Podcast
Why You Should Focus on Nutrient Density
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About the Show
From aging to genetics, we’re exploring the balance between nutrition and metabolism in this four-part series.
On this episode, Chuck Gaidica is joined by Registered Dietitian for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Shanthi Appelö. Together, they explore how the nutritional value of food plays a bigger role than just calorie count.
In this episode of A Healthier Michigan Podcast, we explore:
- How nutrient-dense foods such as vegetables, whole grains, and legumes are high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other beneficial nutrients, beyond just calories.
- How consuming nutrient-dense foods can support overall health, immune function, and disease prevention, beyond just weight management.
- How it's still possible to overeat even nutrient-dense foods, so calorie awareness is still important.
- Examples of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods.
Calories aren’t the full story, but timing our nutrients could be the next big piece of the puzzle. Tune in for our final episode, where we’ll break down nutrient timing and if it can optimize our long-term health.
Transcript
Here is the full transcript of this episode. You can listen to the audio version on streaming platforms or watch on YouTube.
Chuck Gaidica:
This is A Healthier Michigan Podcast, and in this series we're exploring the balance between nutrition and metabolism. Continuing with part three of our four part series, we're diving into the quality of calories, exploring how the nutritional value of food plays a bigger role than just calories in, maybe, and calories out. I'm your host, Chuck Gaidica, and with me is registered dietitian from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Shanthi Appelö, to continue our conversation. We're never letting you go. It's like the mafia. You can never leave.
Shanthi Appelö:
A little less scary.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah, you're right. So counting calories, we hear this no matter what kind of diet or lifestyle change comes up as the new thing to do, somebody still comes back and says, counting calories is a go-to strategy for managing weight. Maybe not such a bad idea. But it's not all about calories and how they may or may not be created equal. So do we shift from calorie counting to focusing on nutrient density for a healthier, more balanced approach to eating? What do you say?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah, I think it's a mix of both. Of course, there's a way that we can eat a ton of nutrient-dense foods and still overdo it in some terms. So it's good to keep calories in mind because it does matter to our weight. But of course, we understand that these nutrient-dense foods have these nutrients that support our overall health, and health is more about just your weight.
Chuck Gaidica:
So I think most everybody understands the calories. And if you've been on a diet, I've been on two diets my whole life because I don't get enough food with one. So here I am, my whole life, I could tell you by heart, I look at something and go, oh, that's 150 calories for that thing. Four calories for a pickle slice. But what does nutrient-dense mean? That's a phrase that we don't hear as often or maybe we don't get.
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. So it's foods that are high in nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber, things like that, in relation to its weight. So they're going to be things like your vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds. Things that are high in nutrients, but just kind of lowering calories.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah. Why is it important that we focus on that, on nutrient-dense foods and not just counting calories?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. So of course we mentioned counting calories does play a role, but it doesn't take into account what we need for disease prevention and to get our bodies to function the way that it should, for us to feel good for ourselves to be nourished, for us to not get brain fog, all those things. And then we also see that research shows these nutrient-dense foods they are connected with better health outcomes overall. We see a lower risk of chronic illnesses like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and we need these nutrients to support our immune function and things like that. If it was just about calories, we could be lacking in a lot of nutrients in our bodies.
Chuck Gaidica:
Now, you said something interesting. It kind of flew past me, but it just dawned on me again. So you can still overdo nutrient-dense foods. In other words, if you go to a party and you grab handfuls of nuts, one after the other, forget the sodium part, you could be stacking up a ton of calories with something that technically is nutrient dense, right?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. It's unlikely, right? Because oftentimes those foods are going to be rich in fiber and those nutrients that make us feel satisfied. And also they don't have a lot of those food components that make it difficult to stop eating. Because when we think of the other side of things, these foods that are ultra processed, they have components in them that make it difficult to recognize that you're full. And so it's unlikely, but you certainly can. And then we also understand that there's a balance of things. Even if most of your diet is made up of these nutrient dense foods, there's still a way where you can overdo the calories from other foods when you fit them in.
Chuck Gaidica:
All right. You ready for some show and tell?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah.
