What Are We Really Eating?

Posted on May 8, 2012 by in Advice

Have you have taken a close look at the ingredient label on your favorite foods, like crackers, chips, cereals or cookies?   More and more foods that Americans are eating today are processed and have a laundry list of ingredients.  You need a dictionary for many of the ingredients to know how to even pronounce them.  Take a look at the following ingredient list and see if you can determine what popular breakfast product it represents.

Ingredients: Rice, wheat gluten, sugar, defatted wheat germ, salt, high fructose corn syrup, dried whey, malt flavoring, Calcium Caseinate, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Alpha Tocopherol Acetate (Vitamin E), Reduced Iron, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B12), Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid and Vitamin B12.

Wow!!  That is a long list of ingredients!  So, have you guessed the food yet? Well, it is the popular breakfast cereal—Special K!  You likely did not realize just how many ingredients this cereal contained, right?   As you can see, many of the ingredients are vitamins that are added to the product to enrich it and make it appear healthier.  Sweeteners are added to make it more appealing to those that crave the sweet in the morning.  However, this popular cereal is processed and far removed from the natural grain source—rice.

What may be a healthier, less processed choice for breakfast?  Well, I will refer you back to checking the label.  Try to find a cereal with the least number of ingredients, sodium, added sugar and preferably one that is whole grain as most Americans do not consume enough fiber each day.  Here are some suggestions:

If it a cold cereal that you desire to start your day, check out original shredded wheat, which only contains 100% whole grain wheat.  Cheerios’ first ingredient is whole grain oats, is low in sodium and only has 1 gram of added sugar. On those cold mornings, try some oatmeal.   The rolled oats (a.k.a. old fashioned oats) and quick oats only contain one ingredient- whole oats.  Still want a bit of sweet in the morning?  Try topping your cereal with fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, bananas) and drizzling it with a bit of honey.

The overall objective is to be observant to what we are putting into our bodies.  Aim to purchase foods that are either in their natural form, like fruits, vegetables, or closest to their natural forms as possible, meaning they are minimally processed.  Take a few extra moments at the grocery store to read the ingredient lists before you decide to purchase it.   Your body and health will thank you for it in the long run.

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Eating and Asthma

Posted on May 4, 2012 by in Nutrition Research

Lately, there seems to be a diet for every health condition. Despite asthma being diagnosed in more and more people lately, there is not a special asthma diet. Research has been conducted to assess if there is a connection between the foods people eat and asthma cases. Results have been mixed. One study that looked at Americans’ risk for developing asthma in those that ate few fruits and more processed foods was inconclusive. However, another similar study showed that those whose diets were rich in Vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, flavonoids, magnesium, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids have lower rates of asthma. A third study on teens revealed that those who ate a diet low in fruits and foods containing Vitamin C and E, and omega-3 fatty acids were more likely to have diminished lung function.

Despite the mixed reviews of these few studies, here is some solid nutrition advice you can offer to your patients/clients that suffer from asthma.

Make half your plate fruits and vegetables—Aim to eat fruits and vegetables from every color of the rainbow. Here are some examples. Red: tomatoes, red pepper, strawberries and watermelon. Green: broccoli, kale, collards, kiwi and honeydew. Yellow/orange: yellow pepper, sweet potato, yellow squash, apricot and mango. Blue/purple: blueberries and eggplant. White: potato and pear.

Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids— Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in both fish and plant sources. Fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, sardines and tuna. Plant sources include flaxseeds and chia seeds. Be sure to grind the flaxseeds to allow the body to absorb and utilize the omega-3 fatty acids. Both can be added to smoothies, yogurts and/or hot cereals as part of a healthy diet.

Avoid foods high in trans fats and omega-6 fatty acids— Some evidence has been found that link trans fats and omega-6 fatty acids, both of which are found more in processed foods, to worsening asthma symptoms.

In addition to these healthy nutrition tips, encourage your patients to maintain a healthy weight. It has been shown that people who are overweight have an increased risk of developing asthma. Also, encourage your clients to avoid overeating at meals. Those that suffer from asthma and eat excessive portion sizes frequently run the risk of feeling more short of breath and can exacerbate their asthma.

Though there is no miracle diet to cure asthma, rest assured that these suggestions can get your asthma-sufferers on a healthier track and will help to manage their symptoms.

