you
Couple of our famous guests coming in here a favorite guests including Lindsay Hatfield and Kelly Herbert Representing the Richland Hospital and we're talking about nutrition today.
They are registered dietitians We're gonna talk about a couple of things kind of opposite ends of the spectrum malnutrition and childhood obesity a couple of the topics today as we get back to school.
Good morning ladies Good to have you in the studio with us today
Think the last time I saw you Lindsay you were maybe running or walking in the grace Race for grace.
Yeah, I'm excited for next spring too because that was a really well-run event.
No pun intended, but Kelly was also there too.
Oh, yeah, I didn't see you
Kelly I did the trail run.
It was great
trail run.
Okay.
Do you ladies do a lot of walking and running in those those kind of events during the year?
I like the local ones more because they're smaller and have fun pretty routes but now
cross-country season is underway and I help River Valley with coaching.
So run in different courses, coaching versus actually racing.
Does a coach get out and run with the team once in a while?
Yes.
Yes.
I
tried to at least.
Keep up.
That's a good way though.
That way the kids don't say, well, why do we have to do it?
And you don't.
So you can put your money where your mouth is there a little bit.
And do you run a lot then?
I am hoping to do the damn challenge in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in October.
It's a fun little triathlon with a paddle bike run.
I'm looking for a relay partner.
Anybody who bikes.
Oh, is that how it works?
So then you run a little bit and then you have the bike part of
it.
You can do it as a relay or individual
and
I don't have a bike.
So I'm interested in
having
a relay partner.
Well, let me call Prime Mover on Saturday here in the station and see if we can find somebody.
Well, let's talk, we got off topic a little bit, but let's talk a little bit about what's going on.
This is a special month for you at the hospital, Lindsay.
Yes, there's a lot of, you know, months.
have different recognitions.
Something newer we're doing this year is recognizing malnutrition awareness week.
And then historically we've always acknowledged childhood obesity awareness month two.
And the reason why we are addressing malnutrition awareness week is because in the future and 2028 addressing malnutrition and reporting our scores or
or patient data will be required by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid.
So we want to make sure that to take advantage of this opportunity in mid-September to really raise awareness about what malnutrition is, educate on how to identify it, figure out better ways to intervene and help those who are malnourished before 2028 approaches.
Okay.
Kelly, I think we think of malnutrition as not having enough
food like not, but that's not always the case.
Yeah, it could be under nutrition of specific nutrients like nutrient deficiencies.
And that can happen with an abundance of calories even sometimes.
And it's sometimes
impacted by not having enough food, like food insecurity and other times it's more related to someone's health condition or maybe if they have difficulty like chewing and swallowing for different reasons or cognitive impairments of being able to care for themselves.
Lots of different things can impact someone's nutrition status.
Too many calories could be an issue.
Oh, I was just saying that it's not always under like not enough calories.
Sometimes it's nutrient deficiencies.
Yes, I see.
It used to be that, you know, fast food is a cheap way to go.
It's not necessarily that cheap way to go anymore.
Is it Lindsay?
No, it seems like prices in restaurants and gas stations and grocery stores and homes are all rising.
So
especially trying to prioritize those nutrient dense foods versus what we call energy dense foods, which might provide more calories versus adequate nutrition, vitamins and minerals.
So trying to be conscious of where we spend our money on those nutrient dense choices can really help prevent malnutrition in both cases of underweight or overweight.
we talk about malnutrition a lot of time in the program uh... especially concerning the elderly right
yes they are
the population most at risk for a lot of the reasons that Kelly had mentioned.
Sometimes these patients are socially isolated at home to where they have a disinterest in eating.
We know that appetite decreases as we age, so they just don't eat as much anymore, which means that they're missing out on vital nutrients.
In addition, they might have difficulty
with transportation, you know, driving to the grocery store to get food or going to
other people's houses to have meals.
In addition, they have, you know, as we age, we also can have health conditions that impact our nutrition status.
Kelly mentioned cognitive impairment where we are not safe to maybe cook for ourselves at home anymore or just don't know how to prepare a balanced meal either.
And so a lot of times those are those convenient options or those fast food choices.
the elderly might have some chewing difficulty and swallowing difficulty which really restricts the types of foods that you can eat and then also
Sometimes they have a lot of meds that they have to take these meds have side effects that can really suppress your appetites You're not eating as much they can cause taste changes to where you don't like certain foods because of the way your meds are making it taste Or just meds in general are fatiguing to take So therefore your your meal intake goes down.
I remember my mother who had cognitive issues She would give me her grocery shopping list and it was ice cream pop
you know candy i mean in earlier in her life she ate healthy but as she got older um she just wanted to eat fun stuff kind of like childlike again
yes finding that balance of the quality of life you know as we age we've also earned the right to choose the foods that we work so hard for um but we still you know
Good nutrition is still important across all ages.
So trying to really problem-solve with these elderly of how can we create quick convenient meals that are still getting your foods, veggies, whole grains, proteins, and dairy in.
How does the hospital kind of maybe diagnose this or see that there could be an issue with somebody who is maybe malnutrition?
Yeah, so what's great is that our accredited organization
requires that we
screen all patients within 24 hours regarding nutrition risk.
So our fantastic nurses, because they're there 24-7, complete this nutrition screen, which asks questions such as, any weight changes recently?
Have you been eating less than normal?
Do you follow a modified diet?
Maybe they have chewing difficulties, so they eat softer foods.
Or they are looking for a heart-healthy diet.
Or do you have a low
body mass index, chewing, swelling, difficulty, anything that raises red flags that could decrease nutrition intake.
So it starts with that nutrition screen and then from there, dietitians are consulted on those who meet higher nutrition risk and we do a thorough assessments and then relay our intervention, our concerns to the doctor who will then hopefully add it to their
plan of care.
So do you make a chart then Lindsay?
Is it important for somebody to kind of make a chart and what they eat and you know kind of meal plan and things like that?
We do ask for, we call it a diet recall.
We ask what people normally eat at home.
That gives us a really good idea of what they're usually doing or what barriers they're coming into at home.
Like Lindsay said, it's really common for
The elderly to be more isolated at home have trouble.
Maybe they don't drive anymore.
They don't have transportation or they can't afford transportation.
So then even recommending like food pantries may be tricky if they can't get there.
But yes, we do a whole thorough assessment and a note in their medical chart and we
Things are done very interdisciplinary.
So sometimes getting them connected with resources through social work things like that
Do people come to you guys with without health problems and things like that like hey, I want to eat better and and what should I do?
Does that happen from time to time?
Maybe in personal life, but
not in person they see on the street
Sometimes we get sometimes we'll get mixed
messages when we walk into a patient's room introducing ourselves as the dietitian.
Some patients are eager to see us.
Some people don't want to talk about food with us.
So we kind of approach patients differently depending on their past experience with food.
That could be in itself a risk factor, a red flag if someone doesn't want to necessarily talk about their nutrition at home.
That could mean maybe they're struggling or they're not eating nutrient dense foods to help fuel them.
So we do in our personal lives have family, friends, strangers ask us about nutrition assistance.
We have a great outpatient department too where their doctor can send referrals regarding a plethora of topics, including diabetes and kidney health, but also, you know, people have come further cardiac health for weight management for maybe
you know they were diagnosed with hypertension or things like that.
How can nutrition help my diagnosis?
And Lindsay also gets out in the community quite a bit like with the like school age kids and things like that with talking about nutrition.
I think with as far as like coming into the hospital to learn about nutrition without having health issues that might be tricky to have it covered by insurance and that's a barrier.
True, I see.
What about when you go out and talk to students?
Are they excited about it?
I mean, you get them fired up to eat healthy or how does it work?
Yeah, it's I try to always make things fun engaging interactive try to think what an adolescence brain might be thinking in terms of nutrition Really speak their language I would say most are Engaged and really interested in learning how nutrition works in their body, too And we know that what you eat
now will have impact on your future health too and especially establishing good habits now will help make habits in adulthood hopefully easier too.
So just trying to reach a range of ages with a range of you know different activities to really get them looking at nutrition in a different way than just grocery shopping or eating dinner at home or something like that.
Vegetables aren't always the most first thing that they want on their plate then, right?
Exactly.
So, you know, how can we make vegetables fun, interesting, tasty, really incorporating kids into cooking can help them realize the diversity of vegetables and that they can be hidden in things.
They can be outright tasty.
Just trying to look at
veggies in a different light, you know, you just start listing the health benefits of vegetables.
That's not going to be very interesting to kids.
So, you know, how can we make it interesting?
And that's what's really nice about going to the classroom or having them come to clubs scrub or going to these career fair days, things like that.
I remember as a kid not liking certain things and now I've grown to like them as an adult, but sometimes it's a tough thing to learn as a kid.
You don't want to try
it.
Yes, reintroduction of any types of food is super important in order to kind of
gather a taste palette or really enjoy the food.
I know Grace has mentioned before, maybe like, I think it's somewhere around seven tries to really maybe come around to liking that food.
So yes, kind of reintroduction in a different form, in a different way, at a different time, you know, when a kid's sick or distracted, maybe introducing broccoli is not the best thing.
It's how you prepare it though, right,
Kelly?
Yeah.
I give that example to grown-ups too of like if you've had boiled Brussels sprouts when you were a kid and you thought they were yucky, that's fair.
But try them roasted, they're a totally different animal.
And I think growing a garden, kids really like that too, like that hands-on stuff and being a part of the process.
And I've had really good luck with doing like school gardens and summer camp gardens that kids just get curious and they
They have a lot of pride of what they were a part of and they want to try different vegetables.