Chuck Gaidica:
Oh, I feel like I'm on fire. When I walked through my kitchen this morning, I remembered yesterday we talked about apples. So here it is, medium apple, 95 calories-ish. So let's call it 100 calories. Then in the pantry, I won't show the brand little tiny bag of, well, they're even fake potato chips, 110 calories. That's only seven eighths of an ounce. That's the new inflation. You only get air and seven eighths of an ounce. So to be fair, I don't really eat those. My wife may open one of those little tiny bags as an adjunct to a sandwich and fine. I mean, it's fine.
But when I look at this and I feel the weight of this apple and what you said yesterday about the fiber and the water content and even the peel, and I look at this versus this, if I'm really going to look at calories and density of food, the apple's going to be a winner just by picking it up and holding it, thinking, oh, I'm going to eat all that, short of the middle of the apple. And it's going to fill me up a lot more than seven eighths of an ounce of baked chips, which also claim they're 65% less fat, but there's not much of it. It's not going to fill me up, right?
Shanthi Appelö:
Right. Yeah. Professor Chuck, at your service.
Chuck Gaidica:
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Shanthi Appelö:
We needed some visuals. I love it.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah. So am I on the right track?
Shanthi Appelö:
But great example. Yeah, for sure. And of course, we are going to get the benefits. If you look at the nutrition label on those chips, do you see the vitamins and the minerals and things like that? They're not quite high. They're not going to supply us with what we need versus the apple that has the antioxidants and the vitamin C and things like that that are going to support our immune system and other good functions.
Chuck Gaidica:
So now that I've done my experiment and I've done show and tell, how do we start to shift not just my mind, everybody's mind away from calorie counting alone toward more holistic views of food, which can include this idea of density, nutrient density?
Shanthi Appelö:
It can be difficult because this is something that's been hammered into our heads time after time. And oftentimes we want to focus on our weight, but it can happen a little bit naturally if we shift our focus. So one thing we can do is practice more mindful eating. Paying attention to our hunger and our fullness cues instead of just calorie targets. This is how little I'm supposed to eat, or this is how much I'm supposed to eat. So then we're recognizing our real hunger cues and in a way promotes a healthier relationship with food.
Something else we can do is just focusing on the food quality over the quantity. So instead of looking at those numbers, again, looking at the fiber, the vitamins, minerals, all the things that you're going to get from it, and look at it as a way of nourishment instead of a source of energy. So these are things that are going to support my bodily functions, enhance my quality of life, instead of just being like, this is a source of energy to make me move.
And then I think just in general, we can just prioritize those whole minimally processed foods. They're more nutrient dense, of course. But they do help regulate our appetite with a lot of the components that they have, like the fiber, oftentimes more protein. And so it's going to more effectively manage blood sugar and things like that than these empty calories would.
Chuck Gaidica:
And then there's all that complicated stuff about the gut biome and all that. I mean, if you're going to eat a lot of fiber, if you're going to eat this thing, it's going to be helpful all the way down. I mean, it's just going to be one of those things that it's going to be helpful to your life.
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. And fiber seriously is one of those power nutrients that helps us in so many ways, prevent so many chronic illnesses. And you mentioned gut health. It's so important to gut health, not only for regularity, but also we understand that there's a link between our gut health and our mental health. We've talked about that before. And so many other things. So fiber goes more than just making you feel fuller for longer. It's such an essential nutrient to life.
Chuck Gaidica:
So I use my two examples, but can you give us other examples of on one side, kind of like the scales of justice, high calorie, low nutrient foods versus low calorie nutrient dense options. What are some other examples of that, as extreme as you may find them?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah, so fried foods are going to go into that category. So think your french fries, your fried chicken. Chicken's still going to have that protein, but we're not getting a lot of nutrients in them. We're getting those unhealthy fats, the refined carbohydrates, but not a lot in return. Donuts, same kind of category. And then processed meats I want to put in this category too. They do have protein, which is great, helps keep us fuller for longer, and we need protein to help with muscle synthesis and things like that. But they're really high in calories, and oftentimes they don't have anything more to offer than just the protein.
And then on the flip side of things, the low calorie foods that are nutrient dense, think of your things like spinach, kale, your leafy greens. They're low in calories, but they do have all the other things, your vitamin A and C, minerals, the calcium, the magnesium, fiber, antioxidants, they're full of all that stuff. Same with berries and even legumes, beans. So we're mentioning all those whole foods.
