I know what I’m about to say is controversial.  But it’s the truth, and it’s a topic that bears discussion.

When I was pregnant, I didn’t take prenatal vitamins.  Every month when I went in for check-ups, the nurse yelled at me.  But let me clarify.  I didn’t take the standard, fully loaded prenatal vitamin.  But I did take a pill form of those nutrients I didn’t get enough of from food that are so important during pregnancy – folic acid, calcium, iron.

As a pregnant dietitian, I felt like I was eating a good variety of the right foods so didn’t need to take a fully loaded pill.  Today, I take omega-3 supplements and sporadically, lutein supplements.  I do not give my son Jack vitamins at all.  But some of my colleagues will contend that it’s not possible to get all the nutrients we need at the right levels by eating food.  There we have it – the great debate on supplements or no supplements.

In my mind, it’s worth the old college try to get all that you need from food.  Why?  Because food has many as-of-yet undefined nutrients that our bodies need.  I think, too, that some of us take a daily vitamin as a license to make less healthy food choices, figuring we’re getting what we need in the pill form.

I’m not suggesting that pregnant women avoid taking prenatal vitamins (always follow your doctor’s advice!).  I’m just saying that the goal should be getting all the nutrients we need by eating a variety of foods from all food groups.

Voice your opinion – for or against supplements?

Visit www.nuval.com to experience a system that gives credit to the vitamins and minerals in food.

Those of you who are regular readers will realize that it has been over a week since I have posted a new blog.  Life – on both the work and personal front – has just gotten in the way.  I’ve been writing comments to the Dietary Guidelines committee, to the Food and Drug Administration, planning my mothers’ 85^th birthday party.  The list goes on and on.

I imagine that this is reality for many of you, and definitely relates to our topic of the day.  The hecticness (spell check says it’s not a word, but I’m going with it anyway) of life makes it hard for many of us to get dinner on the table.  It just does.  For me, it’s the constantness of it.  Dinner.  Every day.  Something kids will eat.  Fairly healthy.  Something that will warm up okay as my husband sometimes eats later due to an extended work day. 

And as we make our way through the day of meals, it fits in well with what was said at the Seizing the Mealtime Moment presentation I recently attended:

At dinner, it has to TASTE GOOD, be EASY TO PREPARE, and have EVERYONE LIKE IT. Even more interesting about dinner is that the number one reason we don’t                fix dinner at home is because we’re too tired (I can totally relate!).

The best lessons I have learned about getting dinner on the table come from my former co-worker, Amy, who trained me in back in the day at Pillsbury, and my neighbor Laurie, whom I walk with a couple of days a week.  Both are “cooks” in the traditional sense, and hopefully what I’ve learned from them will help you to be more successful at getting dinner on the table and meet the requirements listed above.  What I’ve learned from them:

• Cook a big main meal on the weekends, and plan for leftovers throughout the week.  You can always add a side or a fresh vegetable quickly and easily if you have a main dish ready to go that is reheatable.
• Plan menus and write grocery lists.  When Laurie and her family go on vacation, I feed her cats.  The first time I did it, I noticed her week of menus posted on her fridge.  I know it sounds like drudgery, but if you have a sense of what you’re making for meals each day, you’re move likely to execute against it.
• Teach your husband/partner/teenager how to help with grocery shopping.  This can lessen the burden on you, while at the same time ensure you have food in the house for dinner.
• Offer a variety of fruits and vegetables, served different ways, again and again and again.  Both Amy and Laurie are brilliant at this.  The end result?  They both have kids who get their fruits and veggies in. 
• It’s okay to have frequent, repeat performances in the meals you serve.  Identify the favorites that meet all your criteria – quick to prepare, the kids will eat them, healthy – and rotate them every two weeks.  It’s still dinner on the table.
• If you’re in a pinch and order out, think about what you can add to the main item to round out the nutrition.  For example, if you order pizza to go, quickly cut up some fruits and veggies and pour tall glasses of frosty, cold, skim milk.

Visit www.nuval.com to trade up ingredients in your family’s favorite dinners.

As I talked about last week, I attended a fascinating education session at a conference talking about what’s most important to us as consumers in each of the meals we eat.

At breakfast we care about ROUTINE.

At lunch we’re looking for QUICK and EASY.

