What’s the skinny on the fat in seafood?

Posted on March 30, 2012 by admin


–Brigett Scott, MS RD LDN

Seafood is lower in fat when compared to other types of animal proteins. This is important when choosing the foods you eat. Fat provides your body with nine calories per gram – i.e. a three-ounce serving of shrimp has 1.5 grams of fat while a three-ounce serving of extra lean ground beef has 14 grams of fat. That is a big difference in fat!

More fat means more calories. When you are trying to lose weight, calories have to be kept under the amount you are burning each day in order to actually lose the weight. Eating more Louisiana seafood is a great way to cut fat and calories from your diet to promote a healthier weight.

The type of fat in seafood has other great benefits. Seafood is high in Omega-3 fatty acids. This type of fat is beneficial for overall health:
• It has been found to protect against heart disease by helping to improve the function of blood vessels and reducing inflammation in the body.
• It helps reduce blood clotting and lowers blood pressure.
• It is also thought to help protect your body from the harmful effects of other fats like saturated and trans fats.

Eat at least two servings per week of Louisiana seafood to increase your consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids. And remember to make sure you are getting all the benefits of eating more seafood by using healthier cooking methods!

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Big Chief’s coming down the home stretch for the Louisiana Seafood Fitness Challenge!

Posted on March 27, 2012 by admin

So far the Louisiana Seafood Fitness Challenge has worked well for me.  Honestly, I have not given one-hundred percent but I have lost six-and-a-half pounds.  My goal is to lose a total of 15 pounds during the challenge.

The important thing to remember is that there will be setbacks.  But don’t, I mean don’t get down on yourself or give up!  Just pay closer attention on how you are preparing your food.

Use margarine instead of butter.  Cook with olive oil instead of regular oil.  You can use Sweet’N Low instead of regular sugar.  All of this adds up at the end of the day.  Trust me!

Now this is the home stretch.  Let’s really focus and together we can get to our goal!  Below are more of my favorites that I love to cook.  Remember the best way to cook is to improvise.

I’m going to go heavy on crabmeat and grilled catfish!  And remember, if we all eat a little less and move a little more, the weight will fall  right off!  For the remainder of the Fitness Challenge, I’ll be giving you daily updates on what and when I eat and how much.  Can you do the same?

We can do this my people!  But I need your help, too!  Today, let’s also focus on seafood snacks, okay?

Deke’s Seafood Snacks
We all like to snack – so to say that we are going to just stop is much easier said than done.  Here are a few healthier snack tips.  Instead of cookies, chips or any kind of junk food, let’s be smarter on what we are going to munch on.

I really like to snack on shrimp and crawfish.  Hear me out.  Whenever you are cooking, just put a few things on the side as snacks.  For example, right now in my fridge at home I have a container with about two dozen boiled shrimp in it.

When I feel the urge, I go the fridge and peel me three or four.  Use the medium size shrimp.  Peel them and eat them one at a time and you will feel yourself getting full.  In a separate plastic container, I have cooked crawfish tails.

All I have in the bowl is my fresh cooked Louisiana Crawfish Tails, and they are seasoned with a little Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and seasoning.  When I get hungry, I eat a few spoons and then I’m good to go.

This doesn’t sound like much but it’s way better than a big bowl of ice cream or chips and dip.  Try it and you’ll like it.

Louisiana Seafood Eggs Over “Big Easy”
Two eggs
Cooked Louisiana seafood of choice (Crabmeat / Shrimp / Crawfish Tails)
1 slither of butter
Minced garlic
1 tsp of lemon

This is super simple.  Your seafood is already cooked.  You can use any kind you want.

  • Heat skillet and then spray with Pam.
  • Crack open one egg and then crack open the other.  Season to taste (I use salt and pepper).
  • Throw garlic on top.  Then add seafood.  Flip eggs over easy.  Add butter and then lemon juice.
  • Plate it up and then you’re ready to eat.  This takes maybe about five minutes to prepare.  The yolk from the egg should be a little runny and the flavor is incredible.  And remember to use ONLY Louisiana seafood!

Seafood Casserole
Two eggplants peeled and cut into cubes
2 lbs of ground chuck
Italian bread crumbs
Cooked Louisiana shrimp
One can of tomato sauce
Grated Parmesan cheese

  • Put eggplant into pot with water and salt.  Let the eggplant boil until it gets real soft.  Take off heat and let set.
  • In a separate skillet, pour in olive oil, brown meat and then strain.
  • Take one can of tomato sauce and pour into pot.  You can use sugar or Sweet’N Low.  Once you have the sauce to a sweet taste, it is ready.
  • In a large bowl, place eggplant, cooked ground meat and cut shrimp.  Mix it well.  Then add in tomato sauce.  Make sure that the sauce is good in the mix as it will dry out some and we want our food to be moist.
  • Shake in some cheese.
  • Put mixture into casserole dish and then lightly cover top with bread crumbs.
  • Place into an oven at 325 degrees and once edges of casserole begin to simmer, the dish is ready.  Let stand for five minutes and then dig in!

