Researching my Healthstyle

If you have read earlier posts, you know that I am working on building a healthier lifestyle for myself, with a special emphasis this month on cutting added sugars out of my diet. I am nearing the end of a completed month of being added sugar free 4 days out of the week. Quick foreshadow to my next post - I liked it. I am the type of person (Type A, over-achiever) that is better at something when I can intellectually understand it. So, I sought out some resources to help me better understand why I should be cutting back added sugar and what it really means. I listened to every single Nutrition Diva podcast that exists on a drive from Orlando to Tennessee, watched two documentaries, Fed Up and Food, Inc, and read Foodist by Darya Pino Rose. In combination with my part-time job of being added-sugar free, they have changed the way I look at the food I put in my body.

Nutrition Diva Podcast
Who: Monica Reinagel, MS,LD/N, CNS. 
What: Podcast 
When: 7 minute podcast updated every Wednesday.
Where: Available on iTunes. Website: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/nutrition-diva
Why: quick weekly overview of a nutrition topic or quick tips for eating better. 
Favorite Episode: 10 Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Nutrition (Spoiler Alert)

• Spread bread with protein like nut butter
• Eat plain Greek yogurt instead of vanilla, or fruity flavors with tons of sugar
• Grate vegetables into baked goods
• Use milk in oatmeal
• Choose dark green salad greens
• Drink a savory cocktail instead of a sugary-sweet one
• Sub a vegetable for your fries
• Choose dark chocolate over milk chocolate

Criticism: WANT MORE. 

Fed Up
Who: Stephanie Soechtig, Katie Couric and Laurie David
What: A wonderful documentary that exposes the absurd levels of added sugar in a processed and packaged food, Corporate America and the politics behind it, the deplorable lunches being served in public schools, and most tragically, the epidemic of childhood obesity in our nation today. 
When: 1 1/2 hours on your own time - no longer in theaters. 
Where: Available for download on Amazon Prime and iTunes (sadly not free)
Why: More than anything else that I came across this month, this movie changed everything for me. Every single person needs to watch this simply to understand the packaged food industry, how sugar affects our body and brains, and the way our society has let down the thousands of children struggling with childhood obesity. 
Biggest Takeaways: 

• The documentary shows families with  children who literally cannot shed their obesity, despite exercising and eating what they think is a healthier diet. The parents share that they are drinking orange juice in the morning, eating low-calorie and fat free snacks - things they think are "healthy," which in reality, may be worse for them. I don't blame the parents, I blame the lack of education about nutrition and the corporations who make toxic "reduced fat" packaged food all a family can often afford. 
• TOFI -"thin on the outside, fat on the inside." A 150 pound person can actually have the same composition of dangerous fat as a 250 pound overweight person. This is also the reason you shouldn't hate on skinny people who are trying to eat better. 

Criticism: this documentary should be free, so that more people will want and be able to watch it. 

Food, Inc. 
Who: Robert Kenner
What: Documentary
When: 1 1/2 hours on your own time.
Where: Available for free download with Amazon Prime, Netflix, iTunes
Why: Demonstrates the conditions in which our food is grown and raised and how corporate america and government subsidies have tied the hands of farmers, forcing them to use efficient rather than safe, healthy or humane practices.
Biggest Takeaways: 

• Chicken farms are disgusting.
• Corporations are able to control farmers by providing the financing for them to build chicken houses and then specifying how they will be built and run. I think the facts were something like the average farmer borrows $500,000 to build two chicken houses, but only makes $18,000 a year off of them. 
• I want to make enough money to buy free-range, grass fed, local, etc.

Criticism: Its rather gross and also gets a little boring. 

Foodist
Who: Darya Pino Rose, P.h.D
What: A book - remember those?
When: Vacation, before bed, in the mornings, on a plane, whenever you can fit it in. I read a chapter or two a night over the course of about a week and a half. 
Where: Amazon (e-reader and hard copy editions), your local library (that's where I got mine), bookstores, other retailers. www.summertomato.com/foodist
Biggest Takeaways: 

• In Foodist I found a term for what I've been trying to develop - a Healthstyle. A way of living that is healthy for you - mind, body and soul - focused on eating real food, staying in shape and enjoying life. 
• Mindful Eating; taking time to enjoy real food, rather than shoveling it in your mouth is the best way to avoid overeating.
• I need to learn to like seafood (cue April food goal)
• Instilling good habits can take some people months, but that is the best way to develop a Healthstyle (cue continuing my added-sugar-free days)
• Lentils and beans are way too underrated
• Where our food comes from and how it was grown/raised actually matters and impacts the nutrients that we transmit to our bodies. 
• Another reminder that added sugar is terrible for us. 

Criticism(s): 

• This book could have been 1/3 of its length
• The author touts how delicious and awesome eating real food is, then shares a "food diary" excerpt that sounds anything but appetizing.

I encourage you to check out one or all of these resources. However, for those of you that are just reading this to look ate something delicious I made...Pork Short Ribs cooked for 10 hours on low in the slow cooker with an apple butter bbq sauce (made from the sugar-free apple butter recipe shared in my post "Sugar Free Stumbling") and a sliced vidalia onion with Parmesan Polenta and steamed broccoli. If you are a girl, wary of cooking manly meat -- the ribs were spot on.