2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines

There have been a lot changes in the 2016 year, among them were the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines released January 7^th of this year.  The guidelines are reviewed every 5 years based on current research and are meant to help professionals create healthy diets.  New changes include guidelines on added sugar, caffeine, sodium and cholesterol.

                Added sugar is a growing problem.  The new guidelines recommend limiting added sugars to 10% of a person’s total daily caloric intake. For a 2000 calorie diet that is approximately 200 calories or 50 grams of sugar. Unfortunately at this time there is no way to easily identify how much added sugars are in foods.  In 2018 new food labels will listed added sugars separately from naturally occurring ones.  Until then check the ingredients for words that will identify added sugars such as honey, agave, molasses, and anything that ends in ose such as fructose. 

                Caffeine made an appearance for the first time in the guidelines as well.  The recommendation is for 400mg or less per day.  On average coffee has between 100-200mg, Breakfast tea contains 60-90mg, black tea has 30-60mg and green tea has 25-50 mg.  The guidelines don’t make any recommendations to consume caffeine merely that there are no increased risk of major chronic diseases at this level of intake.

                The 2015 guidelines loosened up slightly on sodium recommendations removing its 1500 mg restriction for African Americans and people over 51 years old.  However the recommendation stays intact for those with hypertension (high blood pressure), prehypertension and heart disease.

                Also removed from the guidelines is the recommendation to limit cholesterol.  The guidelines do continue to recommend replacing unhealthy fats (saturated and trans fats) with more healthy fats (unsaturated fats).   The recommendation remains to limit saturated fat to 10% of diet (remember for heart patients this is even stricter 5-6% or approximately 13g).  The recommendation for trans fats remains less than 1%.  Remember to check the ingredient list for these hidden fats with the words “partially hydrogenated.”

                These guidelines are used to shape the My plate (https://www.choosemyplate.gov/MyPlate-Daily-Checklist) which is a helpful visual representation of what these guidelines mean.  The fact remains however that it is difficult to think of these guidelines in terms of what an actual diet would look like.  Try to remember to make half of your plate fruits and vegetables shooting for at least 7 servings per day (1 cup raw/1/2 cup cooked), 3 oz of lean proteins, with the final ¼ of your plate whole grains. Use these updated guidelines to help you read labels and bring healthier foods into your diet.  And remember that more so than any one magic food it is overall diet quality that makes the difference. 

Tis the Season for Giving

Take a moment to think about being hungry.  How does it feel?  How do you fix being hungry?  Now imagine not knowing where your next meal will come from.  For millions of Americans that is a reality 42.2 million to be exact.  1 in 6.  I've been fortunate to never been hungry.  I've been hangry but not food insecure. Today I spoke about nutrition and budgeting at a Senior Nutrition Program here in Salinas. Having worked for a supplemental food program I was vaguely aware that there was a similar program for seniors.  For those of you not in the know, the Alliance of Aging's Elderly Nutrition Program is a grant-funded program created to improve the nutrition of the elderly as well as create new social opportunities.  Today participants also received donations from the food bank as well.  Not only does the program provide for in center meals, they also do home delivery and a Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program which gives seniors a one-time financial incentive to shop at Farmers Market.
I want you to imagine for a minute that you are 70 years old.  You have some health problems.  You're unable to drive far and you're living on a limited budget.  What are your priorities?  Do you eat?  Do you pay bills?  Do you keep the lights on?  Just imagine.  Don't assume it can't happen to me I put money away and I have a family.  Just imagine, you're a senior, you're isolated, you count on this one meal a week and donations for food.  What would you want to eat?  What would you need to supplement?  Ok, hold that in your mind.  When you see donation bins this winter for the food bank, hold that in your mind. Imagine one step farther what would a nutritionally adequate meal look like.  What would you eat for dinner if you were to eat your healthiest meal?  Hold that in your mind and Donate that.  Donate dried beans and low sodium canned beans, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, low sodium canned vegetables, Canned fruit in water or its own juice.  Donate dried fruit and unsalted nuts.  Don't use the food bank as a waste bin for the foods you don't want.  Just because they are poor they shouldn't "just be grateful for what they get."

Now for some startling statistics:
About 5,000 nutrition service providers together serve over 900,000 meals a day in communities all across the United States.
Monterey County Food bank feeds 1/5th of Monterey County with 6 million pounds of food.
34% of Monterey County residents are food insecure.

I remember the day I learned why WIC only goes until age 5 for kids.  That is when school lunch programs pick up.  Hunger is an issue that spans across all age ranges.  It's personal and many times you don't know who around you is or has suffered from hunger. Seniors and children are most likely to suffer from hunger issues.  Don't let America's obesity epidemic fool you into thinking that hunger is not an issue.  I remember when I first went to work for WIC thinking that hunger did not look like what I thought.  The unfortunate reality is that low nutrition low-cost foods are readily available while low-cost nutrient-dense foods are not so much.   As so many call for us to come together, I will add my voice to the call.  Be good to one another this holiday season and every other day think of those less fortunate than you.

