Why does that matter? Why should we focus on including all food groups when so many diets are telling us to CUT OUT food groups? What about gluten? Dairy? Sugar? There has to be something we should avoid, right?

I’ll also share what I tell my kids when they ask if a food is “healthy.” 

{Please note that the following information is for educational and informational purposes only. While I am a dietitian, I’m not your dietitian… yet.  }

When people first find out I’m a dietitian…

their responses are so interesting… many feel compelled to tell me about their latest diet, how they were so “bad” for eating a dessert the night before, or ask my opinion on going keto, gluten-free, you name it. 

Quite honestly, most dietitians you meet will often tell you the importance of INCLUDING a variety of foods. Yes, between food groups, but also within food groups. 

Why is it important to include a variety of foods? Different foods provide us with different nutrients.

Carbs, like grains, starches, and starchy vegetables are important for quick energy.

They’re our brain’s preferred fuel source and a good source of B vitamins. They also give us the building blocks for serotonin. They can help us feel satisfied with a meal. Very often, if I have a client who eats in a lower-carb/higher protein style, with meals of protein and veggies, they’ll often find that they feel more satisfied when they start to include carbs. Less-refined carbs are also good sources of fiber.

What about gluten? The grains wheat, barley and rye are where we see gluten, along with products made from those grains. It can also show up in things you wouldn’t expect, like soy sauce. Gluten must be avoided in certain conditions, such as Celiac disease. However, if you suspect that you have Celiac disease, you don’t want to completely eliminate it until you’ve had your lab work completed, or it can result in a false negative. For some people with autoimmune conditions, they feel better, as in more energetic and less inflamed, when they minimize gluten. For people in that situation, I usually encourage them to include gluten-containing foods to tolerance. It could be that on an average day, it won’t impact them much. But if they’re experiencing a flare, they might need to back off until that’s resolved. 

Fruits and vegetables are super nutrient dense with a variety of vitamins and minerals.

They also are good sources of fiber. When we eat different colors of fruits and vegetables, we actually diversify our antioxidant intake, which is great at helping to reduce inflammation. (Yes, even the white ones, like bananas and cauliflower.)

Dairy is the most bioavailable source of calcium we can get.

It’s also interesting in that it’s the only food group that contains all three macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat – as long as it’s not skim/fat-free). Aside from calcium, dairy is also a good source of magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, selenium, among other nutrients. Some people with certain health conditions might anecdotally feel better when they minimize dairy. If that’s you, make sure you’re getting another good source of those nutrients. For example, soy milk is nutritionally similar to dairy, but nut milks, oat milk, and rice milk are very low in protein compared to dairy milk. 

Protein is very important for many reasons.

It helps minimize blood sugar and insulin spikes. It gives us building blocks for our muscles and for our immune system. Getting adequate protein can also help to minimize swelling. Protein-rich foods also tend to be a good source of iron.

Fats help create a sense of satiety and fullness at meals.

If you’re decently hungry and you just eat an apple, my guess is you’ll feel hungry soon after eating it. But, if you eat an apple with peanut butter, your hunger will be satisfied for much longer. Fat is also important for our eye and brain health and for helping to absorb fat-soluble vitamins. That’s one reason I encourage dips, like salad dressing, hummus, or guacamole, to go with raw veggies.

So there’s a rundown of why it’s important to include a variety of foods throughout your day. 

However, one thing my clients know is that I also encourage people to eat a variety of food groups at each meal and snack. This helps to increase satiety and help make sure that you’re getting that variety throughout the day.

So, that do I say when my kids (or a client) ask me if a food is healthy?

I tell them that the healthiest thing they can do is to eat a VARIETY of foods. No one food is healthy in the sense that we could get our full nutrient intake from that ONE type of food. We all know that eating large amounts of sweets, salty snacks, or other FUN foods isn’t a clear path towards health. But neither is only eating chicken breasts or broccoli or quinoa. We’d be missing out on so many nutrients if we put our blinders on like that.

Getting a variety of foods at meals and snacks actually helps us to regulate fun foods. With a variety, we’re not putting all of the pressure to feel full and satisfied from eating on the fun foods. The more nutrient-dense foods have that job and the fun foods can just be that… fun!

I’d love to hear if there are any food groups you tend to minimize or avoid OR if you’ve been able to reincorporate a food that you’ve previously avoided.

