5 questions - Beverly Moellering
Please note—this article originally appeared in the January 3, 2010 edition of The Journal Gazette. Original Web site linkLosing weight is a ubiquitous New Year's resolution. Beverly Moellering, outpatient dietitian at Lutheran Hospital, spoke with editorial writer Stacey Stumpf about strategies for eating healthier.
1 What is your advice for people who have made a New Year's resolution to lose weight?
I think they really need to get back to the basics. Take a look at portion control, scaling that down. And increasing activity. I think we try to make weight loss such a difficult thing when it really comes down to calories in, calories out — balancing that equation.
2 What is one thing people need more of in their diets?
This may sound kind of silly, but fiber. And fiber is going to be found in your plant-based foods, so your fruits, your vegetables, your whole grains. Fiber is kind of like that powerhouse nutrient. It's going to help reduce your risk for heart disease. It goes through our system like a little sponge trying to soak up that extra cholesterol. Fiber can help you decrease your risk for colon cancer because fiber naturally keeps things moving throughout our digestive system. It can also help regulate and control blood sugar levels, which for diabetes you need to do that. And then with the weight loss issue for New Year's resolutions, fiber is going to make you feel fuller for a little bit longer. So, obviously, that's going to be a benefit for weight loss. Nine out of 10 Americans are not getting the recommended amount of fiber in their diet, which should be between 25 and 38 grams per day.
3 Which is worse for our diets, sugar or fat?
That's kind of a tossup. They both have different qualities. Fat is an essential part of our diet because it does help with some hormone functions as well as helping transport some of the fat-soluble vitamins. But there are good kinds of fats and bad kinds of fats.
As far as sugar, you know there are different types of sugar. There are the added sugars to our foods. And again we are taking in too much of that. The American Heart Association just recommended that no more than about six teaspoons of added sugar should come from our diet over the course of a day. The typical American is getting over 22 teaspoons.
4 What is your advice for figuring out what the best diet is for an individual?
First, you need to exclude the word diet because diet usually (implies) that you go on something for a short term and then go back to your old ways. I think the easier way is to look at the plate. And at least half of your plate (should) be vegetables — and you are again going to get that fiber. No more than a quarter of your plate (should) be your whole-grain starches — whole-grain pasta, brown rice. And then no more than a quarter of the rest of the plate (should) from a lean protein, whether it's beans — that would be a plant-based protein — or your leaner chicken, leaner beef.
5 Any suggestions for sneaking vegetables into meals?
There's a lot of things you can do with chopping them real fine and sneaking them in pasta sauce or serving them in a fun way, (also) letting the kids pick out a new vegetable and everybody has to take three bites of it.
