Eating for the 'wrong' reasons and important links

Even though I don’t have time to maintain my blog, I am reluctant to shut it down. So today I am writing for two reasons. The first is to remind readers about the danger of eating when you aren’t hungry and the second is to share a couple of health news sources. These news sources will be of particular interest to those who have enjoyed my blog topics, and I will share the links at the end. The sources have free email subscriptions and I believe they are two of the best (i.e., credible, relevant, current) out there.

As I thought about writing (my posts often percolate in my head a few days), I remembered that I started my blog as a newsletter back in 2004 (approximately) when I was working at a hospital and taking classes to earn my Master’s in Public Health. Many readers followed my journey from that point (i.e., to Florida as a Tobacco Treatment Specialist, to UNCG for more graduate studies in Public Health, to Beasley School of Law to complete a post doc in Public Health Law Research) to now – 13 years later.

Today, I am an Assistant Professor at Temple University in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. My teaching responsibilities include a course about substance use disorders and addiction (that should make sense if you’ve read the blog over the years) and a course on nutrition as it relates to the health of populations (i.e., I am still not a registered dietician and do not give individual diet advice). I teach additional courses and conduct research/program evaluations, but this blog has foremost been about behaviors that impact our health and the laws that make those behaviors harder or easier to accomplish (e.g., that darn national menu labeling law that can’t seem to be implemented, soda taxes, new food labels). 

Dietary intake and health status (including obesity) has probably been of most interest to my readers, and to me. So, I want to talk about a specific area of risk regarding dietary intake. Eating for non-hunger reasons. It is often when we eat for the ‘wrong’ reasons that we gain weight. I think what sets me apart from a lot of people is that I don’t do that. I primarily eat to fuel my body when I am hungry. Or better put: I do not eat to socialize. I do not eat because I am bored. I do not eat because I am sad. I do not eat because I am high (haha, just kidding – bc I don’t get high). I do not eat just because everybody else is eating or to be polite. To be clear, I LIKE food, and enjoy meals and snacks and alcoholic beverages, but I don’t respond to social (including work meetings) or familial pressure to eat for the sake of fitting in.

Now that I think about it, I did blog about this many years ago – about how to eat in a social context without gaining weight. I suggested that when you are going to an event (family traditions included) where it is expected that you ‘eat to be social,’ or you know your favorite foods will be available, you plan it so that the food you eat at the event is part of your daily intake (and if its occasional, maybe it’s a little more than your daily intake). But eating when you are sad, bored, or unexpectedly confronted with someone’s ‘oh I had to get these out of my house, please have some’ cookies is a sure path to over consumption/excess calories. This over consumption is especially likely because the food associated with those ‘eating but not for hunger’ reasons are usually high in sugar, saturated fat, salt and calories. So, just think about that – and decide how you want to handle it.

That’s all I have for you on diet and health today. Most importantly are the links I promised you at the start of this post. Here they are:

STAT News Morning Rounds

ConscienHealth blog   (the subscribe option is on the top right of the page)

February Reminder: You said you would eat 'better' this year!

It's the middle of February, how are you doing with your goals to eat healthier in 2016?

Here are a few reminders and helpful hints:
Remember that calories still count and there are plenty of ways to eat delicious, full plates of food if you make some clever choices. For example, when eating out you can order your fish or meat with little to no oil, butter, glaze or sauce and ask for your vegetables to be steamed without butter. (note, pasta is never low calorie and bottomless bowls of it are a mistake) At home, you can prepare your food the same way - without lots of sauces, breading or butter.

Some vegetables are more nutritious than others - high in nutrients but not high in calories, as long as you do not bread, fry or coat them in butter.  For example, summer squashes, spaghetti squash, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, green beans, greens (kale, broccoli rabe, etc). Use this link to find other low calorie foods, and remember just because they start out low calorie doesn't mean they end up low calorie (how you or the chef prepares them is a crucial factor).

Alcohol and caffeine(particularly in coffee) can be a part of a health promoting diet, but be mindful of two things: 1) excess alcohol and caffeine can have adverse effects on your health (excess is more than one or two drinks a day depending on your sex and size, and probably 3 to 4 8-ounce cups of coffee); 2) both alcoholic beverages and coffee that is flavored with cream and sugar, bring in calories and those calories count towards your individual daily requirements. 

