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.

The Skinny on Halloween Candy

I had a dentist appointment today, and my teeth are bright and shiny. "Perfect teeth" is the feedback I got - go me! :) But it did get me wondering about all the candy I've been indulging on the past few weeks. I have to say I was a little worried about cavities... not to mention my waistline. Luckily, my weight hasn't really changed, and my teeth are looking good. I guess a few extra pieces a week wasn't enough to cause any huge issues, but we all know it's not healthy.

So my random question of the day is:

How bad is Halloween candy really for you?

Let's start with our wallets. First and foremost candy is not cheap. It was estimated in 2013 that Americans spent over 2 billion dollars on Halloween candy (Forbes.com). According to the Census, there were around 133 million households last year. Do the math, and that means the average household spent about $15 on Halloween candy last year. I have a cauldron full of Snickers bars that I spent $13.50 on, and I bought them on sale with a coupon! Now that might not seem like that much money for some people, but that candy increased my grocery bill by 20%. I'm just glad it was a one-time purchase.

Now since candy is super high in sugar, let's talk about how candy affects our teeth. I have good news, people! According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, "candy is no more likely to cause cavities than most other foods". However, they do go on to say that frequent snacking, no matter what you choose, increases your chances of getting a cavity (AAPD.org). So if you keep going back to your kids' candy stash, you might end up needing a filling down the road. I eat all day, and my teeth are "perfect". Sorry, I am very proud of my dental health lol, but it's all because of my home dental care. I just love brushing my teeth!

I did read some interesting articles, though, that stated that some candies are worse on your teeth than others. The sticky ones and the acidic ones appear to be the worst along with ones that stay in your mouth longer because you have to suck on them. So if have a history of cavities, some candies to avoid would be lollipops, hard candies, anything with caramel, and jawbreakers (harvard.edu).

In all honesty, though, as a dietitian, my first worries about candy are the Calories, sugar, and fat. Most candy is not low in Calories, and they're empty meaning they provide energy but no nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Here is a rundown of the nutrition information on the 5 most popular Halloween candies in the US: Reese's, M&M's, Snickers, Hershey's, and Kit Kats (usatoday.com). The article didn't say which kind of M&M's, so I looked up the regular and the peanut.

Fun Size Candy	Calories in 1 piece	Saturated Fat	Sugar	Sodium	Source
Reese’s	105	11 %DV	10 g	75 mg	Hersheys.com
M&M’s	73	8 %DV	10 g	10 mg	M&Ms.com
Peanut M&M’s	90	9 %DV	9 g	10 mg	M&Ms.com
Snickers	80	7 %DV	8 g	42 mg	Snickers.com
Hershey’s	63	12 %DV	7 g	10 mg	cvs.com
Kit Kat	70	6 %DV	7 g	10 mg	Hersheys.com

What I found the most surprising is that the most popular Halloween candy, Reese's cups, is also the least healthiest from the list. It has the highest amount of Calories, the 2nd highest amount of saturated (bad) fat, the highest amount of sugar, and the highest amount of sodium.....and that's just one Reese's cup there. 

I really thought that the plain Hershey's bar would stand out as healthier since it doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it really wasn't all that different, and it had the highest amount of saturated fat. I would say out of all of those the Kit Kat would probably have my vote as the safest choice, but then again, I am biased. Kit Kats are my favorite Halloween candy (That's why I bought Snickers to hand out, so I wouldn't be as tempted to keep some for myself lol).
 
I also found it interesting that most of the companies considered a serving to equal 2-3 pieces. Now that makes me both happy and unhappy. I'm happy because most serving sizes are super small, but I don't like that they are encouraging me to eat 3 pieces. I have a hard enough time with self control. I don't need the nutrition label to tell me I can eat more.

Now, one piece of candy is not going to make you gain weight. However, those Calories really do add up.  If I were to eat 1 Reese's cup per day for a whole month, I could possibly gain 1 pound if I didn't reduce my intake somewhere else or increase my physical activity. That's where these habits really start to reek havoc on our health. Once a week turns into a few which turns into every day, and before we know it, it is part of our routine.

But all in all, I wouldn't stress too much about the Halloween candy. A few pieces here and there is totally fine. Actually, if you don't have any candy on Halloween, I'm going to be very disappointed in you. The holidays are supposed to be enjoyed. As long as we don't go overboard, these traditions can be celebrated without emptying our pockets, clogging our arteries, or increasing our waistlines. 

Fancy Feasting? Let's Keep It Simple

Lately, it seems like every "health" article I come across describes foods and dishes I'm not accustomed to and/or foods that I straight up can't pronounce.

I see recipes for kale, flax, and kefir smoothies and toasted quinoa (pronounced keenwa) with pine nuts and figs. I've even come across a suggestion to bring "charcuterie" with "Aux Délices des Bois’s hot soppressata" to my upcoming cookouts.  (No I did not look it up; I refused to google what that dish is out of straight principle). My students always say that if you can't pronounce it, then it's probably not healthy. Now they're talking about additives and processed foods, but I can't help but make a small connection here.

So I guess my random question of the day is:

When did eating healthy become so complicated?

I think that a lot of people are over-thinking the concept of healthy eating, especially on the internet.   Many websites make me feel like every meal has to be this incredible experience that challenges my cooking skills as well as my palate.

Or they tell me that I'm a conformist because I eat grains and cheese. There are so many conflicting ideas that I imagine quite a few people just throw in the towel and eat junk just because they don't know what to do.  Maybe that's why fast food and convenience foods are so alluring. Not only are they quick and relatively cheap, but they're simple.  You know exactly what you're getting.

Don't get me wrong. I love to cook and I love trying new recipes, but when time and energy are low, I like to keep my meal planning simple. I stick to foods that I know taste good to me and I keep the basic food groups in mind. I save recipes that I know work, and I try to make eating healthy as easy as possible for myself.  Maybe we're so overwhelmed with trying to be chefs and "foodies" that we're missing the big picture. 

A quick judge to tell if a food is healthy is to try to fit it into a food group. If you have to stretch it, then it's not healthy. For instance, you can't say ice cream is healthy just because it has dairy in it. Keeping to that little rule can really help to put things into perspective. I really think the key to eating healthy is finding foods we like to eat that happen to fit nicely into the major food groups.  But then again, that sounds too simple to really work, doesn't it? ;)