Is Moderation Meaningless?

MODERATION. We all know the word and the platitudes that surround it, but how many of us know exactly what a moderate amount of our favorite food is? And does the term moderation refer to the amount of something you can have on your plate or the number of times you can eat it per day or per week or per month? And couldn’t one person’s moderate portion be another person’s maximum serving depending on height, activity level, metabolism and food sensitivities? No doubt one family may view four ounces steak as a moderate portion, while another family may think eight ounces is moderate. An ounce of cheese may make one person's stomach cramp while another person could drink an eight ounce glass of milk with no ill effect.

In my opinion, “moderation” is a lazy term totally overused by people in the food and nutrition world. It especially bothers me when media representatives for  companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola use it to justify selling a food product with no nutrient value. If you lived by the motto "everything in moderation" you could feasibly eat a diet consisting only of moderate portions of junk food without breaking your rule.

Consuming the right foods in generous amounts is much more important than consuming the wrong ones in moderation. If you have no vegetables in your diet, does it really matter if you have a half cup or a whole cup of pasta? Instead of the useless cliche "everything in moderation," use this rule of thumb instead: Consume high quality foods in moderate to high quantities and low quality foods in low to zero quantities.  A high quality food (think avocado, salmon, walnuts, sweet potatoes, apples, kale, quinoa) is nutrient-dense; a low quality food (bread, pasta, cake, chips, soda) is mostly made up of empty calories. 

The truth is if you want to maintain a healthy weight for life, the only food group you don’t need to eat in moderation is green vegetables. Because as good as almonds and sweet potatoes are for you, eating too much of anything with a moderate to high calorie content will make you gain weight. I like to live by food science writer Michael Pollan's rule: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." A simple way to do this is to fill at least half of your plate with plant foods, eat meat and grains as side dishes and garnish with fats like olive oil, nuts and cheese. So breakfast might be a bowl of fruit topped with a few ounces of Greek yogurt and garnished with granola or almonds. Lunch might be a grilled vegetable and quinoa salad garnished with feta cheese and lightly dressed with olive oil.

However, a lot of foods, even some you may think are bad for you, can be enjoyed a few times a week or month in the appropriate quantities without compromising your health or weight. The key is to measure. Remind yourself what a Tbsp of butter looks like; measure out an appropriate portion of pasta or rice per person before you cook it! Cut blocks of cheese into 1 oz snack portion sizes and divide meats into 4 oz. portions for salads or stir fries. This will help you practice what I call “calorie awareness” without the drudgery of counting calories. Instead of moderation, focus on balance. While measuring is key to controlling the quantity of your food intake, balance is key to maintaining the quality of your life! 

In order to make good health a habit, you have to have a realistic approach to food. Just like everyone should have a clothing budget, it is smart to have your own personal food "budget" as well.  Love butter and cheese? Can't live without cream in your coffee? Fine, have an appropriate serving size of the real thing (meaning no "fat free" of "sugar-free" processed versions) and skim fat or calories from somewhere else in your diet.

Below is a table of foods people tend to over consume and the actual appropriate portion sizes per person. What I have listed may be different from what is on the package because I find the portion sizes on food labels are often unrealistic. 

Cereal	1 cup dry with 1/2 cup milk of choice a few times a week or daily if it's a high fiber option
Pasta (best as a side dish)	Cook 1/2 to 3/4 cup dry a few times a week
Rice and other refined grains (best as a side dish)	Cook 1/4 to 1/3 cup dry a few times a week
Granola	1/4 cup as garnish a few times a week
Cheese	1 to 2 oz a day if you tolerate dairy well
Juice	4 oz a day max
Nuts	1/4 cup once or twice a day
Nut Butters	1 or 2 Tbsp a day as part of a healthy meal (in other words, don't stick the spoon in the jar between meals)
Wine	One or two 5-oz portions (measure a few times to eyeball a glass appropriately) a day
Oils (olive, flax, canola, rapeseed, sesame, coconut, peanut, etc)	Up to 2 or 3 Tbsp a day for cooking, dressing, flavoring, etc.

For information on my nutrition and weight-loss coaching services, visit my website at www.inhabithealth.com or email me at lindsay@inhabithealth.com

Fine, I'll Try Gluten-Free Already!

