Healthy eating: Some plant foods and their protein content

It needs no retelling that protein plays an very significant role in building and protecting cells of the muscle groups, cartilage, bones, and also the pores and skin. Also, an expanding quantity of folks are seeking to stay in shape with a protein-abundant diet.

A examine published in Hypertension, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association (AHA), mentioned that eating a balanced diet program with protein from a bigger wide variety of resources may assist grownups decrease the threat of acquiring higher blood tension. On the other hand, despite its reputation and uncomplicated availability, there is a popular misconception that protein choices are minimal for vegetarians.

Busting this incredibly myth, Dr Vara Yanamandra, an Ayurveda qualified, took to Instagram and shared, “Protein is an abundant macronutrient observed in numerous plant-dependent meals. Meat may perhaps be prosperous in protein but so are plant-based mostly food items like legumes, beans, nuts, and seeds that are far more than ample to satisfy the each day protein demands of a particular person.”

She extra, compared with animal protein which lacks assorted nutritional benefit, “plant protein is abundant in fibre, antioxidants, phytonutrients that assist in the over-all nicely-becoming of a person”. “Complete protein doesn’t have to originate from a solitary food stuff. If you try to eat a healthful and comprehensive food, your system can make the entire protein,” she ongoing.

Agreeing, Garima Goyal, a dietitian, informed indianexpress.com, “Animal protein incorporates all the 9 essential amino acids, so does plant protein but it features a restricted total of some of them.”

“Beans, peas, and lentils contain low amounts of cysteine and methionine when grains, seeds, and nuts are very poor in lysine. As this sort of, folks consider plant protein to be inadequate, but a wide range of plant protein resources in the diet program can solve this problem,” the professional added.

“Rice with beans, lentils, and chickpeas, complete grain bread with hummus, oatmeal with pumpkin seeds and peanut butter are some of the mixtures,” the expert prompt.

Whilst non-vegetarians get their protein from food items like hen, salmon, and eggs, there are numerous plant-primarily based choices for vegetarians that can aid in muscle mass developing, way too. Though the protein ingestion one calls for relies upon on various variables, listed here are some plant meals and their protein articles, as shared by Dr Yanamandra.

*Lentils – 18 g per 198g cooked cups
*Beans – 15 gm for each 170g cooked cup
*Inexperienced peas – 9 gm per 160 g cooked cup
*Hemp seeds – 9 gm for each 30 g serving
*Tofu, tempeh – 12 gm per 100 gm
*Spelt and teff – 11gms for every 250 gm

“Vegetarian/vegan protein eating plan has a lot of advantages these kinds of as increasing heart overall health, body weight reduction, and stopping persistent ailments this kind of as diabetes, high blood stress, particular cancers, and obesity,” Goyal added.

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Healthy Lifestyle and Mortality in Dialysis Patients

Around 2.5 million individuals with stage 5 chronic kidney diseases (CKD) worldwide are taken care of with very long-phrase dialysis. The prognosis of people on dialysis is weak, with an yearly mortality level of 10{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} to 20{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f}, owing largely to cardiovascular diseases. Use of statins as pharmacological interventions have yielded couple of final results in reducing mortality in dialysis sufferers.

There are a amount of way of living tips from the American Heart Association for cardiovascular prevention that have been mixed into a overall health way of living rating. The suggestions incorporate steering clear of cigarette smoking, partaking in frequent actual physical workout, maintaining an proper system mass index, adhering to a diet plan abundant in fruits, veggies, and fish and reduced in salt and sugar, and maintaining blood stress, cholesterol, and glucose in proposed targets. There are associations with higher life-style scores and 30{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} to 50{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} reduce cardiovascular disease threat in the normal population. Those positive aspects may possibly be relevant to reversing or lowering obesity, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, and hypertension, key threat elements for cardiovascular disease.

There are couple of knowledge available on the benefits of a healthier life-style in clients with CKD acquiring routine maintenance hemodialysis. Guobin Su, MD, PhD, and colleagues done a possible cohort review to examine the association of a modified AHA healthier way of living score and its particular person components with all-bring about and cardiovascular mortality in clients addressed with hemodialysis. Success of the review were described in the American Journal of Kidney Health conditions [2022;79(5):688-698].

The examine was done in a massive, multinational personal dialysis network. The examine publicity was a modified healthful lifestyle score based mostly on the AHA suggestions for cardiovascular prevention, the sum of 4 factors addressing the use of using tobacco tobacco, bodily exercise, diet, and handle of systolic blood pressure. The outcomes of fascination have been cardiovascular and all-bring about mortality.

