Category: Healthy Eating Tips

Practical tips for improving your nutrition

Why we overeat

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

This article is also available as a podcast. Click to listen

One of the main arguments for a low-carb diet is that reducing carbohydrates theoretically reduces your appetite. You’re not as hungry and therefore you eat less and you lose weight. But that assumes that we only eat when we’re hungry and that we stop when we’re full.

Most Eating Is Not About Hunger

In fact, there’s a growing body of evidence showing that that environmental cues may have a much bigger impact on how much we eat than physiological hunger—factors such as how much food is on the table or in the package, how much the people around us are eating, and even how big our plates are have a huge effect on how much we eat.

Does the Size of Your Dinner Plate Matter?

For example, researchers have observed that the average size of a dinner plate in the 1950s was 9 inches across. By the 80’s it had grown to 11 inches and today the average dinner plate is a whopping 13 inches.  The increase in obesity rates parallels the increase in dinner plate size almost exactly. Coincidence? Some people don’t think so.

A popular new diet book, called The 9-Inch Diet, by Alex Bogusky, starts by having you replace your over-sized dinner plate with 9-inch plates. Bogusky claimed that shaving three inches off his dinner plate helped him whittle three inches off of his waist.

We Eat With Our Eyes, Not Our Stomachs

So, can weight loss really be as simple as that? No rigid eating plans? No forbidden foods or special recipes? Well, environmental cues are extremely powerful. That old joke about someone’s eyes being bigger than their stomachs turns out to be truer than you might have thought.

A now-famous experiment involving trick soup bowls proved that your stomach doesn’t tell you when you’re full; your eyes do. Researcher Brian Wansink describes the soup bowl experiment in his book Mindless Eating. The subjects were asked to eat a bowl of soup and then to rate how full they felt. But some of the bowls were secretly refilled from the bottom as diners ate the soup The people with the bottomless soup bowl ate 73% more soup but rated their level of satisfaction exactly the same as the others—after all, they’d only had a single bowl of soup!

We Decide How Much to Eat Based on Visual Cues

It seems that we decide how much to eat based not on how hungry we are or how filling the food is, but according to visual cues, which can be misleading.

Another experiment by Wansink’s group shows that you’ll eat more from a large container, even if you don’t like the food! They replaced the popcorn at a movie theater with stale, 2-week old popcorn.  People complained about how terrible the popcorn was. Nonetheless, people who were given a large bucket ate about 35% more popcorn than those who were given a smaller container.

Apparently, the only ones who can be trusted to eat according to their actual physical appetites are babies and small children. Research by Barbara Rolls suggests that three-year-olds are not influenced by serving size; they eat according to their appetite. By the time they are five, however, they’ll eat more if they are served more.

You Can Overeat Without Being Overweight

Just because you’re not overweight doesn’t mean you’re not over-eating.

If supersized portions seduce you into over-eating unhealthy foods, you may cut back on more nutritious foods to compensate. You may be maintaining your weight, but at the expense of good nutrition.

So, this week, I’d like to experiment with the behavioral side of your diet. Unlike the metabolic diet concepts we discussed last week, which focused almost entirely on which foods you can eat, we’re going to focus instead on changing the environmental cues and behavioral patterns that lead to over-eating.

How to Trick Yourself Into Eating Less

So this week, you can eat whatever you like (as long as you promise to eat your vegetables, of course). Plus, I want you to follow the following rules.

  1. Use smaller dishes: Use smaller plates, bowls, and glasses. If your dinner plates are bigger than 9 inches across, use the sandwich plates instead.
  2. Don’t use serving bowls: No serving bowls or containers on the table.  Put your food on the plate and then go to a separate area to eat it.  If you are still hungry when your plate is empty, wait at least 15 minutes before serving yourself seconds.
  3. Prepare only what you need: When cooking, try to prepare only as much as is needed. Overcooking leads to overeating. That doesn’t mean you can’t cook enough for two meals. But when you’re done cooking, package up the second meal and put it away before serving yourself from the remainder.
  4. Don’t eat while distracted: Do nothing else while eating. Being distracted by television, the computer, or reading material can lead you to eat far more than you otherwise would. If you’re watching a movie or surfing the web and you decide to have a snack, pause the movie or shut down the computer until you’re done eating.
  5. Hide tempting food: Keep tempting but unhealthy foods out of sight.  When we see food we like, it actually makes us feel hungry.  The obvious corollary to this is to keep healthy foods readily available. In other words, line all the vegetables up at the front of the fridge. Bury the fudge in the back of the drawer.  And remember: chewing gum can help you avoid snacking.

