Mindful Eating

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Austin Dacci

This week’s diet tip will be short and sweet compared to the last two that I wrote, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. That is because I want you all to eat until you are no longer hungry, and not until you feel full. Simple enough right? It’s not that simple for everyone, myself included. There is nothing more that I would rather do on a Sunday afternoon than to sit on a couch all day watching football and eating buffalo wings until I’m sick. There is something about our favorite foods that makes us want to eat until we are about to burst. We have been conditioned to think that we are no longer hungry when we feel full, but that’s really not accurate. The hunger sensation that we all feel is communicated through circulation of special hormones in the blood. When blood sugar levels are low, certain hormones are released that stimulate the hunger sensation, and after we have eaten, the body stops releasing these hormones. The “fullness” feeling you get after a big meal is not the signal of satisfaction, but it is actually the stretching and tightening of the smooth muscle that surrounds your stomach and intestines. The reason we often feel this tightening sensation is because it can take up to 15 minutes for the hunger hormones to finish circulating, and trust me, we can eat A LOT of food in fifteen minutes. In fact, a recent study showed that on average a person who eats until they feel full for 3 meals a day consumes 400-600 extra calories a day. That’s enough for you to gain a pound a week.
This eating problem doesn’t only affect your pant sizes either. Over consumption of food also means over consumption of carbohydrates. This causes your once low blood sugar to then spike high resulting in a large, and sometimes excessive, insulin response. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that causes cells to take in sugar for fuel. When this happens you get a burst of energy for a short period after lunch, and then about 1 to 2 hours later you feel like you have been shot with a tranquilizer dart and your sugar drops again. Sounds like a ‘5-hour Energy’ commercial doesn’t it? This insulin crash has been shown to decrease the brain’s ability to focus and concentrate.
So how do we stop over eating? It’s difficult. The best advice I can give you is to eat slowly. Take your time when you eat. Think only about eating during meal times, and don’t think about work, bills, social drama, or anything else. Pay attention to your body, and ask yourself “am I still hungry?” This strategy is known as Mindful Eating. Eating the 5-6 meals a day like I previously recommended will help with this also. If you are doing this, you won’t ever be extremely hungry because of your frequent snacks; therefore you won’t be as anxious to inhale your next meal.

 

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Fat, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Austin Dacci