Altered proportional dangers regression analyses with nation as a random effect was utilized to estimate the associations among lifestyle rating and mortality. Way of living rating was stratified as lower (-2 details) as the referent, medium (3-5 factors), and substantial (6-8 details). Associations were being expressed as altered hazard ratio (aHR), with 95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI.

The analyze utilized facts from the Diet program-High definition (Dietary Intake, Dying and Hospitalization in Grown ups with Conclusion-Phase Kidney Disorder Treated with Hemodialysis) review. A complete of 9757 individuals participated in the Diet plan-Hd study and concluded the Food stuff Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Of these, 5483 (56{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f}) had finish life style data (all particular person elements of the way of living rating) and were integrated in the main examination. Compared with patients with no full way of life data, individuals with comprehensive lifestyle info were being older, had additional comorbidities, and a better mortality amount.

Over-all, the signify age of the cohort was 66 years, 42{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} had been woman, 87{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} experienced hypertension, 31{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} had diabetic issues, and 43{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} had a heritage of CKD. Sixty-seven {bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} had in no way smoked, 20{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} engaged in actual physical activity much more than once a week, 25{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} experienced systolic blood tension right before dialysis <120 mm Hg, and 20{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} adhered to a high recommended food score.

A total of 982 participants (18{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f}) had a high lifestyle score (score 6-8), 3945 (72{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f}) had a medium lifestyle score (score 3-5), and 556 (10{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f}), had a low lifestyle score (score 0-2). Across increasing healthy lifestyle score categories, there were more women, a lower proportion of comorbidities, and a shorter dialysis vintage.

Median follow-up was 3.8 years. During the follow-up period, there were 2163 deaths (39{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f}). Of those, 39{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} (n=826) were attributed to cardiovascular causes. The cumulative incidence of cardiovascular death was 63 per 1000 person-years in the group with low lifestyle score, 47 per 1000 person-years in the group with medium lifestyle score, and 40 per 1000 person-years in the group with high lifestyle score (log-rank P<.001). For all-cause death, the corresponding values were 156, 124, and 105 per 1000-person years (log-rank P=.002).

When the lifestyle score was treated as a continuous variable, the aHRs of cardiovascular death and all-cause death were 0.92 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.89-0.95) and 0.94 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.89-0.98), respectively, for every unit greater healthy lifestyle score.

Compared with patients with a low lifestyle score, the aHRs of cardiovascular death among those with medium and high lifestyles scores were 0.73 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.49-0.85) and 0.65 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.49-0.85), respectively (P for trend=.003). For all-cause mortality, the aHRs were 0.75 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.65-0.85) for those with medium lifestyle scores and 0.64 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.54-0.76) for those with high lifestyle scores (P for trend <.001).

Smoking and physical activity were consistently associated with higher risk of both cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Compared with being a current smoker, the aHRs for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality for the participants who never smoked were 0.75 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.65-0.86) and 0.71 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.57-0.88). Compared with participants who did not engage in physical activity, the aHRs for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality for participants who engaged in physical activity more than once a week were 0.75 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f}CI, 0.66-0.85) and 0.79 (95{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} CI, 0.65-0.96), respectively. There were no significant associations between either recommended food score or blood pressure targets and mortality.

The researchers cited some limitations to the study findings, including the observational design, the self-reported nature of the FFQ, and the data -driven approach.

In conclusion, the authors said, “A healthier lifestyle is associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality among patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis.”

Takeaway Points

  1. Results of a prospective cohort study evaluating the association of a modified AHA healthy lifestyle score and its individual components with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
  2. The cumulative incidence of cardiovascular death in those with low, medium, and high lifestyle scores was 63, 47, and 40 per 100 person-years, respectively.
  3. For all-cause death, the corresponding values were 156, 124, and105 per 1000 person-years, respectively.

How to Navigate Healthy Eating During the Holidays

The end of the year is a time for holiday parties, family gatherings, and plenty of celebratory feasting. But it’s also a time fraught with unhealthy messages surrounding diet and health. From joking with coworkers about “earning” that office banquet to commercials about New Year’s resolutions and an aunt commenting on your weight at Christmas dinner, it can have a serious impact on your physical and mental wellbeing.

