Guidelines for Healthy Eating

• Check the ingredients– If you don’t recognize or can’t pronounce any of the

ingredients, you probably shouldn’t eat it

• Avoid preservatives and pesticides– Obesity– Toxicity/cancer

• Avoid artificial sweeteners at all costs– Diabetes– Slow metabolism– Hunger– Obesity– Toxicity/cancer

Feed your body food, not chemicals!

Anybody know what this is?

• Enriched Corn Meal (Corn Meal, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin, Mononitrate, Riboflavin, and Folic Acid), Vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: Corn, Soybean, or Sunflower oil), Whey, Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Carbonate, Canola Oil, Maltodextrin, Whey Protein Concentrate, Disodium Phosphate, Monosodium Glutamate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, and Artificial Color (Including Yellow 6, Yellow 5).

Anybody know what this is?

• Skim milk, wafer (bleached flour, sugar, caramel color, dextrose, palm oil, corn flour, cocoa, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, modified corn starch, baking soda, salt, mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin) sugar, corn syrup, cocoa processed with alkali, whey protein, cream, polydextrose inulin, microcrystalline cellulose, cellulose gum, mono and diglycerides, locust bean gum, calcium sulfate, polysorbate 80, carrageenan

Eat real food

• Ask yourself this question: “Would my great-great-grandmother recognize this as food?”– If the answer is “No,” you probably shouldn’t

eat it– Our bodies have not evolved to eat anything

that was not present over the course of our evolutionary history

Is this food?

Is this food?

Is this food?

Is this food?

Is this food?

Is this food?

Is this food?

Is this food?

Is this food?

Facts about soda• Framingham heart study (6000+ subjects followed

for several decades)• For every ONE soda you drink per day, you have a

40% increased risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome– Obesity – High blood pressure– High blood sugar– High cholesterol– High triglyceride (fat) levels– Heart disease– Diabetes

• Risk is HIGHER for DIET sodas

What about animal products?• “What has my food been

eating?”• Fish

– Clean vs. polluted water– Wild vs. farmed fish

• Poultry– Antibiotics– Processing

• Beef– Artificial hormones– Grass-fed vs. grain-fed

• Dairy/cheese– Artificial hormones– Lactose intolerance

Find out about your seafood• Best seafood to eat

– Alaskan (Pacific) salmon– Pacific cod– Pacific halibut– Rainbow trout from the U.S.– Albacore tuna from the U.S.– Mahimahi from the U.S. – Catfish from the U.S.– Lobster from the U.S. or Caribbean– Shrimp or crawfish from the U.S.– Tilapia from the U.S.

Find out about your seafood• Worst seafood to eat

– Imported bigeye/yellowfin tuna– Bluefin tuna– Atlantic cod– Atlantic flounder/sole– Grouper– Orange roughy– Snapper– Sturgeon– Swordfish– Shark

Environmental Defense Fund Seafood Selector: http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521

What about grains?

• Recent development of agriculture

• Whole grains vs. refined flour

• Gluten

• Corn

• Corn syrup

What does “organic” mean?

• No artificial pesticides

• No artificial fertilizers

• No preservatives

• No artificial food additives

• No artificial hormones

• No antibiotics

Are organic foods better than conventional foods?

• Many pesticides found on conventionally grown produce are linked to cancer and birth defects

• Organically grown produce often has up to 30% more nutrients than conventionally grown produce– Soil quality– Slower growing

• Environmental impact

What are the most important foods to eat organic?

• Peaches• Apples• Sweet bell peppers• Celery• Nectarines• Strawberries• Cherries• Lettuce• Grapes• Pears

• Spinach• Potatoes• Carrots• Green beans• Hot peppers• Cucumbers• Raspberries• Plums• Oranges• Cauliflower

What foods are OK to eat conventionally grown?

• Onions• Avocados• Pineapples• Mangos• Asparagus• Kiwi• Bananas

www.foodnews.orgEnvironmental Working Group Shopping Guide:

What should I eat?• Produce!

– At least 7 servings of fruits and vegetables a day– At least one serving for each 20 lbs of body weight (if you

weigh more than 140 lbs) – At least one from each color group each day

• Lean, natural meat and dairy – Fish from unpolluted waters– Artificial hormone-free grass-fed beef or lamb– Unprocessed, free range poultry that has not been fed

antibiotics– Organic dairy and cheese products

• Whole grains – NOT refined white flour - only brown grain products like

oatmeal, whole wheat bread, etc.• Nuts

– Almonds

What should I eat?• Purple/Red: Grapes, grape products (red wine, grape juice),

prunes, cranberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, red peppers, plums, cherries, eggplant, red beets, raisins, red apples, red pears

• Red: Tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon• Orange: Carrots, mangos, apricots, cantaloupes, pumpkin,

acorn squash, winter squash, sweet potatoes• Orange/Yellow: Orange juice, oranges, tangerines, yellow

grapefruit, lemon, line, peaches, papaya, pineapple, nectarines• Yellow/Green: Spinach, collard, mustard greens, turnip greens,

yellow corn, avocado, green peas, green beans, green peppers, yellow peppers, cucumber, kiwi, romaine lettuce, zucchini, honeydew melon, muskmelon

• Green: Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, bok choi, kale

• White: Bananas, garlic, onions, leeks, celery, asparagus, artichoke, endive, chives, mushrooms

Where can I buy healthy food in Austin?

• Whole Foods and HEB produce and dairy departments• Whole Foods meat department and bulk foods department• Austin Farmer’s Market

– Saturdays from 9am-1pm at 4th & Guadalupe– Wednesdays from 4-8pm at Triangle Park (46th St. between

Guadalupe and Lamar)– www.austinfarmersmarket.org

• Boggy Creek Farm – Wednesdays and Saturdays 9am-1pm– Just east of downtown– www.boggycreekfarm.com

• www.eatwild.com• On campus:

– www.utexas.edu/oncampus/2008/07/07/dining-halls-serve-local-produce/

– www.utexas.edu/student/housing/index.php?site=0&scode=5&id=456

Grocery Shopping Tips• Eat foods in their most natural state – unprocessed

or minimally processed• Don’t eat diet food!• If it comes in a package that claims it is really

healthy, it probably isn’t (at least not as healthy as an alternative that doesn’t come in a package or comes in a plain package that is not being aggressively marketed)

• Shop the periphery of the grocery store – the produce, dairy, seafood, and meat departments – NOT the shelves full of processed food

UT Health and Fitness Resources

• Campus gym/RecSports/Texercise

• Fitness Institute of Texas– Metabolic (caloric needs) testing, aerobic and

muscle fitness testing, body composition (DEXA scan)

– www.edb.utexas.edu/fit/index.php

• University Health Services– healthyhorns.utexas.edu/education/index.html

More Information

• www.nutritiondata.com

• www.fitday.com

For Further Reading:

• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan