Fuel for Your Work-outs

Most of us who exercise regularly don't need a lot of extra "fuel" to keep us going if we are getting regular healthy meals and a couple small (about 100 calories) healthy snacks during the day. And that's because most of us exercise for less than an hour at a moderate rate of intensity. So for us, a bottle of water to sip on is about all we need.

You can't read about exercising, however, with out seeing ads for "energy bars" and you might wonder if this is something you need. So I thought I would do a little investigating to clear up this mystery for you:

Before hitting the gym or starting a long run, your body needs carbohydrates. It is best to avoid protein, fat, fiber and sugar alcohols, all of which can delay the emptying time of the stomach and slow digestion, causing cramps and sluggish energy levels. Energy bars are usually too high in protein, fat, fiber, and possibly sugar alcohols to be used for pre-exercise nourishment. Instead, try another carbohydrate-rich food.
During an brief aerobic workout, energy bars are not an a great refueling choice because aerobic and high-intensity exercises require blood flow to the muscles, not to the stomach for the digestion of foods. But after exercising for more than 60-90 minutes, you might want to consider a sports drink or sports gel to boost your energy levels, promote hydration, and balance electrolytes in the body.

Energy bars may work for low-intensity, very long-duration activities such as a long, slow hike or bike ride., or slow-speed marathon training (During lower-intensity exercise, less blood is diverted to the muscles.)

After your exercise session, your body needs mostly carbohydrates (to replenish glycogen stores in the muscles), some protein (to help repair damaged muscle tissue), and a little fat (for cellular repair). Eating a "real" and complete meal is your best bet. But if you cannot eat a meal within two hours working out, then an energy bar paired with a glass of water and a piece of fruit is a good option. Look for a meal replacement bar ( with at least 30 grams of carbohydrate, 10 grams (or more) of protein, and 5-10 gram of fat. (This information is courtesy of Sparkpeople.com)

I often tell my exercise partner, who favors Powerbars, that he might as well eat a Snickers - which would be my personal energy bar of choice.  So I looked for some comparison information which you might like to to read too:

Snickers vs Energy Bars

Lesson learned: as with an food choice, it is always best to read the label! Then you can make in informed decision.

Final recommendation from Sparkpeople on fueling your workouts:

Don't ever feel that you have to rely on energy bars to meet your calorie and nutritional needs. These snack ideas provide energy, nutrition and flavor in a convenient, budget-friendly package:

Fresh fruits: apples, oranges, pears, plums, grapes, bananas Individually packaged fruit and applesauce

Yogurt or string cheese

Whole grain crackers (plain or with cheese or peanut butter)

Bagels and muffins

Homemade trail mix

Granola bars
Carton of milk or juice

Graham crackers

Sitting: Is it the New Smoking?

That was a cover headline on an AARP Bulletin earlier this year.

And the evidence is mounting that being sedentary - literally sitting too much - is just as hazardous to your health and longevity as smoking or other unhealthy activity. Naturally it's a catchy headline that makes people look twice -- and hopefully, think twice-- because many of us who don't smoke and incorporate other healthy habits like drinking water and eating low-fat, low-sugar foods think we are pretty well doing enough -- even though we fail to get regular physical activity most days. Most of us say and think we are "too busy" to be active.

There has been a world-wide shift toward less physically demanding work, we depend on cars to take us around the block, we bus our children to school even when they live less than a mile from the door, we have many labor saving devices in our homes ( hello, remote control!) and we all amass more screen time than ever before - at work, at home. The result is that 60% of the world's population gets insufficient physical activity every single day. Sadly our children are leading this same lifestyle at an even earlier age: enjoying less active playtime both at school and at home.

Diabetes, obesity, cancer and early death are now linked to sitting for prolonged periods of time.

If you work in an office, or drive for a living, or find yourself sitting for many hours of the day, do your body a favor and get up after every hour and move around for at least three minutes. Set a timer if you must.



Posts to this blog have focused largely on food choices as a way to control overweight because it is true that you can make a quick, significant difference in your weight by changing the kind and amount of food you eat. But you can  profoundly change the way you look and feel and the way your body metabolizes food by moving more- and more often throughout the day!

Wherever you are as you are reading this, I encourage you to commit to moving at least 20 minutes more each day - and a good way to keep that commitment is to make it public.  Davis Health System is kicking off its annual 100 Miles in 100 Days campaign - please join hundreds of your neighbors as they begin the journey of 100 miles (and more) with their first mile - about 20 minutes - of walking (or jogging, swimming, biking, or exercise class) - on May 27. Register and find out more at http://www.dhs100miles.com/.

What's On Your Plate?

