This month has been ripe with nutrition announcements, and as the last day of the month has arrived, January 2011 will definitely go down in nutrition infamy.  Today, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were launched.

From my perspective, it’s important to note what the Dietary Guidelines are and aren’t.  They are:

• Overall guidelines on nutritious eating habits
• Updated every 5 years to ensure the guidelines are in line with the most current science
• Useful for setting policy guidelines for the national school lunch program, food labeling regulations, offerings in federal feeding programs like Women, Infants and Children

At a big picture level, the guidelines make two recommendations:

• Balance calories in with calories out to maintain a healthy weight
• Make sure the calories you get are nutrient dense, choosing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, low fat dairy more often and foods that high in saturated fat, sodium, added sugar, refined grains and trans fat less often

This isn’t new news, is it?  And, as a colleague of mine often likes to say, the guidelines don’t get dinner on the table.  In reality, most consumers won’t even read the updated guidelines, or know what parts of the guidelines have changed in the past five years.  And in all honesty, I’m okay with that because the guidelines are primary used as policy, not really as a “how to” guide for the day in and day out of having healthy eating habits.  For this, consumers need tools, whether an online resource that builds grocery lists from healthy recipes or a support group that understands the day-to-day struggles of healthy eating and weight management.   

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are important as the backbone of nutrition policy in our country, no question.  But without translation, without tools to interpret, they don’t help the average consumer make better food choices.

Visit www.nuval.com for a tool that does guide you to more nutritious food choices and which is based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

I once read that ten cents of every dollar spent in the United States is spent at Walmart stores.  While I’m not sure if this statistic is still true, it’s phenomenal to consider the potential impact on our country with any action Walmart takes.

Just last week, Walmart made an announcement that has the potential to impact our country’s health in a really positive way.  They announced a major initiative around nutrition and health, including the following:

• Nutrition improvements to their private label brand, Great Value.  Walmart will reduce sodium by 25%, eliminate added trans fat, and reduce added sugar by 10% by the year 2015.
• Prices on fruits and vegetables will be reduced in an effort to increase the amount of these healthy food options that shoppers purchase.  Walmart will also work to ensure that foods made with whole grain don’t cost more than their counterparts made with refined grains (think whole wheat flour vs. refined white flour).
• Walmart will develop their own “seal of approval” to designate “good for you” food options.  The criteria of the system will be based on fat, sugar and sodium content of the food.
• Address food desserts.  We’ve talked on this topic before on this blog, and Walmart is stepping up to the plate to ensure healthy food options are available in communities which currently have limited access to good food.

While these promised changes have impact simply because of the number of consumers who shop at Walmart, the added bonus is that action taken by this one company will propel others to follow suit.  Companies that compete with or sell to Walmart will be motivated to head towards change, too. 

We live in a time with serious nutrition and health issues – obesity, heart disease, rising rates of diabetes in kids.  Serious issues call for serious action.  I’m encouraged that Walmart has announced their plan for serious action, and am hopeful that they will greatly exceed their stated goals.

All retailers should visit www.nuval.com to learn about a system that can build upon your health initiatives and guide your shoppers to more nutritious food choices while in your stores.

This past weekend, my family was at the local Menards store looking for garage storage options.  Walking through a home improvement store like Menards, you expect to see flooring options, a paint section, stacks of lumber.  But are you expecting to see rows of shelves stocked with food?

Well that’s exactly what we saw during our Menards shopping trip.

It raises the point that food is everywhere in our culture.  The station where I get gas offers “2 hot dogs for $1.00.”  Walgreens has gallons of milk for $1.88.  Furniture stores offer coffee, hot chocolate and cookies.    We wonder how we’ve become an overweight society, but don’t think through the pervasiveness of food in our culture.

Having worked for five years at Target, I understand why all these companies want to sell food.  Groceries are something we need for everyday living.  So people will shop stores more frequently if they have food.  You may only hit the home improvement store once every couple of months, but if you know they may potentially have good deals on food, will you stop in once a week?  And while you’re there, the odds are you might buy some non-food products.  That’s the goal of the store.

But it puts a lot of pressure on us to have the will power to continually say “no.”

What we all really need is skill power, behaviors that give our will power a break.  Here are some of my ideas for building skills to manage the fact that food is everywhere and not going away anytime soon:

• Make a family rule that you only buy food at certain stores.  This then pre-empts nagging kids asking for candy and you from grabbing a fancy coffee every time you stop at the gas station.
• Change your driving patterns.  I have three fast food restaurants less than a half-mile from my house.  But I choose to take a different route and not drive by them.  Out of sight, out of mind.
• Stay focused on the task at hand and what’s on “the list.”  At the home improvement store, I was looking for garage storage options, not food.  So I bought garage storage, not food.

