Satisfy Your Cravings—and Lose Weight
By Karen Ansel, RD
Have you ever tried desperately to avoid a food you crave only to find yourself devouring a pint of ice cream? Labeling something "forbidden" only makes you want it more, so satisfying a craving (in moderation) is usually a better plan. But if you're serious about losing weight, you need to strategize. A few options:
1. Downsize your treats, so you're eating a smaller amount of the exact thing you want. For example, instead of a 4" square brownie, have a 2" square brownie.
2. Go for a lower-calorie substitute. That may mean skipping ice cream in favor of sorbet. (Warning: If you've been dreaming about the real stuff for hours, a stand-in might not quash the original craving.)
3. Make room in your daily calorie count for a food you really want.
4. Know your trigger foods. The exception to the "don't deprive yourself" rule: foods that you can't eat a bite of without stopping. So, if you know that you can't eat a cookie without devouring the box, better to resist the first one. Read on for more ways to deal with cravings.
How to Make Room for Your Cravings
Each of these sample meals adds up to 500 calories for a total of about 1,500 calories a day (which should enable you to lose about 1 to 2 pounds a week).
Breakfast
What you're craving: Bacon
• What you'd normally have: 2 scrambled eggs cooked in 1 tsp butter with 1 slice Cheddar on a whole-wheat English muffin with a 12-oz latte made with skim milk
• Eat what you want: Skip the Cheddar and add 2 slices of bacon.
What you're craving: Chocolate-chip pancakes
• What you'd normally have: 3 medium (4") buttermilk pancakes with 3 Tbsp maple syrup and 1 cup fruit salad
• Eat what you want: Skip the maple syrup and add 2 Tbsp chocolate chips.
What you're craving: A sweet and gooey cinnamon roll
• What you'd normally have: 1 medium (4 1/2 ") cinnamon-raisin bagel with 2 Tbsp cream /cheese and an 8-oz lowfat cappuccino
• Eat what you want: Swap the bagel and cream cheese for a medium (5 oz) cinnamon roll; swap the cappuccino for an 8-oz regular coffee with a splash of 1% milk.
Lunch
What you're craving: A side of potato chips
• What you'd normally have: A tuna sandwich on whole-wheat bread with a side salad (1 1/2 cups mixed greens with 2 Tbsp Italian dressing)
• Eat what you want: Skip the dressing on the salad (vinegar is OK) and add a 1-oz bag potato chips.
What you're craving: Caesar dressing
• What you'd normally have: 2 cups romaine lettuce with ½ cup grated carrots, 4 oz grilled chicken, 10 croutons, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, 2 Tbsp lite balsamic vinaigrette and a small whole-wheat roll
• Eat what you want: Skip the Parmesan, use only 5 croutons and swap the lite dressing for 2 Tbsp Caesar dressing.
What you're craving: Cheese on your sandwich
• What you'd normally have: 2 pieces rye bread with 2 oz roast turkey breast, 1 Tbsp mayo, lettuce and sliced tomato, and a 1-oz bag tortilla chips
• Eat what you want: Swap the mayo for 1 Tbsp honey mustard and the tortilla chips for an apple, then add 2 slices Swiss cheese.
Dinner
What you're craving: Alfredo sauce
• What you'd normally have: 1 cup pasta with 1/2 cup marinara sauce, 1/2 cup steamed broccoli and 1 slice buttery garlic bread
• Eat what you want: Skip the garlic bread and swap the marinara for 1/2 cup Alfredo sauce.
What you're craving: Steak
• What you'd normally have: 6 oz grilled chicken, a medium baked potato with 2 Tbsp sour cream, and 1 cup steamed spinach with 1/2 Tbsp butter
• Eat what you want: Skip the sour cream and butter, and swap your chicken for a 6-oz grilled lean flank steak.
What you're craving: A chocolatey dessert
• What you'd normally have: 6 oz salmon fillet with 1 Tbsp teriyaki sauce, 1 cup rice and 1 cup broccoli with 1 tsp olive oil
• Eat what you want: Cut your portion of rice to 1/2 cup and add a small (2" square) brownie.
Think Small
You can satisfy cravings without inhaling a hot fudge sundae or jumbo bag of chips. For 200 calories or less, you can have:
Sweet
• 1 oz high-quality chocolate, like Dove Silky Smooth
• 1 small (2" square) brownie
• 1/4 cup Cranberry Raisinets
• 1/2 cup all-natural lowfat pudding, like Kozy Shack
• 1/4 cup dried fruit, like apricots, cranberries, blueberries, mangoes or pineapple
• 1 cup chocolate- or caramel-flavored herbal tea, like Lipton Caramel Truffle or Celestial Seasonings Chocolate Caramel Enchantment Chai
• 8 oz hot chocolate made with skim milk
• 1 Tbsp caramel topping (drizzle on sliced apples)
• 1 Tbsp honey (add to tea or plain yogurt)
Salty
• 15 all-natural tortilla chips, like Garden of Eatin'
• 1 oz whole-grain pretzels
• 1/4 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup soy nuts
• 20 olives
• 1-2 Tbsp low-sodium
Creamy
• 1 cup lowfat cream of mushroom soup, like Imagine or Amy's
• 1 cup cooked polenta
• 1/4 cup tzatziki (Greek yogurt, garlic and cucumber dip) with a mini whole-wheat pita
• 1/4 avocado (on 1 slice soft sandwich bread)
• 8 oz cappuccino made with 2% milk
• 6 oz all-natural lowfat vanilla yogurt, like Stonyfield Farm
Crunchy
• 15 all-natural potato or sweet potato chips, like Terra Chips
• 3/4 cup whole-grain cereal
• 1 cup sliced jicama (dip in salsa or add to salad)
• 1 oz plantain chips
• 1-2 granola bars, like Nature Valley
• 12 small whole-wheat crackers, like Wheat Thins Fiber Selects
For more dieting information,Go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
8 Foods You Should Never Buy Again
8 Foods You Should Never Buy Again
by Reader's Digest Magazine
With the rising costs of groceries, we'd all love to save a few bucks at the checkout line. Now you can easily slash your bill with some clever shopping moves and DIY recipes. Manufacturers would like to make you think you're getting a good deal in exchange for convenience, but it's really just eating away at your food budget. Don't be fooled any longer. Cross these items off your list for good!
1. Bottled water.
Bottled water is a bad investment for so many reasons. It's expensive compared to what's coming out of the tap, its cost to the environment is high (it takes a lot of fossil fuel to produce and ship all those bottles), and it's not even better for your health than the stuff running down your drain!
Even taking into account the cost of filters, water from home is still much cheaper than bottled water, which can run up to $1 to $3 a pop.
If you have well water and it really does not taste good (even with help from a filter), or if you have a baby at home who is bottle-fed and needs to drink safe water, buy jugs of distilled or "nursery" water at big discount stores. They usually cost between 79 cents and 99 cents for 1 gallon (as opposed to $1.50 for 8 ounces of "designer" water). And you can reuse the jugs to store homemade iced tea, flavored waters, or, when their tops are cut off, all sorts of household odds and ends.
2. "Gourmet" frozen vegetables.
Sure, you can buy an 8-ounce packet of peas in an herbed butter sauce, but why do so when you can make your own? Just cook the peas, add a pat of butter and sprinkle on some herbs that you already have on hand. The same thing goes for carrots with dill sauce and other gourmet veggies.
3. Premium frozen fruit bars.
At nearly $2 per bar, frozen "all fruit" or "fruit and juice" bars may not be rich in calories, but they are certainly rich in price. Make your own at home — and get the flavors you want. The only equipment you need is a blender, a plastic reusable ice-pop mold (on sale at discount stores for about 99 cents each), or small paper cups and pop sticks or wooden skewers.
To make four pops, just throw 2 cups cut-up fruit, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice into a blender. Cover and blend until smooth. You might wish to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water so the final mix is a thick slush. Pour into 4-ounce pop molds or paper cups, insert sticks, and freeze until solid.
4. Boxed rice “entree” or side-dish mixes.
These consist basically of rice, salt, and spices — yet they're priced way beyond the ingredients sold individually. Yes, there are a few flavorings included, but they're probably ones you have in your pantry already. Buy a bag of rice, measure out what you need, add your own herbs and other seasonings, and cook the rice according to package directions.
5. Energy or protein bars.
These calorie-laden bars are usually stacked at the checkout counter because they depend on impulse buyers who grab them, thinking they are more wholesome than a candy bar. Unfortunately, they can have very high fat and sugar contents and are often as caloric as a regular candy bar. They're also two to three times more expensive than a candy bar at $2 to $3 a bar. If you need a boost, a vitamin-rich piece of fruit, a yogurt, or a small handful of nuts is more satiating and less expensive!
6. Spice mixes.
Spice mixes like grill seasoning and rib rubs might seem like a good buy because they contain a lot of spices that you would have to buy individually. Well, check the label; we predict the first ingredient you will see on the package is salt, followed by the vague "herbs and spices." Look in your own pantry, and you'll probably be surprised to discover just how many herbs you already have on hand. Many cookbooks today include spice mix recipes, particularly grilling cookbooks. But the great thing about spice mixes is that you can improvise as much as you want. Make your own custom combos and save a fortune.
7. Powdered iced tea mixes or prepared flavored iced tea.
Powdered and gourmet iced teas are really a rip-off! It's much cheaper to make your own iced tea from actual (inexpensive) tea bags and keep a jug in the fridge. Plus, many mixes and preparations are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and other sugars, along with artificial flavors. So make your own, and get creative! To make 32 ounces of iced tea, it usually takes 8 bags of black tea or 10 bags of herbal, green, or white tea. Most tea-bag boxes have recipes, so just follow along. If you like your tea sweet but want to keep calories down, skip the sugar and add fruit juice instead.
8. Microwave sandwiches.
When you buy a pre-made sandwich, you're really just paying for its elaborate packaging — plus a whole lot of salt, fat, and unnecessary additives. For the average cost of one of these babies ($2.50 to $3.00 per sandwich), you could make a bigger, better, and more nutritious version yourself.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
by Reader's Digest Magazine
With the rising costs of groceries, we'd all love to save a few bucks at the checkout line. Now you can easily slash your bill with some clever shopping moves and DIY recipes. Manufacturers would like to make you think you're getting a good deal in exchange for convenience, but it's really just eating away at your food budget. Don't be fooled any longer. Cross these items off your list for good!
1. Bottled water.
Bottled water is a bad investment for so many reasons. It's expensive compared to what's coming out of the tap, its cost to the environment is high (it takes a lot of fossil fuel to produce and ship all those bottles), and it's not even better for your health than the stuff running down your drain!
Even taking into account the cost of filters, water from home is still much cheaper than bottled water, which can run up to $1 to $3 a pop.
If you have well water and it really does not taste good (even with help from a filter), or if you have a baby at home who is bottle-fed and needs to drink safe water, buy jugs of distilled or "nursery" water at big discount stores. They usually cost between 79 cents and 99 cents for 1 gallon (as opposed to $1.50 for 8 ounces of "designer" water). And you can reuse the jugs to store homemade iced tea, flavored waters, or, when their tops are cut off, all sorts of household odds and ends.
2. "Gourmet" frozen vegetables.
Sure, you can buy an 8-ounce packet of peas in an herbed butter sauce, but why do so when you can make your own? Just cook the peas, add a pat of butter and sprinkle on some herbs that you already have on hand. The same thing goes for carrots with dill sauce and other gourmet veggies.
3. Premium frozen fruit bars.
At nearly $2 per bar, frozen "all fruit" or "fruit and juice" bars may not be rich in calories, but they are certainly rich in price. Make your own at home — and get the flavors you want. The only equipment you need is a blender, a plastic reusable ice-pop mold (on sale at discount stores for about 99 cents each), or small paper cups and pop sticks or wooden skewers.
To make four pops, just throw 2 cups cut-up fruit, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice into a blender. Cover and blend until smooth. You might wish to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water so the final mix is a thick slush. Pour into 4-ounce pop molds or paper cups, insert sticks, and freeze until solid.
4. Boxed rice “entree” or side-dish mixes.
These consist basically of rice, salt, and spices — yet they're priced way beyond the ingredients sold individually. Yes, there are a few flavorings included, but they're probably ones you have in your pantry already. Buy a bag of rice, measure out what you need, add your own herbs and other seasonings, and cook the rice according to package directions.
5. Energy or protein bars.
These calorie-laden bars are usually stacked at the checkout counter because they depend on impulse buyers who grab them, thinking they are more wholesome than a candy bar. Unfortunately, they can have very high fat and sugar contents and are often as caloric as a regular candy bar. They're also two to three times more expensive than a candy bar at $2 to $3 a bar. If you need a boost, a vitamin-rich piece of fruit, a yogurt, or a small handful of nuts is more satiating and less expensive!
6. Spice mixes.
Spice mixes like grill seasoning and rib rubs might seem like a good buy because they contain a lot of spices that you would have to buy individually. Well, check the label; we predict the first ingredient you will see on the package is salt, followed by the vague "herbs and spices." Look in your own pantry, and you'll probably be surprised to discover just how many herbs you already have on hand. Many cookbooks today include spice mix recipes, particularly grilling cookbooks. But the great thing about spice mixes is that you can improvise as much as you want. Make your own custom combos and save a fortune.
7. Powdered iced tea mixes or prepared flavored iced tea.
Powdered and gourmet iced teas are really a rip-off! It's much cheaper to make your own iced tea from actual (inexpensive) tea bags and keep a jug in the fridge. Plus, many mixes and preparations are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and other sugars, along with artificial flavors. So make your own, and get creative! To make 32 ounces of iced tea, it usually takes 8 bags of black tea or 10 bags of herbal, green, or white tea. Most tea-bag boxes have recipes, so just follow along. If you like your tea sweet but want to keep calories down, skip the sugar and add fruit juice instead.
8. Microwave sandwiches.
When you buy a pre-made sandwich, you're really just paying for its elaborate packaging — plus a whole lot of salt, fat, and unnecessary additives. For the average cost of one of these babies ($2.50 to $3.00 per sandwich), you could make a bigger, better, and more nutritious version yourself.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Friday, May 21, 2010
9 habits that will shrink your middle
9 Habits that will shrink your middle
by The Editors of Prevention
Sick of crunches? So are we. Luckily, abdominal exercises alone do not a flat belly make. In fact, there are loads of little things—from what you drink to the way you handle stress—that can make or break your middle. Here are 9 easy ways to start shrinking without crunching.
1. Calm down. Too much stress can contribute to a potbelly. Stress increases levels of cortisol, a hormone that seems to direct fat to our middle, says Jacob Seidell, PhD, of the National Institute of Public Health in Bilthoven, Netherlands. To keep levels low, try this 5- to 10-minute stress reducer: Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit. Next, take several slow, deep breaths to help clear your mind. Continue breathing deeply and repeat the word one to yourself as you exhale. (If you get distracted, just bring your focus back to the word one.) Practice this for 5 to 10 minutes once or twice a day.
2. Skip the alcohol for a week or so. That glass of wine with dinner may be part of the reason your jeans are too tight. Alcohol also tends to raise cortisol levels, sending fat to your belly, Seidell says.
3. Stop smoking. “It keeps me thin,” proclaim many smokers. But the truth is that smokers tend to have more abdominal fat than nonsmokers, says Seidell. (The stress hormone cortisol seems to be the culprit here too.) "When people stop smoking, the amount of abdominal fat actually decreases," he says.
4. Eat more fiber. Not only is fiber great for overall weight loss (it fills you up so you don't eat as much), but it also prevents constipation, which can cause your tummy to bulge, says Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD, a gastroenterologist and director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center in Baltimore. To stay regular, aim for 22 to 25 g of fiber a day by eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables
5. Drink up. For premenstrual bloating, drink lots and lots of water. This will actually help flush away bloating, not make it worse
6. Keep bones strong. Osteoporosis can lead to fractured bones in your spine, causing you to slump. That shortens your abdominal cavity, giving your belly no place to go but out, says Willibald Nagler, MD, physiatrist in chief emeritus at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. Be sure to get 1,000 mg of calcium every day from the foods you eat and/or from supplements.
7. Get your heart rate up. All the ab exercises in the world won't do a thing unless you get rid of the fat hiding your abdominal muscles. The best way is to do aerobic exercise for 45 to 60 minutes, 5 times a week.
8. Tuck your tummy. Imagine there's a magnet pulling your belly button back toward your spine. Practice the tuck until it becomes comfortable, and soon it will come naturally--like breathing. Do it every chance you get.
9. Get a bonus ab workout. Stand as much as possible when doing weight-lifting exercises. That way your abs work too. “They help to balance and stabilize your body,” says Tammy Strunk, an Emmaus, PA, fitness instructor. Concentrate on keeping your abs tight and maintaining good posture, but don't hold your breath.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
by The Editors of Prevention
Sick of crunches? So are we. Luckily, abdominal exercises alone do not a flat belly make. In fact, there are loads of little things—from what you drink to the way you handle stress—that can make or break your middle. Here are 9 easy ways to start shrinking without crunching.
1. Calm down. Too much stress can contribute to a potbelly. Stress increases levels of cortisol, a hormone that seems to direct fat to our middle, says Jacob Seidell, PhD, of the National Institute of Public Health in Bilthoven, Netherlands. To keep levels low, try this 5- to 10-minute stress reducer: Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit. Next, take several slow, deep breaths to help clear your mind. Continue breathing deeply and repeat the word one to yourself as you exhale. (If you get distracted, just bring your focus back to the word one.) Practice this for 5 to 10 minutes once or twice a day.
2. Skip the alcohol for a week or so. That glass of wine with dinner may be part of the reason your jeans are too tight. Alcohol also tends to raise cortisol levels, sending fat to your belly, Seidell says.
3. Stop smoking. “It keeps me thin,” proclaim many smokers. But the truth is that smokers tend to have more abdominal fat than nonsmokers, says Seidell. (The stress hormone cortisol seems to be the culprit here too.) "When people stop smoking, the amount of abdominal fat actually decreases," he says.
4. Eat more fiber. Not only is fiber great for overall weight loss (it fills you up so you don't eat as much), but it also prevents constipation, which can cause your tummy to bulge, says Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD, a gastroenterologist and director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center in Baltimore. To stay regular, aim for 22 to 25 g of fiber a day by eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables
5. Drink up. For premenstrual bloating, drink lots and lots of water. This will actually help flush away bloating, not make it worse
6. Keep bones strong. Osteoporosis can lead to fractured bones in your spine, causing you to slump. That shortens your abdominal cavity, giving your belly no place to go but out, says Willibald Nagler, MD, physiatrist in chief emeritus at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. Be sure to get 1,000 mg of calcium every day from the foods you eat and/or from supplements.
7. Get your heart rate up. All the ab exercises in the world won't do a thing unless you get rid of the fat hiding your abdominal muscles. The best way is to do aerobic exercise for 45 to 60 minutes, 5 times a week.
8. Tuck your tummy. Imagine there's a magnet pulling your belly button back toward your spine. Practice the tuck until it becomes comfortable, and soon it will come naturally--like breathing. Do it every chance you get.
9. Get a bonus ab workout. Stand as much as possible when doing weight-lifting exercises. That way your abs work too. “They help to balance and stabilize your body,” says Tammy Strunk, an Emmaus, PA, fitness instructor. Concentrate on keeping your abs tight and maintaining good posture, but don't hold your breath.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
5 Foods that Boost Your Mood
5 Foods that Boost Your Mood
SELF.com By Lucy Danziger, SELF Editor-in-Chief
As anyone who has sought solace in a pint of Häagen-Dazs knows, food can be a source of comfort and pleasure as well as nutrients. While overdoing it on ice cream and candy is likely to cause more stress when you regret all those empty calories, consistently munching the right bites can actually help change your outlook from bummed to bright! Even better news: Since what's good for your brain is also a boon for your body, incorporating these five mood boosters into your diet may improve not only your outlook, but also your energy and your figure. Eat up and lighten up!
COLD CEREAL
Eat it for your brain: A handful of MultiGrain Cheerios or Kashi Heart to Heart offers folic acid, which can help fend off the blues. Those with low levels of the nutrient experience more symptoms of depression, a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggests, and a folic acid deficiency may prevent your antidepressants from working.
Eat it for your body: A quick bowl of whole-grain cereal brims with iron and vitamins, and gets your metabolism humming—and it sure beats skipping breakfast altogether, since that can lead to all sorts of problems later in the day. People who skipped breakfast only once every three months were 34 percent more likely to be obese than those who didn't, according to a study from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. So even if your body doesn't want it when you first wake up, find a breakfast you can live with, and eat up.
FISH
Eat it for your brain: Those with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids, found in several kinds of fish, were happier than those with lower levels, a study from the University of Pittsburgh reveals. Omega-3 fatty acids enhance areas of the brain that affect disposition. Certain fish also pack B12, a known mood booster, which wards off the doldrums by stimulating the brain's production of serotonin, helping you relax. Aim to eat two servings of low-mercury fish (like catfish, cod, crab, flounder and halibut) weekly for more smiles!
Eat it for your body: Wild salmon, trout, herring and other cold-water fish are filled with vitamin D, which helps curb appetite, as well as omega 3's, which lower the risk for heart disease. Research also shows that eating fish regularly improves insulin insensitivity, which helps build muscle and decrease belly fat.
EGG YOLKS
Eat them for your brain: Feel sunnier by adding a bit of yellow. Egg yolks contain choline, a mood enhancer. Being low on this nutrient could lead to feeling anxious.
Eat them for your body: Yolks act as a multivitamin, delivering vitamins A and D, as well as folate and calcium.
CHOCOLATE
Eat it for your brain: Sweeten your mood by indulging your chocolate urges. Half of depressed people reported craving chocolate, and most of them felt soothed after indulging, according to a survey in The British Journal of Psychiatry. Since chomping too much chocolate sends you into a sugar coma, munch just 1 ounce and savor every bite!
Eat it for your body: Eating a couple ounces of dark chocolate a week (about one Ghirardelli square a day) may cut your risk for heart disease by 33 percent, according to a study in The Journal of Nutrition. Plus, it has more disease-fighting antioxidants than green tea, red wine or blueberries. Perhaps Willy Wonka was on to something!
