hello welcome to help line this Tuesday evening.

I'm Jennifer Blomquist and I get to host the show tonight really is a privilege especially because we have two awesome yes.

They have on before they're both clinical dietitians and they have a wealth of information to share with you and it's a very timely topic.

What are you talking about trying to navigate these high food prices and if anybody grocery shops and probably most of you do whether you do it online or in person in the store, you know that things have become pretty pricey and try to stretch your dollar and also eat healthy can be a struggle.

But they've got some great advice to share with you on that.

I want to remind you in case especially if you're new to this show, it's a live show so we are here in the studio right now and you can call us any time.

That's why the phone number is at the bottom of the screen.

It's (969) 27 two zero.

If you're outside of Fort Wayne it's still free but you just have to dial 866- in front of there and then when you call in you have two choices.

You can either ask your question live on the air and they won't just throw you on the air.

You will talk to a call screener first and then you'll get to ask your question live which is always great or another option.

A lot of people maybe if they're a little shy or apprehensive about doing it live, you can give the call screener your question.

They'll relay it to me and then I will ask the guests a question for you.

So it's another great way to get the information through to you.

So again, we'll keep that phone number up at the bottom of the screen throughout the program.

And without further ado, I will introduce you to our guests and if you watch us regularly they should not be strangers to you.

You've probably seen them before.

Again, we have clinical dietitians.

Next to me is Adrianne Kawthar .

Thank you.

And next to Adrianne is Amanda Langan and so both both of you just always have done a wonderful job for us in the past and so glad to have you back.

Thank you having us.

I was glad to see the topic of course I didn't realize this until you guys sent this but March is National Nutrition Month and I was just telling Adrianne before the show I was at a grocery store and I really don't buy anything significant.

I didn't buy any meat or know didn't buy anything that one item that seemed to be a lot but my bill was eighty some dollars and I feel like I really just bought kind of some junk was it I didn't even have like fresh produce so things have definitely gotten more expensive at the grocery store.

>> Yes yeah for sure.

I think eating healthy was always labeled as being more expensive.

I mean if you want to buy a box of you know a mac and cheese type of dinner that is always cheaper.

I mean gosh used to be you could get those sometimes they used to go on sale like for two for a dollar or even cheaper some of the little noodles and soup mixes you know that you just add water.

Those were always inexpensive but you know if you wanted to get fresh produce and the lean meats fish didn't seem like those were always a little pricier and now they're really pricey.

>> Yeah.

And I think we're seeing a shift for a lot of individuals of going back to more of those whole foods.

Yeah, Is proving to be more cost effective so things as simple as buying a block of cheese and shredding that or cutting that down, you can even freeze things.

You know, I think we're seeing a shift where people are starting to go back towards more of those methods to find some of those cost savings.

So it does take more time and planning and preparation but there's definitely ways that you can navigate that right now.

>> Well, it seems like the prices are constantly going up.

Yeah, I was and there's always stuff when it's out of season sometimes it's more expensive anyway.

But I guess is one good thing is we're getting into the warmer weather and a lot of things especially produce wise tend to get a little cheaper in the warmer months.

So I guess we have to look forward to what would be your best advice though especially if you've got a family to feed and everybody has different tastes and so forth.

Maybe some tips on how to stretch your dollar and even how to like I dunno if you have ideas on how to stretch the amount of food you know, get maybe two or three meals out of , you know, a bunch of food instead of just one.

Yeah, Big thing is planning ahead making a grocery list, picking a few meal ideas that you know, your family enjoys and that they're going to actually eat.

And then when you take that list to the grocery store sticking to the list or sometimes stick with it.

>> Yeah.

So sticking to the list and making sure that if you know you're going to have leftovers you have a plan for them so they don't end up in the trash three days later.

>> That is the one thing because growing up my family is from southern Illinois and they all farmed me, you know, religiously canned, you know, and they used every little bit, you know, I mean they would save the bacon grease and you know, use that and I don't see a lot of people doing that so much.

