Shanna M 00:11
It's time to be well with your health. I'm Shanna.
Nimeet K 00:13
I'm Nimeet!
Shanna M 00:14
Welcome to the Adventist HealthCare & You podcast. We have a special guest today, Patricia. She's been on the podcast before, so we're welcoming her back. Patricia is a registered dietitian with the Center for Fitness and Health at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, and she is our go to for all things nutrition and healthy eating. We're all supposed to eat our fruits and vegetables. I know I don't the way, I do, but I don't get as much as I’m supposed to. Which according to the CDC, only about one in 10 of us meet the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables. So, I'm not alone.
Nimeet K
I was going to say, unfortunately, I fall in that mine as well. I do good with my vegetables. It's the fruits that I struggle with, the daily intake.
Shanna M 00:57
I’m the other way around. I do better with the fruits than I do the vegetables.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 01:00
That's great Nimeet, I always tell patients to eat more vegetables than fruit.
Nimeet K 01:03
Oh, good. Okay, I'm doing the right thing.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 01:04
No, you're doing great!
Shanna M 01:05
Oh, I guess I'm doing the opposite then. Alright, well if it isn't obvious by now, we're talking about healthy eating and nutrition, which is so important for our overall health. And food is a daily part of our live, like it's, it's every day in our lives, it's what we gather around the table. And, you know, I cook to show love to people too, so it's so hard to do at the same time as healthy eat.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 01:33
No, it doesn't have to be. I think that's definitely a misconception. I'm hearing from a lot of patients, or even just anybody I speak to in the grocery store. Oftentimes, I think we may have the idea that healthy eating is boring or bland, tastes like cardboard, but it really doesn't have to, and I believe that once you start eating healthier, then your palate truly does start to change, and you crave the greasy, salty foods less and less.
Shanna M 02:04
Okay, so.
Nimeet K 02:05
You said like, you know, colorful plate looks good. You know, it could be fun as well. So what does an average person look for in a healthy diet?
Shanna M 02:13
Yeah
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 02:14
What I would say is you want to have a good balance, make sure that your plate is not all one color, like brown or white. Sometimes, let's say, like, if we went to a fast-food establishment and we got, like, chicken tenders, fries, that's all going to be pretty like tan colored, right? And so, you want to make sure that you have a good blend of colors on your plate. And I know that is such a cliche thing for me to say, because I always say that rainbow on your plate, but it is truly trying to get a rainbow on your plate is the best bet.
Shanna M 02:46
You know, when you described it, like it’s all tan, I ’m like, oh, that doesn't sound advertising, but I'll be the first one to order some chicken nuggets.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 02:54
I've done it with my kids a few times, actually, where I made, like, macaroni, and then I gave them some hard boiled eggs. So the macaroni was a carb. The hard-boiled eggs was the protein. And then I did a cheese stick. And I'm literally looking at this like, this is a major RD flop. Everything was like, white on the plate, so.
Shanna M 03:11
That’s our first tip for the day. Eat the rainbow. Make sure you've got a multitude of colors on your plate. That seems easy, right? To just look at the colors and incorporate more. So good tip. I have a question, actually. So we talked about eating healthy for sort of your average person, which should be on your plate. I hear a lot these days lean protein. What does that mean?
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 03:35
Lean protein generally means a protein source that is going to have less fat or not as much marbling within the muscle. If we're talking about an animal protein, you'll see more muscle in the red meat, or not as many fat globules on the chicken. If you get like a piece of farm raised fish versus wild caught, then you'll see absolutely, you'll see less of the white streaking, which is less of the fat. I personally like the farm raised, though, because I don't know how to cook the wild salmon, right? But anyway, that's what it basically means. You want to choose the lean proteins that have less visible fat.
Shanna M 04:19
Okay, all right. Thank you for that.
Nimeet K 04:21
So, you mentioned, you know, fat and the protein. So, there's different kinds of fat, there's good fat, there's bad fat. Can you walk us through some of the different categories? What fat should people eat more of and what fat should people avoid?
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 04:32
Yeah, and that actually goes back to sort of the misconceptions about healthy eating. Folks always think that I'm going to say you have to follow a low fat diet, but it's absolutely not true. I do encourage patients to stay away from saturated fats and trans fats, which tend to be more solid at room temperature, saturated fats are artery clogging, but trans fats are even worse than saturated fats, and they're usually found in foods that are shelf stable. Like snacks, chips, not necessarily fresh potato chips. I'm sorry I said that, but like crackers, cookies, baked goods, those things that sit on the shelf for a long time are probably full of trans fats, and then the heart healthy fats are going to be things like monounsaturated, polyunsaturated fats that are found in fatty fish, in avocados, in nuts and seeds, those kinds of things.
