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Nutrition Basics: How to Use MyPlate to Build a Healthier, Balanced Diet · Stacked Intent: Your Guide to Authentic, Intentional Living

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hi guys, and welcome to Stop 100%.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I am Zeke Stockhouse Morrison, and I look forward to having you join us as we go along with Relationships, Finance, Nutrition.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at the DNA of how you can take those life and dreams that may be stuck, scattered, and help you give resources for mapping out a plan.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: My background is in social sciences, and I have a certification for family life education.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I look forward to sharing those with you throughout the podcast.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to have great fun as you tune in each week to become authentically you.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at the ways that you can be your authentic self and be intentional with yourself.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you're going to finish each episode being motivated to live your life more authentically.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: But with these specific episodes, we're going to have a special co-host and we're going to let them introduce themselves.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, my name is Ashley Childs, and I am the University of Georgia Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent for both Candler and Evans counties in the southeastern part of the state of Georgia.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm excited to be here today.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a background in nutrition from an education standpoint and then also from a community standpoint.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: And this is something I'm super passionate about and excited to work with Becca to talk about being more intentional in the food that you choose and the things that you put into your body.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Stacked Intent and Happy New Year.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we are going to be talking about My Plate, and we're going to really dig into your nutrition and how you're authentically and intentionally you as you launch into your new year.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome to our host, uh Ashley Childs.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get started on what are our objectives from learning from my plate today?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Becca.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So this is Ashley Childs, and I am the UGA Family and Consumer Sciences agent.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So today we're going to talk about my plate and what exactly it is.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about some fruits and vegetables and why they are so important to our daily diet.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll also talk about protein and grains and then how you can incorporate all of these different food groups into your daily diet and also why we need them.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So what are the reasons that we eat food?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we eat for lots of different reasons: pleasure, emotional support, entertainment.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: We eat for social opportunities.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, the goal of eating is to provide energy and nutrients to support and maintain your body's functions.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: So without food, you don't have any nourishment, and your body needs nourishment to do the things that it's supposed to do.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So why is that even important for our bodies to have this energy and nutrition that comes from what we eat?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: We our bodies are doing so many things without us having to think about it every single day.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And even right now, like your heart is beating, your blood is flowing, your muscles are contracting, your bones are supporting you.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: So your body has to have the nutrients that it needs to support all of those functions without you having to think about it.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, and also your brain.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you do not have the appropriate energy and fuel for your brain, it is not going to work.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got to think about it as kind of like a car.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: You have to put gas in your car, you have to put fuel into your body to make it go as well.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Which is so important.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that I learned recently from a book that my I read with one of my best friends is that it's called You Happier and it's Dr.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Eamon.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And not only do our brain food matter, but it matters based on who we are of what goes in our brain.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And what you put into your body matters too.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: If you put in junk, you get out junk.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we do know that there are certain genetic factors as well as some what we call modifiable risk factors.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: So these are the things that like you habitually do, but the things that you can also change, like your smoking habits or your drinking habits or your eating habits.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we know that there are factors that contribute to disease, but there's a preventive cardiologist that also tells us that nutrition is now the number one cause of early death and early disease in our country, in our world.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: So if that doesn't tell you that nutrition is important, I don't know what does.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we live in the South, where the South gets put on some of the top charts for bad parts of nutrition.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and that's that's largely largely because of the traditional because of the traditional recipes and kind of soul food um classification of things that are going to be higher in fat, sugar, and sodium, which we know has been related to obesity, certain types of chronic disease, diabetes.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, so there's some some pretty negative associations with the types of food that we eat in the South, and then also chronic disease.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then also how we measure our disease rates have changed too, and then also how we re measure um nutrition, and then also just chronic disease in general has changed over time.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: The U.S.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Department of Agriculture is where we get a lot of these guidelines and processes that we should talk about.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: My plate, what is my plate?