 What's on Your Plate?  This year, the experts at the USDA who decide what makes a healthy diet, dumped the old food pyramid and introduced the fresh "MyPlate" as the guideline for Americans to use in planning healthy meals.
Visit Choose MyPlate.gov
This fresh approach  is simple to understand and remember. Basically, one half of your dinner plate should be fruits and vegetables (and you know I recommend favoring the veggies), 1/4 protein, and 1/4 whole grain.
With a serving of low-fat dairy on the side.
Here's what the graphic looks like:

And here's how it looks in practice, on my dinner plate:

 On my plate are roasted squash and potatoes, green salad with more vegetables and feta cheese, 4 ounces of grilled salmon with a mango and tomato salsa. I had a whole grain roll on the side.

With fresh vegetables in-season and plentiful now, you can fix many vegetable-rich dinners for very little expense.

Another night, I opted to eat meat-less, and chose beans for my protein:

For this dinner, I had a salad, steamed veggies, and black beans and Parmesan cheese mixed with whole brown rice.  Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, avocado, tomato, green pepper and mushrooms - 7 different vegetables! The variations for this kind of dinner are endless and best of all: it's low-calorie and takes under 25 minutes to prepare.

So if you are wondering how to feed your family in a way that's healthy and meets the recommended daily nutritional requirements, check out the simple recommendations on http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ --then head to your garden or local farmer's market for the veggies to fill at least half your plate. And let us know -- what's on your plate?

Losing Weight - First steps

I've talked this week with three friends who are on a weight loss journey and having success. So naturally I asked each of them "how are you doing it? What are you doing different that is working?"

All three of them said that the most important change they made was to keep track of what they eat and write it down.

Now as a someone who wants to lose, you may be groaning, "I don't want to count calories! I don't want to write things down!"

But as a wellness educator, this is good news to me: because it confirms what I read in health promotion literature, have been taught and what our registered dietitian Jim Severino says too:  the most successful "losers" know what they are eating because they track it.

One of my friends who in just one week has lost five pounds, says that writing down her food choices has helped her stay away from soda and sweets because she doesn't want to write down the treats and their high calories. This technique can really help you budget your daily calorie allotment toward healthy choices.

I've recommended http://www.calorieking.com/ before as a website that lists the nutritional content of every food you can imagine, but there are fantastic websites that do even more  - like help you choose an eating plan and set up a food journal for you on-line, for free! You just type in the food you ate, and the website does all the calculations for you - even tells you how many calories you have left to spend during the day.

Check out http://www.fitclick.com/, http://www.livestrong.com/ and web.md for free interactive weight loss plans that include food trackers! And yes, there is an app for that! Iphone has many free ones, but you also may want to invest in an inexpensive paid app like that from Livestrong that has a few more bells and whistles....so whether you go online or keep track the old-fashioned way: with a pencil and little notebook - do write down what you eat. It can become the new habit that makes the difference in your weight, too!

You Are What You Eat

Problem is, most of us overestimate how healthy our food is and underestimate how much of it we eat.

This week, the CBS Evening News released a report from Consumer Reports Health, outlining some of the ways Americans demonstrate their confusion about healthy weight and healthy eating. It starts with how we approach weight in general: 79% of the adults interviewed said they never weigh themselves and 85% said they never count calories. 



Many people seem to believe that it's only sweet dessert-type foods that belong in the "unhealthy" category and that they will always be higher in calories and fat than a non-dessert item. In past blogs we've seen that's not always true: overload a green salad with meats, croutons, cheese and too much dressing and you have a meal that can top a Whopper in terms of fat and calories.  On a smaller scale, some containers of yogurt can be higher in calories and sugar than the same size portion of pudding or even ice cream. You really have to lose the assumptions, and  KNOW what you are putting in your mouth!

So if healthy eating and losing weight is on your New Year's list of things to accomplish, you have to start with facts: know what you are eating and know how much you should have as a serving size.  Know how much you should be consuming everyday in order to lose weight. In general, choose fresh, non-processed foods for most of your meals, and if you are wondering about the nutritional or caloric content of a specific food, websites like http://www.calorieking.com/ can give you the nutritional content of nearly every food choice you might want.

I'll be offering a workshop called Make 10 Changes to Lose 10 Pounds in 10 Weeks at Davis Memorial Hospital on January 15. In next week's blog and in the nine that follow, we'll be looking at those 10 changes. Tune in next week to start losing!

Successful Resolutions Start with Real “Resolve”

I love new beginnings, whether it be the start of a new project, the “first day of school”, seeing the “after” in a makeover show, or January first – the beginning of the new year.


The promise that a fresh start is possible – the idea that we really can change something about ourselves – the “new you in the new year” - is the appeal and the fuel for all New Year Resolutions.



Although we sometimes make a laundry list of resolutions, the most important step in having any or all of them be successful and *stick* is to resolve to be resolved. In other words, make the decision to stay committed.



Take quitting smoking. If you have just snubbed out a cigarette, you have quit smoking. If you resolve right now to not light up again, and you take steps to make that happen, you will quit smoking. The tricky part is staying resolved.



