Overview of Diets Part 2 – Intermittent Fasting and Low-Fat Diets

Posted on January 10, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

Here’s part two of our overview of some of the most popular kinds of diets! In this part, we’ll be breaking down intermittent fasting and the low-fat diet!

 

Intermittent Fasting

Following an intermittent fasting diet has been increasingly popular lately because it’s relatively easy to do, and is very customizable to your specific needs. This diet cycles your body through periods of eating followed by periods of fasting. There are many different methods and timings within this diet, with some fasting and eating periods being separated only by hours, and others being separated by whole days.

Some diet apps even suggest you make slight adjustments to intermittent fasting based on your age.

Some of the perks of intermittent fasting are that it’s an easy way to restrict calories, it is successful for weight loss, boosts metabolism in the short-term, boosts production of HGH (human growth hormone), and improves cellular repair. Another benefit to intermittent fasting that sets it apart from other diets is that it causes less muscle loss than other diets.

 

Low-Fat Diet

The low-fat diet became pretty popular in the 1980s as a way to reduce the risk of developing heart disease. Intense low-fat diets aim to limit daily fat intake to 10% of daily calories by limiting the amount of animal products consumed and replacing them with plant-based products. Besides reducing fat, this also increases the amount of carbohydrates you eat and reduces protein intake.

Low-fat diets have been successful for obese individuals, and they can reduce the risk for heart disease, and type 2 diabetes, and can slow the progression of multiple sclerosis. However, the downside to low-fat diets is that fat is an important part of a healthy diet, and not getting enough fat can lead to long-term health issues.

Keep an eye out for part 3! In that final article on diets, we’ll be looking at 3 diets, the paleo diet, the Dukan diet, and the zone diet!

Check out the Fill Your Plate blog for other articles about food and nutrition!

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Overview of Diets Part 1 – Low-Carb and Atkins Diet

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

 

The beginning of the New Year motivates us to download diet apps or pull out a diet Book we found at the discount bookstore during the rush of our Christmas shopping. Well, it’s the New Year and time to do some diet considerations if that’s on your list for 2024. Many people find this to be the perfect time to make their resolutions to better their health in one way or another. Often, people begin different diets in an attempt to lose a few extra pounds. But there are so many different diets to choose from! In this article, and the two that will follow, I’ll break down some of the most popular diets so that you can more easily choose the one that will fit you and your needs the best!

So, let’s jump into this series by looking at low-carb diets and the Atkins diet.

Low-carb Diets 

When it comes to low-carb diets, there are various forms of these diets that all have small variations from each other. But they all have the same goal, which is to limit your daily carbohydrate intake to about 20-150 grams per day. By limiting your carbohydrate intake each day, you’re forcing your body to use fat as its main source of fuel rather than carbohydrates, which is its first choice of fuel. Low-carb diets are extremely helpful for weight loss, especially in those who are either obese or overweight and can lead to more than twice the amount of weight loss of other diets. These diets also tend to reduce your appetite, which in turn reduces your caloric intake. One possible downside is that a lack of carbohydrates can cause certain individuals to feel miserable physically.

Atkins Diet –

The Atkins diet is a low-carb diet, but what sets this diet apart from other low-carb diets is that it encourages eating as much fat and protein as you want and eating less than 20 grams of carbohydrates per day. This diet is done in 4 phases in which you slowly reduce the amount of carbs in your diet. After the completion of the 4 phases, you slowly begin to reintroduce carbs. Following this diet reduces your appetite and increases fullness, due to how satiating fat and proteins are. The Atkins diet has been found to lead to faster weight loss when compared to low-fat diets and is great for reducing belly fat and lowering disease risk.

These are just two of the many diets that we’ll be looking into! Stay tuned for part 2, in which we’ll take a look at the paleo diet, the Dukan diet, and the HCG diet! In the meantime, check out some of the many other articles about dieting on the Fill Your Plate blog!

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Things to Look for in a Protein Bar

Posted on January 5, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

 

In my opinion, one of the greatest products ever made is protein bars. They’re small, easily packable, and for me, they suffice as a meal. As I’ve tried many different brands and kinds of protein bars, I found that they’re not all the same. There are differences in protein source, caloric content, amount of protein, and how many additives they have. So, here are some suggestions on what to look for when selecting a protein bar!

According to registered dietician Whitney English Tabaie, when it comes to choosing the best protein bar, there are a few things to take into consideration. First is protein content, For a protein bar to actually be considered a good source of protein it must contain 10-20% of your daily protein intake, which is around 15-20 grams. Protein bars must also contain other nutritional elements, such as a sufficient number of calories (200-400), and have some carbohydrate content. Tabaie says that the source of the protein doesn’t really matter unless you have certain dietary restrictions.

While protein bars are a great snack or even meal when you are in a rush or on the go, it’s still great to get our protein from regular meals as well! Regardless of how you get your protein, it’s necessary to get enough of it each day. So, whip up a protein-filled meal or grab a protein bar to fuel your day!

For more health-related articles, check out the Fill Your Plate blog!

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Teen’s Exhibiting Poorer Eating and Exercise Habits

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

According to new research published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, teens are exhibiting poorer dietary habits and exercising less in recent years. The research looked specifically at high schoolers and their eating and exercise habits between the years 2019 and 2021. Researchers noted that there was a decrease in the number of fruits and vegetables consumed by teens from 2019 to 2021, as well as lesser participation rates in physical activities. Freshman 15

Making poor dietary choices and not getting enough physical activity has long been known to cause health problems later on. Especially during the teen years, it is very important to get proper nutrition and exercise, as this is when much of a teen’s development takes place. The following are a few suggestions on how to encourage healthy habits with your teen.

  • Enroll them in sports
  • Enroll them in a P.E. class
  • Promote outdoor activities rather than indoor
  • Pack healthy snacks for school
  • Make and prepare healthy foods at home

 

For more articles about healthy eating and exercise, check out the Fill Your Plate blog!

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My Best Tips for Healthy Eating in 2024

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Julie Murphree, Arizona Farm Bureau Strategic Communications Director

Happy 2024; Happy New Year! We want to start out right in many areas of our lives when the new year begins and one of the top-of-our-list areas is eating healthy and eating right. I’ll share my priorities for healthy eating and link to some other articles that give some great ideas.

The list is not exhaustive; it’s more about basics.

  1. So, stick to the basics. I try to make sure I’m eating lots of fruits and vegetables, proteins (beef, poultry, eggs, fish, and nuts), dairy, and complex carbohydrates.
  2. Purchase at the food’s purest or most basic form. In other words, don’t buy in the box, purchase at the meat counter, the dairy case, and in the produce aisle. You get my meaning.
  3. Enjoy your food. We must eat what we like, or we’ll give up on the foods we don’t. If you like beef, but not fish, you obviously need to stick to the beef.
  4. Have a plan. At Fill Your Plate, we always encourage you to have a plan when you shop for food. Create your menu. Make a list of the items you’ll need to purchase and stick to it.
  5. Cut out sugar. A treat every once in a while doesn’t hurt but Americans truly need to cut out all the sugar we consume, especially when it comes to the beverages we consume on a regular basis.
  6. Watch Your portion size. The easiest way for me to drop a few pounds (besides cutting out the sugar) is to be careful about how much I pile on my plate.

An endless number of sources can help us find the right balance of healthy eating tips to move wisely and proactively into this new year. Watching what we eat is never easy when we have so much to choose from, but with a little planning and fortitude, we can make better decisions with our diet.

Cruise the Fill Your Plate blog for more articles on healthy eating. And, Happy New Year!

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