10/12/2020
Nibble: "Health at Every Size"...have you heard of this?
​
"Health at Every Size" (HAES) is an approach that I wholeheartedly support and advocate for....
There are 5 Health At Every Size® Principles, and I highlight two here:
​
-
Weight Inclusivity: Accept and respect the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes and reject the idealizing or pathologizing of specific weights.
​
-
Eating for Well-being: Promote flexible, individualized eating based on hunger, satiety, nutritional needs, and pleasure, rather than any externally regulated eating plan focused on weight control. (Read the other principles at: https://www.sizediversityandhealth.org/)
​
​​​​There is no specific weight people are supposed to be. Health can come at any size, in any body (two words). Thinking this way can lead to a liberating, nurturing mindset.
​
Ours is a society entrenched in diet culture, which can be quite insidious. Diet culture uses the tools of pressure, fear, and made-up ideas of conformity.
​
And by the way, if diets worked, as I've told my patients/clients over the years, we'd all be thin.
​
And. moreover, if diets and restrictive eating worked, the diet industry would have faded away. No, it is doing just fine.
​
The total U.S. weight loss market grew at an estimated 4.1% in 2018, from $69.8 billion to $72.7 billion. The total market is forecast to grow 2.6% annually through 2023.**
​
Let's save our money.
​
** Statistic from: https://www.marketresearch.com
​
​
_________________________________________________________
11/2/2020
​
Nibble: Sweetened Beverages-What a Mess! (Part 1)
​
Healthy and delicious...readily available...in a rainbow of colors...for thirst, for energy, for peak performance...sweetened beverages do it all!
Talk about having the wool pulled over one's eyes. It's all marketing-there is no nutritional need for sweetened beverages!
​
Almost every pediatric patient I see comes in for obesity. When I go through their intake, most of them are chugging excessive juices, sports drinks, fruit nectars, sweetened ice tea, liquid yogurt, chocolate milk and the favorite of favorites-soda.
​
A can of Pepsi? 10 tsp. sugar A 20oz. Gatorade? 8.5 tsp. sugar. Activia Probiotic yogurt drink? 5.5 tsp. sugar in 7oz (that's not even a cup!)). 23 oz can Arizona Green Tea? (often just $1.00 at the corner stores, a strong siren call)-12 3/4 tsp. Tropicana orange juice 12 oz glass? 8 1/2 tsp. Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino Grande (16oz)? 16 tsp sugar.
​
Studies show sugar-sweetened beverages lead to weight gain, period.
​
Well, if not these drinks, what are our alternatives? (see next "nibble" for Part 2).
​
_________________________________________________________
​
12/8/2020
​
Nibble: Sweetened Beverages-What a Mess! (Part 2)
​
If we cut back or even eliminate sugar-laden drinks (eliminate.....?!! I think I can hear gasps in the ether!), what shall we drink?
Unflavored milk...brewed tea, seltzer water or plain ole still water. Yum!
​
Plain water too boring for you? Throw a fruit-flavored tea bag in your water bottle, or make a kettle of brewed mango, tangerine, or passionfruit herbal tea, then refrigerate. (avoid the powdered juices and iced teas...for eg; 1 serving {=2 tbsps} of 4-C powdered iced tea has 5 1/2 tsp sugar!).
​
Or infuse water with fruit or cucumbers. And those flavor drops? Why ruin a good thing...it's artificial gunk. Or turn 100% juice into flavor drops, adding some juice into your water. Juice as drops not working for you? Ok, have more juice-but diluted. A glass of 1/2 juice, 1/2 water cuts the sugar intake from that glass in half!
​
Am I saying one should never have a sweetened beverage? Never say never! There is room for soda, juices, and other sweetened beverages, as an occasional occurrence. For many of us, lamentably, the pull is too strong, so best to stay away. Your body will thank you, trust me.
_________________________________________________________
​
1/8/2021
Nibble: Do you reach for chocolate, ice cream, or chips when anxiety or stress hits? Guess what....? You're normal.
​
2021-well, hello there!
2020 was sort of a dumpster fire. COVID-19 was and continues to be omnipresent. Soon after it arrived, most of us went into quarantine. What followed for many was a fog of anxiety and stress which still lingers.
​
So how to quell that stress and/or anxiety? A common strategy is to reach for food.
But, many of us feel guilty when we eat a candy bar or open the pantry 10 times a day, grabbing crackers, chocolate chip cookies, chips, roasted mixed nuts, marshmallows, twizzlers, etc, etc, etc.
​
But here's the thing-it's a normal reaction to want these items. When we are stressed and/or anxious, we are in a distressed state and want relief. Reaching for something sweet or salty or a processed, tasty carb (Triskets, a cupcake, pretzels) is a protective move-we want to relieve the distress by having something that brings us relief via pleasure. I'd venture to say there are few folk who, when stressed, say, " I want some broccoli, I GOTTA have some broccoli!"
​
The catch is that the relief is short-lived. The pleasure from the cookie dissipates . And so we go for another cookie, and another. Many of us pick, pick, pick, but then this is followed by guilt, guilt, guilt.
​
How to deal with this? Acknowledge that you are engaging in self-care (you're relieving the stress), and make a conscious effort to accept that this is normal. Thinking like this can help assuage guilt, because your actions are not about you being weak or having no willpower. And feeling less guilt may help you feel more in control.
Want those cookies? Avoid overthinking the situation or engaging in a mental struggle-just have them (you can compromise with yourself...have two instead of four).
You can also try to make a conscious effort to divert your attention elsewhere, and even better if it's something that keeps your hands busy; you can't snack if you're sewing a button that fell off your shirt!. (click the link here for 201 Things to Do Instead of Eating": https://80twentynutrition.com/blog/201-things-to-do-instead-of-eat-when-you-arent-hungry/
​
The world around us is still topsy-turvy, so have compassion for yourself when you feel overwhelmed.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
_________________________________________________________
​