Chuck Gaidica:
And it seems almost impossible except for maybe the fastest of the fast food places where you can't go to, let's call it a sit down restaurant, not fancy necessarily and you can't order a side with your chicken or even a steak, whatever it is. Most likely, you've got the choice of fries, baked potato, maybe baked sweet potato, you don't have to get butter, but usually you can still get broccoli or green beans or something. So we have those opportunities until we think about them often. And maybe it is part of that retraining, like Pavlov's dog, I'm always wanting to lean toward fries, but then I think, well, wait a minute. Even the pictures in a lot of the menus now show an entree with broccoli. We have these other choices. This is not super science.
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. And I think it's a good goal to set for yourself that if you're going out to eat or eating something in general, that we always pick at least one vegetable just to add a little bit of balance. And again, adding those nutrients.
Chuck Gaidica:
Now, how does the concept of empty calories fit into weight and health management then?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. So these empty calories, they are those less nutrient dense foods, the ones that are high in calories, but they don't give you nutritional value. They're linked with weight gain, poor health outcomes. They give us all these excess calories. So just promoting fat storage without giving you actual beneficial qualities. So from a weight management perspective, it's so much more helpful to have these nutrient dense foods because you feel fuller with fewer calories, you also don't feel awful afterwards, and it reduces that temptation to consume more of those empty calories. So more satiating, helps you maintain a healthier weight, and of course, it helps prevent disease.
Chuck Gaidica:
And yet, I know in previous episodes you and I have talked about the word balance. So if you're not eating birthday cake every day of the week that you bought at the local bakery, going to a birthday party and having a slice of cake to celebrate somebody's two-year-old birthday, you're not blowing your whole diet by having a little fun in your life or balance. As long as you're balancing it out on the good side, I've never heard you say something as radical as, don't ever eat something like that, or have you?
Shanthi Appelö:
No.
Chuck Gaidica:
Okay.
Shanthi Appelö:
No. I think my food like that, Nutella, could eat it by spoon.
Chuck Gaidica:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Shanthi Appelö:
But when it comes down to it, it is, like you say, it's all about balance. These low nutrient dense foods are part of life, and that's okay. They taste good, and it's okay to enjoy them. But in the grand scheme of things, take a look at your life, how often you consume certain foods, and if the scale kind of tips more towards those ultra processed side of things, try to replace those with some foods that are more nutrient dense.
Chuck Gaidica:
And dessert was made to be something that follows dinner. We went to a potluck just this week, and there was the whole line of really good stuff. A whole bunch of people made the food and it was truly a potluck dinner. And then there was the table of desserts, and we all joke with each other, can't we start at that end first and work our way back toward the salad. But there's a reason that dessert is supposed to be made for afterward. And so I have trained, it took me a lifetime, but I've trained myself that it really is just a little slice or a little bit, or apple pie, just a little bit of the filling. I don't need to eat that crust that's filled with lard or whatever it is. So I think there are ways and hacks that we can all come up with in our own life and probably already have where we can still enjoy a little bit of the emptiness of the calories.
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. I have dessert every day.
Chuck Gaidica:
Do you really?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yes. Sometimes it's a mini dessert, like a couple squares of this hazelnut butter chocolate, not Nutella. It's a little bit more wholesome than that. But that's one of my favorites. Also, these Yasso bars, they're Greek yogurt bars. And what I love about them is that they don't have a ton of added sugar, and they also don't have any artificial sugar, which I tend not to like the taste of. I don't have anything against them. But anyways, it's a perfect little treat that makes me feel that I have something to look forward to. I do enjoy the sweet things, and I feel like it helps me not overdo something in the long run later.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah, that's good advice. So what are the takeaways for our audience today in this third episode of the four?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah, just take a look at things. Look at what you are consuming day to day. Are there ways that you can find room for more nutrient dense foods? Swap that out for others. It really doesn't have to be an overhaul of your diet. Just small little tweaks are going to give you a better result.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah. Good stuff. Well, it's good to have you back on this one. And again, like the mob, you can't get away, we'll bring you back for the next episodes, four, right?
Shanthi Appelö:
That's right.
