Restaurant Redo: Defensive Eating Workshop

Cooking at home more consistently is the best way to improve your health. You’ll simply have more control over your food. But, eating out at your favorite restaurant doesn’t have to spell dietary disaster. You can leave your next restaurant experience both satisfied and healthy.

Eating out is taking a toll on our health. It’s well established that diets high in sodium are responsible for more deaths than any cause other than tobacco or alcohol. According to the Center For Science in the Public Interest, cutting sodium in half would save as many as 100,000 lives annually. Taking a more defensive approach to eating out in restaurants would certainly be a strong first step to hitting this goal.

If you eat out more than 3 times a week, the upcoming Restaurant Redo workshop is designed for you. From high end restaurants to grab & go spots, this interactive discussion will prepare you to gain more control over your food choices and protect your health.

Join me in January for Restaurant Redo if you’re in NYC! For details and tickets, click here.

People, not Patients

The medical profession has a tough task in trying to combat obesity. It’s not simple. It’s costly and it’s frustrating.

As a nutritionist, I’m personally frustrated. We need to be more creative in our approach. We need to champion smart people and organizations to work with people (not patients) to move in the right direction. We need to listen more. Talk less. We also need to work as teams. Straightforward communication is key.

Recently a client shared a handout of directions from his new doctor about what he NEEDED TO DO to lose weight. It was a list of high calorie foods to be avoided at all costs. Or he’d fail.

The list was a slash and burn of foods, many of them nutrient-dense and real foods that any trained nutrition professional would include in daily in a sound weight loss plan. It also included one line about how it was ok to have artificial sweeteners (really?, that’s not even food, but go ahead, have all you want).

It was a typed list, New Times Roman font, totally uninspiring and didactic, like the kind of handout you get for a colonoscopy prep. Everyone gets the same one. You either succeed or fail. Follow the list. FOLLOW THE LIST. See you in six months.

Here’s the thing that really gets me. This client has been doing incredibly well with his weight loss and lifestyle goals. We’ve been working together weekly through video sessions. We check in about what’s going well and what’s not. We set goals, together, but mostly he does the goal setting and I give him advice to balance it all out. We talk about a new food to try each week. Real food. Real cooking. Recipes. Walking. Shooting a few hoops. Doing things he enjoys. Things he’s never done before. Things he never thought he could do before.

Did the doctor ask him about that? Did he ask him about his success? How he felt? No, just treated him as another number and handed him the paper of what he must do.

This simple piece of paper just reduced 11 months of our hard work to a second guess. So, yeah, I’m frustrated.

We can do better. We must do better. Let’s get back to listening more and fostering real relationships, inspiring ones. That’s how we’ll make changes that last a lifetime.

“I Know What To Do, I Just Don’t Do It”

We talk about prevention and lifestyle change, but what does it actually entail?

Prevention means eating healthfully, exercising, getting quality sleep, decreasing stress, enjoying meaningful relationships and managing finances. These all deserve a slice of the wellness pie and are known to be cost-effective strategies for reducing our chances of getting chronic disease or the progression of these burdensome conditions. We know this much.

Our healthcare system can’t support the sickcare model any longer. It’s time to stop talking about prevention. We need to do something. Something large scale, innovative and sustainable. And, we need to do it right now. (more…)

Butter Me Up?

I keep getting asked about saturated fat after several flashy media reports about sat fat not being the cause of heart disease. The answer isn’t so simple. To me, it begs for a heavy dose of simple common sense.

Here’s an email response to a friend about this topic over the summer. It summarizes my thoughts without getting into the nitty gritty of nutrition epidemiology. I thought it would be worth sharing. Here it is:

Fed Up: A Few Thoughts

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a special preview screening of Fed Up, the new food documentary at the Harvard School of Public Health. The screening was followed by a short panel Q&A with film producer Laurie David, ChopChop Magazine  founder Sally Sampson and Dr. Eric Rimm, nutrition epidemiologist at HSPH.

The film intends to piss people off about the state of food marketing and the inability of the government to make changes to protect our collective health, especially that of American children. (more…)

Jumpstarting Microresolutions

My young nephews, Trent (9) and Bryce (6) received tablets for Christmas. They’ve been nestled on the couch the very second the devices were fully charged. I’m hopeful  the novelty will eventually wear off, at least a little, right?

These two boys are very active. They play basketball and soccer. They play ‘tickle tackle’ outside in the yard for hours and look like they’re NFL-ready. Bryce will take your legs out from under you without fear. Trent will out run you and has cat-like agility. They burn calories at that enviable young boy rate.

They also eat very healthfully. Thanks to my sister’s insistence, fruits and vegetables are part of their vocabulary. They know what quinoa is and prefer kale chips to Lays. They love ChopChop magazine and ChopChop cookbook. Trent knows more about food labels than any dietitian I know. Bryce wants his plate to be colorful. Eating the right stuff fits seamlessly into their day. (more…)

10 Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

1. Enjoy. The holidays are a great time to gather with family and friends and eat incredible foods. Don’t miss out!

2. Balance. Most people do eat more calories during the holiday stretch. Think about ways to increase your activity to balance out the excess calories. Walk more during your workday. Extend your walk or run by 5-10 minutes. Take the T or bus and get off a stop or two earlier. Small increases in activity can make a big difference.

