping and cooking on a budget
Yes you can buy foods that are healthy and cost less by knowing where to look. Here are 5 tips that will save you money without sacrificing taste. Curb your kid’s food cravings
Just like adults, most children crave certain foods. While some love potato chips, pretzels and French fries (like my older son), others love ice cream, cookies and candy (like my younger one). However the majority of foods that kids crave tend to be of the snack food kind that are usually high in fat, sugar and salt, which tend to appeal to their undeveloped taste buds. Cooking for one
Quick and easy meal planning and preparation for one can sometimes be a challenge. But just because you may be eating solo doesn’t mean that your meals and snacks shouldn’t contain a variety of flavours and textures from all four-food groups. New Year’s resolutions for kids!
Everybody’s talking about how kids these days are more inactive and overweight than ever. This year, it might be a good idea to set out a few healthy New Year's Resolutions for the whole family. Beyond the bathroom scale: new ways to lose weight
Weight loss is consistently one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions. If it’s one of yours this year, don’t just rely on your scale but concentrate on taking the most effective steps to lose – and maintain – your weight. Kicking bad food habits
Between the demands of school, homework and after school activities, healthy eating habits can often take a back seat to what is convenient, quick and easy such as frequent trips to the drive-thru, skipping meals and filling up on less nutritious foods. Eat, drink, but be wary
’Tis the season to be merry – however overdoing it in the festive food and drink departments during this season may leave you merry-less if you gain weight and take in too much fat and sugar, which of course are not good for the heart. Introducing meatless meals
As vegetarianism becomes more popular in pre-teens, you may be wondering if your children can still get the nutrients they need to grow to be healthy and strong just eating these foods. Go nuts!
Often called nutrient powerhouses, nuts are loaded with heart healthy nutrients such as fibre and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which can help lower bad cholesterol levels. Liven up your kids’ taste buds
When work and school schedules become routine, sometimes the meals you prepare and serve to your families can become routine as well. Liven up your kid’s meals and taste preferences by adding some flare to the foods that you make. Heart-healthy 100-calorie snacks
Snacking is part of our eating culture in Canada. But often we grab on the go and snack without thinking – which can sometimes lead to unwanted weight gain. But healthy snacking can actually help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Kitchen stock
With summer ending and back to school beginning, it’s important to make sure that your kids are eating well. But how do you prepare and cook healthy meals with today’s hectic schedules? New breakfasts
With summer now at an official end, getting back to work and school routines can be a real challenge. Why not start your days by livening up your breakfast with some easy, traditional recipes from around the world? Hey kids! Test your food IQ!
Bet you know a lot about healthy foods, right? Well, here’s your chance to show off. Try this quiz to see how much you really do know. Have your cake and eat it, too
Let’s be honest, desserts have somehow become taboo – you may want to eat them, but think you shouldn’t because they’re unhealthy and may make you gain weight. But think about this: if you constantly deny yourself a little pleasure, you may end up sabotaging your healthy eating habits in the process. The skinny on fats
With all the reports that say our kids are overweight and obese, as a parent, you may think it’s a good idea to put your family on a no-fat diet. That’s not only unhealthy, but also unrealistic. The best way to handle fats is to know which ones are healthy and which ones to limit and avoid. Fuel your activity
Many people feel that as they become more physically active, they should eat less too. Well consider this: As a car needs fuel to move, so does your body. If you do not eat the right kinds of foods at the right times to support your activity, you won’t be getting the most out of your workouts. Barbecue cues
With more vegetables and fruit available during the warmer weather, you would think that it would be easier to eat healthy, but many summertime foods, such as hamburgers and ice cream contain artery-clogging fats. Lose weight without dieting
With spring in the air, we all look forward to fitting into our warm-weather clothes. But when you try on your shorts and can’t zip them up, don’t think you have to turn to a crash diet to get back into them. Are you a stress snacker?
While that big bag of potato chips or tub of ice cream may make you feel like you’re treating yourself, in reality, they may leave you feeling worse than before you indulged. Shake your salt habit
Canadians love their salt. We buy a lot of foods loaded with it or we shake it on almost everything we eat from soup to nuts consuming two or even three times the recommended amount of sodium (an ingredient in table salt) that our bodies actually need, often without realizing it. Turn over a new leaf
Do you find yourself always buying the same green vegetables and shying away from some that youve never tried before? Eat smart
As we shed layers in the warm summer months, many of us tend to be more aware of our weight either maintaining it or trying to lose it. Healthy eating under stress
Healthy eating under stress Judge a food by its label
Learning how to compare products for their ingredients, calorie and fat content is a great way to stay heart healthy at work. Alyssa Rolnick Bio
Alyssa Rolnick is a registered dietitian and holds a Masters of Health Science in Community Nutrition. She has served in a variety of positions including nutritionist for Toronto Public Health where she developed eating programs for children and contributed to nutrition newsletters for adults. Quick dinner ideas
Would you like to whip up something fast and heart-healthy for dinner? Here are six tips and four recipes guaranteed to get your meal on the table in no time. Eating well with Canadas new food guide
To point our appetites in the right direction, Health Canada recently released its revised food guide, entitled Canada's Food Guide, that better reflects the Canadian diet and the latest research.