Val studied nutrition and provided weight management counseling for over 30 years and feels it’s probably the most confusing subject there is. She sees it as a part time job to follow-through with a healthy way of eating that fits our budget, lifestyle, access to food, the preferences of people around us, and time spent cleaning up after the meal.
She shares the concept that nutrition plays a role in our genetics, contributing to factors that determine what genes turn off and on. She also shares that our genes are influenced by communication from our body's microbiome, the microscopic world that includes bacteria and fungi. She wishes there was strong evidence for specific nutrition recommendations around our microbiome, and hopes medical breakthroughs will be coming to teach us more.
In this episode Val share her Top 10 Nutrition Tips. They are based on her culture and core values that focus on the ability to enjoy what we eat and drink with the people we love.
2:36 Time stamp for Top 10 list:
3:55 Val goes into a deep dive for each one.
4:50 She suggests a way to make a rough estimate for how much fluid a person needs: round your weight up to the nearest 10 pounds, divide that weight by two and it will be the approximate number of ounces you need each day.
6:15 She provides a simple recipe for lemonade made with fresh lemon juice, real maple syrup, water, and a dash of cayenne pepper.
08:50 She provides a smoothie recipe called The 3 B's. It includes blueberries, beets, raw organic broccoli, honey, grass-fed milk, olive oil, and kiwi.
09:52 She suggests reading information about eating the building blocks of Nitric Oxide (something mentioned in Episode 3 from Season 2) from the University of Oregon Extension Service.
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/8836/asay-no-disease-handout.pdf
This handout includes a recipe for Kale and Beet Salad.
11:40 She gathers together Tips 3,4 and 5 and in summary, suggests we develop a healthy relationship with sugar, fat, and sodium. Individually each nutrient is naturally occurring in food and plays a vital role to our health and enjoyment of the flavors of food. It is when they are combined into manufactured fast foods, they can quickly become a problem due to their effect on our brain that produces a huge surge of dopamine. Val recommends eating slowly and savoring each bite when food choices are limited and all we have to choose from are high sugar, high fat, and high salty foods.
13:30 Val addresses artificial sweeteners and states that they have not been shown to help with weight management or improving blood sugar levels and suggests those who consume them take time to find out if they are a benefit for them or undermining their efforts in this area of health.
15:25 Vals shares olive oil is her preference for salad dressing and cooking. She suggests ways to shop for olive oil and warns that heating olive oil to the smoke point is dangerous and very toxic. Oil that is heated to the point it smokes should be thrown away.
16:40 Vals explains the importance of salt to our body. She shared a simple approach to keeping salt intake at a healthy level in the diet by eliminating processed meats, limiting cheese, use gray sea salt or rock salt such as Himalayan pink salt. She suggests drinking mineral water and soaking in a epsom salt bath as a great way to absorb essential trace minerals in salts.
18:00 For Tips 6 and 7 Val suggests keeping a food diary for three days to learn about your appetite signals and food choices.
19:08 Val's tip number 8 explains that wearing clothes that fit and make us feel like we look our best is a motivator to make healthier food choices.
19:48 For tips 9 and 10 Val shares about the role of preparing food as an act of love. She suggests sharing eating with others and making the meal time pleasant by turning off the TV and playing soft music or the radio.
In conclusion, Val feels the two tips that will most help caregivers is to drink enough fluids and keep a 3-day food journal.
Val's special message: "A person can be healthy at any weight and unhealthy at any weight. I hope you will consider my journaling tip as a way for you to put into words what’s happening in your body, so you can make your food choices as healthy as possible."
Val's cheer: “I take care of my health and happiness! Cheers!"
Additional information and links can be found at:
https://www.caregiverteatime.com/
Look for the full version of Val's theme song, Nothing But the Good Things on your favorite music streaming service now!