I enjoy a good cup of arabica coffee, black no sugar in the morning (okay 2) and decaffeinated, almond milk infused cappuccino in the evening. (sugar free milk ~ 30 cals a cup). For alcohol, I stick to one 12 ounce light beer, one 4 to 6 ounce glass of wine OR one shot of liquor mixed with a no calorie beverage. I recently made a batch of limoncello which I am enjoying several nights a week! Pictured above.

I hope this post has helped get you back on track or keep you on track and given you some new information for meeting your goals.

Calorie Awareness While Traveling

I recently spent a week at a Residence Inn in Alabama. I attended a research methods workshop for obesity prevention and treatment. On several occasions, I was aware of the 'conspicuous' absence of calorie disclosures. The biggest one... the hotel 'free breakfast.' Except for the cartons of yogurt and milk, nothing was labeled. Considering that a slice of bread can have as little as 40 calories (if you search hard) and as many as 100+, that's a big deal. I imagine the range for the available muffins, bagels and waffles make them equally hard to 'estimate.' Sure a day or two of incidental over consumption should't have lasting effects on your health, but if you travel  - and eat away from home - often, the information will come in handy. 
When I travel, attend workshops, meetings and just go to work, I try to keep within the bounds of what is healthy for me. That is another observation I had while at the workshop. It is not enough for the planners to serve 'healthy' food, because healthy, especially these days, is a relevant term and a moving target. Healthy for me mostly meets with the updated recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: 

The overall body of evidence examined by the 2015 DGAC identifies that a healthy dietary pattern is higher in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy, seafood, legumes, and nuts; moderate in alcohol (among adults); lower in red and processed meat;i and low in sugar-sweetened foods and drinks and refined grains. Vegetables and fruit are the only characteristics of the diet that were consistently identified in every conclusion statement across the health outcomes.

*The fruits and vegetables are highlighted as being prepared with spices and without adding salt and saturated fat. See the full report here.

So for me, healthy is not about organic or 'all natural,' and healthy doesn't mean no artificial sweeteners, but that is exactly how some others might define healthy for themselves. My healthy diet includes mostly whole foods, minimally processed; no meats, lots of vegetables, soy based lean protein, fish, almond milk and no or low fat dairy (yogurt, cheese, ice cream), fruit, coffee, plenty of whole grains, like popcorn!, fiber and yup, alcohol and diet soda. So to eat the way I like, I usually bring my own food, and in Alabama, though I ate out a few nights, I went to the grocery store and prepared my lunch and dinner in the nice hotel room kitchen.  (The reason the workshop lunches weren't 'healthy' to me is because they were often sandwiches, pasta, or meat based. I did enjoy the fruit and diet soda though!)
Interestingly, my friends and I were out walking one evening and one or two got very excited when we passed the Insomnia Cookies store. (remember this was an obesity prevention workshop, and cookies can be part of a calorie controlled diet). So, my friend was more than a little excited as she went into the store - there was quite a line at the counter - but she came right back out, with a brochure (for me) and disgust. WHY? THEY POSTED THE CALORIE CONTENT!  HAHAHAHA, she said that seeing the calories took all the fun out of it. Hilarious. (BTW, we have one of these Insomnia Cookie food trucks at Temple University, and the shop in Alabama was within a mile of the UAB campus. Sense a theme?)

Notice the ranges, also on the right is ice cream

Calorie Mindful or Drunkorexia

I recently came across a research article discussing a phenomena (possible 'disorder') called drunkorexia. The term and what it means caught me off guard and to be honest, disturbed me. It disturbs me for a couple reasons. The first is that I am loathe to think that my advising persons - as a public health educator - to consider how they spend their calories in a given day might in some way suggest that I think people should drastically cut their calories in order to 'fit in' highly caloric (and dangerous) binge drinking. Of course, I expect that the primary audience for my blog and YouTube channel are not mostly college aged females - the group that engages in this behavior the most - and is instead, people doing their best to consume the right amount of calories to keep themselves at a health promoting weight. So when I say that I personally consider the 1 beer, glass of wine or alcoholic beverage (~ 100 cals) in my daily total, and thus have a smaller lunch or breakfast in order to have that drink, I am NOT advocating skipping meals or 'starving' in order to 1) drink on an empty stomach for a quicker high or 2) or to consume 500 or more calories in alcohol and not gain weight.

I am also concerned when people medicalize/diagnose behaviors, like the dumb one I just described, into psychological problems - at least too quickly. Labeling people, in my experience as a social worker (not a psychiatrist/psychologist or nutritionist), too soon or maybe at all, can cement the problem; the person becomes the problem - the illness manifests because someone said it was there.

