Optimal Diet, anyone?
Last week, I was at the Culinary Institute of America’s St. Helena campus, in Napa, California, for the 6th annual “Worlds of Flavors” invitational conference, co-sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health. There were five university representatives (Stanford, Iowa, Harvard, Texas A&M and UMass) in attendance, along with around 100 foodservice operators, chefs, nutritionists, dieticians, and foodservice suppliers, from MacDonalds, and the US Air Force, to the Whole Fruit Market. This is always one of my favorite conferences because of the content, the location, and the chance get into the kitchen to work with famed chefs. This time we had far from perfect weather, in fact it rained the whole time we were there. But our job was to learn from the experts and share knowledge, so there was nothing to complain about.
Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, and chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health; set the tone of the conference by his opening remarks, that Americans face an epidemic of diet-linked adverse health conditions and chronic diseases, from obesity and type 2 diabetes, to heart disease and various cancers. It is vital to our nation’s public health that the foodservice industry accelerate current efforts to expand healthy menu choices. Although progress has been made especially in getting rid of transfat, we still have a long way to go in other areas. During the last several years, the conference focused on reducing portion sizes, promoting the consumption of the good carbohydrate such as whole grains, made the vegetables the center of the plate, encouraged sodium reduction and staying away from sugary beverages.
It was an action-packed conference that began in the morning and ran until the early evening. There were chef demonstrations, and workshop topics, that included inspiration for healthy menu development, panel discussions and presentations, from research scientists, on calories reduction, nutrition labeling, carbohydrate quality, and sodium and health. Since science is constantly evolving, each year we pick up new information and ideas from attending the conference.
Some of the take-home messages from this year’s conference:
1. Percentage of calories from fat is not important; diets high in fat do not appear to be the primary cause of the high prevalence of excess body fat in our society
2. When aiming to reduce calories, focus mainly on reducing refined starch and sugar
3. Importance of saturated fat has been overstated; reducing red meat is beneficial
4. Consume no more than 1500 mg of sodium ( 1 teaspoon) per day
5. Obtain sugar from natural sources (ie. fruit) and limit usage of concentrated sugar
6. New science study links sugary drinks to a higher rate of heart disease
7. Exercising one half an hour a day is important
On the last day of the conference, we all went into kitchen to prepare meals with 2 oz of protein per person. Let me tell you, the food was delicious and it was fun to use more vegetables and fruit-based recipes.
I encourage you to get onboard the train of healthy eating. It has already left the station; are you ready to come along?
This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.
Ken Toong
Director
Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu
You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong