Fix Your Diet in 21 Days?

Random Thought:

So there is a new diet on the block called the 21-Day Fix. If you have been following my blog at all, you would have already figured out that I am not too keen on all the fad diets that pop up from time to time. I do try to keep an open mind with the blind hope that somebody somewhere will advocate for a healthy diet that actually meets people's nutritional needs without giving them heart disease or osteoporosis. However, all the diets I've covered so far have all come up short in one way or another. I think it's time to figure out how this diet stacks up.

So our random questions of the day are:

What is the diet? Does it work? What are the pros and cons? blah, blah, blah ;)

The Beach Body company is behind this new way of eating with the collaboration of Autumn Calabrese, a supposed famed celebrity trainer and bikini competitor. I'm gonna be honest. I'm not too excited to read that the mastermind behind this whole thing is a bikini model, but like I said, I'm going to try to keep an open mind. The diet goes along with their 21-Day Fix workout program. It's based on the idea that it takes 21 days to form a habit. After you go through all 21 days, in theory, it will be part of your routine to eat healthy, and you just keep living your life in a healthy manner... 21 days at a time (21-Day Simple Fitness).

To follow this plan, you have to buy the package which includes the instruction packet, recipes, and workout videos, but the real proverbial meat and potatoes of this diet are the containers. This plan supposedly helps you with portion control and getting the proper foods in the proper amounts by putting all of your food into little Tupperware-like containers:

Source: https://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/21-day-fix-simple-fitness-eating.do?ICID=BLOG_BB_21DF

I really want to know how these containers compare to the suggested servings/# of servings from the USDA. (I know I'm beating a dead horse with the My Pyramid references, but seriously, that is the recipe to healthy diet so that's that). I was able to get some specifics without actually purchasing the packet (which runs for about $60 + shipping and handling if you're curious). However, I can't get the whole gist without buying it.

So apparently there are 6 different colored containers. I found one YouTube video that measured the containers, but the company wants you to just buy the containers so they don't have information published to verify. Here's what that video said:

Color Container	Size		Food Group
Green	8 oz	1 cup	Veggies
Purple	8 oz	1 cup	Fruit
Red	5 oz	2/3 cup-ish	Proteins
Yellow	4 oz	1/2 cup	Carbs
Blue	2 oz	1/4 cup	Healthy Fats
Orange (x2)	1 oz	1/8 cup (2 tbsp)	Seeds & Dressings

According to Beach Body's Meal Planner, for a 1500-1799 Calorie diet, you should eat 4 green, 3 purple, 4 red, 3 yellow, 1 blue, and 1 orange. That equals 4 cups veggies, 3 cups fruit, 20 oz proteins, 1 1/2 cups carbs, 4 tbsp healthy fats, and 2 tbsp dressings and seeds. Let's compare that to the USDA's recommendations. Since these recommendations are for a range of Calories, I chose to compare it to a 1600 Calorie meal plan from the Choose My Plate guidelines.

Food Group	21-Day Fix	USDA
Veggies	4 cups	2 cups
Fruit	3 cups	1 1/2 cups
Proteins	20 oz	5 oz
Carbs	1 1/2 cups	2 1/2 cups (grains)
Healthy Fats	4 tbsp	5 tsp (<2 tbsp)
Seeds & Dressings	2 tbsp	Fall under proteins and oils, respectively
Dairy	N/A	3 cups

Overall, the 21-Day fix diet is SUPER high in protein, veggies, and fruit, pretty low in grains, and completely void of dairy from what I can tell. I do love the thought of people getting more fruits and veggies, but this is a little excessive. Granted, they might explain more in the diet book, but I'm not buying that for the purpose of this blog lol.

I do have to note that this comparison is flawed. First of all, the 21-Day Fix diet categorizes their food groups differently. Mainly, they have a carbs group which I am comparing to the grains food group, and they separate out seeds, dressings, fats, and proteins while the My Pyramid just has proteins and oils food groups. Secondly, that guy in the video measured the containers in fluid ounces. Solid cups do not equal liquid cups, and ounces of meat do not equal ounces of fluid.

Regardless of the exact science of it all, I'm not a huge fan. It's too far off from our recommended nutritional needs. The diet is too new to be extensively researched to see if it actually works to lose weight, but I recommend to save yourself the 60 bucks and use the free resources at choosemyplate.gov.