If this article was helpful, please subscribe and share. 

If you live in IL or MO and would like some personalized nutrition guidance OR if you struggle with food or eating in a way that fuels your life and keeps you energized for all of your passions, please reach out to schedule an appointment.

Until next time!

The post Why Do We Need Variety for a Healthy Diet? appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

Why is it important for someone to meet with a dietitian? What benefit does it bring? Most people know the basics of healthy eating, right?

To that, I would answer: yes, AND…

There are a lot of nuances when it comes to nutrition. It can be hard to filter out best practices for things that are best for YOU in your life. 

A major benefit of meeting with a dietitian is that they help you find the HOW of eating for a way that works for your unique circumstance.

I’ll discuss some points for this week that our professional society, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, brings up.

Ask your doctor for a referral.

For many insurance plans, you don’t actually need a referral. However, there are a few that do require referrals, either in general or for specific concerns/ length of treatment. It never hurts to get one. If you’re on good terms with your PCP, you might even be able to just message them through their portal and request a referral. (In case you were wondering, I’m in-network with Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare/ UMR, Cigna, and Aetna.)

Find a dietitian who specializes in your unique needs.

This can be super important. For example, I work with a lot of insulin resistance, PCOS, and gut issues. If a dietitian works primarily with endurance athletes (someone training for a marathon or an iron man race) and you asked them to determine the tubefeeding needs of a critical care patient in the ICU, it might take a while for them to remember exactly how to do it. If someone came to me wanting help with a renal diet… Well, it’s not that I couldn’t provide any information, but looking for a dietitian who specializes in renal nutrition and works with that population every day would likely be a much better bet for that person.

And the flip side of that is the fact that people don’t live in a vacuum. Maybe someone who is coming in for PCOS also has some kidney concerns. That is totally fine! Just getting those expectations lined up for both myself and my client is super important.

Receive personalized information to reach your health goals.

Yes, that’s definitely a benefit to working with a dietitian. We ask very in-depth questions to make sure we have a good understanding of your lifestyle, sleep, stress, family dynamics, and other aspects of life BEFORE discussing nutrition advice at all. One of the biggest frustrations my clients mention is that there is SO MUCH nutrition info available online, but they don’t know how (or if) it applies to them. Experienced dietitians can see the forest through the trees and help clients focus on the choices that will be the most beneficial for them.

It’s like me watching the Super Bowl. I’m sure like many others, this year’s Super Bowl was one of the first I’ve watched in years. Because I don’t know anything about football, it was amazing when I heard my husband making comments on the plays. He saw things that I didn’t catch at all! That’s because he has experience with football. Since dietitians are talking about food all day long, it really does help us notice what is typical or less typical, a healthy choice vs a red flag.

Learn about ways dietitians can help people live healthier lives.

This of course is one of the most nuanced of all. Yes, dietitians have the training in both nutrition and physiology to help people be their most physically healthy. We know what foods to prioritize or limit to help with either general health or XYZ specific health concern.

But dietitians can also help people improve their mental health. While most dietitians, including myself, aren’t mental health counselors or therapists, I’ve found that many clients hold a lot of stress when it comes to food choices. Voicing their concerns to a dietitian can help to alleviate their mental load. You might find that you’re doing better than you think you are, learn that many others struggle in the same way you do (which can help decrease shame), or you might find out that many people maybe don’t have the same concern as you and that it was really important that you sought help (hopefully, also helping to reduce shame). 

So whether you’re dealing with a new physical health diagnosis or you’re emotionally struggling with food, meeting with a dietitian can help. 

The most important thing that a dietitian does is help a client make small and SUSTAINABLE changes to help clients improve their eating habits and mindset around food. 

There are so many meal plans and diets online, but there is a reason that dietitians are sought after. While every person has their WHY of wanting to make a diet or nutrition change, the human element of a dietitian in addressing the HOW of eating is vital for success.

If this video was helpful, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe, and share. 

If you live in IL or MO and would like some personalized nutrition guidance OR if you struggle with food or eating in a way that fuels your life and keeps you energized for all of your passions, please contact me.

Until next time!

