Diversifying MyPlate: North American Indigenous Cuisine

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and its associated MyPlate graphic are commonly referenced resources for learning about healthy and nutritious eating. The recently-updated 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans put a stronger focus on meeting dietary recommendations while keeping cultural preferences in mind, and resources highlighting culturally inclusive approaches are valuable tools for translating the general messages of MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines to more Americans. This article is part of a series that shows how healthy eating can take on many different forms outside of the Western diet. While for many, meals might not exactly resemble MyPlate, the featured guest authors will demonstrate what healthy eating looks like in their culture, and how many of the food groups and principles can translate across cultures and cuisines. Each article in this series is written by a registered dietitian who is experienced in integrating culturally inclusive approaches into their work. About the Author My name is Sharon Swampy, and I am a registered dietitian with a First Nations Cree and Mexican background. I currently work in a clinic on a reservation, mostly providing 1:1 nutrition sessions with a focus on diabetes prevention and management, disordered eating, and intuitive eating. At times, I also work on some nutrition-focused community projects and food security initiatives. I grew up on a reservation called Maskwacis, and at the time, nutrition was not talked about much within Indigenous communities. Later on, I started to realize that there was a lack of representation of dietitians with an Indigenous background. This meant nutrition information was often shortsighted for Indigenous communities. Also, as someone who has struggled with an eating disorder in the past, I understood the impact that diet culture and its narrow views on health can have on our relationship with food. Growing up and not seeing people […]

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Six Tips for Holiday Hosting with Food Allergies

A few years ago, I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner, which turned into a wild scramble in my tiny apartment kitchen while I cooked a meal for seven. On top of all that, my sister-in-law was coming, and her wheat allergy made things a little trickier. Hosting a big meal for guests with food allergies can be challenging, especially when everyone is depending on you to make a safe, delicious, mistake-free meal. While I was fortunate to know which allergies to look out for in my cooking, sometimes guests show up without notice. My list of tips below can help keep your holiday dinners running smoothly, even if there’s an unexpected guest at your table. In fact, sometimes surprises give you an opportunity to get creative in the kitchen! 1. Offer allergy-free alternatives Instead of scrapping a dish altogether, offer an allergen-free alternative dish to ensure everyone can enjoy a little of everything. For my family, stuffing is the big hit, but I knew we would need a wheat-free alternative for my sister-in-law. My solution: cornbread stuffing in addition to classic wheat bread stuffing. Here are some other ideas for adjusting popular side dishes: swap out cow’s milk for coconut milk in mashed potatoes; leave the walnuts on the side for the sweet potato casserole; and make a crust-less apple crisp instead of apple pie. It’s also important to keep in mind that just because a dish is free of one allergen, it may still contain others. For example, while cornbread stuffing is free of wheat, it may still contain dairy products. 2. Keep allergen-containing foods separate In an ideal world, we would have the space of a commercial kitchen to cook our holiday meals. My tiny city apartment was far from ideal. This meant being extra vigilant about separating food ingredients. […]

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Tips for Balanced and Healthy Eating

    Most of us want to eat in a healthy and balanced way that fits our lifestyle, schedule, and budget. But what does that look like, practically? While more information about healthy eating exists than ever before, many of us frequently encounter conflicting information about nutrition—especially online—which makes it hard to know what to eat daily. While it may be tempting to test out the latest diet craze, research tells us that overly strict dieting does not lead to positive health outcomes. As boring as it can sound, eating with balance, moderation, and variety is sound nutrition advice and your surest bet for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, as this dietary pattern ensures that we’re eating a range of foods and taking in all the micro- and macronutrients our bodies need. A balanced diet also helps us enjoy our food—which is important, too! You might already have an idea of what kinds of foods work best with your lifestyle, and that’s great! But if you need a tune-up on general healthy nutrition advice, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s explore a few tried-and-true tenets of healthful and balanced eating. 1. Be flexible and use various forms of food to your advantage. That might sound strange at first, but what we hope you understand is that nutrition is not one-size-fits-all, and our food choices often change from day to day. For example, if you’re on the go or short on time, you may want to choose a combination of packaged, frozen, canned and/or fresh foods to help simplify meals and snacks (while still meeting your nutritional needs). Maybe one day you cook your food completely from scratch, while the next you rely on canned or packaged foods to augment your meals. Most of the time, you may fall somewhere in […]

