What are the top five things you should look for on a nutrition label? — A Health Coach Answers
Welcome to another episode of Health Coach Answers! I’m Coach Lindsay and I’ll be answering your top five questions of the week.
Question 1: How can I improve weight loss with thyroid issues?
Coach Lindsay: So I want to first kind of start talking about what the thyroid does and why it's a little bit harder to lose weight with that thyroid issue. And it's because our thyroid produces hormones that kind of regulate body temperature, metabolism, energy. So obviously — with that lack of energy, slower metabolism — that then leads to weight gain.
And so this is especially true for those with hypothyroidism. So the underactive thyroid, so it's not really living up to its expectations, it's not doing its job. So that can disrupt a lot of parts of weight loss. First of all, if you have this condition, you are not alone — I would have to say this has probably been one of the most requested questions. And so you're not alone. It's not impossible to lose weight on this journey with that underactive thyroid, but it is a little bit harder.
So to kind of talk a little bit just about some basics, the struggle with this question is it borderlines my scope as a health coach, too. Because obviously, it's a medical condition and you want to make sure you're always consulting with your physician, if you have any concerns. But to just kind of narrow in on my scope as a health coach — and what I and other coaches can help you with when it comes to thyroid — is just making sure that you're keeping it simple with your nutrition.
So avoiding the added sugar, avoiding the processed foods, making sure you're focusing on the veggies, the fruits, the high fiber (beans, and oats and stuff like that) — that's going to really help with that weight gain, or trouble with losing weight when it comes to thyroid issues.
And then it's really important to increase your water intake and anti inflammatory foods. We have an entire anti inflammatory track (in the Mighty Health app), I would highly recommend checking that out if you haven't already. But just make sure you're keeping your nutrition simple and clean, focusing on whole foods.
So to come to the exercise part of that — I'm sure if you've experienced issues with thyroid, you're feeling very lethargic some days, or you're just low energy most days. And that's common. The thing with having these issues with thyroid is you can't control it, it's your body's going through it. So try not to dwell too much on the fact that you don't have a lot of energy and just try to control what you can control.
If you come across a day where you're just not feeling up to a workout, don't worry about it, or do something lighter — go on a light walk, do some light yoga, light stretching, you don't have to do this like crazy workout if you're not feeling up for it. And then of course, on the days where you feel a little bit more upbeat, you're feeling good, then tackle that workout.
But everybody's response to this is different. So approach it, the way that you feel is best to make sure that you're staying on top of your medications if you're on medication for it, and just learning to find your balance with it and accepting it. Because like I said, you can't control it, but you can control, you know how you respond to it.
Question 2: How do I stay on track and make healthy choices when I’m dining out?
Coach Lindsay: I love this question. Because how many of us are about to go into the summer, when we're going to eat out, when we’re going to go to graduation parties, when we're gonna have all these different challenges come up? And how do we navigate how do we stay on top of our goals while exploring these challenges?
So first and foremost, plan ahead. That's always going to be my advice for anything.
But if you know, maybe every Friday night, you're going out with your girlfriends or with family for dinner — reflect on the places that you frequent and pull up the menu for that place.
Pick out some dishes that are on the healthier side, fit in with your goals, & that you still might enjoy. And that way when you get to the restaurant, ideally, you're not super in shock with seeing all the good food around you or feel that peer pressure from your friends and family to enjoy something different.
So plan ahead.
Another thing is plan ahead and figure out what your goal is going into it. So you know, if you're going into a dining out experience, and maybe your goal is to indulge— fine. Indulge a little bit and then move on.
Maybe your goal is to be a little bit 50-50. So maybe focusing on a good meal, but then healthier drinks or avoiding the appetizers or whatever it may be — it's going to be different. So go into it with a plan go into it with how you want to handle it or what you want your outcome to be.
So having said that — we go through all the planning, but what happens if we sit down and we have chips and salsa in front of us and we just cannot resist? Because I usually cannot resist too, so you're not alone there. But when it comes to that — when you know you plan ahead, you do all you can. And then it's just, you see that food in front of you, and you don't know what to do.
So the next thing is control your portions. If you want to have some chips and salsa, have some. But maybe stick to five or six chips. Or if you want to have some drinks with friends — stick to one drink and have a water in between every drink (or whatever it may be), but focus on how much you're going to indulge if you do end up indulging.
And then of course, skip the appetizers if you can, focus on water (rather than sugary drinks or alcohol). I know many of us go into a dining out experience and sometimes the goal is to indulge, right? Like, that's why we go out to eat because we don't want to eat the food that we have at home.
So don't waste your calories on alcohol and sugary drinks — use your calories right on the food if that's what you want to do. Splitting a meal with your spouse and friends is always a useful tip to kind of control your portions.
Another thing is that oftentimes restaurant meals are two to three times bigger and portion size than what we need.
So I like to ask for a box right when I get my meal.
That way, when I get my meal, I can box up half of it, put it on the seat next to me, I got lunch for the next day. Then I can also make sure I control my portions as well.
But, what happens if I don't follow through with my plan, I indulge, I eat way too much, I enjoy myself?
Fine. Move on, don't try to get into the negative self talk, don't get into the all-or-nothing thinking of “well, I already had a bad lunch, I'm just gonna ruin the rest of my day.”
Try not to do that. Just move on from it, take it as a learning experience. It's not the end of the world. Ideally, you're not you don't dine out for every single meal every day anyways, so it's okay to enjoy yourself. But always just go in with a plan.