At dinner, it has to TASTE GOOD, be EASY TO PREPARE, and have EVERYONE LIKE IT.

As we’re making our way through the day’s meals, our stop today is at lunch.

Quick and easy – you can feel it, right?  When it comes to lunch, there are two main scenarios most of us deal with.

Scenario #1:  You’re in the midst of the madness of your day, juggling back-to-back meetings, trying to steal a minute to check in with daycare or schedule a checkup for one of your kids.  You have 25 unopened emails in your “in” box.  But you need to grab lunch.  By the way, you’d like it to be somewhat healthy.

Scenario #2:  You need to pack a lunch for your child.  You didn’t quite make it to the grocery store last night, so you’re scrounging to see what you have around as well as what you can put into a lunch that she will eat and that he won’t complain that he’s already had for lunch two days this week.  By the way, you’d like it to be somewhat healthy.

Whichever scenario hits you most often, there are some tips that might help you navigate this meal of the day and keep health as a focus.

• Always put a fruit and/or vegetable in a lunch.  I keep a lot of “grab and go” options at my house just for lunches:  apples, oranges, bananas, baby carrots, etc.  These are easy to put into a lunch without any prep.  With my son Jack, we have to pack lunches all summer.  I tend to put both a fruit and a vegetable in as when he’s hungry (which he is from spending the morning at a basketball camp or swimming for two hours), he’s more likely to eat whatever is in his lunch bag.
• Frozen entrees tend to be a mainstay for adult lunches.  I have many co-workers who just bring five of them to work on Monday, plunk them in the freezer and then know they’ll have a ready lunch for each day.  If you choose the brands positioned as “healthy” like Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers and Kashi, these are great for helping with calorie and portion control.  But, even within these brands, the overall nutrition quality can vary.  Using NuVal as the guide, a week’s worth of top options for overall nutrition are:
  • Amy’s Brown Rice and Vegetable Bowl with Tofu (NuVal Score: 50)
  • Amy’s Black Bean and Vegetable Enchilada (NuVal Score: 44)
  • Kashi Pesto Pasta Primavera (44)
  • Lean Cuisine Roasted Turkey and Vegetables (42)
  • Kashi Southwest Chicken (40)
• Build the perfect sandwich.  My friend Darcy’s mom was a master at making the best sandwiches ever when we were kids.  Ever since then, I have been a fan of a good sandwich.  Even this mainstay, which is quick and easy, can be made nutritious by thinking through each component of it.  What kind of bread?  What’s the best meat option?  Cheese or no cheese?  Sandwiches are a great opportunity to sneak in veggies – a slice of tomato, a few slices of cucumber – they all add up over time. More recently, I’ve experimented with using some different options as spreads to add great flavor to sandwiches.  Roasted red pepper hummus, for example, adds a great punch to a sandwich (it adds a bit of nutrition, too).  Guacamole is another option or try some pesto.
• Pending allergies in your in your household or allergy policies at schools, nuts are a great addition to any lunch.  The most nutritious choices are walnuts and almonds – unsalted, of course.  Just a handful is all you need to help fill you up.
• I know many parents like to add chips and/or cookies into the lunch bag, but as I mentioned in my blog, I recommend you re-evaluate whether there’s room in you or your child’s eating habits for these foods which have limited nutritional value.

How do you live and breathe “quick and easy” at lunch?

Visit www.nuval.com to consider your next best lunch option.

At a recent conference, I attended a session put on by the Coca Cola Retailing Research Council called Seizing the Mealtime Moment.  The session focused on what matters most to us consumers at each meal of the day.

At breakfast we care about ROUTINE. 

At lunch we’re looking for QUICK and EASY.

At dinner, it has to TASTE GOOD, be EASY TO PREPARE, and have EVERYONE LIKE IT.  Even more interesting about dinner is that the number one reason we don’t fix dinner at home is because we’re too tired (I can totally relate!).

It feels like each of these topics is worthy of a discussion all its own, so I thought today we’d start with the B – breakfast. 

