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CNN Saturday Morning News
Summer Shape-Up: Interview With Lisa Drayer
Aired June 22, 2002 - 08:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to show you how to turn some tips on healthy meals for your family into reality.
Lisa Drayer is director of nutrition services for Dietwatch.com. She joins us from New York for more on our summer shape up series. You say that three times fast, Lisa, I dare you. Summer shape up...
LISA DRAYER, DIETWATCH.COM: Summer shape up series.
O'BRIEN: Very well done. Very good. Good to see you.
DRAYER: Thanks.
O'BRIEN: All right, broad brushes here. We just saw a bunch of tips on how to go to the grocery store.
DRAYER: Right.
O'BRIEN: It sounded like good ideas, but there are so many things tugging at you when you go to the grocery store with kids, especially.
DRAYER: Definitely.
O'BRIEN: You got any tips for what to do about that?
DRAYER: Yes. Well, you know, the most important thing is to involve your children, you know, bring them to the supermarket with you, designate a shelf in the kitchen, in the pantry, for them to have to themselves. Because studies actually show that when children are involved in food shopping, food preparation, even cooking meals, they're more likely to eat meals, including healthier foods at the meal.
So it's very important to involve your children, not to force food on them, but involve them and they will generally pick up healthy eating habits for the long-term.
O'BRIEN: Well, now, that's interesting...
DRAYER: Of course, when you...
O'BRIEN: You know, it's interesting you should mention this, Lisa, because my 9-year-old son Murrah (ph) has very recently taken a great interest in cooking, which we have been encouraging because...
DRAYER: Right.
O'BRIEN: ... it takes us off the hook at meal time, if nothing else.
DRAYER: Right.
O'BRIEN: But it's been great. And he, I've got to say, if he cooks it, he eats it.
DRAYER: You know, that's the best thing that you can do, and I'm thrilled to hear that you're doing that because really that is the way to get children involved. In addition, when you involve children in the cooking process, it takes that unknown factor out of, you know, what's in the food. They actually get to see what is being prepared. So it's a very, very good behavior to involve your children in the meal preparation.
And also, be a good role model for your children. You know, the meal time is the place to do this. If your children see you eating vegetables, they are more likely to have vegetables. And at least if they're not ready to try them yet, they at least recognize the value that vegetables play in a diet.
O'BRIEN: So it's not...
DRAYER: So it's very important for bonding.
O'BRIEN: It's not a very good idea to tell your kids to eat their cauliflower when you have powdered sugar from a donut on your lips, right? They're not going to buy that, are they?
DRAYER: They're not going to buy that and I couldn't blame them, frankly.
O'BRIEN: All right.
DRAYER: So be a good role model.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's do some tips that folks can walk away with and use in their kitchens and at their dining room table. First of all, have one meal together as a family.
DRAYER: Right.
O'BRIEN: You know, a lot of families these days just find that they don't have time for that.
DRAYER: I know, it...
O'BRIEN: There are a lot of good reasons for this that are non- dietary, but let's talk about the dietary reasons first of all.
DRAYER: Sure. Well, as I was mentioning before, this is the chance for parents to be a role model for their children. Children get to see what parents are selecting to put on their plate. So it's very important they get to learn healthy eating behaviors. So it's very important also for bonding, you know, between parents and children. And, you know, we're so busy, but it's so important to have this family time when children can communicate, parents can learn more about what a child likes and what they don't like. They can introduce new foods at the table during this time.
So it's very, very important for nutritional reasons and for bonding.
O'BRIEN: All right, look, let me ask you this, because, you know, on the one side there's bonding, but on the other side there's the, you know, those donnybrooks that begin over whether to try the peas, right?
DRAYER: Right.
O'BRIEN: And would you suggest that parents avoid getting into a Mexican stand-off with their children over the peas and the cauliflower, whatever it is? In other words, our theory has always been just try one bite.
DRAYER: Yes, exactly. You want to encourage your children to have a bite, to taste it. But don't force the food on them. You know, chances are you can reintroduce that same food...
O'BRIEN: But should you force the bite? Should you force the bite?
DRAYER: I wouldn't even force the bite.
O'BRIEN: OK. All right.
DRAYER: You know, children actually have a mind of their own and this can backfire.
O'BRIEN: Ah, I've heard that. They have a way of becoming individuals against our best efforts, right?
DRAYER: It's true. You know, right. You don't want to force anything on them. You don't want to use food as a reward or a punishment. That's really not the role that food should play in the diet. So you want to be encouraging but allow them some flexibility to assert their own independence.
O'BRIEN: All right.
DRAYER: And another trick, if you really do want them to have those peas and they don't like peas in their regular form, you can sneak these foods into different meals. For example...
O'BRIEN: Cover them with chocolate, right?
DRAYER: I don't know about chocolate. Chocolate's actually great in moderation. But when it comes to vegetables, for example, let's say your child doesn't like broccoli in its regular form. You can puree it and then fold it into mashed potatoes. The same goes for cauliflower, as you mentioned earlier. You know, puree that cauliflower and mix it into mashed potatoes.
O'BRIEN: Sounds like baby food to me, Lisa.
DRAYER: Chances are they won't know the difference.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's, quickly, let's get that whole full screen up so people can see it. And then we're going to take a break, take your e-mails and tick off the items here. We've prepared the family meal. We have gone over that. Provide a relaxing environment for their meal. That seems like...
DRAYER: Yes, don't rush the meal.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's a good idea. Involve your children in the meal preparation. We talked about that. And then hide those healthy ingredients, chocolate covered peas. All right, so, Lisa, stay there.
DRAYER: OK.
O'BRIEN: We have some e-mails for you and we might take a few calls, as well. The number to call is 404-221-1855. Our healthy operators are standing by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: OK, summer shape up continues. We've got a lot of calls, but what the heck? Start mashing some buttons, maybe you'll get in. 404-221-1855 is the number. Lisa Drayer is our guest.
Let's, we have been talking about kids because I've been fixated on making my kids eat well. I've got one that eats well, one that doesn't. That's always the case, though, undoubtedly. Kathy is in Oregon. She has a question relating to that very subject. Good morning, Kathy. Up early, aren't you?
KATHY: Yes, good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: You obviously have children. You're up early.
KATHY: What?
O'BRIEN: You obviously have children. You're up early.
KATHY: Yes, I have two girls. One especially very picky, and I try to make just one meal for them and I put healthy meals in front of them and what do I do when I, when they don't eat it? I mean I tend not to make anything extra for them and sometimes they go hungry. What do I do? Is that the thing I should do?
DRAYER: Right. Well, it's very important, obviously, that your children don't go hungry. They do require extra calories when they're growing. So what I recommend is trying to take a certain food, for example, you know, let's say they don't enjoy drinking skim milk or low fat milk, for that matter. The calcium is very important. So what I recommend is, as I was saying earlier, try to fold in these foods into other meals. For example, you can put milk into smoothies. You can replace it for some cream in cream based soups.
So there are ways to sneak in ingredients.
O'BRIEN: You know what we did? My daughter refuses to drink milk. We were concerned about that issue. We found some orange juice that has calcium in it.
DRAYER: That's another great idea, exactly. A lot of foods are fortified with calcium these days.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
DRAYER: The other thing is don't give up. You know, just because your child will refuse food one week it doesn't mean that they're going to refuse that same food the next week. So don't give up. Allow them to assert their independence but try your best to offer a variety of foods. The more variety they have and the more you involve them in the process, the more likely they will be consuming those foods.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, let's take one more question. We've got a phone call. Heidi from New York. Go ahead, Heidi. You're not there.
All right, let's do a quick e-mail while we wait. And, by the way, we're waiting for a news conference to begin, Lisa, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. I'm watching them set it up right now. And I may have to interrupt you. So I'm just giving you a warning on that.
Let's go to this e-mail, shall we?
DRAYER: Sure.
O'BRIEN: This is Linda in Raleigh. She says, "Lisa, please help. I exercise every day but I'm getting so frustrated. I eat very healthy. I eat three to four small meals a day and my weight goes up instead of going down. I walk three miles a day and I run two miles. Give me some health tips."
DRAYER: Yes. OK, the very first thing that rings a bell in my head is to be sure to check with your doctor. You want to make sure that you don't have any thyroid conditions which might prevent you from losing weight. In that case you would talk with your doctor and perhaps he would prescribe some medication.
Aside from that, you want to check to make sure you're eating enough calories. You know, if we cut back our calories to a very low level, what happens is we go into our starvation mode and our bodies actually resist losing weight. They hold onto every bite that we put in our mouths.
This is a survival mechanism that our bodies undergo. So it's very important to know that you're consuming at least 1,500 calories. I don't recommend going underneath that. And actually on Dietwatch.com, we have a nutrition calculator where you can actually type in what you're eating and get a calorie summary of what you've eaten.
O'BRIEN: Well, here's a question that's related to that. Debbie in Michigan says, "I'd like to know how many carbohydrates should be eaten a day to lose weight, of course, along with vegetables and fruits and protein." How many carbs can you eat a day and still lose weight?
DRAYER: Right. That's an excellent question, especially because we hear so much about these low carbohydrate diets. The truth is our bodies do depend on carbohydrates. Our brain relies on the byproduct of carbohydrates, as do our muscles when we do exercise, for example. So it's very important to have carbs.
What I recommend is at least 50 percent of the diet as carbs. So...
O'BRIEN: All right, Lisa, as promised, unfortunately, we've got to interrupt you.
DRAYER: OK.
O'BRIEN: Let's go to Martinsburg, West Virginia. We hope to get back to you. It was a great pleasure to have you with us if we don't.
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