HHS-231 Chapter 9
Grains
Look for bulk food options, check into unit pricing for your food to compare like items, choose foods with less ingredients and closest to their natural state, look for the 100% whole grain stamp on breads and cereals and read at least the first 5 ingredients, when buying cereals, look for cereals that have high fiber (4-5 grams per serving is a nice high-fiber cereal), and look for foods with less than 10 grams of added sugar per serving.
Issue 3 - Skipping Breakfast
10% of Americans skip breakfast. These findings were dependent on age categories, with high schoolers and young adults aged 18-34 years old being the most common age group to miss the morning meal (28% for men and 18% for women). Reasons for skipping breakfast were stated as being too busy, not hungry, running late, or they didn't feel like eating. Breakfast helps boost our metabolism and provides us with energy for the day. Additionally, those who eat breakfast tend to eat more calories throughout the day but not gain as much weight. If you choose not to eat in the morning because you are not hungry, this can be due to your habits or your food intake the night before. You should eat within 2 hours of waking up, and if you aren't used to eating in the morning, try eating 1.5-2 hours after you wake up, and try eating smaller meals or snacks.
Meal Preparation and Planning
83% of Americans visited a quick service restaurant once per week and 68% visited a casual dining restaurant once per week. Start off planning 1-2 meals per week and gradually move to 2-3 meals per week. Try to create a weekly menu plan in which you design your meals for the next 4 to 7 days.
Issue 7 - Hoping for Quick Fixes
According to the Detox article, the problems with a detox diet are too many risks, lack of sufficient calories and balanced nutrition, no proof they work, quick fixes are not the answer, and they are often expensive. Some practical strategies to feel better as stated in the article are eating a balanced diet, staying hydrated, and cooking your meals.
Issue 6 - Drinking Too Many Calories
Calories from beverages throughout the day end up being a large number of empty calories. With calories consumed in beverages, there tends to be a rapid increase and decrease in blood sugar levels, lower satiety levels, lower nutrient density, increased hunger, and increased calorie intake. Strategies for limiting drinking calories is drink water first, if drinking alcohol, drink a glass of water in between drinks, consume 100% fruit juice instead of fruit drinks, fruit cocktails, or fruit-flavored beverages, if you enjoy soda, try mixing carbonated water with 100% fruit juice, get coffee beverages with non- or low-fat milk or no whipped cream, and try blended smoothies made with real fruit as snacks.
Developing Cooking Skills
Cooking and meal preparation take time, effort, and practice. Many university campuses offer cooking classes, nutrition and dietetic clubs, or dining center resources. There are also a lot of online videos as well. Try adding new recipes to your repertoire at least once a month, but if you are more ambitious, try a new recipe once a week. Create a list of easy meals you can make quickly and well. These meals should incorporate vegetables, whole grains, healthy proteins, and fruits. Finally, cooking should be fun and enjoyable.
Dairy or Dairy Alternatives
Dairy or dairy alternatives provide calcium and vitamin D. In choosing yogurts, you should look for less than 10 grams of sugar per serving.
Snack Foods
Focus on healthful snacks ideas like fruits, veggies, nut butters, yogurt, popcorn, granola bars, and trail mix. Snacks should be around 250 calories (or less) and contain high quality protein and carbohydrates. Look for lower added sugar options focusing on foods that have less than 5 grams of added sugar per serving. Seek granola bars that are less than 200 calories, made of whole grains, have less than 10 grams of sugar, and have 2-3 grams of fiber. In choosing a nut butter (like peanut, almond, or cashew butter), you should look for only nuts and salt and trans fat free on the label.
Grocery Shopping Tips
Grocery stores are set up with similar layouts. Try to shop the periphery, which is where whole foods and less processed core foods exist. Use caution in the frozen food and deli as there can be some nutrient dense foods and some highly processed foods. Inside aisles are primarily processed foods with some exceptions, such as spices. Try to avoid processed foods and the bakery. These appeal to your sight and smell cues, and the aisle ends are prime real estate for impulse buys. Milk is at the back of the store for a couple of reasons: 1) Refrigeration/delivery 2) So customers have to navigate through the aisles, and that makes you more likely to impulse buy. Making a list lessens the amount of impulse buying. Try shopping by yourself instead of with a friend or loved one as it makes you less likely to justify your impulse buys. Eat prior to shopping as then you are less likely to pay attention to cravings due to hunger or appetite.