I pushed back and pushed back against the gluten-free craze but curiosity finally got the best of me.  And as it always does for my son's favorite cartoon character, curiosity led to a few really cool discoveries.  I had actually given up gluten for periods of two to three weeks before on low-carbohydrate weight-loss plans such as "The Fat Flush" and my own Inhabit Health E.A.T. Plan ©,  but I had done it in conjunction with giving up dairy and sugar so I wasn't sure which of the positive effects I had experienced -- weight-loss, less bloating, better skin, less fatigue -- had been results of giving up gluten, especially since on these diets I had also given up most starchy carbohydrates including rice, corn and potatoes, none of which contain gluten.

For those that still aren't sure exactly what gluten is, it is a protein found in wheat including kamut, barley, spelt and rye.  Gluten is what gives wheat flour its structure and that "dough" texture we all love, which is why it's very hard to find decent gluten-free breads.  For someone who has Celiac's disease (an intolerance to the protein) it is essential to avoid gluten in any form (including dextrose and other "thickeners" found in a lot of processed foods), but if one just wants to experiment with eating less gluten it should suffice to give up anything in which the primary ingredient is wheat such as breads, crackers, pasta, pastries -- most of which you should eat less of anyway -- as well as grains like bulgur, wheat berries, farro, cous cous and barley, all of which I recommend in moderation as part of a healthy diet.  Whether or not oats contain traces of gluten seems to be up for debate so best to buy gluten-free oats and granola for this experiment.

In addition to curiosity, something else spurred me to try the low-gluten life: I had been experiencing awful stomach aches after eating pasta.  I gave my husband a Kitchen Aid pasta making kit for Christmas and we had been enjoying homemade pasta and good wine on weekend nights when we didn't have a babysitter but still wanted a special evening in. However, each time we did this I experienced awful stomach aches, regardless of the amount of sauce (I blamed that first) or wine (I limited myself to one or two glasses most evenings anyway).  I mentioned it to my son's allergist and he said women can experience increased sensitivities to foods as a part of hormonal changes during and after pregnancy. I also mentioned it to my primary care doctor and she did a Celiac's test (which was negative) but she acknowledged, in a rare moment of physician humility, that a lot of internists and gastroenterologists are coming around to the idea that food sensitivities, especially to wheat and dairy, are likely responsible for vague diagnoses like "IBS" and "Inflammation" in a lot of individuals. Hmmmm...does that mean doctors will finally start studying nutrition in med school???

So, the curiosity factor plus the stomach aches plus the fact that I still had a few lingering pregnancy pounds, gave me the motivation to try a mostly gluten-free diet for a few weeks. The results surprised me!

The biggest shock was that despite eating MORE potatoes (in the form of "oven fries" and my husband's unbelievable pan fried potatoes with onions and cilantro), corn (in the form of fresh corn, my favorite healthy-ish tortilla chips made by Food Should Taste Good and corn tortillas) and brown rice (with chili or veggie stir-fries) I did lose a few pounds and my stomach was unbelievably flat compared to usual for the duration of the time I gave up wheat. I experienced NO bloating or stomach pains despite this being a frequent issue since the birth of my second child. This was very surprising because although I know that giving up carbohydrates other than fruits and vegetables is the quickest way to drop a few pounds, I was surprised to find I could get almost the same results and still enjoy brown rice, quinoa, potatoes and corn.  I should mention that I am nursing a baby right now and can get away with eating more than usual but the effect of no wheat was notable regardless.

So for now I have decided to live a "low-gluten" lifestyle meaning that I stay away from bread as much as possible, opt for gluten-free crackers (Mary's Gone Crackers are the best), corn instead of flour tortillas and brown rice or quinoa instead of pasta.  Hence all the quinoa recipes on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inhabit-Health/123676251003381) lately!  So far this has kept my weight a little lower simply because I don't have as many options when I am at a party, but it's not a diet plan per se. Just remember that since French fries are gluten-free and restaurants and bakeries now make all kinds of gluten-free treats, one still has to practice moderation and common sense when living gluten-free.

Can Jessica Simpson's Pregnancy Be a Teachable Moment?

I hate to pick on poor pregnant Jessica Simpson, especially when half of the idiots on Twitter are commenting on her weight and when I find her girl-next door charm refreshing. However, she is leaving me no choice.  According to media interviews and her Twitter feed, she is stuffing herself with delicacies such as buttered pop tarts, fried Twinkies and her own invention, the "slut brownie" which involves baking chocolate chip cookie dough and Oreos into a fudge brownie (okay, it sounds kinda good). Like many women, Jessica believes pregnancy is a time to indulge every craving. As a fellow curvy girl who enjoys food, I won't comment on her weight, but I will take her to task for flaunting her unhealthy pregnancy diet. By doing so she promotes the profoundly exaggerated idea that one should "eat for two" while pregnant. A celebrity with access to the best nutritionists and personal trainers should know better.

