2009 - Bring it on!

There are a ton of New Year's Resolution advice articles out there, but I liked this one, mainly because it is great advice from some of my fellow RD colleagues. If they had asked me to pipe in for this particular article, here is what I would have added:

For 2009, commit to yourself to really pay attention to your own hunger cues. If you aren't hungry, wait until you are to begin eating. If you are hungry, go ahead and eat! And, in the middle of eating, check in with yourself - are you pleasantly full yet? Time to stop eating.

While you are at it, approach food and eating with joy only - if that piece of chocolate fudge is truly calling your name, sit down and really enjoy it! Don't force yourself to eat things you don't like, but do approach food with curiosity and openness - be willing to try, and open to learning about new foods and new ways to prepare them.

Happy New Year!

You mean pancakes don't have to be microwaved?

In my son's first grade class, they do journaling on topics given by the teacher. Once every few months, they send home the journal and the parents get to read all the interesting things that come out of their 6-year-old's mind. This is how I found out that I am slacking in the pancake department. In one of my son's journal entries, he bragged that he can make pancakes - just put them in the microwave! hmmmm....



So, I decided to actually "make" pancakes once in awhile instead of pulling them out of the freezer. I found a mix that I really like - the Krusteaz Wheat and Honey mix worked out nicely - it's first ingredient is whole wheat flour, meaning that it qualifies as a whole grain serving, and it doesn't contain trans-fats. Also, it gives about 4 g of fiber per serving - the best part is that you only have to add water - adding eggs and water is too much for this slacker mom in the morning. OK, I added a couple chocolate chips to make it pass the kid test, but they gobbled them up!

Alice Waters rocks!

Don't know who Alice Waters is? In the foodie world, she's a rock star - she is the owner/operator of a restaurant called Chez Panisse, which serves locally grown, organic food in a rotating menu (she started this way back in 1971, before it was cool, so to speak); I think the other thing that I really love about Ms. Waters is her creation of the "edible schoolyard".

Check out this article on how she's trying to bring the Slow Food movement into the White House with the new president's "kitchen cabinet" - I'm not sure if President-elect Obama realizes exactly what he's being offered here - Alice Waters and Ruth Reichl are offering to be on his personal chef advisory board - it's a little like Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan teaming up and offering to teach a new start-up band a little something about the guitar.

Jump on it, Obama!!

Get off the diet rollercoaster, Oprah!

There's a lot of talk in the media lately about Oprah - it seems she has gained her weight back. She's done some interviews about it that I've half listened to - in one, she reveals that she "fell off her diet", and as an example, found herself devouring a pound of cookies in bed. This is how I know she is still firmly in the diet mentality. People who have broken out of (or never fell into) the diet mentality don't eat a whole pound of cookies in bed at one time, because they simply don't want to. Cookies are just - cookies. Yummy, yes; magical, no.

I think it's interesting that Oprah's best friend, Gayle King, seems to live with the non-diet approach. She loves food, and will even go on trips for the show in search of the country's best pizza or cake. But, she doesn't seem to feel guilty about it, and she also doesn't seem to struggle with her weight. This doesn't mean that she never works out or never tries to eat healthy - living the non-diet approach does not mean you don't try to take care of yourself. But, sometimes taking care of yourself means going in search of the world's best pizza.

Lentils that a 3-year old will eat

Have I mentioned that my 3-year old is one of the pickiest eaters I have met? I actually suspect that he may be a supertaster, but I'll write about that later. I do want to share an easy, yummy, and healthy recipe that he has actually eaten more than once. I got it out of one of my favorite cookbooks, which I bought on a whim while at a car wash:

Hamburger and Lentil soup

Throw all of this into a crockpot and cook it all day - yum!

1 pound lean hamburger, chopped onions, diced carrots, 2 cups (or one package) lentils, 1 quart tomato juice, 2 to 3 cups water, minced garlic, 1/2 tsp marjoram, 1 Tbsp brown sugar

Who thought of this name?

I am impressed with all of the new frozen vegetables that you just stick in the microwave right in the bag, but I came across this line from Green Giant - they call them Steamers.

Now. I must explain that I grew up with brothers only, I am married to a man who still has a sense of humor that a 12-year old boy would appreciate, and I have two young boys. So, if you get why I think the name "Steamers" for a vegetable line is funny, then you also probably have little boys/grown boys roaming around in your life. If you don't get it, go find a 12-year old boy and ask him what a Steamer is.

Making it through the holidays

One of the main reasons we gain weight over the holidays is due to all of the dang food available. I have a knack for the obvious, right? Stay with me -

If you are concerned about gaining weight over the holidays, I challenge you to concentrate on just one thing: eat only what you really like, and if you really like it, pay attention while you are eating so that you can actually enjoy it!

There are so many mindless eating (and drinking!) opportunities during the holidays: the candy sitting out at the receptionist desk, cookies brought in by co-workers, fruit cake delivered to your door (maybe this is a lost tradition - I've never actually had this happen, but I hear that it used to happen to everyone), uncomfortable parties where you need to keep busy by eating and drinking, and so on.

This is a great month to practice these steps - before you eat anything, ask yourself if you actually want it. If not, take a pass. You can always come back to it later. After you start eating something, ask yourself if you really like it. If it doesn't taste great, why waste the calories? Save them for something fantastic.

And of course, we come to the question - what about nutrition? "If I eat only what I like, I'll only eat brownies" - if this is you, then think of this as baby step number one out of the diet mentality - you may want to read my earlier posts on the diet mentality.

Now that we are all eating only what we like, is anyone actually going to eat fruit cake?

One of my favorite things!

I really love this product from Birds Eye vegetables - individually frozen packages of baby brussel sprouts - bonus: they don't have any sauce on them. You just stick them in the microwave for a couple minutes, and you have a perfect portion for one of brussel sprouts - yum!

