Welcome to the new blog on WUH which is written by a registered dietitian so you know you’re getting the most accurate nutrition information to make the best choices for your healthy eating lifestyle.
National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign promoted annually in March by The American Dietetic Association. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating habits. This year’s theme slogan is EAT RIGHT.
Obviously, eating right means eating healthy, and eating healthy means following recommendations according to the Food Guide Pyramid, The Dietary Guidelines, and The American Heart Association. Eating right doesn’t have to be complicated. The major recommendations from all three organizations emphasizes fruit, vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy products, lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts. Foods to limit are those high in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars.
Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are our nation's No. 1 killer. To urge Americans to join the battle against these diseases, Congress has required the president to proclaim February "American Heart Month”.
Top Ten Ways to Help Children Develop Healthy Habits
Be a positive role model. If you’re practicing healthy habits, it’s a lot easier to convince children to do the same.
Get the whole family active. Plan times for everyone to get moving together. Take walks, ride bikes, go swimming, garden or just play hide-and-seek outside.
Limit TV, video game and computer time. These habits lead to a sedentary lifestyle and excessive snacking
Encourage physical activities that children really enjoy. Let children experiment with different activities until each finds something that he or she really loves doing. They’ll stick with it longer if they love it.
Be supportive. Focus on the positive instead of the negative. Everyone likes to be praised for a job well done. Celebrate successes and help children and teens develop a good self-image.
Set specific goals and limits, such as one hour of physical activity a day or two desserts per week other than fruit. When goals are too abstract or limits too restrictive, the chance for success decreases.
Don’t reward children with food. Candy and snacks as a reward encourage bad habits. Find other ways to celebrate good behavior.
Make dinnertime a family time. When everyone sits down together to eat, there’s less chance of children eating the wrong foods or snacking too much. Get the kids involved in cooking and planning meals.
Make a game of reading food labels. The whole family will learn what’s good for their health and be more conscious of what they eat.
Be involved. Be an advocate for healthier children. Insist on good food choices at home, school and in your community.
So you’ve decided, again, to eat healthier and lose weight. That’s great, but if this is the same New Year’s resolution you’ve made year after year, obviously, it hasn’t become a habit or an adopted healthy lifestyle. Are you healthier than one year ago? Are your labs better, ie cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure? Have you been able to go off of some health related medications? If not, it takes more than just saying you’ll do it, and unwillingly choking down healthier foods because you should. What I’ve learned throughout the years of working with people who want to lose weight, is that they need to work on changing their relationship with food. Just like a troubled marriage couple who seek counseling to work on their relationship with each other, you and food may have the same troubled relationship. Maybe you use food to cover up issues or negative feelings that others don’t know about. Is food too much the center of attention in your house or clubs/organizations, church, etc.? Are your eating habits unorganized, unplanned? Sometimes a person may be a great leader, planner, organizer in work and family life, but issues with food is totally different as seen by obesity status. How can we tackle that? How can we use those wonderful skills you have in your everyday life to overcome unhealthy eating habits? First, make a commitment to put your health first. In doing that, you need to start making yourself think about your food consumption for the day (meal planning ahead) and at the very time you are eating.
Thought I would share a study about controlling food cravings. Even though cravings may be a small part of learning out to eat properly, they can sabotage weight loss and weight maintenance efforts. Cravings are most frequently cited reason for non-compliance with a dietary regimen. Craving is defined as an intense desire to consume a particular food or food type that is difficult to resist. What causes cravings? Maybe biological, cognitive, or learning traits. Neurotransmitters such as serotonin may play a role in carbohydrate cravings, obesity and depression. What can trigger cravings? External cues (seeing favorite food on TV or seeing others eating); Internal cues (mood, hunger); Habit.
November is American Diabetes Month®—a time to shine a spotlight on a serious disease that leads to potentially life-threatening complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and amputation.
This year, we need to take a bolder, more audacious approach to American Diabetes Month. Consider that:
24 million children and adults in the United States live with diabetes
57 million Americans are at risk for type 2 diabetes
1 out of every 3 children born today will face a future with diabetes if current trends continue
We ask you to join the American Diabetes Association in launching a national movement to Stop Diabetes – help us confront it, fight it, and most importantly, stop it.
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