Archive for the ‘food and diet’ Category

Reboot Your Kids’ Eating Habits for 2010

Monday, January 11th, 2010

For all you moms out there, grandparents with tots in your lives, or anyone who’s interested in feeding our kids in a better way, there’s a fantastic website you really must bookmark, SuperKids Nutrition.

I love it. It’s run by a dietitian who’s a mom, is loaded with real life advice and tips, and if you do one thing in 2010 to reboot your kids’ eating habits, it is to start incorporating some of this stuff into your routine and your shopping cart.

I recently did an interview with SuperKids Nutrition, about simple, everyday changes families can do to pack more planet friendly eating. Below is a variation of that interview, with a few blog-friendly edits. I hope these tips help you and your family move towards leaner, cleaner, greener eating, one snack at a time in the New Year!

How can busy moms look beyond packaged foods to allow them to still have quick snacks on hand and be able to put quick meals together?

Focus on one-ingredient foods as the mainstay of meals and snacks. It is still fast and easy, but more nourishing in every sense. And it helps point you toward greener choices, too – what’s not to love?

So, let’s review the “one-ingredient” food list.

One ingredient foods may include oatmeal, canned beans, chicken, almonds/nuts, fresh or dried fruit, or frozen single vegetables (such as “frozen peas”, no added sauces), bulk couscous, a bag of rice, a box of pasta, tofu, canned pumpkin, or even eggs. This simple philosophy immediately starts clearing the clutter from your food choices.

Do you have some ideas or tricks to get through the grocery store with less packaged food in your cart?Abby chopping cucumbers

Registered dietitians always say, “shop the perimeter” but I think that’s not so true anymore; marketers are catching on. Plus, there are some great things in those inner aisles: whole grains, brown rice, heart-healthy oils, to name a few. So I would say to be sure that you have about two-thirds fresh items in your cart (fruits, vegetables, poultry, dairy, tofu/soy, fresh-frozen fish) with about one-third packaged food items. This will allow you to have more real food and less packaged foods.

So, folks can limit packaged food but can still use some in a pinch?

Yes. “Packaged foods” is a super-broad category and you can find some great options to help you in a pinch. In general, my advice is to ignore the front label packaging (that’s where all the hype is that the manufacturer wants you to see), and read the ingredient list. It should read like something from your kitchen, not a food lab. In general, choose packaged foods that have 5 ingredients or less, all of which should easily look like things you’d find in your home.

How can moms or dads help children understand the importance of “real food?”

Connecting our kids to food is so important. For instance, I was recently talking at a mom’s event where a mom told me her child that would not eat a whole apple “because it turns brown”. The child was used to only eating apple slices from a snack bag! Educating our children about nature and its variability is an important part of showing them the true experience of real food.

In your book, you talk about the idea of reducing our “carbon footprint.” It’s great to know we can make a large impact very easily.

Convenience not only costs more, but also adds carbon to the atmosphere. Cutting back on disposable items alone can have a huge impact, as can simply including more one-ingredient foods in your pantry. Aim for progress — not perfection — and focus on one change at a time. For example, you can try reducing your reliance on individually packaged snacks or choose to cut up your own fresh vegetables to start you on your way to eating greener. Maybe you feel that individual drinks are a must for the cooler when you go on a picnic or a hike. Save this convenience for those times and use pitchers of water, juice or beverages at home; it’s a great way to save money too!

So what types of “one-ingredient” snacks can we offer?

Seeds, nuts, fruit (fresh or dried), edamame (i.e., cooked baby soybeans), fresh snap peas, fresh berries, and cherry/grape tomatoes are some options. You can also combine some of these to make a snack (think trail mix).

How can parents get their kids involved?

They can offer age-appropriate responsibilities for snacks. Consider using large, airtight jars with scoops for dry goods. Provide a “snack drawer” or have some chopped veggies ready to eat, bagged in the fridge. Right now my 3 year old loves it when I give him a bowl of pistachios, still in their shell, to open and eat while I make dinner (disclosure, Paramount Farms Pistachios is a client of mine). They love to participate!

Any tools we can use with our kids?

My favorite tool around “Edible Education” comes from Field to Plate. It is a great worksheet series you can do with your child to help map their palate and develop a real roadmap, based on taste and flavor, towards step by step healthier eating habits.

Got other ideas to reboot kids’ eating habits in 2010? I’d love to hear them!

Health Foods that Are Hummers

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Healthy? For you yes, for the Planet? No.

I often say that the American Diet is the SUV of eating styles: excessive, wasteful, and unhealthy – both for you, and for the environment, and that what makes for leaner, healthier eating also tends to be a much more eco-friendly approach (think hybrid cars).

