I AM NOT THE FOOD POLICE

By Regina Kosmatka

 

As a dietetic intern, many people ask or comment about their food choices whenever I am around, saying things like “Oh I don’t always eat like this” or “Don’t look but I am going to have a third cookie” or “I usually don’t eat this much food”. This happens all the time, especially now that the holiday season is upon us. Friends, family, acquaintances, strangers, anyone really assumes that because I am going to be a Registered Dietitian I am the unofficial food police who judges them based off of what they are eating, and that I have the power to dictate whether their personal food choices are “good” or “bad”. I am not nor do I ever wish to be the food police. Food is just food.

 

1. Nutrition is confusing

I understand that nutrition can be confusing and people don’t know where to turn or who to listen to: What is the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist? One day eggs are good the next they are bad; coffee can cause cancer and the next day it can prevent it. Trust me, studying this stuff is confusing too. So I will try and clear it up a bit.

 

Dietitians are certified credentialed nutrition professionals working in an evidence-based practice, who have gone through years of schooling solely studying nutrition and research. Personally, it has been 4 years of undergrad and 1 year working towards a Master’s Degree in nutrition and dietetics while earning the 1200 supervised practice hours necessary to sit for the registration exam. Nutritionists can be anybody. You could call yourself a nutritionist even though you may or may not have nutrition knowledge or background in the field. I am a huge advocate for and believe that the general public should utilize the expertise of RDs all the time and rely on them for accurate nutrition information, rather than whoever immediately pops up on Dr. Google.

One thing dietitians are NOT here to be is the food police. Dietitians are here to promote health. According to the World Health Organization, health means a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Health doesn’t mean eating acai smoothie bowls, quinoa, hummus, the superfood of the day, kale, and avocados 100% of the time no exceptions allowed. You don’t have to be Instagram model picture perfect photo-edited thin or ripped like a professional athlete whose job it is to workout for 6 hours a day to be healthy. Why let Instagram photos, Dr. Google, and advertisements be your food police? Why do you need a food police in your life at all? You don’t.

 

2. Food is just food.

 

I believe that food is not good or bad. Food is just food. It fuels your body and gives you nutrients allowing your body to function as it was intended to. Around the holidays, food is usually something that brings families and friends together to celebrate and be thankful for everything in our lives. Food is not a tool that is meant to create feelings of guilt, shame, and embarrassment; like I said earlier food is just food. Why let your food have the power to dictate your emotions?

 

Here is an example that you might experience during certain holidays: Grandma, mom, dad, or whoever is the expert baker and cook in your family only makes delicious indulgences once or twice a year, so enjoy them while you can. If grandma makes the world’s best Christmas cookies, or mom makes the best green bean casserole, or dad is the king at making pumpkin bars enjoy them. Instead of thinking about your food all the time and how you are going to compensate for the three cookies you ate this afternoon, enjoy the time with family and friends and think about why you are celebrating whatever holiday it is you celebrate that time of year. Don’t feel guilty about what you are eating for the 3-4 days (less than 0.1% of the year) that you are celebrating with your loved ones. A dietitian’s job is to help make food choices that promote health and well-being, not to write you a ticket for your food choices.

 

3. Balance, Variety, Moderation.

 

As a dietitian I hope to change the relationship many people have with their food so that my patients/clients see their food as a source of energy and nutrients that are necessary for normal body function; rather than as calories, carbs, or fat that are going to make them look worse naked. I hope to teach my patients/clients balance, variety, and moderation as tool to use when making food choices.

•  Balance = too much and too little can cause negative health effects so choose fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and even desserts, fried foods, or whatever else you like to eat because depriving yourself of these “bad” foods will only make you feel worse and more likely to overconsume when you do eat the “bad foods”.
• Variety = choose foods that come from every food group and of every color to obtain all the nutrients your body needs.
• Moderation = eat all foods in good portions and listen to your body and what it is telling you.