FRUITS & VEGGIES
Eat them for your brain: Want a buzz booster? Frequent the produce aisle! People who ate the most fruits and veggies were least likely to feel depressed, a study by the University College London found.
Eat them for your body: Munching the recommended 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of veggies a day reduces your calorie intake and bolsters your immunity. The darker and more colorful, the better! The shades in fruits and vegetables come from phytonutrients, which protect different organs. For example, lutein in greens protects your eyes, while lycopene-packed red tomatoes shield your heart. Color yourself healthy!
For more diet information,go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
SELF.com By Lucy Danziger, SELF Editor-in-Chief
As anyone who has sought solace in a pint of Häagen-Dazs knows, food can be a source of comfort and pleasure as well as nutrients. While overdoing it on ice cream and candy is likely to cause more stress when you regret all those empty calories, consistently munching the right bites can actually help change your outlook from bummed to bright! Even better news: Since what's good for your brain is also a boon for your body, incorporating these five mood boosters into your diet may improve not only your outlook, but also your energy and your figure. Eat up and lighten up!
COLD CEREAL
Eat it for your brain: A handful of MultiGrain Cheerios or Kashi Heart to Heart offers folic acid, which can help fend off the blues. Those with low levels of the nutrient experience more symptoms of depression, a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggests, and a folic acid deficiency may prevent your antidepressants from working.
Eat it for your body: A quick bowl of whole-grain cereal brims with iron and vitamins, and gets your metabolism humming—and it sure beats skipping breakfast altogether, since that can lead to all sorts of problems later in the day. People who skipped breakfast only once every three months were 34 percent more likely to be obese than those who didn't, according to a study from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. So even if your body doesn't want it when you first wake up, find a breakfast you can live with, and eat up.
FISH
Eat it for your brain: Those with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids, found in several kinds of fish, were happier than those with lower levels, a study from the University of Pittsburgh reveals. Omega-3 fatty acids enhance areas of the brain that affect disposition. Certain fish also pack B12, a known mood booster, which wards off the doldrums by stimulating the brain's production of serotonin, helping you relax. Aim to eat two servings of low-mercury fish (like catfish, cod, crab, flounder and halibut) weekly for more smiles!
Eat it for your body: Wild salmon, trout, herring and other cold-water fish are filled with vitamin D, which helps curb appetite, as well as omega 3's, which lower the risk for heart disease. Research also shows that eating fish regularly improves insulin insensitivity, which helps build muscle and decrease belly fat.
EGG YOLKS
Eat them for your brain: Feel sunnier by adding a bit of yellow. Egg yolks contain choline, a mood enhancer. Being low on this nutrient could lead to feeling anxious.
Eat them for your body: Yolks act as a multivitamin, delivering vitamins A and D, as well as folate and calcium.
CHOCOLATE
Eat it for your brain: Sweeten your mood by indulging your chocolate urges. Half of depressed people reported craving chocolate, and most of them felt soothed after indulging, according to a survey in The British Journal of Psychiatry. Since chomping too much chocolate sends you into a sugar coma, munch just 1 ounce and savor every bite!
Eat it for your body: Eating a couple ounces of dark chocolate a week (about one Ghirardelli square a day) may cut your risk for heart disease by 33 percent, according to a study in The Journal of Nutrition. Plus, it has more disease-fighting antioxidants than green tea, red wine or blueberries. Perhaps Willy Wonka was on to something!
FRUITS & VEGGIES
Eat them for your brain: Want a buzz booster? Frequent the produce aisle! People who ate the most fruits and veggies were least likely to feel depressed, a study by the University College London found.
Eat them for your body: Munching the recommended 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of veggies a day reduces your calorie intake and bolsters your immunity. The darker and more colorful, the better! The shades in fruits and vegetables come from phytonutrients, which protect different organs. For example, lutein in greens protects your eyes, while lycopene-packed red tomatoes shield your heart. Color yourself healthy!
For more diet information,go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Weight-Loss Challenge Lunch: Greek Salad
Weight-Loss Challenge lunch: Greek salad
This vegetarian recipe includes pita and is about 400 calories:
Greek chopped pita salad
Vegetarian option
2 cups romaine lettuce
2 Tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup canned garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup cucumber, sliced
1 whole-wheat pita, chopped
2 Tbsp. low-fat vinaigrette
Combine all salad ingredients in a bowl and toss thoroughly.
This vegetarian recipe includes pita and is about 400 calories:
Greek chopped pita salad
Vegetarian option
2 cups romaine lettuce
2 Tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup canned garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup cucumber, sliced
1 whole-wheat pita, chopped
2 Tbsp. low-fat vinaigrette
Combine all salad ingredients in a bowl and toss thoroughly.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Eight great perennial vegetables almost anyone can grow
Eight great perennial vegetables almost anyone can grow
By Jeff Yeager
I've confessed before that my enthusiasm for gardening usually dies on the vine long before the first cucumbers of summer are ready to harvest. I'm always looking for easy ways to satisfy my green thumb and, of course, ways to get the most broccolis for my gardening buck. That's why I'm a big fan of growing perennial vegetables in my garden -- plant them once, and enjoy the fruits (well, actually, vegetables) of your labors for years to come.
I'll always remember when the UPS man delivered a mysterious, rather dirty looking box to our new home the first spring we lived here. The box was carefully packed with damp sphagnum moss, the packaging material of choice for shipping the sacred Yeager Roots, a housewarming gift from my parent.
Other families pass down jewelry or antique furniture, but for the Yeager clan, the holy triumvirates of family heirlooms are root starts of asparagus, horseradish, and rhubarb. They are the direct descendants of the original Yeager Roots, dating back at least to my great-grandparents, and -- family legend has it -- much, much further. After all, my great-great-grandmother was a Lungfish (that was her maiden name, not her species, mind you). But I digress.
Although -- unlike fruits -- there aren't too many vegetables that are perennials, many of the ones that do exist grow in a wide range of climates and, once established, are low-maintenance enough even for a lazy gardener like me. They're also among the healthiest veggies for you, and they're generally inexpensive to purchase, if you don't come from a family with its own royal roots line. Here are my personal eight great perennial vegetables:
* Asparagus: Grows best in full sun and non-soggy, somewhat sandy soil. I like it cut into one-inch pieces and stir fried raw with sesame oil and a little sliced ginger (top with toasted sesame seeds). Or, brush with olive oil and crushed garlic and grill whole spears on the bar-b.
* Bamboo Shoots: We have a good sized stand of bamboo that was on the property when we moved here, so I guess bamboo will be my contribution to the lineage of Yeager Roots. Not all varieties of bamboo shoots are edible (or tasty), so do your homework first. We boil ours to remove the bitterness, then sauté them in butter and a little sherry or sweet vermouth for flavor. Also, be advised that many varieties of bamboo are highly invasive and can be toxic if eaten in large amounts.
* Bunching Onions: This is a variety of onion that grows in clumps and multiplies on its own, and they are hardy in the ground even in fairly cold climates. The bulbs themselves are fairly small and pinkish in color (at least the ones I grow). I like to pickle them as something a little unusual for the relish tray...or in the martini glass.
* Garlic: As the saying goes, "If your lover doesn't like garlic, get a new lover." Garlic is a healthful perennial, although it's often grown and harvested as an annual. Here's how to keep it coming back every year. I like to rub a whole head of unpeeled garlic with olive oil, wrap it in aluminum foil, and stick it in the oven or on the grill for an hour or so when I'm cooking something else; squirt the warm, creamy pulp of each clove onto a cracker or piece of bread for a heavenly appetizer.
* Horseradish: As long as you harvest just the side roots, horseradish taproots will continue to produce a new harvest every year. To use as a condiment, clean and peel roots; cut into small chunks, and grind in a blender or food processor with a little water to the desired consistency. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt for each cup of blended horseradish, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of white vinegar; seal and store in the refrigerator.
* Kale and Collard Greens: Perennial varieties will grow in many climates, and are among the healthiest of all vegetables. I eat greens at least once a week, and find that the secret is to not overcook them. Chop greens into half-inch strips and plunge into a pot of boiling, salted water for 10-15 minutes; remove and dress with butter/olive oil, vinegar/lemon juice and salt or feta cheese. And you thought you didn't like greens.
* Radicchio: Think you can't grow any perennial vegetables in your garden? Don't be radicchio! Seriously, radicchio (aka "Italian chicory") will come back every year in most climates if you don't dig it up for blanching, as some chefs do. I like to add young, raw leaves to spice up a tossed salad, or grill older bunches (brushed with olive oil) to remove some of the bitterness.
* Rhubarb: Prefers colder climates, well-drained soil, and part-shade. Strawberry-rhubarb pie is hard to beat, but I also like to make rhubarb sauce instead of apple sauce: Cook two cups of inch-long pieces of cut up rhubarb stems in one-half cup of water until totally broken down, then add sugar and cinnamon to taste.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
By Jeff Yeager
I've confessed before that my enthusiasm for gardening usually dies on the vine long before the first cucumbers of summer are ready to harvest. I'm always looking for easy ways to satisfy my green thumb and, of course, ways to get the most broccolis for my gardening buck. That's why I'm a big fan of growing perennial vegetables in my garden -- plant them once, and enjoy the fruits (well, actually, vegetables) of your labors for years to come.
I'll always remember when the UPS man delivered a mysterious, rather dirty looking box to our new home the first spring we lived here. The box was carefully packed with damp sphagnum moss, the packaging material of choice for shipping the sacred Yeager Roots, a housewarming gift from my parent.
Other families pass down jewelry or antique furniture, but for the Yeager clan, the holy triumvirates of family heirlooms are root starts of asparagus, horseradish, and rhubarb. They are the direct descendants of the original Yeager Roots, dating back at least to my great-grandparents, and -- family legend has it -- much, much further. After all, my great-great-grandmother was a Lungfish (that was her maiden name, not her species, mind you). But I digress.
Although -- unlike fruits -- there aren't too many vegetables that are perennials, many of the ones that do exist grow in a wide range of climates and, once established, are low-maintenance enough even for a lazy gardener like me. They're also among the healthiest veggies for you, and they're generally inexpensive to purchase, if you don't come from a family with its own royal roots line. Here are my personal eight great perennial vegetables:
* Asparagus: Grows best in full sun and non-soggy, somewhat sandy soil. I like it cut into one-inch pieces and stir fried raw with sesame oil and a little sliced ginger (top with toasted sesame seeds). Or, brush with olive oil and crushed garlic and grill whole spears on the bar-b.
* Bamboo Shoots: We have a good sized stand of bamboo that was on the property when we moved here, so I guess bamboo will be my contribution to the lineage of Yeager Roots. Not all varieties of bamboo shoots are edible (or tasty), so do your homework first. We boil ours to remove the bitterness, then sauté them in butter and a little sherry or sweet vermouth for flavor. Also, be advised that many varieties of bamboo are highly invasive and can be toxic if eaten in large amounts.
* Bunching Onions: This is a variety of onion that grows in clumps and multiplies on its own, and they are hardy in the ground even in fairly cold climates. The bulbs themselves are fairly small and pinkish in color (at least the ones I grow). I like to pickle them as something a little unusual for the relish tray...or in the martini glass.
* Garlic: As the saying goes, "If your lover doesn't like garlic, get a new lover." Garlic is a healthful perennial, although it's often grown and harvested as an annual. Here's how to keep it coming back every year. I like to rub a whole head of unpeeled garlic with olive oil, wrap it in aluminum foil, and stick it in the oven or on the grill for an hour or so when I'm cooking something else; squirt the warm, creamy pulp of each clove onto a cracker or piece of bread for a heavenly appetizer.
* Horseradish: As long as you harvest just the side roots, horseradish taproots will continue to produce a new harvest every year. To use as a condiment, clean and peel roots; cut into small chunks, and grind in a blender or food processor with a little water to the desired consistency. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt for each cup of blended horseradish, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of white vinegar; seal and store in the refrigerator.
* Kale and Collard Greens: Perennial varieties will grow in many climates, and are among the healthiest of all vegetables. I eat greens at least once a week, and find that the secret is to not overcook them. Chop greens into half-inch strips and plunge into a pot of boiling, salted water for 10-15 minutes; remove and dress with butter/olive oil, vinegar/lemon juice and salt or feta cheese. And you thought you didn't like greens.
* Radicchio: Think you can't grow any perennial vegetables in your garden? Don't be radicchio! Seriously, radicchio (aka "Italian chicory") will come back every year in most climates if you don't dig it up for blanching, as some chefs do. I like to add young, raw leaves to spice up a tossed salad, or grill older bunches (brushed with olive oil) to remove some of the bitterness.
* Rhubarb: Prefers colder climates, well-drained soil, and part-shade. Strawberry-rhubarb pie is hard to beat, but I also like to make rhubarb sauce instead of apple sauce: Cook two cups of inch-long pieces of cut up rhubarb stems in one-half cup of water until totally broken down, then add sugar and cinnamon to taste.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Strategies to Avoid Emotional Eating
Strategies to Avoid Emotional Eating
By Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
The holidays can be stressful... and unfortunately, many people reach for food as comfort. If you find yourself regularly eating in response to stress, anxiety, sadness, boredom, anger, loneliness, relationship problems, or poor self-esteem, try to break the habit with some of my strategies below.
■Learn to recognize your hunger. Before you automatically pop something into your mouth, rate your hunger on a scale of 1 to 5 -- 1 being ravenous and 5 being full. Make every effort to avoid eating when your hunger is a 4 or a 5.
■Find alternatives to eating. Make a personal list of activities you can do instead of eating. Perhaps go for a walk, call a friend, listen to music, take a hot shower/bath, exercise, clean your house, polish your nails, surf the Internet, schedule outstanding appointments, watch television, look through a photo album, etc.
■Keep a food journal. Logging your food will help to identify your toughest timeframes. It also will make you accountable... so perhaps you'll be less apt to reach for unnecessary food.
■Three-food interference. Make the commitment to first eat three specific healthy foods before starting on caloric comfort foods (i.e., an apple, handful of baby carrots and a yogurt). If after that, you still want to continue with your comfort foods, give yourself permission. However, most of the time, the three foods are enough to stop you from moving on.
■Exercise regularly. Daily exercise relieves stress and puts you in a positive mindset, which provides greater strength to pass on the unhealthy fare.
■Get enough sleep. Research shows that sleep deprivation can increase hunger by decreasing Leptin levels, the appetite regulating hormone that signals fullness. With adequate sleep, you'll also be less tired and have more resolve to fight off the urge to grab foods for comfort.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
By Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
The holidays can be stressful... and unfortunately, many people reach for food as comfort. If you find yourself regularly eating in response to stress, anxiety, sadness, boredom, anger, loneliness, relationship problems, or poor self-esteem, try to break the habit with some of my strategies below.
■Learn to recognize your hunger. Before you automatically pop something into your mouth, rate your hunger on a scale of 1 to 5 -- 1 being ravenous and 5 being full. Make every effort to avoid eating when your hunger is a 4 or a 5.
■Find alternatives to eating. Make a personal list of activities you can do instead of eating. Perhaps go for a walk, call a friend, listen to music, take a hot shower/bath, exercise, clean your house, polish your nails, surf the Internet, schedule outstanding appointments, watch television, look through a photo album, etc.
■Keep a food journal. Logging your food will help to identify your toughest timeframes. It also will make you accountable... so perhaps you'll be less apt to reach for unnecessary food.
■Three-food interference. Make the commitment to first eat three specific healthy foods before starting on caloric comfort foods (i.e., an apple, handful of baby carrots and a yogurt). If after that, you still want to continue with your comfort foods, give yourself permission. However, most of the time, the three foods are enough to stop you from moving on.
■Exercise regularly. Daily exercise relieves stress and puts you in a positive mindset, which provides greater strength to pass on the unhealthy fare.
■Get enough sleep. Research shows that sleep deprivation can increase hunger by decreasing Leptin levels, the appetite regulating hormone that signals fullness. With adequate sleep, you'll also be less tired and have more resolve to fight off the urge to grab foods for comfort.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
6 Rules: How to Eat Right on the Job
6 Rules: How to Eat Right on the Job
by CBS MoneyWatch.com
Other than getting a good night’s sleep, there’s probably no other thing that impacts your productivity and mood at work more than what you eat. Yet you probably give little thought to what you consume before and during work, defaulting instead to what’s convenient, cheap, and tasty. And when you do think twice about what you eat, it’s usually in the context of a diet that’s focused on losing weight rather than improving your cognitive functioning and energy levels. Fortunately, there are a few basic food rules that go a long way towards achieving these latter goals. Here are the best of them.
Things you will need:
A new food attitude: Carbs are not the enemy. Neither is fat. Eliminating certain food groups may help your waistline, but it will hurt your brain functioning.
A stash of snacks: To keep your brain well fueled, you can’t let yourself get too hungry. Have a ready supply of trail mix, peanut-butter crackers, or Snickers bars at work. The combination of carbs and protein in these snacks will stabilize your blood sugar, fill you up, and keep you energized.
Some willpower: Big meals actually reduce the supply of energy to your brain and leave you feeling sleepy for hours. Eat half of what you order, and take the rest home.
1. Balance What You Eat, Whenever You Eat
In 1956, the United States Department of Agriculture produced its “Basic Four” guide promoting the daily consumption of foods from four main groups — meat, dairy, grains, and vegetables. But today, nutritionists talk about a different set of food groups —proteins, carbohydrates (which produce glucose), fats, and fiber — and a different way to combine them. Instead of having a few helpings from each group every day, they recommend having something from each of the four groups every time you sit down to eat. And, yes, that includes carbs, which certain popular diets restrict. Why? Because the combination of carbs and protein (and to a lesser extent, fats and fiber) regulates your glucose levels and keeps your mood and mental ability on an even keel.
Moreover, each food group brings unique brain-boosting benefits to the table. “Research suggests that meals with more protein and fats are associated with better-sustained attention, focus, and concentration,” says Tufts research psychologist Kristen D’Anci. “Meals that have a higher carbohydrate content seem to be more calming and have fairly consistent positive effects with memory.” Cut back on either group and you’re missing half the benefits that food can offer.
2. Neglect Carbs at Your Own Peril
The research here is clear: Cutting carbs may shrink your waistline, but doing so will shrink your brainpower, too. “The popular low-carb and no-carb diets have the strongest potential for negative impact on thinking and cognition,” says Tufts psychology professor Holly A. Taylor. In a 2008 study Taylor conducted, dieters who lowered their blood-sugar levels by cutting carbohydrates from their meals immediately performed worse on memory-based tasks than those who simply reduced total calories by the same amount. When they started eating carbs again, their memory skills quickly rebounded.
Brain cells require twice the amount of energy needed by other cells in your body because they never rest. And high-carb foods like pasta, bread, fruit, and rice produce the brain’s favorite fuel — glucose. “Your brain only wants to burn glucose,” says Shawn Talbott, a nutritional biochemist and author of A Guide to Understanding Dietary Supplements: Magic Bullets or Modern Snake Oil. It can burn protein if it has to, Talbott adds, “but it’s like trying to run a gasoline engine on diesel.”
If you are on a low-carb diet, we’re not suggesting you go out and eat a loaf of Wonder Bread. There are plenty of “good” carbs (such as fruit, vegetables, and brown rice) that will supply your brain with all the fuel it needs.
3. Pack in the Protein
Proteins such as meat, fish, dairy, eggs, beans, and nuts slow the absorption of glucose so your brain gets a long and steady flow of fuel, rather than the brief blast you get from eating carbs and sugary foods (fats and fiber also help with this). And protein also brings its own set of brain boosters to the party. The amino acids found in meats, poultry, fish, and eggs help produce the neurotransmitters — serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine — that keep us focused, energetic, and upbeat.
Studies also suggest that certain minerals typically found in high-protein foods also enhance memory. A 2005 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that adding zinc — found in meat, seafood, eggs, and milk — to the diets of middle-school kids improved their memories and attention spans. After receiving 20 milligrams of zinc a day, five days a week, for 10 to 12 weeks, their reaction time decreased by 12 percent, their word recognition rose 9 percent, and their ability to sustain attention on a task increased 6 percent.
4. Eat Smaller Amounts, and Eat More Frequently
If you want to keep up your energy and performance levels, the last thing you need is a three-course lunch (or a three-egg cheese omelet for breakfast). The same thing goes for big dinners if you’re working late. Too much food — even if it’s well balanced — is going to make you drowsy because it introduces too much glucose for your body to handle at one time. When that happens, your liver reacts by storing the glucose, and your brain actually gets less fuel than it needs. “If you eat too much, you’re going to get sleepy, and there’s really no way to recover from that,” says Talbott. “Five to six small meals tend to make people perform much better than three squares.”
5. Fat Is Beautiful ... for Your Brain
You probably know that omega-3 fatty acids are good for your heart. But they’re great brain food, too. The fats found in salmon, walnuts, and kiwi improve learning and memory and help fight against mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia, and dementia, according to a 2008 report from the Brain Research Institute at UCLA. The fats support the synapses in the brain where much of our cognitive functioning occurs.
6. How to Keep Things in Proportion
In addition to controlling your carb intake, portion and proportion play a big role in regulating glucose. Talbott recommends a highly sophisticated tool for measuring food amounts — your hand. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, he says the portions are the same: “Your fist is the size of the carbs; your palm is the size of the protein. Make an OK sign with your thumb and index finger, and that’s how much fat you should have. Open your hand as wide as it can go; that’s the amount of fruits and vegetables. That’s going to be a well-balanced mix.”
For more diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
by CBS MoneyWatch.com
Other than getting a good night’s sleep, there’s probably no other thing that impacts your productivity and mood at work more than what you eat. Yet you probably give little thought to what you consume before and during work, defaulting instead to what’s convenient, cheap, and tasty. And when you do think twice about what you eat, it’s usually in the context of a diet that’s focused on losing weight rather than improving your cognitive functioning and energy levels. Fortunately, there are a few basic food rules that go a long way towards achieving these latter goals. Here are the best of them.
Things you will need:
A new food attitude: Carbs are not the enemy. Neither is fat. Eliminating certain food groups may help your waistline, but it will hurt your brain functioning.
A stash of snacks: To keep your brain well fueled, you can’t let yourself get too hungry. Have a ready supply of trail mix, peanut-butter crackers, or Snickers bars at work. The combination of carbs and protein in these snacks will stabilize your blood sugar, fill you up, and keep you energized.
