Interview with a Nutrition Expert | Katie

Schmidt

First of all, how did you become passionate

about healthy eating?

My interest in food started in my childhood

where I observed the value my mother and Homemade meals
grandmother placed on homemade meals. It
turned into a passion as a student at the
University of Texas in Austin. One day during Educational background
the fall semester of my first year, I remember
experiencing a distinct shift in my awareness of
food and how it made me feel. I ate a rushed
lunch between classes and suddenly it occurred
to me I was blindly following a routine: I had not
been hungry, I was acting out of habit. This lack
of mindfulness weighed on my conscience. I
didn’t feel good about myself, and I felt a vague
but nagging sense that I was not honoring my
body. That light bulb moment sparked a 10+
year journey in not only developing my passion Eating well
for eating well, but discovering an even deeper
passion for leading a mindful lifestyle that truly
nourishes; a lifestyle rooted in a deep-seated
value of finding balance and ease in my
relationship with food and with my body.
During this time, I read Mireille Guiliano’s book, “French Women Don’t Get Fat”
“French Women Don’t Get Fat” and fully
embraced her idea of eating and finding
pleasure in it, in parallel with life. This was
another milestone for refining and acting on my
vision of a nourishing lifestyle.

After graduate school and work in the field of

Public Health and Epidemiology, I became
Public Health and Epidemiology
certified as an Integrative Nutrition Health
Coach so that I could share experience,
knowledge, and passion with other women.
Integrative nutrition health coach
Working closely with a client for several months
makes a lasting difference in their appreciation
for the pleasures of good food and benefits of
living a life that nourishes. I call this Whole
Nourishment.
There are so many diets out there, which can diet
get very confusing! With your training as a
health coach, what do you recommend as “the
way to eat”?’

Simply put, we need to revisit some traditions Revisit some traditions

and stop obsessing over the modern fix of the
day or the idea that there is a singular Holy Grail
“best” way to eat. In my view, rediscovering Well eating
some basics for eating well is a process to
incorporate a few timeless principles, two of
which I’ve listed below. It’s my responsibility as
an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach to help
those motivated to make this way of eating part A sustainable lifestyle
of a sustainable lifestyle.

Principle 1: Get back to the basics. Stop making

Science of eating
what should be the art of eating into the
science of eating. Business makes good money
turning this once pleasurable, intuitive, and
social act into an overcomplicated science
experiment. We must acknowledge and Acknowledge and appreciate
appreciate that the nutrients in whole foods
Synergistically
work together synergistically to nourish our
bodies. In other words, we can’t limit ourselves
by ranking any whole food superior or inferior.
We have to look at the whole picture. And once
we start respecting and listening to our body,
giving it real food, and tuning into how different
foods make us feel, we can be more at ease and Intuitive eating
trust the healing process of intuitive eating.

Principle 2: Eat dark leafy greens every day. No Plant-based foods

matter how we eat, plant-based foods of one
sort or the other are the common denominator
across all diets, and for good reason. Dark leafy
Dark leafy greens
greens in particular are something most of us
don’t get enough of. They play an extremely
important role in purifying and alkalizing our
blood, building strong bones, supporting
healthy gut flora, boosting our immune
function, balancing blood sugar, and more.
Mother Nature’s ultimate superfood! Mother Nature’s ultimate superfood
Furthermore, in a society often obsessed with
getting enough protein, research shows that
most of us are far less likely getting enough Getting enough protein
other nutrients; especially calcium, iron, B Calcium, iron, B vitamins
vitamins, and healthy fats. These are essential
for our health and risk of getting too few is
much higher when a diet lacks whole, unrefined Plant-based foods.
plant-based foods.

What would you make as a quick and healthy

dinner option, if you have 30 minutes of
preparation time?