 If some days (i.e. Valentines Day, Christmas, a random day in July when it is so hot and you just want that ice cream) you don’t have all the food groups, don’t have moderation, or don’t have a balance – IT IS OKAY. Why would you give food, an object that has no cognitive function, the power to make you sad/guilty? Who cares if you didn’t eat “perfect”? I sure don’t and neither do many many dietitians and neither should you. I don’t care what is on your plate and you shouldn’t care what is on mine.

 

In Conclusion

Dietitians are not the food police! We are not judging your food choices, we are not going to shame you because you don’t eat only fresh fruits and vegetables because guess what – neither do we! Personally, I enjoy chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, brownies, dark chocolate, ice cream (sometimes pints at a time), salt and vinegar chips, French fries, brown sugar cinnamon poptarts, Culvers, and I too eat “more than I should” at holidays! I know – mind blowing. So next time you meet an RD, don’t think they are judging you based off of what you are eating because they aren’t. Food is just food. Enjoy your food. Enjoy your family. Enjoy your life.

Definition of Health from WHO:

* https://www.who.int/suggestions/faq/en/

Photos from:

1. https://www.joseesovinskynutrition.com/blog/food-police
2. https://www.everett-mead.co.uk/insurance-its-a-confusing-old-game/
3. http://www.goodfoodmama.com/healthy-eating/food-is-just-food-its-all-about-balance/
4. https://lotushealthandfitness.co.uk/eating-right-for-your-ayurvedic-type/
5. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318630.php

Breaking Away from Diet Culture

By Hayley Rader

It’s that time of year again. Ads are popping up on my computer and my phone advertising a ‘3 Week Get Fit Plan’ and ‘10 Tips and Tricks for a Perfect Spring Break Body’. I normally scroll by, but this year I decided to look into what these ‘tips and tricks’ were telling people to do to achieve a ‘Spring Break Body’. This lead me into a deep dive of many articles about getting ready for Spring Break- all of them full of quick-fixes to lose weight or gain muscle. Some of the common tips that I found were to avoid salty foods, drink less water, do a juice cleanse, and cut out all forms of sugar and gluten. They all had short deadlines with some guaranteeing results in just one week.

As a future Registered Dietitian, I know from my education that there is no ‘quick fix’ for any kind of body change. I can look at these ads and know the falsehood behind them and the risks to following these plans. I also know that messages like this to the general public can seem like real fixes that can help them achieve that ‘body ideal’ that they have in their head. Following any of tips that I found in these ‘quick fix’ articles could result in disordered eating patterns. These messages may exacerbate levels of body dissatisfaction that are already present. It has been shown that severe body dissatisfaction can lead to low self esteem, depressive symptoms, binge eating, and other extreme weight control behaviors. Body dissatisfaction is shown to lead to increases in eating pathology- any symptoms of eating disorders such as severe caloric restriction, self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, and misuse of diet pills².

Why do we have this fascination with achieving a perfect body for spring break? Why is there such a fixation on having a ‘bikini-body’?  Why are we willing to go to such lengths to achieve it? We all know that the media plays a huge role. Our personal involvement with the media has increased drastically since the invention of social media. Instagram, specifically, has increased the role that social media plays in our self-perception. It is no longer just magazines and models who can impact our perception of our own bodies. Our peers are using editing apps to create a perfect photo. Our feeds are full of filtered photos that create unrealistic expectations of reality.  

A 2017 study showed that there was a significant difference between Instagram users and non-Instagram users in body surveillance- which is defined in this study as the behavioral manifestation of self-objectification. Instagram users thought about how they look more than those who did not use Instagram. This study also found that following ‘health and fitness’ and/or celebrity accounts on Instagram was significantly positively correlated with thin-ideal internalization and a drive for thinness¹.