Some willpower: Big meals actually reduce the supply of energy to your brain and leave you feeling sleepy for hours. Eat half of what you order, and take the rest home.
1. Balance What You Eat, Whenever You Eat
In 1956, the United States Department of Agriculture produced its “Basic Four” guide promoting the daily consumption of foods from four main groups — meat, dairy, grains, and vegetables. But today, nutritionists talk about a different set of food groups —proteins, carbohydrates (which produce glucose), fats, and fiber — and a different way to combine them. Instead of having a few helpings from each group every day, they recommend having something from each of the four groups every time you sit down to eat. And, yes, that includes carbs, which certain popular diets restrict. Why? Because the combination of carbs and protein (and to a lesser extent, fats and fiber) regulates your glucose levels and keeps your mood and mental ability on an even keel.
Moreover, each food group brings unique brain-boosting benefits to the table. “Research suggests that meals with more protein and fats are associated with better-sustained attention, focus, and concentration,” says Tufts research psychologist Kristen D’Anci. “Meals that have a higher carbohydrate content seem to be more calming and have fairly consistent positive effects with memory.” Cut back on either group and you’re missing half the benefits that food can offer.
2. Neglect Carbs at Your Own Peril
The research here is clear: Cutting carbs may shrink your waistline, but doing so will shrink your brainpower, too. “The popular low-carb and no-carb diets have the strongest potential for negative impact on thinking and cognition,” says Tufts psychology professor Holly A. Taylor. In a 2008 study Taylor conducted, dieters who lowered their blood-sugar levels by cutting carbohydrates from their meals immediately performed worse on memory-based tasks than those who simply reduced total calories by the same amount. When they started eating carbs again, their memory skills quickly rebounded.
Brain cells require twice the amount of energy needed by other cells in your body because they never rest. And high-carb foods like pasta, bread, fruit, and rice produce the brain’s favorite fuel — glucose. “Your brain only wants to burn glucose,” says Shawn Talbott, a nutritional biochemist and author of A Guide to Understanding Dietary Supplements: Magic Bullets or Modern Snake Oil. It can burn protein if it has to, Talbott adds, “but it’s like trying to run a gasoline engine on diesel.”
If you are on a low-carb diet, we’re not suggesting you go out and eat a loaf of Wonder Bread. There are plenty of “good” carbs (such as fruit, vegetables, and brown rice) that will supply your brain with all the fuel it needs.
3. Pack in the Protein
Proteins such as meat, fish, dairy, eggs, beans, and nuts slow the absorption of glucose so your brain gets a long and steady flow of fuel, rather than the brief blast you get from eating carbs and sugary foods (fats and fiber also help with this). And protein also brings its own set of brain boosters to the party. The amino acids found in meats, poultry, fish, and eggs help produce the neurotransmitters — serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine — that keep us focused, energetic, and upbeat.
Studies also suggest that certain minerals typically found in high-protein foods also enhance memory. A 2005 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that adding zinc — found in meat, seafood, eggs, and milk — to the diets of middle-school kids improved their memories and attention spans. After receiving 20 milligrams of zinc a day, five days a week, for 10 to 12 weeks, their reaction time decreased by 12 percent, their word recognition rose 9 percent, and their ability to sustain attention on a task increased 6 percent.
4. Eat Smaller Amounts, and Eat More Frequently
If you want to keep up your energy and performance levels, the last thing you need is a three-course lunch (or a three-egg cheese omelet for breakfast). The same thing goes for big dinners if you’re working late. Too much food — even if it’s well balanced — is going to make you drowsy because it introduces too much glucose for your body to handle at one time. When that happens, your liver reacts by storing the glucose, and your brain actually gets less fuel than it needs. “If you eat too much, you’re going to get sleepy, and there’s really no way to recover from that,” says Talbott. “Five to six small meals tend to make people perform much better than three squares.”
5. Fat Is Beautiful ... for Your Brain
You probably know that omega-3 fatty acids are good for your heart. But they’re great brain food, too. The fats found in salmon, walnuts, and kiwi improve learning and memory and help fight against mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia, and dementia, according to a 2008 report from the Brain Research Institute at UCLA. The fats support the synapses in the brain where much of our cognitive functioning occurs.
6. How to Keep Things in Proportion
In addition to controlling your carb intake, portion and proportion play a big role in regulating glucose. Talbott recommends a highly sophisticated tool for measuring food amounts — your hand. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, he says the portions are the same: “Your fist is the size of the carbs; your palm is the size of the protein. Make an OK sign with your thumb and index finger, and that’s how much fat you should have. Open your hand as wide as it can go; that’s the amount of fruits and vegetables. That’s going to be a well-balanced mix.”
For more diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The Dangerous Side of Sugar
The Dangerous Side Of Sugar
By Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
As if you needed another good reason to kick your soda habit, a new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that a diet heavy in added sugar is linked to elevated triglyceride levels and may increase your risk for a heart attack.
Added sugars such as cane sugar, beet sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice concentrate, and honey are used to sweeten packaged foods like sodas and fruit drinks, cereal, candy, cookies, and baked goods. In the study published this week, researchers at Emory University found that individuals who consume large amounts of added sugar have lower HDL ("good") cholesterol levels and higher triglyceride levels than individuals who eat less of the sweet stuff. Among women only, high added sugar intake was also linked to increased LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels. All of these red-flag numbers-low HDL, high triglycerides, high LDL-are independent risk factors for heart disease, which means that guzzling sugary coffee drinks and chomping down cookies may be putting your ticker in harm's way.
Research has already shown that regular consumption of foods high in added sugars is associated with weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and cavities, but this is the first study of its kind to link sugar intake to cholesterol levels in humans. And that's bad news for Americans, who now consume about 16% of their daily total calories as added sugar. Soda is the number one source of added sugar, contributing about a third of all added sugar in the American diet.
Unfortunately, guidelines for added sugar intake are all over the map and hardly user-friendly. Last year, the American Heart Association released new recommendations advising that women consume fewer than 100 calories from added sugar daily and men consume fewer than 150 calories. While I'm glad the organization called attention to our population's growing sugar problem, these guidelines are very difficult to put into practice, especially since "added sugars" aren't specifically listed on nutrition labels. (The Nutrition Facts Panel lists "Sugars" under "Total Carbohydrate", but this refers to total sugar in the product. Total sugar is a combination of added sugars and naturally-occurring sugars found primarily in fruit and dairy products. While added sugars don't provide anything but empty calories, the natural sugars in fruit and dairy products come packaged with healthful nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals and don't need to be strictly limited.)
Plus, in order to see if you're staying below the American Heart Association calorie cutoffs, you need to know that every gram of added sugar contributes 4 calories, and then do a little arithmetic. Complete hassle!
If you don't feel like tabulating your exact added sugar intake each day, follow my 4 guidelines and you'll automatically cut back on the added sugar in your diet.
Eliminate soda and sugary drinks (including sports drinks, sweetened waters, juice drinks, and caloric cocktails). Choose plain water or naturally flavored seltzer instead.
Use sugar (and other sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, agave, and molasses) sparingly. Add no more than 1 to 2 teaspoons in coffee, tea, or oatmeal.
Choose packaged foods with minimal added sugar. For example, cereals should have no more than 8 grams of sugar per serving.
Be selective with sweet splurges. Either allow yourself a daily sweet treat around 150 calories, or indulge in a more decadent dessert no more than once or twice a week. My favorite sweet treats are foods that balance sugar with something healthy, such as a scoop of ice cream or pudding-both high in calcium; 1 oz dark chocolate-has tons of antioxidants; or a dollop of whipped cream with berries-loaded with fiber and vitamin C.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
--------------------
By Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
As if you needed another good reason to kick your soda habit, a new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that a diet heavy in added sugar is linked to elevated triglyceride levels and may increase your risk for a heart attack.
Added sugars such as cane sugar, beet sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice concentrate, and honey are used to sweeten packaged foods like sodas and fruit drinks, cereal, candy, cookies, and baked goods. In the study published this week, researchers at Emory University found that individuals who consume large amounts of added sugar have lower HDL ("good") cholesterol levels and higher triglyceride levels than individuals who eat less of the sweet stuff. Among women only, high added sugar intake was also linked to increased LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels. All of these red-flag numbers-low HDL, high triglycerides, high LDL-are independent risk factors for heart disease, which means that guzzling sugary coffee drinks and chomping down cookies may be putting your ticker in harm's way.
Research has already shown that regular consumption of foods high in added sugars is associated with weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and cavities, but this is the first study of its kind to link sugar intake to cholesterol levels in humans. And that's bad news for Americans, who now consume about 16% of their daily total calories as added sugar. Soda is the number one source of added sugar, contributing about a third of all added sugar in the American diet.
Unfortunately, guidelines for added sugar intake are all over the map and hardly user-friendly. Last year, the American Heart Association released new recommendations advising that women consume fewer than 100 calories from added sugar daily and men consume fewer than 150 calories. While I'm glad the organization called attention to our population's growing sugar problem, these guidelines are very difficult to put into practice, especially since "added sugars" aren't specifically listed on nutrition labels. (The Nutrition Facts Panel lists "Sugars" under "Total Carbohydrate", but this refers to total sugar in the product. Total sugar is a combination of added sugars and naturally-occurring sugars found primarily in fruit and dairy products. While added sugars don't provide anything but empty calories, the natural sugars in fruit and dairy products come packaged with healthful nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals and don't need to be strictly limited.)
Plus, in order to see if you're staying below the American Heart Association calorie cutoffs, you need to know that every gram of added sugar contributes 4 calories, and then do a little arithmetic. Complete hassle!
If you don't feel like tabulating your exact added sugar intake each day, follow my 4 guidelines and you'll automatically cut back on the added sugar in your diet.
Eliminate soda and sugary drinks (including sports drinks, sweetened waters, juice drinks, and caloric cocktails). Choose plain water or naturally flavored seltzer instead.
Use sugar (and other sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, agave, and molasses) sparingly. Add no more than 1 to 2 teaspoons in coffee, tea, or oatmeal.
Choose packaged foods with minimal added sugar. For example, cereals should have no more than 8 grams of sugar per serving.
Be selective with sweet splurges. Either allow yourself a daily sweet treat around 150 calories, or indulge in a more decadent dessert no more than once or twice a week. My favorite sweet treats are foods that balance sugar with something healthy, such as a scoop of ice cream or pudding-both high in calcium; 1 oz dark chocolate-has tons of antioxidants; or a dollop of whipped cream with berries-loaded with fiber and vitamin C.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
--------------------
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Gaining a Pound a Year After 20 Nearly Doubles Women's Breast CAncer Risk
Gaining a Pound a Year After Age 20 Nearly Doubles Women's Breast Cancer Risk 7 ways to keep your weight steady as you age.
By Deborah Kotz
Gaining a pound or two a year after age 20 is the norm for most Americans, which explains why two-thirds of us are overweight by the time we hit our 50s. Not only does that put us at increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, but it can also increase a woman's chances of developing postmenopausal breast cancer. A new National Cancer Institute study of 72,000 women found that those who had a normal body mass index at age 20 and gained through the decades to become overweight--an increase of at least 5 BMI units, which is equivalent to a 30- pound gain for a 5- foot, 4- inch woman--had nearly double the risk of developing breast cancer after menopause compared to women who kept their weight steady as they aged. (The average 60- year-old woman's risk of developing breast cancer by age 65 is about 2 percent; her lifetime risk is 13 percent.)
"Weight gain is a major risk factor for breast cancer," and could play as much of a role as other known risk factors, like family history of cancer, or the age at first menstruation or childbirth, says study coauthor Regina Ziegler, an epidemiologist at NCI. That's probably because the accumulation of excess body fat over time increases the level of estrogen in the body, which is thought to fuel the growth of most postmenopausal breast cancer tumors. Interestingly, the study also found that women who started off overweight or obese at age 20 didn't have any increase in breast cancer risk, which contradicts other research showing that obesity increases the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer as well as several other cancers including colon, endometrial, kidney, and esophageal, according to the NCI's website.
Unfortunately, few women are able to maintain their post-college dress size, a testament to how tough it is to prevent that mid-life bulge. (Nearly 57 percent of the study participants failed to do so.) "As you progress through mid-life, you'll find your metabolism naturally slows down," says Jana Klauer, a New York City physician and nutritionist specializing in obesity treatment and author of How the Rich Get Thin. In other words, if you maintain the same Big Mac habits you had in college, you'll pack on pounds. So what does it take to keep the scale steady? "A lot of effort," says Klauer. Here are her 7 steps for beating the odds:
1. Cut back on calories. "Your metabolic rate peaks in your 20s," says Klauer, because your body is still adding bone mass and churning out a lot of hormones to keep you fertile. After age 30, your metabolism slows by about 5 to 7 percent per decade. That means if you were eating about 2,500 calories per day to maintain your weight in your 20s, you'd have to eat about 125 to 175 fewer calories each day to keep the scale from inching upward. By the time you hit your 50s, you'd need to cut back by 300 to 500 calories a day to keep the same waistline you had in your 20s.
2. Sweat, sweat, sweat. If you don't want to cut your food intake too much, increase your calorie-burning activities. Those who aren't counting calories probably need to exercise for about an hour each day, every day of the week to truly keep the pounds off, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers looked at 34,000 nondieting women (average age 54) and found that those who worked out for an hour a day--the equivalent of a brisk walk--kept themselves slim through the years. While those who worked out less gained weight, they still benefitted from lower risks of heart disease and diabetes, compared to their sedentary counterparts.
3. Lift weights. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so building muscle helps keep your metabolism revved up as you age. Unfortunately, your body begins to shed muscle in your 40s if you don't do anything to maintain it. Doing resistance training with free weights or weight machines at the gym three or four days a week can go a long way towards helping you retain muscle and boost your metabolism. Klauer recommends hiring a personal trainer for three or four sessions to learn the proper form and prevent injuries.
4. Be wary of hormonal birth control. Birth control pills, intrauterine devices that release progesterone, and especially the progesterone-only shot, Depo-Provera, can cause weight gain in some women. A 2009 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that women who used the Depo shot gained an average of 11 pounds over three years compared to an average gain of 3 to 4 pounds among women who used other forms of contraception. But the study also found that only 25 percent of Depo users gained a significant amount of weight, and Klauer says the same holds true for other forms of hormonal contraception. For example, some women gain 15 pounds on a particular brand of pill, while others don't. "It's extremely individual and probably related to genetics," she adds. If you're taking hormones and have noticed recent weight gain of five or ten pounds with no obvious explanation, she says, you might want to try switching to a different formulation to see if that helps.
5. Get an optimal amount of sleep. Research has shown that getting too little or too much sleep increases a person's risk of heart disease and metabolic syndrome, a precursor to diabetes. Getting an adequate amount of sleep, says Klauer, ensures that your body produces enough leptin, a hormone released during deep sleep that regulates your hunger drive. That's why sleep deprivation tends to lead to overeating. While most adults need about 7 to 8 hours of shut-eye each night, some of us require a bit more or a bit less. How to tell how much you need? Go to bed a few nights in a row without an alarm clock and see what time you naturally wake up the next morning. (Best to try this when you don't need to make an early flight or work meeting!)
6. Eat six mini-meals a day. Klauer recommends eating one small meal every three hours to help curb those hunger pangs that trigger overeating. Research also suggests that eating mini-meals at regular times throughout the day boosts metabolism and balances blood sugar levels. Mini-meals should be about 250 to 300 calories consisting of a mixture of carbohydrates, protein, and a dollop of fat. Some nutritious ideas: two slices of turkey breast with lettuce and tomato on whole-wheat bread; a mixed-green salad topped with strawberries, sliced pears, and a serving of sliced almonds; one bowl of high-fiber cereal and a cup of light yogurt.
7. Weigh yourself regularly. While you don't want to be a slave to your scale, weighing yourself a few times a week can help you keep track of weight gain and reverse course before you find you can't button your favorite jeans. Need proof? A 2006 study from Cornell University found that college freshmen who were told to weigh themselves every morning gained almost no weight during the school year compared with a 7-pound gain for those who weren't given a scale.
For diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
By Deborah Kotz
Gaining a pound or two a year after age 20 is the norm for most Americans, which explains why two-thirds of us are overweight by the time we hit our 50s. Not only does that put us at increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, but it can also increase a woman's chances of developing postmenopausal breast cancer. A new National Cancer Institute study of 72,000 women found that those who had a normal body mass index at age 20 and gained through the decades to become overweight--an increase of at least 5 BMI units, which is equivalent to a 30- pound gain for a 5- foot, 4- inch woman--had nearly double the risk of developing breast cancer after menopause compared to women who kept their weight steady as they aged. (The average 60- year-old woman's risk of developing breast cancer by age 65 is about 2 percent; her lifetime risk is 13 percent.)
"Weight gain is a major risk factor for breast cancer," and could play as much of a role as other known risk factors, like family history of cancer, or the age at first menstruation or childbirth, says study coauthor Regina Ziegler, an epidemiologist at NCI. That's probably because the accumulation of excess body fat over time increases the level of estrogen in the body, which is thought to fuel the growth of most postmenopausal breast cancer tumors. Interestingly, the study also found that women who started off overweight or obese at age 20 didn't have any increase in breast cancer risk, which contradicts other research showing that obesity increases the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer as well as several other cancers including colon, endometrial, kidney, and esophageal, according to the NCI's website.
Unfortunately, few women are able to maintain their post-college dress size, a testament to how tough it is to prevent that mid-life bulge. (Nearly 57 percent of the study participants failed to do so.) "As you progress through mid-life, you'll find your metabolism naturally slows down," says Jana Klauer, a New York City physician and nutritionist specializing in obesity treatment and author of How the Rich Get Thin. In other words, if you maintain the same Big Mac habits you had in college, you'll pack on pounds. So what does it take to keep the scale steady? "A lot of effort," says Klauer. Here are her 7 steps for beating the odds:
1. Cut back on calories. "Your metabolic rate peaks in your 20s," says Klauer, because your body is still adding bone mass and churning out a lot of hormones to keep you fertile. After age 30, your metabolism slows by about 5 to 7 percent per decade. That means if you were eating about 2,500 calories per day to maintain your weight in your 20s, you'd have to eat about 125 to 175 fewer calories each day to keep the scale from inching upward. By the time you hit your 50s, you'd need to cut back by 300 to 500 calories a day to keep the same waistline you had in your 20s.
2. Sweat, sweat, sweat. If you don't want to cut your food intake too much, increase your calorie-burning activities. Those who aren't counting calories probably need to exercise for about an hour each day, every day of the week to truly keep the pounds off, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers looked at 34,000 nondieting women (average age 54) and found that those who worked out for an hour a day--the equivalent of a brisk walk--kept themselves slim through the years. While those who worked out less gained weight, they still benefitted from lower risks of heart disease and diabetes, compared to their sedentary counterparts.
3. Lift weights. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so building muscle helps keep your metabolism revved up as you age. Unfortunately, your body begins to shed muscle in your 40s if you don't do anything to maintain it. Doing resistance training with free weights or weight machines at the gym three or four days a week can go a long way towards helping you retain muscle and boost your metabolism. Klauer recommends hiring a personal trainer for three or four sessions to learn the proper form and prevent injuries.
4. Be wary of hormonal birth control. Birth control pills, intrauterine devices that release progesterone, and especially the progesterone-only shot, Depo-Provera, can cause weight gain in some women. A 2009 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that women who used the Depo shot gained an average of 11 pounds over three years compared to an average gain of 3 to 4 pounds among women who used other forms of contraception. But the study also found that only 25 percent of Depo users gained a significant amount of weight, and Klauer says the same holds true for other forms of hormonal contraception. For example, some women gain 15 pounds on a particular brand of pill, while others don't. "It's extremely individual and probably related to genetics," she adds. If you're taking hormones and have noticed recent weight gain of five or ten pounds with no obvious explanation, she says, you might want to try switching to a different formulation to see if that helps.
5. Get an optimal amount of sleep. Research has shown that getting too little or too much sleep increases a person's risk of heart disease and metabolic syndrome, a precursor to diabetes. Getting an adequate amount of sleep, says Klauer, ensures that your body produces enough leptin, a hormone released during deep sleep that regulates your hunger drive. That's why sleep deprivation tends to lead to overeating. While most adults need about 7 to 8 hours of shut-eye each night, some of us require a bit more or a bit less. How to tell how much you need? Go to bed a few nights in a row without an alarm clock and see what time you naturally wake up the next morning. (Best to try this when you don't need to make an early flight or work meeting!)
6. Eat six mini-meals a day. Klauer recommends eating one small meal every three hours to help curb those hunger pangs that trigger overeating. Research also suggests that eating mini-meals at regular times throughout the day boosts metabolism and balances blood sugar levels. Mini-meals should be about 250 to 300 calories consisting of a mixture of carbohydrates, protein, and a dollop of fat. Some nutritious ideas: two slices of turkey breast with lettuce and tomato on whole-wheat bread; a mixed-green salad topped with strawberries, sliced pears, and a serving of sliced almonds; one bowl of high-fiber cereal and a cup of light yogurt.
7. Weigh yourself regularly. While you don't want to be a slave to your scale, weighing yourself a few times a week can help you keep track of weight gain and reverse course before you find you can't button your favorite jeans. Need proof? A 2006 study from Cornell University found that college freshmen who were told to weigh themselves every morning gained almost no weight during the school year compared with a 7-pound gain for those who weren't given a scale.
For diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Dangerous Side of Sugar
The Dangerous Side Of Sugar
By Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. by Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
As if you needed another good reason to kick your soda habit, a new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that a diet heavy in added sugar is linked to elevated triglyceride levels and may increase your risk for a heart attack.
Added sugars such as cane sugar, beet sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice concentrate, and honey are used to sweeten packaged foods like sodas and fruit drinks, cereal, candy, cookies, and baked goods. In the study published this week, researchers at Emory University found that individuals who consume large amounts of added sugar have lower HDL ("good") cholesterol levels and higher triglyceride levels than individuals who eat less of the sweet stuff. Among women only, high added sugar intake was also linked to increased LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels. All of these red-flag numbers-low HDL, high triglycerides, high LDL-are independent risk factors for heart disease, which means that guzzling sugary coffee drinks and chomping down cookies may be putting your ticker in harm's way.
