ms nutrition

nutrition that Makes Sense

Monika Saigal, MS, RD, CEDRD, CDN

Whole-Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Healthy Pumpkin MuffinsFall is one of my favorite seasons. The cool, crisp weather is so invigorating, and the vibrant colors of the changing foliage add a beautiful backdrop to our daily lives. But best of all, fall is the season of all things pumpkin!

Pumpkin is versatile, delicious, and a nutrient powerhouse – loaded with vitamin A, and a good source of fiber, potassium, and vitamin C too. Inspired by this mighty ingredient, I went on the hunt for a healthy pumpkin muffin recipe.

I don’t really love to cook or bake, but every year or so, I am mysteriously bitten by the baking bug. That doesn’t mean I want to labor in the kitchen for hours, so I needed an easy recipe. This recipe, courtesy of Michelle Dudash, Registered Dietitian and Chef, really fit the bill – simple, nutritious, and delicious!

I adapted the original recipe slightly by replacing the oil with applesauce, doubling the amount of spices, and using a pumpkin spice blend instead of separate spices. The muffins came out great! Pumpkin craving satisfied. Baking bug gone (until next year). Enjoy!

Whole-Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

Canola oil spray
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
1 can (15 ounce) pure solid-pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup honey
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray muffin pan. Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, stir together the pumpkin, honey, applesauce, and eggs one at a time. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until almost moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour into muffin pan, filling each cup only ¾ full. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Makes approximately 14 muffins.

The original recipe, “Whole-Grain Pumpkin Snack Cake with Chocolate Chips,” is from the Clean Eating for Busy Families cookbook by Michelle Dudash, RDN.

Let’s Put an End to Weight Stigma

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Weight StigmaToday is day three of the 4th Annual Weight Stigma Awareness Week, hosted by the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA). According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a stigma is “a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something.” In the case of weight stigma, the unfair beliefs are based on a person’s weight, shape, and/or size.

Sadly, weight based stereotyping is pervasive in our society and seems to be a socially acceptable form of prejudice. From the media to the schoolyard to the workplace, children and adults are judged everyday based solely on their size. For example, a person of larger size than what our society considers acceptable may be perceived as lazy or lacking discipline. A thin person may be wrongly labeled as having an eating disorder.

Verbal abuse, bullying, and discrimination are common manifestations of weight stigma. Whether the consequences are subtle or overt, weight stigma can negatively impact all aspects of a targeted person’s life, including their self esteem, interpersonal relationships, education, employment, and healthcare.

One way to begin combating weight stigma is to challenge our own misconceptions.

Wonder if you might hold any weight biases? Ask yourself these questions:

1. A thin person is healthier than an overweight person. TRUE or FALSE? 

2. Weight loss is always a positive outcome. TRUE or FALSE?

3. If a person feels bad enough about their weight, they will be motivated to change it. TRUE or FALSE?

If you answered FALSE to all the questions, you are correct. If not, here is the truth:

1. Thin does not always mean healthy. Think about a thin individual who chain smokes, eats fast food daily, and doesn’t exercise. Would that person be healthier than someone with a BMI in the overweight range that doesn’t smoke, follows a healthy diet, and exercises five times a week?

2. Although weight loss as a consequence of adopting healthier behaviors may be positive, weight loss by any means is not healthy. In fact, many methods of weight control are anything but healthy.

3. Shaming people about their weight actually increases the risk of obesity and eating disorders.

To learn more about weight stigma, check out some of the Weight Stigma Awareness Week tools and resources on the BEDA website.

Musings on J.Crew and the New Size 000

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J.Crew Launches Size 000J.Crew has been heavily criticized since announcing the launch of their new women’s size 000, equivalent to an XXXS. A J.Crew spokesperson (as reported on today.com), defended the new size, saying it was launched to meet the demand for smaller sizes in Asia. The need for a triple zero is a direct result of J.Crew’s practice of vanity sizing, although the company is not exactly admitting it (only saying their sizes “run big”).

As the average weight of American adults has steadily increased over the last five decades, retailers have had to offer increasingly larger sizes to match this trend. But instead of just adding larger numbered sizes, J.Crew and other manufacturers have adjusted sizes downward. A size 12 may be labeled as an 8, an 8 becomes a size 4, and so on. With no real standards for clothing sizes, this practice, known as vanity sizing, has easily become the norm.

