Healthy Plate, Healthy You

If you look into nutritional guidelines from around the world, you will realize that almost every nation has their own unique version of the food guide. However, the hard part about most of them is translation into practice. After all, how do you eat the spinning top that is the Japanese food guide or the rainbow that is the Canadian food guide?

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In reality, we all eat off plates. Therefore, the most important part about understanding any food guide is knowing how to transfer its messages into a healthy plate one can eat. After all, if we are what we eat, we better make our meals as healthy as they can be. Here are 5 easy tips on how to achieve this:

  1. Make half your plate vegetables and fruits. Make sure to eat dark-green and orange vegetables and fruits every day, along with other colour varieties. The different colours of vegetables and fruits come from their different nutrient contents. The more colourful you plate, the greater variety of nutrients you’re eating.
  2. Make at least half your grains whole grains. This will add more fibre to your diet and help to better balance out blood sugars. As well, whole grains will keep you fuller longer and are a great source of B-vitamins. Look for “whole grain” or “whole wheat” as the first ingredient on bread products or pasta, and make the switch from white rice to brown rice.
  3. Choose leaner meats, poultry, and vegetarian sources of protein more often. The marbling in meats is indicative of high saturated fat content. However, even without the visible streaks, certain cuts of meat can be high in fat that is hidden in between the animal’s muscle tissue. Choose meats that are labeled “lean” or “extra lean” or switch to poultry to cut down on the calories and fat. Choosing vegetarian sources of protein—such as tofu, beans, legumes, and nuts—can also help cut down on your daily calorie intake, while increasing daily fibre intake and still providing the necessary nutrients.
  4. Plate your food, eliminate distractions, and eat slowly. When eating straight out of containers or pots it’s easier to lose control of portion size and overeat. Furthermore, distractions such as television make paying attention to hunger and satiety cues more difficult. Since it takes 20 minutes for the stomach to signal the brain that food is present, it is particularly important to eat slowly and be vigilant of the body’s signals.
  5. Choose <1% dairy products. Lower fat dairy has the same quantity of calcium and other essential nutrient as their higher fat counterparts, but with a lower saturated fat and calorie content. To adjust for taste, start off by mixing your current milk with its lower part counterpart for a few weeks to help your taste buds adjust.

For more information on healthy eating and help with reaching your nutrition goals contact your local Registered Dietitian, Anna Gofeld, at the Form and Function clinic in Club Markham. Don’t wait another day, start eating healthy today!

A Sustainable Approach to Weight Loss

Due to popular demand, the Craving Change start date has been pushed back to FEBRUARY 1, 2014. This means that you have an extra week to sign up at the January SPECIAL introductory price of $230. Join Registered Dietitian and Certified Craving Change Facilitator Anna Gofeld as she guides you through 6hrs (3 x 2hrs sessions) on how to change your relationship with food.

-discover your problematic eating triggers

-understand why you eat the way you do

-learn strategies to change your problematic eating for life

-LOSE WEIGHT BY CHANGING YOUR DAILY RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

~~DON’T WAIT ANOTHER DAY, SIGN UP TO GET THE CHANGE YOU’RE CRAVING TODAY~~

 craving change Feb 1

HDL : How to Get It Up

A cholesterol test has several components, one of which is HDL (high-density lipoprotein), which is often referred to as “good” cholesterol. HDL is thought of as the healthy cholesterol because it removes excess bad cholesterol (LDL) from your body. Men should aim for an HDL of  > 1.1 and women > 1.3, or the value recommended by your doctor.

Higher HDL = Lower heart disease risk

Here are 5 tips to help raise your HDL cholesterol:

1. Eat more foods high in monounsaturated and omega-3 fats

•ex: soy foods, seeds, nuts, ground flax, fish, seafood, canola and olive oils

2. Eat more plant protein

•ex: chickpeas, lentils, split peas, beans, soy milk, tofu

3. Eat more vegetables and fruits

•Aim for 4 vegetables and 3 fruits per day

•1 serving= ½ cup cut up raw or cook fruits/vegetables OR 1 cup of salad greens OR 1 tennis-ball size fruit/vegetable

4. Avoid foods containing trans fats

• ex: commercial baked goods, hydrogenated margarines, deep-fried foods

• Look for 0% trans fat of the Nutrient Facts Table

5. Be more active

•Aim for 60 minutes of exercise per day including aerobic activities (i.e. swimming, walking) and resistance training (i.e. weight lifting)

HEALTH TALK REMINDER: NEW YEAR, NEW YOU–Nutrition and Exercise Tips for Weight Loss is coming up tomorrow, Saturday January 18th at 12:30pm in the aerobics studio at Club Markham with Registered Dietitian Anna Gofeld & Personal Trainer Akhil Dawda. Don’t forget to reserve your spot at Form and Function front desk by phone 905-604-9355 or e-mail reception@formfunctionclinic.com.

SEE YOU TOMORROW

Creative Ways to Control Eating

One of the most important tools in the weight loss tool box is PORTION CONTROL. Being able to control the amount we eat can allow us to enjoy a greater variety of foods–even the not-so-healthy kind–and still stick to weight loss or weight maintenance goals. Try some of the creative tips from the video below to curb your food portions:

1. Use smaller plates: Our eyes are often hungier than our stomaches. Using smaller plates will make your eyes feel like you’re eating more when you’re cutting down your portions

2. Eat with your non-dominant hand: Putting in the extra brain effort will help you eat 20% less

3. Drink from tall thin glasses: Humans are terrible at judging volume. Using tall thin glasses, instead of short wide ones, will help you consume less volume without even realizing it.

4. Place a mirror in your kitchen: Literally reflecting on what you’re eating will help you become more conscious of what you consume

5. Chew fruit-flavoured gum when feeling hungry: As we discuss in Craving Change, sometimes we just feel ‘mouth hunger’–the desire to fill our mouth without the organic need to fill our stomach. Gum can be a calorie free way to curb this craving

6. Eat slower: It takes your brain 20min to get the signal from your stomach that you’ve eaten. Slow down your eating to give your body time to process the satiety signal and avoid overeating.

7. Use red plate: Research shows red dishes make people eat less, maybe because the colour is associated with ‘STOP’. So if you have a choice, like when buying disposable dishes for your next party, go for red.

8. Turn off your TV: Watching TV at mealtime often leads to mindless eating because you can’t concentrate on both the screen and your food at the same time. Simply turning off the TV and tuning into your meal can help reduce intake.

9. Photograph your unhealthy foods: Just recording food intake has been shown to help people reduce the amount of unhealthy foods they eat. Keeping a photo-journal of your unhealthy food choices can help you become more conscious of them and reduce their intake.

10. Decrease food variety: Increased food variety leads to increased desire to try a little of everything, which can add up to a lot of food on your plate. Serving the same amount of food, but with less variety, can help cut down your eating.

httpv://youtu.be/0Whvs_gSAPw

10 Amazing Way to Stop Eating Too Much

For more help with your weight loss or nutrition goals, visit https://www.formfunctionclinic.com/#locations or call 905.604.9355 to make an appointment with a registered dietitian.

Don’t wait another day, start your journey to good health today!