The beach is the perfect home for sandcastles, water fun and E.Coli. As sunbathers do what they do best, bacteria does the same. However, beachgoers can easily avoid snacks that tempt spoilage. Dietitian and nutritionist, Elisa Zied, author of “Nutrition at Your Fingertips,” offers five easily portable, sun-proof, diet-friendly foods to throw in the beach bag this coming beach season:
1. FRESH FRUITS: Washed thoroughly and packed so as not to get smashed, fresh fruits provide valuable nutrients such as vitamin C and potassium. Zied suggests the most portable fruits include: oranges, apples, and bananas or liven it up with grapefruit slices, clementines, seedless grapes or strawberries.
2. NUTS: Crunchy and delicious, nuts provide omega-3 fatty acids that are heart healthy and are also rich in healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Bring a baggie with a two tablespoon portion of almonds, cashews or walnuts.
3. DRIED FRUIT: Look for “no sugar added” when picking out dried fruits and limit portion to two tablespoons. Although not as fiber-rich as fruit, dried fruit is nonperishable and great to mix with crunchy high fiber cereal like low fat granola or nuts (choose the kind you like, but stick to two tablespoons). [Read more...]



