Category Archives: Health News Favorites

No “Pink Slime” at Dream Dinners!

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Recently, a 2012 ABC News investigative report brought a beef trimming process back into the public eye. Technically this beef trimming process is called Lean Finely Textured Beef or Boneless Lean Beef Trimmings. This beef trimming process has been dubiously referred to as “Pink Slime”. Other programs like Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution in 2001 have sought to bring this process to light over the years. If you are not familiar, here is the link to the ABC News report and process:

Be assured that our beef provider does not use “pink slime” in our ground beef. Here is the official response from our beef manufacturers: Continue reading →

Convenience of grocery store frozen dinners could be costing your health

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Frozen dinners from the grocery store often promise a quick solution for dinner. Some entrée’s are labeled healthy, most are not. However, if you take a closer look at the nutritional content of the dinner you are about to purchase you might surprised by the results.

A study done by a top university found that the labels on frozen foods are off by as much as 8%, according to the report. Meaning those foods can have even more calories, fat and sodium than listed.

Dream Dinners provide an easy, healthy alternative to the single serving frozen dinner from the grocery store that is also a stress free solution to the daily dilemma “What’s for dinner?” Also, we’ve done the analysis for you - calories, carbohydrates, sodium, fats, cholesterol and portion sizes. Our healthy meals are perfect for the whole family; with everyone enjoying the same dinners, sticking to a healthy meal plan is easy.

Many frozen dinners loaded with unhealthy additions
by Jean Enersen of KING 5 News
Watch News Report

Find a Dream Dinners location near you and start eating healthier today!

Portion Distortion in America

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Anyone ordering fast food or eating at restaurants has probably noticed that food portions have gotten larger. Some portions are available to “super size”, while others have simply grown in size and provide enough food for at least two people. These growing portion sizes are changing what Americans think of as a “normal” portion at home, too. The National Institute of Health is calling it: portion distortion. Here are there definitions:

A “portion” can be thought of as the amount of a specific food you choose to eat for dinner, snack, or other eating occasion. Portions, of course can be bigger or smaller than the recommended food servings.

A “serving” is a unit of measure used to describe the amount of food recommended from each food group. It is the amount of food listed on the Nutrition Facts panel on packaged food or the amount of food recommended in the Food Guide Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

We know it is challenging to make a lifestyle change that will improve your health. Studies show that by simply making a habit of eating at home, persons with diabetes have a better chance of effectively controlling or improving their health.

Many of our customers find that serving Dream Dinners or Dinners for Life meals to their families at least 3 times a week has helped them learn better portion control and has helped with reducing stress around analyzing calories, carbohydrates, sodium, fats, and cholesterol. Even better, our healthy meals are perfect for the whole family.

 

February is American Heart Month – Take steps to improve your heart health

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Just in time for American Heart Month, the American Heart Association has introduced “My Life Check“, a personalized heart score and a custom plan using seven simple steps (the “Simple Seven”) to help you start improving your heart health.

The seven simple steps to live better are:

  1. Stop smoking
  2. Get active
  3. Lose weight
  4. Eat better
  5. Manage blood pressure
  6. Control cholesterol
  7. Reduce blood sugar

Stop smoking: This is the most important preventable cause of premature death in the U.S.

Get active: Acknowledging how tough it is to make time for exercise in our over-scheduled lives, the American Heart Association reminds us that benefits for health are so great it is worth the effort.

Lose weight: Obesity is now recognized as a major risk factor for heart disease and with 145 million of us being overweight or obese it is a concern for many of us. Losing even a modest amount of weight and keeping it off goes a long way to improve our health.

Eat better: A healthy diet and lifestyle are your best weapons to fight cardiovascular disease according to the American Heart Association. Since there is a lot of conflicting information about these issues it is best to get information from credible sources such as the American Dietetic Association, the American Heart Association, The American Diabetes Association and the American Cancer Society, to name a few.

Manage blood pressure: High blood pressure is the single most significant risk factor for heart disease according to the American Heart Association. One in three adults has high blood pressure but almost a quarter of them don’t know it and of those being treated, over fifty percent do not have their blood pressure down to goal.

Control cholesterol: Too much cholesterol in the blood is a major risk factor for heart disease. Following some of the steps already mentioned above will help reduce blood cholesterol but many people also need to take medication to get cholesterol down to where it needs to be.

Reduce blood sugar: Diabetes is one of the six major controllable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Adults with Diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease or a stroke than adults without diabetes according to the American Heart Association.

