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
Friday, March 26, 2010
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
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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.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
6 Rules of Good Nutrition
6 Rules of Good Nutrition
6. Never Skip Breakfast
Yes, mornings are crazy. But they’re also our best hope at regaining our nutritional sanity. A 2005 study synthesized the results of 47 other studies that examined the impact of starting the day with a healthy breakfast. Here’s what they found:
People who skip breakfast are more likely to take up smoking or drinking, less likely to exercise, and more likely to follow fad diets or express concerns about body weight. Common reasons cited for skipping were lack of time, lack of hunger, or dieting.
5. Snack With Purpose
There’s a big difference between mindless munching and strategic snacking. Snacking with purpose means reinforcing good habits, keeping your metabolic rate high, and filling the gaps between meals with the nutrients your child’s body craves.
4. Beware of Portion Distortion
Snack portions aren’t the only things that have increased wildly in size. Since 1977, hamburgers have increased by 97 calories, French fries by 68 calories, and Mexican foods by 133 calories, according to analysis of the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey.
3. Drink Responsibly
Too many of us keep in mind the adage "watch what you eat," and we forget another serious threat to our health: We don’t watch what we drink. In fact, according to research from the University of North Carolina, Americans now slurp up nearly 25 percent of their calories in liquid form; nearly double the rate we used to drink just 20 years ago. One study found that sweetened beverages constituted more than half (51 percent) of all beverages consumed by fourth- through sixth-grade students. The students who consumed the most sweetened beverages took in approximately 330 extra calories per day, and on average they ate less than half the amount of real fruit than did their peers who drank unsweetened or lightly sweetened beverages.
Another important strategy: Be extra careful about the juice you purchase. Too many "juices" are little more than sugar water masquerading as the real thing. If you can, it's best you make your own fruit and vegetable juices to be sure.
2. Eat More Whole Food and Fewer Science Experiments
Here’s a rule of healthy eating that will serve you well when picking out foods for your family: The shorter the ingredients list, the healthier the food. (One of the worst foods we’ve ever found, the Baskin-Robbins Heath Shake, has 73 ingredients; and, by the way, a whopping 2,310 calories and more than 3 days’ worth of saturated fat! What happened to the idea that a milk shake was, um, milk and ice cream? The FDA maintains a list of more than 3,000 ingredients that are considered safe to eat, but we’ve found reasons for concern for a number of the additives on that long list, and any one of them could wind up in your next box of mac ’n’ cheese.
1. Set the Table
Children in families with more structured mealtimes exhibit healthier eating habits. Among middle- and high-school girls, those whose families ate together only once or twice per week were more than twice as likely to exhibit weight control issues, compared with those who ate together three or four times per week.
Of course, the notion of a 6 p.m. dinnertime and then everyone into their pj’s is a quaint one, but it’s hardly realistic in a society where our kids have such highly scheduled social lives that the delineation between parent and chauffeur is sometimes difficult to parse. While we can’t always bring the family together like Ozzie Nelson’s (or, heck, even like Ozzy Osbourne’s), we can make some positive steps in that direction. One busy family I know keeps Sunday night dinner sacred, no social plans, no school projects, no extra work brought home from the office. Even keeping the family ritual just once a week gives parents the opportunity to point out what is and isn’t healthy at the dinner table.
Cheers!
Lloyd
info@diettimecookies.tv
6. Never Skip Breakfast
Yes, mornings are crazy. But they’re also our best hope at regaining our nutritional sanity. A 2005 study synthesized the results of 47 other studies that examined the impact of starting the day with a healthy breakfast. Here’s what they found:
People who skip breakfast are more likely to take up smoking or drinking, less likely to exercise, and more likely to follow fad diets or express concerns about body weight. Common reasons cited for skipping were lack of time, lack of hunger, or dieting.
5. Snack With Purpose
There’s a big difference between mindless munching and strategic snacking. Snacking with purpose means reinforcing good habits, keeping your metabolic rate high, and filling the gaps between meals with the nutrients your child’s body craves.