Obviously, these rules all by themselves don’t ensure a balanced diet. But right now, we’re just experimenting with the environmental aspects of hunger and eating.

It might be best to minimize your time in restaurants this week, just for the sake of the experiment. You have very little control over portion sizes and other environmental cues in restaurants. At the very least, I suggest you avoid buffets, all-you-can-eat anything, and any restaurants that describe menu items with words like “jumbo” or “belly-buster.”

Questions to Ask Yourself

During your experiment with these behavioral strategies, here are some things to ask yourself:

  1. Do you feel more or less hungry than you usually do?
  2. Do you find yourself eating more or less at meals?
  3. Do you find yourself eating more or less often?
  4. Do you find it difficult or inconvenient to stick to the rules?
  5. Do you notice any differences in your energy levels or mood?
  6. Could you imagine continuing the experiment for more than a week?
  7. How would you rate the overall quality and balance of your diet? Better or worse than usual?

 

Originally published at QuickandDirtyTips.com

Local produce hard to find in winter?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

I’m a big fan of the local food idea.  Eating food grown close to where you live saves a ton of gas, spares the environment, supports local growers, and puts fresher, more nutritious food on your table. If you live in Southern California or the southeastern U.S., the growing season is more or less year-round. But what about the rest of us?

Where I live in Maryland, for example, not much grows in the winter. So how do we get our five-a-day without resorting to fruits and vegetables that have been trucked in from California or flown all the way from South America? Growing your own sprouts (or “micro-greens”) can provide you with fresh, crisp greens throughout the winter. And what could be more local than your own kitchen windowsill?

sprouting lidsAll you need to grow your own sprouts is a couple of quart-sized jars, some cheesecloth or sprouting lids like the ones pictured here, along with a supply of seeds and beans for sprouting. You can find everything you need at your local health-food store or online.  In three to five days, you’ll be harvesting your own fresh vegetables.  I usually have two jars going: One with smaller “salad” sprouts like alfalfa, clover, radish, or broccoli sprouts and another with larger sprouts like lentils, sunflower seeds, mung beans or other legumes.

The salad sprouts are rich in vitamins C, A, and K and a host of other nutrients. Broccoli sprouts also contain potent cancer-fighting chemicals.  You can use salad sprouts in place of lettuce in sandwiches or wraps. We also love piling an inch or two of mixed salad sprouts on a slice of lightly buttered whole wheat bread.

The larger sprouts from beans and other legumes are particularly high in protein, fiber, folic acid and other B vitamins. Their heartier texture makes them good in soups, stir-fries, and omelets.  If you are a baker, knead a half cup of sprouted sunflower seeds or wheat berries into whole-grain bread dough just before shaping your loaf.  Or try some of these great, healthy recipes from Epicurious.com:

Black_cod_on_sunflower_sprouts_1 Miso-Glazed Black Cod on Sprouted Sunflower Seeds (pictured)

Spinach and Sprout Salad

Marinated Halibut on Radish Sprout and Fennel Salad

What’s so magical about the Mediterranean Diet?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Forget the mouse studies. After a couple weeks of controversial and much-contested rat studies on the effects of carbohydrates on various aspects of metabolism and disease, here’s a study involving 200 newly-diagnosed, diabetic humans.  Half were told to follow a Mediterranean-style diet, rich in vegetables, whole grains, and monounsaturated fats from poultry, fish, and olive oil and limiting carbohydrates to 50% or less of total calories.

The other half were assigned to a “low-fat” diet, which also emphasized whole grains and discouraged sweets and high fat snacks. Fat was limited to 30% or less of calories and saturated fat to 10% or less of calories.

After four years, the Mediterranean group had lost more weight and was only half as likely to need anti-diabetic medications.

What’s the real difference here?

Notice that the macronutrient distributions between the two diets are not all that different. The Mediterranean diet was not terribly low in carbohydrates (although it’s being described in media reports as a “low-carb” diet). The low-fat diet isn’t really all that low in fat. The two percentages certainly aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, it’s entirely possible that the distribution of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates between the two groups was very similar.  Nor can we necessarily chalk it up to refined versus complex carbohydrates.  Both groups were instructed to favor whole grains.

Perhaps it was just a matter of what the dieters were told to focus on.  The Mediterranean group was told what to eat: vegetables, fish, grains, olive oil. The low-fat group were told what to avoid: sugary snacks and high-fat foods.  Could it be as simple as casting dietary recommendations in terms of positives instead of negatives?

Are Saturated Fats from Vegetables Better?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about coconut oil–a vegetable source of saturated fat. It’s alleged health benefits are being heavily promoted but there’s not much solid evidence to back up the claims.

