Knox Events for Weekend of April 1 - 3

Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon
Saturday, April 2 - Sunday, April 3 @ Knoxville Convention Center/World's Far Park in Downtown Knoxville

• Health and Fitness Expo, Saturday, 9:00am - 8:00pm
• Covenant Kids' Run, Saturday: 6:00pm
• Wheelchair and Handcycle Participants, Sunday: 7:25am
• Marathon, Half Marathon, 4-Person Relay, Sunday: 7:30am
• 5K, Sunday: 7:45am

This year's Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon is this weekend! Are you participating? If so, don't forget to pick up your race packet on Saturday at the Health and Fitness Expo. The website is full of information, including parking and weekend schedule of events. 

___________________________________________________

22nd Annual River Rescue

Saturday, April 2 @ Various locations along the Tennessee River shoreline in Knox, Blount, and Loudoun counties

River Rescue is a community wide program that coordinates the pick-up of debris and litter along the 50-mile shoreline of the Tennessee River from its headwaters to Fort Loudon Dam. To volunteer, contact Sarah Brobst at (865) 577-4717 ext. 24 or sbrobst@ijams.org.

___________________________________________________

Knoxville Alzheimer's Memory Walk

Saturday, April 2 @ Knoxville's Second Presbyterian Church, 2829 Kingston Pike near Sequoyah Hills

• Registration: 9am
• Opening Ceremony: 10am
• Memory Walk Ribbon Cutting: 11am

___________________________________________________

Knoxville First Friday
Friday, April 1 @ Downtown Knoxville

 Downtown is the place to be on the first Friday of the month! Market Square and the downtown area have lots of fun things going on this Friday. You'll get in plenty of steps as you take part in the gallery walk downtown. Performances and food specials are also available. 

Dietary Changes for Pre-Diabetes

If you've been diagnosed with pre-diabetes; it's time for a dietary tune-up.  You can take action to delay or even prevent getting diabetes through lifestyle changes!

Two major recommendations to reduce the chances that pre-diabetes will lead to diabetes are losing weight if you are overweight, and increasing your physical activity.  Those extra pounds are actually making hormones that increase your chances of getting diabetes.  You can decrease your chances of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 50% just by losing 7-10% of your weight.

The first step to changing your way of life is to evaluate yourself - are you the type of person who maintains change when it's done all at once or do you do better at gradually changing?  Most people maintain change   permanently if lifestyle changes are gradual.  Remember that it takes up to three weeks of practice for a new habit to take hold!

The Harvard School of Public Health recommends these four dietary changes:

• Eat more whole grains
• Eat less sugar
• Limit red meat and avoid processed meat
• Choose good fats instead of bad fats

Here are 10 tips for fitting these changes into your daily life:

1. If you eat breakfast cereal, choose a cereal containing at least 5 grams of whole grain fiber per serving.   Likewise, look for bread with at least 3 grams of whole grain fiber per slice.
2. Add beans to your diet:  Pinto beans, black beans and fat-free refried beans are some popular choices.
3. Make a meatless meal at least once a week.  Dishes based on beans, lean fish, roasted vegetables and salads can be tasty and satisfying.
4. This is huge:  Decrease or eliminate sugar-sweetened drinks.  This includes sodas other than diet sodas, and sweet tea, unless using artificial sugars.  If you choose to drink soda, experiment with different brands and flavors of diet sodas to find one that you enjoy.
5. When dining out, choose salads, grilled chicken or fish and fruit salads.  Restaurants are now serving many more healthy choices!
6. At home, switch to cooking with liquid canola or olive oil instead of with shortening and lard.
7. Switch from butter to margarines and spreads that do not contain trans fats.  Also use low-fat or light versions of foods like sour cream, cream cheese and mayonnaise.
8. Nuts contain good fats.  Enjoy them in moderation - no more than 15 - 20 nuts at a time!
9. Switch to skim or 1% milk and reduced fat cheeses.
10. Plan ahead: pack a fruit, a few nuts or another healthy snack before leaving home.  Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread are delicious!

By making these changes in your daily eating habits, you will be taking good care of yourself and investing in your health.  Remember to be patient with yourself:  It takes time to create new habits.

Submitted by:

Karin Adler RD, LDN

Clinical Dietitian

Parkwest Medical Center

kadler@covhlth.com

"What Does the Dietitian Order?" @ Peerless

Reviewed on March 14, 2011 by Kristen Jackson Slusher, MS, RD, LDN

3 out of 5 Forks

Peerless  Restaurant, since 1938 – Big on seafood, Famous at Steak!  Well, I admit, I did not order the steak, but I did have the seafood!  It was a tough decision to make from their vast array of choices.  After some deep contemplation, I decided to go with the 9 oz fillet of the highest quality New Orleans Grilled Salmon with seasoned butter (on the side), served with a baked potato and fresh vegetable of the day.  I also tried the Famous Grecian Salad with fresh mixed greens, celery, peas, wine ripened tomatoes, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, and pepperoncini, tossed in a Grecian vinaigrette.  I would have asked for the dressing on the side, but did not think to ask before hand.  That is typically the norm for me when ordering, just not this time.  Rolls were served to our table as well, although not whole wheat rolls, unfortunately, but an appropriate size roll and baked to perfection!

