What should I be buying- Organic? Conventional? Or Local?

What should I be buying- Organic? Conventional? Or Local?

When it comes to fruits and vegetables, we know one thing for sure, we should be eating more of them.  Fruits and vegetables are low in calories, high in fiber, and are packed with vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals – substances found only in plants that protect against disease. 

Research shows that people who eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily have half of the cancer risk of people who eat only two daily servings. Additionally, eating a variety of different, brightly colored fruits and veggies ensures that you get a wide range of nutrients, which is even better than eating the same produce every day.  But if you have a few favorites, even eating the same fruits and veggies every day is better than not eating enough of them. 

So how do you choose which fruits and vegetables to purchase?

Supermarkets today are loaded with choices, so much so that it can be overwhelming.   Even if you know you want to buy tomatoes, chances are that there are a handful of options:  conventional, local, or organic.  The important thing to understand is that ALL of them are great choices.  There are, however, differences between them.

First, if a fruit or vegetable is not labeled at the market, chances are that it is conventional.  Conventional means that it is grown with chemical fertilizers and/or pesticides, and it could come from anywhere.  Typically the sticker will list the country or state of origin, and maybe the name of the farm.  Supermarkets will often have specific conventional produce on sale (often produce that is in season).

Organic, on the other hand, tells you that the fruit or vegetable has not been grown with any chemical pesticides or fertilizers, among a long list of other rules issued by the US Department of Agriculture.  There is no proof that organic produce is better for you nutritionally, but some people choose it because they want to avoid the fertilizers and pesticides common in conventional produce. Organic produce can often be more expensive than conventional produce.

Local is the third option, which may include both conventional and organic produce.  Although there is no textbook definition of local as it pertains to agriculture, most people consider food grown within 400 miles or within the same state to be local.  It is common to find seasonal local produce in the supermarket (it will be labeled), but shopping at a farmers market or joining a community supported agriculture group (CSA) are great ways to get local produce. Buying local food provides you with seasonal fruits and vegetables that might have been picked the same day you bought them, ensuring freshness and usually lower prices.  On the other hand, if you purchase strawberries at the market (imported from South America) in January, you know that they have traveled thousands of miles, are already several days old (longer for some items), and you pay extra for the effort and fuel it took to ship them to your supermarket.  Sure, it’s nice to have fresh berries and tropical fruit all year round, but you often pay dearly for the convenience, not to mention the impact it has on the environment.

There are many local farmers markets in the Raleigh/Durham area. At a farmers market you can talk to the farmers who grow your food, know from where it comes, and ask directly if it is organic.  You can choose your produce (they often will even give you a free sample to taste) and this offers an opportunity to try many new fruits and vegetables at a reasonable price.

A Community Supported Agriculture group (CSA) delivers a package of fresh local produce to your home, a specified location weekly, or you pick it up directly from a local farm. You often pay a fee upfront and/or weekly for a box of seasonal fruits and vegetables from local farmers. There are many CSA’s in the Raleigh/Durham area. You can find listings online that best meet your needs. Two groups that we are familiar with are:

The Produce Box http://www.theproducebox.com/

Papa Spuds http://papaspuds.com/

The choice is yours – conventional / organic / local – just eat lots of fruits and vegetables. If you can make it to the farmers market, local produce is ideal in its freshness, price, seasonality, and the benefit of supporting local farmers. 

And always remember to wash all produce

well before eating it.

Nutrition article written by Samantha Reiff (nutrition student) and Monika Kraus, RD

(Reference:  “What to Eat” by Marion Nestle, North Point Press (2006).)

The “Natural” Myth

Nutrition labels are often confusing and often deliberately misleading. Anyone who has tried to compare labels at the supermarket in a quest to find the healthiest options is likely to feel good about choosing products with the word “natural” on the label. But what exactly does “natural” mean, nutritionally speaking?