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're younger, that's probably what you're seeing in a lot of your guidelines.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're a little bit older, what came before my plate?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so uh, if you well, growing up, I've I remember seeing the food guide pyramid.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: So the food guide pyramid was the one that was it was had like a black background to it, it had different blocks on the pyramid, and so like the very bottom of the pyramid was the largest block, and that was your grains.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, like your your breads, your pastas and cereals, rice.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that was like what made up the most, the the biggest part of your diet.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it went all the way up to the very tip top of the pyramid, and that was like your fats, oils, and sweets.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the the smallest portion to represent that was the smallest amount of, or we needed the smallest amount of those fats, oils, and sweets.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so then the shift came and went from the food guide pyramid to something called my pyramid, and it was supposed to be a more personalized approach.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so instead of doing the blocks, they made it very colorful and very appealing to the eye, and it had these color strips that went all the way down it.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the size of the strip was to represent basically like your portion sizes of each of the food groups, and then we now have what's called my plate, which makes a little more sense is using it as a tool because we eat food off of a plate.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: So my plate is supposed to help visually represent the five different food groups that we have and basically our portion sizes and what our plate should look like.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: So my plate is a tool to help you make sure that you're getting all the five food groups that you need, and then the correct sizes or portion sizes.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, what are the five food groups that appear as our guidelines in my plate?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're ones that we really see in our everyday food and meal planning.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: So your five food groups are you've got fruits, vegetables, you've got grains, protein, and then dairy.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: So in the plate, one thing to notice too is that from the pyramid, there used to be a section for fats, oils, and sweets.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now on the plate, we don't have that section anymore because it was it was basically realized that we use fats, oils, and sweets incorporated into our cooking methods.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, like if you are sauteing something, you're probably using an olive oil or some type of some type of fat like butter.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so it did not need its own section.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so so basically we understand that fats, oils, and sweets are kind of incorporated into our cooking already, and we don't need to add them anymore.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what we're really going to dive into is our fruits and vegetables, our grains, our proteins today.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start with those fruits.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Why is fruit something that's important in our everyday eating?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Fruit has been associated with lowered risk of certain diseases because it provides nutrients that are essential to our health.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so most fruits are naturally low in fat, sodium, and calories.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have any cholesterol, and they have lots of nutrients that many people don't get enough of.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: So potassium, fiber, folate, vitamin C, and all of these are so important because like potassium could help you maintain your blood pressure.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have high blood pressure, it may be recommended that you eat foods that are higher in potassium or fruits that are higher in potassium.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, most fruit contains high high amounts of fiber, which is important for reducing blood cholesterol levels.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's also important for good digestion.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Vitamin C is important for the growth and repair of all your body tissues and helps to heal cuts and wounds and also keep your teeth and your gums healthy.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then folate, which is also found in fruit, is especially important for the prevention of birth defects in pregnant women.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, how is it recommended that we eat these?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like by just a fruit roll up, is that gonna give me the nutrition I need out of my fruit?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, fruit roll-ups are what we consider to be a processed food, and so we want to try to eat minimally, minimally processed to non-processed foods, so aka eating a fruit in its whole form.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: So by eating whole fruits, you are getting more of your fiber and more of your nutrients because the more processing your fruit undergoes, the more nutrients that you're gonna lose.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: So, even though fruit juice is considered as a way to consume your fruit intake for the day, we want to try to get more of our daily intake in the form of whole fruit because you're getting more nutrients, like that fiber, that does not get included into your fruit juices.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: And fruit juices often also have added sugar.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: You also usually lose some of that.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but when you're also looking at juices, it's important to read that label.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the label can really tell you if it's got more naturals or if it's got a bunch of added process in it.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: What about eating in season?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Does that affect us at all when we're eating and choosing our fruits?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, eating produce in season.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: So if you if you can consume or purchase fruit when it's in season, oftentimes it's gonna be less expensive just because of supply and demand.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: But then also your fruit is gonna be at picked at its peak.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: So if they're gonna be more flavorful, more flavorful during its actual season.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then nutritionally, though, if you can't purchase fruit in season, you can still purchase or utilize frozen fruits or dried fruits.