Chuck Gaidica:
All right, we'll see you soon. Thanks, Shanthi. Shanthi Appelö with us, who's here from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. She's a registered dietician and she has dessert, that's encouraging for all of us, every once in a while. Calories are not the full story, we've already started talking about that. But timing of our nutrients could be the next big piece of the puzzle. So make sure you tune in for our final episode, episode four, where we're going to break down nutrient timing and if it can optimize our long-term health. That's something we're all after. And if you've enjoyed this episode and you want to check out more, you can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, we're on YouTube as well, where we post new episodes every other week. Be well.
This is A Healthier Michigan Podcast, and in this series we're exploring the balance between nutrition and metabolism. Continuing with part three of our four part series, we're diving into the quality of calories, exploring how the nutritional value of food plays a bigger role than just calories in, maybe, and calories out. I'm your host, Chuck Gaidica, and with me is registered dietitian from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Shanthi Appelö, to continue our conversation. We're never letting you go. It's like the mafia. You can never leave.
Shanthi Appelö:
A little less scary.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah, you're right. So counting calories, we hear this no matter what kind of diet or lifestyle change comes up as the new thing to do, somebody still comes back and says, counting calories is a go-to strategy for managing weight. Maybe not such a bad idea. But it's not all about calories and how they may or may not be created equal. So do we shift from calorie counting to focusing on nutrient density for a healthier, more balanced approach to eating? What do you say?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah, I think it's a mix of both. Of course, there's a way that we can eat a ton of nutrient-dense foods and still overdo it in some terms. So it's good to keep calories in mind because it does matter to our weight. But of course, we understand that these nutrient-dense foods have these nutrients that support our overall health, and health is more about just your weight.
Chuck Gaidica:
So I think most everybody understands the calories. And if you've been on a diet, I've been on two diets my whole life because I don't get enough food with one. So here I am, my whole life, I could tell you by heart, I look at something and go, oh, that's 150 calories for that thing. Four calories for a pickle slice. But what does nutrient-dense mean? That's a phrase that we don't hear as often or maybe we don't get.
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. So it's foods that are high in nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber, things like that, in relation to its weight. So they're going to be things like your vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds. Things that are high in nutrients, but just kind of lowering calories.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah. Why is it important that we focus on that, on nutrient-dense foods and not just counting calories?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. So of course we mentioned counting calories does play a role, but it doesn't take into account what we need for disease prevention and to get our bodies to function the way that it should, for us to feel good for ourselves to be nourished, for us to not get brain fog, all those things. And then we also see that research shows these nutrient-dense foods they are connected with better health outcomes overall. We see a lower risk of chronic illnesses like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and we need these nutrients to support our immune function and things like that. If it was just about calories, we could be lacking in a lot of nutrients in our bodies.
Chuck Gaidica:
Now, you said something interesting. It kind of flew past me, but it just dawned on me again. So you can still overdo nutrient-dense foods. In other words, if you go to a party and you grab handfuls of nuts, one after the other, forget the sodium part, you could be stacking up a ton of calories with something that technically is nutrient dense, right?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. It's unlikely, right? Because oftentimes those foods are going to be rich in fiber and those nutrients that make us feel satisfied. And also they don't have a lot of those food components that make it difficult to stop eating. Because when we think of the other side of things, these foods that are ultra processed, they have components in them that make it difficult to recognize that you're full. And so it's unlikely, but you certainly can. And then we also understand that there's a balance of things. Even if most of your diet is made up of these nutrient dense foods, there's still a way where you can overdo the calories from other foods when you fit them in.
Chuck Gaidica:
All right. You ready for some show and tell?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah.
Chuck Gaidica:
Oh, I feel like I'm on fire. When I walked through my kitchen this morning, I remembered yesterday we talked about apples. So here it is, medium apple, 95 calories-ish. So let's call it 100 calories. Then in the pantry, I won't show the brand little tiny bag of, well, they're even fake potato chips, 110 calories. That's only seven eighths of an ounce. That's the new inflation. You only get air and seven eighths of an ounce. So to be fair, I don't really eat those. My wife may open one of those little tiny bags as an adjunct to a sandwich and fine. I mean, it's fine.
