Week 5: Figuring out food

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - After a difficult week last week, the Reneau family bounced back in week five.

"They did great. They were really successful this week with exercising, cutting down TV-watching, and they ate as a family, they did their food log, so they really excelled this week," Parkview Dietitian and Nutrition Coach Kathy Wherle said.

This week was all about figuring out which foods are good for the body and which aren't so good, which can sometimes be a little tricky.

"Sometimes things look good and they're packaged to make you think they're good for you and really they're not all that good for you," Mark Reneau said.

Wherle taught them how to read nutrition labels and put foods into four different categories: free, light, heavy and junk.

"The [categories] are based off U.S. dietary guidelines. Watch fats, especially saturated fats and avoid too much sugar," Wherle said.

Free and light foods are low in fat, sugar and alcohol. Less than 30 percent of their calories are from fat and less than ten percent of their calories are from sugar. Most of these foods are rich in nutrients essential to growth and development and keep people looking and feeling in good shape.

Furthermore, free foods are only 35 or fewer calories. They are mostly vegetables, flavorings and beverages that are low in caloric density, which is the number of calories per unit of volume.

"Three grams of fat to 100 calories is a little formula Kathy taught us to help us tell if it's a light, heavy or even junk food," Mark said.

Heavy and junk foods are high in fat, sugar or alcohol. They contain more than 30 percent fat or more than 10 percent sugar. Some of those foods are naturally higher in fat or sugar and others have been processed with added fat or sugar. Heavy foods have a higher caloric density than light foods.

Junk foods have the highest caloric density. They are mostly fat or sugar and have a lot of calories per bite. Junk foods have little or no nutritional value other than empty calories. Some are foods packaged ready to eat, like cookies or potato chips, and others are items you add to other foods, like jam on toast.

Reading labels takes some extra attention, but the Reneaus were surprised by a few items.

"There were french fries that were actually a light food, you just have to look at the label," Amie Reneau said.

It's important to remember though that no foods are "good" or "bad." The key is to start choosing more free and light foods and fewer heavy and junk foods to create a healthy food environment that's not depriving.

"We still want people to have a diet of things they enjoy, but we're teaching them about balance," Wherle said.

The family also learned how to make a  Tropical Fruit Slushy for a great, healthy way to cool off this summer.

"I wanted to show them how easy it is to make," Wherle said.

Chloe Reneau put in the ice and Riley Reneau put the fruit into the blender.

"It tastes really good and there's no milk or yogurt, just fruit and ice," Riley said.

This week's support gift has the family going out to eat. Fish of Stroh donated a gift card, and Wherle went over the menu with the family to help them learn ways to eat healthfully in restaurants.

" You can ask them to do certain things for you, to cook it so it's more healthy," Mark said.

Chloe was excited about healthy eating at a restaurant.

"Normally you don't think about restaurants and asking if you can have it [a certain way], so I thought it was cool you could eat healthy at a restaurant," she said.

Wherle also showed the family www.mealmakeovermoms.com for different, healthy recipes.

"You can get stuck in a rut of the same recipes," Wherle said.

Amie said she's looking forward to finding new recipes to try, while Riley wasn't so sure about a few of them.  

"Some seem to contain stuff I don't really like," he laughed.

The big lesson this week is every little bit helps.

"Small changes will really add up. Just eat until you feel the hunger go away and then add a little exercise on the scale and you'll see the difference on the scale," Wherle said.

And the Reneaus are starting to see changes.

"There are a lot of slow changes, which is good because they're life changes," Amie said.