Check out the American Heart Association’s My Life Check to get your personalized heart score and custom plan and start taking steps today.

Cindy Farricker, MS, RD, CDE

Obesity has surpassed smoking in harming our health

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A recent article to be published in the February 2010 issue of The American Journal of Preventive Medicine is bound to stir up a lot of emotion in the nation’s ongoing health care discussions. The article titled “Trends in Quality-Adjusted Life-Years Lost Contributed by Smoking and Obesity” really boils down to this: Obesity is equal or has surpassed smoking as a contributor to illness and the shortening of healthy life.

This article may intensify trends already seen in the health insurance industry where obesity can mean higher health insurance premiums or even denial of coverage. The increased health care costs associated with treating conditions related to obesity is the new hot button for health insurers. Consumers need to be aware that health insurance companies are ultimately in business to make money and they are viewing those who are obese as a poor business risk because the likelihood that they will develop health problems is dramatically higher individuals at a healthy weight.

Clearly Americans need to lose weight. From 1993 to 2008 the proportion of obese people increased 85% according the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) established by the CDC. The fact that losing weight is difficult is well established however it is doable. A great site to check out techniques used by successful “losers” is The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), established in 1994 by Rena Wing, Ph.D. from Brown Medical School, and James O. Hill, Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, it is the largest prospective investigation of long-term successful weight loss maintenance.

By Cindy Farricker, MS, RD, CDE

Who said natural isn’t better for you?

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An interesting and thought provoking study examining the influence natural versus man-made environments have on people was published today in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin by researchers Netta Weinstein, Andrew Przybylski and Richard Ryan. A study of 370 individuals across four different study environments consistently showed that people exposed to natural elements rated close relationships and community higher than they had prior to exposure. So does paying attention to the natural world make you behave better? Actually their results would indicate, yes.

Lead author Netta Weinstein says the findings highlight the importance of creating green spaces in cities and have implications for planners and architects. By contrast, “to the extent that our links with nature are disrupted, we may also lose some connection with each other”, She goes on to say, “We are influenced by our environment in ways that we are not aware of”.

Because of the hidden benefits of connecting with nature, people should take advantage of opportunities to get away from built environments and, when inside, they should surround themselves with plants, natural objects, and images of the natural world. “The more you appreciate nature, the more you can benefit”.

To read more:
Can Nature Make Us More Caring? Effects of Immersion in Nature on Intrinsic Aspirations and Generosity.
Netta Weinstein, Andrew K. Przybylski, Richard M. Ryan

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 10, 1315-1329 (2009)

Cindy Farricker, MS, RD, CDE

Breaking news story demonstrate the power consumers have over large American food manufacturers.

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American consumers have been making demands in the market place for foods that are healthier and they have voiced their concern over the quality of food being marketed to children. Two news stories this week show how consumer pressure can produce change in food companies’ behavior.

The first story, released December 8th by PepsiCo announced the opening of their new research laboratory that will focus on the development of healthier food and beverage products. he new facility is located next to Yale University and will focus on a nutritional overhaul of its product range.

Dr. Mehmood Khan, PepsiCo’s chief scientific officer states “Ultimately, we’re trying to make it easier for consumers to lead healthier lifestyles”.

Click here for complete PepsiCo press release

 

U.S. diabetes cases projected to double and costs to triple in 25 years

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According to data in a report published in the December 2009 issue of Diabetes Care(1), the cost of treating diabetes will triple by 2034 reaching a staggering $336 billion annually, up from the current $113 billion. A big reason for the projected increase is that by 2034 an estimated 44.1 million Americans will be living with diabetes (up from the current 23.7 million today). These estimates are based on zero increase in the prevalence of obesity in 25 years, and for that reason, are considered to be conservative.

A similar report was published in Sept-Oct issue of the journal Health Affairs(2) but it didn’t get the media attention of this December publication. The methods used to make the projections published in both publications were very complex and attempted to consider direct diabetes medical costs, trends in risk factors for diabetes (such as obesity), the natural progression of the disease and the effects of treatments including recent advancements in treatments.

There are a few issues that are worrisome about this report:

  1. The financial burden of diabetes will add a significant strain to an overburdened health care system and certainly will be felt no matter what direction this country heads in terms of health-care reform.
  2. Medicare will be strained to the breaking point because HALF of the $336 billion spent on diabetes care annually will come from Medicare. According to the study’s authors “the projected growth in diabetes care spending exceeds current projections of spending by Medicare”.
  3. According to the authors, the detailed forecasting used in this report’s analysis is not currently used by government budget analysts (causing the issue mentioned above).

