There are some exciting new interactive, online tools for healthy eating that CDC has developed.
Recipe RE-MIX provides guidance about changing recipes to make them more healthy. So, patients can modify their favorite recipes by enter them in the interactive database (please visit) http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/activities/analyze_my_plate.html. This tool will patients a variety of helpful tips for reducing the amount of total fat, saturated fat, sodium and sugar in the recipe. Also, in addition to lowering calories, the recipes incorporate fruits and vegetables as replacements for fats and sugars, thereby boosting the nutritional value of favorite foods.
I am very excited about another program developed by CDC, Analyze My Plate. Patients can evaluate their plate by clicking on the “Analyze My Plate” icon found on the CDC’s website above. This tool allows individuals to create healthy plates for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that incorporate foods from all food groups. Patients will have fun moving fruits and vegetables to a virtual plate, and see what the nutritional outcome is. This is an incredible tool for teaching principles of healthy meal planning. I think health professionals will have fun with this tool, as well.
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans have been released recently. The main messages are that individuals should eat less, make smarter food choices, and be physically active. Specific recommendations for heart health include achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight, lowering saturated fat, trans fat, and dietary cholesterol, reducing intake of sodium and added sugars. These are all very important messages that clinicians should communicate to their patients.
A new feature of the 2010 Guidelines is inclusion of an Appendix that lists potential strategies for health professionals to use in implementing the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for key consumer behaviors (Appendix 2). For example, to help patients manage calorie intake, Appendix 2 presents key consumer behaviors to address, and potential strategies to help individuals modify their behavior to achieve a specific dietary guideline recommendation.
One topic that is addressed deals with calorie intake and the key consumer behaviors that can control calorie intake. Numerous potential strategies are presented that clinicians can communicate to their patients to help control calorie intake and, consequently, manage body weight.
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines target an overweight and obese population, which represents about 67% of the adult U.S. population. We are mindful that obesity that is associated with an increased risk of CHD. A new study published by Logue et al. in the February 14 issue of Heart reported that obesity is associated with fatal CHD Independent of traditional risk factors. The authors reported that men in the West of Scotland Prevention Study (WOSCOPS) with an increased BMI (30-39.9) may have increased risk of fatal CHD events beyond that mediated by classic risk factors.
Collectively, much remains to be done to decrease the prevalence of overweight and obesity. In addition to treating lipid risk factors and high blood pressure in patients, it is urgently important to aggressively intervene with patients who are not at a healthy body weight.
The American Diabetes Association has a very good resource for health care professionals to teach them skills needed to assist patients with behavior changes. The program "Facilitating Behavior Change: Key Strategies for Empowering Your Patients " is an easy-to-follow tutorial.
