Nutrition

Healthy Food Choices for the Kaiser Cafeteria An innovation team is working with our cafeteria vendor to bring healthy food choices to the Kaiser Santa Rosa cafeteria. This effort will offer more varieties of fresh, local, sustainable, healthy foods in Kaiser Permanente facilities to improve the health of our members, employees, and our communities. Read More Healthy Eating for Children Read through our helpful hints for making your mealtimes easier and more nutritious, including some child friendly recipes. Read More Healthy Recipes Featured Recipe Delicata Squash Stuffed with Fruited Brown and Wild Rice Help to keep yourself at a healthy weight by eating the right kinds of food. We have a selection of delicious recipes that you can make at home for yourself, your family and your friends. View All Our Recipes How to Read a Nutritional Facts Panel Nutrition fact panels on the food that we buy can be confusing. This guide is intended to make it easier for you to use nutrition labels to make quick, informed food choices that contribute to a healthy diet. Read More

Healthy Heart Diet Find out basic facts about stopping or reversing heart disease, including some healthful recipes that you can try. Read More Kaiser Farmers Markets Local farmers are selling produce Tuesday through Thursday at either Stein building or the main campus. Find out exact times and locations. Simple Changes for Healthful Eating Choices Find out how you can make simple changes on your trips to the grocery store or when eating at a restaurant. Read More

Nutritious Ingredients provided by Jill Nussinow, MS, RD a.k.a. The Veggie Queen

Nutritious Ingredients

Featured Ingredient: Nutritional Yeast

There are at least three types of yeast: baker's yeast, brewer's yeast and nutritional yeast. You use baker's yeast to make bread and other dough rise. Brewer's yeast is used as a supplement and it is quite bitter. Nutritional yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the same fungus that forms brewer's yeast, but it is grown on a different medium so it is not bitter. Some describe the taste of nutritional yeast as cheesy and generally it is best used in savory dishes but some people put it on their oatmeal (I am not one of them).

Nutritional yeast is easy to identify as it is bright yellow and usually sold in bulk bins in natural food stores. It may also be purchased packaged, usually with the Red Star label, which is the best-known brand, and the only one that definitely contains Vitamin B12.

The nutrient content of one and a half tablespoons of Red Star Nutritional Yeast Mini Flakes, Vegetarian Support Formula has just 47 calories, 7 of which are from fat, 8 grams of protein and more than 100% of all B vitamins except Folic Acid which comes in at 60% of the Daily Value. If you do not eat any animal products, including nutritional yeast in your diet might help prevent Vitamin B12 deficiency.

The yeast comes in the flake or powder forms. They may be used interchangeably but use only half the amount of powder when substituting for flakes, on a cup for cup basis. You can store the yeast in a cool dark place for up to 6 months without any flavor loss. I usually keep mine in the refrigerator in a container.

You can easily incorporate nutritional yeast into sauces and salad dressings, or sprinkle it on toast, over pasta or your salad or bake it into foods such as savory muffins, pizza crust or cornbread. Heating will not destroy any nutrients. Just be aware that this yeast will not cause anything to rise except for the nutrition and taste of some of your recipes.