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Decrease the Sweetened Drinks to Decrease Cavities, Waistline and Heart Disease Risk

Posted on April 27, 2012 by in Advice, Nutrition Research

Kids and adults alike tend to choose a sweetened beverage more often than not to quench their thirst.  Many have expressed to me that plain water just does not excite them.  What they do not realize is that the sugar in these beverages has an adverse effect on their health.  Sweetened beverages tend to be higher in calories.  People may not realize the large amount of calories and sugar they consume in their favorite beverages.  Check out the calories and sugar in these popular beverages.

  • Coca Cola Classic: Calories/8-oz. serving: 100; Sugars: 27g
  • Arizona Iced Tea with Lemon: Calories/8-oz. serving: 90; Sugars: 24g
  • Hawaiian Punch: Calories/8-oz. serving: 80; Sugars: 20g
  • NOS High Performance Energy Drink: Calories/serving: 220; Sugar: 52g
  • Red Bull Energy Drink: Calories/serving: 110; Sugars: 27g

As you may notice, many of these servings are for 8-ounce portions.  However, the typical person does not consume only 8-ounces of these beverages.  Sometimes it can be two or three times this amount, which means that the calories and sugars consumed drastically increases.  A recent HHS Healthbeat puts this into perspective by addressing the question- “How much exercise does a teen need to do to burn off a typical soda?”  Answer: A teen weighing 110-lb. would need to jog 50 minutes to burn off that soda.  This begs the question is that soda, which may take you 5 minutes to consume, worth the calories and sugar since it will take about 10 times that to burn off?

In addition to being laden with extra calories and sugar, consuming sweetened beverages can often lead to an increase in your risk for heart disease.  In a recent study published online in the Journal of the American Heart Association- Circulation, it was concluded that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with an increased risk of heart disease.  Unfavorable changes in HDL, triglycerides and C-reactive protein were noted.

The next question may be, “What are some healthier, nutrient-rich beverage choices that will not negatively affect my health?”  Encourage your clients, friends and loved ones to try some of these healthier beverage options:

  • Water flavored with citrus (lemon or lime) or veggies (cucumber)
  • Soda water with a splash of cranberry juice
  • Lowfat or nonfat dairy milk
  • Soy, rice or almond milk
  • 100% fruit or veggie juice (limit to 4-ounces 1 time/day)
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♫ Sometimes You Lead & Sometimes You Follow ♪

Posted on April 23, 2012 by in Advice, Resources

As nutrition professionals, we are dedicated to our field and passionate about sharing information with others. We see opportunities to ameliorate health disparities, help people be more fit…live long and prosper. And yet day after day despite our best efforts and our most precise sharing of facts, our clients fail to adopt behavior change.

Sometimes we blame them. They didn’t have enough desire. They were lacking in willpower. Sometimes we blame ourselves for not giving them the motivation, or perhaps we weren’t clear enough in our instruction. Or maybe we feel like they just didn’t understand what we were telling them.

If this sounds familiar, consider ending the blame game and altering your approach. Consider Motivational Interviewing or MI. Motivational Interviewing is a counseling style that focuses on collaboration and a step wise approach to long term behavior change. It’s not about righting everything that is wrong, fixing all your clients’ problems, and giving them a ton nutrition information. It is about exploring ambivalence, listening for change talk, and resisting the urge to do the “brain dump” of transferring everything you’ve learned in your 5 plus years of education to your client. And it does take a lot of practice.

It takes a lot of practice, because it uses a variety of moves. It’s like dancing. And like dancing, sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow. So, if you’re interested in working on your dance moves and trying a new, highly rewarding counseling style, consider taking a lesson. One excellent instructor is Molly Kellogg. You can register for her monthly newsletter sans charge at http://www.mollykellogg.com/index.html#subscribe

 

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Take Action and Help Kids Get Healthy

Posted on April 11, 2012 by in Resources

On occasion, I receive phone calls at Illinois NET from teachers, dietitians and other health professionals who want to get involved in the fight against childhood obesity. Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) is one organization that anyone with an interest in decreasing the number of children that are overweight can join. AFHK assists schools and school districts improve the quality of school meals, enhance nutrition education, improve physical education and provide opportunities for kids to get active.

Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge and ReCharge! Energizing After School are two innovative resources developed, in part, by Action for Healthy Kids, for schools. Details about each program are provided below.

Game On! integrates nutrition, physical activity and learning through a series of activity stations that will stimulate minds and bodies. Participation by adults and children, not performance, is rewarded. Schools can host a Game On! Challenge at a back-to-school event as a fun way to kick off the year and show the parents they are committed to their children’s health. All components of Game On! are free (with registration) and downloadable from the AFHK website.

