A Mindful Approach to Eating During the Holidays

The holiday season has arrived, and chances are, you have a few festive celebrations on the horizon. Whether it’s a party with co-workers, a dinner with friends or an eventful family gathering, the holidays are a wonderful time to relax and spend time with the people you care about most. Many of us are also looking forward to this time of year as a chance to enjoy an array of seasonal foods and beverages. At the same time, it’s common to feel overwhelmed by all the rich foods and sweet treats we can seem to find at every turn. One way to prevent yourself from feeling overwhelmed by the options at holiday gatherings is by paying attention to your internal hunger cues and the sensory aspects of the different foods you eat. Below are some mindful eating tips to make your eating experiences more enjoyable and nourishing this holiday season. There is no doubt that the fall and winter holidays involve a lot of delicious foods. Hopefully these mindful eating tips will make the abundance of food choices a little easier to navigate. This post includes contributions by Alison Webster, former dietetic intern, and Alyssa Pike, RD.

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What Is Personalized Nutrition?

In recent years, a more personal approach to healthcare has grown in popularity. At the same time, consumers have become increasingly aware that “healthy” doesn’t mean the same thing to everybody—not to mention that defining what constitutes full health and wellness is a demanding task for anyone. What’s more, the Healthy Eating Index of Americans, which represents how healthfully individuals in the U.S. eat, indicates that there’s room for improvement for all of us—with an average healthy eating score of 58 out of 100. But while many of us would like to improve our diets, barriers such as daily stresses; work, family, and school responsibilities; budget constraints; and lack of complete knowledge about nutrition can make healthy eating challenging. Is there a better, more targeted approach to helping people make healthier lifestyle changes? A burgeoning field known as personalized nutrition aims to bridge the gap. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of personalized nutrition, including what it is, how it works, and its potential limitations. The basics of personalized nutrition Good nutrition is critical to human growth, development, and disease prevention. Personalized nutrition tailors general, population-based nutrition advice to a particular person’s needs and preferences while considering unique characteristics like individual lifestyle, socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity, health history, DNA, and gender. Personalized nutrition is often used interchangeably with similar approaches and terms, including nutritional genomics, nutrigenomics, nutrigenetics, and precision nutrition. Dr. Christopher Lynch, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Nutrition Research, notes that precision nutrition is “a holistic approach to develop individualized, actionable dietary recommendations for what, when, why, and how to eat to optimize health and quality of life.” In 2022, the NIH awarded $170 million to centers and clinics all across the U.S. to study personalized nutrition in individuals. More research will get […]

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What’s the Dish on the DASH Diet?

Following diets or eating patterns is pretty common in the United States, with one in seven Americans reporting that they stick to a specific eating pattern or diet.  While fad diets and trends rotate in and out over time, there are a few tried-and-true eating styles (hey, there Mediterranean diet!) that stand the test of time. A recent panel of experts — including nutritionists, healthcare professionals and scientists who focused on chronic diseases, human behavior and weight loss — reviewed 40 diets. The panel rated each diet based on a variety of categories, including short- and long-term weight loss, ease of compliance, safety and nutrition. The panel concluded that the number one best overall diet was actually two diets: the Mediterranean diet and DASH diet. Since most of us have heard of the Mediterranean diet and we’ve already covered the basics of a Mediterranean eating style, let’s dish about the DASH diet. DASH 101 The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating style was developed in the 1990s in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health and five media research centers in the United States to research the role of dietary eating styles on blood pressure. Findings from these studies revealed that dietary eating styles impact blood pressure in at-risk populations such as hypertensive adults. Specifically, the DASH diet significantly lowered blood pressures compared to control diets, after two weeks of starting the diet and sustaining for six more weeks. The DASH eating style focuses on the notable nutrients and foods that have been touted for decades including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils. In addition, this eating style recommends limiting added sugars and sodium, as well as foods that are high in saturated fat such as fatty proteins, full-fat […]

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Go Further with Food: Nutrient Density

The first article in our “Go Further with Food” series focused on food waste. Now we turn our attention from throwing out less food to throwing in more nutrient-dense food to further our health. Food has a lot offer. It’s how we sustain life and it’s a big part of how we enjoy life too. But food can also present a conundrum. While it’s critical that we each get enough to eat, eating too much too often can be detrimental to health as well. And even if we consume the right amount of food, we also have to think about getting the right amount and types of nutrients. Striking the right balance between nutritional quality and calorie quantity, a ratio that describes the nutrient density of our diet, isn’t always easy to do. How do we know if something is nutrient-dense? Nutrient density can be a tricky concept to understand. Luckily, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) has taken care of the definition of “nutrient-dense” for us. And as it turns out, it’s not just about the foods, but how they’re prepared as well. According to the DGA, “All vegetables, fruits, whole grains, seafood, eggs, beans and peas, unsalted nuts and seeds, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and lean meats and poultry — when prepared with little or no added solid fats, sugars, refined starches, and sodium — are nutrient-dense foods.” How can you increase the nutrient density of your diet? Every food choice presents the opportunity to increase the nutrient density of our diet, but not everything we eat needs to be nutrient-dense. Rather, the goal is for the overall diet to be nutrient-dense. One way to do this is by thinking more critically while grocery shopping, since that’s where many of our eating patterns begin to take […]

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Google Can’t Diagnose Your Food Allergy

I have a love-hate relationship with the internet. On the one hand, it’s a great place to learn how to fix a hem, Scrabble-certified words with Z and X, and the capital of Malta. Unless you know where to search and the credible sources, the internet is not always a great place to learn about science and nutrition, and food allergies are no different. Thanks to the many symptom checkers that can be searched on Google, a few checks in a box can “diagnose” someone with an allergy. But while people flock to Dr. Google, they forget that he never got his M.D. Why Are People Diagnosing Themselves with a Food Allergy? To understand why people are self-diagnosing, we need to understand allergic reactions. An allergic reaction is “when the immune system overreacts to a harmless substance known as an allergen.” Reactions to food allergens can range from mild — hives, itchy mouth or ear canal, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, nasal congestion and sneezing — to severe – trouble swallowing, shortness of breath, turning blue, drop in blood pressure and loss of consciousness. So does this mean that any of these symptoms can indicate an allergic reaction? No, and this is where people get confused. Symptoms of an allergic reaction are associated not only with an allergy. There are also many medical conditions — including celiac disease, lactose intolerance and asthma — that can produce similar symptoms. This is why a food allergy, and any allergy from bee stings to pet dander, can be determined only by a board-certified allergist. Why Does This Matter? With a quick perusal of many online discussions on food, you will see that a lot of people claim to have a food allergy. From recognized food allergens like peanuts and diary, to more […]

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Water Use Stewardship in the Food System

The use of natural resources such as water in food production is a sustainability issue that continues to be on the radar of many farmers, food processors and consumers. In many regions of the world, water scarcity is on the rise as the demand for food production increases. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that agriculture remained a major user of fresh water in the United States and that the 2017 Census of Agriculture reported that there is a total of 58 million acres of irrigated cropland in the U.S. USDA goes onto note that sustainable irrigation and water use practices are at the core of managing food production efficiency and responsible natural resource usage. What do these water saving practices in our food system entail? Let’s take a look at farm and food processing plant activities to learn more. Water and Farming Do Mix Of course, growing crops needs a notable amount of water to ensure productivity, but farmers aim not to waste any. Part of proper crop-growing and wise water use is linked to advances in irrigation techniques, which allow water to move from one location to the next. Water not absorbed into the ground for crops can collect at the low end of furrows, border strips and basins. This wastewater is also referred to as irrigation tailwater. A certain amount of tailwater runoff is needed to ensure adequate penetration of water and irrigation efficiency, but the additional tailwater can be safely reused. Another source of agricultural wastewater, albeit a bit more indirect, is runoff from centralized plant facilities processing crops harvested from the field. Both of these sources of wastewater can be reclaimed and used on neighboring farms or on the farm where it was generated. Wastewater that collects at the low end of furrows can be used for the irrigation […]

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Gut Check: Probiotics and the Microbiome

When you think of the word “probiotics”, what comes to mind? A cup of yogurt or a bottle of dietary supplement capsules probably rises to the top, but over the last few years the presence of probiotics has expanded. Take a walk through the grocery store and you’ll see everything from fermented foods to fruit juices to baking mixes broadcasting their probiotic content. But does guzzling a kombucha have the same effect as taking a capsule? Are there benefits to probiotics for those of us who are already eat pretty healthy? And what the heck are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium? Let’s back up for a minute and define the term “probiotic”. In 2001 the World Health Organization endorsed probiotics as, “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host”. The premise is that consuming probiotics will enhance or restore balance to our gut microbiome which, if you’ve been keeping up with our Gut Check series, you know as the microbes that inhabit our gastrointestinal tracts. Probiotic bacteria are necessary for the fermentation of dairy products like yogurt and kefir as well as foods like kimchi and sauerkraut, and with their growing popularity it seems like probiotics are being added to all kinds of food and drinks. Probiotic-containing products will mention them on food packaging with the phrase “contains live and active cultures” and also listing specific types of bacteria in the ingredients list. The problem is that at this point, we don’t know exactly what an “ideal” microbiome is, and it might vary from person to person. For a generally healthy person who isn’t struggling with gastrointestinal issues, it’s unclear if probiotics from food can truly take root in an already-crowded microbial landscape. Think about it: If millions and millions of gut bacteria have already […]

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Everything You Need To Know About Glutamate And Monosodium Glutamate

Eating is one of life’s pleasures. Taste and flavor are important to enjoying food. Think about a bowl of hot pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese, a freshly grilled steak with a rich mushroom sauce, or stir-fried seafood and chicken with crisp vegetables in a savory sauce. These subtle, delicate flavors result from centuries of culinary tradition, including careful attention to ingredients and preparation. In all of these dishes, glutamate is one of the major food components that provides flavor. What is Glutamate? Glutamate is an amino acid, found in all protein-containing foods. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. This amino acid is one of the most abundant and important components of proteins. Glutamate occurs naturally in protein-containing foods such as cheese, milk, mushrooms, meat, fish, and many vegetables. Glutamate is also produced by the human body and is vital for metabolism and brain function. What is Monosodium Glutamate? Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamate. When MSG is added to foods, it provides a similar flavoring function as the glutamate that occurs naturally in food. MSG is comprised of nothing more than water, sodium and glutamate. Why is MSG used? MSG is a flavor enhancer that has been used effectively to bring out the best taste in foods, emphasizing natural flavors. Many researchers also believe that MSG imparts a fifth taste, independent of the four basic tastes of sweet, sour, salty and bitter. This taste, called “umami” in Japan, is described by Americans as savory. Examples of each of these tastes are: Sweet – Sugar, Bitter – Coffee, Savory – Tomato, Sour – Lemon, Salt – Anchovy How is MSG made? In the early 1900s, MSG was extracted from natural protein-rich foods such as seaweed. Today, MSG is made from starch, corn sugar […]

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