This is the Empowered Caregiver Show.
If you are a caregiver or know someone who is,
this show is meant to uplift you through education and support,
while also lifting up every caregiver's invaluable role in society.
Now, here is the Empowered Caregiver and your host,
Liza Helen Brand.
Hello, you are listening to the Empowered Caregiver
and I am your host, Liza Helen Brand.
And I am here today with my extraordinary producer, Nate.
You know, Nate, I was listening to some of the other shows
and all of the hosts are giving credit and giving love to their producer
and I just want to know in silence my gratitude and appreciation
to you that I don't say every week on air, shame on me,
which I should because you make this happen, not me.
Well, thank you, Liza.
I love being the man behind the curtain.
I meet you.
Just don't look behind the curtain.
I hear you there.
That's why I'm on radio.
Yup, yup, you and me both.
So today, we are going to be talking about one of my most favorite topics,
which is food.
And you may ask what the hack does food have to do
with caregiving, Liza?
Well, fasten your seat belts because you are about to find out.
But you know, speaking of food, Nate, do you like to cook?
I do like to cook.
I made some honey chicken last night.
Some honey chicken.
What does that entail?
I mean, besides honey and chicken.
Honey chicken soy sauce.
It's like a sort of Chinese takeout sort of dish.
See, you've got some rice in the salad.
You've already surpassed me.
I hate cooking.
I absolutely hate cooking.
And I think part of it is the ADHD mind, you know,
the executive functioning of following the recipe and the steps and the measuring
and all these things going on at once.
I always leave something out.
It doesn't matter every time.
You know, everybody's done it every now and then, right?
You cook something.
You put it in the oven.
You take it out.
You see that lonely ingredient there that you forgot.
You've done that once, Nate, right?
I did that last night.
I forgot.
Thank you.
But I think it was sage was supposed to go in the batter and it did not make it.
Nobody needs sage inside joke.
They're just kidding sage.
Yeah.
Well, let me tell you, I had a doozy.
This Thanksgiving.
Gold metal doozy.
So I invited everyone to our cabin.
We got a cabin this summer.
I thought it'd be great to have Thanksgiving there.
I wasn't going to screw it up.
I got up early.
I started preparing.
I read each direction three times.
Crossed it off.
Doing great.
Had a little toaster oven.
Had some stuff going on there.
Going on the stove top.
Like I am going to nail this.
Hit it out of the park.
Got close to time to eat.
I opened the oven to see how my turkey was doing.
Right.
The turkey was raw.
You forget to turn the oven on.
I either forgot to turn it.
I swear I preheated it up.
I think somewhere in cooking all other things.
I turned it off.
I'm going to say it did my defense.
It's a newer house.
And we bought it in the summer.
So I didn't do a whole lot of, you know, oven cooking.
So that's my story.
Were you able to save it?
The dogs really enjoyed it.
I bet.
Later that night.
Luckily, I had like a pork line in the fridge.
So I put that in there real quick.
Otherwise, it would have been like eight of us
sharing a half a package of the remaining cold cuts that we had.
Well, pork lines better than turkey anyway.
So you know what?
Mike thought that too.
He was thrilled.
I think he looked out.
He was thrilled.
The dogs were thrilled.
It all worked out.
But as much as I hate cooking, I do love eating.
And man, can I eat?
And I have always been fascinated by the idea that, you know,
food can be used as medicine and what we eat or don't eat impacts.
Not only our weight, but our mental health, our energy levels,
our digestive system, nervous system, every system, right?
Because you are a cheat.
So today we are going to be talking about how we can change our mindset.
When it comes to food, the damage certain ingredients can do to our body.
And how to have more energy, better sleep, and support our bodies
with all this caregiver stress that we put ourselves through every day,
just by using food.
So on that note, I would like to welcome today, Aaron Degrave,
who is a nutritionist at Ivy.
Welcome, Aaron.
Thank you so much for having me.
I love being on your podcast.
I love having you here.
Even though I'm hungry, so this is going to be an interesting show.
So Aaron, you work at Ivy, which is a grocery store retailer.
And I have to say they go way above and beyond just selling you meat and potatoes.
So I went on the website and Ivy dietitians have one-on-one consultations.
They do wellness plans, menu planning, weight loss solution,
personalized nutrition shopping assistance.
