At five feet tall, nutrition expert Joy Bauer said she has trouble finding shoes high enough to make her the same height as the hosts on NBC's "The Today Show." But with a thriving private nutrition practice and a new cookbook on the way, anyone else might have more trouble filling her shoes than finding them.
Bauer gave pointers on eating well to Tufts undergraduates, Friedman nutrition students, and faculty on Friday during the third annual "Eat Your Way to Better Health" dinner, organized by senior Arielle Carpenter. As the founder of the campus organization FoodTalk, Carpenter, who met Bauer while working at Bauer's daughter's summer camp, knew that she would be a good fit for the event.
"She has experience speaking with a very diverse audience and she's a very well?versed speaker. She can adapt what she's going to speak about to this audience," Carpenter said.
Bauer's remarks were tailored to a college crowd. She discussed the "sweatpants syndrome" and the best snacks to eat before an exam and dispelled myths that coffee is inherently unhealthy. She said that although many college students might not be overly concerned with nutrition, her private practice sees plenty of those that are.
"We see a lot of kids after their freshman year. During the summer and during Christmas break, their parents make them appointments," she said. Even Bauer, now a recognizable spokesperson for healthy eating, said that she put on the "freshman 10" as an undergraduate (she said that with the rise in portion sizes, what was once the "freshman" 10 is now the "freshman 15").
In order to keep weight gain to a minimum, Bauer recommended a few key steps.
"Eat during the day every five hours and try to control your eating late into the evenings," Bauer said. "Be thoughtful about what you have on hand to munch on while studying and moderate the drinking, and know once you have a buzz on, so you won't go whole hog and pig out. I tell people to alternate every alcoholic drink with a soda or seltzer water and to have tote?able foods on hand that are easy to grab and don't need to be refrigerated, like soy crisps, cheese sticks, healthy cereal and nutrition bars."
Bauer, who was a competitive gymnast in college, said that she ended up in the nutrition field by accident.
"Keep in mind I wasn't a nutrition major! I was always a big salad eater, I was a big bowl of cereal girl in the morning and in college my biggest indulgence was biscuits at Popeye's. Every once in a while I'd go through that drive?through, but because of athletics I always paid a lot of attention to what I was putting into my body."
An accident put an end to her gymnastics career, and Bauer said that she redirected her focus from sports into academics.
"I became a science major, and thought I'd be a pediatrician," she said. "I wanted to take time off before taking the MCAT and someone told me, 'you have good grades ?? go get a graduate degree in nutrition.' With my first class, the light bulb went off, and I went, 'Oh my God, I have a passion for health, I love working with people, I care about the way I look and I love to eat!' You put all those things together and I was supposed to be in the field of nutrition."
Between her nutrition practice, her television appearances and her books and articles, Bauer is certainly busy. Her eighth book, "Slim and Scrumptious," will be released in a matter of weeks. It features 80 recipes, with stamps of approval from Bauer's own children, for comfort foods without the guilt.
"I love whatever project I'm working on. I like the writing, I like television, I like cooking and I like working with clients. And that's the nice part of this field. There's so many things you can do," she said. "It's important for college kids to know that your first job doesn't have to be your dream job, but you have to be passionate. You can't coast, and you want to take advantage of everything you do at that job because each job is an opportunity."
The enthusiasm that Bauer has for her work hasn't subsided.
"The best part is helping people or enabling people to completely change their lives for the better. There is nothing more rewarding," she said. "I never stop getting the goose bumps and having my heart race and getting the chills over these [weight loss] stories. These people wear bathing suits, they're off medication; they run marathons. This is the most rewarding job in the world."
With a rising obesity epidemic in America, Bauer's job is increasingly important, as well as enjoyable. During her talk, she displayed several maps charting the rise in obesity over the last several decades. She said that changing the direction of those trends can only come from efforts on the part of both the government and individuals.
"I think it's both, and it can only happen if individuals take ownership over it. It doesn't matter how many changes there are legislation?wise ?? you can still overeat. Ownership is on us, on each person taking charge," she said.
Bauer said that her passion is in publicizing information that can help Americans make good choices, but the responsibility ultimately lies with each person.
"At the beginning of my career, I had this fantasy that I had all this great information and I was going to go out and change the health of all Americans. But I can only help and change people who want to listen and want to change and follow my advice. There are people stuck in their ways who don't want to listen and I realize that's totally OK, because there are enough people out there who do," she said.
After her talk, Bauer fielded questions from the audience, many of which focused on topics like genetically modified foods, organic foods, vegetarianism and artificial ingredients. In trying to address varying concerns, Bauer said she tries to maintain a middle ground and make healthy eating accessible to as many people as possible.
"I don't want to be an elitist," she said. "I want to provide information for every American and I want it to be affordable, manageable and realistic. If there is someone who can do the extra 'oomph' and go organic, local and can spend the money, great, but I want to present information that can really reach everyone. I don't want to lose everyone with overwhelming advice."
That strategy seems to have been working well for Bauer, and for many students, it seemed to resonate. In the midst of eating her healthy dinner, senior Anne Jacob said she learned a lot from Bauer's advice.
"You can eat healthy and delicious!" Jacob said.