When discussing weight loss tips with people I often get questions about Fat. “Should I be on a low fat diet?”, “I heard there were good fats, and bad fats…what’s the difference?”, and “Is fat the Devil?” There is a lot of misinformation around this macronutrient, and hopefully I can clear this up for you. I will also apologize in advance for the length of this tip, there is a lot of information to cover.
What is fat? Fats are an energy dense nutrient found in many foods. It accounts for 9 calories per gram which is more than double the calories that carbohydrates (4 cal/gm) and proteins (4 cal/gm) provide, and two more calories per gram than alcohol (7 cal/gm). Therefore, if your candy bar has 10g of Fat, 90 of the total calories come from fats alone. Fat plays many other roles in the body other than providing energy. It is how our bodies store surplus energy from the foods we eat. They are also used to make many other compounds and structures in the body that play a role in brain health, heart health, and the immune system. Your body also needs fat to absorb certain vitamins and minerals.
The good…
There are good fats, believe it or not. Some fats that we eat do not negatively affect our health when consumed in moderation. These fats are known as unsaturated fats. These fats are typically liquid at room temperature (oils). There are certain oils that are better than others. This all depends on the monounsaturated to polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratios. I know this sounds complicated, so I am going to give you a few suggestions on what are the healthiest and what they are best used for.
1.)    Olive – This oil is the heavyweight champion when it comes to health benefits. It has the best ratio, one of the highest antioxidant counts, and it tastes awesome with just about any food except desserts. Extra virgin varieties contain more antioxidants (anti-cancer chemicals), but you wont see this info on the label.
2.)    Canola – This oil comes in second place. Has a comparable ratio to olive oil, but not quite the antioxidant punch. Canola can be used with any food, and tastes better with desserts than olive.
3.)    Peanut – Peanut oil is one of my favorites. Its ratio’s aren’t quite as good as the previous two that I listed, but it is still much healthier than margarine or butter. The cool thing about peanut oil is that it gives a very savory taste to foods that are cooked with it.
There are many varieties of oils out there, and to determine the “health” factor for them is pretty easy. Just look at the monounsaturated:polyunsaturated:saturated ratio. The higher the monounsaturated and lower the saturated the better. Polyunsaturated are kind of neutral. Other healthy fat containing items out there are nuts, seeds, avocado’s, fish, and flax seeds. These contain a super fat known as Omega-3.  Research has shown that this fat has heart healthy, brain health, and anti-inflammatory properties. Fish oil and Flax seed oil are excellent sources of this.
The bad…
The bad fat award goes to saturated fat. Saturated fats come in a variety of foods as well. Many people think that they are completely animal based, but there are many plants that produce them as well (mostly tropical oils like coconut, and nuts/seeds). The main sources of saturated fat in the diet include fatty beef (especially corn fed beef, grass fed beef typically has much lower sat fat levels), pork, dark meat poultry, and fatty dairy (butter, sour cream, and milk can be a big offender, no one over the age of 2 should be drinking anything other than skim milk).
Saturated fats have been shown to have negative effects on the body when consumed in excess (> 10g per day). These effects include, hardening of arteries, increased levels of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), and increased chances of developing diabetes. To make it even worse, new research is showing that body actually stores more saturated fats as body fat than unsaturated fats.
The ugly…
Yes, it gets worse than saturated fat. This unholy abomination of the food world is known as Trans-saturated fat, or Trans-fat for short. Back in the 70’s and 80’s much of the research on the negative effects of animal fats (butter and lard) sparked further research into healthier alternatives. Scientists knew that vegetable based oils were the healthier option, but they were more difficult to cook with in the commercial setting. They wanted to create a fat that was made from vegetable oils, yet was solid at room temperature, and thus Trans-fats were born. They basically accomplished this by chemically altering vegetable oil in a process called hydrogenation.  This new “healthier” fat was then marketed as margarine. Margarine was widely used as a replacement for butter, and is still used today. It wasn’t until the late 90’s that we figured out that this new man made fat is actually worse than butter. Not only does it increase your levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad one) like saturated fats, but it also decreases your levels of HDL cholesterol (the good one).
Trans-fats are most commonly found in margarine, vegetable shortening, and commercially baked items like pastries, cakes, cake mixes (Bisquick), and some bread. The good news is that many companies have completely stopped the use of it in their products. However, you can still find margarine on the grocery store shelves, and other items. Look on the label to make sure it is trans-fat free, and make sure there isn’t and hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils under the ingredients list.
Butter vs. Margarine
This is a huge debate among health professionals. There is a lot of conflicting research about the negative health effects of each. My advice is to minimize the use of both and use healthier fats like the ones listed above. If you want something to spread on toast, get an olive oil based spread like Smart Balance.
Cholesterol
Technically, cholesterol is also a type of fat. Cholesterol is only found in animal products and is actually made by the body naturally. Any cholesterol we get from our diet is extra that we don’t really need. Excess cholesterol can coat your artery walls and cause them to become clogged and increase blood pressure. Any animal based fat such as butter, lard, fatty meats, and cream contains cholesterol.
So what should I do?
As far as weight loss goes, your body sees calories as calories, and it doesn’t matter if it’s protein, carbohydrates, or fat. Fat is very energy dense, so make sure that the fats you do eat are healthy fats; that way you get the most bang for your buck. Following a low-fat diet can be effective in weight management, but don’t eliminate the good fats, just the bad. Avoid fried foods if you can and go for baked, broiled, steamed, and lightly grilled.

 

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Become the Master of Your Tongue!