Deke’s Shrimp Creole
Remember to use all the lighter things to make the dish healthier.
Peeled Louisiana shrimp
Two cans of tomato sauce
Sweet’N Low or sugar
One bell pepper
One onion
Tony Chachere’s seasoning

  • Cut up pepper and onion real fine.  Put into a skillet with olive oil and let cook down until it gets soft.  In a separate pot, place onions and peppers, then add in tomato sauce.  Sweeten to taste and then add a little Tony’s.
  • Let this mixture cook down for about 15 minutes on low to medium heat.
  • Add in Louisiana shrimp and then serve over rice.
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Louisiana Seafood: A Great Source of Protein

Posted on March 26, 2012 by admin

–Brigett Scott, MS RD LDN

Protein is an important part of muscle, but it is also a part of all other tissue in your body. Proteins work to promote cell growth as well as to repair your body’s tissues. They also contribute to a healthy immune system.

The question when it comes to protein is “How much do I need to eat?” Well, break out your calculator and I’m going to teach you.

Step 1: Convert your weight to kilograms.

(I know we are not in Europe…but it is the way we do this calculation)

Ex. 150 lbs ÷ 2.2 lbs/kg = 68.18 kg

Step 2: Multiply your weight in kilograms by 0.8 g/kg (recommended amount for most adults)

Ex. 68.18 kg x 0.8g/kg = 54.54 grams of protein

I know your next question: “But how does that translate into the food I’m eating?”

Protein is found in many foods. On average, most animal sources of protein contain about seven grams of protein per ounce consumed. So if you consume two ounces of meat for breakfast, three ounces at lunch and again at supper (total of eight ounces), you would be consuming 56 grams of protein just from the meat in your diet. Plus, dairy products, beans, nuts, and grains also contain protein. Most people exceed their recommendation of protein every day. So when choosing protein foods, we want to make sure they are good sources of high quality protein and that they are low in fat.

Louisiana seafood is naturally lower in fat than other types of meat, and it is an excellent source of high quality protein. Including more Louisiana seafood in your diet will help you to meet your protein needs without exceeding your fat needs for the day as long as you are not deep-frying it!

Remember to stick to the healthier cooking methods we have already discussed and you’ll be on your way to better health.

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Cooking with Deke Bellavia

Posted on March 21, 2012 by admin


Check out Deke Bellavia cooking up some delicious Louisiana Seafood! Get the latest update on how he’s doing with the Louisiana Seafood Fitness Challenge, competing with his WWL Sports Talk Radio co-host Bobby Hebert to see who can lose the most weight during the 40 days of Lent by incorporating Louisiana Seafood as an important part of their overall diets. You will definitely be craving some Louisiana Seafood after watching this video!

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Healthier Options for Eating More Seafood

Posted on March 16, 2012 by admin

Brigett Scott, MS RD LDN

Typically when we think of eating seafood, we think fried. However, frying your food increases the amount of calories and fat in the food item. For example, a serving of 11-12 large shrimp served breaded and fried contains 206 calories and 10.4 grams of fat while the raw version of that same number of shrimp only started out containing 90 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. When you fry a food item, the oil (fat) is absorbed into that food and water leaves in the form of steam. This leaves room in the food to soak up more fat, so preparing fried foods adds unwanted and unneeded calories.

I know what you are thinking…but fried seafood just tastes so good!

I agree that it tastes good, but I disagree that it’s the only cooking method that provides your seafood with great flavor. Try baking, steaming/poaching, broiling, or grilling. Sautéed, stir-fried (with a small amount of oil) and boiled seafood is also delicious! When using any of these healthier methods, it is important to remember not to load the item with too much butter or margarine. Use herbs and seasonings to add extra flavor, not extra fat and calories. Some examples that work well with many different types of Louisiana seafood include basil, marjoram, thyme, garlic, dill, oregano, tarragon, and cayenne pepper. Excellent garnishes that can also add extra flavor are chives, parsley and lemon.

If you do decide to fry foods, use an oil such as Canola oil which contains a healthier type of fat. Yes, fried foods are delicious, but Louisiana seafood is so versatile that it tastes great prepared all sorts of ways. Enjoy the seafood that our wonderful state has to offer!