There must be a new technology in the wrapping business, because now there are all kinds of "micro in the bag" veggies available - frozen and fresh. I just bought some fresh broccoli at Fresh and Easy that you microwave in the bag, and it turned out great! I'm a little freaked out by the microwaving in plastic concept, because that just seems like something you shouldn't do - but, I'll trust that this technology was tested and approved for human consumption (it was, wasn't it...?)

Have a plan

One of the first things a person does when trying to eat healthy is to "load up on fruits and vegetables". In fact, if you look inside any magazine that offers healthy eating tips, you will probably find this exact mandate offerred as advice. The problem is that there is rarely a plan in place to use all of those fruits and veggies - and so, they sit. And go bad. And the well-intentions to eat better turn to frustration as money and food are thrown away.

The intent of the advice is valid - fruits and veggies are indeed the rock-stars of the food world. If you focus on just that one thing - eating more of your fruits and veggies - you will end up eating a healthier diet. The problem is the fact that they are perishable. You can buy a box of Twinkies without having to worry about eating them in the next few days. Those Twinkies can languish for years, or even centuries, if you believe the tales.

The best way to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet is to do a little pre-planning. Instead of just hurling random produce into your cart at the market, think ahead of time - what kind of fruit would you like to add to your cereal in the morning? What kind of vegetable can you add to your typical turkey sandwich? Before you throw those kiwifruit into your basket, think about when specifically you plan to eat them.

Don't forget about the other forms of fruits and veggies - frozen, canned, and dried; these versions can also be healthy (sometimes even healthier - more on that later) - and they help stretch the time between grocery visits.

Pumpkin muffins

I had a can of pumpkin leftover from Thanksgiving, because I meant to make the pumpkin pie, but traveling to the grocery store at 7pm the night before Thanksgiving means you may not be able to find any pie crusts.... so, Marie Callendar made the pie for me, and I needed to find another use for canned pumpkin.

Anyway, here's the recipe, and it's a hit with the short people in my house! I used half whole wheat flour, and I didn't have any molasses, so I used blue agave syrup; I used a little less butter and sugar than the recipe calls for, and, per the request of the resident 6-year old, I added some chocolate chips. Yummy!

The Health Halo effect

I came across this interesting article describing the health halo effect, and the author is suggesting that this effect is part of the reason for the American Paradox (being, that we Americans are paying more and more attention to nutrition and healthy eating but still getting fatter; it's a sad counterpart to the French Paradox, where the French seemingly eat butter, wine, and chocolate all day long and still fit into their skinny jeans).

They did an experiment in New York, where they showed a picture of a restaurant entree to people and asked them to estimate the calories. Then, they went to another group and showed them the same entree, but added a side of crackers that were labeled "trans fat free!". This group thought that the meal had LESS calories, presumably because of the suggestion of healthy given by those crackers.

In another experiment, researchers found that people eating Subway meals were more likely to underestimate how many calories were in a meal AND were more likely to add on calories in the form of regular soda or cookies, than people eating McDonald's. As one expert put it, “People who eat at McDonald’s know their sins, but people at Subway think that a 1,000-calorie sandwich has only 500 calories".

I really like the end of this article, in which the expert breaks this down into our (American's) unhealthy obsession with healthy food: “Europeans obsess less about nutrition but know what a reasonable portion size is and when they have had too much food, so they’re not as biased by food and diet fads and are healthier. Too many Americans believe that to lose weight, what you eat matters more than how much you eat. It’s the country where people are the best informed about food and enjoy it the least."

Just another example of the diet mentality at work - the health halo.

More Fruit, Please!

I just finished a project where I analyzed four days of diet records for ten different women; the only information I knew about the women was their age, height and weight. Their diets ranged from pretty darn good to downright negligent of nutrition.

My takeaway from this assignment was a reminder of something that the research has long declared - we don't eat enough fruits or vegetables. Not one of these women were eating enough of either, and most of the women skipped fruit altogether some days.

Now, I think I have revealed before that I am not a perfect eater - not even close. But, doing these records really served to remind me that it's not that hard to do just a little better, and motivated me to keep trying to do better. And you can, too - here's what I recommend:

* try adding a fruit or a vegetable to each meal, even if it's just a glass of 100% juice with breakfast, veggies to your turkey sandwich at lunch, and a big handful of baby carrots with the pizza you ordered.
* try to snack on fruit or vegetables at least once a day (this one's hard for me, but worth shooting for - of course, the trick is to have the food on hand and to not have less desirable food on hand at the same time)
* add fruits or veggies whenever possible - frozen berries to oatmeal or ice cream, canned corn to Hamburger Helper, veggie pizza, grated carrots to meatloaf, etc. Don't knock yourself out, because then you'll burn out and give up. Just think creatively when you're cooking and see if you can add the good stuff to your dish.
* Try to order veggies instead of fries at restaurants - I remember doing this at a restaurant, and the waitress looked at me knowingly and said "oh, you're doing the low-carb thing, huh?" I wasn't - I just wanted the asparagus instead of the fries..... but, I digress.

I'm back!

I've fallen off the blog wagon for a bit, here - busy, busy, busy!

Here's a clip from a news segment I was interviewed for on the Suddenly Slimmer Lemonmade diet, which is a new version of the old Master Cleanse diet - my bottom line: this will ultimately make you gain weight.

Weight Loss for Slackers

About every week or so, I jump on the scale at my gym just to see what's going on in the weight department; alas, I've noticed a creep upwards in the last month or so - it's gone far enough that I need to make some changes and push it back down where it belongs.


So, I thought I'd blog about it - here's how an RD who believes in the non-diet approach loses weight:

1. I'm going to exercise a little more - no big deal, just add an extra 30 minutes of cardio twice a week and continue doing my yoga; just trying to get a little exercise every day, rather than every other day

2. I've switched my full-fat flavored coffee creamer to the non-fat version; not quite the taste I love, but it's no big sacrifice.

