Talking FACS
Host: Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director of Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, University of Kentucky
Guest: Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Food and Nutrition
Episode 16
0:00 Welcome to Talking FACS; what you need to know about family, food, finance and fitness. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program, our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families and communities to improve quality of life.
0:20 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Hello and welcome back toT;lking FACS. This is your host, Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
Today, I'm pleased to be joined by Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf, who is going to be discussing a topic that is very relevant to my lifestyle; and it's eating healthy during just crazy, busy, chaotic times. So, thanks so much for joining us today, Heather.
O:45 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Yes, I'm happy to talk about this.
0:47 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: We were just chit chatting, just briefly before we get started recording today about that just life is busy, especially this time of year. You know, the kiddos are back in school, fall sports have started, and I was just sharing a little bit with you about what our weekly schedule looks like.
But one of those things that all those extra activities add; is it really puts pressure on eating healthy and family dinner time.
So, can you just share a little bit with us today about healthy eating tips for when we are dealing with a busy lifestyle?
1:20 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Absolutely. I kind of want to go through five today that I think are manageable, especially over time.
1:29 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: That's what I need is manageable.
1:30 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Exactly. Don't feel like you have to do all of these at once. Master one; let's focus on one for a little bit and once we got that down, and we can actually begin.
1:37 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Small steps.
1:38 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Exactly. And you're exactly right about the busy lifestyles. You know, I'm a new mom, so that's experiencing working full time, having a little one at home, all the other things that put us in all the twenty different directions. So, hopefully, these are things that we can follow.
So, the first one actually isn't about food, it's about a beverage. So, we add so many calories to our diet through the beverages that we choose to consume. And many times, these beverages that are high in calories don't really have any other nutrition for us.
So, my tip is to always keep a reusable water bottle or cup with you, tumbler or something at all times. You know, consuming more water is not going to add any calories, it's going to keep you hydrated, you're going to have more energy, you're going to feel more awake, and I encourage you to drink about eight glasses of water a day. Most adults will get the rest of the hydration they need through their food choices, like fruits vegetables and other liquid containing foods. So, this is really my first tip.
2;33 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: And it's an easy one.
2:34 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Exactly.
2:35 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: It's an easy one. It's trendy as well. And even our kiddos’ teachers that they encourage sending a water bottle with them to school and they let it sit on their desk during the day, just to make certain that they're getting proper hydration.
2:47 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: That's great.
2:48Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Okay. So, we have a water bottle, that when I feel like I can do, I think I've got the water bottle. What if I get hungry while I'm out about though?
2:56 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Okay. So, this is going to seem like something that's for a child, but I encourage you encouraging you to pack snacks. All right? So, if you plan out your meals for the week, maybe if that's something that you do, find out what your snacks are going to be. I do this and I encourage others to do it as well.
Packing snacks means you're planning ahead, which is always a great tip for getting those more nutritious foods into your diet. And hunger literally can hit you out of nowhere. Maybe you're waiting in the car pick up line to pick up your child from something and you're like, “Oh, my gosh. I'm so hungry”.
You’ve got a little something on hand or when hunger hits us out of nowhere, actually our food choices, they're not as good.
3:34 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Well, it's limited. When you're out and about, it's really limited to be able to find the nutritious food options.
3:38 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: The healthfulness of those food choices tends to decrease for sure. So, you're maybe going around a drive or for vending machine or run into a convenience store and having to healthy snack on hand for yourself or your kids who are in the backseat really, can eliminate temptations and make everyone happy.
Just some options that I have, would be trail mix or almonds, grapes, dried fruit or little boxes of raisins, even a banana, peanut butter, whole wheat crackers. The list could go on and on.
4:07 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Very easy things that travel well, they don't melt in the car, that it's really easy that you can pack those on Saturday or Sunday and have them ready to go for the week.
4:16 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: And all kids-friendly.
4:17 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Exactly. Okay. So, these are great tips from when we’re out and on the go. But what about when we are at home? That she come home from a really long day, the kids have all of their extracurricular activities going on; what are some tips to help in this situation?
4:31 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: All right. So, this happens to my house regularly.
4:33 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Oh, it does in mine too.
4:34 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Even I know all these things, it's a long day, you come home, you realize you don't have anything planned for dinner and really the best way to combat running back out for fast food or picking up the phone and ordering take out, is to have your pantry and freezer stocked. Okay?
So, this means you're ready to go at a moment's notice for being able to put together a complete meal. Okay?