Now, is that where you come with me and I go down the cookie aisle
and you bark me on the head?
Something to that thing, because that's what I need.
But personalized shopping assistance, freezer, meal workshops, resources on eating
for diabetes, heart health, allergies, and how to eat on a budget.
So you name it.
When it comes to food, health, and wellness, your Ivy nutritionist is right there to help.
So I can't wait to talk to Aaron and learn from all of her wisdom.
But I want to start out and give the listener some credit.
So I am willing to bet that everyone knows what foods are good for you,
what foods are bad for you.
So knowing what to eat for most of us, I don't think is really the problem.
From your professional experience, setting aside meal planning,
because I want to talk more about that later, what are some of the barriers,
the struggles, the, I guess, perhaps excuses that you hear when it comes to
why eating healthy is just darn near impossible.
And then how do you address them?
Yeah, definitely a great place to start.
You hit it on the head with meal planning being a big one.
It's hard.
But like you said, time, you know, finding the time to cook is one of the biggest barriers,
not just cooking, but shopping for those helpful ingredients, cost.
That's a big one, especially, excuse me, in this day and age,
I feel like prices and groceries are rising every day.
It's crazy.
It's crazy.
So watching those sales, and I mean, we already kind of touched on how to eat on a budget.
You know, that's one thing I'll really work with customers if they're like,
I can't buy the healthy foods.
Oh, I'll show you.
And then the last one tends to be just what's more comforting to people and knowledge.
So a lot, a lot of my clients will resort to their comfort foods
of what they've known for childhood, what they know that their parents made.
Those are the recipes that they're used to and familiar with.
Not always the most helpful, but more of those comfort.
You know, I think meat and potatoes as those scents and girly.
And yeah, we see that a lot with stress too.
Yeah.
And I guess just sticking with what's familiar.
So my husband does a lot of the cooking, because like I said, not for me.
And he's a good cook.
And he has five really great recipes that he makes over and over and over, plus his heart.
But hey, I don't like cooking.
So shut up and eat it, right?
Right.
So to me, addressing the psychology of the why we eat is just as important as what we eat.
And you know, caregiving can be stressful and sometimes an emotional journey.
Erin, can you speak to some of the triggers that send people turning to food as a coping mechanism?
And then how do we identify those in ourselves?
Sure.
So triggers can come from all different forms, right?
It, a lot of it comes from trauma.
I, I've had a client that has told me has seen her grandkids run around all crazy triggers here to go and grab a snack, because that's what's comforting to her.
So, so there can be a lot that trigger us.
However, how we cope can be different, right?
So reaching for or that snack is comforting.
But like you said, we got to be mindful of what we're doing and why we're doing it.
So really identify what is triggering you.
One, try to eliminate that trigger if you can.
However, if you can't eliminate your your grandkids from running around you, right?
Because you got to watch them.
Or the other person you're caring for, you know, that that stress is triggering.
Yeah, yeah.
And that was my that was going to be my next question for you is.
So well, once we've had it identified and being proactive, what things can we do instead of eating?
Right.
So first and foremost, I always say, you know, not just working with it, I just didn't, but maybe working with it.
They're a piss too to help work through those different traumas to really identify them if you can't identify them yourself.
And also finding out those coping methods, but also find out something you really enjoy that helps you.
Become distracted in the moment to get past that that stage of wanting to grab a snack and really focus on that.
So whether it's, you know, walking outside and taking a walk, walking away from that trigger.
If of course the kids are what's stressing you out and you're taking care of them for the day, maybe it's finding an enjoyable activity or playing some music to maybe dance together.
And then we get some little exercise going to so find something that you enjoy.
I love that.
You know, I always forget to resort to music and dancing and it really can just switch a mood around in no time at all.
I mean, I guess if you're playing the right song, right?
Exactly.
Yes.
So if you're a person that's prone to this emotional eating, yeah, I guess we covered it.
Just what, you know, what can you do to be proactive?
And it's really identifying the triggers before they happen.
So I would imagine if you find yourself going to the kitchen when something is triggering you, maybe asking the why?
Because I don't know you, you know, I don't know if you always put it together.
I don't always put it together.
I am a midnight snacker and I don't know what my trigger is behind that.
So I'm going to have to get curious, right?
So someone get curious.
