Nutrition and You!

A Vending Machine with an Attitude

2012-01-30T02:41:00.000-08:00

Photo: Intermountain Healthcare

You are probably thinking that if you’ve seen one vending machine, you’ve seen them all. Typically, they are chock full of sweets and treats with often the “healthiest” choice being a measly oatmeal raisin cookie or chocolate covered peanuts.

Well, there is a new kid on the block, well, at least on a block in Utah. The LiVe Vending Machine, which is the brainchild of Intermountain Healthcare in Utah, is a full-sized, vending machine (see photo to the left) that doesn’t take money or even dispense snack foods. Rather, it is a talking vending machine, full of fake foods, which dispenses humorous messages about the healthy qualities, or lack thereof, of the food chosen when you push the corresponding button. The back talk from this sassy machine is intended to educate Utah middle school and high school students about healthy food choices and positive lifestyle changes in a light-hearted fashion. It is part of a larger, community-based program. The machine has been test marketed in Utah schools and is wildly popular with both the students and parents.

“Our goal with the LiVe campaign is to approach this important issue from a child’s point of view and offer positive, helpful solutions for families. LiVe can help children be more physically active and make more healthy food choices,” according to Dr. Tamara Sheffield, LiVe’s medical director of Community Health and Prevention.

Here’s a sample of some of the messages coming from the machine:

If you pressed the button under the fake potato chips, you would hear:
“Potatoes come from Idaho; potato chips come from the deep fat fryer.”

If you press on the phony candy bar button, you would hear:
“How about you run to the grocery store and pick up some fresh fruit or somethin’? You could use a healthy snack and the run wouldn’t hurt either.”

Ironically, this new vending machine comes on the heels of recent report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that approximately 17 percent of America’s youth, ages 2 to 19, are obese.

Click on the video below to see the LiVe Vending Machine in action.

“This fake snack vending machine is an innovative tool to get kids thinking about the products they choose from vending machines. It is a very tech savvy idea that could be a great educational tool for kids and adults alike,” according to Debbi Beauvais, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

To view a virtual LiVe machine on the web, click here.

So what are your thoughts? Post your comments below.

Fighting Diabetes with a Knife and Fork

2012-01-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

While genetics play a role in diabetes, the amount and types of foods that you eat are major players in fighting the disease. According to the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) latest position statement, your diet is key in not only managing diabetes and reducing the complications associated with it, such as kidney failure, heart disease, and blindness, but more importantly, in preventing diabetes.

Individuals develop diabetes because they aren’t producing enough of the hormone insulin and/or have developed a resistance to insulin, such that their cells do not respond to the hormone when it arrives. Obesity increases the cell’s resistance to insulin.   In fact, according to the ADA, the current epidemic of diabetes among Americans has been climbing because our weight has also been climbing.

Insulin’s job in the body is to direct glucose, the most abundant sugar in foods, into the cells to be used as immediate energy or stored in another form for later use. With diabetes, insulin may be available in the blood but the cells’ decreased sensitivity to it interferes with its ability to work properly in the body.   The bloodstream ends up becoming flooded with glucose that can’t enter the cells for its use.   Because of this, many individuals have to take medication to help the insulin work properly and/or inject themselves with insulin to manage their blood glucose levels.

Over 25 million American adults—about 8 percent of the population—have diabetes.   Type 2 diabetes, which is the type both celebrity chef Paula Deen and American Idol judge Randy Jackson have, accounts for 90 to 95% of diabetes among adults. Even more serious, it is estimated that 35 percent of Americans adults have prediabetes. Those with prediabetes do not have blood glucose levels high enough to be classified as full-fledged diabetes but are on the road to developing it in the future.

According to the ADA, studies show that those with prediabetes who lose weight and increase their physical activity can either prevent diabetes by having their blood glucose levels return to normal, or at least, delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes. The ADA also recommends meeting with a registered dietitian for dietary guidance in both managing and preventing diabetes. Click here to find a dietitian in your area.

Since diet and lifestyle are so important, here are 5 key recommendations from the ADA to fight diabetes and prediabetes with a knife and fork:

1.    Lose Some Excess Weight. Research suggests that even a modest weight loss (approximately 5- 7% of your body weight) can reduce the cell’s resistance to insulin so that glucose will be taken up by the cells, and thus, improve blood glucose levels.

2.    Move at Least 2½ Hours Weekly. Physical activity has been shown to improve the cells sensitivity to insulin and lower blood glucose levels.

3.   Choose Your Carbohydrates Wisely. A well-balanced diet that contains carbohydrate-rich foods including fruits, veggies, whole grains, legumes and low fat dairy, along with some lean protein and healthy oils, is the diet of choice in the fight against diabetes, as well as heart disease and stroke. Cut back on the calories from the less nutritious, carbohydrate-rich sweets and treats to lose weight.

4.   Beef Up the Fiber In Your Diet. According to research, dietary fiber, as well as whole grains, has been associated with improved insulin sensitivity, or the use of insulin by the cells. While the current recommendation is to consume about 25 to 35 grams of fiber daily, Americans, on average, are consuming about 15 grams daily. Choose whole grains (whole wheat bread, oatmeal, popcorn) over refined grains and beef up the whole fruits and vegetables in your diet.

5.   Watch the Alcohol. While some studies suggest that moderate enjoyment of alcohol, one to three drinks daily, is associated with a decreased risk of diabetes, more than three drinks daily will increase the risk.

Healthy Food Shopping At 30% OFF

2012-01-17T05:32:00.000-08:00

There is both some good and bad news when it comes to the projected food costs for 2012.

First, the BAD news:

While food costs have increased steadily over the years, the cost of food at the supermarket is forecasted to increase 3 to 4% in 2012, according the Consumer Price Index (CPI) experts at the USDA. Believe it or not, this is actually less than the approximate 4.5% increase that was seen in 2011. So how is this going to affect your wallet at the supermarket in the coming year?

Let’s go back to 2008, when $100 went pretty far at the supermarket. However, if you tried to fill your shopping cart with the same foods over the years, your bill would have looked like this:

$105.00 in 2009 (0.5% increase)
$108.15 in 2010 (0.3% increase)
$113.02 in 2011 (4.5% increase)
$116.97 in 2012 (based on a 3.5% projected increase) Ouch…

Now, the GOOD news:

By shopping smarter, you can fight this annual food increase and actually reverse your bill, while simultaneously improving your health Consider these three steps, Chart, Clip, and Cash In, before you head out to the store:

Step 1) Chart Your Shopping Course

According to NCH Marketing, three out of every four shoppers are making food decisions prior to heading out to the store. Visit your supermarket's website and have their weekly circular emailed to you. Supermarkets purposely put healthy perishables (produce, poultry, etc.) and staples (grains, cereals) on sale to lure you into the store. Plan your meals around the sales items and make a shopping list to chart your course before you head out to the store. Your list should contain predominately fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and moderate amounts of lean protein and dairy. In fact, shopping with a list has made a trendy comeback as customers are quickly learning that sticking to a list helps avoid impulsive purchases, which tend to not only be pricy but often less healthy.
Cut costs by cutting back on lean protein. Keep in mind that you don't need more than about 6 ounces of cooked lean meat, fish, and poultry daily. A pound (16 oz) of raw ground turkey or beef will cook down to 12 ounces so will serve up four 3-oz portions. A chicken breast will shrink about an ounce after it’s cooked.
Go meatless at least once a week. Click here for a Mexican Mac & Cheese recipe that is fast, cheap, and has a kick.
Frozen veggies and fruit are nutritionally equivalent, cheaper, and a time saver in the kitchen compared to fresh as there isn't any slicing or dicing involved.

Step 2) Clip Coupons

“Coupon” is the code word for CA$H. According to Coupon Package Goods (CPG), over 165 billion coupons were distributed to consumers during the first half of 2011 and usage is at an all-time high. Double your cash back by coupling a supermarket's coupon with a manufacturer's coupon. For example, if the circular includes a $1 off coupon for Cheerios and General Mills provide $1 off coupon for this cereal in the Sunday newspaper, you will save two bucks when you checkout.

Visit these websites below, which offer coupons for healthy foods such as yogurt, wholegrain cereals, canned fruits, and frozen veggies:
Eat Better America
Smart Source
General Mills

Step 3) Cash In
Sign up for your supermarket's preferred buying card to reap the weekly savings automatically.

What can you expect?

Using all of the above steps, this shopping outing was reduced by over 30%:

What supermarket strategies do you use to cut costs but still purchase healthy foods? Please share:

The Winter Elixir for Weight Loss: Soup!

2012-01-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

Source: Flickr by photophnatic

Who would have ever thought that the cold weather may be good for your waist? If you often reach for soup to warm you up when the temperature drops, you're in for some good news.

According to a study in Appetite, adults consuming a bowl of a low calorie (about 150 calories), broth-based vegetable soup prior to lunch, decrease the calories consumed at the lunch by 20%, on average, compared to when they consumed the same lunch without soup. Not surprisingly, the soup consumers were not only less hungry after consuming the soup but also fuller much sooner during lunch compared to when they consumed the same meal without the soup.

This isn't the first study to show that soup before a meal may have this appetite-curbing affect. Other studies have also shown that routinely eating soup before a meal can reduce hunger and increase fullness. The researchers speculate that watery, veggie-based soups distend the stomach and cause the food to stay in the stomach longer, both of which can increase that feeling of satiety, better known as fullness.

While this study doesn't give you carte blanche to dig into a bowl of a high calorie, creamy chowder, which can provide more than 300 calories, it does provide a delicious way to use a low calorie veggie-packed soup as a pre-meal appetizer that could not only warm you up but also maybe even thin you out.

On the weekend, consider simmering up a large pot of a vegetable soup and storing it in a covered container in the refrigerator for the week. During the week, pack a container of soup along with your lunch at the office or microwave up a bowl for a pre-dinner warm up when you get home.

If you don't have the time to make a homemade soup, try this semi-homemade, quick and easy version:

Combine two cans of reduced-sodium vegetable soup, a can of water, and a bag of frozen mixed veggies in a large pot on the stove. Simmer until the veggies are cooked. Cool and store in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Who knows? Consuming more soup during the winter may help you become thinner by spring.

What's your favorite quick and easy recipe for vegetable soup? Please share below.

Is Beef the New Chicken in 2012?

2012-01-02T05:48:00.000-08:00

For all the beef lovers out there, the New Year has brings some good news. A recent research study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shown that a healthy diet containing lean beef was able to lower blood cholesterol levels in adults. This study of individuals with high blood cholesterol levels showed that heart healthy diets containing 4 to about 5.5 ounces of beef daily, lowered total cholesterol levels as well as the LDL "bad" cholesterol, by about 10 percent, on average. The beef diets were designed to be heart healthy, rich in fruits and veggies, contained only lean dairy, and most importantly, had less than 30 percent calories from fat, 7 percent calories from saturated fat, and 200 milligrams of dietary cholesterol.

But before you start placing an order with your butcher for a prime rib, keep in mind that the cuts of beef used in the study were very lean: select grade top round and chuck shoulder pot roast and 95% lean ground beef. (Note: the select grade is the leanest of all the grades of meat. Tip: Always choose "select" when buying meat for the leanest cut.) Even the researchers of the study admit that following such a diet could be initially challenging to consumers as they would have to make sure that only lean cuts of beef are consumed and that the portion sizes are modest by American standards.

When it comes to eating beef, one of the best kept secrets is roast beef. Lean roast beef is very low in calories, fat, and saturated fat, with a two-ounce serving providing as little as 80 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 1 gram of saturated fat.

Having a roast beef sandwich at lunch could be an easy way for you to enjoy the lean side of beef and keep your portions in check. Since the roast beef will be sandwiched between two slices of bread (wholegrain, hopefully), it will be easier for you to keep to a modest 2-ounce portion, especially if you add layers of heart-healthy lettuce and tomatoes to "beef" it up.

Who knows? Since your occasional yen for beef will be satisfied at lunch, perhaps you could look to enjoying more heart-healthy fish and skinless chicken for dinner on a regular basis.

Happy New Year!

A Plea to Holiday Hostesses

2011-12-19T05:05:00.000-08:00

Here's a public plea to all hostesses during this holiday season: Please, Help Us Help Ourselves!

Please don't serve those cheesy, greasy hors d'oeuvres that are intended to "hold you over" until dinner is served. Overeating those cute, petite bacon wrapped, whatevers, along with a hunk of melted cheese on refined white bread, will end up causing your guests to add excess calories to their waist before they sit down to your scrumptious meal. Trust me, all this excessive pre-dinner noching will make them unhappy with you in the morning.

Rather, the following list of hors d'oeuvres are guaranteed to please your guests and their waists during this holiday season. Feel free to watch the video and/or scroll down for the recipes.

Recipes:

Sliced Pears with Manchego Cheese and Fig Jam

Slice a ripe pear into eight slices. Using a cheese slicer, slice 8 small slivers of Manchego cheese. Place a cheese sliver on top of each pear slice. Top with dollop of fig jam.

Roasted Veggie Kabobs

Place 10 ounces of cleaned baby portobello mushrooms, and 2 red and green peppers, quartered and seeded, in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoon of a honey balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing. Roast at 450 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Cut each pepper quarter in half. Alternate a red pepper, a mushroom, and a green pepper on a 6-inch wooden kabob strip. Serve immediately.

Lobster Salad Serve in a Endive Leaf

Combine a cup of defrosted and rinsed Langostino Tails (they are cheaper version of lobster) in a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of light mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons of fresh dill, 2 tablespoons of diced scallions, and a teaspoon of fresh squeezed lemon. Combine all ingredients and chill. Serve a heaping tablespoon in a fresh, clean endive leaf.

Do you have waist-friendly appetizers that are crowd-pleasers? Please share below!!!

Coffee: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2011-12-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

Photo Source: Flickr, Kalense Kid

Ever notice that no matter where your travels take you, around town or around the world, there is always a line at the coffee shop? That's because coffee has been reported to be one of the most popular beverages consumed around the globe. If you find yourself consuming even more of it this busy time of the year, please read on about the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to drinking coffee.

The Good:
We all know that the caffeine in coffee is a stimulant, which is a popular reason why many of us reach for a cup of java first thing in the morning. Alertness aside, research has been brewing that drinking coffee may actually be good for your health. Studies have shown that moderate coffee consumption does not increase the risk of heart disease or high blood pressure and that it may actually help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, depression, and Parkinson's disease.

The Bad:
According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), consumptions of high amounts of caffeine by women has been associated with not only delayed conception and miscarriages but also low birth weight babies. Because of these reasons, the ADA's current position is for pregnant women to keep their daily caffeine consumption to no more than 300 milligrams daily from all sources. While this may seem like a robust amount, keep in mind that a 16-ounce mug of coffee contains more than half that amount, or about 190 milligrams of caffeine. In addition to coffee, caffeine is also found in some sodas, energy drinks, chocolate, and tea.

