Making good choices
Anyone who knows me also knows the emphasis I place on not just good but intelligent nutrition. What it really comes down to is making good choices.

To make a good choice means making an educated choice. While eating fresh fruits and vegetables and preparing your own meats and fish is a simple way to ensure the basis for good nutrition, our time-pressed society encourages diets rich in processed, packaged or fast foods instead. As such, it is important for everyone to have a solid understanding of the nutrition labels. Luckily, nutrition labels are readily available, whether you are purchasing items in the grocery store or fast casual/fast food restaurant.

For starters, check out the following website which provides a wonderful in depth discussion of food labels today:

http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html

Then also adopt some of these helpful hints:

Pay attention to serving sizes. A serving of cereal may only be 3/4 of a cup, not half the box.

Look for foods low in sugar. Read the ingredients (listed in order from greatest to least amount used in product). Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup solids, molasses, etc., are all types of sugar.

Mediterranean Phyllo Rolls with Basil Oil Drizzle Yield

Watermelon with Red Onion, Feta, Pine Nuts and Tomatoes

Peach Bourbon BBQ Sauce

Grilled Steak with Warm Shallot Vinaigrette

Shrimp and Scallops in Creamy Roasted Tomato Sauce over Linguini

Chianti Baked Pears with Vanilla Bean Mascarpone

Five Spice Shrimp Skewers with Papaya Chile Salsa

Grilled Tuna with Smoky Almond Romesco Sauce

Crunchy Parmesan Crusted Salmon with Lemon Wine Sauce and Asparagus

Classic Risotto with Tomatoes and Parmesan

Roasted Red Onions Stuffed with Sweet Potato Puree

Chicken Paella

Pancetta, Sun Dried Tomato and Fontina Tartlets

Passover Leek and Cauliflower Kugel

Matzo Scallion Pancakes with Smoked Salmon

Quinoa with Zucchini, Carrots and Currants