So being mindful when you're eating and why you're eating can lead to better choices, which makes sense because mindfulness seems to be the answer to everything.
They'll use days so you can tell me or can you tell me a little bit more Erin about what is mindful eating?
Yeah, mindful eating, you know, has a lot to it, but really it's thinking about what you're eating and why you're eating it.
Right?
That's a good place to start.
That is a good place to start.
Okay, so it doesn't involve or it can, but it doesn't have to involve chewing your food for like a minute until it's a liquid or something disgusting like that, right?
Somebody gave me that advice once.
No, we're going to pass on that.
So next, we're going to be talking about some of the unknown damage that we may be doing to our bodies and not even knowing it.
And then how do we get more energy and focus and better sleep with food?
You are listening to the empowered caregiver and I am your host, Eliza Helen Brown.
And today I'm here with Erin DeGrave, who is a nutritionist at Hivee in Madison.
In the last segment, we talked a little bit about the psychology behind eating.
So if you missed that, you can hear this replay on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, or just head on over to civicmedia.us.
So coming up, we're going to talk about using food as medicine and how we can have more energy, better focus, better sleep, and combat stress in our bodies simply by making the right food choices.
But before we talk about what we can eat to support us, let's talk about how sometimes we work against ourselves.
So we all know that sugar snacks and soda are bad for you.
But a lot of people might not know the why.
So I'm going to quiz you on this one, Erin.
What exactly does sugar do to work against us?
Sure. So first off, we need to look at how sugar can help us.
Okay. So sugar is a type of carbohydrates and carbohydrates are one of our macronutrients.
The other macros are protein, fat, and then carbs. So there's three of them.
And what does macronutrients mean? What do you mean?
Yeah, these are the nutrients that our bodies need to survive. 100%.
We need these three macronutrients to survive. If we don't have all three of them, that's where parts of our body will fail.
And or we just need a, you know, we might replace it with other macronutrients, but things happen.
So if I'm hearing you correctly and I really hope I am, we need sugar.
We do because it is a form of carbohydrates.
So our brain and our central nervous system use that carbohydrates or energy and our muscles use carbohydrates for fuel.
So sugar isn't bad, not necessarily bad, however consuming excess amounts of sugar in those sugary snacks, the sodas, right?
That added sugar isn't necessarily good for our health overall.
Yes. And everything has sugar, ketchup has sugar. I, you know, it's so hard to avoid.
How much sugar should one have a day or could one have a day?
Yeah. So when we, when we look at carbohydrates, we want at least 50%.
I'm sorry, like 45 to 50% of our daily calorie needs as carbohydrates.
So that's actually quite a lot, but carbohydrates can come from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, as well.
So when we're talking about processed carbohydrates or added sugar, we only want about 10% of our daily carbohydrate needs to be added sugar.
Okay.
So that would be like candies, sodas, or that added sugar in our ketchup.
So okay, that, that now you involved math.
Now you just took my most favorite, my most favorite thing in the world that made it my least.
Is there no, no, no, it's happens. Maths everywhere.
If you're looking at grams, is there, so the amount, the, the grams, because that's what's on the back of the label, right?
Yeah.
How do you, is there a number? I mean, is there, is there a number that you can kind of go or do you need to do the whole math process of how many calories I eat?
I'm like, I'm getting confused.
I know, I know. And let's take the math out of it and just say, we want carbohydrates to be a part of a balanced meal, right?
So we can bring it back to when we're looking at our plate. If you think of the my plate, sure, you've ever heard of that, right?
We want half our plate fruits and vegetables, half protein, and half carbohydrates.
So that added sugar or that extra processed sugar that we might have in our, you know, in our snacks or in our use that ketchup, so I'll use that as an example.
That extra sugar coming from that that ketchup kind of falls into that carbohydrate category.
Gotcha. Okay.
So another thing that I don't know a whole lot about is the effects of caffeine. Well, I mean, I do, but what's really going on inside your body?
And there is caffeinated everything out there today. I saw caffeinated water. And I'm thinking, what? Why? But anyways, how much caffeine is okay?
And then what what's actually happening inside your body when you consume it?
Mm-hmm. So caffeine is a stimulant. So it's definitely energizing lots of processes in our body.
I mean, I can't drink caffeine in the afternoon because it is going to keep me up all night, right? So we some of us have that reaction, right?