The Ugly:
While a cup (8 oz) of brewed coffee weighs in at a mere 5 calories, if you order a hefty size coffee with whole milk or cream, a sweetened flavoring, and topped with whipped cream, the calories could get, well, ugly:

Starbucks:

Caramel Brulee Latte*, 16 oz: 430 calories
Peppermint Mocha*, 16 oz: 440 calories
*Made with whole milk & topped with whipped cream

Leaner Bets:

Caffe Latte, 16 oz, nonfat milk: 130 calories

Skinny Peppermint Mocha, 16 oz, nonfat milk: 130 calories

Dunkin' Donuts

Cinnamon Swirl Coffee, 24 oz, with cream: 420 calories
Mocha Coffee, 20 oz, with cream: 340 calories

Leaner Bets:

Cinnamon Coffee, 10 oz: 15 calories

Mocha Coffee, 10 oz: 110 calories

Panera:

Peppermint Mocha Latte**, 16 oz: 520 calories

Caramel Latte, 16 oz: 420 calories
**Made with 2% milk & topped with whipped cream

Leaner Bets:

Cappuccino, 16, oz: 120 calories

Caffe Latte, 16 oz: 120 calories

Enjoy your coffee but think twice about regularly ordering it with tons of extras.

FDA Diet Warning - Steer Clear of HCG Products

2011-12-07T08:31:00.001-08:00

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers to avoid any over-the-counter "homeopathic" human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) products that claim to help with weight loss. These products, which can be sold as oral drops, sprays, and/or pellets, can be found on the Internet and in some retail stores. HCG is a hormone that is produced by the placenta when a woman is pregnant.

According to the FDA, these HCG products are marketed to consumers along with an unhealthy, very low calorie diet, sometimes as little as 500 calories daily. While these products boast outrageous claims for successful weight loss, the truth be told, "any loss is from severe calorie restriction. Not from the HCG," according to a statement made by Elizabeth Miller, acting director FDA's Division of Non-Prescription Drugs and Health Fraud, on the FDA website.

Consuming 500 calories a day is potentially very hazardous and dangerous. Restricting your calories to such a low level can increase your risk of multiple side effects, such as the formation of gallstones, an imbalance of important electrolytes that your body needs for your muscles and nerves to function properly, cause an irregular heartbeat, and even death, according to the FDA.

The FDA suggests that if you have purchased homeopathic HCG products to not only stop using them but also the diet. If you experience any harmful side effects, you should report these online at:
www.fda.gov/safety/MedWatch or by phone at 800-FDA-1088.

Holidays Aren't Merry for Overweight Kids and Adults

2011-12-06T03:27:00.000-08:00

Tis the season.

Research suggests that the holidays may be challenging for both the young and old who are not at their optimal weight. A study of 90 children (average age was about 9 years old), showed that those who entered the holidays being overweight were at a higher risk for an unhealthy weight gain during this festive time of the year.

Interestingly, while all the children in this study gained weight, those youngsters who were at a healthy weight prior to the holidays gained the appropriate amount of weight in proportion to their growth during this time period. The overweight children weren't so fortunate. These kiddies gained a disproportionate or an excessive amount of weight compared to their expected growth during the December to January holiday period, causing an unhealthy increase in their weight.

The same dilemma occurs for adults. While a research study of about 200 individuals suggests that adults, on average, gain only about a pound during the holidays, those in this study who were overweight prior to the holiday season had the most weight gain -- at least 5 pounds.

If you and/or your family are at risk for unhealthy weight gain during the holidays, you may want to consider trimming some holiday traditions as a way to trim some potential family weight gain this season.

Here are some tips:

1. Bake Less. Cut all of your cookie recipes in half. While you still will be baking all of the family favorites, there will be less around in the cookie tin to munch on. When they are gone, they're gone. Don't bake additional batches again until next year.

2. Don't Give Sweet and Treats as Gifts. Forget about hanging candy canes on the tree or gifting gourmet chocolates in their stockings. Instead, give active gifts such as tickets to an ice or roller skating rink or a nearby ski slope.

3. Desert Your Traditional Desserts. Say goodbye to the creamy yuletide log and let the family have some sweet fun with a fruit fondue. Spear chunks of fresh fruit through a wooden kabob and let the family have a ball dipping them into a small amount of melted chocolate. Toss any leftover chocolate but purposely make extra kabobs for a healthy snack the next day -- sans the chocolate.

Do you have any healthy holiday dessert ideas? Please share below.

Eyeing Your Health

2011-11-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

Baby boomers not only want to live longer than the generation before them, but they want to live better. When it comes to healthy aging, can you guess what are the top three concerns among baby boomers? According to a recent survey of over 1,000 boomers (ages 45 to 65), it appears that the respondents were most concerned about avoiding cancer, heart disease, and the loss of their vision. "The baby boomer generation is characterized by their desire for independence. As this generation ages, many will be affected by some type of eye concern which could impact their daily lives," claims Jeffrey Anshel, OD, FAAO, President of the Ocular Nutrition Society, which sponsored the study.

Boomers are justified in their concern over vision loss. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 2 million Americans over age 40 suffer with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of central blindness, and another 7 million boomers are at risk. Individuals with AMD are unable to see images directly in front of them (see photo below), which affects their everyday functioning, such as the ability to read, drive, and even watch television.

Cataracts,which cause the clouding of the lens of eye, are also a cause of decreasing vision as you age (see photo below). According the National Eye Institute, more than half of all Americans will experience cataracts or undergo cataract survey by the time they reach their 80th birthday.

While a comprehensive eye exam by an eye care professional is the best way to detect AMD and cataracts in their early stages, your diet may also provide some eye protection. A waist-friendly diet, chock full of carotenoid-rich green leafy vegetables and fruits such as oranges as well as omega-3 fatty acids-rich fish, may not only reduce your risk of developing AMD and cataracts but also heart disease and cancer. That's a lot of health coverage per bite.

The carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which are abundant in the lens of your eyes appear to be super antioxidants. These carotenoids have have been shown to help protect the eyes from both AMD and cataracts. Studies also suggest that omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in both your eye and brain, can help protect against the inflammation that can damage your eyes. Lastly, being obese appears to also increase the risk of both AMD and cataracts.

When it comes to protecting your eyes as you age, what you eat may help determine what you see. These simple diet and lifestyle tips may help:

Eat at least two fish meals, especially fatty fish, such as salmon and sardines weekly. Grill extra salmon at dinner and use the leftovers in your lunch time salad.
Eat lutein- and zeaxanthin-rich foods such as spinach, kale, collards, brocolli, and orange juice often throughout your week. Use baby spinach as one of your salad greens, broccoli in your stir-frys, and orange as your juice of choice at breakfast.
Reduce excess weight by eating a well-balanced, calorie-reducing plant-based diet. Get up and move often throughout your day so that you can accumulate at least 10,000 steps, which is the equivalent to walking 5 miles, daily.

Do you worry about your eye health?

Thanksgiving, Turkey, and Tryptophan, a Sleepy Tradition?

2011-11-18T06:17:00.000-08:00

Do some of your dinner guests (most likely family members) end up napping after consuming your big Thanksgiving Day feast?

Folklore has it that the tryptophan-rich turkey is the reason behind the prevalence of snoozers sprawled out in your living room after the leftovers are tucked away.

Tryptophan is one of 20 amino acids found in foods and can be converted in your brain to the neurotransmitters, serotonin and melatonin. Since both of these compounds play an important role in regulating sleep, it seems quite logical that tryptophan has always been fingered as the sleep-inducing culprit behind the Thanksgiving Day nap. But if you look a little further into the science (or lack of) behind this folklore, you will soon realize that this tryptophan theory just doesn’t make any physiological sense. Turkey isn’t the only potent source of tryptophan in the diet. In fact, a roasted chicken breast actually contains more tryptophan than turkey. So the question that you need to ask is, do your guests fall asleep after you serve them a chicken dinner?

The very common Thanksgiving Day nap is more likely caused by another culprit or a combination of circumstances that are part of this holiday’s festivities. According to the experts at the American Institute for Cancer Research, when you eat a very large meal, such as turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, your gastrointestinal tract has to work harder to digest all this food. In order for your body to do all this extra work, some of your body’s blood supply is redirected away from your brain to the gut. This shifting of energy-rich blood from the brain to your gastrointestinal tract can cause you to feel tired.

Food aside, your beverage of choice at dinner may also play a role. Alcohol also has sedating properties so if you are enjoying your dinner with a bottle of Pinot Noir, there could be a good chance that some of your guests will be snoring before dessert is served.

Let’s not also forget all of the extra work that goes into creating Thanksgiving. The amount of time and effort needed to shop, prepare, and cleanup the food served would give anyone cause to cuddle up on the couch for a post-dinner nap.

Lastly, one of the best rationales for the traditional Thanksgiving Day nap comes from William Anthony, a professor at Boston University and the author of The Art of Napping. According to Anthony, those who nap the most in our society are toddlers, senior citizens, and college-age students. Why? Because these folks have a lifestyle that affords them the most opportunity to nap. Thanksgiving Day ends up being a popular day to nap because the opportunity presents itself, claims Anthony. After the football games are over, what else is there to do?

In fact, if you plan to head out at midnight to power shop on Black Friday, it may make all the sense in the world to take an afternoon nap on Thanksgiving Day.

Do you or your guests take a nap on Thanksgiving Day? Please share below.

The Price of Thanksgiving on Your Wallet and Your Waist

2011-11-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

There is always a price to pay for a Thanksgiving indulgence and that’s doubly true this year.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the cost of preparing a classic Thanksgiving feast has risen 13 percent this year compared to last November. A Thanksgiving spread consisting of turkey, green peas, sweet potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, and of course, pumpkin pie with a dollop of whipped cream for ten guests will cost just shy of $50 compared to about $43.50 last year. Unfortunately, this is almost double the price of the same meal 20 years ago.

According to the AFBR, the cost of the bird is the biggest ticket item on the menu, accounting for about 45 percent of the total cost of the meal. Based on their calculations, a 16-pound turkey, on average, will cost approximately $21.50, or $1.35 per pound. To help reduce this pricy item and trim your Thanksgiving costs, you may want to start shopping around for a turkey that is on sale. If you can find one for less than $1.00 a pound, grab it and haul it home.

The other price to pay for on this indulgent holiday is the amount of calories you will likely consume at this one meal. While menus vary, a typical Thanksgiving meal can serve up over thousands of calories.

Here are 3 tips to help you trim your Thanksgiving calories without trimming the festivities of the day:

1. Carve out an earlier time to eat.
When dinner is at 2 or 3 pm, many of us tend to skip lunch in an attempt to make room for the meal’s extra calories. But in hindsight, has this ever really worked? By the time dinner finally rolls around, the smell of the roasting turkey has permeated every pore of your skin, and you are transformed into an uncontrollable eating machine. Rather, move up the start of dinner to high noon. That's immediately after Santa brings up the rear of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

2. Trim the amount of food you serve.
Take a head count. How many pilgrims and Indians are you really feeding this year? While leftovers are the best part of the whole holiday, do you really need a 20-pound bird for a party of six? Make an executive decision to serve fewer dishes. It isn't mandatory to have both mashed and sweet potatoes, nor do you have to serve both whole cranberry sauce and the gelatinous kind that fans out like an ostrich's tail on the plate. And what about those pies? How many varieties have to be served for it to be Thanksgiving? Serve only one dessert. The less available, the less you’ll eat.

3. Trim the picking.
While the first plate of your Thanksgiving feast may be quite moderate and sensible, it's the second and third helpings that get ridiculous. That's because the food becomes the entertainment. Take the turkey and sides out of their spotlight in the middle of the table and serve dinner buffet-style. Out of sight, out of mind. Fill the void on the table by carving out a pumpkin and filling it with fresh flowers. Feast your eyes on these blooming beauties rather than the tons of food with tons of calories calling out your name.

For more tips on trimming approximately 1,000 calories from your Thanksgiving meal, click here.

If you plan to downsize your Thanksgiving feast, please share how you plan to do it.

What's Growing in Your Office Refrigerator?

2011-11-02T12:54:00.001-07:00

Warning: You may not want to eat lunch after you read this.

According to a recent American Dietetic Association and ConAgra Foods Home Food Safety Survey, while most workplaces have an employee refrigerator, more than 20 percent of those surveyed said that their office fridge is rarely or never cleaned. Another 18 percent of those surveyed were totally clueless about the cleaning schedule of their office communal refrigerator. Talk about taking your appetite away……

Feel free to email this blog to your office manager, but please make sure that you “cc” yourself on it as a reminder to peek inside your kitchen fridge when you get home as it may not be any cleaner. A research study of over 2,000 individuals showed that over 50 percent of those surveyed had not cleaned the inside of their home refrigerator for at least one month prior to the survey and only 10 percent use a refrigerator thermometer. Without a thermometer placed inside the refrigerator, consumers can’t be sure that the temperature is safely at 40 degrees F or below. The nasty bacteria that cause foodborne illness, better known as food poisoning, grow rapidly at temperatures above 40 degrees F. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 out of 6 Americans get food poisoning annually.

With this infrequent cleaning schedule and lack of thermometer usage, it shouldn’t be too surprising that another study found that over 70 percent of 147 home refrigerators tested had microbes growing behind these closed doors. (One can only imagine what the bacterial count of your office refrigerator may be.)

To keep your office and home refrigerator from becoming a science experiment, follow these tips from the USDA and HomeFoodSafety.org:

Weekly, throw out perishable foods that have been in the refrigerator for too long. Download this handy, dandy Leftovers Calculator as a guide as to when it’s time to toss these foods.
Wipe up spills immediately and clean the surfaces of the refrigerator with hot, soapy water regularly. Rinse with clean water.
Place a refrigerator thermometer in the middle to the front of a shelf to make sure that the temperature is at 40 degrees F or below.
Clean the outside of the refrigerator as well including the handle that gets touched countless times during the day. The front grill of the refrig should be dust- and lint-free to keep fresh air flowing to the condenser.

When was the last time your office refrigerator was cleaned out? Please post below.

Black Licorice, a Treat That Can Play a Trick On Your Health

2011-10-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

Consuming excess sugar and calories from candy is not the only health issues that you may need to be concerned about this Halloween season. The FDA just issued advice regarding the consumption of black licorice candy. According to the FDA, “if you’re 40 or older, eating 2 ounces of black licorice a day for at least two weeks, could land you in the hospital with an irregular heart rhythm or arrhythmia.” Who knew that candy could cause you to visit the ER?