Routine in the morning is definitely the key for me.  In addition to a frosty cold Diet Mt. Dew (dietitians have vices, too.), the three options I tend to rotate are:

• 2 scrambled eggs, sometimes with asparagus and shredded cheese added (One of my mom’s favorites when I was growing up.  Great use for left over asparagus.)
• Yoplait Greek Yogurt, plain, fat free (NuVal score of 98!) with one Equal packet and some kind of fruit mixed in (my favorite is kiwi, with a NuVal score of 100)
• Kashi GoLean Truly Vanilla Instant Hot Cereal (NuVal score of 46!).  I love this cereal.  It’s got protein, fiber and omega-3s, so it’s a great way to start my day.

How can you build a healthy routine into your breakfast?  Some ideas are:

• Create a “breakfast” section of your pantry and refrigerator so your family can easily grab options.  Load these sections with fruit, low fat dairy, high fiber, whole grains, and lean protein.
• Find three or four healthy options that you like to eat, and stick to them.  Because we’re all driven against routine at breakfast, it’s a great place to build highly nutritious foods into your eating habits. 
• Post a “Breakfast Equation” chart on your refrigerator.  Something like:

     Shredded Wheat + skim milk + fruit in the fridge = a power packed breakfast

     Plain fat free yogurt + fruit in the fridge + a sprinkle of flax meal = the way to start my day

     Fortified egg substitute + leftover veggies + any cheese = hot stuff

What’s your breakfast routine?

Visit www.nuval.com to maximize nutrition in your breakfast routine.

A month or so ago, a colleague mentioned that what bothered her about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution was his lack of respect for food.  If you watched the televised program, you know that he filled a trash dumpster with nacho cheese and meat as a statement of how unhealthy the food was.  In my colleague’s mind, this was completely wasteful.  True, it was.

Respect for food is an interesting concept to mull over.  As I often do when I don’t necessarily have a strong opinion on a topic, I reached out to other registered dietitians to get their thoughts on what respect for food means.

Jan Patenaude, RD, CL:

My first thoughts are that we respect people, not objects/things, and food is just a “thing.”  But, I have a “healthy respect” for how to use my guns or car properly. I don’t “disrespect them” by using inappropriately or for the wrong purposes. (You don’t drive recklessly or after having a glass or two of wine. I wouldn’t use the gun to hammer a nail, etc.)

So, how do we “respect food?”   Using it for it’s appropriate purpose. . . yes, to NOURISH us. . . not to OVERNOURISH us. Buying and eating more than we need increases the cost of food nationwide/worldwide, increasing the lack of food in other places. It’s disrespectful to the food AND to other people.  Use it up, don’t waste it. Don’t buy so much it goes bad in your refrigerator.  Grow/raise it with respect. Dousing it with artificial herbicides, pesticides and such isn’t respecting the food. Raising the same food in the same place, without rotating the field isn’t respecting the food/crop. Respecting the land it’s raised on.

Rita Grandgenett, MS, RD:

#1 — The major way Americans disrespect food is the ease with which it is tossed in the garbage.  I have observed this in restaurants when food is left on plates; when “take out” containers are brought home and the food is thrown out; when kids say they want something, it is served to them, they decide they don’t want it and it is discarded; one or two bites of an apple or other piece of food is taken and then the rest gets tossed.  Awareness and education in PORTION CONTROL is the answer!!

#2 — Respect for food means:  delight in the colors and flavors of food and seasonings; enjoyment from the aromas that emanate when baking or cooking food; devising creative ways to use “planned-overs”; using all parts of the chicken or ham for entrees, soups, and mixed dishes.

Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, The Veggie Queen™:

Disrespect for food:  Most people don’t know or care where there food comes from or what’s in it. Knowing the hard working farmer who gets up early every morning to run the farm or show up at the farmer’s market so that you can eat, changes things. Also, people don’t take the time to fully appreciate eating their food. It’s a kind of throwaway – doesn’t mean anything because if it did, better food choices would be made, and eating in the car, in front of the TV or standing at the sink wouldn’t happen nearly as often.

Respect for food:  Having reverence for your food from the farm to the table to the mouth and appreciating everything involves in its production and cooking. Respect for food means eating “real” food that is connected to the earth in some way, rather than food that comes in packages filled with chemicals and preservatives. Most people have forgotten, or never knew, what truly natural food is all about.

Interesting comments, and indeed much to think about.  In your life, what respect or disrespect for food have you seen?

Visit www.nuval.com to see a system that respects the nutrition quality of foods.

