Nutrition Distraction Disorder: Fight it with Sloppy Success

Nutrition Distraction Disorder:  If it were a real diagnosable condition, a lot of people would have it.  Do you?  Whether I’m at a speaking engagement or simply watching the headlines, I’ve noticed lately how many people are dipping a toe in the pool of a healthier lifestyle, and then jumping out and running to something else.  They never stick with a change long enough to feel the benefits, and are frazzled from trying to keep up with the latest “sure-fire” nutrition strategy.

On a conference call recently, my valued colleague Bridget Swinney, MS, RD shared one of the take-home messages from a writers’ conference she recently attended: “Sloppy Success is better than Perfect Procrastination.”  That may have been said regarding writing, but I think it’s relevant to much more. Let’s look at how some imperfect changes to your eating habits and lifestyle might be the answer to replace “Nutrition Distraction Disorder”.

These five steps below are each backed by research showing multiple health benefits. Give up waiting until the right time.  While you’re waiting until you can do it all perfectly, the inner metabolic disarray from a lifestyle out of balance is taking a toll.  Choose even one of these strategies and start today, however imperfectly, with Sloppy Success.

Eat more vegetables

You’ve probably been hearing this since you were five years old, so it’s easy for this message to become background noise that gets overlooked as other messages get the headlines.  But the truth is that cultures around the world with low incidence of heart disease and cancer all include plenty of vegetables.  They flavor them differently and include different varieties, but a common thread is vegetables in abundance.

I grew up with vegetables that were limp and overcooked — decidedly not foods I enjoyed. What a surprise when, as a registered dietitian determined to find ways to enjoy such nutrition essentials, I found that vegetables can be prepared in so many delicious ways that make them the highlight of my meals!

Do vegetables help you lose weight? Barbara Rolls, PhD, professor at Penn State, has done some exciting research uncovering how vegetables can play a key role in weight control.  When you swap proportions of ingredients in a stir-fry, casserole, pasta dish or other food – boosting vegetables and decreasing others proportionately – you’ll end up with substantially fewer calories in the same portion of food.  Studies by Rolls and others show that doing this consistently reduces calorie consumption without increasing hunger, and is linked to a healthier weight.

They’re for more than just fiber. Vegetables are, of course, a source of dietary fiber.  They also provide a wide range of antioxidants – not only as vitamins like C and E, but also through thousands of phytochemicals. Depending on specific choices, vegetables can be good sources of magnesium, which helps decrease insulin resistance and has been linked with lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, and the B vitamin, folate, which is important to produce and maintain healthy DNA, the starting point of cancer development.

In addition to the antioxidant effects of phytochemicals, some seem to act directly to reduce cancer development.  For example, allyl sulfur compounds in garlic and onions and isothiocyanates formed from compounds in cruciferous vegetables seem to stimulate enzymes that detoxify carcinogens before they even get into cells and damage DNA.  A growing area of research is how these phytochemicals can also change the expression of genes, for example, turning on tumor suppressor genes that slow cell growth so damage can be repaired.

~Learn how

You can read about the approach to nutrition and weight control developed by Barbara Rolls, PhD, which includes abundant use of vegetables, in this US News & World Report’s overview of Volumetrics.  It garnered high ratings for nutrition, weight control, heart health and diabetes. Get started right away with tips on boosting vegetables in the free brochure from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) called More Food, Fewer Calories.

Choose whole grains

Whole grains offer far more than fiber.  They’re higher in several nutrients (such as magnesium, and vitamins B-6 and E) compared to refined grains, and they provide antioxidant phytochemicals such as phenols.  Greater consumption is linked to lower risk of colon cancer and heart disease, and seems to decrease the insulin resistance that’s part of type 2 diabetes. Several studies show drops in markers of inflammation with greater whole grain consumption, and that may help explain whole grains’ link to so many aspects of health.

Greater whole grain consumption also seems to decrease fat around the waist, which is the fat particularly linked to health risks. Don’t just add whole grains to your current diet, though.  Look for refined grains you currently eat that you could swap for whole grains.

 ~Learn how

Whole grain products are more widely available in grocery stores than ever before.  Food labels don’t make it easy to figure out which are truly whole-grain, however.  Check this information from the Whole Grains Council on how to make sense of whole grain stamps you may see on foods,  easy ways to use whole grains, and a list of whole grains you can try for more variety in your meals.

