Transcription:
Health Nutrition Tips for You and Your Family

Melanie Cole (Host): Helping the community live healthier means giving residents the tools they need to reach and maintain a healthy weight. Obesity can affect your quality of life but there are things you can do as a family to help you all get healthier together. My guest today is Martha Rardin. She’s a registered dietitian and the Director of Nutrition and Dietetics at Hendricks Regional Health. Welcome to the show, Martha. So, let’s talk about families and when you are working with families and you see an obese child and we know there’s an obesity epidemic for children right now and you look at the parents and maybe they’re obese as well, what do you start with? How do you begin with families getting them healthier?

Martha Rardin (Guest): That’s a great question because there’s a beginning for all of these situations and sometimes families think that it is, it’s beyond them--that the problem is too big. That’s never true. We just have to start somewhere. There are actually six areas that I like to talk with families about. I don’t talk to them about all six at one time but, obviously, we’ll talk today about all six of them. The first one I like to talk about is fruits and vegetables. Are fruits and vegetables available? Are they cleaned? Are they ready to eat? Do you have a fruit bowl on the table? Are fruit snacks or carrot snacks, veggie snacks; are those readily available for the children? Children have an amazing ability. They will eat when they’re hungry and they’ll stop when they’re full, typically. If we have healthy snacks and fruits and vegetables available for them, they would gravitate towards those. So, first of all, do you have fruits and vegetables that are available? Then, the next thing I like to look at are what kind of healthy choices do you have that can help reduce fat and sugar in the diet. So, if mom and dad are big soda drinkers or sweet tea drinkers, we’re going to talk about that and suggest that mom and dad role model what they want they want their children to eat and drink. And so, we will talk about switching the family to unsweetened tea or to drink more water. I don’t necessarily believe that children need to be drinking diet sodas. I don’t think any of us need to be drinking any soda. But, certainly, like an unflavored water or lemon or lime in water, that’s another way to flavor it up a little bit. Also, are we looking at low-fat or non-fat milks and yogurts? Are we baking or grilling instead of frying when we’re making a protein? And then I talk about cereal. Cereals are, I mean, that’s something many times that’s a “go-to” item in the morning just to get something, get some calories and food into the kids before they run out the door. So, switch those breakfast cereals to a low sugar. And then, watch for desserts. How many desserts is the family eating? Desserts aren’t bad for you. Desserts are okay but we need to maybe that’s a once a week treat that we get as a family that we go out for ice cream or something.

Melanie: So, Martha, these are great tips to begin with because role modeling is so important. But, if parents are ingrained in soda or dessert comes after every meal, how do you discuss with them or how do you get them to try and change those habits because you can’t change them all at once?

Martha: That’s a great question and that’s a frustration for clients, is they often think that healthcare professionals want them to change everything at once. And, none of us want that to happen. So, we’re going to just do incremental. I’m going to ask for small incremental changes. So, for the parents, I might say, “Okay. So, maybe you drink soda when you’re at work but when you’re at home, would you try role modeling water or flavored water to model for the children what they really need to be drinking?”

Melanie: That’s a good suggestion. So, they can keep it when they’re not doing it right in front of the kids. Another thing, you mentioned having the fruits and vegetables available. That’s so great because we’ve learned that on the counter is where people will grab or the first thing they see in the refrigerator but people don’t always know what to do with some of the other vegetables they hear are so great for us--kale and bok choy. They see these things at the grocery store and they don’t know what to do with them.

Martha: Yes. Well, isn’t it great? We have the internet now. You know, food doesn’t have to be hard. Sometimes we put way too much pressure on ourselves for food to be perfect for our families all the time. It’s okay if we make mistakes with food. We try a recipe with bok choy or we try a recipe with kale and maybe my family loves it or maybe they say, “It’s okay if you don’t make that again.” It’s okay. At least we tried something new. So, we can just use the internet. Look for some recipes. Look for something that sounds good for your family. But it’s okay if you don’t get a homerun every time.

Melanie: What about shopping at the grocery store? Because they hear the perimeter and they’re not sure what that means.

Martha: Yes. I actually don’t use that word “perimeter”. I say look at, I want you kind of hugging the outside wall. Even though you’re inside the building, you’re shopping on what would be the outside wall. Because “perimeter”, you’re exactly right--that sometimes throws people off. And I ask them to think about their, just the main wholesome ingredients that they need to have in their refrigerators and in their pantries which are dairy, meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables, and grains. So, if we make our meals around those different food groups and kind of stay out of the middle aisles there, we’ll have a healthier family.