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Austin Dacci

The dreaded sweet tooth, the super salty snack cravings, and the desire for greasy fatty French fries are some of dieter’s worse nightmares. You have started your diet this week. It’s three days in and you are at the grocery. You walk past the bakery and see those golden glazed and chocolate doughnuts behind the counter. Your mouth begins to water. You think to yourself, “How bad can one doughnut be?”, and then you buy a half dozen (who buys just one doughnut, right?). On the way home you sneak your hand in the box to eat one. You inhale the doughnut because you skipped your mid afternoon snack. The taste of the golden treat is truly sublime, and before you know it, you grab another, and another… Does this scenario sound familiar?
All people suffer from these cravings. Its human nature, and part of our physiology. It actually dates back to our ancient ancestors. Survival was our top priority when we were just a hunter gatherer people. There were often times where our ancestors would go days or even a week without food. This caused our bodies to adapt, and to create these cravings that make us crave high calorie foods. It even designed them to get us to eat more than we need in case another fasting period was ahead. We are no longer hunter gatherers, but these natural instincts are still very much a part of us.
That’s not our only problem though. We have actually added to it. Our sense of taste has now become resistant to these sweet, salty, and savory tastes, which means that it takes more of these flavors to satisfy us. Your tongue is just like any other tissue in your body. When a tissue is exposed continuously to a certain stimuli, it eventually develops a tolerance or resistance to it. Think of it like your skin in the summer time. At the beginning of the summer, you go outside, without sunscreen on. You turn red as a lobster. After your skin heals, you develop a tan. This tan helps protect the skin from the sun, therefore you can stay out in the sun longer before getting burned. By the end of the summer, your skin is so dark that you may be able to spend a few hours in the sun without being burned.  Your taste buds develop tolerance to tastes just like your skin does with the suns rays. Ever since the dawn of fast food, soft drinks, and super sweet deserts, we have been bombarding our taste buds with these extreme stimuli, and now we have to have these extreme amounts to be satisfied.
People always ask me, “How do you eat all of that “healthy food” all the time?” The answer is that it wasn’t easy to get started. Before I became a dietitian, I was just like any regular college student. I frequently ate pizza, fast food, and sweet snacks all the time. I guzzled soft drinks throughout the day as well. I also felt run down, was sick all the time, and had no energy. I finally made a life changing decision that I wasn’t going to live like that anymore. I forced myself to follow MyPyramid’s guidelines, minimize fried foods, give up soft drinks, and only allow myself a small sweet treat once per day. I also exercised daily. Let me be honest. I hated my life for about two weeks after that. The food didn’t taste bad, but it wasn’t nearly as good as what I was used to. I had caffeine headaches, and I was always sore from the gym. After that two weeks, things got much easier. My headaches stopped, I had more energy, I wasn’t as sore, and I wasn’t craving all of that unhealthy food all the time.
There is good news. You CAN get your taste sensitivity back. It’s not easy, and it takes some time. The best way to do it is with a gradual restriction on these things. Cutting things our cold turkey can work, but it will make you miserable for about two weeks. Instead, try to slowly taper yourself off of these unhealthy things. For example, if you are used to 3 tbs. of sugar in your coffee or tea, start with 2 1/2 one week, then 2 the next, and so on. If you normally salt your foods, try putting just a little bit less each week. If you want some French fries, or other fatty foods; Go for the smaller size or mix and match. Get a burger with a fruit cup, or go with a grilled chicken with a small fry. Eventually you will get your tastes back, and when you do try to eat these supper flavored foods, they will almost be too extreme.
Tips:
· Avoid diet soft drinks, or artificially sweetened beverages. These items are actually sweeter on the tongue than actual sugar. They don’t have calories but they still cause you to crave sweet things.
· Drink water with meals. It cleanses the pallet, and will make your next bites of food taste more flavorful.
· If you can avoid snacking, keep the snack food out of the house. Try putting a vegetable tray or a fruit bowl on your desk/table instead of that bowl of M&M’s.
· If you are at a wedding, party, or some other celebration with cake and ice cream, it’s OK to eat just half your piece of cake. You can also just ask for a small piece, if you’re self conscious about it.

 

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Eat Often

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Austin Dacci

I have a feeling that many of you might be surprised by this weeks diet tip: “eat often.” That doesn’t mean keep a bag of Doritos or a bowl of M&M’s on your desk, as well as grazing on other foods throughout the day. What I really want to recommend is to try and eat more meals and snacks. In a perfect world I would recommend 5-6 meals/snacks per day, or to eat something every 2.5-3 hours.
You may ask, “How is that supposed to help? I thought the amount of calories taken in, versus the amount of calories burned is what determines weight loss….”
This is true, but by altering your meal patterns you can change how the body uses those calories. In order to explain this you have to understand how your body’s metabolism works. If you recall from last week, I mentioned the anabolic and catabolic states. When your blood sugar starts to decrease, your body enters an anabolic state. This means that it slows the rate in which it burn calories and will try to store more calories as fat the next time they are available.  When blood sugars remain a constant, normal level throughout the day, you never enter that anabolic state, and you remain in what is called the catabolic state. This means the body is burning calories at a normal to high rate (depending on how physically active you are) throughout the day.
Every time you eat something, your body begins to digest and absorb the nutrients in the food. This doesn’t happen all at once. It takes the body about 2.5-3 hours to fully digest a meal. This means that your body is slowly releasing sugar from the meal you ate into the blood stream that entire 2.5-3 hour period. This helps us maintain a good blood sugar level. However, when we go past that time period, our blood sugar levels slowly decrease. This is when the body starts telling us that we are hungry.
Most of us don’t eat this many meals a day. If we are lucky we eat a tradition 3 meals per day (hopefully, most of us do this now that we are all eating breakfast…wink* wink*). Typically there is a 5 to 6 hour gap between meals in a traditional meal pattern, which leaves 2-3 hours when our blood sugar levels are low. This causes us to become very hungry, and many of us over eat when we get the opportunity.