3. Rather than my glass of wine (OK, or two) with dinner, I'm switching to water for most dinners - save that glass for when I really want it

4. Most importantly, I'm really going to focus on eating only when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm comfortably full. Also, I'm going to stick to water during the day


So, that's it - I always try to eat healthy, but am never perfect at it, so I'll keep doing what I always do in that department. I'm just going to focus a little more on following the Slacker Golden Rules - I'll keep you updated!

Just say no to shake diets!

A dear friend mentioned to me that she is seeing a new doctor (a PA, actually) about his weight loss plan. The plan involves some sort of shake and $200 a month. That's all my friend knew, but she was on board. After all, he's a doctor!

Now. My friend is indeed overweight. She's also 70 years old, and has tried more than her share of "diets". My heart breaks at the thought of her jumping into another one - it's like watching someone drive off into the intersection, not seeing what you see - a big truck speeding right towards them!

It also makes me very frustrated - why is she so willing to put so much time, money, and energy into something that will not work in the long run? Here is what is going to happen: she will go on the diet, feel great about herself for a little while, lose a little weight, start thinking about real food, start dreaming about real food, start obsessing about real food, binge on real food, feel terrible about herself, yadda, yadda, yadda, end up gaining the weight back plus a few extra pounds for good measure. Who needs this insanity??

Here is my wish for my friend: enjoy your life. This means that you take gentle care of yourself by finding some sort of daily activity that makes your heart work a little harder and challenges your muscles a bit. This means choosing good-tasting food that you enjoy, and enjoying healthy food because you feel good nourishing your body. This means taking an interest in life, which by the way - takes your mind off of dieting and off of food. This means learning to like yourself as you are, because you are a fabulous person and you are not your weight.

The magic of concentrating on these things is the by-product - living this way ultimately makes you healthier, without you needing to do some silly "Doctor approved shake diet". There are steps you can take every day to get closer to taking care of yourself, and guess what? These steps will probably get you closer to skinnier and farther from caring about it.

Book review - In Defense of Food

I've recently finished the book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. Wanna hear about it? Here ya go:

This food business is complicated. When it really should be quite simple - as Mr. Pollan starts off his book with the advice: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

But then, we dive into all of the murkiness that is the food industry and the muddiness that is the dietary advice industry (the latter is the industry I devoted many years of schooling to be a part of). Like I said, it's complicated. The main problem, he argues, is that our society is bent on looking for The Key Ingredient, and in doing so, we take whatever magic ingredient we think we find and put it in places that nature never even intended, in doses way out of whack with the original food product. True. We tend to be much more enamored with vitamin C added to our diet soft drink than with the plain old faithful orange, sitting in the produce section with no marketing plan at all.

I do believe he throws the baby out with the bathwater at times - for example, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing when we (meaning food scientists/food industry) add a nutrient to help relieve a known problem - iodine in salt, folic acid to grains, and so on.

He's also a little harsh on nutritionists, and lumps us all into the same category and misrepresents what we say.... but, hey, no hard feelings.

One point he made that I found very interesting was that when you do a word association with Americans and chocolate cake, Americans tend to say something along the lines as "fattening" or "guilt". However, the French tend to say "celebration" in the same situation. Now, I know some of you are still mad at the French (I'm talking to you, hubby), but you gotta admit, that's a better way to live.

Simple or Easy?

You know, it turns out that most things can be judged by simple versus easy, and the right answer is usually the simple answer - but not necessarily the easy answer.





Want to lose weight? Simple - eat less than you burn. Is this easy? No, not really. But, it's simple and true.




When someone is trying to sell you the "easy" answer, it's probably not the right answer. Need to lose weight? Take this pill. Easy! If only it worked...




Want to help kids be healthier? Simple - turn off the TV! (yes, this is backed by research). As a mom, I can tell you - this simple answer is not easy, but it is worth it.



Want to get more exercise? Simple - take a walk every day. May not be easy, but it works.



Cut through the clutter and all the information overload out there by running it through the simple versus easy test. See for yourself!

The baby pounds competition

I was busy in my kitchen, listening to a cheesy entertainment show on in the background, and they reported that a certain celebrity was already looking "fit and fabulous" just 7 weeks after she had her baby.

Nothing irritates me more than the media's obsession with how fast celebrities get back to their fighting weight after a baby; why does it have to be a race? What exactly did she accomplish?

Look - nature designed our body to lose weight after we have a baby. Just like you don't have to think about the baby growing inside of you to make it happen (although you can certainly screw it up by diving into something like alchohol or drugs), you really don't have to be a superhuman to lose the baby weight. You just need to take care of yourself, and allow nature to do it's thing. And, a woman who kills herself with extreme dieting and exercising too soon just to make news that she lost the weight in record time is NOT taking care of herself, in my book.

Slacker Golden Rule #4

You must move your body.

It simply is not possible to be healthy without movement. Exercise has been linked to literally every aspect of health - weight, mood, sleep patterns, cognition, memory, bone health, heart health, and on and on.

Now. I must admit that I fall off the exercise wagon once in awhile. OK, a lot. A body at rest stays at rest, right? It's the momentum that kills me - just getting myself up and moving is usually the hardest part. One thing that helps to motivate me is to try and remember the feeling I get after I've done the exercise - a good workout literally makes my body hum. I feel the blood moving through me, my brain feels clearer, and I feel - skinnier.

The good news is that you don't have to run a marathon if you don't want to. One of the reasons other cultures don't have a weight problem is their tendency to simply walk. Build that tendency in yourself - go for walks. Or a bike ride. Or a swim. Or .... just get moving a little bit.

The Slacker Breakfast

Our mama's had it right - breakfast is the most important meal of the day, y'all!

It's true - research has shown that breakfast eaters tend to be skinnier throughout life; breakfast eaters also tend to eat a better overall diet.

I grew up in a house where breakfast was mandatory, and stayed a breakfast eater for most of my life, until I started working from home. Then, I let it slide a bit, and found myself starving by about 10am, every morning. I mean, STARVING. And, it was stealth hunger too - I didn't realize it was coming on until it had me in it's steely grips.

