Eat Right Radio

Snack Right

Food is everywhere, all the time. Is snacking OK if done in the right way?

Additional Info

Segment Number 4
Audio File eat_right/1433nd1d.mp3
Featured Speaker Kristi King, MPH, RDN, LD, CNSC
Organization Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Guest Bio Kristi King is a senior pediatric dietitian at Texas Children’s Hospital and a clinical instructor at Baylor College of Medicine, providing nutrition counseling to children and their families, specializing in chronic malabsorptive and intestinal conditions.

Learn more about Kristi here.
Transcription Melanie Cole (Host): Food is everywhere all the time. Commercials and media – you just see it and hear it and think about it all the time. But this raises questions about snacks: Do kids really need snacks? When is snacking appropriate or not appropriate?
My guest today is registered dietician nutritionist, Christie King. She's a senior pediatric dietician at Texas Children's Hospital. Welcome to the show, Christie. So snacking: to snack or not to snack? Are we supposed to and what are some really good ones for us?

Christie King (Guest): Yes, those are all really great questions and what's interesting is that if you look at the trends, our snacking amongst kids has doubled since 1977. So, our kids are now consuming more snacks with about a fourth of their daily caloric intake is coming from snacks. Unfortunately, they're not all healthy snacks. These snacks that are contributing to their caloric intake are snacks that are high in salt, candy, sugar-sweetened beverages and desserts. So we know that snacks are extremely important in children, and they're not just special treats anymore because when you and I were growing up, I think most parents would testify to the fact that a snack was something that was a special treat. We're kind of going away from that train of thought and we're going in to something that snacks are there to help bridge gaps of nutrients that your child may need. They're there to help reduce hunger spikes and to help young children and adults from being "hangry,” you know, the popular term where you get hungry and you become angry because you're hungry. We want to prevent that, and that's why a snack is so important for kids and for adults.

Melanie: So important. So what are some great great snacks? Because you've talked about whether it's good for kids and us but there are chips out there and there are healthy chips and multigrain chips and fruits and veggies. So what are some really good healthy snacks we can just grab and go?

Christie: Right. So the thing to remember about healthy snacks is that they should be planned. Just like you plan your meal, you want to make sure that you're planning your snacks especially for your kids as well. So a snack should be about 100-200 calories; that's considered a snack. And for kids, try to incorporate two food groups or more into that snack. So an example would be like a piece of fresh fruit with a light string cheese. You could do celery with some sort of nut butter or you could do celery with a soft cheese or a light cream cheese that's spread in the middle so it's kind of a new twist on the ants on a log. You could do graham crackers with peanut butter or with yogurt. You could do carrots or bell pepper slices with hummus. So you'll see that what we're looking for is we're looking for a snack that's about 100-200 calories and one that has two or more food groups with it. And the reason why we want to look at that and we want to focus on that is because: 1) we’ll make sure that our kids are getting the nutrients that they need; but 2) those two different food groups are going to provide us various things – various fat content, various protein content and various carbohydrate content to help them keep full so that they aren't going to be hungry until their next meal.

Melanie: Absolutely great advice really, with some good ideas for things that you can grab and go. Now because kids snack at school, Christie, so what about granola bars and there's a million of those on the market, Z Bars and this and that. Are those good snacks or do they really pack the calories in?

Christie: Well, you want to be careful about the type of snacks that you're choosing, especially if you're going to go for a granola bar or some other type of bar. So again, you want to look at the calorie content, we want it to be between 100-200 calories and we want to look at the sugar. Now some granola bars do have quite a bit of sugar because they have dried fruit in there. That's very different than added sugar and that can be really confusing for parents because it's confusing for healthcare providers as well sometimes. So you want to, if you have a question, what I recommend is to just kind of stay away from the bars. You can use the bars in a pinch if you need to but it's not something that we want your child to rely on every single day. So aim more for those whole fruits and vegetables, aim for those nut butters or yogurts or string cheese sticks, those types of things, so that we make sure that they're getting a good variety of nutrients.

Melanie: So we really do want that whole good variety and we want to get our kids to try more things, and ourselves too, because it's easy to mindlessly snack. So Christie, give us your best advice for not mindlessly snacking.

Christie: Right. So there is a huge difference between snacking and grazing. Grazing is going to be that mindless eating, where snacking is planned. So, like I said before, our meals are planned, our snacks should be planned as well. We want to make sure that we plan the snacks, and that will help you from mindlessly eating later on. With the grazing, we have constant nibbling but the problem with this is that you're never allowing yourself to get full. You're never reaching your full satiety point. You actually need that so that your stomach has a chance to digest that before your next meal or next time you eat. So if you’re mindlessly grazing all day long, you're kind of setting your metabolism and digestion often to a tailspin and that's what we don't want to happen. So snacks are things that should be eaten in between meals, whereas grazing is occurring all day long. So if you plan your snacks out, I think parents and kids will find that it's much easier to stick to it.

Melanie: Do you have some favorite sort of chippy foods on the market that you like?

Christie: Ooh, that's a good question. I'm a big fan of pita chips and hummus, one of my most favorite things. That's really easy to do. You can actually make your own at home with pita bread. It takes two seconds to cut it up and put it in the oven. Your kids can help with that as well. Other types of things that tend to be salty, some sort of cracker, bite-size crackers that kids can pick up and they can put with cheese or they can use a dip with, whether it's a yogurt dip or a hummus-type dip, those tend to be my favorite and they tend go over very well with the kids. I think that what's important when you are dealing with kids and you're talking about planning your snacks and packing their snacks because kids do need snacks. We know that most kids, depending upon lunchtime are going to have a mid-morning snack at school and then they're going to have a snack after school. So we want to give the kid an option as to what they're going to choose for their snack because they're going to be more likely to eat it if they have a choice in it versus trading it with their friend that has something that might be a little bit more desirable to them. So we want to make sure that we're giving them lots of choices and say, Here are five things: What are two things that you would like to take for your snack or your after-school snack?” So we want to make sure that our kids are most definitely involved in the planning as well as preparing their snack so that they are a little bit more invested in it and are more willing to eat it and maybe try new things.

Melanie: And, Christie, in just the last minute or so that we have left, your best advice for healthy snacking and snacking right so that we really don't overdo it and add to our daily caloric intake.

Christie: Exactly. Hundred to 200 calories is a snack, we want to make sure that they're planned, and two different food groups. Make sure that we're getting a good protein source and a carbohydrate or vegetable with hummus or vegetable with another protein source or dairy. So that's my best advice for parents. And get your kids involved. It's a great time to help teach them what healthy snacking is, what healthy foods are, and it can open a dialogue to a whole new level.

Melanie: Thank you so much. You're listening to Eat Right Radio with our friends from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. For more information, you can go to eatright.org. This is Melanie Cole, thanks for listening.
Length (mins) 10
Host Melanie Cole, MS

Make Dinner a Family Affair

Kids who eat with their families have healthier eating habits, tend to be at a healthier weight, do better in school and are closer with their families.

Additional Info

Segment Number 3
Audio File eat_right/1433nd1c.mp3
Featured Speaker Marisa Moore, MBA, RDN, LD
Organization Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Guest Bio Marisa Moore is a registered dietitian nutritionist who owns a nutrition consulting practice that provides services including writing, recipe development, nutrient analysis and educational workshops to improve health outcomes in wellness, weight management, heart health and disease prevention. She is the nutrition consultant for Spelman College, a food and nutrition blogger for the Huffington Post and a contributing editor for Food & Nutrition Magazine.