What benefits does eating every 2.5-3 hours have? :

It keeps you burning calories all day.
Helps manage hunger, which keeps you focused on your tasks, and prevents you from becoming crabby because you are hungry.
Helps prevent over-eating.

What defines a meal/snack?

It depends on your calorie needs. For most people you can take your body weight in pounds, divide that by 2.2, and then multiply that by 25-30. That will give you a calorie range. Then divide that number by the amount of meals you want to eat (5 or 6).

Ex.

150lbs / 2.2 = 68.2 x 25 = 1700               1700 / 6 = 283 calories per meal/snack
150lbs / 2.2 = 68.2 x 30 = 2050               2050 / 5 = 400 calories per meal/snack

*This calorie range is for someone who is moderately active, and is only a rough estimate of calorie needs. Email me if you would like a more accurate calorie estimate based on age, body frame, and physical activity.*

Try to have a snack that has protein, fat, and carbohydrates in it. This will slow the release of sugar into the blood, and keep you feeling fuller longer.

If you decide to delve into the world of mini meals, here are some things to consider:

  • If you know you can’t leave to get food, or your cafeteria isn’t open all day, try to bring snacks with you. Keep a drawer in your desk with healthy snack foods.
  • You don’t have to cook several times a day. A snack can be an apple with peanut butter with a glass of milk, or some trail mix with nuts, and dried fruit. Meals can be the same as always, just try to decrease portions.
  • Learn what hunger really feels like. Many of us eat until we feel full. Try to just eat until you are not hungry anymore. It takes the body approximately 15 minutes to tell the brain that you are no longer hungry. If you eat until you feel that full feeling, you have eaten too much.
  • Eat balanced meals for the best results.
  • Meet your calorie range by the end of the day.

This is what a sample day of mini meals might look like, based on a 1,800-calorie diet.

7:30 am – 1/2 cup skim or 1% milk; 1 slice whole wheat toast with 2 tsp margarine and spreadable fruit; 1 hardboiled egg
10 am – 2 oz Mozzarella cheese stick; hand held fruit (apple, pear, plum, or banana); water/tea
12:30 pm – 2 oz of turkey breast on whole wheat bagel with lettuce leaf and 2 slices of fresh tomato with 1 tablespoon of spicy brown mustard; 1 serving of fruit; Water
3 pm – 1/2 cup of yogurt with granola; hand held vegetables (carrot or celery sticks) with peanut butter; water/tea.
6 pm – stir fry with 1/2 cup rice or noodles, 2 oz meat, ½ cup vegetables.
8 pm - 1 oz serving of nuts (maybe trail mix); 1/2 cup of unsweetened juice

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Healthy Hydration

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Austin Dacci
Too many of us see diets as an eating plan that eliminates all of our favorite foods. We suffer through them for 1 to 2 weeks, and then have that breakdown where we eat a whole box of cookies and a carton of ice cream. The truth is most diets fail because the goals and expectations set are unreachable or unrealistic. It is perfectly normal for someone to want something sweet, something salty, or something fried. These types of foods all have a place in the American Diet. The problem we have today is controlling how often we indulge ourselves on these items on a daily or weekly basis. We need to be able to find a balance that makes a diet not so much of a sacrifice. That is why I am challenging you all while you participate in the Happy Hoofers program to do an 8 habit change eating plan.
The strategy of this eating plan is to make one small change in our normal diets per week. For example, in week one I am going to ask all of you to drink more water. That’s it. You can eat everything else that you normally do. Just make that one change. Each week there will be another small change, eventually transitioning you into healthier eating habits without the “shock and awe” of starting a full blown diet.