So what can we do? It’s not realistic to stop using social media- it is such a large part of everyday life for many people.  However, we can populate our feeds with body positive messages and images can work to combat the messages we are getting from other Instagram accounts and ads. Here are some of my favorite body-positive Instagram accounts:

• Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CDN (@ch1styharrison) – Christy Harrison is the self-proclaimed “anti-diet dietitian” who posts great quotes from her podcast, Food Psych. She strives to debunk the diet culture and is a big encourager of intuitive eating.
• Deanna Wolfe, MS, RDN (@dietitiandeanna)- Deanna Wolfe is a dietitian who focuses on improving people’s relationships with food. She is very open about her recovery from her eating disorder on her page and emphasizes the importance of balance in a diet and not restricting foods. While her page is more food centered, she has great messages and tips for people trying to improve their relationship with food.
• Anna Sweeney, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S (@dietitiananna)- Anna Sweeney specializes in intuitive eating and eating disorder treatment. Her feed is full of motivational quotes and reminders to treat your body with kindness. Her goal is to remind people that food is just food and that your body has the power to tell you what it needs.
• Aerie (@aerie)- While this is not a Dietitian account, Aerie has a very strong body positive message. In addition to advertising their clothing line, the Aerie Instagram posts images of real women wearing their swimsuits and other clothing items as part of their #aeriereal campaign.  I love seeing the diversity in their models as well- check out their website for some of the most diverse models I have ever seen.

It is important that we remember what our bodies are for. We need our bodies to walk and talk and dance and run. Our bodies need to be fueled with food to carry out all of these functions. Our bodies deserve to be respected and treated well. Spring Break should be a time to relax and enjoy the time away, not a time to stress about your weight, shape, or size.  Fill your Instagram feed with positive messages that motivate you to love your body. This Spring Break let’s break away from diet culture and appreciate our body for all it does for us.
 

I celebrated my spring break with some Mickey Ice cream from Disneyland!

 
Cohen, R., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2017). The relationship between Facebook and Instagram appearance-focused activities and body image concerns in young women. Body Image, 23, 183-187.

Rosewall, J. K., Gleaves, D. H., & Latner, J. D. (2018). Psychopathology Factors That Affect the Relationship Between Body Size and Body Dissatisfaction and the Relationship Between Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Pathology. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2768.

Meatless Meals!

The What, Why, and How of Cutting Down On Meat In Your Diet

By: Sadie Pierce-Mulligan

A little background on me: I grew up regularly helping my parent’s cook, which sparked my love for food, cooking, and nutrition. This helped lead me toward wanting to become a registered dietitian! I have also followed a vegetarian diet for over 22 years. I’m always creating new recipes that give me all the nutrients I need and keep me satisfied until my next meal! Which can be achieved through a vegetarian diet if done correctly. Before you stop reading, I’m not here to tell you that you should eliminate all meat from your diet. I just want to share some of the benefits and ways you can decrease the amount of meat you consume. 

 

Why Eat Less Meat?

 

Going meatless just once a week, yes, just 1-2 meals a week, can improve both your health and the environment! Decreasing meat consumption can lower your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. While high red and processed meat intake can increase your risk for these same diseases. Eating less meat improves the environment by decreasing the greenhouse gas emission and saving large amounts of water used to produce livestock. Cutting back on meat can also decrease your grocery budget. Building meals around beans, legumes, vegetables, and whole grains tends to be less expensive and more beneficial for health.

 

How To Eat Less Meat and What To Eat Instead

 

I realize that the concept of eating a meal without meat is hard for a lot of people to understand since it is a large part of the western diet. Meatless meals don’t just have to be about taking something out of your meal, it should be about adding more to it! Plant-based diets emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, and nuts. These dietary components are high in fiber, vitamins, and other nutrients that are good for your health.

There are also MANY satisfying substitutes for meat. There are beans and legumes such as lentils, chickpeas, black beans, soybeans, kidney beans, and more. There are other proteins such as seitan, tempeh, and tofu. Finally, there are products made out of combinations of these ingredients. Some of my favorites include Gardein products such as meatless meatballs and chick’n strips, and Morning Star Farms veggie burgers.

 

Will You Get Enough Protein?

 

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends choosing a variety of proteins, including eggs, low-fat milk and products made from it, beans and peas, soy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds. These sources of protein are higher in fiber and lower in saturated fat than meats such as beef. Many individuals concern is that without meat you won’t consume enough protein. This is a common misconception and most people actually eat too much protein on a daily bases. The average person needs about 50-70 grams per day. These needs vary based on body size, activity level, and other factors.

Plant proteins and other alternatives contain higher levels of protein than most people think!