The truth is that while you need more calories than usual when pregnant, you only need about a hundred more a day during the first trimester and 300 more a day during the second and third trimesters.  You also need MORE nutrients so ideally those extra calories should come from nutrient-dense foods such as vegetables, legumes, lean protein and unprocessed whole grains.  The extra calories should not come from junk food and especially not sugar bombs like donuts, brownies and heaping bowls of ice cream given the health risks associated with consuming too much sugar while pregnant.  

Eating too much sugar during pregnancy increases your chance of developing gestational diabetes, of having a c-section and of having an overweight toddler. In fact multiple studies link excess sugar consumption during pregnancy to neonatal and maternal health problems, while I have yet to find a study linking light alcohol consumption (one to two units once or twice a week) during pregnancy to increased health risks for the mother or baby.  Everyone knows to avoid nicotine when pregnant, yet most people wouldn’t bat an eye if they saw an expectant mother eating M&Ms, which contain dyes the Center for Science in the Public Interest warns cause ADHD and other behavioral problems in children. Eating loads of sweets is a socially acceptable vice for pregnant women although it may be just as dangerous as those considered taboo. So, why all the confusion and what does this say about us as a society?

Our attitude regarding nutritional choices during pregnancy reflects the larger problem with our attitude toward nutrition in general.  Women say "I love being pregnant because I don't have to watch what I eat."  For most Americans the expression “watch what I eat" means some form of counting calories or following a new fad diet when really watching what you eat should mean ensuring you get the nutrients you need from food on a daily basis.  Our focus, during pregnancy and at all other times, should be on eating nutrient-dense whole foods. If you set about getting the nutrition you need to function at your optimal energy level, you will naturally maintain a healthy weight and feel great.  

Being pregnant was actually a huge turning point for me, and I think it can be for all women if we stop thinking of pregnancy as a calorie free for all. Being pregnant inspired me to eat or avoid certain foods for health reasons, not just because I deemed them “good” or “bad” for maintaining a certain weight (the whole ideal weight thing was kind of out the window anyway!).  Pregnancy forced me to recognize that my body is a much better judge of what I need than my mind.  Sure I ate a little more than usual and baked cookies now and then, but overall I rarely craved fattening foods because I was not preoccupied with avoiding them for vanity's sake.

Eating what your body wants is different that eating what your mind craves. Your body wants nutrients; your mind wants donuts.  Your body needs iron and minerals; your mind wants fast food because you just saw an ad for it on TV.  It’s an important distinction.  With the exception of perhaps the first trimester when morning sickness can leave you unable to stomach much of anything, pregnancy is a great time to start focusing on proper nutrition and the naturally nurturing and healing properties of whole foods.  When you are pregnant what you eat affects not just you but your baby.  Thinking this way is good practice for what’s about to come because it’s never going to be just about you again!

If you like my no-nonsense advice about healthy eating and weight-loss, please visit my website www.inhabithealth.com to find out more about my coaching programs. 

New Year Resolutions You Can Keep!

Instead of one New Year’s Resolution, try making 12 this year! I know it sounds impossible, but unlike most resolutions, these will be easy to keep once you see and feel the results!

Here are 12 things you can do to improve your health over the next 12 months (try one per month if you have trouble multi-tasking). Of the major influences on disease (according to integrative medicine guru Dr. Andrew Weil) -- genetics, stress, toxicity, and nutrition -- what you eat is by far the easiest to control so start now and make 2012 your healthiest year yet.

1. Eat more leafy greens. Leafy greens are high in calcium, iron, potassium, zinc and vitamins A, C, E and K.  They are also full of fiber, folic acid, many other micronutrients and phytochemicals. Learn how to cook them (braised, stir-fried in sesame oil, etc) and you might even like them!

2.  Eat sockeye salmon - it doesn't matter if it's canned, frozen or fresh; sockeye salmon by nature cannot be farmed and contains more bio-available Omega-3 fatty acids than any other food. To learn more about the benefits of Omega-3s, click here.