So, that's my tip; keeping your pantry in the freezer stocked. So you could easily make a complete meal within just a few minutes with some brown rice a can of black beans and then pulling maybe one or two bags of frozen vegetables out of a freezer.
And having some cooking oils and spices on hand really can turn maybe this meal that doesn't sound that exciting into something that's really delicious. You know, maybe add some spices to give it a taco taste or a Mexican flavor or something like that.
And all of these items are extremely shelf stable. So, that means you can have them on hand and they can be in your pantry or your freezer for a little bit longer. And you're always good to go.
5:33 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: They're also very budget friendly.
5:34 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Absolutely.
5:35 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Budget friendly, in deed. So, the idea of meal prepping in advance is becoming more and more popular. And I know that I often see on social media tips about meal prepping or how to Meal Prep or to develop your plan. What do you think about this idea?
5:51 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: I like it to an extent. I think there's something that's more manageable for a lot of people, because meal prepping can be intimidating for some. You know, you may feel like you have to have certain containers or Tupperware to pack your meals for lunch every day. It can simply be overwhelming.
So, I'm going to suggest for my fourth tip is to cook in large quantities. So, if you're going to take the time out of your busy schedule to actually prepare a meal, just get double the bang for the buck, essentially. So, double the recipe. If it's soup or chilly, it's great to make large batches, easily freeze back, you could use half of it for dinner and freeze other half back for dinner in a couple of weeks or just to have always on hand or you could eat on it for your lunches for the week and you're good to go. Another thing that's incredibly budget friendly; very cost efficient.
Another idea would be to make pulled or shredded chicken in the crock pot and then you can eat on this all week in different ways. So, you're making a large batch of something at once, you can put it in soup one night, you can make chicken tacos one night, you can have it on a salad for chicken salad one night; and there you go, three meals for three nights of the week based on one prep session.
7:01 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: And that's really where I think that I could improve in the kitchen; that we do pretty good on the soups, on the chili's and the spaghetti sauce, I've even double or tripling that recipe, because those are go-tos when life is crazy busy, but I've not done well in training my family to eat leftovers.
And so, I think definitely the idea of switching it up to where it doesn't look like it's the same meal every night might be more successful in my house.
7:24 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Especially with kids or children.
7:25 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. They’ll just say, “We had this last night”. But making it look a little different each night, I'm certain they probably didn't even realize that they were eating the same chicken.
7:34 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: My husband says the same thing.
7:36 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Well mine might too. Okay, so we're four tips in. What is your fifth and final tip for us?
7:41 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Okay. So, this is more of a big picture type idea and it's to keep it simple and to take it slow. I think so many times we try to overcomplicate what healthy foods look like and that doesn't have to be the case. They don't have to take hours to prepare, the recipe doesn't have to include ingredients that are rare or difficult to find. We really want to just keep MyPlate in mind. So, that's going to be making half your plate fruits and vegetables when possible, choosing a wholegrain option when possible, a lean protein; that can be a plant-based protein or a lean animal-based protein, and then also trying to just fit in some low-fat dairy items throughout the day.
So, again I mentioned this at the beginning, you don't have to follow all these tips at once or make all these big changes at once. Really try to focus on one maybe for a week and once you feel comfortable with that, maybe you remember to take your water bottle every day to work for a week; got that one down. Maybe you can try to introduce another one or try another one for the next week and just give yourself time, be patient with yourself to build these skills, because when we do that, we know that they're much more likely to stick for the long term.
8:48 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: And I love the statement of “Don't over complicate it”, the keep food simple. I have a friend, that on social media he very much appears to be a foodie and his meals that he prepares are just really elaborate and they're very healthy and they look beautiful.
But one day, I just happened to be sitting next to him at a meeting and he was working on his meal plan for the week. And I was like, “Let me see what you're cooking all week long.” And you know, four out of five days during the week were these very simple, just go-to meals, and he just looked at me and laughed, he said, “Yeah, I don't post those on social media, right?”
9:23 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Exactly.
9:24 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So I think we also have to keep perspective that I think sometimes, especially as moms, we might see what other people are eating or doing and it may create guilt that doesn't need to be there; just keep it simple, don't over complicate the food choices. This is a fun topic with some great takeaways, Heather. So, thanks so much for joining us today.
9:43 Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf: Yeah. Thank you.
9:45 Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition, health, resource management, family development and civic engagement. If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea, leave a ‘Like’ and comment on Facebook @UKFCSExt. Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu or contact your local extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences. We build strong families. It starts with us.
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