By Lucas Duppler M.S., CISSN
Within the last couple of years, a trip down the dairy aisle at your local grocery store has evolved into a glimpse at consumer demand for alternatives to actual dairy products. According to Mintel, non-dairy milk sales are up 30 percent since 2011, and represent a $2 billion category.
There’s an important distinction that needs to be made before we go any further, that being that these products are not actually ‘milk.’ The FDA defines milk as a “lacteal secretion obtained by milking one or more healthy cows.” Of course, products such as soy and almond milks do not fit this definition, so I prefer to refer to them as milk-like products. While a plant-based diet has plenty of benefits, including obesity reduction, diabetes management, and blood pressure lowering, we’re here to discuss our main staple, protein, with which most milk-like products tend to be low in.
For instance, the average serving of almond milk tends to contain just one gram of protein. Compared to most dairy-based milk products, which contain on average 9 grams of protein, almond-based products fall short of packing a protein punch. However, almond milks tend to be lower in calories (hence the positive effect on obesity reduction), while also being lower in sugar content.
Yet, as it relates to protein, almond-based milk-like products will be awfully costly from a caloric standpoint with regards to your protein goals. As we’ve touted before, most people should be aiming to consume at least 25-30g of protein with each meal. To obtain the same amount of protein that comes from dairy-based products, you’d have to drink 9 servings of almond milk, which equates to 540 calories, roughly 440 calories higher than a single serving of skim milk. If you’ve chosen a plant-based diet for some of the positive outcomes outlined above, a much easier option would be to implement soy milk into your daily regimen. While still slightly lower in protein, these products are often fortified with both calcium and vitamin D and are lactose free, which is an obvious advantage for those whom are lactose-intolerant.
Salud! Chin-chin! You can find healthy dishes for any type of cuisine — you just have to know what to look for.t — you just need to be smart about your choices. These suggestions
will help you savor a range of cuisines, while keeping calories, fat,
cholesterol and sodium under control. Consider these pointers the next
time you get takeout or go out to eat at a restaurant.
Chinese
Look for:
Stir-fried or steamed dishes with lots of vegetables. Ask to have your
stir-fried dishes prepared in little or no oil. Steamed rice, poached
fish, and hot and sour soups are also good choices.
Avoid: Fatty spareribs, fried wontons, egg rolls,
shrimp toast and fried rice. To limit sodium, ask that your food be
prepared without salt or monosodium glutamate (MSG). Request soy sauce —
which is high in sodium — or other sauces on the side. You could also
ask your server if low-sodium soy sauce is available.
French
Look for:
Steamed shellfish, roasted poultry or salad with dressing on the side.
Entrees with sauces made from a wine or tomato base — such as Bordelaise
or à la Provençal — are also healthy choices.
Avoid: French onion soup — it's high in sodium and
high in fat if it has cheese. Also steer clear of croissants, pâté, and
high-fat sauces — such as béchamel, hollandaise and béarnaise.
Greek
Look for:
A Greek salad or fish cooked with tomatoes, onions and garlic (plaki).
Also consider chicken kebabs — which are broiled on a spit, often with
tomatoes, onions and peppers.
Avoid: Dishes with large amounts of butter or oil,
such as eggplant appetizers (baba ghanoush) and desserts made with
phyllo dough, butter, nuts and honey (baklava). To limit sodium, avoid
olives, anchovies and feta cheese.
talian
Look for:
Tomato sauce with garlic and onions (aka marinara), sauce based in wine
(Marsala), clam sauce and pasta primavera with fresh vegetables and a
small amount of oil. Simply prepared fish and chicken dishes are also
good choices.
Avoid: Pasta stuffed with cheese or fatty meat and
dishes with cream or butter sauces. Veal scaloppini and parmigiana
(cooked with Parmesan cheese) contain added fat.
Japanese
Look for:
Steamed rice, soba or udon noodles, stir-fried noodles (yakisoba),
chicken teriyaki (yakitori), steamed dumplings (shumai), tofu, sukiyaki,
and vegetables and rice (kayaku gohan).
Avoid: Shrimp or vegetable tempura, chicken katsu, fried pork (tonkatsu), shrimp agemono and fried tofu.
Mexican
Look for:
Grilled fish, shrimp and chicken with salsa made of tomato, chilies and
onion. Order corn tortillas — they're lower in fat and calories than
are flour tortillas — as long as they aren't deep fried. For a side
dish, order rice or beans. Make sure your side dishes aren't cooked with
fat or lard — ask your server about this.
