My wife, kids, and I recently attended a 2-hour food seminar with a registered dietician at our local Fresh St Market and learned a thing or two about healthy eating. Someone once said this about healthy eating and nutrition - that they are "already aware, and just need to implement it". I assume the "it" is the healthy eating part which to me means that until it is implemented, then they are eating less healthy in the meantime. I think this is where the extra learning comes in that comes with attending these quick seminars. If anything, learning that this is a way of life and not a form of diet is worth the cost of going to this very free seminar/tour.
DISCLAIMER: These are my own notes and may not be accurate and not necessarily reflect what the dietitian said. It's all reliant on my note-taking skills that day.
Eating out at restaurants = no.
Prepared foods = yes.
Eating well is not not expensive.
Plan on buying 5 dinners when you go grocery shopping and use your freezer often.
When food shopping, divide your list into categories like vegetables, proteins, carbs, grain, etc.
Follow the 80/20 rule.
Aim for 80% healthy eating and 20% not so healthy eating.
Go for 7-8 servings of vegetables per day.
Carbs do not make you fat.
You should eat every 3-4 hours instead of big meals.
Combining carbs with protein helps anchor your energy.
Snack wisely and mindfully.
Fine to combine protein and carbs.
Eat colourful foods, with tons of orange and green.
Balanced meal = 3 to 4 food groups.
Fill half your plate with vegetables.
Quarter of your plate fill with meat, fish, and poultry.
Quarter fill with potatoes, rice, and pasta.
Go easy on processed deli meats because it increases chance of colorectal cancer.
All processed meats are the same regardless of preservation methods.
Gluten is not bad for you, it is protein and comes from wheat.
Just don't use white refined flour and go with whole wheat instead.
Organic foods is not healthier than conventional.
Buy frozen.
Coconut oil is not better than olive oil.
Stick with vegetable oil high in omega3.
Avocado oil is good because of high boiling point.
If you see oil start to smoke while cooking then start over with new batch.
LDL is only one marker for heart disease, there are many other markers. Triglycerides are a better marker.
Omega3 with dha are betters.
Good fats - walnuts, almonds.
Cholesterol and fatty foods do not increase blood pressure.
No hydrogenated oils.
Heating and cooling foods creates trans fat. Did not know that.
Eat more fatty fish like salmon and halibut.
No deep fried foods, limit animal-based foods because that is where saturated fat comes from.
Plants have no saturated fats.
Fiber like apples, soy protein is good.
ApoA and ApoB shows particle sizes in LDL, better indicator.
GMOs do not cause allergies.
Genetic modifications are not labeled in foods but organic foods are never genetically modified if you want to be safe.
Limit 25-50g of sugar per day.
Honey and agave are not any better than sugar.
Healthy gut is important by following the three Fs (I forgot what they are).
Brown eggs are not healthier than white eggs. It's just the type of feed given to the hens.
Osteoporosis is not just an older lady disease.
We use calcium everyday, density of bones starts to go down after 34 years of age.
1000mg a day of calcium needed for under 50 year olds.
A glass of milk or milk substitute is about 300mg.
Multivitamins will not really improve your health.
You can change your metabolism.
Strength training at least twice a week.
Fat does not transform into muscle and vice versa.
Sea salt is not lower in sodium than table salt.
Don't need to do cleanses, it is not needed because our kidney and liver do all that work.
Final notes from the dietitian's presentation:
1)stick to Superfoods
2) revisit portions
3) reduce sugar
4) avoid transfat
4) reduce processed food
5) have vegetables - proteins and carbs - unprocessed- hydration - pleasurable
Keep a food journal.
Some great sites to be aware of when it comes to food journals and nutrition ideas:
MyFitnessPal.com
Cookspiration.com
Eatracker.ca
Keep in mind H.A.L.T.S. (forgot what it each letter stands for).
No mindless eating, i.e. no tv while eating.
After the seminar, we walked around the Fresh St Market store and talked about the different foods at various aisles.
Here are some more info I noted during all the tour:
VitaSupplements with Phytosterol lowers cholesterol by 15%.
Rule of thumb when consuming protein per day - 1.2g of protein per kg of weight.
Enriched wheat just means white refined bread, a no.
Naked bar cashew and dates.
Amaranth grain.
Quinoa.
Dijon lemon oil.
I believe there is another seminar in November and January.