Learn more about Marisa.
Transcription Melanie Cole (Host): Family meals are especially important for kids. Research shows that kids who eat with their families have healthier eating habits, tend to be at a healthier weight, do better in school, and are closer with their families. My guest today is Marisa Moore. She's a registered dietitian nutritionist who owns a nutrition- consulting practice that provides services including writing recipe development, nutrition analysis, and more. Welcome to the show, Marisa. Tell us a little bit about why family meals are so important for families.

Marisa Moore (Guest): Hi! Thanks so much for having me on. You said it best. I think family meals are so important because they really do benefit everyone in the family, especially the children. There’s some really strong evidence to show that children who have meals with their families on a regular basis, they tend to have a better vocabulary. They end up eating better in general—more fruits and vegetables, more calcium, more fiber. There’s some interesting research to even show that teenagers in particular who spend more time with their family having dinner, they are less likely to use drugs, alcohol, or smoke.

Melanie: Wow! That’s quite a statement, and some great statistics and really great reasons to have family meals together. People get busy though, Marisa, and they say, “Okay, I’m just going to throw something in the microwave, give it to the kids, and finish the laundry.” There are so many things that keep us busy. How do we fit those family meals into our schedule?

Marisa: We are all very busy. But for the reasons I just mentioned, it’s really important to try to squeeze in a family meal now and then. The first thing that I like to recommend to people is to, one, try not to overschedule yourself. We all want to do so many different things, but find out what your kids are most passionate about instead of doing too many things after school, and maybe you will free up a little bit of time. One of the other things is just unplugging a little bit during the afternoon, and that is turning off the TV, maybe telling the kids they can’t use the phone for a little bit, and just allowing everybody some time to kind of connect with one another so that you might free up a little time that you didn’t think was there. Now, when it comes to actually put the meal on the table, I think preparation is probably the most important thing that you could do. If you have kids who are computer savvy, you can let them find recipes for you, and they can also help with the preparation. They can help with clean up, they can help with setting the table. But if they’re old enough, they can even start to cut up vegetables and make it so much easier for you to get the meal on the table.

Melanie: Well, it’s great to serve salads, and they’re one of the things that are kind of a pain to prepare. And so, cutting up vegetables, having the kids wash lettuce, do things like that really can help speed that process along, and kids do like to be involved, and I think when they are involved, they’re more invested in the results. So, when we’re looking at those kinds of family meals, you say preparation. Now, during the busy week, maybe we get home from work at 5:00 or 5:30 so we don’t have time to maybe prepare a whole healthy meal. What do you advise for the busy times?

Marisa: Well, I tell people don’t be afraid of shortcuts. That rotisserie chicken in the supermarket will be great using it to make tacos at home or just adding a couple of sides to it. You can use things like that, those little shortcuts: precut vegetables, vegetables that are already washed and prepped for you. You can use those little shortcut frozen vegetables, especially. Those little shortcuts can make a difference in you getting a meal on the table really quickly, also choosing meals that are very quick and easy to prepare. Thirty-minute meals are very popular, and there are lots of them out there. One of my most favorite and probably the easiest thing to do is to take fish that you’ve unthawed just overnight, add either some barbecue sauce or a homemade marinade, and broil it. You put it in the oven and you broil it for just 10 to 15 minutes, and you have your protein already ready to go. The other one is to maybe do foil packets, where you put your protein in there with some vegetables, set it then forget it, come back, and you have packets ready to go that are also very easy to clean up. Because if you’re like me, cooking is fun but the cleanup is not so much fun, so the idea is to try to think of things that you can maybe put on the table really quickly but also clean up. Now, the other thing that I like to make sure that families know that they can do is try to cook once and eat twice. What I mean by that is maybe on Sunday have a little extra time and you decide to make a pot roast or something like that. Go ahead and put some extra meat in the slow cooker however you’re going to make it and then use the extra for tacos later in the week, or you can add it to soup or stew if you’re doing a chicken dish. Think about ways that you can kind of use those things over during the week when you won’t have as much time.

Melanie: That’s great advice, and I also love that you’re suggesting that everybody get involved and that everybody help in the choosing of recipe, using their online abilities to find a recipe and turning it into even a little competition if you take the kids to the produce department with you and say, “Okay, pick a vegetable that you’ve never tried, and let’s look up recipes and see who comes up with the most interesting-looking recipes.” Now, when we talk about family meals, let’s talk a little bit, Marisa, about what you do with the family meals. Because I’ve seen all too many families sitting there at a meal with the kids looking down at their cellphones, even the parents doing it as well, texting and being busy doing other things. Give us your best advice about the family meal itself.

Marisa: That’s an excellent point. You have to take a little time to unplug to get all those benefits. It’s a great time for you to sit with the family and figure out what happened during their day. It’s a good time to sort of bond—and you don’t have to use that word, of course. But, it’s a good time to find out what happened in your child’s day and share with them what happened with yours, and it’s just a great time to connect with the family. So maybe do a no-technology rule at the table because often, whenever we are distracted by TV or cellphones, we end up maybe eating too much or we maybe eat too fast, and we really miss out on those benefits of having a family meal. There are ways to keep the family engaged at the table too. Like I have an idea I’m doing some maybe a theme night. You could do taco Tuesdays or Friday night pizza. It’s a great way to get the kids involved and get them engaged and they’ll be excited about what’s going to happen. If you have a family vacation that’s coming up, maybe come up with some recipes that are kind of like the area you’re going to. Let’s say you’re going to the Grand Canyon, then maybe you come up for the first four weeks leading up to vacation, you come up with recipes that have sort of a Southwestern twist. That gives your kids an opportunity to sort of research the area and get used to what the food might be there. But then, it also gives them something to kind of talk about over the table. So if you’re struggling for ideas, think about themes, think about what’s going on in your kids’ life, and figure out a way to connect food with whatever is going on in your family’s life.

Melanie: I love that idea. And really, making theme nights, you can make it fun for the kids, even decorate and put some music on. Having a little music in the background of a meal is always preferable to using your telephones or having the television on. Give us a few of your favorite healthy meals for families. We only have a couple of minutes left, but give us a few of your favorites.

Marisa: Probably my favorite thing to do is stir-fry, because with stir-fry, it’s a one-pot meal. Yes, it might take a little bit of prep, but you can always use frozen vegetables. But it gives you an opportunity to have everything in one place. You choose your protein, and then you can try out a bunch of different vegetables, see which ones you like a little more than others. You could try out different sauces, and they don’t always have to be Asian theme. You could certainly do a stir-fry that’s maybe Indian or they could be Southwestern or Latin fusion. You can try lots of different things. Stir-fries are probably my very favorite because it puts everything together. It gives you an opportunity to get plenty of fruits and vegetables in. Then, the one that I mentioned a little bit earlier is really my go-to sort of healthy dish where you just take some foil packets, put either chicken or fish or your favorite protein along with your favorite vegetables in there, cook it for 20 minutes, and it’s done. That’s the easiest one to use in it. It’s so easy to clean up. That’s probably one of the favorite ones. And then the other one would just be salad. You start with your favorite salad green, add on protein, and that protein can be beans or any other vegetable-based protein, so you could even do nachos. A lot of times we think, “Oh, nachos are not healthy,” but they absolutely can be if you do wholegrain chip, some beans, fresh salsa with tomatoes, maybe corn or your favorite vegetables. Those are ways that you can get some healthy things on the menu or on the table very easily, easy clean up, and everybody’s going to love it.