Maybe it's because their lifestyles are kind of busy.

But there are ways to I would think to preserve most of the food that is left over.

Yeah, yeah.

Like I said, you know, even freezing things.

So if there is fresh produce at the store that's what they always worried about by using protein you can so I mean there is definitely and there's resources all over that you can use on how to prep a vegetable such as like corn for instance.

So like in the summertime and Indiana we're known for sweet corn so taking that, blanching it cutting it off the cob and then you can freeze that you know canning is always a method that I mean really I think you can can pretty much anything.

>> Yeah.

And I do feel like for me personally some of the families that I work with, they are starting to dabble into that because they're seeing where they're able to save money and things that way.

>> And I know another suggestion you guys have made was and again we're not now but in a few months maybe even think about putting in a little garden.

>> I mean yeah, absolutely.

I would think some of those plants or I know or even just growing from seeds I know like whenever I meet somebody who grows tomatoes they just they're just given out to anybody mean they'll have a sign on their door.

It was a beautiful garden this year.

>> Yes.

We bring it to the office.

Yes I see tomatoes grow like crazy right now.

I've never known anyone do it from a plant from a seed but they get the little plants at nursery or whatnot.

They seem like they're pretty cheap just to get the individual plants.

Yeah, but again is that something that you can can you even freeze tomatoes pretty well?

>> I mean I know about canning.

Yeah.

Tomatoes.

Great.

So all of your bumper crop that you have you can you know cook them down, turn them source, turn them into salsa and either freeze them or can stick them in your pantry, stick them in your fridge and use them all winter.

>> Yeah yeah that is one good thing.

Yeah.

A lot of what we're enjoying all those comfort foods right.

And things like that.

Yeah we have lots more to talk about but somebody did call in I wanted to ask you guys a question so it was a man named Roger he says whatever as asking what is what are one or two food items that you could eat?

A lot of it would have the best nutrition.

Well, one of my personal favorites and I probably will have a core group of individuals that probably don't agree with me on this but eggs are actually a really good nutrient dense food.

They are a good source of protein which is found primarily in the whites part of the egg but they're also really high and water and fat soluble vitamins the fats and the fat soluble vitamins are found in that yolk but B vitamins Colene actually for women who are expecting COLENE is really important for fetal development.

So they say like eat eggs, they're a great source of nutrition and you can eat them any time of the day.

Yeah.

And they go with everything so they're very nutrient dense.

So that would be my vote.

Yeah, I think race is a really good one and I would choose a brown rice because you're going to get a lot of fiber from that.

>> You're going to get some vitamins minerals.

>> It's a good source of healthy carbohydrates and you compare with a lot of different things .

>> I was going to say the you know, with some of these food shortages or you know, you see a lot we still see empty shelves here and there.

I mean it's definitely a lot better but I see rice is always low or out of the store and if you shop at one of these bulk stores, I mean I will see people putting these huge bags of rice in there.

I mean I guess it wouldn't really go bad.

I mean I would think that would have a long shelf life .

Yeah.

So a long shelf life without preservatives.

>> Yeah.

How do you make the rice though?

I love rice and I'll eat it plain with just a little salt and pepper on it but there are some tips of how to maybe make it where it would be kind of tasty without making it really high in fat or so what you could do when you're making rice is actually replace some of the water with like a low sodium chicken broth or broth.

You can add just a little bit of protein that would be like half and half and half water and then you know, when tip that I like to share with some of our families is I think like Amanda said, it pairs so well with everything so especially with kids, you know, adding different vegetables, things like that, you can chop them real fine and add them into the rice just another way to get the fruits and veggies and yeah and I I've always heard because I had heard different stories about the brown rice which you know Amanda you will recommending.

But is it I mean I don't know some people say it's it's not as nutritious or it's not that much more nutritious than white rice.

