Today Wellness Revolution 101 has the privilege to interview Amy Pettibone out of New York, New York. She is a Registered Dietitian at New York Presbyterian Hospital who works with adults and children.
In America billions of dollars are spent on diets, what to eat, supplements? We all search for a better body and a better life. There is probably a method to the madness but with all the marketing and confusion busy people are left trying thousands of diets and have no results. Also, there are tons of misconceptions and fad diets that could end up doing more harm than good. Amy will address some of these questions to simplify your search for the best results in today's interview.
WR101: Amy please tell everyone a little bit about your background...
Amy: I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutritional Science from Cornell University and I am currently working on a Master’s in Nutrition and Exercise at Columbia University.
I am a Registered Dietitian and work at New York Presbyterian Hospital were I see a variety of patients.
WR101: Why would someone hire a nutritionist?
Amy: Nutritionists or Dietitians can help assess the adequacy of someone’s diet, determine individual nutrition needs, provide advice on improving eating habits, make customized meal plans. They have an advanced knowledge of food, cooking and nutrition that can help you navigate a supermarket, a restaurant menu or food label!
WR101: What is the key between fitness and healing and nutrition?
Amy: I believe a big key is setting attainable goals. I see so many individuals set themselves up for failure by expecting to see dramatic weight loss instantly. When the results are not instant, the person can feel stressed, or defeated and more likely to fall back on their old habits. You need to choose exercise and physical activities that you enjoy and can stick with. Same with diet; instead of worry about all the junk food you should avoid, concentrate and fill-up on the delicious variety of healthy food available. Finally, fitness and nutrition work synergistically to help you feel your best.
WR101: I've heard about eating for your blood type..what do you think?
Amy: I have heard of it to! Our bodies are designed to digest and absorb food and nutrients regardless of blood type. The antigens on blood cells that make you type A, B, or O do not affect your metabolism or weight… however, they are important for blood transfusions or transplant patients!
WR101: What do you think about supplements...vitamins, any specific favorites or ones you should avoid or those that are useless.
Amy: First, I need to mention that most of the research that touts the benefits of vitamins and minerals are referring to the benefits from whole foods. We still don’t know all the substances in food that helps nutrient absorption. So, a DIET rich in vitamins and minerals is MORE important than a bad diet with a vitamin pill.
With that said, if you are not eating a balanced diet with 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables, and whole grains daily you may want to consider a multivitamin. If you drink a lot (more than 2 drinks per day, regularly) consider taking folic acid and thiamin.
Women of childbearing age should consider taking a pre-natal vitamin, or at least folic acid.
Remember though, its best to get your vitamins, minerals, omega -3s from foods!!
WR101: What about the yo-yo dieter why do they end up gaining more than they lose?
Amy: When we reduce our calorie intake our metabolism decreases for 3 reasons: 1. we use a lot of energy digestion and absorbing nutrients, 2. lean body mass loss and 3. Our bodies are designed to taken in and hold onto nutrients – not to loose weight! Went you diet, you are starving your body (to a degree) and the bodies response is to reduce the metabolic rate to hold onto its energy reserves. Extreme dieting without exercise can also lead to lean body mass or muscle loss, and muscle is more metabolically active than fat!
Now it this state, if you go back to your bad habit of over eating, your body is delighted that it’s not “starving” anymore and will pack away the calories as fat.
WR101: Is it bad to miss a meal? how about consistently?
Amy: Missing a meal once and a while will not affect your metabolism. If you are frequent meal skipper, or only eat twice a day, you are probably not optimizing your metabolism! Your body expends a lot of energy digesting and absorbing nutrients so it is better to space that process out over the day.
WR101: W hat diet or strategy do you have for the busy person who misses meals or misses breakfast and other meals?
Amy: Try to make healthy eating a priority. If you don’t have your HEALTH, what do you have? So wake up 15 minutes early, plan ahead, do what you have to do to get at least 33 meals a day.
Breakfast can be the original fast food –a piece of fruit (hey, it fits in your hand and doesn’t need cooking!!) and some yogurt. Hot or cold cereal is also a pretty quick breakfast.
For dinner, cook large meals when you have time, maybe on the weekend, and freeze individual meal-sized portions. Then you will have inexpensive, healthy, quick frozen meals for anytime!
WR101: What is an appropriate amount of weight to lose per week?
Amy: It is common practice to recommend 1-2 lbs per week weight loss. Loosing more than 1-2 lbs/week indicates loss of water weight or muscle. So, if you want to lose 30 pounds give yourself at least 30 weeks to do it! (30 lbs /1 lbs week = 30 weeks)
WR101: What's the best method to lose your weight? We have always coached people to decrease calories in and expend more for a defecit?
Amy: A calorie deficit is absolutely necessary for weight loss. You need to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. A calorie deficit of 500 calories a day will provide a 1 pound/week weight loss. This can be achieved by eating 500 calories less, exercising to burn 500 calories or a combination of diet and exercise (burn 250, eat 250 less). The best way would be the last because exercise 1) makes you feel great, 2) increases your metabolism.
Ways to easily cut out calories will be featured on another blog—stay tuned!
WR101: The usual population here in america consumes a lot more fast food than other countries how does this play a role in aging...etc?
Amy: Fast food is extremely low in nutrition (vitamins, minerals, fiber) and extremely high in fat and refined starch. We all need to realize that eating “junk food” or “fast food” once is a while is not going to have a huge impact on health. But neither is eating an apple once and a while. You need to look at your overall habits and patterns. If you are eating high fat, high sugar junk more often than not, you are setting yourself up for the chronic diseases that are the top killers in this country (heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease).
WR101: Is it wise to consume junk food ice cream, candy? how about as a treat?
Amy: Of course it is not wise to consume junk food, which I will define as food with a lot of calories and little nutritional value (vitamins, minerals, fiber, healthy fat, protein etc.)
However, I don’t expect you to never eat a brownie or a potato chip again! Just use moderation and good sense. Try to re-frame what your favorite foods are, you should enjoy foods that taste good AND nourish your body. I would recommend not using junk food as a treat because you shouldn’t use food as a reward. When you are following an overall healthy diet, you can have some junk food occasionally but you will probably find your cravings greatly reduced.
WR101: Thank You for your time and expertise, is there anyway someone could contact you if they have more questions?
Amy: Your welcome, it was my pleasure, I can be reached via email AmyNutrition@gmail.com