3. Reduce your intake of refined, processed and manufactured foods.  These are almost always the most high-glycemic load foods, which cause your body to produce too much insulin. Over-production of insulin is now thought by many physicians to be the key piece in the poor health puzzle because it contributes to low-level chronic inflammation, which is linked to heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disease and obesity.

4. Eat berries.  Not only do they have a very low glycemic load compared to other fruits, they are full of disease-fighting anti-oxidants and taste incredible.  I often eat fresh berries when I want something sweet after a meal. During winter, throw some frozen berries into a smoothie with high-protein Greek yogurt.

5. Eat more legumes. Beans are practically nature’s perfect food – an ideal balance of protein and carbohydrate; they are also high in fiber and low in fat. Try putting a half cup of beans on your salads in place of animal protein at least a few times a week or do the meatless Monday thing and have beans and brown rice or roasted vegetables over curried lentils instead of meat and potatoes to start the week of right. 

6. Consider taking a vitamin D supplement.  Many doctors now recommend 1000 mg if Vitamin D 3 a day, especially if you work indoors, live North of Georgia on a map or obsessively apply sunscreen for fear of burning or wrinkling.  Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to MS, many forms of cancer, weak bones, and mental and emotional disorders. Another plus - you are supposed to take your supplement with a meal that contains fat (healthy fat please!).

7.  Reduce your intake of factory-farmed animal products.  Factory farmed animals are generally sick and unhealthy animals.  When they become sick (from being kept in tight quarters and overfed foods that are not natural to their diets), they are given large doses of antibiotics, which then contaminate the meat, milk and eggs we get from them.  For sustainable animal products in your area, check out this great resource.

8.  Get turmeric, ginger and cinnamon into your diet.  Turmeric has been linked to preventing Alzheimer's, and ginger is an excellent anti-inflammatory agent, which means it can mitigate many of the "diseases of aging." Cinnamon has been shown to lower blood sugar so sprinkle it generously on toast or oatmeal or toss a tsp in a banana smoothie.

9.  Eat dark chocolate. Let me be clear -- do not eat dark chocolate after you eat your ice cream; rather, try to satisfy your sweet tooth with dark chocolate instead of something high in empty calories. To get the health benefits, which include providing a high dose of anti-oxidants and potentially lowering blood pressure, go for an organic variety with 70% or more pure cocoa.

10.  Get over your fear of fat.  The latest scientific research does not support the widely-held belief that an extremely low-fat diet is optimal for good health and disease prevention. Some of the world's healthiest peoples eat as many of 40-60% of their calories from fat.  However, you should eat the right fat.  Monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil, seeds and nuts, avocado, fatty fish) are great for you, and most people do not eat enough of them.  Even saturated fat has its place in the diet but should be consumed in moderation (eggs, grass-fed beef, an ounce of unprocessed cheese or pastured butter here and there).  Bed sure to read labels and do your best to avoid products containing trans-fats or partially hydrogenated oils.

11. Eat actual whole grains.  Despite what Kellogg's and Kraft want you to think, whole wheat bread or any food made from flour is NOT a whole grain; it's pulverized and processed (there is no bread or bagel tree, right?).  Whole grains take some work to chew and include things like quinoa, steel-cut oats and brown rice.  You can find delicious whole grain recipes here.

12.  Enjoy eating (stop and smell the herbs!).  Eating is meant to be enjoyable, not fraught with anxiety.  If you follow the rules above, you will enhance the quality of your diet, and when quality goes up, quantity often goes down. Try to stop eating while driving, walking or watching TV.  Food should be tasted and savored, not shoved in the mouth at a stoplight! At least a few times a week, stop whatever else you are doing and savor each bite. Not only will you likely eat less, but you will enjoy it more.

Have a Happy, Healthy New Year!

How About a Bowl of Cherries with a Dollop of Cream on Top?

I loved this post by Fooducate on the inherent ridiculousness of fat-free salad dressings so I thought I would elaborate on the concept.  I recommend reading anything by the good people at Fooducate (recently named one of the top health apps by CNN) but for those that only have time to read one blog post, the gist is that salad dressing without the fat is not only tasteless but pointless.

By definition (or tradition at least) salad dressings are made with a fat and an acid - think oil & vinegar or any mayonnaise (eggs, oil and vinegar or lemon juice) based dressing. Also, there is actually a reason to have some fat atop your salad -- the vitamins derived from all those greens and veggies are fat-soluble which means they have to be eaten with some fat to be absorbed by your body.  The fact that some vitamins can only be aborted with fats (it is pointless to take a Vitamin D supplement unless you are consuming it with a meal that contains fat) could partly explain why more and more research is showing supplementing to be pointless for generally healthy adults.  Mother nature did not mean for you to get your vitamins from a pill!