I had an experience this morning that just made me laugh.  I had a check up with the eye doctor.  I’m sitting in the chair with some apparatus pushed up against my face, and the doctor says, “I see from your chart you’re a dietitian.  You’re probably interested in the diet I’m on.”  As it turns out, I wasn’t.  I was there for an eye check up.  This appointment was about my health, not his.  And as it turns out, the diet he’s on is crazy.  It has him rubbing testosterone cream on his arms once a day, apparently because he’s low in this hormone which is making him gain weight.  Oh, and by the way, the diet recommends he eat a low carb diet and exercise every day.

It’s an unfortunate truth that in our society we want glitz, glam and sex appeal.  We want there to be a catch, to be a magic bullet.  In reality, weight management isn’t glitz and glam.  It isn’t rubbing testosterone cream on your body every day or taking a diuretic or wearing a special suit in the sauna.  It’s boring, it’s day to day work, it’s routine.

That said, we are all creatures of habit.  So if we build in the right habits, live those habits every day, weight management won’t be a struggle and we won’t need the latest fad diet that guarantees we’ll lose 10 pounds this week.  There’s an opportunity for all of us to put those habits in place in our lives and the lives of our family members, and then not have to stress out and worry about it all the time.

And if you still need the glitz and glam, try a new type of exercise (I’m trying kettle bell classes right now!), take an adventure vacation (white water rafting is on my list), spice up the foods you eat or buy new trendy workout clothes.  These have to be better choices then rubbing testosterone on your arms every day.  . .

Visit www.nuval.com to choose nutritious foods to build into your daily habits.

A few months ago, my son came home from school with a water bottle, magnet, and toothbrush all branded by a local orthodontist group.  As it turns out, the orthodontist had been in his classroom that day talking about dental health.  While I’m not opposed to credentialed health professionals sharing important health information with kids, I am opposed to branded marketing materials being given to my child without my permission and at school.  I actually sent the items back, and called the business letting them know why I thought it was inappropriate and that because of their actions I would never use their company or services.

Some of you might think my actions were a bit over the top, but I think it was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for me.  Kids have parents and guardians for a reason – because their brains and intellect aren’t capable of reasoning at the same level as adults.  The job of all us parents is to guide our kids, help them learn the “rules” – all until the age when they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to make decisions on their own.  Parents are the gatekeepers.  It’s what you do, it’s what I do.  If the orthodontist wanted to do the right thing, she simply would have given the talk on dental health and not felt the need to hand out the marketing materials. 

Marketing and advertising of food to kids is a hot topic right now, too.  Consider this example.  With the recent launch of Toy Story 3 (the beauty of having kids is that you have a ready-made excuse to see great animated movies!), kids will beg for the box of cereal with a Buzz Lightyear figure in it or plead with mom and dad to take them to the local fast food restaurant for a Woody toy.  Are these kids thinking through whether that particular cereal is a nutritious choice or whether there are healthy items at that restaurant?  No.  They just want the toy.  That’s the way their minds work.  Layer this with the fact that many of the foods advertised to kids aren’t the healthiest choices, giving parents plenty of reasons to be fired up. 

Today, there are no laws or regulations in place indicating what foods can or can’t be advertised to kids, how often they can be advertised, where, etc.  The guidelines are currently voluntary for the food industry.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group, completed a survey of 128 companies to determine their policies for which foods can be advertised to kids.  CSPI graded the companies on their policies, and in the grading no companies received an A, 16 were in the B’s, 17 a C, 7 a D, and 95 companies received an F (87 for not having policies related to marketing food to kids).  Clearly, there is work to be done.

At the federal policy and advocacy level, there is much activity around this topic.  But every voice counts.   Just like I did with the local orthodontist, send an email to your favorite brands, talk to your local senators and representatives, or speak up at school. 

Visit nuval.com and consider this nutrition ranking system as the guide to which foods can be advertised to kids.

On Tuesday, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans final report was released.  If you’re not familiar with these guidelines, they are updated every five years, and used to set policy around healthy eating.  In total, the full report is more than 1,000 pages.  Needless to say, I haven’t read it all yet, but in what my husband would call a “People Magazine browse,” I did find some interesting nuggets worth blogging about.

