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.

A decade ago, I had the opportunity to work with one of the greatest group of people, the nutrition and labeling team at The Pillsbury Company.  Each individual had a unique set of talents, skills and personality traits that perfectly complemented each other.  And everyone respected what each person brought to the table.  It was great.

As you can imagine, many people who work in the food industry are what I would call “foodies.”  They are interested in pretty much every aspect of food, and in general, love to cook.  There were, however, periodic exceptions to this last part, and as you can imagine, it was met by shock and horror by the rest of us.

One day, Missy – one of our 20-something coworkers – asked a question.  “How do you make corn-on-the-cob?”  You can’t imagine how many jaws in the group dropped open.  After all, corn-on-the-cob doesn’t even require a recipe.  How could a person not know how to make corn-on-the-cob?  It was later revealed that Missy didn’t know how to cook squash either.

In reality, I think there are a lot of people like Missy.   People have now become “meal assemblers” vs. cooks.  The microwave is the preferred cooking tool.  Ovens never need to be cleaned because they’re never used.

The question, though, is whether this impacts nutrition or not.  Does a movement toward meal assembly mean that healthy eating habits are out of reach?

The concern with the lack of cooking habits is that it is directly attached to an overall lack of understanding of food.  If kids are not taught to cook, it’s likely they are not being taught the basics about food.  It’s about the total experience with food.  Touching it, understanding it, learning to appreciate the various flavors, how they all fit together, and as a part of this, the nutrition that different foods impart.

The other concern with a lack of cooking knowledge is that these people tend to eat out more, and it’s definitely been shown that foods eaten out contain more calories and less overall nutrition than foods prepared at home.

So what can you do, if you are one of those people who just never learned to cook?  Consider these options:

• Community ed programs often offer basic cooking classes at very reasonable prices.
• Find a cooking mentor.  There are many individuals who would love to share their experience of cooking with you.  Is there a retired, grandma-type in your neighborhood?  She’d be a great cooking mentor!
• Cooking doesn’t need to be difficult.  On the internet, you can find many 30-minute or less, 5 ingredient or less recipes.  These are great starting points.
• Have a cooking party!  Invite all your other friends who don’t have much experience cooking, and require that they bring ingredients for a recipe to cook and share.  Focus the party on cooking a meal together.  In the midst of all the fun, you’ll be learning how to cook.
• Rent the movie Julie and Julia.   It will definitely inspire you to cook!

Visit www.nuval.com for trade up options in your new favorite recipes.