Savvy Tips for Dining Out

According to the U.S. Census Bureau this is the first time Americans are spending more dining out at restaurants than they are on groceries.  It turns out that we are buying more of our groceries in warehouse and “club” stores.  In addition, consumers reported that lower gas prices allowed them to dine in restaurants more often, and visit fast-food chains and coffee shops.  That being said, this new boom could have implications for our nutritional health because we don’t know exactly how these foods are being prepared when we dine outside of our homes.  What we do know is that restaurant meals tend to be very high in calories, sugar-sweetened beverages that are offered are high in sugar, and fruits and vegetables are usually absent.

To help you make the best choices while dining out see our tips below:

Savvy Strategies:

• ·         Start by having a healthy mindset and “can-do attitude” to help make the best choices.
• ·         Choose restaurants that make it easy to select a healthy option.
• ·         Review the menu online beforehand so you can set up your game plan.
• ·         Speak up right away to share or split orders with others at your table.
• ·         Remember portion control.  That means avoiding descriptions like jumbo, grande, supreme, feast, combo, etc.  Instead, select descriptions like regular, petite, and even kiddie.  Ask for half, lunch or appetizer portions.  Split or share your meal if possible, or pack up half of it in a to-go container.  Lastly, choose from side and á la carte offerings to create your own meal.
• ·         Be creative about your selection.  There is no rule that says you have to eat an entrée.  Instead, try a soup or side salad with an appetizer.  Or, what about eating family style with your table mates where everyone can sample a little bit of everything.
• ·         Order foods as you would like them – meaning request items on the side or to be omitted.  You can also ask for a different cooking method like broiled, grilled, or steamed.  Try using the phrase, “Do you think the chef will…?” or “Would it be a problem to…?”
• ·         Know when you are comfortably full and stop eating.  There is no need to clear your plate when you can take the rest home.

     Try these skills the next time you dine out to help you make healthy choices.

Reference:  Smart Strategies for Healthy Eating Out, Tufts University, Healthy & Nutrition Letter, September 2015 (pp. 1 and 4).

Keys to Keeping Weight Off as We Age

As we all age we typically notice that keeping weight off becomes more challenging.  So, is there anything we can do to help avoid this?  The good news is that recently a new study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that challenged the previous notion that it’s about calories in and calories out that matter.  What was found is that not all calories are the same.  Moreover, the study found that “all foods have complex mechanisms that help or hinder weight long-term.  The simple math of calories in versus calories burned is true if you’re testing food in a test tube.  But human beings are not just inert buckets to put calories in.”  In addition, the results showed that foods interact in a synergistic way – meaning that “we should not only emphasize specific protein-rich foods like fish, nuts and yogurt to prevent weight gain, but also focus on avoiding refined grains, starches and sugars in order to maximize the benefits of these healthful protein-rich foods, create new benefits for other foods like eggs and cheese, and reduce the weight gain associated with meats.”

Here are a few things to think about:

Protein Options:  It’s common for people to gain weight as they age, and typically this gain is seen in the mid-section, which can increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.  There has been evidence supporting that a diet including fewer low-quality carbohydrates like white breads, potatoes, and sweets and higher in protein-rich foods may be more efficient for weight loss.  It would appear that yogurt, peanut butter, walnuts and other nuts, skinless chicken, and low-fat cheese and seafood were associated with weight loss.  On the flipside, meats, chicken with skin and regular cheese were associated with weight gain, so be careful.

Carbohydrate Quality:  Researchers found that there is a relationship between glycemic load (GL) and weight changes.  GL takes into account how rapidly a food boosts blood sugar, as well as the typical serving size.  For example High-GL foods such as white bread and white potatoes were linked with weight gain.  However, it’s not just about GL, fiber and whole grains also have an impact.  With that in mind, it’s important to look for foods whose ratio of total carbohydrates to fiber is 10:1 or less.  That would mean that a piece of white bread with 15 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber would have a ratio of 15:1, and therefore would not be a good choice.  To make things a little more complex, if you’re eating foods that are weight-promoting like meat and combining it with a low-GL food like broccoli it turns out that combination could decrease weight gain.  However, if you’re combining proteins linked with weight gain (meat) with high-GL foods (white pasta) the reverse is true, so that would be weight promoting.

Common Sense:  It turns out that the food we eat affects our brain’s reward systems, our insulin levels, liver function, microbiome, and fat-cell function.  We have a complex system to regulate our weight.  That’s why the calories from salmon and vegetables versus the calories from processed packaged foods have a different effect on your weight.  And, over time it’s more about diet quality rather than diet quantity.

Reference:  Smart Choices Key to Keeping Pounds Off as You Age, Health & Nutrition Letter, Tufts University, August 2015, Vol. 33, NO. 6. (pp.4-5.).

More on Portion Sizes

Creating a heart- and brain-healthy diet isn't just about putting healthy foods in your body - it's about eating the proper amount. Without a doubt, most Americans eat too much. Restaurant portions are large, many single-serve snack packages have ballooned over the years, food is all around us, and many people have lost the ability to recognize when they are full.

Knowing how much you should be eating might involve a little bit of measuring, but that can be made easier by relating portion sizes to every- day objects. Follow our portion size guide so you know how much food makes up one serving.

Below are a few other tips to ensure that you're eating the right portion amounts:

- Most restaurant portion sizes are at least double or triple the portion you  should be eating. As soon as your meal arrives, cut it in half and box up the other half. Take it home to have for lunch the next day.

- Serve food on small plates. Instead of using a dinner plate, substitute a luncheon plate or a salad plate.

- When eating at home, put a small portion of food on your plate, and keep the rest of the food in the kitchen. Then, if you want to eat more, you'll have to get up to get it.