First of all you two deserve a big thank you for Home cooked meals
proving home cooked meals can be
approachable and practical for every night of Approachable and practical
the week! Your recent (and delicious!) Tomato Tomato Artichoke Soup
Artichoke Soup is a perfect example. Otherwise
the abundance of ready-made, packaged foods Packaged food
at the supermarket these days persuades us to
think it’s the only sane way to end our busy day.
Since when did we turn that deadly corner into
the inner aisles and decide we don’t have time
to cook and eat with whole foods anymore?
[Ok, rant over ;-)]

In all honesty, with some strategy and planning, Homemade meals

quick homemade meals can be made with little
effort. My go-to strategy is the “one pot”
technique where everything is cooked together
on stovetop or in the oven.
Minimizing clean-up
Minimizing clean-up helps. Cooking in
parchment has become one of my favorite ways
to cook everything at once, plus it makes dinner
feel special and elegant without any effort. I just
posted a recipe for Blood Orange Salmon and Blood Orange Salmon
Sweet Potatoes in Parchment, which is a Sweet Potatoes in Parchment
favorite. And now I know you guys love this
technique as well from the looks of your Salmon Salmon en Papillote
en Papillote recipe last week!

Here are some of my other favorite One Pot

One pot meals
meals ready within 30 minutes.

Green Quinoa Bowl + some great tips for

Cooking for One Green Quinoa Bowl

Green Lentil and Coconut Soup Green Lentil and Coconut Soup
Noodle Bowls where the veggies are dropped
into the pasta water at the end: I love your
Peanut Noodles with Napa Cabbage
Peanut Noodles with Napa Cabbage

When eating a mostly vegetarian diet, are there

certain foods to focus on to make sure we’re Vegetarian diet
getting enough nutrients and protein?

Cultivating a diet of variety is the most

fundamental principle I live by in order to 1) get
the complexity of nutrients a plant-based diet Plant-based diet
offers and 2) give the digestive and immune
systems a break from encountering the same
foods over and over.

Repeated consumption of a limited range of

foods taxes the immune system and is thought
to be one cause of food sensitivities. I
encourage clients to break out of habits and
find inspiration to explore a wider range of
foods. Eat a variety of colors, but also vary the
types of food in each color category and within
(Vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes, and seeds
each food group (vegetables, grains, nuts,
legumes, and seeds). Switch out kale
occasionally for Swiss chard, collards, or
Lentils, mung beans, or black rice
watercress. Replace quinoa more often with
lentils, mung beans, or black rice. And making
your own nut milk and nut butter is an
incredibly empowering (and easy!) ritual to
ensure you have diversity in the nuts and seeds
consumed.

When it comes to protein, regularly seeking out

variety means we may already be consuming
the highest sources of plant-based protein from Plant-based protein
foods like lentils and legumes (including green
peas), quinoa, buckwheat, nuts and nut butter, Quinoa, buckwheat, nuts and nut butter,
tempeh, seitan, chia and hemp seeds, and eggs tempeh, seitan, chia and hemp seeds, and eggs
and dairy. and dairy.

How to combine these foods and find the right

mix to optimize energy is an individual and
personal decision. We must experiment to find
what works best for each of us and consider
how we eat and how our lifestyle can affect
nutrient absorption. The simple act of eating
does not guarantee optimal digestion and
nutrient absorption. Our ability to manage Factors that can optimize our digestion.
stress, sleep quality, a balanced gut flora, eating
in a calm environment, and getting enough
Vitamin D are a few factors that can optimize Stress, sleep quality, a balanced gut flora, eating
our digestion. Extending our attention to how in a calm environment, and Vitamin D
we take care of ourselves outside of the kitchen
is what makes the difference between healthy
eating and whole nourishment. Bridging the gap
and embedding these factors into a lifestyle is
the challenge I help clients with as a Health Healthy eating
Coach.

Is there a recommended amount of sugar

intake per day? Is there a nutritional difference
between white sugar and natural sugars like
honey and maple syrup? Do you have any
helpful hints on how to satisfy sugar cravings?

