Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Try ‘Dining Smart’ For Everyday Healthy Eating

Story by Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom
 

At the One Young World conference in Pittsburgh last month, Jamie was joined by some fantastic leaders in the real food movement to take about the global Food Revolution and the roles we all have to play in shaping a better future. One of these real food leaders was Dr. Michael Parkinson, Senior Medical Director, UPMC Health Plan & Work Partners, Pittsburgh who talked about what they are doing to shape a better future locally. Here’s a blog post from Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom, the Senior Advisor of Health Management for UPMC Health Plan on "Dining Smart". See the original post here.

If healthy eating is a daily challenge, this post is definitely for you! You know by now that I’m a huge champion of eating in moderation, and my motto is “no bad foods, just bad portions.”

When it comes to healthy eating, the biggest challenge we all face is not what to do, but how to do it. That’s where UPMC Health Plan’s Dining Smart program comes in.

Our team took several years to develop the Dining Smart program to come up with some real world — not perfect world — guidelines that support healthier eating. Small daily improvement in food choice is the best way to sustain long-term change.

Dining Smart food choices and guidelines are available at all UPMC sites, and we’re expanding our program to support healthy eating throughout the region. One example is a dinner this weekend in honor of the One Young World event in Pittsburgh. The dinner celebrates healthy eating. Spearheaded by Chef Jamie Oliver, this event is intended to raise awareness about childhood obesity and to support healthy eating for all.

Here are some highlights of the Dining Smart program:

• Main dish items have 400 or fewer calories
• Soups, side dishes, snacks and desserts have 220 or fewer calories
• Fat is limited to one-third of total calories in a dish, or less
• Cholesterol is limited to 100 mg or less per item

At One Young World, we learned community health comes down to personal choices and incremental change; every meal is another chance to dine smart! For more about One Young World, click here.

About the author: Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom is the Senior Advisor of Health Management for UPMC Health Plan and the NBC Today Show's Diet & Nutrition Editor.

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