- Read food labels. When a package says that it contains more than one serving, measure out one serving into a separate dish.

- Avoid eating in front of the TV or while reading. Instead, focus on the tastes, textures, and aromas of your food. This can keep you from mindlessly munching your way to the bottom of a bowl of popcorn or bag of chips.

- Listen to your body's hunger cues. Pay attention to feelings of hunger and fullness.

Complicated Calories

Research has shown that what we thought we knew about calories is actually a lot more complicated because our bodies' digestive process is quite involved.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Calorie counts posted on food labels can range widely from the calories you extract

• Vegetables can vary in how easily digestible they are

• Cooking plays a key role as it breaks down the cells in these vegetables 

• Research has found that peanuts, pistachios, and almonds are not digested as much as foods with similar levels of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats 

• Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins require different amounts of energy to digest 

• Heat accelerates the unraveling of the amino acids in proteins
 and they become more easy to digest

• We expend less calories digesting processed foods

• Gut bacteria, which differs from one person to another, plays a part in our digestion

• Our modern diet reduces the bacteria in our stomach

• Whole foods provide us with more vitamins and nutrients, which keep our intestinal (gut) bacteria happy

Even if the way calories were counted was revised it would still be nearly impossible to know exactly the amount of calories in each item we consume due to complex interactions between food and the human body.  Instead, if you are trying to eat healthier it would be best to eat a diet with less processed foods, and more whole and raw foods.

Dunn, R., (2013). The food issue, everything you know about calories is wrong. Scientific American, (pp.58-59,).

Variety is the Spice of Life

Spice up your fall recipes! Did you know that cayenne pepper is loaded with capsaicin that not only makes your mouth burn, it also burns body fat too. According to an article in the November/December 2012 issue of Psychology Today magazine, spices can stimulate all our senses, kick-starting digestion and metabolism. The use of turmeric substantially cuts blood levels of fats after a rich meal, and it lowers insulin levels as well according to significant research studies. Dust off that spice rack and start cooking!

Fall Back on Track

We have heard from a number of our clients that September is their time to get back on track. The kids are back in school, vacations and summer gatherings are winding down and it's time to refocus.

This is a great time to "get back to the basics" - grab your paperwork and review your eating plan, your select vegetables, your "non-permitted" foods and fill up your water bottle. We also suggest that you revisit your goal and perhaps set some new ones - is there a special occasion coming up and you want to get into that dress again? Set daily, weekly and monthly goals that are more manageable for you and go for it! We are always here to help.

True or False? Facts About the Foods You Eat

There are always new studies emerging touting a certain food one day, and then proving it’s harmful the next day.  With all of the information that’s going around it’s hard to know just what to believe.  We answer a few popular questions below:

1.     Is sugar harmful to your heart?

One study showed evidence that added sugars can negatively affect your heart.  Participants were assigned to drink one of four Kool-Aid-like beverages with their meals for two weeks.  The drinks were comprised of a dose of high-fructose corn syrup equivalent to 0, 10, 17.5, or 25 percent of their daily caloric requirement. The results revealed that the higher the dose the higher the participant’s LDL cholesterol and post-meal triglycerides. The reason fructose wreaks havoc has to do with how it’s metabolized, which takes place in the liver.  And, when the liver gets overloaded it then turns some of that fructose into fat.

The bottom line:  Try to limit added sugars to no more than 6 teaspoons (100 calories’ worth) if you’re a woman, and 9 teaspoons (150 calories) if you’re a man.

2.     Vegetable and fruit drinks, are they as healthy as eating them?

Evidence from a recent study that tracked more than 71,000 female nurses for 18 years has shown that for every three servings of whole fruit eaten the risk of type 2 diabetes dropped by about 20 percent.  In addition, each serving of leafy green vegetables dropped the diabetes risk by about 10 percent.  However, for each serving of fruit juice there was an 18 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes – and that’s just for one cup (8 ounces), most servings are between 16-20 ounces.  The problem with juice is that since it has a heavy sugar load that’s in liquid form it’s easier to absorb into your bloodstream, which can spike your insulin.  Rapid insulin spikes on a regular basis can cause problems with your body’s ability to produce the right amount of insulin you need, thereby leading to one becoming insulin resistant.

The bottom line:  Eat your fruits and vegetables.  From time to time if you want a smoothie it’s best to make your own with a mix of fruit and vegetables, along with low-fat milk or yogurt.

3.     Does eating whole-grains lead to weight loss?

Two studies tracked participants who were given whole grains.  One study assigned people to either a whole-grain or refined-grain group.  They were asked to eat four to seven servings a day of their grain, and told to cut about 500 calories from their diets.  After three months there was no difference in weight loss between the groups.  However, although their weight loss was similar the whole grain group lost more abdominal fat.  Next, another study where people were given whole grains showed no lose in belly fat.  The reason behind this may be that some whole-grain foods have more calories than their refined counterparts.

The bottom line:  Try to swap refined grains with whole grains, but just don’t expect to lose weight or fat.

4.     Do beans reduce cholesterol?

In 2011 researchers reviewed 10 trials that randomly assigned people to eat either legumes (other than soy) or an alternative food like spaghetti, carrots, or whole-grained breads and cereals.  They found that the average LDL cholesterol levels were 8 points lower when legumes were eaten.  Beans contain soluble fiber, and that fiber binds to bile acids in the gut and prevents them from being reabsorbed into the bloodstream. Then the liver takes cholesterol out of the bloodstream to make more bile acids, which lowers your LDL cholesterol.

The bottom line: Add beans as a side dish, in a soup, or salad to help reduce your LDL cholesterol.

Reference: Bonnie, L., Nutrition Action, July/August 2015, True or False?  Face vs. fiction about the foods you eat, p.1, 3-5.