Healthy fats are important for brain function and are the key to satiety (remember how you could eat almost an entire box of fat-free cereal or a huge bowl of pasta with fat-free tomato sauce during the no fat craze?).  I have actually suggested clients add fat to their diet and seen them lose weight as a result.  I would always recommend opting for the low-fat yogurt instead of the fat-free. It generally has less sugar and because of the slight amount of fat, will keep you fuller for longer which makes it a better mid afternoon snack. As for those fat-free salad dressings - most are made of water, sugar and vinegar with a few preservatives thrown in. They literally add no value to your greens.

The key to consuming fat and not getting fat is to treat fat as a garnish.  However, most Americans seem to have fat, carbohydrates and sugar as their entrees and vegetables or fruit as their sides.  The expression - "the cherry on top" is actually a good  way to describe the average American diet - the part that's not good for you tends to fill the bowl and the part that is good for you tends to be treated as an extra (i.e. an ice cream sundae with a little fruit on top). 

One easy way to lose weight and feel great is to reverse this pattern. A salad done right is the perfect example of this; I find few meals more satisfying than a bowl of greens and veggies, a little protein and a nice oil-based dressing (and a few nuts or slices of avocado to make it more filling if needed). Make vegetables, legumes and fiber-rich fruits the bulk of your meals and treat refined carbohydrates, fats and sugars as sides and garnishes. I call this "reversing it" and it really works. I have already posted my "reverse lasagna" recipe and mentioned my breakfast of champions which is basically a reverse omelet (sauté loads of veggies, top with 1-2 scrambled eggs and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese), but here are some other ideas for reversing it:

* Instead of a bowl of granola or cereal with milk and a fruit garnish, try a bowl of berries topped with 1/4 cup granola or a crunchy cereal like Kashi Go Lean and/or and 1/4 cup Kefir (cultured raw yogurt). This is a power breakfast! You could also blend the fruit and yogurt with ice for a smoothie and sprinkle a little granola on top.

* Instead of a large omelet loaded with cheese, try a spinach salad topped with a poached or fried egg (slice it crepe style over salad), sliced red pepper, a sprinkle of feta or parmesan cheese and a light olive-oil based dressing. 

* Instead of a large bowl of creamy pasta primavera, try a 3/4 cup serving of whole wheat pasta (measure BEFORE you cook it) topped with a heaping pile of veggies roasted in olive oil.  

* Instead of ribs and a side of baked beans try a hearty lentil stew or black bean soup cooked with a few ounces of diced ham or smoky bacon.

* Instead of cheese quesadillas and a side of beans and rice try two corn tortillas (crisp on a skillet and serve open face) topped with a generous portion of black or pinto beans, salsa and a sprinkle of mexican cheese. You could also add strips of grilled chicken or steak and wrap like a taco. Yum!

* Instead of chicken or tuna salad sandwich on thick bread, try a half cup of the salad (preferably a low mayo version) on a bed of greens and other raw vegetables and a few healthy grainy crackers on top like croutons or used for dipping.

* Instead of a creamy pie with a thick buttery crust, make a seasonal berry crumble. 

* Instead of chicken parmesan, try this healthy eggplant parmesan (we make our own sauce and halve the cheese) where the vegetable is the star.  Making vegetables the star of at least a few meals per week could add years to your life and help the planet (hence the meatless Mondays trend).

The reversing it rule also works great anytime you are dining out buffet style (think hot bar at Whole Foods or the equivalent) or at a dinner party or catered work event. It works like this: fill the large part of the plate (imagine it divided into 3 parts with a 50/25/25 split if it's not) with steamed or sauteed vegetables and the smaller sections with your protein (beans or lean meat) and healthy carbohydrates like brown rice, a grain salad or fruit. Most Americans do the opposite, which is exactly why the Standard American Diet (SAD!) is causing so many health problems. 

So next time you are encountered with an ice cream bar, stun all your dining companions by having a bowl of fruit with a small dollop of ice cream on top. You won't be deprived, but you will look and feel the better for it!