“The holiday season really starts with Halloween, if we’re talking about food,” says Gabbie Ricky, a dietician at Children’s Health Andrews Institute Sports Performance. “There’s a lot of positive marketing toward all the holiday foods and flavors, but then there’s always this underlying fear of falling off the wagon over the holiday season or falling off track.”

All that end-of-year eating can lead people to “push off” healthy habits and goals until the new year, Ricky says, which only feeds the guilt you feel during the holiday season itself. It’s cyclical, she says, and it’s a toxic approach to health.

“I think a lot of people struggle with the ‘all or nothing’ mindset. With their health, healthy eating, fitness, it’s either they’re all in or they’re not in at all,” she says. “So, a healthy way to reframe that that I like to encourage is instead of ‘all or nothing,’ ‘all or something.’” 

We talked to Ricky about navigating food and diet culture during the holidays, its dangers, and how to combat it. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s one thing about holiday diet culture that people might not expect?

The marketing has gotten sneakier. I feel like diet culture is just more deeply embedded into things that we might not think about. And it’s talked about under the guise of “wellness.” 

Can you talk about how that marketing has gotten sneakier? 

Food systems or food programs that label themselves as a lifestyle program. Not a diet, but then they do have a “good” and “bad” list of foods—that’s a red flag, in my opinion. Or a tiered system of ranking foods, like a red food, a yellow food, and a green food. Anything that sorts foods into buckets of good and bad is, in my opinion as a dietitian, is not healthy.

Image
Gabbie Ricky
Courtesy of at Children’s Health Andrews Institute Sports Performance

And why is that? 

I’ve seen it create a lot of food fear, a lot of anxiety around food. People develop very disordered eating habits that just affect their overall quality of life and their mental health and mental wellbeing because they’re stressed about, “is this a green food? Or is this a yellow food?” Or, “oh, no, that’s bad. I can’t eat that.” But then they see everybody else enjoying themselves eating that. And then they start to feel a little bit guilty or maybe a little bit ashamed. 

How do conversations around eating during the holidays lead to guilt? 

Those types of unwanted comments about food and body size and shape, specifically—that can come up in a lot of ways, which I’m sure we’ve probably all experienced on our own. Or maybe we’ve contributed to it without knowing just because that’s how it is. Comments like “Is that all you’re eating?” or “You’re going back for more?” … Or you see a family member or a friend you haven’t seen in a long time, and it’s like, “Oh, you look really good, did you lose weight?” Like equating being in a smaller body to looking good. When in reality, we don’t know why they’re the size that they are. 

“Definitely don’t starve yourself just because you’re anticipating to eat a big meal later in the day.”

Gabbie Ricky

What advice would you give someone dealing with these harmful comments? 

Sometimes the best thing you can do is to just literally remove yourself from the situation. You don’t need to have a response. Whether it’s directed at you or not, just leave that situation and join another conversation, a better one. And then, also, you can set some healthy boundaries with that person if you feel comfortable. Liiterally you can tell them, “I’m not comfortable talking to you this.” Just saying that, and if they don’t respect it, then you can remove yourself from the situation.

How does disordered eating manifest during the holidays and then post-holidays?

It shows up in feeling like you have to earn the food or burn it off. And then also physically restricting yourself, like only allowing a tiny sliver of something, and then measuring out your food, weighing your Thanksgiving meal, being so strict that it’s just impeding on your experience. 

Obviously, all those things are bad. But why? 

A lot of times people will, kind of “yo-yo” diet, or go back and forth from periods of over-restricting to overeating, right? But that has damaging effects to your physical health. There’s evidence that after over-restricting—or just really forced starving, because you’re not eating enough—your body can hold on to fat a little bit more. Then it just feeds into this cycle of feeling like you have to work that off by over-restricting or over-exercising. And then, because you feel restricted, you give into the temptation of having the foods that you enjoy again, and then you overdo it because you over-restricted. 

What advice would you give for healthy holiday season eating behaviors? 

Definitely don’t starve yourself just because you’re anticipating to eat a big meal later in the day. It’s counterintuitive. So again, eat something with protein and fiber. For breakfast, eat something with protein, and fiber for lunch, and then fully allow yourself to enjoy that dinner. And then move on. There’s really no secret. I guess the key here in the holiday season is don’t do anything drastic. Whether it’s like drastically going on a fad diet or drastically overeating and binging everything, just try to stay on a cycle. And humans are creatures of habit. Our bodies are the same way. And if we can feed it at regular intervals, and fully allow yourself to enjoy the foods, you’ll be better off.