“Drink more water? What’s that supposed to do?”

Water is commonly forgotten in the diet world. Everyone already knows that water is calorie free, and that it’s almost virtually free. What most people don’t realize is that it plays an important role in every physiological process in the body. In fact more than half of your total body weight is made up of water.
If you’re thirsty you’re dehydrated. That’s right; if you ever feel thirsty you are already moderately dehydrated. Other symptoms of moderate dehydration are head ache, fatigue, nausea, and hunger (yes, hunger). A lot of people are chronically dehydrated and don’t realize it. They take an Advil for their headache and take a nap, when just by drinking a glass of water many of these symptoms can be alleviated. Being dehydrated can also cause blood pressure problems, because the blood becomes more viscous. Being dehydrated can also trigger hunger sensations. A large portion of the water that we consume daily comes from the food we eat. The body knows this, and if you deprive it from drinking water, it will trigger the hunger sensation to try to get the hydration it needs. So the next time you have that late night hunger feeling, go for a glass of water before you eat that bowl of cereal.
It can make you eat less. Drinking a glass of water before meals can help you eat less. Your stomach is sort of like a jug. It can only hold a certain volume of food and liquid. If you drink a glass of water 10-15 minutes before a meal, the majority of the liquid will still be in your stomach taking up space. This will cause you to feel full quicker, and you will eat less.  This works even better when eating a high fiber meal. Fiber has the ability to absorb water. It puffs up much like rice or oatmeal when you cook it. This also takes up more space in your stomach, causing you to eat less.
Water makes you burn more calories. Any time you consume something your gastrointestinal tract must digest, absorb, and excrete it. This is all carried out by smooth muscle that lines your intestines. Smooth muscle, just like skeletal muscle, uses calories to do work. So if you are drinking a calorie free beverage that takes calories to process, you have a negative calorie balance.
Small changes make a big impact. Try this on for size. By replacing one sugary beverage per day with a glass of water, you could potentially lose up to 17 pounds per year. Look at the example below for one can of the average soft drink per day.
160 calories x 365 days = 58,400 calories per year / 3,500 (the amount of calories in 1 lb. of fat) = 16.68 lbs. per year.
This isn’t something you will see on the scale after trying it for 2 weeks, but if you stick with it, this small change has a big impact over a span of a year.  Don’t forget your other sugary beverages like sweet teas, sugary juice beverages, and coffee!
Water can also help prevent injury. Water acts as a natural lubricant for all of your joints. Many people who exercise suffer from joint pain. Studies have shown that being even slightly dehydrated can increase the amount of damage and pain caused to joints during physical activity. Water also makes up 75% of your muscles and tendons. Being adequately hydrated can increase flexibility which can help reduce the occurrence and severity of injuries. 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks diet tip, and hope many of you can try to adopt this healthy habit!

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The best part of wakin’ up, is some breakfast with your cup!

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Austin Dacci

It is the start of the fourth week of school, and many of use have begun settling in on our morning routines. Unfortunately for a lot of us, breakfast hasn’t been a part it. We have all heard it before… “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!”, but we still don’t seem to make time for it.  There are many excuses we like to give for this; “I don’t have time for breakfast” or “I’m not very hungry in the morning”.

The truth is, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, and here’s why:

1.)Your body is biologically designed to be fed every 2 to 3 hours.  When you go an extended period without eating (sleep, or skipping meals) your body reverts to what is called an anabolic (storage) state. The anabolic state works sort of like an emergency system. When the body realizes that it’s fuel source is limited or non existent, it works to store what ever it has at its disposal. This means what ever carbohydrates, proteins, or free fats your body had originally planned to use as energy gets converted to adipose tissue (a.k.a fat). Fat is your body’s energy storage system. The only way to get out of the anabolic state, and get back to a catabolic (breaking down) state is to eat. So by skipping breakfast, you are keeping your body in the storing state a good 3 or 4 hours longer than it has to be.