ReCharge! was a collaborative project between AFHK and the NFL. It was originally designed for after-school programs, but can also be utilized by classroom teachers for recess or by PE and health teachers for class. Students in grades 2 to 6 learn how to make healthy nutrition choices and get active through fun, team-based lessons. Contact ReCharge@ActionForHealthyKids.org to learn more about the program.

Are you an Illinois resident? Join Action for Healthy Kids-Illinois along with the Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois NET for the 5th Annual School Wellness and Recognition Conference on May 3 in Springfield, Illinois. School administrators, nurses, educators, foodservice staff, wellness committee members and anyone else who wants to learn more about encouraging healthy lifestyles and healthy food at school will benefit. Click here to register and find out more information.

It is easy to become an Action For Healthy Kids volunteer. There are plenty of ways to be involved and make a difference in the fight against childhood obesity such as sharing newsletters and alerts from AFHK with friends and colleagues. To join, simply complete and submit the online registration form. Volunteering with AFHK is an easy first step you can make to help take action and get kids healthy.

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Let’s Move and Get Gardening!

Posted on April 6, 2012 by in Resources

In a recent blog post, I discussed the benefits of gardening with kids. Gardens are such a great hands-on experience for kids, where they can witness the miracle of growing food. First Lady Michelle Obama has reinforced this message by planting a working vegetable for the past four years (since 2009) on the South Grounds at the White House. According to a recent Let’s Move blog post, these gardens are the first working vegetable gardens since Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden in the 1940’s. How exciting!

On March 26, 2012, Mrs. Obama along with the assistance of students from North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Iowa along with a Girl Scouts Troop from Fairport, NY broke ground for the Fourth Annual White House Kitchen Garden. This year’s crop will consist of a variety of veggies, including potatoes, spinach, lettuce, radishes, chard, rapini, carrots, bok choy, broccoli, onions and mustard greens.

Gardens are a great way to start the conversation not only about where food comes from, but also can serve as an advocacy project. The bounty from this garden does not go to waste. In fact, since 2009, about 500 pounds of vegetables have been donated to Miriam’s Kitchen, a local organization that helps the homeless. What a great message to send out to the kids and the community.

Interested in starting a garden in your community? Check out these resources.

Edible Schoolyard –Lessons and tools for teachers will empower students to invest in edible education. Parents can find school lunch ideas and ideas to start a garden in their child’s school. Advocates can discover where the edible education movement is going and read stories for educators.

What’s Right for Young Children II: Childcare Gardens – Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction developed this booklet as part of a USDA Team Nutrition Grant. It provides childcare sites with ideas and resources to encourage healthy choices through a garden project.

May you be inspired by the First Lady’s garden and the works of Alice Waters with the Edible Schoolyard to move and get gardening.

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There’s an app for that!!

Posted on April 5, 2012 by in Resources

Fooducate There’s an app for that!!If you or your clients are looking for a fun, interactive nutrition and health app, check out Fooducate.

Fooducate is all about making better choices by informing consumers. With Fooducate, the user scans a product barcode and gets a rating (A+, A, B, etc.) for the food. The ratings are based on a variety of factors like nutrients, ingredients, and processing. Along with the rating, Fooducate will also offer alternatives, so the user can swap a C for a B+ at the grocery store.

Fooducate offers more information on the scanned item from a variety of reference points. For example there might be an explanation of whole grain vs. multi-grain or information on the term ‘natural’ not being regulated. Often these tidbits of information include a link, so the user can read more.

Fooducate also maintains lists which can function as food frequency diaries or conversation starters with you, the nutrition professional. So say your client swapped a C for a B+ while shopping, but isn’t quite sure why the ratings apply. The list with the rating becomes a conversation starter at their next visit with you. The lists can also be used as an electronic means of tracking favorite foods.

Fooducate has over 160,000 products in its database and some very interesting Daily Tips. If you’re interested in getting started, download Fooducate to your iPhone or Android for free. If you currently use Fooducate and have any fun tips or info to share, please comment below.

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Battling the Sweet Tooth at Easter

Posted on April 2, 2012 by in Resources

9061 3 Battling the Sweet Tooth at EasterEaster is right around the corner. I have fond memories of the Easter bunny filling my basket with jellybeans, crazy large chocolate bunnies, marshmallow Peeps and malted milk chocolate eggs. As a kid, I loved it! Now, as a dietitian and health professional, I think we can do Easter better. Did you know that, according to the National Retail Association, 90% of Americans will have candy on our Easter shopping list and spending a total of $2 billion?! Yikes!