4. Beware of Portion Distortion
Snack portions aren’t the only things that have increased wildly in size. Since 1977, hamburgers have increased by 97 calories, French fries by 68 calories, and Mexican foods by 133 calories, according to analysis of the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey.
3. Drink Responsibly
Too many of us keep in mind the adage "watch what you eat," and we forget another serious threat to our health: We don’t watch what we drink. In fact, according to research from the University of North Carolina, Americans now slurp up nearly 25 percent of their calories in liquid form; nearly double the rate we used to drink just 20 years ago. One study found that sweetened beverages constituted more than half (51 percent) of all beverages consumed by fourth- through sixth-grade students. The students who consumed the most sweetened beverages took in approximately 330 extra calories per day, and on average they ate less than half the amount of real fruit than did their peers who drank unsweetened or lightly sweetened beverages.
Another important strategy: Be extra careful about the juice you purchase. Too many "juices" are little more than sugar water masquerading as the real thing. If you can, it's best you make your own fruit and vegetable juices to be sure.
2. Eat More Whole Food and Fewer Science Experiments
Here’s a rule of healthy eating that will serve you well when picking out foods for your family: The shorter the ingredients list, the healthier the food. (One of the worst foods we’ve ever found, the Baskin-Robbins Heath Shake, has 73 ingredients; and, by the way, a whopping 2,310 calories and more than 3 days’ worth of saturated fat! What happened to the idea that a milk shake was, um, milk and ice cream? The FDA maintains a list of more than 3,000 ingredients that are considered safe to eat, but we’ve found reasons for concern for a number of the additives on that long list, and any one of them could wind up in your next box of mac ’n’ cheese.
1. Set the Table
Children in families with more structured mealtimes exhibit healthier eating habits. Among middle- and high-school girls, those whose families ate together only once or twice per week were more than twice as likely to exhibit weight control issues, compared with those who ate together three or four times per week.
Of course, the notion of a 6 p.m. dinnertime and then everyone into their pj’s is a quaint one, but it’s hardly realistic in a society where our kids have such highly scheduled social lives that the delineation between parent and chauffeur is sometimes difficult to parse. While we can’t always bring the family together like Ozzie Nelson’s (or, heck, even like Ozzy Osbourne’s), we can make some positive steps in that direction. One busy family I know keeps Sunday night dinner sacred, no social plans, no school projects, no extra work brought home from the office. Even keeping the family ritual just once a week gives parents the opportunity to point out what is and isn’t healthy at the dinner table.
Cheers!
Lloyd
info@diettimecookies.tv
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
10 Weight Loss Tips that Work in One Minute
10 Weight Loss Tips That Work in One Minute or Less
By Liz Vaccariello, Editor-in-Chief, Prevention
There's nothing like a weight loss strategy that takes almost no time or effort--but still works like a charm! Here are 10 successful strategies to cut calories and burn fat that literally take 60 seconds or less.
1. Mix a juice spritzer
Combine your favorite juice (half of your usual amount) with plain or sparkling water. You can cut up to 85 calories per glass--and lose 5 pounds or more a year.
2. Walk while you talk
Burn calories while you talk on the phone: Do the laundry (68 calories), set the table (85), or water plants (102).
3. Study the wrapper
At a quick glance, that candy bar appears to contain 220 calories. But a closer look may reveal that it (or a bottle of juice, bag of crackers, or bag of nuts) provides two or more servings--which more than doubles those calories.
4. Sip green tea before a walk
The caffeine frees fatty acids so that you burn fat more easily. And the polyphenols (antioxidant compounds) in green tea appear to work with caffeine to increase calorie burn. (If you have high blood pressure, skip this tip.)
5. Pack a lunch
Dining out more than 5 times a week may make you eat more--nearly 300 calories a day--than if you dine out less frequently.
6. Dip your bread
Use olive oil in place of butter. It's healthier and may also help you eat less. In a recent study, dippers ate a total of 52 fewer calories, on average, than those who used butter.
