Hi everyone, welcome to the 10 big ideas to make 2021 the greatest year of your life. I am Dr. Bhavana Rao, owner and physician at Meridian springs primary care. Today we are going to talk about the first big idea that is “Eat” and learn how to optimize nutrition, and how to implement these ideas in your life.
With me, I have Jill Roberts, a Registered Dietitian to go ahead and discuss these points, we’re going to go over a handful of ideas that you can take home and put it into practice to achieve your health goals this year.
Thanks for having me here today. I’m excited to be here and talk about you know, this very important subject of how can we be our healthiest in 2021.
This is January, it’s mid January, and everybody is on a new plan to achieve their goals for 2021. Now, this the and as we know, these goals can be you know, we have so many diets these days, they can be good diets or bad diets, fad diets, and who knows where it will take you to. So I think today Jill will be our goal is to go over a few ideas so that you know the people we know or who see this can take home or evaluate what they’re going to do with their diet plans.
Sounds great, I’m ready. Awesome.
We’re living in a time when there are so much of artificial foods and processed foods that our grandmothers and great grandmothers would not even recognize it as food. You know, and there is so much of disconnect between what the food people ate 100 years ago to what being produced today. And a lot of this depends on, you know, what has happened with industrialization, and the processing of foods, which has led to the modern Western diet. And modern Western diet brings along with with it, the chronic medical issues we face every day with our patients.So let’s talk about this. Let’s talk about how industrialization has brought this change. Yes, industrialization did so many great things, but also brought in refined foods.
Yeah, you’re right. So you know, in the past, we would have what I call our whole foods, and now we have our more refined foods. And what it did do is it helped us preserve foods longer. But what we found is that those foods don’t tend to promote great health, especially when we have them on out of balance, meaning if we’re having them every day versus that occasional type food. So going back to getting back to those more Whole Foods is a much better plan. Just simply switching to thinking about eating the perimeters of the grocery store versus eating down the aisles, that can be a great first start to starting to get more Whole Foods instead of our refined foods or processed foods, things that tend to be in bags and boxes.
Yes, basis, main ingredients in these processed foods, sugars, and not only cane sugar, all these kinds of sugars with different names in it with which have different names. And also flour, where you know, they took wheat and made it unhealthy by the process of taking out the wheat germ, so that we are left with a powder that doesn’t get spoiled that doesn’t get rancid but also causes a lot of health issues with, you know, metabolic issues in our bodies.
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. So those foods are processed a lot differently in our digestive system and also in our body, then like our fruits or vegetables, those things that again, we we find in the perimeter of our stores.
Yes. And so this leads us to another discussion about what came along with the sugars and the carbs. That is the refined flour is oils and fats. So you know, we’ve moved away from natural oils to more refined oils. You know, the industrialization process allowed us to extract oils from soybeans, you know, unnatural sources of oil, which we couldn’t otherwise extract. And, again, we know that these some of these oils lead to high inflammation, heart disease. And you know, you want to talk about the unhealthy portions of the oil and how it affects us?
Yeah, absolutely. So, um, like you mentioned in the past, we would get our fats mostly from the foods that we were eating. So think about like your avocados, your olives, your nuts and seeds. Those are the majority of your fats. And then as industrialization hit, we are all of a sudden able to make these more processed oils, their heat process. And by that heat processing, it actually damages the oils themselves, and it makes them less healthy for us that way. And so what this is really done is now these have become what’s mostly in our process foods. So going back to that idea of decreasing the amount of processed foods we eat, while another reason besides those flours and sugars is the oils that are in them. So getting back to eating what I like to call those healthy fats, those avocados, nuts and seeds, olives, olive oil, like your especially your extra virgin olive oil, it’s the first press of the olive, so it’s the least processed, those can be great oils, again, to have in balance, so I always like to think about, if I’m going to use those when say, for instance, I’m roasting or sauteeing, vegetables, I’m brushing them versus playing a ton of oil on them can be a much better balance for us. And what people need to look out for, you know, the names, trans fat, I guess, that’s partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, and a seed oils, soybean, sunflower, corn oil, canola oil, where, you know, commonly when we go shopping in the grocery store, a lot of sauces and pre made cooking products have these oils, because they don’t go bad easily. And, you know, and that’s why they use these oils in those foods. Whereas when you tend to cook foods, or when you are choosing these products from the store to look for the fats, Jill just mentioned, that is the coconut oil, avocado oil, olive or extra virgin olive oil, which is the first press where they’re healthier, and good for you. And don’t have these trans fats, and then vegetable, vegetable and seed oils in them.
Yeah, you’re right, trans fats are the only facts that we’ve recognized to increase our bad cholesterol and decrease our good cholesterol. So they’re ones for sure that we want to avoid. And when you’re looking at the label, just like you mentioned, those types of oils, and then you’ll sometimes see it’ll say either partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated, whatever oil and so you absolutely want to avoid those. And even that FDA recognizes that we need no percent of those in our diet.