Sugar is such a huge topic Sugar is rarely so

much the problem as the symptom of the real
problem. Cravings are the body’s way of telling
us something is out of balance, and there are
several sources for imbalance; physical, Physical, emotional, hormonal, and bacterial
emotional, hormonal, and bacterial. Identifying
and working at the source to improve one or
more of these can help.

The most common source of sugar cravings I Sugar cravings

see over and over with clients is emotional-
based. If this is you (and it’s all of us at one
point or another), I suggest tuning in to these
emotions when a craving hits. Give yourself 5
minutes before you respond to the craving.
During that time write down or journal about
your emotion if you recognize it. Feelings like
boredom, loneliness, or anxiety can trigger a Boredom, loneliness, or anxiety
need for quick comfort, but try to address those
first before reaching for that candy bar. If
properly addressed, the craving intensity will
likely diminish. For more tips, check out my
post for adding naturally sweet foods to main
meals to curb sugar cravings later in the day,
and Dr. Hyman’s article here on reprogramming
our taste buds so we learn to be satisfied with
less sweet foods.
I choose sweeteners closest to the source Sweeteners
because they are purer, less-refined products.
They are not completely stripped of nutrients
That means they are not completely stripped of
and digestive enzymes
nutrients and digestive enzymes, nor subjected
to the toxic chemical-laden processing of white
sugar. Maple syrup, raw honey, dates, coconut
sugar, and brown rice syrup are my favorites.
While these sweeteners do have more nutrients
intact than white sugar, we would have to eat a
large quantity of them to get a nutritional
benefit, which is not the point when consuming
sweeteners. And when it comes to metabolizing
sugar, sugar is sugar to our liver no matter what
form it comes in, and too much of any type
Suppress our immunity.
taxes our system and can suppress our
immunity.

Isn’t it more liberating to think about eating as

an art rather than a science? Following nutrition
guidelines gram for gram can perpetuate an
obsessive and perfectionistic nature around
nutrition and eating. I encourage my clients to
tone down the need to measure everything and
to focus instead on cultivating a sustainable and
pleasurable way of eating based on variety,
intuition, and mindfulness. The goal should be Intuition, and mindfulness
learning to trust intuitive eating and impulse Intuitive eating
eating will naturally fade. When we’re
consciously striving to nourish our body and self Impulse eating
in a deeper way, we cannot also fear going
overboard on sugar. These two mindsets simply
cannot exist at the same time. Through this Mindful eating
process of intuitive, mindful eating, we’ll likely
feel satisfied with less and become more in tune
with when sweet is too sweet or when sweet
isn’t what we are craving after all.
Educational Home-made Science of Sugar effects Healthy Well eating Factors that Manners Recipes
background meals eating food can optimize of
our digestion. nutrition

Book ”French Revisit some We must Physical, Dark leafy Sustainable Stress, sleep Packaged Tomato
Women Don’t traditions acknowledge emotional, greens lifestyle quality, a food Artichoke
Get Fat” and hormonal, balanced gut Soup
Home cooked appreciate and Mothers Intuitive eating flora, eating in Homemad
Public Health meals that bacterial Nature a calm e meals Blood Orange
and nutrition’s ultimate Plan-based environment, Salmon
Epidemiology Approachable work together Boredom, superfood foods and Vitamin D One pot
and practical synergistically loneliness, meals Sweet
Integrative or anxiety Getting Plan-based diet Sugar Potatoes in
nutrition Minimizing enough suppress our Vegetarian Parchment
health coach clean-up Sweeteners protein Vegetables, immunity diet
grains, nuts, Salmon en
They are not Calcium, legumes, and Healthy Papillote
completely Iron, B seeds eating
stripped of vitamins Green Quinoa
nutrients Lentils, mung Intuitive Bowl
and beans, or black eating
digestive rise Green Lentil
enzymes Impulse and Coconut
Plant-based eating Soup
protein
Mindful Peanut
Quinoa, eating Noodles with
buckwheat, Napa Cabbage
nuts and nut
butter, tempeh,
chia and hemp
seeds, and eggs

By: Arta Shaqiri 122907