2.) You will over eat at lunch, if you skip breakfast. Not only does your body begin storing nutrients as fat when you go without food, it also starts producing hunger hormones to stimulate your appetite.  Over time these hormones cause us to feel hungrier and hungrier, and when we finally get to eat, we over do it. In fact, Researchers from the University of Missouri found that teens that eat a protein-rich breakfast have reduced feelings of hunger throughout the day. MRI’s of the teens’ brains showed that the subjects were less motivated to indulge and view food as a reward later in the day.

3.)Speaking of brains,  your  brain is designed to run exclusively to run on carbohydrates. If your body does not get carbohydrates from from food, it will try to convert other fuel sources (muscle and fat) into carbohydrates. Unfortunately this is an inefficient process, and you do not get enough fuel for the brain to function at its peak performance level. If you send your kids to school without breakfast, they are less likely to perform their best because their brain is literally underpowered. A recent study mentioned in U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper reported, “Feeding children breakfast at a young age boosts their exams results at school.” The research study showed that children who regularly ate breakfast before their third birthday had improved scores in reading and problem-solving tests compared to their peers.

So we know why its important, but how can we fit breakfast into our day? If you are one of those who don’t think you have enough time in your morning to routine, ask yourself this: “Do I have enough time to stay up late and watch TV?” or “Could I shower at night instead of the morning?” or “Would it really kill me to wake up 15 minutes earlier?” There are ways to make time for breakfast in your schedule. Whether its a bowl of cereal, eggs n’ bacon, or a granola bar and an apple, it only takes a few minutes to make and to eat it.

What about those of you who aren’t hungry in the morning? If you normally don’t eat in the morning, your body eventually adapts to your eating habits. It knows that a large meal will eventually come. In order to break this trend, you should try something small.  A good idea would be a granola bar and a glass of milk, or an apple with peanut butter. Eventually your body will remember that it needs to be refueled in the mornings, and you will begin to wake up hungry.

All of our schools offer breakfast every day that feature a balanced and nutritious meal that will get your kids started off on the right track. Serving time is every morning from 7:30-8:00am, and costs only $1.00 for elementary school students and $1.25 for middle and high school students.

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Diabetes, a new problem for schools.

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Austin Dacci

You have seen it in the news, maybe heard about it from your doctor, and almost all of you know or have known someone who was diagnosed with diabetes. It seems like more and more we hear about children being diagnosed with diabetes, which brings the question…”Why are our kids becoming diabetic?”

In order to answer this question we need to learn a little more about the disease. The two most common forms of Diabetes are known as Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 diabetes is when your body’s pancreas (the organ responsible for producing insulin) has been damaged or altered in a way that causes it to produce inadequate amounts of insulin. Insulin is a hormone in the body that allows cells to take in sugar from the blood. If there is not enough insulin present in the blood, the blood sugar level rises, which causes damage to your kidneys, nerves, and other cells in the body. The cause for type 1 diabetes is unknown, and it is believed to be most likely a genetic disorder. Type 2 diabetes is slightly different. In type 2 diabetes your body makes adequate amounts of insulin, but it is not as effective as it should be, allowing blood sugar levels to stay elevated. The cause of type 2 diabetes has long been associated with diets containing excessive fat and carbohydrates. It has also been shown that a carbohydrate and fat controlled diet is essential for preventing/managing both type 1 and type 2 diabetes and their symptoms.

Since the discovery of diabetes, there had been very few diagnosis in children except for those born with type 1 diabetes. Within the past 20 years, the amount of kids being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes each year has more than doubled, and its no surprise that most medical experts relate this to the type of foods our kids are eating. Fast food, frozen pizza’s, snack cakes, cookies, and soft drinks are all staples in the average American child’s diet. Our kids eat many of these things on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times per day. We don’t cook meals at home any more, we eat out, or pull something frozen out of the fridge and microwave it. These foods are fine when they are eaten on special occasions, even once or twice per week, but not on a daily basis.

So how does Harrison County stack up? We currently have at least one diabetic student in every school in our district.. This is why the district has chosen to face the problem head on, and be proactive by adopting the newly proposed USDA guidelines for our lunches. The guidelines provide a healthy amount of carbohydrates and fat, and a good variety of fruits and vegetables. For more information on Diabetes, check out the CDC’s Diabetes Information Website.

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Tips for shopping for healthier food.

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Austin Dacci

Is going to the grocery a pain for you? It’s time consuming, inconvenient, and it can be expensive! It gets even worse if you want to eat healthy, because you are having to look at all the labels. Or does it? What if I told you that you can save time, money, and avoid unwanted food components like extra calories and processing agents. Here are a few tips to follow to do just that!