What ideas do you have for building skill power against the plethora of food in our everyday living?

Visit www.nuval.com to understand the overall nutrition quality of all the food options out there.

For roughly the past five years, states, cities and counties have been implementing laws and regulations requiring restaurants to provide calories and sometimes other nutrients on menus and menu boards.  In 2010, legislation was passed that will make this mandatory for all restaurants with 20 or more establishments under the same name (think McDonalds, Taco Bell, TGIFridays).  The thought is that posting calories on these menu boards will help consumers make healthier choices and turn the tide on rising rates of obesity in our country.

On Friday, however, Time.com highlighted a study done in Washington state, showing that posting of calorie information on fast food items did not impact sales of items nor shift sales to more healthy items on the menu.  Other studies in New York City and elsewhere have shown conflicting results, some indicating the posting of this information helps, some showing it doesn’t impact consumer choice in restaurants.

My assessment of this data, in part, relates to the fact that consumers are smart enough to know that it isn’t just about one nutrient.  You can’t base your eating patterns off of just one nutrient, even if it is calories.  Diet Coke doesn’t have any calories per se, but it also doesn’t provide any of the good nutrients your body needs (think fiber, calcium, vitamin C).  Some research suggests, too, that simply the taste of sweetness (even if there are no calories) impacts what we eat the rest of the day and our ongoing craving for sweet foods.  So basing a decision off of just calories, or any one nutrient alone isn’t enough.

Visit www.nuval.com to see a system that gives you the full nutrition assessment on every food it ranks.

Just today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed new nutrition criteria for the School Lunch Program.  This is the first update to the guidelines in 15 years, and the refresh includes the following nutrition recommendations:

• Decrease the amount of starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, corn and green peas, to one cup a week.
• Reduce sodium in meals over the next 10 years. A high school lunch now has about 1,600 milligrams of sodium. Over the next decade, the goal is to reduce this level to 740 milligrams or less of sodium for grades through 9-12, 710 milligrams or less for grades 6-8, and 640 milligrams or less for grades K-5.
• Establish calorie maximums and minimums for the first time. For lunch: 550 to 650 calories for grades K-5, 600 to 700 for grades 6-8, 750 to 850 for grades 9-12.
• Serve only unflavored 1% milk or fat-free flavored or unflavored milk.
• Increase the fruits and vegetables kids are offered. The new rule requires that a serving of fruit be offered daily at breakfast and lunch and that two servings of vegetables be offered daily at lunch.  There are also rules around serving a variety of vegetables.
• Increase whole grains substantially. The proposed rules require that half of grains served must be whole grains.
• Minimize trans fat by using products where the nutrition label says zero grams of trans fat per serving.

As I mentioned above, these are proposed guidelines.  The way the system works is that guidelines are proposed, all interested parties are allowed to comment (due April 13^th), all the comments are reviewed, and a final decision put in place.    

With more than 32 million kids across the country eating school lunch every day, nearly a third of kids in the U.S. are now overweight or obese, and in light of the future cost demands of treating the diseases obesity can lead to, the nutrition criteria for school lunch is an important issue. 

While you may not consider yourself politically active, the publication of these proposed guidelines provides an opportunity for all of us to get involved in this important issue.  It can be as simple as contacting your school foodservice director to encourage him/her to support the updates, or sending comments directly to the USDA (comments are accepted on their website).  It’s a call to action for all of us to support the future of today’s kids.

Visit www.nuval.com to learn more about pilot programs in schools in Independence, MO.

Whether you’re a fantasy football addict,  a scrapbooker or a Human Resource Professional, there’s something to be said for documentation.  In fantasy football, it’s who’s scoring the points, who has the most yards and deciding which players to activate each week.  Scrapbookers document their family histories, great trips, or their children’s childhoods.  HR professionals document just about everything.

When it comes to managing weight, documentation is one of the top success factors.  Life is busy, and food and exercise get fit into the rest.  So it can be hard to have a real sense of what you’re eating, the times of day you struggle with, or where exercise might fit in.  Knowing that you’re going to write it down also forces you to take a step back and think about what you’re going to eat before you eat it.  Documenting your weight over time (whether it’s once a week or once a month), can help you see pounds that slowly add on over time.

