With every new year comes a flurry of healthy-eating resolutions—but by the end of January, many of them have wilted.
Some resolutions fail from too many leftover holiday cookies and too little self-control. For others, the issue is education: How exactly does one change an unhealthy lifestyle into a healthy one?
Those dealing with the latter problem may find their solution at Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital’s weekly nutrition classes, taught by registered dietitian Stacey Bailey.
The free classes focus on a different health-related issue each Friday from noon to 1 p.m. Past lectures have explored topics such as “super foods” and osteoporosis. Upcoming classes include lectures on probiotics, caffeine, and antioxidants.
Bailey said her classes’ purpose is simple: Teach the community how to be healthy.
“It just gives people education on how to eat healthier, how to be healthier, and hopefully they’ll incorporate what we talk about and make some changes in their lifestyles,” she said.
The class typically draws a crowd of 10 to 15 people, most of whom are on the mature side. But anyone of any age can attend the classes, and because each class is independent of the others, there’s no obligation to go regularly.
Even so, Bailey said she has a group of regulars who attend every week.
“I get very good feedback,” Bailey said. “A lot of people tell me how much they learn and appreciate it, and they’ll tell me the kinds of changes they’ve made based off of what I’ve told them in class.”
Bailey helped start the lectures more than three years ago, as part of the hospital’s goal to do more community outreach. The classes were initially for cardiac rehabilitation patients, but after a few months they opened up to members of the public, who aren’t required to register in advance—they can just show up.
From her years of teaching the course, Bailey said the biggest nutrition-related health issues she observes in the community are diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
The solution for many of these problems: portion control.
“We just eat too much and too big of portion sizes,” Bailey said. “Cutting back on portions would be No. 1, and the other one is being active and getting exercise. I think far too many people are not active. You have to be active, and you have to cut back on what you eat.”
Bailey suggested avoiding portions larger than the size of your fist, or the size of your palm for high-protein foods. She also recommended eating more vegetables.
“When you include more plants with all your meals, you’re probably going to eat fewer calories, because vegetables are so low in calories,” she said. “You’ll fill up on those and you probably won’t eat more of everything else.”
Bailey also said to avoid processed foods, which she called “pre-digested” foods.
“Try to eat more fresh foods, not from bags or boxes or cans,” she said. “Those foods have gone through a process where all the good stuff has been taken out, and your body doesn’t have to do any work to break things down and digest them. They’ve already done all the work for you.”
Staff Writer Brenna Swanston can be reached at bswanston@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 4, 2016.