Bisque offers rich mouth feel but also a lot of fat
Q. Is bisque always a high-fat soup choice?
A. If you see bisque on a menu, it's a safe bet to assume it is fairly high in fat. This thick, rich soup of French origin typically features pureed seafood or vegetables (occasionally chicken) combined with heavy cream.
An eight-ounce bowl of bisque provides roughly 300 to 500 calories, 20 to 30 grams of total fat and up to 20 grams -- nearly a day's worth of saturated fat.
If you're craving a full-bodied soup, there are plenty of ways to adapt recipes at home and keep the rich mouth feel of bisque without the added fat and calories. For example, try substituting evaporated skim milk or fat-free half and half in place of heavy cream. Or, consider adding a starchy vegetable like sweet potato, corn or winter squash for one of nature's favorite thickeners.
Q. How important is breakfast for weight control?
A. Skipping your morning meal may seem like a logical way to cut calories and help with weight control; however, this is not usually the case. Although the research is limited, studies link the practice of frequently skipping breakfast with having a higher body mass index (BMI), a measure of overweight.
This is not to suggest that avoiding breakfast causes overweight. Perhaps the association exists because people who are already overweight skip meals as a weight-loss tactic. Either way, skipping a morning meal usually spells trouble for dieters.
People who avoid breakfast are more likely to snack impulsively and tend to eat more throughout the rest of the day. On the other hand, eating a good, nutritionally balanced breakfast will energize you and satisfy hunger through the morning.
Start the day with whole-grain bread or cereal, fruits or vegetables and a modest amount of protein. Good protein sources include peanut butter, low-fat yogurt, nuts and eggs or egg whites.
As an added bonus, eating a healthy breakfast rich in vegetables, fruit and whole grains will also provide antioxidants, vitamins and phytochemicals that may help protect you against cancer and heart disease.
Q. How do fresh and frozen spinach differ nutritionally?
A. Freshly picked spinach is at the peak of its nutritional quality. The vitamin and mineral content is highest when these greens go directly from field to plate -- or field to freezer, for that matter (flash-frozen produce is usually considered nutritionally equal to fresh).
However, researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that folate, a B vitamin involved in the creation and repair of DNA (and also linked to the prevention of cancer and heart disease), drops significantly when fresh spinach is subject to lengthy transportation or storage times.
Beta-carotene and other carotenoids in spinach also decrease during extended storage and handling of fresh spinach -- a practice increasingly common today as much of the produce at your local grocery store travels cross-country, even cross-continent.
In the end, if "fresh" spinach has been subject to lengthy storage times, frozen is likely nutritionally superior.