7. Sprinkle flax on cereal
High-fiber ground flaxseed can help curb your appetite and eliminate calories. Add it to yogurt or muffin and bread mixes--it's available in health food stores.
8. Schedule a blood test
About 1 in every 12 women (most of whom don't know it) has an underactive thyroid, which can slow down her metabolism.
9. Supersize your H2O
Buy the big bottle when it comes to good-for-you stuff such as water: You'll drink more.
10. Eat a chunky salad
Chop carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, zucchini, or other veggies instead of shredding or slicing. It takes more effort to munch bigger pieces; you'll do more chewing and eat less during the main course.
By Liz Vaccariello, Editor-in-Chief, Prevention
There's nothing like a weight loss strategy that takes almost no time or effort--but still works like a charm! Here are 10 successful strategies to cut calories and burn fat that literally take 60 seconds or less.
1. Mix a juice spritzer
Combine your favorite juice (half of your usual amount) with plain or sparkling water. You can cut up to 85 calories per glass--and lose 5 pounds or more a year.
2. Walk while you talk
Burn calories while you talk on the phone: Do the laundry (68 calories), set the table (85), or water plants (102).
3. Study the wrapper
At a quick glance, that candy bar appears to contain 220 calories. But a closer look may reveal that it (or a bottle of juice, bag of crackers, or bag of nuts) provides two or more servings--which more than doubles those calories.
4. Sip green tea before a walk
The caffeine frees fatty acids so that you burn fat more easily. And the polyphenols (antioxidant compounds) in green tea appear to work with caffeine to increase calorie burn. (If you have high blood pressure, skip this tip.)
5. Pack a lunch
Dining out more than 5 times a week may make you eat more--nearly 300 calories a day--than if you dine out less frequently.
6. Dip your bread
Use olive oil in place of butter. It's healthier and may also help you eat less. In a recent study, dippers ate a total of 52 fewer calories, on average, than those who used butter.
7. Sprinkle flax on cereal
High-fiber ground flaxseed can help curb your appetite and eliminate calories. Add it to yogurt or muffin and bread mixes--it's available in health food stores.
8. Schedule a blood test
About 1 in every 12 women (most of whom don't know it) has an underactive thyroid, which can slow down her metabolism.
9. Supersize your H2O
Buy the big bottle when it comes to good-for-you stuff such as water: You'll drink more.
10. Eat a chunky salad
Chop carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, zucchini, or other veggies instead of shredding or slicing. It takes more effort to munch bigger pieces; you'll do more chewing and eat less during the main course.
Snacks mean U.S. kids moving to "constant eating"
Snacks mean U.S. kids moving toward "constant eating"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. children eat an average three snacks a day on top of three regular meals, a finding that could explain why the childhood obesity rate has risen to more than 16 percent, researchers said on Tuesday.
Children snack so often that they are "moving toward constant eating," Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina reported.
More than 27 percent of calories that American kids take in come from snacks, Piernas and Popkin reported in the journal Health Affairs. The researchers defined snacks as food eaten outside regular meals.
The studies will help fuel President Barack Obama's initiative to fight obesity in childhood, something Obama's wife, first lady Michelle Obama, notes could drive up already soaring U.S. healthcare costs.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote a commentary calling for taxes on sugary drinks and junk food, zoning restrictions on fast-food outlets around schools and bans on advertising unhealthy food to children.
"Government at national, state, and local levels, spearheaded by public health agencies, must take action," he wrote.
Piernas and Popkin looked at data on 31,337 children aged 2 to 18 from four different federal surveys on food and eating.
"Childhood snacking trends are moving toward three snacks per day, and more than 27 percent of children's daily calories are coming from snacks. The largest increases have been in salty snacks and candy. Desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks," they wrote.
"Children increased their caloric intake by 113 calories per day from 1977 to 2006," they added.
CONSTANT EATING
"This raises the question of whether the physiological basis for eating is becoming deregulated, as our children are moving toward constant eating."