So the FDA actually excites that 400 milligrams a day is the recommended to stay under.
So to give you a more of an example, or to five cups of coffee, so that amount is not associated with negative effects.
Wow. I would, I'm surprised that it's, that it's that much, but okay, around 400 milligrams.
So is there anything else that we can take as an alternative or eat or drink as an alternative that that has a stimulant effect or that will increase your alertness?
Sure. So keeping your caffeine intake low, lower can actually can be beneficial for our body. Our bodies actually can thrive on caffeine at that low.
I guess you could call it a bit of a micro dosing caffeine. So caffeine can be beneficial.
So what a couple of other ideas are to just stay hydrated. Most most Americans, most caregivers are probably not drinking enough water and thinking about their hydration.
So water can, you know, really hydrate and help our all different processes. So whether it's pumping our blood through our heart, or it's just helping us focus and have a clear mind and less headaches.
Well, I couldn't agree with you more. And I was surprised just not that long ago. I came to that, that realization.
I was feeling sluggish, tired, and coffee just makes, I like coffee, but it makes it feel like jittery.
And I had a big glass of cold water and I was like, wow, that was a pick me up. So yeah, go, go to water first. How about this one?
So I Google searched what cleaning with Coke as in Coca-Cola is good for. And here's what I found. You can scrub pots and pans, remove grease stains from clothes, clean tile grout, clean up the driveway or garage oil stains, and cleaning your car battery terminal, which I wonder how someone came across that one.
So no idea. It doesn't sound like anything we should be drinking though. So besides the fact that you can use it as a degreaser and to dissolve rust, what are the dangers of soda? Like what's actually going on?
Yeah, the cleaning component is really coming from the acidity of it. I mean, think about how we can clean with lemon juice. We can clean with vinegar as well.
So those are really acidic foods, right? So the more dangerous part of soda is going to come from that added sugar. And we talked about added sugar a little bit earlier on where access amounts can really contribute to many negative health effects, such as weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, and so many more conditions.
So really, really focusing on limiting the soda intake and just the overall added sugar consumption.
You know what? I had one other one. I'm going to try sneak in real quick before the break. We don't have to go into what alcohol does to you because we know it leads to regrettable decisions.
But above and beyond that, is there anything healthy that we can drink to take the edge off if that's why you're using alcohol?
Sure. So you are just trying to find a really good option, an NA option, a sparkling water, something in a fancy glass is always fun.
That sounds good. That I can do. When we come back, we're going to talk about how the right food can actually help you.
You are listening to the empowered caregiver, and I am your host, Eliza Helen Brandt, Aaron DeGrave, a nutritionist from Hi-V is with me here today to talk about how we can use food to support us in our caregiving journey and not work against us.
So Aaron, we covered the obvious villains that sneak into our diet, such as caffeine, alcohol, and the household cleaner, otherwise known as Coke.
But are there any other foods that I'm missing before we move on?
You know, I think you hit the mean ones. If you're not eating a balanced diet, that's the biggest way you're going to work against yourself. And I know we're going to talk a little bit more about that.
Yes, yeah. And that's my next question. Is many of us caregivers suffer from low energy, poor sleep, high levels of stress?
Can you tell me what foods we should be eating to address the demands of caregiving? And why? Why those foods? What's what's in them? What do they do to our body? Why do we need them? Fill me in, Aaron.
Yeah, definitely. Okay. So first and foremost, eating that balanced diet, following that my plate guidelines by USDA, so having half your plate fruits and vegetables, fourth your plate of carbohydrates, fourth protein, and even have a helpful beverage on the side.
So really focusing on those five technically five food groups, focusing on your five food groups and working them into your daily routine.
That's a great place to start. I know I mentioned a little bit of our macro nutrients are fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Those are the vital nutrients our body needs to survive.
So those are the core nutrients we need. So without those, let me pause one second because you said protein and right up there with caffeinated everything is protein, everything.
Protein shakes protein bars everything my my son who's all about hitting the gym is like can you get some protein yogurt?
Okay, so are there different are there different types of protein are some better than than other is my candy bar that calls itself a protein bar doing the trick.
Fill me in a little bit about more of the details of the protein, where should we be getting it from.
