Guest Author: Kari Johnson 

​Eating a healthy, whole diet can reduce your risk of developing some forms of cancer, and also help in the prevention of other diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Studies have shown the relationship between diet and certain cancers; bowel, stomach, mouth, esophageal, and breast cancer.

Making healthy choices for your health means:
1. Eating an increased variety of fruits and vegetables, rich in fiber, that can reduce the risk of certain cancers by 25 to 40 percent. 
2. Reducing intake of processed and red meats.

• Red meats: lamb, beef, or pork
• Processed meats: bacon, ham, salami, sausages, or hot dogs

3. Reducing intakes of added sugars, saturated fats, and salt. These are calorie-dense foods that lead to weight gain and provide little to no nutrients to promote health.

• Sugar sweetened beverages, processed foods, or desserts
• Saturated fats: butter, cheese, processed foods, or desserts

4. Maintaing a healthy body weight to help reduce the risk of certain cancers. Obesity is associated with cancers of the esophageal, rectal, kidney, thyroid, gallbladder, liver, ovarian, prostate.
5. Limiting Alcohol consumption. 

​A healthy diet rich in vegetables, fruits, lean meats, whole grains, and water can help reduce the risk of many disease such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. 

I love parts of the Whole 30 diet.  

Eating foods with very few ingredients ✓
Consuming ingredients that you can pronounce ✓
Healthy gut ✓
 
Given these great parts, I (and many other RDs I know) still rarely recommend the Whole 30 diet to clients. It’s simply too unrealistic for most people. For example, there’s oftentimes a conversation like the one below.

Following this type of conversation, are a few days of diet misery and then some rationale to quit.
 
Bottom line, diet choices affect many things. Some of the majors factors include:

1. Prep Skill and Time: Whole 30 requires a ton of preparation, which is a skill in itself. Most people (even experts) still struggle with weekly meal prep. In addition, most people need to research and become knowledgeable enough to prep the right way!
2. Knowledge: Part of the Whole 30 preparation requires massive amounts of time reading, reading, and reading nutrition labels. This includes reading the labels of products that appear healthy, but actually are not.
3. Lifetime habits: Whole 30 It isn’t a true representation of how most individuals will eat over the course of their lifetime. For instance, I love legumes…I think they are a nutritious source of protein for almost everyone and should be included in many people’s diets.
4. Taste: It will take time to learn how to make food delicious and with enough variety that it will provide lasting enjoyment.

 
Instead of suddenly diving into a popular trend diet, work with a dietitian on a plan that is tailored to you. This will ensure that it’s realistic. In addition, it adds a level of accountability because you helped create the plan. There is also ample research that shows how elimination diets (no dairy, no wheat, etc.) can actually have detrimental effects for people who don’t really have food allergies or intolerances. All in all, take the positives from this diet trend (e.g., think about how you can add more vegetables) and add it to your own tailored program. ​

Dietetic interns are valuable resources as they bring new and fresh information from various settings (e.g., hospitals, universities, etc.) to private practices like Nutrition Rites. We're lucky enough to have Kari Johnson join our team.

ABOUT KARI: 
Kari is currently a Dietitian Nutritionist student at Eastern Michigan University online while residing in Beaufort, South Carolina. Before entering into school, Kari was a SC chef with a purpose of incorporating local, fresh produce and products into each dish she served. Kari has worked with MUSC’s Heart Healthy camp for children, volunteered at long term care facilities, and is currently working with a local school to incorporate nutrition programs for elementary age students. Nutrition has truly changed Kari’s life and she is excited to share the positive results a healthy diet can make on one’s life. When Kari is not working on school, she enjoys spending time with her family, camping, backpacking, woodworking, and traveling the world.

Specific to Nutrition Rites, Kari is spending her October coming to Charleston to shadow consultations, create blog and newsletter content, work on marketing plans, research new foods, etc.