Healthy living tips for 2022 are as easy as ‘1-2-3’

Above: Tawnya Ridi, a registered dietician who coordinates wellness programming for employees of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, said a few tweaks to one’s daily routine can yield big results. Her favorite “tricks” include always taking the stairs, parking a bit farther away from a destination and walking to someone’s office rather than emailing them. (Photo by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald)

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Tawnya Ridi’s health advice boils down to that familiar trifecta that’s sometimes hard to swallow in food-obsessed New Orleans:

• Make the bulk of your diet fruits and vegetables.

• Stay active.

 • Choose water as your primary beverage.

“As we age, (these actions) protect us from developing diet-related diseases, and also, it supports your immune system,” said Ridi, the registered dietician and wellness coordinator with UMR/United Healthcare who provides preventive health programming to employees of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

“Considering what we’re going through in the pandemic, it’s important to take care of ourselves so our body is strong enough to fight diseases,” Ridi said.

Food for thought

For nearly a decade, Americans have had an easier time visualizing what a “healthy diet” looks like. The outdated and cumbersome Food Pyramid has been replaced by a more straightforward visual called “My Plate,” which recommends that at least half of each meal should be composed of fruits and vegetables.

“Imagine the plate that you had growing up when you’d go to the school cafeteria in school, but it was all wrong – spaghetti and meatballs in the big section of the tray, and a vegetable and a roll in the little (sections) Ridi said. “In actuality, the big section should have held the fruits and vegetables. So, look at your plate. If half of it is fruits and vegetables, you’re doing it right. Or, when you go grocery shopping, if most of your cart is fruits and vegetables, and not processed foods, it’s a step in the right direction.”

Speak up while dining out

To help residents eat more healthfully during the pandemic while supporting the local restaurant community, Briant Manix, database developer for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, launched “Where in the Health is Briant Eating Now,” a blog featuring healthy and flavorful options at local restaurants, chefs’ interviews and photos of the beautiful plates of food he orders at area restaurants.

“In my age group, some people are going to the gym, but I said, ‘OK, what can we do on the food side?’” Manix said. “I started to realize that when I was eating the right things, my plate looked prettier and more colorful, as in, ‘Look how gorgeous this plate of bronzed trout and vegetables is!’”

Manix said his main dining tip is to never be afraid to ask if certain components of a meal can be served separately on one’s plate.

“Ask the waiter, ‘Is it OK to put the rice for my gumbo on the side?’ That way you can add rice as you go and take less and less,” Manix said, noting that the same can be done with red beans, stews, pasta dishes, salads and sauces.

If asked, most restaurants also are willing to substitute a side of mixed vegetables for the fries, and to give their guests cruets of olive oil and vinegar to make their own vinaigrette, Manix said. At seafood restaurants, Manix suggests opting for the platter rather than the po-boy, and asking if the seafood or chicken can be broiled, blackened or smoked.

“You can ask for vegetables on the side (rather than the fries) of your platter and also add a nice little side salad,” suggested Manix. “It’s pretty much in the same price range ( as a po-boy with fries), but the calorie content is half as much. Anything is better than the fries! Some places also offer orange or apple slices as a side.”

Manix said he is “amazed” that he has never had a special request denied.

“During the pandemic, I expected people would say, ‘Well, no. We just don’t have that right now,” he said. “But from Arnaud’s all the way down to fast food, they’ll always say, ‘Oh, sure, you can have that.’

“One place I went to had a chicken cordon bleu made with fried chicken, new potatoes on the side and vegetables,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Could you give me double vegetables and broiled chicken instead of fried? The chef was like, ‘No problem,’ and it was delicious!”

Other ordering tweaks championed by Manix include requesting water with lemon (“to get some taste with the meal” without the need for sugar-laden beverages) and asking if your wheat pita bread can be toasted when dining at Mediterranean restaurants (“It’s crispier, and the tannins come out.”).

Manix said some hamburger establishments are now offering the much leaner option of bison burgers. He always asks his server if fresh spinach, mushrooms and garlic can be kneaded into his bison patty.

“People from the table next door said, ‘What did you order? Can I order that?’” said Manix, noting that he has lost weight and has felt “brighter, healthier and perkier” since making these simple dietary changes.

“Every once in a while, you can have a cheat day – I love southern fried chicken,” he said. “But just don’t pick that every day or every other day!”

Get moving!

Regular exercise – something as simple as walking for 30 minutes a day –  helps control and prevent high blood pressure and cholesterol, two of the main risk factors for heart disease.

Last spring, when the world seemed to be coming out of the pandemic, Ridi saw a spike in the numbers of  people seeking health coaching and stepping up their physical activity. Ridi said she builds exercise into her own routine by taking the stairs to her 12th-floor office.

“If you’ve got the joints to do it, it’s doable, she said. “There are little tricks you can do: Park farther away (from your destination); instead of emailing someone, walk to their office.”
Get around the exercise excuse of “It’s too hot” by scheduling your daily walk or run in the morning, when it’s cooler, suggested Ridi.

“If you’re wanting to start an exercise program or be more active, you first have to be aware of your excuses and work around them,” she said. “If you put (exercise) off until the afternoon, you’re going to have anxiety about it all day. Getting it over with, first thing in the morning, is a game-changer.

“It’s about finding what works for you – maybe your joints hurt, but you can work out in the pool or do chair aerobics,” she added. “If (an exercise) hurts, you’re not going to do it, so it’s important to find something that works for you and your body.”


Powerlifting champ’s journey

Sherri Peppo, executive director of New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries, recalls being in a health rut as she approached her mid-50s. Like many of her peers, she was caring for aging parents, eating on the fly, gaining weight and becoming depressed. On top of that, a bone scan revealed the beginnings of osteoporosis in her lower back.

Five years later, Peppo is living proof that it’s never too late to get fit. She holds U.S. Powerlifting Association records for her body weight and in her 55- to 59-year-old age bracket in all three powerlifting lifts: the state record in squat lifting (215 pounds); the state record in bench lifting (121 pounds); and the world record in deadlifting (293 pounds).

Peppo be gan her health journey in 2016, after signing up for a self-defense class at a combat sports gym and discovering a love for cross-training and kickboxing.

“Not only did I start losing weight, but I was gaining a lot of endurance,” said Peppo, who learned of her osteoporosis diagnosis at around the same time. Not wanting to go the route of hormone medication, she began to focus on weight training, a type of exercise that has been shown to improve the bones “from the inside out.”

"After a few months went by, I noticed how much stronger I was getting and a lot more endurance,” said Peppo, who decided she wanted to compete in powerlifting in 2018 and entered her first meet a year later. “When I went back for another bone scan, I had improved my osteoporosis. Eliminating soft drinks, which deplete calcium from the bones, also helped.”

Peppo’s training also taught her that her lower-back pain often can be relieved by stretching out her hamstrings. She said her added hip strength will help protect her from suffering a fracture, should she ever experience a fall.

Peppo advises those who are considering joining a gym – especially women – to begin by taking a cross-training class with other women.

“I was too intimidated to pick up a barbell (when I began),” she said. “I found more confidence in myself by starting with group classes, where there was a trainer teaching us (exercises) that changed up all the time, so we weren’t getting bored doing the same thing over and over.”

Peppo’s powerlifting work, which is always done alongside an experienced trainer, also has given her a major mental boost.

“You just get out of your head,” she said. “When you’re in the gym training, anything that may have stressed you during the day at work – or anything that’s stressing you in your life – you don’t think about it. You’re focusing on what you need to focus on, at that moment.”

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