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Hello, I'm Monica Reinagle, and you are

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listening to the Nutrition Diva podcast. Welcome.

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Today's topic was prompted by an email

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from Stephanie who wrote, if

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you need to overhaul your diet, are

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there some things that are more of

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a priority than others? What's the best

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order to tackle the changes needed to

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rebuild a healthy diet? I

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love this question because it shows that

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even if her diet does

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need a total overhaul, Stephanie

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understands three very important things.

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Number one, building a healthy

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diet is an ongoing process,

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not just a single decision

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or resolution. Number two,

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trying to change everything at once is

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likely to backfire. And

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number three, some things are more

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important than others. So this is a great

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topic for us to explore. Of

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course, it's a little hard to know what sorts

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of changes Stephanie should make without

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knowing what her current diet is like.

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But if it looks anything like the

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typical American diet, then

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the very first thing I'd suggest

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would be to eliminate or drastically

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reduce sodas, flavored

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waters, juice, and

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sports drinks. Why? You know,

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I try to avoid focusing on

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individual foods, food groups, or nutrients

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as the problem or the

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solution. On the

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other hand, this one just feels like

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low hanging fruit. Most

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Americans are consuming about twice

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the maximum recommended amount of

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added sugars. And about

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half of that is coming from sweetened beverages.

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In other words, eliminate this one category of

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foods, and we would take care

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of our sugar problem in a single swipe. Moreover,

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you lose nothing by eliminating

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them. These drinks don't

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make you feel any fuller than

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you do drinking just water. They

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offer no nutritional benefit. Whatsoever.

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And yes, I am including the

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ones with vitamins and them. Please

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And I will make an exception.

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for sports drinks but. Really only

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for folks who are engaging

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in intensive exercise for more

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than sixty minutes at a

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time or exercising in hot

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or dry conditions. These guys

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really can benefit from the

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sugar and the sodium in

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sports drinks. But. Most

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sports drinks and consumed recreationally and

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a not setting the are the

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same as any other. Sugar sweetened

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beverage. Just empty calories. My

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second priority. For your dietary overhaul

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would be to eat more fruits

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and vegetables. Fruits. And

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vegetables are the most nutrient dense

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foods in the diet, providing more

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nutrition for the calories. Than

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any other kind of food. And they

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contain valuable compounds that you just can't

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get from. Other food groups. Even.

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Better they tend to displace

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other less healthy foods from

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the diet. If you

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were to eat at least five servings

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of vegetables and a couple of servings

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of fruits every day, you might be

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surprised how much less room there is

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in your life or in your stomach

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for other snacks and. Junk food. And

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besides, when you're trying to make lasting

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changes to your diet, I think it's

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a lot more effective. not to mention

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just more fun to focus your attention

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on the things that you should be

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eating more of, rather than on the

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things. That you're trying to avoid or

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reduce. If you

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need some practical tips on how to

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get more vegetables into your diet, check

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out episode number sixty five. It's an

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oldie but goodie. The.

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Next thing I suggest you tackle

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is eating fewer processed snack foods.

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Now. I want to avoid painting all

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processed foods with the same this. First.

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Of all, some forms of

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food processing are actually valuable,

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serving to make healthy foods

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safer, more can the me

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and and more nutritious. And

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let's be honest, not everyone

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has the time, the space,

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and other resources. Required to prepare

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all of arm food from scratch.

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However, I think we could

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all benefit from limiting our

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consumption of highly processed and

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paper palatable snack foods. They

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don't add much nutrition to

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the diet, and they are

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notoriously easy to over consume.

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And that's because they are

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literally engineered to override our

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better judgment. So.

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If you want to reduce the amount

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of processed foods in your diet, I

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would suggest focusing on that snacks category.

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Instead of chips and cookies, try snacking

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on whole fruit raw vegetables, maybe with

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some hummus are some guacamole, a handful

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of nuts, a smear of nut. better.

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Perhaps some string cheese or whole

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grain crackers? But

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do remember that even healthy snacks

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still need to fit into your

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daily budget for calories, sodium, sugar,

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and so on. So don't increase

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the quantity just because it's healthy.

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If. You are eating a typical American

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diet. These three simple changes that I've

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just outlined would be nothing short. Of

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transformational. If. You've

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already got these covered than the

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next two steps I'd suggest would

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be to limit your consumption of

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deep. Fried Foods. Not

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only are they very likely to

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be high in calories, but most

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deep fried foods, especially those from

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restaurants and fast food places also

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are likely to contain a harmful

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compound called H and Eats which

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forms when vegetable oils are seated.