But when I look at this and I feel the weight of this apple and what you said yesterday about the fiber and the water content and even the peel, and I look at this versus this, if I'm really going to look at calories and density of food, the apple's going to be a winner just by picking it up and holding it, thinking, oh, I'm going to eat all that, short of the middle of the apple. And it's going to fill me up a lot more than seven eighths of an ounce of baked chips, which also claim they're 65% less fat, but there's not much of it. It's not going to fill me up, right?
Shanthi Appelö:
Right. Yeah. Professor Chuck, at your service.
Chuck Gaidica:
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Shanthi Appelö:
We needed some visuals. I love it.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah. So am I on the right track?
Shanthi Appelö:
But great example. Yeah, for sure. And of course, we are going to get the benefits. If you look at the nutrition label on those chips, do you see the vitamins and the minerals and things like that? They're not quite high. They're not going to supply us with what we need versus the apple that has the antioxidants and the vitamin C and things like that that are going to support our immune system and other good functions.
Chuck Gaidica:
So now that I've done my experiment and I've done show and tell, how do we start to shift not just my mind, everybody's mind away from calorie counting alone toward more holistic views of food, which can include this idea of density, nutrient density?
Shanthi Appelö:
It can be difficult because this is something that's been hammered into our heads time after time. And oftentimes we want to focus on our weight, but it can happen a little bit naturally if we shift our focus. So one thing we can do is practice more mindful eating. Paying attention to our hunger and our fullness cues instead of just calorie targets. This is how little I'm supposed to eat, or this is how much I'm supposed to eat. So then we're recognizing our real hunger cues and in a way promotes a healthier relationship with food.
Something else we can do is just focusing on the food quality over the quantity. So instead of looking at those numbers, again, looking at the fiber, the vitamins, minerals, all the things that you're going to get from it, and look at it as a way of nourishment instead of a source of energy. So these are things that are going to support my bodily functions, enhance my quality of life, instead of just being like, this is a source of energy to make me move.
And then I think just in general, we can just prioritize those whole minimally processed foods. They're more nutrient dense, of course. But they do help regulate our appetite with a lot of the components that they have, like the fiber, oftentimes more protein. And so it's going to more effectively manage blood sugar and things like that than these empty calories would.
Chuck Gaidica:
And then there's all that complicated stuff about the gut biome and all that. I mean, if you're going to eat a lot of fiber, if you're going to eat this thing, it's going to be helpful all the way down. I mean, it's just going to be one of those things that it's going to be helpful to your life.
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. And fiber seriously is one of those power nutrients that helps us in so many ways, prevent so many chronic illnesses. And you mentioned gut health. It's so important to gut health, not only for regularity, but also we understand that there's a link between our gut health and our mental health. We've talked about that before. And so many other things. So fiber goes more than just making you feel fuller for longer. It's such an essential nutrient to life.
Chuck Gaidica:
So I use my two examples, but can you give us other examples of on one side, kind of like the scales of justice, high calorie, low nutrient foods versus low calorie nutrient dense options. What are some other examples of that, as extreme as you may find them?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah, so fried foods are going to go into that category. So think your french fries, your fried chicken. Chicken's still going to have that protein, but we're not getting a lot of nutrients in them. We're getting those unhealthy fats, the refined carbohydrates, but not a lot in return. Donuts, same kind of category. And then processed meats I want to put in this category too. They do have protein, which is great, helps keep us fuller for longer, and we need protein to help with muscle synthesis and things like that. But they're really high in calories, and oftentimes they don't have anything more to offer than just the protein.
And then on the flip side of things, the low calorie foods that are nutrient dense, think of your things like spinach, kale, your leafy greens. They're low in calories, but they do have all the other things, your vitamin A and C, minerals, the calcium, the magnesium, fiber, antioxidants, they're full of all that stuff. Same with berries and even legumes, beans. So we're mentioning all those whole foods.
Chuck Gaidica:
And it seems almost impossible except for maybe the fastest of the fast food places where you can't go to, let's call it a sit down restaurant, not fancy necessarily and you can't order a side with your chicken or even a steak, whatever it is. Most likely, you've got the choice of fries, baked potato, maybe baked sweet potato, you don't have to get butter, but usually you can still get broccoli or green beans or something. So we have those opportunities until we think about them often. And maybe it is part of that retraining, like Pavlov's dog, I'm always wanting to lean toward fries, but then I think, well, wait a minute. Even the pictures in a lot of the menus now show an entree with broccoli. We have these other choices. This is not super science.