The post Why Meet with a Registered Dietitian? appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

Hi friends! At long last, I’m back behind the camera. (And believe me, you’ll be able to tell how long I was gone! But if anything is worth doing [or restarting], it’s worth doing poorly! So, I hope you enjoy ‘Nourish Yourself on Any Budget.’)

Video not working? Watch it on Youtube.

March is National Nutrition Month. The theme this year is “Beyond the Table.”

Week 1’s focus is “Stay Nourished on Any Budget.”

What comes to mind for you when you hear about eating on a budget? The first thought (aside from inflation of grocery prices and “shrinkflation” of grocery packaging) that crosses my mind is Dave Ramsey saying “rice and beans, beans and rice” day in, day out as a budget-friendly meal for people prioritizing debt paydown. 

While that would likely be a low-cost option, there are other factors we should consider. With that statement, his intent is that people are only eating that way for a certain period of time. Sure, it could be several months up to a couple years, but there is still an end date in sight. 

When we think of nourishing ourselves and our families on a budget, we want to probably consider something a bit more sustainable for the long term. 

A big factor with controlling grocery costs is learning to minimize food waste. We don’t want to be just throwing our money in the trash each week when we haven’t eaten what we’ve bought. For my family, that’s meant meal planning for the week so we buy from our list and know when we’re planning to utilize all that we’ve bought. 

It might also include getting different forms of foods, like frozen or canned, so they are less expensive to purchase and also last longer than fresh.

Meal Planning Challenges

In a profession where I’ve spent my schooling discussing food in all capacities and speaking to clients about food and their systems each day, I’ll be the first to say that meal planning does not come naturally to me. We’ve adjusted over the years to find a meal planning system that works for us at our different stages of life. (I’ve talked about that here, here, and here.)

Right now, we plan for about 4 meals each week. We’ve realized that if we plan for cooking five meals or more each week, we either don’t actually cook that often and food goes bad before we can use it OR we have too many leftovers that we’re not eating and those go bad before we can eat them (or we just forget they’re there because they’re not written into the meal plan). 

One of the challenges that we face as a family of five is that it seems there is always at least one person who doesn’t like what we’re cooking for dinner. We’ve had many talks about this with our kids that not every meal can be our favorite meal, but we need to eat enough of it to get us through until the next meal. It’s a work in progress. 

Don’t Forget Food Safety!

In terms of leftovers or batch cooking, you also want to make sure you’re following food safety protocols. You don’t want to be forced to throw out food because it’s been kept at an unsafe temperature for too long. The website FoodSafety.gov is a good resource if you’re unsure what the proper storage is for different foods. 

Finally, with food prices so high lately, if you’re doing so many things to try to cut costs and it’s still a challenge, consider looking into if you qualify for assistance programs, like SNAP or WIC. 

So, help the rest of us out – what are your favorite ways to cut your food budget?

And if food or eating feels overwhelming right now, please know you’re not alone. Reach out to see about scheduling an appointment to help boost your food confidence. 

Until next time!

The post Week 1- Nourish Yourself on Any Budget {National Nutrition Month 2024} appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

Hi everyone! Glad to be back after a year! I’m still adjusting after getting back in the saddle with videos – so bear with me… but anything worth doing is worth doing poorly, right? (That’s what I’m gonna keep telling myself.)

Here’s my latest video talking about some signs or symptoms you might see in an individual with an eating disorder, in honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness week 2022.

I also did a video on National Eating Disorders Awareness week 2019.

Eating disorders have skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic for several reasons (isolation, lack of social support, and social media to name a few) and they are deadly illnesses. I am taking it upon myself to increase eating disorders awareness.

Here’s a video transcript if you prefer to read instead of watch:

Hi everybody! Long time, no see! I have really missed these regular meetings with you all and am glad to be jumping back in the saddle. If we haven’t met before, I am Kelly Houston, a Registered Dietitian and Lactation Counselor. I help people of all ages and genders eat for fuel, eat for fun, and eat for life. Taking a look, my last video was way back in December of 2020. So what’s been going on since then? I’ve been very busy with clients.

Covid really impacted people’s eating habits – whether they were eating more (because of stress, less structure in the day, or that there was literally nothing else to do) or eating less (due to high anxiety and fear of being called out for gaining the “quarantine 15” – weight stigma, not helpful for anyone of any size). Thankfully many people were seeking help finding more balance with their eating patterns and working to grant themselves a bit of grace.

