Health Canada had us waiting for their big announcement last week about nutrition panels on packaging.  While Canadians waited with great speculation (I know, it didn’t even hit your radar) I hoped that some of the holes in our system would be plugged. 

In Canada, the back panels are regulated and the advertisements and claims on the front are somewhat watched but the truths are still sometimes hard to glean.  From the manufacturer’s point of view, it is hard, I know.  They have to standardize some key information and do it in two languages on limited space. Let’s face it, like anything, some do it better than others.

The key issue for me is the serving size.  My (naïve) hope with this announcement was that there was now some kind of regulation that all serving sizes would be streamlined.  All cereals MUST present in a ¾ cup portion, all crackers would state the facts for 4 crackers (which is roughly equal to one slice of bread so we could compare), all salad dressings should be for a reasonable 1 Tbsp portion.  This way, we could learn what constitutes a portion (‘cause we’ve got that way wrong in our culture) AND be able to compare brands.  But nope.

The big announcement was that they are going to teach us how to read. Instead of fixing the loophole that makes the package confusing, there is now a program to communicate that there is a loophole that makes the packages confusing!

There is so much further we could go with this to help us make smarter decisions about what we put in our bodies.  It is particularly crucial when it comes to feeding our kids.  The panels are based on a 2000 calorie per day diet and all percentages are weighed against that.  This average assumes that you are a moderately active, average sized adult.  A growing child would eat much less than the 2000 calories as would a dieter, elderly person or someone who is less active. 

So when a package says that 1 serving of this food represents 25 % of the DV of sodium, you need to know that is on quarter of the maximum amount that an average, healthy ADULT should consume.  For a six year old, it could be up to 50% of their daily max. 

The new initiative is a good one http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/label-etiquet/nutrition/cons/dv-vq/index-eng.php , to guide Canadians in knowledge, this too has to happen.  I think the problem, however, still exists.  Labels are confusing because they are inherently flawed, not because we can’t read them.  

What do we really want our food labels to tell us?   I think we want to know what’s in each box, is that so hard?

Customer service is a huge part of the dining experience.  Understatement of the year, I know, any poor service experience can leave a bad taste in your mouth whether you are eating or not.  The tough part about the service industry is that, one single person can make or break how a customer feels about the entire operation.  I learned this only too well when I was in sales in the hotel industry and some dufus in another department would fail to read the simple items which had been committed to the client. “No can do, ma’am, your room is right between the elevator and the ice machine on the floor with the peewee hockey team. It really doesn’t matter if you need your sleep to help you decide whether to bring millions of dollars of business our way.”

This weekend one person affected my dining experience in such a way that caused me not only to have serious indigestion but to question the commitment of the establishment to their concept: spa country inn. It also caused me to question my entire raison d’etre (I know, I do feel a bit lame).  Here’s how it went:

We stayed at this Spa Country Inn for the third time and found that breakfast was now included in our rate.  Yay! It was a lovely little room of about 10 tables with a simple, seemingly healthy  yet hearty breakfast.  The first morning went smoothly enough. I asked for mixed greens in place of the fried potato Rosti but was informed by the (really sweet, extremely young, slightly inefficient) server that chef had not picked up her greens yet but they could give me more fruit instead.  Fine, no problem ,that’ll do.  But the fruit was uninspiring, either under-ripe cantaloupe or over-ripe berries. A small glitch at such and establishment, nothing too worrisome. Say B+

The next morning, after realizing that the limited breakfast menu was exactly the same, I made the same request knowing that the chef was surely in receipt of her greens as of yesterday. Unless…

This (really sweet, extremely young slightly inefficient) server went back to the kitchen and made my request.  When the chef’s response came ringing clearly through the dining room “who the hell wants greens for breakfast” my stomach was in my throat.  Those eggs could have been the best in the entire county dipped in gold leaf and delivered on a platter of fresh honey dipped figs by a half naked Brad Pitt who only had eyes for me and I could not have eaten them. 

My embarrassment turned to anger and both states of being had stress hormones coursing through my body. A solid F grade. I recognize that most people would have pretended to ignore the comment, or worse, believed the comment had merit.  Either way, they may never ask for greens again.  Which I think is what bothers me so much about the event.

My whole place on this planet is wrapped up in encouraging people to make healthy change. If this is the kind of reaction that they get at a place that is supposed to be supporting that tenet how are they going to navigate their own world?  If I can’t reasonably ask people to ask for greens (at any time of day!) how flexible is our world to accommodate our new needs?  The health and obesity epidemic is something that I see intensely at every turn and feel passionately about changing.  You and I have but one life to live and it gets better with each small leaf of green.

I have staked my life on not being embarrassed to push the health envelop.  And with this simple, loudly blurted sentence, one woman made me feel as though I am pushing the whole damned cart of unopened mail up the hill in a snowstorm.  Please tell me I am not alone. Please tell me we won’t be dissuaded so easily? I’ll take your symbolic boots, hats, gloves, foot warmers, scarves and encouragement and keep going, I promise…

Please answer this with your comment for this misguided Spa Inn Chef:

“Who the hell wants greens with their breakfast?”

