Applying the half plate rule at a party

Last night I went to a Young Life Leaders end of year party with some of my favorite people! Yeah, Young Life Capernaum! Young Life for High school and College kids that are differently-abled! The first thing I did when I arrived, was to check out the meal plan. Chicken and white rice casserole, fresh green beans, fresh fruit salad of mixed melons, Costco white rolls, and s'mores for dessert. I am so not into deprivation, but I also like to practice the half plate rule, so I plan! The half plate rule is to fill your plate half full of fruits and veggies, 1/4 full of your protein source, and 1/4 full of your carbohydrate source.

My plan:

• I know for sure I can make the fruit and green beans fill half of my plate. Great! Half way there! 
• There is dessert on the horizon, which I do want. It is not a great choice, but one I want to indulge in. I know that we will be having a fire, roasting marshmallows, making s'mores, laughing, and having fun! I would feel deprived if I did not make a s'more and eat it! (Not good)
• I will serve myself a small serving of the casserole that would count as my 1/4 plate protein serving.
•  I will opt out on the Costco white roll. If I am going to eat processed food for my grain serving, I would prefer the s'more! 
• I will fill my plate only 3/4 full because I know the s'more will be my carbohydrate 1/4 section of my plate. Remember to do this because dessert counts in your plate!

My plan worked. I filled up on fresh crispy green beans, a large serving of fruit, modest serving of casserole and a s'more. I was satisfied, not deprived, and highly enjoyed the entire meal and evening!

Using the half plate rule is easy to visualize. You know immediately if your choices are off and no one is ever asking you to deprive yourself!

Losing weight

If you are trying to lose weight, you have three choices; go on the latest greatest diet, exercise more, or make longterm lifestyle solutions! Conventional wisdom says that it is all about calories in and calories out. Get them under control and weight control will result. That is what the USDA suggests in their new dietary guidelines. Research is showing there may be more involved. Chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and other additives might be interfering with your endrocrine system and actually changing how your body deals with calories, as well as your metabolism, and possibly your fat cell number. Scientists still do not have all of the answers!

What can you do if this is true? My recommendations would be to implement lifestyle solutions like:

• Adopt the half plate rule but use smaller plates. Mounding a large plate, even following the half plate rule, will probably add weight. Remember half of your plate should be fruits and veggies. Aim for more veggies than fruits because they are less caloric.
• Adopt light recipes for your favorites. Most recipes can be just as delicious with reduced calories.
• Adopt the Meatless Monday idea. Have a meatless meal at least one day of the week.
• Make sure you are keeping your starches under control. Remember they are to fill only 1/4 of your plate. One serving of a grain is only 1/2 a cup, which is quite small.
• Eliminate processed foods from your diet as much as possible. Eat real foods. If it comes in a box, bag, or package, it is not real food. If it needs an ingredient list, it is not real food.
• Buy organic meats without antibiotics, or hormones and grass fed or free range. If cattle are given hormones to increase their growth, you are eating the very same hormones. Could these hormones be increasing your weight also? Find a great source of organic meat.
• Buy organic fruits and veggies at least for the most contaminated produce called the dirty dozen. Once again, eating pesticides could be interfering with your endocrine system and causing weight gain.
• Learn correct portions of meat, starches, and fruits, but eat unlimited veggies!
• Limit chemicals in your home. Use green products whenever possible.
• Exercise daily even if it is just brisk walking. Add more steps daily!
• Eat set meals and snacks (mini meals) and end mindless eating.

These are just a few things to think about when you are making lifestyle solutions. The way to personalize your plan is to keep a food journal for a couple of weeks. Evaluate your journal and clean up your problem areas. It is difficult but doable. Unless you want to fight this battle for the rest of your life, it is easier to make a few permanent lifestyle solutions that promote healthy eating and keep your weight under control!

EASTER EATS

The focus of many a holiday, is the family meal? We have our generational menu that has been passed down through the ages. Healthy or not, our kids cannot make it without the famous Jell-O salad with the vanilla ice cream, or the starchy carbohydrate array! Easter is no exception! Most of us will be making ham, potatoes, corn, bread or rolls, Jell-o, and maybe a token green salad or green veggie and pie. I am dining with my wonderful friend’s family. That is our meal plan, the traditional Easter meal! My friend asked me to bring a green salad, because in her words, “You guys like green stuff.” Too funny!

Should we just accept this traditional meal or look for some ways to make some changes? Well? My choice is always: “Follow the half plate rule when possible.” How would that look for the Easter meal? How about this menu plan:

·        Ham

·        Roasted Potatoes drizzled with olive oil, sea salt, pepper

·        Chopped salad full of colorful veggies (Easter is colorful)

·        Asparagus-cooked how you love it!