My area of expertise and research is not eating disorders. The main point of this post, and the point I will reiterate and end with is: being smart about the calories you consume does not include - never includes - not eating. It is easy to reduce a breakfast and or lunch by 50 to 100 calories by changing its ingredients. I do not advocate any of the behaviors associated with this 'drunkorexia.'

Calorie Stealth

Calories, calories, calories. That is all this girl talks about… well, mostly true. I also talk about making sure that you are as physically active as possible (that means sit less) and that you try to exercise every day. And a few other things, like not smoking or tanning… and, well by now, you can fill in the rest yourselves.

So YES, calories.  First, restaurant (and similar venue) menu labeling is coming and I have noticed an increasing number of commercials that include a calorie count within the TV (or internet) ad.  Here is the most recent:

Second, I want to pass along a ‘be on the lookout’ note:

Little Bites and mini donuts are not low calorie options, but calling something little bites sure makes you think so. Right? Actually, a serving of Little Bites muffins has 180 calories, a regular muffin 190 and a 'mini' cake 260.  All of these are made by Entenmann’s. TastyKake sells mini-donuts with over 200 cals per serving. Take home message: read the calorie AND serving size information regardless of the words, light, little, diet, mini, good for you, all natural, organic...etc.

And back to the lemonade: 240 calories for a beverage is a bit much… more than half those calories are from sugar - 39 grams or about 10 teaspoons. The rest is from protein and fat, which comes from the milk. Below is the ingredients list from ChickfilA. The ingredients in the “Icedream” read like a chemistry book.

Frosted Lemonade: Icedream (whole milk, sugar, nonfat dry milk, artificial flavor, corn starch, mono & diglycerides, microcrystalline cellulose, carrageenan, guar gum, Yellow 5 & 6), water, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, sugar.

Diet Frosted Lemonade: Icedream (whole milk, sugar, nonfat dry milk, artificial flavor, corn starch, mono & diglycerides, microcrystalline cellulose, carrageenan, guar gum, Yellow 5 & 6), water, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, Splenda® (dextrose, maltodextrin, sucralose).

SO – the picture above, with the 240 calories, that is the diet one…. the regular lemonade has 330 calories and 63g of sugar (16 teaspoons). Sigh…and by sigh, I mean that's crazy! (PS I didn't see the fine print in the picture at first, “starting at…. 240 cals.”)

Building a low calorie meal at Chipotle

Until the menu labeling that is mandated by law and regulated by the FDA blankets the US, there is still the option of using online nutrition information available for most large chain restaurants.  I expect the information to remain available on line after the law is implemented, which is great for planning ahead.  Information on site can help you make a healthy choice at an unfamiliar restaurant you.

I recently got the notion that I should have a meal in mind in case I ended up at Chipotle.  There is one near my office.  I tried several combinations on the interactive web menu and watched the total calorie count go up or down, a little or a lot, depending on the choices that I made.  You can explore the menu this way too, just click here.

I did not add any of the meats when I was exploring, but I did add the Sofritas (a soy product/meat substitute); I think I saw an add for the Sofritas and that might be why I started thinking about Chipotle.  I did toy with tortillas and dressings.

Here is a snap shot of my "meal."  I specifically included the vinaigrette on this salad so you could see how it impacted the calorie total - 270 calories just in the dressing!  The salad has almost 500 calories with the dressing, which of course I don't need because I have the tomato salsa.  In other words, if I were placing an order, I would use the salsa for the dressing, not the vinaigrette.

Next are examples where I chose a burrito (a tortilla w/300 calories!) and a taco (a crispy shell w/ 210 calories).

Special Packaging - Better for the Planet

I want to tell you about a package I received the other day and show you pictures - but first I have to talk about the product I ordered and perhaps offer a little disclaimer.. AND there's a discount code for you if your interested.

