New research reveals you’re more likely to develop healthier eating habits through reading positive health messages.

We see health messages and warnings everywhere: Magazine ads, commercials, not to mention articles (you know, like this one). They range from downright terrifying, like cigarette warnings that could easily inspire a horror movie, to bright and cheery, like Kelly Ripa telling you to brush with Colgate—and when it comes to improving your eating habits, you’re more likely to follow through when those messages are positive or gain-framed, say researchers.

A recent study from Cornell Food & Brand Lab analyzed 63 nutrition education studies to determine who is more likely to be impacted by positive versus negative health messages, and why. They found while evoking fear may seem like a good way to get your point across, the opposite is true: Telling the public a behavior will help them be healthier and happier is more effective than trying to scare them into healthier habits.

The majority of health messages today (in other words, the negative ones) impact health care professionals more than the general public—but why? According to Brian Wansink, Ph.D., Director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, there are a few reasons:

1. We aren’t as involved in the issue
When you’re super-knowledgeable about healthy eating habits – like say, you’re a nutritionist – you’ll be more motivated by a negative- or loss-based message. The general public may not have that deep-rooted passion for the cause like a professional does, and therefore may respond better to messages that provide clear, actionable steps that leave them feeling motivated.

2. We prefer a positive outcome (obvi)
Of course we prefer a positive outcome—who wants to spend their day waiting for an anvil to fall on their head? Why would we strive for a future at all if it wasn’t a better one? We’re not about burying our heads in the sand though: Researchers found when a positive outcome is a sure thing, gain-framed messages are best (such as “you’ll live 5 years longer if you exercise more”), but loss-framed messages work best when a negative outcome is certain (such as “sitting will kill you“).

3. We thrive on facts and certainty
“When claims appear factual and convincing, positive messages tend to work best,” Wansink said in a statement. “If a person believes that eating soy will extend their life by reducing their risk of heart disease, a positive message stating this is best.” If they’re not as convinced, that’s when a negative message (such as “people who don’t eat soy have a higher rate of heart disease”) will have more impact.

As someone who sucks at the whole healthy eating habits thing, I can honestly say I’m more pumped to eat a carrot when I’m told about the wonderful things carrots do for my body, as opposed to being told how not eating them will make my eyes fall out.

So when you’re in need of some added motivation to improve your eating habits or hop on that treadmill, seek out articles or clips on the positive impact these changes will have on your life and you’ll be more likely to stick to them. You don’t need to terrify yourself into doing anything: That’s what CNN is for.

How are you improving your eating habits?

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ColumnHow to eat healthy during the holidays? First, let’s rethink what “healthy” means.

At the beginning of the year, we talked about how the No-Diet Diet was your best bet, and as we come to the end of the year I deem it important to talk about eating healthy around the holidays, because just like January is the start of I Have to Find A Way to Eat Healthy Now, December is the start of Oh God How Will I Survive All This Eating and Temptation? season.

Of course, I could give you a 100 Holiday Foods Never to Touch Ever or a Eat Only These 53 Holiday Foods and You’ll Feel Great list, but we all know those won’t help you for a second. If someone suggests you try their miraculous holiday diet, JUST SAY NO. Diets don’t work, healthy lifestyles do.

How to eat healthy? First of we need to think about what we mean by “healthy.” I am a big believer in the fact that if you’re putting your body through so much stress because you’ve committed strictly cutting certain foods out, you might miss out on the larger physical and emotional benefits of enjoying the holiday spirit. A little indulgence now and then never hurt anyone. Being healthy around the holidays is just as much about enjoying the people around you as it is about the food in front of you. So don’t let an extra holiday cookie get in the way between you and having a good time.

In my family we have an expression: it’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Years that matters, it’s what you eat between New Years and Christmas. Now, assuming that you are usually a fairly healthy, well-balanced individual, a few extra slices of fruitcake during holiday time aren’t going to put you over the edge.

At this point you’re thinking, “ok, ok, but I want a list of tips!” Well, here you go. Your official How to Eat Healthy, Not Freak Out and Still Have Fun During the Holidays guide.

1. Eat in balance

Eating healthy is about balance. It’s about knowing your limits. It’s about letting yourself enjoy food as much as it is choosing food that’s good for you. Ok, so you overdosed on bubbles and chocolate truffles last night, that’s fine! Maybe just eat some sautéed greens for lunch.

2. Bake your own treats

Seriously, this is probably the best thing that you can do for yourself. When you make your own food, you have control over the ingredients, and there won’t be anything weird like trans fat or carrageenan lurking around.

3. Let those fruits and vegetables shine

I think the one major faux pas of holiday cooking is that we douse some of the best seasonal fruits and vegetables in the nastiest of stuff. I mean seriously, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top? Ingredients like sweet potatoes, pumpkin and apples are sweet on their own; you don’t have to add a lot to make them taste good. Cut down on the extra sweeteners and sauces and let the produce speak for itself.