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Just be cautious there and make sure that those items don't have added sugar.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you decide to juice at home, one thing to note too is again, anytime that you're removing the outer skin or peel, you're still not getting the fiber.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: So by juicing it, you are essentially not getting the whole fruit in that skin and that peel is so important.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, like if you eat an apple, we recommend that you eat it with the peel on because that's where where all the fiber is.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: So just know that even if you juice at home, you're still losing a little bit of that fiber that you're gonna get from a whole fruit product.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one way that you can, so we juice at my house, um, for my husband specifically, but that skin that comes off or those outer layers, that's what we put back into our veggie burgers and eat in other forms.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's if you're gonna juice, go ahead and use the whole product, don't let some of it go to waste, would be a tip on the meal planning side of it, but also one of those ways to get all of the nutrients out of it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: What's the difference?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hearing you say that that had added sugar.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: What is added sugar on our fruits and our vegetables or in our juice?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: What is an added sugar if somebody really doesn't know?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because our fruit has sugar, but what's the difference of us having added sugar in it?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so your fruit contains natural sugar.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: So if you think about eating a strawberry, it is naturally sweet as it is.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the farmer didn't go out there, cut open the strawberry plant and and dump a packet of sugar in there.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so it's part of the, it's part of this, it's natural, natural sweetness.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So added sugar is when you are taking either sugar in the form of like a granulated sugar packet or molasses or any other types of like processed sugar, and you're taking it and adding it to the fruit, vegetable, juice, anything like that.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, honey can be used as an added sweetener.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: It is a natural form of sugar.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's it's it falls into that category of natural versus processed sugars.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, like honey is not considered a processed sugar if it's pure honey.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you really want to look out for when it's got stuff that's been added to it.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a difference in in natural sugar, which is found like naturally in fruit, and added sugar, which you are it's a processed form that you are adding to it in addition, which is not always necessary.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, and a lot of times the way that our society has kind of formulated our taste buds, we add sugar to things that's it's unnecessary to add to.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our muffins may have too much sweetness because we've added sugar to them, and they really may not need sugar at all.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: So there are places that you could cut sugar out of your diet, and you would be amazed at the difference.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: But it may also take you some time to adjust your flavor palette to missing that sugar.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: What about our vegetables?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we just talked about our fruits and why our fruits are important.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why are vegetables important?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so vegetables make up the other half of the plate.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: So we say that fruits and vegetables should make up an entire half of your plate, and that's because both of them are so important to providing those essential nutrients.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, similarly to fruits, vegetables also contain high amounts of potassium, vitamin C, fiber, folate.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: But then also vegetables contain some other things too.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they are represented by, if you if you've ever seen the plate, they're there, it's divided by colors.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: So your fruit section is going to be red, your vegetable section is going to be green.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but not all green vegetables, or you shouldn't only consume just green vegetables.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: The colors of fruits and vegetables play a big part of representing what nutrients they contain.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: So fruits and vegetables contain phytonutrients, so it's important to eat a variety or eat a rainbow in as many colors as possible of fruits and vegetables because you've got your red fruits and vegetables, they have things like lycopene in it.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables have different types of antioxidants.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Green fruits and vegetables have some cancer-blocking chemicals like sulfurophane, your blue and purple, they have different antioxidants than your other colors, white and brown.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's really important to try to make sure to eat a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables so that way you're getting the most phytonutrients and the most antioxidants that you can.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we hear people say, Well, I'm eating my vegetables because I had a potato.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: So is a potato really one of the main vegetables that we should be eating?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so a potato is considered in the category of starchy vegetables.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: So there are different subcategories.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: And within these subcategories, you've got your dark green, red and orange, beans, peas, and lentils, starchy vegetables, and then others basically.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: So a starchy vegetable is not, it's not bad.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's still a vegetable, but it's not going to contain the same amount of nutrients and it's going to be higher in carbohydrates, um, which again, our body needs carbohydrates, but it's going to process in your body differently than if you ate like a dark green vegetable.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: And people that have certain medical conditions have to be really considered about the amount of like white potatoes that they eat because of the natural sugar content or the carbohydrate content and how their body processes that.