Rosanne Rust,MS,RDN

The DASH diet provides numerous benefits for overall health, including reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and cognitive decline. It is also a component of the Mind diet which has been shown to reduce cognitive decline.
 
Transcript: "What are the benefits of the DASH diet? In other videos I explained DASH stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension, but it is not just for lowering blood pressure. Hypertension meets blood pressure. The DASH diet plan is also good for anyone who is perhaps looking to lose weight or be on a good weight maintenance program. It's great for overall health. It can help reduce risk of not just heart disease but also the risk for certain kinds of cancer like colon cancer. It can reduce the risk for diabetes and keeping your blood pressure normal and healthy helps protect your kidneys. So overall it's just a great diet for reducing your disease risk, reducing heart disease, diabetes risk, and cancer risk. And it helps keep your brain healthy. The MIND diet you may have heard of MIND is actually a combination of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet. So a Mediterranean DASH diet is the MIND diet and research has shown that a very similar dietary plan to DASH helps reduce cognitive decline and is good for your brain."

I don't recommend any kind of gut cleanse or detox as they can be harmful. Instead, focus on eating whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and probiotic foods like yogurt with probiotics to support a healthy microbiome.
 
Transcript: "What is the best way to cleanse the gut while also supporting your microbiome while on a budget? So this question is about budget-friendly ways to cleanse your gut. The first simple answer is I do not recommend any kind of cleanse. Our guts are Missy business, but our microbiome is important. And what I recommend in terms of supporting a healthy microbiome, is eating foods that do that for you, unfortunately, all of the products that you see marketed as cleanse or gut cleanse or detox don't work, and they can be harmful. What I'd like to see you do is take a look at your diet. Eat more whole grains. Fruits and vegetables, Probiotic foods like yogurt with probiotics probiotics bacteria in them. So it's the fiber and the Probiotic foods. The idea of a gut cleanse is just a myth. It's really more complicated than that at any more questions to the comments and I'll answer them."
 Complexities of the diet-micro biome relationship 

The best way to turn diet habits into everyday habits is to have a plan with standard meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Have a staple grocery list, take the time to sit and enjoy each meal, and consider writing down your meal plan for the week.
 
Transcript: "How can I turn my diet habits into everyday habits? So I'm not crystal clear here on what you're asking. If you're talking about your diet habits in terms of restrictive diet, or if you're talking about dietary habits, meaning healthy eating, how do you turn that into everyday habits? So that's what I'm gonna answer. The best way is to have a plan. Standard, standby, balanced meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, and then planning those grocery shopping trips or maybe some meal prepping to make sure that those happen. The success of that has to include some flexibility because you might just get bored or something might interfere with your schedule. Making a stable grocery list so that you always have foods in the home that are your go-tos for each meal and for snacks. It's also important to take the time to sit and enjoy each meal. You might also consider writing down your meal plan for the week. Even if it's a rough sketch of just dinner. If you've got breakfast and lunch covered, what are you going to have? Writing it down helps you stay accountable, but it also takes the stress away from having to think about what you're going to have for dinner. Not sure if that's what you were looking for as an answer to this question, but feel free to reach out with another one or message me if this wasn't what you were looking for."

Start by diluting other flavored beverages that you enjoy with water and adding ice to it. Also, keep a cup by your bed at night for easy access to take small sips of water throughout the night. The feeling of being hydrated can positively influence your water intake.
 
Transcript: "I really don't like drinking water. What can you suggest to get the water and stay hydrated? Well, water is an important nutrient. My first suggestion is ask yourself what you do like to drink, and if you enjoy juice or you enjoy sports drinks that are flavored, start by watering them down, making them diluted with water. Another tip is to start keeping a container, a drink cup, a straw, something that you liked to drink out of and drinking water out of that, whether it's a sports bottle or a container with a straw. As you drink the diluted liquid flavor of your choice, you start to get used to it. I never used to like drinking water either. Now, I almost crave it. I started by diluting other flavored beverages that I enjoyed, and adding ice, and having a cup by my bed every day. Every night, I have a cup on my bed so I can take a sip of water during the night. I think the feeling of being actually hydrated is also a positive influence on maintaining your water intake. I hope that helps."

To reduce food waste when cooking, consider portion size and try batch cooking. Cook large amounts of food that can be used in multiple meals throughout the week. If you have fresh produce that is about to go bad, cook it so it lasts longer in the fridge.
 
Transcript: "How can someone reduce food waste when cooking? Okay, I have a couple of tips here. First off, when you are cooking, you usually know how many people are you cooking for. Are you cooking for one, two, four? So that is gonna determine how much you need to cook. You wanna consider the portion size, whether it's a protein or a grain, how much about is everyone going to eat? But on the other hand, you can also do some batch cooking in some cases, and that can help reduce food waste. So let's say you're going to cook some rice to make some salmon rice bowls tonight. Maybe you'll double batch that rice because you're gonna cook it now, and then you can use that rice as sort of a food waste hero through the week because rice and pasta are great bases for other leftovers or other little bits of fresh vegetables that might need to be used up through the week. You can make a quick lunch. Another tip is looking at that fresh produce when you're cooking. If you have a large bag of spinach and maybe you're cooking for two people, you're not gonna eat it all, it sometimes pays to just cook it because if it's cooked, it's gonna last a few more days in the fridge than if it's just sitting in there, half a bag of spinach raw, you might forget about it. So that's just a couple of tips. I have lots more."
 My free guide to using leftovers 

To incorporate balance into a healthy diet and lifestyle, I recommend following a Dash style diet or the dietary guidelines for Americans. Additionally, an important part of balance is having a healthy lifestyle which includes exercising regularly, managing stress, and not smoking. Moderate alcohol consumption is also recommended.
 
Transcript: "What is your approach to incorporating balance into a healthy diet and lifestyle in? This is about balancing. What we know are healthy nutrient-dense foods with indulgent Foods foods that hold a special place in our families or our culture's. So this means you're choosing those healthier foods, most of the time and then you're not putting any guilt toward those, indulgent Foods you're in Including a little bit of everything. So variety is very important in terms of balancing things out. I recommend a Dash style diet or following the dietary guidelines for Americans in terms of parameters of certain nutrients. And the lifestyle component is important to Fitness and Stress Management not smoking. Moderate alcohol to no alcohol. That's balance."