Ask a Dietitian, Volume I

We're excited to launch our new Ask A Dietitian series! We asked you to send us your nutrition questions for our registered dietitian to answer, and you delivered. Thistle's Registered Dietitian Dani Levy-Wolins, your new best friend in nutrition, is sharing her tips and advice for optimal nutrition, and sharing more about Thistle and our meals.

Dani is a Registered Dietitian who completed her undergraduate degree at Oregon State, her masters at Northeastern, and her dietetic residency at Alta Bates Summit Hospital in Oakland, CA. Her background is split between geriatric care and sports nutrition, having worked in both nursing homes and athletic facilities. Without further ado, here’s our featured Q&A this month. 

I'm working to lower my blood pressure and Thistle options seem to be generally low in sodium. Would Thistle meals qualify as a DASH diet (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension)? What are your tips for lowering blood pressure through diet?

Thistle’s guidelines align nicely with the DASH diet’s ​​sodium recommendation.Thistle meals currently stick with the American Heart Association’s recommendation of 2,300mg or less of sodium per day – this means that across three Thistle meals, you’d consume less than this amount. Both the DASH diet and Thistle focus on fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, and whole grains. The DASH diet includes a few components that Thistle does not, or uses sparingly, however; these include low-fat dairy, fish and poultry. Including potassium and fiber-rich ingredients (like fruits and veggies!) are a wonderful way to lower your blood pressure through diet, and should be the star of each of your meals. 

Where can we find nutrition information for sauces and dressings?

Lastly, There are a few places to find Thistle nutrition facts:

1. Our external-facing menus (east coast and west coast), allow you to click on a meal of interest to review the nutrition and ingredient information.
2. The same feature is accessible via your Upcoming Deliveries page. While using the app, you’ll have access to the main meals’ nutrition information, though the dressing or sauce will be excluded in this view. Please use a computer to review meals on your Upcoming Deliveries page to view the full nutrition panel including dressing or sauce. 
3. Flip over your meal container to find a full nutrition fact panel! 

Lastly, we’d like to share information about our dressing portions – breakfasts and dinners will always contain 1 serving of dressing. To calculate the full nutrition of a breakfast or dinner meal, you can add the meal’s nutrition to the dressing’s nutrition. Currently, our lunches contain 2 (1 oz) servings of dressings. We decided to include more dressing for lunches so you can have as much or as little as you’d like! For lunches, you can add the meal’s nutrition to 2 x the dressing’s nutrition to get a sense of the full nutrition information of that meal. The label includes the serving size for dressing as well, so you’ll notice the serving size is 1 oz, and the container includes 2 servings. I hope this helps!

Do you offer low sodium meals or meals that fall under 500 mg each?

Currently, Thistle does not offer a lower sodium version of our meals. If your delivery address falls within our local delivery zones, you can review upcoming meals’ nutrition facts and mix and match meals to best accommodate your needs! We do offer some meals that fall under 500mg of sodium and would welcome you to stock up on those. Dinners, some snacks and some breakfasts are also freezable, so you might consider purchasing some extras and freezing them until you’re ready to enjoy 🙂

Can healthy fats play a role in a heart healthy diet? 

Thank you for this question! Our team discussed this, and we agree that since healthy fats have a different effect in the body than other fats (like trans fats, and possibly saturated fats,) they can have a place in a cardiac-friendly diet. Since fats of all kinds are calorically dense, we recommend keeping an eye on portion size (which is typically 1-2 tablespoons per meal, or 14-28 grams of fat per meal). Typically, fatty acids like omega 3 fats and monounsaturated fats are cardio-protective and can be enjoyed in moderation. We hope this helps!

What are the benefits of drinking a juice over consuming fruits and vegetables in their whole forms?

A liquid form of micronutrients can be a great addition to a diet. Juices often include more hydration than meals, and are easy to bring on the go. Juices are a great fit for someone who has chewing difficulty or difficulties digesting fruits and vegetables, and experience less GI distress when consuming them in liquid form (sans large amounts of fiber). Juices can also make a good substitute for folks looking to replace soda or other high added-sugar beverages. They also taste great :)

I noticed your meals contain a fair amount of spinach - is there such a thing as too much spinach?

We appreciate this question. It may help to know that there are two kinds of iron in foods – one type called heme iron, which is found in animal proteins, and a second type called non-heme iron, which is found in plants. The iron found in plants is very difficult for the body to absorb, so I wouldn't be too concerned with iron overload from leafy greens :) If you are prone to kidney stones, excess amounts of (raw) spinach should be avoided, though cooking spinach destroys the compounds that promote stone production. Many of our lunch meals containing spinach can be eaten raw or heated up, so you always have the option of cooking spinach if that is your preference! 

Does Thistle provide lower calorie meal options?

We have a couple of tips for our customers looking to reduce their caloric intake:

1. Use some (or none) of the dressing included in lunches and dinners, and consider replacing them with your own. For example, I'll sometimes use a homemade dressing that includes lower kcal ingredients like dijon mustard, vinegar, spices etc. Our lunch salad dressings often contain 200-250 calories, so using less of this component could help make the meals a better fit for your needs.
2. You can also review upcoming menu items and customize your deliveries to include lower calorie meals.

I’ve passed along your interest in lower calorie meals to our Culinary R&D team for their consideration. 

Thanks for sending in your questions! If they didn’t make it on the list you’ll receive a private response. 

Do you have a question for Dani? Send us your question and we’ll do our best to include a response in our Ask A Dietitian series next month!