It appears that black licorice contains a sweetening compound, glycyrrhizin, which is derived from the licorice root. Glycyrrhizin can cause potassium levels in the body to drop. When this occurs, some folks may experience abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, swelling or edema, lethargy, and even congestive heart failure. Articles published in medical journals have linked black licorice these health issues in folks who are 40 years of age or older, especially those with a history of heart problems and/or high blood pressure.

Luckily, many of the licorice candy and products on the market do not actually contain any real licorice. Instead, they contain anise oil, which smells and taste like the real stuff but without the health problems, according to the FDA.

If black licorice is your favorite candy, here’s the advice from the FDA:

1. Don't eat a large amount of black licorice at one time, no matter what age you are!

2. If you do consume it and experience an irregular heart rhythms or muscle weakness, stop eating it and call your healthcare provider.

3. Black licorice can also interact with some medications, herbs, and dietary supplements. Consult your healthcare professional should you have any questions regarding potential interactions.

4. If you experience any problems when consuming black licorice, please notify the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator here.

Celebrate Food Day!

2011-10-21T02:29:00.001-07:00

While most of us dread Mondays, this upcoming one may be worth getting out of bed to savor. Why? Because Monday, October 24 is Food Day. While it may not be a national holiday with a gifted day off, it is definitely going to be a nationwide celebration.

Sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer nonprofit watchdog group, along with support from many health and food professionals and organizations across the country, Food Day has a lofty goal of transforming the diet of Americans. The mission is to bring together “Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes —to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way”. The ambitious minds behind Food Day humbly want all Americans to have access to fresh fruits, veggies, and wholesome whole grains to fight heart disease, stroke, and other health conditions. Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

Their grassroots, people-power efforts (they are not funded by either the government or corporations), have organized Americans across the United States to create thousands of food events in their homes, schools, churches, farmers markets, city halls, and state capitals in an effort to get the public focusing on not only healthy food but also healthy food policy. Their mantra for you, and all your neighbors on Food Day, is to Eat Real! In other words, start eating and cooking real delicious food, the way Mother Nature intended.

Food Day is nothing new to Scott Soares, Commissioner of Agricultural Resources in Massachusetts, who thinks that every day is food day in the Commonwealth. He and his staff are constantly working to form partnerships with local farmers and government agencies to ensure that everyone in the state has access to healthy foods. These efforts will extend well beyond Monday's celebration according to Soares.

To help you Eat Real! on Monday, October 24, there will be over 50 events in Massachusetts ranging from lunchtime food trucks at Boston City Hall Plaza to a Community Sourced Potluck dinner being served at Space with a Soul and a Farmers Market in Worcester. Many local restaurants will also be hosting special healthy, sustainable meals, and even the Museum of Science will get into the act by showcasing the film, Food Fight.

If you don’t want to venture out on Monday, you can celebrate in your own kitchen. Food Day is also providing a free cookbook online with over 25 easy-to-prepare recipes created by some of America’s most prominent chefs and cookbook writers. Consider planning a Food Day party and invite your friends over for a communal, potluck healthy meal.

Who knows? This may be the first time you are looking forward to waking up on a Monday.

How do you plan to celebrate? Please post below:

Want to Stay Lean & Mean as You Age: Reach for the Protein

2011-10-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

Timing is everything in life, even when it comes to dietary protein. Research findings presented at the recent American Dietetic Association (ADA) Annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in San Diego suggest that not only is the amount of protein that you consume important, but also when you eat it during the day. Enjoying adequate amounts of protein foods, such as lean meat, fish, and poultry at each meal has been shown to increase satiety, or that feeling of fullness, and preserve lean muscle mass during weight loss and aging. Consuming adequate amounts of protein is also needed for the synthesis of protein in your muscles. This is especially important for adults as we all are naturally losing lean muscle tissue with each birthday.

The current recommendation for healthy Americans is to consume about 10 to 35 percent of your daily calories from protein. Americans, for the most part, are coming in at about 15% of their total calories from protein or about 75 to 95 grams daily.

To reap all of the benefits protein has to offer, you should distribute your protein intake more evenly among all three meals, according to Loren Ward, Ph.D., a presenter at the ADA conference. According to Ward and other researchers, your body becomes more resistant to muscle protein synthesis as you age. Thus, each meal should contain 25 to 30 grams of protein to encourage the synthesis of muscle protein throughout the day. “Daily distribution is important,” states Ward. Unfortunately, while Americans, on average, are consuming adequate amounts of protein daily, they are typically consuming the majority of it at dinner. This lopsided meal pattern means that they are not enjoying the satiety factor that comes with enjoying protein-rich foods at each meal as well limiting their body’s ability to maximize muscle protein synthesis during the day.

Now comes the dietary dilemma: According to the nutrition guidance associated with MyPlate, most adults should be consuming only about 6 ounces of foods from the protein group daily. Not exactly a bountiful amount. Limiting the amount of servings from the protein group daily is recommended to help keep heart-unhealthy saturated fat at bay. An excessive amount of dietary saturated fat can increase the “bad” LDL cholesterol in your blood, and therefore, your risk of heart disease.

So how can you beef up your protein intake within the context of a healthy diet? The answer is quite simple and even recommended as part of the MyPlate nutrition initiative: Add lean dairy to your meals.

Skim milk, nonfat yogurt, and/ or reduced fat cheeses can help provide additional protein at each meal. A serving of a cup of milk or yogurt, and/or about 1.5 to 2 ounces of reduced-fat cheese each provide about 8 grams of protein, which is actually a tad more than the 7 grams found in an ounce of lean meat, fish, or poultry.

While it’s recommended to consume 3 servings of lean dairy daily, most adults are consuming only about half that amount. Satiety and muscle mass aside, increasing your dairy foods consumption will also provide calcium, potassium, and possibly vitamin D -- three nutrients that Americans are also falling short of in their diet.

You could do “your body good” by adding a serving of a lean dairy food at each meal. Three is key when it comes to dairy foods.

Try these 3 tips to beef up your lean dairy intake at each meal:

1. Swap the cream in your morning java with low fat milk. Depending on the size of your coffee, you could be adding a serving of milk to your breakfast.

2. Pile a slice or two of reduced-fat cheese onto your lunchtime sandwich. Heart healthy turkey, chicken, tuna, and roast beef are lean protein sandwich fillers that blend well with cheese.

3. Finish off your dinner with a carton of your favorite nonfat yogurt topped with berries.

Hunger on Main Street and Even Sesame Street

2011-10-10T06:02:00.001-07:00

It takes a village and in this case, a fictitious muppet village to remind us that there is a lot of hunger on Main Street, USA. This week, the Sesame Workshop introduced a new muppet, Lily, during a national primetime special entitled, “Growing Hope Against Hunger”. The bright eyed, flaming red haired, Lily is a seven year old who frequents a food pantry because her family has an ongoing struggle with hunger. Kudos to Sesame Street for not only trying to raise awareness for the hunger among us but for also providing information and resources to help families who don’t know how or where they are going to get their next meal.

The latest USDA statistics backup the need to put hunger in the spotlight as there has been an increase among Americans who rely on food assistance. According to the USDA, the largest increase of families using emergency food from a pantry rose by over 40 percent to slightly over 5.5 million households annually during the recession. Here’s the shocking statistic: the use of food pantries by married-couple families (translation: intact families) during this time rose over 65 percent.

This increase in usage is nothing new to Latchman Hiralall, the Food Pantry Manger at the very busy Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) pantry. This compact pantry, which provides healthy foods to the BMC patients and their families, has seen a 70 percent increase in its patrons during the recession.

Unfortunately, hunger isn’t isolated to the inner city. According to the USDA, food pantry usage in suburban areas outpaced city dwellers’ usage for the first time since 2001. In other words, there’s a good chance that your neighbor in the suburbs may not be cooking dinner because, well, they have nothing to cook.

Just ask Alison Kaufman, MS, RD, the Director of Hunger and Nutrition at the suburban, Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater Boston in Waltham. “The number of people being served by our pantry, Family Table, has doubled in the past few years. We are providing almost 200,000 meals annually to households who are food insecure.” As a registered dietitian, Alison and her staff make sure that the food provided is not only filling but also nutritious.

How can you help your neighbor who may not have enough to eat? The best way would to remember to give routinely. Many supermarkets have collection boxes for local food pantry donations by the checkout lines. Perhaps, cut back on the amount of “extras” (sweets and treats) you buy weekly and use that money to buy healthier foods items for a pantry.Grab an extra jar of peanut butter, a loaf of whole wheat bread, package of mac & cheese, can of tuna and/or box of whole grain cereal, as you spin through the supermarket aisles for an easy drop off on your way out of the store.

Or, send a check to a local pantry (see below) to help them purchase fresh produce to add to these packaged options for those in need. This simple act may make the difference between a family having a meal on the table or going to bed hungry.

For more information, visit:

Feeding America

Greater Boston Food Bank

Boston Medical Center Food Pantry

Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Boston

Do you routinely give to a food pantry? How often and what do you give? Please share your thoughts below.

Governor Chris Christie's Weighty Issue

2011-10-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

The Internet is abuzz with dueling arguments about whether New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, would be a winnable candidate should he decide to run for the most grueling job in the world: the President of the United States. It’s not his politics that are causing the entire ruckus; it’s the number that appears every morning when he steps on the bathroom scale (should he even do that). Some argue that his hefty girth may not make him a healthy, electable candidate. Others worry about electing a president that may be a “heartbeat away” from not being able to complete the job.

Obesity is more common on Main Street than desirable by health professionals. Being obese increases your risk of some of the leading causes of death among Americans: heart disease, certain cancers, stroke, and diabetes. In fact, with an alarming 68 percent of Americans overweight, for the first time in history, the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, were published focusing on this robust epidemic spreading across the nation.

No matter what your feelings, this could be just what the doctor ordered for Governor Christie. Entering a tough, long marathon of a campaign may be just what he needs to whip himself into shape. Ask any successful marathon runner or professional athlete and they will tell you that a healthy diet and lifestyle habits can impact performance. In fact, many successful professional athletic teams, the Boston Celtics, the New England Patriots, and even the Red Sox (Ouch! Don’t blame this debacle on their diets…) work with registered dietitians, the nutrition experts, for guidance on how the players should fuel their bodies with a winning diet. Why? Champions know that you are what you eat and an unhealthy diet can cause you to feel sluggish and impede your ability to go the distance.

Governor Chris Christie has already admitted in the press that, well, there is more than an inch to pinch on his frame. If he should decide to run, an important member of his campaign staff may be a dietitian who can advise him on how to eat to compete. Healthy eating and other lifestyle habits may be an interesting campaign slogan and leadership modeling that may motivate other Americans to look in the mirror and decide to make some changes.

One advantage that Governor Christie has is that New Jersey is known as the Garden State, and we all know that a diet rich in fruits and veggies could possibly help him shrink his waist. But then again, he is likely not the only one who understands the importance of a healthy diet. There is a robust amount of produce currently growing in the White House garden.

So what do you think? Do you think his body weight will be an issue should he run?

New Study: Specific Produce to Fight Specific Colorectal Cancers

2011-09-26T07:00:00.001-07:00

While being overweight, inactive and consuming too much alcohol are all associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, a poor diet, specifically one that is skimpy on fruits and vegetables, may also play a role, according to a new study in the October issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. While previous studies involving hearty produce consumption and colorectal cancer have had mixed results, the researchers in this study speculate that determining the specific location of the cancer may be an important factor as not all cancers in the bowel are created equal.

According to the researchers, the genetic makeup and development of the types of cancer that typically are found in the distal section (left side) of the colon, the proximal section (right side) of the colon, and the rectum (lower part) appear to all be different, and thus, may respond differently to specific fruits and vegetables. The failure of past research to show that produce consumption protected against colorectal cancers may be due to the fact that the studies lumped all the cancers sites in the bowel area together.

In this study of over 1,700 participants, the researchers uncovered that cruciferous vegetables, including Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli were associated with a reduced incidence of proximal and distal cancers. A diet abundant in both fruits and veggies, especially apples and dark yellow vegetables, such as carrots and pumpkin, appeared to decrease the risk of distal cancer. Surprisingly, consuming more fruit juice appeared to increase the risk of rectal cancer. While more studies are needed to confirm these findings and uncover the possibly mechanisms involved, tailoring future research according to the location of the cancer and specific types of fruits and vegetables consumed, is well, food for scientific thought.

Currently, the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that Americans increase their intake of whole fruits and vegetables. While most adults should be consuming at least 2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables daily, many Americans don’t come close to that amount.

For many of us, the frequency of our produce consumption throughout the day may be a problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), only approximately 33 percent of adults consume fruit two or more times daily and only a measly 27 percent eat veggies three or more times per day. Let’s face it, if you wait until dinner to cram in 4½ cups of produce, you are likely are going to come up short.

Rather, try to add at least a serving of fruit and/or veggies at every meal and snack throughout the day to reach your daily produce quota. Click here for the CDC’s picture perfect way to increase your produce consumption throughout the day.

The Recession and Your Diet: Some Good News

2011-09-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, the latest news from the USDA is that Americans’ have been economizing on their food purchases during this recession. According to the USDA, American households tightened their money belts mostly by cutting back on making reservations for dinner. Sales at full-service restaurants during this time have dropped by 4.5%. Even the fast food drive-thru and office vending machine purchases took a hit as many more Americans avoided these venues and more often chose to use their kitchen to obtain their meals and snacks.

More interestingly, according to the USDA, we also spent less money at the grocery store. You are probably scratching your head on this one as it seems odd that we are currently stocking our kitchens with more food to offset our previous dining out routines, yet the research suggests that we are spending less at the store. What gives?

According to the researchers, while coupons and sales helped, we also decided to ratchet down our taste for designer name brand foods, and rather, fill our cart with the less expensive store-brand knock-offs. In 2009, seven times as many, or over 800 new private label food products (your local supermarket’s own brand of food), appeared on the store shelves compared to those available in pre-recession 2001. It appears that when it comes to raisin bran, the shopper on-a-budget decided that, well, raisin bran is raisin bran, no matter what the box looks like.

Now, here is the good news: The researchers at the USDA found that many consumers who were looking to stretch their food budget decided that they weren’t necessarily going to give up healthy foods (thank goodness) and switch to less expensive junk food, but rather, they are no longer going to pay for convenience. Rather than paying triple the price for pre-washed bagged leafy greens, which someone else has conveniently sorted, washed, and dried for them, the consumer decided that it was time to hunt for the colander in the kitchen and wash and dry their greens the old fashion way.

In fact, the researchers uncovered that changes in disposable household income had an immediate impact on the type of leafy greens purchased. For example, if the shopper’s personal income increased by one percent, there was an almost identical percentage increase in the purchase of convenient bagged leafy greens. In contrast, when the household income decreased by one percent, there was a similar decrease in the purchase of bagged greens.