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H Any then ends up in the foods

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that are cooked in those oils and it's

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taken up in the body where it can

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have some damaging effects. The. Longer

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or the more frequently. You

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heat up oil. the more h

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and he it will contain and that's

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the it's really not a good idea

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to reuse cooking or frying oil.

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And most restaurants not only fry foods in

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vegetable oil, but they reuse the oil

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over and over again. But

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to be honest, the reason

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that deep fried foods makes my short

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list actually has less

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to do with the toxic compounds

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that it contains. Your body has

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an impressive capacity to defend itself

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against harmful compounds. It's

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really because consumption of

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fried foods tends to be

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linked to overall poor diet

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quality. So making an

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effort to limit your consumption of French

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fries and other deep fried foods may

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influence where you go out to eat

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or what you order when you get there in

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ways that are likely to have a positive

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effect on the overall healthfulness of your choices.

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Try it and see what happens. And

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by the way, if you want to

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minimize the formation of harmful compounds when

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cooking at home, the easiest thing is

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just to make olive oil your primary

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cooking oil. Contrary to popular

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belief, olive oil is absolutely

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safe to use even at high temperatures.

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And for more on that, check out

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episode number 528. And

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finally, a good way

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to round out your dietary overhaul

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would be to limit refined grains,

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but also to eat all

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grains in moderation. We

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hear a lot about the benefits of whole

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grains. We're told that people who eat more

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whole grains have lower rates

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of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity,

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many other diseases. But

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this isn't quite true, or

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at least it's not the whole story.

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People who eat whole grain products,

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such as whole wheat bread, instead

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of refined grain products, such as white

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bread, do appear to be healthier. But

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most of that benefit comes from the

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fact that they have reduced their consumption

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of refined grains. When

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people simply eat More whole grains without.

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Reducing refined grains, they don't necessarily

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get the same benefits. And for

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more on this, please check out

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episode number One Hundred and Fifty

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Five. Now.

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I want to be clear: I'm not

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suggesting that everyone needs to follow a

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low carb or a grain free diet,

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but limiting your consumption of refined grains

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and eating all greens in moderation is

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a good way to upgrade the nutritional

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quality of your diet. If

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you're typically eating six to eight servings

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of grains or green based foods a

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day, see what happens if you limit

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it to just three or four. And

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if that prompts you to eat more

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vegetables or more legumes I detest. probably

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also a win. So

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to sum up here are my

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five diet overhaul suggestions: Number

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one: Eliminate or drastically reduce

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sweetened beverages number to eat

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more vegetables. Number. Three,

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Reduce your consumption of process snack

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foods. number for go easy on

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the fried foods. And number

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five, eat grains in moderation. But.

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What about all the rest? What about

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pesticides and hormones and plastics? and a

9:11

killer night in high fructose corn syrup

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and site? It's and all of the

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hundreds of other things that might be

9:18

standing between you and dietary perfection. So.

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You know what? if you've got the big

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stuff taking care of and you still have

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energy to tackle the little stuff, Be my

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guest. You can find episodes on all of

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the topics I just mentioned and much more

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in our archives. But.

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If you haven't taken care of the big

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stuff, get. I think focusing on

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all the little stuff is sort of a waste of

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energy. I

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a think Stephanie for her question and if

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you have a question that you'd like me

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to answer on a future podcast, you can

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email me at Nutrition at Quicken Dirty tips.com

9:51

can also lead me a voicemail at Four

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four three Nine Six One Six Two Zero

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Six. i'd also like to invite

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you to check out my other podcast It's

10:00

called the Change Academy, where we explore

10:02

the art and science of creating positive

10:05

behavior change. And we're running

10:07

a special series on the Change Academy

10:09

podcast starting on December 26th. It's

10:12

designed to help you get your mindset tuned

10:14

up for a healthy new year. And you'll

10:16

find the Change Academy wherever you're listening to

10:18

this podcast right now. Nutrition

10:21

Diva is a Quick and Dirty

10:23

Tips podcast. It's supported by Brandon

10:26

Goetjes, Nathan Semes, Davina Tomlin, Holly

10:28

Hutchings, Morgan Christensen, and Cameron Lacey.

10:31

That's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see

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you next week.