Here are some suggestions on how you might start documenting your health habits:

• For three days (choose at least one weekend day), write down everything you eat and drink.  Then sit down and take a look at it.  Did you get in 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day?  Is eating out at lunch the break down for you?  Do you sit down at 9 pm to wind down and find yourself snacking?  Or are you living off of basketball gym or hockey rink concession stands on the weekends?  Take a look at where improvements can be made in your overall eating habits.  Set goals, such as always having a fruit or vegetable at breakfast or only eating lunch out once a week.  While you may not choose to document your eating habits on an ongoing basis, just this exercise can make you see where there might be areas for improvement.
• If you are looking to lose weight, tracking on an ongoing basis can definitely be the habit that leads you to success.  Look online for food tracking tools, or make up one of your own.  It can be as simple as adding it to your calendar or jotting it as notes on your iPad or phone.  Set goals for your eating habits, and track how well you do.  People can get discouraged if they have a celebration dinner out or a big event where they over-indulge.  But still write it down.  Overtime, you’ll be able to notice patterns in what you’re eating. 
• Meal planning can be another way of documenting.  If you think through and write down what you’re having for dinner all this week, you’re more likely to make sure it includes healthy options.  As you’ve got it all planned, you’re more likely to stick to the plan.
• For most people, their weight doesn’t jump up dramatically in two months.  Most often, we put on 2-5 pounds a year, and then suddenly realize we need bigger sizes of clothes.  For this reason, documenting your weight is a good idea.  Even if you write it down once a month, over time you’ll be able to manage the number to ensure it stays in a healthy range. 
• Tracking activity can be an activity for the whole family.  It can be set up as a challenge – can mom and dad exercise as much as the kids (and trust me this can be hard to do, with gym class and kids’ sports!)?  Can the family walk enough miles to get to Disney World?

Whatever you’re preferred method, documenting can make a big difference in managing weight.

Visit www.nuval.com if you want to include your food scores in your documenting.

It’s January, that time of year when everyone becomes more health conscious, and many of us start setting weight loss goals.  Whether it’s the rebound from the holiday cookies and New Year’s parties, or the thought of getting into a swim suit over spring break, weight loss is the topic of the month.

But soon, much of this intense focus on weight management will fade.  I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer here, but it is the reality of New Year’s resolutions.  Many of us stick to the goal for a few weeks, then revert to our old habits.

The issue, though, is that weight management is a huge issue in our country.  As a part of my job, I do a lot of presentations, and below is a slide I often show.  In a nutshell, in a very short time – just 20 years – our nation has become obese. 

Because of the importance of this issue, my new year’s resolution is to blog about weight management once every week, giving tips for maintaining or getting to a healthy weight, talking about kids and weight, providing my professional opinion on news items related to weight management – weighing in on this important topic, so to speak.  It’s a topic that touches all our lives, and one that definitely warrants this level of “ink.”  So starting next week, watch for the new segment “Weighing In.”

Visit www.nuval.com to discover high scoring foods that can help you manage your weight.

I am outraged at the Washington Post  article that crossed my desk last week.  It’s been a week, and I’m still outraged. 

The article highlighted the fact that in the new and improved Weight Watchers point system, fruit is now zero points, meaning it is a “free food.”  Apparently, there are some health professionals who believe this is not a good idea.  They’re suggesting that fruit doesn’t pack enough of a nutrition punch for the calories and sugar it contains.  They’re also saying that people trying to lose weight need fewer carbohydrates, not more.

But here’s my issue.  The article says that fruit doesn’t pack enough nutrition punch.  Compare to WHAT?!  Candy bars?  100 calorie pack cookies?  Trail mix?  Yogurts (most of which are sugar sweetened)?  In all seriousness, the only food category I can think of that is more nutrient dense and low in calories is vegetables.  And yes, as a dietitian, I would say that vegetables are a better choice than fruits.  But seriously, people aren’t often choosing between fruits and vegetables; they’re choosing between fruits and candy bars or 100 calorie packs or trail mix or yogurt, none of which are a better nutrition choice than fruit.

Now on to the carbohydrate issue.  I agree that in the U.S. we have become overconsumers of carbs.  But it isn’t in the form of fruit.  As the data indicates and as I’ve addressed previously in this blog, we’re getting it from regular pop, doughnuts, muffins, pasta and breads made with white, refined flour – all of which pack very little nutrition punch when put up against fruit.

So the bottom line?  Weight Watchers is right.  Eat whole fruits.  Count them as zero points.  Choose them instead of the plethora of other snacks and side dishes that have far less nutrition quality. 

Visit www.nuval.com to use a system that understands the value of fruits in overall eating habits, ranking them as one of the highest scoring food categories.