These days, I have to make a conscious effort to eat breakfast - my morning coffee tends to dull the hunger pangs, and the day gets busy in a hurry. But, on the days that I eat a good breakfast, I'm more able to make better choices for lunch and snacks because I'm not frantic hungry.

Here's some tips for breakfast:

If you are OK with cereal, find one with a little bit of fiber - raisin bran is great, and oatmeal is fantastic. Even if you need to resort to the little packets of sweetened oatmeal, it is still oatmeal and will give you a dose of fiber. One of my favorite breakfasts when it's cold is oatmeal with frozen raspberries thrown on top, a little dab of brown sugar, maybe some almonds, cooked with skim milk - YUM.

Another great breakfast item is yogurt - portable and mixable. Try mixing yogurt with berries and a low-fat granola. Or, mix up a smoothie the night before, give it a shake in the morning, and drink your breakfast on the way to work.

Other great options: hard boiled eggs, pita with hummus, peanut butter and jelly (or banana, my favorite) sandwich, fruit and cheese, nuts, bagel with low-fat cream cheese and tomatoes... other ideas?

Hot or Not? You choose

At my gym, the room where yoga is held has floor to ceiling mirrors, which can be kind of annoying on the days you're feeling pudgy. On one particular day, I was doing my best to avoid watching myself - but in yoga, you kind of have to watch yourself sometimes just to see if you are anywhere in the ballpark of the amazingly limber instructor as she demonstrates poses. So,I found myself gazing at my reflection, hating the way my hips seemed wider than usual.


But then, I decided to just stop it. And, beyond that, I decided to love the way I look, if just for this hour. And, I have to say - it really worked. I looked at myself as if I was another woman, admired my curves, and my strength. I went through the poses relishing my muscles and what they could do for me, and I felt, well....hot. Not as in overheated, I mean as in kind of attractive. Just because I changed my mind.


The image that we have of ourself is typically much harsher than reality. When we gain five pounds, we think it looks as obvious as pink hair. But, it's not - no one really notices. Do we really need to be so hard on ourselves over something that no one else really sees or cares about?


That saying that beauty comes from the inside is true, on many different levels; part of the truth is that beauty comes from us when we believe it is there. When we aren't beating ourselves up and wishing we looked different, and when we actually choose to like the way we look, we act differently. It also frees up some of our brainpower to focus on something other than our thigh cellulite - which is a relief.

Perception becomes reality?

In the July 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, there is a fascinating study that looked at teens over time. They tracked 1,728 normal weight teens over about a year, to try to figure out why some of those normal weight kids crossed over into the overweight category. In other words, they were trying to figure out what typically predicts that a teenager will become overweight.

Do you know what they found? The strongest predictors for the teens to become overweight were their self perception that they were overweight (that is, even when they were not overweight, they thought they were fat), and their attempts to diet, even when they were at a normal weight.

Folks, this is huge. This the diet mentality at work - a normal weight teen feels fat, decides to do something about it, falls into the diet mentality, and a real weight problem now begins. For some of them, they will continue to cycle like this (crash dieting, losing a little weight, then going off the diet and gaining everything plus a few pounds back). On top of it all, their relationship with food and their body will begin to take up way too much of their time and attention.

Of course, further studies need to be done - I would like to learn more about why some normal weight kids think they are fat, while others don't. I have a few suspicions, as you probably do, too. I know that studies have shown that kids model dieting behavior learned in the home - little girls as young as 8 have been heard complaining about their weight, usually because they hear their mom complain about her weight. Maybe the teens that feel fat (even though they are not fat), simply hear their mom or other relative talk about being fat a lot. Maybe they have even been warned not to eat too much because they could become fat.

This is what worries me so much about all of the attention we give to childhood obesity - yes, it is a problem, but is all of our blabber about it creating more of a problem? Are kids feeling fat because we're talking about them being fat so much? What can we do to convince normal weight kids that they are not fat and they will only make the problem worse if they try to go on a diet?

A broccoli story

We have experienced a success with broccoli in my house.

My six year old is a pretty good eater, but he definitely has his opinions about food. But, I've been following my own advice, and continue to serve him a variety of food while not pressuring him to eat it.

Broccoli has continued to sit untouched on his plate. We serve broccoli at least once a week, as I happen to love broccoli, as does my husband. I've tried covering his with a bit of cheese - didn't work. I've asked him to try it, and once in awhile he will dare to put a little bit on his tongue. So far, the result has been the same. "Yuck".

The boy loves soy sauce, and even prefers it to ketchup on most food. It had never occurred to me before to tell him to try his broccoli with a little soy sauce on it until the other night. Bingo - we now have a magic formula for broccoli consumption.

The moral of the story is to keep trying - in a low-key way. He would never have discovered the yumminess that soy sauce brings to steamed broccoli if I had given up and stopped serving him broccoli. Also, if I had forced him to eat his broccoli when he declared it was "yuck", he would have hated the thought of broccoli by now.

By the way, this works for adults, too - even if you don't like a particular food, it's important to keep trying it prepared in different ways. Green beans out of the can taste completely different than fresh green beans, steamed slightly. There are all kinds of different tricks and techniques that make food taste good, or not taste good.

The only way out of it is through it

One of the hardest messages to deliver to people, as a nutritionist, is this one of "Eat only what you like". The idea that unhealthy food tastes good and healthy food tastes bad is deeply entrenched in our culture, I'm afraid, so that some people think this is reckless advice.

I strongly believe that before people can come to enjoy healthy food and eat right for their own body, they first have to get out of the diet mentality thinking. As long as you eat with an internal struggle going on of "good" vs. "bad", "healthy" vs. "unhealthy", you will never be able to appreciate healthy food because there will always be a certain amount of resentment there; you will be pining away for what you're missing out on, because you're forced to eat healthy.