From petite to plus size, we all deserve to have stylish clothes that fit us well

Perhaps an unintended consequence of this practice is that women who were wearing a size 2 or 4 a decade ago have basically been vanity-sized out of adult clothing options. If the addition of size 000 is really about meeting the demand for smaller sizes, and their sizes already “run big,” why not adjust the sizes upward and add a size 22 or 24? J.Crew’s triple zero addition implies that there is something wrong with larger sizes – a fallacy worth taking a stand against.

Even the term “vanity sizing” is infuriating. It implies that the smaller the number on the tag, the better we feel about ourselves, making it more likely that we will buy. Do clothing manufacturers think we want to be lied to? Do they think we can’t be trusted to buy the clothes that fit us best just because we may not like the size on the tag?

Public Outcry

Since the launch of the new size, responses have ranged from blaming J. Crew for giving women eating disorders to contempt for those women who will fit in the new size. Blaming J.Crew for causing eating disorders oversimplifies these complex psychological disorders and is misguided. The harshness directed at women who may benefit from the addition of the new smaller size is downright wrong.

The recent criticism of J.Crew has also brought necessary attention and scrutiny to the practice of vanity sizing. I am not in favor of deceit, particularly for the purpose of monetary gain. Many women I know, including myself, would much prefer consistency in clothing sizes. I would love to walk into a store and know my size without having to try on 10 pairs of pants to figure out what to buy.

Vanity sizing needs to be addressed before negative number clothing sizes begin showing up in stores, but unfortunately the practice is probably not going anywhere any time soon. So what can we do?

Let’s start by not giving clothing companies the power to determine how we feel about ourselves

So many women today are unhappy with their bodies. Do I think that the unrealistic images that are portrayed in magazines and on runways contribute to our discontent? Yes. Do I think that we will all magically feel better about ourselves if that someday changes? No. Any validation that we feel when we see a certain number on the scale or fit into a certain clothing size is fleeting. Our sense of self-worth is much deeper than that. And it is up to us, not the clothing companies or fashion industry, to build and nurture our self esteem and confidence.

I have at least five different sizes of pants hanging in my closet that all currently fit me. Am I a better, more attractive person on the days that I wear my smaller-sized pants? I am not going to let a completely arbitrary number like my clothing size determine my self worth.

Whether we are inclined to direct judgment towards ourselves or others based on body shape and size, it helps to remember that the size you wear says nothing about who you are as a person. Just because a woman fits into a size 000 does not mean she has an eating disorder. And a woman wearing a plus size is not necessarily unhealthy or any other negative stereotype associated with larger sizes.

The triple zero controversy has people riled up, and some of the backlash aimed at J.Crew is warranted. But I prefer to focus my energy on reminding myself how powerful compassion and acceptance towards ourselves and others can be. I pledge to celebrate the things I love about myself and my body, regardless of the number printed on my clothing tags. Who’s with me?

Change is Scary. But Don’t Let That Stop You. (Part 2: Get Help)

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Helping You Eat Healthy

In Part 1 of this post, I wrote about how daunting the prospect of change can be and how it’s essential to find inspiration and motivation to embark on the journey. For many of us, changing what we eat, how we eat, and the often overlooked why we eat can be particularly challenging.

Getting support from family, friends, and loved ones may make the process easier. But getting help from a Registered Dietitian (and often a therapist as well) can be the key that enables you to make lasting change. Here are some tips that many of my clients have found helpful on their paths to healthier eating:

Top 10 Tips to Successfully Change Your Eating Habits & Improve Your Relationship with Food

1. Let go of the diet mentality. Embrace the mindset that diets don’t work. Remember, if you can’t sustain it (the plan), you won’t maintain it (the change). Imagine all of the time, energy, frustration, and money you will save if you never attempt to follow another diet!

2. Set realistic goals. Think about what you are realistically capable of changing and break it down into less-scary, manageable steps. For example, if you want to eat more home-cooked meals, but haven’t turned the stove on in months, don’t set a goal to cook a 5 course meal every night of the week. Instead, start small by cooking one simple dish a week (Bonus tip: you can make it easier on yourself by using pre-cut veggies and pre-cooked proteins. “Semi-homemade” still counts!).

3. Make it about more than the scale. Keep yourself motivated by focusing on non-weight related benefits of your hard work. For example, ride your bike in the park because you love how it helps you release the stress of the day (not because it burns x number of calories).