Grocery Shopping Tips

Start by making a list and making sure you’re not hungry before you go.  Shop the perimeter of the store searching for Choose mostly foods (bread, cereal, produce, dairy) vs food products (fruit snacks, diet soda, cheese spread), with a short ingredient list. Keep the 3-3-300 Rule: 3g Saturated fat, 3 g fiber or more, less than 300 mg Sodium (140mg or less is even better). Avoid aisles you don’t need to go down.

When you reach the produce aisle make sure to include something from each color group and remember you need 5-9 servings per day.  Fill in the gaps with canned and frozen produce to keep costs down.  Just remember to look for low sodium vegetables and fruits packed in water or its own juice. In the meat aisle be sure to include fish twice a week- this can be canned. Otherwise choose lean meat:

Beef: flank steak, sirloin tip, eye of round, top round, tenderloin, top loin, rump roast, extra lean ground beef.

Poultry- white meat without skin.

Pork: tenderloin, center loin, Canadian bacon. 

Keep in mind you lose about 25% with cooking so to get a 3 oz portion buy 4 oz.

In the cereal aisle look for the first ingredient to be a whole grain.  Check the nutrition facts for at least 3 g fiber, less than 5% sodium, and 10g or less sugar. Similar rules apply to the bread aisle. Look for whole grain as first ingredient, as much as possible buy breads with 3-5g fiber per slice and 5% or less sodium. Fruits vegetables make the best snacks try them with hummus or nonfat yogurt (by itself or plain yogurt mixed with low sodium seasonings for vegetables). Choose whole grain, low fat snacks. Use caution with protein bars-check sugar. Always check serving sizes.

In the dairy aisle choose nonfat of 1% for family members over 2 years old or unsweetened dairy alternatives if you prefer.  Check the sugar content of your yogurt.  Look for added sugars. Yogurt will have naturally occurring sugars from lactose (milk sugar).

                                    Regular: 15-16g

                                    Greek: 6-9g

                                    Icelandic: 6g

Subtract these numbers from the sugars listed in the nutrition to get the grams of added sugar.

Remember that a good diet is about overall diet quality; make sure as you reach check out that the the majority of your cart is healthy real foods.  Avoid last minute temptations of breads, candy, and sweetened beverages while standing in the checkout line. 

Thriving

I'm taking a coaching class because while I feel like I've got a pretty decent grasp on the nutrition stuff sometimes imparting this knowledge is questionable. This week we had a session on thriving and I'm starting to understand why Kaiser has grabbed onto that as their mantra. How do you know you're thriving? What are the top 5-10 things that make you feel like you're thriving? Can you pay attention to this for the week, month, year and store these moments up? I know for me it is hard to identify. I know that moment I first meet a patient in rehab I light up. I want to hear their stories and see what I can do to help. I know when my mare learns something from me and I think "now we're a team!" But 8 more things? That's tough.

Take a moment and take stock of what is going well in your life. Then think what life would look like if you were thriving. Compare the two maybe think about some goals you can make to get to thriving. For me this is terrifying. I lost my mare this year, and my boyfriend left and work had a strike. The world feels so uncertain to me as I prepare to go to grad school that I just want to say I get it. It's safe here in the I don't want to make plans because they fail. So even if your one little step is to take note of what makes you thrive,do that until you feel able to take the next step. And maybe once you've got that you can say maybe this week I'll try doing a little more of x.  Until you've got yourself a few goals to work on. Baby steps. 

Thrive: to develop well or flourish

Go forth and flourish my dears.

Meal planning

1. Start by taking stock of what is in your pantry, fridge and freezer.  Use this as the basis for this week’s meals. 2. Check your calendar.  Mark days and/or meals when you know that you will need left overs or to eat out. 

 3. Choose recipes with similar ingredients and that you may already have.

          Google and Allrecipes.com can help you search for recipes that include     items you already have on hand.

     4.Be strategic in your planning.  If you     are only going to the store once in the week, plan for root vegetables and heartier fruits later in the week, and berries, leafy greens and quick spoiling items earlier in the week.  

5. Plan for snacks.

6. Make a grocery list based on what you will need.

     7. Try to keep in mind what you eat most often while you are making your list.  It may help to have extra microwaveable brown rice or wild rice, canned low        sodium beans, frozen vegetables and fruits on hand for easy to prepare meals.  

    8. When you get home prep items:

          Cut up vegetables for quick.     snacks.

          Remove tops of carrots and beets so they last longer.

9. Keep recipes with your meal plan to make thing easier during the week.

10. If it helps try keeping track of your favorite recipes.

           Group these by main entrée.       

          Mark items that you can eat for more than one day.

11. Freeze individual portions of left overs.  These can be quick lunch or dinner    options.  Remember to date and label what they are.

12. Some people find it easier to batch cook on the weekends and store things in single serve containers to eat throughout the week.

13. You can meal plan by week and just buy what you need for the week, or plan for the whole month and take advantage of buying in bulk.