The only way out of it is through it, and some people may have a time of gluttony as they allow themselves to truly eat what they want. But, on the other side of the diet mentality is the ability and desire to balance. And, as you feel better about yourself and your relationship with food, you're able to start to really appreciate the goodness that is in, say, a sweet potato. Eating healthy is no longer punishment, it's living well.

You don't have to eat it....

I've written about this before in another blog that I write for, but it's worth mentioning here.

I've found that the phrase "you don't have to eat it" is magic when feeding my two kids.

Before I had kids, I attended an Ellyn Satter seminar, where she showed various clips of kids being fed - some of the clips showed examples of what not to do, as in the case of a chubby little boy crying when his food was taken away from him in an effort to help him lose weight. Another clip that really stood out to me was of a daycare worker, sitting down to eat a snack with about four children. One of the boys asked her "what is this", as he held up a chunk of cheese. She told him, and he proclaimed "I don't like cheese". Instead of trying to convince him otherwise ("you liked cheese yesterday, how about just one bite?" and so on), she simply said "it's ok, you don't have to eat it". Then, she continued with her snack, pleasantly talking to the children. Sure enough, when the boy realized the choice was his and that he wasn't going to get a rise out of his teacher, he popped the cheese in his mouth.

Now, I know plenty of parents who live by the "three bites" rule, and I also admit to enforcing that rule from time to time in my house. But, I have witnessed magic happen at my dinner table when I simply say "it's ok, you don't have to eat it". Of course, after I say these words, I proceed to eat the accused food and enjoy it (without making a big scene of course - that would cause suspicion in the kiddo's sharp mind).

You must remember that kids are always taking mental notes. Even if they don't eat the broccoli this time, they are observing you eat it (without dying!), and they are getting used to the fact that broccoli exists and sometimes shows up on their plate. It is reassuring to them that they are not in control of what appears on their plate (the adults are in charge of that), but that they will not be forced to eat something before they are ready (they are in charge of their own body).

This is a marathon, not a sprint - our job is not to force them to eat the broccoli this time (and possibly turn them into broccoli haters for the balance of their life); our job is to raise people who are willing to try foods, assess if they like it or not, and not freak out if that food is served to them at the White House, or wherever they may be eating (a parent can dream...).

Annoying nutrition advice

You know, the reason I became a dietitian in the first place is because I was deeply entrenched in the diet mentality, trying to figure out the magic formula to being skinny. I was game for anything, including starvation (although never slipping into a full-blown eating disorder, I definitely dwelled in disordered eating).

So, I spent a lot of time pouring over magazines looking for "diet tricks". Here are some of the most annoying of all time:

1. If you are craving potato chips, try munching on carrot sticks (uhh, not even close)
2. Keep a log on your refrigerator, and log how often you open the refrigerator (why?)
3. Keep a scale by your refrigerator - check to see your weight before you dive into food (hello - that's what your hunger pangs afer for!)
4. Never eat past Xpm at night (how random!)
5. If you are hungry past Xpm at night, brush your teeth instead (mmmm, toothpaste)
6. Put a picture of a celebrity you admire on your refrigerator, to inspire you (will that bring their personal chef, personal trainer, and bank account into my life, too?)
7. Chew each bite 100 times (let's bore that weight off)
8. When you order out at a restaurant, ask the waiter to bag half of your entree before they even serve it to you (or, how to tick off your waiter)
9. When you're craving ice cream, ask for a sample at an ice cream shop, then leave (or, how to tick off the local ice cream shop)
10. To feel decadent when you're dieting, bathe in cream (yes, I read this once as diet advice)

Do you have any annoying diet advice you'd like to share?

Feeding Kids - Everybody, act casual....

One of the tricks of feeding kids is to act casual. They are watching.

Here's what I mean - you carefully prepare a healthy dinner, complete with two vegetables and a lean protein source (OK, a dinner of marinated chicken breast, buttered noodles, sauteed spinach and brussel sprouts). You put the plate in front of 4-year old, who promptly proclaims "Ewww - I'm not eating this".

Here's the moment of truth - what do you do?
A. Beg. Then bribe. Then plead. Then play choo-choo. Then repeat.
B. Jump up to make him hot dogs and Mac & Cheese. Put it on his favorite plate.
C. Make him eat it or sit there until bedtime. Serve said food for breakfast. Repeat.
D. Say "you don't have to eat it". Then sit and enjoy your dinner and act like you haven't a care in the world.

If you picked anything but "D", you may be creating the picky eating problem in your house.

See, there is a psychology to feeding kids (see my post about feeding kids here). These little guys get very suspicious when they sense that we are trying too hard. In their minds, trying too hard = something unpleasant. Think shots at the doctor's office. We don't have to try too hard when there is an ice cream cone, involved, now do we? They are on to us....

The best way to feed these little detectives is to simply do our job - provide the structure (meals and snacks), and decide on the menu. Then, back off. Cool as a cucumber. Couldn't care less if he touches the spinach. Before you know it.... Houston, he has tried the spinach!

Are you in the diet mentality?

I toss around this term diet mentality a lot, and it occurred to me that I'd better define it.

But, it's kind of hard to define. So, here goes:

Do you think in terms of "good" foods and "bad" foods?
Do you feel good when you eat "good" foods and bad when you eat "bad" foods?
Do you ever feel disgusted with yourself over what you just ate?
Do you tend to think of yourself as either on a diet or off a diet (and eat accordingly?)
Do you try to trick your food cravings?
Do you feel guilty when you give in and eat what you are craving?
Do you celebrate by ordering "something fattening"?
Do you spend a lot of time thinking about food?
Do you often find yourself trying to calculate calories, or carbs, or fat grams?
Do you think that life will be better once you reach a certain weight?
Does your scale tend to dictate whether you feel happy or not?
Do you live by certain eating rules, such as not eating white foods, or not eating after 6pm?
Does eating healthy feel like a chore to you?



