Tips help members succeed with diet
Tips help members succeed with diet
Slow but steady wins the race to good health
Making permanent changes in your eating habits can be hard to do, but evidence continues to mount that lifestyle changes such as a healthier diet can translate to reduced health risks and reduced health costs.
Eva Obarzanek, PhD, RD, research nutritionist and project officer of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) study of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, MD, offers the following tips to health plan members adopt healthier eating patterns for life:
1. Make changes gradually. "If an individual currently eats one or two vegetables a day, suggest they add a serving at lunch and another at dinner," Obarzanek says. Suggest members try drinking low-fat or skim milk with meals instead of soda or alcoholic beverages.
2. Treat meat as one part of a meal rather than the focus. Encourage members to limit meat to a total of 6 oz daily, she says. Suggest individuals cut their current meat servings by a third until they get used to smaller portions. Encourage members to try casseroles, pastas, and stir-fry dishes, which often have less meat and more vegetables, grains, and beans, she says.
3. Stay focused on the overall goal. Reassure members that a few days of backsliding will not undo all their good work, Obarzanek says. If individuals do get off track, help them discover what caused them to stray. "Was it a party? Are they under a lot of stress at home? Did they try to make too many dietary changes at once? Help them find out why they got sidetracked, and then help them get started again," she says.
4. Use fruits or low-fat foods as desserts and snacks. Suggest that members carry dried fruits for quick snacks on the run, she suggests. Other good snack choices include nuts mixed with raisins, graham crackers and other reduced-fat crackers, gelatin, raw vegetables, and plain popcorn. (For more on the DASH diet, see chart and story, p. 88.)
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