I don't know if you would disagree with that.

I like them both but I mean you are going to get more fiber for sure and in with the brown.

>> Yeah.

And that outside part of the rice which is what makes it brown there's more vitamins and minerals in there and so that's where you're going to find extra bang for your buck.

It's the same price as the white rice if you're not used to brown rice and you haven't tried it before you can do half and half so half white rice, half brown rice did a little blend in there and kind of see what you like and there's so many great machines out now that you know that he's you know well just you know, the old fashioned slow cooker, you know I mean that's that's one thing that I think is really nice and my mom used to always make chicken rice in there.

Yeah, she's put that in.

That was that was always good so yeah.

So all right.

So Rice and eggs or yeah.

And they grow great together too.

They do.

I think everything goes great with eggs so well thank you Roger for that.

That was a great question and if you have something you want to ask Adrianne and Amanda please do they're only here to eight o'clock so please call sooner rather than later.

And again there's the number for you at the bottom of the screen.

Just call in and we'll get your question answered whether you ask live or you can do like what Roger did he had asked had me as a question for him.

We kind of touched on this before but you know, I was talking about you the boxes of processed foods like you know, making a macaroni and cheese or oh gosh, I don't even like these little frozen pizzas that go on sale or things like that.

But I know you were in the notes you sent to me.

You said try and stay away from these heavily processed things or things that are high in sodium.

I don't know if people really realize how much sodium is in some of those items to yeah, they look nice and easy and convenient and yeah, you come home, you throw it in the oven and you're Yeah.

>> Which is great but if you flip over the box and check that nutrition label a lot of times there's going to be a lot of either fat or added salt into that which you know occasionally not a problem but if you're doing that every night or multiple times a week that extra salt can really start to build up and it can cost things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and what are your guys opinion of I because I get fliers in the mail all the time for trial starter program for these companies that will deliver food to your house and supposedly I'll prepare and I always wondered if those are really nutritious because some of the names that make them sound like wow, that sounds like they'd be really healthy but they're they're expensive.

>> They are and you know, I think it's really probably an individual basis on if it's the best choice for you or not.

But a lot of the companies do have their nutrition information published on their website and I always encourage just going making an informed decision if that is something that you're interested in that you're looking at that in that you're choosing meals that have, you know, healthy fats a good source of protein.

They'll let you know the percentage of iron and vitamin D you know, things that you want to look at have a decent amount in it versus you know, the high sodium content or maybe a dish that's high in saturated fats.

Those are ones that we would encourage to kind of stay away from.

What about canned vegetables?

I know you talked about getting the fresh vegetables, maybe even freezing them or canning them, but what year is it OK to get canned vegetables like I loved canned green beans but I've heard people say that that's not the healthiest thing to eat.

>> Canned vegetables are great .

They're easy, they're convenient.

They stay on your shelf in your pantry for a while.

You just have to look at the label and look for if there's added salt, if there's added seasonings or something like that.

One thing you can do if you can't find one that doesn't have salt is put them in a stranger, rinse them off with some water and then prepare them and that will cut down on some of the added salt or if you can find them when they're on sale and they say no salt on the label, I'll grab a bunch of them.

And the last in your pantry for a while does that.

>> Yeah, I was wondering about some of those labels no salt added or sugar added and I always wonder OK, does that really make a big difference because my husband always said Oh the no sugar he just disregards the no sugar because his dad was diabetic and his dad would he go shopping with him and then he'd say well this is no sugar added and he'd say I don't believe that or he'd say there's already a lot of sugar in it.

So I don't I don't even know if that's always a sure fire way to go if it says no sugar added or no salt.

So especially with the salt when it says no added salt, I mean that means whatever sodium that is in that product is what naturally occurs in the food and there's always going to be some amount of sodium that is in vegetables, things like that .

>> So what it's just saying is that we're not physically adding any additional salt in the canning process.