It’s hard to say whether saturated fats from vegetables are better than saturated fats from animals–in part because the evidence that saturated fats cause heart disease looks increasingly shaky. Maybe the truth is that the vegetable saturated fats aren’t better than animal saturated fats but that the animal fats weren’t that bad in the first place?

How can people who try so hard to get it right get it wrong so often?

Why is it so hard for us to get it right? As Marion Nestle’s argues in the introduction to her recent book, What to Eat, part of the problem is embedded in the very nature of scientific research. In an effort to reduce the variables, nutritional research focuses too much on the details and not enough on the big picture.

“The range of healthful nutrient intake is broad, and foods from the earth, tree, or animal can be combined in a seemingly infinite number of ways to create diets that meet health goals,” she writes. “The attention paid to single nutrients, to individual foods, and to particular diseases distracts from the basic principles of diet and health…But you are better off paying attention to your overall dietary pattern than worrying about whether any one single food is better for you than another.”

I suspect that the kind of reductionist thinking that Nestle is deploring is exactly what got us into this mess about saturated fat.  We were looking for a culprit for heart disease. We found one in saturated fat…but I suspect we overlooked the critical importance of the context in which that saturated fat was being consumed.

Replacing High Fructose Corn Syrup with Sugar: Big Deal.

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

It no longer matters whether it’s actually true that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is toxic to our livers, full of mercury, or to blame for exploding obesity rates.

The tales that have been told about HFCS have become so pervasive that it’s beginning to hurt sales.  Say no more! Manufacturers are now switching back to cane sugar–and using it as a marketing ploy.  “Sweetened with real cane sugar!” the packages proclaim.

Sugar is now a healthy ingredient. How Orwellian.

So, what have consumers gained? Well, many feel that products sweetened with sugar taste better. But are they healthier? In my opinion, no.

If we continue to over-consume highly sweetened foods and beverages, we will likely continue to see massive rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.  Switching to foods and beverages sweetened with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup is unlikely to have any measurable impact on public health–except perhaps indirectly.

Switching back to sugar will drive the price of these foods and beverages up. Maybe cost pressures will help shrink the ridiculously over-sized package and serving sizes. The only way anyone benefits from eating cane sugar instead of HFCS is by eating less of it.

See also “Scientists see little benefit in scramble to swap processed sweeteners for natural ones” in today’s Chicago Tribune.

Sodium and Potassium: What’s the Relationship?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Q. Please comment on the relationship between potassium and sodium.  How can I be sure that I’m not getting too much potassium as I continue to decrease the amount of sodium in my daily diet? 

A.  Decreasing the amount of sodium in your diet won’t necessarily affect the amount of potassium you’re getting but it will probably increase the ratio of potassium to sodium in your diet–and many believe that this is a good thing!

Sodium and potassium have complementary functions in the body, helping to regulate things like fluid balance and blood pressure.  We need to maintain a precise balance of potassium and sodium in our cells but our intake of potassium and sodium may vary greatly from day to day. Therefore, the body has systems that tightly regulate this balance, excreting any excesses into the urine.

The potassium/sodium content of our modern diet is radically different than the diet our ancestors ate–and many believe that this contributes to a lot of our modern health problems. Potassium is found in fruits and vegetables; most of the sodium we eat comes from processed and packaged foods.

By some estimates, our ancestral (pre-industrial) diet had a potassium to sodium ratio of at least 3:1, meaning that it contained about three times as much potassium as sodium.  However, as we’ve come to eat more and more processed foods and less fruits and vegetables, our intake of potassium has declined and our intake of sodium has skyrocketed.  The typical potassium to sodium ratio today is 1:3 (three times as much sodium as potassium) or exactly the inverse of our ancestral diet.

Whether or not the potassium/sodium ratio theory is correct, reducing your intake of processed foods and increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables is a great health upgrade for your diet!  I think  its pretty unlikely that you will get too much potassium from foods. Most Americans get about 2500 to 3000 milligrams per day; the recommended intake is about twice that!

How often should you eat?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

In a recent episode, I debunked the myth that eating more frequently keeps your metabolism revved up. Not only does skipping meals not shut down your metabolism, but there may be some benefits to going a bit longer between meals.

As I explained in that episode, going for four or five hours—or even longer—between meals will not affect your metabolism one whit. In fact, there are some good reasons to go longer than just a few hours between meals.

This article is also available as a podcast.

It takes about three hours for your body to finish digesting a meal. If you eat every two or three hours, as many experts now advise, your body will constantly be in what nutritionists call the “fed state.” This simply means that you are always in the process of digesting food.