Weird side note: 

Did you know that it actually takes much longer to make a habit than 21 days?! Apparently, we have been misinterpreting research from the 50's this whole time with this idea about 21 days. Seriously, I had no idea, but according to this article in the Huffington Post, it takes anywhere between 18-254 days to form a habit. On average, it's about 66 days, so you'd have to go through the program 3 times before you eat like that unconsciously. Now it's official - I don't like this diet lol.

5 Things Every Dietitian Would Like for You to Know

Random thought:

I met a woman at work that was very, very eager to meet me once she read my badge with my job title. In the middle of breakfast service, she proceeded to try to tell me in short segments (in between me running around from resident to resident) how she lost weight by eating no grains and how she wanted to become a nutritionist. While I absolutely welcomed her enthusiasm, I really had to bite my tongue because there were quite a few things I wanted to correct her on. So just to get it off of my chest, here it is:

5 Things Every Dietitian Would Like for You to Know

#1. I am not a nutritionist.

Fun fact: Dietitian ≠ Nutritionist. In layman's terms, they do, but if you ask any one of us, we would say dietitian. In most states the term "nutritionist" means absolutely nothing. A nutritionist does not require any certification or education. To become a dietitian, in the least, you need a few things:

• Bachelor's degree (usually in nutrition or related field)
• Complete an internship (not easy to get into and not easy to complete, usually lasts about a year)
• Pass RD exam (much like how registered nurses need to pass their qualifying exam)
• Keep up with continuing education credits to keep credentials

The ADA has started a new term "RDN" which means Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist. Not many of us like to use it, and I don't know a single one of us that would just say nutritionist unless we don't feel like correcting someone (American Dietetic Association).

#2. I don't care what you ate for breakfast today.

Well, I do, kind of. I do want everyone to eat well and take care of their bodies, and I love it when people are excited about my chosen profession. I don't, however, need to hear your entire dietary history while waiting in line for coffee. There is a time and place for everything, and I would be glad to discuss your diet and health on a one-on-one basis if you would like a personal counseling session....just not while I'm running my errands or socializing with my friends and family.

#3. I am not a food Nazi.

This is a democracy. I will not tell you what you are/are not allowed to eat. Contrary to popular belief, I actually don't plan as many meals as you might think. If someone were to ask for my help with their diet, I would help them choose healthy foods and meals, but I would never give them a sheet of planned out meals for a week and tell them to eat it. #1 That doesn't help anyone learn how to eat healthy on their own. #2 It is impossible for me to know every single one of your preferences.

#4. I eat dessert.

..and chips, and fried foods, and I drink caffeinated beverages. What kind of dietitian would I be if I preached balancing healthy and unhealthy foods if I myself could not practice it? Granted, I don't eat chips every day; and I do prefer other methods of cooking over frying, but my diet is not perfect. Actually, I hope to God that everyone's diets aren't perfect. I want you to be happy and satisfied and healthy, not sad and resentful and two seconds away from a binge.

#5. I am not a chef.

To say that I love to eat and that I love to cook is definitely an understatement. However, I did not go to culinary school. I have never been taught proper cooking techniques besides what I learned in my mother's kitchen and my recipe app, and I can't keep track of every single ingredient ever discovered or made. My husband and I actually had a funny conversation about whether cumquats were vegetables or fruits today. Honest to goodness I had no idea. You who did know, though? Google. I searched "cumquats", Google asked me if I meant "kumquats", and then I learned that they are fruit. I am not a culinary encyclopedia, but I will gladly help you research whatever it is you'd like to learn.

In a nutshell, that about gives you a good summary of how dietitians work. Now you know that I'm not perfect, I don't know everything, and I am not a nutritionist lol. Hopefully, you still trust that my education and experience qualify me to continue my rants on this blog ;)

Eat Like a Caveman?

Random Thought:
 
Well, another academic year is underway. With every class I teach, I hear about new crazy diet tactics, and I love having discussions with my students about the flaws of all these new fads. One way of eating that I keep getting more and more questions about is the Paleo diet. It's been around for a while, but I haven't really made the time to really research it. Instinctively, I think it's just another trend that will come and go, but I think it's time to give it some more thought.

So my random question of the day is:

What is the Paleo diet and what are its pros and cons?