4. Avoid the pressure of “having” to serve certain things

So you’re not going to put a Christmas ham on the table. THAT’S OK. Ultimately, enjoying the holidays is about spending time with people we love, and food is merely a vehicle to do so. Make the classics if you want to, but don’t be afraid to experiment and do something a little different. Change is as good as a holiday as they say.

5. Everything in moderation

We all know this, and yet, so often we get so concerned about extremes. “I am cutting out sugar this Christmas!” “I’ll only eat cookies on Sundays!” For those of us that don’t have debilitating food allergies, live a little. And as Oscar Wilde once said, “everything in moderation, including moderation.”

6. Oh wait, not everything in moderation

High fructose corn syrup candies and processed chips? Nope, get rid of them. Even at holiday time.

7. Get exercise

You hate to hear this, but it’s true. Stay active. Drink water. Take care of your body, there’s no need to turn into a slob. That being said: if you need to skip that run because you need to treat yourself to a morning of sleeping in, that’s fine too.

8. Eat, laugh, love

Those three words were written by a friend recently and I couldn’t agree more. What’s great about this time of year is that you’re encouraged to celebrate – every single day if you want to. Throw a party, gather together with friends, have fun. Don’t let your strict requirements about eating get in the way of that. Otherwise: what’s the point?

There you have it. Now, go attack this holiday season with full force!

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This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Markus spiske

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It might surprise you that the average person accidentally ingests 1-2 pounds of flies, maggots, and other bugs without even knowing it each year. And while you might find eating insects repugnant, not everyone does.

In fact, 2 billion people worldwide already enjoy eating insects in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. When it comes down to it, we Westerners are missing out on this healthy and sustainable part of a green diet.

Climate change is dramatically reducing the amount of arable land and potable water available on the planet, and at the same time, we’re adding another 2 billion people beyond its population capacity. A meat-based diet requires 10 times the land per calorie than that of a grain or vegetable diet. Giving up meat seems obvious, and well, the only choice. Meat just isn’t part of a green diet.

Luckily, there’s another form of animal-based protein that’s plentiful, sustainable, and nutritious. Enter gastronomical insects and lots of them. As for the yuck factor–it doesn’t have to be permanent. According to Vox:

These random variations are the results of cultural beliefs that crystallize over generations, until it begins to seem like a natural truth that eating insects is gross….. Luckily, these arbitrary taboos can be defeated over time. There was a time when raw fish — served as sushi — was seen as repugnant in mainstream US culture. Now it’s ubiquitous.

Just as sushi is now all the rage, insects are poised to be the next mainstream food trend. Sushi is no longer sustainable (in so many cases), but insects are ideal. Raising insects like mealworms or crickets for food is easier on the planet. They’re cold blooded so they require less feed per unit of their body weight. You also consume their entire bodies, so there’s little waste when compared to eating flesh.

Not to mention the health factor. Insects have a high level of protein per gram, especially house flies, crickets, and mealworms. They’re also good sources of calcium, iron, and zinc. Insects are also rich in B12, a nutrient which the body needs to run optimally, but is difficult to find in food sources.

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ColumnWhen you eat, is it just another task, or something you make time to enjoy?

A French friend and I were talking recently about eating habits. This is of course a common discussion when it comes to looking at the differences in American and French culture.

“It is unthinkable to not have a sit down dinner,” he said, referring to the fact that in the large majority of French households, families sit down, together, to eat dinner. Skipping it would be on the verge of sacrilegious.

Look at the average American household, however. Bobby has soccer practice, Molly has to finish up a school project at a friend’s and mom and dad are both pulling long days at the office. Dinner, is eating a bowl of microwaved Top Ramen, consumed while standing at the kitchen counter in the ten-minute window that each individual person has identified as their own time to eat.

Eating is something that we fit in between all of our other tasks, while for the French, the everyday tasks of life are what they do in between the times that they eat.

This is, of course, a sweeping generalization.

Go into any supermarket in France and you’ll see people buying the exact same processed foods as in the U.S. Fast food joints have now overtaken traditional restaurants in popularity. And yet, there is still a tradition that ties people to eating in a way that is rarely present in the U.S.–and it’s a tradition that values the holistic nature of a meal.

For many Americans, eating is about the nutritional value; it’s a scientific process, more than it’s a cultural one. We boil a meal down to carbohydrates, proteins and fats. How much of this and how much of that do I need to maintain my energy and function, but also not gain weight in the process? We’re diet obsessed, and whether it’s conscious or not, it’s a constant dance of thinking about calories and our intake and output. We’re running an ongoing mental calorie calculator.

That’s a depressing way to eat. And not only depressing, it’s unhealthy.

Sitting down to a meal with friends and family provides emotional sustenance as well as nutritional. It’s a joyful affair. You might get all the calories and fiber that you need from a bowl of brown rice, broccoli and black beans, but if it’s eaten on-the-go, in ten minutes, you miss out on all the other aspects that eating brings us.

Eating can be a meditative process. Sit down for an hour-long (or two, or three) dinner and that’s an hour where you’re not doing anything else. It’s time for brain to disengage with the outside world and focus on the food in front of you and the people around you.

My friend and I began talking about Thanksgiving. “It’s the one day of the year where people really are focused on family and food and nothing else,” I said.

He responded, “while for a French person that happens every night.”

It’s true in a way. Certainly not every single lunch and dinner in France is a grand affair, but there is a process to eating, one that puts an appreciation into the food but also the manner in which it’s consumed. You don’t eat an on-the-go snack in the middle of the afternoon, because a sit down dinner awaits you in only a few hours.

An American/British friend who recently came to Paris from London said that for her one of the main differences about the two cities is that in London you practically have to make an effort to avoid street food, while in France, popping into a shop for a snack is rare, and if you are hungry at 3 in the afternoon, you have to work a little harder to find something to eat because you just missed the lunch service.

The 24-hour access to food that is then consumed in a matter of minutes isn’t just bad for us because of the calories; it’s bad because it eliminates all the other beneficial aspects of eating a communal, sit down meal. And as fast food continues to permeate French culture – Burger King is coming back soon – it’s something that the French are going to have to take a long, hard look at, because ultimately, the infusion of fast food culture means the death of slow food.

Want to eat better? Put less time into thinking about calories and more time into thinking about the process. Slow down and enjoy the meal and the people around you.

Not just once in a while, or on a holiday, but everyday.

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This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Daniel Lee

The post To Eat is Not a Task, the Argument for Slowing Down: Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

When perusing the aisles of the grocery store, it’s easy to get confused. Labels scream out at you, claiming that the products they grace are the best of the best, the crème de la crème, listing a slew of guarantees such as “cage-free eggs”, “organic chicken”, “grass-fed beef”, and “pasture butter.” And eating healthy when it comes to meat and poultry requires extra knowledge.

It’s great to have options, and better yet, it’s reassuring to know that food manufacturers are holding themselves accountable to their customers. But, what does it all mean when your goal is eating healthy?

While it may be more expensive to eat pasture-raised, grass-fed, and organic meat and poultry products, it’s worth the extra buck for eating healthy. Red meat has been linked to cancer and it’s because the added hormones in meat increase the incidence of hormone-dependent cancers. If you buy conventional meat, it is more likely than not to have derived from a factory that confines cows to an indoor, practically immovable space, and feeds them grain, which fattens them up faster, but in turn depletes the meat quality and nutritional profile. Instead, have more meatless or poultry-less days. But when you do enjoy them, make it count. The following list gives you a primer in how to read food labels. They may change your life!

1. Cage-free: This label only applies to egg-laying hens. It means that the hens are not in a cage and have unlimited access to food and water. However, it does not mean they get to go outside. This often means that the animal is confined to an overcrowded industrial house with little room to move.

2. Free-range: When you see this term on poultry products, it implies that they are one step above cage-free, in that the animal is allowed to go outside. However, it is not clear what the length of time is that these animals are allowed outside or if the animal ever exercised its right to go outdoors. To make sure that you source your poultry from the most reliable source, look for the “Certified Humane Raised and Handled” logo. This means the farm does not allow cages and require nest boxes to allow chickens to follow their instincts and build nests.

3. Natural: You have probably encountered this label the most. When it comes to meat and dairy products it means that the food product is minimally processed and contains no artificial colors and flavorings. (The same is NOT true for other foods claiming to be “natural.”) However, it doesn’t entail anything about how the animal was raised including exposure to the outdoors or drugs added to the animals’ diets, such as antibiotics.

4. Organic: Meats that are organic come from animals who were not given antibiotics or hormones. Additionally, their feed had no synthetic herbicides or pesticides. To be organic, the manufacturer must be certified by an independent agency.

5. Grass-Fed: This term applies to cattle, sheep, goats, and bison. They must have continuous access to a pasture during growing season and must only be fed grass, forbs, legumes and cereal grains still in a pre-grain (vegetation) state. Grass-fed animals are also not allowed to be confined in a pen or to a feed-stock. They are not given antibiotics and synthetic hormones.

6. Non-GMO: Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are those plants or animals that are engineered by scientists. Essentially, GMO foods are the product of inserting the gene from one animal or plant into another plant or animal, ultimately altering the genetic code of a species. This process is a step above crossbreeding and is now emerging as potentially dangerous. It has proven to have some health and environmental risks and has come under increased scrutiny. Non-GMO foods are those foods that have not undergone this process. The Non-GMO Project is a non-profit organization committed to verifying foods that uphold the standard of not being genetically modified. Look for the Non-GMO Project seal.

Pasture-raised: This is perhaps the best option. It means that animals including cattle, sheep, or pigs, are allowed to roam freely, breathe fresh air, and remain on the farm from birth to market. There is no confinement. This process of raising animals is also better for the environment, requiring fewer fossil fuel and enriching the soil with nutrients, which makes manure a valuable resource, not a waste. Animals on pasture are less likely to carry food-borne pathogens and are free of added hormones and antibiotics. Their meat ends up being higher in vitamin E, beta-carotene, omega-3 fatty acids, and CLA.

Image: Tiarascott

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