Your resolution to lose weight? Well, you have to be resolved to make it your highest priority. You may have to get help in finding out what you have to do to make that happen: change amounts of what you eat, change the types of food you buy, change the amount of exercise you get (or don’t get!); but change begins with making the decision to do it and then sticking with it.



Just do it – resolve to make your self and your health the highest priority of your day every day. My best advice? Have the resolve to change just ONE habit this year – just because you believe you will feel better and be healthier.



Some may think that I’m just talking about will power, but that’s a phrase I really stay away from. To me, “will power’ implies gutting it out, straining against the impossible, getting tough; and that sounds negative to me. But “resolve” - that implies you are in charge of your thoughts, your determination, and your future.



Many years ago, I undertook a habit change with this thought in mind: “if I attempt this every day for a year, I may change – or I may not change; but if I DON’T do it, I am guaranteed NOT to change.” That thought became my biggest motivator; it kept me resolved to stay on track or get back on when I veered off course. I maintained my resolve and reached my goal in 3 months – much less than a year. So my challenge to you is to resolve to be resolved when it comes to making your new year, new you resolution! And best wishes, whatever wellness goal you set for yourself.

Extreme Makeover: Breakfast

Good old Mom was still right when she said "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. To maintain a healthy weight and jump-start your metabolism, breakfast is a 'must do',  so don't think cutting out that meal will help  you cut calories and lose weight faster. Studies have proven that skipping breakfast triggers our bodies to fight "starvation" by holding on to its fat; and really, many us us just overeat later in the day when we skip breakfast.

But, what we choose as our breakfast can make an enormous difference in how we feel and how we lose - or don't lose - weight.

This used to be my typical breakfast:

a small container of yogurt, a banana and orange juice.  I thought I was making good choices; after all I was getting protein, vitamin C, calcium, and potassium, right?

Well, yes. But I was also getting very hungry an hour later, and I felt tired too.
Why? Well my "healthy breakfast" had almost 300 calories - which isn't bad - but the kind of calories I was consuming had no filling or "staying power". Here's why:

Banana = 72 calories, 18 grams carbohydrate ( 10 grams sugar) and 2 grams fiber
Orange Juice = 110 calories, 26 grams carbohydrate (22 grams sugar)
Activia yogurt = 110 calories, 19 grams carbohydrate (17 grams sugar) and 4 grams protein

So my 300 calories served me 63 grams of carbohydrates - nearly 50 of them sugars! Note that the fiber content is a measly 2 grams from the banana.  Basically the meal I chose to start my day - started it all right  - but put me on a fast blood sugar high, that soon plummeted leaving me feeling hungry and tired, and often craving something sweet!

I have spent quite a bit of time as the facilitator of  the diabetes support group and know a little bit about carb counting as a means of keeping blood glucose levels steady, so I realized my high sugar breakfast choices - even though I wasn't adding sugar from the sugar bowl to anything -were probably doing me harm.

I set out to make over my breakfast to give me the results I really wanted.  I wanted more energy, nutrition per calorie, low sugar content and higher fiber. Fiber is a power nutrient for many reasons: it fills you up, it digests slowly, promotes a healthy digestive tract, and can help lower cholesterol and weight! Protein fuels muscles and provides energy.

So now I alternate between two breakfasts:
Some days I have an egg with low-fat cheddar cheese on a whole wheat English muffin.
Other days I eat a very high-fiber cereal like Fiber One with unsweetened Almond Breeze milk.
I may add an orange, apple or raspberries, but I now only have whole fruit instead of juice.

Here's the difference nutritionally:

Egg sandwich + orange day:  258 calories, 36 grams carbohydrate ( 11 sugar), 9 grams protein ( 1 gram saturated fat) and 6 grams fiber
Fiber One and raspberries day:  150 calories,  28 grams carbohydrate ( about 1 gram sugar), 2 grams protein, 16 grams fiber

Quite a change!

My new breakfasts are lower in calories, and could easily be adjusted up to 400 calories - and in fact, I may add a spoonful of low-sugar peanut butter to make sure I get enough protein on the cereal day, but now I am full and feel satisfied for several hours after eating breakfast; I can tell my blood sugar is behaving in a normal way, my weight and waist are easier to maintain and my energy level is better. I usually have a snack mid-morning of either nuts or string cheese, and then I am fine until lunch. 

My old breakfast had foods that are good ones by themselves. But combined, they gave me more sugars at one meal than I normally had in a day.  My "extreme makeover" has worked for me, and my hope is that it will prompt you to take a look at how you are starting your day.

4 Last Minute Holiday Dinner Survival Tips

1. Eat breakfast!
Starting the day with a healthy meal rich in fiber and protein will help "normalize" your appetite for the day. Peanut butter on whole wheat toast with orange slices on the side is a quick easy way to fortify yourself for the busy day ahead. Please don't "starve" yourself in preparation for the main meal of the day. You are more likely to load up on snacks and drinks before dinner if you haven't eaten all day.

