Guest post by Kelly Hogan, MS, RD, CDN, a registered dietitian who has worked within The Mount Sinai Hospital for the past three years, is now focusing on breast cancer nutrition for the Dubin Breast Center. Kelly provides individual counseling in the areas of wellness, weight management and symptom/side effect management, in addition to creating patient education and wellness programs.
The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released in January, and part of my job is to review new information like this and translate it into my practice, with the end goal (always!) of helping my patients. After nerdily pouring over the new pages (and pages) of information in the days following the Guidelines’ release, trusty kale salad by my side, I’ve got a few key takeaways.
Let’s look at the big picture
The guidelines talk about “eating patterns” – or, the diet as a whole and food combinations we choose over time. As I tell my patients, there is no one food that is the sole cause of obesity or chronic disease, and no one food that’s going to provide quick and fast weight loss. Rather, it’s our typical eating patterns over the long haul – think years, not weeks – that matter the most. And boy, could so many of our current patterns use some work (and leafy greens!). As it stands now, most Americans exceed the recommendations for added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium and about 75 percent do not eat enough fruits, vegetables or healthy fats. And what’s more, of the vegetables Americans do eat, 21 percent are potatoes (possibly in the form of French fries) and 18 percent are tomatoes (possibly in the form of tomato sauce on pizza and pasta). So how do we change this? Let’s start with two key goals:
Cook more at home
The guidelines suggest limiting sodium intake to 2300mg per day, which is about one teaspoon, and added sugar intake to about 12 teaspoons. As I mentioned above, most Americans consume more than twice as much of these amounts each day, largely due to a high intake of processed foods and meals eaten outside the home (think fast food and restaurant foods). In fact, more than half of the foods, in the average American diet are processed. This makes my dietitian heart cry, just a little bit.
The best way to stay within these guidelines (and to feel better) is to replace processed foods in the diet with more real, whole foods, and the best way to do this is to cook more at home. This way, you have total control over what goes into your meals – no sneaky sugars, salt or high fat additives – and can use fresh, seasonal and super tasty ingredients. Cooking at home doesn’t have to be complicated (though, if you’re feeling adventurous, have at that coq au vin), and can be as simple as a one-pot wonder like vegetarian chili, roasted vegetables and fish fillet or even grass-fed burgers with baked sweet potato wedges and a colorful side salad.
Cut the added sugars
Back to sugar, the new guidelines suggest limiting intake of added sugars – so, not natural sugars from fruits and dairy but rather sugars and syrups added to foods as they are prepared/processed – to ten percent of your total calorie intake for the day. This means that in a 2,000 calorie diet, only 200 should come from added sugar. That’s about 50 grams of sugar, or about 12 teaspoons as mentioned above. To put it in perspective, one 12 ounce can of soda contains 10 teaspoons of added sugar. After breaking it down like this, it is quite clear that replacing soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages (e.g., juice, sports drinks) with water, flavored seltzer, unsweetened iced teas, etc. should be at the top of our to-do list! Swapping packaged candies, cookies and cakes for fresh fruits or the occasional healthy homemade treat is something else I encourage to further reduce added sugar from the diet. Try my whole wheat dark chocolate chip zucchini bread, which can not only satisfy the sweet tooth, but provides a nice boost of antioxidants, fiber and beta carotene.
Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Servings: 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½tsp salt
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup almond milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease loaf pan with a non-stick cooking spray or a little butter. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients except the dark chocolate chips. In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients except the shredded zucchini. Mix wet and dry ingredients together, and then fold in the zucchini and dark chocolate chips. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for about 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.