Issue 1 - Not Listening to our Hunger Cues
Hunger vs. Appetite - Hunger is physiological where symptoms include stomach growls, headache, grumpiness, fatigue, lower brain functioning, and muscle wasting. Appetite is psychological and is increased by environmental cues, sights, smells, memories, mood, and social occasions. Satiety - The feeling of fullness and satisfaction we get from food. Satiety depends on two main factors: the types of meals we consume and 2) the timing of eating. The types of meals we consume should have diverse macronutrients, also called mixed meals. Mixed meals allow us to feel fuller for longer as the diverse nutrients digest at different rates. Choosing foods with a higher satiety index can also keep you fuller longer in comparison to foods with lower satiety levels. Examples of foods with a high satiety index are potatoes, nuts, protein, apples, bananas, beans, whole wheat products, legumes, and eggs. Those physiological cues or "fullness signals" take anywhere from 15-30 minutes for your stomach and small intestine to tell your brain that you are full. Therefore, spacing out your meals, not eating too quickly, waiting before going back for second helpings, and being mindful of your fullness cues can all be helpful strategies to assist in listening to these cues. As hunger increases, we have greater cravings and desire for fat and sugary foods. The main thesis of this video about changing our taste buds was that the longer we eat healthier foods, the better they taste. The purpose of "salt water followed by fresh water" experiment was to show the desensitization of certain flavors when consumed regularly and therefore we need stronger tastes. Mindless vs. Mindful Eating - Cornell University's Dr. Brian Wansink completed the bottomless bowl study, in which he studied people's fullness cues based on whether their bowl was empty (sight cues) verses if they felt full (physiological/stomach cues). The results found that if the bowl or plate was continually refilled and thus never empty, individuals tended to overeat and not listen to their satiety cues. Mindful eating is being aware of positive opportunities to your food selection and preparation, using all your senses in choosing food to allow for full satisfaction, responding to food without judgment (even if you dislike the food), becoming aware of hunger and satiety cues and how those cues assist in your food decisions, and being more mindful when eating has been shown to reduce the amount of food that one consumes while also feeling less guilt about the food that the individual has consumed. Two of the biggest influences on the foods that we consume are convenience and visibility. Some practical strategies to reduce mindless eating would be see it before you eat it, put food into a bowl instead of eating out of a bag, move food farther away or put food out of sight, and eat with your stomach, not with your eyes.
Meats
If we choose to eat meat we want to incorporate good sources of lean proteins like fish, poultry, and roast beef. Also buying meat that is on sale and freezing it can be a great money saving option. Ultimately pick the leanest cut of meat that you can afford. Processed meats and deli meats can also have high sodium content and preservatives added that we want to try to avoid like nitrites and nitrates. Other statements made on the labels could read as organic, grain free, percent fat free, or grain fed which are only important if you see those as personally valuable.
Issue 5 - Limited Fruits and Vegetables
It is recommended that adults eat about 1 ½ -2 cups of fruit and 2 ½ -3 cups of vegetables each day. In the U.S., only 13.1% of the population meets the fruit recommendation while 8.9% meets the vegetable recommendations. Whole fruits and veggies are low in fat, cholesterol, and calories. A plant-based diet is one that encourages eating whole foods like fruit and vegetables and one that discourages dairy¸ meat¸ eggs and refined and processed foods. Physicians are not prescribing a plant-based diet to patients because of lack of patient educational resources.
Produce (Fruits and Vegetables)
One serving is equivalent to about ½ cup of cooked, 1 cup of leafy greens, or a tennis ball sized (medium) fruit. One serving of whole fruits and veggies has about 3-5 grams of fiber, and one serving of fruit juice has about 1-2 grams of fiber. For fruit juices and smoothies, look for 100% fruit or vegetable juices with no added sugar. Try to avoid juices with more sugar than fruit juice.
Issue 4 - Snacking
The purpose of snacking is to supplement foods that you may have missed in your meals. The problem with snacking tends to be the timing of our snacks and the quality of foods we snack on. Snacking tends to be done when we are distracted, in the late evening, or when we are overly hungry. Some strategies for snacking are focusing on food quality (nutrient dense foods like fruits, veggies, nuts, cottage cheese, or popcorn; higher fiber snacks too), drinking water before you start snacking, spacing out your snacks, pouring snacks in a bowl and put the rest away, listening to your hunger and appetite cues, if you're bored but can't stop eating, try gum, mints, tooth picks, water or go for a walk, and if you are craving treats, intersperse healthful snacks with treats (like trail mix with chocolate chips or M&M's in it).
Issue 2 - Quick Meals and Processed Foods
This could be due to lack of cooking skills or not having the space or time to cook, but it also relates to convenience, taste preference, finances, or difficulty cooking for one person. These types of meals are generally associated with higher energy density and calories, increased sugar intake, weight gain, and reduced nutrient density. Added vs. Natural Sugars - Table sugar, which is made from either sugar cane or sugar beets, is the most commonly used added sugar to sweeten our foods. There are 61 varieties of sugars in our foods. Added sugars, like table sugar, are processed a little differently by the body than sugars naturally present in whole foods like fruit and vegetables. This difference is primarily due to the fiber content, which increases the speed at which the sugar gets absorbed in the body. Also, glucose (present in added sugars) is processed in almost every cell in the body, while fructose is processed in the liver. The second most commonly used added sugar is high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is used as a sweetener and preservative, it is the most widely used sweetener in processed foods, it is cost effective and extends shelf life of foods, it demonstrates harmful effects like type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver, and insulin resistance, it does not occur in nature (made from corn), it is quickly absorbed by the body, and it may contain mercury. Increased added sugar consumption can lead to inflammation in your body and liver or block leptin, leading to leptin sensitivity. Leptin is a hormone produced in your fat cells, and it communicates with your brain to help you manage cravings and control hunger. Leptin also helps to regulate your metabolic rate. Some strategies to limit processed foods are plan your snacks with fruit and vegetables first, plan ahead for meals, even if it's only planning one meal a day, shop once a week to keep fresh food readily available, focus on fruits and vegetables (1/2 your plate), try cooking dinner 2-3 times a week and then gradually increase as you get better at it, read the labels and ingredients lists, and limit added sugars in your diet to 25g or less per day.
