I was really bummed out by the dismal nutrition statistics in KD’s review of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet.
I really want to be that “one person out of every 100 who meets even the minimum standards of a balanced diet”! Except, I want more company! That is a pretty lonely statistic.
I spent a few years in the “dismal” nutrition category. And then I made a BUNCH of changes and I saw a RD. I thought maybe she might frame my food log, it was so beautiful, but she found a bunch of places where I could make improvements. I’ve been working on those changes. So I’m a dietary work in progress… and I’m really happy with my progress - but still I'll like to be in that 1 in 100 group.
I’ve found the following websites REALLY helpful… and thought I’d post them here - in case anybody else is interested in becoming the “1 in a 100”.
Mayo Clinic Weight Loss Pyramid This is pretty similar to the www.MyPyramid.gov - except the MyPyramid is for weight maint and this is for weight loss. (You can play around with calorie calculator until you find the right calories for you.) I also think that it is really user friendly. It is also more stingy with the “treat calories” than the MyPyramid. MyPyramid is also really good, though.
Mayo Clinic Healthy Diet Pyramids I love this site as there are LOTS of pyramids - vegetarian diet, Latin American diet, Asian diet, etc.
DASH diet plan (it is a PDF file and you’ll need Adobe Acrobat - which is free at Adobe.com - and most computers have it anyway)
When I’m 100% on the DASH plan… man, I’m eating sooooo healthy! I love it. The DASH studies were really well done and well controlled (speaking of studies on today’s homework). I’m never hungry eating this way and my weight is really good. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension… but it is has been great for my cholesterol and weight and mental health also. Heard about it from KD and can't sing its praises enough. (Although DASH is REALLY stingy with the treat/sugar calories. Even eating dessert twice a week and 1 TBS of sugar a day... I go over.)
I also found my appt. with a Registered Dietician REALLY helpful. I belong to a large HMO and she works there (although I had to pay, insurance didn’t).
wow, this is an awesome bunch of resources. i have a lot to learn nutrition-wise. i think i'll take some baby-steps toward that because it is so much. . . but i'm grateful for the resources. dana
Posts: 78 | Location: madison, wi | Registered: January 07, 2006
If somebody followed this plan for the 1,200 calories and ate 175 calories worth of sweets a day... they'd be eating 1,300 cals a day and eating REALLY healthy - especially for a weight loss plan, where getting all of your nutrients is a concern. And I don’t think a person would be hungry eating 1,300 or 1,400 calories a day off this plan.
Mostly, I was just sooooo bummed to read that stat about how dismal the average American’s diet is…
Even among WW lifetime members… a LOT of them eat less than 5 servings of fruits and vegs a day.
I think that we are bombarded with so much advertising and think that losing weight means buying Nabisco 100 calorie snacks or WW 2 point bars or other “diet” food in order to lose/maintain weight. And then we end up short changed nutritionally, spending more $$$ on food and hungry to boot!
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
1,400 cals a day vegs 4+ servings a day fruits 4+ carbs 5 protein/dairy 4 fats 3 sweets 75 cals a day
1,200 cals a day vegs 4+ fruits 3+ carbs 4 protein/dairy 3 fat 3 sweets 75 cals/day
DASH recommendations - 1,600 cals a day vegs 3-4 servings fruits 4 grains 6 lowfat/nonfat dairy 2-3 meats, poultry, fish 1-2 fats 2 nuts/seed, beans 3/week sweets - about 200-300 calories per week (way strict! - the best I can do is about 510 cals a week and that is REALLY watching it! If I used artificial sweetners, I could get this down... but I don't)
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Thanks for posting this. I really liked reading through the American Dietic Assoc. website. It is the only time I have seen nutitional guidelines for babies :-)
Jennifer
Posts: 32 | Location: Colorado | Registered: January 18, 2006
I also think that the Mayo Clinic Weight Loss Pyramid is really interesting because it packs a whopping amount of nutrition into those 1200 calories with 7 servings of fruits/vegs, etc.
People eating MANY more calories than that usually don't eat that healthy.
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Originally posted by SheriaVa: Am I reading that site correctly when it says that ALL women under 250 pounds should be eating 1200 calories????
I don't think so. There is a button to click to "increase your daily calorie goals".
I also played around with the calculator - pretended that I was a 300 lb guy, a 300 lb woman, etc. and got different calorie amounts from 1200 up to 1800 cals.
When I was losing, a "perfect" 20 WW points day for me was about 1360 calories. But I ate a BUNCH of "free" vegs (included in that 1360 cals) and I sucked every calorie I could out of every point and didn't have any snacks like 2 point bars or "treats" or dessert. I'd usually lose about 1.5 lbs a week if I had a "perfect" week...
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Am I reading that site correctly when it says that ALL women under 250 pounds should be eating 1200 calories???? Even for weight loss (and not maintenance), that seems a bit extreme. I can see ME eating 1200 calories because I'm 4'6" but not every woman who is anywhere up to 250 pounds. Granted, I just took a quick look so maybe I misinterpreted it.
Posts: 7864 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