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How to Lose Weight

Posted on March 13, 2012 by admin

Brigett Scott, MS, RD, LDN

Weight loss is not easy or simple to do because it takes hard work and determination. People often look for quick fixes like supplements, pills and devices that can help them lose weight quickly and easily. The problem is that those things are often expensive and don’t work in the long run. Once the person stops using them, the weight usually comes back on with an additional five to 10 pounds. This happens because when you lose weight too quickly, your body is losing too much muscle and your metabolism actually slows down. It is much healthier to lose one to two pounds per week. When you lose the weight a little slower, it is mostly fat that you are losing.

So how do you lose one to two pounds per week? Here is the calculation:
• 3500 kilocalories = 1 pound of fat
• 3500 ÷ 7 days/week = 500 kilocalories/day that you need to eat less or burn through exercise

Here are some examples of how you can cut out the extra calories:
• Switch to fat-free milk
• Use nonstick cooking spray instead of oil or butter
• Add more vegetables to sandwiches instead of extra cheese or meat
• Eat fruit for dessert or snacks
• Dip your salad into your dressing instead of pouring it on top
• Drink water instead of soft drinks and save about 140 kilocalories per 12-ounce serving
• Eat air-popped popcorn instead of potato chips
• Eat more Louisiana seafood prepared grilled, baked or boiled

The best way to reduce the amount of kilocalories is to reduce your portion sizes. Serve yourself smaller portions and don’t go back for seconds. Eat on a smaller plate or from a smaller bowl which will help you feel like you have had more to eat. It’s also important to learn to eat when you’re hungry, not when you’re bored.

Start eating less if you want to weigh less, but remember you do have to eat at least 1200 kilocalories each day to maintain proper health. This is the minimum that is considered safe, so don’t starve yourself. Eat the foods you love…just eat a little less of them!

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What is Fitness and How Do I Get There?

Posted on March 7, 2012 by admin

–Brigett Scott, MS RD LDN

Most of the time, people just ask me how to lose weight – they don’t really ask how to get fit. In general, fitness means being in a state of good health. When a person is fit, that means they are healthy due to proper nutrition and exercise. I like to think of fitness as a destination. So how can you get to this elusive place called “Fitness?”

Like any other journey we take, it’s important to make sure that the vehicle is fueled properly. Just like your car needs the right kind of gasoline, your body needs the right kind of nutrients in order for your journey to fitness to run smoothly. You wouldn’t put diesel in a car that runs off of unleaded gasoline so why oh why would you put high fat, high sugar foods in your body?

The foods you need to incorporate into your diet in order to attain fitness are going to include:
• Whole grains like brown rice, whole-wheat breads and pastas, and even popcorn
• A variety of different color fruits and vegetables
• Low fat dairy products like skim or 1% milk, cheese and yogurt
• Healthy fats like canola and olive oil, nuts and seeds
• Lean meat like the protein found in fish, shrimp, crab, crawfish, and mussels
• Water (about 64 ounces per day)

Once your body is fueled with the right kinds of food, then you will want to use that body. What happens to a car engine that sits in the garage and is never revved up? It stops working. The parts stop being able to move. Guess what? The same thing happens to a human body that sits still for too long. So get off the sofa and move that body!

To get your body fit, you have to do different types of exercise. It is best to alternate aerobic exercises like walking, dancing, jogging, swimming, and biking with resistance exercises that work to give you more muscle (like resistance bands or lifting weights). The aerobic exercise gives your heart and your major muscle groups (like your legs) a workout, and that will increase your endurance. The resistance exercises will give you a leaner appearance and help you to burn calories more effectively.

So let’s get going on this journey to fitness…you can do it!

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Bobby and Deke Weigh-In

Posted on March 5, 2012 by admin


The Louisiana Seafood Challenge is now underway! Check out this video to see Bobby Hebert and Deke Bellavia’s first official weigh-in! They are competing to see who can lose the most weight during Lent by incorporating healthy Louisiana Seafood recipes into their diets.

Deke Bellavia begins the challenge at 263 pounds and Bobby Hebert will attempt to lose some of his 254 pounds – his heaviest weight ever.

The WWL Sports Talk Radio hosts have always eaten lots of seafood, but are now changing the way they eat it. “It’s all about preparation. Going from fried to baked, from fried to broiled, grilled – anything but fried.”

Deke and Bobby are focused on losing the weight but their main goal is to live a healthier lifestyle. “It’s about getting healthier overall. We want to lose a lot of weight but if we’re healthier overall, that’s our main goal,” said Deke.

Video courtesy of WWL Radio.