“Our study strongly suggests that diabetes will grow in the coming decades, both in population size and costs, and will have significant impacts on the lives of Americans and the financial viability of programs like Medicare.”

This report was done to improve the budgetary and health outcome data available to U.S. policymakers. How this will really play out over the next 25 years is up to all of us, citizens and policymakers alike. Americans needs to take a stand on diabetes and work toward improved diabetes management (through provider care, medication, diet and exercise) to reduce costly complications, and focus on diabetes prevention through healthy eating and physical activity. This study is America’s wake-up call to action – let’s hope we are paying attention.

“In light of the sheer magnitude of costs associated with diabetes, policymakers and the public need to understand how these costs will change over the next decades and how new policies may alter these trends in costs.”

1. Huang ES, Basu A., O’Grady M, Capretta J, Projecting the Future Diabetes Population Size and Related Costs for the U.S. Diabetes Care. 2009; 32(12) 2225-2229.

2. Huang ES, Basu A, O’Grady M, Capretta J, Using Clinical Information to Project Federal Health Care Spending. Health Affairs. 2009 28(5) 978-990.

American eating habits: how much does money have to do with it?

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Opinion piece by Cindy Farricker, MS, RD, CDE

A “teaser” for the nightly news broadcast on the last day of September was “Not one US state is meeting the national objectives for fruit and vegetable consumption”. The news headline came from a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on September 29th, “State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables 2009” accessed September 30, 2009.

Most of us are aware that Americans have a history of not eating enough fruits and vegetables. The government has tried to encourage us to eat more through their “Five a Day” campaign now replaced by “Fruits and Vegetables Matter”, both from the Centers for Disease Control.

It must have come as a great disappointment to the CDC when they learned that, according to their report, not even one state had met the recommended guidelines of consuming at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day. These guidelines were part of Healthy People 2010, which was published nearly 9 years ago (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 2000). The goal outlined in Health People 2010 for fruit and vegetable consumption was to aim for at least 75 percent of Americans to eat the recommended 2 daily servings of fruit and 50 percent to eat the recommended 3 or more servings of vegetables daily. The CDC’s survey found that only 33% of adults ate the recommended fruit and 27 percent at the recommended vegetables servings per day.

I have to wonder if the money invested in promoting the government’s health messages is simply dwarfed by the money spent on food advertising. To put this in perspective from the most recent data I could locate, in 2006 it is estimated that 7.8 billion was spent on food advertising (taken from data published by Advertising Age’s Global Marketers, 16 November 2007), as compared to 720 million (0.72 billion) spent by the CDC on chronic disease prevention and health promotion Office of Budget, US Department of Health and Human Services. FY 2006 Budget in Brief. Available at: http://www.hhs.gov/budget/06budget accessed October 1, 2009. One has to wonder what the effect would be on our consumption habits if we, as consumers, saw the fruit and vegetable message as often as we saw the other food ads.

To see how your state faired….

Behavioral Indicators
Adult Fruit & Vegetable Consumption Map

Percentage of U.S. adults aged ≥ 18 years who consumed fruit two or more times per day & vegetables three or more times per day, by state.
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2007

Range (8.8% to 20.1%)

To read the full article by the CDC click here.

Type 2 Diabetes on the rise in the U.S.

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Type 2 Diabetes has tripled in the last 30 years, and much of the increase correlates to the dramatic upsurge in obesity. Currently sixty-one percent of the adult population is classified as overweight or obese with a parallel increase in overweight children and adolescents. Currently diabetes afflicts more than 20.6 million people in the United States with Type 2 accounting for up to 95 percent of all cases.

But, there is good news: Diabetes can be prevented. By losing a modest amount of weight, getting 30 minutes of physical activity 5 days a week and eating healthier, people with pre-diabetes can delay or prevent getting type 2 diabetes. A great resource for starting your own personalized diabetes prevention plan can be found by checking out this web site: www.ndep.nih.gov.

For those that already have type 2 diabetes, management is the focus. A big part of diabetes management is improving blood glucose control. While diet is the major factor effecting blood glucose levels, diet also plays a role in managing blood pressure, and cholesterol levels which are also important when you have diabetes. Eating home prepared meals helps people manage their diabetes because they know what is going into the food they eat. They are also better able to control portion size which helps with blood glucose control and weight management.

Cindy Farricker, RD CDE