So I'll bring you back remember we talked about carbohydrates and that being an important macro nutrient being about 45 to 65% of our daily needs.
So think that's going to be the most that's the micronutrient we need the most, okay.
Then we have fats we want health full fats when we're thinking the unsaturated, which is I like to say unsolid so any oils your fat coming from salmon and tuna or even nuts or nuts, nut butter, we want 20 to 35% of our daily needs of fats.
Okay, for our daily needs and then protein is 10 to 35% so a lot of people think protein protein protein, but we can't just eat protein.
So we got it work that into our balance meal.
So when you ask about different types of protein variety is always key.
So having lean meats, so turkey chicken, you can do seafood like salmon, tuna, those are going to have those omega three fatty acids to we'll talk I'll talk a little bit more and up on those.
And then also we could do more non meat sources of protein or even plant based sources to so eggs would be a non meat source, but then we have yogurt, cheese, tree nuts, soy or tofu and beans and even our whole grains like quinoa and brown rice can have protein in them.
I did not realize that and okay, I heard you say omega, which was going to be one of my questions because I know that that's really important for brain health.
It is yes, absolutely. So omega three is really important for how our brain functions they they do have a part in how we think clearing our mind, you know, think of that brain fog sometimes omega three could be a cause of that brain fog right not that clarity.
So omega three can be really beneficial for for all things brain and just body in general.
And is that fish only or where else do you get your amegas?
Yeah, omega three is so salmon tuna, oils, your unsaturated oils like olive oil and avocado oil, sure, avocados and also walnuts walnuts are actually pretty high in omega three, too.
That's good to know. I don't think I knew walnuts. What else what else should we be eating?
Why specifically should we be eating what goes on in our body? What does it do for us when we eat it? Tell me more.
Yes, yes. And as we're focused on, you know, having more focus, decreasing levels of stress, having a little bit more better sleep.
I want to talk about vitamin D and magnesium as well. So vitamin D, a lot of people know we get that from the sun, right?
So in in Wisconsin, in the Midwest, we don't see the sun majority of the year.
And the sun's rays aren't as intense during the winter as they are during the summer.
So actually 90% of adults do not consume enough vitamin D. So that comes from getting it from the sun, which is the best source, but sunscreen can also decrease our absorption of vitamin D, right?
So getting it from food is important.
So vitamin D, let me tell you a couple of great things about it. Of course, we know it helps with bone health.
However, immune support, so especially during the winter as colds are going around, keeping us healthy.
That vitamin T can be beneficial and it reduces depression and regulates mood.
So when we think about stress, that's so important to have in our, you know, in our back pocket really help us.
And I can't speak for Henry every general physician out there, but I was happy to know that my nurse practitioner, I guess that I worked with, was very willing to do vitamin D tests during the winter, just to see where I, where I was and what I should be taking.
So something to keep in the back of your mind is, if you're worried about it or you know that you're not eating what you should be eating and the sun's not here to help us, that it is something that you can get tested for.
What else, what else is there?
Yeah, and as you say testing, we actually do vitamin D testing at high V with me too.
So if you are interested in getting it tested, of course it's more cash base, but it will probably be about the same cost as if you were to get it done at the doctor.
So keep that in mind.
And so you do that, okay, you do that with with me too, like as in you're coming with me or what is me to.
Oh, I'm at like here at high V with me.
So you are, so do you actually do that?
I do it. It's just a quick little finger poke and then we send send your blood droplets into a lab and then we get the results back.
Oh, wow, that is interesting. You know, I've always been fascinated by nutrition. I think I told you last time a new year on with me that there was a period in high school that that's what I wanted to be is a nutritionist.
Now that you say that you poke blood, whoo, never could have done it. I didn't know that that was involved, but that's awesome that that is a service that you guys have.
So we've got our vitamin D. We've got our Omega's what else?
Yeah, I said magnesium. I want to touch on that.
So again, Americans don't eat enough. Only 55% of Americans don't eat enough of magnesium.
And it's essential to eat it. Our body does not produce it. So when it's an essential nutrient, it means that our body can't produce it.
So magnesium helps to support a healthy immune system, just like vitamin D. It regulates blood sugar levels, normalizes blood pressure, and helps with muscle and muscle contractions and relaxing.