1.) Shop the perimeter of the grocery only. Think about it. What is on the perimeter of the grocery store? Fruits, Vegetables, whole meats, Dairy, and eggs. These foods are fresh, whole, and mostly unprocessed. Here you will avoid added sodium and preservatives. You can even save some money buying these foods because you arent paying for the companies to precook/process them for you.

2.) Avoid going down the isles. I know you will occasionally have to go down to get some spices or basic staples, but for the most part the isles can be avoided. They contain boxed, canned, and processed products that are typically not the best for us. This is where you find the chips, cookies, soft drinks, and Twinkies. All these foods have tons of preservatives which research has continually shown to be hazardous to our health. A general rule of thumb “If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.” Use this when reading the ingredient list of a food item. This is also a huge money saver. The extra money you spend on healthier food will be cancelled out by the absence of soft drinks and junk food from your shopping list.

3.) Buy healthy in bulk. One of the major drawbacks to fresh produce is the fact that it goes bad before you have a chance to eat it. Therefor you either buy very small quantities, or you don’t buy it at all. There are a few ways around this. One way is to cook the food you buy all at once in bulk. Then separate it into individual portions and freeze it. This is great for soups, stews, chili’s, and casseroles. This is great to do at the start of winter because you can come home and just pull a meal out of the freezer and not have any prep to do.  Another way to do this is to buy frozen. Frozen fruits and vegetables are usually pretty affordable, and have a much longer shelf life compared to fresh produce. The beauty about them is that you can just take out the amount you need, and then seal the bag and save the rest for later. One major plus to these strategies is that it can actually reduce the number of trips you make to the grocery!

4.) Buy in season. Buy produce when its in season. This will save you a ton of money and it will make sure you get the item during its nutritional peak. Studies show that fruits and vegetables have a significantly higher vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant levels when they are consumed during their natural growing season.

If you have any other shopping tips, please share in the comments section!

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The Proposed School Lunch and School Breakfast Guidelines, and what they means for our students.

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Austin Dacci

Along with the new 2010 Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines and ChooseMyPlate.gov, the federal government has also put together proposed updates to the Federal School Lunch and Breakfast programs. These proposed updates came in the form of a 77 page proposal. Many of these updates include reductions is calories, saturated fat,  and sodium, and increases in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

If you look at the picture to the right, you can see the exact table of nutrition recommendations proposed by the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Services department.  You will

Proposed Guidelines

Proposed Guidelines

see that lower saturated fat consumption (<7% total calories), lower sodium (< 1500mg). You will also see the addition of the red/orange vegetable subgroups.

So why these changes? The federal government has made it a priority to address the growing epidemic of child obesity. Our first lady, Michelle Obama has made it her top priority as well. Along with child hood obesity other contributing factors such as diabetes and heart related conditions are also a priority.  High sodium consumption has long been linked to increased mortality, and for being a possible cause for high blood pressure. When high levels of sodium are consumed, it causes your body to retain more fluid. This extra fluid puts pressure on your arteries, which causes an increase in blood pressure.  Lower saturated fat levels were also recommended to help reduce high blood pressure. Studies show that high saturated fat consumption (> 10% total calories) has been linked to higher levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol). Plaques and clogs in the arteries can be formed when cholesterol levels are elevated. These plaques/clogs act  like a stone being stuck in a water hose, causing an increase in pressure. This increase in blood pressure causes the heart to have to work harder to get blood to all of the area of the body. The heart is more prone to injury (heart attack) or disease (heart disease) when it is forced to work hard for an extended period of time.

The red/orange fruit and vegetable subgroup was added for other reasons other than benefits in heart health. Although these foods are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber which are great for heart health, they are mainly recognized for their anti-cancer  components called antioxidants, and phytochemicals. Antioxidants have long been associated with anti-aging and anti-cancer benefits because they bind to free radicals. Free radicals are compounds in the body that damage cells  they come in contact with. Phytochemicals are compounds found in fruits and vegetables that aid in many natural processes in the body such as the immune system, healing, circulation, brain development and the digestive system. These compounds have also shown to have anti-cancer and anti-aging effects.

For more detailed information on the proposed school lunch recommendations, click here to read the actual proposition.

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