March 22nd, 2012
Every monday at 4:15pm on QR77 Radio join me and Angela Kokott host of Calgary Today with our segment “You are what you eat” to get the goods on healthy eating. If you missed my segments I will be archiving these audio discussions on my blog here.
In this segment I will be exploring how to start the day off right with a balanced breakfast.
Listen to Episode 2: March 19, 2012 here: Episode 2: Start the day off right! Break-the-fast
Here are some of the highlights of today’s segment
What are the 3 things mom always says…wear clean underwear, wash your hands and eat breakfast….Mom was right….“breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
Seems so simple but often skipped.
Why is it so important?
Breakfast sets the stage for the entire day. It giving our brain essential energy, improves our ability to concentrate and focus as well as boosts mood. Eating breakfast can help you manage a healthy weight and also lose weight if you are overweight. Research shows people that eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight. If you are struggling with overeating in the evening one of the single most important things to look at is your breakfast. If you are underrating in the early part of the day, you will likely overeat later.
What can we learn from Sumo wrestlers about breakfast?
Ever wondered what a Sumo wrestler eats for breakfast? You might be dreaming of a loaf of bread, a pound of bacon and a dozen eggs. Actually they eat absolutely nothing. One of the best ways to maximize fat storage is to starve the body of essential energy during the day when you need it most and eat the majority of your food intake just in time for bed. On the other hand, healthy weight management involves eating breakfast which sparks the metabolism and helps you burn energy for the day ahead.
How soon after waking should we eat breakfast?
Ideally choose a breakfast within one hour of waking. If you absolutely despise eating in the morning and find this difficult, try to have breakfast at the first available time you think you could stomach something (I bet this is before noon!). Also consider making a deal with yourself that you don’t have coffee until you eat something. Coffee without breakfast will give you a false energy that won’t last.
What constitutes a healthy breakfast meal?
A healthy breakfast should include 3 things:
1. Grain/starch (such as toast, oatmeal, cereal etc.)
2. Vegetable and/or Fruit (such as fresh/frozen/dried fruit, veggies or unsweetened juice)
3. Source of Protein (such as cheese, milk, soy milk, eggs, meat, nuts, nut butter etc.
Listen to this program and see how you score on my 10 point breakfast quiz!
Tags: andrea holwegner, breakfast, eating out, food, health and wellness, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy eating, lunch, nutrition, productivity, registered dietitian, sumo wrestlers, supper, the chocoholic dietitian, vegetables, weight loss, weight management
Posted in Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Media-TV-Radio, Our Radio Program "You are what you eat", Weight Management | No Comments »
March 22nd, 2012
Every monday at 4:15pm on QR77 Radio join me and Angela Kokott host of Calgary Today with our segment “You are what you eat” to get the goods on healthy eating. If you missed my segments I will be archiving these audio discussions on my blog here.
Listen to the program here: Episode 1: How to have more fun AND still be healthy
In our opening segment I explore my nutrition philosophy and these 2 key questions:
1. Why is it so hard to eat healthy?
- 2 big challenges TIME, OVERWHELM but most of all…
- People are not having any fun – restrictions, rules, deprivation
- Fun = success (in life and with food)
- You can have health without guilt or complexity
- We all want what we can’t have
2. How can I have more fun and still achieve health and weight management?
- Don’t commit to anything 100% – imperfect is perfect
- There is no better time than NOW to begin
- Work around “non-negotiables” – chocolate for me, what is it for you?
Tags: andrea holwegner, chocolate, eating disorder, energy, food, food fun, health, health and wellness, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy eating, nutrition, nutrition radio program, productivity, QR77 radio, registered dietitian, the chocoholic dietitian, weight loss, weight management, you are what you eat
Posted in Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Media-TV-Radio, Our Radio Program "You are what you eat", Weight Management | No Comments »
March 22nd, 2012
Lauri struggled with sweet cravings for candy, cookies and just about anything chocolate. After returning home from a long day of work at a job she found draining and unrewarding, she was particularly prone to bingeing on these foods.
She tried different strategies to stop eating them, including removing them completely and treating them like a drug she could not have, or only eating them on the weekend and not during the week. These worked for a while, until willpower failed and she binged again, leaving her further deflated with shame and guilt.
To overcome this issue, Lauri had to tackle the physical and emotional reasons for it. She worked with a clinical psychologist to work through the core belief systems she had about her life and her future.
After all, how you eat is related to how you feel.
This, combined with our nutrition counselling meetings, helped map out an eating plan that allowed Lauri to gain control of her eating.
Lauri learned that her save-now-binge-later mindset only set her up to feel hopeless and out of control. When, instead, she allowed herself enough calories and carbohydrates to feed her brain during the workday, she arrived home in a physically nourished state. She also learned to provide herself with permission to truly enjoy the taste of sweets rather than using them to stuff down anger and sadness.