·        Sliced melons

·        Lightened dessert of choice

This would be a great meal, enjoyed by all. It’s similar to our traditional meal, but half of our plate would be full of veggies! Yeah! Usually melons would be our dessert of choice, but because this is a special holiday, we will add in the dessert. I guarantee that you would be satisfied and even feel better than the heavier filling meal.

Let’s think outside of the box with our meals. Changes do not mean doing without, just adding some new tasty, healthier foods! Change tastes better!

Obesity and Next Generation Food Pyramid

Are Obesity and the Food Pyramid related?

I wanted to let you know about some new changes taking place out there. I have never loved the USDA's current food pyramid. It is heavily into grains and people use it to justify eating junk food. Well, I need grains, but alas cookies do not count! Well, the USDA has made some new guidelines and will publish a new food pyramid later this year! Wow, I won't have to recommend the Mediterranean Food Pyramid anymore! Maybe? Well, here are their new recommendations:

•  Enjoy your food, but eat less.
•  Avoid over-sized portions.
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables (The half plate rule)
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

These healthy diet habits are not difficult to incorporate into your life!

Another very scary piece of info I ran into was on the Obesity.org site. There have been a lot of studies done on children and adults and exercise does not seem to help in the development of obesity. Eight year old kids that exercise heavily do not seem to be thinner or have better BMI's than those eight year olds that do not exercise. That does not mean exercise is not important because it is very important for your general health, but not that helpful if you are overweight or obese or hoping not to become. What are we to do as a society?

I believe that you are what you eat! It is of extreme importance to eat healthy, avoid sugar and processed foods, develop a meal plan for calories and follow it with your family, and follow the above guidelines by the USDA. Practice portion control, eat less, follow the half plate rule, go for low fat milk products and watch salt intake and stop drinking sugary drinks. Please do not buy them for your family. The average person drinks 450 calories of drinks per day and that adds up to 45 pounds of weight gain per year! Each person needs have a food policy that says, "I don't drink calories!" I was at a dinner last week and there were various sodas, and only one diet soda that had caffeine. When the hostess asked me what I would like to drink, I said "I would love a glass of water!" It was not that hard. This one "food policy" that you develop for yourself, could be the difference between obesity and health!

Yes, I do believe that Obesity is related to food choices more than exercise habits. It is hard to make a general rule, because I believe that there are other causes too. Obesity is complicated, and I do not believe that scientists totally understand what causes it, at this point. Dieting and Genetics and Hormones are all factors to be considered too!

Bare Bones Nutrition Week 2

Greetings! Last week your assignment was to journal for at least three days. People who journal have the greatest success in weight control because they can see their problem areas and change them. Hopefully you were able to review your journals and saw some habits. Maybe you found you snacked in between meals, ate many meals out, ate many calories after dinner, ate only 2 veggie servings this week.....There are way too many habits for me to list them all.  

These are a few very basic generic ideas that you can begin to add to your life. Small changes can make big differences. 

• Eat breakfast even if it is a late breakfast.  Breakfast eaters usually eat 300 calories less per day.
• Try to begin practicing the half plate rule for lunch and dinner. This rule says that half of your plate should be filled with vegetables. This will be hard at first. Try to include only one healthy high carbohydrate food (grains, rice, fruit, legumes, corn or potatoes) (1/2 cup to 1 cup) and your protein source on the other half of your plate.
• Decrease your portions sizes a little. Eat the foods that you love, just a little less of them. (This is the easiest way to lose weight)
• Increase your fruits and veggies and eat them first. Try snacking on fruit or include fruit with your cereal for breakfast. They are very filling.
• Try to eat slower and observe the 20 minute rule. (It takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain it is full.) Slow it down and you will eat less.
• Clean out your cupboards of all booby traps and hidden stashes and leftover Christmas candy that you got for 1/2 off.
• Begin to be aware of the processed foods and foods containing sugar and decrease them.  
• Continue to journal at least a couple of days and continue to look for any patterns or triggers that cause you to eat. 
• Check out some of the new Diabetes cookbooks. The ones from Prevention and Better Homes and Gardens offer great recipes full of vegetables. The Diabetic diet is a very healthy way to eat!
• Try fixing a huge vegetable soup this week. Healthy and great for lunches. I am smelling a ham soup with green beans, mixed veggies, cabbage, potatoes, and garbanzo beans that I just made. (I do practice what I preach :) )
• Try and notice particular times and situations that you feel you emotionally eat.

If you saw any big habits and want to start working on them, please contact me and I will blog about that habit this week. Look for ways that you can make small changes. It takes a month to break a habit and if you can work on 3 habits a month you will be doing great. No one can change everything at once!