They want to share it with their siblings and bring it home.
And yeah, I think that's just like an engaging way, low pressure way to get kids interested in.
vegetables if you have access to it.
Okay put some broccoli and some cauliflower on a cookie sheet put it in the oven you know and good good stuff actually.
So maybe a good way to do that it got filled to eat it that's for sure.
So in terms of your facility you know you work with the foods or the kitchen department quite a bit in terms of what the patients are served as well.
Yes dietitians oversee the patient menus and we're trying to you know not only
provide options that patients want to eat but that's also going to benefit their health whether it's the reason they're here and relating to their diagnosis or maybe just giving them sustainable options that they can also do at home.
We don't want them to come to the hospital eat one way and then go home and resort maybe back to their unhealthy habits or difficulty with eating so we oversee all the menus make sure that we have a variety of
healthy options.
If they do have chewing or swallowing difficulties, we work with our speech therapist to kind of help create these menus to give them good quality nutrient dense options that are safe to swallow, safe to eat.
And then also that kind of trickles into the cafeteria too.
Our dietary manager does a really great job in trying to think of
options for our employees, you know, we want to make sure our employees are healthy too, to provide care for our patients.
And so they've established things like Wellness Wednesdays, where all options available are all healthy options.
And they like to have at least, you know, alternatives on the menu to really give those health conscious employees options.
And then they also sometimes
just provide information about, you know, in March Nutritional, National Nutrition Month, they really honed in on, you know, spreading ways that you can eat healthy while still at work.
If you're a caregiver too, sometimes you might have some questions.
What do you suggest for a caregiver that might be listening on how to get their loved one to eat or eat better or eat the right stuff?
Yeah, it's always going to depend on the person, but lots of times people tend to eat better with others.
And so if you are a caregiver, whether you're a significant other or a family member relative, stranger, that caregiver eating with them really encourages that patient to also eat.
Maybe they need feeding assistance too, and that's why they're not getting the nutrition they need.
They just need assistance opening things, bringing things to their mouth, grabbing onto silverware.
Another way caregivers can kind of identify those struggles or barriers and assist with that Sometimes it is shopping for them doing Walmart pickup or delivery And sometimes it's trying to figure out their favorite foods that they like to eat What time of day do they eat best and really optimizing that time of day?
So just kind of different tricks that caregivers can pick up on
Indeed and that there's kind of a fine line there in terms of anything else you want to add about malnutrition or some things that you're recognizing this week
Yeah malnutrition It's the awareness week is from September 14th to the 18th and so at the hospital We're really trying to grab a hold of this initiative and make it very
interdisciplinary.
The theme for malnutrition awareness week is nutrition care is a team effort which really I think exudes what our hospital does.
All hands touch the patient therefore all hands have a handed nutrition and how well the patient eats and what they eat.
So really just kind of identify and educating where can we improve in terms of nutrition status for patients whether it's identifying it
documenting about it, helping them, diagnosing, reporting, and then going home with better nutrition too.
What does Aspen stand for?
Aspen is the organization that's the leader of Malnutrition Awareness Week.
It's American Society of Parental and Enteral Nutrition.
So that is an organization that addresses these low-frequency, high-risk patients.
patients on tube feedings, patients receiving IV nutrition.
Those are the patients who tend to be already malnourished or at risk for malnourishment.
So we have a nutrition support committee at the hospital that really focuses on those types of patients.
So that's kind of where this initiative stems from.
And we're using their recommendations, their guidelines to help care for these patients.
If we eat well during the week, Kelly, is it all right to have a cheat day or how do you look at it?
What do you tell your patients?
I like the 80, 20 rule like 80 because there's a lot of reasons we eat food.
It's not a hundred percent to nourish our body.
We also do it to celebrate our culture or different cultures.
We do it to socialize, to celebrate.
Sometimes we do it out of boredom and things like that, but there's lots of reasons that we eat.
So
and 80, 20, like 80% of the foods that you eat should be nourishing and enjoyable to eat.
20% can be just for fun.
So when you're out in public and somebody say, look at Kelly, she's got that huge banana split.
Yes,
grab a spoon.
Are you conscious about that when you're out and about?
I try not to be.
I think it's kind of funny.
Like if I go out for pizza and people are like, oh, you're having pizza.
Yep.
That's part of the 20.
Right?
Yeah.
That's my 20.
What about you, Lindsey?
Oh, I definitely indulge.
I have a pretty decent sweet tooth.
So there are times where, yes, I am the one with the banana split.
Well,
there's a banana in it.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Or ending my night with something small.
So yes, we educate patients on ways to enjoy the quality of life that food brings us.
but there's also times where there's ways you can make those treats healthy too, if you want.
Um, so just kind of a balance of both of educating them.
Okay.
Here's a healthier alternative for that treat or here's a treat too.
You can have it both ways.
It's, uh, you mentioned it's such a social thing though, but then you get into, I don't even in our own family, you have somebody that, uh, maybe has celiac and you have, you know, all these different things that we didn't think about.
40 years ago, you know, it's a different time, isn't it?
Yeah, it can be tricky to navigate.
I just had a patient like that last week and talking about how do you go out to eat when you have an allergy or an intolerance like that?
How do you navigate social events that can be really stressful and the burden is often on the person with the either ciliac or food allergy, but you know, having calling ahead of time to the restaurant, see if they
They are aware of if they can accommodate food allergies or gluten-free if they have separate equipment and can guarantee that there's not cross-contamination or if you're going to social events asking the host what's going to be available and probably bringing some of your own food or eating ahead of time.
If you bring a dish to pass, at least you have something you can eat.
True.
But I wanted to go back to the malnutrition thing, not to disrupt the flow of things, but the whole goal of bringing more awareness and attention to malnutrition is to improve people's outcomes when they do come to the hospital.
Improving their nutrition can reduce their length of stay at the hospital, improve recovery time.
decrease the risk for infections, all sorts of important things that we care about.
Yeah, recovery time could be a little quicker than as a result of you follow that a little bit more strictly, right?
Yes, without proper nutrition, it affects basically every system in your body.
Your immune system declines.
You're not thinking as clearly, so it's affecting your cognitive status.
Nutrition is very important for your muscle strength, so when you're not getting good nutrition and you are hospitalized, your mobility is decreased, so you're not using your muscles, then therefore your muscle mass can decrease too.
Also, your heart, your lungs,
everything relies on proper nutrition so therefore if you're not getting it prior to coming to the hospital which is
quite often what we see, unfortunately.
But also if it's not addressed during hospitalization, that just kind of makes you a little bit more immunocompromised.
Like Kelly said, increased risk for infection, for wounds, for further delay in care.
Maybe you can't get the surgery that you needed because you don't have good nutrition.
So that just increases your length of stay too.
So there's lots of stats out there that show that.
And so we're trying to address nutrition identification
early, address it early, diagnose it early, and help the patient not only while they're hospitalized, but set them up before they go home too.
Yeah, we're coming up on, it won't be long, we've been talking a lot about flu and cold season and that kind of thing.
Kelly, are there some foods that can help our immune system?
Yeah, I think, you know, the one that most people know about, or the nutrient that most people know about is vitamin C, which is going to be in our fresh fruits, and some of the
vegetables like bell peppers, kiwis are really high in vitamin C so that's important but a lot of nutrients are important for our immune system because if you're undernourished in general your immune system is going to be compromised so just general healthy eating is important always but especially coming into cold and flu season.
How much does like a lot of vitamin C tablets and, you know, things you can mix up in a drink, how much do they help your immune system?
Lindsay, any idea?
Um, they definitely help on the front end in terms of preventing flu.
And then if you do end up getting sick, it can help with maintenance and not getting worse.
It's not going to cure your flu or, um, your illness, but it is important.
It's one of those protective antioxidants that's going to, um, help
cover a lot of different bases and kind of give you that shield.
So that and then pushing fluids, of course, too.
You know, as the weather gets colder, we don't drink as much water as maybe we did in summer.
And water is really going to help your immune system too.
Water is kind of the cure all for a lot of things, isn't it?
Yes, being hydrated is very important, especially with, you know, here we are sitting with our coffee mug.
I've
got water, by
the way.
It's still 9.30.
True
confessions.
But yeah, there's lots of, you know, there's beverages out there, energy drinks, sugary beverages, coffee, lots of things that we often drink.
instead of getting adequate water.
So just trying to find that balance of aiming for maybe eight cups a day of water to really hydrate you.
You wake up and you want your pee to be clear, pale, yellowish.
So that's how you know you're hydrated.
Eight?
Eight cups.
Yes.
So eight, eight ounce cups.
So about 64-ish ounces is kind of a
general rule of thumb.
And then of course, if you are someone who sweats a lot, exercises a lot, maybe medications adjust how much is recommended, things like that.
But yes, A is a good place to start.
Lots of people get less than that.
So eight cups in addition.
A little Q&A today with registered dieticians Lindsay Hatfield and Kelly Herbert on our morning show today.
We wanted to switch gears and talk a little bit about childhood obesity, which is a topic.
I don't know that we've tackled that on the show, at least not for a while.
How would you define it, Lindsay, as you look at this?
Yeah, childhood obesity awareness month is just kind of a time to recognize the unfortunate
growing prevalence of obesity across all ages here in America but I think now the CDC has updated that about one in every five kids is has obesity and so of course we know as dietitians that nutrition can play a role in preventing and treating obesity so that is kind of where we can play a part in addressing this month but of course
all
months.
But certainly getting those good habits again when you're young is certainly important, isn't it?
Yes.