These are all indicators that you are living in the diet mentality; One of the reasons the diet mentality does not work is that you put all of your energy into external rules (good foods, bad foods, best time to eat, appropriate serving size, etc), and very little energy into your own internal cues (how hungry are you? what do you feel like eating? what is your body craving?) You are simply not listening to your body anymore when you are trying to go by a scripted "diet". And your body will always refuse to be ignored - your cravings will get more intense, your emotions more on the cranky side, you will be less satisfied with the food, etc.

Food is food and nothing more. A Twinkie is not evil and it does not make you a bad person if you eat one. Broccoli does not make you a better person when you eat it. Sure, nutrition plays a role in health, but there are many facets to health - a person eating a virtuous diet but not enjoying their life is not healthy, in my book. I'd also like to propose that a person surviving by eating only junk food is also obviously not healthy, for reasons other than just the food they are putting in their system. When you have a healthy self-esteem, you simply don't want to eat only junk food. A person who only wants the so-called "bad" foods is beating themself up from the inside out, for reasons known only to them.

Let's get off of the diet rollercoaster, and out of the diet mentality, so we can get on with the business of nourishing ourselves with food and life.

The magic of hunger

I've been thinking about hunger a lot lately; being hungry is really an essential ingredient to enjoying food. Our bodies give us hunger pangs for a reason, but we tend to ignore them one way or another.

Many people don't like the feeling of hunger (as I've mentioned in a previous post). They will try to and stay ahead of the hunger pangs by munching all day, and by overeating when possible. Most of the time, this occurs because of a negative experience with hunger - either because of a period of time when food was not available, or, more commonly, a self-imposed starvation diet.

We tend to expect our hunger to be predictable - that we should always be hungry at set times, for a certain amount of food. So, we eat this way, whether our bodies are telling us to or not. We could learn a lot by watching children eat - sometimes they are hungry and eat a lot, sometimes they are not hungry. It really doesn't matter that it is 6pm and dinner is served. If their body is not sending the signals, they will sit there and pick at their food. Until. Until the adults take charge and somehow make them override themselves and eat despite the lack of desire. (How many of today's adults learned to overeat this way?)

Some adults have become so out of touch with their bodies, that they report they don't even know what it feels like to be hungry. They have simply avoided hunger for years, and can't remember what it really feels like.

Others have learned to apply the label "hungry" to unrelated emotions, such as actual boredom, fear, anxiety, anger, etc. They have learned to distract themselves from negative emotions by labeling those emotions as "I'm hungry". Needless to say, this is a contributor to unwanted weight and does not deal with the actual emotion.

Allowing our body enough time between eating to get nice and hungry is a very healthy thing to do - plus it makes food taste much better! We also need to allow our children to get hungry - this is a tricky thing to explain to parents, because it sounds alarmingly like I am proposing we starve our chilren to make them better eaters (I am not). But, when we allow kids to munch all day, giving them access to food whenever they feel like it, they end up not hungry - ever. With kids, this also applies to drinking all day - I have talked to many parents with picky children who reveal that their child is a big all-day milk drinker or juice drinker.

Try it for a few days - really check in with your body, and don't eat until it is sending clear hunger signals. Notice how much better the food tastes. If you have children, try to limit between meal eating and drinking (except for water), and see if they don't eat better when they come to the dinner table with an actual appetite. Don't push them to eat more than they want, because you are overriding their own internal hunger cue! More on feeding kids later....

But what about nutrition?

Another problem people have with the rule of eating only what they like, is that they assume they will never eat a healthy food again if they truly allow themselves to follow the advice.

What I have found is that as people get away from the diet mentality, and stop labeling foods as "good" or "bad", they find they have a fondness for all kinds of food. Rich chocolate cake and super sweet apples. Broccoli with garlic and tiramisu. And, they find that they were eating some things that they really didn't love - maybe they realize that they don't actually like the french fries from Burger King, for example. Or, maybe they realize that they are burned out on boneless, skinless chicken breast for dinner.

It is a leap of faith to allow our tastes to dictate what we eat. However, as you learn more about food and nutrition, you become naturally more interested in trying healthier foods. Some foods we like right away, and some foods we develop a taste for, as we learn more about them.

Also, as we learn to eat only what we like, we end up being satisfied with a smaller amount. Diving into that perfect piece of key lime pie is decadent and satisfying - until about the fourth bite or so. We start enjoying it less, feeling more full, and we have no problem stopping. Wrap it up, waiter - I'll have the rest tomorrow!

Please visit me on PBS Parents!

I have a column posted right now on PBS Parents website - check it out by clicking here!

You mean eat ONLY what I like?

When someone is caught up in the diet mentality, one of the hardest things to convince them is that it's really better in the long run to eat only what you like to eat. We are a nation that believes that healthy food is no fun and doesn't taste as good as unhealthy food, and that the only food we really like is junk food.

Let me give two personal examples. One day, I found myself eating Tootsie Rolls because they were available at the office, and I was needing.... something. Rest, a break, a conversation, whatever. So, I was "rewarding" myself with Tootsie Rolls. Then, I realized - I don't really like Tootsie Rolls. I mean, they're ok, and I kind of get why some people love them - but I don't. And, in turn, they really weren't scratching whatever itch I was trying to get at.

My other example is from the healthier side. I had made chicken for dinner, and it turned out pretty bland. It occurred to me that my yummy Emeril's honey mustard would help out, but I was too busy powering through my dinner to get up and find the sauce. So, I just "made do" with my bland chicken. When I was finished with my dinner, I was full - but I was not satisfied. I still craved... something.

When we force ourself to eat something we really don't like, we will always keep craving. And when we eat whatever junk crosses our path as a "reward", we'll still keep craving. It's that simple.

Try it - pay attention to what you are eating, and ask yourself if you really like it. If the answer is no, you know what to do!

Slacker Golden Rule #3

Commit to building small, healthy habits.