Go for Beans

Dried beans and peas are among our most concentrated sources of dietary fiber.  What’s more, up to 35% of beans’ starch is what’s called “resistant starch”, which is fermented in the colon to particular fatty acids that reduce inflammation and seem to have direct protective effects on cells in the colon.  Furthermore, dried beans provide folate and natural compounds called flavonoids that are antioxidants and seem to also act directly to reduce cells’ development into cancer.

Different cuisines around the world tend to favor different varieties of dried beans, peas and lentils, but they’re a regular feature in populations around the world known for their good health.  Perhaps you already add kidney or garbanzo beans when you see them at salad bars. Move beyond that, and use black beans, navy beans, pinto beans, split peas and lentils in soups, casseroles and salads, and blend them into dips and other appetizers.

~Learn how

Go to your library and check out some cookbooks focused on beans. Or look for a cookbook about almost any style of ethnic cooking you like, and I practically guarantee that if it’s about the authentic cuisine, you’ll find recipes using beans as a main dish and in side dishes.  Meanwhile, check this free brochure from AICR, Beans and Whole Grains (in the New American Plate series) that offers some delicious preparation ideas and recipes.

“Hara hachi bu”

This is the mantra traditionally said before meals in the Okinawan culture, known for healthy longevity. It reminds them to eat only until they are 80% full. They’ve known for generations something that modern researchers have validated: your hunger will be satisfied with less than you think you need when you’re in the midst of eating. It’s a shift in mindset: eat until you are no longer hungry, not until you are “full”.

We live in an environment where food is around 24/7 and big portions have become so common that they now look normal.  Regardless of our food choices, when we habitually overeat, it spells trouble for our weight, and often for blood sugar, blood cholesterol or other lipids called triglycerides, and blood pressure. We need to readjust our perception of what’s “enough”.

~Learn how

Slow down as you eat to give yourself a chance to recognize signals that you’ve had enough.  Eating away from television and other distractions makes it a lot easier to hear this quiet inner voice. Think of ways that you can turn eating less into the easy choice: serve smaller portions, keep serving dishes off the table, have each person get second portions on their own rather than encourage each other to eat more.  Sometimes it’s the obvious: unless you want to have leftovers for use at another meal, purchase and cook smaller amounts of food.  For inspiration, read about the Okinawan use of “hara hachi bu” in Dan Buettner’s book, The Blue Zones, which examines healthy eating and lifestyle choices in cultures around the world where longevity is unusually common.

Walk

Whether you walk as a means of transportation to get to a particular physical destination, or whether your “destination” is stress-reduction, weight management or more specific health benefits, it’s hard to top walking.  Not once a week…make time for some walking every day.

Don’t expect moderate walking to lead to major weight loss without making changes in eating habits, and certainly don’t use it to justify having that donut that’s calling your name. However, in studies of long-term maintenance of weight loss, regular moderate activity like walking is almost always a key habit.  For me, when I am attentive to getting my daily walk, the effect it has in reducing non-hunger urges to eat may do even more to help balance my weight than the calories I actually burn walking.

Research now shows that exercise directly helps lower blood sugars, and it’s linked to lower levels of inflammation, too.  That’s key, because chronic inflammation seems to be behind development of our major health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

~Learn how

Don’t wait to find time.  Make time.  Even 10 or 15 minutes of walking will bring some benefit.  Aim to stack up a total of 30 minutes or more of walking and other physical activity each day, and if you can total up an hour, the health benefits will be even greater. Check the America’s Walking website, where Mark Fenton offers ideas for a variety of walking programs, including a “20% Boost Program” to realistically build up to 10,000 steps a day, as well as walking and fitness personality quizzes and stretching exercises (and information on when to do them!).

Bottom line:  Are you ready to put aside distractions? These five “simple” strategies – eat more vegetables, switch to whole grains, include beans, cut portions, take a walk daily – offer multiple health benefits and make you feel great.  No behavior change is “simple”, but these are worth it. Hopefully the resources I’ve listed here will help you get started.  Remember, even Sloppy Success is still success!

Let’s talk! If you have strategies that help you in any of these areas, please share them.  Share stories of progress you make, too  – we can all inspire one another!