Egg: 6g each

Chickpeas: 14.5g per cup

Black beans: 15.2g per cup

Soybeans: 28.6g per cup

Lentils: 17.9g per cup

Tofu: 22g per cup

Veggie Burgers: About 10-15g per patty

Meatless Meatballs: 14g per three meatballs

 

Now that you know how to concur your meals with a variety of different proteins, I think the question is: Why not eat more meatless meals!?

If you need some more inspiration on what to eat, here’s one of my favorite recipes:

 

Chickpea Tacos

Ingredients:

6-8 corn tortillas

1 can chickpeas, drained

2 cups Gardein beefless ground, frozen

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Taco seasoning:

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp black pepper

1 pinch red pepper flakes

Toppings:

Anything you like! My favorites are green onions, cilantro, lime juice, and salsa

 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Drain chickpeas and place in a large bowl, add beefless ground
• Add olive oil and taco seasoning to the bowl and mix together
• Spread taco contents on baking sheet and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until slightly crispy, stir halfway through
• Warp tortillas in a paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute until warmed
• Place about ½ cup of taco mix onto each tortilla
• Add toppings and enjoy!

 

Sneaking Veggies into Children’s Food

Is it really worth it?

By: Julia Navin, SLU Dietetic Intern and Graduate Student

Okay, be honest- who has ever pushed your vegetables around on your plate as a child in hopes of convincing your parents that you ate more than 3 lukewarm carrots? It’s okay, we’ve all been there (myself included!).

It is well known that vegetables are good for us, however getting children to eat vegetables may be a hard task to conquer. There has been a big push to increase amounts of fruits and vegetables that children consume in the past few years. The Center for Disease Control reports that fruit intake has increased by 67% from 2003 to 2010, but vegetable intake has remained unchanged.¹ This may be because children are more likely to eat a something sweet and that fruit is easier to eat on the go.

Obtaining fruits and vegetables on a weekly basis is not as easy as it may seem. Fresh produce has a short shelf life and children are quick to change food preferences. Parent’s Magazine mentions how children’s tastes change frequently, as what they like one day may not be the same the next. Parents are busy people who probably don’t have an extra 30 minutes to make a vegetable plate filled with colorful choices. While frozen or canned vegetables are a convenient and cheap option, they are not often the number one choice in many households.

That’s where creative chefs and parents step in and try to hide vegetables into foods that children typically like to consume. Cauliflower mac and cheese, sweet potato pancakes, mushroom meatball, and more! These hidden vegetables can be fresh, frozen, or canned and often go unnoticed by a child. The idea sounds great and is meant with no harm, ultimately getting children one step closer to reaching the recommended 3 servings of vegetables daily. However, as with most great ideas, there are always some unintended consequences.

The Good:

• Increase vegetable intake without child awareness- Not knowing vegetables are in make it less likely for kids to turn their nose up at foods. Sometimes, kids may go a whole day without eating a vegetable. If vegetables are hidden in foods, children will get those nutrients and be closer to the 3 servings of recommended daily vegetables.
• Picky eaters may be more inclined to eat vegetables- Looking at a plate with a pile of mushrooms on the side may not be the most enticing for a picky eater. However, when the mushrooms are chopped and mixed into a meatball, the child is likely to consume the whole meatball without thinking twice about what’s inside.
• Short-term solution- Hiding vegetables is a short-term fix to get your child to eat more vegetables. While sneaking veggies into foods is great when a child is younger, it gets trickier as the child gains independence and is able to prepare his or her own foods. It is more beneficial in the long term to educate and prepare vegetables for your child to give them the autonomy to choose fruits and vegetables later in life

The Not-so-Good:

• Children can’t taste the vegetables- While your child may not have liked a certain vegetable at one point in time, taste buds change! Who knows if your kid will still have the same aversion, especially if they cannot taste the actual vegetable.
• Instill idea that vegetables are bad- Why do vegetables need to be hidden? Disguising vegetables so that the child doesn’t know what they taste like independently causes a mistrust and negative connotation to vegetables. This may lead to a decreased vegetable intake if children believe that vegetables are bad.
• Are you actually adding any nutrition?- One way parents try to hide vegetables is by masking it with other items like cheese. All those extra calories from the cheese almost outweigh the benefits from the vegetables. In addition, most recipes with hidden vegetables add less than 1 serving of vegetables. That is more than they would get normally, but is it really all that beneficial?