This week of Feb 21- 27^th 2022 is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Aside from opioid addiction, eating disorders have the highest mortality rates of any mental illness. The rates of eating disorders have skyrocketed during the pandemic. I wanted to talk to you about some symptoms that someone with an eating disorder might exhibit. AKA: things that in the right context, raise red flags for me during a session.

Please note that just because someone might have a few of these symptoms, they can be pretty general, so just because one or two match DOES NOT mean that someone has an eating disorder.

Here are some examples of eating disorder symptoms:

• – Thinking about food for ¾ of waking hours or more. Studies have shown that some who experience anorexia nervosa even dream about food, so they’re classified as thinking of food for >100% of their waking hours.
• – Feeling out of control with food
• – Out of touch with hunger and fullness. This could look like not feeling hunger until you are STARVING. That could lead to feeling out of control with food due to primal hunger (or eating a large amount of whatever is most accessible because your body feels like it’s starving). Or it could look like not feeling a pleasant fullness, but rather a Thanksgiving-dinner overfull, over-saturated feeling.
• – Lack of flexibility when things change. So, you think you’re hitting a chic bistro for lunch with a friend where you know you can get salmon on a bed of wilted greens. But when your friend picks you up, she’d rather get pizza. And you CANNOT eat pizza. It could also present as all-or-nothing thinking. So if you “cave” and have one cookie, your day is already ruined and you might as well eat the whole box.
• – Loss of menstrual cycle. There can obviously several reasons for this, so if you’re missing your cycle twice in a row, it’s best to call your doctor.
• – Rituals around food, like cutting food into tiny pieces or taking X number of bites.
• – Body checking. This could look like trying on a pair of pants you had since high school or before your first baby to see if they still fit. It could also be pinching your skin with your fingers or constantly looking in a mirror to make sure you look okay.
• – Low blood sugar. Symptoms of this could be: getting HANGRY, shaky, dizzy, a headache, or nauseous if you haven’t eaten for a while. Again, this can have several causes, so if you experience this regularly, please check in with your medical provider.
• – GI issues, especially acid reflux and constipation. Acid reflux occurs when the lower esophageal sphincter becomes weakened or stretched out. It gets weak when the body takes in inadequate calories to daily living. It can get stretched out in clients who regularly purge through vomiting or ruminate their food. Constipation can occur if there’s not enough in the gut to keep it moving along. Either because overall volume of food throughout the day isn’t enough or because people are eating infrequently, so there’s not a consistent push forward. Other factors like inadequate fat, fiber, and fluid can also contribute to constipation.
• – Poor performance. This can take place on the sports field, in the classroom, or at work. If our glycogen stores are depleted or if our body has to break down our muscle for energy, we’ll lose our athletic edge. If our brain doesn’t get enough glucose, we can get foggy and have difficulty concentrating, which can cause our academic and creative performance to suffer.
• – Poor sleep or waking up hungry overnight. I talk about this in one of my 3-video series on sleep and dieting (part 1, part 2, part 3). A short recap: imagine you’re in a hunter/gatherer tribe. There’s a drought and you haven’t come across a herd in weeks. You’re sleeping, but your brain will keep one ear open in case a herd decides to roam by. If your body is lacking food and it thinks it can get it at an irregular time, it will do what it can to get nutrition.
• –Finally, the last symptom that I’ll mention today is purging. Often time purging is thought of in bulimia nervosa in the form of vomiting. However, other methods of purging, or ridding the body of food or calories can be used. That can include: burning off calories eaten through exercise and the use of laxatives. **Side note, use of stimulant laxatives as a method of purging can lead to: dependence on these products, damage to the intestines, and electrolyte & fluid imbalances. Please talk with your doctor if you have been using stimulant laxatives as a purging mechanism.

This list is not all inclusive and having a symptom or a few symptoms on this list is not diagnostic of an eating disorder. Not everyone with an eating disorder will have all of these symptoms. This is just a general, brief review of some symptoms you might notice in someone else who has an eating disorder.

If something on this list was triggering to you or you wonder if you might have an eating disorder, please reach out to your medical or mental health professional.

If you want help with balancing your nutrition or getting help for an eating disorder, please feel free to reach out. You can email me at hello@kellyhoustonrdn.com or schedule an appointment at kellyhoustonrdn.com/schedule. Take care & see you next time!