Recipes: Sweet Potato Enchilada Bake

I'm a sucker for cashmere. It's soft, cozy, warm, luxurious, and makes me happy just feeling/looking at it. I stalk my favorite catalogs until their cashmere offerings go on sale, then I pounce like a snow leopard. I have a friend who has cashmere PJs, and I want to break into her house and steal them. Of course, if I had them, I would never leave my couch, therefore preventing me from going to work, which would prevent me from making the funds necessary to feed my fetish. Guess I'll just have to settle for sweats and a soft, cozy, warm, luxurious Doberhound next to me. Not a bad deal :)

But I did find the cashmere of food: sweet potato enchiladas. Creamy, rich, cheesy, warm, and unique; if cashmere were edible, that's what it would be. The bonus points come from the minimal hands-on work and light price tag of this meal. And yes, I do appreciate the nutrition component-- for cheesy comfort food, it actually packs quite a lot of nutrients. Whoa, sorry to go all dietitian on you. Let's talk about butter (there, I'm back!).

I found this recipe on the Mindika Moments blog, which is very fun and full of tasty recipes. I modified it a little to make it into a casserole instead of individual enchiladas, and it turned out really well. The original recipe also calls for cooked chicken, but I felt that would be too much going on with the sweet potatoes and beans. I baked the sweet potatoes in the morning while I walked the hounds, so when din-din time rolled around that night, they were all baked, cooled, and ready to mash. Seriously, these took about 15 minutes to prepare with the cooked sweet potato. Ironic, since it took me about 15 minutes to stop staring at my favorite cashmere gloves from Garnet Hill. I think it's fate. Just sayin' :)

Sweet Potato Enchilada Bake

Adapted from mindikamoments.com

Printable recipe here

Serves 6-8

2 large sweet potatoes

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened (I used full fat, but feel free to be less indulgent)

4 green onions, chopped

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground pepper (I used my fave, California Seasoned Pepper from Penzeys)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

12 7" corn tortilla

1 19-oz can red enchilada sauce (best on the market is Frontera Grill brand, from Mexican food chef and guru Rick Bayless... you can find it in most stores and it's totally worth it!)

1 16-oz package Mexican blend shredded cheese

Bake sweet potatoes for about an hour at 400 F, or until soft. Turn oven down to 350 F.

Diet's Role in Cancer Prevention

I work at a cancer center in Knoxville, and one of the questions that people often ask me is whether there are any foods that they should definitely eat or avoid.  This is one of those questions that makes you wonder- what is the role of diet in cancer?  Diet is really about an overall average of what you’re eating. If you mostly eat healthy foods (you know what those are! Fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans- just like your mama told you) then an occasional splurge on a hotdog or ice cream isn’t going set off a cancer bomb in your body.  Likewise, if you habitually eat lots of processed snacks, convenience dinners, large servings of meat and processed meats, and get little exercise, then taking a multivitamin or even a plant-sourced nutritional supplement isn’t going to stop the train wreck that your diet is causing to many aspects of your health.

There is no food that by itself will cause cancer, and there is no food that by itself will prevent or cure cancer.  An overall healthy eating plan along with exercise and weight control (which, conveniently, are related), will help create an environment in your body that is hostile to cancer and promotes health.  Some people do develop cancer despite a healthy lifestyle, but they tend to have better outcomes. And who knows? They may have developed cancer years earlier, or a much worse case, if they hadn’t been taking care of themselves.

So my point is, its good to eat more plants, less animal to prevent cancer.  You may need to alter this proportion if you are currently going through treatment.  But there are no foods that you absolutely must give up, or absolutely must include.  Also keep in mind that you can’t cure cancer with only a healthy diet. If you could, I would be a rich woman.  Diet functions slowly and consistently to affect health, and when you have cancer you need something that takes effect quickly- like chemo and radiation.  Diet can help, but it won’t cure cancer by itself.

How do you promote health and prevent cancer? In the words of Michael Pollan, “Eat food, mostly plants, not too much.”  And enjoy the taste and satisfaction that a healthy diet will give you!

Submitted by:
Anna Gewecke, MS, RD, LDN
(865) 305-8099

agewecke@utmck.edu