When we're when we aren't eating enough of magnesium, the side effects are going to be of course muscle related with twitching, cramping, but also insomnia, anxiety, headaches, migraines, and then digestive issues like constipation and some other things.
So I was going to say, yeah, that that was a go to I was a constipation with my son when he was a toddler was was a thing and I went to magnesium.
And what I what I was told is you really can't over do it. I mean, you can, but you're constant. You no longer have constipation.
You will have a whole opposite issue. And that's how you know that you've kind of went over your magnesium limit. But is that is that correct and saying that you really can't over do it or.
Yeah. So I haven't looked at the specific toxicity levels at this point. Yeah.
So you can overdo a lot of micronutrients by over supplementing. So keep it light if you have questions reach out to your physician on that.
Wonderful. Okay. So is there anything else that I'm missing?
Well, with magnesium, I just want to make it, make a note. Okay.
Magnesium is found in dark chocolate. So I encourage everyone to enjoy a little bit of dark chocolate with your meals.
You know, Erin, I know that's now I know why I like you so much sugar essential right in and dark chocolate. Yes, caffeine in moderation can work in your favorite.
You're just saying all the right things. I don't know if you're just saying what I want to hear, but I love it. Okay. So dark chocolate has magnesium. What else?
Yeah. And that's in seeds. So almonds, pumpkin seeds, and then also beans. So black beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans as well. And then you have talked about supplements too.
And edamame or other soy products.
Edamame. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. So I mean. So I'm just trying to think is there what about some of the some of the vegetables.
You know, if you had to pick your you know, if you had to pick your A team in the vegetable family, who would it include?
Definitely some dark leafy greens like kale.
Yeah, are just loaded with micronutrients. So micronutrients are your vitamins and minerals. Right. So we'll have definitely iron magnesium is in kale as well.
Let's see. Oh, there's just so many vitamin C.
The B vitamins B vitamins. Yeah.
We haven't touched on B vitamins. Lay it on me. What what are your B vitamins about? Because I know that's a big one that people take as a as a supplement, which I cannot.
The minute I take a B vitamin, blah, comes right back up. I don't know. So one that you eat with food. I would imagine.
Yeah, definitely eat it with food. I mean, you're testing me now. I didn't prop that one. Okay. That's fine.
I think energy and focus is is a big one. You know, I will tell you a B vitamin story. If you want to hear a B vitamin story, I got one for you.
So my son is on the autism spectrum. That's what we got got me into this whole empowered caregiver thing.
He was really late to talk and we had worked with a natural path and we actually got vitamin B 12 injections.
That was one of their protocols. So we would give him these injections and trying to think how old he was.
Maybe maybe around seven or so. And he would just start talking after he got after he got these.
I mean, I didn't I think at the time I went back and kind of researched what that the hack was going on.
But I just saw that out there. When you look at supplements, specifically for those on the the autism spectrum, huge amounts of vitamin B 12.
So I'm going to have to do some research and I'll I'll get back to everyone on on the power of B 12.
But quickly, where do you get where do you get that? Or did you already say your B 12. That's your dark leafy greens.
B 12 is going to come from oh, God, you are testing me today.
Oh, okay. All right. Well, you we have commercial. So you can you can. Yeah, think about it.
So you're listening to the empowered caregiver and I am your host, Eliza Helen Brown.
And I cannot wait to hear the answer to my next question, which is what for dinner? Oh, I hate that question.
You are listening to the empowered caregiver and I am your host, Eliza Helen Brown.
And today I have been speaking with nutritionist Aaron Degrave who works at high V and I have been quizzing her and putting her on the spot.
And I thought nutritionist was went to bad knowing all of their vitamins and how much you should have every day and what foods have them in them.
But low in behold, you can't you can't remember at all. So thank you Aaron for for playing along. If you don't mind, I have a collar holding that I would love to speak with Tom from Jackson. Thank you for hanging out over the break. What do you got for us?
You mentioned clay and I I've heard different things about clay and that for for human beings as it is for animals to too much.
So I guess you can make people develop earlier than they should and upset your home on balance because it acts as a hormone.
Yeah, you bet. I've heard that that too. Is it estrogen to Aaron? What do you what do you know about about soy and how much we should be having and what some of the dangers could be?
Yeah, this is a big question I've gotten throughout my practice as a dietitian. So yeah, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of articles out there that let's say fear monger.