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Seafood Safety

Posted on March 2, 2012 by admin

Fresh caught Louisiana shrimpBy: Brigett Scott, MS, RD, LDN

Eating more seafood is a great way to increase our consumption of healthy nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, zinc and protein. When eating seafood, we want to make sure that we get the most nutrients we can without compromising our health by improperly handling it. Keep four things in mind for ultimate seafood safety:

Buying
Buy your seafood from reputable sources like the grocery store or seafood markets and make sure that it was stored at the proper temperature (<40° F). If there are ice crystals present inside the packaging, you shouldn’t purchase because it has probably been previously thawed out and refrozen. Fish should be shiny and firm and should have a fresh odor. It shouldn’t smell “fishy.” Another tip is to pick up seafood at the end of your shopping trip in order to keep it at the proper temperature for the longest amount of time possible.

Storing
When you get your seafood home, it should be stored properly. It requires refrigeration or freezing immediately. The proper refrigerator temperature for seafood is between 32° – 38° F. In the freezer, the best temperature is 0°F or less. All seafood should be cooked and eaten before the expiration date on the package.

Preparing
When preparing seafood, always keep raw and cooked food separated to avoid getting bacteria/viruses from the raw items on the cooked food. This can be accomplished by using separate cutting boards and containers for raw and cooked items. The most important aspect of food preparation is good hand washing. Your hands and your utensils should be clean before you start preparing food and should be cleaned after coming in contact with raw food. For the best results, wash your hands in warm running water using soap for approximately 20-30 seconds.

Cooking
Fish should be cooked to 145° F or until the flesh is opaque. The meat should flake easily when separated with a fork. Children, pregnant women, elderly, and people with conditions causing a weakened immune system should not eat raw seafood. These groups are at high risk for contracting food-borne illness.

Eating seafood is a great way to increase your intake of healthy nutrients and enhance your health. Maximize the benefits of eating seafood by buying, storing, preparing, and cooking it properly.

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Louisiana Fishing – Childhood Memories and More

Posted on March 1, 2012 by admin

Bronzed Louisiana CatfishBy: Brigett Scott, MS, RD, LDN

Being a nutrition expert in Louisiana is hard sometimes. The food here is so delicious, and people want to eat more of it than they should. Making choices is important when considering what foods to put into our bodies to maintain health, but it is also important to encourage our culture’s food traditions. That is why I would like to tell you about my experiences with family, tradition and Louisiana seafood – because to me, it is hard to think of family and not imagine seafood as a part of those great memories.
One of my earliest childhood memories is watching my Papa Chip cleaning the catfish that he had caught in Lake Des Allemands. I remember waking up early in the morning to the sound of Cajun music playing over an AM station on the small black radio in my Maman’s kitchen. When I peeked through the heavy wooden door that separated the bedroom from the kitchen, she would sit me in a chair at the table and put a hot cup of café au lait in front of me with a warm biscuit. She would give me a kiss and say, “Papa will be in soon with the fish.”
I would dunk my biscuit in the coffee and eat it quickly in order to be able to run toward the boat shed and meet him as he came floating into his slip.
It was still dark outside and the air was crisp and clean scented by wild onions growing along the small levee next to the inlet. My Papa would emerge from his small green and red wooden boat with a smile and a King Edward cigar tucked firmly in the side of his mouth. He would welcome me and give me something to carry back to the house so that I could feel useful. I watched as he carried the large silver tub full of his catch back toward the house.
I would sit and watch as he would prepare his little shed next to the house for cleaning the fish. He had a large filet knife and a small silver tool that to this day I still don’t know what to call. It was shaped like pliers and he would use it to skin the catfish. These things were all amazing to me. Most four-year-old girls would think it was gross to watch fish heads being separated from their bodies or watch as the organs were pulled from the abdominal cavity of the fish, but I loved it. It wasn’t the blood and guts that I enjoyed, but the time spent with my grandparents.
My Maman would take the fish filets and pack them into one-pound portions in plastic bags. These would be frozen and sold. Some of the fish would be kept in the refrigerator, and she would cook it for our lunch. We would make fried catfish sandwiches and sit and enjoy our lunch before working the garden outside.
My grandparents enjoyed life and even though what they were doing was hard work, it was work that they loved. I learned much from my grandparents about family, love and God. I also learned about hard work and determination. And all this was accomplished around a large silver tub of Des Allemands catfish.
So as a storyteller, I value the traditions of South Louisiana and as a registered dietitian, I value the food that culturally is our own. And while fried fish is definitely delicious, I’ve discovered numerous ways for preparing fish – broiling, grilling, blackening, etc. – that let me enjoy my seafood and know that I’m also eating something that’s good for me. Eating Louisiana seafood can be good for the body, and it can also be good for the soul.

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