If, on the other hand, you don’t eat again, you’ll go into something we call the “post-absorptive” state after about three hours. Several interesting things happen in the post-absorptive state, which continues for another 12 to 18 hours if you don’t eat again.

First, you begin tapping into your body’s stored energy reserves to run your engine. Your hormone levels adjust to shift your body out of fat-storage mode and into fat-burning mode. Hanging out in the post-absorptive state also reduces free-radical damage and inflammation, increases the production of anti-aging hormones, and promotes tissue repair. And, just to reinforce what we talked about last week, your metabolic rate remains unchanged.

But what about your blood sugar?

You’ll often hear people say that eating small, frequent meals helps to keep your blood sugar levels steady. And it does: It keeps your blood sugar steadily high.

Whoever said that your blood sugar levels were supposed to remain constant throughout the day, anyway? They’re not. They are supposed to rise after meals, as food is digested and converted into glucose, and then fall back to baseline as the glucose is taken up by the cells and used for energy or stored for future use.

Having your blood sugar level fall to baseline is not bad for you! In fact, having your blood sugar closer to baseline for more of the day helps to protect you from developing diabetes. Now, of course, it is possible for blood sugar to get too low. This is known as hypoglycemia. A lot of people self-diagnose themselves with this condition, but very few of them actually have it. Diabetics using insulin or folks with a medical condition called reactive hypoglycemia need to be careful about letting their blood sugar get too low.

But for the vast majority of us, managing blood sugar levels is about avoiding the peaks, not the valleys. If you experience headaches, fatigue, and other discomfort whenever you go more than two or three hours without eating, the problem is probably not that your blood sugar has gotten too low, but that it’s been too high.

Eating a lot of sweets, sweetened beverages, white bread, and other refined carbohydrates will cause your blood sugar to go up very high, very quickly. What goes up, must come down and the higher the spike, the more uncomfortable the plunge. The easiest way to make that feeling go away is to eat again. But if you eat more of the same kinds of foods, you’re simply getting back on the same roller coaster. And that roller coaster is on a fast track to type 2 diabetes.

To get off this roller coaster, eat foods that contain less sugar and more fiber, protein, and fat. I’m talking about whole grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. For pasta, go al dente.  Your blood sugar levels will rise more slowly and gradually, making the decline far less dramatic. And you may find that you don’t need to eat every three hours in order to feel well.

A word about hunger

The biggest problem you are likely to experience is feeling hungry, and this is not as big a problem as many of us have led ourselves to believe. When you are used to always being in the fed state, you tend to panic the minute you notice that your stomach is empty.

In fact, feeling hungry is not a medical emergency. Often, if you simply wait 10 minutes, the feeling will go away. Sometimes simply having a cup of tea or a glass of water is all you’ll need. Chewing gum is another great way to feel less hungry!  Allowing your stomach to be empty for an hour or two is really not that uncomfortable if you allow yourself to get used to the sensation. It’s also the perfect time to exercise. Exercising two or three hours after you eat will allow you to get the most out of your workout and, as a bonus, usually makes hunger pangs go away.

Please understand, I’m not advising you to stop eating or to starve yourself. I’m just saying going several hours without eating is not unhealthy. In fact, it can have some health benefits.

Originally published at QuickandDirtyTips.com

Farmed Salmon Gets an Anti-Inflammatory Makeover

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

The latest nutrient data from the USDA shows that farmed Atlantic salmon has undergone what is perhaps the most dramatic nutritional makeover in history.

Salmon is known for being rich in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids and, as you know, the anti-inflammatory diet is very big these days. (The recognition of inflammation as a key factor in heart disease and other common diseases was hailed by Time Magazine as one of the Top Ten Medical Breakthroughs of 2008.)

In 2006, I caused quite a stir by pointing out in my book, The Inflammation Free Diet Plan, that farmed salmon was actually highly inflammatory. When I first published the IF Ratings, a 3-ounce serving had an IF Rating of -491.

As I (and others) pointed out, farmed Atlantic salmon was quite high in arachidonic acid, an inflammatory fatty acid from the omega-6 family. The problem was that farmed salmon were being fed a diet rich in omega-6 vegetable oils rather than a more natural diet of omega-3 rich fish and algae. As a result, their flesh was unnaturally high in omega-6 fats.

Fish farmers apparently got the message! Big changes in aquaculture practices have resulted in farmed Atlantic salmon that is much lower in arachidonic acid…so much lower, in fact, that the most recent samples tested by the USDA had an IF Rating of +775 per 3 ounce serving!

So, after years of warning people to avoid farmed salmon, especially if they were trying to follow an anti-inflammatory diet, I’m now putting farmed salmon back on the menu!