The post National Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2022 appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

Let me start off by saying: Your weight does not define your worth.

You don’t need to shrink yourself to be worthy. Period.

I’ve seen more ads than I’d like to the past few weeks telling me how I can lose weight for a great 2021 “because COVID-nineteen… amiright?”

As a dietitian, I have seen from a unique perspective how quarantining has affected people’s eating patterns.

Some people are eating more because they’re bored and home all the time and the food is there. Maybe they’re less active because their gym closed, or they would use the childcare at their gym and now their young kids are always around, so the parent can’t dedicate specific time to exercise.

Calls to eating disorder helplines have nearly doubled and for clients with existing eating disorders, symptoms have increased for 62%.

Events this year have been largely out of our control – and that is scary. But, please don’t let some company convince you that it has the “cure” to the weight that ails you.

No method of weight loss…

(whether we’re talking fad diets, “lifestyle changes” akin to Whole 30, etc, prescription meds, or over-the-counter supplements) have shown that they are able to provide lasting weight change (and do so safely) for 95-98% of people by the 2-5 year mark. Of those 2-5%, there is generally no follow up to see how many of those individuals have developed eating disorders.

On these ads, some will list a (woman’s) accomplishments, and then add that now she’s smaller… like that somehow makes her accomplishments more wonderful? It wasn’t enough to be a mom and a lawyer, and active in the community, and take in orphaned kittens, but now that she’s smaller – well, hot dog! Now we can really see her worth as a person.

Not only is this damaging to those in larger bodies who are seeing these ads (“I’m not worthy” “My body is someone’s nightmare”) – but it also reinforces weight stigma (“if someone has a larger body, it’s their fault for not taking action” “Fatter people are worth less than skinny people”), which is harmful, not just in interpersonal situations, but also in schools, on the job, and also more harmful to women specifically.

I want people to be healthy!

Health =/= weight. If a supplement would result in lasting body composition or weight changes, there would be research in peer-reviewed medical journals. Also, is someone really improving their health if they eat only bacon and chocolate cake every day, with no fruits, vegetables, protein, whole grains, etc…; if they are sedentary (by choice) – but their weight goes down because of a supplement? I don’t think so.

If health is your goal, please – please – make responsible changes. If you’re having trouble getting started, seek out a professional. Someone who will talk with you about your life, your goals, your difficult areas, foods you like – someone who will see YOU as a person, and not just your weight or insecurities.

If you are struggling with your eating patterns or health concerns, please reach out or schedule an appointment.

You are not alone.

Here are some resources on this topic:

Podcasts:

• Maintenance Phase https://podcasts.apple.com/…/maintenance…/id1535408667
• Body Kindness https://www.bodykindnessbook.com/podcast/
• Food Psych https://christyharrison.com/foodpsych
• The Full Bloom Podcast https://www.fullbloomproject.com/podcast
• Happy as a Mother, specifically episode 46 https://happyasamother.co/…/learning-to-love-your…/

Books:

• Pursing Perfection by Margo Maine and Joe Kelly https://www.amazon.com/Pursuing-Perfection…/dp/1138890723
• Body Kindness by Rebecca Scritchfield https://www.amazon.com/Body-Kindness…/dp/0761187294
• Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison https://christyharrison.com/book-anti-diet-intuitive…
• Body Positive Power by Megan Jayne Crabbe https://www.amazon.com/Body-Positive-Power…/dp/158005823X
• Body Respect by Lindo Bacon and Lucy Aphramor https://www.amazon.com/Body-Respect…/dp/1940363195

The post Your Weight is Not Your Worth appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

I don’t have to tell you that it’s been an interesting past five months.

I’ve struggled with my health and body image. Fortunately, I also have much to be grateful for.

Things had gone from slightly crazy to completely off the rails and I’m here to share part of my story.

Back in May, I posted a blurb here or there about body image and the changes I’ve had this year.

This all started back before quarantine and by April, I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. I was referred to an endocrinologist and earlier this month, I was diagnosed with mild insulin resistance and slightly elevated liver enzymes. Say what?

Health issues had me in denial.

I am a dietitian, for goodness sake! I walk on my lunch breaks – because I enjoy it (some days it’s the only “me” time I get) and it energizes me, and also, yes for the health benefits.