Melanie: So when families do that and they shop together and it’s such a great way, what else do you tell them? Give us some more tips about getting healthy as a family.

Martha: Okay. I always snack. I like to talk about snacks because sometimes as parents, I raised three kids, and so you think they’re snacking all the time. We need to remember that kids, they can’t consume as many calories or as much volume as adults can, but they do need frequent meals and it’s okay that they have snacks. But, if your child is snacking more than three times a day, that would be a time to sit, to just evaluate it because maybe your child is snacking out of habit, out of boredom--lots of other reasons. But maybe hunger isn’t one of them. Really, a child doesn’t really need to snack. If they’re getting three meals a day, they need three snacks a day and after that, they really don’t need any snacks. So, maybe from a childhood obesity standpoint, children may be consuming too much food, too many calories by over snacking. So, I encourage water. When was the last time that, if the child would come to me and they’ve already had a snack, I’d say, “Well, let’s get some water. Let’s drink a glass of water together.” I think that will help.

Melanie: And, what about lunches? I’d like to ask you about lunches because parents are packing their lunch for their children. Every day you have to come up with things and it’s so easy to buy unhealthy things that are convenient and simple. What do you tell them about lunch packing?

Martha: Well, again, think about the food groups. Your child does need some kind of protein. They do need carbohydrate. Our brains need carbohydrate to function well; some kind of dairy that could be yogurt, cheese, milk; fruits and vegetables. So, I also encourage parents to plan those lunches. I mean, when I’m under the gun and I just have to pack something really quickly, I’m going to take whatever I got but versus if I plan what my lunches are going to be and I shop based on my menu, then I’m going to have all those components there. And another fun thing, I think, to do is not food related necessarily but just put a fun little note in the lunch box if your child appreciates that. Just let them know that you’re thinking of them and you appreciate them eating healthy because even though we might pack healthy, your child may be giving away a lot of it or trading it off. So a note of encouragement sometimes is helpful, too.

Melanie: What about role modeling exercise and getting involved in exercise as a way to keep the family healthy?

Martha: That’s a great question. Our children are going to do whatever they see us do. They’re going to say what we say and they’re going to do what we do. So, role modeling exercise is very important. Now, it doesn’t mean, let’s say, I’m not interested in running marathons. We’re not asking anyone to run marathons. We’re just asking for people go on a walk as a family. When families play together, they tend to be more cohesive. And, I do put activity in the “play” category. I think maybe we go outside and we bat a ball around or we play volleyball or whatever works for your family but we do it together as a family. We go on a bike ride. If the children see mom and dad doing that, they will be more inclined to do that. If they don’t see mom and dad do that, they’re going to be more inclined to say, “Uh, nah. I don’t want to do that. I’ll stay inside.”

Melanie: That’s really great information. So, wrap it us for us if you would and give us your best advice about getting families healthy, Martha, together as a family so that they can combat that obesity epidemic we’re seeing in the country.

Martha: Yeah. I have two other points I want to make, one would be portion size. Just pay attention to portion size. Remember that children, their stomachs are not as large as adults, so they cannot eat as much as you and I can. So, give them a smaller portion. It’s okay if they have a smaller portion on their plate. If they want more, you know, that’s okay but start them out with a smaller portion. But the best, the most important tip I believe is eat together as a family. That is so important. Families that eat together, they enjoy each other more. They’re more knowledgeable about their children, knowledgeable about their friends and their acquaintances, about what homework they have to do. And it’s a wonderful time for parents to again model the behavior they want to see their child exhibit by making sure that you eat together. Now, maybe you can’t eat together seven days a week, but maybe a goal is five days out of a week. We’re going to make a concerted effort to eat together as a family.

Melanie: And, Martha, tell us about your team at Hendricks Regional Health Nutrition and Dietetics.

Martha: Well, thank you. We have a great team. We have seventy members on our team. We do right around a thousand meals a day in terms of our production. So, we’re making meals for all ages from babies to very senior citizens. We have a Center for Diabetes Excellence also. So, we’re helping to educate folks with diabetes learn how to have a happy productive life even though they have diabetes. It’s okay. It’s very controllable and they can live life just as you and I.

Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today. You’re listening to Health Talks with HRH Hendricks Regional Health. For more information, you can go to www.hendricks.org. That’s www.hendricks.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.