MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- When Marines come to Lauren King, Quantico’s Semper Fit dietician, it’s almost always with one or more of three health issues: a command weigh-in found them to be over their weight limit, or a doctor found them to have hypertension or hyperlipidemia — that is, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
When they leave her office with their first set of goals, she said, “The No. 1 goal usually is watching portion sizes.” She introduces them to what she calls “the plate rule.”
To illustrate the rule, King has plates in her office, along with chicken breasts, dollops of mashed potatoes, helpings of green beans and other food portions, all made of plastic. They constitute a simple puzzle: fit the plastic green beans over the quadrant of the plate marked for vegetables, a slab of watermelon over the fruit spot, perhaps the fake lump of rice in the territory designated for carbohydrates and, lastly, a chicken breast in the little real estate left for protein.
“You want half your plate to be fruits and vegetables,” she said.
That’s the first important lesson. The second is that the plate and the portions are almost heartbreakingly small. But King offers hope: “Keep in mind that healthy eating isn’t just eating one or two meals a day,” she said.
Instead, the health-conscious eater should consume three well-rounded meals per day, and each may be followed by a snack a few hours later. “That then helps to keep you from overeating at the next meal,” she said.
The snack could be a fruit, a handful of nuts, a cup of yogurt or a low-sugar granola bar. Snacks should be kept on hand in the workplace to avoid reliance on the vending machine or the seven-day store, she suggested.
Portioning is the first of the “two P’s” of healthy eating, she said. The second is planning — having healthy options on hand.
Calories eliminated from meals and snacks, however, can be picked right back up from beverages if one isn’t careful, so those trying to manage their weight should also avoid sugary drinks like soda, juice, sweet tea and energy drinks, King said, adding that even drinks like Gatorade have many calories from sugar.
“They’re needed when you’re exercising more than an hour, not when you’re sitting at your desk all day,” she said.
She recommended that these beverages be replaced with water, and plenty of it. “Our thirst mechanism is often weak, and that can be disguised as hunger,” she said, noting that thirst can also trigger the fatigue that might cause one to reach for a sugary energy drink.
High blood pressure and high cholesterol may or may not be coupled with weight issues. For those under their weight limits, plate size may be less important than certain elements of their diets, King said.
Diners with high cholesterol should maintain diets high in fiber, especially soluble fibers like oats, nuts and some fruits and vegetables, which help move cholesterol out of the body. They should also decrease their intake of saturated fat, for example, by opting for tenderloin instead of prime rib, and increase consumption of unsaturated fat, which is contained in avocado, nuts, seeds and oily fish, she said. “That type of fat, the unsaturated fat, is actually heart-healthy.”
Meanwhile, for those with hypertension, the key is to reduce sodium intake. King said this can be accomplished by eating less canned and prepackaged foods and opting to eat at home rather than in restaurants.
One of the main roadblocks that people run up against when trying to eat healthy is time, she said. “Right now in our society, the more convenient foods are usually the more unhealthy foods.” Making time to shop for groceries and cook them can be as important as making time to eat three meals a day.
The other major obstacle is taste. “Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to eat raw vegetables all the time,” King said, noting that this is why she teaches a cooking class four times a year, teaching the principles of healthy, tasty cooking. She suggested that especially those with hypertension learn to cook with spices rather than salt and salty condiments.
The chow halls on base are also trying to do their part to help Marines who want to maintain a healthy diet.
Each food item has a card over it detailing its fat, calorie, protein and carbohydrate content, and late last year the chow halls started keeping a stock of “Marine Athlete’s Training Tables,” charting which types of food can be eaten at will, which should be consumed only occasionally and which should be avoided by those trying to manage their weight.
“This is another step in educating the patron as far as what he’s eating and to try to move us in the direction of a healthier lifestyle,” said Master Sgt. Eric Joseph, the base food technician.
He said providing nutrition information helps Marines not only make healthy choices but also to choose the food that suits their purpose. For example, since carbohydrates give energy, while protein builds muscle, he said, “Prior to strenuous activity, you might want to stack up on your carbs. After strenuous activity, you might want to stack up on protein to rebuild muscles.”
The menu at the newly renovated Bruce Hall chow hall also offers more health-conscious options than previously, with more fish, produce and broiled meats, he said.
“We want to be able to give the warfighter the most accurate food they need to successfully carry out a fight,” Joseph said.
— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com