Health News

Finding Foods for your Whole Life

Today I had the pleasure of attendeding the ‘Food for your Whole Life” conference in Manhattan. Although the esteemed panel of speakers will each be featured in my future blogs, for now, I wanted to share with you a snapshot of the pearls of wisdom that stood out. Through the internet, TV, newspapers, magazines, and radio (not to mention friends and family), we are regularly bombarded with thousands of messages pertaining to our health. Sadly, not all of those facts and figures are credible.

Here are some sound-bites that turn science into sense:

Dr. Mehmet Oz: “Ninety percent of people with Type 2 diabetes can prevent it.” “You can’t change your real age but you can change your chorological age.” “A healthy diet is one that is easy to love – if you don’t love it, you won’t do it.” “You may not be able to get rid of the stressors in your life, but you need to learn how to cope with them.”

Dr. Michael Roizen: “Until you are 6 feet under – you get a do-over. You can take your health into your own hands.” “The average person eats over 800 calories more each day than they did in the early 1980’s.” “The five types of foods that will age you include saturated fat, trans fats, added sugars, syrups and refined/simple carbohydrates.”

Dr. David Katz: “With better use of our feet [exercise more], forks [eat better], and fingers [don’t smoke] we can slash health risks.” “We don’t have a health care system – we have a disease care system.” “If we want our children to eat better, we need to be eating better ourselves.” “Debunk an urban legend—good foods don’t have to cost more.” “Years ago calories were hard to get and exercise was unavoidable; today exercise is hard to get and calories are unavoidable!”

Dr. Brian Wansink: “Your plate size shouldn’t determine how much you eat.” “Give your kids a snack to bring with them for after school instead of giving them money to purchase a snack. The likelihood is that your choice will be healthier than theirs.”

Mollie Katzen: “There doesn’t need to be a line drawn in the sand between foods that are good for us and foods we enjoy.”

Rocco DiSpirito: “People want their cake and eat it too – but almost any food can be made to taste healthy.”

And for more…follow me on Twitter @eatsmartbd for during day two tomorrow.

-- Bonnie Taub-Dix