Just because, you know, you read the headline, but then you you miss the whole source of where it's coming from or it's not giving it's giving a small sample size, right? So research was really stating that soy is not interfering with, you know, let me let me back up.
Right.
Consumption of soy is not going to affect our hormones. So we can actually be very beneficial in a well balanced diet.
So for example, adding some soybeans into your into your dinner, maybe it's in a salad with the the edamame mixed in with some some other great nutrients or even using soy milk as an alternative to cow's milk because your body can't digest cow's milk effectively.
So moderate consumption will not affect hormones and it actually can be beneficial in in the long term.
And I would think too because, you know, we have such sad diet, right, this what's standard sad American diet, is that it stands for something that I would imagine a lot of people probably aren't eating the amounts that it would have a negative effect. However, with that being said, then that got me thinking, well, you really can get soy everything now because you said that it's a milk alternative.
But I'm also curious about what you said about digesting milk, like I've never been able to drink milk, but what do you know about that?
Sure. So it's really milk intolerance or a lactose intolerance, I should say, is really a process where your body is just not able to process that that nutrient right that sugar.
It's really the sugar in the milk, the lactose, right.
So with with having a lactose intolerant there, you know, I could go into a whole nother segment on that, but finding a good alternative that that matches the nutritional value. So for example, soy milk is going to be the closest alternative to regular milk because of that protein.
The protein is virtually the same about 8 grams of protein per cup for both regular milk, cow's milk, and soy milk.
And then you're still getting your calcium, your vitamin D, and your potassium.
And you know what, here's another real quick trick trick question. If you don't know the answer, I don't expect you to know the answer to this one.
But you know, in regards to the different levels, is that anything that you can get tested for, you know, if you're worried that you have excessive estrogen or you shouldn't be taking, you know, using soy.
Yeah, so that's a really great question. And I believe you can get that tested for your physician, however, expect that getting a hormone level check might be pretty pricey. So it's not done regularly.
Yes, that that would make sense. So before we run out of time, I've got to ask this question. So this is one that just makes me want to crawl out of my skin because it's the age old question happens every single night.
It's a what's for dinner. It's the whole the whole meal planning. And that's why I said I wanted to talk about it earlier.
Uh, you've been telling me great news that I want to hear all night. Keep going.
Yeah. So planning dinner can be stressful. And I know if we, you know, the the trendy thing is to plan all of your meals for the whole week. And then you just can pull it out, reheated and you're good to go.
That is too much work and can take too much time. So start small, pick about maybe three to four meals a week or even start with one or two and just work on prepping that at the head of time.
So after grocery shopping, check your veggies that you're going to use that week. Make sure it's all ready to go so that when you come home from work, you don't have an hours worth of prep. You have 10 minutes.
That makes that makes perfect sense. What else about making meal planning easy because I did that once I plan out the recipes for the week.
I wrote the list all the ingredients I needed. I went to the store, spend about a half a day doing it and then life happened during the week and nobody wanted what I had on the meal plan that day. And it was a flop.
Yeah. Well, you know, some people, a lot of people forget to plan for their busy days and the days that like you just don't feel like eating the same thing you had yesterday.
So have some alternatives in your in your freezer or in your pantry that are going to be quick and easy and away you can add nutrition.
So think about really easy one is mac and cheese, right. So box mac and cheese.
Not the most nutritious. There are some brands out there that make them a little bit more higher protein, right.
But how can we add veggies to that have a bag of steamed broccoli in the freezer.
So that's ready to go pop that in as they're making that mac and cheese and then, you know, add if you have some pulled chicken from a
a rotisserie chicken had that too.
Good idea. Wait, Aaron, do you have kids?
I don't, but that would be a good kid meal.
I was going to say you come put some broccoli in my kids mac and cheese and I'm just going to sit back and watch how that one plays out.
But we can put it under their pillow, something like that.
But you know what, we have one minute left. So quickly, can you let people know where they can find you?
Yes. So go to high v dot com slash health and click on your dieticians and find me.
We're just up by one of our high v stores and ask customer service for my contact.
Wonderful. Thank you so much, Aaron.
And I also want to make sure that I get in before I run out of time.
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I will see you next week when we have a huge topic that impacts about two million Wisconsinites a day.
