Trading Up Downtown

Oh, how I love macaroni and cheese. The homemade kind is my favorite, but, of course, I don’t always have the time to prepare it, so I resort to the boxed variety. But, as you probably already know, some boxes of macaroni and cheese are loaded with calories and fat (and usually weirdo ingredients), which means it’s often not a nutritious option for a meal or even a side dish. Even still, I love mac & cheese and want to enjoy it on occassion.

Thanks to NuVal, I already knew that the traditional Kraft Macaroni & Cheese scores just a 4 and a couple of the seemly nutritious boxed varieties don’t score much higher, including Annie’s Shells & Real Aged Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese, which gets a 5 and Back to Nature Macaroni & Cheese Dinner, which gets a 4. So, I went in search for some more nutritious options. Here’s what I found!

GOOD

Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni & Cheese (NuVal score: 18)

BETTER

Annie’s Homegrown Organic Whole Wheat Shells & White Cheddar (NuVal score: 21)

BEST

Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Macaroni & Cheese (NuVal score: 24)

As you can see, boxed macaroni and cheese is not the most nutritious meal, but you can trade-up for a better box with the help of the NuVal scores. Better yet, you can always throw in some fresh steamed broccoli (NuVal score 100) or cauliflower (NuVal score: 100) for some added nutrition!

My favorite way to refuel after a long run is eating a toasted Everything bagel with cream cheese and drinking a bottle of coconut water. The combination is delicious and it makes me feel as good as new!

As you probably know, coconut water is all the rage right now. The media portrays it as a magical health beverage and plenty of celebrities drink and endorse it. Clearly, coconut is “hot,” but is it nutritious?

Sadly (for me), the answer is not really. Check out these NuVal scores for some common brands of coconut water on the market:

• C2O PURE COCONUT WATER: 8
• ZICO POMBERRY PURE PREMIUM COCONUT WATER: 7
• ZICO MANGO PURE PREMIUM COCONUT WATER: 7
• GOYA COCONUT WATER JUICE CONTAINS 80% JUICE: 5

As you can see, these kinds of coconut water don’t score very high on the NuVal scale, which is mostly due to the amount of sugar added to these drinks. For instance, 88% of the calories in a serving of the C2O Pure Coconut Water comes from sugar. It also doesn’t include any vitamin A or C and very small amounts of calcium and iron. Basically, it doesn’t have much going for it to bring up the score.

Even after discovering the low NuVal scores for coconut water, I still plan to drink it. It’s so delicious and it’s become a key part of my post-run recovery. I don’t know what I would do without it!

Trading Up Downtown Giveaway

Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s giveaway! Here’s your winner: 5!

I love my classic Better Homes and Gardens cookbook – the one with the red plaid cover! It has all your basic recipes that you could ever need.

Congrats, Stacey! Please email me at thaupert@nuval.com with your full name and mailing address to claim your prize.

Last week, I appeared on The Dr. Oz Show for a “healthy” cookie recipe that I created at home. (I know, I’m just as surprised as you are!) I traveled to the NBC Studios in New York City for the taping of the holiday-themed episode.

The day was exciting and jam-packed, so I never really had a chance to eat. By the time, I got to Penn Station to take the train home, my stomach was seriously growling, so I grabbed a salad for dinner. In it was romaine lettuce, broccoli, beets, artichoke hearts, chickpeas, and tomatoes– and it was awesome!

Once I finished eating my salad, I decided that I needed to recreate it at home– it was that delicious! As I was plotting my recreation, I realized that the salad ingredients were a combination of fresh and canned. Working at NuVal, I’ve learned that if you look for canned vegetables with low- or no-sodium, they can be just as nutritious as the fresh kind.

Here’s what’s in my recreated salad:

• Romaine lettuce (NuVal score: 100)
• Broccoli (NuVal score: 100)
• Tomatoes (NuVal score: 96)
• Eden Organic Garbanzo Beans No Salt Added (NuVal score: 100)
• PriceChopper Sliced Beets No Salt Added (NuVal score: 99)
• Mezzetta Marinated Artichoke Hears (NuVal score: 30)

As you can see, all of these salad ingredients– even those from cans– score high on the NuVal scale. The Mezzetta Marinated Artichoke Hearts score much lower than the others, but I used the oils and seasoning as my salad dressing. If you want to trade-up the the artichoke hearts, try the frozen variety. Bird’s Eye Fresh Frozen Artichoke Hearts get a 99 on the NuVal scale!