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Does that mean half of our plate at one meal?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Or how often should we actually make this half of our plate?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it really depends on your servings per day.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: So again, we're using the plate kind of as a guideline, but I would be the first to tell you that my preferred dish is a bowl.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I like to put everything in a bowl.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not going to fit nicely in kind of those portioned sections on the plate.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but truthfully, that's what where it comes into your serving sizes for the day.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't have to be consumed in one meal or even at every meal.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: But generally, adults need between two to four cups of vegetables a day.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: So however you're getting those two to four cups, as long as you're meeting those guidelines or recommendations, then that's great.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be consumed at every meal because it's really hard to get vegetables in breakfast unless you're doing like a breakfast burrito or you're doing like spinach and scrambled eggs or something like that, which is not always the easiest route to take.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so just as long as you get it throughout your day.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's important to note, is yeah, it doesn't have to happen at every meal, but it's important to happen.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then this is where we can go back to the being mindful and thinking about how you're eating it, because sometimes if you're eating out, it's really hard to meet these guidelines.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's really hard at a lot of restaurants to find that balance of getting your servings of vegetables and fruits, especially.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where coming at home and planning at home can be really important is making sure you're finding those.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're talking about these guidelines.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody were out there and they really want to find it, how do they get to these resources of finding the guidelines of what's recommended for their gender, their age, their where they are in life?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: What are the general guidelines and where do they find those?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you can find the guidelines for my plate at choosemyplate.gov.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a great resource because it also provides some great recipes on there, too, as a resource.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: It gives examples of what is considered a cup of fruit or a cup of vegetables.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because we know, like sometimes, again, if we're encouraging you to eat whole fruits or vegetables, then a small apple is going to be considered one cup of fruit.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: It has a nice table there for you.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's got a table there that also gives the recommendations for um age from toddler up to 60 plus.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we've already, so your needs at each different stage of life and your physical activity needs are going to be different.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or your serving size are going to be different based on your physical activity needs.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: So those are available for you on choosemyplate.gov, or you can check out the dietary guidelines for Americans.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's important to know is it's important to find these guidelines.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're planning those meals for everyone in your life, or you're plating the plates for everybody, your two-year-old is not going to need the same serving size as an eight-year-old or you as an adult.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's remembering that you really shouldn't be giving everybody the same portion size because everybody doesn't need the same portion size.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: So somebody may be under eating, or somebody may be overeating.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's really important to have that mindful thought while you're prepping the meals.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we've covered our fruits and vegetables, and while those were really important on half of our plate, let's flip to the other half of our plate and talk about why.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Grains and proteins are more important.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us a little bit about what grains are.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so grains are going to be represented by the orange group on my plate.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And again, on the pyramid, it used to be the very bottom part because it was the the largest, or it should have made up the largest portion of your plate or of your of your meals for that day or of your serving sizes.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: But grains are an important source of energy for our bodies in the form of carbohydrates.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: So they're going to be like your breads, cereals, pastas, rice.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: But the caveat here is just because it's brown does not necessarily mean that it is a grain or that it is a whole grain product.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: So what I mean by whole grain is that it contains this product, contains the whole grain of wheat or whatever it may be.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it has the germ, endosperm, and the brand still intact.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it hasn't undergone processing that strips this important part apart because when it does that, then you're losing fiber, B vitamins.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's why we want to look for whole grain products like popcorn, quinoa, barley, brown rice.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're looking for breads, um using the nutrition facts label, that's going to be important.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that way you know on the back of it, on the back of your bread product there, it should have listed in the ingredients, it should say whole grain or whole wheat.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Just because bread is wheat or listed as wheat does not necessarily mean it is whole wheat.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that whole grain is very important because it has more vitamins and nutrients that we need.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: And the recommendation there is to eat half of your grains for your day, make them to be whole grains.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then our protein foods, those are represented by the purple section.