Some of my novice runner friends decided to take on a half marathon.  I love to run but didn’t throw my sneakers in the ring for many reasons even though the run happens at my happy place Disney World in Florida and ends with a wine and dine event.  What was I thinking? Oh ya, that wouldn’t have the time to properly train and prepare because this was a busy, busy summer/fall season. (Turns out many of them didn’t prepare all that well anyway but that’s another story).

So, here we are, one week before the event and I know that it is a crucial training week. But it isn’t the run training that counts, it’s the eating. 

In short:

·         Muscles and liver store glycogen- a form of fuel that must be called upon for an endurance event. Most of us in our daily lives, or doing moderate workouts less than 60 minutes, won’t even need to think about storing, the body does it for us. Your body knows how to use and replenishing fuel easily when it doesn’t have to do something Herculean. But, when you are running a marathon, it matters what you have packed to get you to the finish line. Athletes call the running out of this fuel "bonking" and it is a terrible feeling of utter "I want to fall down" depletion.

·         There is a way to trick your body into packing more glycogen and it starts a week in advance.

·         Good hydration and proper electrolyte balance will help you recover

So here’s the plan:

1.       7 days before the event, cut way back on carbohydrates. Think Atkins without all the fat.  Lean meat, chicken and fish and steamed vegetables are your best bet.  This will tip off your muscles that something has changed and prepare them to take the onslaught of their kind of fuel greedily in the next few days.

2.       The onslaught of carbs for the 3 days before your run will be soaked up by the liver and muscles if they are in the oatmeal, whole grain pasta, brown rice form (rather than the white bread, twinkie) form. You will need to taper training during this period so as not to deplete all your, um, (carb eating) hard work.

3.       Lots of water and fruit (or fruit smoothies) will keep your electrolyte (minerals in your liquid self) balance during this period

4.       Epsom salt baths every night will help your body absorb more “recovery mineral.  Stop two days before.

That’s easy, right?

Here’s what it looks like:

7 days ahead

Breakfast

1 boiled egg, 1 glass of carrot juice, 1 pear

Snack

1 handful of almonds and a glass of milk (move to pre-breakfast if u train in the am)

Lunch

Huge salad with tuna or chicken and chick peas +1 tbsp of dressing

Snack

1 energy bar or whole grain muffin

Dinner

Chicken, fish or tofu the size of your palm+stir fried vegetables+1/4 cup brown rice +fruit salad

3 days before

Magic Muesli (recipe in another blog) + 1 piece of whole grain toast

Snack

Fruit smoothie + breakfast cereal and milk

Lunch

2-3  cups of brown rice or noodles with beans and vegetables

Fruit smoothie + banana

Snack

Cereal bar + milk

Dinner

Baked potato + melted cheese +Steamed vegetables + fish

Snack

Rice pudding or oatmeal

2 days before stop Epsom salt baths

After the run, you really do deserve to treat yourself with all that Disney Hospitality Wining and Dining with Mickey and friends.  See you at the finish line.

I have met exactly one person in my life that is willing and able to count and track all of her food intake on a massive spreadsheet.  Well, I never even actually met her, she is a twitter pal.  Her system is amazing, she tracks just about everything and when I asked her to add the tracking of her mood before and after eating each thing, she did that too.  I know, exhausting, right?

Most of us are not astro- physicists (I think that’s what she said, it was some unimaginable math-y job) with this kind of drive.  I think it is impossible to keep track of all the numbers when what we really want to track is the nutrients.  The object of the game, for most of us, is to get to the end of the day with enough nutrients to rebuild our cells without so much fuel that there is an overage to be stored.  The measurement is the result which is decided by your pants or measured on your scale after the fact.  There is no judge or jury but you and how you feel.

Which is exactly why so many find it hard to control such a pleasurable act: eating.  If there were no cops on the road, we would all speed. If there were no laws or social mores in place we would all steal or borrow what we need/want.  If there no marriage vows existed, we would all, well, you know.

In my practice, I do refer to calories as a benchmark but never ask anyone to count them.  It is a semi-useful  tool to obtain a snapshot of a typical day, for sure.  I mean, if you know you are eating 3000 and burning 2000 you get an idea of why you are gaining weight.  I suggest that you use your scale as a guide while on a weight lose regime (if you have one that measures % body fat, that’s even better!) When you are in your daily life, I say, use your jeans.  If they are tight, eat less until they are not.

As a matter of course, the only thing I ever ask people to count is their fruits and vegetables.   We want 2 fruits and 8 vegetables each and every day in order to protect our health.  Whatever the issue is, fruits and vegetables were designed just for it: diabetes, cancer, blood pressure, weight control. You name it; there is good evidence that these babies are preventing it. And, as for weight control, vegetables fill you up with an enviable ratio of a wallop of nutrients for pinch of calories.

Most of us (like 75%) find it difficult to get the recommended 8-10 servings. How will you count your fruits and vegetables today?