A recent Spend Smart. Eat Smart. blog gave some unique ideas for decreasing the candy in the Easter baskets. Choose from a variety of these options when filling your kids’ baskets this year. This is not an all-inclusive list, but will get you started.

  •  Stickers
  • Whistles
  • Pencils
  • Plastic rings
  • Books
  • Puzzles
  • Garden Heroes
  • Playing cards
  • Kites
  • Sidewalk chalk
  • Crayons with coloring books
  • Butterfly net
  • Bubbles

If you wish to include food in the basket, consider some of these healthier options.

  • Single-serving sizes of trail mix, nuts or dried fruit
  • Orange, tangerine or Minneola
  • 100% fruit juice boxes
  • Aseptically-packed low fat flavored milk
  • Granola bars
  • Single-serving box of whole grain cereal (Cheerios or Kix)

The basket does not need to completely void of candy, though. Select one small portion of your child’s favorite candy, which should help satisfy their sweet tooth without the need to fear about visiting the dentist soon for cavities.

Happy Easter!

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Stock Your Pantry, Not Your Medicine Cabinet, to Protect Against Diseases

Posted on March 30, 2012 by in Advice, Nutrition Research

In their December 2011 Nutrition Action Healthletter, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) discussed several foods and how they can positively your health.  I wanted to highlight several foods in this article that help protect you against a variety of health ailments and those foods to limit.

GOAL: Lowering cholesterol

Choose often: Monounsaturated oils (olive, canola and safflower), nuts and fatty fish (salmon, mackerel)

Limit: Fatty meats, butter, full fat cheese and cream, frosting and pie crust (foods high in saturated fat and trans fat)

GOAL: Protecting eyes

Choose: Kale, collards, spinach and Swiss chard (lutein-rich foods) and fatty fish (salmon, mackerel)

Limit: Soft drinks, sweets, white bread, pasta and white rice (refined grains and added sugars)

GOAL: Preventing colon cancer

Choose often: Lowfat milk (calcium-rich foods), whole grains, beans vegetables and fruit (high fiber foods)

Limit: Bacon, hot dogs, sausage, lunch meats, beef, pork and lamb (red or processed meats)

 GOAL: Staying regular

Choose often: Wheat bran, oat bran, beans and prunes

Limit: Iron supplements

 GOAL: Lowering blood pressure

Choose often: Vegetables, fruit, fish, beans, lowfat milk and yogurt (potassium-rich foods and foods high in plant protein)

Limit: Soups, processed meats, pizza, restaurant dishes (high sodium foods)

How amazing that many of the diseases which ail people today can be easily prevented by stocking their pantries (freezers and refrigerators) with nutrient-rich foods.  Choose the foods that CSPI suggested in their article more often to create a healthy plate and you will be well on your way to a combating a lifetime of ailments.

Source: “Eat Smart: Which foods are good for what.” Nutrition Action Healthletter. Center for Science in the Public Interest. December 2011.

 

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Got Gardening?

Posted on March 20, 2012 by in Resources

 

gardening 1024x265 Got Gardening?

March is a prime time to start thinking about starting a garden. Many schools are starting gardens as a way to teach kids about where their food comes from, a fact that many do not know. Many kids believe that fruits and veggies come from the local grocery store and are unaware that they start off as seeds or blooms. Gardens can also serve as a hands-on learning lab for teachers where core subjects like math and science come alive through relevant activities. Instead of having the students create basic line graphs; teachers can instead have them graph the growth of their seedlings.

Gardens can also be used as a springboard for teachers and health professionals to start the conversation about nutrition with kids. In addition, gardens help to increase children’s fruit and vegetable intake. Research has shown that involving children in the gardening process has a positive impact on their fruit and vegetable consumption. Likely this increase in consumption is related to the children’s hand-on experience with gardening. Their apprehension towards fruits and vegetable, many of which they likely are not familiar with, decreases because they literally get their hands dirty and are involved in the gardening process. Increasing children’s fruit and vegetable intake is a bonus with gardening, since many do not consume the recommended amounts each day.

Interested in breaking ground a garden at your school or in your community, but do not know where to start? The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has developed two resources –Got Dirt? and Got Veggies? – that will guide you the right direction to starting a garden and tying in nutrition to the hands-on educational experience.

Got Dirt?: This easy-to-use garden toolkit provides you with a framework for starting a fruit and vegetable garden. It is designed to walk you through the basic steps of starting and maintaining a garden.

Got Veggies?: This is a garden-based nutrition education curriculum created with the goal of getting children to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. This curriculum provides an all around great way to nurture students’ interest in growing and eating fresh fruits and vegetables!

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