Why is this news good? Because it doesn’t appear, at least in this USDA analysis, that some consumers don’t necessarily leave all their good nutrition knowledge in the supermarket parking lot when times are tight. Rather, they will try to maneuver their purchases so that they can eat healthy in a less than a healthy economic environment.

Have you personally forgone convenience for good health? Did you forgo the baby carrots and buy unpeeled carrots to save money but not compromise your health? If so, please share your tips. The more we share, the healthier we all will be.

For more tips on Shopping Smart on a Budget, click here.

Can an Apple a Day Keep Excess Pounds Away?

2011-09-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

It’s apple picking season and there isn’t anything more sweet and juicy than a crisp New England Cortland, Gala, or McIntosh apple picked right from the tree. Well, until now.

You can also take a sweet delight in knowing that Mother Nature’s finest may help you lose weight. A study of over 55 adults published in Appetite revealed that eating an apple prior to lunch helped reduce the calories at that meal by 15 percent or about 185 calories. That daily calorie reduction could parlay into a loss of about 1.5 pounds monthly or 20 pounds a year. The researchers of this study concluded that eating fruit at the start of a meal increases satiety or fullness, which can help you to consume fewer calories when you sit down to eat.

To help you slim down during the fall, consider chomping on an apple 30 minutes prior to your lunch and also pack another to munch on during the workday commute home. A pre-dinner apple could help curb your appetite so that you don’t arrive home so ravenous that you are tempted to eat anything that isn’t moving. Enjoying an apple before a meal may end up being the sweetest diet trick this season.

Besides being an ideal snack, apples can also be part of a hearty breakfast, used in salads, and baked for a meal-ending treat. If you have a favorite healthy apple recipe, please post it below.

Here’s a quick guide to this season’s apple pickings and what they are best used for:

Cortland: Snacks, salads, baking
Empire: Snacks, salads
Fuji: All-purpose
Gala: Snacks, salads
Golden: Delicious All-purpose
Granny Smith: All-purpose
Gravenstein: Snacks, salads, baking
Jonathan: All-purpose
Macoun: Snacks, salads, applesauce
McIntosh: Snacks, salads
Red Delicious: Snacks, salads
Stayman: Snacks, salads, cooking
Winesap: All-purpose
York Imperial: Primarily baking, cooking

Jennifer Hudson's Weight Watchers Success Goes Global

2011-09-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Hudson isn't the only one dancing about her Weight Watchers weight loss success.

According to a study just published in Lancet, overweight adults in Australia, Germany, and the UK, who were referred by their doctors to Weight Watchers, lost more than double the amount of weight compared to those who received standard care.

In this study of over 700 individuals, those who received a membership to the Weight Watchers program and attended three appointments monthly, lost approximately 11 pounds, on average. In contrast, those who received only monthly standard care with either their family physician, nurse, and/or healthcare assistant, shed 5 pounds, on average. The researchers concluded that weight loss programs that provide routine weighing, support, and diet and lifestyle advice can be a viable and effective option for weight management.

Actually, when you look at the results of this study both groups should be celebrating. With over 65 percent of Americans overweight and battling the bulge, who among us wouldn't want to be at least 5 pounds lighter in a year with a little support?

Granted, those in this study didn't have to pay for either the Weight Watchers membership or monthly standard care visits - a bonus in these challenging economic times. However, if you are on a tight budget, the typical $40 monthly Weight Watchers membership costs may still be within your reach.

There is also another viable, affordable option: check with your health insurance company to see if nutrition counseling for weight loss by a registered dietitian is covered. You may be a co-pay away from getting topnotch nutrition advice and support to better manage your weight.

How you had weight loss success by joining a group program or meeting regularly with a dietitian?

Post your thoughts below.

Blogging For Boston.Com

2011-08-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

I am extremely excited about bringing you the latest in nutrition science and news as a new blogger for Boston.com. I hope you find the nutrition information in my blog to be user-friendly and chock-full of realistic tips and strategies to help you to easily incorporate what you read into your busy life.

Cheers!

Joan

Dining At Work May Cause You To Call in Sick

2011-08-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

According to a recent Home Food Safety survey, 83 percent of adults surveyed chow down a meal and snack at their desk, many in an attempt to save both money and time.

While that statistic may not be startling to you in this budget-conscious economy, this frequency of desktop dining may be increasing your risk of foodborne illness, better known as food poisoning.

How? This survey of almost 2,200 adults revealed that only 50 percent of the respondents admitted to always washing their hands before eating their lunch and over 60 percent of them confessed to cleaning their desk area (keyboard, mouse, and desktop) once a month or less. (This would be similar to you sitting down to dinner with dirty hands and dining on a table that hasn't been washed since last month....or longer.) With this lack of office cleanliness, it's not surprising that studies from the University of Arizona found that office desktops, on average, house more bacteria than toilet seats.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one out of every six Americans gets foodborne illness annually with over 120,000 individuals having to be hospitalized. Studies have shown that proper cleaning, especially washing your hands often and before you eat, can be one of the best methods to reduce your risk of not only food poisoning but also seasonal illnesses. According to the American Dietetic Association, moist towelettes can be used when soap and water aren't available.

If the above resonates with you, please consider this two easy tips:

1. Before eating any meal or snack at work, your hands should be washed and scrubbed with soap and rinsed under clean running water.

2. You should also clean your desktop area as you would your kitchen table.

Starting today, make sure that washing both your hands and your office surface area (or any surface area, for that matter) before you eat becomes as routine as reading your email.

For more home (and office) food safety tips, visit www.homefoodsafety.org.

The Home Food Safety program is a food safety public awareness program created by the American Dietetic Association and Con Agra Foods, Inc.

Food Safety During Stormy Irene

2011-08-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

Irene is here and let's hope she doesn't take the power with her when she blows through your town.

If you still have electricity, consider the advice by the American Dietetic Association and ConAgra Foods, Inc., which can be found at HomeFoodSafety.org:

Before the Power Goes Out:

Make sure that your refrigerator is set at 40 degrees F or below. Above this temperature, pathogens, which cause foodborne illness, grow more rapidly.
Make sure that your milk and eggs are stored in the back of your refrigerator, rather than on the door, to keep them colder longer. The temperature of the refrigerator door is typically higher due to its constant opening and closing.

Should the Power Goes Out:

Avoiding opening the refrigerator and freezer unnecessarily. The longer the doors are closed, the longer the food will remain at a cold temperature.
If your power is restored within four hours, the items in the refrigerator should be safe to eat.
A freezer that is stuffed full will stay at freezing temperatures for two days if the door remains closed. A half-full freezer will stay at freezing temperatures for one day if the door remains closed.

Once the Power is Restored:

When your power is restored, check the temperature inside of your refrigerator and freezer. If it has risen to 45 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, the folks at HomeFoodSafety recommend that you discard any perishables such as meat, poultry, fish, dairy, egg products, soft cheese, cooked beans, cooked grains, cooked potatoes, potato salad, custard, and pudding that could potentially be spoiled.
Wait until the temperature of the refrigerator drops to 40 degrees F or below before you restock it.

Lastly, when in doubt, throw it out.

HomeFoodSafety.org is a public awareness campaign by the American Dietetic Association and Congra Foods, Inc., dedicated to providing home food safety statistics, information about foodborne illness (also known as food poisoning), and safe food handling information and tips.
For more home safety tips, visit www.homefoodsafety.org.

The Chilling News about Unsafe Lunch Boxes

2011-08-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

A new study published in the September issue of Pediatrics should serve as a reminder that ice packs should be on the top of the list of back-to-school supplies.

In this study which examined the lunchboxes of over 700 preschooler, researchers found that over 90 percent of the perishable items in the lunch box were at unsafe temperature by the time the children were chowing down on their packed lunch. Even more shocking, the researchers uncovered that almost 40 percent of the lunch boxes didn’t have an ice pack.

Foodborne illness, better known as the dreaded food poisoning, causes almost 50 million illnesses and 3,000 death annually in the United States. According the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, young children are not only at a higher risk for foodborne illness, but typically also have more serious reactions than adults.

Watch the Fox25TV Segment here.

Perishable foods such as yogurt, meats, and cut up fruits and vegetables, should remain chilled at 40 degrees F or below to slow down the pathogens’ ability to multiply to dangerous levels. Perishables that are left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours should be tossed as they are unsafe to consume.

Insulated lunch boxes along with a frozen ice pack is your best bet to help keep your edibles at a safe temperature until lunchtime. According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), a frozen individual juice box can help serve as a cold pack, and you should instruct a child to throw away all perishable leftovers after lunch. The inside and outside of the lunch box should also be thoroughly cleaned with hot soapy water and rinsed clean in between uses.

For more information about food safety, visit Home Food Safety, a website created collaboratively by ADA and ConAgra Foods to raise consumer awareness about the foodborne illness and to provide solutions for easily and safely handling food.

For healthy lunch box recipes, click here.

Summertime Dining Out Disasters

2011-07-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

When the outside temperature feels like the inside of a preheated oven, just the thought of turning on the coffee pot, let alone the stove or oven to make a meal, would cause you to perspire. This summer's smoldering heat wave has caused many of us to seek out air conditioned eateries for all three meals to beat the heat.

Calorie Alert: Sometimes the summertime food choices on the menu can appear to be "light" but are actually heavy in calories and fat.

Here are some Do's and Don'ts to avoid Dining Out Disasters during the hot summer months:

Watch the Fox25 TV Segment here.

Breakfast at Starbucks:

DON'T try to cool down with a large designer, iced coffee drink. A very large tumbler of an iced java made with added sugar, whole milk, and whipped cream, such as Starbuck's venti Ice Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, will have you sipping an icy 720 calories and 27 grams of fat.

DO order a skim milk, grande Iced Latte for a mere 90 cool, fat-free calories. Since a cup of milk is used, you'll be consuming about 1/3 your daily calcium needs.

DON'T fall for those cute fruit scones that look light and innocent. The tad of healthy berries in each bite doesn't offset the 500 calories and 26 grams of fat in each scone.

DO reach for a refreshing fat free Strawberry & Blueberry Yogurt Parfait. Even if you topped it with a spoonful of crunchy granola, this better breakfast bet is only 30o calories and less than 4 grams of fat.

Lunch at Panera's:

DON'T choose salads with lots of cheese, creamy dressing, and fried veggies. Panera's Full Chopped Steak & Blue Cheese Salad tosses up an enormous 850 calories and 64 grams of fat. The crumbs of Gorgonzola cheese, top heavy blue cheese dressing, and crispy garlic onions are the culprits, providing over 70 percent of the calories and fat in this hefty salad.

DO look for their Strawberry Poppyseed & Chicken Salad that is bursting with colorful berries, oranges, and pineapples. Tossed with a fat free poppyseed dressing, this refreshing salad provides only 340 calories and 13 grams of fat,most of which coming from the heart healthy chopped pecans. Bonus Tip: Because this salad is loaded with low sodium fruit and greens, it contains a mere 360 milligrams of sodium compared to the 1,790 mg of sodium in the steak salad.

Dinner at Applebees:

DON'T assume grilled chicken entrees are a lean choice. Applebee's Three-Cheese Chicken Penne coats grilled chicken in a creamy Alfredo sauce, tossed with a combo of provolone, mozzarella, Parmesan cheeses, for a whooping 1,460 calories and 75 grams of fat.

DO look for entrees with less pasta and more veggies such as their Teriyaki Chicken Pasta dish, which provides only 450 calories and 8 grams of fat. Bonus Tip: Even though a sodium laden, teriyaki sauce is used, this dish actually contains less sodium than the cheesy, creamy penne entree. Consider splitting the entree with a friend and order two sides of fresh fruit to satisfy your appetite and tone down the sodium in your meal.

Triple Bonus Tip: Many eateries have the nutrition information posted on their website for you viewing pleasure. A little pre-dinner dining on the web could help you avoid summertime dining out disasters:

Starbucks: http://www.starbucks.com/
Panera: http://www.panerabread.com/
Applebees: http://www.applebees.com/

PTO Bake Sales and Chocolate Milk Are History

2011-07-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

Say "goodbye" to the PTO lunchtime bake sales and chocolate milk.

With an alarming number of the Commonwealth's youth currently obese or at risk for becoming obese, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health just issued very strict nutrition standards for competitive foods and beverages sold or provided to public school students during the school day. The goal of the new regulations is to ensure that public schools offer students food and beverage choices that will enhance learning, contribute to their healthy growth and development, and cultivate lifelong healthy eating behaviors. These new regulations will be in effect for the upcoming school year.

Competitive foods are considered the "other " foods and beverages that are sold on the school property but are not provided as part of the National School Lunch program and other federal nutrition programs. These regulations not only included competitive foods sold in the school cafeteria but also sold or provided in other schools venues such as fund-raising activities, booster sales, and any school-sponsored events that occur during the school day.

The regulations require that public schools must:

Make water available to all students, without charge,
Offer fresh fruits and non-fried veggies whenever less healthy foods are sold,
Make nutrition information available to the student on all pre-packaged competitive foods and beverages, which are allowed to be sold up to 30 minutes prior to the start and 30 minutes after the end of school, and
Prohibit the use of fryolators for competitive foods.

The regulations also set limits for the amount of fat, saturated fat, sugars, and sodium that these competitive foods and beverages can contain per serving. For example, a competitive food cannot contain more than 35% of its calories from fat and no more than 10% from heart unhealthy, saturated fat.

A hot topic of these regulations was the ban of flavored milk, such as chocolate milk, which contains approximately 2 teaspoons of added sugar in an 8 ounce serving. Some organizations such as the School Nutrition Association and the Dairy Council were not in support of the ban for fear that it would discourage the consumption of nutrient-rich milk. Students can opt to drink water rather than regular water.

Americans, on average, are consuming only about half of the recommended 3 servings of dairy daily. Milk is an excellent source of calcium, vitamin D, and potassium, which are three nutrients, according the latest Dietary Guidelines, Americans are falling short of.

Do you think that flavored milk should be banned in public schools?

Healthy Lifestyle Can Reduce Sudden Death

2011-07-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

A study just released in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that women can dramatically reduce their risk of dying suddenly from heart disease by changing their diet and lifestyle. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Americans.

In this study of over 80,000 women, researchers uncovered that women who have a low risk lifestyle, which was defined as not smoking, being at a healthy weight, exercising for at least 30 minutes daily, and consuming a Mediterranean-style diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains and fish with moderate alcohol, had over a 90 percent lower risk of sudden cardiac death compared to women who had a less healthy diet and lifestyle. Since sudden cardiac deaths account for more than half of all the deaths due to heart disease among Americans, this healthy diet and lifestyle combination could make a dramatic impact on heart disease prevention.