So I think there definitely is a big difference because I mean what you're getting you know, that could be 100 milligrams or even more that you're saving if you do the no added salt option and with a no added sugar.

You know, this is something that's getting a lot of research and press lately and you know, they're they're setting guidelines, daily guidelines to try to keep the amount of processed and added sugars down in our diet.

So you know, I think any time that you can pick an option that is a no sugar added you know, especially with kids is really important.

I've heard criticisms lately when you're talking about how we're kind of rethinking some of the foods that the food pyramid was going to be altered and I don't know if that's true or not.

I've heard stories that they they're saying, you know, no, it's going to be change because they had way too many for the you know, like wheat and things like that.

But I don't know that's just a rumor or not.

I've just heard I've heard criticisms of it that it was made a long time ago and needs to be altered.

>> They it was made a long time ago and then they updated it when the whole my plate thing kind of came out and it shifted some of the foods that were on the list.

I don't honestly see it used a whole lot now I think everything to me when I was in school we had to memorize it but I kids now like what is more towards what we call them my plate my so that's half of your plate being fruits and vegetables you know preferably fresh if you can a good source of vitamins, minerals and fiber a quarter of the plate being a lean protein source and then the last quarter of the plate to be in a grain sauce preferably whole grain and then off to the side is a little blue circle for our dairy that we recommend low fat as much as possible.

All right.

We did have someone else who wants to ask you the question actually he wants to ask it live.

So Jim, are you still there?

>> Yes, I am.

Oh, hi, Jim.

Thank you for your patience.

You've been waiting a little bit.

Go ahead and ask your question.

Sure.

I was wondering what you ladies thought about the benefits of bone broth for orthopedic injuries, for example, lower back pain like a herniated disc so for its collagen benefit is collagen, glucosamine and glycine components in chicken bone wrath or B foam broth.

>> That's a great question.

I think it depends on whether or not you're making it yourself at home or if you're buying it in the grocery store.

One thing to really be aware of if you are buying it in the grocery store again is check that label because a lot of broths even if they are bone broth, they add a lot of salt to that which you might be getting some health benefits from the collagen in it but you're getting a whole lot more sodium in it which could lead to other issues.

So if you can make it at home fantastic.

Take that you know, chicken that you cooked and cut all the meat off of and make a broth from that that's another way to save money but then you can control what you're adding to it as well.

So you can cut down on that salt.

You can add lots of herbs and spices to it to make it taste like you want to taste regarding the benefits of collagen.

>> I'm not super knowledgeable on the research as to how that would affect orthopedic health but it's a fantastic question we'll have Jim, I have to call back when we have our because we do an orthopedic show every every other call and when we do an orthopedic show next month.

>> Yeah, I know and I mean collagen is really important in terms of our our joint health and how cartilage and everything like that around the joints, you know, keeps itself healthy but just by eating one product we can't say definitively that that would fix one particular area of the body if there is an injury but definitely something I would agree to talk to orthopedic specialist about.

>> Sure.

Jim, did you want to ask anything else before you go since you mentioned since then she mentioned the salt intake.

If I use I'm currently I find it quite beneficial the bone broth for my lower back.

It's just a fact and I think it's the college and might be the glucosamine in it but what do you think about 135 milligrams of salt per eight ounce serving is that too much salt?

It's a low sodium chicken broth that I bought at the store is is if I drank like two eight ounce servings so that'll be 217 milligrams of sodium.

>> Is that too much?

I I don't think so either.

You're incorporating other low sodium items throughout the day and you know not that I don't have a salt shaker next to you on the table things like that.

>> I think that that amount would be OK. Fair enough.

Thank you.

I thank you.

I appreciate the call.

We have someone else who wanted to ask you a question want me to ask it for Jack wants to know is this is a good one is a bowl of low fat frozen yogurt ice cream nutritional well I mean I just know is low I'll see it low fat or fat free when you're at the ice cream shop it seems like a better option.

Yeah.