2. Take a walk....while the bird is in the oven or after the big dinner - or both! Getting out in the fresh air even for 10 minutes will make you feel like you have "done something healthy" on a day full of indulgences - and you will be right! If you are someone who has a regular exercise daily exercise routine, try to stick to it.

3. Plan in advance!  This is the key to every single wellness success:  plan what choice you will make before you are faced with something that tempts you to veer from your healthy lifestyle program.  Thanksgiving Day Dinner may not be the time or place to try to lose weight, but it can certainly be a time when you follow a strategy for making wise choices: eat small portions of the foods you really love...sit back and relax... and then decide if you really want seconds or can be content to wait for leftovers at the next meal.  Practice saying "no thank you " if you know you will be around someone who may push tempting foods your way.  And finally, plan to go back to "normal" eating the next day because it's very easy to let this first holiday meal turn into a season of binging on high calorie, high fat treats.

4. Enjoy!   Celebrate whatever the day brings to you in terms of family or  friends or solitude -  give thanks for the good things in your life. Conversation, play, sharing, creating memories or reflecting on them - these are the calorie-free things that we can all focus on at Thanksgiving !

Need more ideas?  Click here for more tips for holiday survival from WebMD.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And the Holiday Food Season Begins!

There is no question that the next six weeks will be focused on people's favorite foods more than at any other time of year. It can be a season that destroys the healthy eating plan of even the most conscientious among us.

Ever wonder how many calories are consumed in the traditional Thanksgiving dinner? Well - making allowances for food choices and preferences - more than 2000 is average for Americans. Yes, that's in one meal - not the whole day! And that's with good old "healthy" turkey as the centerpiece of the meal.
 

                                     

Click here to find out how far you'd have to walk to burn off the calories in your Thanksgiving meal - I did and found out my meal of choice weighed in at 2130 calories: requiring about 20 miles of walking to burn it all off! As you can imagine, I am not likely to do that after cooking, and consuming the feast.

Remembering that 2000 calories is the daily recommendation for young healthy weight adults (and 1600-1800 is the recommendation if you are older, a middle aged woman or overweight), the trick is to figure out how to enjoy the flavors and goodies that we love during the holidays without taking in twice the calories, fat, and sugar that we want to.

Simple swaps and changes to lighten up the turkey dinner include:

• Choose white meat instead of dark and save almost 200 calories.
• Make stuffing with whole wheat bread and olive oil instead of butter.
• use fat-free mushroom soup to make your green bean casserole and sauteed onions instead of the canned fried ones.
• Make gravy with canned fat-free broth instead of the drippings from the bird.
• If you are having bread stuffing, skip the dinner rolls.
• For dessert, have a slice of pumpkin pie instead of pecan pie and save 140 calories.
• Watch portion sizes! Having a small serving of  your very favorite dishes instead of heaping your plate with everything offered will leave you  feeling unstuffed, but satisfied at the end of the meal.

MSNBC has even more ideas in this video http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21870864/ns/today-today_holiday_guide

Mom Was Right...Most of the Time

The other day I saw an ad that had a large stalk of broccoli with the phrase "Mom Was Right" printed across it. An effective ad for getting the message across that we need to eat green vegetables!  Moms have always told their kids "Eat Your Vegetables" and sure enough, Mom was right  about that. The FDA, the American Cancer Society, and nearly every other health agency urges us to EAT 5 A DAY  - at least 5 servings of colorful vegetables and fruits for good health.  Can I stress that 5 really should be a minimum? And that because a serving is usually 1/2 to 1 cup , it's really not hard to get more than that in one day.

Benefits of eating more veggies are numerous:  they should be the primary source for most of our vitamins and minerals - especially trace ones - rather than relying on vitamin-fortified juices and packaged foods. Vegetables, especially the dark leafy ones are literally "brain food" - that's how important they are to our development. In addition, most vegetables add valuable fiber to our diets - fiber that keeps our digestive tract operating smoothly.

Now let me get on my fast food soapbox for a minute and stress that the limp piece of iceberg lettuce on your fast food burger, hardly counts as one of your servings of vegetables.  Nor do the french fries. In this blog-o-sphere, french fries ( and yes, I love them too) are a "once in while snack" - like carnival food....not be counted on as a nutrient.

Your "five a day" should be real food munched raw, or cooked with a minimum of alteration: steam, bake or microwave - even stir fry - carrots, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, chard, green beans, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers and squash to your heart's content. What you get in return is vitality, weight control, and lowered risk for diabetes and several  forms of cancer.