Research has already shown that regular consumption of foods high in added sugars is associated with weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and cavities, but this is the first study of its kind to link sugar intake to cholesterol levels in humans. And that's bad news for Americans, who now consume about 16% of their daily total calories as added sugar. Soda is the number one source of added sugar, contributing about a third of all added sugar in the American diet.
Unfortunately, guidelines for added sugar intake are all over the map and hardly user-friendly. Last year, the American Heart Association released new recommendations advising that women consume fewer than 100 calories from added sugar daily and men consume fewer than 150 calories. While I'm glad the organization called attention to our population's growing sugar problem, these guidelines are very difficult to put into practice, especially since "added sugars" aren't specifically listed on nutrition labels. (The Nutrition Facts Panel lists "Sugars" under "Total Carbohydrate", but this refers to total sugar in the product. Total sugar is a combination of added sugars and naturally-occurring sugars found primarily in fruit and dairy products. While added sugars don't provide anything but empty calories, the natural sugars in fruit and dairy products come packaged with healthful nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals and don't need to be strictly limited.)
Plus, in order to see if you're staying below the American Heart Association calorie cutoffs, you need to know that every gram of added sugar contributes 4 calories, and then do a little arithmetic. Complete hassle!
If you don't feel like tabulating your exact added sugar intake each day, follow my 4 guidelines and you'll automatically cut back on the added sugar in your diet.
Eliminate soda and sugary drinks (including sports drinks, sweetened waters, juice drinks, and caloric cocktails). Choose plain water or naturally flavored seltzer instead.
Use sugar (and other sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, agave, and molasses) sparingly. Add no more than 1 to 2 teaspoons in coffee, tea, or oatmeal.
Choose packaged foods with minimal added sugar. For example, cereals should have no more than 8 grams of sugar per serving.
Be selective with sweet splurges. Either allow yourself a daily sweet treat around 150 calories, or indulge in a more decadent dessert no more than once or twice a week. My favorite sweet treats are foods that balance sugar with something healthy, such as a scoop of ice cream or pudding-both high in calcium; 1 oz dark chocolate-has tons of antioxidants; or a dollop of whipped cream with berries-loaded with fiber and vitamin C.
For diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
By Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. by Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
As if you needed another good reason to kick your soda habit, a new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that a diet heavy in added sugar is linked to elevated triglyceride levels and may increase your risk for a heart attack.
Added sugars such as cane sugar, beet sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice concentrate, and honey are used to sweeten packaged foods like sodas and fruit drinks, cereal, candy, cookies, and baked goods. In the study published this week, researchers at Emory University found that individuals who consume large amounts of added sugar have lower HDL ("good") cholesterol levels and higher triglyceride levels than individuals who eat less of the sweet stuff. Among women only, high added sugar intake was also linked to increased LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels. All of these red-flag numbers-low HDL, high triglycerides, high LDL-are independent risk factors for heart disease, which means that guzzling sugary coffee drinks and chomping down cookies may be putting your ticker in harm's way.
Research has already shown that regular consumption of foods high in added sugars is associated with weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and cavities, but this is the first study of its kind to link sugar intake to cholesterol levels in humans. And that's bad news for Americans, who now consume about 16% of their daily total calories as added sugar. Soda is the number one source of added sugar, contributing about a third of all added sugar in the American diet.
Unfortunately, guidelines for added sugar intake are all over the map and hardly user-friendly. Last year, the American Heart Association released new recommendations advising that women consume fewer than 100 calories from added sugar daily and men consume fewer than 150 calories. While I'm glad the organization called attention to our population's growing sugar problem, these guidelines are very difficult to put into practice, especially since "added sugars" aren't specifically listed on nutrition labels. (The Nutrition Facts Panel lists "Sugars" under "Total Carbohydrate", but this refers to total sugar in the product. Total sugar is a combination of added sugars and naturally-occurring sugars found primarily in fruit and dairy products. While added sugars don't provide anything but empty calories, the natural sugars in fruit and dairy products come packaged with healthful nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals and don't need to be strictly limited.)
Plus, in order to see if you're staying below the American Heart Association calorie cutoffs, you need to know that every gram of added sugar contributes 4 calories, and then do a little arithmetic. Complete hassle!
If you don't feel like tabulating your exact added sugar intake each day, follow my 4 guidelines and you'll automatically cut back on the added sugar in your diet.
Eliminate soda and sugary drinks (including sports drinks, sweetened waters, juice drinks, and caloric cocktails). Choose plain water or naturally flavored seltzer instead.
Use sugar (and other sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, agave, and molasses) sparingly. Add no more than 1 to 2 teaspoons in coffee, tea, or oatmeal.
Choose packaged foods with minimal added sugar. For example, cereals should have no more than 8 grams of sugar per serving.
Be selective with sweet splurges. Either allow yourself a daily sweet treat around 150 calories, or indulge in a more decadent dessert no more than once or twice a week. My favorite sweet treats are foods that balance sugar with something healthy, such as a scoop of ice cream or pudding-both high in calcium; 1 oz dark chocolate-has tons of antioxidants; or a dollop of whipped cream with berries-loaded with fiber and vitamin C.
For diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Monday, April 5, 2010
Easy Calorie Cutters That Fight Fat
Easy Calorie Cutters That Fight Fat.
By Liz Vaccariello, Editor-in-Chief, Prevention
There's more than one way to cut a calorie. Yes, you can look at labels or choose restaurants that list calories on the menu, but there are other not-so-obvious ways to trim calories without a lot of thought or effort. Here are six that work surprisingly well.
1. Trim Down Portions at Home
Restaurant servings aren't the only ones growing. According to a study of 18 recipes published in The Joy of Cooking since it was first released in 1936, home-cooked meals have 63% more calories per serving today. One of the reasons is a 33% increase in serving sizes since 1996. Halve recipes, or assume you'll have leftovers and store half the food as soon as it's cooked.
2. Skip Oversweetened Drinks
People who eliminated just one sugar-sweetened beverage from their diets a day lost more weight over 6 months than those who reduced the same number of calories from solid food, found a Johns Hopkins University study. Researchers speculate that liquid calories are less satiating, leaving you hungrier.
3. Eat Protein at Every Meal
In a European study of 205 slimmed-down men and women, those who ate about 25% of their daily calories from protein (about 100 g for a 1,600-calorie diet) had an easier time maintaining their weight loss. Protein may help because it keeps you feeling full longer and uses more calories during digestion than carbohydrates and fat do, concluded the researchers. Good choices: 3 ounces of chicken (26 g protein), 3 ounces of tuna (22 g), 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese (14 g), 1/2 cup of soybeans (11 g), 1 cup of quinoa (8 g).
4. Begin with Broth
Research shows you'll eat about 20% fewer calories if you start a meal with soup instead of diving right into the main course. Just skip high-calorie cream-based varieties.
5. Have a V-8
Vegetable juice may help quell your appetite and control calorie consumption. When University of California, Davis, researchers had a group of men and women follow a low-calorie, heart-healthy diet, those who drank at least 8 ounces of low-sodium vegetable juice daily lost 4 times more weight than those who skipped the healthy beverage.
6. Make Your Own Snack Packs
Dieters actually ate more when given prepackaged 100-calorie snack packs than when they received larger packages, reports a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research. These products may be perceived as low-cal "diet" food, but in reality, they tend to be sugary and nonfilling so you may not stop at just one, explains Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, director of sports nutrition at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. A better (and cheaper) option: Buy a big bag and portion out your own sensible servings.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
By Liz Vaccariello, Editor-in-Chief, Prevention
There's more than one way to cut a calorie. Yes, you can look at labels or choose restaurants that list calories on the menu, but there are other not-so-obvious ways to trim calories without a lot of thought or effort. Here are six that work surprisingly well.
1. Trim Down Portions at Home
Restaurant servings aren't the only ones growing. According to a study of 18 recipes published in The Joy of Cooking since it was first released in 1936, home-cooked meals have 63% more calories per serving today. One of the reasons is a 33% increase in serving sizes since 1996. Halve recipes, or assume you'll have leftovers and store half the food as soon as it's cooked.
2. Skip Oversweetened Drinks
People who eliminated just one sugar-sweetened beverage from their diets a day lost more weight over 6 months than those who reduced the same number of calories from solid food, found a Johns Hopkins University study. Researchers speculate that liquid calories are less satiating, leaving you hungrier.
3. Eat Protein at Every Meal
In a European study of 205 slimmed-down men and women, those who ate about 25% of their daily calories from protein (about 100 g for a 1,600-calorie diet) had an easier time maintaining their weight loss. Protein may help because it keeps you feeling full longer and uses more calories during digestion than carbohydrates and fat do, concluded the researchers. Good choices: 3 ounces of chicken (26 g protein), 3 ounces of tuna (22 g), 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese (14 g), 1/2 cup of soybeans (11 g), 1 cup of quinoa (8 g).
4. Begin with Broth
Research shows you'll eat about 20% fewer calories if you start a meal with soup instead of diving right into the main course. Just skip high-calorie cream-based varieties.
5. Have a V-8
Vegetable juice may help quell your appetite and control calorie consumption. When University of California, Davis, researchers had a group of men and women follow a low-calorie, heart-healthy diet, those who drank at least 8 ounces of low-sodium vegetable juice daily lost 4 times more weight than those who skipped the healthy beverage.
6. Make Your Own Snack Packs
Dieters actually ate more when given prepackaged 100-calorie snack packs than when they received larger packages, reports a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research. These products may be perceived as low-cal "diet" food, but in reality, they tend to be sugary and nonfilling so you may not stop at just one, explains Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, director of sports nutrition at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. A better (and cheaper) option: Buy a big bag and portion out your own sensible servings.
For more diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Friday, March 26, 2010
A "dude" explains why salad is 'manfood'
John DeVore is a former editor at Maxim magazine and maxim.com and former host of "The DeVore and Diana Show" on Sirius XM radio. He currently offers man-centric perspectives as a columnist at Guyspeak.com and TheFrisky.com. He's a lifelong food freak and yo-yo dieter and speaks fluent "dude."
(CNN) -- Real men eat salads. I know this because I am a dude. Right now, in my fridge, I have five bottles of hot sauce, a jar of Cheez Whiz and half a pack of hot dogs. But recently I went to lunch with a couple of buds, and I ordered a salad. I ordered it hard.
It was a basic frissée salad with bacon, shallots and a poached egg, tossed in a light vinaigrette. Frissée is a curly, toothsome leaf, bitter enough to balance bacon and egg but still possessed of a pleasant spring.
My friends laughed at me. They pointed. One ordered a burger, the other fried calamari. I was chastised for not eating "man food."
For those of you who aren't familiar with this gender normative term, "man food" is food that you'd imagine a lumberjack or a cowboy or a Viking would eat. Towers of butter-soaked pancakes. Pots of napalm-hot chili. Meat on a bone.
Thoroughly unsubtle, "man food" is rustic fare meant to satisfy a hearty appetite. Quantity is prized over quality. Calories are "fun points." The more "fun points," the tastier the belly filler.
But sometimes a dude needs a change. Specifically, a salad. A fresh, crisp, crunchy salad. Salads offer breathers between manly meals. Spinach, cucumber, tomato, red onions, mushrooms, chickpeas, oil and vinegar -- that is my usual jam.
I don't need any fancy, goopy dressings compromising my vegetables. (What does a ranch actually taste like, anyway?) Sometimes, I might throw some almonds or walnuts up in there. I've been known to be down with blueberries and mandarin oranges. I like bacon or grilled chicken on occasion. I am not a fan of unnecessary carbs like croutons. And then there are those moments I go crazy and get a frissée freakin' salad.
I didn't evolve without help. There was a time where, if I cut myself shaving, I'd bleed sausage gravy. My heart squeezed more than it pumped. And I also grew what I call "fat wings."
Luckily, the woman I was dating at that time didn't like any of those things. Being able to sit in a bathtub full of buffalo wings is every dude's birthright, but I eventually learned that being attractive for your significant other is also pretty manly.
My girlfriend was a smart woman and didn't bring up my devolving into a human biscuit. What she did was announce that we were going to save money so that Saturday nights, we could go to the local barbecue joint and destroy some cow with our faces.
Obviously, my first thought was, "Aww, she wants me to help her lose weight." So I humored her. She came home from the supermarket with a stack of plastic disposable containers. In each, she put one potential salad ingredient. Not only the ones that would become my favorite but kidney beans, green peppers, corn and pepperoni slices.
She created a mini-salad bar in our fridge. It was easy, and I was told I could eat as much as I wanted. This became my lunch and occasional dinner.
You know what? We saved money. I lost weight. Gained energy. And my girlfriend and I, well, let's just say we had the whoopee time.
I kept this up this salad-centric diet for months. My friends would come over to watch a fight or brawl on the PlayStation, and I'd meet them at the door with a salad in my hand.
The landlord would need my help with some drywall; I'd put my salad down.
At work, I'd articulate corporate strategy during lunch meetings spearing cucumbers in my lucky bowl of awesome salad. I made eating salad sexy. I made it macho, macho.
Is it rabbit food? Friend, if it's rabbit food, then that rabbit is the size of a ferocious bear.
My friends poked fun at me as I munched on my fancy salad. It was tasty. I love how the warm yolk from the poached egg lightly coated the frissée, adding a dimension of hardiness to a dish with such leafy bounce. And the bacon chunks added just the right amount of fatty salt, more sturdy ballast. I wiped my mouth.
We were out celebrating one guy's birthday. The other guy, an old friend from college, was "in-between gigs." It had been another tough year. "Salad is not man food," they mocked. Oh, but it is. I ordered a final round of beers. Then I picked up the check.
Are salads manly? What is the manliest salad? Are you the sort of guy who wouldn't touch a salad if a gun was put to his head? Tell us in the comments whether you think salads can count as "man food."
For diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
(CNN) -- Real men eat salads. I know this because I am a dude. Right now, in my fridge, I have five bottles of hot sauce, a jar of Cheez Whiz and half a pack of hot dogs. But recently I went to lunch with a couple of buds, and I ordered a salad. I ordered it hard.
It was a basic frissée salad with bacon, shallots and a poached egg, tossed in a light vinaigrette. Frissée is a curly, toothsome leaf, bitter enough to balance bacon and egg but still possessed of a pleasant spring.
My friends laughed at me. They pointed. One ordered a burger, the other fried calamari. I was chastised for not eating "man food."
For those of you who aren't familiar with this gender normative term, "man food" is food that you'd imagine a lumberjack or a cowboy or a Viking would eat. Towers of butter-soaked pancakes. Pots of napalm-hot chili. Meat on a bone.
Thoroughly unsubtle, "man food" is rustic fare meant to satisfy a hearty appetite. Quantity is prized over quality. Calories are "fun points." The more "fun points," the tastier the belly filler.
But sometimes a dude needs a change. Specifically, a salad. A fresh, crisp, crunchy salad. Salads offer breathers between manly meals. Spinach, cucumber, tomato, red onions, mushrooms, chickpeas, oil and vinegar -- that is my usual jam.
I don't need any fancy, goopy dressings compromising my vegetables. (What does a ranch actually taste like, anyway?) Sometimes, I might throw some almonds or walnuts up in there. I've been known to be down with blueberries and mandarin oranges. I like bacon or grilled chicken on occasion. I am not a fan of unnecessary carbs like croutons. And then there are those moments I go crazy and get a frissée freakin' salad.
I didn't evolve without help. There was a time where, if I cut myself shaving, I'd bleed sausage gravy. My heart squeezed more than it pumped. And I also grew what I call "fat wings."
Luckily, the woman I was dating at that time didn't like any of those things. Being able to sit in a bathtub full of buffalo wings is every dude's birthright, but I eventually learned that being attractive for your significant other is also pretty manly.
My girlfriend was a smart woman and didn't bring up my devolving into a human biscuit. What she did was announce that we were going to save money so that Saturday nights, we could go to the local barbecue joint and destroy some cow with our faces.
Obviously, my first thought was, "Aww, she wants me to help her lose weight." So I humored her. She came home from the supermarket with a stack of plastic disposable containers. In each, she put one potential salad ingredient. Not only the ones that would become my favorite but kidney beans, green peppers, corn and pepperoni slices.
She created a mini-salad bar in our fridge. It was easy, and I was told I could eat as much as I wanted. This became my lunch and occasional dinner.
You know what? We saved money. I lost weight. Gained energy. And my girlfriend and I, well, let's just say we had the whoopee time.
I kept this up this salad-centric diet for months. My friends would come over to watch a fight or brawl on the PlayStation, and I'd meet them at the door with a salad in my hand.
The landlord would need my help with some drywall; I'd put my salad down.
At work, I'd articulate corporate strategy during lunch meetings spearing cucumbers in my lucky bowl of awesome salad. I made eating salad sexy. I made it macho, macho.
Is it rabbit food? Friend, if it's rabbit food, then that rabbit is the size of a ferocious bear.
My friends poked fun at me as I munched on my fancy salad. It was tasty. I love how the warm yolk from the poached egg lightly coated the frissée, adding a dimension of hardiness to a dish with such leafy bounce. And the bacon chunks added just the right amount of fatty salt, more sturdy ballast. I wiped my mouth.
We were out celebrating one guy's birthday. The other guy, an old friend from college, was "in-between gigs." It had been another tough year. "Salad is not man food," they mocked. Oh, but it is. I ordered a final round of beers. Then I picked up the check.
Are salads manly? What is the manliest salad? Are you the sort of guy who wouldn't touch a salad if a gun was put to his head? Tell us in the comments whether you think salads can count as "man food."
For diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Up to a third of breast cancers could be prevented
Up to a third of breast cancers could be avoided
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer
BARCELONA, Spain – Up to a third of breast cancer cases in Western countries could be avoided if women ate less and exercised more, researchers at a conference said Thursday, renewing a sensitive debate about how lifestyle factors affect the disease.
Better treatments, early diagnosis and mammogram screenings have dramatically slowed breast cancer, but experts said the focus should now shift to changing behaviors like diet and physical activity.
"What can be achieved with screening has been achieved. We can't do much more," Carlo La Vecchia, head of epidemiology at the University of Milan, said in an interview. "It's time to move on to other things."
La Vecchia spoke Thursday at a European breast cancer conference in Barcelona. He cited figures from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which estimates that 25 to 30 percent of breast cancer cases could be avoided if women were thinner and exercised more. The agency is part of the World Health Organization.
His comments are in line with recent health advice that lifestyle changes in areas such as smoking, diet, exercise and sun exposure can play a significant role in risk for several cancers.
Dr. Michelle Holmes of Harvard University, who has studied cancer and lifestyle factors, said people might wrongly think their chances of getting cancer depend more on their genes than their lifestyle.
"The genes have been there for thousands of years, but if cancer rates are changing in a lifetime, that doesn't have much to do with genes," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In Europe, there were about 421,000 new cases and nearly 90,000 deaths in 2008, the latest available figures. The United States last year saw more than 190,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths.
A woman's lifetime chance of getting breast cancer is about one in eight. Obese women are up to 60 percent more likely to develop any cancer than normal-weight women, according to a 2006 study by British researchers.
Many breast cancers are fueled by estrogen, a hormone produced in fat tissue. So experts suspect that the fatter a woman is, the more estrogen she's likely to produce, which could in turn fuel breast cancer. Even in slim women, experts believe exercise can help reduce the cancer risk by converting more fat into muscle.
Yet any discussion of weight and breast cancer is considered sensitive because some may misconstrue that as the medical establishment blaming women for their disease.
Tara Beaumont, a clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Care, a British charity, said her agency has always been careful about giving lifestyle advice. She noted that three of the major risk factors for breast cancer — gender, age and family history — are clearly beyond anyone's control.
"It is incredibly difficult to isolate specific factors. Therefore women should in no way feel that they are responsible for developing breast cancer," she said.
Yet Karen Benn, a spokeswoman for Europa Donna, a patient-focused breast cancer group, said it was impossible to ignore the increasingly stronger links between lifestyle and breast cancer.
"If we know there are healthier choices, we can't not recommend them just because people might misinterpret the advice and feel guilty," she said. "If we are going to prevent breast cancer, then this message needs to get out, particularly to younger women."
That means avoiding becoming overweight as an adult. Robert Baan, a cancer expert with the international cancer research agency, said it isn't clear if women who lose weight can lower their risk to the level of a woman who was never fat.
The American Cancer Society Web site says the connection between weight and cancer risk is complex. It says risk appears to increase for women who gain weight as adults, but not for women who have been overweight since childhood. The cancer society recommends 45 to 60 minutes of physical activity five or more days a week to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Drinking less alcohol might also help. Experts estimate that having more than a couple of drinks a day can boost the risk of breast cancer by 4 to 10 percent.
After studies several years ago linked hormone-replacement therapy to cancer, millions of women abandoned the treatment, leading to a sharp drop in breast cancer rates. Experts said a similar reduction might be seen if women ate healthier and exercised more.
Holmes, the Harvard expert, said changing diet and nutrition is arguably easier than tackling other breast cancer risk factors.
In the 1980s and 1990s, breast cancer rates steadily increased, paralleling a rise in obesity and the use of estrogen-containing hormones after menopause.
La Vecchia said countries like Italy and France — where obesity rates have been stable for the past two decades — show that weight can be controlled at a population level.
"It's hard to lose weight, but it's not impossible," he said. "The potential benefit of preventing cancer is worth it."
For diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
___
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer
BARCELONA, Spain – Up to a third of breast cancer cases in Western countries could be avoided if women ate less and exercised more, researchers at a conference said Thursday, renewing a sensitive debate about how lifestyle factors affect the disease.
Better treatments, early diagnosis and mammogram screenings have dramatically slowed breast cancer, but experts said the focus should now shift to changing behaviors like diet and physical activity.
"What can be achieved with screening has been achieved. We can't do much more," Carlo La Vecchia, head of epidemiology at the University of Milan, said in an interview. "It's time to move on to other things."
La Vecchia spoke Thursday at a European breast cancer conference in Barcelona. He cited figures from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which estimates that 25 to 30 percent of breast cancer cases could be avoided if women were thinner and exercised more. The agency is part of the World Health Organization.
His comments are in line with recent health advice that lifestyle changes in areas such as smoking, diet, exercise and sun exposure can play a significant role in risk for several cancers.