Because we're still developing both physically mentally emotionally Having a good relationship with food having good healthy eating habits exercise regimen just enjoying life and seeing the importance of good nutrition can really play a role in not only their health as they're growing but also in their future too
What are some factors that could lead to childhood obesity Kelly?
There's a lot of different factors.
A big correlation is income, and just living closer to the poverty line, you maybe have less access to healthy foods, less access to outdoor spaces to get physical activity that feels safe, and maybe more stress and adverse
Events in childhood that can impact your health in general, but of course all the things that we usually think of too, nutrition, calorie dense foods like candy, sodas, fast foods, and how much physical activity we're getting.
That's like that for any of the things we've talked about today.
Physical activity is so important, but sometimes you might see a young person that it seems to be really active, but they still have the issue, right?
Yeah, it's definitely not the only piece of the puzzle.
There's a lot of physically fit people who still fit in the obesity category.
The BMI calculation is pretty simple.
It's just comparing your height to your weight so it doesn't take into all those nuances.
Yeah, it's it's a topic I think as you mentioned it's kind of become a little bit more prevalent What are some nutrition exercise recommendations that you might have Lindsay?
The my play is still a great visual that we
swear by as dietitians because lots of times kids like to see images of their day-to-day eating.
And so we encourage definitely incorporating fruits and veggies.
As you had mentioned earlier, sometimes it's hard to like the taste of it or it takes a little bit more time to enjoy fruits and vegetables.
But ensuring that you're filling up maybe half your plate of fruits and veggies, it gives you lots of good vitamins, minerals, and they're pretty low in calories too.
fills you up and provides great benefits.
So that's certainly on that side of things.
And of course, choosing whole grains versus your refined grains.
So for example, whole wheat bread versus your white breads can give you more nutrients, give you some fiber, also fills you up.
And then protein because kids are decently active.
Protein is going to help your muscle growth and strength, and it also serves a good purpose for satiety as well.
And then dairy, getting some dairies throughout the day, whether that's through your milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, things like that, that can certainly help fill in some more gaps of.
vitamins and minerals.
And you put chocolate sauce on broccoli then, or does that, that's probably not.
You
know, it doesn't take away from the benefits of the broccoli, but that is an odd combo.
I wouldn't encourage any
ranch.
Ranch, yeah, ranch.
Oh,
I love my raw vegetables and I don't mind dipping them in ranch.
So, you know, that is a good compromise, good combination.
There's certainly ways to navigate that if a person is struggling to eat or try different foods,
I mean, strategies like that is super helpful.
Right.
I mean, there's a point.
Ranch seems to be a lot more around than it used to be.
Kids love to dip.
Is it really?
Well, yeah.
Is it a fat free ranch?
Is that better?
Or how do you look at
it?
So I don't know if you ever watched, did you watch the World Cup this summer where
a lot
of these, you know, travelers from other countries are discovering ranch here in America
for their first
time and they were taking bottles home with them because they just love
so much.
But I would be cautious of some of those like fat-free or sugar-free reduced-fat items because sometimes companies make up for it by adding extra sugar or extra salt, just to kind of compensate for that taste.
So some things that we do with kids in the community is just brief education about a food label, something super simple, generic, ways they can understand.
not having them focus heavily on that, but just trying to eat more.
So maybe whole foods first and then having those condiments to kind of help gets more nutrients in.
Yeah.
What about, we'll talk about maybe microwave meals that are supposed to be like, you know, low in this or low in that.
Are they bad for us in general?
Or how do you look at it, Kelly?
Oh, I don't know.
I don't.
I think for some people that can be convenient and the safest thing that they can do, maybe not necessarily for when we were thinking about kids nutrition, I kind of want to go back to the veggies and dip topic because depending on the age of the kid, it's very appropriate to let them enjoy dipping foods and not be over
overly concerned about like then ranch canceling out the the benefit of them enjoying the vegetable is they're still developing still building their relationship with food and if that's something that gets them excited about eating vegetables I think that's a plus hundred percent a win and it's also important to know too that the adults and the kids lives are being a role model
you know, whether that's good or bad.
So, being adults, grown-ups, paying attention to your habits as well, and that's the biggest influence that you can have on kids' food choices, too, is the habits that you have as a family.
And sure, like as kids get older, you can talk about nutrition and get more in-depth in detail about the nutrition label and what benefits certain foods have in our diet.
But it starts out way earlier than that, way before that would make sense to be talking to a kid of having healthy habits as a family.
So dip away then in other words, right?
Yes, please.
But let's talk about how do you do it on a budget?
Lindsay because that's that's a key thing, you know some but it's it's expensive to buy groceries
it is and what's great about lots of the
fruits and veggies that we are talking about are also available as canned goods or frozen goods, which can sometimes be more affordable than your fresh products, but still provide those good nutrients.
Lots of times those canned or frozen options are picked at peak ripeness, so they can provide even more nutrients than maybe something that's out of season here in Wisconsin.
So lots of times those options can serve multiple purposes.
They are pretty shelf stable too, so what's great is that you can buy them at discount and store them for a long time as well.
Versus buying something fresh at discount, it's in the back of your fridge, you forget about it and now it's rotten.
speaking from experience.
But lots of times, you know, those fruits and veggies can also have options like no added sugar, no added salt, things like that.
So you're still just getting the whole fruit or vegetable too.
Same thing with buying breads, trying to go off.
brand as much as possible doesn't take away from the nutrition of the food item too.
So it doesn't have to be the fanciest brand also.
It can be something that just serves its purpose as food too to kind of create a fun meal.
But everybody's busy running around to practices and how do you maybe get that family time?
I think that's so important Kelly.
I think when you, it doesn't have to be every night.
If there's a
a couple days a week that it all works out for everybody's schedule to have a family dinner together.
That's great.
Otherwise, yeah, sometimes you are on the go run into soccer practice and or piano lessons or things like that.
And having healthy snacks on hand that you can bring in with the in like having the car for before practice or after practice, maybe crackpot meals, bringing leftovers out of the freezer, things like that can help with busy schedules this time of year.
Or maybe making up meals like on a Sunday, for instance, making a few days' worth and getting it ready.
Yeah, meal
prepping is great.
And I wanted to plug the WIC program, too, when you talked about healthy eating on a budget.
There are programs out there to help families with young kids to eat healthy.
The supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children.
They've actually been seeing a decrease in the rates of obesity in their participants when the rest of the country is seeing an increase over the years.
So we know that this program is making a positive impact.
It supplies a lot of nutrient-dense foods, like fruits and vegetables, dairy, whole grains, beans.
And you can, in this time of year, you can get coupons for the farmer's market.
That's a win-win-win for everybody.
And they also meet with a dietitian.
They'll learn more about nutrition and feeding kids in a healthy way.
So that's for kids or families with kids under the age of five and pregnant and breastfeeding women as well.
worth checking out.
That's for sure.
Anything you wanted to add on the topic, Lindsay?
Yeah, there's some great food pantry resources in the community too.
Sometimes churches have meals available once a week also, not only for families and for kids.
I know we're kind of talking about childhood obesity awareness, but that's something that we also screen at the hospital to our social workers review as social determinants of health questionnaire with the patients.
And if they do express concerns about access
or affording food, they call us right up and us dieticians can come down and provide those resources, but also work through the patients on how to get the most bang for their budgets in terms of accessing healthy options.
Where can you find those?
How can you afford them?
How can you now create a balanced meal at home?
So I think simplifying it for kids too and families, for their kids who maybe where money is tight,
we simplify the meal as much as possible.
You don't have to create this extravagant recipe.
You can really kind of stretch a dollar when it comes to buying in bulk sometimes or really taking advantage of those food pantries that are there for you to offer you some variety in terms of your meals at home.
How do you approach it if you have a child that is on the obese line?
I mean, you don't want to wait shame, obviously, but what's the best way to go about it in the steps to take?
I think in terms of treatment, of course, we always want to look at trying to build a good relationship of where they're at, not necessarily focusing on the number on the scale or their weights, but addressing them as a person and trying to find what are they doing and what small tweaks can we make in their life that is realistic and achievable, sustainable.
A big part of that is incorporating maybe more movement into life.
I think sedentary lifestyles are on the trends that comes with increased screen time too.
Maybe as Kelly said, difficulty accessing playgrounds or parks or joining sports and hobbies.
So what are some ways we can increase movement?
That way we're not necessarily always doing a 180 with a diet, but we're still able to kind of be in a little bit more of a deficit because we are exercising more.
Plus that kind of again creates good habits and kids want to be outside and in the sun and with others.
Um, so that's a good place to start.
What about school lunches as well?
Those are obviously improved over the years, haven't they, Kelly?
Yeah.
And they do follow, um, have to follow specific guidelines for nutrition on sodium sugar and servings of the number of servings for different food groups.
So yeah, it has improved and.
And it's a great resource, especially for, well, really anybody, but especially for families who qualify for the free or reduced lunches.
It can take a big weight off of concern for being able to afford to feed your kids well to have those school lunches available.
And they have summer time programs too, a lot of school systems.
Those have been very good.
And sadly, that might be the only meal or the best meal, obviously, that a kid has, right?
Right, yeah.
Sadly, that can be the case where kids come early for the school breakfast and then get the school lunch.
Sometimes that may be the meals that they can count on.
The interesting topic, childhood obesity and also malnutrition, kind of opposite sides of the spectrum.
Good to talk about it on the morning show today.
Anything else either you would like to add here this morning, you were going to pick on me, I think.
Yeah,
you can.
Yeah.
What do you have for lunch today?
What do I have for lunch?
It's a, it's a, one of those really bad frozen meals, you know, that's why I asked it.