Now the one "mom-ism" I take exception too is "Clean Your Plate".  After all, this blog is focused on healthy weight. Many of us grew up around dinner tables where starchy foods were piled on our plates and we weren't permitted to leave the table until every bit was gone. (OK, I admit, this is also the reason some people think they don't like vegetables: I remember pushing peas around the rim of my plate for what felt like hours!) However, the best rule for finishing your meal in a healthy way is to pay attention to your hunger cues. Eat slowly and notice when you are starting to feel full. If you are full, you are finished..even if there is still food on the plate. That's the healthy weight way to monitor exercise portion control.

Can We Change the Future?

"In the United States, 1 in 3 people will have Type 2 diabetes by 2050 if current trends continue, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "


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West Virginia is already a "leader" in numbers of adults who have the chronic disease, diabetes mellitus, or type 2 diabetes. Characterized by an the body's inability to properly produce insulin and process sugar in the blood, diabetes can be a "silent killer" like hypertension: you may not know you have it if you are not routinely tested, but it will be there doing its damage.  A simple fasting blood test will give you the number of your blood glucose level. Too high on more than one occasion, and your doctor may tell you that you have joined the growing population of people with type 2 diabetes. Why do you want to avoid this happening? To make it very simple, having diabetes makes your risk for other major illnesses like heart disease and stroke go up dramatically.  Unmanaged, diabetes can cause blood vessel damage to occur all through your body, and that can affect your eyes, your nerves, your feet, and your kidneys. Complications of uncontrolled diabetes can include blindness and amputation. So diabetes is a whole-body, systemic disease.

Adding to the sense of urgency is the fact that younger and younger people are developing diabetes. Whereas we used to call it "adult onset diabetes", that description has been changed - type 2 diabetes now can be found in teenagers.

The rise in cases of diabetes parallels the rise in the numbers of people who are overweight or obese. This has to be a concern to us as parents and community members. For most people - including children - the key to avoiding developing diabetes is : maintain a healthy weight by eating well and being active.

Worried? Want to take steps to avoid being part of this epidemic? We can change this prediction, if we each take responsibility for our own health:

• Lose weight if you are overweight.
• Lose weight safely by staying within a range of 400 calories per meal, with two or three 100-calorie snacks
• Limit saturated fats; limit red meat, hamburgers, fried foods
• Avoid refined carbohydrates - eat whole grains instead
• Avoid vending machines and fast food - eat real food
• Choose water instead of soft drinks or fruit juice; drink fat-free milk
• Learn to cook quick nutritious meals at home; pack your lunch and snacks to control your portion sizes and your hunger
• Eat lots of non-starchy vegetables; choose beans as a protein source at least once a week.
• Make sure you get lots of FIBER in your diet.
• Walk, run , bike, swim, take the stairs, zumba, stretch, lift weights - just keep moving - every day! 

Diabetes is an expensive, lifetime disease that requires daily monitoring. Please do your body a favor and click here to learn how to avoid diabetes if you don't have it, and control it if you do. And by all means, talk to your health care provider if you suspect you are at risk for diabetes or need help controlling your blood glucose levels.

Don't Wait 'til the Holidays to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Most articles that address ''holiday weight gain" refer to the six weeks from Thanksgiving through New Year's, but I believe the holiday season starts right about now - with the fall festivals, football tailgates and Halloween preparations. Late fall is possibly the most food-focused time of the year.

So it's certainly not too early to investigate the truth about holiday weight gain and make plans to avoid it!

For a long time, health professionals and people themselves thought that the average amount of weight gained by people during the holidays was between five and ten pounds. The good news is that recent studies have found this to be untrue. The National Institutes of Health followed a diverse group of 200 Americans, their diets and weights, and found that although nearly everyone did gain weight during the holiday period, the average weight gain was around one pound, not five or ten. 

The bad news is that most people did not lose that pound during the next year. Or the next. Or the extra pound they gained the next year, and so on.  Further bad news is that people who were already overweight have been found to gain more than the one pound during the holidays. They gain about five, and like the other group, do not usually lose that holiday weight gain. So holiday goodies and over-indulgence can definitely have an effect on our country's obesity problem.

Yet it is possible to enjoy holiday foods and not gain weight! In fact, it is possible to conitune on a weight loss program during the holidays without feeling deprived.

We'll touch on several strategies in the upcoming weeks as we approach the new year, but probably the most important thing to do is begin now to plan for the kind of holiday season you want! We do that now anyway as we make lists : lists of gifts, people to send cards to, a cleaning and decorationg schedule, and so .... this year add YOUR WEIGHT MANAGEMENT GOALS to your other lists.

Remembering that adding 3500 extra calories to your diet over several days can lead to a one pound weight gain in a week, figure out how to budget in the special foods you want to enjoy without making them "extra" calories. This may mean that you skip the mashed potato casserole in order to have the pumpkin pie.  It may mean that your daily walking time becomes 30 minutes instead of 15; or that you add jogging or a step aerobics class to burn even more calories. As always, watch portion sizes! Having a bite or two of a rich dish and really enjoying it can satisfy your sweet or savory tooth as much as a full portion would. It's good to remember that just because the food is there, you don't have to eat it.