Right. So far, we spoke about the kinds of foods that we need to avoid or look out for. But also talk about how, you know, another thing that is very common with all these diets is how it affects your gut health. And there are you know, we know that there are different diets be it keto diet or low carb diet, it is going to affect your health or it’s going to have an effect on your health. And gut health is a very, is a very big thing to maintain during these diets.
Yeah, that’s a great question. Gut health to me is so interesting. Now we’re just now learning about it. And really knowing starting to know what the implications are. And so what I always say is, when we’re eating, we’re actually feeding not just ourselves, but our gut bacteria. And that’s actually really important. Our gut bacteria do so much for us, they actually help us digest our food. They actually give us nutrients such as short chain fatty acids, and vitamin K that then our body uses, especially our gut lining. So we want to think about foods that are going to feed both us and them. And fiber is one of those big things. And so what I say is those foods that have fiber can be a great source of what we like to call pre-biotics. And so again, going back to our fruits and vegetables, those are going to be great sources of our pre-biotic prebiotics that actually feed our gut bacteria. Those are big ones to focus on. And then probiotic foods are actually important too.
We don’t understand everything that’s going on with probiotic foods. But we know that it helps maintain a healthy gut bacteria environment. So getting in probiotics foods can be great sources as well. And so in our society now, we don’t have a lot of probiotic foods. But think of sauerkraut, kimchi, we have these that you can still find them in the store, we just don’t tend to eat them every day. Yogurt, cultured yogurt. Yeah, your culture yogurts, those are going to be great sources of of probiotic foods that we can get into our diet, too.
So a big takeaway from the gut discussion is that we have the fast acting carbs, which are bad, they’re rapidly absorbed from the gut, and then it’s an and they affect your gut flora. Whereas the slow carbs and the and the slowly digested foods like your fruits, vegetables, and high high fiber, low sugar foods that actually enhance your gut bacteria and keep your keep it healthy. And then again, when this and also avoid the kinds of foods that have these so you want to avoid bakery or baked sweets baked like cakes, cupcakes, packaged foods, frozen foods, which are tend to have more, you know, or tend to have more refined carbs rather than high fiber Low, low sugar foods.
Yeah, you’re right. So I like to think about first thing in the morning, if we’re going to have our breakfast. Think about feeding your gut bacteria and not just your your taste buds. So you mentioned like your pastries or doughnuts, some of those more that have become more traditional breakfasty type items, they look more like desserts, then what can really fill us and in our gut microbiome for the day.
So folks, think about adding vegetables in the morning. And I know you’ve Jill you have spoken to the spoken about this and get time and again, to add vegetables in your breakfast. I remember that. And that levels out your sugars for the day, your sugar levels, it’s, you know, it’s, it’s, I guess, slow acting carbs in your gut.
Yeah, you’re right. And it can be it’s so weird to sometimes think about adding vegetables, but I love adding like either leftover vegetables from the night before. So think of like some roasted or steamed broccoli. Those can be great because then they can go right into an omelet in the morning, or just a simple hash that you’ve made in the morning. And so literally, it can be very quick and easy still. So it’s possible. But we just have to start opening our minds, I think up to what breakfast looks like.
Yes, definitely change your plate, change the color of your foods, let’s not have white stuff and sugary stuff in the morning. And then the next idea is tied to this as to how do you increase variety of grains in your food? I guess Nowadays, most of our I think an obscene amount of our food comes from rice, wheat, corn and soybean. And this is most of the packaged food. And then most of our starches are coming from these these food groups or I would say these grains. So let’s talk about bringing in variety. So that we introduce some of the lower glycemic index foods which are other than these food, these grains.
Yeah, so you know, our carbohydrates don’t always have to be our grains, they can be some of the things that we don’t always think about. Those are our go to carbs that we think about but other grains that we sometimes call our ancient grains like quinoa, millet, those can be part of our diet that we can start incorporating now and I like to think about slower digesting carbohydrates like our starchy vegetables. So think of like sweet potato or butternut squash or acorn squash. Those are great right now. And they can actually fit into that carb for our meal as well. Did I miss any?
Oh no. Yes, these are perfect because we want to bring in more variety with grain tight grain choices. So that you have less and less of wheat and rice as your main bulk of your grains so quinoawas great. It blends in different diets, diet plans, and different cuisines and you know these things can be easily substituted with with ease and you know, it’s probably as easier than cooking rice I guess, sometimes.
Absolutely. I agree.
So, so we spoke about real food versus, you know, versus processed foods and, and what our grandmothers and great grandmother’s cooked. So, Jill, you want… I know you do cooking classes, and teach your clients how to cook food. So, you know, how do you go about introducing them to tradition, I would say traditional cooking, but also trying to reduce using store bought products.