I
was like, let's move on.
I don't like that question.
I
think it's a healthy choice though.
Awesome.
And
there are some out there.
Healthy choice.
Yeah.
I think it's healthy choice.
Yeah.
There's definitely ones that are like lower in sodium and include.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They have leaner proteins, include vegetables.
Right.
There's better, there is a spectrum of frozen meals, a spectrum of like option, better or worse options.
Sure.
Yeah.
They're convenient, you know, for radio guys on the go, but yeah.
Banana for breakfast.
There you go.
Yes.
I like
bananas.
Can you
add the protein to that?
Yeah, there's some granola, you know, but I think it might be like high in sugar.
I'm not sure.
Yeah, granola.
That's how it gets all like crunchy and
tasty ones.
Tasty ones.
Tasty ones.
Tasty ones.
My other crutch is that I don't, I've never put salt or pepper on anything, but
I put soy sauce on my vegetables.
Yes.
Condiment sauces that, you know, for the little serving sizes that they are on the food label, they packed a big punch sometimes in terms of sodium and, you know, hot sauce is one of those and soy sauce and ketchup has some decent sugar in it.
So I
love ketchup.
I'm a, you want some fry with your ketchup?
Exactly.
Exactly.
So what vegetable did you not like growing up as a kid?
You know, I don't like peas.
I
still
don't like
peas.
I tried so hard, but I did come around to green beans.
So I was never a pea and green bean person, but now
I even grew my own green beans this year.
So I'm glad
to
try those.
I make a mean green bean casserole.
Oh,
green bean.
Now do you throw tots in there or
not?
Nope.
I put just kind of like from scratch.
So you're typical like, what is it?
Cream of mushroom soup.
I kind of make that by scratch.
And then, you know, the little fried onions on top.
So, you know, still
green beans in there.
Don't worry.
Um, but no, I think roasting veggies is so good.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And you didn't like peas either, Kelly?
Um, yeah, they're just kind of mushy and I like fresh peas.
I don't like the like cayenne that's like in a can.
You boil them on the stove.
Split pea soup.
Split pea soup.
Can I say something about the, going back to what you mentioned about, um, like
the it being a sensitive topic, the child.
ahead.
We were when working with kids in that kind of circumstance, we don't focus on the weight.
Yeah, we don't
talk about it.
Kids are going to grow how they are going to grow and we encourage parents not to compare them to other children and focus on healthy behaviors that can be implemented as a family.
We don't want to focus on the individual child.
That's going to be more harmful than
good.
So we want to focus on healthy habits as a family and that is, you know, if we can get everybody on board, that's the safest and best way to approach it versus even mentioning weight or having targeted specific attention on how that child is growing.
Yeah, that's a great way to end here today.
Kelly, thank you.
And we appreciate seeing you all and give time all our best.
She's holding down the fort today.
Yes,
is.
Right.
Good.
Well, good to have you in here.
Thanks for joining us today.
Lindsay Hatfield, Kelly Herbert on today's morning show.
you
Couple of our famous guests coming in here a favorite guests including Lindsay Hatfield and Kelly Herbert Representing the Richland Hospital and we're talking about nutrition today.
They are registered dietitians We're gonna talk about a couple of things kind of opposite ends of the spectrum malnutrition and childhood obesity a couple of the topics today as we get back to school.
Good morning ladies Good to have you in the studio with us today
Think the last time I saw you Lindsay you were maybe running or walking in the grace Race for grace.
Yeah, I'm excited for next spring too because that was a really well-run event.
No pun intended, but Kelly was also there too.
Oh, yeah, I didn't see you
Kelly I did the trail run.
It was great
trail run.
Okay.
Do you ladies do a lot of walking and running in those those kind of events during the year?
I like the local ones more because they're smaller and have fun pretty routes but now
cross-country season is underway and I help River Valley with coaching.
So run in different courses, coaching versus actually racing.
Does a coach get out and run with the team once in a while?
Yes.
Yes.
I
tried to at least.
Keep up.
That's a good way though.
That way the kids don't say, well, why do we have to do it?
And you don't.
So you can put your money where your mouth is there a little bit.
And do you run a lot then?
I am hoping to do the damn challenge in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in October.
It's a fun little triathlon with a paddle bike run.
I'm looking for a relay partner.
Anybody who bikes.
Oh, is that how it works?
So then you run a little bit and then you have the bike part of
it.
You can do it as a relay or individual
and
I don't have a bike.
So I'm interested in
having
a relay partner.
Well, let me call Prime Mover on Saturday here in the station and see if we can find somebody.
Well, let's talk, we got off topic a little bit, but let's talk a little bit about what's going on.
This is a special month for you at the hospital, Lindsay.
Yes, there's a lot of, you know, months.
have different recognitions.
Something newer we're doing this year is recognizing malnutrition awareness week.
And then historically we've always acknowledged childhood obesity awareness month two.
And the reason why we are addressing malnutrition awareness week is because in the future and 2028 addressing malnutrition and reporting our scores or
or patient data will be required by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid.
So we want to make sure that to take advantage of this opportunity in mid-September to really raise awareness about what malnutrition is, educate on how to identify it, figure out better ways to intervene and help those who are malnourished before 2028 approaches.
Okay.
Kelly, I think we think of malnutrition as not having enough
food like not, but that's not always the case.
Yeah, it could be under nutrition of specific nutrients like nutrient deficiencies.
And that can happen with an abundance of calories even sometimes.
And it's sometimes
impacted by not having enough food, like food insecurity and other times it's more related to someone's health condition or maybe if they have difficulty like chewing and swallowing for different reasons or cognitive impairments of being able to care for themselves.
Lots of different things can impact someone's nutrition status.
Too many calories could be an issue.
Oh, I was just saying that it's not always under like not enough calories.
Sometimes it's nutrient deficiencies.
Yes, I see.
It used to be that, you know, fast food is a cheap way to go.
It's not necessarily that cheap way to go anymore.
Is it Lindsay?
No, it seems like prices in restaurants and gas stations and grocery stores and homes are all rising.
So
especially trying to prioritize those nutrient dense foods versus what we call energy dense foods, which might provide more calories versus adequate nutrition, vitamins and minerals.
So trying to be conscious of where we spend our money on those nutrient dense choices can really help prevent malnutrition in both cases of underweight or overweight.
we talk about malnutrition a lot of time in the program uh... especially concerning the elderly right
yes they are
the population most at risk for a lot of the reasons that Kelly had mentioned.
Sometimes these patients are socially isolated at home to where they have a disinterest in eating.
We know that appetite decreases as we age, so they just don't eat as much anymore, which means that they're missing out on vital nutrients.
In addition, they might have difficulty
with transportation, you know, driving to the grocery store to get food or going to
other people's houses to have meals.
In addition, they have, you know, as we age, we also can have health conditions that impact our nutrition status.
Kelly mentioned cognitive impairment where we are not safe to maybe cook for ourselves at home anymore or just don't know how to prepare a balanced meal either.
And so a lot of times those are those convenient options or those fast food choices.
the elderly might have some chewing difficulty and swallowing difficulty which really restricts the types of foods that you can eat and then also
Sometimes they have a lot of meds that they have to take these meds have side effects that can really suppress your appetites You're not eating as much they can cause taste changes to where you don't like certain foods because of the way your meds are making it taste Or just meds in general are fatiguing to take So therefore your your meal intake goes down.
I remember my mother who had cognitive issues She would give me her grocery shopping list and it was ice cream pop
you know candy i mean in earlier in her life she ate healthy but as she got older um she just wanted to eat fun stuff kind of like childlike again
yes finding that balance of the quality of life you know as we age we've also earned the right to choose the foods that we work so hard for um but we still you know
Good nutrition is still important across all ages.
So trying to really problem-solve with these elderly of how can we create quick convenient meals that are still getting your foods, veggies, whole grains, proteins, and dairy in.
How does the hospital kind of maybe diagnose this or see that there could be an issue with somebody who is maybe malnutrition?
Yeah, so what's great is that our accredited organization
requires that we
screen all patients within 24 hours regarding nutrition risk.
So our fantastic nurses, because they're there 24-7, complete this nutrition screen, which asks questions such as, any weight changes recently?
Have you been eating less than normal?
Do you follow a modified diet?
Maybe they have chewing difficulties, so they eat softer foods.
Or they are looking for a heart-healthy diet.
Or do you have a low
body mass index, chewing, swelling, difficulty, anything that raises red flags that could decrease nutrition intake.
So it starts with that nutrition screen and then from there, dietitians are consulted on those who meet higher nutrition risk and we do a thorough assessments and then relay our intervention, our concerns to the doctor who will then hopefully add it to their
plan of care.
So do you make a chart then Lindsay?
Is it important for somebody to kind of make a chart and what they eat and you know kind of meal plan and things like that?
We do ask for, we call it a diet recall.
We ask what people normally eat at home.
That gives us a really good idea of what they're usually doing or what barriers they're coming into at home.
Like Lindsay said, it's really common for
The elderly to be more isolated at home have trouble.
Maybe they don't drive anymore.
They don't have transportation or they can't afford transportation.
So then even recommending like food pantries may be tricky if they can't get there.
But yes, we do a whole thorough assessment and a note in their medical chart and we
Things are done very interdisciplinary.
So sometimes getting them connected with resources through social work things like that
Do people come to you guys with without health problems and things like that like hey, I want to eat better and and what should I do?
Does that happen from time to time?
Maybe in personal life, but
not in person they see on the street
Sometimes we get sometimes we'll get mixed
messages when we walk into a patient's room introducing ourselves as the dietitian.