4. Have a plan. Take a few minutes and sketch out a plan for tomorrow. Think about what you have scheduled for the day, the approximate times that you will eat your meals and snacks, and what you plan to eat. Now you know what you need to carry with you, what you need to buy, and where potential challenges may arise.

5. Make that plan flexible. Your plan is meant to be a guideline, not a set of unbreakable rules. Let’s face it, at some point, life will get in the way of even the best plans, but don’t let that derail you.

6. Ask yourself, “What do I really want?” Oftentimes our food choices and eating habits have little to do with hunger. We feel frustrated at work and turn to the vending machine for comfort. Or we mindlessly snack in front of the TV when what we really need is to go to sleep. Keeping a food and feelings journal can help you figure out the non-hunger reasons that may be affecting your eating.

7. Embrace the gray. Having black and white thinking (aka “all or nothing” thinking) with food, eating, work, and life sets you up for frustration and disappointment. Eating one chocolate doesn’t have to lead to eating the whole box just because you feel like you already “blew it.” Remember that there is no such thing as perfect eating.

8. Expect setbacks. Worried that you will have setbacks? You probably will because success rarely occurs in a straight line. Instead of viewing those bumps in the road as failures, take them as opportunities to learn and readjust.

9. Celebrate successes along the way. Don’t just focus on your end goal. Celebrate each sign of progress on your journey – each time your healthy thoughts win against your eating disordered thoughts, each time you are able to prevent a binge, each time that you meet your weekly exercise goals. You’ll find that acknowledging each triumph (no matter how small it may seem) keeps you motivated to keep going.

10. Add Accountability. Don’t underestimate the power of checking in with someone regularly to set goals, report progress, and troubleshoot your struggles and challenges. This type of accountability can make all the difference in helping you reach your goals.

Give these tips a try and let me know how they work for you.

Change is Scary. But Don’t Let That Stop You. (Part 1: Get Inspired)

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time to startHave you ever been equal parts scared and excited to try something new? Have you been contemplating changing something in your life, but dread about the hard work involved, fear of the unknown, or negative past experiences are keeping you from taking the first step?

For many of us, change can be pretty terrifying. So why do we do it? Because the payoff can be completely worth it!

This is my first blog post, and I am excited about embarking on this new adventure. I’m looking forward to sharing nutrition tips, giving you my take on hot nutrition topics, and helping you sort out nutrition fact from fiction. I hope that you will find this blog to be useful and inspiring, and I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback.

What About the What Ifs?

I have to admit that starting this blog feels intimidating and daunting too. What if my posts aren’t perfect? What if no one likes what I write? How will I find the time to do all this writing? These nagging questions remind me that even when it is our choice to start something new or make a change, there can still be doubt and fear. And that’s ok. Sometimes we forget that we are strong enough and resilient enough to deal with discomfort and unmet expectations. Those uncomfortable (sometimes seemingly intolerable) feelings do pass, and there is usually something great waiting on the other side.

Whether you are thinking about starting a blog or doing something far more daunting like climbing a mountain (literally or figuratively), there are two things that I believe are essential:

  1. Find and hang on to what inspires and motivates you.
  2. Get help when you need it.

Finding Inspiration and Motivation

I am fortunate to have work that inspires and motivates me every day. When my client with diabetes masters carbohydrate counting and learns how to enjoy restaurant meals and still keep his blood sugar in check, I see what is possible. When my client who has been dieting since she was eight years old lets go of her deeply ingrained diet mentality and becomes a mindful, intuitive eater who trusts her own body to tell her what to eat and how much to eat, I am inspired. When my client fighting to recover from her eating disorder finally enjoys a meal with her family after years that her eating disorder forbade it, I see that every step of the arduous journey is worth it.

If you are thinking of trying something new or making a change in your life, what inspires you? What is the reward you dream about on the other side of the fear and hard work?

Now What? Help!

Once you have found your source of inspiration, you may feel motivated to make a change, but still feel uncertain and apprehensive about how to start. That’s where getting help can, well, help! Before writing this blog, I read articles and books and talked to trusted colleagues for help. One great piece of advice that I got was to divide up the work into manageable amounts to not let myself get too overwhelmed. So taking that advice (and all the other expert advice cautioning against blog posts that are too long), I’ll wrap things up for now. But don’t worry; if you are thinking of changing your diet, and are looking for guidance, I’m here to help. All you have to do is check out Part 2 of this post for my Top 10 Tips to help you successfully change your eating.