Download Top Ten Healthy Eating Habits

Top Ten Healthy Eating Habits
Carleton University Healthy
Workplace Lunch and Learn
Tuesday March 4, 2014
Cindy Sass, Registered Dietitian
Eating has become complicated!
Messages about eating and food
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Doctors/Health Professionals
Diet books
Media accounts of the latest findings
Friends/relatives
Health claims on food
Nutrition is a relatively young science
• Not always
straightforward
• Many areas of grey
• Someday hopefully
we will have
definitive answers
What we do know...
• “Western Diet”
▫ Processed foods,
meats, lots of added
sugar and fat, lots of
refined grain, lots of
everything except
vegetables
▫ High rates of diabetes,
obesity, cardiovascular
disease and cancers
What we do know...
• Populations eating a
remarkably wide range of
traditional diets generally
don’t suffer from these chronic
diseases
• Very high fat ( seal blubber)
• High carbohydrate ( corn and
beans)
• High protein (Masai in Africa
– cattle blood, meat and milk)
There is hope...
• People who get off the
Western style diet see
dramatic improvements
in their health!
• The effects of this poor
quality diet can be rolled
back, relatively quickly!
Evil nutrients
• Focus has been on the “evil
nutrients” to put the blame
•
• The food industry likes it that
way, tweak the food and make
more money
• The more processed the food
the more money it makes
• Confusion is good business!
What to eat?
• Eat food.
• Not too much.
• Mostly plants.
 Michael Pollan
Modest Change will make a difference!
“The potential for disease prevention by modest
dietary and lifestyle changes that are readily
compatible with life in the 21st century is
enormous.”
Walter Willet, MD, Chair, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School
of Public Health
Move away from the Western Diet!
Eat more vegetables!
• Eat food, not too much, mostly
plants!
• Aim for at least 4 servings a
day (1/2 cup raw, cooked or 1
cup leafy greens).
• Eat a variety of vegetables and
colors.
• Fill half your plate or
container with vegetables.
Eat more plant proteins
• Plant proteins include:
▫ pulse and legumes like
lentils, chickpeas, kidney
beans, soy beans.
▫ nuts and seeds and their
butters
High in fibre, satisfying, low
glycemic index carbohydrate,
sustainable, cheap.
Eat more fish
• Don’t overlook the oily little
fish.
• Mackeral, sardines, anchovies
are very nutritions species and
fish stocks are abundant.
• Aim for 2 fish meals a week.
Eat whole grain foods
• Choose unrefined grains like
quinoa, brown rice, whole
grain seedy breads.
• “The whiter the bread, the
sooner you’ll be dead”,
Michael Pollan Food Rules
Drink water
• Avoid sweetened drinks or
sodas, even fruit juice.
• Drink water for thirst.
• And...
• Coffee and tea without added
sugar, sweetners and just a
little milk if desired.
• Low fat milk without added
sugar/ flavours.
Limit Eating Out
• Aim for no more than
once a week.
• Restaurant food is full of
salt, fat, sugar and
calories.
• Portions are huge.
• Up sell –end up buying
the beverage, dessert,
appetizer.
Reduce your intake of processed food
• “highly processed foodlike
substances.”
• Sugar, salt, fat, additives like
preservatives, food coloring
etc..
• Look at ingredient list, the
more ingredients in a
packaged food, likely the more
processed it is.
Eat Less Sugar
• Eat sweet foods as you would
find them in nature – whole
fruit.
• Reduce intake of sweetened
beverages: coffees, juices,
sodas.
• Avoid foods that have some
form of sugar listed among the
top 3 ingredients.
• Organic sugar is sugar too!
Eat Less Salt
• Avoid using the salt shaker.
• Use less process foods.
• Eat out less.
• Sodium 101 Guidelines
• Per serving
▫ 0-200 mg Go ahead
▫ 200-400 mg Watch out
▫ 400 mg + Too much
Eat Less
• Stop eating before you are full
• Eat slowly
• Eat when you are hungry, not
when you are bored
• Eat slowly
• Buy smaller plates and glasses.
“Including moderation”
Oscar Wilde