Some patients are eager to see us.
Some people don't want to talk about food with us.
So we kind of approach patients differently depending on their past experience with food.
That could be in itself a risk factor, a red flag if someone doesn't want to necessarily talk about their nutrition at home.
That could mean maybe they're struggling or they're not eating nutrient dense foods to help fuel them.
So we do in our personal lives have family, friends, strangers ask us about nutrition assistance.
We have a great outpatient department too where their doctor can send referrals regarding a plethora of topics, including diabetes and kidney health, but also, you know, people have come further cardiac health for weight management for maybe
you know they were diagnosed with hypertension or things like that.
How can nutrition help my diagnosis?
And Lindsay also gets out in the community quite a bit like with the like school age kids and things like that with talking about nutrition.
I think with as far as like coming into the hospital to learn about nutrition without having health issues that might be tricky to have it covered by insurance and that's a barrier.
True, I see.
What about when you go out and talk to students?
Are they excited about it?
I mean, you get them fired up to eat healthy or how does it work?
Yeah, it's I try to always make things fun engaging interactive try to think what an adolescence brain might be thinking in terms of nutrition Really speak their language I would say most are Engaged and really interested in learning how nutrition works in their body, too And we know that what you eat
now will have impact on your future health too and especially establishing good habits now will help make habits in adulthood hopefully easier too.
So just trying to reach a range of ages with a range of you know different activities to really get them looking at nutrition in a different way than just grocery shopping or eating dinner at home or something like that.
Vegetables aren't always the most first thing that they want on their plate then, right?
Exactly.
So, you know, how can we make vegetables fun, interesting, tasty, really incorporating kids into cooking can help them realize the diversity of vegetables and that they can be hidden in things.
They can be outright tasty.
Just trying to look at
veggies in a different light, you know, you just start listing the health benefits of vegetables.
That's not going to be very interesting to kids.
So, you know, how can we make it interesting?
And that's what's really nice about going to the classroom or having them come to clubs scrub or going to these career fair days, things like that.
I remember as a kid not liking certain things and now I've grown to like them as an adult, but sometimes it's a tough thing to learn as a kid.
You don't want to try
it.
Yes, reintroduction of any types of food is super important in order to kind of
gather a taste palette or really enjoy the food.
I know Grace has mentioned before, maybe like, I think it's somewhere around seven tries to really maybe come around to liking that food.
So yes, kind of reintroduction in a different form, in a different way, at a different time, you know, when a kid's sick or distracted, maybe introducing broccoli is not the best thing.
It's how you prepare it though, right,
Kelly?
Yeah.
I give that example to grown-ups too of like if you've had boiled Brussels sprouts when you were a kid and you thought they were yucky, that's fair.
But try them roasted, they're a totally different animal.
And I think growing a garden, kids really like that too, like that hands-on stuff and being a part of the process.
And I've had really good luck with doing like school gardens and summer camp gardens that kids just get curious and they
They have a lot of pride of what they were a part of and they want to try different vegetables.
They want to share it with their siblings and bring it home.
And yeah, I think that's just like an engaging way, low pressure way to get kids interested in.
vegetables if you have access to it.
Okay put some broccoli and some cauliflower on a cookie sheet put it in the oven you know and good good stuff actually.
So maybe a good way to do that it got filled to eat it that's for sure.
So in terms of your facility you know you work with the foods or the kitchen department quite a bit in terms of what the patients are served as well.
Yes dietitians oversee the patient menus and we're trying to you know not only
provide options that patients want to eat but that's also going to benefit their health whether it's the reason they're here and relating to their diagnosis or maybe just giving them sustainable options that they can also do at home.
We don't want them to come to the hospital eat one way and then go home and resort maybe back to their unhealthy habits or difficulty with eating so we oversee all the menus make sure that we have a variety of
healthy options.
If they do have chewing or swallowing difficulties, we work with our speech therapist to kind of help create these menus to give them good quality nutrient dense options that are safe to swallow, safe to eat.
And then also that kind of trickles into the cafeteria too.
Our dietary manager does a really great job in trying to think of
options for our employees, you know, we want to make sure our employees are healthy too, to provide care for our patients.
And so they've established things like Wellness Wednesdays, where all options available are all healthy options.
And they like to have at least, you know, alternatives on the menu to really give those health conscious employees options.
And then they also sometimes
just provide information about, you know, in March Nutritional, National Nutrition Month, they really honed in on, you know, spreading ways that you can eat healthy while still at work.
If you're a caregiver too, sometimes you might have some questions.
What do you suggest for a caregiver that might be listening on how to get their loved one to eat or eat better or eat the right stuff?
Yeah, it's always going to depend on the person, but lots of times people tend to eat better with others.
And so if you are a caregiver, whether you're a significant other or a family member relative, stranger, that caregiver eating with them really encourages that patient to also eat.
Maybe they need feeding assistance too, and that's why they're not getting the nutrition they need.
They just need assistance opening things, bringing things to their mouth, grabbing onto silverware.
Another way caregivers can kind of identify those struggles or barriers and assist with that Sometimes it is shopping for them doing Walmart pickup or delivery And sometimes it's trying to figure out their favorite foods that they like to eat What time of day do they eat best and really optimizing that time of day?
So just kind of different tricks that caregivers can pick up on
Indeed and that there's kind of a fine line there in terms of anything else you want to add about malnutrition or some things that you're recognizing this week
Yeah malnutrition It's the awareness week is from September 14th to the 18th and so at the hospital We're really trying to grab a hold of this initiative and make it very
interdisciplinary.
The theme for malnutrition awareness week is nutrition care is a team effort which really I think exudes what our hospital does.
All hands touch the patient therefore all hands have a handed nutrition and how well the patient eats and what they eat.
So really just kind of identify and educating where can we improve in terms of nutrition status for patients whether it's identifying it
documenting about it, helping them, diagnosing, reporting, and then going home with better nutrition too.
What does Aspen stand for?
Aspen is the organization that's the leader of Malnutrition Awareness Week.
It's American Society of Parental and Enteral Nutrition.
So that is an organization that addresses these low-frequency, high-risk patients.
patients on tube feedings, patients receiving IV nutrition.
Those are the patients who tend to be already malnourished or at risk for malnourishment.
So we have a nutrition support committee at the hospital that really focuses on those types of patients.
So that's kind of where this initiative stems from.
And we're using their recommendations, their guidelines to help care for these patients.
If we eat well during the week, Kelly, is it all right to have a cheat day or how do you look at it?
What do you tell your patients?
I like the 80, 20 rule like 80 because there's a lot of reasons we eat food.
It's not a hundred percent to nourish our body.
We also do it to celebrate our culture or different cultures.
We do it to socialize, to celebrate.
Sometimes we do it out of boredom and things like that, but there's lots of reasons that we eat.
So
and 80, 20, like 80% of the foods that you eat should be nourishing and enjoyable to eat.
20% can be just for fun.
So when you're out in public and somebody say, look at Kelly, she's got that huge banana split.
Yes,
grab a spoon.
Are you conscious about that when you're out and about?
I try not to be.
I think it's kind of funny.
Like if I go out for pizza and people are like, oh, you're having pizza.
Yep.
That's part of the 20.
Right?
Yeah.
That's my 20.
What about you, Lindsey?
Oh, I definitely indulge.
I have a pretty decent sweet tooth.
So there are times where, yes, I am the one with the banana split.
Well,
there's a banana in it.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Or ending my night with something small.
So yes, we educate patients on ways to enjoy the quality of life that food brings us.
but there's also times where there's ways you can make those treats healthy too, if you want.
Um, so just kind of a balance of both of educating them.
Okay.
Here's a healthier alternative for that treat or here's a treat too.
You can have it both ways.
It's, uh, you mentioned it's such a social thing though, but then you get into, I don't even in our own family, you have somebody that, uh, maybe has celiac and you have, you know, all these different things that we didn't think about.
40 years ago, you know, it's a different time, isn't it?
Yeah, it can be tricky to navigate.
I just had a patient like that last week and talking about how do you go out to eat when you have an allergy or an intolerance like that?
How do you navigate social events that can be really stressful and the burden is often on the person with the either ciliac or food allergy, but you know, having calling ahead of time to the restaurant, see if they
They are aware of if they can accommodate food allergies or gluten-free if they have separate equipment and can guarantee that there's not cross-contamination or if you're going to social events asking the host what's going to be available and probably bringing some of your own food or eating ahead of time.
If you bring a dish to pass, at least you have something you can eat.
True.
But I wanted to go back to the malnutrition thing, not to disrupt the flow of things, but the whole goal of bringing more awareness and attention to malnutrition is to improve people's outcomes when they do come to the hospital.
Improving their nutrition can reduce their length of stay at the hospital, improve recovery time.
decrease the risk for infections, all sorts of important things that we care about.
Yeah, recovery time could be a little quicker than as a result of you follow that a little bit more strictly, right?
Yes, without proper nutrition, it affects basically every system in your body.
Your immune system declines.
You're not thinking as clearly, so it's affecting your cognitive status.
Nutrition is very important for your muscle strength, so when you're not getting good nutrition and you are hospitalized, your mobility is decreased, so you're not using your muscles, then therefore your muscle mass can decrease too.
Also, your heart, your lungs,
everything relies on proper nutrition so therefore if you're not getting it prior to coming to the hospital which is
quite often what we see, unfortunately.
But also if it's not addressed during hospitalization, that just kind of makes you a little bit more immunocompromised.
Like Kelly said, increased risk for infection, for wounds, for further delay in care.
