Tony the Tiger at a Nutrition Conference?

Whooo! 2009 American Dietetic Association conference and expo in Denver, Colorado!  It’s like Woodstock, but for nutrition nerds.  No, it’s even better.  Because I got to meet the one, the only: Tony the Tiger.  And, no, I didn’t arrest him for child abuse.  Although I was tempted.  (Think about it).

Here’s a little summary of the event:

Stop #1: Urban Garden Tour

Urban garden in D-town

Urban gardens are, well, gardens developed in urban areas. The idea is that having vegetable and fruit gardens in urban areas will help boost intake.  You see, many urban locations are “food deserts.”  That means people can’t access healthy foods.

Being healthy eating advocates, during the event, a group of us went to downtown Denver and checked out some of these gardens. (See the DUG project for more.)  With vegetable/fruit gardens going up in some of these areas, there are now 3 options for lunch.

1. Veggies from the new garden
2. Taquitos from 7-11
3. 40 ounces of malt liquor

Seriously. Healthy food isn’t abundant in these areas. You’ll see plenty of corner stores with nachos and liquor stores with beer, but fresh produce isn’t the norm.

My man Terrance gave us the low down on his urban garden. He even mentioned how he helps kids decipher between veggies and weeds when gardening. That’s probably pretty helpful.

Terrance and me - checking out his urban garden

He also mentioned that squirrels were eating the vegetables in his garden. To distract them he planted sunflowers. Now the squirrels eat the sunflowers and leave his veggies alone.

Stop #2: Lecture – Childhood Obesity/Dieting

Guess what? Putting a kid on a restrictive diet seems to make them fatter.

I’m glad this concept is finally catching on with doctors and dietitians. The traditional model of calorie counting, restrictive diets and meals plans is a disaster for weight management in this country.

Getting kids on board with real foods, hunger/fullness cues, and having fun with physical activity each day is our only chance at preventing a title wave of lifestyle related disease and fat gain.

Dieting means binging - don't do it - instead, learn how to eat whole foods and exercise appropriately - PN isn't a bad place to start

Stop #3: ADA Expo and Tony The Tiger

After the lecture, I made my way to the expo hall.  And let me sum up my time at the Conference Expo with one picture.

Tony and me - yes, at a "scientific conference" - no wonder the ADA takes so much flak.

That was grrreat!

I guess like most professions, ours is shaped by the larger companies with money. The biggest and most popular booths were by Coca-Cola, The Dairy Council, The Beef Council, Equal, Truvia, and Solae Soy. There was even a booth promoting fast food (only the “healthy” varieties of course):

Healthy fast foods

Ummm... why was this at the expo?

And yes, there was a booth promoting high fructose corn syrup:

High fructose corn syrup, aka HFCS - how quaint

Gosh, at that point, I was expecting to see a booth passing out free cartons of cigarettes.

Now, I could begin a massive tirade against the idea that fast food, HFCS, and Tony the Tiger were dominating the annual conference of the American Dietetics Association.  But that would be too obvious.  You’re probably already shaking your head without my ranting.  So I’ll just move right along.

I must say, however, that I did pass a few decent booths: Amy’s Organics, Manitoba Harvest, Nutiva, Amazing Grass, Almond Breeze, and Sunshine Burgers.  These are a few of the small-scale companies that are doing some pretty good things with respect to healthy food.

Finally, a decent booth: Amy's Organics

Stop #4: Denver Broncos Training Table

Some of the sports-oriented dietitians were able to take a tour with the Broncos dietitian, Dave Ellis. Dave has it dialed in. We went to the Broncos training facility and learned about eating and training for NFL athletes.

Denver Broncos training facility

The first thing I noticed were all of the positive messages posted above doorways. It reminded me about the importance of keeping goals visible.

Importance of keeping goals visible

The cafeteria was nice. Most of the food is catered since the kitchen is quite small. There are healthy beverages available, such as green tea.

There’s a fridge and an entire wall of quick foods. As you might imagine, lots of intense training and fatigue doesn’t always equal a huge appetite. Having some easy and nutritious snacks available keeps everyone fueled.

This includes fresh and dried fruit, trail mix, nuts and nut butters, edamame, jerky, yogurt, etc. (Not so sure about the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and the Jello, though.)

Fridge with fruit	Antioxidant snack mix
Bars and jerky	Supplements
Cereals	Nut butters
Brown rice	Yogurts and jello

For the actual meals, signs like these are posted above the food stations:

The condiments were in full force. Each table had Cholula. Good choice.

A chef prepared us some of the Broncos favorite dishes, including strawberry banana smoothies, spinach artichoke dip and hummus, and couscous pilaf with pine nuts.

Strawberry banana smoothie

And yes, the Broncos recycle.

After that we looked around the training center. It was full of fun equipment – power racks, bands, balls, sleds, kettlebells – you name it.

Power racks	Indoor turf
Weight vests	Swiss balls
Dumbbells and kettlebells	Glute-ham options
Medicine balls	Safety barbells

I noticed that most of the squat racks were equipped with the safety squat bar rather than a standard barbell.

Then Dave Ellis gave us the lowdown on some random topics:

• The Bod Pod is used by the Broncos for body composition measures.
• The team typically stays lean during the off-season and gets even leaner as the season progresses.
• To prevent and alleviate cramping during a game, his favorite buffer is Alka-Seltzer (aspirin free).

Stop #5: Debriefing

Overall, the ADA conference was a fun event.  I enjoyed checking out the urban gardens.  And it was really cool to see the Broncos set up.  As far as the science part, I did learn some new info.  And I did meet some nice people.

The expo was the only part that still has me a little shook up.  I mean, with only 364 days until ADA 2010, I’d better start learning the characters of my favorite breakfast cereals so I can be better prepared for picture opportunities.