In February, I attended a conference at the Culinary Institute on "Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lifestyles" designed to teach medical professionals, chefs and a wide range of others how to make sense of all the nutrition research and how to bring it in to your kitchen. Since I took some time off to attend it, I figure it's only fair to relay to you a few things I learned or that bear reiterating:
- As a society, we have probably maxed out any benefit in life expectancy and disease prevention from medications (most gains have been in cardiovascular disease) and "further improvements depend largely on changes in society and personal behavior"
- You can blame some of your genes some of the time, but not all of your genes all the time
- A Mediterranean diet is probably the healthiest option out there. The summary of that is to eat more fruits, vegetables and nuts in place of processed foods, eat healthier carbohydrates (beans, legumes, whole grains - things with lots of fiber), and more plant-based proteins.
- Much more on plant-based eating here and the lowdown on cooking oils
- Even simpler - your ideal plate should be 1/4 protein, 1/4 healthy carbohydrate, 1/2 vegetables and/or fruit. Dessert should be smaller portions of chocolate, fruit and/or nuts.
- Don't worry about your protein intake. It's almost unheard of for people to have too little protein in their diet these days. Broccoli and spinach are more protein dense than beef! Focus on eating as mentioned above and ignore my mom's voice in the back of your head asking where your protein is on your plate or that you're wasting away.
- There is no perfect diet for everyone. Diets work well if you can see yourself sticking to them for a long time, but most fad diets aren't sustainable. The guidelines that seem to work the best are Mediterranean, DASH, Low-carbohydrate and possibly intermittent fasting and paleo. Low fat is a definite fail.
- Drink water, tea, and coffee (ideally black if you can handle it). Alcohol is OK in moderation, ideally averaging 1 drink per day for most people (and that doesn't mean 7 drinks on Saturday night is OK).
- Discover the world of spices, herbs, citrus, and vinegars to help with flavoring. "Taste trumps science - No one can live on foods of penitence." They are a good investment and can be used for a long time to make the most mundane foods great.
- Aim to replace saturated fat and trans fat with vegetable oils and replacing red meat with nuts, fish, poultry and legumes.
- Societies who spend more time cooking have the lowest incidence of obesity (Italy and France spend about 19 minutes more per day cooking than US, but obesity rates are 1/3 of what we have here)
- If you have kids, involving them in meal planning and preparation leads to healthier diets and lower levels of obesity. More fun to eat something you helped make!
- Ignoring weight (which is OK to do sometimes), the ideal waist size should be under 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men.
- Dr. Oz Show recommendations - about 1/3 of the time had "believable or somewhat believable" evidence in support of the claims, about 1/3 of the time there was no evidence.
- Biggest tip for Eating out: try an appetizer or soup or salad as your entree and avoid the bread.
- MINDFUL EATING - a.k.a. Focusing on the experience of eating
This is probably my biggest takeaway and not a new concept but one that you need to continually try to remind yourself about because it is so hard to change this kind of habit
1) Recognize your own cues for hunger and satiety and know the difference between being hungry and having your appetite turned on.
Hunger - physical need to eat food - painful sensation that initiates food-seeking behavior
Appetite - the desire to eat food, triggered by sight, smell, thought or taste of food
2) Engage all your senses with your meal - it helps if you eat slowly with small bites and chew thoroughly. We had to chew a grape 40 times - it might be a little overkill but it really changes the experience and how easily you feel satiated.
4) Choose nutritious and pleasurable food (see above and find some foods you want to make!)
5) Eliminate other activities during meals. This means TV and your phone for sure as starting points.
6) Know that people eat much more when eating mindlessly (i.e. At the movies). In an experiment with soup bowls that refilled secretly, people ate 75% more when they were distracted.
Above all, don't try to be perfect. Make the best choices most of the time, follow a bad day with a good day, acknowledge your bad choices and then get back on track.