How can people unlearn those habits and that culture?

You can start with food neutrality, which literally is just removing that morality that society has put over food. And by that, I just mean no food is good. No food is bad. Unless you’re clinically allergic to it, then, of course, it’s bad. But, just learning to remove those two words from your vocabulary when you’re describing food is extremely powerful in the shift that it can create in your mind. 

How do you start to shift that mindset to food neutrality?

In your eating habits, allow yourself to reincorporate those foods that maybe you thought were bad. Just the habit of you getting into them again or allowing yourself to eat them again. And then the way that you think about it, that’s a lot already for some people, just depending on how deep these disordered thoughts and patterns are. So yeah, just allowing yourself to incorporate those foods into your life. Foods that you once thought were bad. 

Are there things about diet culture during the holidays or after during New Year’s I haven’t asked? 

I feel like we’ve touched on it on this already, but just like understanding that in health, wellness, diet, fitness, none of those things are one size fits all. So just being cognizant of that. And if you’ve had success with something, [not] trying to push that on somebody else, or just understanding that and embracing that, really, all of this should be very individualized to the person.

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Catherine Wendlandt

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Catherine Wendlandt is the online associate editor for D Magazine’s Living and Home and Garden blogs, where she covers all…

Healthy Meal Plan for Dec. 19, 2022

You asked, we answered! Hundreds of Start TODAY members told us they wanted more healthy, balanced meal ideas to help them reach their health goals. This dietitian-designed meal plan gives you the flexibility to enjoy the holidays — all while learning the building blocks of healthy eating. After all, all that walking works up an appetite!

Meal planning isn’t as daunting as it sounds. Spend just 10 or 15 minutes mapping out your meals, jot down what you need and head to the store. That’s it. And since the holidays are busy enough, we’ve also got suggestions for streamlining meal prep — and, best of all, you can even take the weekends off if you’re dining out or celebrating with family.

Not a member of Start TODAY? Join us now.

With the holidays nearing, this week’s theme is save time. To accomplish this goal, we mainly recommend throw-together breakfasts and lunches. Lunches utilize our formula for easy meal prep–making a grain, veggies, and simple protein ahead of time to mix-and-match during the week. For dinner, we’ve rounded up several sheet pan meals because what saves more time than limiting cleanup to one pan? More time-savers include jarred sauce and seasonings and freezer staples like frozen veggies. Plus, we’ve suggested numerous hacks to make the prep time quicker and easier.

December 19, 2022: What to eat this week

Healthy Meal Plan for Dec. 19, 2022

Breakfast

Keep mornings hassle-free with these throw-together options and leftovers.

Whole Grain Toaster Waffle

Spread with ricotta or cottage cheese and top with pear slices and cinnamon.

Sheet Pan Sweet Potato and Harissa Shakshuka

Kristen Little

Serve with avocado slices.

Banana Blueberry Smoothies

Courtesy of Gaby Dalkin

Use unsweetened almond milk (or your milk of choice) and have a container of lower-sugar Greek yogurt on the side.

Lunch

Start off the week by batch-roasting veggies and cooking a whole grain and protein. You’ll use these in your grain bowls. You can save time by using frozen veggies and whole grains, which we recommend for easy meal prep. Hassle-free protein options include store-bought rotisserie chicken and pre-seasoned tofu.

Healthy 1-Minute Chicken Soup

Nathan Congleton/TODAY

Use rotisserie chicken and mirepoix mix to reduce prep and save time. To make this heartier, add cooked microwavable or frozen brown rice–basic ingredients we recommend having on hand–to the finished soup.

Grain Bowl

Add cooked veggies, protein, and your whole grain of choice to a bowl. Season with an easy seasoning, such as pesto or lower-sodium soy sauce.

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Have on a whole grain English muffin or bread with lettuce and tomato and serve with veggies on the side. Feel free to swap another protein (such as leftover chicken or mashed chickpeas) for the tuna.

Try this idea:

Chickpea and Tuna Salad

Laura Vitale

Dinner

Sheet pan dinners are one of the ways we’re saving you time this week. You can make all five easy meals or make enough of one dish to serve as leftovers and save time on another night. (Note: To keep things healthy, we recommend having steak no more than twice per week.) If you loved recipes from our previous weeks, feel free to swap those in, including any suggested side dishes.