Yeah, we actually typically start with I love starting with what I call snack packs, meaning that these and they don’t have to be snack packs, but they can be made great side. So I start thinking about how can we add fruits and vegetables. So those are…the statistics show that right now nine out of 10 adults don’t get even the minimum amount of fruits and vegetables in our day. So that’s where I like to start. Most of us know, those lean protein choices, some healthy protein choices, we know our carbs, but our fruits and vegetables are really lacking. And so that’s where I love starting is like how can we get I love if you like any sort of raw vegetables, starting with your favorite and pairing that with just a little bit of a healthy depth, like your hummus, you’re welcome only those to ziqi sauce, those can be great to start pairing and they’re so simple, you literally can put your favorite veggies in a bag, or in a glass container. And you can make that as part of your side or your snack for your next meal. I know a lot of us are on the go. So I always say you know, if you cook once then have some leftover, go ahead and put it in a container so it’s ready for you. So I often start with just saying okay, how can we find a better balance by thinking about filling half your plate with your non starchy vegetables, and then adding some fruit as that sweet treats at the end of your meal or as like a snack item paired with a little bit of a healthy fat, think of like your nuts or your peanut butter.
And the human body is amazing. As we introduce changes the body wants to heal, it wants to heal itself and get better. So once you start incorporating some of the changes and look at the diet you’re following, make sure that you that you know when people go over the points we have discussed, once they start eliminating the stuff, you know, the body heals back automatically. It’s got the strength to heal back and get rid of these toxins from the body. And I think to round up the discussion, how do people implement?How do people take home some of the some of the tasks they can implement? So I would think that put away snacks which have the sugars and carbs and you know, all the stuff away from from sight from it from your countertops,… from your Island, where you cannot reach for it easily. And then, yeah…
yeah, you’re right, if it’s out of sight, out of mind. So that’s the biggest thing that you know, if you whatever’s in front of you is what you’re going to naturally gravitate towards. So if you replace that candy bowl with a fruit bowl, you’ll be surprised how often now you find yourself gravitating towards that Apple that pair that orange, or your kids even naturally doing this just because they don’t now see the candy bowl. And I always say it ask yourself, Is it time to give up that candy ball? Do you really need it in your home because oftentimes, I love creating an environment in our home that promotes change. And one of the easiest ways to break down that barrier to change is to create an environment that supports the goals that you’re trying to do. So it can be a great idea to what I like to call upgrade your pantry meaning getting rid of the things that you don’t want to focus on eating and replacing it with the foods that
you do. Definitely and again, people remember even if it’s 100 calorie snack bag, we know that 100 calories of chips is not equal to 100 calories of broccoli. And you would feel completely different when you 800 calories of broccoli.
Absolutely
right I agree. So another for another. You know if people are doing a diet where they are calorie counting, then you know they’ve got to pay attention and remember that one calorie of carbs is not equal to one calorie of fat in the human body because of the the influx because of the chain reactions it sets off so When you’re eating portion of carbs, if it’s in depends on if it’s refined or not refined, for the effect it has it ends up in your body. And then if you eat fat, it’s not equal to the same amount as the minute even though fat has more calories, it may not react in the same way the Cubs react in your body.
Yeah, it’s way more complex, like you mentioned, then a calorie, a calorie is not really a calorie. And I always like to think about, you know, if you take half a bag of chips, it’s around 500 calories, or you take the same amount, if you were to, most of us can eat, I always like to take this analogy, most of us could eat half a bag of chips, and we’re so way more ready to eat more, right, we’re gonna eat our dinner. So we’re gonna eat all that. The same thing, if you were to equate that to the same amount of broccoli, that would be two and a half pounds of broccoli, guys, that would be like, most of us could never eat that much broccoli. And to me, that just shows the point of how much real food can fill us up. And that’s the simplest way to explain about how differently it can work in our body, then the chips do. It’s more complicated in that, but just, you know, think in those simple terms. That’s what I like to say, just start thinking about it in that way first.
So people look for what you can see in your kitchen, clean up your counters, take away the refined stuff. Look at your pantry, you know, get the family involved in cleaning up your pantry, and cleaning up your shopping list, ultimately. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So we went over a few points about healthy diet plans, and what to look for most of the diet plans can have these loopholes, where you can take this information and evaluate what you’re following. So this was about eating 101, and how to optimize your eating habits. This is the first big idea we are presenting in our series of 10 big ideas for 2021. So thank you, Jill, for joining us today and sharing your expertise. So so we are coming to the end of our discussion. And do you want to tell the people listening to this as to how they can reach you?
Absolutely. Thank you. So guys, you can reach me on my website at living up wellness calm. I do have offer free initial consultations, so you can ask me your questions. And then you can find me on social media at living off wellness, both on Facebook and Instagram.
All right, there you are. That’s how you can reach Jill. And I’m looking forward to the further of the series. We’re going to be talking about the 10 Big Ideas eating was the first one and we look forward to seeing you again next week on the next topic.