Katarina Rogers is a dietetic student at the University of Nevada, Reno and is our guest blogger this week.
As a nutrition student and lover of all things food, I have learned that the food we eat tells a story deeper than just what is on our plate. As long as there have been humans walking the earth, they have needed to eat. As people have spread across the earth harvesting, hunting, and growing food, they have created their own flavor profile, thus establishing food culture and diversity. For that reason, the meals we eat represent not only where we have been as a culture, but also where we are going.
Our ancestry can form many of our eating routines, such as what times of day we eat and how frequently. For example, the largest meal of the day in a North American home may be dinner, but in a Latin American household, lunch would tend to be the main meal of the day.
We also choose what we eat based on convenience, availability, ability, and of course, taste. Some of us cook for one and some of us cook for ten or more. Additionally, some may need to cater to a certain diet due to illness or disease.
These are some of the larger factors that shape our eating habits and our relationship with all kinds of foods. There are countless diets promising better bodies based off of different ideas about food. As a nutrition student, I am asked about all kinds of diets and whether those diets are good or bad. Much to the annoyance of the people who make these inquiries, I often answer “Yes and No”.
New diets and reinvented, old diets get all the hype on the internet and in the media. However, what I wish we would spend more time talking about is sustainable behavior change. When it comes to your health goals, the only diet that matters is yours. When it comes to making effective dietary change, you have to consider everything I have mentioned and additional factors that I didn’t cover. These include:
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Your culture
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Convenience of food
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Availability of grocery stores
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Ability of the cook and his/her equipment
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Number of people to be fed
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When/ how frequently you eat
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Taste and food preference
This seems very complicated but this is why dieting does not work for a vast amount of people. They may lose the weight on one program and gain it back once they finish it, but then lose the weight once more on a new diet plan, only to regain it if the diet isn’t tailored to their needs.
So how do we lose weight and maintain a healthy weight? We get creative with behavior change! Sustainable behavior change is all about making lemonade out of lemons.
We have to identify where we can change a behavior and replace it with a healthier version of itself. Then we have to integrate that behavior into our life until it is second nature. In a way, we have to create a new food culture in our own household. I think it fair to mention that this is where dietitians like Karen are extremely helpful.
Once you have identified your areas of possible change, you have to problem solve. Set yourself up for success. If you want to run a marathon, you don’t try and run the whole thing tomorrow, but possibly begin with a brisk one-mile jog.
Here are some examples of behavior change:
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If you miss meals or dine out more than you wish, you might want to consider prepping your meals in advance for your most demanding days at work.
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If you don’t get enough fruits and veggies, try slicing them up in a big batch and store them to be snacked on throughout the week.
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If you love Oreo cookies but can’t stop until the entire container is finished, try not to buy them in the first place.
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No time to exercise? Purchase a step counter and take a few laps around the office or set a timer on your phone to do a few minutes of light stretching.
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Are your portions bigger than what you would like? Try serving your food on a smaller plate and chewing your food more slowly.
Behavior change is all about the long term solution. It has no time limit and it is not meant to restrict us in unsustainable ways.
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Karen Fisher, MS, RDN, CDE is a dietitian in Reno, Nevada, happily promoting the benefits of healthy foods at her nutrition consulting firm, Nutrition Connection. Find her website atwww.NutritionConnectionNV.com
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