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: And protein is so important because it's in it's good for muscle repair and then also for your skin and tissue repair, and can be in the form of seafood, meat, poultry, eggs, but then also for our vegan or vegetarian friends, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, and soy products are also great sources of plant-based protein.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: So protein actually does not take up the largest point.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people have the common misconception that protein is a larger part of our diet or larger portion of our plate than it actually is.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um so if you if you look at the image of my plate, it is a smaller portion on our plate, and it's represented in the color purple.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: But we recommend that you eat a variety of protein foods to get more nutrients that your body needs.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, like meat and poultry choices that are lean or low-fat, ground beef, pork loins, skinless chicken breasts, seafood options that are higher in fatty acids, like salmon, anchovies, or trout, and then trying to incorporate more plant-based sources like beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, um, as well.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then trying to have these meatless meatless protein sources are also gonna help cut your grocery bill.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: So there are lots of ways that we can incorporate our grains, our protein into our meals, and they are so important.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I heard you say that men are gonna need different than what women are gonna need.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where it's important to go back to that my plate.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: The portion size that I need is not gonna be the same portion size that my husband needs because we're eating for our bodies, and so that's really, really important is as you're kind of discovering or you are being yourself in your eating, it's important to know what your body needs in that consumption.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: We do have that small little section of dairy.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is that a part of our mind plate that's important?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so dairy is is an important part of my plate, and we recommend that you choose low-fat or fat-free dairy options because a lot of people don't know that your 2% milk or your skin milk and your whole milk they contain the same amount of vitamin D and calcium, but the only difference there is the fat content.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we do know as Americans, we don't need to add, for the most part, any more additional fat into our diets than we already have.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: So being able to choose a lower fat milk product or dairy product is gonna help to cut some of that saturated fat.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if you cannot consume dairy as cow's milk, um, what rec what meets the recommendation for a dairy product is a fortified soy product.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have like fortified soy milk or soy yogurt, that's gonna have the same amount of protein, vitamins, and nutrients as your cow's milk.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's the one that's gonna account for um an equivalent of dairy, although there are a lot of dairy-free or like milk alternative options.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's what our recommendations kind of hold us to, which is important.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: So when we're talking about all of these things, the one question that comes to my mind is when we cook our vegetables, our meats, our proteins, does it matter what that process in and changing any of their components?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so the the method of cooking is important.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm glad that you brought that up.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, like with your your vegetables, for example, if you're boiling broccoli, chances are you are boiling out a lot of the nutrients.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: So if you consume your broccoli and the the liquid or the water that you use in the pot, that is my hunter has returned from home.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know if you heard that or not, but we have a driveway time, so he might be popping in here in a minute.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but when you when you do cook, it's important to try to maintain the nutrient content as much as possible.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: So like boiling or like long methods of cooking like that are going to to decrease the nutrient amount.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so again, if if you're boiling broccoli and you want to eat the liquid with it, you're still getting the still getting the nutrients there, you just lose it in the liquid.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: What about more frying a chicken versus like boiling it?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: So also your method in the we've already talked about this about how your your fat, salt, sugar, we we incorporate those things into our cooking method.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're cooking a fried chicken, or if you're cooking in a in a method that requires adding flour or adding any type of oil or grease or anything like that, you can increase the amount of saturated fat.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: So trying to grill, trying to broil things when you can, or trying to bake them are going to be better options than frying, for example.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: That is also interesting.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: As a reminder and a recap for this one, if you go to um my plate, which is choosemyplate.gov, that will give you some of these great resources.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then my plate is a tool.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is not there as a firm, all this, it's there as a tool and a guideline for you.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that half of your overall consumption of your meals you want to eat fruits and vegetables in, and you want these to be in a rainbow.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then in your grains, you want them half of what you consume in a grain in a day to be a whole grain as the least processed as you can.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you keep that in mind, that kind of helps.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: The less processed, the better you're gonna be.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then your proteins, it's eating a variety and making sure you get what you need.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't all have to come from a steak, it can come from those other sources like your beans or your lentils.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: So just keeping those things in mind as you are coming back.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you join us next week, we will be talking about mindset with Molly and talking about how to intentionally be there.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining today's episode.