Once you are comfortable eating only when you are hungry and stopping when you are full (Golden Rule #1), and you've given yourself permission to eat what you like and to eat only what you like (Golden Rule #2), it's time to move on to building healthy habits. Which habits you work on will depend on you - there are plenty to choose from, and they all can make a difference. Here's a list of possibilities:

- eat breakfast every day
- eat fruits and/or veggies at every meal
- snack on fruits and veggies
- drink a lot of water
- drink less soda
- move your body every day
- eat together as a family more often
- eat more home-prepared meals
- add more fiber to your meals
- take a multivitamin every day
- take a calcium supplement, especially if you’re not a milk drinker
- stop smoking
- build muscles with weight training or resistance training
- sit down to eat
- avoid eating in the car
- eat out less often
- eat a variety of food, from all of the food groups
- avoid “grazing”
- avoid eating in front of the TV
- try new recipes
- cut down on salt
- other? ________________________________

The point is to keep challenging yourself to take just a little bit better care of yourself than you did yesterday; you deserve it!

Feeding Kids 101

There are great battles going on every night at the dinner table all across the world. The main problem is that we never got the job description for parenting - the one that would have detailed the rules for feeding kids. So, we make it up as we go, and many of us mistakingly believe that getting the food into the kid's belly is main task number one. We don't feel satisfied until the child has eaten the required serving of broccoli, because if they don't eat it, we're a bad parent - right?

Maybe this is why I love this area - it comes as such a relief to many parents when they finally hear and believe the message - you don't have to get the food into the child! Your job is to get the food to the child!

I'm not making this up - the correct way to feed children is to allow them to have some responsibility in the process. Ellyn Satter, author and the pioneer of this method, calls it the Division of Responsiblity. From her website:

Feeding demands a division of responsibility. Parents are responsible for the what, when and where of feeding; Children are responsible for the how much and whether of eating...Ellyn Satter

This requires a bit of attention to fully digest (bad pun, sorry); but, it really boils down to this - you as the parent need to get the food to the child in a structured way - meaning meals and snacks. Then, your job is done. It is not up to you to get the food into the child - that's his job. Barring medical problems, healthy children will eat well this way and will thrive.

This is really the way to raise healthy eaters - this method helps kids to learn about food at their own pace, try new foods at their own comfort level, and grow to the weight they are supposed to be.

Peace to the dinner table!

Let's learn from the skinny people

I know that it seems like certain skinny people stay that way because of blessed genes; but, if you really spend time observing a naturally skinny person, you will realize a couple of things.

#1 - Naturally skinny people tend to honor their hunger. If they are not hungry, they have no problem saying so and simply don't eat. Also, they tend to stop eating when they are comfortably full, even when there is chocolate cake LEFT ON THE PLATE!

#2 - Naturally skinny people tend to eat what they like and leave the rest. Many of these people have been labeled a "picky eater" by those who know them, as if that's a bad thing. They are guided by what tastes good to them, and as they get older and wiser, they are also guided by what they know is doing their body good.

#3 - Naturally skinny people are RARELY, if ever, perfect eaters. If you meet someone who you think is a naturally skinny person and also eats perfectly, chances are they may be suffering from something called "orthorexia" (a term coined by Dr. Steven Bratman). Orthorexia Nervosa literally means "fixation on righteous eating", and it occurs when healthy eating becomes an obsession - another day, another topic.

When low carb goes too far...

Here is an actual quote from someone posting a recipe review on allrecipes.com, one of my favorite recipe websites - it's a review for a dish called Cod with Italian Bread Crumb Topping:

"I'm cooking low carb, so I substituted crushed pork rinds for the breadcrumbs"

Ick.

It's wrong on so many levels......

Slacker Golden Rule #2

Only eat what you like.

I know, you're thinking I'm crazy telling you to eat only what you like. You think that if you follow this advice, you won't even need a refrigerator because the only food you really like is ice cream. Well, that may be true for a little while - as your body (and mind) detoxes off of the diet mentality, your little rebel inside is going to demand ice cream and brownies and (insert your fave food here). But, trust me - after the novelty wears off and you've given in to your little inner sweets demon, you will start to crave.... something healthier. And now, we are getting back to normal.

Think about those truly intuitive eaters you have encountered in your life. It may be the annoying skinny person in your family that eats anything and everything. Or, you may need to think of a small child you have spent time with. The intuitive eater eats what they like - but is usually satisfied with a small amount of it. Once the initial "YUM" wears off from the first two bites, the intuitive eater is completely satisfied to sit back with a big sigh and say "I'm full". On the contrary, the person with the diet mentality will inhale the chocolate mousse, because why stop now when we've already broken the diet.

Give it a try - see how liberating it is to not pay attention to any of the diet advice out there and just get in tune with what we actually like to eat; just as importantly, if you don't like it - you guessed it - don't eat it. Ahhhh, freedom.

Don't should on me and I won't should on you

One of the big drags about the way we eat in the US are all of the shoulds on our shoulders; you really should eat breakfast; you really should eat x number of servings of green and yellow vegetables; you really shouldn't have that piece of pie.

True, it may all be valid advice. But it's still annoying, especially when we really don't wanna.

I believe one of the reasons we tend to eat junkier food is because we are rebelling against the shoulds. I also believe that when we truly like ourself and get rid of the shoulds, we end up taking pretty good care of ourself because that's what we want to do.

In my life, I try to eat healthy because I want to and because it feels nourishing to me, which feels good. I don't eat perfectly because sometimes a Little Debbie feels nourishing to me (hey, it brings me back to my youth!) I NEVER feel guilty about what I choose to eat. That's because I don't allow those pesky shoulds or shouldn'ts into my head. Some days I eat better than others, and I am completely OK with that - and so should you - oops, there I go shoulding on you (sorry).