Dr. Michelle Holmes of Harvard University, who has studied cancer and lifestyle factors, said people might wrongly think their chances of getting cancer depend more on their genes than their lifestyle.
"The genes have been there for thousands of years, but if cancer rates are changing in a lifetime, that doesn't have much to do with genes," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In Europe, there were about 421,000 new cases and nearly 90,000 deaths in 2008, the latest available figures. The United States last year saw more than 190,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths.
A woman's lifetime chance of getting breast cancer is about one in eight. Obese women are up to 60 percent more likely to develop any cancer than normal-weight women, according to a 2006 study by British researchers.
Many breast cancers are fueled by estrogen, a hormone produced in fat tissue. So experts suspect that the fatter a woman is, the more estrogen she's likely to produce, which could in turn fuel breast cancer. Even in slim women, experts believe exercise can help reduce the cancer risk by converting more fat into muscle.
Yet any discussion of weight and breast cancer is considered sensitive because some may misconstrue that as the medical establishment blaming women for their disease.
Tara Beaumont, a clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Care, a British charity, said her agency has always been careful about giving lifestyle advice. She noted that three of the major risk factors for breast cancer — gender, age and family history — are clearly beyond anyone's control.
"It is incredibly difficult to isolate specific factors. Therefore women should in no way feel that they are responsible for developing breast cancer," she said.
Yet Karen Benn, a spokeswoman for Europa Donna, a patient-focused breast cancer group, said it was impossible to ignore the increasingly stronger links between lifestyle and breast cancer.
"If we know there are healthier choices, we can't not recommend them just because people might misinterpret the advice and feel guilty," she said. "If we are going to prevent breast cancer, then this message needs to get out, particularly to younger women."
That means avoiding becoming overweight as an adult. Robert Baan, a cancer expert with the international cancer research agency, said it isn't clear if women who lose weight can lower their risk to the level of a woman who was never fat.
The American Cancer Society Web site says the connection between weight and cancer risk is complex. It says risk appears to increase for women who gain weight as adults, but not for women who have been overweight since childhood. The cancer society recommends 45 to 60 minutes of physical activity five or more days a week to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Drinking less alcohol might also help. Experts estimate that having more than a couple of drinks a day can boost the risk of breast cancer by 4 to 10 percent.
After studies several years ago linked hormone-replacement therapy to cancer, millions of women abandoned the treatment, leading to a sharp drop in breast cancer rates. Experts said a similar reduction might be seen if women ate healthier and exercised more.
Holmes, the Harvard expert, said changing diet and nutrition is arguably easier than tackling other breast cancer risk factors.
In the 1980s and 1990s, breast cancer rates steadily increased, paralleling a rise in obesity and the use of estrogen-containing hormones after menopause.
La Vecchia said countries like Italy and France — where obesity rates have been stable for the past two decades — show that weight can be controlled at a population level.
"It's hard to lose weight, but it's not impossible," he said. "The potential benefit of preventing cancer is worth it."
For diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
___
1 food that can help you sleep- and 5 that might not
1 food that can help you sleep—and 5 that might not
Since I’ve become a mom, it’s a challenge for me to get enough sleep. It’s become harder for me to fall asleep because I’m thinking about work, the baby, all the stuff that needs to be done around the house, what to make for dinner the next night...and the list goes on. (At least I’ve got a handle on the dinner thing—I either make one of these cheap, 30-minute dinner recipes or make a super-easy meal in my slow cooker.)
I’m not OK with getting less than the recommended 8 to 9 hours per night, since sleep is so important to my health and my figure (research links weight gain with sleep loss). (Find 5 foods that do the weight-loss work for you here.)
So in the interest of giving myself the best chance for a good night’s sleep (especially with the spring time change), I took a look at advice from EatingWell Nutrition Advisory Board member Dr. Rachel Johnson on which foods and drinks can help promote better sleep. Here’s what the research says:
Carbohydrate-Rich Dinners (This one works!): A light bedtime snack can stave off hunger, a known sleep robber. But eating quickly-digested carbs (a.k.a, “high-glycemic-index” or “GI” carbohydrates such as jasmine rice) hours earlier at dinner—might also help. A study found that when healthy sleepers ate carbohydrate-rich suppers of veggies and tomato sauce over rice, they fell asleep significantly faster at bedtime if the meal included high-GI jasmine rice rather than lower-GI long-grain rice. The study authors speculated that the high-GI meals triggered greater amounts of insulin, which increased the ratio of tryptophan relative to other amino acids in the blood, allowing proportionately more to get into the brain and make people drowsy.
Warm Milk: Decades ago, scientists looked into this folk remedy and posited that tryptophan, an amino acid in milk (and turkey), might be responsible for its supposed sleep-inducing effects. Earlier research had shown that when tryptophan is released into the brain, it produces serotonin—a serenity-boosting neurotransmitter. But when milk (and other tryptophan-rich foods) were tested, they failed to affect sleep patterns, perhaps because other amino acids in those foods competed with tryptophan to get into the brain. Warm milk at bedtime may be comforting, but it won’t boost sleep-promoting serotonin.
Herbal Tea: Chamomile, lemon balm, hops and passionflower are all touted for their sleep-promoting properties. You’ll often find them in “sleep-formula” tea blends, but unfortunately their effectiveness hasn’t been proven in clinical studies, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Some experts say that these teas may work for some, and a warm liquid before bed may make you sleepy by generating body heat. That said, a cup of “sleep-time” tea might be worth a try.
Caffeine: Caffeine affects everyone differently, so if you’re sensitive it might be worth trying to cut down—or limit caffeine to the morning only. This can mean more than just cutting out a cup of coffee. The major sources of caffeine in Americans’ diets are coffee (71 percent), soft drinks (16 percent) and teas (12 percent) but chocolate is also a source. Our ability to excrete caffeine decreases with age so while you might have tolerated four cups of coffee a day when you were 20, you’ll probably need to cut down as you get older. Cut down on caffeine or limit it to the morning; if insomnia persists, consider going cold turkey. Try this drink to cure a headache & 4 more home remedies for common ailments.
Alcohol: Though a glass of wine may help you fall asleep, excessive alcohol use can make you wake up in the night. One theory is that alcohol suppresses the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep state that’s critical to a good night’s sleep. Drink moderately, if at all; avoid drinking within a few hours of bedtime.
Sleep Supplements: Shelves in supplement stores are stacked with sleep formulas. According to one NIH survey conducted in 2002, 1.6 million people tried complementary or alternative therapies like these, and over half of them reported their insomnia improved “a great deal.” However, those glowing anecdotes haven’t been backed up by rigorous scientific study; evaluations of most nutritional supplements haven’t shown any effects whatsoever. The one exception is valerian root, which seemed to help improve sleep (with rare, and mild, side effects, such as stomach upset). But finding an effective formulation of valerian root is tricky, since the FDA doesn’t regulate herbal supplements. Don’t waste your money on sleep supplements; hold off on using valerian until standardized formulations become available.
By Michelle Edelbaum
Since I’ve become a mom, it’s a challenge for me to get enough sleep. It’s become harder for me to fall asleep because I’m thinking about work, the baby, all the stuff that needs to be done around the house, what to make for dinner the next night...and the list goes on. (At least I’ve got a handle on the dinner thing—I either make one of these cheap, 30-minute dinner recipes or make a super-easy meal in my slow cooker.)
I’m not OK with getting less than the recommended 8 to 9 hours per night, since sleep is so important to my health and my figure (research links weight gain with sleep loss). (Find 5 foods that do the weight-loss work for you here.)
So in the interest of giving myself the best chance for a good night’s sleep (especially with the spring time change), I took a look at advice from EatingWell Nutrition Advisory Board member Dr. Rachel Johnson on which foods and drinks can help promote better sleep. Here’s what the research says:
Carbohydrate-Rich Dinners (This one works!): A light bedtime snack can stave off hunger, a known sleep robber. But eating quickly-digested carbs (a.k.a, “high-glycemic-index” or “GI” carbohydrates such as jasmine rice) hours earlier at dinner—might also help. A study found that when healthy sleepers ate carbohydrate-rich suppers of veggies and tomato sauce over rice, they fell asleep significantly faster at bedtime if the meal included high-GI jasmine rice rather than lower-GI long-grain rice. The study authors speculated that the high-GI meals triggered greater amounts of insulin, which increased the ratio of tryptophan relative to other amino acids in the blood, allowing proportionately more to get into the brain and make people drowsy.
Warm Milk: Decades ago, scientists looked into this folk remedy and posited that tryptophan, an amino acid in milk (and turkey), might be responsible for its supposed sleep-inducing effects. Earlier research had shown that when tryptophan is released into the brain, it produces serotonin—a serenity-boosting neurotransmitter. But when milk (and other tryptophan-rich foods) were tested, they failed to affect sleep patterns, perhaps because other amino acids in those foods competed with tryptophan to get into the brain. Warm milk at bedtime may be comforting, but it won’t boost sleep-promoting serotonin.
Herbal Tea: Chamomile, lemon balm, hops and passionflower are all touted for their sleep-promoting properties. You’ll often find them in “sleep-formula” tea blends, but unfortunately their effectiveness hasn’t been proven in clinical studies, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Some experts say that these teas may work for some, and a warm liquid before bed may make you sleepy by generating body heat. That said, a cup of “sleep-time” tea might be worth a try.
Caffeine: Caffeine affects everyone differently, so if you’re sensitive it might be worth trying to cut down—or limit caffeine to the morning only. This can mean more than just cutting out a cup of coffee. The major sources of caffeine in Americans’ diets are coffee (71 percent), soft drinks (16 percent) and teas (12 percent) but chocolate is also a source. Our ability to excrete caffeine decreases with age so while you might have tolerated four cups of coffee a day when you were 20, you’ll probably need to cut down as you get older. Cut down on caffeine or limit it to the morning; if insomnia persists, consider going cold turkey. Try this drink to cure a headache & 4 more home remedies for common ailments.
Alcohol: Though a glass of wine may help you fall asleep, excessive alcohol use can make you wake up in the night. One theory is that alcohol suppresses the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep state that’s critical to a good night’s sleep. Drink moderately, if at all; avoid drinking within a few hours of bedtime.
Sleep Supplements: Shelves in supplement stores are stacked with sleep formulas. According to one NIH survey conducted in 2002, 1.6 million people tried complementary or alternative therapies like these, and over half of them reported their insomnia improved “a great deal.” However, those glowing anecdotes haven’t been backed up by rigorous scientific study; evaluations of most nutritional supplements haven’t shown any effects whatsoever. The one exception is valerian root, which seemed to help improve sleep (with rare, and mild, side effects, such as stomach upset). But finding an effective formulation of valerian root is tricky, since the FDA doesn’t regulate herbal supplements. Don’t waste your money on sleep supplements; hold off on using valerian until standardized formulations become available.
By Michelle Edelbaum
Skinny Trimmings
Skinny Trimmings
by the Editors of Womens Health
Trying to slim down but can't bear the thought of giving up your daily dish of dulce de leche fro-yo? No problem. Too much deprivation is bad for dieters — trimming more than 500 calories a day can slow down your metabolism and trigger cravings intense enough to sabotage even the most valiant weight-loss efforts, according to Cynthia Sass, R.D., coauthor of Your Diet Is Driving Me Crazy. So the only question is: How fast do you want to lose the weight? Whether your goal is to shed a pound a week (the amount you can lose if you cut 500 calories a day) or a pound a month (if you cut 100), we've got the tricks and tips you need to kiss those extra pounds goodbye — without kissing off cake.
To Lose 1 Pound Per Week
Dodge dining-out disasters
Even your seemingly healthy grilled swordfish and vegetables can pack more calories and fat than a stick of butter. "Many restaurant meals contain up to 2 ounces of added oil [500 calories]," says Anita Jones, founder of the Healthy Dining Program, which analyzes the nutritional content of restaurant food. Pasta dishes are notorious: Oil is used throughout the cooking process and added to sauces and cooked noodles. Stick with steamed veggies and grilled, poached, or broiled lean protein (like poultry and fish), and ask the chef to prepare your dishes without oil. Or just cook meals at home instead of eating out.
Careful With That Cappuccino
Vanilla shots, caramel, sugar packets — they're not harmless just because they're in your cup of joe. A large white-chocolate mocha with whipped cream from Starbucks logs in at 630 calories (the whip alone has 100!). Get your sweet fix with two shots of sugar-free vanilla syrup in a medium cappuccino with soy or fat-free milk and kick 500 empty calories to the curb.
Dress Down
"Most entrée salads at restaurants are pre-dressed with 6 to 10 tablespoons of dressing," Jones says. "And most dressings have 70 to 100 calories per tablespoon and 7 to 10 grams of fat." That's an average of 680 calories just for the dressing (let's not even get into croutons and bacon bits). Order dressing on the side and dip into it sparingly with your fork between bites — you'll cut back to about 2 tablespoons (roughly 175 calories).
Lighten Up At Happy Hour
If it tastes sweet or has a salty rim, it's usually bad news — think cosmos, lemon drops, and appletinis. Most cocktails have 2 to 5 ounces of liquor. Add in 5 ounces of sugary syrups or mixers like cola, grenadine, and Midori and you can down more than 700 calories in just one drink. Stay away from Margaritaville (and below 100 calories) by pairing your liquor with diet or club soda. Or go for a bottle of light beer or a 5-ounce glass of chardonnay, which contain around 125 calories each. Sorry, Jimmy.
To Lose 1 Pound Every 2 Weeks
Cut Out 300 Calories A Day
HERE'S HOW
Be Tricky In The Kitchen
For leaner cuisine — and to save 115 calories — swap out that tablespoon of olive oil for canola or olive oil cooking spray. Sauté vegetables and fish with 1/4 cup of broth rather than 1 tablespoon of butter and trim 100 more. Replace the quarter cup of heavy cream in Alfredo and cheese sauces with the same amount of skim milk mixed with 2 tablespoons of flour — bam, another 150.
Switch Dishes
The larger the serving dish, the more you're likely to consume, according to recent research in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Downsize your ice cream bowl and serve that fettuccine on a 9-inch appetizer plate instead of a standard 11-inch dish — you can save up to 300 calories in a day, says Jenna Anding, Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition and food science at Texas A&M University. Dining out? Cut your entreé in half and doggie-bag it as soon as your food arrives.
Skip The Sweet Swill
"One of the easiest ways to uncover hidden calories is to look at your beverage consumption," Sass says. American women get up to 300 more calories a day now than they did 30 years ago. At least half of those come from sweetened beverages like soda and fruit juice, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. A 20-ounce bottle of Arizona Iced Tea has 240 calories — about as much as a small meal. Ditch the sports drinks, fruit punch, and Slurpees and get your produce nutrients from whole fruit instead of juice — a 1-pint carton of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice has 220 calories. An orange? About 35.
Pare Down Your PMS Picks
Forgo the cup of Ben & Jerry's for the same amount of low-fat ice cream. Slow-Churned Dreyer's Grand Light Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough has only 260 calories per cup. The B&J version? 540 calories. Yeah, we know that eating Ben & Jerry's is as close as any of us is likely to get to paradise on earth. So if you just can't live without the boys, mix 2 tablespoons into a cup of the skinnier stuff and you'll still save 250 calories.
To Lose 1 Pound Per Month
Cut Out 100 Calories A Day
HERE'S HOW
Buy Skinnier Bread
The calorie content in different brands can vary as wildly as Anna Nicole's "before" and "after" shots. For example, Milton's Healthy Whole Grain packs 90 calories a slice, while Sara Lee Delightful Wheat weighs in at just 45. Switch brands and you cut your sandwich calories by 90. Better yet, wrap your cold cuts in lettuce — a big leaf of romaine has only 10 calories.
Trade Up Your Toppings
Swap the half-cup of guacamole on your burrito for an equal amount of salsa and spare yourself 150 calories. Get the same savings by using salsa in place of the sour cream on your baked potato and the mayo on your wrap. Other tricks of the topping trade: Swap Gorgonzola for grated Parmesan, dip vegetables into hummus instead of ranch dressing, and sprinkle salads with lightly toasted pecans rather than oil-soaked croutons.
Turn Off The Tube
We know Laguna Beach reruns can be just as tempting as tiramisu, but too many hours in front of your plasma screen can wreak havoc on your waistline. Researchers from Georgia State University found that people took in up to 130 more calories on days when they ate in front of the TV than on days when they left the remote alone.
Spritz Up Your Vino
Mix 3 ounces of club soda with 3 ounces of wine and your drink will have about 60 calories. If you usually have two glasses of Shiraz, substituting the bubbly stuff will save you about 120 calories. An added bonus: Research shows that moderate drinking (one drink daily for women) may increase levels of leptin, a natural hormone that curbs the appetite for sweets.
Camouflage Your Candy
A study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that office workers who kept candy within reach in a clear dish ate three times as much as those who kept it farther away in an opaque container. That's a 150-calorie difference. If you've gotta have a Godiva stash, make sure it's out of sight and that you have to work (at least a little) to get to it.
Bulk Up
Eating low-cal, fiber-rich foods before a meal — think fruits, vegetables, and broth-based soups — can help reduce your total calorie intake. A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that women who ate a 100-calorie salad before their meal consumed 12 percent less — 107 fewer calories — overall (salad included) than those who skipped the leafy appetizer. Make your first course a cup of veggie soup or 2 cups of mixed salad with reduced-fat cheese and fat-free dressing. Now get chopping!
by the Editors of Womens Health
Trying to slim down but can't bear the thought of giving up your daily dish of dulce de leche fro-yo? No problem. Too much deprivation is bad for dieters — trimming more than 500 calories a day can slow down your metabolism and trigger cravings intense enough to sabotage even the most valiant weight-loss efforts, according to Cynthia Sass, R.D., coauthor of Your Diet Is Driving Me Crazy. So the only question is: How fast do you want to lose the weight? Whether your goal is to shed a pound a week (the amount you can lose if you cut 500 calories a day) or a pound a month (if you cut 100), we've got the tricks and tips you need to kiss those extra pounds goodbye — without kissing off cake.
To Lose 1 Pound Per Week
Dodge dining-out disasters
Even your seemingly healthy grilled swordfish and vegetables can pack more calories and fat than a stick of butter. "Many restaurant meals contain up to 2 ounces of added oil [500 calories]," says Anita Jones, founder of the Healthy Dining Program, which analyzes the nutritional content of restaurant food. Pasta dishes are notorious: Oil is used throughout the cooking process and added to sauces and cooked noodles. Stick with steamed veggies and grilled, poached, or broiled lean protein (like poultry and fish), and ask the chef to prepare your dishes without oil. Or just cook meals at home instead of eating out.
Careful With That Cappuccino
Vanilla shots, caramel, sugar packets — they're not harmless just because they're in your cup of joe. A large white-chocolate mocha with whipped cream from Starbucks logs in at 630 calories (the whip alone has 100!). Get your sweet fix with two shots of sugar-free vanilla syrup in a medium cappuccino with soy or fat-free milk and kick 500 empty calories to the curb.
Dress Down
"Most entrée salads at restaurants are pre-dressed with 6 to 10 tablespoons of dressing," Jones says. "And most dressings have 70 to 100 calories per tablespoon and 7 to 10 grams of fat." That's an average of 680 calories just for the dressing (let's not even get into croutons and bacon bits). Order dressing on the side and dip into it sparingly with your fork between bites — you'll cut back to about 2 tablespoons (roughly 175 calories).
Lighten Up At Happy Hour
If it tastes sweet or has a salty rim, it's usually bad news — think cosmos, lemon drops, and appletinis. Most cocktails have 2 to 5 ounces of liquor. Add in 5 ounces of sugary syrups or mixers like cola, grenadine, and Midori and you can down more than 700 calories in just one drink. Stay away from Margaritaville (and below 100 calories) by pairing your liquor with diet or club soda. Or go for a bottle of light beer or a 5-ounce glass of chardonnay, which contain around 125 calories each. Sorry, Jimmy.
To Lose 1 Pound Every 2 Weeks
Cut Out 300 Calories A Day
HERE'S HOW
Be Tricky In The Kitchen
For leaner cuisine — and to save 115 calories — swap out that tablespoon of olive oil for canola or olive oil cooking spray. Sauté vegetables and fish with 1/4 cup of broth rather than 1 tablespoon of butter and trim 100 more. Replace the quarter cup of heavy cream in Alfredo and cheese sauces with the same amount of skim milk mixed with 2 tablespoons of flour — bam, another 150.
Switch Dishes
The larger the serving dish, the more you're likely to consume, according to recent research in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Downsize your ice cream bowl and serve that fettuccine on a 9-inch appetizer plate instead of a standard 11-inch dish — you can save up to 300 calories in a day, says Jenna Anding, Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition and food science at Texas A&M University. Dining out? Cut your entreé in half and doggie-bag it as soon as your food arrives.
Skip The Sweet Swill
"One of the easiest ways to uncover hidden calories is to look at your beverage consumption," Sass says. American women get up to 300 more calories a day now than they did 30 years ago. At least half of those come from sweetened beverages like soda and fruit juice, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. A 20-ounce bottle of Arizona Iced Tea has 240 calories — about as much as a small meal. Ditch the sports drinks, fruit punch, and Slurpees and get your produce nutrients from whole fruit instead of juice — a 1-pint carton of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice has 220 calories. An orange? About 35.
Pare Down Your PMS Picks
Forgo the cup of Ben & Jerry's for the same amount of low-fat ice cream. Slow-Churned Dreyer's Grand Light Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough has only 260 calories per cup. The B&J version? 540 calories. Yeah, we know that eating Ben & Jerry's is as close as any of us is likely to get to paradise on earth. So if you just can't live without the boys, mix 2 tablespoons into a cup of the skinnier stuff and you'll still save 250 calories.
To Lose 1 Pound Per Month
Cut Out 100 Calories A Day
HERE'S HOW
Buy Skinnier Bread
The calorie content in different brands can vary as wildly as Anna Nicole's "before" and "after" shots. For example, Milton's Healthy Whole Grain packs 90 calories a slice, while Sara Lee Delightful Wheat weighs in at just 45. Switch brands and you cut your sandwich calories by 90. Better yet, wrap your cold cuts in lettuce — a big leaf of romaine has only 10 calories.