Maybe you can't get the surgery that you needed because you don't have good nutrition.
So that just increases your length of stay too.
So there's lots of stats out there that show that.
And so we're trying to address nutrition identification
early, address it early, diagnose it early, and help the patient not only while they're hospitalized, but set them up before they go home too.
Yeah, we're coming up on, it won't be long, we've been talking a lot about flu and cold season and that kind of thing.
Kelly, are there some foods that can help our immune system?
Yeah, I think, you know, the one that most people know about, or the nutrient that most people know about is vitamin C, which is going to be in our fresh fruits, and some of the
vegetables like bell peppers, kiwis are really high in vitamin C so that's important but a lot of nutrients are important for our immune system because if you're undernourished in general your immune system is going to be compromised so just general healthy eating is important always but especially coming into cold and flu season.
How much does like a lot of vitamin C tablets and, you know, things you can mix up in a drink, how much do they help your immune system?
Lindsay, any idea?
Um, they definitely help on the front end in terms of preventing flu.
And then if you do end up getting sick, it can help with maintenance and not getting worse.
It's not going to cure your flu or, um, your illness, but it is important.
It's one of those protective antioxidants that's going to, um, help
cover a lot of different bases and kind of give you that shield.
So that and then pushing fluids, of course, too.
You know, as the weather gets colder, we don't drink as much water as maybe we did in summer.
And water is really going to help your immune system too.
Water is kind of the cure all for a lot of things, isn't it?
Yes, being hydrated is very important, especially with, you know, here we are sitting with our coffee mug.
I've
got water, by
the way.
It's still 9.30.
True
confessions.
But yeah, there's lots of, you know, there's beverages out there, energy drinks, sugary beverages, coffee, lots of things that we often drink.
instead of getting adequate water.
So just trying to find that balance of aiming for maybe eight cups a day of water to really hydrate you.
You wake up and you want your pee to be clear, pale, yellowish.
So that's how you know you're hydrated.
Eight?
Eight cups.
Yes.
So eight, eight ounce cups.
So about 64-ish ounces is kind of a
general rule of thumb.
And then of course, if you are someone who sweats a lot, exercises a lot, maybe medications adjust how much is recommended, things like that.
But yes, A is a good place to start.
Lots of people get less than that.
So eight cups in addition.
A little Q&A today with registered dieticians Lindsay Hatfield and Kelly Herbert on our morning show today.
We wanted to switch gears and talk a little bit about childhood obesity, which is a topic.
I don't know that we've tackled that on the show, at least not for a while.
How would you define it, Lindsay, as you look at this?
Yeah, childhood obesity awareness month is just kind of a time to recognize the unfortunate
growing prevalence of obesity across all ages here in America but I think now the CDC has updated that about one in every five kids is has obesity and so of course we know as dietitians that nutrition can play a role in preventing and treating obesity so that is kind of where we can play a part in addressing this month but of course
all
months.
But certainly getting those good habits again when you're young is certainly important, isn't it?
Yes.
Because we're still developing both physically mentally emotionally Having a good relationship with food having good healthy eating habits exercise regimen just enjoying life and seeing the importance of good nutrition can really play a role in not only their health as they're growing but also in their future too
What are some factors that could lead to childhood obesity Kelly?
There's a lot of different factors.
A big correlation is income, and just living closer to the poverty line, you maybe have less access to healthy foods, less access to outdoor spaces to get physical activity that feels safe, and maybe more stress and adverse
Events in childhood that can impact your health in general, but of course all the things that we usually think of too, nutrition, calorie dense foods like candy, sodas, fast foods, and how much physical activity we're getting.
That's like that for any of the things we've talked about today.
Physical activity is so important, but sometimes you might see a young person that it seems to be really active, but they still have the issue, right?
Yeah, it's definitely not the only piece of the puzzle.
There's a lot of physically fit people who still fit in the obesity category.
The BMI calculation is pretty simple.
It's just comparing your height to your weight so it doesn't take into all those nuances.
Yeah, it's it's a topic I think as you mentioned it's kind of become a little bit more prevalent What are some nutrition exercise recommendations that you might have Lindsay?
The my play is still a great visual that we
swear by as dietitians because lots of times kids like to see images of their day-to-day eating.
And so we encourage definitely incorporating fruits and veggies.
As you had mentioned earlier, sometimes it's hard to like the taste of it or it takes a little bit more time to enjoy fruits and vegetables.
But ensuring that you're filling up maybe half your plate of fruits and veggies, it gives you lots of good vitamins, minerals, and they're pretty low in calories too.
fills you up and provides great benefits.
So that's certainly on that side of things.
And of course, choosing whole grains versus your refined grains.
So for example, whole wheat bread versus your white breads can give you more nutrients, give you some fiber, also fills you up.
And then protein because kids are decently active.
Protein is going to help your muscle growth and strength, and it also serves a good purpose for satiety as well.
And then dairy, getting some dairies throughout the day, whether that's through your milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, things like that, that can certainly help fill in some more gaps of.
vitamins and minerals.
And you put chocolate sauce on broccoli then, or does that, that's probably not.
You
know, it doesn't take away from the benefits of the broccoli, but that is an odd combo.
I wouldn't encourage any
ranch.
Ranch, yeah, ranch.
Oh,
I love my raw vegetables and I don't mind dipping them in ranch.
So, you know, that is a good compromise, good combination.
There's certainly ways to navigate that if a person is struggling to eat or try different foods,
I mean, strategies like that is super helpful.
Right.
I mean, there's a point.
Ranch seems to be a lot more around than it used to be.
Kids love to dip.
Is it really?
Well, yeah.
Is it a fat free ranch?
Is that better?
Or how do you look at
it?
So I don't know if you ever watched, did you watch the World Cup this summer where
a lot
of these, you know, travelers from other countries are discovering ranch here in America
for their first
time and they were taking bottles home with them because they just love
so much.
But I would be cautious of some of those like fat-free or sugar-free reduced-fat items because sometimes companies make up for it by adding extra sugar or extra salt, just to kind of compensate for that taste.
So some things that we do with kids in the community is just brief education about a food label, something super simple, generic, ways they can understand.
not having them focus heavily on that, but just trying to eat more.
So maybe whole foods first and then having those condiments to kind of help gets more nutrients in.
Yeah.
What about, we'll talk about maybe microwave meals that are supposed to be like, you know, low in this or low in that.
Are they bad for us in general?
Or how do you look at it, Kelly?
Oh, I don't know.
I don't.
I think for some people that can be convenient and the safest thing that they can do, maybe not necessarily for when we were thinking about kids nutrition, I kind of want to go back to the veggies and dip topic because depending on the age of the kid, it's very appropriate to let them enjoy dipping foods and not be over
overly concerned about like then ranch canceling out the the benefit of them enjoying the vegetable is they're still developing still building their relationship with food and if that's something that gets them excited about eating vegetables I think that's a plus hundred percent a win and it's also important to know too that the adults and the kids lives are being a role model
you know, whether that's good or bad.
So, being adults, grown-ups, paying attention to your habits as well, and that's the biggest influence that you can have on kids' food choices, too, is the habits that you have as a family.
And sure, like as kids get older, you can talk about nutrition and get more in-depth in detail about the nutrition label and what benefits certain foods have in our diet.
But it starts out way earlier than that, way before that would make sense to be talking to a kid of having healthy habits as a family.
So dip away then in other words, right?
Yes, please.
But let's talk about how do you do it on a budget?
Lindsay because that's that's a key thing, you know some but it's it's expensive to buy groceries
it is and what's great about lots of the
fruits and veggies that we are talking about are also available as canned goods or frozen goods, which can sometimes be more affordable than your fresh products, but still provide those good nutrients.
Lots of times those canned or frozen options are picked at peak ripeness, so they can provide even more nutrients than maybe something that's out of season here in Wisconsin.
So lots of times those options can serve multiple purposes.
They are pretty shelf stable too, so what's great is that you can buy them at discount and store them for a long time as well.
Versus buying something fresh at discount, it's in the back of your fridge, you forget about it and now it's rotten.
speaking from experience.
But lots of times, you know, those fruits and veggies can also have options like no added sugar, no added salt, things like that.
So you're still just getting the whole fruit or vegetable too.
Same thing with buying breads, trying to go off.
brand as much as possible doesn't take away from the nutrition of the food item too.
So it doesn't have to be the fanciest brand also.
It can be something that just serves its purpose as food too to kind of create a fun meal.
But everybody's busy running around to practices and how do you maybe get that family time?
I think that's so important Kelly.
I think when you, it doesn't have to be every night.
If there's a
a couple days a week that it all works out for everybody's schedule to have a family dinner together.
That's great.
Otherwise, yeah, sometimes you are on the go run into soccer practice and or piano lessons or things like that.
And having healthy snacks on hand that you can bring in with the in like having the car for before practice or after practice, maybe crackpot meals, bringing leftovers out of the freezer, things like that can help with busy schedules this time of year.
Or maybe making up meals like on a Sunday, for instance, making a few days' worth and getting it ready.
Yeah, meal
prepping is great.
And I wanted to plug the WIC program, too, when you talked about healthy eating on a budget.
There are programs out there to help families with young kids to eat healthy.
The supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children.
They've actually been seeing a decrease in the rates of obesity in their participants when the rest of the country is seeing an increase over the years.
So we know that this program is making a positive impact.
It supplies a lot of nutrient-dense foods, like fruits and vegetables, dairy, whole grains, beans.
And you can, in this time of year, you can get coupons for the farmer's market.
That's a win-win-win for everybody.
And they also meet with a dietitian.