Mindful eating

Part of honoring your hunger cues has to do with something called Mindful Eating. More and more in our society, food is added on to other activities - we eat while driving, while at the computer (I'm guilty!), in front of the TV, etc. We don't actually pay attention to what we are eating, whether it tastes good, or how we feel. I love this quote on the website for The Center for Mindful Eating (yes, there actually is such a place):

Awareness of the moment is when change can begin

You simply cannot achieve a good relationship with food (and a healthy weight) if you don't pay attention. This is one of the reasons why some of the European cultures aren't fat (yet!) - food is part of the culture, and they take the time to sit and eat and enjoy.

Just for today, try eating your food at the table, with no other activities involved - just eat and pay attention to the food. Do you like what you are eating? If not, why are you eating it? How does your body feel? Are you getting comfortably full or still wanting more? Just release any judgement about what you are eating and simply pay attention.

How we teach kids to break the hunger scale

Remember that movie Monster's Ball? In it, there was a single mom and her overweight boy - in one scene, the mom discovered that the boy was hiding candy and she got angry at him; this is called hoarding, and it is caused by someone forcing that boy to break his own hunger scale.

When we withhold food from kids, or make comments that they have had enough or remind them that they are eating too much, we take away their power and incentive to listen to their own internal hunger cues. In some cases, children feel so guilty about wanting food and so conflicted about what they "should" be doing and what they want to do, that they start developing some dysfunctional behaviors, such as hoarding food. They are not being bad kids, it's a matter of survival.

Another way we teach kids to break their hunger scale is by encouraging them to graze all the time; I see this at the playground a lot - a child will be running around, having fun, and the mom will be holding out crackers that the child zooms by and takes, never really slowing down. In this situation, the child never gets to the lower parts of the hunger scale, and never really feels hunger pangs. It's no wonder when the child becomes a picky eater!

I'll talk more about feeding kids in this blog, but for now, I need to mention that everything you need to know about feeding kids can be found in books by Ellyn Satter - visit her website http://www.ellynsatter.com/ for loads of information and books.

Breaking the hunger scale

There are a few ways that dieting makes us break the hunger scale (see yesterday's post); one way is that sometimes dieting forces us to deny our own hunger cues, making us go down to a 2 or a 1 on the scale before it's time to eat; then, we eat everything in sight and feel like a failure. Repeat after me - WILLPOWER IS A JOKE! - we are programmed to overeat when our body feels like it's heading into hard times (like a famine, yikes!). It is simply nature's way.


Another way dieting forces us to break the hunger scale is by instilling a fear of the feeling of hunger in us. When you are uncomfortably hungry for a prolonged period of time, your body learns to fear hunger. When we fear hunger, we tend to eat before we feel hunger. This means that we always start "munching" or "grazing" as soon as we are at a 5 or so on the hunger scale - just to keep from slipping into the hunger pangs at a 3 or 4. This adds up to extra calories and pounds on the butt (or wherever you tend to store it).


By the way, people who actually experience real hunger (as in no money or no other resources to obtain food), will react the same way once they have access to food - they will overeat when given the chance, and avoid getting hungry because of the awful memories of feeling hungry.

Hunger Scales

If you've gotten out of touch with your own hunger cues, a great tool to use is a Hunger Scale. There are lots out there - just google it and find one you like. Here's one I found at a blog called Intuitive Eating:

HUNGER - SATISFACTION SCALE (HSS)
10: Stuffed to the point of feeling sick (Thanksgiving full!)
9: Very uncomfortable, tired
8: Uncomfortably full
7: Feel you have eaten just a little bit too much
6: Comfortable, satisfied [stop eating]
5: Just noticing the first signs of hunger [slow down, if eating]
4: Hungry, ready to eat [Eat at this point]
3: Very hungry
2: Extremely hungry, irritable
1: Starving, can't concentrate, dizzy

Try using this scale for a meal or two and see how you like it. Once you get used to eating this way, you will automatically be eating in tune with your own body's hunger and will be getting the right amount of food for you.

Slacker Golden Rule #1

Always honor your hunger!

You know, the vast majority of us were given a key at birth to achieve life-long weight control. It's your hunger cues.

Imagine a small baby. He's hungry - and he's going to let you know about it. Ignore him, and he gets louder and more frantic. Feed him, and he happily eats until... he's not hungry anymore. Then, when you try to feed him, he turns his head or spits out the nipple. Having trouble imagining a baby? Here - use mine:

Now, imagine that baby growing up and always eating this way - when he's hungry, he eats; when he's full, he stops; when he's not hungry, he simply does not eat. Do you think he would develop a weight problem?

We are taught in so many ways not to honor our hunger - we're taught to clean our plates, taught to eat because the clock says it's time, taught to deprive our hunger when we go on a diet, and on and on. Just for today, pay close attention to your hunger. How well are you honoring it?

My new blog!

Well, as a new blog, I am happy to say "Welcome to my new blog!"

I am Melinda Johnson, a Registered Dietitian in her 30-somethings, and my business is Nutrition for Slackers.

I became a dietitian just because I wanted to know how bad I could eat and still be skinny. Really, it was all about the weight. I was a chubby teenager and went on my first diet when I was about 12 years old. Food and I fought the good fight for at least a decade after that. I entered college, took a nutrition class, loved the class, and decided to make a career of it. But, I was still very conflicted about what I wanted to eat and what I was learning I should be eating. Food occupied way to much of my brain space.

Luckily, I was instructed to read a book during my internship to become a dietitian. I was spending time with a bit of a rebel RD who specialized in eating disorders. Her name is Monika Woolsey, and I plan on writing more about her views later in the blog - but for now, to learn more about her and visit her website, you can go to http://www.afterthediet.com/. Monika wanted me to read the book Intuitive Eating; for me, it was one of those books that change the way you see the world. Since then, I have become very good at practicing the non-diet approach to eating, and I love to share this approach with others.

So, on the outside, I look like a slacker when it comes to nutrition. But, it's all part of the master plan! Wanna learn more? Stay tuned!