Natalie Castro, R.D., chief wellness dietitian at Baptist Health South Florida, provides insight and guidance on how a nutritious diet can help prevent inflammation and chronic diseases. Want to see more? Baptist Health South Florida’s Resource Blog https://baptisthealth.net/news Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/baptisthealthsf Follow Baptist Health on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/baptisthealthsf Follow Baptist Health on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/baptisthealthsf/ Follow Baptist Health on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/baptisthealthsf/ [Transcript] [Baptist Health South Florida animated logo, soft music] [Jackie Bales, Baptist Health South Florida] Today, we’re talking about nutrition. Our guest is Natalie Castro, a nutritionist and registered dietician at Baptist Health South Florida. Miss Castro, thanks for joining us. [Natalie] Thank you, thank you for having me. [Jackie] First of all, what does it mean to eat healthy? [Natalie Castro, Chief Wellness Dietician, Baptist Health South Florida] You wanna be focusing on the foods that are gonna supply your body with the most amount of energy, things that are gonna be good for your body. So, nutrient-rich foods, things that are high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. [Jackie] So, why is this important? Why is it so critical to fuel your body the correct way? [Natalie] [Images: Picture of food pyramid, fruits and vegetables] Those nutrients that we eat from the foods that we choose actually impacts directly things like our blood pressure, our glucose or blood sugars and our cholesterol. Our body normally regulates these different levels, but over time, making these poor food choices can have an overall effect. So, that’s where we increase our risk for chronic diseases. So, making better food choices, we really do have that control to prevent diseases, to treat them and to manage care. [Jackie] So, give me some examples of healthy, nutritious foods. What should we be looking for? [Natalie] [Graphic: Make nutritious choices] Fruits and vegetables are excellent choices. They’re loaded in those vitamins and minerals that we wanna make sure we’re getting. And they’re very high in antioxidants. So, that helps decrease any inflammation that we might be having. So, at lunch and dinner, we wanna make sure we’re having some kind of vegetable on our plate. And then, throughout the day, we wanna reach for at least two fruit. We wanna reach for those lean proteins. And we wanna watch some of the greens that we have, our portion sizes, things like breads, rice, greens, cereals. We wanna just watch how much of those we’re having. [Jackie] Some people really advocate a no carb way of eating. [Natalie] [Pictures of high carb foods] Carbohydrates are part of our healthy diet. We wanna get them in there, but we wanna look for those higher fiber ones. It will decrease how fast our blood sugars go up. Two examples would be rice versus brown rice, white rice versus brown rice. So, the amount of fiber in brown rice will decrease how fast your blood sugars go up. But the trick with carbs is how much you’re having throughout the day. So, if we just kind of cut back on our portion, it would decrease how much we ended up having throughout the day. [Jackie] Let me ask you another question that’s so many people struggle with is motivation, because it’s hard to change the way you’ve grown up eating. [Natalie] Exactly. So, going back to that same concept that if you just think of it as small steps, I always say small changes ends up equaling big results eventually, right? So, we just need to keep adding on it. And the biggest trick is consistency. So, an example could be if you’re a soda drinker, or if you’d like to have juice with all your meals, the idea would be have your beverage, but then, also add maybe water to it. So then, what you’re doing is you set yourself a goal to drink a little bit less. [Jackie] Thank you so much Miss Castro for joining us and sharing this really important lifesaving information. [Natalie] Thank you. [Logo: Baptist Health South Florida, soft music] [Transcript] [Baptist Health South Florida] [Jackie Bales] Interviewer: Today, we’re talking about nutrition. Our guest is Natalie Castro, a nutritionist and registered dietician at Baptist Health South Florida. Ms. Castro, thanks for joining us. [We Really Are What We Eat] Natalie Castro: Thank you. Thank you for having me. [Displays of fruits] Interviewer: First of all, what does it mean to eat healthy? Natalie Castro: You want to be focusing on the foods that are going to supply your body with the most amount of energy, things that are going to be good for your body. Nutrient rich foods, things that are high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Interviewer: Why is this important? Why is it so critical to fuel your body the correct way? Natalie Castro: What people don’t realize is that we really are what we eat. [Baptist Health South Florida] [Transcript]