Melanie: Thank you so much, Marisa Moore. Great ideas for family dinners. The research is there. It shows that people who eat family dinners together enjoy each other’s company, do better in school, just really all around healthier eaters. This is Melanie Cole and you’re listening to Eat Right Radio. For more information, you can go to eatright.org. That’s eatright.org. Thanks so much for listening.
Length (mins) 10
Host Melanie Cole, MS

Raising Healthy Eaters

Food, nutrition and eating skills are among the most important things you can share with your children.

Additional Info

Segment Number 2
Audio File eat_right/1433nd1b.mp3
Featured Speaker Wesley Delbridge, RD
Organization Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Guest Bio Wesley Delbridge is a registered dietitian and the food and nutrition supervisor for the Chandler Unified School District Food and Nutrition Department, where he oversees a team of more than 300 employees who focus on promoting school nutrition, creating and serving healthy food and decreasing childhood obesity, serving more than 45,000 students. He also is a professor of food science at local colleges and universities in Arizona.

Learn more about Wesley.
Transcription Melanie Cole (Host): Food nutrition and eating skills are among the most important things you can share with children. Healthy eating fuels busy, successful lives and provides the nutrients your kids need to fuel up to play, perform well in school, and grow into healthy adults. My guest is Wesley Delbridge. He’s a registered dietician and a food and nutrition supervisor for the Chandler Unified School District, Food and Nutrition Department. Welcome to the show, Wesley. So, raising healthy eaters in this age of junk food and picky eaters—my kids have so many friends that are picky eaters—how do we get our kids to eat healthy, nutritious food while still making it fun for them to eat and enjoy food?

Wesley Delbridge (Guest): Hi, Melanie. It’s a pleasure to be part of your show, first of all. I think this is such a great topic for all of us that are interested in health and nutrition. The biggest thing that I can tell parents right off the bat is don't stress, because stressing and adding tension to the situation doesn't help it. Raising a healthy eater is a marathon; it’s not a sprint. So these small, little choices, these small, little pieces of advice that I can give you will help you over time create a healthy eater. It won’t happen in a day. It won’t happen in a week. But these little bits of advice are things you can use over time. The first thing that I would recommend is that you allow choices within the boundaries. One of the things that we use at our school district is to allow kids to make healthy decisions within the boundaries that you give them. So you can say, “You’re going to have this vegetable or this vegetable, but you choose,” or “It is snack time, you can have this yogurt or you can have this cheese stick, you choose.” Kids like to feel like they're in control and that they’ve made a part of the decision-making process in what they're eating. So that would probably be the first thing that I would recommend to parents.

Melanie: The autonomy – I love that you start with that because I think the autonomy is so important. If you give a child a choice between a banana and a Hershey bar, of course they're going to pick that. But you're giving them a choice between two vegetables or two dairy products or two something-healthy. That way, they still feel that they've got some control and yet they're picking from both things that are really good choices. Okay, go on with your second tip.

Wesley: The second tip is to create a hands-on experience. Everything should be from the beginning of the food process all the way till the eating process, they should be involved and they should be being educated. Help your kids by letting them grocery shop with you, helping them create dinner lists for the week or snack lists. You can even bring them in and help you prepare certain things, depending on their age and what they can do, and to cook the meals, and use those opportunities as learning tips to create questions and answers and help them feel like they're a part of the dinner or snack or meal-making process. This gives them the buy-in that they want. Kids are very hands-on. They want to see the results of what they're doing. They just don't want to be told what to do. So, being hands-on is probably the highest thing, and all the studies show that kids that are part of the preparation of food increases their fruit and vegetable consumption overall. The other thing that I think people need to look out for—and I think I was raised by this—is being part of the “clean plate club.” We always encourage our kids to clean your plate and don't leave the table until you’ve eaten everything on your plate. I think that this can be a little discouraging to kids and it can actually have a negative consequence. I think we should encourage them to eat until they have full tummies. Kids are better at listening to their body signals than adults. It takes a stomach 10 to 20 minutes to tell the brain, “Hey, I’m full. That’s enough.” What we found is that with the studies that we’ve seen is that 85 percent of the parents try to get kids to eat more than they actually want to eat. So it's a fine line between encouraging choices and encouraging trying foods but also not forcing them to eat more than they're listening to their bodies and actually what they need to eat.

Melanie: And, Wesley, I do like also that you say make them a part of the food process. As you and I discussed a little off the air, my kids start help planting the seeds, planting my vegetables, they have to weed the garden—they don't love that part—but then they get to pick everything. They eat those cherry tomatoes as fast as they come out. Then helping with the process of cooking, preparing, getting it all ready. Now, as someone who works in the schools, do you see that when you're offering vegetables in the school lunches, that the kids are throwing these out in favor of the mac and cheese, or is there a way parents can encourage their children at school to make those healthy choices and actually put them on their plate and eat them instead of trading them away?

Wesley: That’s a fantastic question, Melanie. We’ve had our challenges with getting kids to try fruits and vegetables. As you know, it's a new regulation. They actually have to choose a fruit or vegetable on their tray, and so we’ve tried some different techniques to get them excited about that. One of them is creating online menus with pictures and calling them fun names. Instead of just calling them carrots, we call them “X-ray carrotinis” because then they ask the questions, “Well, why are they called X-ray carrotinis?” “Because they have vitamin A, and that helps you see better.” So you're already helping the child with the benefit process. The other thing that we’ve seen that’s helped a lot is creating full-functioning school gardens so that kids can actually see these fruits and vegetables grow in their school environment, and then they're on their tray. They have more buy-in. Maybe they were a part of the growing process, the watering process, or the fundraising for the school garden. But again, we’ve brought them into the hands-on environment. Also, adding the nutrition education on top of it, being in the classroom, being in the lunchroom, encouraging certain fruits and vegetables for that week or that month. August is also Kids Eat Right month, but it's also National Peach Month. So this month, we’re featuring five different types of peaches up there and supporting that with the education and with the hands-on experience of where they come from.

Melanie: Kids don't always like vegetables as much as they like fruits, Wesley, and they don't always like the vegetables cooked. So do you agree with adding ranch dressing to dip it in or cheese sauce on the broccoli? How can we get them to eat them raw or in the healthiest way possible instead of just always choosing the fruits over the vegetables?

Wesley: That’s an excellent point. Increasing the variety is huge with kids. They’ll have up to 25 percent more consumption when you offer a variety. And you can try different techniques. I’m not going to eat boiled Brussels sprouts, but I’ll try them if they're roasted. So it's the same vegetable, but trying different techniques, trying different seasonings. And you brought up ranch dressing, mac and cheese. In-house, we’ve created our own ranch dressing that’s made with non-fat yogurt, non-fat dry milk powder, and low-sodium ranch seasoning, and we make that in-house and we put it in one-ounce portion cups with the vegetables of the day, and that has doubled our vegetable consumption. So not only is it a good source of protein, it's low in fat. We’ve limited the portion size. They don't have the pour tabs where they can just pour it all over everything. So we’ve added that as a benefit, but it does what we’ve seen as those little benefits, those little sauces, as long as you can make them healthy, they will increase vegetable consumption, especially in its raw state.

Melanie: Now, healthy eating for kids does not only include vegetables and fruits. You mentioned yogurt and cheese. What about meats and fishes, getting our kids to eat fish and try fish and do all the different things, the chickens and things? How do we get them to eat the real healthier choices? Instead of a cheeseburger, maybe try a piece of chicken or a piece of fish?

