Welcome to the Health and Fitness Sleuth

My name is Patricia Setzer. I'm a Nutrition Fact Label Coach. I work with those concerned with diabetes, heart disease, and weight control to interpret and apply the nutrition data on commercially produced foods.

Feel free to browse my growing collection of health and fitness information and resources. As you do, feel free to add your own feedback and comments.

Stay fit and healthy!

Health and Fitness Sleuth Blog

Fiber

Fiber seems to be in just about every food in your supermarket - even in foods such as ice creams, yogurts and drinks that have never been good sources of fiber in the past. This means if a food is not a good source of fiber it has to be added.

Not all fiber is created equal; It is important to have both soluble and insoluble fiber in your diet. Quote from CSPI “The kind of fiber that’s linked to a lower risk of heart disease isn’t the kind that lowers cholesterol”. When your diet is from fruits, vegetables and grains you are consuming both insoluble and soluble fibers, you do not need to put a lot of thought into the type of fiber you are eating.

Researchers are not sure if the fiber alone prevents disease or if it the phytoestrogens, antioxidants, lignans,vitamins and minerals the fiber contains.

When you purchase a product that claims to be high in fiber make sure that whole wheat or grains are first or second in the list of ingredients. Companies often use ingredients such as inulin (chicory root) that has not been proven to be a good source of fiber or well absorbed by your body. 

Source: Center For Science In The Public Interest.

Cheesecake Anyone?

Cheesecake, one of my favorite things in life, add some chocolate to the cheesecake and life just does not get any better than that. Sara Lee now has on the market for your convenience ”Sara Lee Bites”; wonderful little morsels of chocolate or strawberry cheesecake. Keep these in your freezer and when you need a little taste of sweet just pop one in your mouth. 

If you are like me one bite leads to another until before you know it the box is empty. Should you have some “Sara Lee Bites” in your freezer make sure to keep track of the bites you consume.

Roughly 20 bites is equal to 1/2 cup (a serving of ice cream) 440 calories

and 14 grams of saturated fat.