Researchers have known for years that a Mediterranean-style diet was one of the secrets to the long and healthy lifespan that was seen in the natives of Greece, southern Italy, and others in the Mediterranean area dating back to the 1960s. These natives were not only enjoying this type of diet, but were also physically active and at a healthy body weight.

To put a little Mediterranean-style into your diet, start with three simple changes.

1) Make sure half of your dinner plate is covered with fruits and vegetables. Produce is low in heart unhealthy saturated fat and high in fiber and phytochemicals, which are both good for your heart.

2) Enjoy at least two fish meals (about 8 ounces total) weekly. Research shows that eating this much fish, particularly omega-3 fatty acid-rich fish, such as salmon and sardines, is good for your heart.

3) Use vegetable oils. Vegetable oils, such as olive oil, are lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than many solid fats such as butter.

For more on the Mediterranean diet, click here.

Local Farmers Markets & Farm Stands Can Save You $$

2011-06-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

When it comes to healthy eating, the USDA has recently given us, well, some good and bad news.

The good news is that the USDA recently released their new visual, food guidance tool, MyPlate, which shows with a blink of an eye, that half of your dinner plate should be covered with veggies and fruits as part of a healthy diet. Research supports that Mother Nature's finest should monopolize your plate. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables has been shown to help individuals better manage their weight and reduce their risk of heart disease, certain cancers, stroke, and diabetes.

Unfortunately, the bad news also released from the USDA is that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food, which measures the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a basket of consumer goods, is also up. The even worst news is that the price of fresh fruits and veggies are up about 1.5 to 4.5 percent from last year. Ugh....

This good/bad news motivated me to visit a local farmers market and farm stand to find produce on the cheap. While not all of the fruits and vegetables at the farmers market and farm stand were outrageously cheaper than my supermarket, some were. For example, a head of romaine lettuce at my local supermarket was $2.99. In comparison, a gigantic head of locally grown romaine lettuce at a farmers market was only $2.50. At a farm stand that was very close to my home, heads of romaine lettuce, which were not locally grown, were selling for a mere $1.29 each.

Watch this Fox25TV segment for more information.

Price aside, consider the taste. As the summer progresses, more and more seasonal produce will become available. Locally grown sliced cucumbers and tomatoes sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and fresh blueberries are so seasonally delicious in the summer that you will be more than happy to follow the USDA's advice to cover half of your dinner plate with fruits and veggies.

To find a local farmers market or farm stand, visit the Local Harvest website and enter in your zip code. They will generate a convenient list of the farmers markets and farms stands in your area including their days, hours of operation, and directions.

BBQ Blunders

2011-06-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

The sun is out, the home heating is turned off, and the thrill of the grill is upon us. Unfortunately, when cooking outside, we sometimes forget our inside food safety habits that can help prevent foodborne illness, better known as the dreaded food poisoning.

Luckily, the American Dietetic Association and ConAgra Foods have joined together to create a Home Food Safety program to help you to safely move your cooking outdoors. Here are their top BBQ Blunders and how to prevent your next outdoor cooking outing from turning into an unexpected trip to your local hospital ER:

Soap up the BBQ Grill:
While you probably remember to scrub the grilling utensils, do you ever clean the grill? Probably not, but you should to avoid a blunder. Add the grill to your list of items to scrub up with hot soapy water and rinse with clean water before stroking up the fire.

Handle Your Food with Clean Hands:
While your backyard BBQ pit may become your outdoor kitchen in the summer, it is likely you are missing an important kitchen fixture: a sink outdoors. Make sure you wash your hands before, during, and after handling foods. A survey from the ADA found that men are less likely than women to properly wash their hands after handling raw meat or chicken. If there isn't a sink available, keep a package of moist towelettes close by the grill master.

Dish the Dishtowel:
One of the biggest BBQ blunders is to use the same dishtowel repeatedly to wipe your hands and juicy spills from bacteria-laden raw meat, poultry, and fish. Instead, reach for the "one-time only" paper towels. Toss after each clean up.

Never the Twain Shall Meet: Separate Raw and Cook Meats
Use extra plates to separate the raw and grilled dinner. In other words, the plate containing the raw meat, fish, and poultry that was brought out to the grill needs to be cleaned or replaced to plate the grilled foods. If the same plate is used, you just committed the "cross-contamination" BBQ blunder.

Baste For Taste:
When marinating raw meats, separation is also the name of the game. Using the same brush to baste raw meat and then "finishing off" cooked meats with the same brush is a blunder in the making. Either wash the brush in hot soapy water or use two different brushes. Also, don't use the basting marinade as a finishing sauce as it could contain ugly foodborne pathogens. Either boil the marinade first, or better yet, make a new marinade as the serving sauce.

Consider the Food Thermometer Your Best Friend:
If anyone is going to be invited to your BBQ, it should be your friendly food thermometer. A poke with the thermometer in the thickest part of the meat is the only safe way to know if it is safe to eat. Unfortunately, over 90 percent folks do not consistently use a thermometer to make sure that their burgers, chicken, and fish are safe to eat. News flash: The FDA just lowered their recommended cooking temperature for all meats, including pork:

Whole meat should reach 145 degrees F and then sit for 3 minutes before consuming it.
Ground meats (beef, veal, lamb, pork) should reach 160 degrees F.
Poultry (ground and whole) should reach 165 degrees F.

Cool It!
Keep a refrigerator thermometer in your cooler to make sure that the ice or ice packs are keeping your perishables below 40 degrees F.

Remember the Two or One Hour Rule:
Foods kept at room temperature for two hours need to be tossed. In hot weather (90 degrees F or above), foods left out for more than one hour should be discarded.

For more information, visit the Home Food Safety website.

The Food Pyramid Tumbles,The Healthy MyPlate Debuts

2011-05-31T15:10:00.000-07:00

While the Food Pyramid had close to a 20 year run, it's time has come. As a registered dietitian and nutrition professor, I can honestly say that the Pyramid left me scratching my head as it did little to help the public translate healthy eating onto their plate.

Enter the latest graphic symbol of nutrition advice, MyPlate, released today by the USDA to visually help Americans translate the science-based, 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans into their everyday life.

The new MyPlate is a dinner plate split into multiple sections, each representing not only a different type of food but also the relative proportion that these foods should dominate your diet. At a blink of an eye, you will now see that half of your plate should be devoted to waist- and heart-friendly vegetables and fruit with a smaller portion for whole grains and lean protein foods such as fish, skinless poultry, and lean meats. The circle shape next to the plate is a visual reminder to make sure that non fat and low fat dairy foods such as milk are not forgotten at mealtime.

With over 65 percent of Americans overweight, this visual shift of foods on your plate can make a dramatic effect on your calorie intake. Devoting more than half of the surface of the plate to low calorie vegetables will crowd out higher calorie grains and protein foods, potentially cutting over 100 calories from your dinner.

There at also 7 important nutrition messages that accompany the new MyPlate:

Balancing Calories
● Enjoy your food, but eat less.
● Avoid oversized portions.

Foods to Increase
● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
● Make at least half your grains whole grains.
● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce
● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods
with lower numbers.
● Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Goodbye, Food Pyramid. Mangia to the new MyPlate.

For more information, visit:www.choosemyplate.gov

More Protein at Breakfast May Reduce Hunger and Cravings

2011-05-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

While research suggests that children and adolescents who skip breakfast are at a higher risk for being overweight, a new study from the University of Missouri showed that eating a breakfast that is beefed up with protein may be optimal for appetite control. In this small study of 10 overweight adolescent girls, eating breakfast, compared to skipping breakfast, was shown to reduce hunger, increase satiety, as well as reduce activity in the regions of the brain that control food motivation and cravings. But when the researchers increased the percentage of protein in the breakfast that was consumed by the subjects, there was an observed greater reduction in hunger and an increase of satiety among the participants.

While it has been established that a combination of protein, fiber, and some healthy fats at meals increases satiety or that feeling of fullness, many of us don't always include a protein-rich food with our morning meal. A hard cooked egg, a serving of nuts, a cup of yogurt, or some reduced fat cheese are just a few of the ways that you can healthfully add protein to your breakfast and potentially experience less hunger throughout the morning.

If you eat breakfast on the run, you are not alone. According to the USDA, approximately one-fourth of Americans eat breakfast away from home, and their food choices tend to be less healthy than if breakfast was consumed in their own kitchen.

To help you nutritionally improve your morning meal, click here for some healthy breakfast combos that are easy to assemble either at home or on-the-go.

Click here to view a Fox25TV segment with more healthy breakfast ideas.

Sources:
1. de la Hunty, A. and Ashwell, M. 2010. Neural responses to visual food stimuli after a normal vs. higher protein breakfast in breakfast-skipping teens: a pilot fMRI study. Obesity. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/3dh8445.
2. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2007. Breakfast in America, 2001-2002. Available: http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12355000/pdf/Breakfast_2001_2002.pdf

Test Your Nutrition Smarts!

2011-05-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

Take this fun quiz to see how nutrition savvy you really are:

1. Sea Salt has 50 percent less sodium than table salt. True/False
2. An apple contains heart-healthy phytochemicals that are also found in a glass of red wine. True/False.
3. The number one source of calories in the American diet is red meat. True/False
4. A large egg contain over 10 percent less cholesterol than it did 5 years ago. True/False
5. Honey is a healthier alternative to sugar in the diet. True/False

1. False. If you got this wrong, you’re not alone. Over 60 percent of individuals in a recent American Heart Association survey thought that sea salt was dramatically lower in sodium than the salt found in your shaker. Sea salt, derived from sea water, has about the same sodium per teaspoon as table salt. Salt is salt. Research suggests that as your dietary sodium intake increases, so does your blood pressure.

2. True! An apple not only has heart-healthy phytochemcials, called flavonoids, which are also found in red wine, but an apple also has fiber, which can help lower your blood cholesterol. Another bonus: you will never get tipsy from eating too many apples. Hence, the saying: an apple a day keeps that cardiologist at bay.

3. False. But can you guess what it is? The No. 1 source is grain-based desserts such as cake, cookies, pies, pastries, and donuts. Americans, age 2 and older, are consuming over 135 calories daily on these goodies. With more than 2/3 of Americans overweight, it may be time to relegate bakery desserts to a weekly, not daily, menu item.

4. True! A decade ago, a large egg contained 213 milligrams of dietary cholesterol, but recent analysis by the USDA confirms that it contains only 186 mg, a 14 percent drop. Research also suggests that moderate consumption of eggs, no more than one a day, is not associated with heart disease in healthy people. Eggs are an inexpensive source of protein. However, for those with type 2 diabetes or at a high risk for heart disease, research indicates that these individuals should keep their dietary cholesterol to less than 200 milligrams a day, which translates to less than an egg a day may.

5. False. Honey doesn’t have anything over table sugar. Both are considered added sugars in the diet and should be limited. In fact, honey has 21 calories per teaspoon compared to the 16 calories found in a teaspoon of table sugar. Who knew?

America's Sweet Tooth and Not-So-Sweet Waist

2011-05-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

America's sweet tooth, especially for younger folks, may not be so sweet for their waist. Americans, on average, are consuming 22 teaspoons of added sugar daily, the equivalent of 350 calories. This amount is double the amount recommended daily by the American Heart Association.

Are added sugars a health problem? Research shows that adolescents who consume higher amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages have higher body weights than their peers who drink less of these beverages. Unfortunately, adolescents who are overweight are not only at a higher risk of remaining overweight as an adult but are more likely to become obese adults.

With over 65 percent of Americans tipping the bathroom scale in the direction of being classified as overweight or even obese, few of us have an extra 350 calories kicking around in our daily diets to be devoted to less nutrition-rich foods with tons of added sugar.

Where is all of this sugar coming from? The three top sources of added sugar in the diet of Americans are:

1) Soft drinks, energy drinks, and sports drinks;

2) Grain-based desserts, such as cakes and cookies; and

3) Fruit drinks.

Watch this Fox25 TV segment to find out how to have your sweet cake and eat it too but not at the expense of your waist!

Just Off The Boat: The Dukan Diet

2011-04-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

This diet sounds oddly familiar. The latest diet craze to reach America is based on an eating pattern of foods that were "eaten by primitive man, the hunger-gatherers, proteins and vegetables" claims the website for the Dukan Diet. The diet is a high protein, low carbohydrate regimen for weight loss.

Where have we heard this before: It's the carbs that are making us fat. (Keep in mind that yesterday thousands of fit-as-a-fiddle runners were able to run 26 miles in the Boston Marathon because they were fueled by a carbohydrate-rich diet, but what do they know....)

Research tells us that any source of excess calories coupled with a sedentary lifestyle is the combination that is making us fat. Unfortunately, according to the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, the No. 1 source of calories in the diets of Americans are grain-based desserts. Clearly, Americans could benefit from eating less sweets and treats, but cutting back on carbohydrate-rich and nutrient-dense whole grains, fruits, and vegetables would be a disservice to your overall health as well as your waist. Since, based on research, any type of reduced-calorie diet will cause weight loss, wouldn't you want to adhere to one that would also provide numerous health benefits, such as fighting heart disease, cancer, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, which are the leading causes of death among Americans?

If so, look to a well-balanced, calorie appropriate plant-based diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables, has adequate amounts of whole grains, lean dairy, meat, fish, and poultry as well as with some healthy oils.

Such a diet could not only kind to your overall health, but also your waist.

Comforting Yourself With Comfort Foods

2011-04-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

When you are feeling a little under the weather, do you comfort yourself with a bowl of chicken
soup and reminisce about your grandmother ladling her hot, homemade soup in a bowl for you? When you are a tad lonely, do you whip up a box of mac and cheese and flashback to your adolescent years with your family?

While past research has shown that people comfort themselves with food when they want to cheer themselves up, a new study, which will be published in the May issue of Psychological Science, found that individuals who were lonely were able to find comfort just writing or thinking about a comfort food. Why? Researchers at the University of Buffalo uncovered that when some folks in the study were feeling lonely, the sheer thought about the foods, conjured up the people associated with those comfort foods, which rescued them from their loneliness. The researchers concluded that comfort foods could act as a social surrogate, which are non-human social targets, such as looking at the family photo album or reading old emails, which conjure up these positive relationships and social connections and help abate your loneliness.

While a bowl of grandma's chicken soup, especially if it is loaded with vegetables, is a fabulous mix of good memories and good health, her mac and cheese or meatballs could be covering your plate with heart-unhealthy saturated fat and waist-unfriendly excess calories.