Whether you are struggling with bingeing or are simply wondering how best to manage cravings for junk food, you have choices.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: andrea holwegner, bingeing, chocolate, cravings, eating disorder, food, health and wellness, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy eating, junk food cravings, nutrition, registered dietitian, snacks, sugar, sweet tooth, teenager, the chocoholic dietitian, weight loss, weight management
Posted in Calgary Herald, Health Concerns, Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Media-TV-Radio, Weight Management | 3 Comments »
March 6th, 2012
Come watch me present a FUN information packed nutrition session:
Bite-sized Changes for Supersized Results
THURSDAY MARCH 15, 2012 7-8pm
Advanced tickets : $10; Tickets at the door: $15
For tickets call the Calgary JCC Centre at 403-253-8600 www.calgaryjcc.com
Download a brochure here: nutrition-seminar
As the Chocoholic Dietitian, Andrea has a mission to help you achieve health without guilt and complexity. Food and eating is much like life; when you are having fun, you will be successful. You don’t need complicated plans and a huge amount of time or resources. You also don’t need to sacrifice your favourites to improve your wellness.
Andrea highlights what you can learn from the hundreds of past clients she has seen trying to make change. Learn what not to do from those she calls the “stuck-strugglers” and find out the best strategies used by her clients she considers the “shaker-movers.”
Bite-sized changes to what or how you are eating can have supersized results in your wellness. This humorous, content-rich session will inspire you to move forward with clear focus.
Good health, top notch energy and managing a healthy weight is all within your reach!
Presented by: Andrea Holwegner BSc, RD, the “Chocoholic Dietitian” is founder and president of Health Stand Nutrition Consulting Inc. since 2000, a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and a media expert for the Dietitians of Canada. Andrea is a regular guest on Global News-Morning, CITY-TV’s Breakfast Television, and a regular writer for CBC News Online and the Calgary Herald. Combining lessons learned from counseling hundreds of clients plus her work with Olympic athletes, Andrea will show you the recipe for success is learning how to enjoy guilt-free eating and balance ALL foods! Visit www.healthstandnutrition.com.
Tags: andrea holwegner, energy, food, health and wellness, health and wellness speaker, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy eating, nutrition, productivity, productivity speaker, registered dietitian, weight loss, weight management, woman motivational speaker
Posted in Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Upcoming Event, Weight Management | No Comments »
March 6th, 2012
True hunger
We eat for many reasons. We eat in response to both true hunger and emotional hunger. The signs of true hunger may include the stomach rumbles, fatigue, difficulty focusing, food cravings and negative changes in mood.
Young children are often fascinating role models of understanding hunger and fullness. They may go through phases of eating lots when they are growing and at other times choosing not to eat much at all. A child may be eating one of their favorite foods and leave just an itsy bite on their plate and claim they are full. Many adults, on the other hand, would find it difficult to leave a bite of any food on their plate, especially if it is one of their favourite foods. Over time, adults often become less sensitive in detecting hunger cues in response to habit, restrictive dieting, stress, sadness or other powerful emotional cues that urge us to eat. It becomes tricky to detect true hunger patterns since eating is also connected to childhood food associations, memories, cultural beliefs and traditions.
Everyone has a unique eating pattern that works for them. Some people choose to graze and eat meals and several snacks every few hours, while others find eating three square meals a day works well. Your hunger patterns will differ on a day to day basis and on the weekend versus weekdays.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: andrea holwegner, eating disorder, emotional eating, food, health and wellness, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy eating, hunger cues, nutrition, registered dietitian, snacks, speed of eating, stress eating, sugar, the chocoholic dietitian, weight loss, weight management
Posted in Health Concerns, Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Uncategorized, Weight Management | 2 Comments »
March 6th, 2012
After a 20-year struggle to lose weight, Marjorie was diagnosed with diabetes. Despite attending a group diabetes education session, she found it hard to put the dietary theory into practice, and so her doctor referred her for customized one-on-one advice.
Marjorie was encountering two key issues. The first was how much carbohydrate to consume at a meal without causing her blood sugars to soar. The second was how to read a label and interpret the list of numbers and words displayed on a food package.
Understanding what is relevant on a food label for your own unique nutrition needs is a key step in managing your health. But that’s hard to do, thanks to marketing messages, a long list of numbers to decipher and complex scientific words in the ingredient list.
A 2006 article published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine by Russell Rothman and colleagues found that label reading is confusing for a large number of people. In fact, only 37 per cent of people could calculate the number of carbohydrates in a 20-ounce bottle that contained two-and-a-half servings.