3. Think Mediterranean. Go for savory vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts, whole grains, yogurt and olive oil whenever possible and use spices to help enhance flavor rather than an extra pat of butter.

(more…)

Why My Food Safety Exams Made Me Skeptical About Eating Out

This week I was required to take certification exams for ServSafe and HACCP as a part of my DPD certificate program. What are these exams for exactly? ServSafe and HACCP are designed to teach employees of food service (for example restaurants or fast food vendors) the ways to protect people from foodborne illness.

These types of training programs are essential because they can help reduce the number of foodborne illnesses each year. This issue is a priority. According to ServSafe, millions of people are diagnosed with foodborne illness each year.

These exams cover many concepts: including how to properly handle food as well as how to maintain a clean work environment. Make sure to look for these key things next time you dine out. (more…)

Eating for beauty

The best compliment I’ve received is that I have great skin. I was actually taken a back given that I have freckles and a long clash with acne. But I’ll take what I can get. After years of trying every cream, lotion, pill on the market I stopped focusing on the things I put on top of my skin and instead focused on what I was putting into my body. Maybe I just grew out of the acne, but I’m eating healthier than ever before and my skin has never looked better. My tip is to try and eat antioxidant and anti-inflammatory rich foods every day, simply put: eat your fruits and veggies.

Antioxidant rich foods are those that contain:

• Vitamin A aka beta-carotene, the orange/red pigment that gives carrots and squash their color, can also give your skin a healthy glow as the pigments accumulate under the skin’s surface.
• Vitamin C and E are often paired together as they help protect against cellular damage in our bodies including skin. In fact a vitamin c deficiency usually manifests with dry, scaly skin and bleeding gums – a testament of vitamin c’s influence of tissue health.
• Selenium is a mineral found in the earth, and thus many foods contain it including seafood, meat, and plants. Depending on soil conditions, the same food grown in different soils can contain varying amounts of selenium. One Brazil nut is usually all you need for a days worth of this antioxidant.
• Zinc – although not really considered an antioxidant, zinc is essential for the proper functioning of the antioxidant pathways in the body.

Anti-inflammatory rich foods are those that contain:

• Healthy fats like those found in ground flax and fatty fish. A soft fluid-like membrane (made up of the fat you eat) protects all of your trillion cells, so you can imagine they are extremely important for skin structure. In the omega-6-fat laden society we live in, it is hard to obtain omega-3 fats, which research has shown to decrease inflammation in the body. A great goal is to incorporate fish into your meals twice a week.

Tips for eating clean

• Go slow. Especially if you are not use to regularly eating whole foods. Try adding one fruit or veggie at a time. Pay close attention to your body. There is such a thing as too much fiber!
• Drink more water. Fiber requires lots of hydration to pass through your gut comfortably and efficiently. Extra water is good for your skin too. Everyone’s hydration needs vary, but generally 6-12 glasses per day will do the trick.

I hope this inspired you to eat your fruits and veggies if not for anything else, for a glowing complexion!

Did you know? Acne is a disease of western civilization. It does not exist in certain countries like Paraguay and New Guinea. As expected, these cultures eat very clean diets excluding processed and refined foods…

Need help finding healthy foods containing antioxidants? Check out this website at www.WHFoods.org

PS – you don’t need to take supplements for great skin. Eat the food, the whole food, and nothing but the food! It’s how nature intending us to get our vitamins and minerals.

By: Liz Schneider, guest blogger

Stressful times call for healthful eating

In this crazy westernized world we live in, stress abounds us at every corner. Some handle it better than others. Some handle it by using food as a way to cope. If those foods are unhealthy, our bodies end up taking the grunt. Eventually stress catches up on us, many times in the form of chronic disease brought about from years of slow accumulation of damage. As I write this post I am faced with an impending stressful situation myself – cramming for an upcoming exam, the single exam that cumulates my entire education. No pressure, right?

I’m learning to deal with the life’s pressures by focusing my energy towards health and wellness. I try to fuel my body and mind with the best foods possible. While studying, I directly feel the power of a wholesome meal in terms of longer attention span and focused concentration. I love food and cooking, so it is natural for me to use it to deal with stress. For example, instead of gobbling down packaged snacks (which adds guilt-stress) I choose to prepare a fresh meal, taking time and letting my mind wonder as I chop, stir, and mix up the ingredients. I use everyday cooking as therapy to release and reflect.

Because everyone is different, here are some other ways to reduce the stress in your life:

• exercise
• journaling
• meditation
• praying
• deep breathing
• healthy cooking
• music
• art

Foods to soothe the mind, packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals!

• whole grains
• fresh fruit like oranges or berries
• dark leafy greens
• fatty fish like salmon
• nuts and seeds
• chamomile tea
• spices like turmeric
• dark chocolate

So the next time you feel out of control, take a deep breath and grab a wholesome snack.

By Liz Schneider, guest blogger.