HELP Healthy Eating for Life Plan® FAQs

I absolutely love your site! However, each time I want to look at the food lists, i.e., Meat, Fruit, Vegetables, Fat, Starch, etc. I have to redo HELP and then when I go to the link I cannot print out that list or when I do it truncates it at the bottom of the page. I would love to be able to print out these lists of healthy foods and create a healthy menu for myself. If I am in your site in one session, I don’t have to redo HELP, but if I go out and come back, then I do. Is there any way around this? Do you have a book or workbook I could purchase? Your site is a very exciting one and I have learned so much! Thank you.

Well thanks, you made my day. Thanks for the feedback about HELP.

Regarding the food lists, yes, they don’t print off without truncating (cutting off) unfortunately. Even if you were able to print off the food lists, it would be a lot of paper which is not environmentally recommended because there are over 800 foods in HELP Essential Foods TM. We are working on an upgrade, but it won’t be available for a while.

You can print your HELP results page with your healthy eating plan or save a copy of your healthy eating plan on your local drive and then print that every day. If you click the back button, you should be able to get back to HELP results page. If you click on HELP calculator link, it will start a new HELP session. Sorry, I don’t have a HELP workbook or book to purchase.

Hope this helps and glad you have learned nutrition information that is useful in making healthier food choices.

Is there a way to order / pay for the HELP plan? I have tried to print off the pages for the plan so that I can keep them with me and not have to refer back online all the time. The pages on my printer will only print out portions of the food lists. I would be happy to pay if I could have the complete lists and programs. Thank you so much. From what I see it looks like the easiest way to lose weight and be able to shop for normal foods.

Thanks for the feedback about HELP. Yes, it is easy and most foods can fit a healthy eating plan without buying special foods.

HELP is free to everyone and you don’t have to login or pay to use. You can print the HELP results page or save a copy of your healthy eating plan to your local drive and then print that every day. We are working on an upgrade, but it won’t be available for a while.

Regarding the food lists, yes, they don’t print off without truncating (cutting off) unfortunately. You can save the pages to your local drive and then look at the lists as much as you want. Even if you were able to print off the food lists, it would be a lot of paper which is not ecologically recommended. There are over 800 foods in HELP Essential Foods TM.

I’m a 20-year-old man, I’m 5 feet 10 inches and I weigh about 114 pounds so clearly, I am underweight. I really want to change it for many reasons but I really don’t know what is the best way to go about it, what to eat, how much etc., any ideas on what I should do?

I have launched a new calculator that will help you with what to eat, how much to eat and when. Read about it on my home page then click on the HELP link in the left navigation. This new calculator will consider your food preferences and eating style to create a customized, dietitian designed eating plan for you to eat healthy and achieve your weight goal.

First you need to learn how many calories to eat so you have a calorie target. Start with the Healthy Body Calculator (click on link in upper left of any Ask the Dietitian web page). Add your data and click Next. HBC will determine a healthy weight for you and a healthy calorie goal. (See Your Nutrition Facts on HBC results page). Next click the button in Your Nutrition Facts “Do you need HELP with a healthy eating plan? Click here.” Your age and calorie target will be copied to HELP Healthy Eating for Life Plan® calculator. You can change the percent fat, protein and carbohydrate from the values you put in HBC. Choose your food preferences and click Next. HELP will create a custom eating plan that will support you in gaining weight.

Thank you so much for returning my email, but the thing is I already have all off those illness. I have type 1 diabetes and I take 35 units per day, a valve replacement 4 years ago, high blood pressure but under control and high cholesterol. Also use warfarin so I have to be careful how much green vegetables I eat. So, I am a basket case really messed up. So, if there is anything you can do to really help me lose the required weight I promise you I won’t let you waste your time on me.

With diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and taking the prescribed drug warfarin post valve replacement, you can use HELP. Start with the Healthy Body Calculator® by adding your data, then click Next to get your results. This calculator will determine if you can lose as much weight as fast as you want. Read info below Your Nutrition Facts to see if the Healthy Body Calculator® changed your weight loss goal from what you chose because you should eat more than 1200 calories a day to meet all your vitamin and mineral requirements. On the results page, click the button “Do you need HELP with a healthy eating plan?”

That will take you to HELP where you can choose what type milk, meat, beans or not, meat eater or not and snacks (for type 1 diabetes add snacks at times suggested by your dietitian). You should leave the percent fat, protein and carbohydrate at the default levels unless you have different recommendations from your doctor or dietitian. Click next and HELP will create a custom eating plan for you to achieve your weight loss goal.

You can click on any food group to see a list of HELP Essential Foods TM from which you can choose. You know what foods you can or cannot eat for diabetes (consistent amount of carbohydrate at every meal), high blood pressure (no salty foods or salting food when cooking or salt used at the table. etc.), high cholesterol (lean meat, fat-free milk, polyunsaturated fats, limit egg yolks, etc.) and foods high in vitamin K to avoid for warfarin.

HELP is a plan for eating healthy for just about everybody whether you want to lose, gain or maintain. HELP is similar to how a dietitian would plan your individual eating plan and then it is up to you to choose foods from the HELP food lists that are appropriate for your diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and warfarin blood thinning medication. With your medical history, you should be seeing a dietitian who can read your medical chart then provide you with lists of foods you can eat. You can read my diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol and vitamin K topics for more information.

Hope this provides more information.

How many portion size meals can I have per day?

It depends on what you weigh, how tall you are and what your weight goal is – lose, gain or maintain.

I have launched a new calculator that will help you with what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat including food lists with portion sizes. Click on the HELP link in the upper left calculator box. This new calculator will consider your food preferences and eating style to create a customized, dietitian designed eating plan for you to eat healthy and achieve your weight goal.