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. And I think it's a good goal to set for yourself that if you're going out to eat or eating something in general, that we always pick at least one vegetable just to add a little bit of balance. And again, adding those nutrients.
Chuck Gaidica:
Now, how does the concept of empty calories fit into weight and health management then?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. So these empty calories, they are those less nutrient dense foods, the ones that are high in calories, but they don't give you nutritional value. They're linked with weight gain, poor health outcomes. They give us all these excess calories. So just promoting fat storage without giving you actual beneficial qualities. So from a weight management perspective, it's so much more helpful to have these nutrient dense foods because you feel fuller with fewer calories, you also don't feel awful afterwards, and it reduces that temptation to consume more of those empty calories. So more satiating, helps you maintain a healthier weight, and of course, it helps prevent disease.
Chuck Gaidica:
And yet, I know in previous episodes you and I have talked about the word balance. So if you're not eating birthday cake every day of the week that you bought at the local bakery, going to a birthday party and having a slice of cake to celebrate somebody's two-year-old birthday, you're not blowing your whole diet by having a little fun in your life or balance. As long as you're balancing it out on the good side, I've never heard you say something as radical as, don't ever eat something like that, or have you?
Shanthi Appelö:
No.
Chuck Gaidica:
Okay.
Shanthi Appelö:
No. I think my food like that, Nutella, could eat it by spoon.
Chuck Gaidica:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Shanthi Appelö:
But when it comes down to it, it is, like you say, it's all about balance. These low nutrient dense foods are part of life, and that's okay. They taste good, and it's okay to enjoy them. But in the grand scheme of things, take a look at your life, how often you consume certain foods, and if the scale kind of tips more towards those ultra processed side of things, try to replace those with some foods that are more nutrient dense.
Chuck Gaidica:
And dessert was made to be something that follows dinner. We went to a potluck just this week, and there was the whole line of really good stuff. A whole bunch of people made the food and it was truly a potluck dinner. And then there was the table of desserts, and we all joke with each other, can't we start at that end first and work our way back toward the salad. But there's a reason that dessert is supposed to be made for afterward. And so I have trained, it took me a lifetime, but I've trained myself that it really is just a little slice or a little bit, or apple pie, just a little bit of the filling. I don't need to eat that crust that's filled with lard or whatever it is. So I think there are ways and hacks that we can all come up with in our own life and probably already have where we can still enjoy a little bit of the emptiness of the calories.
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah. I have dessert every day.
Chuck Gaidica:
Do you really?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yes. Sometimes it's a mini dessert, like a couple squares of this hazelnut butter chocolate, not Nutella. It's a little bit more wholesome than that. But that's one of my favorites. Also, these Yasso bars, they're Greek yogurt bars. And what I love about them is that they don't have a ton of added sugar, and they also don't have any artificial sugar, which I tend not to like the taste of. I don't have anything against them. But anyways, it's a perfect little treat that makes me feel that I have something to look forward to. I do enjoy the sweet things, and I feel like it helps me not overdo something in the long run later.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah, that's good advice. So what are the takeaways for our audience today in this third episode of the four?
Shanthi Appelö:
Yeah, just take a look at things. Look at what you are consuming day to day. Are there ways that you can find room for more nutrient dense foods? Swap that out for others. It really doesn't have to be an overhaul of your diet. Just small little tweaks are going to give you a better result.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah. Good stuff. Well, it's good to have you back on this one. And again, like the mob, you can't get away, we'll bring you back for the next episodes, four, right?
Shanthi Appelö:
That's right.
Chuck Gaidica:
All right, we'll see you soon. Thanks, Shanthi. Shanthi Appelö with us, who's here from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. She's a registered dietician and she has dessert, that's encouraging for all of us, every once in a while. Calories are not the full story, we've already started talking about that. But timing of our nutrients could be the next big piece of the puzzle. So make sure you tune in for our final episode, episode four, where we're going to break down nutrient timing and if it can optimize our long-term health. That's something we're all after. And if you've enjoyed this episode and you want to check out more, you can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, we're on YouTube as well, where we post new episodes every other week. Be well.