The good news is that a few minor adjustments in these recipes will provide both comfort and good nutrition. Try this easy tips to make your comfort foods a tad healthier so that you can enjoy healthy happiness in every bite:

Toss mac & cheese with your favorite vegetable. This will enable you to get "two for the price of one": Your favorite dish mixed with your favorite vegetable.
Substitute ground turkey for ground beef when making meatballs. Drowned in tomato sauce, you'll never know the difference.
Top a small amount of your favorite flavored ice cream with a lower fat variety that is topped with mountains of fresh berries. You'll end up eating less ice cream and more fruit.
If chocolate comforts you, treat yourself to chocolate covered strawberries. It's a gourmet way to enjoy your chocolate and fill yourself up on Mother Nature's sweet strawberries.

Here are a few healthy recipes that are good for your mind, soul, heart, and waist:

Mac & Cheese with a Mexican Twist

Marvelous Meatballs

Grilled Vegetable Pizza

Watch a Fox 25TV Segment on comfort foods.

Extreme Measures For Extreme Weight Gain? Think Again.

2011-03-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

If you went to bed weighing 130 pounds and woke up registering 180 pounds on the bathroom scale, then you need to seek out extreme measures from a health care provider. Quickly...

Since it is highly unlikely that this amount of weight gain occurred overnight, then it is equally unlikely that it can safely be shed from your body in a day, a week, or even month.

Following an extremely restrictive, unbalanced very low calorie diet coupled with unrealistic amounts of daily exercise is not your weight loss solution and may cause unhealthy symptoms and side effects such as nausea, dehydration, constipation, diarrhea, fatigue, and loss of lean muscle mass, to name a few ill effects.

Before you consider the latest advertised and promoted fad diet program for drastic weight loss that is Twittering through your Smartphone , click here for a review and critique of a variety of Hollywood Celebrity's Dramatic Weight Loss attempts over the years.

For the best advice, guidance, and support for losing weight, consult with a registered dietitian in your area. To find one, visit the American Dietetic Association website at: www.eatright.org.

The (Food) Dating Game

2011-03-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

We all have played the dating game. That is, the Food Label Dating Game. It's when you find that a package of raw chicken breasts in the back of the refrigerator and the date has expired, and thus, the game begins. Should I cook it and eat it? Should I toss it? Will I get sick if I eat it?

Keep in mind that the date on the food package does not refer to food safety, but to the quality of the food. In other words, this is the date in which you should consume the product in order to enjoy it at its best quality. Whenever you see a date on the label, there must be a phrase next to the date that tells you how to interpret it.

If there is “Sell By” next to the date, you should purchase the product on or before that date. If there is “Best if Used By” or “Use By” next to it, this refers to the date by which you should consume the product in order to enjoy it at its best quality. If you don’t plan to consume a product by its Use By date, you can freeze it. However, once frozen, the Use By date doesn’t apply.

To help you to decide if you should eat it or toss it, the FDA has created a handy list to help you make a decision. If you are still unsure, error on the cautious side.

When it doubt, toss it out.

The Big Nutrition Chill

2011-03-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

March is both National Nutrition Month and National Frozen Food Month and the two have a lot in common. According to the just released Dietary Guidelines for Americans, most Americans are only consuming about half the recommended number of fruits and vegetables daily.

Frozen produce could the cost, convenience, and nutritional answer that Americans are looking for to help them beef up their meals with more fruits and vegetables.

Watch this Fox25 segment to learn more!

Energy Drinks In The Wrong Hands

2011-02-09T11:51:00.001-08:00

They come in a slick can and are marketed to increase stamina, concentration, weight loss and even improve athletic performance. Some energy drinks provide more than double the amount of caffeine as in your morning java. In the wrong hands and in the wrong amounts, this "jolt in a can" is anything but slick.

According to research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in today's Pediatrics, as many as 30 to 50 percent of consumers drinking these energy beverages are children, adolescents and young adults. Excessive amounts of caffeine can cause jitters, anxiety, a rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, seizures and even death. There have been reports of middle school age consumers who had to be taken to a hospital with many of the above symptoms and a teenager who even died after consuming multiple servings of an energy drink. In fact, over 45 percent of the reported cases of caffeine-overdose occur in individuals under the age of 19.

According to the authors of this study, adolescents should consume no more than 100 milligrams (mg) of caffeine daily with children consuming no more than about 1 mg per pound of their body weight. Depending on the size of the container, the caffeine in many of these drinks can exceed these upper limits in a few gulps:

Red Bull, 8.4 oz = 80 mg
AMP Energy, 16 oz = 160 mg
Rockstar, 16 oz = 240 mg

Compare to:
Coca Cola, 12 oz = 35 mg
Milk, 8 oz = 0 mg
Orange Juice, 8 oz = 0 mg

In addition to the caffeine, these energy drinks can also be infused with additional ingredients such as guarana, a plant that naturally contains caffeine, taurine (an amino acid that can act as a stimulant), herbs that can elevate your blood pressure, and tons of added sugar. In fact, a 16- ounce can of Rockstar Fruit Punch provides over 15 teaspoon of added sugars. Collectively, soda, sports drinks, and energy drinks are the No. 1 source of added sugars in the diets of Americans. Even more concerning, these beverages are displacing more nutrient-rich beverages such as bone-strengthening, nonfat milk or sugar-free, plain water in their diet.

The million dollar question is: "why?" Why do kids need to drink these beverages to obtain "energy"? Food provides all the natural energy, measured in calories, that the body needs to function so what do these beverages bring to the table besides potential ill side effects? Ironically, many energy drinks have a disclaimer (albeit in fine print) on the label that the beverage should not be consumed by children, pregnant women, and/or individuals sensitive to caffeine.

The time has come when we should read this fine print and adhere to the advice of the manufacturers. Energy drinks should not be in the hands of kids.

What are your thoughts?

Potassium Power!

2011-02-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

According the just released Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, most Americans are falling short of their daily potassium needs, which could be wrecking havoc with their blood pressure.

According to the report, over 55 percent of Americans have high blood pressure or are on their way to getting high blood pressure in the very near future. Individuals with chronic high blood pressure increase their risk of developing heart disease and stroke, two of the top three killers of Americans. While losing excess weight, reducing sodium in the diet, and being physically active all can reduce blood pressure, so can consuming adequate amounts of potassium-rich foods.

Research suggests that a diet plentiful in potassium lowers blood pressure, especially in salt-sensitive individuals who respond more intensely to sodium’s blood pressure –raising capabilities. Potassium helps negate some of the blood pressure-raising effects of excessive dietary sodium as it causes the kidneys to excrete excess sodium from the body. Reducing sodium levels in the body helps lower blood pressure.

While the current recommendation is for healthy Americans to consume 4,700 milligrams of potassium daily, males are consuming only 3,200 milligrams daily, whereas females fall even shorter, consuming only 2,400 milligrams a day, on average. The good news is that potassium is found in a variety of foods, with vegetables, fruits, low fat dairy foods, and beans being potassium powerhouses:

Potato, baked including skin, small, 738 mg
White beans, ½ cup, 595 mg
Yogurt, nonfat, plain, 579 mg
Sweet Potato, baked with skin, medium, 542 mg
Orange juice, 1 cup, 496 mg
Halibut, cooked, 3 ounces, 490 mg
Soybeans, cooked, ½ cup, 485 mg
Cod, cooked, 3 ounces, 439 mg
Banana, 1 medium, 422 mg
Spinach, cooked, ½ cup, 370-419 mg
Tomato sauce, ½ cup, 405 mg
Milk, skim, 1 cup, 382 mg
Apricots, dried, ¼ cup, 378 mg
Soy milk, 1 cup, 372 mg
Kidney beans, cooked, ½ cup, 358 mg

Here’s some easy ways to pump up your daily potassium:

• Pour an 8-ounce glass of orange juice at breakfast to begin your day with a potassium boost.
• Add leafy greens to all your sandwiches. Spinach in particular is a potassium dynamo!
• Add dried apricots to your mid-morning yogurt for a one, two (apricots and dairy)
potassium punch.
• Have bean soup with your lunchtime sandwich for a warm way to enjoy your potassium.
• Baked regular or sweet potatoes are potassium powerhouses on your dinner plate (see
recipe below).

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, washed
2 ounces orange or apple juice
3 teaspoons margarine, melted
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. With a fork, prick holes in sweet potatoes and bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven and cool slightly for better handling. Once cooled, slice each potato in half diagonally. Scoop out most of the potato, leaving approximately 1/4 inch around skin. Put potatoes in mixing bowl along with apple juice, sugar, 2 teaspoons margarine, and nutmeg and whip until smooth. Place potato skins into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan and fill with potato mixture. Set aside. In nonstick fry pan, add remaining margarine and sauté walnuts until toasted. Sprinkle potatoes evenly with walnuts. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until thoroughly heated. Makes 8 stuffed potatoes.
Note: Leftovers can be reheated the next day for a potassium-packed lunchtime meal.

The Sodium Shakedown

2011-01-29T12:20:00.000-08:00

The recently released new Dietary Guidelines for Americans made a bold recommendation: The American public should starting ratcheting down the sodium in their diet to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) and many individuals should consume a mere 1,500 milligrams (mg) or the amount found in 2/3 teaspoon of salt. Currently, Americans, on average, are consuming more than twice that amount, or over 3,400 mg of sodium daily.

Why all the fuss? Hypertension, better know as high blood pressure, is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke, 2 out of the 3 leading causes of death in the United States. Americans' lopsided dietary intake of too much sodium (which increases blood pressure) and too little potassium (which lowers blood pressure) is wrecking havoc with approximately 2/3 of individuals who either already have hypertension or pre-hypertension (they are on their way to getting high blood pressure).

Sodium and potassium aside, as you age, your blood pressure typically increases. With over 77 million Baby Boomers moving towards the senior citizen circuit, there is the potential for a lot of Americans with less than healthy blood pressure. The lower sodium recommendation of 1,500 mg applies to those who are 51 and older, and those of any age who are African American, currently have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease. It is estimated that about half of the US population falls into this group.

So where's all the sodium coming from in your diet? Believe it or not, only about 5 to 10% of the sodium in your diet comes from the salt that you add when cooking and/or shake on your meal when you are sitting down at the table. Rather, over 70% comes from processed foods, with the heavy hitters being yeast breads, chicken and chicken mixed dishes, and pizza in the diet .

The good news is that many food companies, such as Campbell's, General Mills', Heinz, and Kraft are committed to lowering the sodium in their products over the next several years.

In the meantime, use this handy chart to help you make lower sodium food choices when shopping.

Check back for more on how to increase blood pressure lowering potassium in your diet.

The Lowdown on The NEW Dietary Guidelines for Americans

2011-01-21T07:08:00.000-08:00

Released a month later than they initially had hoped for, the updated 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans have finally been released. Mandated by Congress to be updated every five years, a committee of leading health experts were appointed to look at the latest nutrition science and make science-based recommendations. After reviewing close to 2,000 research articles, these new guidelines are designed to not only help prevent and reduce diet-related chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, but also at the same time, foster good health and a healthy weight among Americans, age two and older.

The Dietary Guidelines are extremely important as they are not only the basis for all federally funded nutrition programs and initiatives such the National School Lunch Program, but they can also heavily influence, with public buy-in, how food companies formulate and manufacture their products. In other words, these recommendations may influence how much sodium is in your favorite can of soup, how much sugar is your morning cereal, and if the crackers that you love to snack on are made with whole grains.

While there are numerous recommendations in the new guidelines, there is one, large (sorry for the pun) central theme and concern that is prevalent throughout the entire report: over 65% of Americans, need to reduce their waistline that has been expanding over the last three decades. The most serious concern is for America's youth as childhood obesity has tripled since the 1980s.

How can Americans implement these new Guidelines? Step by step.

The Committee developed 4 major action steps for Americans:

1) Reduce Overweight and Obesity.

How:

Reduce excess calories (see below).

Move (see below).

2) Eat a More Plant-Based, Nutrient-Rich, Healthy Diet.

How:

Fill at least half of your plate with waist-friendly, nutrient-rich vegetables, use fiber-rich whole grains to cover up 1/4 of the plate, and the remaining space should be protein-rich lean meats, poultry, 0r fish. Use Mother Nature's sweet fruit as a sweet dessert.

Try going meatless at least one day a week by substituting dried beans, beans, and seeds as you meal protein source.

Try to make heart healthy fish your protein source at least twice a week and don't forget the fat-free and low fat milk and milk products to help you meet your daily needs for vitamin D, calcium, and potassium, nutrients that Americans, on average, are falling short of in their diet.

3) Dramatically Cut Back on Solid Fats and Added Sugars (SoFAS).

How:

Stop visiting the bakery on a regular basis and gulping all those drinks with added sugar. Currently, Americans consume 35 percent of daily calories from less nutrient-rich SoFAS which should be a measly 5 to 15% of your daily calories.

Cut back on the solid fat heavy hitters in the diet:

1) Grain-based desserts such as cakes, cookies, pies, donuts, and granola bars;

2) Full fat cheese, and

3) Sausage, franks, bacon, and ribs.

Cut back on the top sugar laden sources in the diet:

1) Soda,

2) Grain-based desserts, and

3) Fruit drinks.

(Note: reducing those fatty, sugary bakery items will allow you to get double health benefits.)

4) Follow the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans

How:

Accumulate a minimum of 2.5 hours weekly (about 20 minutes daily) of moderate intensity, such as brisk walking, to 5 hours weekly (about 40 minutes) daily to reduce your waist and reduce your risk of chronic diseases such as heart, cancer, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
On two or more days of weight, incorporate some muscle-strengthening activities such as lifting weights or doing push ups.

Americans are also falling short of their daily needs for fiber, potassium, calcium and vitamin D and are consuming too much sodium in the diet. In fact, many adults are consuming more than twice the amount of sodium recommended daily.

Check back tomorrow to learn why and how you should reduce the sodium in your diet.

The White House Inspires Walmart's Healthy Eating Program

2011-01-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

Walmart in getting in the healthy foods business. According to today's press release by Walmart, the company will soon begin a five-year plan to not only drop prices on the fruits and vegetables that they sell but will also lower the salt, fats, and added sugars in their Great Value house brand packaged foods. By 2015, Great Value house brand will reduce sodium by 25%, added sugar by 10%, and remove all industrial made trans fats.

The program was inspired by the Michele Obama's Let's Move Campaign to make healthy foods more convenient and affordable for the American public.

Since Walmart serves their customers and members more than 200 million times per week, that's a lot of shoppers potentially reaching for healthier foods in the next five years!

Click here to read the press release.

New School Lunch Guidelines: Hold the Fries, Please

2011-01-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

According to USDA Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, the school lunch program that serves more than 30 million children daily is likely to get healthier very soon. The USDA is proposing significant changes to improve the nutritional quality of the school meals that are served to America’s youth. While American youngsters consume up to half of their daily calories at school, unfortunately, approximately 1/3 of American children are obese or at risk for becoming obese.