But while most of the path towards “lean and green cuisine” is easy, (i.e., pack your diet with plant foods) there are a handful of healthy foods out there that are Hummers when it comes to energy use, which might surprise even the most die-hard health nuts or eco-warriors. I’ve listed a few of the biggest offenders below, while also suggesting some “Cooler Swaps” - you’ll still reap the health benefits, but cruise towards a leaner you with an impact closer to that of a hybrid, than a gas-guzzling Hummer. How fantastic is that?

  1. Fresh Flown Fish/Sushi. If you’re savoring sushi tonight, chances are your dinner logged more frequent-flier miles than you have lately. While fish scores high marks for health, fresh flown sushi is one of the most energy intense foods to bring to your plate- - how else could it arrive from a boat halfway around the world in record time? Consider that air travel is eleven times more energy intense than traveling by truck, and that large carnivorous fish, which are the darling of sushi (think tuna), are some of the most energy-intense fish to catch because of how far out at sea they live.

Make A Cooler Swap With: Wild Alaskan salmon fillets, frozen at sea.

  1. Acai juice and other exotic super juices. Touting super antioxidant levels, and claims about curing cancer, boosting sex drive, or turning back the clock abound. These sound like some of the healthiest drinks, and worth the heftier price, right? Wrong. Most of these claims are flimsy at best, flat out lying at worst. Exotic Superfruit juices don’t give you any more help in soothing that American stress, and come with a higher carbon footprint, coming from far flung locales, often places rich in vanishing rainforest (those vital carbon sinks we all depend on).

Make A Cooler Swap With: American beauties, such as concord grape juice and 100% cranberry juice.

There is real science about the health benefits these juices can bring to your arteries and urinary tract, respectively*. They are also cheaper and closer to home, which limits fossil-fuel intense “drink miles” (liquids are one of the heaviest items to ship).

*Another way to be healthy and green in the juice department? Choose 100% frozen juice concentrate as the Gold Standard for nutrition, cost, and significant carbon savings (you’re not shipping all that water around). Be sure that the juice you choose is from the USA, and not Brazil or any other country where rainforest is being cleared for cheap, American food and beverage products.

  1. Multigrain breakfast cereals. Breakfast cereals can certainly be healthy; they have been shown to promote better body weights, and are chock full of fiber. But they are also one of the more carbon heavy items in your cart due to all of their processing and packaging (they often come double wrapped in both cardboard and plastic).

Make A Cooler Swap With: Oatmeal.

Buy in bulk for a greener superfood choice that costs pennies a bowl, packs in the fiber, mops up cholesterol, offers good blood-sugar control, and fullness all morning long. How can you beat that? Tired of oatmeal? Try hot quinoa, milllet or brown rice for a tasty change that’s still eco-friendly.

  1. Salad. That’s right. While super healthy, here’s the spoiler alert: a recent British study found that salad was the #1 food tossed at home before it was eaten. Why? Because it had spoiled! That’s a double-whammy environment impact: 1) food that heads to landfills emits methane, which is 23 times as warming as carbon dioxide, and 2) The energy to transport salad outstrips the energy in the food itself; it takes about 60 fossil fuel calories to bring ONE salad calorie from California to dinner plates in New York!

Make A Cooler Swap With: Celeriac or fennel salads or root vegetables.

These guys have much longer shelf lives, are in season during the colder months, and pack plenty of eco-friendly vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Want to know what’s in season near you? Check out http://www.fieldtoplate.com/guide.php and click on your state.

  1. 100 Calorie Snack Packs.
    Talk about a dietary hot zone! Another mantra to remember: convenience creates carbon. All of that added packaging uses lots more petroleum resources (packaging is petroleum based), creating a bigger carbon footprint - all for that two minute eating experience. That two minute snack of highly processed food is also likely to leave you feeling less satisfied than one of my Cooler Swaps below.

Make A Cooler Swap With: Bulk walnuts or pepitas, or frozen edamame.

I am a big fan of one-ingredient snack foods. That way, you are guaranteed to get all the nutrition Mother Nature’s perfect package had to offer, with minimal processing, refining, or otherwise added carbon load; the perfect example of trading health for nutrition. Buying in bulk for your snacks not only pares down the packaging (greener choice), but it’s cheaper too - another fabulous win-win!

So the next time you are navigating the grocery store keep these swaps in mind; you’ll still help your waistline, but in a more eco-friendly package. And here’s a cool tool: If you want to see the carbon cost of your last meal, check out http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/.