Wesley: That’s an excellent question. One of the things we’ve done is rather than talk about the word “nutrition,” talk about the word “food.” What we do in the Chandler District, and what I’ve seen a lot of parents do, is actually call it “fuel.” So we say, “Food is the fuel for your bodies, and this is how we need to fuel your bodies. And your body feels good when it's getting the food that it needs as fuel.” And I think it also comes down to exposure. They may not like a certain type of fish on the first try. Most studies show that kids take 12 to 14 times of exposure before they even try it. So, just constantly exposing them to, “Hey, try a bite of this fish, it’s cod, and this is a little story behind it, and this is where it comes from,” or maybe “Try this grilled salmon with your asparagus,” and add different seasonings to it. If they don't like it right away, that’s okay. Again, going back to my first point: don't stress; it might take them 15 to 20 different times. And then also, talking about how we have courtesy bites and our taste buds change, so just constantly encouraging them to grow and change with their taste buds and always trying new things.

Melanie: Great information. You’re listening to Eat Right Radio. For more information, you can go to eatright.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Length (mins) 10
Host Melanie Cole, MS

Happy & Healthy: Physical Activity for Kids

Physical activity is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle for your child.

Additional Info

Segment Number 1
Audio File eat_right/1433nd1a.mp3
Featured Speaker Angela Lemond, RDN, CSP, LD
Organization Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Guest Bio Angela Lemond is a registered dietitian nutritionist who works in private practice, assisting children, adults and families with nutrition for disease prevention as well as food therapy to treat medical conditions. On her blog, LemondNutrition.com/blog, she writes about challenges of raising healthy children and offers tips and resources on how to make living well easier.

Learn more about Angela Lemond here.
Transcription Melanie Cole (Host): Physical activity is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle for your children. But how do we get our children to engage in that healthy lifestyle and do some physical activity, even when they’re not in school and they don’t have gym and recess? My guest is Angela Lamond. She’s a registered dietician-nutritionist who works in private practice, assisting children, adults and families with nutrition for disease prevention. Welcome to the show, Angela. Let’s talk about getting kids active. In this day and age of video games and in the summer and then they’re back to school, and schools are cutting gym and recess in favor of academics, what do we do to get our kids more active and be feeding them healthier at the same time, really giving them the whole picture?

Angela Lamond (Guest): Thanks for having me, by the way. It is such a great topic. As dieticians, we’re always talking about the energy and with food, right? But the other half of the equation really does have to be discussed. As a mom, I understand. I don’t always know what goes on in the home, because a lot of the popular things that kids are doing, there’s a lot of social circles around video games and gaming and those kind of things. I’m in the middle of this, as well, in my own family. So, things that I know have worked for me and will work for our patients here are really just – the first thing that we have to discuss is being a good role model and this is really difficult to talk about. As parents, it’s very humbling, but we really should be looking at the things that we’re modeling first, because if we make being physically active a priority in our own life, that ends up becoming more of a teaching tool than anything we could tell them to do. So modeling those behaviors is so key. If you’re being active, if things that you like to do whenever you have free time involves being active, then chances are the child is going to follow in that same path. So the environment is so key to that piece. I think that is the case, and then also really setting some guidelines around how much tech time should be in the house. There’s a lot of studies coming out now showing about the negative effects of sedentary activities, separate from the amount of activity a person has. The damaging effects that sitting has is really starting to be connected to some bad health effects. So really minimizing that by setting some guidelines in the home is really critical to minimizing a sedentary activity. If they’re not doing that, then they’re going to be active. Those are the two big ones that I say that’s for sure.

Melanie: Well, Angela, I think that’s such a great way to put energy out and we don’t think of it as that. Everyone hears about that energy and then the role modeling. Because parents have to get involved in it with their children and even making it a competition, putting a pedometer on everybody and saying, “Whoever gets the most steps…” This will give a kid a competition and they’re going to run up and down all day to win.

Lamond: Exactly. And we have seen that firsthand. We’ve done that with kids here and it’s fun. You make being active a fun thing, a little competitive. And one way to do that is – you always have the one person in the family that’s a lot more active than any one person. So the key with the pedometer challenges is doing a percentage of increase which, I think, makes it a level playing field for everybody, because sometimes you see that happening. But, really, making it fun is key. Not necessarily calling it exercise. This is another thing. In our adult mentality, we talk about making sure we get our workout and those kinds of things, but I think the way to be really long-lasting, especially with younger kids, is really not even calling it exercise. It’s just, “Let’s go out and have fun. Let’s spend some time together.” That is so important to kids and families. It’s really nurturing. So what’s a better way to do that, to spend time with your kids and being active? You’re doing two things that are very, very important: spending time with them and making sure that their heart and their muscles are being stimulated. That’s something that we all need to do every day. It doesn’t matter what shape or size we are.

Melanie: So it’s really a family affair, right, Angela? Now speak about – you’re a registered dietician-nutritionist and you know all about that energy in and the energy out. So if we are going to keep our kids that much more physically active, do we need to change their diet in any way?

Lamond: Well, the approach with healthy eating is going to be a lot more generalized when it comes to kids. The younger kids, you definitely want to have, what I call, the “always foods” in the house. I like to do the 80/20 rule. So 80 percent of the foods that are in your home are going to be those always foods that are obvious – fresh fruits and vegetables, low fat dairy, cheeses, yogurts, whole grains, lean meat, all of those kinds of things. If we have, what I call, nature’s fast food ready to grab and go, those are going to be the things that they eat. So we want to kind of try to avoid saying things like diet or diet foods or, you know, “This is too high in carbs.” We’re starting to see a lot of that kind of leaking from the parents, well-intentioned, but those are things we want to kind of – we want them to feel comfortable around food, being empowered to make healthy choices. Really, talking about what those always foods do for them, instead of talking about dieting or any negative connotations around that. We don’t generally have them food log or start a diet, those kind of things. Really even out naturally for children, because they’re also growing, and that’s not the luxury that adults have. We’re done growing, right? So some kids really just need to maintain their weight for a while, while their body adjusts in the height.

Melanie: Now, Angela, what do you think? Schools are cutting recess and gym in favor of academics, which we know we need to keep up with other countries. But kids can’t think clearly without getting their beans out. They have to run around to get that blood flow to the brain in the first place. What do you suggest to parents whose schools are cutting some of their recess time and even gym classes, only once a week maybe, in getting them active those other times when they’re not in school?

Lamond: Well, first of all, I am an advocate to make your voice be heard. So if you’re not happy with something that’s going on in our school district, to join the PTA, to really get onboard where there’s a lot of volunteer organizations to help make changes. And those things are being done. I can tell you there’s a lot of people that are trying to get physical activity back into the schools, so know that. But in the meantime, what I would suggest, I mean, really what’s going to have to happen is you’re going to make up for that sedentary activities. So it’s almost even more important to have those fun activities after school. They’ve done so many studies. They’ve actually hooked kids up to these little EET machines where they’ve been active for 30 to 60 minutes and then they put these little tabs on them that can read their brain activity. And it’s amazing! It’s like their brains light up like a Christmas tree as far as how stimulated their minds are following physical activity. So maybe, after school, you will get your afternoon snack and then they would have an hour of active play before they even sit down and start their homework. We’re pushing a lot of academics, which I highly advocate for, but don’t underestimate the impact that pushing your kids to be active have on the academics itself.

Melanie: Absolutely. In just the last minute or so, Angela, give your best advice for children today, the challenges of parents in keeping their children really, really healthy and active.