What's my personal best trick? I know what my favorite holiday foods are. I plan in advance to enjoy certain foods while giving up fattening "side dishes" that I usually eat just becasue they are "there." I also know what special dishes and desserts I really like, but aren't "holiday essentials" for the rest of my family. And I know that if I make it, I will be the one who will likely overindulge in excess calories until that goodie is gone. So I just don't make those recipes anymore. The old "out of sight, out of mind" ( and mouth) trick. For someone else, it may be deciding not to keep a candy dish stocked all season if you know you are likely to "just have one" everytime you walk past it.  It takes some thought and honesty with yourself to plan ahead to avoid the holiday bulge; but because the alternative is pounds you aren't likely to lose, it's worth it!

Don't Be Afraid to Go Nuts!

Does the idea of snacking on a baggie full of celery stalks for your afternoon snack leave you feeling more than slightly uninterested?

Getting through the stretch of time between light lunch and healthy dinner can be the downfall of anyone's weight loss program. Unless you plan in advance for a snack that you will like and that will satisfy you, you'll probably toss the celery and head for the vending machine.

That's where nuts - a food that combines protein, fiber and healthy fat into one small package- can come to your rescue.

A handful, depending on the size of the hand, can be the ideal snack portion: a quarter cup. You can keep roasted, unsalted mixed nuts on hand or choose any variation of nuts. Almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, pecans, and macadamias make great snack choices - alone or in combination. One of my favorites is the new Planter's Heart Healthy mix:

Canned nut mixes are convenient and tasty, but you can save yourself money, salt, and often calories and fat grams by buying plain unsalted walnuts, almonds, pecans, and even peanuts in bags in the grocery store produce or baking sections.

An average serving of nuts  (1/4 cup roasted almonds, for example) contains: 6.7 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams fiber, 205 calories, 9.5 grams protein, 18 grams fat, 1.4 grams saturated fat. And that's the one thing we have to pay attention to: serving size: a palm-full is not very much, so eat them slowly. The fat and fiber will fill you up faster than you think, but still remember you are just having a snack, not  a meal!

WebMD includes other low-calorie, celery-free snacks in their List of Top Ten Low-Carb Snacks.

 

An added benefit to making a small quantity of nuts part of your daily food intake can be improved cholesterol levels, making nuts a key to a heart-healthy diet, according to a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study revealed that people they followed who consumed 2.4 ounces of nuts per day had better cholesterol levels than people who consumed the same amount of saturated fat, but no nuts. Read more here to learn about these heart-friendly benefits!

Eat This, Not That!

A diet only works when you have control over what, where, and when you are eating, and we don't always have that control. Because it's a fact of life that most of us don't prepare every meal from scratch - at home- with fresh, natural ingredients- we need all the help we can get in making the best choices when eating out or buying packaged foods at the grocery store.

Having access to nutritional labels is one of the ways we've talked about to compare the calories, carbohydrate and fat content of meals that are pre-packaged or sold to us at chain restaurants. But I want to share with you a great little book that is just packed with this information - in other words, the authors have already done the research for you!

Eat This, Not That is written by David Zinczenko with the editor-in-chief of Men's Health Magazine.  It's not a traditional "read-only" diet book; it's really a guidebook to take along to grocery stores and restaurants as a tool to help you make the absolute healthiest choices you can when you are in a place where you can't control the ingredients of your meal.

Different sections highlight common, brand-name foods and meals with the EAT THIS recommendations on one page and the NOT THAT options on the facing page. It's fascinating, entertaining and educational!

By following the recommendations in the book, you can save hundreds of calories and dozens of fat grams at every meal - without doing the math yourself!  For example, I found out why Chick-Fil-A is actually the healthiest fast food place to get a grilled chicken sandwich; that Triscuit reduced-fat crackers are a better choice than Wheat Thins even though both list "whole wheat" as the main ingredient, and how to save 540 calories at Thanksgiving dinner (have mashed potatoes instead of sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole instead of stuffing, and pumpkin pie instead of pecan pie).

Eat This,Not That has been such a success that there is also a version just for the supermarket shopping and one devoted to kids' meals!  I found my copy at Wal-Mart, but I have seen it in Krogers, Sam's Club, Amazon.com and stand-alone bookstores too - highly recommended!



Lighter in 100 Days?

The 100 days of Summer 2010 have come to an end - which means it's been 100 days since I started making blog posts about ways to change your eating plans in order to lose weight and live lighter.

I've heard from many of you who have let me know that you have indeed lost weight and become more active. That is real encouragement! I am really proud of you who have altered your buying, cooking and fast food habits - it is not easy! And I have not run out of topics and ideas to help you on your Lighten Up journey.