My diet is generally healthful. Can’t say it’s “perfect” – check out my past video on that. Could I make some “improvements”? Sure, but with three little kids, including a one-year-old who (still) constantly wants to be held, it’s not really feasible right now.

Sometimes you learn lessons the hard way. Also, sometimes having a philosophy is different than when things are actually happening to YOU.

I totally support body positivity and body appreciation. Until this year, however, I realized that I never personally had the challenge of dealing with body change in a way that society would deem “unfavorable.”

For the past 10 years, my body was what it was, with minimal change (outside of my pregnancies – but even then went back to my “normal”, except for this one). Please note: I realize that I still have so much privilege.

I never had to deal with any type of health issue. Do I have a genetic predisposition to insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)? Yes. Were these changes my fault? No. And, because I was doing all that I could realistically do through lifestyle to manage my health, I opted for medication to normalize my labs.

Instead of just focusing on what has gone wrong, here are some things that have gone right:

• I was tuned in enough with my body to notice something was off.
• I had providers who listened to my concerns and ran appropriate tests. (Also, there was no weight shaming -and I was braced for it. I hear from clients all the time whose healthcare providers harp on any increase in weight and praise any decrease. It doesn’t matter the methods taken to achieve said weight loss.)
• I’ve dressed in clothes that fit my body and are comfortable.
• I did not starve my body because it didn’t meet my expectations of what it should look like.
• I continued to care for my body and soul through movement – things I truly enjoy (see my past video on reasons to exercise even without weight change) and not as punishment.
• A supportive husband who dealt with my craziness, mood swings, apathy, and brain fog. (I’ve later realized were consistent both with my auto-immune disease, as well as insulin resistance).
• Kids who had no freaking clue that my body was changing (nor would they care). They were just glad I took them to the splash pad and went swimming with them when we had the chance.
• Friends who listened to my complaints going through this process.
• Clients who I learn from every day – you really are my best teachers.
• A professional community of Health at Every Size (HAES) RDs and other professionals.

Now that things are a bit more settled, I hope to return to you with weekly nutrition bites to encourage and support you through your body acceptance and nourishing journey.

I’d love to hear what you’ve been struggling with these last few months so I can know how to better support you to eat for fuel, eat for fun, and eat for life. Take care.

The post August Update – Health, Body Image, and Gratitude appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

We mentioned last week that March is National Nutrition Month. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has given a focus to each week. This week’s focus is to plan meals. We have talked a few times (here and here) in the past about meal planning.

I really work each month to become more consistent with planning meals at as our family works on getting more rest and focusing on each of us eating the same things for meals at home.

Some benefits of meal planning include:

– It helps to keep your fridge and pantry tidy. You’re using up food that you have and going through your fridge/pantry regularly to get rid of (or use up) older foods.

– A plan can help save money at the grocery store. If you’re keeping a list of food items you need for the week, limiting impulse buys, and sorting out what you already have.

– It can help to limit picky eating: if your plan follows Ellyn Satter’s Division of Responsibility. That is, you as the parent decides what, where, and when to eat. Your child’s job is only to decide whether and how much they will eat. When you have a meal planned out, you’ll be less likely to “wing it” – which could result in chicken nuggets or peanut butter and jelly more often than you’d like (as it did in my case).

I’ve shared before two ways to plan meals that have worked for our family in the past.

The first was to come up with three rows of foods: proteins, vegetables, and starches. I would try to have a different number in each column. Then, I’d go through and combine one entry from each column. So, even though the foods will eventually repeat, it takes the guesswork out of what to serve and you can still incorporate variety. For example, beef with bread and broccoli could be a hamburger with broccoli on the side. Next time, it could be steak with a dinner roll and broccoli. Chicken with rice and bell peppers could be a Mexican dish, or more like an Asian stir-fry.

This type of plan worked well when it was just my husband and me and when we had our first daughter. Once our middle baby came into the mix, it didn’t seem to work as well.

What’s worked better recently was to come up with about 6 weeks of meal plans, each with about 3-4 meals each week. We did not need seven different meals each week. That was learned the hard way, with a lot of food waste. There will always be rushed nights where it will end up being sandwiches or something else quick or we’ll be out to eat or eating at my parent’s house or something. Having six weeks of meal plans already done is a HUGE benefit to people like me who hate to make decisions. This way, I make the decisions once and don’t have to worry about it again for a long time. We’re at a point now where my youngest can eat a lot more of what we are eating. I’ll need to revamp our six week meal plan to incorporate some of his favorite foods.