One area of the report that struck me right away is the number of calories we get from beverages.  Here’s the breakdown:

The AVERAGE ADULT (19+) gets 394 calories a day from beverages:

• 114 from soda
• 108 from alcohol (someone is getting my share on most days!)
• 80 from fluid milk
• 67 from 100% fruit juice and juice drinks
• 26 from coffee and tea

KIDS aged 2-18 get 400 calories a day from beverages:

• 162 from milk
• 121 from soda
• 112 from 100% fruit juices and fruit drinks
• In kids age 14-18, soda, sports and energy drinks are the highest contributor of calories.

Intriguing data isn’t it.  Growing up, I remember drinking milk with every meal, getting a cold glass of water when I was hot from running around with my friends all day in the summer, and having lemonade or pop (remember, I’m from the Midwest) as a treat, maybe once a month.  But clearly, these numbers tell a different story.  Skim milk has 90 calories in a cup.  With the total ranging from 80-162 calories a day from milk, no one – adults nor kids – are getting enough milk and with it the calcium and vitamin D we all need.  Kids and adults alike are getting a hit of calories from pop – and this is straight sugar.  If adults quit drinking fully sugar-loaded pops, they could save more than 41,000 calories in a year.  That’s 12 pounds of weight.  For kids, the total is more than 44,000 calories in a year, or almost 13 pounds of weight.

Bottom line?  We all need to rethink our drinks.

Visit NuVal.com to find the scores of your usual beverages.

I’m trying to decide whether to be ticked off or not.  Here’s what set me off:

Chefs Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids

This headline appeared in my email inbox this morning.  As a part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, the group has called on chefs across the country to partner with schools to help kids build healthier eating habits. 

Really, chefs pushing healthy eating habits?  When you go out to eat, is it obvious in the menu that the chef is interested and knowledgeable about nutrition?  How are the portion sizes in restaurant foods?  How many “fried” foods are offered?  How often is fruit offered as a dessert? 

I took a look at the curriculum offered in the Bachelor’s Degree in Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of America to better understand the nutrition training that chefs might have.  From the curriculum listed online, six credits are dedicated to nutrition in this four-year program.  For desserts, there are more than 15 credits offered.  Really, chefs are who the Let’s Move group sees as the authorities on nutrition??

Hello, have you not heard of a group of 70,000 credentialed health professionals called dietitians who are the nutrition experts?

I can’t decide whether to be ticked off or not because I don’t know if it’s dietitians’ fault for not getting to the Let’s Move group and showcasing who and what dietitians are and how we can help drive this movement or whether it’s the Let’s Move group’s fault for not doing their research and reaching out to credentialed nutrition professionals.

So, I’m sitting here stewing. . .

Visit www.nuval.com to try a nutrition scoring system developed by a team of leading credentialed nutrition and health professionals.

Last week, I blogged (is that really a verb?) about the National Dialogue on Sodium put on by the American Society for Nutrition.  I talked in that blog about sodium because it was the main focus of the Dialogue and is a hot button in the minds of public health officials, the media and consumers right now.

But there’s a nutrient living in the shadow of sodium that I actually think deserves some attention, and which was discussed during the National Dialogue.  It’s sitting there, lurking in the shadows, just waiting for someone to notice its big potential.

Because it does have big potential.

While sodium can potentially raise your blood pressure (think heart disease), this nutrient can bring it down (think less risk of heart disease).  This little nutrient waiting to be discovered is potassium.  The recommended level is between 3,500 and 4,700 mg a day.  But both men and women get far less than what we need.

And I love this message.  Instead of all the negatives, getting more potassium can do a good thing for your body and your health.  It’s the power of food.  The reason we eat.  There’s something we need to eat more of.  What a refreshing change, right?

Where can you find potassium?  Of course, everyone thinks of bananas when it comes to getting more potassium.  But bananas don’t even make the top 10 when it comes to foods that are good sources of potassium.  Top choices include sweet potatoes, beet greens (never tried them myself, but I’m going to look at the Farmers’ Market and try them in a salad), tomato paste and puree (the Italian in me loves this!), potatoes, claims, yogurt, prune juice, oranges and juice, soybeans and tofu, white beans.  Lots to choose from, right?

The one cooking tip you need to know for retaining the potassium in foods is to not steam or boil them as the water can leach the potassium out of food.

Take some time and think about how you can get more potassium into your eating habits.  Help this nutrient get the attention it deserves!

Visit www.nuval.com to choose good sources of potassium with high scores, and high overall nutrition.