by DAN BAIN The News Review Jan 18, 2017
Nutritional health and weight loss resolutions many times go together. And on a recent radio interview with Lisa Platt on Talking Health on KQEN News Radio 1240, Jo Carol Driver, a dietician and certified diabetic educator at CHI Mercy Medical Center and Mandy Hatfield, program coordinator for OSU Extension’s Snap Education Program talked about nutritional health and New Year’s resolutions.
Lisa: Mandy, what is the OSU Extension Service SNAP Education Program?
Mandy: SNAP-Ed is an educational piece that is geared toward individuals that are potentially eligible for SNAP benefits and SNAP Benefits is the new name for Food Stamps nutrition education and physical action.
Lisa: What does SNAP actually stand for?
Mandy: Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
Lisa: Jo Carol, is there a difference between a registered dietician and a nutritionist?
Jo Carol: Yes there is. Nutritionist can mean a couple of different things, but a registered dietician, of which I am, requires a Bachelor’s degree and rigorous internship or trainingship, and passing of boards, and then continuing education to keep your registration up.
Mandy: A nutritionist actually doesn’t have definition necessarily. So if you’ve even taken classes on nutrition, you can call yourself a nutritionist. So it’s a pretty broad-cased definition, there is no certification to be called a nutritionist.
Lisa: What is physical nutrition therapy?
Jo Carol: It is using nutrition to help people with a disease that they already have. Insurance, specifically Medicare pays for just two, diabetes education and any education related to kidney and any renal disease, with the potential in the near future to be able to pay for services related to diabetes. So Medicare sort of sets that standard and other insurances and each one varies but they follow Medicare’s lead and actually in Oregon it is required that if anybody has diabetes and has insurance, their insurance has to pay for diabetic education.
Lisa: It is the new year, so what are your thoughts on getting started on a healthy balanced diet?
Mandy: I would say pick a couple of small things to work on. With small goals, you are more successful and you can always add onto them and you’re more likely to make life changes when you pick small things to focus on, not trying to make a huge life change all at once, but take small steps.
Jo Carol: You look at both sides of the equation, look at the food you might be eating, or wanting to eat less of, but equally, if not more important, is the activity side of the equation, and think about what you can do to become more active.
Lisa: Does this balanced diet include all the meat groups, fish, pork, chicken, and beef and if so, can you give us some idea of what amount an adult should eat, and what amount kids should eat?
Jo Carol: All things in moderation, we like to imagine a moderate sized dinner plate and to draw an imaginary line down the middle. One-half of it would be all vegetables, on the other half divided again in half, and one-quarter could be protein, a meat or meat-substitute like tofu or beans, and the other quadrant could be a grain or starch.
Lisa: Same thing for kids?
Mandy: Yes but usually you look at a little smaller plate for children. It does depend on the age level, the younger do need less protein, regardless of the form of protein. From 4-8 will eat a smaller amount, from 2-4 it will be even a smaller amount. After they hit eight, it depends on the activity level.
Lisa: Is there a perfect one-size-fit-all diet, one that contains vitamins, watching calories, fiber, and minerals? What does that look like?
Mandy: I think a diet that includes all food groups is very important when you’re looking at trying to get all your vitamins and minerals. It’s very important and each group has benefits and that’s why they’ve broken them into groups, so looking at diets that include all groups and everything in moderation..
Jo Carol: A healthy diet would not eliminate any one particular group. Low Carb diets have been a fad, so cutting out greens or carbohydrates, would not make sense, but also you’re cheating yourself of the vitamins and minerals that come in those foods.
Lisa: Tell us a little about what is the difference between fat-free, reduced-fat and lite?
Mandy: Most fat-free and reduced-fat and lite all have terminology for them, so if something is lite, it could have less of either fat, calories, or sodium, so you want to look at what they are saying is lite.
If it is reduced fat, it means that three grams or less of the product, whatever the serving size is that you are serving, is fat.
Jo Carol: And fat-free, means that there could be up to a half gram of fat in it, but essentially all fat has been removed.