What’s your favorite way to plan meals? What works best for your family?

Do you feel that you struggle with consistent meal planning? You don’t have to go through this alone. Reach out and we can work on it together.

The post Plan Meals: NNM 2020 Week 2 appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

This year, the National Nutrition Month theme is “Eat Right: Bite by Bite.” The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has given a focus for each week. This week’s theme is: Enjoy a variety of foods.

We’ve talked a lot about how I really focus on variety. Variety between food groups and variety among food groups. Variety will ensure that our body has a wide variety of macronutrients (carbs, proteins, fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

Let’s consider the food groups

On average (definitely making huge generalizations here), many people I work with are getting a good amount of starch/carbohydrate. (Though I definitely see people who are very apprehensive of carbohydrate as well.) Protein can be hit or miss. Usually flat out fats (like salad dressing or butter) are sufficient as well.

One area I really focus during my initial meeting with a client are the three food groups I feel are the most challenging: fruits, vegetables, and dairy. Sometimes, people aren’t eating any foods from these food groups at all. Fruit and dairy, especially, have been given the scarlet letter (“A” for “avoid”) thanks to fad diets like keto and paleo. And that’s a shame.

Fruits and vegetables have so much to offer: they’re a great source of vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and water. Not to mention energy through carbohydrate. Dairy gives us a lot as well: calcium, potassium, phosphorus, vitamin D (if it’s fortified), and selenium. Plus, carbohydrate, protein, and fat (depending on what % you get).

One comment I often get from clients is that they don’t like many (any) fruits or vegetables. During my meetings, I give them a sheet with some foods from each food group to help jog their memory. (You can find a copy of this sheet at the top of this site – just enter your email in the top bar.) Almost always, they will find at least one fruit or vegetable they enjoy.

That being said…

It’s not wise to force yourself to eat foods you don’t like. That can cause a dread of eating or a resentment of food, which is not what we’re going for. Not every meal might be your favorite meal, but overall, your eating style should include mostly foods you enjoy (or at least – don’t dislike). Of course, National Nutrition Month has a focus on nutrition, but the most nutritious meal won’t do you much good if you can’t stomach it.

I feel like variety is a natural lead into another important food focus: flexibility! It won’t be as hard to make a change if something is thrown off schedule or you have to make adjustments, when you’re used to eating a variety of foods. (As we all know, as good a planner as we may be, life has a way of showing us who’s in charge!)

While we’re talking variety, let’s not forget another huge important nutrient: Water! Any little bit helps! A few sips here and there can really add up throughout the day. Plus, hydration helps our gut work better, our skin look clearer, and keeps our kidneys functioning well.

So, this National Nutrition Month, how will you increase your variety of foods?

The post National Nutrition Month 2020 Week 1: Enjoy a Variety appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

Often, when I’m working with clients, they’ll focus on where they are “bad” with food. And I use the word “bad” not as a judgment from my end – it’s how they describe it. They will focus on the salt and the sugar and the fat. The media does a really good job of villianizing these ingredients (or putting perhaps false halos around them). And that takes away from the big picture.

Guess what? Salt and sugar and fat make food taste good!

People seem to think that to eat “healthy”, they need to be eating plain Greek yogurt or steamed vegetables with no seasoning because the second they add any sugar or honey or salt or butter, they’ve ruined their diet for the day.

Am I saying that everyone should just go all out, adding salt by the shaker-full and adding sugar and butte to everything? Of course not! But if that little bit of brown sugar helps your oatmeal with berries and nuts go down easier or if you’ll actually EAT the Brussels sprouts that are roasted with some olive oil and bacon, instead of just pushing them around on your plate? I’d call that a win!

Good nutrition isn’t just about what we eliminate. (And there can be dangers to eliminating things to the extreme.) It’s about the benefits of the foods we eat. Plant foods provide us with fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants. Meats provide us with iron and protein, among other nutrients. Dairy is a great bio-available source of calcium and protein, among other nutrients. We could have the most nutritious meal imaginable – but if it tastes like crap & doesn’t get eaten, it doesn’t do us any good.

