Kim Hottenstein, a registered dietitian with the La Crosse County Health Department, has five easy ways to boost your nutrition.

Hottenstein presented the five ways at a Healthy Living for Lifetime program last week. She said the following five ways will boost your health, and they are really the right recommendations based on recent research and realistic routes for people:
1. Eat more colors to boost your intake of vitamin K. Eat green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, lettuce, cabbage, canola and soybean oils. The idea is to keep your vitamin K levels consistent and adequate, Hottenstein said.

Vitamin K is lacking in most Americans’ diets, and elderly people need more, she said. Vitamin K can reduce your risk for heart disease, kidney stones, colon and liver cancer, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Don’t forget white is a color, too, and add apples, onions and garlic. If you’re taking a blood thinner, talk to your doctor before adding a lot of vegetables to your diet.

Try this:

Add veggies to sandwiches, soups, pasta/rice dishes.

Use frozen or canned vegetables to help you eat more of them.

Fill half of your plate with fruits and vegetables.

Bring fruits and vegetables to work for snacks.

2. Use whole grains whenever possible. Whole grains contain chromium and magnesium — which can reduce your risk for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke and weight problems — as well as vitamin E, fiber and more. Anything with 8 grams or more is a good source.

Try this:

Buy foods with the first ingredient listed as “whole grain.”

Use brown rice.

Use whole wheat pasta, or use one-half whole wheat, one-half white.

Buy products with the whole grains stamp, but remember not all whole grains have the stamp.

See www.wholegrainscouncil.org to find whole grain products.

3. Eat more nuts, seeds and dried beans/peas. Again very good sources of chromium and magnesium. “These are very nutrient-rich foods,” Hottenstein said. Most Americans get only two-thirds of daily requirements of chromium and magnesium.

Try this:

Add beans to meals at least once a week. Beans are low in fat and high in fiber.

Use nuts for snacks (just 1 ounce). Watch portion size of nuts — should fit in the palm of your hand. Too many nuts=too many calories. Try four times a week.

Add nuts or beans to salads and other foods.

4. Include omega-3 fats. These “”good fats” can decrease the risk for cancer, dementia, depression, inflammatory disease, MS, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, vision problems, ADD, Parkinson’s, etc.

Try this:

Eat fatty fish such as salmon, herring and lake trout twice a week.

Take a fish oil supplement. The American Heart Association recommends 1,000 milligrams a day for those at high risk for heart disease. Check with your doctor.

Use flaxseed, canola oil or walnuts.

Use buttery spreads with omega-3.

5. Get enough of vitamin D. Many Americans don’t get enough vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk for diabetes, muscle pain, MS, lupus, osteoporosis, IBS, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis and cancer (breast, colon, prostate, endometrium and pancreas).

Try this:

Drink plenty of milk (3 glasses a day).

Eat salmon, tuna and shrimp.

Buy foods fortified with vitamin D.

Take a multi-vitamin with 400 units of vitamin D, or take a vitamin D supplement, 800 to 1,000 units daily. Check with your doctor.

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