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Christina Pilz adds cooked kasha to walnut, cranberry,
celery and sunflower seeds to finish the Cranberry
Grain Salad she made for lunch.
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YOU
ARE WHAT YOU EAT:
Nutritional
ways to improve your health in'05
By
Cindy Sutter, Daily Camera Staff Writer
January 10, 2005
Christina
Pilz was in a rut, eating whatever she wanted. Sometimes
it was fast food, sometimes it was takeout.With
her energy levels plummeting, the 42-year-old technical
writer decided to see a nutritional consultant."As
a gift to myself, I would go see someone who would
point me in the right direction," she says.
She
went to Debbie Sarfati of Whole Nourishment, who offers
nutrition counseling and teaches classes in cooking
with natural foods.In
their first session, Sarfati told her to eat two fruits
a day. "I
asked, 'Does raspberry jam count?'" Pilz says. "(Sarfati)
laughed and explained the benefits of fruit."Pilz
was a little surprised at how simple the initial step
was. Yet, she says, "Within a week, I felt better." Then
Sarfati instructed her to add a salad every day.
"You
couldn't put me down," Pilz says. "It wasn't caffeine.
It wasn't sugar. I had energy. I was exploding with
it and was very obnoxious about it, too."
Eat
your veggies
Sarfati's
approach is the path many nutritionists recommend:
making incremental dietary changes that become a way
of life. While fad diets and nutrition trends may
change, vegetables, fruits and whole grains have continued
to gain in stature for being dense in vitamins, phytochemicals
and fiber, but low in calories. Most people don't
eat enough of them."Only
9 percent of people eat the recommended (six to eight)
servings of vegetables," Sarfati says. "That's the
place that people need the most help."
But
how to change the habits of a populace accustomed
to grabbing dinner from a box or a fast-food container?"For
most people, (eating vegetables and grains is) a big
change as far as the way America typically eats,"
Sarfati says. "(They're surprised at) how much fuller
they feel, how much energy they have, and how quickly
they lose weight."
She
says cooking classes can be an answer for some. "I
find that people don't know how to do veggies and
whole grains," she says. For people in her classes,
tasting a well-prepared vegetable can be an important
discovery."A
lot of people say 'I thought I hated vegetables,'"
she says, not realizing that the vegetables they were
familiar with had been poorly prepared.
For
those who truly don't like very many vegetables, she
suggests adding them to soups or sauces or putting
a different dressing on them."If
the person loves marinara, why not put it on asparagus,"
she says. Eating
six to eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day
is not as daunting as it may sound. Portions are small:
1/2 cup of cooked vegetables or 1 cup of raw veggies
such as salad greens.
Sara
Hanafin, a registered dietitian working in cardiac
rehabilitation at Boulder Community Hospital, gives
patients this advice: "If
you start by including one (vegetable) at every meal,
then it's pretty easy. If you work in an office, ...
carry dried fruit with you," she says. "Eat a carrot
while making dinner. That will add a serving."
Meg
Forbes of Forbes-Grayson Nutrition Services also touts
making changes simple. "We
put a lot of emphasis on fast and easy foods that
are good for you — grabbing an apple versus a candy
bar," she says. "It's just as quick, but a lot healthier."
Like
Sarfati, she urges patients to switch to whole grains
and to experiment with unfamiliar grains such as quinoa
and millet.
Color
your world
Once
you've made the jump to eating more fruits and vegetables,
the next step is to vary your selections. "When
you leave the health food store, make your cart look
like a rainbow," Sarfati says. "That will ensure you
getting a lot of different vitamins or minerals."
Registered
dietitian Eileen Faughey, who runs Nutrition Connections
in Boulder, also emphasizes color. Look
for produce in intense colors, she says. "The
deeper, darker colors have more nutrients. Some recent
studies have shown it's important to get antioxidants
and phytochemicals as part of food, rather than as
supplements. It's more effective when it's part of
food."
Changing
habits
Faughey
says many people are unaware of what they're really
eating. To that end, she asks new clients to keep
a food diary for two weekdays and one weekend day. "Many
people do find it enlightening when they keep track,"
she says. "There are so many things we eat that we're
unconscious of. We're not really aware of what we're
eating or the portions that we're eating."
Looking
at actual eating behavior is the best way to change
it, she says. "What
I try to do is have people focus on what they want
to do, rather than what they want to be," Faughey
says. "Rather than saying I want to be 10 pounds lighter,
look at the specific actions you can take."
She
also encourages clients to focus on what to do — like
eating more fruits and vegetables — rather than what
not to do, and to figure out specific ways to incorporate
the new habit into their lives. For
example, preparing healthful food and exercising can
take time, yet the person may have set another goal
to spend more time with the family, she says. Faughey
would urge the client to find a way to be active with
other family member or prepare meals together."I
think it's important to integrate a healthy habit
into our lives, rather than thinking of it as an extra
thing to do," she says.
For
Pilz, who has been seeing Sarfati since November,
changing her diet has been a pleasure. She likes to
cook and has enjoyed discovering new vegetables. "I
have tried kale, root vegetables, beets, parsnips.
I never had those. I love them," she says. "In the
meantime, 15 pounds have melted away as a side effect."
If
she eats something that doesn't qualify as healthful,
she doesn't see it as a major setback. "I
don't think of it as falling off the wagon," she says.
"It's a day you had some pizza. (The next day) have
a really big salad with garbanzo beans, carrots, onions
and mushrooms."
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