   I have probably mentioned Waldens Farms in the blog, and I most definitely have talked about it on my You Tube channel.  The products I use are 'calorie free' salad dressings, chocolate and pancake syrup, a peanut spread, apple jelly, and caramel, chocolate and marshmallow dips.  Note that the 'calorie free' tag can be misleading. If a product has less than 5 calories per the serving size listed (not the one you want it to be) then the company can advertise it as calorie free - but only water is truly calorie free.
   I like the Walden Farms products.  I don't use much of the dips and spreads because when I use more than a teaspoonful -ish I sense a little after taste.  The products are highly processed or filtered such that the main ingredient is water. Of course, all the flavorings they use are FDA approved, but you know how that goes.  The main thing I wanted to point out before I promote them is that they contain artificial sweeteners (splenda - sucralose).
   Aspartame, saccharine and sucralose have been the subject of much study and debate - including what I have contributed in these pages. As far as we know, in the amounts that we consume them, they are not harmful. But I must admit that our ability to detect problems through scientific methods only gets better with time and it could be that the substances are not safe. In the past, the way they studied them was to give ridiculously huge amounts to animals that weighed between 5 and 15 pounds.  At extreme doses, the animals got sick or died. In doses more likely to be consumed by people, the animals did not have any problems.  Remember, many things are okay in small doses, like alcohol, but toxic otherwise.
   Certainly there is anecdotal evidence (stories) about people who used large amounts of aspartame or saccharin for many years and who seem to have gotten sick for no other reason then the sweeteners.  There are also people who have allergic reactions to sweeteners - people have allergic reactions to peanuts too, but peanuts are not bad for the rest of us.  I would expect, but this is far from scientific, that the air we breathe on bad ozone days is worse for us than these sweeteners.
   Still, my use of artificial sweeteners seems to contradict my stance on health - and by way of comparison, my view on mercury.  I won't eat canned tuna because it has too much mercury - but I drink diet soda.  I too am guilty of not wanting to hear things that will challenge my lifestyle.  So I have a bias or blind side when it comes to artificial sweeteners... not that there is any definitive research that says they are bad.. certainly they are not good  - but neither is sugar.  At least, I am honest in my bias, many researchers are not.  (You have to make your own decision about whether to use sweeteners or sugar for that matter - just remember that the best evidence we have today or had yesterday might be contradicted tomorrow.  That means we are getting better at science not worse!)
   SO  - YAY, I found a great place to order my beloved Walden Farms products - cheaper than the grocery store (where they are hard to find in some states).  I was able to get free shipping too, but the best part was how they were shipped.  See picture below.  No styrofoam peanuts or plastic - I was delighted.  And they also gave me a coupon code to share with my friends.. you are my friends, yes?  

All of the packaging was recyclable!

My Walden Favorites!

The company from which I ordered the Walden Farms products is iHerb.com
To get $5 to $10 off an order, use this code: DNZ646

NonDairy - Good Fat - No Sugar - Low Calories

   In my blog, I am more likely to make food 'group' recommendations than product recommendations - my most well known product rec being  Smuckers All Natural Peanut Butter. 
   Today I will share the labels of two products - two brands, in one category that I do highly recommend.  Almond Milk. There is a continuing controversy over dairy products, esp. milk and if you are not allergic to nuts, this is a fantastic alternative.  It is better for several reasons.
   The reasons are calories, sugar and fat.  Taste may not be among the plus factors, because I am  suggesting the unsweetened versions ONLY.  Please don't go for the sweetened as those just add sugar. However, using the almond milks in recipes, cereal and coffee as opposed to drinking it straight is what I have in mind.  It is really best not to drink our calories anyways.
   Below are two labels.  One brand doesn't break down their fat content but both of them have fat without saturated fat.  Therefore,  the grams are all GOOD fat.  Please understand, there IS good fat and you need it.  These products give you healthy fat with calcium and without sugar.  The calorie content is very low.  The calories are half that of the same serving size of skim milk (90c).  The serving size is NOT small - it is one cup.   BTW, whole milk has ~140 cals, 2% ~ 130s, 1% ~110s.  Full disclosure - almond milk pales in comparison to skim milk with regard to protein.  Still, protein is not one of the nutrients that Americans lack so you'll be fine.

This is Almond Breeze.  It has better amounts of Good Fat. 

This is  Silk Pure Almond - More Expensive but better Calcium Percentage

I use almond milk in my oat bran, my cake and cereal bar recipes, and when I make sugar free instant pudding.