To help guide you through a typical label, here are the three major parts of a food label that reveal ingredients, nutrition facts and health claims.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: andrea holwegner, diabetes, eating out, food, food ingredient list, food label, grocery shopping, health and wellness, health claims, healthy eating, label reading, nutrient claims, nutrition, nutrition facts table, registered dietitian, snacks, the chocoholic dietitian, weight loss, weight management
Posted in Calgary Herald, Health Concerns, Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Kids Nutrition, Sports Nutrition, Weight Management | 1 Comment »
March 6th, 2012
Imagine you are the presenter of an afternoon wellness seminar at a conference just after what was described in the event brochure as the sugar-fix break. The smorgasbord full of treats served at the break has left people dozy and unable to concentrate – an inevitable carb-coma state, since simple carbohydrate sugars spike in the blood stream quickly and then fall abruptly.
Then imagine you are hired as a nutrition speaker for a different company’s health and safety meeting that included an unhealthy lunch: greasy lasagna, goopy caesar salad and butter-drenched white garlic toast, rounded off with a platter of Nanaimo bars and cans of pop.
As a wellness and productivity speaker, both of the above scenarios have happened to me and left me, as well as many attendees, confused about the mixed message. Corporate groups, associations and government groups hire wellness experts to inspire their team to take personal responsibility for their health, yet sometimes fail to walk the talk by taking the same responsibility.
Before you plan your company’s next corporate wellness meeting, conference or event, here are some things to keep in mind.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: andrea holwegner, conference food, conference meals, corporate wellness, eating out, health and wellness, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy business, healthy eating, lunch, nutrition, productivity, registered dietitian, snacks, supper, the chocoholic dietitian, weight loss, weight management
Posted in Calgary Herald, Health Concerns, Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Weight Management | No Comments »
February 6th, 2012
Listen to my audio interview with QR77 Radio host Angela Kokott:
QR77 radio – Feb 2, 2012 should pop be banned for kids under 18?
Tags: andrea holwegner, day care nutrition, eating out, energy drinks, food, health and wellness, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy eating, kids, lunch, nutrition, registered dietitian, snacks, soda pop, sugar, teenager, the chocoholic dietitian, weight loss, weight management
Posted in Health Concerns, Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Kids Nutrition, Media-TV-Radio, Weight Management | No Comments »
February 6th, 2012
By Andrea Holwegner BSc, RD www.healthstandnutrition.com Twitter: @chocoholicRD
My niece Zoe Meier and her tomato crop
Teresa was a healthy, active five-year old, but a classic picky eater. She had a handful of foods she liked for lunch, including cheese sandwiches, dry cereal, and crackers and cheese.
She liked a few select fruits, but her parents struggled to get her to eat enough veggies.
Like many well-intentioned parents, they offered good-sized portions of Teresa’s favourite foods since they didn’t want her to go hungry.
Little did they know this might be further hindering Teresa’s ability to eat more veggies and fruit.
An article published in the February 2012 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Jennifer Savage and colleagues reported that serving smaller entree portions to kids ages three to five is one way to increase fruit and vegetable intake.
If you offer your child a half portion of macaroni and cheese or half of a sandwich, they will likely have room to eat the raw veggies and dip or fruit salad you prepared.
This study also found kids eat fewer overall calories, which could be an important strategy if your child is overweight.
How much does my child need per day? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: andrea holwegner, day care nutrition, food, health and wellness, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy eating, kids, lunch, nutrition, registered dietitian, snacks, teenager, the chocoholic dietitian, vegetables
Posted in Calgary Herald, Health Concerns, Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Kids Nutrition | 2 Comments »
January 26th, 2012
By Andrea Holwegner BSc, RD www.healthstandnutrition.com Twitter: chocoholicRD
As an editor at a newspaper, 46-year-old Evelyn found herself working long 12-hour days trying to stay on top of the never-ending deadlines and projects.
On a good day she got enough sleep, ate well and squeezed in some exercise. She got up early to chop raw veggies to include as part of her lunch, ate healthy snacks and pulled out a frozen meal she cooked in advance to heat up when she got home.
On a bad day she worked too much, didn’t fit in exercise and didn’t have any time for herself. She didn’t pack much food and didn’t have time to leave work to get a proper lunch. Her energy levels would slide and it became known in her office that a can of cola on her desk signified a bad day. Having sub-optimal nutrition on these days meant it was hard for Evelyn to talk herself out of buying takeout on the way home or overindulging in comfort foods in the evening.
When a friend of hers mentioned his “seven-day-a-week, always-on-call lifestyle was killing him,” she knew hers was also and she needed to make changes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: andrea holwegner, breakfast, food, health and wellness, health stand nutrition consulting inc., healthy eating, lunch, nutrition, nutrition for baby boomers, registered dietitian, snacks, supper, the chocoholic dietitian, vegetables, weight loss, weight management
Posted in Calgary Herald, Health Concerns, Healthy Eating, Healthy Mindsets, Weight Management | 1 Comment »