So, how does this work in real life?

I decided it was time to get my hands dirty. Primarily because some of the recipes looked good, but I also wanted to see how easy it was to actually “sneak” vegetables into foods. Now, I don’t have a child, but I do have a 23-year-old boyfriend who has similar taste preferences of a child (we’re talking mac and cheese twice a week and avoiding most green vegetables) so I thought he would be a decent substitution.

I combined a few recipes and ultimately ended up with Cauliflower Scrambled Eggs. Cauliflower doesn’t have as noticeable of a taste compared to other vegetables like broccoli and has a neutral color, so it doesn’t stand out when combined with foods like eggs or mac and cheese. The recipe I used is at the end of this blog if you wanted to check it out!

I started with a head of fresh cauliflower from the produce section. After washing it, I chopped it into smaller pieces and steamed it on the stove. Once it was tender, I drained the water and mashed it up with a fork. Let me just say, prepping from scratch is a lot of work! The whole process of cutting, steaming, and mashing the cauliflower took around an hour. It would have been more time efficient if there was access to a blender, however I got a mini work out in from mashing the cauliflower, so that’s a win! I then cracked and scrambled 4 eggs and added ½ cup mashed cauliflower, along with ½ teaspoon of garlic powder and sprinkle of salt and pepper to be split between the two of us.

The results? On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being disgusting and 10 being best thing ever: appearance was a 4, taste was around a 7, texture was a 5. The eggs masked the cauliflower fairly well, the only indication that there was a vegetable in the eggs were the smaller pieces since I couldn’t puree.

The overall outcome was yummy, but the effort it took to prepare the cauliflower and only increase my vegetable intake by ¼ cup (or one-twelfth of the total recommended daily vegetable intake) was not worth it. The whole process was time consuming and not practical for an everyday breakfast. The main pro from this experience, is that my boyfriend sampled some of the cauliflower before it was combined with the eggs and enjoyed it!

My recommendation going forward would be to buy a premade mashed cauliflower (like this) or simply a bag of frozen cauliflower to steam in bag. In addition, the cauliflower would be almost unidentifiable if it were pureed, so having access to a blender would be a huge help in making this recipe a success!

What’s the verdict?

While disguising vegetables is a great way to increase children’s vegetable intake in the short term, it fails to establish the taste for vegetables and may not be sustainable long term. It’s likely that your child won’t be adding pureed vegetables into dishes in college. Personally, I don’t think that the effort it took to prepare the cauliflower is worth getting a minimal amount of vegetables. It would be more beneficial to simply add vegetables into dishes, like mushrooms in pasta sauce for example, so that your child can taste the actual vegetable. Several dietitians from Parents magazine noted that their children ate foods with visible vegetables. This could be related to the normalization of vegetables or increased tolerance since they had been previously exposed. (Remember: it can take up to 15 tries for a child to accept a new food). You can also try to add vegetables into smoothies, baked goods, and general dinners. If cost is of concern, canned and frozen vegetables provide the same nutrients and are often cheaper.

Ultimately, the decision is up to you and what works for your family. If hiding vegetables is sustainable, then try it out. However, I would encourage progressively adding some vegetables on the side to get your child familiar with the smells and tastes to promote a healthy vegetable intake throughout their lifetime. Who knows, they could end up liking more vegetables than you think

 

 Cauliflower Scrambled Eggs

Serves 2

½ cup pureed cauliflower

4 eggs

½ t garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat pan over medium-high heat.

Crack and scramble 4 eggs in bowl. Add in ½ cup pureed cauliflower. Spray heated pan with nonstick spray. Add egg and cauliflower mixture. Season with garlic powder, pepper, and salt to taste. Cook until eggs are done and enjoy.

One portion: 150 calories, 9 g fat, 2 g carbohydrate, 13 g protein