The Skinny on Exercise

This post has been writing itself in my head for some time now, usually when I'm slogging through another treadmill workout. I actually love to exercise or, more precisely, am somewhat addicted to it.  I don't feel good when I don't do it, and with the exception of certain points during and right after my pregnancies, I haven't gone a week without exercise in almost 10 years.  But I no longer exercise to lose or maintain my weight; I do it for muscle tone, stress relief, strength and cardiac health.  This represents a huge shift in my thinking over the years and may contradict the advice you typically hear - that in order to lose weight you have to exercise - so first, a little background:

While my exercise habits have stayed very consistent over the past 10 years, my weight has not, ranging almost 25 pounds from the low point to the high point (not including pregnancies).  In the summer of 2009, I was at my heaviest weight in years, exercising vigorously every day while on vacation with another couple. I was complaining about the extra 10 lbs I was carrying and my friend said "But if you keep exercising like you are, you'll be slim in no time." We don't see each other often so how was she to know I had been doing that same long power walk rain or shine, heat wave or cold front, every day for months on end (not to mention the yoga, Pilates, boxing classes and free weights) with no change in my weight. And how was she to know that, based on new research that was about to emerge, she was wrong: exercise doesn't actually help most people lose weight.  After that conversation that I had an epiphany:

Exercise does NOT make or keep me thin. In fact, it makes absolutely NO difference in my weight.

In what seemed like kismet at the time, my personal epiphany came within days of TIME magazine publishing an article that got a lot of attention in the media. I strongly recommend you read the whole article but one of the main points is that while exercise burns calories it also stimulates hunger and most of us end up eating more calories than we burned as a result. It's human nature to think "I can have that dessert because I exercised today." It's also natural to truly be hungrier because you exercised (I was reminded of this Monday when I didn't do my morning cardio for the first time in a few weeks and had half my usual appetite in the afternoon). The article also explains that after a vigorous workout, most people are more likely to be lazier the rest of the day as a result. This is definitely true for me.  If I take a kickboxing class in the morning, I am more likely to suggest Legos than a walk to the park as an an afternoon activity with my son. The article made me realize that what was true for me was actually true for most people, which also explained why I saw the same slightly overweight folks time and again on my walks and trips to the gym.* Of course many people at the gym look fabulous, but we must assume they are also watching what they eat.

It was after the one-two punch of my epiphany and the Time article that I got serious about what I put in my mouth, started exercising LESS and finally lost the 10 lbs (plus a few more). The experience was so life-changing for me, I started school at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, became a certified health coach, began blogging and started my business, Inhabit Health. While I returned to regular exercise for stress relief and because I like to have muscle tone, I no longer believe it will have an effect on my weight and I certainly don't kick myself if I miss a workout. I now exercise to be better, not smaller. 

But enough about me already; here is some useful information for you (for more detail, read the Time article I linked to above as well as this article on exercise myths):

• Unless you are exercising like Lance Armstrong or Novak Djokovic, you cannot eat carbohydrates and sweets freely without consequences (and of course these guys watch what they eat too). Even vigorous exercise a few times a week is not enough to offset extra calories and may actually cause you to gain weight by compensating with more food. 
• Being sedentary most of the time and then hitting the gym hard a few times a week or even an hour per day is very stressful for the muscles (causing intense soreness) and is likely to result in you being lazier when not exercising.
• A lot of the aesthetic effects of exercise people long for - defined triceps, a "six-pack", etc., cannot be achieved until fat is lost (i.e. you can't see the six-pack under the layer of fat), and a healthy diet is the key to losing fat, not exercise.
• In multiple studies, frequent short bursts of activity (the kind life required before TV, computers, supermarkets, etc) have been shown to keep people as healthy as sweat-filled gym visits.  This means that just by being fairly active in your daily life (playing with your toddler, doing handy work around the house), you can be just as healthy as the sedentary office worker who hits the gym for an hour after work every day.

Of course, exercise is still great for alleviating stress, anxiety, depression and arthritis pain as well as lowering high blood pressure, preventing osteoporosis, strengthening your muscles, making you look better in your clothes ... the list goes on. So, by all means, exercise! Just don't count on it alone to affect your weight. A healthy diet is essential for looking and feeling your best.

To learn more about changing your diet to improve your health, consider signing up for one of my programs or email me about my Nutrition Boot Camp special. www.inhabithealth.com or lindsay@inhabithealth.com. 

* I must add that every study has to be taken with a grain of salt and everyone is different. Some people tell me that once they exercise, everything else falls into place and they eat better too. If exercise does help you lose or maintain your weight, that's great; keep it up!