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Everything You Need To Know About Monk Fruit Sweeteners

Download the Monk Fruit Fact Sheet for Consumers here Download the Monk Fruit Fact Sheet for Health Professionals WHAT ARE MONK FRUIT SWEETENERS? Monk fruit, also known as lo han guo or Swingle fruit, is a small round fruit native to southern China. Monk fruit sweeteners are no-calorie sweeteners that can be used to lower one’s intake of added sugars, while still providing satisfaction to enjoy the taste of something sweet. Some types of sweeteners in this category are considered low-calorie — such as aspartame, and others are no-calorie (e.g., monk fruit sweeteners, stevia sweeteners and sucralose). However, collectively they are often referred to as sugar substitutes, high-intensity sweeteners, nonnutritive sweeteners, low- and no-calorie sweeteners or simply low-calorie sweeteners. Like other no-calorie sweeteners, monk fruit sweeteners are intensely sweet. Monk fruit sweeteners range from being 100-250 times sweeter than sugar, and as such only small amounts are needed in a product to equal the sweetness provided by sugar. Monk fruit sweeteners can be used in a wide range of beverages and foods like soft drinks, juices, dairy products, desserts, candies and condiments. Because they are stable at high temperatures, monk fruit sweeteners can be used in baked goods. However, a recipe that uses monk fruit sweeteners in place of sugar may turn out slightly different because in addition to sweetness, sugar plays several roles in recipes related to volume and texture, but this varies based on the type of recipe. Several brands, such as Monk Fruit In The Raw®, Lakanto®, SPLENDA® Monk Fruit Sweetener, SweetLeaf® and Whole Earth® use monk fruit sweeteners in granular and liquid forms. HOW ARE MONK FRUIT SWEETENERS PRODUCED? Monk Fruit has been used for centuries in Eastern medicine as both a cold and digestive aid. Extracts from monk fruit are also being used in tabletop […]

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What is Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K)?

Curious about low-calorie sweeteners? You’re not alone. Conflicting information about low-calorie sweeteners seems to be reaching new heights, so we’ve searched high and low for the facts. Here’s the lowdown on one of the more common types of low-calorie sweeteners, acesulfame potassium (Ace-K). What Is Ace-K? Ace-K is a no-calorie sweetener that is used in a variety of foods and beverages. While some types of sugar alternatives are considered caloric (e.g., high-fructose corn syrup and honey), some are low-calorie (e.g., aspartame), and others are no-calorie (e.g., Ace-K, sucralose, monk fruit sweeteners, stevia sweeteners, and others), collectively they are often referred to as artificial sweeteners, high-intensity sweeteners, low-calorie sweeteners, nonnutritive sweeteners, or sugar substitutes. The “K” in Ace-K is the symbol for the chemical element potassium, which comes from the Latin word for potassium, kalium. Although Ace-K contains potassium, the amount is so low it doesn’t contribute to your daily potassium intake. Ace-K often is used in combination with other low- and no-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame or sucralose. When acesulfame potassium is used in a food or beverage, it will appear in the ingredient list for that product as either Ace-K, acesulfame K or acesulfame potassium. Ace-K is commonly found in tabletop sweeteners in brand names like Canderel® and Equal®. As Sweet as Sugar? Like other low- and no-calorie sweeteners, Ace-K is intensely sweet. It is about 200 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), so only small amounts of Ace-K are needed to match the sweetness provided by sugar. Is It Safe? Yes, Ace-K is safe to consume and has been approved for use in the U.S. since 1988. It is one of eight low- and no-calorie sweeteners permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the U.S. food supply. Leading global health authorities around the world, such as […]

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Everything You Need to Know About Sucralose