Shanna M 05:24
Speaking of looking at the types of fats and saturated fats, monosaturated fats, you know that can be confusing for people and food labels, even in particular you know, all of those things are on food labels. So how can we be not as overwhelmed when looking at food labels.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 05:42
Just take it slowly. Take it from the top. Just look at how many portion sizes there are, the calories, those two items are going to be bolded. And then look to see what the fat content is. Is it full of saturated fat? Is it full of heart healthy fat? Then you want to look at how much sodium is in the food. Oftentimes, a lot of snack foods have tons of sodium in it. So you definitely want to make sure to sort of look to see how much is in there. Is it a refined carbohydrate with lots of added sugar, or is it a complex carbohydrate that has lots of fiber? So those are some of the things that I try to get patients to focus on sort of top to bottom, but still kind of like the whole thing, but looking at each component and really trying to analyze whether it's healthy or not.
Shanna M 06:29
Okay. Thank you.
Nimeet K 06:30
So you know, I've gone to the grocery store, I bought my items, looked at the food labels to make sure I got the healthiest items. When I come back home, I have a trouble like cooking that and like making sure that I do that every day religiously. Do you have any tips on like, how do I sustain that and make a healthy choice? Because it could be a lot, very cumbersome for the average person.
Shanna M 06:50
Well, and it's sometimes they make the bad foods or the tasty foods easier, right? Yeah, easier to cook, easier to find, easier to grab and go. And you know, we're all busy, busy people these days.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 07:05
Yeah, I would say to make it sustainable one try not to do any sort of crazy fad diet or buy a food that you really feel unfamiliar with, like, if you're not familiar with, let's say, like blocks of tofu, then maybe you want to start with some lean chicken breasts or maybe a different kind of grain. There are several ways to cook different types of heart-health foods. You just have to do your research before you actually buy it, so you don't spend your money and lose money if it spoils and then just kind of get home with the ingredient and then feel completely overwhelmed.
Shanna M 07:42
So small changes, simple swaps
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 07:45
Yes, very simple swaps.
Nimeet K 07:47
Make them achievable.
Shanna M 07:48
Yeah, that's, yep. I feel like that's the problem a lot of times is, you know, it feels like this really large hill to climb, like I need to start eating healthier. And so you think you just have to empty your pantry and restart with all these healthy things that you don't like?
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 07:48
No, yeah.
Shanna M 07:50
But it actually doesn't have to be like that. It can be simple swaps that you're familiar with.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 08:09
Absolutely. One of the things that I'll share is my son. He loves ramen, and I do try to encourage him not to always try to grab it in the grocery store. But I did find some healthy, quote, unquote, healthy ramen, which is truly healthy. It is made out of brown rice and millet, and so this ramen is high in fiber, is made out of two ingredients, it’s sodium free, and you literally just boil it for a few minutes and then season it however you like. But it is, it does look like a ramen noodle. It comes in like a block, but it does not have any sodium, and it is very high in fiber. So that's a simple swap, right there.
Nimeet K 08:47
You may not necessarily need to compromise on your taste or what you want, you basically go to the right product, or substitution and the healthy aspect.
Shanna M 08:53
Yeah, and I like too, don’t go buy tofu.
Nimeet K 08:57
Right
Shanna M 08:57
Lean chicken is an option. Or don't feel like you need to make fish all the time, if that's not what you like or uncomfortable with, can lean on like the lean, the lean protein, less fat, red meat or chicken and other types of lean protein.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 09:13
I actually should have said tofu that comes in a block, and then there's tofu that comes already cubed. So this I discovered in one of the big chain grocery stores, and I was so excited, because when I first discovered tofu, I really wasn't sure how to even slice it. So, this one already comes cubed and it's ready to cook.
Shanna M 09:33
So, so that can be easy too for people.
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 09:35
Yeah, that was another easy swap.
Shanna M 09:37
Okay, all right, we've covered a lot today. Anything you want to clear up Patricia around healthy eating?
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 09:43
Any misconceptions, again I would just say start small when you're trying to change your eating habits and don't get overwhelmed. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. It could just be from like going from jarred applesauce to maybe some fresh apples or even trying and making your own applesauce at home. You can go from like always drinking OJ in the morning to maybe having some orange slices that would be a good, you know, healthy swap. So, it doesn't have to be crazy complicated or un-flavorful. It really can be easy to make healthy changes in your diet.
Shanna M 10:22
Okay
Nimeet K 10:22
Thank you for sharing that.
Shanna M 10:23
Yeah, thank you. Thanks for coming today,
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 10:25
my pleasure.
Shanna M 10:26
I hope you’ll come back!
Patricia Hertz, RD, LDN 10:27
Oh, I absolutely will
Shanna M 10:28
Awesome. Alright to learn more about Patricia and the services offered at the Center for Fitness and Health as well as Cardiac Rehabilitation, visit AdventistHealthCare.com. And don’t forget, we always love to hear from you our listeners. You can let us know if you like the podcast by leaving a rating or review, or you can email Podcast@AdventistHealthCare.com. Let us know what topics you want us to cover, and you want to know more about. Don't forget to subscribe so you can get new episodes. Thank you and be well.