What are some other healthy foods that are Hummers when it comes to energy use? I’d love to hear from you

Plant a Garden for a Planet Approved Diet

Friday, March 13th, 2009

GardenWhile my snow covered backyard in Utah is no indication, much of the country is gearing up for spring. My question to you is: what will you grow this year?  If you want to move to more eco-friendly eating, pick at least one thing and go for it! Whether a tiny window box, a pot of herbs and lettuce on a city terrace, or a full blown garden in your backyard, the greenest food of all is that which you grow yourself.

Aside from your “crop” being some of the tastiest and nutrient packed foods you’ll likely eat this year, there’s a slew of other benefits: the added calories you burn in gardening, the strong roots of healthy eating you’re helping to nourish in your kids, and all of the resources (and carbon emissions) saved by growing actual food rather than grass, shrubs or flowers. This is not to mention money saved in your food budget, and the money saved on your shrink (exercise fights stress and boosts mood).

So take action. Start small, or go big. Visit www. backyardgardener.com for a jumpstart no matter where you live. You’ll be sowing good seeds in every sense.

As for me, as soon as the snow melts I will be planting a bunch of yummy lettuces in my pots this year rather than flowers. What will you be planting?

Is Your Lunch Causing Global Warming?

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Lunch BagDepends on what you had. The Bon Appetit Management Company has a super cool tool online calculator specifically geared to food (there are lots of online calculators to calculate your home, your car, or your air travel, but to my frustration they usually omit food)…but here’s all you need to check out how cool your cuisine is-or isn’t, when it comes to the planet.

Log onto www.eatlowcarbon.org, drag and drop your meal onto the pan, and watch the thermometer rise depending on your choice. Cheeseburger? That’s 4 lbs of carbon (measured in carbon equivalents), or about 1/5 of a gallon of gas. Switch to a grilled chicken sandwich and cut it by more than half-down to 1.5 pounds. If you choose a grilled veggie and hummus sandwich instead and thin your footprint even further (down to 0.6 pounds). Oh, and  by moving your lunch down the “carbon thermostat”, you just also made a healthier choice that can help you move your belt in a notch, too.

Hara Hachi Bu-another secret of leaner, greener living

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

FullIn Okinawa, Japan, elders have a simple statement for their eating philosophy; “Hara Hachi Bu” which translates into “ Eat until you are eight parts full”. It’s part of their secret to living longer, leaner and healthier, and it can be yours as well.

What does this mean? Don’t stuff yourself. Leave a little space at the end of your meal, which will allow your brain to catch up to your stomach (it takes about 20 minutes for the stretch receptors in your stomach to signal your brain that you are full). Practice moderation in your portions (In Okinawa, portion sizes are about half of what you find in the US.) Hara Hachi Bu still leaves you feeling satisfied instead of like a force fed fois gras- which is all too common in America, especially when eating out. As a result, the calorie intake of Okinawans is 10-40% lower than Americans.

Americans would be wise to take note. Okinawans have the longest life expectancy on the planet (Japanese live an impressive six years longer than the average American), as well as the highest concentration of centenarians (those who live to the ripe old age of 100). Most importantly, these are vibrant, healthy, high functioning extra years-the exact kind you would probably like to add.

There is a growing number of animal studies which have found that caloric restriction improves mental acuity, animal fur sheen, calcium loss from bone, and extended life expectancy by up to 50% (that would be the equivalent of a human living to about 150 years) . And research from the National Institute on Aging found that primates fed a calorie restricted diet had higher levels of DHEA (a steroid hormone associated with youth), lower fasting glucose levels, and lower diabetes risk . There’s a fantastic book called The Okinawa Program which outlines this entire topic in detail. If you read it you’ll find that their overall eating pattern has many similarities to a Lean and Green Diet: primarily plant based, limited red meat and dairy, rich in phytochemicals from foods like tea, soy and vegetables, and healthy oils like canola.

While regular calorie restriction may be the best way to stay young, lean and sharp in mind as you age, the immediate savings to your carbon footprint are an added bonus. Hara Hachi Bu fits perfectly with the “Take Less, Want Less” approach that is the hallmark of a Lean and Green Lifestyle. So take home that extra heaping of food from the restaurant rather than forcing it in. Heap a bit less food onto your family plates at dinnertime (this also helps kids learn to self regulate their intake better). Skip the mall snack and remind yourself that you’re about to eat when you get home in 20 minutes. Don’t take that donut at the office meeting “just because it’s there”, and then when you do choose to splurge on your own green treat, slow down and savor it like it deserves to be savored.

Lean in the immediate, greener in the immediate and vibrant in the long term. What’s not to love about that?

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