More Americans are waging war against the battle of the bulge and finding day-to-day dietary choices challenging. The Organic Center (TOC), a Boulder, CO-based research and education institute, recently compiled a practical short list of tips it said would “deliver immediate nutritional benefits and improve an average person’s long-term health” while minimizing exposure to pesticides. 

The tips—eight in all—were part of TOC’s recently released report titled “Transforming Jane Doe’s Diet.” It was developed using analytical tools and data from the USDA and EPA and assesses the nutritional quality and pesticide risk of a typical diet for a 30-year old woman dubbed “Jane Doe.”
 
The report was developed by examining a before and after diet of Jane Doe—a fictional representation of an average 30-year-old, relatively healthy woman standing five feet, five inches tall, weighing 155 pounds, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) falling just into the overweight range.
 
TOC explained that Jane’s “before” diet mirrored what an average woman may eat in her 20’s. Jane Doe, however, is now 30 years old and gained 10 pounds in her 20s as a result of her diet. Determined to prevent any further weight gain and also planning for her first pregnancy, she is paying extra-close attention to her dietary choices.
 
Jane Doe’s “after” diet includes several modest food changes that could be easily incorporated into everyday food decisions, such as replacing several high-calorie foods with nutrient-dense fruit and vegetable-based products, and purchasing mostly organic fruits, vegetables and grain-based products. 
 
Following is a list of the top eight food substitutions Jane Doe made in her diet—which TOC says can easily be replicated by everyday consumers:
 

• Whole wheat bread instead of white bread
• Peanut butter instead of butter
• Fresh, organic strawberries instead of strawberry jam
• Plain yogurt topped with fruit instead of fruit-filled yogurt
• Tomato juice instead of a lemon-lime soda
• 50% whole wheat pasta instead of white pasta
• One whole apple instead of apple pie
• Light cream instead of coffee creamer

 
TOC noted more than half of Jane’s “before” diet remained unchanged. However, by making a few simple modifications her daily intake of fruits and vegetables rose from 3.6 servings to 12.3 servings, her overall nutritional quality rose by 79% (based on a comparison of intakes across 27 essential nutrients), and by consuming mostly organic fruits and vegetables, her pesticide risk was reduced by more than two-thirds. 
 
Jane also consumed 10 fewer calories per day, which proved to be enough to prevent long-term weight gain approaching 10 pounds per decade, assuming Jane remained at least as active as she was in her 20s.
 
What’s more, her smarter food choices additionally reduced her dietary pesticide risks. “On an average day, Jane Doe’s ‘Before’ diet will expose her to 17 pesticide residues in her food and beverages (not counting drinking water), based on the most recent results reported by the USDA’s ‘Pesticide Data Program’ (PDP),” the report stated.
 
“Jane Doe’s smart food choices will help stabilize her weight, improve the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy and markedly reduce the chance that pesticides might disrupt or impair her child’s development,” said Charles Benbrook, TOC’s chief scientist and author of the report. “This trio of benefits will pay dividends over a lifetime, and perhaps also across generations.”
 
He went on to explain that the substantial increase in overall nutritional quality was good news for Jane’s overall health, markedly reducing her odds of developing diet-related health problems, helping to set the stage for a healthy pregnancy, and boosting her immune system.
 
“Many of my patient’s parents who are struggling to slow weight gain, or trying to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes are eating a lot like Jane Doe, before her change in priorities,” concurred Dr. Alan Greene, a pediatrician and TOC board member. “Nutrient deficiencies of the magnitude documented in this report will almost certainly have negative, long-term health consequences, and pregnant and nursing women and children are by far the most vulnerable. It is important to recognize how simple dietary changes can greatly alter a person’s long-term health.”
 
The Organic Center relied upon its newly developed “Nutritional Quality Index” (TOC-NQI) in calculating the nutrient-related impacts of changes in Jane Doe’s diet.