Download the Sucralose Fact Sheet for Consumers here Download the Sucralose Face Sheet for Health Professionals here WHAT IS SUCRALOSE? Sucralose is a no-calorie sweetener that can be used to lower one’s intake of added sugars while still providing satisfaction from enjoying the taste of something sweet. While some types of sweeteners in this category are considered low-calorie (e.g., aspartame) and others are no-calorie (e.g., sucralose, monk fruit sweeteners and stevia sweeteners), collectively they are often referred to as sugar substitutes, high-intensity sweeteners, nonnutritive sweeteners or low-calorie sweeteners. Like other no-calorie sweeteners, sucralose is intensely sweet. It is about 600 times sweeter than sugar, so only small amounts of sucralose are used to match the sweetness provided by sugar. Sucralose is permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a general-purpose sweetener, meaning it can be used as an ingredient in any type of food or beverage. Sucralose is exceptionally stable, so foods and beverages sweetened with sucralose stay sweet under a wide range of conditions. This includes frozen foods like ice cream and other frozen desserts, as well as foods that need to be heated to high temperatures, like baked goods and foods that require sterilization. However, a recipe that uses sucralose in place of sugar may turn out slightly different because, in addition to sweetness, sugar plays several roles related to volume and texture in recipes but varies based on the type of recipe. Sucralose is also used in tabletop sweeteners. There are numerous brands of sucralose-based tabletop sweeteners. The most common brand in the U.S. is Splenda® Original. HOW IS SUCRALOSE PRODUCED? Sucralose is made from a process that begins with regular table sugar (sucrose); however, sucralose is not sugar. Three select hydroxyl groups on the sucrose molecule are replaced with three chlorine […]

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The Whole Story on Whole Grains

Choosing whole grains has become, well, ingrained in common recommendations for healthy eating patterns. In fact, the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that at least half of the grains we eat are whole grains—including for foods like bread, cereal, pasta, and rice. This guidance is for good reason, since whole grains provide benefits like helping keep our gut healthy and stabilizing our blood sugar levels. That being said, it can be a challenge to identify which foods that look like they’re whole grains at the grocery store are actually whole grains. There are a variety of grain-related labels on food packaging, some of which accurately indicate that whole grains are present, and some of which do not. When it comes to identifying whole grains in your food purchases, we’ve got you covered—read on for how to find the whole grains you’re looking for. The Basics of Grains Grains fall into three different main categories: whole, refined, and enriched. Whole Grains A whole grain refers to an entire grain kernel, meaning that all edible elements—the germ, the endosperm, and the bran—are present and intact in the food. Each of these parts of the grain hold important nutrients: Consuming whole grains has been associated with lowering the risk for a wide range of health conditions, including cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. Examples of whole grains include brown rice, whole-wheat bread, whole-grain rolled oats, and quinoa. Refined Grains Grains are refined through milling, the process that removes the germ and bran from the grain, leaving only the starchy endosperm. The refining process improves the texture, palatability, and shelf life of grains and grain products, but can strip the grain of the many beneficial nutrients contained in the germ and bran. For example, removing much of the bran and germ results in losses […]

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The Power of Protein: Dairy

June is National Dairy Month and a great time to celebrate all that dairy has to offer. We recently wrote about dairy production—how foods like milk, yogurt and cheese get from the cow to the carton—and in this article we’ll focus on one of dairy’s important nutritional contributions: protein. What is protein? At its simplest, a protein is a chain of amino acids bound to one another and resembling a string of beads. These strings get twisted and folded into a final protein shape. When we eat protein, it gets broken down into its individual amino acids, which can be reassembled into whatever type of protein our body needs at that time. Why do we need protein? Dietary protein plays a vital role in every cell of our bodies: Proteins provide energy, catalyze metabolic reactions and provide structure to our tissues and organs. It’s an essential nutrient for maintaining muscle strength, bone health and blood sugar control. Protein-rich foods contain many of the vitamins and minerals needed to support body defenses and promote quicker healing. Eating protein-rich foods may also help you meet and maintain your weight goals by satisfying hunger and reducing the urge to snack between meals. The importance of quality nutrition is even greater as our appetite and calorie needs decrease with age; preserving our body’s muscle tissue by maintaining protein intake allows us to stay active. What makes dairy protein distinct? Dairy foods contain two major forms of protein: whey and casein. Eighty percent of milk’s protein content comes from casein and the remaining 20% is whey. Whey is rapidly digested, while casein is digested more slowly, providing a more prolonged entry of amino acids into the bloodstream. When making foods like yogurt or cheese, excess liquid that contains whey protein is strained away, leaving a solid […]

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