They'll learn more about nutrition and feeding kids in a healthy way.
So that's for kids or families with kids under the age of five and pregnant and breastfeeding women as well.
worth checking out.
That's for sure.
Anything you wanted to add on the topic, Lindsay?
Yeah, there's some great food pantry resources in the community too.
Sometimes churches have meals available once a week also, not only for families and for kids.
I know we're kind of talking about childhood obesity awareness, but that's something that we also screen at the hospital to our social workers review as social determinants of health questionnaire with the patients.
And if they do express concerns about access
or affording food, they call us right up and us dieticians can come down and provide those resources, but also work through the patients on how to get the most bang for their budgets in terms of accessing healthy options.
Where can you find those?
How can you afford them?
How can you now create a balanced meal at home?
So I think simplifying it for kids too and families, for their kids who maybe where money is tight,
we simplify the meal as much as possible.
You don't have to create this extravagant recipe.
You can really kind of stretch a dollar when it comes to buying in bulk sometimes or really taking advantage of those food pantries that are there for you to offer you some variety in terms of your meals at home.
How do you approach it if you have a child that is on the obese line?
I mean, you don't want to wait shame, obviously, but what's the best way to go about it in the steps to take?
I think in terms of treatment, of course, we always want to look at trying to build a good relationship of where they're at, not necessarily focusing on the number on the scale or their weights, but addressing them as a person and trying to find what are they doing and what small tweaks can we make in their life that is realistic and achievable, sustainable.
A big part of that is incorporating maybe more movement into life.
I think sedentary lifestyles are on the trends that comes with increased screen time too.
Maybe as Kelly said, difficulty accessing playgrounds or parks or joining sports and hobbies.
So what are some ways we can increase movement?
That way we're not necessarily always doing a 180 with a diet, but we're still able to kind of be in a little bit more of a deficit because we are exercising more.
Plus that kind of again creates good habits and kids want to be outside and in the sun and with others.
Um, so that's a good place to start.
What about school lunches as well?
Those are obviously improved over the years, haven't they, Kelly?
Yeah.
And they do follow, um, have to follow specific guidelines for nutrition on sodium sugar and servings of the number of servings for different food groups.
So yeah, it has improved and.
And it's a great resource, especially for, well, really anybody, but especially for families who qualify for the free or reduced lunches.
It can take a big weight off of concern for being able to afford to feed your kids well to have those school lunches available.
And they have summer time programs too, a lot of school systems.
Those have been very good.
And sadly, that might be the only meal or the best meal, obviously, that a kid has, right?
Right, yeah.
Sadly, that can be the case where kids come early for the school breakfast and then get the school lunch.
Sometimes that may be the meals that they can count on.
The interesting topic, childhood obesity and also malnutrition, kind of opposite sides of the spectrum.
Good to talk about it on the morning show today.
Anything else either you would like to add here this morning, you were going to pick on me, I think.
Yeah,
you can.
Yeah.
What do you have for lunch today?
What do I have for lunch?
It's a, it's a, one of those really bad frozen meals, you know, that's why I asked it.
I
was like, let's move on.
I don't like that question.
I
think it's a healthy choice though.
Awesome.
And
there are some out there.
Healthy choice.
Yeah.
I think it's healthy choice.
Yeah.
There's definitely ones that are like lower in sodium and include.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They have leaner proteins, include vegetables.
Right.
There's better, there is a spectrum of frozen meals, a spectrum of like option, better or worse options.
Sure.
Yeah.
They're convenient, you know, for radio guys on the go, but yeah.
Banana for breakfast.
There you go.
Yes.
I like
bananas.
Can you
add the protein to that?
Yeah, there's some granola, you know, but I think it might be like high in sugar.
I'm not sure.
Yeah, granola.
That's how it gets all like crunchy and
tasty ones.
Tasty ones.
Tasty ones.
Tasty ones.
My other crutch is that I don't, I've never put salt or pepper on anything, but
I put soy sauce on my vegetables.
Yes.
Condiment sauces that, you know, for the little serving sizes that they are on the food label, they packed a big punch sometimes in terms of sodium and, you know, hot sauce is one of those and soy sauce and ketchup has some decent sugar in it.
So I
love ketchup.
I'm a, you want some fry with your ketchup?
Exactly.
Exactly.
So what vegetable did you not like growing up as a kid?
You know, I don't like peas.
I
still
don't like
peas.
I tried so hard, but I did come around to green beans.
So I was never a pea and green bean person, but now
I even grew my own green beans this year.
So I'm glad
to
try those.
I make a mean green bean casserole.
Oh,
green bean.
Now do you throw tots in there or
not?
Nope.
I put just kind of like from scratch.
So you're typical like, what is it?
Cream of mushroom soup.
I kind of make that by scratch.
And then, you know, the little fried onions on top.
So, you know, still
green beans in there.
Don't worry.
Um, but no, I think roasting veggies is so good.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And you didn't like peas either, Kelly?
Um, yeah, they're just kind of mushy and I like fresh peas.
I don't like the like cayenne that's like in a can.
You boil them on the stove.
Split pea soup.
Split pea soup.
Can I say something about the, going back to what you mentioned about, um, like
the it being a sensitive topic, the child.
ahead.
We were when working with kids in that kind of circumstance, we don't focus on the weight.
Yeah, we don't
talk about it.
Kids are going to grow how they are going to grow and we encourage parents not to compare them to other children and focus on healthy behaviors that can be implemented as a family.
We don't want to focus on the individual child.
That's going to be more harmful than
good.
So we want to focus on healthy habits as a family and that is, you know, if we can get everybody on board, that's the safest and best way to approach it versus even mentioning weight or having targeted specific attention on how that child is growing.
Yeah, that's a great way to end here today.
Kelly, thank you.
And we appreciate seeing you all and give time all our best.
She's holding down the fort today.
Yes,
is.
Right.
Good.
Well, good to have you in here.
Thanks for joining us today.
Lindsay Hatfield, Kelly Herbert on today's morning show.
A little Q&A today with registered dieticians Lindsay Hatfield and Kelly Herbert on our morning show today.
We wanted to switch gears and talk a little bit about childhood obesity, which is a topic.
I don't know that we've tackled that on the show, at least not for a while.
How would you define it, Lindsay, as you look at this?
Yeah, childhood obesity awareness month is just kind of a time to recognize the unfortunate.
growing prevalence of obesity across all ages here in America.
But I think now the CDC has updated that about one in every five kids has obesity.
And so of course, we know as dietitians that nutrition can play a role in preventing and treating obesity.
So that is kind of where we can play a part in addressing this month.
But of course, all
months.
But certainly,
Getting those good habits again when you're young is certainly important, isn't
it?
Yes, because we're still developing both physically, mentally, emotionally, having a good relationship with food, having good, healthy eating habits, exercise regimen, just enjoying life and seeing the importance of good nutrition can really play a role in not only their health as they're growing, but also in their future too.
What are some factors that could lead to childhood obesity, Kelly?
There's a lot of different factors.
Um, a big correlation is income and, uh, just living closer to the poverty line.
You maybe have less access to healthy foods, less access to outdoor spaces to get physical activity that feel safe.
Um, and maybe more stress and, um,
adverse events in childhood that can impact your health in general, but of course all the things that we usually think of too if nutrition, calorie dense foods like candy, sodas, fast foods, and how much physical activity we're getting.
That's like that for any of the things we've talked about today.
Physical activity is so important, but sometimes you might see a young person that it seems to be really active, but they still have the issue, right?
Yeah, it's definitely not the only piece of the puzzle.
There's a lot of physically fit people who still fit in the obesity category.
The BMI calculation is pretty simple.
It's just comparing your height to your weight so it doesn't take into all those nuances.
Yeah, it's a it's a topic.
I think as you mentioned it's kind of become a little bit more prevalent What are some nutrition exercise recommendations that you might have Lindsay?
The my play is still a great visual that we
swear by as dietitians because lots of times kids like to see images of their day-to-day eating.
And so we encourage definitely incorporating fruits and veggies.
As you had mentioned earlier, sometimes it's hard to like the taste of it or it takes a little bit more time to enjoy fruits and vegetables.
But ensuring that you're filling up maybe half your plate of fruits and veggies, it gives you lots of good vitamins, minerals, and they're pretty low in calories too.
fills you up and provides great benefits.
So that's certainly on that side of things.
And of course, choosing whole grains versus your refined grains.
So for example, whole wheat bread versus your white breads can give you more nutrients, give you some fiber, also fills you up.
And then protein because kids are decently active.
Protein is going to help your muscle growth and strength, and it also serves a good purpose for satiety as well.
And then dairy, getting some dairies throughout the day, whether that's through your milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, things like that, that can certainly help fill in some more gaps of.
vitamins and minerals.
Can you put chocolate sauce on broccoli then, or does that, that's probably not.
You
know, it doesn't take away from the benefits of the broccoli, but that is an odd combo.
I would encourage.
Oh,
ranch, yeah, ranch.
Oh, I love my raw vegetables and I don't mind dipping them in ranch.
So, you know, that is a good compromise, good combination.
There's certainly ways to navigate that if a person is struggling to eat or try different foods,
I mean, strategies like that is super helpful.
Right.
I mean, there's a point.
Ranch seems to be a lot more around than it used to be.
Kids love to dip.
Is it really?
Well, yeah.
Is it a fat free ranch?
Is that better?
Or how do you look at
it?
So I don't know if you ever watched, did you watch the World Cup this summer where
a lot
of these, you know, travelers from other countries are discovering ranch here in America
for their
first time and they were taking bottles home with them because they just love ranch so much.