Sheet Pan Sweet Potato and Harissa Shakshuka

Kristen Little

We appreciate a meal that’s just as good for dinner as it is for breakfast. Making shakshuka on a sheet pan instead of the traditional cast iron skillet means you can have enough for breakfast (or another meal) later in the week. Serve with whole grain avocado toast sprinkled with hemp seeds.

Sheet-Pan Pesto Chicken with Broccoli Rabe and Baby Potatoes

Casey Barber/Good Food Stories LLC

This meal is a multi-tasking hero! You’ll cook the protein, carbs, and veggies on a sheet pan to make quick work of prep and cleanup. Plus, it’s full of flavor thanks to one of our favorite fast seasonings: pesto.

One-Pan Teriyaki Salmon

JSHealth

Here’s another one-pan wonder. Everything you need for a healthy dinner is arranged on a sheet pan, allowing for just ten minutes of prep time and speedy clean up. And the easy-to-make teriyaki seasoning has nearly half the added sugar as the bottled variety.

Italian Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

Matt Abdoo

Here’s a healthy way to enjoy steak: Choose a lean cut, like flank steak, and serve it with roasted vegetables and baby potatoes (also known as creamer potatoes). Most grocery stores sell pre-prepped baby potatoes, which can streamline prep time on busy nights.

Speedy Skillet Ravioli Lasagna

Dylan James Ho and Jeni Afuso

The name says it all, and we think you’ll appreciate a speedy meal any day of the week, but especially during the holiday season. You can save even more time by using jarred marinara instead of making your own sauce. Try adding baby spinach to the mixture to boost the veggie content and serve with a mixed green salad on the side.

Snacks

Snacks that contain whole food sources of protein and fiber offer a winning formula that keeps you full for hours. Here are a few ideas:

  • Cucumber slices with leftover tuna salad
  • Banana split and toped with cottage cheese and cinnamon
  • Frozen cherries (thawed) with Greek yogurt
  • Red pepper strips and hummus
  • Celery spread with nut or nutless butter and topped with raisins

You are what you eat: forging a healthy lifestyle for the new year

By Megan Sayles,
AFRO Business Writer,
Report for America Corps Member.
msayles@afro.com

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, many people often include eating healthier and getting in shape on their list. While the intent to take better care may be there, it’s not always easy to adopt a new diet or workout routine and stick with it. But what better time to make a change than the new year?

African Americans in particular should be mindful of such considerations as they face unique health challenges. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), African Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 are two times more likely to die from heart disease than White Americans. 

Those aged 35 to 64 are also 50 percent more likely to have high blood pressure than their counterparts. 

These troubling health impairments make it imperative for the Black community to examine their lifestyles and diets. Kimberly Coby is one such person motivated to respond. 

A board-certified functional nutrition counselor and health coach, Coby opened Affirm Wellness LLC in 2020 to provide a personalized approach to nutrition that allows people to optimize health. 

She created the company after witnessing her father make drastic changes to his diet while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation to treat lung cancer. The only symptom he experienced during the taxing treatments was fatigue — not nausea or loss of appetite. 

The therapies, however, took a toll on him, leading to a heart attack while he was in remission. He spent a month in the hospital, and one day he went into cardiac arrest. Coby began to pray, and she promised to dedicate herself to health education if he survived. 

“I said, ‘God, if you just give me one more day with my daddy, I will tell the world how to take care of their bodies naturally, the way that he did.’ And he did,” Coby said. 

The most critical change a person can make to their diet is avoiding processed foods, according to Coby. Rather, they should prioritize eating whole foods that are free from additives, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.  

Cutting out sugar, which has been found to be addictive by various studies, is also beneficial to the body. However, Coby said swapping it out for artificial sweeteners, like aspartame and sucralose, that are typically used in sugar-free foods and drinks, can be just as harmful to health. 

Instead, she suggested using honey, agave and maple syrup for sweetening. If you’re a self-professed sweet-tooth, Coby recommended adding bananas to fruit smoothies for a creamy, thick texture much like ice cream, combining fresh fruit with oatmeal to make dessert tarts and making fruit popsicles. 

Cutting processed food from your diet is a change that could impact not only physical health, but mental and emotional well-being as well. (Photo by Unsplash/Thomas Le)

Coby explained how the gastrointestinal (GI) system is connected to the brain, and sugar, gluten and dairy can break down the barrier between the brain and gut, allowing bacteria to escape from the GI tract and travel to the brain. 