Lamond: Well, I believe that you can’t tell your child to do something that you’re not doing yourself. As a mom, I say this every day, that is a very humbling position, being the parents in this day and age. Start with yourself. Start making sure that you’re modeling the healthy eating and the physical activity recommendations that are out there, for a child that should be a very minimum of 60 minutes a day and for adults it really is going on good 45 minutes to an hour of moderate physical activity, each and every day. Make sure you’re starting that, and part of that, I think, doing it is the best you can do for your children and then they will us follow us through with it when you do it as well.

Melanie: Absolutely great information. You’re listening to Eat Right Radio with our friends from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. It’s such great information, so share these shows with your friends. This is Melanie Cole for Eat Right Radio. Thanks for listening.
Length (mins) 10
Host Melanie Cole, MS

Surprising Benefits of Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is nature's way to feed a baby; but only recently have scientists begun to uncover the amazing health benefits for both baby and mother.

Additional Info

Segment Number 2
Audio File eat_right/1428nd2b.mp3
Featured Speaker Sarah Krieger, MPH, RDN, LDN
Organization Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Guest Bio Sarah Krieger is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who has counseled hundreds of families as a nutrition consultant and leader of All Children’s Hospital’s Fit4AllKids, Fit4AllTeens and Fit4AllMoms weight management and fitness for families programs. Every aspect of life can benefit from nutrition: from pre-conception to adulthood. Sarah counsels all aspects of nutrition. Personally, she breastfed her three children for 13-14 months each, even as she worked. Sarah never supplemented with formula for any of her children.

Learn more about Sarah here.
Transcription Melanie Cole (Host): Breastfeeding is a natural way to feed a baby, but only recently have scientists begun to uncover the real health benefits for both baby and mother, associated with breastfeeding.My guest today is Sarah Krieger. She’s a registered dietician-nutritionist who’s counseled hundreds of family as a nutrition consultant. Welcome to the show, Sarah. So, tell us about the benefits of breastfeeding.

Sarah Krieger (Guest): Well, there are short-term and long-term benefits, and then there’s the baby and the mom. Let’s talk mom first. Short-term benefits for the mom would be once breastfeeding is established, less mess with bottles, right? You don’t have to deal with bottles. You can just grab your bag and go. It’s easier at night because, again, you don’t have to mess with the bottles. There is decreased risk of postpartum depression, which would be a short-term benefit because that usually happens within a couple of months after delivery. For the baby, the number one benefit is the baby is in charge of intake. Since I counsel so many families for childhood obesity, this is my main message for moms because we want the baby to develop lifelong eating habits, and breastfeeding is where it starts. Then there are long-term benefits. The long-term benefits for mom would be decreased risk of breast cancer. It’s not a guarantee but it does help to prevent future breast cancer cases, because we’re basically using our breast the way that they’re meant to be and that’s always a positive thing. Also for the baby, long-term, is decreased risk of Type 1 diabetes, asthma, and even leukemia. So, those are the things that why wouldn’t a mom want to at least try to establish breastfeeding right after the baby is born because there are short-term and long-term benefits?

Melanie: Now, do you think, Sarah, that this is something that mother should really make the decision while they’re pregnant and is there any pre-preparing that they need to do before they have their baby?

Sarah: Yes. A lot of moms, if they mentally tell themselves, “Okay, I’m going to do this,” they have a good support group, maybe they have friends, maybe their mother did it, you can take a class, usually hospitals will provide a breastfeeding class, you can meet with a lactation consultant. But the funny thing is that sometimes you forget everything as soon as that baby comes. With my three kids, my third one was actually what I would call the “non-latcher” and I ended up using a lactation consultant in the hospital before we were discharged, and that was the best thing because she was able to show me positions that I never used with the older two. So, you can have your expectations and be prepared, but just know that it may not go “textbook” every time, and that’s okay. The other thing too is most hospitals will provide support groups. When my firstborn was three to four days old, I went to that first breastfeeding support group, and I’m still friends with a lot of those moms 12 years later, so that definitely helped. Especially for moms who may not have the male role model support or friends and a grandma, “You know what? Let’s just give the baby a bottle.” If you surround yourself with other mothers that are breastfeeding, sometimes that is the number one support that a mom can have to keep going with the breastfeeding.

Melanie: So they’ve decided this is something they’ve talked themselves into it, they’ve decided that this is what they’re going to do, and then their baby is born. Is this a natural thing, Sarah? Is it something that just comes naturally? You said you had one “non-latcher.”

Sarah: Yeah.

Melanie: Is it something you just take the baby, put him to your breast, and right away, boom, they go? Or do you need a little help, a little discussion about how and where? Then talk about the mother’s comfort doing it.

Sarah: Okay, so right after the baby is born, the colostrum is the first to be discharged from the breast, and that’s that sticky, yellowish, full of antibodies that most moms are like, “If I can do that, at least I did the best part of the breastfeeding.” That happens within 24 hours of birth. When the actual milk comes in, it’s usually on average, not for everybody, but usually within two to three days after birth, and for most moms, myself included, I was already at home, so the milk doesn’t come in until you’re home. One of my greatest moments though of the breastfeeding was when you’re in the hospital and your baby has that first wet diaper. You don’t really feel anything on your breast yet but, okay, you saw the baby, sucking and latching, but did he swallow? Did he get enough? Am I able to produce enough milk? I don’t see anything coming out of my breast yet because the baby is latched on. But then the baby has a wet diaper and you’re like, “Wow, I did that.” Sometimes, just the act of seeing your baby swallow, even though you might not see breast milk all over yourself, just know that growth, wet diapers, messy diapers, that’s the best way to see that you’re giving your baby enough nutrition. A lot of moms think that they’re not making enough milk. It’s a supply-and-demand issue. If you want to nurse, if you want to breastfeed, put that baby to the breast. That’s the best way to have “letdown” so that the baby gets the nutrition. Every time a mom offers a bottle of formula, her supply will go down. If someone says, “Okay, I’ll give the baby a bottle, you go out for a couple of hours, I’ll watch him and give him some formula,” just know that if you can pump or express milk, even on one side of the breast when the baby is on the other breast, and then you can collect that milk, still give the baby the milk when you’re not there, the breast milk, and the supply will keep going on and on.

Melanie: How can you get dad involved? What’s the best ways and give some tips for getting dad involved?

Sarah: I was fortunate to have a great partner who was very supportive and especially in the night. Dads, all they have to do is say, “Hey, here’s the baby. He needs to eat.” So I don’t know why more dads aren’t involved because they don’t have to do as much. If they can change the diapers, take the babies for a walk, the feeding is up to the mom. Like I said, when you’re pumping and expressing, dad can definitely get involved with the breast milk in the bottle when mom is away. But personally, all three of my kids, I did not ever give the baby the bottle, only the breast, and so mom is the breast, dads and grandmas, they’re the bottle of breast milk. So that is one way that dad can get involved, by encouraging them to get some fresh air, walk around the block, go to the store, whatever, and then dad would give the breast milk in the bottle. Taking a class during the pregnancy also helps because, especially for the first child, dads may not have any idea what this breastfeeding means, so it definitely helps for them to understand that “This is mom’s commitment, at least for a year, so what can I do to help? Oh, I can help with the diapers, I can help do dishes, but give mom that time to be comfortable, get her a comfortable chair to sit in.” That’s the support that dads can do.

Melanie: Sarah, we only have a minute and a half or two minutes left, but speak about some common breastfeeding challenges and the ways that mom can overcome those.