Trade Up Your Toppings
Swap the half-cup of guacamole on your burrito for an equal amount of salsa and spare yourself 150 calories. Get the same savings by using salsa in place of the sour cream on your baked potato and the mayo on your wrap. Other tricks of the topping trade: Swap Gorgonzola for grated Parmesan, dip vegetables into hummus instead of ranch dressing, and sprinkle salads with lightly toasted pecans rather than oil-soaked croutons.
Turn Off The Tube
We know Laguna Beach reruns can be just as tempting as tiramisu, but too many hours in front of your plasma screen can wreak havoc on your waistline. Researchers from Georgia State University found that people took in up to 130 more calories on days when they ate in front of the TV than on days when they left the remote alone.
Spritz Up Your Vino
Mix 3 ounces of club soda with 3 ounces of wine and your drink will have about 60 calories. If you usually have two glasses of Shiraz, substituting the bubbly stuff will save you about 120 calories. An added bonus: Research shows that moderate drinking (one drink daily for women) may increase levels of leptin, a natural hormone that curbs the appetite for sweets.
Camouflage Your Candy
A study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that office workers who kept candy within reach in a clear dish ate three times as much as those who kept it farther away in an opaque container. That's a 150-calorie difference. If you've gotta have a Godiva stash, make sure it's out of sight and that you have to work (at least a little) to get to it.
Bulk Up
Eating low-cal, fiber-rich foods before a meal — think fruits, vegetables, and broth-based soups — can help reduce your total calorie intake. A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that women who ate a 100-calorie salad before their meal consumed 12 percent less — 107 fewer calories — overall (salad included) than those who skipped the leafy appetizer. Make your first course a cup of veggie soup or 2 cups of mixed salad with reduced-fat cheese and fat-free dressing. Now get chopping!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Exercise can help prevent weight gain
Exercise Can Help Prevent Weight Gain, But It Won't Be Easy
In women following their usual diet, only the non-overweight avoided weight gain with exercise
By Katherine Hobson, USNews.com
There's a lot of attention paid to what works when it comes to losing weight. But that's not really the hard part; anyone can diet or exercise in the short term, but maintaining a loss, avoiding age-related weight creep, and keeping up healthful habits over time is much more difficult. That's why the researchers behind a new study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, wanted to examine the habits of people who were eating what they considered a normal diet and were "living life as usual," says one of the authors, I-Min Lee, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. And they made some interesting discoveries about the power of exercise.
When researchers followed more than 34,000 non-dieting women (average age 54.2) over many years, they found that regular physical activity was associated with gaining less weight over time—but only in women who weren't overweight or obese. (That means a BMI of lower than 25, or less than 150 pounds for a 5'5" woman.) And those women had to exercise quite a bit: An average of an hour a day of moderately intense activity—such as a brisk walk—or the equivalent (if you exercise more strenuously, less time is required) during a week was the amount of activity recorded for the normal-weight women who gained less than 5 pounds during the 13-year study. (Just 13.3 percent of women studied fit that bill.)
That may sound like bad news for those people of normal weight who aren't exercising that much, not to mention everyone who is overweight or obese, says Lee. But it doesn't mean that physical activity of less than 420 minutes a week is worthless. Working out at a moderate intensity for 150 minutes a week, as the government recommends, is associated with a lower risk of many chronic diseases, no matter your weight.
But it does underline that exercise on its own, with no attention paid to calories, is unlikely to carve away excess weight or prevent gain. (Even people training for a marathon can gain weight; it's far easier to eat than to burn off what you eat.) Remember that none of these women were consciously dieting; the study can't say whether exercise is useless for overweight or obese women who are actively attempting to lose weight by also changing their eating habits. And that "usual diet" consumed by the women probably differs by their weight. It's likely that normal-weight women eat fewer calories as a matter of routine, without thinking of it as a diet.
Yet exercise also appears to be an important factor in maintaining a healthy weight, according to this and other studies. Research published in 2008 found that women who dieted and were then able to keep off 10 percent of their body weight for two years also exercised more than the government recommends, about 275 minutes a week. The amount of exercise needed to sustain a healthy weight may be in question, but the principle is consistent: Get out there and move.
For diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
In women following their usual diet, only the non-overweight avoided weight gain with exercise
By Katherine Hobson, USNews.com
There's a lot of attention paid to what works when it comes to losing weight. But that's not really the hard part; anyone can diet or exercise in the short term, but maintaining a loss, avoiding age-related weight creep, and keeping up healthful habits over time is much more difficult. That's why the researchers behind a new study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, wanted to examine the habits of people who were eating what they considered a normal diet and were "living life as usual," says one of the authors, I-Min Lee, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. And they made some interesting discoveries about the power of exercise.
When researchers followed more than 34,000 non-dieting women (average age 54.2) over many years, they found that regular physical activity was associated with gaining less weight over time—but only in women who weren't overweight or obese. (That means a BMI of lower than 25, or less than 150 pounds for a 5'5" woman.) And those women had to exercise quite a bit: An average of an hour a day of moderately intense activity—such as a brisk walk—or the equivalent (if you exercise more strenuously, less time is required) during a week was the amount of activity recorded for the normal-weight women who gained less than 5 pounds during the 13-year study. (Just 13.3 percent of women studied fit that bill.)
That may sound like bad news for those people of normal weight who aren't exercising that much, not to mention everyone who is overweight or obese, says Lee. But it doesn't mean that physical activity of less than 420 minutes a week is worthless. Working out at a moderate intensity for 150 minutes a week, as the government recommends, is associated with a lower risk of many chronic diseases, no matter your weight.
But it does underline that exercise on its own, with no attention paid to calories, is unlikely to carve away excess weight or prevent gain. (Even people training for a marathon can gain weight; it's far easier to eat than to burn off what you eat.) Remember that none of these women were consciously dieting; the study can't say whether exercise is useless for overweight or obese women who are actively attempting to lose weight by also changing their eating habits. And that "usual diet" consumed by the women probably differs by their weight. It's likely that normal-weight women eat fewer calories as a matter of routine, without thinking of it as a diet.
Yet exercise also appears to be an important factor in maintaining a healthy weight, according to this and other studies. Research published in 2008 found that women who dieted and were then able to keep off 10 percent of their body weight for two years also exercised more than the government recommends, about 275 minutes a week. The amount of exercise needed to sustain a healthy weight may be in question, but the principle is consistent: Get out there and move.
For diet information, go to http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Friday, March 19, 2010
For Obese People, Prejudice in Plain Sight
For Obese People, Prejudice in Plain Sight
By HARRIET BROWN
Published: March 15, 2010
Last August, Dr. Delos M. Cosgrove, a cardiac surgeon and chief executive of the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, told a columnist for The New York Times that if he could get away with it legally, he would refuse to hire anyone who is obese. He probably could get away with it, actually, because no federal legislation protects the civil rights of fat workers, and only one state, Michigan, bans discrimination on the basis of weight.
Dr. Cosgrove may be unusually blunt, but he is far from alone. Public attitudes about fat have never been more judgmental; stigmatizing fat people has become not just acceptable but, in some circles, de rigueur. I’ve sat in meetings with colleagues who wouldn’t dream of disparaging anyone’s color, sex, economic status or general attractiveness, yet feel free to comment witheringly on a person’s weight.
Over the last few years, fat people have become scapegoats for all manner of cultural ills. “There’s an atmosphere now where it’s O.K. to blame everything on weight,” said Dr. Linda Bacon, a nutrition researcher and the author of “Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight” (Benbella, 2008). “If we’re worried about climate change, someone comes out with an article about how heavier people weigh more, so they require more fuel, and they blame the climate change crisis on fatter people. We have this strong belief system that it’s their fault, that it’s all about gluttony or lack of exercise.”
It’s no secret that being fat is rarely good for your career. Heather Brown (no relation) has experienced this firsthand. A few years ago, she applied for a grant-writing job with a small nonprofit in the Boston area. After a successful phone interview, she was invited to the office.
“As soon as I shook the interviewer’s hand, I knew she would not hire me,” Ms. Brown said. “She gave me a look of utter disdain, and made a big deal about whether we should take the stairs or ride the elevator to the room where we were going to talk. During the actual interview, she would not even look at me and kept looking to the side.” Ms. Brown, 36, who now works as an assistant dean at a college near Chicago, said she never even got a “No thank you” letter after the interview.
That story is all too familiar to people like Bill Fabrey, an advocate who in 1969 founded the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. The organization’s archives, he says, are full of stories from people who say they lost jobs or promotions because of their weight, or were not hired in the first place.
Some of the most blatant fat discrimination comes from medical professionals. Rebecca Puhl, a clinical psychologist and director of research at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, has been studying the stigma of obesity for more than a decade. More than half of the 620 primary care doctors questioned for one study described obese patients as “awkward, unattractive, ugly, and unlikely to comply with treatment.” (This last is significant, because doctors who think patients won’t follow their instructions treat and prescribe for them differently.)
Dr. Puhl said she was especially disturbed at how openly the doctors expressed their biases. “If I was trying to study gender or racial bias, I couldn’t use the assessment tools I’m using, because people wouldn’t be truthful,” she said. “They’d want to be more politically correct.”
Despite the abundance of research showing that most people are unable to make significant long-term changes in their weight, it’s clear that doctors tend to view obesity as a matter of personal responsibility. Perhaps they see shame and stigma as a health care strategy.
If so, is it working? Not very well. Many fat people sidestep such judgments by simply avoiding doctor visits, whether for routine checkups, preventive screenings or urgent health problems.
Indeed, Dr. Peter A. Muennig, an assistant professor of health policy at Columbia, says stigma can do more than keep fat people from the doctor: it can actually make them sick. “Stigma and prejudice are intensely stressful,” he explained. “Stress puts the body on full alert, which gets the blood pressure up, the sugar up, everything you need to fight or flee the predator.”
Over time, such chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes and other medical ills, many of them (surprise!) associated with obesity. In studies, Dr. Muennig has found that women who say they feel they are too heavy suffer more mental and physical illness than women who say they feel fine about their size — no matter what they weigh.
Even if doctors don’t directly express weight-based judgments, their biases can hurt patients. One recent study shows that the higher a patient’s body mass, the less respect doctors express for that patient. And the less respect a doctor has for a patient, says Dr. Mary Huizinga, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the less time the doctor spends with the patient and the less information he or she offers.
Fat stigma affects everyone’s health — fat, thin or in between. Last fall, Lincoln University in southern Pennsylvania announced that it would weigh and measure all freshmen, and require those with a B.M.I. over 30 to enroll in a special fitness class. Fat rights advocates protested it as discrimination: If the fitness class was that important to student health, shouldn’t everyone take it?
Lincoln’s administrators backpedaled after a storm of bad press. But the controversy underscores the fact that fat stigma isn’t about improving people’s health, as doctors like Delos Cosgrove contend. If it were, the conversation would be about health rather than numbers on the scale and the B.M.I. chart.
Dr. Bacon tells the story of an overweight teenage girl whose high school was going through a “wellness campaign.” Hallways were plastered with posters saying “Prevent teenage obesity.” After the posters went up, the girl said, schoolmates began taunting her in the halls, pointing at the obese girl on the posters and saying, “Look at the fat chick.”
She said heavier students were now made to feel guilty about their lunch choices, but the thin ones could eat anything they wanted without comment — even if it was exactly what the fat kids were eating.
“Stigmatization gives the thinner kids permission to think there’s something wrong with the larger kids,” Dr. Bacon, the nutrition researcher, said. “And it doesn’t help them look at their own health habits. There’s got to be a way to do this more respectfully and more effectively.”
Harriet Brown teaches magazine journalism at the Newhouse School in Syracuse.
For Diet Information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
By HARRIET BROWN
Published: March 15, 2010
Last August, Dr. Delos M. Cosgrove, a cardiac surgeon and chief executive of the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, told a columnist for The New York Times that if he could get away with it legally, he would refuse to hire anyone who is obese. He probably could get away with it, actually, because no federal legislation protects the civil rights of fat workers, and only one state, Michigan, bans discrimination on the basis of weight.
Dr. Cosgrove may be unusually blunt, but he is far from alone. Public attitudes about fat have never been more judgmental; stigmatizing fat people has become not just acceptable but, in some circles, de rigueur. I’ve sat in meetings with colleagues who wouldn’t dream of disparaging anyone’s color, sex, economic status or general attractiveness, yet feel free to comment witheringly on a person’s weight.
Over the last few years, fat people have become scapegoats for all manner of cultural ills. “There’s an atmosphere now where it’s O.K. to blame everything on weight,” said Dr. Linda Bacon, a nutrition researcher and the author of “Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight” (Benbella, 2008). “If we’re worried about climate change, someone comes out with an article about how heavier people weigh more, so they require more fuel, and they blame the climate change crisis on fatter people. We have this strong belief system that it’s their fault, that it’s all about gluttony or lack of exercise.”
It’s no secret that being fat is rarely good for your career. Heather Brown (no relation) has experienced this firsthand. A few years ago, she applied for a grant-writing job with a small nonprofit in the Boston area. After a successful phone interview, she was invited to the office.
“As soon as I shook the interviewer’s hand, I knew she would not hire me,” Ms. Brown said. “She gave me a look of utter disdain, and made a big deal about whether we should take the stairs or ride the elevator to the room where we were going to talk. During the actual interview, she would not even look at me and kept looking to the side.” Ms. Brown, 36, who now works as an assistant dean at a college near Chicago, said she never even got a “No thank you” letter after the interview.
That story is all too familiar to people like Bill Fabrey, an advocate who in 1969 founded the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. The organization’s archives, he says, are full of stories from people who say they lost jobs or promotions because of their weight, or were not hired in the first place.
Some of the most blatant fat discrimination comes from medical professionals. Rebecca Puhl, a clinical psychologist and director of research at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, has been studying the stigma of obesity for more than a decade. More than half of the 620 primary care doctors questioned for one study described obese patients as “awkward, unattractive, ugly, and unlikely to comply with treatment.” (This last is significant, because doctors who think patients won’t follow their instructions treat and prescribe for them differently.)
Dr. Puhl said she was especially disturbed at how openly the doctors expressed their biases. “If I was trying to study gender or racial bias, I couldn’t use the assessment tools I’m using, because people wouldn’t be truthful,” she said. “They’d want to be more politically correct.”
Despite the abundance of research showing that most people are unable to make significant long-term changes in their weight, it’s clear that doctors tend to view obesity as a matter of personal responsibility. Perhaps they see shame and stigma as a health care strategy.
If so, is it working? Not very well. Many fat people sidestep such judgments by simply avoiding doctor visits, whether for routine checkups, preventive screenings or urgent health problems.
Indeed, Dr. Peter A. Muennig, an assistant professor of health policy at Columbia, says stigma can do more than keep fat people from the doctor: it can actually make them sick. “Stigma and prejudice are intensely stressful,” he explained. “Stress puts the body on full alert, which gets the blood pressure up, the sugar up, everything you need to fight or flee the predator.”
Over time, such chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes and other medical ills, many of them (surprise!) associated with obesity. In studies, Dr. Muennig has found that women who say they feel they are too heavy suffer more mental and physical illness than women who say they feel fine about their size — no matter what they weigh.
Even if doctors don’t directly express weight-based judgments, their biases can hurt patients. One recent study shows that the higher a patient’s body mass, the less respect doctors express for that patient. And the less respect a doctor has for a patient, says Dr. Mary Huizinga, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the less time the doctor spends with the patient and the less information he or she offers.
Fat stigma affects everyone’s health — fat, thin or in between. Last fall, Lincoln University in southern Pennsylvania announced that it would weigh and measure all freshmen, and require those with a B.M.I. over 30 to enroll in a special fitness class. Fat rights advocates protested it as discrimination: If the fitness class was that important to student health, shouldn’t everyone take it?
Lincoln’s administrators backpedaled after a storm of bad press. But the controversy underscores the fact that fat stigma isn’t about improving people’s health, as doctors like Delos Cosgrove contend. If it were, the conversation would be about health rather than numbers on the scale and the B.M.I. chart.
Dr. Bacon tells the story of an overweight teenage girl whose high school was going through a “wellness campaign.” Hallways were plastered with posters saying “Prevent teenage obesity.” After the posters went up, the girl said, schoolmates began taunting her in the halls, pointing at the obese girl on the posters and saying, “Look at the fat chick.”
She said heavier students were now made to feel guilty about their lunch choices, but the thin ones could eat anything they wanted without comment — even if it was exactly what the fat kids were eating.
“Stigmatization gives the thinner kids permission to think there’s something wrong with the larger kids,” Dr. Bacon, the nutrition researcher, said. “And it doesn’t help them look at their own health habits. There’s got to be a way to do this more respectfully and more effectively.”
Harriet Brown teaches magazine journalism at the Newhouse School in Syracuse.
For Diet Information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Carb Lover's Survival Guide
The Carb Lover's Survival Guide
By The Editors of Men's Health
More of us would become citizens of Low-Carb Nation if it weren't for the daunting loyalty oath. We're asked to renounce allegiance to such potentates as bagels, pasta, and potatoes. And even though we know that low-carbohydrate dieting works, giving up your favorite carbs can be tough.
"The best way to cut carbs from your diet is to make creative substitutions," says Arthur Agatston, M.D., author of The South Beach Diet. "That way you can still eat the foods you love, without busting your diet." Dr. Agatston told us how to make cauliflower taste like mashed potatoes.
Other nutrition experts gave us tricks for cutting white flour, pasta, and potatoes and replacing them with lower-carb alternatives that taste nearly identical. We then had some loyal carbo-cravers taste-test these dishes. Turns out some of them are so good, you'll wonder why you weren't eating them in the first place.
Hash browns
Substitute: Squash for potatoes
Summer squash (the football-shaped yellow kind) tastes similar to potatoes when cooked—but has just a fraction of the carbs. Grate the squash, mix in an egg as binder, make patties, and fry them in olive oil, says Mary Dan Eades, M.D., coauthor of The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook.
Carbs eliminated: About 15 grams (g) per hash-brown patty
The taste: "Not as firm and crispy as regular hash browns, but the potato flavor is there."
Mashed potatoes
Substitute: Cauliflower for potatoes
One of Dr. Agatston's favorites: Steam some fresh or frozen cauliflower in the microwave. Then spray the cauliflower with butter substitute, add a little nonfat half-and-half substitute, and puree in a food processor or blender. "Salt and pepper to taste and you've got something that quite honestly can compete with the real thing any day," says Dr. Agatston. To make it even better, try adding roasted garlic, cheese, or sour cream to the mixture.
Carbs eliminated: 30 g per cu
The taste: "After a couple of bites, you forget it's not potatoes."
Lasagna
Substitute: Zucchini slices for noodles
Slice four to five medium-size zukes lengthwise into 3/4-inch-thick strips, instructs Lise Battaglia, a New Jersey chef whose past clients include Jon Bon Jovi. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on the strips, place them in a single layer on a nonstick cookie sheet, and bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. You want them firm, not crisp. "Then simply make the lasagna as you normally would, replacing lasagna noodles with the baked zucchini," she says.
Carbs eliminated: 36 g per serving
The taste: "Delicious. The zucchini provides texture that you don't get from noodles alone."
Spaghetti
Substitute: Spaghetti squash for spaghetti
A cooked spaghetti squash is like Mother Nature's automatic spaghetti maker — the flesh becomes noodle-like strands. "All you have to do is cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Then place each half — cut side down — on a plate with a quarter cup of water," says Elizabeth Perreault, a chef at Colorado's Culinary School of the Rockies. Nuke the squash for 10 minutes or until it's soft to the touch. Let it cool, then scrape out the "spaghetti" strands and top with pasta sauce and cheese.
Carbs eliminated: 30 g per cup
The taste: "Great. Spaghetti squash has exactly the same consistency as real pasta."
Pancakes
Substitute: Oatmeal and cottage cheese for pancake mix
Here's a can't-fail recipe from The South Beach Diet. Mix together half a cup of old-fashioned oatmeal, a quarter cup of low-fat cottage cheese, two eggs, and a dash each of vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Process in a blender until smooth. Cook the mixture like a regular pancake.
Carbs eliminated: 45 g per pancake
The taste: "With syrup, you could never tell the difference."
Scalloped potatoes
Substitute: Tempeh for potatoes
You may think you don't like soy-based foods, but that could be because you don't cook them right, says Beckette Williams, R.D., a San Diego-based personal chef. "Tempeh can be really bland, but if you jazz it up with herbs and spices, it's a great substitute for potatoes." Her recommendation: Saute a couple of cups of thinly diced tempeh with garlic and onions. Then pour a cheese sauce (sharper is better) over the tempeh cubes and bake for half an hour.
Carbs eliminated: 11 g per cup
The taste: "Just like a slightly nutty baked potato."
Macaroni and Cheese
Substitute: Diced vegetables for macaroni
Even instant mac and cheese can go lower-carb; use only half the pasta in the box and bulk it up with a couple of cups of frozen mixed vegetables, says Sandra Woodruff, R.D., coauthor of The Good Carb Cookbook.
Carbs eliminated: 13 g per cup
The taste: "I hate broccoli, but I wouldn't mind eating this."
Pasta salad
Substitute: Mixed vegetables or black beans for half the pasta
Same idea as the mac and cheese, but try black beans, diced tomatoes, and chunks of ham, tuna, chicken, or hard-boiled eggs, suggests Richard Ruben, an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. "These kinds of salads are a blank slate, so you can top them with anything from a creamy blue-cheese dressing to vinaigrette, or even lime juice and slices of avocado," Ruben says.
Carbs eliminated: 10 g per cup
The taste: "Awesome. I don't miss the extra pasta at all."
Cheese-flavored chips
Substitute: Low-fat string cheese for chips
Just crazy enough to work: Cut sticks of string cheese into quarter-inch-thick slices and scatter the rounds on a cookie sheet coated with nonstick spray, leaving them an inch or two apart. Bake at 375 degrees F for 4 to 5 minutes or until the cheese melts and turns golden brown. Let them cool, then peel the chips off the tray.
Carbs eliminated: Up to 90 g per serving
The taste: "Like the cheese you pull off the top of a pizza."
