October Blog Summary - Carly

Question 1

It appears that most of us agree nutrition education related to proper and adequate beverage consumption is necessary. Jenn brought up the concern about the general public’s misconception about fruit juices. She also stated that she does not think consumption of beverages that contribute calories is necessary if a person is following a healthy and balanced diet, but she would promote low- fat milk and 100% fruit juice as positive beverage options. Amanda mentioned the “Got Milk?” campaigns along with celebrity endorsements to promote positive beverage choices. Gina also agreed that proper advertisement of these healthy beverages was necessary and mentioned the “Milk, the real deal” campaign as a positive advertisement push.  Stephanie also brought up a great point about the importance of educating children about healthy drink options. Desiray thinks that demonizing SSBs has become a growing problem in our society today and positive promotion is necessary. Sophie suggested using athletes in addition to other celebrities to promote healthy beverage options.  Vivian summed up a main goal to aim for which would be to clarify the difference between beneficial drinks with calories and caloric drinks that do not provide benefits to our health.

Question 2^nd

Everyone stated that increasing water consumption is a great way to improve HBI score. John and Amanda suggested using Mio or other water flavoring ideas to promote more water consumption. Jenn mentioned a positive attribute of the HBI is the flexible of the tool. Stephanie suggested encouraging clients to try new healthy beverage options to increase overall fluid intake. Gina and Desiray suggested using a beverage diet to track beverage consumption. Abby discussed another tracking method using a water bottle that is able to tell a person how much water a person consumes. Lastly, Vivian suggested encouraging clients to slowly increase water consumption so that people are not overwhelmed by making a big change.

Question 3

Most people thought that the example was realistic. Abby thought the example might be hard to achieve every day and Vivian thought 6 glasses of water would be challenging for a lot of people. Gina believes that for the typical American the above example might not be realistic at the moment. Amanda mentioned it would be important to look at a person’s lifestyle and current intake to determine if the example was realistic for an individual. Jenn brought up a good point that the HBI is flexible and therefore if the particular example given was not realistic for someone it could be manipulated to fit a person’s needs and lifestyle better. Stephanie mentioned that BroMenn would be eliminating all beverages that are considered unhealthy from their cafeterias in January. Sophie also mentioned the potential bias we may have due to our field of study.

Recommendations for Practice

It appears that the Healthy Beverage Index may be a great tool for RDs if used an explained correctly to clients. The index is flexible, which allows it to appeal to more peoples’ lifestyles and habits. In our society there are limited recommendations or suggestions on how much of certain beverages can provide benefits to individuals. The HBI allows RDs to promote healthy beverage intake to the general population. Using the HBI may not be appropriate for all clients. However, since the HBI is so flexible it allows RDs to manipulate the index to individual clients needs and desires. Future studies will need to be conducted to confirm the HBI’s reliability and the affects it has on positive or negative health changes.