 It might be disappointing to find out that a claim of “natural” on a food label means only that the product contains no artificial ingredients. Sounds good, right? Well, yes, until you start thinking about all of the not-so-good-for-you foods and ingredients that are 100% natural. Saturated fat, the type found in most meats and animal products that we strive to limit in our diets, is completely natural. Sodium is also so perfectly natural that it is an element on the periodic table! If you are looking to reduce your sodium intake, you are far better off looking for the words “low sodium” than to rely on “natural” to steer your choices.


Sugar is another ingredient that is 100% natural, but most people would not argue that it is “healthy.” The point is that “natural” is put on labels to lure you into thinking that a product is better for you than a product that does not have such a label. The truth is, however, that there are countless unhealthy, high fat, high sugar, high sodium products lining the supermarket shelves that use the word “natural” to delude us into thinking we are making a nutritionally-sound choice. Even high fructose corn syrup can be found in “natural” products if the high fructose corn syrup is produced without adding any synthetic ingredients!


 Finally, “natural” on meat and poultry labels has nothing to do with how the animals were raised or fed or their saturated fat content. Look for labels of “lean” or “extra lean” (generally less than 10 g and 5 g of saturated fat, respectively) to find healthier meats. Furthermore, even processed meat products, such as smoked, cured, or salted, can still be called “natural” since the processing involves non-artificial ingredients. The fact is that we must, as savvy consumers, look beyond the lure of “natural” on a label and into the greater depths of the ingredient list.

 So now you know. Next time you’re at the supermarket and see the word “natural” on a label, pick up the product and read the ingredients. Even more importantly, look at the nutrition label for saturated fat, sodium, sugar, and calorie content, and seek out products with low quantities of each. Or, for the easiest way to get truly natural and healthy options, choose foods with no labels whatsoever: fresh fruits and vegetables, and lots of them.

Eat up!


(Nutrition article written by Samantha Reiff, Nutrition Student at FMAR)

Monthly Support Group

Monthly Support Group/Nutrition Discussion


Please join us this Wednesday, September 14th from 5:30-6:30pm at the Center for Medical Weight Loss for a discussion on “How to Start Loving Healthy Food”. Monika Kraus, MS, RD, LD will be leading this month’s support group.

There is not cost for support group and you do not have to be a weight loss patient to attend, so please also invite anyone else you think would benefit from attending.

Please contact Sara Saba at 919-232-9436 or email loseweight@fmaraleigh.com to sign up.

We hope to see you there!

A Healthy Food Environment

A Healthy Food Environment

Anyone trying to lose weight, improve eating habits, make healthier food choices, and resist the temptation of that seductive chocolate cake (or whatever guilty pleasure consistently derails your diet) knows how difficult it can be to choose the healthy choice over other options.

In fact, most counseling for weight loss stems from the fundamental understanding that we are what we eat, and we have the control to choose what we eat. While that is in fact true, recent research from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association questions the notion that all people are equally responsible for the personal dietary choices they make.

In a country where the food industry’s primary purpose is to create tasty, often high-calorie foods that bring us pleasure, even nutritionally educated people struggle with making healthy choices, often resulting in guilt and shame at overeating or gaining weight. While choice will always be a factor in any decisions we make in life, it might not be the only factor. And in the case of food choices, there might be more to it than choosing blueberries over blueberry crumb pie.

Applehans et al., the authors of the research study mentioned above, note that the pleasurable experience of eating delicious food can override our natural fullness cues, leading us to overeat even when we are past the point of hungry. They also noted that some people feel an even greater pleasure response to eating highly palatable food than other people, resulting in less ability to control their choices in the presence of such foods. The researchers compare this heightened pleasure response to the same neurological motivators (or brain triggers) that compel people to engage in gambling, alcohol, or substance abuse. The connection, per the research, demonstrates that it’s more than just personal choice that provokes people to make dietary decisions. The environment within which one makes the choice can have a profound effect as well.

What does this mean to you? First and foremost, it does not mean that you should stop holding yourself accountable for what you eat and how much you exercise each week. Even if this research implicates a neurological process that makes it more difficult for some people to resist tempting foods, it certainly does not mean that you should indulge in all of those foods and blame your biology! It does, however, uncover some ways to stay strong if you feel your willpower (or lack thereof) is the downfall of all of your weight loss efforts. If you feel powerless around some foods, then control your food environment.