Avoid: Dishes with large amounts of cheese, sour cream and guacamole. Chips also add a lot of fat and calories.
Mayo Clinic
Beat your food cravings: 8 effective techniques
Don't let a sweet tooth or carb craving prevent you from reaching your goals. Keep cravings in check with these practical methods.
The foods you crave are likely to be high in sugar, fats and carbohydrates — such as pizza, chocolate, cake, chips and ice cream. Cravings can derail your efforts at weight control and may lead to binge eating, but you can learn how to manage them and stay on course with these tips.
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Enjoy a small portion. Don't give up these foods. In your overall healthy diet, include a small portion of the less healthy foods you crave. Better to enjoy a square of chocolate than to avoid it altogether.
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Eat something healthy first. It's often easier to eat less of the food you're craving if you're not ravenously hungry.
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Keep the food you crave out of the house. Buy the item only when you plan to eat it, or order it at a restaurant.
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Change your mental picture. When you experience a craving, replace the image of the food with a picture of yourself doing your favorite activity or some other pleasant image.
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Distract yourself. Food cravings usually pass after 20 minutes. Try taking a walk or talking to a friend.
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Chew gum. Chewing sugarless gum reduces hunger and cravings for sweet and salty snacks.
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Get enough sleep and exercise. These habits help lower your levels of the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates appetite. Lack of sleep can lead to food cravings and overeating.
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Substitute a healthier option. Satisfy your craving for something smooth and creamy with something low-fat or fat-free, such as yogurt, pureed fruit or buttermilk. Eat a piece of fruit as a healthy sweet snack.
Experiment to see which strategies work best for you so that you can control your cravings — not the other way around.
Get the skinny on dietary fats, including the healthy types to eat and the ones to avoid.
Your body needs some fat to function normally. But it's wise to choose the healthier types of dietary fat and then enjoy them — in moderation.
Fats: The good and the bad
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the best choices. Look for products with little or no saturated fats, and avoid trans fats: Both increase blood-cholesterol levels and can increase your risk of heart disease. And keep in mind that all fats — the good stuff as well as the bad — are high in calories, so measuring and moderation are key.
The good:
- Monounsaturated fats are found in olive, canola and peanut oils, as well as in avocados and most nuts.
- Polyunsaturated fats are found in other plant-based oils, such as safflower, corn, sunflower, soybean, sesame and cottonseed oils. Omega-3 fats are polyunsaturated fats that help your cells function.
The bad:
- Saturated fats are found in animal-based foods, such as meats, poultry, lard, egg yolks and whole-fat dairy products, including butter and cheese. They're also in cocoa butter and coconut, palm and other tropical oils, which are used in many coffee lighteners, snack crackers, baked goods and other processed foods.
- Trans fats — also called hydrogenated vegetable oils — are found in hardened vegetable fats, such as stick margarine and vegetable shortening. Lots of foods contain these unhealthy ingredients as well, including crackers, cookies, cakes, pies and other baked goods, as well as many candies, snack foods and french fries.
Tips for choosing foods with the best types of dietary fat
First, focus on reducing foods high in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. Then emphasize food choices that include plenty of monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). But a word of caution — don't go overboard even on healthy fats. All fats, including the healthy ones, are high in calories. So consume MUFA-rich and PUFA-rich foods instead of other fatty foods, not in addition to them.
Here are some tips to help you make over the fat in your diet:
- Use the Nutrition Facts label and ingredient list when selecting foods. Look for the amount of trans fat listed. By law a serving of food containing less than 0.5 grams of trans fat can be labeled as 0 grams. Therefore, it is important to also check the ingredient list rather than just the Nutrition Facts label for the terms trans fat and partially hydrogenated.
- Prepare fish, such as salmon and mackerel, instead of meat at least twice a week to get a source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Limit sizes to 4 ounces of cooked seafood a serving, and bake or broil seafood instead of frying.
- Use liquid vegetable oil instead of solid fats. For example, saute with olive oil instead of butter, and use canola oil when baking.
- Use olive oil in salad dressings and marinades.
- Use egg substitutes instead of whole eggs when possible to cut back on the cholesterol in yolks.
- Select milk and dairy products that are low in fat.
The Mayo Clinic Diet