So - you may have already noticed - we have changed the title of the blog from "Lighten Up in 100 Days" ,which was designed to complement our 100 Miles in 100 Days activity program, to "Lighten Up DHS" and from now on the blog will be updated every Wednesday.

If you are a new reader, you can scan through the archived posts to find some helpful guidance; if you are a regular reader or would like to be, you might like to know that you can sign up as a "follower" with your yahoo or gmail email address - and receive the blogpost notice in your in-box each week.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned! Next week's post is titled:
Eat This, Not That!

Is Your Salad Sabotaging You?

Maybe it's not your salad that is sabotaging your careful weight management plan, but what you are putting on your salad as "dressing"!

If you are building a salad of lettuce and greens only, your plate or bowlful will only account for about 50 - 70 calories. Leafy greens are mostly water. Aside for the vitamins we get - especially from the dark leafy greens like spinach - a plateful of salad greens keeps us busy chewing and eating for quite awhile -- without a high calorie gain. That's one of our goals ( remember the blog on "Volumetrics"?) in eating to lose.

Once we have our base of greens, what we add to it begins to make a difference, but as long as we add lots of colorful vegetables - green peppers, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, mushrooms- we are still adding vitamins, minerals and fiber, rather than a lot of calories.

When we get to the top of the salad, however, we can sometimes add enough calories to equal what we would have had if we had gone to McDonald's and ordered a Big Mac.

How can that be?

Well, a basic garden salad of about 2 cups of vegetables alone and one ounce of a "lite" dressing has about 145 calories.

If we start with the same basic salad and add fattening toppings often found on the salad bar, here's what happens:

Adding 1/2 cup cheddar cheese adds 100 more calories and 10 grams of fat
Adding 1/4 cup bacon bits adds 100 calories and 5 grams of fat
Adding 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds adds 100 calories and 9 grams of fat
Adding  a handful of croutons adds 100 calories and 4 grams of fat.

But the worst offender is what has practically become a separate food group unto itself, the salad dressing - and  specifically Ranch Dressing. Why? Because it is by far the most popular salad dressing on the market. America just loves it. In fact, it isn't even limit to dressing salads anymore. Many of us use it as a dip for chicken and french fries and maybe worst of all, we use it as a lure to get our kids to eat vegetables. Our grocery stores even package it right into the veggie trays they sell.

Now the first basic salad I described had 1 ounce - about 2 tablespoons - of "lite" ranch dressing on it - for an additional 70 calories.

But most people don't like "lite" Ranch, so they choose full-fat ranch which weighs in at 70 calories per tablespoon - making the serving size 140 calories...and 14 grams of fat.

And most people use 4 - 8 tablespoons of ranch dressing on their 50 calorie salad, which means the dressing alone adds from 280 to 560 calories.

Now you can see how the "fully-dressed" salad can be as deadly to your diet as a Big Mac and fries.

What to do?

Best bet is to find a fat-free, low-calorie salad dressing that you like and stick to the recommended 2 tablespoons. Opt for lots of veggies and very little or no added high-calorie toppings. But what if you absolutely, positively have to have the original, full-fat ranch dressing? Two tips: get the small serving in a cup on the side and dip your greens into it...you will see you need far less than you think.  A second option that I use myself is: put a very small amount ( about 1 tablespoon - on your basic salad and top (thin) with vinegar....you will be surprised how good your salad will taste and how much healthier you will be!

Fabulous, Filling FIBER!

So much emphasis is placed on what NOT to eat when we want to lose weight - no sweets, no pop, low-sugar, no-fat - that we can forget there are foods we absolutely should eat every day! Good, filling, nutritious foods that do good things for our waistlines outside and our digestive tract inside!

Those foods are the ones that are high in Fiber!

Fiber is the part of plant foods that that your body doesn't digest and absorb.

There are two basic types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Both are good, so you really don't have to "memorize" which is which; however, insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stool and can help prevent constipation - a great reason to be sure your daily diet is fiber-rich! Vegetables, some fruits, wheat bran, barley, brown rice and other whole grains are good sources of insoluble fiber. 

Soluble fiber may help improve your cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Whole oats, dried beans, and some fruits like apples and oranges, are good sources of soluble fiber. So yes, there is some truth to "an apple (unpeeled) a day keeps the doctor away!

By now you've probably noticed that these are carbohydrate foods! And you're right! These are the "good carbs" that you want to fill 3/4 of your plate with!

In fact, the only problem with fiber is that most of us don't get enough!  Man or woman, make 25 grams or more of all fiber your daily goal. Starting the day with a whole grain cereal will help. The Uncle Sam's brand has almost 10 grams of fiber per serving; that's about as high as you can get in boxed cereals. Then making sure you have vegetables, beans, seeds and whole grains during the rest of the day should help you meet your goal.  You really need to label-read to see if you are getting 25 grams of fiber in your usual day.