In today’s USDA news conference, the Agriculture Secretary stressed that the new school lunch program will increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals. The implementation of these new guidelines would result in meals that contain less sodium and heart-unhealthy saturated fat, without exceeding the child’s daily calorie needs. A diet high in sodium and/or saturated fat can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death among Americans. The availability of starchy vegetables, such as French fries, in the school lunch will be reduced over the course of the week. For more on the proposed guidelines, visit the USDA website.

The good news is that there isn’t any need to wait for the new and improved school lunch program to be implemented to start packing the kiddies in your life a healthier backpack lunch.

Here are my top Backpack Lunches ideas that healthy and kid-approved.

These are easy to create and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.

Enjoy!

Small Changes = Big Weight Loss in 2011

2011-01-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

If you weigh a pound more this year compared to last year, join the club.

According to the Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Americans, on average gain one pound a year from age 20 to age 60. This means that by retirement, there will likely be an extra 40 pounds of your on the couch watching TV.

The only way to stop the waist-expanding madness is to start making some small, permanent lifestyle changes that will not only prevent further weight gain but actually help you lose the excess weight that you have accumulated for decades. The diet trend for 2011 is to chip away at your weight by chipping away at your diet.

Here are a sample of tips from my Loss Weight in 52 Small Steps:

1) Skip the Designer Coffee
Why order a whole milk, Starbucks Caramel Macchiatro at the grande size of 270 calories when you can get your java fix with a delicious 80 calorie Cappuccino made with skim milk? Don't forget the sprinkle of cinnamon on top.

2)Dump the Donut and CD-Size Bagel.
Instead of a donut or huge bakery bagel for breakfast, toast up a whole wheat English muffin. This tiny early morning diet change can save you over 150 calories. Top the English muffin with a schmear of peanut butter for breakfast that is still less calories than a donut or gigantic bagel.

3)Change Up Your Sandwich Filler
Less is more when it comes to your lunchtime sandwich. Instead of chowing down on a sandwich containing 2 slices of cheese and 2 slices of ham, remove one slice of each of these sandwich fillers and add layers of veggies. You will have cut 150 calories from your sandwich without cutting one bit of satisfaction.

4)Skip the Afternoon Soda or Energy Drink Habit.
Pop open a can of cola or an energy drink, you'll be guzzling about 150 calories entirely from 9-plus teaspoons of added sugar. Replace this daily habit with a no-calorie drink with fizzle, such as sparkling water flavored with lemon or lime slices. Too blasé for your sweet taste buds? Combine one ounce of juice with 11 ounces of carbonated water and ice for a very low-calorie refreshing drink on the rocks. This tiny change could produce a loss of a pound in only 3 weeks.

5)Mangia with Less Pasta:
When eating pasta at dinner, ALWAYS enjoy it with equal amounts of vegetables. A dinner of 2 cups of pasta will twirl 400 calories on your plate. To cut calories but not bulk, for every cup of pasta (200 calories) that you dish out, mix it with a cup of cooked vegetables (approximately 50 calories). You will end up with a heaping pasta dinner of only 250 calories, a savings of 150 calories. Your tummy will be satisfied and your waist will be happy.

For more easy waist-friendly tips, visit Lose Weight in 52 Small Steps. One small change a week could produce a permanent slimmer you by the end of 2011.

Happy and Healthy New Year!

Destressing Holiday Shopping

2010-12-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

Is holiday shopping stressing you out because you don't know what to get everyone one your list? Make it easier on yourself this year and come up with ONE theme for all your gifts. This year, make it the "Year of the Kitchen".

Here's how!

For more holiday gift ideas, have fun clicking through "Holiday Gifts Made Deliciously Easy".

The Latest on Vitamin D and Calcium: Got Milk?

2010-11-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

The milk mustache is going to be the latest trend on the street as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) just increased the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin D. While the daily recommendation for calcium changed only for older males, milk is a powerhouse for both vitamin D and calcium.

Even though research has been stockpiling for at least a decade that vitamin D could possibly lower the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes and even periodontal diseases, the IOM’s review of over 1,000 studies concluded that at present, the evidence was only strong enough to base the latest RDA on vitamin D's role in promoting and maintaining bone health. In 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated their recommendations for this vitamin, calling for an increase for infants to prevent bone-weakening rickets and vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D can also be made from exposure to skin to sunlight which, according to the IOM, explains why even though the diets of Americans, on average, fall below the RDA, their blood levels of this vitamin are in a healthy range. It appears that many Americans are also getting the help of sunshine to meet their daily vitamin D needs.

Here’s the latest daily recommendations for both calcium and vitamin D from the IOM:
19 to 50 years of age = 1,000 mg of calcium and 600 IU of vitamin D
51 to 70 years of age (females) = 1,200 mg of calcium and 600 IU of vitamin D
51 to 70 years of age (males) = 1,000 mg of calcium and 600 IU of vitamin D
71+ years of age = 1,200 mg of calcium and 800 IU of vitamin D

To prevent harm from getting too much of these nutrients, the IOM also recommended that adults consume no more 2,000 mg to 2,500 mg of calcium, depending on their age, and 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily. Excesses of dietary calcium, more likely from supplements and fortified foods, has been associated with kidney stones. Too much vitamin D may cause kidney and tissue damage.

The good news is the three cups of low fat or skim milk daily will provide about 900 mg of calcium and 300 IU of vitamin D. Milk is also an excellent source of protein and other nutrients.

Here are 5 tips to increase the skim or low fat milk in your diet:

Start your day with a bowl of whole grain cereal smothered in milk
Cook your hot oatmeal with milk rather than water.
Order a morning latte with milk rather than cream.
Enjoy an afternoon hot cocoa made with milk.
Make milk the beverage of choice at dinner.

Pass the Squash and Live Longer

2010-11-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

Move over beta-carotene and make way for another carotenoid, alpha-carotene, especially if you want to live longer.

A study released today in the Archives of Internal Medicine of over 15,000 adults found that the risk of dying was as much as 39% lower in those with the highest levels of alpha-carotene in their blood. Carotenoids are the yellow-red pigments that give many fruits and vegetables their vibrant colors. They also act as antioxidants that protect your DNA as well as protein and fat in the body from the damaging effects of oxygen. This damage is believed to contribute to the increased risk of heart disease and cancer, the leading causes of death among Americans. Carrots, butternut squash, cantaloupe, broccoli, spinach, collards, and green peas are all rich in carotenoids, especially alpha-carotene.

Another plus for alpha-carotene is that while there over 600 varieties of dietary carotenoids only beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cyptoxanthin can be converted to vitamin A. Thus, eating a diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables may not only help you increase your longevity but also meet your daily vitamin A.

On this Thanksgiving, make sure that you pass the squash, peas, broccoli, and spinach salad often. Who knows.....this bounty may be just the thing to help you enjoy many more Thanksgivings in the future.

Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, November 22, 2010. Available at: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/

Trim Side Dishes to Trim Thanksgiving Day Calories

2010-11-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

Let's face it, some Thanksgiving traditions are here to stay. You can’t skip the turkey, and you definitely need a tad of gravy. But it
may be time to break with tradition and give your holiday side dishes a bit of a makeover.

Consider ditching the traditional marshmallow-covered canned yams (237 calories, 8 grams fat/serv) and swap in a healthier Stuffed Sweet Potato at half the calories. Sideline the classic, onion ring-topped green beans casserole that is swimming in mushroom soup (161 calories, 9 grams fat/serv) and pull out the sauté pan instead. Sauté the green beans in a tad of olive oil and garlic, or even better, try tossing Green Beans with Sun Dried Tomatoes to cut the calories in half and reduce the fat by more than 75 percent compare to the classic casserole.

Keep the antioxidant and fiber-rich, whole cranberry sauce (see recipe below) on the menu but you can probably get rid of the canned, gelatinous variety that fans out like an ostrich's tail on the serving plate. Even better add dried cranberries to a tossed salad with a sweet Honey Mustard Dressing for a healthy side dish that is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser and new Thanksgiving tradition.

Enjoy!

Whole Cranberry Orange Sauce

Ingredients:
½ cup red wine
½ cup orange juice
½ cup sugar
12 ounce bag whole cranberries, washed
1 cinnamon stick

Directions:
In a sauce pan, combine wine, juice and sugar. Bring to a boil. Add cranberries and cinnamon stick. Simmer on low for about 20 minutes, until all the cranberries have burst. Let cool. Place cranberry sauce in covered dish in the refrigerator to chill before serving. Makes about 2 ¼ cups.

Per ¼ cup serving:
Calories: 69
Fat: 0 grams
Sodium: 1 gram
Fiber: 1 gram

Want to Trim Your Waist? Make Dinner.

2010-10-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Not cooking tonight? Most likely your neighbors aren't either.

Almost one-third of Americans’ daily calories come from ready-to-eat foods prepared outside the home. Unfortunately, this avoidance of the kitchen could be attributing to America’s expanding girth, especially among children.

Eating out is not only associated with a higher BMI, which is your weight in relationship to your height, but a recent report by the USDA uncovered that when kids, especially those who are ages 13 to 18, eat meals outside the home, they tend to chow down on over 100 more calories than if they would have eaten at home. This report came out on the heels of a recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finding that Americans’ BMI is at an all time high. Americans, on average, have a BMI of over 28 -- smack in the middle of the “overweight” category.

If lack of time to prepare meals is the reason you and your family are avoiding your kitchen many nights of the week, try these healthy and foolproof “Dinners in a Dash” recipes. They are quick to prepare and guaranteed to please.

It may do you and your family’s waist some good:

Speedy Spaghetti Alfredo

Mexican Marconi and Cheese

Marvelous Microwave Meatballs

References:

The Keystone Group. The Keystone Forums on Away from Home Foods. Available at: http://keystone.org/files/file/about/publications/Forum_Report_FINAL_5-30-06.pdf

USDA. October 2010. How food away from home affects children’s diet quality. Available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR104/ERR104_ReportSummary.pdf

Ford, E., Li, C., and Tsai, J. 2010. Trends in obesity and abdominal obesity among adults in the United States form 1999-2008. International Journal of Obesity. Available at:
http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo2010186a.html

2010-09-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

According from the latest CDC report, we are not spending enough time shopping in the produce aisle, as over 75% of Americans are not eating the minimum recommended 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables daily. This dietary shortfall may partially explain why over 65% of Americans are overweight.

Snacking on low calorie, high fiber, fruits and vegetables daily can help reduce your weight as Mother Nature’s finest will “fill you up before they fill you out”. In other words, you’ll likely get full on produce before you have a chance to overeat. In contrast, higher calorie, less filling snacks such as chips, crackers, and bagels are so easy to overeat that they can quickly fill you out in the wrong places.

If you are falling short of a quota of 4.5 cups fruits and veggies daily, make produce your only snack of choice and the best choice to trim your waist.

Here are 5 easy fruit and veggie snack ideas:

Serve the Salsa Without the Chips:

Replace the tortilla chips (2 oz = 284 calories) with red or green pepper slices (1 medium = 32 calories) and shave off over 250 calories from classic snack. Dunk to your waist’s content.

Pear Down the Crackers:

Eliminate the cheese crackers (1 package=200 calories) and substitute with pear slices topped with a half ounce of reduced fat cheese (120 calories). Try Laughing Cow Blue Cheese Spread or Cabot Reduced Fat Cheddar for a yummy pear pairing.

Slice Apples Instead of Bagels:

Substitute the mid-morning large bagel and cream cheese (470 calories) with an “apple sandwich”. Core a crisp apple and slice it similar to a bagel. Schmear a tad of peanut butter on one apple half and then top with the other half. Presto: An apple sandwich (167 calories) that will stick to your ribs but not your hips.

Slurp Your Veggies:

As we enter the fall season, keep soup on the front burner of snack options. Combine a can of vegetable soup, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, and some water for a hefty pot of “homemade soup” (1 cup = 72 calories). Store the soup in your home or office refrigerator and microwave a mug of this veggie soup late in the afternoon. This will not only give you a serving of veggies but also keep you from snacking on less nutritious foods that are around you.

Drink Your Whole Fruits through a Straw:

In addition to falling short of produce, Americans are also missing the boat on consuming enough calcium-rich, low fat dairy daily. To help in both arenas, whip together a handful of frozen berries, yogurt, and a tad of milk in a blender. Pour your berry shake (150 calories) into a tall glass and grab a straw.

Source: CDC, September, 2010, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5935a1.htm

More Americans Are Bellying Up To The Bar

2010-09-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

If you drink alcohol, you are among friends.

According to a recent Gallo poll, over 65 percent of American adults drink alcohol, which is the highest percentage since the mid 1980’s. Can you guess what the number one alcoholic beverage of choice is among drinkers? Beer.

Approximately 40 percent of those who drink alcohol prefer to savor a beer than a glass of good wine. Uncorking the bottle came in as the second most popular alcoholic beverage, with 32 percent of Americans drinking wine. Hard liquor drinkers were the smallest group with only 21 percent of imbibers enjoy it on-the-rocks or as part of a cocktail.

While the standard size 12 ounce beer is 150 calories and a 5 ounce glass of red wine pours in at about 100 calories, many of us are likely enjoying a serving larger than the standard. If the beer or wine glasses that you use are the hefty ones that you get in most department stores, you are likely sipping 50 percent more calories (and alcohol) in each glass. If you are having two drinks per night, the calories in your alcoholic beverages may be coming in higher than many of us eat for breakfast.

With drinking alcohol at a 25-year high and with obesity at epidemic proportion among Americans, this may be an easy place where adults can cut calories by downsizing the size of their beer mugs and wine glasses.

Tip: Take inventory of your beer and wine glasses and measure how much fluid they actually hold. If need be, shop around for the smallest beer and wine glasses that you can find and only use these when serving alcohol.

Bonus Tip: Drink alcohol in a one-to-one ratio. After a glass of wine or beer, make the second "drink" a large glass of sparkling water. Who knows....you may end up stopping after the second "drink" of water and eliminate that second glass of calorie-containing alcohol. Cheers!

Watch today's Fox Segment on this issue.

Rise and Dine!

2010-08-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

Eating breakfast can make you slimmer, smarter, and sweeter.

Here’s how:

Breakfast May Make You Slimmer:

Research suggests that children and adolescents who do not eat a healthy breakfast are at a higher risk of being overweight. Other research suggests that adults who skip breakfast have a higher body mass index (BMI), which is a measure of your weight in relationship to your height and a higher tendency of being overweight. With two thirds of Americans overweight, a morning meal may just be the best kept waist-trimming secret.

Breakfast May Make You Smarter:

Research shows that eating breakfast may enhance your memory, improve your cognitive ability, and help increase your attention span, to name a few mind-boggling advantages. Rise and dine to fuel your brain with food it needs to ace your day.