In a second study in the journal, Christina Bethell of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland and colleagues analyzed data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health to find the rate of obesity for children 10 to 17 rose from 14.8 percent in 2003 to 16.4 percent in 2007.
The percentage of children who are overweight stayed at around 15 percent, they found.
"While combined overweight and obesity rates appear to be leveling off, our findings suggest a possible increase in the severity of the national childhood obesity epidemic," Bethell said in a statement.
Parents, educators and policymakers all hold responsibility for this, Michelle Obama told the School Nutrition Association conference in Washington on Monday.
"Our kids didn't do this to themselves," Obama said.
"From fast food, to vending machines packed with chips and candy, to a la carte lines, we tempt our kids with all kinds of unhealthy choices every day."
Other studies have shown that obese children are more likely to stay obese as adults, and they develop chronic conditions at younger ages, burdening the healthcare system.
"You see kids who are at higher risk of conditions like diabetes, and cancer, and heart disease -- conditions that cost billions of dollars a year to treat," Michelle Obama said.
The administration has launched an initiative to tackle the issue by improving nutritional standards, getting food companies to voluntarily improve nutrition standards, help kids exercise more and educating parents.
The effects extend beyond health. Bethell's study found that overweight or obese children were 32 percent more likely to have to repeat a grade in school and 59 percent more likely than normal weight kids to have missed more than two weeks of school.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. children eat an average three snacks a day on top of three regular meals, a finding that could explain why the childhood obesity rate has risen to more than 16 percent, researchers said on Tuesday.
Children snack so often that they are "moving toward constant eating," Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina reported.
More than 27 percent of calories that American kids take in come from snacks, Piernas and Popkin reported in the journal Health Affairs. The researchers defined snacks as food eaten outside regular meals.
The studies will help fuel President Barack Obama's initiative to fight obesity in childhood, something Obama's wife, first lady Michelle Obama, notes could drive up already soaring U.S. healthcare costs.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote a commentary calling for taxes on sugary drinks and junk food, zoning restrictions on fast-food outlets around schools and bans on advertising unhealthy food to children.
"Government at national, state, and local levels, spearheaded by public health agencies, must take action," he wrote.
Piernas and Popkin looked at data on 31,337 children aged 2 to 18 from four different federal surveys on food and eating.
"Childhood snacking trends are moving toward three snacks per day, and more than 27 percent of children's daily calories are coming from snacks. The largest increases have been in salty snacks and candy. Desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks," they wrote.
"Children increased their caloric intake by 113 calories per day from 1977 to 2006," they added.
CONSTANT EATING
"This raises the question of whether the physiological basis for eating is becoming deregulated, as our children are moving toward constant eating."
In a second study in the journal, Christina Bethell of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland and colleagues analyzed data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health to find the rate of obesity for children 10 to 17 rose from 14.8 percent in 2003 to 16.4 percent in 2007.
The percentage of children who are overweight stayed at around 15 percent, they found.
"While combined overweight and obesity rates appear to be leveling off, our findings suggest a possible increase in the severity of the national childhood obesity epidemic," Bethell said in a statement.
Parents, educators and policymakers all hold responsibility for this, Michelle Obama told the School Nutrition Association conference in Washington on Monday.
"Our kids didn't do this to themselves," Obama said.
"From fast food, to vending machines packed with chips and candy, to a la carte lines, we tempt our kids with all kinds of unhealthy choices every day."
Other studies have shown that obese children are more likely to stay obese as adults, and they develop chronic conditions at younger ages, burdening the healthcare system.
"You see kids who are at higher risk of conditions like diabetes, and cancer, and heart disease -- conditions that cost billions of dollars a year to treat," Michelle Obama said.
The administration has launched an initiative to tackle the issue by improving nutritional standards, getting food companies to voluntarily improve nutrition standards, help kids exercise more and educating parents.
The effects extend beyond health. Bethell's study found that overweight or obese children were 32 percent more likely to have to repeat a grade in school and 59 percent more likely than normal weight kids to have missed more than two weeks of school.
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