Fiber is the friend of anyone who is curbing calories to lose weight because most of the high-fiber foods are not only low in calories, but really help you feel full and satisfied so you don't get hungry so quickly and won't tend to want a "sugar fix".   That's because these high-fiber foods are digested slowly and don't cause a spike and fall in your blood sugar level.

And for those who need more fiber in order to fight a tendency towards constipation, most people can safely take over-the-counter store-brand fiber capsules as a supplement. In fact, fiber supplements can aid in our digestive issues like gas, bloating and diarrhea (that is not illness-based). The usual dosage is up to 6 capsules to start with a full glass of water when you get up in the morning. You can start with 3 and build up to six if you want. Sounds like a lot, but most people find they adapt to the schedule pretty quickly - and appreciate the benefits.

To read more about the benefits of  living the high-fiber life, click here.

Help! I'm Not Hungry; But I'm Eating!

Ever feel like saying that?

Mindless eating is different from boredom or emotional eating....when we snack because we are bored, upset, lonely, stressed or depressed, we usually know why we are moved to move toward the refrigerator. That kind of eating can be tackled with specific behavior techniques.

We know that food is our sustenance  - it keeps the wondrous machines that are our bodies going and functioning. And believe me, I believe in eating 3 meals a day and snacking twice a day...and I want that food to be healthy, nutritious and delicious. We want to eat just enough to satisfy us both physically and emotionally and to fulfill our nutritional needs.  Sounds so simple, doesn't it?

But we all are subject to triggers or cues to eat even when we are not hungry or even thinking about eating.


Time of Day : Our bodies become trained to expect food at certain times. So hormones are secreted that tell our brains we are hungry and ready to eat.

Sight:  Even if you have just eaten a full lunch, if  you walk into a meeting or store or even see a billboard or tv commercial that has food you like on display, your body may respond automatically in mouth-watering anticipation.

Smell: I'll admit it, when I drive past Burger King and smell the "char-broiling", I want a hamburger! And I don't even eat fast food hamburgers! Scent is one way we cue our bodies that food is near. Once triggered, it induces insulin secretion that makes us think we are hungry.

Temperature: The colder then temperature gets, the more people tend to eat - your metabolism drops when it's time to eat and eating warms you up. Heat is a signal of being satisfied. Now you know why restaurants keep their thermostats set so low!

Alcohol:   Just as too much alcohol can impair judgement about many things, it also alters our perception of appetite and can make it harder to push ourselves away form the table.

And finally, just the variety of food and flavors, can make us eat when we are not hungry.  One reason to steer clear of buffets when you are watching your calories --- especially breakfast bars! Notice how even after a large meal, we still want to and DO make room for dessert? Nutritionists say that's because our desire for sweets has not been satisfied during the meal, so try having some fruit during dinner to see if it will curb this natural sugar craving.

There you have it - six eating triggers that you may not have realized work against your efforts to eat right and light! Always remember, ask yourself "Am I hungry?" before taking that first bite!

Do Cars Make Us Fat?

According to a study published in the Journal of Physical Activity & Health, there is a lower rate of overweight and obesity in countries where most people walk, cycle or use public transportation to get around on a daily basis instead of driving their own cars. This makes sense, but it certainly doesn't mean that cars, themselves, make us fat.

Physical activity is the other side of the weight management balance scale. Weight - for most of us - is a matter of the simple calories in = calories out energy equation. We do use a certain number of calories every day just to maintain our metabolism, our breathing, our body's movement and  processes, and to fuel our brains. But if we take in more calories than we burn off, they get stored as fat.

It's sadly - alarmingly - true that just as we have increased the amount and kinds of fattening foods we eat on a regular basis since 1980, we have also decreased the amount and kinds of regular physical activity we used to get - both as children and adults.

We DO tend to drive places that we once would have walked to. Our children are no longer scheduled into daily physical education classes for the entire school year, every year. Many more jobs are non-active and sedentary than ever before. Modern conveniences like remote controls and cell phones even diminish the time we walk around our own homes.

And then there is screen time.

The average American child spends nearly five hours per day in front of  a tv screen, says the Kaiser Family Foundation, and that doesn't count time in front of a computer monitor. The average home has 4 television sets, and it's not just the kids who are watching them. On average, adults watch four hours of television and then spend another four hours a day with computers, video games, iPods and cell phones. We are "wired" to watch  - and our waistlines are suffering for it.

Alternatives to passive screen use like DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) and the Wi Fit game systems make time in front of a tv screen active, fun and calorie-burning, but of course, have an expense.  Good old-fashioned outside play, walking, running and biking, on the other hand, are virtually free.
Click on the Kidnetics link to read about more ways to limit screen time and promote physical activity in your family

So a simple prescription for weight loss is one of the first sentences I wrote in one of the very first blog posts: Eat less ~ Move more!