MyReview of MyPlate

In a long overdue move to clarify what the government thinks its citizens should eat, the USDA revealed its new "MyPlate" logo, a marked improvement over the outdated and confusing Pyramid Graphic. According to the New York Times, "The new design, called MyPlate, was conceived as a crucial part of Mrs. Obama's campaign against obesity, designed to remind consumers about the basics of a healthful diet."

First, the good news: this graphic is easy to read and sensible. We eat off a plate so why shouldn't a plate logo be our guide. The plate is split into four fairly even sections although grains and vegetables appear slightly larger than the fruit and protein sections, which is a good thing as long as the grains one chooses are actually whole grains and not refined carbohydrates masquerading as grains (like most bread, crackers and pasta sold in grocery stores).  A smaller circle, suggesting it could be an "on the side" item sits beside the plate for dairy products.  Unlike the pyramids past, dairy is finally relegated to a secondary position. Dairy has long figured way too prominently in the USDA recommendations thanks to congressional kowtowing to the powerful dairy lobby.  Not sure how Michelle managed to fight that beast (maybe those fabulous biceps had something to do with it) but this is a huge victory.  Not only is dairy not a necessary dietary component for anyone over the age of five or so, approximately 30-50% of Americans are lactose intolerant. And while diary is a good source of calcium for people who don't eat enough greens, most dairy is consumed in the form of cheese, which, although delicious, is not healthy in large quantities. An aside: I almost died when I saw the new Pizza Hut ad for its cheesy bites pizza. Seriously?

Now let's talk about what's not so good about the MyPlate graphic.

The terms vegetables, fruit, grains, protein and dairy mean different things to different people.  Let me give you two examples of meals that technically follow these guidelines:

Meal 1: 30% of plate is potatoes (vegetable). 30% of plate is white rice (grain). 20% of plate is factory farmed red meat (protein). 20% of plate is peaches canned in syrup (fruit).  Meal is downed with a large glass of milk from cows treated with rBGH (dairy).

This person followed the rules but consumed loads of empty calories, unsafe hormones and antibiotics from the factory farmed meat and milk, and a good deal of sugar from the canned fruit. There was almost no fiber in the meal and too many calories in the form of refined carbohydrates.

Meal 2: 30% of plate is a medley of braised greens. 30% of plate is brown rice. 20% of plate is a 4 oz serving of wild salmon. 20% of plate is fresh berries, which serve as the dessert and can be eaten with the organic cultured yogurt served on the side.

This person followed the guidelines and took in an abundance of vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, probiotics, etc. in the form of nutrient-dense and delicious, fiber-rich foods. The meal contained a healthy number of calories in the form of whole grains and healthy fats. It might not escape your attention that the second plate would probably cost a lot more, which is why I wish the government would focus its energy on making healthy food more affordable (let's start with subsidizing vegetable crops instead of corn) rather than trying to tell us what to eat with a pretty picture.

So, the major problem is that the MyPlate still doesn't tell Americans what to eat and what not to eat in a clear manner.  Now some of you will say the government has no place to tell Americans what to eat; and while I tend to be more pro-government than anti-government in general, I tend to agree with you BUT not because I philosophically oppose government suggesting ways for Americans to eat more healthfully, rather, because I don't think they do it well due to basic conflicts of interest.

New and improved graphics aside, the basic premise of the USDA telling Americans what to eat is flawed because the USDA, like most government agencies, is at the beck and call of lobbyists working for for-profit industries.  And lobbyists for the meat and dairy industries make sure that the government never says things like "Don't eat factory-farmed red meat" or "Dairy is not a healthy food for some people." Also, the USDA is the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which means it is also in charge of promoting America's agricultural interests so do you think it is going to tell you to eat a naturally gluten-free South American grain like quinoa instead of the plethora of wheat-based products made here in the US of A? Of course not. It wouldn't be good monetary policy.  Therefore, the USDA advising us on what to eat is an inherently flawed concept despite what I believe are the best intentions of the First Lady and a few congressmen on both sides of the aisle.

For a more detailed analysis of why the government does such a poor job of telling us what to eat, read  Marion Nestle's "Food Politics" or "What to Eat." In the meantime, stick to what you know from reading this blog or follow health and science writer Michael Pollan's simple guideline: "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants."

As always, thanks for reading and stay healthy this summer!