So compared to like another ice cream product, you know that would be probably a smarter choice.

I think that there's a couple other things to look at as a part of this question is when it comes to the product, you know, is it made with one hundred percent yogurt?

Is there a lot of added sugar?

What is the protein content?

So I think compared to a regular ice cream product, you know, I think a low fat frozen yogurt is a great alternative even adding some fruit to that.

But I also think too if you're looking at different frozen yogurt at the grocery store looking for something that's made with a real yogurt product know has a couple grams of protein per serving and has the least amount of added sugar possible would just be an added benefit of having something like that.

>> There are so many choices now.

Yes.

Dairy wise you know with the ice creams but even with milks and things now I don't know our doctor it always said that once the kids were over the whole milk by age two you can switch to skin like our whole family just drinks skim at this point.

But I just I see all these ones the oh I don't know almond milk or things like that.

I don't know if you have any suggestions for how to shop.

Yes.

Because I talk about this all day.

Yeah.

So typically after the age of two or I guess once a baby comes off of infant formula or milk we want them to go to a whole milk.

It's high in protein but it's also high in fat which is really important for brain development.

Once we hit the age of two, you know, we look for a child to go to a low fat dairy products such as skim milk or one percent milk.

But I have a lot of families for many reasons maybe it's food allergies or religious purposes that cow's milk is not an option.

So something such as soy milk or a protein based milk.

So the vegetable of the vegetable is actually a really good source of protein there are plant based milk options that are made with with peas that provide a good amount of fat and protein generally our rice, milk, almond milk, cashew milk it's almond milk.

>> I know I'm forgetting they typically don't have enough calories, fat or protein for adequate growth and development for small children.

So we just really encourage that we're not using those products and doing something more along the line of like a soy milk or protein based milk of cows.

>> Milk is not an option.

Yeah, yeah.

I just can't believe I do hear a lot of people say they have to use something alternative because of allergies.

There's so many kids it seems like with food allergies today.

So a nice option but I guess for those people to have any last thoughts about the next time you go to the grocery store I know Amanda you said stick to the list but you know, I find when I'm shopping though especially they'll have all these special displays or I'll say oh, I didn't know this was on sale this week and it's tempting.

I don't know what your advice would be when you're shopping in the store.

>> It's different when you buy it online.

I mean you're going to check make the check the list and then you're stuck with that.

So I always say check those apps.

Every grocery store has their own app now so check the app before you go and see what's on sale or what additional coupons you can get with the app and then use that mailer that comes out every week.

>> There's a couple of different grocery stores that send them out.

Check those for sale items and then maybe try and plan some of your meals around that.

>> So that way when you go to the grocery store you already know what's on sale.

You already know what's going to be in some of those displays and you can grab your stuff real quick and make sure you're sticking to the list and then using what you actually bought.

>> And I think with the fliers especially to when it comes to our proteins, you know, meats or things like that, you know, take advantage of those sales that you know, we'll keep in the freezer for a while and stock up on the boneless skinless chicken or lean ground beef when they're on sale and then that way, you know, you kind of always have the protein staples available.

We'll see.

They know that most of us are suckers like myself.

Like in the main aisles are the Easter candy now.

>> So you know you can't avoid it.

You can't go in and out of an aisle without going past all the chocolate bunnies.

And so yeah, that's where it's my weak spot at the grocery store.

So and of course there are no coupons for this just about all of that.

Adrianne Kanthal and Amanda Langan, thank you so much.

Again, both of them are clinical dietitians.

We're so glad that they joined us.

We'll have to have you back soon.

So thank you.

>> Thank you.

Thanks to everybody for watching.

Great questions tonight.

I always appreciate when you guys call in or ask the questions live on the air.

Appreciate that.

Take care.

Have a great night.

And don't forget there's another helpline one week from tonight Mark Evans will be hosting it.

It will be another great show I bet.

Take care.

Have a good evening