Pizza
Substitute: Portobello mushrooms for pizza crust
Cut the gills out of the inside of the mushroom, says Ruben, "then place the mushroom on an oiled cookie sheet and bake for 5 to 10 minutes so it dries out slightly." Add tomato sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni or other toppings and broil until the cheese begins to melt.
Carbs eliminated: About 20 g per slice
The taste: "Like pizza, but moister. Give me a fork!"
Beef-a-Roni
Substitute: Eggplant for pasta
Mixing diced eggplant with ground beef is healthier and more highbrow than this old skillet special — call it moussaka American style. You have to soften the eggplant first, says Williams. Cut it in half, brush it with olive oil, and then broil for 10 to 20 minutes. "Let it cool, dice it up, and mix with hamburger, tomato sauce, and spices," she says.
Carbs eliminated: 26 g per cup
The taste: "Exactly like Hamburger Helper, in a good way."
Sandwiches
Substitute: Napa or Chinese cabbage for bread
Slap your turkey and Swiss onto a leaf of cabbage and roll it up. "I've made some great-tasting BLTs using cabbage instead of bread," Battaglia says. Dip the roll in low-fat mayonnaise or mustard.
Carbs eliminated: 29 g per sandwich
The taste: "Better than eating plain cold cuts."
For diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
.
By The Editors of Men's Health
More of us would become citizens of Low-Carb Nation if it weren't for the daunting loyalty oath. We're asked to renounce allegiance to such potentates as bagels, pasta, and potatoes. And even though we know that low-carbohydrate dieting works, giving up your favorite carbs can be tough.
"The best way to cut carbs from your diet is to make creative substitutions," says Arthur Agatston, M.D., author of The South Beach Diet. "That way you can still eat the foods you love, without busting your diet." Dr. Agatston told us how to make cauliflower taste like mashed potatoes.
Other nutrition experts gave us tricks for cutting white flour, pasta, and potatoes and replacing them with lower-carb alternatives that taste nearly identical. We then had some loyal carbo-cravers taste-test these dishes. Turns out some of them are so good, you'll wonder why you weren't eating them in the first place.
Hash browns
Substitute: Squash for potatoes
Summer squash (the football-shaped yellow kind) tastes similar to potatoes when cooked—but has just a fraction of the carbs. Grate the squash, mix in an egg as binder, make patties, and fry them in olive oil, says Mary Dan Eades, M.D., coauthor of The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook.
Carbs eliminated: About 15 grams (g) per hash-brown patty
The taste: "Not as firm and crispy as regular hash browns, but the potato flavor is there."
Mashed potatoes
Substitute: Cauliflower for potatoes
One of Dr. Agatston's favorites: Steam some fresh or frozen cauliflower in the microwave. Then spray the cauliflower with butter substitute, add a little nonfat half-and-half substitute, and puree in a food processor or blender. "Salt and pepper to taste and you've got something that quite honestly can compete with the real thing any day," says Dr. Agatston. To make it even better, try adding roasted garlic, cheese, or sour cream to the mixture.
Carbs eliminated: 30 g per cu
The taste: "After a couple of bites, you forget it's not potatoes."
Lasagna
Substitute: Zucchini slices for noodles
Slice four to five medium-size zukes lengthwise into 3/4-inch-thick strips, instructs Lise Battaglia, a New Jersey chef whose past clients include Jon Bon Jovi. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on the strips, place them in a single layer on a nonstick cookie sheet, and bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. You want them firm, not crisp. "Then simply make the lasagna as you normally would, replacing lasagna noodles with the baked zucchini," she says.
Carbs eliminated: 36 g per serving
The taste: "Delicious. The zucchini provides texture that you don't get from noodles alone."
Spaghetti
Substitute: Spaghetti squash for spaghetti
A cooked spaghetti squash is like Mother Nature's automatic spaghetti maker — the flesh becomes noodle-like strands. "All you have to do is cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Then place each half — cut side down — on a plate with a quarter cup of water," says Elizabeth Perreault, a chef at Colorado's Culinary School of the Rockies. Nuke the squash for 10 minutes or until it's soft to the touch. Let it cool, then scrape out the "spaghetti" strands and top with pasta sauce and cheese.
Carbs eliminated: 30 g per cup
The taste: "Great. Spaghetti squash has exactly the same consistency as real pasta."
Pancakes
Substitute: Oatmeal and cottage cheese for pancake mix
Here's a can't-fail recipe from The South Beach Diet. Mix together half a cup of old-fashioned oatmeal, a quarter cup of low-fat cottage cheese, two eggs, and a dash each of vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Process in a blender until smooth. Cook the mixture like a regular pancake.
Carbs eliminated: 45 g per pancake
The taste: "With syrup, you could never tell the difference."
Scalloped potatoes
Substitute: Tempeh for potatoes
You may think you don't like soy-based foods, but that could be because you don't cook them right, says Beckette Williams, R.D., a San Diego-based personal chef. "Tempeh can be really bland, but if you jazz it up with herbs and spices, it's a great substitute for potatoes." Her recommendation: Saute a couple of cups of thinly diced tempeh with garlic and onions. Then pour a cheese sauce (sharper is better) over the tempeh cubes and bake for half an hour.
Carbs eliminated: 11 g per cup
The taste: "Just like a slightly nutty baked potato."
Macaroni and Cheese
Substitute: Diced vegetables for macaroni
Even instant mac and cheese can go lower-carb; use only half the pasta in the box and bulk it up with a couple of cups of frozen mixed vegetables, says Sandra Woodruff, R.D., coauthor of The Good Carb Cookbook.
Carbs eliminated: 13 g per cup
The taste: "I hate broccoli, but I wouldn't mind eating this."
Pasta salad
Substitute: Mixed vegetables or black beans for half the pasta
Same idea as the mac and cheese, but try black beans, diced tomatoes, and chunks of ham, tuna, chicken, or hard-boiled eggs, suggests Richard Ruben, an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. "These kinds of salads are a blank slate, so you can top them with anything from a creamy blue-cheese dressing to vinaigrette, or even lime juice and slices of avocado," Ruben says.
Carbs eliminated: 10 g per cup
The taste: "Awesome. I don't miss the extra pasta at all."
Cheese-flavored chips
Substitute: Low-fat string cheese for chips
Just crazy enough to work: Cut sticks of string cheese into quarter-inch-thick slices and scatter the rounds on a cookie sheet coated with nonstick spray, leaving them an inch or two apart. Bake at 375 degrees F for 4 to 5 minutes or until the cheese melts and turns golden brown. Let them cool, then peel the chips off the tray.
Carbs eliminated: Up to 90 g per serving
The taste: "Like the cheese you pull off the top of a pizza."
Pizza
Substitute: Portobello mushrooms for pizza crust
Cut the gills out of the inside of the mushroom, says Ruben, "then place the mushroom on an oiled cookie sheet and bake for 5 to 10 minutes so it dries out slightly." Add tomato sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni or other toppings and broil until the cheese begins to melt.
Carbs eliminated: About 20 g per slice
The taste: "Like pizza, but moister. Give me a fork!"
Beef-a-Roni
Substitute: Eggplant for pasta
Mixing diced eggplant with ground beef is healthier and more highbrow than this old skillet special — call it moussaka American style. You have to soften the eggplant first, says Williams. Cut it in half, brush it with olive oil, and then broil for 10 to 20 minutes. "Let it cool, dice it up, and mix with hamburger, tomato sauce, and spices," she says.
Carbs eliminated: 26 g per cup
The taste: "Exactly like Hamburger Helper, in a good way."
Sandwiches
Substitute: Napa or Chinese cabbage for bread
Slap your turkey and Swiss onto a leaf of cabbage and roll it up. "I've made some great-tasting BLTs using cabbage instead of bread," Battaglia says. Dip the roll in low-fat mayonnaise or mustard.
Carbs eliminated: 29 g per sandwich
The taste: "Better than eating plain cold cuts."
For diet information, go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Funny but Effective Weight Loss Plan
Funny but Effective Weight Loss Plan
A man calls a company and orders their 5-day, 10 lb. weight loss program.
The next day, there's a knock on the door and there stands before him a voluptuous, athletic, 19 year old babe dressed in nothing but a pair of Nike running shoes and a sign around her neck.
She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company.
The sign reads, "If you can catch me, you can have me."
Without a second thought, he takes off after her.
A few miles later huffing and puffing, he finally gives up.
The same girl shows up for the next four days and the same thing happens.
On the fifth day, he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost 10 lbs. as promised.
He calls the company and orders their 5-day/20 pound program.
The next day there's a knock at the door and there stands the most stunning and beautiful woman he has ever seen in his life.
She is wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes and a sign around her neck that reads, "If you catch me you can have me."
Well, he's out the door after her like a shot.
This girl is in excellent shape and he does his best, but no such luck.
So for the next four days, the same routine happens with him gradually getting in better and better shape.
Much to his delight on the fifth day when he weighs himself, he discovers that he has lost another 20 lbs. as promised.
He decides to go for broke and calls the company to order the 7-day/50 pound program.
"Are you sure?" asks the representative on the phone. "This is our most rigorous program."
"Absolutely," he replies, "I haven't felt this good in years."
The next day there's a knock at the door; and when he opens it he finds a huge muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes and a sign around his neck that reads,"If I catch you, you are mine!!!"
He lost 63 pounds that week. ;-)
A man calls a company and orders their 5-day, 10 lb. weight loss program.
The next day, there's a knock on the door and there stands before him a voluptuous, athletic, 19 year old babe dressed in nothing but a pair of Nike running shoes and a sign around her neck.
She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company.
The sign reads, "If you can catch me, you can have me."
Without a second thought, he takes off after her.
A few miles later huffing and puffing, he finally gives up.
The same girl shows up for the next four days and the same thing happens.
On the fifth day, he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost 10 lbs. as promised.
He calls the company and orders their 5-day/20 pound program.
The next day there's a knock at the door and there stands the most stunning and beautiful woman he has ever seen in his life.
She is wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes and a sign around her neck that reads, "If you catch me you can have me."
Well, he's out the door after her like a shot.
This girl is in excellent shape and he does his best, but no such luck.
So for the next four days, the same routine happens with him gradually getting in better and better shape.
Much to his delight on the fifth day when he weighs himself, he discovers that he has lost another 20 lbs. as promised.
He decides to go for broke and calls the company to order the 7-day/50 pound program.
"Are you sure?" asks the representative on the phone. "This is our most rigorous program."
"Absolutely," he replies, "I haven't felt this good in years."
The next day there's a knock at the door; and when he opens it he finds a huge muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes and a sign around his neck that reads,"If I catch you, you are mine!!!"
He lost 63 pounds that week. ;-)
Monday, March 8, 2010
Transscript of "Sugar and Fat Calories-The impact of Food Add-ons"
Transcript of "Sugar and Fat Calories - The Impact of Food Add-Ons"
Let's look at different foods made from the same basic ingredients: here you have 1 baked potatoe - 110 calories, vs. French fries - 320 calories. Next you have a cup of low-fat milk (1%) - 100 calories, compared to one cup of whole milk - 150 calories and one cup of chocolate milk - 210 calories, which is more than double the calories. Then you compare a can of V8 juice vs. a cup of orange juice vs. a can of orange soda - you can see as you go from the vegetable to the fruit juice to the soda, you are increasing the calories dramatically.
We've already seen this example before: going from an apple (70 calories) to an apple pie (345 calories) to an apple pie with ice cream (650 calories) - we skyrocket. Incidentally, how many apples would you have to eat to get the same amount of calories as the apple pie with ice cream? Are you good at mental Arithmetic, or is it too early in the morning? Yes, nine. Anybody here who has eaten nine apples? I've asked this question in many places of the world, and the most that I've seen was four. Somebody confessed they could eat four apples in a row. You kind of get a sore jaw after the second or third one, don't you? It takes a long time to devour the apple, but apple pie... ah, soo good! It slides down and I better go back and get a second piece...
The same thing with bread (60 calories per slice) vs. a cookie (120 calories per piece) or chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - 445 calories per slice. That's equivalent to sever slices of bread.
You can easily see how with simple foods you can eat a whole lot of them. That's why Dean Ornish has his program of "eat what you like and you'll lose weight". Because if you're eating certain types of foods like apples and bread without all the add-ons, you can actually fill up and feel quite satiated, and you haven't eaten a lot of calories. But when start putting in add-ons, then you are in a situation that is not so good.
This is a transcript of a presentation given by Dr. Winston Craig, RD, PhD, MPH
For diet information,go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Let's look at different foods made from the same basic ingredients: here you have 1 baked potatoe - 110 calories, vs. French fries - 320 calories. Next you have a cup of low-fat milk (1%) - 100 calories, compared to one cup of whole milk - 150 calories and one cup of chocolate milk - 210 calories, which is more than double the calories. Then you compare a can of V8 juice vs. a cup of orange juice vs. a can of orange soda - you can see as you go from the vegetable to the fruit juice to the soda, you are increasing the calories dramatically.
We've already seen this example before: going from an apple (70 calories) to an apple pie (345 calories) to an apple pie with ice cream (650 calories) - we skyrocket. Incidentally, how many apples would you have to eat to get the same amount of calories as the apple pie with ice cream? Are you good at mental Arithmetic, or is it too early in the morning? Yes, nine. Anybody here who has eaten nine apples? I've asked this question in many places of the world, and the most that I've seen was four. Somebody confessed they could eat four apples in a row. You kind of get a sore jaw after the second or third one, don't you? It takes a long time to devour the apple, but apple pie... ah, soo good! It slides down and I better go back and get a second piece...
The same thing with bread (60 calories per slice) vs. a cookie (120 calories per piece) or chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - 445 calories per slice. That's equivalent to sever slices of bread.
You can easily see how with simple foods you can eat a whole lot of them. That's why Dean Ornish has his program of "eat what you like and you'll lose weight". Because if you're eating certain types of foods like apples and bread without all the add-ons, you can actually fill up and feel quite satiated, and you haven't eaten a lot of calories. But when start putting in add-ons, then you are in a situation that is not so good.
This is a transcript of a presentation given by Dr. Winston Craig, RD, PhD, MPH
For diet information,go to: http://www.diettimecookies.tv
Australian researchers say fat is 'sixth taste'
Australian researchers say fat is 'sixth taste'
It's a theory set to confirm why humans are so fond of fatty foods such as chips and chocolate cake: in addition to the five tastes already identified lurks another detectable by the palate -- fat.
"We know that the human tongue can detect five tastes -- sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (a savoury, protein-rich taste contained in foods such as soy sauce and chicken stock)," Russell Keast, from Deakin University, said Monday.
"Through our study we can conclude that humans have a sixth taste -- fat."
Researchers tested 30 people's ability to taste a range of fatty acids in otherwise plain solutions and found that all were able to determine the taste -- though some required higher concentrations than others.
They then developed a screening test to see how sensitive people were to the taste and found that, of the 50 people tested, their ability to detect fat was linked to their weight -- a finding which could help counter obesity.
"We found that the people who were sensitive to fat, who could taste very low concentrations, actually consumed less fat than the people who were insensitive," Keast told AFP.
"We also found that they had lower BMIs (Body Mass Indexes)."
Keast said the research, conducted in collaboration with the University of Adelaide, New Zealand's Massey University and Australian science body CSIRO, suggested that the taste of fat could trigger a mechanism in the body.
"We all like eating fatty foods. What we speculate is (that) the mechanism is to do with stopping eating. Your body is able to tell you you've had enough and stop," he explained.
"And if you are insensitive to it, you're not getting that feedback."
With fats easily accessible and commonly consumed, it was possible that people may become desensitised to the taste of fat, leaving some more prone to overindulging in calorie-rich foods, he added.
The results, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, have not definitively classified fat as a taste but Keast says the evidence is strong and mounting.
For something to be classified as a taste there needed to be proven receptor mechanisms on taste cells in the mouth, he said.
"We have what... we will call possible candidate receptors for fat on taste receptor cells," he said.
It's a theory set to confirm why humans are so fond of fatty foods such as chips and chocolate cake: in addition to the five tastes already identified lurks another detectable by the palate -- fat.
"We know that the human tongue can detect five tastes -- sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (a savoury, protein-rich taste contained in foods such as soy sauce and chicken stock)," Russell Keast, from Deakin University, said Monday.
"Through our study we can conclude that humans have a sixth taste -- fat."
Researchers tested 30 people's ability to taste a range of fatty acids in otherwise plain solutions and found that all were able to determine the taste -- though some required higher concentrations than others.
They then developed a screening test to see how sensitive people were to the taste and found that, of the 50 people tested, their ability to detect fat was linked to their weight -- a finding which could help counter obesity.
"We found that the people who were sensitive to fat, who could taste very low concentrations, actually consumed less fat than the people who were insensitive," Keast told AFP.
"We also found that they had lower BMIs (Body Mass Indexes)."
Keast said the research, conducted in collaboration with the University of Adelaide, New Zealand's Massey University and Australian science body CSIRO, suggested that the taste of fat could trigger a mechanism in the body.
"We all like eating fatty foods. What we speculate is (that) the mechanism is to do with stopping eating. Your body is able to tell you you've had enough and stop," he explained.
"And if you are insensitive to it, you're not getting that feedback."
With fats easily accessible and commonly consumed, it was possible that people may become desensitised to the taste of fat, leaving some more prone to overindulging in calorie-rich foods, he added.
The results, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, have not definitively classified fat as a taste but Keast says the evidence is strong and mounting.
For something to be classified as a taste there needed to be proven receptor mechanisms on taste cells in the mouth, he said.
"We have what... we will call possible candidate receptors for fat on taste receptor cells," he said.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
100 Smartest Diet Tips Ever
100 Smartest Diet Tips Ever
By Top Dietitians of the American Dietetic Association for Prevention
Courtesy of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), we took our readers' eleven toughest diet problems and ran them by some of the top dietitians in the US: RDs who, in addition to their private careers, serve as media spokespersons or heads of specialty practice groups for the ADA.
Here's what they told us, in their own words. These tips are solid gold, learned from successful experience with thousands of clients. Some tips are new. Some you've heard before, but they're repeated because they work. This treasure trove of RD wisdom could change your life-starting today.
A. I Can Only Handle One Diet Change Right Now. What Should I Do?
1. Add just one fruit or veggie serving daily. Get comfortable with that, then add an extra serving until you reach 8 to 10 a day.
2. Eat at least two servings of a fruit or veggie at every meal.
3. Resolve never to supersize your food portions—unless you want to supersize your clothes.
4. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. Whenever you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it, and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.
5. Start eating a big breakfast. It helps you eat fewer total calories throughout the day.
6. Make sure your plate is half veggies and/or fruit at both lunch and dinner.
B. Are there Any Easy Tricks to Help Me Cut Calories?
7. Eating out? Halve it, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage, and dessert.
8. When dining out, make it automatic: Order one dessert to share.
9. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
10. See what you eat. Plate your food instead of eating out of the jar or bag.
11. Eat the low-cal items on your plate first, then graduate. Start with salads, veggies, and broth soups, and eat meats and starches last. By the time you get to them, you'll be full enough to be content with smaller portions of the high-calorie choices.
12. Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you'll lose 5 lb in a year.
13. Juice has as many calories, ounce for ounce, as soda. Set a limit of one 8-oz glass of fruit juice a day.
14. Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice.
15. Keep a food journal. It really works wonders.
16. Follow the Chinese saying: "Eat until you are eight-tenths full."
17. Use mustard instead of mayo.
18. Eat more soup. The noncreamy ones are filling but low-cal.
19. Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lb in a year.
20. Take your lunch to work.
21. Sit when you eat.
22. Dilute juice with water.
23. Have mostly veggies for lunch.
24. Eat at home.
25. Limit alcohol to weekends.
C. How Can I Eat More Veggies?
26. Have a V8 or tomato juice instead of a Diet Coke at 3 pm.
27. Doctor your veggies to make them delicious: Dribble maple syrup over carrots, and sprinkle chopped nuts on green beans.
28. Mix three different cans of beans and some diet Italian dressing. Eat this three-bean salad all week.
29. Don't forget that vegetable soup counts as a vegetable.
30. Rediscover the sweet potato.
31. Use prebagged baby spinach everywhere: as "lettuce" in sandwiches, heated in soups, wilted in hot pasta, and added to salads.
32. Spend the extra few dollars to buy vegetables that are already washed and cut up.
33. Really hate veggies? Relax. If you love fruits, eat plenty of them; they are just as healthy (especially colorful ones such as oranges, mangoes, and melons).
34. Keep seven bags of your favorite frozen vegetables on hand. Mix any combination, microwave, and top with your favorite low-fat dressing. Enjoy 3 to 4 cups a day. Makes a great quick dinner.
D. Can You Give Me a Mantra that will Help Me Stick to My Diet?
35. "The best portion of high-calorie foods is the smallest one. The best portion of vegetables is the largest one. Period."
36. "I'll ride the wave. My cravings will disappear after 10 minutes if I turn my attention elsewhere."
37. "I want to be around to see my grandchildren, so I can forgo a cookie now."
38. "I am a work in progress."
39. "It's more stressful to continue being fat than to stop overeating."
E. I Eat Healthy, but I'm Overweight. What Mistakes Could I Be Making without Realizing It?
40. Skipping meals. Many healthy eaters "diet by day and binge by night."
41. Don't "graze" yourself fat. You can easily munch 600 calories of pretzels or cereal without realizing it.
42. Eating pasta like crazy. A serving of pasta is 1 cup, but some people routinely eat 4 cups.43. Eating supersize bagels of 400 to 500 calories for snacks.
44. Ignoring "Serving Size" on the Nutrition Facts panel.
45. Snacking on bowls of nuts. Nuts are healthy but dense with calories. Put those bowls away, and use nuts as a garnish instead of a snack.
46. Thinking all energy bars and fruit smoothies are low-cal.
F. What Can I Eat for a Healthy Low-Cal Dinner if I Don't Want to Cook?
47. A smoothie made with fat-free milk, frozen fruit, and wheat germ.
48. The smallest fast-food burger (with mustard and ketchup, not mayo) and a no-cal beverage. Then at home, have an apple or baby carrots.
49. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread with a glass of 1 percent milk and an apple.
50. Precooked chicken strips and microwaved frozen broccoli topped with Parmesan cheese.
51. A healthy frozen entree with a salad and a glass of 1 percent milk.
52. Scramble eggs in a nonstick skillet. Pop some asparagus in the microwave, and add whole wheat toast. If your cholesterol levels are normal, you can have seven eggs a week!
