Healthy eating 101

2nd April 2008

posted in Eating Disorders, Health/Nutrition |

The Sacramento Bee has republished the National Eating Disorders Association’s 10 Tips on how to promote healthy relationships with food to kids (and adults). I think it deserves a reposting here, too.

1. Eat when you are hungry. Stop eating when you are full.

2. There are no “good” or “bad” foods, so eat lots of different foods, including fruits, vegetables and even sweets sometimes.

3. Eat different types of snacks: sometimes raisins, sometimes cheese, sometimes a cookie, or sometimes carrot sticks or celery dipped in peanut butter.

4. If you are sad, mad or bored, find something to do other than eating.

5. People who exercise and stay active are healthier and better able to do what they want to do, no matter what they weigh.

6. Try to find a sport or activity that you like, then do it.

7. Good health, feeling good about yourself and having fun go hand in hand. Try different hobbies, such as drawing, playing music or making things.

8. Remind yourself that healthy bodies come in all sizes.

9. Some people believe that fat people are bad, sick and out of control, while thin people are good, healthy and in control. This is not true. And it is hurtful.

10. Do not tease people and don’t laugh at other people’s jokes about fat (or thin) people or short (or tall) people.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Eating Disorders, Health/Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On April 2nd, 2008, mrs.millur

said:

That doesn’t deserve reposting so much as it deserves framing, hanging on EVERY fridge in the world, plastering on tshirts, mugs, mousepads, or anything else that can be printed on, tattoing on my forehead…

posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 am

2 On April 2nd, 2008, Charlotte

I want to make massive billboards all over the place with those 10 tips on it. I especially like the fact that one of the purposes of this is so that children have a good relationship with food; but that feeling is mostly sparked by the Weight Watchers commercial I saw last night (the whole “diets don’t work, but WW does” thing) where they basically said that following WW is a good way to show your kids how to have a good relationship with food. I wanted to throw things at the TV.

posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm

3 On April 2nd, 2008, AnnieMcPhee

I’d only add one thing to #4 - unless you’re hungry as well. Then eat, then find something else to do And if it’s a vegetarian diet, be sure to incorporate protein foods and possibly B12 supplements.

posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 2:08 pm

4 On April 2nd, 2008, Krista

I had to re-post these as well. Thank you, Rachel for having them here. It is something I needed to hear today, because I realized I was feeling guilty for eating Trail Mix for breakfast. I agree totally with the first 2 commenters. We need to spread this. I would so wear a T-shirt with this on it.

posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm

5 On April 2nd, 2008, Ashley

This is a great thing to have reposted I am now going to post it on my forum So the ladies there can read it too. Thanks for posting this Rachel.

posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm

6 On April 2nd, 2008, Sherie Sanders

Gee, I am amazed the Sacramento Bee could publish that given their history of fat bashing. It literally turned my stomach the whole time I lived in Sac.

posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm

7 On April 2nd, 2008, Rachel

Sherie - The first and last time I read the Sac Bee was when they did a special on fat kids who went off to a special and very expensive fat kids school. I thought the piece was done very fairly and it incorporated an impressive array of multimedia in telling their stories. I don’t know much else of their fat-bashing.

posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 3:59 pm

8 On April 2nd, 2008, devil

Public schools shouldn’t post the Ten Commandments - they should post THIS.

I’m surprised it came from the Sac Bee, also. I grew up in Sacramento and hated that town with a white-hot burning passion.

posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 4:39 pm

9 On April 3rd, 2008, Jackie

I really like #9. It’s hard to explain it to people who are really stubborn about fat as a disease. Or perhaps worse, people who think they’re “Only being considerate of your health”. Cause if you explain they’re not helping you they’ll give you that innocent hurt little child look like, “What did I do wrooonggg?” That irrates me so much, cause it’s basically the same as saying “You can’t do anything now, cause I’m looking like the victim. You’re going to be the one who looks mean if you say anything else. Nah-nah-na-na-nah!”

posted on April 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 am

10 On April 3rd, 2008, Alyce

I wish there were a way to get this amazing list to the 3 candidates for President. I keeping about that 250 word count limit. Perhaps we can start a letter (rather than website contact form submission) writing campaign that includes this list?

Although it doesn’t contain a rebuttal for each of the erroneous thinking points out there about the O B E S I T Y C R I S I S, maybe it’s a good starting point?

posted on April 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm

11 On April 3rd, 2008, Alyce

wow, my attempt at scary lettering for Obesity Crisis looks funny — sorry

posted on April 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm

12 On April 4th, 2008, Ursula

How utterly enlightened! Thanks for reposting this — even though I live somewhat close to Sacto, I did not see or hear about this. I’m totally shocked, and pleased, to see something so reasonable in the mainstream media.

posted on April 4th, 2008 at 11:30 pm

13 On April 6th, 2008, wriggles

Number 4 doesn’t work, like what exactly, take drugs? Saying find something else to do is a little bit like saying, hey if you become depressed, don’t forget to cheer up! Maybe you can’t do anything else at the time, so do the best you can, and as long as you aren’t hurting anyone, forgive yourself behaviour that you wouldn’t normally indulge in.

Number 9 also sounds really dumb, are we expected to believe that people are so stupid that they don’t know that you cannot weigh morality? Because I don’t believe it, it is a wilful self delusion, and should be exposed as such, not inferring that it is an understandable error. ‘And it’s hurtful’ urrgh, so condescending, as if we need some kind of protection, people are doing it to hurt us, that is a conscious and deliberate choice they have made, we don’t need them to feel pity for us, we need them to mind their own business.

Let’s make it clear, fat hating is stupid, irrational sometimes mad even, we are the ones that have called time on it, we are the rational ones, who are questioning and rejecting it, we do not require condescending ‘charity’ from people who have decided to do what they know to be wrong.

posted on April 6th, 2008 at 8:09 am

14 On April 14th, 2008, Dr Malik

Some of those tips I agree with in principle, #1 is obvious but you would be surprised how many people do not follow it. Here are a couple more healthy eating tips that I did not see on the list -

Eat small, Eat more often
Carve the Carbs, none after 7-8pm
Sleep! Get 7-9 hours of consistent sleep (Regimen). Don’t oversleep either!

I just wrote a full article related to this topic that you and your readers may be interested in, An Example of Healthy Eating - A Days Menu.

Yours in health,

- Dr M

posted on April 14th, 2008 at 12:22 am

15 On April 14th, 2008, Rachel

Dr M - While I would agree with you about sufficient sleep, I must disagree with you about the first two of your options. I would encourage people to eat when they feel hungry, regardless of how large or small the portion or how frequent. And I also think your no carbs after 7 suggestion reads more like dieting than intuitive eating. Part of developing a healthy relationship with food is learning to listen to our bodies and respond to its cues on hunger and satiety. While rules such as yours may certainly be healthy, they also encourage a denial of the body.

posted on April 14th, 2008 at 12:54 am

16 On April 15th, 2008, Dr Malik

Rachel,

The main purpose of this regiment is to promote glucagon and inhibit insulin spiking which snowballs metabolism. Helping people who want to get back on the right track quickly and healthy.

Eating anything including carbs 3-hours before bedtime isn’t healthy for the digestive tract.

I do appreciate your position and feel that an educated eater can make the best choices.

As a final note, metabolic type eating would yield the best outcome for the individual.

Yours in Health,

- Dr M

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 2:54 am

17 On April 15th, 2008, Rachel

I guess it depends on what your “outcome” is, Dr. M. Here, my intended outcome is to promote healthy, intuitive eating for people struggling with an eating disorder. Giving people even more rules to follow and to exploit probably isn’t best here.

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 9:09 am