Question 3: What are the most important things to look for on a nutrition label?
Coach Lindsay: I can go on and do an entire Q&A — an entire session just on labels, because there's so much that goes into it. But I just want to cover some of the basics because I know the feeling of walking into a store — there's like 10 different types of pasta, you're looking at all the labels, and you have no idea of what to look for or what's what's good and what not.
So, I'm gonna pull up a an example of a label (seen in video). I didn't pick this for any particular reason —this is just a label for a Nature Valley protein bar so you guys have a visualization of what to look for.
The first thing to always look for is the serving size. And it's always going to be at the top. So I always say start at the top, work down, so you know that (for example) the serving size is one bar, it makes it easy.
But a lot of times if we're looking at things like bread or pasta — when the label is not for the entire box, as much as we wish it was, it's for that serving size. So always just get in your mind — what is the serving size?
And then moving on — what are the calories, carbs, fats and proteins per serving? Like I said, just making your way down the label.
And what is important on the label is going to depend on what your goals are, too. So if you're someone who's in weight loss mode — maybe your goal is to focus on lower carbohydrates high protein on a label. But if your goal is just maintained — maybe you're looking for a good combination of all three macronutrients. So it's going to depend on what your goals are.
But typically, you also want to pay attention to these percentages here on the side (shown in video). These percentages are going to tell you whether a food is high or low in something. A a lot of times you'll see on a box — this food is high in protein or high in fiber or low in carbs. So you can look at the percentages to verify that. Anything less than 5%, that food is considered low, and then anything over 20%, that food is considered high in something.
When you're looking at that, you want to aim for things higher in protein, fiber, vitamin D, calcium, those are the things you want to look for 20% or over. And then things that you want to be 5% or under are added sugars, saturated fats, sodium, in some cases, carbohydrates, depending on what your goals are.
If you look at this label (shown in video), you'll notice that protein is at 17%. I just want to point this out that it can be interesting because this is a protein bar, right? It's meant to be a good source of protein, but it's still under that 20%. So it's close, it's still 10 grams of protein is pretty decent, but it's still not over 20%. That’s why it's always good to just make sure you're verifying those claims on labels and picking out the points of what is going to help you meet your goals.
The last thing on labels that I want to end is the ingredients list.
We talk a lot about low-processed foods at Mighty Health. The shorter the ingredients list, the better. If you can pronounce things, the better. If you can't pronounce it, it's probably a chemical or it probably shouldn't be in that food anyways. So, 1) short ingredients list, 2) if you can pronounce it, it's great.
Another thing to pay attention to is that the first thing listed is what takes up the most volume in that food. And so, you know, if you're looking at like bread, for example, and it says it's 100% whole wheat — that first ingredient better be 100%, ALL whole wheat, or it's not really 100% whole wheat, if that makes sense.
So always make sure you're looking at that ingredients list. Like I said, this is just the basics — I could do a whole Q&A on label reading. And I may do just that in the future. But these are just some things to look for just to get started.
So our fourth question is getting away a little bit from the nutrition side of things and talking about exercise — how important is warming up? What are some ways to warm up?
Coach Lindsay: First of all, warming up is extremely important.
I like to compare it to starting your car. On a 15 degree day, you're not going to go outside, start your car and drive away — you're going to be cold, you're going to be miserable, your car is not going to run right.
So look at your body the same. If you're going and starting a workout right away, you're not going to perform, you're going to be super sore, probably because your body just wasn't ready for it.
And so always warm up, it doesn't matter what kind of activity you're doing. But warming up can look super different for everybody.
You can just go for a light walk, you can do some jumping jacks, you can do (e.g. if you're going into a strength training workout) some of your repetitions with just your body weight, just to get your blood flowing.
So it can look different for everybody. Dancing is a warmup! Whatever is going to get your body moving and your body warm, is good to do. So warming up is important. Do whatever you can to get your body moving and warmed up.
When it comes to stretching —I kind wanted to throw this in here because oftentimes, we think of stretching as a warm up — it's actually best to stretch after your workout, after your muscle fibers are already loose, after they're already warmed. That's the best time to stretch. So try not to stretch before as a warm up, focus your stretching after your workout.
And then our fifth (and final) question is — how do I improve my gut health?
Coach Lindsay: This question, similarly to the thyroid question, I'm going to be pretty broad on because it does border my scope a little bit — as gut health can look different for everybody. There's different things that affect gut health. There's different conditions that goes along with it.
But to talk, just generally, about gut health. Focusing on the green side of your list is best. So we know that added sugars, processed foods, high carbohydrate refined foods are not good for our gut health. So focusing on fruits and veggies, proteins, lagoons, oats, stuff like that is going to be good.
You can also focus on fermented foods that have benefit on the bacteria in your gut. So things like Greek yogurt, kefir, kimchi, tempeh, kombucha (as long as there's no added sugar in it). Adding some of that stuff into your into your diet can help.
Then there's also three spices that work against the harmful bacteria in your gut — garlic, tumeric and ginger. So play around with cooking with more of these spices or adding it. I have a friend that actually juices ginger or she’ll juice celery juice and ginger together for her gut health. So just something to experiment with adding these things in your diet if you're struggling with gut health.
But as I said, keep it simple with the green side of your list and always consult with your physician if you do have major concerns with that gut health.