Food isn’t just about nutrition

If it was, then we could be robots that don’t care about taste. Food is supposed to be rewarding! If we don’t like what we eat, we don’t have reason to eat and we would die. The reward from eating is several fold: we get to enjoy our food, it makes us feel satisfied, and it gives us energy to go about our day.

Here are some dangers with eliminating foods:

1) Why we should eat fat: helps absorb fat soluble vitamins, like A, D, E, & K; it’s important for brain and eye health; it helps to keep us full and satisfied; helps to maintain cell integrity; building block for hormones

2) Why we should eat carbs: carbohydrate (glucose) is the body’s and brain’s most preferred fuel source. If we stop eating carbs (or cut way down), we can get a headache, hangry, overeat later, brain fog. Carbs are protein-sparing – if we get enough fuel from carbohydrate, our body doesn’t have to break down muscle.

3) Salt – we all need a little salt. In all reality, our bodies likely don’t NEED excess salt, but that doesn’t mean we should be afraid to add some if it gets us to eat nutritious foods we might not otherwise eat. You will probably never find me skipping salt on my eggs.

Here’s the big picture to consider:

Is your eating giving you:

– foods you enjoy and look forward to eating?

-a variety of foods from and within different food groups?

-energy to make it through until your next eating time without feeling miserable or constantly thinking about food?

-the ability to be flexible as things change?

If your current diet isn’t giving you these things, try experimenting with adding a little of these ingredients to make food more enjoyable and satisfying.

If you are struggling with how to find an eating pattern that works for you, please reach out. We can work towards a more energetic and satisfied you together.

The post Salt and Sugar and Fat – Oh My! appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.

My oldest was a great eater…

… until she hit about 2.5 years old. She’s 6 now. My husband and I didn’t really change the way that we cooked or ate until around that time. She just went with the flow. Part of that is the normal toddler autonomy. And it just happened to hit right when we were pregnant again.

During my pregnancy with my middle son, there was a lot going on. I was working more (to store up some extra money for maternity leave) and I was really tired. At that point, the job I had would keep me out until after she was in bed for the night, which meant that my husband was feeding her dinner. Or even on the nights we were all together, if I was too tired to cook, this question would pop up: What do YOU want for dinner?

Well, she’s a 2.5 year old, so what does she want? She wants chicken nuggets or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (I don’t hear many toddlers asking for shrimp on a bed of sauteed greens…) And that was when her window of accepted foods was getting smaller and smaller. It was definitely exacerbated by the fact that my husband and I weren’t providing her with a variety of foods.

We failed to follow the sDOR

Ellyn Satter’s Division of Responisbility (sDOR) states that parents are responsible for the what, when, and where of eating and kids are responsible for the whether and how much to eat. We were giving our daughter a job that didn’t belong to her. And that was causing “picky” problems.

As my middle son approached six months old, we were planning to start baby-led weaning and that did force (in a good way) me to start cooking again and providing family meals. But, then we were pregnant again with our youngest and the fatigue was insane. I probably spent more time on the couch during that pregnancy than I did off of it. But this time, both of our kids were impacted. It was really a bummer, too, for our middle son who was still in that honeymoon phase of eating and accepting most foods.

So, now that baby 3 is eating, we are trying to again focus on family meals and maintaining that division of responsibility. We’re still not perfect, but it’s progress.

If you find your kids in a picky eating rut…

try incorporating the DOR in your house. You decide what’s on the menu (try to include at least one food that they are usually okay with eating – usually for kids, that’s a carb – bread, crackers, potatoes – or a fruit). They can eat as much or as little of each provided food as they want – but no grabbing something extra from the pantry or fridge to supplement the meal. Meals and snacks should be provided at regular intervals so they know that they are always going to have a chance to eat again. Only water should be offered between meals.

If you are concerned that your child will only eat “fun” foods – sweets or salty carbs (chips, pretzels, etc) and that their variety is very low (limited fruits, dairy, veggies, or meat), tune in next week when we will talk about salt and sugar intake and how to take those foods down to the same level as all other foods.

If you feel that your child is an extremely picky eater and you feel you need one-on-one help, please reach out.

You don’t have to do this alone.

The post Got Picky Eaters? appeared first on Kelly Houston Nutrition.