This causes inflammation, Coby noted, and can lead to people experiencing autoimmune diseases, depression, anxiety and brain fog. But, taking probiotics daily and eating fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi, can improve your gut health.

“You have to learn how to listen to your body. Your body talks to you, and it will tell you what food works for it and what food works against it,” Coby said. “It tells you through a number of different ways… by getting stiff, by showing brain fog, by getting constipated, by getting acne and even by getting some diseases.” 

Coby suggested that people seek advice from nutrition counselors when deciding what type of diet to adopt. If they can’t connect with one, there’s a wealth of information available on functional nutrition online, and they can alternatively follow prominent doctors in the space. 

Once you’ve decided on a diet, meal prepping can be the best way to maintain it. It’s especially important to put together healthy snacks, like veggies or homemade granola bars, you can take with you on the go, so you don’t end up relying on fast-food options, according to Coby. 

When starting a new diet, Coby said, it’s also crucial to prepare your mind for the lifestyle change. People should have a sense of why they are implementing changes to their diet and what they would like to achieve from it, she said. 

For exercise, Coby recommended newcomers start off slow. They can try walking and yoga, and if they choose to amp up their workouts, they must consider if the exercises are sustainable over the long term. 

However, diet is still the largest determinant of a person’s physical health, according to Coby. 

“Whole food, natural food, organic food is delicious. Spices and herbs have no calories, and they taste great,” Coby said. “You just have to play around with different varieties to see what you like.” 

Help us Continue to tell OUR Story and join the AFRO family as a member –subscribers are now members!  Join here! 

Heart healthy food drive to gather nutrient rich foods, Jan. 16-30 : Maui Now

December 17, 2022, 12:25 PM HST

Heart healthy food drive to gather nutrient rich foods, Jan. 16-30 : Maui Now

The American Heart Association, alongside Hawaiian Airlines is supporting food access organizations in Hawaiʻi by hosting a heart healthy food drive Jan. 16-30, 2023.

To support the healthy food drive, items can be dropped off at from Jan. 16-30 at the following locations:

  • Hawai‘i Foodbank, 2611 Kilihau St., Honolulu, HI 96819, 808-836-3600
  • Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i, 4241 Hanahoa Pl., Ste. 101, Lihue, HI 96766, 808-482-2224
  • Maui Food Bank, 760 Kolu St., Wailuki, HI 96793, 808-243-9500
  • The Food Basket, 40 Holomua St., Hilo, HI 96720, 808-933-6030
  • The Food Basket, 73-4161, Ulu Wini Pl., Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, 808-322-1418

“Healthy foods serve as the basis of optimal health and choosing healthy options is easier when food access organizations distribute foods that provide ample nutrition,” organizers said. “People who face food insecurity are at a higher risk for chronic conditions due in part to the consumption of unhealthy foods that are high in calories and low in nutrients.”

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Hawaiʻi’s statewide network of food banks recognizes that consistent, equitable access to safe and healthy food is a fundamental human right. Accordingly, food banks like Hawai‘i Foodbank are prioritizing programs and initiatives to provide healthier food options to the communities they serve.

The food drive is a part of the American Heart Association’s Heart of Hawaiʻi campaign, a year- round health effort culminating at its annual Heart Ball.

Hawaiian Airlines is leading the Heart of Hawaiʻi company efforts to support the healthy food drive and serve as an example for other companies to host their own healthy food drives working with the Association.

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Healthy foods collected in the food drive should follow the Association’s nutritional recommendations including low saturated fat, low sodium and no added sugar. These foods are the highest in nutrition and contribute the nutrients that are most beneficial in avoiding the development of chronic diseases like heart disease and stroke.

Items include:

  • Beverages- water, 100{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} fruit juice, low-fat, powdered milk
  • Proteins- unsalted nuts, natural peanut butter, canned meat with no added sodium, beans either dried or no-sodium
  • Whole Grains- whole wheat pasta, whole wheat crackers, whole grain cereals, whole grain, natural granola bars, brown rice
  • Canned and Dry Goods- canned vegetables with no added sodium, canned fruit in 100{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} fruit juice, natural applesauce, soups with low or no sodium, dried fruit with no added sugar and healthier cooking oils such as olive oil

The items from the Hawaiian Airlines healthy food drive will be donated to Hawai‘i Foodbank on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i, Maui Food Bank and The Food Basket on Hawai‘i Island.