Sarah: I work for All Children’s Hospital in St. Pete and when I see infants that are hospitalized, it can be very stressful obviously for the mother. Anytime a newborn is admitted to the hospital right after birth, mom has all these great intention, sometimes births don’t go the way that we expected, right? So my number one tip for moms is stress will affect your supply. So, more than food—here’s the dietician saying it—more than food and water, if you can get enough sleep, try to manage the stress as best as possible, that will help the supply. There are awesome pumps that you can rent or borrow from a hospital or health department, so just look out for those in your area especially if the baby is in the hospital. But there are definitely tools to use even if the baby, say, has a cleft palate, there are special tools that you – I don’t mean tools – tubes and different pumps you can use that the baby can latch onto the machine but still gets the breast milk. Fortunately, we’re not in where we were hundreds of years ago. There are so many benefits for the baby, and moms can definitely make it happen but you have to talk to your doctor, make it happen before you’re discharged from the hospital after birth.

Melanie: Thank you so much. You’re listening to Eat Right Radio with our friends from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This is Melanie Cole. Stay well.
Length (mins) 10
Host Melanie Cole, MS

Eating Right on a Road Trip

Hitting the road for a family trip? You wouldn’t begin the trip with an empty tank of gas, nor should you leave without a few healthy eating tips.

Additional Info

Segment Number 1
Audio File eat_right/1428nd2a.mp3
Featured Speaker Heather Mangieri, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDN
Organization Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Guest Bio Heather Mangieri is a registered dietitian and an award-winning expert in wellness and human performance. She is board-certified specialist in sports dietetics and owns Nutrition CheckUp, a consulting practice that specializes in sports nutrition, weight management and family wellness.

Learn more about Heather here.
Transcription Melanie Cole (Host): Hitting the road for a family road trip, you wouldn’t begin a trip with an empty tank of gas. So remember to fuel up with a few helpful eating tips. My guest today is Heather Mangieri. She is a registered dietician-nutritionist and academy spokesperson. Welcome to the show.
Talk to us about road tripping. Now you said something a little bit interesting off the air about over-snacking during road trips. Why don’t you start with that, Heather?

Heather Mangieri (Guest): Yes, absolutely. There’s nothing more fun than loading up the car with friends and family and heading off to an adventure. But there’s something out being in the car that makes us think that we can snack the whole time. And often, those snacks are not the mini-meals that we recommend, but they’re the low-nutrient, sugar, salty foods that aren’t necessarily nourishing our body. We want to talk about some rules for the road trip, if you will.
First of all, I will always say, it depends on how long you’re going to be in the car, depending on what you’re going to pack and if you’re going to pack anything. If you’re in a car or vehicle or whatever it is you’re taking for two to four hours, it may not be necessary to pack snacks at all. You can start that trip well-fed and by the time you get to your destination, maybe that’s when you have your next meal. But if you’re planning on being in a car for a longer time, then packing and preparing healthy snacks will really prevent you from scavenging for junk food along the way.

Melanie: So you think, under two hours and you really should just load up a little bit beforehand so that you don’t have to snack the whole time.

Mangieri: Yeah. That’s generally my recommendation, because having food and snacks in the car really sets you up for that mindless munching, especially a lot of vehicles today have DVD players in them. We wouldn’t recommend eating while watching TV in your living room; we really don’t recommend that for the car either, because it really sets you up for just loading up on this munchy snacks and when it comes time to sit down to a real meal, nobody’s hungry.

Melanie: Well, that’s true. I have run into that numerous times myself. We get up there and then I’m going to make a meal and nobody’s really hungry because they’ve been eating little mini-bagels and things in the car.

Mangieri: Exactly.

Melanie: So when we do want to eat in the car, if it’s a longer ride and maybe we feed lunch before or something and then we get into the car, what are some good healthy things that also don’t make a mess in the car?

Mangieri: Well, the first rule of advice is to invest in a cooler and icepack, because planning protein-packed foods requires the most effort, because they require refrigeration and they can be a food safety risk. So if you have a cooler and icepack, your options are really endless and you can really build a healthy meal while you’re in the car. For example, making hard-boiled eggs in advance, or cutting up cheese cubes and having cheese and crackers in the car, mini yogurts, making turkey sandwiches—these are just a few items that come to mind—in a cooler. You can also pack the shelf-stable snacks, but that then leads to rule number two, which is always place them in a single-serve container. You can make a really healthy trail mix, for example, but it’s very, very easy to overeat, and if you’re just kind of eating it out of the bag, there’s a good chance that you’re going to fill up on that. So, trail mix, raisins, fresh fruits are really good options. Again, crackers and cheese, nut butter, peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. There’s tons and tons of options, but the main idea is that you want to mix. You still want to mix that protein with those other more portable shelf-stable snacks so that you get a nice blend of nutrients.

Melanie: Well, I love your suggestion about putting them in single-serving containers as well, especially if kids are involved because you don’t want everybody sticking their little sticky hands into the same bag over and over and then the hands go into the mouth, and that’s a great way to spread colds and other germs. So, single-serving containers limit people so they don’t overeat and overindulge, plus keeps the spreading things around and making a mess of the car to a minimum. Give us some more, Heather
.
Mangieri: The next is huge one too. I just got back from vacation with my children. The backseat can become a disaster area if you’re not careful. It also gives kids the opportunity to choose what they want, which I think is really important, because we don’t all have the same taste and we don’t all want the same foods at the same time. But things like a bag of pretzels in the backseat of a car is a parent’s nightmare whenever you get to the destination. The third thing I would suggest is don’t forget meal times and set boundaries when you’re on a road trip. Just like you would have a meal time at home or a snack time, it’s important to do that when you’re road tripping too. If you stop for lunch at noon, set up that boundary that the next time that there’s going to be a snack or meal, it’s four o’clock, if you’re still in the car. And it doesn’t always have to be these constant snacks. It really can be, “No, no, no. We’re going to eat. We’re going to stop at a restaurant. We’re going to stop somewhere in two hours,” for example.
The fourth thing I always suggest is to think outside that typical restaurant, because nowadays gas stations and those quick stops along the way, most of them have microwave and so this can be a really nice way to pack meals if you’re trying to save money too. And this is something that especially my family would do a lot, because my son is on a special diet and he has some allergies, so we do a lot of packing meals, stopping at these stations, heating up meals in the microwave, and sitting there and having that meal, but it doesn’t have to be that quick frozen thing that they sell in that freezer section. It really can be something that you’ve packed in your cooler and that you’ve planned and then you’ve taken along.

Melanie: Heather, how healthy or unhealthy as a road trip snack is beef jerky? Because I’ve been reading labels lately and some of them have very little fat with good source of protein. Are they bad for us?

Mangieri: Well, I actually like jerky as a snack, because it’s a protein [pick] that doesn’t need refrigerated, which makes it really nice. I would say that beef jerky is very high in sodium, so you have to, again, watch proportion size. If you buy a bag of it and you eat the entire bag, well, that’s what makes it unhealthy. But having that serving size or passing along in the car and sharing it between everybody, I think it could be a good protein source, without needing that refrigeration and having to worry about food safety.

Melanie: And I think an important point to make is also just, when you were talking about making lunch and bringing the coolers, to make sure you bring napkins and things, even if you’re passing out peaches or grapes. That messy, sticky issue again comes out into the car. Give us some more of your great suggestions. We only have a just a minute or two left.

Mangieri: Okay, yeah. The other thing is, like you mentioned, baby wipes. They’re not just for babies. You can have them in the car. Kids make a lot of messes when it comes to that. But take a garbage bag in the car with you and keep it in the backseat; that way, if you have these single-serve items and they’re put into baggies ahead of time, or you have sandwiches wrapped in sandwich bags or foil, the kids can just fold up their mess, throw it right into that big garbage bag, take their wipe, clean their hands and then they’re ready to go. But, yeah, it’s a real preparation as far as really setting up what it’s going to look like in the car, just like you would set it up in a kitchen table, but with all portable things that can be thrown away.

Melanie: How often do we get out of the car and stretch?

Mangieri: That was going to be my last suggestion. Don’t forget to get out of the car and stretch. Even though the biggest complaint is “we want to get to our destination,” but when we travel for long periods, our hip flexors, our lower backs, shoulders and necks can really tense up, so take the time to stretch them out. I wouldn’t say there’s any set time, but we call them “burpy breaks” or jump rope or just run around that parking lot – no, not the parking lot, but on the side. A lot of the rest stops have areas where we can get out and stretch, so don’t forget that’s really important for your body.

Melanie: Thank you so much, Heather Mangieri. You’re listening to Eat Right Radio, with our friends from www.eatright.org. That’s where you can find more information – at www.eatright.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks for listening.
Length (mins) 10
Host Melanie Cole, MS

Dispelling 3 Diabetes Diet Myths

Everyone has an opinion about carbohydrates and diabetes. Sort fact from fiction to optimally manage your diabetes.

Additional Info

Segment Number 2
Audio File eat_right/1423nd3b.mp3
Featured Speaker Toby Smithson, MSNW, RDN
Organization Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Guest Bio Toby Smithson is a registered dietitian nutritionist and Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Smithson is a Diabetes Lifestyle Expert with EosHealth where she provides support and nutritional advice to people with diabetes sharing strategies and tools for diabetes self-management.

Learn more about Toby Smithson.
Transcription Melanie Cole (Host): Well, have you been confused about carbohydrates and its relation to diabetes? Because it can be quite confusing. My guest is registered dietician-nutritionist Toby Smithson. She’s also a certified diabetes educator and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson. Welcome to the show, Toby. Tell us a little bit about the confusion that surrounds carbohydrates when it comes to diabetes out there.

Toby Smithson (Guest): Well, carbohydrates seems to be the big word or the big elephant in the room when we’re talking about diabetes. There’s a couple of myths out there that people seem to get confused and hung up on. One of them is if you have diabetes, you need to avoid carbohydrates, especially with the emergence of all these low-carb fat diet that are out there. It’s always in the press and the media, right in front of people. But in fact, carbohydrates are needed by the body. It’s our best source of energy. So, if we avoid them, then we’re not going to have a lot of the energy that we need to all the fun things that we like to do.

Melanie: Well, Toby, it’s important to note that carbohydrates are what fuel our brain and spinal cord, and people don’t realize it. The word “carb” has gotten such a bad rep, and not just for diabetics, but really, for the world and population in general. So bust up another myth. One you just said was avoidance, that we need not avoid carbohydrates. Maybe separate them out a little bit for us so that people understand the difference between the goods and the bads.

Smithson: Many of the plant foods are carbohydrates sources, like our fruits, our grains and starchy vegetables like peas, corn, potatoes, and beans, which also serve as a really good, lean protein source too. Those are some examples of some carbohydrates, as well as milk and yogurt, which sometimes people don’t realize there’s a good source of protein and carbohydrate in those dairy products too. We need to have a balanced diet with a variety of foods. You hear that over and over again. If we avoided all of those food categories or types of foods, we wouldn’t have a variety of foods, and we will be missing out on a lot of important minerals and nutrients and vitamins.

Melanie: Now, Toby, in the world of foods, there’s, as you say, the plant-based and good foods for us. And then there’s also the processed foods and the things that come in a box with a long label and a name we can’t pronounce. There are some things we should avoid, especially when it comes to diabetes, some of the white foods. Explain that a little for us.

Smithson: Yes. A good rule of thumb is to think whole foods to start out with. Your best line of attack is to have the whole foods, the whole fruits, the whole grains when you’re eating green foods, so starting out from the whole food instead of the modified versions, the quick and easy packaging. One of the other myths that you were just touching on was about the white foods. A lot of people think that white foods in general should be avoided or are bad foods. But in fact, the focus for people with diabetes has an emphasis on carbohydrate. And a slice of white bread and a slice of wheat bread virtually have the same amount of carbohydrates. So I know that that’s going to be a big “What?”

Melanie: That’s a big shocker. People are absolutely doing that right now, Toby. They’re saying, “Really?” So if you’re a diabetic and you really want to have your white bread for some reason, then you’re saying that it’s not the worst thing that you can do.

Smithson: Right. All foods can fit. The wheat bread, if it was truly a whole wheat bread that was a whole grain is definitely better for you overall in health. But instead of people with diabetes beating themselves up about certain food choices, if you really, really like the white bread, then knowing that it’s the same 15 grams of carbohydrates. It doesn’t change it because it’s a whole grain, the amount of carbohydrate. The whole grain, though, does have more nutrients attached to it, so it is a better choice. But carbohydrate, side by side, it’s equal.

Melanie: Wow. So now, if you are a diabetic, what are some other things? Give us another myth, Toby.

Smithson: Carbohydrate’s the only nutrient they need to worry about. If it doesn’t have carbs, I can eat it. That’s a big myth out there because people with diabetes are in much higher risk for cardiovascular disease or heart disease. So we also need to be thinking about the types of fat in our diet as well for heart disease prevention.

Melanie: Okay, and the types of fat being ones that can contribute to that increased risk of coronary heart disease, or saturated fats. Tell us what some of those might be.

Smithson: Yes. The saturated fats and the trans fats tend to be the troublemakers. What I say about fats is that you want to pick them like you pick your friend. You want quality versus quantity when you’re choosing fats. The healthier fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. So, the unsaturated fats, those you would find in nuts, in avocados, in vegetable oils, those are the top sources of those unsaturated fats. There’s also some in fish, too, those omega three fatty acids.

Melanie: Well, and that’s really what’s so important, Toby. People don’t always know where to find these nutrients that you’re talking about. So when you mentioned the poly and monounsaturates, avocados -- and you mentioned fish and nuts, legumes. Give us a little bit of a food list so that people know when they go to the grocery store really what to take with them and what to buy so that they can go home and start right away.

Smithson: Well, I always like to start in the produce section and start filling your cart there, so that when we get more from the produce -- and base your meals around the produce that you’re purchasing. It’s a really a good starting point, the fresh fruits and the fresh vegetables. And then go to the lean cuts of meat when you get to the meat aisle. And then the healthy fats would be what type of oil you’re having. I know a big question always is butter versus margarine and what the consensus is is that a tub of margarine is your better choice because of the amount of saturation of the fats. Let’s see. What else are we missing? Dried beans also, in one of the center aisles is where you’ll find that at the grocery store. So we’re loading our cart with some of the heart-healthy and diabetes-friendly foods. All foods can fit. We just need to really be paying attention to that portion.

Melanie: Now, you mentioned dried beans. So, canned foods, are they all right as well as canned beans, canned vegetables if somebody really is not adept at soaking their beans and doing all that? We don’t have a whole lot of time, but can we use canned foods for that as well?

Smithson: For canned, the only thing to be cautious about is the amount of sodium. So, for the canned vegetables or canned foods, get the no-added-salt version to lower the amount of sodium in those canned foods.

Melanie: That’s great. And Toby, if you would, in just the last minute give us your best advice for managing diabetes and all this confusion surrounding carbohydrates.

