USDA | Fitness is Sweet

I just finished rewatching the movie Fed Up. That movie is amazing-I think it is something everyone needs to see. It’s about the food industry and the obesity epidemic. One of the biggest things I really think was important was the discussion of our food environment. Junk food is everywhere we look. We are actively fighting to eat healthily. Given how addictive these foods are, this basically gives us no chance. (One study they brought up was roughly the following: mice were dosed cocaine until they became addicted. Then, they were given access to either sugar water or cocaine. 40/43 chose the sugar water. The COCAINE ADDICTED MICE chose SUGAR over COCAINE.) I wrote a research paper last spring on drug addiction, and I really examined the pathways of addiction. Half of addiction is dependent on environmental cues (for those interested, the glutamatergic pathway). How are people supposed to fight biochemistry? I definitely fall prey to my environment. And it’s not like you can just avoid the real world!

Ok, enough ranting for now. Today included a couple of things:

1. A timed mile

2. An “I don’t know what I want to do with my life” crisis

3. COFFEE

I went to the track first thing this morning for a timed mile. It’s been over a year since I did one. I also have done very little speed work lately, so there’s that. I was expecting it to feel terrible but it wasn’t too bad. Not as fast as I would have liked, but I’m also sore today (what’s new) so who knows how it would have gone. It’s fine though-a good starting point!

I was going to do a track workout, but my legs weren’t feeling it after the mile so I did a couple of laps of cool down and a few sprints.

Then, COFFEE. Track workouts mean a trip to my favorite coffee place I never go, since it’s on the way back! This cappuccino was amazing.

Then, breakfast was in the dining hall-banana pancakes with a bit of butter, eggs, and grapes.

Today I did something different-I spent my day phone less. It was exhilarating. Or maybe that was the caffeine…I was way more productive, although also somewhat lost. I was convinced it was a Wednesday…

Lunch was same old-same old. Grilled chicken with Greek seasoning from home last weekend, sage mashed sweet potatoes, and roasted asparagus.

After class today, I FINALLY got a haircut. My ends have been driving me crazy for far too long. Beforehand, I had some roasted carrots, a spoon of sunflower seed butter, and earlier a granola bar in class.

This is sort of embarrassing-after my haircut I DROVE to the gym. On campus. But I was already in my car, and I went to the far gym so…

I had to go though to practice my spin class one last time before tomorrow morning! It went really well, and I’m feeling pumped about my playlist!

Dinner back in my room was more wraps. One with salsa this time though, which was delicious! I just need some avocado now!

On the side, I had some sweet potato tortilla chips and persimmon.

And WHEW, now I’m ready for bed! I will say though, that movie really makes me want to cut out some more processed food!

Feelings on the food industry?

Today I want to talk a bit about the Dietary Guidelines for Americans-you know, the food pyramid and more recently MyPlate?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are updated every 5 years, so the newest version will come out at the end of 2015. A committee of scientists and experts (the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee) is currently worked on a science-based report to advise the next guidelines. Basically, the committee reviews lots and lots of studies and uses the evidence they find to determine what to recommend. They will then submit a report to the government, who will release guidelines. The report may look different from the original guidelines because other factors may come into play.

Anyways, the committee is having meetings to discuss their findings and ideas, and these are open to be viewed by the public. They are webcasted, and I watched the July 17-18 meetings, which lasted a day and a half. If anyone is interested, to watch the next meeting on September 16-17, go to their website and you can register. You will then get sent a link to the videos.

It was definitely interesting to watch. In terms of dietary data, their findings seemed to be consistent with the advice in the 2010 dietary guidelines. The guidelines are interesting to read-the first ones are from 1980, and I’ve read all of them up to 2010. They actually haven’t changed a whole lot since then-they’ve just gotten more detailed. The first one was maybe 15 pages, while the most recent was almost 100! They are all available on the USDA’s website.

One thing to look for in 2015 is the new focus on sustainability. The 2015 guidelines will include recommendations for a sustainable diet, as well as a nutritiously sound one, although from their current findings, it looks like a nutritionally strong diet is also very sustainable.

Out of the however-many hours of the meeting, one particular comment really stuck out to me.

“If the overall diet quality is high, the specific pattern doesn’t matter.”

This means, if the diet has lots of healthy, nutrient dense foods, the type of diet doesn’t matter-they are all equally healthy to reduce disease risk and maintain healthy body weight. The common qualities of disease risk-reducing diets were found to be high in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low in processed meats, refined grains, and sugar sweetened foods and beverages.

This comes back to my REAL foods philosophy. If you’re eating the good stuff, it doesn’t matter if you eat exactly the recommended ratio of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. You can be vegan, vegetarian, no-sugar, gluten free, low carb, 80/10/10-it doesn’t matter as long as you chose nutritious foods. I loved hearing this from a scientific perspective. Our bodies are pretty adaptable, and no one pattern of eating is right or wrong. Additionally, everyone is different, so what works for some may not work for others-so don’t try to model your pattern of eating to something that Instagram or twitter says is the “right” way of eating.

Just eat real foods.

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Fed Up

2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans