Going green when it comes to your diet can have a significant impact on your health and the health of our planet. Here are three ways to start eating green today.

Eat less red meat. Your cardiologist has probably been suggesting that you cut back on red meat for years to lower your cholesterol and decrease your risk of heart disease, but she probably didn’t mention that eating a low meat diet uses 41% less energy and generates 37% fewer greenhouse gases. And she may not have brought up the fact that it takes 1/3 pound of fertilizer to grow the grains to produce just one pound of cooked beef. Add to that the depletion of valuable land and water, and the environmental contamination from antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, and fertilizers, and you might want to think twice before ordering that bi-weekly T-bone.

Go organic. While the cost of organic foods can be a bit intimidating during these trying economic times, eating organic as often as possible can help prevent damage to our environment and help conserve our precious energy resources. Why? Organic agriculture uses about 30% less fossil fuel than conventional agriculture. From a health standpoint, eating organic is especially important when it comes to fruits, vegetables and grains, which are more likely to contain pesticide residues than meat, poultry, eggs and dairy. High doses of pesticides have been linked to cancer, nervous system disease and birth defects in animals suggested that some effect in humans is a very real possibility. If you can’t afford to go organic completely, make sure to choose organic when it comes to the ‘dirty dozen’ fruits and veggies list created by the Environmental Working Group. Here is a link to a great article by prevention discussing 8 ways to make organic more affordable.

Choose local & seasonal products. Buying food produced by local farmers helps encourage and preserve sustainable farming practices by increasing crop diversity which can help decrease use of pesticides and fertilizers through crop rotation. In addition, in some, but not all cases, buying locally can help decrease the risk of green house gas emissions through decreased transportation requirements. Although local products may in some cases carry a higher price tag than massive corporate farm produced food products, this price increase may be offset by the increased cost of fuel necessary for transportation of product across the country. Finally, local and seasonal products often taste better, are more nutritious since many of the vitamins in produce degrade over time, and are consumed fresh, which decreases the need for chemical preservatives or irradiation to extend their shelf life. If you really want to know more about local food, check out the USDA’s new Know your farmer, know your food compass.  My new book, The Calendar Diet, provides seasonal recipes to help you lose weight, improve your health, and protect our environment.

Would you rather eat a heart-healthy bowl of oatmeal with sliced strawberries and almonds or take medicine to lower your cholesterol? If you chose the more flavorful option, you’d achieve nearly the same benefits, according to research evaluating a cholesterol-lowering diet done by a group of Canadian researchers.

In the study, 34 people with high cholesterol were put on three separate treatments for a month each. The control group ate a very low-saturated fat diet; the second group ate the same low-saturated fat diet plus 20 mg dose of a popular statin (cholesterol-lowering) medication. The third group ate a “portfolio diet.” The plan does not focus on weight loss, per se, but is exclusively designed to lower cholesterol. And, much like an investment portfolio, instead of naming a single food, the portfolio approach works by eating a variety of foods.

The amounts were based on total calories the subjects consumed, which varied:

1. Plant sterols (1.0 gram for every 1,000 calories consumed): these disease-fighting plant chemicals are found in nature but in small doses. They’re added in higher concentrations to foods including butter spreads, yogurts, milk, nutrition bars and even tortilla chips.
2. Soy-protein foods (21.4 grams per 1,000 calories): including soy milk and soy burgers
3. Almonds (14 grams per 1,000 calories)
4. Viscous fiber (10 grams per 1,000 calories) from oats, barley, psyllium, and the vegetables okra and eggplant. (Note: “viscous” refers to a sticky type of fiber that binds to cholesterol and sweeps it out of your body.)

After one month, the control group’s LDL (bad cholesterol) dropped 8.5 percent. The group taking medication showed an average 33.3 percent reduction in LDL, and the portfolio diet group showed a 29.6 percent reduction in LDL. Amazingly, 26 percent of the participants actually achieved their lowest LDL by following the portfolio diet for only one month.

Since the portfolio diet was very strict, all the food was provided. So the same researchers published a follow-up study in which they prescribed the same portfolio diet for one year, but this time the participants were on their own. No food was provided so researchers could measure the effects of the portfolio diet under real world conditions.

Results were not quite as dramatic but still very substantial. After one year, LDL levels dropped an average of 13 percent, and one third of the participants achieved a greater than 20 percent reduction in LDL, which is comparable to results achieved by many people who take medication. Not surprisingly, success directly related to how closely participants followed the diet, and those who followed the diet the most closely achieved the best results.

In the past decade, we have come to understand that heart disease is not only associated with elevated cholesterol levels, it also results from inflammation and oxidative (free radical) damage. A more recent study by the same group published looked at the effect of adding strawberries, as a source of antioxidants, to improve the portfolio diet even further. They found that adding strawberries (454 grams a day, 112 calories, or about 2 servings) compared with additional oat bran bread showed an even more significant reduction in oxidative damage to LDL cholesterol, which could reduce heart disease even further.

If oatmeal and almonds do not appeal to you, keep in mind that while these researchers chose very specific foods, many other heart healthy choices abound. A few heart-healthy guidelines include:
1. Eat from the rainbow of colorful fruits and vegetables. The same compounds that give produce their bright colors provide powerful antioxidants.
2. Experiment with whole grains like barley, think outside the box when it comes to oatmeal (healthy cookies, coating for chicken) and consider adding psyllium to your diet (which can be found in products like Metamucil) on a regular basis.
3. Replace a portion of the animal protein in your diet with plant based protein (including beans, soy protein, and nuts).
4. Eat nuts and seeds in moderation, however, since their high calorie count may lead to weight gain, which may offset the benefits of a heart healthy diet.

In addition, limit added sugar and salt, eat omega-3 rich fish (i.e. salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, halibut) at least twice a week (or take an omega 3 fatty acid capsule daily), get rid of excess weight, especially toxic belly fat, consider imbibing in a glass of red wine with dinner (no need to start drinking if you don’t already, but wine contains antioxidants and may help raise the good HDL cholesterol), and strive for at least 30 minutes of exercise on most days.

Dr. Melina’s Top 5 Travel Snacks

As the holiday season rapidly approaches, most of you will face two challenging eating situations:  belly busting party food and calorie dense, on-the-go travel food.  I’m going to tackle travel food in this blog and will take on party food in an upcoming blog.  Here are some of my top picks for holiday (or anytime) travel snacks, whether you are travelling by plane or car.  By planning ahead and bringing food with, you can skip the cinnabon and fast food effortlessly (ok maybe not effortlessly –it’s hard to avoid the smell of cinnamon or French fries in the airport), and avoid arriving at your destination famished and making really poor choices.  And you will probably save a little money in the process.

1. Justin Nut Butter & an Apple –  It’s hard to pack a jar of peanut butter and a knife with you on the plane these days, so throw in a packet of this tasty and portion controlled nut butter and an apple and you are good to go – no security risk utensils required.  Just squeeze a bit of your favorite flavor nut butter (they come in almond, peanut, and hazelnut) on each bite.  The combination of fiber, plant based protein and healthy fat can keep you satisfied you for hours.

2.       Sunsweet® One Prunes & Blue Diamond® Almonds 100 calorie pack – I’m not generally a huge fan of dried fruit as it is much more calorie dense than fresh fruit. But sometimes for travel, it is easier.  Just make sure that portion sizes are VERY controlled (don’t buy a big bag of dried fruit at the airport or gas station and think you are saving loads of calories).  I like combining a few Sunsweet® One™ Prunes, which are a good source of potassium and fiber, with a Blue Diamond Almonds 100 calorie pack (again, easy portion control) for a  little sweet and salty combo that provides a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals, fiber and heart healthy fat. 

3.      Clif® bar minis – Let’s face it, you aren’t burning a ton of calories sitting on a plane or in a car, so the 100 calorie Clif® bar mini is the perfect size to take the edge of hunger until you get to your destination.  The combination of protein, fiber and healthy fat is perfect to keep hunger at bay for an hour or two during a short flight or car ride.  If you are travelling farther and want to control hunger for hours, try one of my Dr. Melina® protein bars instead – they have 14 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, only 160-170 calories, and come in 3 delicious flavors (chocolate peanut, lemon raspberry, and double chocolate acai).

4.       String Cheese Wrap – I love rolling a light string cheese into a Smart & Delicious Low Carb, High Fiber Low Carb tortilla by La Tortilla Factory (I use them for everything) for a quick and satisfying on the go snack.  Add a little Dijon mustard to jazz it up and you are good to go.  This simple wrap provides protein, fiber, and the string cheese is a good source of calcium too!

5.   Empty water bottle + Crystal Light® Pure On-the-go packets – I hate paying $3-4 for a bottle of water or a low calorie drink at the airport, so I always bring an empty water bottle (which I fill at the fountain as soon as I clear security)  and couple of Crystal Light® Pure on-the-go packets.  This helps me stay hydrated and stay away from high calorie, sugar sweetened beverages.  Plane travel can be dehydrating, and being even mildly dehydrated can drop your metabolism (which is not something you want to do before sitting down to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!).  If you are travelling by car, use a full water bottle and take a sip before adding the packet.  If you prefer plain, filtered water, pick up a Camelbak Groove® , a portable water filtration bottle, for fresh, filtered water wherever you are!

So while I can’t really give you any advice for dealing with airport delays, long lines, crowds or stressful family situations, packing along a few items from the list above could help you stay trim and energetic enough to handle whatever comes your way!