53. A bag of frozen vegetables heated in the microwave, topped with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of chopped nuts.
54. Prebagged salad topped with canned tuna, grape tomatoes, shredded reduced-fat cheese, and low-cal Italian dressing.
55. Keep lean sandwich fixings on hand: whole wheat bread, sliced turkey, reduced-fat cheese, tomatoes, mustard with horseradish.
56. Heat up a can of good soup.
57. Cereal, fruit, and fat-free milk makes a good meal anytime.
58. Try a veggie sandwich from Subway.
59. Precut fruit for a salad and add yogurt.
G. What's Your Best Advice for Avoiding those Extra Holiday Pounds?
60. Don't tell yourself, "It's okay, it's the holidays." That opens the door to 6 weeks of splurging.
61. Remember, EAT before you meet. Have this small meal before you go to any parties: a hardboiled Egg, Apple, and a Thirst quencher (water, seltzer, diet soda, tea).
62. As obvious as it sounds, don't stand near the food at parties. Make the effort, and you'll find you eat less.
63. At a buffet? Eating a little of everything guarantees high calories. Decide on three or four things, only one of which is high in calories. Save that for last so there's less chance of overeating.
64. For the duration of the holidays, wear your snuggest clothes that don't allow much room for expansion. Wearing sweats is out until January.
65. Give it away! After company leaves, give away leftover food to neighbors, doormen, or delivery people, or take it to work the next day.
66. Walk around the mall three times before you start shopping.
67. Make exercise a nonnegotiable priority.
68. Dance to music with your family in your home. One dietitian reported that when she asks her patients to do this, initially they just smile, but once they've done it, they say it is one of the easiest ways to involve the whole family in exercise.
H. How Can I Control a Raging Sweet Tooth?
69. Once in a while, have a lean, mean salad for lunch or dinner, and save the meal's calories for a full dessert.
70. Are you the kind of person who does better if you make up your mind to do without sweets and just not have them around? Or are you going to do better if you have a limited amount of sweets every day? One RD reported that most of her clients pick the latter and find they can avoid bingeing after a few days.
71. If your family thinks they need a very sweet treat every night, try to strike a balance between offering healthy choices but allowing them some "free will." Compromise with low-fat ice cream and fruit, or sometimes just fruit with a dollop of whipped cream.
72. Try 2 weeks without sweets. It's amazing how your cravings vanish.
73. Eat more fruit. A person who gets enough fruit in his diet doesn't have a raging sweet tooth.
74. Eat your sweets, just eat them smart! Carve out about 150 calories per day for your favorite sweet. That amounts to about an ounce of chocolate, half a modest slice of cake, or 1/2 cup of regular ice cream.
75. Try these smart little sweets: sugar-free hot cocoa, frozen red grapes, fudgsicles, sugar-free gum, Nutri-Grain chocolate fudge twists, Tootsie Rolls, and hard candy.
I. How Can I Conquer My Downfall: Bingeing at Night?
76. Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The large majority of people who struggle with night eating are those who skip meals or don't eat balanced meals during the day. This is a major setup for overeating at night.
77. Eat your evening meal in the kitchen or dining room, sitting down at the table.
78. Drink cold unsweetened raspberry tea. It tastes great and keeps your mouth busy.
79. Change your nighttime schedule. It will take effort, but it will pay off. You need something that will occupy your mind and hands.
80. If you're eating at night due to emotions, you need to focus on getting in touch with what's going on and taking care of yourself in a way that really works. Find a nonfood method of coping with your stress.
81. Put a sign on the kitchen and refrigerator doors: "Closed after Dinner."
82. Brush your teeth right after dinner to remind you: No more food.
83. Eat without engaging in any other simultaneous activity. No reading, watching TV, or sitting at the computer.
84. Eating late at night won't itself cause weight gain. It's how many calories—not when you eat them—that counts.
J. How Can I Reap Added Health Benefits from My Dieting?
85. Fat-free isn't always your best bet. Research has found that none of the lycopene or alpha- or beta-carotene that fight cancer and heart disease is absorbed from salads with fat-free dressing. Only slightly more is absorbed with reduced-fat dressing; the most is absorbed with full-fat dressing. But remember, use your dressing in moderate amounts.
86. Skipping breakfast will leave you tired and craving naughty foods by midmorning. To fill up healthfully and tastefully, try this sweet, fruity breakfast full of antioxidants. In a blender, process 1 c nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt, 1 1/3 c frozen strawberries (no added sugar), 1 peeled kiwi, and 1 peeled banana. Pulse until mixture is milkshake consistency. Makes one 2-cup serving; 348 calories and 1.5 fat grams.
87. If you're famished by 4 p.m. and have no alternative but an office vending machine, reach for the nuts—. The same goes if your only choices are what's available in the hotel minibar.
88. Next time you're feeling wiped out in late afternoon, forgo that cup of coffee and reach for a cup of yogurt instead. The combination of protein, carbohydrate, and fat in an 8-ounce serving of low-fat yogurt will give you a sense of fullness and well-being that coffee can't match, as well as some vital nutrients. If you haven't eaten in 3 to 4 hours, your blood glucose levels are probably dropping, so eating a small amount of nutrient-rich food will give your brain and your body a boost.
89. Making just a few changes to your pantry shelves can get you a lot closer to your weight loss goals. Here's what to do: If you use corn and peanut oil, replace it with olive oil. Same goes for breads—go for whole wheat. Trade in those fatty cold cuts like salami and bologna and replace them canned tuna, sliced turkey breast, and lean roast beef. Change from drinking whole milk to fat-free milk or low-fat soy milk. This is hard for a lot of people so try transitioning down to 2 percent and then 1 percent before you go fat-free.
90. Nothing's less appetizing than a crisper drawer full of mushy vegetables. Frozen vegetables store much better, plus they may have greater nutritional value than fresh. Food suppliers typically freeze veggies just a few hours after harvest, locking in the nutrients. Fresh veggies, on the other hand, often spend days in the back of a truck before they reach your supermarket.
91. Worried about the trans-fat content in your peanut butter? Good news: In a test done on Skippy, JIF, Peter Pan, and a supermarket brand, the levels of trans fats per 2-tablespoon serving were far lower than 0.5 gram—low enough that under proposed laws, the brands can legally claim zero trans fats on the label. They also contained only 1 gram more sugar than natural brands—not a significant difference.
K. Eating Less Isn't Enough—What Exercising Tips Will Help Me Shed Pounds?
92. Overeating is not the result of exercise. Vigorous exercise won't stimulate you to overeat. It's just the opposite. Exercise at any level helps curb your appetite immediately following the workout.
93. When you're exercising, you shouldn't wait for thirst to strike before you take a drink. By the time you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Try this: Drink at least 16 ounces of water, sports drinks, or juices two hours before you exercise. Then drink 8 ounces an hour before and another 4 to 8 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during your workout. Finish with at least 16 ounces after you're done exercising.
94. Tune in to an audio book while you walk. It'll keep you going longer and looking forward to the next walk—and the next chapter! Check your local library for a great selection. Look for a whodunit; you might walk so far you'll need to take a cab home!
95. Think yoga's too serene to burn calories? Think again. You can burn 250 to 350 calories during an hour-long class (that's as much as you'd burn from an hour of walking)! Plus, you'll improve muscle strength, flexibility, and endurance.
96. Drinking too few can hamper your weight loss efforts. That's because dehydration can slow your metabolism by 3 percent, or about 45 fewer calories burned a day, which in a year could mean weighing 5 pounds more. The key to water isn't how much you drink, it's how frequently you drink it. Small amounts sipped often work better than 8 ounces gulped down at once.
L. How Can I Manage My Emotional Eating and Get the Support I Need?
97. A registered dietitian (RD) can help you find healthy ways to manage your weight with food. To find one in your area who consults with private clients call (800) 366-1655.
98. The best place to drop pounds may be your own house of worship. Researchers set up healthy eating and exercise programs in 16 Baltimore churches. More than 500 women participated and after a year the most successful lost an average of 20 lb. Weight loss programs based on faith are so successful because there's a built-in community component that people can feel comfortable with.
99. Here's another reason to keep level-headed all the time: Pennsylvania State University research has found that women less able to cope with stress—shown by blood pressure and heart rate elevations—ate twice as many fatty snacks as stress-resistant women did, even after the stress stopped (in this case, 25 minutes of periodic jackhammer-level noise and an unsolvable maze).
100. Sitting at a computer may help you slim down. When researchers at Brown University School of Medicine put 92 people on online weight loss programs for a year, those who received weekly e-mail counseling shed 5 1/2 more pounds than those who got none. Counselors provided weekly feedback on diet and exercise logs, answered questions, and cheered them on. Most major online diet programs offer many of these features.
Featured Expert
By Margaret Furtado, M.S., R.D.
By Top Dietitians of the American Dietetic Association for Prevention
Courtesy of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), we took our readers' eleven toughest diet problems and ran them by some of the top dietitians in the US: RDs who, in addition to their private careers, serve as media spokespersons or heads of specialty practice groups for the ADA.
Here's what they told us, in their own words. These tips are solid gold, learned from successful experience with thousands of clients. Some tips are new. Some you've heard before, but they're repeated because they work. This treasure trove of RD wisdom could change your life-starting today.
A. I Can Only Handle One Diet Change Right Now. What Should I Do?
1. Add just one fruit or veggie serving daily. Get comfortable with that, then add an extra serving until you reach 8 to 10 a day.
2. Eat at least two servings of a fruit or veggie at every meal.
3. Resolve never to supersize your food portions—unless you want to supersize your clothes.
4. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. Whenever you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it, and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.
5. Start eating a big breakfast. It helps you eat fewer total calories throughout the day.
6. Make sure your plate is half veggies and/or fruit at both lunch and dinner.
B. Are there Any Easy Tricks to Help Me Cut Calories?
7. Eating out? Halve it, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage, and dessert.
8. When dining out, make it automatic: Order one dessert to share.
9. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
10. See what you eat. Plate your food instead of eating out of the jar or bag.
11. Eat the low-cal items on your plate first, then graduate. Start with salads, veggies, and broth soups, and eat meats and starches last. By the time you get to them, you'll be full enough to be content with smaller portions of the high-calorie choices.
12. Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you'll lose 5 lb in a year.
13. Juice has as many calories, ounce for ounce, as soda. Set a limit of one 8-oz glass of fruit juice a day.
14. Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice.
15. Keep a food journal. It really works wonders.
16. Follow the Chinese saying: "Eat until you are eight-tenths full."
17. Use mustard instead of mayo.
18. Eat more soup. The noncreamy ones are filling but low-cal.
19. Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lb in a year.
20. Take your lunch to work.
21. Sit when you eat.
22. Dilute juice with water.
23. Have mostly veggies for lunch.
24. Eat at home.
25. Limit alcohol to weekends.
C. How Can I Eat More Veggies?
26. Have a V8 or tomato juice instead of a Diet Coke at 3 pm.
27. Doctor your veggies to make them delicious: Dribble maple syrup over carrots, and sprinkle chopped nuts on green beans.
28. Mix three different cans of beans and some diet Italian dressing. Eat this three-bean salad all week.
29. Don't forget that vegetable soup counts as a vegetable.
30. Rediscover the sweet potato.
31. Use prebagged baby spinach everywhere: as "lettuce" in sandwiches, heated in soups, wilted in hot pasta, and added to salads.
32. Spend the extra few dollars to buy vegetables that are already washed and cut up.
33. Really hate veggies? Relax. If you love fruits, eat plenty of them; they are just as healthy (especially colorful ones such as oranges, mangoes, and melons).
34. Keep seven bags of your favorite frozen vegetables on hand. Mix any combination, microwave, and top with your favorite low-fat dressing. Enjoy 3 to 4 cups a day. Makes a great quick dinner.
D. Can You Give Me a Mantra that will Help Me Stick to My Diet?
35. "The best portion of high-calorie foods is the smallest one. The best portion of vegetables is the largest one. Period."
36. "I'll ride the wave. My cravings will disappear after 10 minutes if I turn my attention elsewhere."
37. "I want to be around to see my grandchildren, so I can forgo a cookie now."
38. "I am a work in progress."
39. "It's more stressful to continue being fat than to stop overeating."
E. I Eat Healthy, but I'm Overweight. What Mistakes Could I Be Making without Realizing It?
40. Skipping meals. Many healthy eaters "diet by day and binge by night."
41. Don't "graze" yourself fat. You can easily munch 600 calories of pretzels or cereal without realizing it.
42. Eating pasta like crazy. A serving of pasta is 1 cup, but some people routinely eat 4 cups.43. Eating supersize bagels of 400 to 500 calories for snacks.
44. Ignoring "Serving Size" on the Nutrition Facts panel.
45. Snacking on bowls of nuts. Nuts are healthy but dense with calories. Put those bowls away, and use nuts as a garnish instead of a snack.
46. Thinking all energy bars and fruit smoothies are low-cal.
F. What Can I Eat for a Healthy Low-Cal Dinner if I Don't Want to Cook?
47. A smoothie made with fat-free milk, frozen fruit, and wheat germ.
48. The smallest fast-food burger (with mustard and ketchup, not mayo) and a no-cal beverage. Then at home, have an apple or baby carrots.
49. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread with a glass of 1 percent milk and an apple.
50. Precooked chicken strips and microwaved frozen broccoli topped with Parmesan cheese.
51. A healthy frozen entree with a salad and a glass of 1 percent milk.
52. Scramble eggs in a nonstick skillet. Pop some asparagus in the microwave, and add whole wheat toast. If your cholesterol levels are normal, you can have seven eggs a week!
53. A bag of frozen vegetables heated in the microwave, topped with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of chopped nuts.
54. Prebagged salad topped with canned tuna, grape tomatoes, shredded reduced-fat cheese, and low-cal Italian dressing.
55. Keep lean sandwich fixings on hand: whole wheat bread, sliced turkey, reduced-fat cheese, tomatoes, mustard with horseradish.
56. Heat up a can of good soup.
57. Cereal, fruit, and fat-free milk makes a good meal anytime.
58. Try a veggie sandwich from Subway.
59. Precut fruit for a salad and add yogurt.
G. What's Your Best Advice for Avoiding those Extra Holiday Pounds?
60. Don't tell yourself, "It's okay, it's the holidays." That opens the door to 6 weeks of splurging.
61. Remember, EAT before you meet. Have this small meal before you go to any parties: a hardboiled Egg, Apple, and a Thirst quencher (water, seltzer, diet soda, tea).
62. As obvious as it sounds, don't stand near the food at parties. Make the effort, and you'll find you eat less.
63. At a buffet? Eating a little of everything guarantees high calories. Decide on three or four things, only one of which is high in calories. Save that for last so there's less chance of overeating.
64. For the duration of the holidays, wear your snuggest clothes that don't allow much room for expansion. Wearing sweats is out until January.
65. Give it away! After company leaves, give away leftover food to neighbors, doormen, or delivery people, or take it to work the next day.
66. Walk around the mall three times before you start shopping.
67. Make exercise a nonnegotiable priority.
68. Dance to music with your family in your home. One dietitian reported that when she asks her patients to do this, initially they just smile, but once they've done it, they say it is one of the easiest ways to involve the whole family in exercise.
H. How Can I Control a Raging Sweet Tooth?
69. Once in a while, have a lean, mean salad for lunch or dinner, and save the meal's calories for a full dessert.
70. Are you the kind of person who does better if you make up your mind to do without sweets and just not have them around? Or are you going to do better if you have a limited amount of sweets every day? One RD reported that most of her clients pick the latter and find they can avoid bingeing after a few days.
71. If your family thinks they need a very sweet treat every night, try to strike a balance between offering healthy choices but allowing them some "free will." Compromise with low-fat ice cream and fruit, or sometimes just fruit with a dollop of whipped cream.
72. Try 2 weeks without sweets. It's amazing how your cravings vanish.
73. Eat more fruit. A person who gets enough fruit in his diet doesn't have a raging sweet tooth.
74. Eat your sweets, just eat them smart! Carve out about 150 calories per day for your favorite sweet. That amounts to about an ounce of chocolate, half a modest slice of cake, or 1/2 cup of regular ice cream.
75. Try these smart little sweets: sugar-free hot cocoa, frozen red grapes, fudgsicles, sugar-free gum, Nutri-Grain chocolate fudge twists, Tootsie Rolls, and hard candy.
I. How Can I Conquer My Downfall: Bingeing at Night?
76. Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The large majority of people who struggle with night eating are those who skip meals or don't eat balanced meals during the day. This is a major setup for overeating at night.
77. Eat your evening meal in the kitchen or dining room, sitting down at the table.
78. Drink cold unsweetened raspberry tea. It tastes great and keeps your mouth busy.
79. Change your nighttime schedule. It will take effort, but it will pay off. You need something that will occupy your mind and hands.
80. If you're eating at night due to emotions, you need to focus on getting in touch with what's going on and taking care of yourself in a way that really works. Find a nonfood method of coping with your stress.
81. Put a sign on the kitchen and refrigerator doors: "Closed after Dinner."
82. Brush your teeth right after dinner to remind you: No more food.
83. Eat without engaging in any other simultaneous activity. No reading, watching TV, or sitting at the computer.
84. Eating late at night won't itself cause weight gain. It's how many calories—not when you eat them—that counts.
J. How Can I Reap Added Health Benefits from My Dieting?
85. Fat-free isn't always your best bet. Research has found that none of the lycopene or alpha- or beta-carotene that fight cancer and heart disease is absorbed from salads with fat-free dressing. Only slightly more is absorbed with reduced-fat dressing; the most is absorbed with full-fat dressing. But remember, use your dressing in moderate amounts.
86. Skipping breakfast will leave you tired and craving naughty foods by midmorning. To fill up healthfully and tastefully, try this sweet, fruity breakfast full of antioxidants. In a blender, process 1 c nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt, 1 1/3 c frozen strawberries (no added sugar), 1 peeled kiwi, and 1 peeled banana. Pulse until mixture is milkshake consistency. Makes one 2-cup serving; 348 calories and 1.5 fat grams.
87. If you're famished by 4 p.m. and have no alternative but an office vending machine, reach for the nuts—. The same goes if your only choices are what's available in the hotel minibar.
88. Next time you're feeling wiped out in late afternoon, forgo that cup of coffee and reach for a cup of yogurt instead. The combination of protein, carbohydrate, and fat in an 8-ounce serving of low-fat yogurt will give you a sense of fullness and well-being that coffee can't match, as well as some vital nutrients. If you haven't eaten in 3 to 4 hours, your blood glucose levels are probably dropping, so eating a small amount of nutrient-rich food will give your brain and your body a boost.
89. Making just a few changes to your pantry shelves can get you a lot closer to your weight loss goals. Here's what to do: If you use corn and peanut oil, replace it with olive oil. Same goes for breads—go for whole wheat. Trade in those fatty cold cuts like salami and bologna and replace them canned tuna, sliced turkey breast, and lean roast beef. Change from drinking whole milk to fat-free milk or low-fat soy milk. This is hard for a lot of people so try transitioning down to 2 percent and then 1 percent before you go fat-free.
90. Nothing's less appetizing than a crisper drawer full of mushy vegetables. Frozen vegetables store much better, plus they may have greater nutritional value than fresh. Food suppliers typically freeze veggies just a few hours after harvest, locking in the nutrients. Fresh veggies, on the other hand, often spend days in the back of a truck before they reach your supermarket.
91. Worried about the trans-fat content in your peanut butter? Good news: In a test done on Skippy, JIF, Peter Pan, and a supermarket brand, the levels of trans fats per 2-tablespoon serving were far lower than 0.5 gram—low enough that under proposed laws, the brands can legally claim zero trans fats on the label. They also contained only 1 gram more sugar than natural brands—not a significant difference.
K. Eating Less Isn't Enough—What Exercising Tips Will Help Me Shed Pounds?
92. Overeating is not the result of exercise. Vigorous exercise won't stimulate you to overeat. It's just the opposite. Exercise at any level helps curb your appetite immediately following the workout.
93. When you're exercising, you shouldn't wait for thirst to strike before you take a drink. By the time you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Try this: Drink at least 16 ounces of water, sports drinks, or juices two hours before you exercise. Then drink 8 ounces an hour before and another 4 to 8 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during your workout. Finish with at least 16 ounces after you're done exercising.
94. Tune in to an audio book while you walk. It'll keep you going longer and looking forward to the next walk—and the next chapter! Check your local library for a great selection. Look for a whodunit; you might walk so far you'll need to take a cab home!
95. Think yoga's too serene to burn calories? Think again. You can burn 250 to 350 calories during an hour-long class (that's as much as you'd burn from an hour of walking)! Plus, you'll improve muscle strength, flexibility, and endurance.
96. Drinking too few can hamper your weight loss efforts. That's because dehydration can slow your metabolism by 3 percent, or about 45 fewer calories burned a day, which in a year could mean weighing 5 pounds more. The key to water isn't how much you drink, it's how frequently you drink it. Small amounts sipped often work better than 8 ounces gulped down at once.
L. How Can I Manage My Emotional Eating and Get the Support I Need?
97. A registered dietitian (RD) can help you find healthy ways to manage your weight with food. To find one in your area who consults with private clients call (800) 366-1655.
98. The best place to drop pounds may be your own house of worship. Researchers set up healthy eating and exercise programs in 16 Baltimore churches. More than 500 women participated and after a year the most successful lost an average of 20 lb. Weight loss programs based on faith are so successful because there's a built-in community component that people can feel comfortable with.
99. Here's another reason to keep level-headed all the time: Pennsylvania State University research has found that women less able to cope with stress—shown by blood pressure and heart rate elevations—ate twice as many fatty snacks as stress-resistant women did, even after the stress stopped (in this case, 25 minutes of periodic jackhammer-level noise and an unsolvable maze).
100. Sitting at a computer may help you slim down. When researchers at Brown University School of Medicine put 92 people on online weight loss programs for a year, those who received weekly e-mail counseling shed 5 1/2 more pounds than those who got none. Counselors provided weekly feedback on diet and exercise logs, answered questions, and cheered them on. Most major online diet programs offer many of these features.
Featured Expert
By Margaret Furtado, M.S., R.D.
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