Kibbe Conti, RD, created a nutrition model based on the medicine wheel, a sacred symbol that represents balance. Her hope is that it helps fight the diabetes epidemic currently raging among Native Americans. Kibbe Conti was working on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation when her nutrition education collided with her culture. As a certified diabetes educator, she knew that rates of type 2 diabetes among Native Americans are more than two times the national average. As a Lakota Sioux well versed in her history, she also knew that their diets were once healthy—made up of gathered plants, quality meats, and fish. But when Indian land shrunk to reservation size, highly processed meat products and soda replaced extralean buffalo meat and fresh water—not the best choices for people prone to obesity and diabetes, she says. Conti hopes to help by reintroducing more traditional foods into a diet plan that reflects how her ancestors ate: large game animals, fruits, and starchy vegetables. In her own home, “I practice what I preach,” says the 39-year-old mother of two. Instead of sweetened drinks, she sips water, milk, or seltzer, and her family eats lean meat—most of the time. “My husband is Italian, and he’s from New York,” she says. “He really likes sausage, so sometimes he has to have it.” Conti’s Diet Rules: Buy locally “Our ancestors ate off the land they lived on, so we try our best to do the same. I pick up fresh fruits and vegetables at the market whenever they are available, and I keep organic milk and eggs on hand.” Make veggies your starch “Native people used to eat beans, corn, and squash, which contain complex carbohydrates that gradually release glucose into your blood instead of spiking your blood sugar.” Shop slowly “Our ancestors painstakingly hunted, gathered, and prepared food. These days, most of us spend almost no time. Slow down at the store, read the nutrition labels, peruse the fresh meat–healthy eating starts with healthy shopping.” [pagebreak] Healthy Eating Advice: “Have dessert first” Judith S. Stern, ScD, RD, teaches at the University of California, Davis. She also leads an international team of experts charged with establishing criteria by which the latest obesity research papers are evaluated. “Chocolate should be an honorary vitamin,” says Judith Stern. Not the first thing you’d expect to hear from an obesity researcher, but in “real” life, this 64-year-old is a pie-baking, freewheeling gourmet. She’ll spread a little butter—guilt free—on her whole grain bread and often shares her daily oatmeal and raisin breakfast with her macaw, Papaya. And she doesn’t apologize for the extra 20 pounds she carries on her petite frame. “I am happy with myself as I am,” says Stern, whose blood pressure and cholesterol levels are well within the healthy range. “I just love food.” (Stern has been known to snap a picture of a particularly good restaurant meal.) And sometimes she even eats dessert first. “Just thinking of chocolate makes me hum,” she laughs. But so do fresh fruits and vegetables. Stern is just as rhapsodical when she talks about Italian plums, so much so that she makes them sound as tempting as tiramisu. “There’s only one ‘fruit’ I don’t like,” she quips. “It’s against my religion to eat rhubarb.” Stern’s Diet Rules: Think small but spectacular “I’m very particular—I won’t eat bad-tasting food just because it’s there. I’d rather have smaller portions of something that tastes great.” Go au naturel “I never put sugar on fruit—not because sugar is evil but because fruit is already so sweet. And I don’t use salt. I appreciate the real taste of food, and adding anything else is just gilding the lily.” Make extra bites impossible “None of us really have the visual judgment to estimate half a meal, so when I’m at a restaurant, I order an appetizer as my entree or I’ll ask the server to just bring me half. My favorite restaurant is a Spanish tapas place that serves nothing but appetizers.” Learn other ways to use food to reverse disease, look younger, and live longer. Order your copy of Joy Bauer’s Food Cures. [pagebreak] Healthy Eating Advice: “Pass up the white stuff” Cheryl Forberg, RD, author of Stop the Clock! Cooking, is the behind-the-scenes dietitian for NBC’s The Biggest Loser reality TV show—and helped contestants lose a combined total of more than 800 pounds. To earn a spot in Cheryl Forberg’s pantry, a food has to be an edible version of an overachiever—nutrient rich and tops in antioxidants. What you won’t see anywhere in her Napa, CA, kitchen is refined flour or sugar. “I don’t cook with or eat either of them,” says the 51-year-old chef. “They’re nothing more than calories, so I don’t make them part of my diet.” Peek in her fridge and you’ll find vibrantly colored fruits and vegetables, such as pink grapefruit or spinach, and good protein sources like fish, lean meat, and low-fat dairy. Comb the cabinets and you’ll see whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Through her research, she found that incorporating these types of foods into your diet not only helps fight disease but also helps prevent the effects of aging. “The more I learned, the more I wondered why I would eat anything else,” she says. “I felt better—and my skin looks better, too.” Forberg is so committed to her food style that even her Boston terrier, Ben, eats the same healthy diet. “He loves salmon and spinach,” she says. Forberg’s Diet Rules: Use “healthier” sugar “I cook with neutral-tasting agave nectar or sorghum syrup, which is high in antioxidants.” Bag a nutritious snack “I pack a few handfuls of homemade granola in my pocketbook when I travel. It helps me avoid the easy airport or minibar temptations and provides an instant energy boost.” Forget fancy “I’m as busy as anyone else, so I don’t have time to make elaborate meals three times a day. Oatmeal speckled with fruit and nuts for breakfast, grilled chicken or fish over salad for dinner—those are my favorite and healthy eating ‘fast foods.’ " [pagebreak] Healthy Eating Advice: “Make 75% of meals healthy—and save room for fun.” Claudia Gonzalez, RD, moved from Peru to Miami at age 19 and turned her interest in nutrition into a career devoted to fighting the rising obesity rate in the Latino community. “If you don’t eat right, neither will your children,” says Claudia Gonzalez. That’s the first thing this pediatric dietitian tells the Latino families she counsels, and it’s a belief she follows at home with her own three kids. Latino children have among the highest obesity rates in the United States, and Gonzalez works to help families take the first step toward change. “Some of my clients tell me they don’t like vegetables, but if they don’t eat them, it’ll be difficult to convince their kids to,” says Gonzalez, 41. You don’t have to give up family favorites—the key is learning to blend traditional flavors into healthier meals. “You can have that fried chicken, for example, as long as half the plate is filled with something green,” says Gonzalez, coauthor of Gordito Doesn’t Mean Healthy, a Latino eating guide. Another tip for Latina moms: Adopt your culture’s definition of comfort. “Latin Americans associate the word comfort with friends, not food,” says Gonzalez, who’d never heard the term comfort food until coming to the United States. “If you’re feeling stressed, call a good girlfriend to walk or go shopping. That way you’re moving, not eating.” Gonzalez’s Diet Rules: Think in food groups “At every meal, get two or three food groups—choose between whole grains, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and meat and fish. My son, for example, loves cereal, so he has it with milk and a banana, and my daughter might have her yogurt with a little fruit or a slice of whole wheat bread.” Always split dessert “In our house, no one gets any kind of junk food or sweet to themselves. When a package is opened, it’s shared.” Alternate heavy and light meals “Sometimes if I don’t have a really healthy lunch, I make up for it by making sure my dinner is better. As long as two out of three of my meals are packed with nutrients, I know I’m doing okay.”