It's pretty common knowledge that the Paleo diet is short for "Paleolithic" giving homage to our caveman ancestors, and it is a "hunter-gatherer" diet where you only eat what could have been hunted and gathered AKA no processed foods. Here a list from the official Paleo website of food that should not be eaten:

1. Grains
2. Legumes (peas and peanuts)
3. Dairy
4. Refined sugar
5. Potatoes
6. Processed foods
7. Salt
8. Refined processed oils

If you paid attention to the food pyramid for half a second while you were in school or read some of my other blogs, you would notice that 2 of those foods listed are actual food groups determined to be necessary by the USDA in order to obtain all of the essential nutrients for optional health.

When we cut out dairy (and dairy replacers) we are drastically reducing our opportunities for vitamin D and calcium. No other foods compare to dairy in terms of these two nutrients. I refer back to my blog on raw food diets on the research related to poor intake of calcium and vitamin D. As for grains (I'm talking whole grains, not processed/refined), they supply b-vitamins, iron, and fiber. When you don't eat enough of one food group, you're often eating too much of another. For instance, getting too much meat can give you too much fat and protein, putting you at risk for heart and kidney disease. Getting too little fiber can put you at higher risk for diabetes, heat disease, and colon disease (Mayo Clinic). It's all about the balance, and removing these food groups (in my opinion) throws your nutrient intake off-balance.

According to paleodiet.com, and I quote "The Paleo Diet, the world’s healthiest diet, is based upon the fundamental concept that the optimal diet is the one to which we are genetically adapted. The therapeutic effect of The Paleo Diet is supported by both randomized controlled human trials and real-life success stories". Now that sure does sound convincing; however, I never trust testimonials, and all of the research they quote in their "research" section does not actually examine this diet. It just has links about how dairy is bad for you and how unprocessed foods are good for you. I really hate this website. It could trick just about anybody into eating this way because of how convincing the website is set up - supposed research, fancy educated people with pictures on the front page, testimonials and blogs - very professional.

I can't trust it, though, because they are giving me a biased view. I need an outsider's opinion. After some research on the handy dandy internet, I found two really interesting articles. The first is an article written for The New Yorker. The author gives a kind of cynical view of the whole ordeal, but I like it. She delves into the history of how the diet came about and gives some insight on how impractical following this lifestyle can be. The other article gives a pretty good explanation of what "hunter and gatherers" really are and compares modern-day humans to those that were alive during the Paleolithic era. If you have any interest in following the Paleo lifestyle, I highly recommend that you read these two articles. Actually, I implore that you read these articles. I only wish I had more time to summarize in larger terms what these they have to say.

The fact of the matter is that we are never going to eat like our Cave Man ancestors.The plants and animals that were around then are not the same plants and animals available to us today. Maybe there's a reason why the early Paleolithic man often didn't live past his 30's. They ate what they could based off of what was available. They feasted in the summer and fall and went through famines in the winter. I actually read somewhere that it is speculated that we evolved to eat meat because not many plants grow in the winter. I always thought that was an interesting notion. Anyways, these humans were extremely active, and had very high risks for nutrient deficiencies.

Modern marvels bring new advances in food. Have you ever watched Mad Men? Only 50 years ago, getting an orange was a real treat because it came alllll the way from Florida. Now I'm not saying that all of our progress with food is healthy. In fact it's quite the contrary. Most of the food produced today is not even food in my book. Yes, junk food it is edible, but when there is nothing to gain nutritionally, it can hardly be called food. We should be embracing the opportunities that modern agriculture can give us instead of using it to process the crap out of everything to make it into the vague shape of something that is digestible.

That's one thing the Paleo diet and I can agree on. We need more real food and less junk. I love the thought of going back to our roots and cutting back on food that doesn't fall into a food group. I do not, however, condone eliminating anything from our diet, especially entire food groups. Any time we cut food groups, we are cutting nutrients, and any time we tell ourselves we can't have a treat, it's the only thing we think about. I suggest instead using the simple tool of moderation. Enjoy the advances in processed food without over-indulging.

Random side note: Potatoes? Really?! Regardless of the fact that I love to eat them, potatoes prepared in a healthy way with the skin eaten are a good/great source of 10 vitamins and minerals and fiber, and they have a decent amount of protein for a vegetable (Food-A-Pedia). Taking away my beloved potatoes is just the proverbial icing on the cake to make me not like this diet plan. Oh, and you can't have cake, in case you were wondering.