Smithson: I would say to eat a variety of foods and eat at least three meals a day. Don’t be skipping meals, and include a variety of all of the foods that you enjoy, and watch the portion sizes.

Melanie: That’s great advice. Carbohydrates are always a focus for people with diabetes, but they’re also a source of confusion which we have cleared up to day, and we’ve sorted the fact from the fiction when it comes to healthy eating and healthy diet to manage your diabetes. You’re listening to Eat Right Radio. For more information, you can go to eatright.org. That’s what we’re teaching right here on Eat Right and Radio MD is how to eat right. This is Melanie Cole. Thank you so much for listening, and stay well.
Length (mins) 10
Host Melanie Cole, MS

Eat Right, Eat Mindfully

If you love to eat, but don't love to gain weight, mindful eating tips from EatRight.org can help guide you toward a healthier lifestyle.

Additional Info

Segment Number 1
Audio File eat_right/1423nd3a.mp3
Featured Speaker Marjorie Nolan Cohn, MS, RDN
Organization Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Guest Bio Marjorie Nolan Cohn is a registered dietitian nutritionist and Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, with a specialty in eating disorders, behavior modification and is a certified personal trainer. Marjorie is co-author of Overcoming Binge Eating For Dummies

Learn more about Marjorie Nolan Cohn.
Transcription Melanie Cole (Host): Do you love to eat? You can love food and still eat right. One technique you might want to try is called “mindful eating.” My guest is Marjorie Nolan Cohn. She is a registered dietician-nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Welcome to the show, Marjorie. Tell us what is mindful eating.

Marjorie Nolan Cohn (Guest): Mindful eating is about enjoying your food. It’s about tasting your food and being intimately involved with your food, so to speak, without necessarily paying attention or being overly concerned about calories or fat or even necessarily how much you’re eating. Mindful eating is a way of eating that brings you closer to what your body needs.

Melanie: How do you go about even beginning that? People look at their food, Marjorie, and they scurf it down. Mostly, I think of that as filler. I love to enjoy my meals. But how do you start with someone who really just looks at food as filler? How do you get them to pay attention, and as you say, really enjoy your food?

Cohn: Well, the first thing I always advise people to do is set the stage. We’re in such a hectic world. We’re travelling. We’re working. We’re eating on the go. In order to truly mindfully eat, you really need to sit down quiet in your environment. There can be TV or radio on the background, but you don’t want to be in a rush in going somewhere and eating on the go. You also want to have a full plate of food that you have set the stage for. You have your water. You have your utensils and you’re sitting in a place where you’re able to sort of engage in the process of eating, versus, eating while you’re engaging in other aspects of your life. That’s where you really start with mindful eating, because it’s almost impossible to be in touch with how hungry you are, how full you are, how your food tastes, the textures, the temperature, when you’re distracted with other things that you need to do in your life, like checking your email, or being on Facebook, or watching television.

Melanie: So, it starts with your plate. Even if you were eating McDonald’s, which we don’t certainly advocate, but you would need to set it out on a plate, put it out in front of you, get your drink, set yourself into that position for enjoying your food, correct? Make sure it’s all out there in front of you.

Cohn: Yes. You want to take it in. Mindful eating isn’t just about what’s in your mouth. It’s about how you put it in your mouth. It’s about how you see it; how you prepare it. In the truest sense, mindful eating is not about, like I said, necessarily the calories or what you’re eating. Of course, being mindful, we can take that to the next level and you also want to be mindful of the nutrients in the food and how much you’re eating. But in the core, mindful eating is eating whatever you want by eating it in a way where you are actually tasting it; hopefully enjoying it. A lot of people I work with have come to realize, when they’re historically been in the perspective of what you -- the fast chowing down sort of experience that you referenced, is they don’t necessarily enjoy their food. They don’t necessarily even like the food that they’re buying on a regular basis to eat, because they’re not paying attention to it.

Melanie: I think that’s just sad, because food is one of the great pleasures of life. How can we incorporate mindful eating with healthy eating, so that it can, maybe, work for weight loss or just getting healthier, feeling better, having more energy? Put them together for us, Marjorie?

Cohn: Well, actually, research shows that mindful eating, regardless of what you’re eating, does help with weight loss very directly. There’s a cause and effect nature to it. And when anyone is eating and enjoying their food, paying attention to it, and taking their time to eat, we naturally feel full quicker. Now, there are a lot of reasons for that. Part of that is hormonal. Our bodies register fullness after a certain time period, and if you’re taking your time in eating slowly, it’s going to decrease the amount that you’re eating. And also, part of it is the enjoyment aspect of it. When you’re enjoying your food, you naturally want to eat less of it. You don’t need to eat as much. Also, if you know what you like and you’re eating something that you’re enjoying, you’re not left at the end of the meal or at the end of a snack feeling like you’re not satisfied. Feeling satisfied after a meal isn’t just about feeling full. It’s about enjoying your meal and tasting it too. So, mindful eating helps on many different levels, both physical, as well as psychological and emotional with our food and you naturally will eat less. Also, if you’re mindfully choosing what you want to eat, paying attention to your cravings – do I want something warm, do I want something salty, do I want something crunchy today – you’re also going to have more satisfaction from that meal or snack, and therefore, naturally, need to eat less of it.

Melanie: Where does preparation come in to all of this, being somebody who prepares the food, cooks the food, takes time, even grows your own food and that whole process, how does that fit in to the realm of mindful eating?

Cohn: Well, when you are preparing your food, even if you have some sort of vegetable garden in your backyard, you could really think about what you’re going to prepare and how you’re going to prepare it. I think mindful eating has been lost in the shuffle of convenience food and a fast-paced life. I’m the primary cook in my household and I really need to think about what is my family going to eat tonight, what are we going to have for the rest of the week, and set it up mindfully on Monday morning or Sunday; how the week is going to go and what I’m going to make each day. That’s a way of mindfully preparing your menu for the week. It’s not necessarily just what am I eating right now, but how am I going to do this in effective way moving forward, so that it’s cost effective; so that my food doesn’t spoil; so that it’s convenient, and on the nights where I work late, I have leftovers instead of preparing from scratch. It’s a mindful process that goes even beyond the actual eating.

Melanie: I think that’s so important and such good information. Give us your best advice on mindful eating and the ways that we can really start right now today, Marjorie, and incorporate it into our lives.

Cohn: What you can start with today is setting the scene, just sitting down, taking an extra 10, 15 ideally, 20 minutes to eat a meal. Shut down the distraction and really taste your meal. Chew each bite thoroughly. Swallow it. Engage in how it feels going down into your stomach and enjoy the food. That anyone can do at any moment. Moving forward, thinking about your grocery list, what can you eat day to day, and being mindful about the future choices that you’re going to be making will only help in your day to day.

Melanie: That certainly is great advice. Give us one more tip for mindful eating, Marjorie.

Cohn: Enjoy. One more tip for mindful eating would be to hack ahead. Mindfully eating, healthfully, really involves a lot of thought. I think a lot of my clients get very discouraged when they find it difficult to mindfully eat, or they don’t like their food, and really, you can’t always choose exactly what you want in any given moment. And so, I think, finding some aspects of your meal or snack that you enjoy, even if you’d rather be eating something else, will help you engage with what you’re actually eating
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Melanie: Thank you so much, Marjorie Nolan Cohn. We all need to try a little mindful eating. It’s a way for us to get healthier, have more energy and really feel better about ourselves. You’re listening to Eat Right radio, with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. For more information, you can go to eatright.org. That’s eatright.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening and stay well.
Length (mins) 10
Host Melanie Cole, MS

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