Tips and Recipes

Supporting Your Children Playing Sports

Next week (July 16-22) is National Youth Sports Week. Sports help children and adolescents develop character while keeping them fit and active. Children who play sports learn how to work with others as a team, self-motivation, and how to deal with emotions when a game is lost.

As a parent or caregiver, you can play a role in building your children’s character and sportsmanship through sports. Here are some ways you can do so:

• Be There: Go to as many of your children’s practices and games as you can. They’ll love seeing you out there cheering them on, no matter how they perform. Focus on positive cheering and be respectful to everyone–coaches, referees, opposing team members, and other spectators–even if you don’t agree with a call that was made.
• Help Improve: Try and learn the different skills involved in playing your children’s sports. This is great activity for you and it can be fun to participate with your children. Plus, they’ll get a “built-in coach” at home as you can help them improve their skills.
• Promote Hard Work, Not Winning: Sports are a great way to learn that winning isn’t everything. Encourage your children to put in their best effort, but not get down if they lose. Remind them the importance of trying their best and being respectful, whether they’re winning or losing.
• Look Out For Unhealthy Behaviors: Playing sports can put a lot of stress on children, especially pre-teens and teens. If you see your children putting pressure on themselves, talk with them and remind of their successes, not their failures. Remind them that their value isn’t based on their performance in sports and that you love them no matter what. Also, pay attention to unhealthy weight-control practices, especially in sports like cheerleading, distance running, diving, figure skating, gymnastics, swimming, and weight-class football and wrestling where “making weight” is considered important for success. These might include overexercising, self-induced vomiting, avoiding eating, and using medications to lose weight. Talk to your child’s pediatrician if you suspect any unhealthy practices like these.

While sports can be fun and promote both emotional and physical health, sports can turn into an unhealthy practice when children have negative attitudes about themselves, others, or the game. Do your best to be involved with your children as they play sports and be their biggest fan!

For more information on youth sports, visit https://healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/sports/Pages/default.aspx.

Tuna Burgers

Makes 6 servings
Serving Size: 1 patty
Ingredients

• 2 (4.5-ounce) cans low-sodium tuna
• 1 cup breadcrumbs, divided
• 1 cup low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ½ cup nonfat ranch salad dressing
• ¼ cup finely chopped onion
• Non-stick cooking spray

Directions

1. Drain tuna, separate into flakes using a fork.
2. In a medium bowl, combine tuna, ½ cup bread crumbs, cheese, egg, salad dressing, and onion.
3. Form six patties; coat each side with remaining ½ cup breadcrumbs.
4. Spray non-stick skillet with cooking spray; heat to medium heat.
5. Cook patties 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Source: Cooking with EFNEP

Sugar Breakdown

Sugar is a hot topic today because of the belief that it causes all kinds of health problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. While sugar isn’t the only thing that contributes to health problems, we still need to limit how much of it we eat. There are a couple of things that make sugar a problem for our health. One problem is the amount of sugar we eat. As Americans, we eat about twice as much sugar as we should. Another problem is the type of sugar that we eat. Natural sugar is found naturally in foods like fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. On the other hand, added sugar is added to a food or drink when it’s being made, like in packaged foods, soft drinks, or homemade desserts. Added sugar is the type of sugar that can contribute to health problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
To understand the difference between natural and added sugar, think about an orange versus orange juice. The orange has natural sugar, but when it is made into orange juice, a lot of sugar is added. The whole orange also has more fiber than orange juice, which helps prevent blood sugar spikes. Fiber is one reason why whole fruits and vegetables are better choices than juices. Like oranges, plain yogurt and milk also have natural sugar, but when flavored yogurt or milk is made, sugar is added. That added sugar is what we want to avoid.
We should limit how much sugar we eat daily to less than 10% of our calories. So, if you eat 2,000 calories every day, you should only have 200 calories or less from added sugar. That means you should avoid eating more than 50 grams or 12 teaspoons of sugar daily. To help you picture this, a 12-ounce can of cola has about 10 teaspoons of sugar. That’s over 80% of the amount of sugar most of us should be eating in one day!
All kinds of packaged foods and drinks can have added sugars, but the main sources of added sugar are sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, sweetened teas, candy, cakes, cookies, pies, pastries, donuts, and dairy desserts like ice cream. It can be hard to find added sugars in packaged foods’ ingredient lists because sugar has other names besides “sugar.” Here are some of those other names that mean sugar has been added:

• Anhydrous dextrose
• Brown sugar
• Confectioner’s powdered sugar
• Corn syrup (or corn syrup solids)
• Dextrose
• Fructose
• High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Lactose
• Malt syrup
• Maltose
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Nectar (e.g. peach nectar)
• Pancake syrup
• Raw sugar
• Sucrose
• Sugar
• White granulated sugar

You may hear that sweeteners like honey, agave, and cane sugar are natural sugars. While they may be grown naturally, they aren’t found naturally in the foods they’re added to and don’t have any health benefits. So they are still considered added sugars that can be harmful to your health. When you think about natural sugars, think about fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.
Sugar can also hide on Nutrition Facts labels because the label may not say if the sugar is added or natural. That’s because a food or drink may have both natural and added sugars. By the year 2021, all food labels will have to show added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label, making it easier to find how much of the sugar in a food or drink is added sugar. Some food labels already have this new label (see an example here). Also, while some packages may say the food or drink is made with “less sugar,” it might still have a lot of sugar. This is why it’s important to read the Nutrition Facts label to see just how much sugar is in a food or drink.
As you can see, sugar is in a lot of foods and drinks, making it hard to eat less of it. Here are some tips to help you eat less added sugar:

• Drink more water and non-fat or low-fat milk instead of drinks sweetened with sugar.
• Instead of soda, try a fruity fizz using seltzer water. Seltzer water is fizzy like soda, but has less sugar.
• Pay attention when you’re grocery shopping and buy products without added sugar. We know that desserts and soft drinks have added sugar, but look out for foods like breakfast cereal, granola, frozen foods, granola bars, sauces, dried fruit, and other condiments that you may not expect to have added sugar.
• Keep lower sugar snacks on hand. It’s easy to go overboard with added sugar when you’re snacking. Try satisfying snacks with less added sugar like an apple or banana with peanut butter; whole grain crackers with low-fat cheese; plain yogurt with berries; mashed avocado with whole grain tortilla chips; a hard boiled egg with a piece of fruit; or raw vegetables (like carrots, cucumber, broccoli, celery, or bell pepper) with hummus.
• When you want a sweet treat, bake from scratch instead of buying sweets at the store so you can control how much sugar you add. Try using apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin for extra sweetness and flavor instead of sugar. Ripe bananas that have started to turn brown are naturally very sweet, so you may try mashing one up and adding it to muffin batter. This way you can add less sugar and still get a sweet taste.
• You can still enjoy some food and drinks with added sugar. Just try eating less at a time and eating them less often.

What are some other ways you can eat less added sugar?
-Cara Mowery

Build Your Own Dressing

Serving Size: 1 teaspoon
Ingredients

• Choose 3 tablespoons acid
  • Lemon juice
  • Rice vinegar
  • Red wine vinegar
  • Sherry vinegar
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • White wine vinegar
  • Cider vinegar
• Choose ½ cup or less oil
  • Olive oil
  • Safflower oil
  • Canola oil
  • Vegetable oil
• Choose ½ teaspoon add-in
  • Herbs
  • Spices
  • Dijon mustard
  • Minced shallots
  • Minced garlic
  • Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a jar or plastic container, and shake to mix together.
2. Store in refrigerator. Separation is normal. Shake or stir prior to using.

Try these great combinations:
Lemon Vinaigrette

• 3 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ tablespoon oregano

Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ tablespoon oregano

Source: Cooking with EFNEP

July is National Culinary Arts Month

We’re celebrating National Culinary Arts Month with some tips to make you more confident cooking nutritious meals on a budget for your family! Cooking can be a bit scary if you haven’t had much practice. Hopefully, these ideas will inspire you to give it a try and get creative in your kitchen!
Think of your favorite foods you’ve had eating out at a restaurant or at a friend’s house. Try re-creating one of those dishes at home. The great thing about cooking is that you can control what goes in it. If some of your family’s favorite foods are high in fat, salt, and sugar, you can make healthier versions at home. For example, macaroni and cheese is usually made with white pasta and a lot of fat from butter, whole milk or cream, and full-fat cheese. When you make macaroni and cheese at home, you can use whole wheat pasta instead of white pasta. You can also pick what shape pasta you want! Elbows are a traditional choice, but you can also try penne, rotini, and bow-ties. To lower the fat content, you can use plain nonfat yogurt instead of butter, skim milk instead of whole milk, and low-fat cheese instead of full-fat cheese. You can also add vegetables like peas, broccoli, or tomatoes, as well as white beans to add more filling protein and fiber to your meal. This is a great way to sneak a few vegetables into your family meals.
Spice blends add flavor to the food you cook, but store-bought blends can be expensive and high in salt. Instead, you can make your own homemade spice blends without salt by using individual spices you may already have in your pantry. For more ideas on how to cook with herbs and spices, check out this website. In addition to spice blends, you can add flavor to your food with lemon juice, vinegar, and small amounts of plant-based oil like olive oil.
Cooking a delicious, healthy meal can take time, but there are ways to make it easier. Plan your meals before you go to the grocery store so you’ll have on hand exactly what you need to cook for the week. Also, plan your meals around what ingredients are on sale at the grocery store that week. When you’re cooking, go ahead and double the recipe so you can have leftovers for the next day, or freeze them for another week. Getting five servings of fruits and vegetables in a day can be challenging, but canned and frozen vegetables can be just as nutritious as fresh, and sometimes cheaper when the food you’re buying isn’t in season. Make sure to choose canned and frozen fruits and vegetables without added sugar or salt. Drain and rinse canned vegetables and fruits before you use them to wash away some of the sugar and salt. Having canned and frozen produce on hand is a great way to add fruits and vegetables to any meal in case you don’t have fresh ones to cook with–plus the canned and frozen won’t spoil as quickly!
Lastly, involve your family in the cooking process! Even young children can help with mixing, measuring, stirring, and setting the table. This is a great way to bond as a family and make your family more willing to try what you made since they’ll play a part in the cooking process. Cooking doesn’t always have to be exact, so there’s room to be creative and customize your dishes to how you like them.
What can you cook in your kitchen this week?
-Cara Mowery