 

1. If you can’t control your choices, keep those foods out of your house. Don’t even buy the cookies/sugar cereals/snack chips for your kids if you know you will be eating half of them. Your kids will be better off without them, too! Don’t grocery shop when you’re hungry, and be sure to stock your home with items you know are healthy for you and your family.

 

2. Surround yourself with healthy foods: bowls of fresh fruit on the counter, washed fresh vegetables in the fridge (you can buy them already washed and ready to eat if time is an issue), low sugar whole grain breads and cereals, nuts, etc. If you find yourself craving a snack but you don’t have potato chips or pop tarts in the pantry, you will choose a healthier option because all you have to choose from are healthy options!

 

3. Choose restaurants wisely. If you know you are powerless to control your fried shrimp addiction at the State Farmer’s Market Restaurant, don’t go to the restaurant! Same thing goes for deep dish pizza, greasy Mexican, or whatever else consistently derails your plans. Choose a food environment (ie: restaurant, in this case) that offers healthy choices, and actually order them! It might take some exploring to find new places that still satisfy you, but if you already know you will not order the steamed shrimp and vegetables at your favorite Chinese restaurant (probably the only truly healthy thing on the menu at a Chinese place!), then avoid Chinese restaurants all together.

 

The point is that if you don’t trust yourself to make healthy choices in the presence of unhealthy food, it might not completely be your fault. That does not, however, mean that you still can’t exercise control over your food environment, which will allow you to keep those tempting options from tempting you. At the end of the day (or your meal), you will feel better and more in control of your eating, and your efforts will help with your healthy lifestyle/weight loss goals, too.

 

Reference: Applehans BM, Whited MC, Schneider KL, & Pagoto SL. Time to Abandon the Notion of Personal Choice in Dietary Counseling for Obesity? J Am Diet Assoc. 2011; 111:1130-1136.

Nutrition article written by Samantha Reiff, nutrition student at CMWL

Avoiding Hunger Hostility

Avoiding Hunger Hostility

Call it what you like: hungry hostile, “hangry”, hypoglycemic, ragingly ravenous, desperate. . . we’ve all been there.

It’s those moments when our hunger surges so strongly that all of our knowledge about healthy eating and self-control goes out the window - as we roll down the window and place an order we will later regret at the closest fast food drive-thru. At the time, it seems like the only option. After all, by this point, you’re close to shaking you’re so hungry, and waiting even another five minutes seems too much to bear.

 

If you’ve been there, especially if you find yourself in this situation on a regular basis, acknowledge it and plan ahead. It’s far easier than you might imagine, and it comes down to simple preparation rather than fending off temptation in those desperate moments.

The key to avoiding the fast food fix (or convenience store or vending machine or leftover donuts in the break room) is to always, ALWAYS have something healthy at your fingertips. This does not mean you have to pack a cooler every time you get in the car, but rather think of snacks that have staying power and require virtually nothing to acquire or keep fresh.

The critical aspect of this strategy is to have it, literally, at your fingertips, so you can quiet the “hangry” episode and hold yourself over until you have access to healthier choices.

Keep something in your handbag, glove compartment, desk drawer, (all three?) or wherever you find yourself in this situation, and never be without a healthy choice.

Suggestions include

• A Tupperware container of 10 raw nuts 
• A whole grain Nutri-Grain bar
• A foil pouch of tuna (no refrigeration required)
• A protein bar (limit to 150 calories and < 12 g sugar)

Another key to the success of this strategy is to have it there even if you don’t think you’ll need it anytime soon. Being prepared in this manner can only leave you eating more healthfully more consistently, even when desperation hits. And, with no spoilage to consider (unless, of course, you leave that tuna pouch in your glove compartment for years), you have little to nothing to lose, except for the feelings of regret that accompany your french fry fix. A little preparation goes a long way when it comes to calming the hunger hostility.

(Today’s weekly nutrition article was written by FMAR/CMWL’s nutrition student - Samantha Reiff)