Wellness Weekly with Video

The News:

Outrageous: These three issues were particularly unnerving to me this week. Two are commercials and the other was a news ad. The first commercial encourages moms to buy their kids a drink in a box called Fruitables. The USDA food guide recommends very little in the way of juice or any drink other than skim milk (recommending instead water and non caloric beverages). The reason juices are not recommended is because they do not contain the natural fiber that fruits and vegetables do. Fiber helps to regulate the sugar in fruit so it is not something that will spike blood sugar and cause an immediate and abrupt insulin response. Children, all of us, need to eat our fruits and vegetables not drink them. The second ad is for a supplement or herbal remedy that is supposed to naturally lower one’s “bad or LDL” cholesterol. That I doubt its effectiveness almost goes without saying, but what peeved me was the statement that it was a natural way of lowering the cholesterol. It is a synthesized processed something in a pill. That is not natural. The natural way to lower ones bad cholesterol is through diet and exercise. Think, walking and eating those cereal bars. The last outrage, or so I thought, was an article regarding tobacco companies’ move to increase the cost of cigarettes before the federal tax increase would force them to. In fact, the maker of Marlboro decided to raise the price 10 cents more than is required. It appears there is no worry that the tobacco user will stop buying the product. Could that be because they know how addicting the product is and have no worry that sales will tank? This is why tobacco taxes reduce NEW use, not current use and why states have NO valid argument for not also raises the taxes… what are they afraid of, that the youth will not start using tobacco and that will be a bad thing? So I was done with the outrage section, but I forgot about last week’s grocery shopping. In the sugar/sweetener isle I saw a bag of Splenda that said “ -- grams of fiber per serving”. WHAT? They added fiber to the sugar. Good grief.. Eat some oatmeal. The only reason they did that, in my opinion, is to compete with Stevia which has naturally occurring fiber. Well, I buy neither so there.
Wynona: Ah, this should be in the above section to be sure. I cannot believe the younger singing Judd has become a spokesperson for a diet PILL. Worse is that she refers to Alli as safe because it is FDA approved. By doing this commercial and through that statement she implies that the pill is effective and without side effects. I doubt it is effective and know it is not without real risk. Furthermore, the pill box states that the results are related to the amount of exercise one does and the calories they consume. So, why exactly do you need the pill? Oh yes, it helps to keep some bad fat from being absorbed, so much so that the makers advise users to start the product over the weekend or take a few days off of work. Oh yeah, that sounds safe and fun too!
Comparative Effectiveness: update- This still looks possible while being strongly opposed by drug and medical device makers. The current stimulus package has set aside funding for this research, mentioned in previous news. The Institute of Medicine will be overseeing the studies and I for one look forward to the day that I can decide on a treatment or a medication based on these variables.
ByeBye Trans Fats: Another city takes action against these unnecessary fats which increase levels of LDL cholesterol. Boston’s ban includes bakeries and prohibits use of oils, shortening and margarine with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Pills are NOT a Panacea: A report regarding heart patients in several European countries that could be generalized to American heart patients, supplies some disturbing though not surprising news. Persons taking medicines to reduce their blood pressure and lower their LDL levels are NOT changing the parts of their lifestyle that led to these problems in the first place. Well over half of them continued to have problems with these issues and were put on even more meds to treat them. The researchers are concerned that eating, physical activity and smoking factors are not addressed in this group. I have long believed that people in our country get a false sense of security from pills and are also looking for a fix that doesn’t take effort, such as eating well and exercising do. The same study found a higher incidence of obesity and diabetes in an age group comparison to 12 years ago.

That will bring us to today’s cooking video. The point of these videos is to assist you in eating food, lots of food really, without adding non nutritive and even disease promoting extras.. like saturated FAT and sugar. Today it is a dinner, next week another baking recipe.

The Video Ingredients:

http://www.quorn.us/cmpage.aspx?pageid=372

Quorn is a meat substitute and is found in the freezer section at Lowes Foods, Harris Teeter, Publix and Whole Foods: Not all Quorn products are low calorie or low fat. Choose Quorn naked cutlets or tenders

Quorn tenders ½ to 1 cup
Salad (nice leaf lettuces)
Mushroom, red onion, tomato
Mrs. Dash or McCormick spices
Cauliflower
Spaghetti Squash
Parmesan cheese
Garlic and Parsley
Salad Dressing (I choose Waldon’s Farms or recommend Balsamic Vinegar – not vinegarette)
Fruit of choice (but not a high sugar one, like kiwi, banana, pineapple etc)

Okay like I said most of my dinners have 200 cals or less and then I have dessert…

Meal Ideas

I am beginning to create videos for the blog. My initials ones are pretty rudimentary, but they will get better. I am going to get a better camera and software and I may actually manage to get all of me in the video at some point. Note, I have nothing fancy in my kitchen and buy most of the ingredients at Walmart. This is every day stuff.. and you CAN do it.