But I would be cautious of some of those like fat-free or sugar-free reduced-fat items because sometimes companies make up for it by adding extra sugar or extra salt just to kind of compensate for that taste.
So some things that we do with kids in the community is just brief education about a food label, something super simple, generic, ways they can understand.
not having them focus heavily on that, but just trying to eat more.
So maybe whole foods first and then having those condiments to kind of help get some more nutrients in.
Yeah.
What about, um, we'll talk about maybe microwave meals that are supposed to be like, you know, low in this or low in that, um, are they bad for us in general?
Or how do you look at it, Kelly?
Oh, I don't know.
I don't, I think for some people that,
can be convenient and the safest thing that they can do.
Maybe not necessarily for when we were thinking about kids nutrition.
I kind of want to go back to the veggies and dip topic because depending on the age of the kid, it's very appropriate to let them enjoy dipping foods and not be over
overly concerned about like then ranch canceling out the the benefit of them enjoying the vegetable is they're still developing still building their relationship with food and if that's something that gets them excited about eating vegetables I think that's a plus hundred percent a win and it's also important to note too that the adults and the kids lives are being a role model
you know whether that's good or bad so being adults grown-ups paying attention to your habits as well and that's the biggest influence that you can have on kids food choices too is the habits that you have as a family.
And sure, like as kids get older, you can talk about nutrition and get more in-depth in detail about the nutrition label and what benefits certain foods have in our diet.
But it starts out way earlier than that, way before that would make sense to be talking to a kid of having healthy habits as a family.
So dip away then in other words, right?
Yes, please.
But let's talk about how do you do it on a budget?
Lindsay because that's that's a key thing, you know something but it's expensive to buy groceries
it is and what's great about lots of the
fruits and veggies that we are talking about are also available as canned goods or frozen goods, which can sometimes be more affordable than your fresh products, but still provide those good nutrients.
Lots of times those can of frozen options are picked at peak ripeness, so they can provide even more nutrients than maybe something that's out of season here in Wisconsin.
So lots of times those options can serve multiple purposes.
They are pretty shelf stable too.
So what's great is that you can buy them at discount and store them for a long time as well versus buying something fresh at discount.
It's in the back of your fridge.
You forget about it and now it's rotten.
speaking from experience.
But lots of times, you know, those fruits and veggies can also have options like no added sugar, no added salt, things like that.
So you're still just getting the whole fruit or vegetable too.
Same thing with buying breads, trying to go off.
Brand as much as possible doesn't take away from the nutrition of the food item too.
So it doesn't have to be the fanciest brand also It can be something that just serves its purpose as food to to kind of create a fun meal
But everybody's busy running around to practices and and and how do you maybe get that family time?
I think that's so important Kelly.
I think when you it doesn't have to be every night if there's a
a couple days a week that it all works out for everybody's schedule to have a family dinner together.
That's great.
Otherwise, yeah, sometimes you are on the go run into soccer practice and or piano lessons or things like that.
And having healthy snacks on hand that you can bring in with the in like having the car for before practice or after practice, maybe crackpot meals, bringing leftovers out of the freezer, things like that can help with busy schedules this time of year.
Or maybe making up meals like on a Sunday, for instance, making a few days' worth and getting it ready.
Yeah, meal
prepping is great.
And I wanted to plug the WIC program, too, when you talked about healthy eating on a budget.
There are programs out there to help families with young kids to eat healthy.
The supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children.
They've actually been seeing a decrease in the rates of obesity in their participants when the rest of the country is seeing an increase over the years.
So we know that this program is making a positive impact.
It supplies a lot of nutrient-dense foods, like fruits and vegetables, dairy, whole grains, beans.
And in this time of year, you can get coupons for the farmer's market.
That's a win-win-win for everybody.
And they also meet with a dietitian to learn more about nutrition and feeding kids in a healthy way.
So that's for kids or families with kids under the age of five and pregnant and breastfeeding women as well.
Worth checking out, that's for sure.
Anything you wanted to add on the topic, Lindsay?
Yeah, there's some great food pantry resources in the community too.
Sometimes churches have meals available once a week also, not only for families and for kids.
I know we're kind of talking about childhood obesity awareness, but that's something that we also screen at the hospital to our social workers review as social determinants of health questionnaire with the patients.
And if they do express concerns about access
or affording food.
They call us right up and us dietitians can come down and provide those resources but also work through the patients.
on how to get the most bang for their budgets in terms of accessing healthy options.
Where can you find those?
How can you afford them?
How can you now create a balanced meal at home?
So I think simplifying it for kids too and families, for their kids who maybe where money is tight.
How can we simplify the meal as much as possible?
You don't have to create this extravagant recipe.
You can really kind of stretch a dollar when it comes to buying in bulk sometimes or really taking advantage of those food pantries that are there for you to offer you some variety in terms of your meals at home.
How do you approach it if you have a child that is on the obese line?
I mean, you don't want to wait shame, obviously.
What's the best way to go about it and the steps to take?
I think in terms of treatment, of course, we always want to look at trying to build a good relationship of where they're at, not necessarily focusing on the number on the scale or their weights, but addressing them as a person and trying to find what are they doing and what small tweaks can we make in their life that is realistic and achievable, sustainable.
A big part of that is incorporating maybe more movement into life.
I think sedentary lifestyles are on the trend that comes with increased screen time too.
Maybe as Kelly said, difficulty accessing playgrounds or parks or joining sports and hobbies.
So what are some ways we can increase movement?
That way we're not necessarily always.
doing a 180 with a diet, but we're still able to kind of be in a little bit more of a deficit because we are exercising more.
Plus that kind of again creates good habits and kids want to be outside and in the sun and with others.
So that's a good place to start.
What about school lunches as well?
Those have obviously improved over the years, haven't they, Kelly?
Yeah, and they do follow, have to follow specific guidelines
for nutrition on sodium sugar and servings of the number of servings for different food groups So yeah, it has improved and it's and it's a great resource especially for well really anybody but especially for families who qualify for the the free or reduced lunch lunches it can take a big weight off of concern for Being able to afford to feed your kids well
to have those school lunches available.
And they have summer time programs to a lot of school systems.
Those have been very good.
And sadly, that might be the only meal or the best meal, obviously, that a kid has, right?
Right, yeah.
Sadly, that can be the case where kids come early for the school breakfast and then get the school lunch.
Sometimes that may be the meals that they can count on.
Interesting topic, childhood obesity and also malnutrition kind of opposite sides of the spectrum.
Good to talk about it on the morning show today.
Anything else either you would like to add here this morning, you were going to pick on me, I think.
Yeah,
you can.
Sure.
What do you have for lunch today?
What do I have for lunch?
It's one of those really bad frozen meals.
Oh, that's
why you asked
about that.
I was
like, let's move on.
I don't like that question.
I think it's a healthy choice, though.
Awesome.
And
there are some out there.
Is
that
the
brand?
Healthy choice?
I think it's healthy choice.
Yeah,
there's definitely ones that are lower in sodium and include lean.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They have leaner proteins, include vegetables.
There's better.
There is a spectrum of frozen meals, a spectrum of like option, better or worse options.
Sure.
Yeah.
They're convenient, you know, for radio guys on the go, but, uh, yeah, banana for breakfast.
Yeah.
I like
the protein of that.
Yeah.
There's, there's some granola, you know, but I think it might be.
like high in sugar, I'm not sure.
Yeah, granola.
That's how it gets all like crunchy and
tasty
ones.
My other crutches that I don't, I've never put salt or pepper on anything, but I put soy sauce on my vegetables.
Yes.
Condiment sauces that, you know, for the little serving sizes that they are on the food label, they packed a big punch sometimes in terms of
sodium and you know hot sauce is one of those and soy sauce and ketchup has some decent sugar in it so.
I
love ketchup.
I'm a, you want some fry with your ketchup?
Exactly.
Exactly.
So what vegetable did you not like growing up as a kid?
You know, I don't like peas.
I still don't like
beans.
I tried so hard, but I did come around to green beans.
So I was never a pea and green bean person, but now
I even grew my own green beans this year.
So I'm glad
to
try those.
I make a mean green bean casserole.
Oh,
green bean.
Now do you throw tots in there or
not?
Nope.
I put just kind of like from scratch.
So you're typical like, what is it?
Cream of mushroom soup.
I kind of make that by scratch.
And then, you know, the little fried onions on top.
So, you know, still
green beans in there and don't worry.
But no, I think roasting veggies is so good.
Yeah, absolutely.
And you didn't like peas either, Kelly?
Yeah, they're just kind of mushy and I like fresh peas.
I don't like the like cayenne that's like in a can.
You boil them on the stove.
Oh, I actually do like split pea soup.
Split pea soup.
Can I say something about the going back to what you mentioned about like
the it being a sensitive topic, the child.
Yes, go
ahead.
We were when working with kids in that kind of circumstance, we don't focus on the weight.
Yeah, we don't
talk about it.
Kids are going to grow how they are going to grow and we encourage parents not to compare them to other children and focus on healthy behaviors that can be implemented as a family.
We don't want to focus on the individual child.
That's going to be more harmful than
good.
So we want to focus on healthy habits as a family and that is, you know, if we can get everybody on board, that's the safest and best way to approach it versus even mentioning weight or having
targeted specific attention on how that child is growing.
Yeah.
That's a great way to end here today.
Kelly, thank you.
And we appreciate seeing you all and give time all our best.
She's holding down the fort today.
Yes, she is.
Right.
Good.
Well, good to have you in here.
Thanks for joining us today.
Lindsay Hatfield, Kelly Herbert on today's morning show.