What is the Point of Pasteurizing?

                The goal of pasteurizing is to reduce the amount of bacteria in food and make diseases caused by those bacteria less likely. There are a few types of pasteurization, and the main differences between them are the temperature and the length of time needed to complete the process. The higher the temperature, the shorter the time needed for the food to be at that temperature to kill sufficient bacteria. Pasteurization also extends the shelf-life of foods because there is less bacteria to grow and cause the food to spoil.

One of the most common foods that are pasteurized is milk. Unpasteurized milk, more commonly called raw milk, has recently been in the headlines. While some promote supposed health benefits of raw milk, the medical community warns people not to drink it due to the risk of contracting diseases from bacteria in it. While there are some vitamins that can be degraded by heat and pasteurization, these are not the vitamins that are found in large quantities in milk to begin with.

As an aside, there are some vitamins in fruits and vegetables that are degraded from heat, and therefore are found in fewer quantities in cooked fruits and vegetables. Don’t worry though! There are still plenty vitamins and minerals in produce. Go ahead, eat fruits and vegetables raw, cooked, grilled, steamed, or however you like them. As long as you are having a variety of fruits and vegetables, it is quite unlikely you will develop a deficiency by cooking your produce.

Let me know if you have questions about specific foods that are pasteurized. 

Snacks

                What is a healthy snack? What is a snack anyway?  Any food can be a snack. Strictly speaking, a snack is something we eat between meals. Remember, though, that we don’t necessarily need to be eating between meals. Sometimes we eat between meals out of habit. For example, every day I eat a cheese stick at 10am, so today I will also eat a cheese stick at 10am. I may or may not even be hungry. From a nutrition standpoint, the goal of a snack is provide necessary energy and nutrients between meals. Snacks can also prevent us from getting too hungry before the next meal. This is important, because when we are too hungry, it becomes very hard to make good decisions of what to eat and how much to eat at the next meal.  A general guideline is that most people need to eat every 3-4 hours or so. If your meals are 4 hours apart, a snack between them is likely not necessary. It is generally a good idea to have a snack if you would be going 6-8 hours between meals.

                Now I can move on to what a healthy snack is. (As a disclaimer, this may not apply to you if you have a medical condition that changes your nutrition requirements.) In general, a healthy snack will have protein or fiber in it. That is important because both of those nutrients help us stay full. Usually a snack is fairly low in calories so it does not become a meal by itself.  

                Below you will find a list of suggested ideas for snacks. Notice that they all contain different amounts of nutrients and calories.

	Calories	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Protein (g)	Fat (g)
1 hardboiled  egg	70	0	0	7	4
¼ cup peanuts	207	6	3	9	18
½ cup almonds	207	8	5	8	18
½ can tuna fish with ½ Tbsp mayo on 2 rice cakes	195	80	3	18	7
1 Tbsp nut butter on 1 slice whole grain bread	177	18	3	8	9
6oz low fat plain Greek yogurt	125	7	0	17	3
6oz low fat plain Greek yogurt with 4 strawberries	140	11	1	17	3
1 low fat cheese stick	50	1	0	7	3
1 cup 1% milk	102	12	0	8	2
½ cup low fat cottage cheese	81	3	0	14	1
1 cup carrot strips	50	11	3	1	0
1 cup pepper sticks	18	4	2	1	0
1 Tbsp hummus with 1 cup carrot sticks	75	13	4	2	1
10 cherry tomatoes	31	7	2	2	0
¼ packed cup raisins	123	33	2	1	0
1 cup grapes	62	16	1	1	0
1 medium apple	95	25	4	0	0
1 medium banana	105	27	3	1	0
1 medium orange	62	15	3	1	0
2 cups air popped popcorn	62	12	2	2	1

                In the comments section below, let me know which snacks you are interested in learning the nutrition information for.

Comparison of Different Fats

Nutrition Information for 1 Tablespoon of Various Fats[1]

	Calories	Fat (g)	Saturated fat (g)	Mono- unsaturated fat (g)	Poly-unsaturated fat (g)	Trans fat (g)
Coconut oil	121	13.5	11.2	0.9	0.2	0
Butter	102	11.5	7.3	3.0	0.4	0.5
Palm oil	120	13.6	6.7	5.0	1.3
Chicken fat	115	12.8	3.8	5.8	2.7
Margarine	100	11.2	2.3	5.3	3.1	2.8
Peanut oil	119	13.5	2.3	6.2	4.3
Soybean oil	120	13.6	2.1	3.1	7.9	1.2
Vegetable oil	120	13.6	2.1	3.1	7.8	0.1
Olive oil	119	13.5	1.8	9.9	1.4
Avocado oil	124	14	1.6	9.9	1.9
Sunflower oil	120	13.6	1.3	6.2	5.5
Canola oil	124	14	1.0	8.9	3.9	0.1
Safflower oil	120	13.6	0.8	2.0	10

                Here we have it…the nutrition content of common fats. Fats and oils are all around 120 calories per tablespoon. You will notice that butter is lower. That is because butter is a water-in-oil emulsion, and the water content does not contribute calories.

The main nutritional difference between the other fats is the proportion of saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and trans fats. Excessive intake of saturated fat and trans fat is associated with heart problems, while unsaturated fats are beneficial to our heart health.

One easy way to tell if a fat is high in saturated fat is if it is solid at room temperature. All fats that are solid at room temperature have higher content of saturated fat. The first five fats on the list are solid at room temperature, and their saturated fat content is the highest of the fats on the list.

One surprising fact is that there are two vegetable fats on this list that are high in saturated fat. Many times we think that if something is from a plant it is automatically better for us. Yet, based on the saturated fat content, there are other fats that are better for our heart health.

Another easy trap to fall into is the health aura that surrounds some plant foods. The fact that a food is a plant and has nutrients in it that are healthy for us is not a good enough reason to eat as much as we desire. A great example of this is the avocado. The avocado is a fruit that is high in many vitamins and minerals. Additionally, it is high in monounsaturated fats. Yet, because of that, it is definitely a high-fat food—75% of its calories are from fat. A whole avocado can have 220-370 calories! While definitely a healthy choice of a fat source, it is important to remember about portion sizes. As a reference point, a half cup of avocado cubes is about 120 calories. Next time you are making a salad, measure it out with a measuring cup…you may be in for a surprise!

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[1] USDA Food Composition Databases. United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed October 11, 2017. < https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list>