March is National Nutrition Month!® This year the theme is “Eat Right!”.

Sound like a simple message but the busy lives that we all lead eating right on the go is not always simple. The American Dietetic Associate understands that many of us eat out very often.  They have been nice enough to put together a list of tips to help us eat better when eating out.

Here are some of their tips:

1. Plan ahead and look for a place that has a wide variety of foods on the menu.

2. Look over the menu and look for a “healthier choices” section

3. If they ask, no you do not want that super sized. The regular portions are enough food.

4. If you are tempted when the waiter asks “room for dessert?”, just order one and enough forks for everyone to share.

5. Substitute fries or chips for a side salad, fruit or a baked potato.

6. Eat lower calories food like soup and salad first. Then you can enjoy a lighter and smaller entree.

7. Keep portable, nonperishable foods in your bag. Things like peanut butter with crackers, a piece of fresh fruit, trail mix or cereal are great potable snacks.

For the complete list please visit www.eatright.org

We all know that leafy greens are good for you. Even elephants know this.  A part of an elephants diet is Gotu kola, a small green round leaved plant that has been around since prehistoric times. That is one ancient plant.

You may have heard it by some of its other names. Gotu kola is also known as hydrocotyle, asiatica, luei gong gen, lien tien thao, bai bua bok,  and pennywart.

Gotu kola is much more than just elephant food. For many years this herb has been used in Asia. Both the leaves and the stem have medicinal value.  The leaves can be eaten raw (like the elephants do!) or cooked.

It may not be very easy to find becayse the plant is indigenous to places like Southeast Asia, India, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Pacific Islands, Central America, South America and is warm and wet areas of the Southern United States.

So whats in this plant that makes it good for you? Well like most herbs, Gotu kola is a complex plant with many different chemicals.  It includes:

• asiatic acid
• madecassic acid
• terminolic acid
• bayogenin
• docosyl ferulates
• d-gulonic acid
• centellin
• asiaticin
• cadiyenol
• asiaticoside
• madecassoside
• asiaticoside-B
• castilliferol
• castillicetin
• isochlorogenic acid
• centellasaponins B, C, and D.

In Asia Gotu kola is used for wound healing and to help heal burns. It has also been tested on mice and was concluded that the madecassoside in the Gota kola substantially prevented arthritis  and protected join destruction. It is also being looked into as a possible alternative to steroid creams when treating psoriasis. There are studies to see if it can be used to help repair damaged nerve cells and MIT in Cambridge, Mass is looking into anticancer effects it may have.  It can also be used to help a athletes body recover from hard running or cycling or any other strenuous activity.

If eating raw leaves is not your kind cup of tea, then you can have…. a cup of tea. You can find Gotu kola in tea form. You can also find it in pill form.

So take a lesson from the elephants!

Twas The Month After Christmas

Twas the month after Christmas,

and all through the house,

Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.

The cookies I’d nibbled,

the chocolate I’d taste

At the holiday parties

had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales

there arose such a number!

When I walked to the store

(less a walk than a lumber),

I’d remember the marvellous meals I’d prepared;

The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,

The wine and the rum balls,

the bread and the cheese

And the way I’d never said,

“No thank you, please.”

As I dressed myself in my husband’s old shirt

And prepared once again to do battle with dirt…

I said to myself, as I only can,

“You can’t spend a winter, disguised as a man!”

So, away with the last of the sour cream dip.

Get rid of the fruit cake,

every cracker and chip.

Every last bit of food that I like must be banished

Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won’t have a cookie,

not even a lick.

I’ll want only to chew on a long celery stick.

I won’t have hot biscuits,

or corn bread,

or pie.

I’ll munch on a carrot

and quietly cry.

I’m hungry, I’m lonesome, and life is a bore…

But isn’t that what January is for?

Unable to giggle,

no longer a riot.

Happy New Year to all,

and to all a good diet.

Nutrition Ink celebrated at our annual Holiday Party. It was held at the Farmhouse Restaurant in Banning. It was a great turn out this year and everyone had a lot of fun! This year there was a drawing for the big grand prize for 2 tickets anywhere American Airlines travels. The big winner was Julie Enslow.  Congrats Julie and enjoy your trip!

Nutrition Ink wishes you and yours a wonderful holiday season!

Nutrition Ink is very happy to be working with retired California state surveyor, Linda Handy, MS, RD. If you are a facility serviced by Nutrition Ink, give us a call and we can schedule a visit from Linda to insure that your facility is up to par. If you are not, you can still benefit from all of Linda’s expertise by reading her new book, “Safe Dining for The Susceptible Customer: Seven Professional Views During Survey”. Linda Handy has worked hard to give people a tool to have handy (pun totally intended!) to make a survey situation go smoothly. Some chapters titles are “The Comedy of Errors“, “Regulations, Regulations Every Where & Not A Minute To Think” and “Burning The Midnight Fryer Oil“. The book is not the stuffy text book you are use to.  Linda Handy and her co-author Wayne Toczek have taken a humorous and very reader friendly approach with this book. It is filled with “Handy Tips” and is a must have and there is even more! The book comes with a study guide and has been approved for 6 CE credits for Dietitians, DTR, Dietary Managers & Nurses. 

If you would like to purchase this fabulous book please visit Linda Handy’s website:

Handy Dietary Consulting

Nutrition Ink may be well known for its exceptional registered dietitians and attention to quality, but we also provide nutritionally adequate 4 week and 6 week cycle menus. Our menus come complete with production sheets with many different types of diets. They can even be made custom for your facility. We have different types of menus to choose from, and come with easy to follow recipes. Our laminated weeks at a big, bright and colorful. Even if you do not have a contracted RD with Nutrition Ink, you can still purchase our fabulous menus. Check out our Catalog section at www.nutritionink.com.

Here at the Nutrition Ink offices we are busy everyday, but we still find time to give back. We have sponsered a child though a Children Christian Program.  Below is a letter from the Mother of Alex. The little boy that we sponser… (click on letter to see a bigger version)