Breakfast May Make You Sweeter:

Research suggests that eating breakfast, specifically carbohydrate-rich cereals, can improve your mood. Eating in the morning after a night’s slumber will provide glucose to your starved brain. Let’s face it: you are also likely to be happier and less grouchy when you aren’t distracted by hunger pangs. Feed yourself in the morning so that you are in a better mood and sweeter to those around you.

What should you eat for breakfast?
A healthy breakfast that will fuel your morning should contain a combination of nutrient-rich carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits and veggies, some lean dairy and a smidgen of fat.

Try these picture perfect breakfasts at home or on-the go to eat at school or the office.

America At LARGE

2010-08-04T04:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) took the vital signs of Americans and declared that more needs to be done to combat obesity. Currently, 68 percent of Americans are either overweight or obese. Excess body fat increases your risk of heart disease, certain cancers, stroke, and diabetes -- all major killers of Americans.

Correctly, the CDC has identified that there isn't a single, simple solution to this problem, but rather, it has to be a team effort of the states, communities, and personal changes to trim down America. States can bring more local, waist-friendly fruits and vegetables to schools and the workplace. Communities can support and maintain safe outdoor spaces such as playgrounds and bike paths to encourage physical activity. On a personal level, the time has come for all of us to consider a diet and lifestyle makeover.

Taking gradual and realistic steps to change your diet and lifestyle is less overwhelming and more likely to be successful.

To help you, try these 52 Small Steps to Losing Weight. Changes can be made......one small step at a time.

For more on the CDC Vital Signs, click here.

Got High Blood Pressure? Eat a Sweet Potato.

2010-08-03T04:12:00.000-07:00

According the latest report just released by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, most Americans are falling short of their daily potassium needs, which could be wrecking havoc
their blood pressure.

Over 55 percent of Americans have high blood pressure or are on their way to getting high blood pressure in the very near future. Individuals with chronic high blood pressure increase their risk of developing heart disease and stroke, two of the top three killers of Americans. While losing excess weight, reducing sodium in the diet, and being physically active all can reduce blood pressure, so can consuming adequate amounts of potassium-rich foods.

To read more, click here.

I Want To Eat Scooby Doo

2010-06-20T08:31:00.001-07:00

What do Scooby Doo, Dora the Explorer, and Shrek have in common? (Hint: it has nothing to do with entertainment.) According to new research published in today’s Pediatrics, these characters can not only influence a preschool-aged child’s food choices, but also preference, for the taste of a food.

In this study involving 40 children, ages 4 to 6 years old, researchers asked each child to taste, and then rate, identical packages of pairs of graham crackers, gummy fruit snacks, and carrots. The only difference between the pairs of snack items was that one of packages had a sticker of a licensed character stuck on the front of the label.

The results showed that the kiddies significantly preferred the snack with the cartoon character on the label, as compared to the same food without the sticker. The stickers also had an influence over the perceived taste of the food, as the children were significantly more likely to rate the taste of the graham crackers and gummy fruit snacks with the licensed character higher than the exact same, paired equivalent. Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that these licensed characters should be restricted on unhealthy, junk foods marketed to kids, because of their strong influence on this age group.

Ironically, last month, the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity made a similar suggestion in their Report to the President. The Task Force recommended that all media companies limit the licensing of these child-friendly characters to only healthy foods and beverages.

Could licensed characters be used to help improve children’s diets? We only have to look to the very successful, Got Milk? Campaign to see how Hollywood influences consumer choices. When the dairy industry noted a decline in milk consumption among Americans in the 1990’s, they painted milk mustaches on celebrities and milk sales increased. If licensed characters were removed from the less healthy foods, and only plastered on Mother Nature’s finest in the produce aisle, perhaps kiddies would be screaming for Pooh Bear bananas.

This could be music to America’s ears. It’s worth a shot as long as the consumer doesn’t have to pay extra for the sticker. What do you think? Post your comments.

Dietary Guidelines: A Peek At What May Come

2010-06-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a group of 13 independent experts, has just submitted a report with their science-based, dietary and lifestyle recommendations for the public. Using the information contained in this report, the government will be finalizing the soon-to-be released Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010.

Similar to the last set of guidelines, the DG Advisory Committee is recommending that Americans consume a well-balanced, plant-based diet, which includes all of the food groups, coupled with adequate physical activity, to maintain a healthy body weight and to avoid obesity. They are also advising that solid fats, added sugar, and sodium be reduced in the diet.

Here's a peek at some of their additional recommendations:

Reduce saturated fatty acids intake to less 10 percent, and ideally, less than 7 percent of calories, with more emphasis on heart, healthy mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Limit dietary cholesterol to less than 300 mg daily. Those with heart disease or type 2 diabetes should shoot for less than 200 mg daily.
Avoid trans fatty acids from commercially prepared foods.
Consume two servings of seafood per week.
Reduce sodium to 1,500 mg per day.

The public can comment on this report until July 15 on this website.

For more on reducing the sodium in your diet, watch this.

Snacks That Shrink Your Waist

2010-04-12T05:04:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung, and for some, so has the desire to shed a few excess winter pounds. While unplanned, impulsive snacking can be disastrous to your waist, planned snacks can have the opposite effect and help shrink your waist.

Eating between meals can be waist-friendly if these snacks are calorie-controlled and contain protein, fat and/or fiber – food components that help you feel fuller longer. One or two healthy snack daily can help you avoid becoming so hungry that you impulsively over-consume calories at and between meals. Cutting daily calories will help you shed weight.

Try any one of these snack ideas, containing protein (lean dairy, lean meat, fish), fiber (whole grains, whole fruits, and veggies), and/or a tad of fat (nuts) for a satisfying snack for around 100 calories or less:

Waist Shrinking Snacks at the Home or Office

Laughing Cow Light Blue Cheese Spread on Pear Slices. This protein-rich, new Laughing Cow flavor served on high fiber fruit provides a light gourmet snack without the typical heavy gourmet calories and fat.

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: Some preliminary research suggests that dairy foods consumed throughout the day may help decrease hunger. Yoplait has just launched two new light and luscious yogurt flavors - Red Velvet Cake and Blueberry Pie - both tastes as though they came straight from the bakery.

Snack Size Light Popcorn. Who knew that popcorn was a wholegrain and provides 5 grams of tummy-filling fiber? This warm and cozy, high fiber crunchy snack is perfect to fight the afternoon hungry horrors.

Mini Light Babybell Cheese and Grapes. This portable light cheese along with a small handful of grapes are a perfect protein and fiber-rich snack to help you avoid that mid-morning donut temptation.

Waist Shrinking Snacks For On-The-Go

Almonds: Don’t Leave Home Without Them. Almonds are a perfect snack as they provide protein, fiber and some fat. Visit the California Almond Board’s website to purchased an inexpensive, portable almond tin that can be stashed in your briefcase, purse, or backpack. When the between meal hungers set in, reach in and munch on 6-7 almonds to tie you over to your next meal. Click here to purchase the tin.

Salute The Navel Orange. These Mother Nature gems are in season, rich in hunger-satisfying fiber (almost 4 grams!), and sweet as candy. When on-the-go, bring along a navel orange for snack that will fill you up before it fills you out!

Watch the Fox TV Segment here.

Skip the Corned Beef on St. Patty's Day, Opt for Salmon Patties On The Grill

2010-03-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

The American Heart Associations' recommendation to eat at least two fish meals, specifically fatty fish, weekly, just got another boost from an article published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This five year study, by researchers at San Francisco General Hospital, showed that omega-3 fatty acids can help people with heart disease live longer.

According to the lead researcher, heart disease patients who had higher levels of omega-3s in their blood appeared to have slowed their biological aging compared to those with lower blood levels of omega 3s.

Other studies have shown that omega-3s may help reduce the risk of irregular heart beats and blood clots, help those with rheumatoid arthritis, and may also be associated with the slowing of age-related cognitive decline.

For heart health, it is recommended that you consume 0.5 grams of omega 3s daily, which is the equivalent of two fatty fish meals a week.

Here's some tips to increase the fish in your diet:

1) Add canned salmon in your lunch time salad.
2) Add sardines to tomato sauce and ladle them over wholegrain pasta at dinner.
3) Flip salmon burgers instead of hamburgers on the grill.
4) Have a tuna salad sandwich made with light tuna and light mayo once a week for lunch.
5) Get in the habit of ordering grilled or poached fish when you dine out.

Can You Lose Weight AND Reduce Sodium at the Drive Thru?

2010-02-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

Some fastfood restaurants are now offering lower calorie meal options, but the sodium content is far from low.

Sodium can increase an individual’s blood pressure. Research estimates that 1.5 million cases of high blood pressure could be eliminated and over $2 billion in health care costs could be saved annually if Americans would reduce their daily intake by a mere 400 milligrams (mg) of sodium. Americans are consuming over 3,000 mg of sodium daily, way above the 1,500 mg recommended daily. Some lower calorie fastfood options can dish up over 1,400 mg per serving.

Here are some Healthy Tips When Eating On the Go that are kind to your waist and your blood pressure.

Score Big on Super Bowl Sunday

2010-02-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

Planning to dial up a super pizza on Super Bowl Sunday? You may get a busy signal as the sales of pizzas increase by at least 30 percent, on average, in pizzerias across America, on the day of the big game.

Keep in mind that a pizza with “everything” on it can add close to 4,000 calories per pie to your half time celebration. Skipping the fatty meat toppings, but topping your pie with plenty of veggies will score a satisfying pie for less than half the calories.

Click here for a fun, interactive "Build Your Own Pizza" program to find out how your favorite pie measures up.

To enjoy the game without having to worry about the score on the scale the next day, try these Super Healthy Super Bowl crowd pleasers:

• Beer-Cooked, Shrimp Cocktail with a Spicy Cocktail Sauce
• A Salsa Face Off With Red, Yellow, and Green Pepper Slices instead of Chips
• A Healthy Homemade Grilled Vegetable Pizza

Cut 150 Calories Daily, Lose 15 Pounds

2010-01-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

Make 2010 the year that you start making small changes in diet and lifestyle and reap big returns at years end.

Just think: If you were to cut 150 calories daily from your day, there would be over 15 pounds less of you by this time next year.

Here are some simple ways to cut 150 calories daily.

Think small, shoot big.

Survival Tips for Holiday Parties: Tip No. 6

2009-12-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

Tip No. 6: Be part of the solution

Be sure to practice what you preach at your own party. Limit the number of hors d'oeuvres you serve and keep them as healthful as possible. Choose fresh veggies and sliced fruit instead of cheese and crackers. Serve dinner early and choose a lean entree such as grilled seafood.

Tip: When it comes to dessert, go light and go for a contained amount. When you make a dessert, make one that can only be served in individual portions. If you're having a party for eight, make sure you only have eight individual desserts. Then there's no leftover cheesecake to wake up to.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season.

Survival Tips for Holiday Parties: Tips N

2009-12-22T06:12:00.001-08:00

Tip No. 5: Flatter the cook

Cooks always bring out their best recipes for the holidays. The only problem is that they expect you to eat all that food even if you are stuffed. Unfortunately, cleaning your plate is a signal to the hostess that you enjoyed the meal.

Tip: Ask him or her for the recipe. Imitation in the sincerest form of flattery. Your host will be thrilled that you enjoyed the meal so much that you want to share it with others.

Tip No. 6 will be posted tomorrow.

Survival Tips for Holiday Parties: Tip No. 4

2009-12-21T05:43:00.000-08:00

Tip No. 4: Stuff yourself before you go

If the dinner party invitation says cocktails start at 7 pm, this probably means that dinner won't be served until Dave Letterman is delivering his monologue. As the evening wears on, even the wallpaper will start to look tasty. In this ravenous state you are likely to stuff yourself with too many hors d'oeuvres at dinner.

Tip: Nibble on something healthy before you leave the house - a large salad or a bowl of hearty vegetable soup. This tactic will curb the temptation to eat the mountain of cheese and crackers that are typically at holiday parties.

Tip No. 5 will be posted tomorrow.

Survival Tips for Holiday Parties: Tip No. 3

2009-12-18T05:14:00.000-08:00

Tip No. 3: Cut back on the hors d'oeuvres

Did you know that one ounce of brie cheese melted on a hunk of crispy French breadpacks over 100 calories and 9 grams of fat? Couple that with a few other nibbles and you'll have to beep your tailor before dinner is served.

Making a meal of hors d'oeuvres is fine once in a while, but you'll need to get a handle on this part of the holiday party routine during this busy season.

Tip: Score points with the host or hostess by offering to bring hors d'oeuvres of your own. Now, here's the sneaky part. Bring something that you know you can eat and fill up on - without filling out. Take a festive basket, line it with a holiday cloth napkin, and fill it with fresh veggies. No time to slice and dice? Buy the pre-cut variety at your local supermarket. Put a small bowl of a low fat dressing in the center of the basket. Snack away.

Tip No. 4 will be posted on Monday.

Survival Tips For Holidays Parties: Tip No. 2

2009-12-17T02:56:00.000-08:00

Tip No. 2: Tame the party animal

Let's get realistic about this. How many parties do you expect to attend in the next few weeks, including New Year's Eve? Two or three a week? Do you realize that if you drink two glasses of wine at each of those parties, by the end of the season, you'll have drunk more than half a pound of extra weight? The worst part about holiday party wine is that, usually, it's not even the good stuff.

Tip: Play the Good Samaritan and assign yourself the Designated Driver. Then you have a compelling reason not to drink. If you really want a glass of wine, keep an expensive bottle at home and enjoy a glass at home when you return from the party.

Tip No. 3 will be posted tomorrow.

Survival Tips for Holiday Parties: Tip No. 1

2009-12-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

Tip No. 1: Eat Off Grandma's China

Talk about portion distortion. According to research, the surface area of a typical dinner plate has increased by 36% since 1960. Let's face it: The bigger the plate, the more food you are likely to heap on and eat.

Tip: Use Grandma's dinner plates at your supper and smaller plates when you entertain
this holiday season. Using a smaller plate can dramatically reduce the calories consumed
at that meal. Piling mostly veggies on smaller plates can further reduce calories at your
meals yet “fill you up without filling you out”.

Tip No. 2 will be posted tomorrow.

The Science Behind Holiday Weight Gain

2009-12-15T06:10:00.000-08:00

Tis the season.

We know that the holiday season brings too many parties, too many get-togethers, and too many desserts.

However, an interesting article from the National Council on Strength & Fitness identifies a group of compounding physiological factors that explain why the activities of the holidays make it more challenging to maintain your weight.

According to the article, stress can play a factor. Stress can lead to the drive to use food and alcohol as a coping mechanism. Consistently eating excess calories will not only cause excess weight gain but reaching for the alcohol can also can increase the release of the hormone, ghrelin, which can stimulate hunger and eating. In essence, alcohol provides a double whammy effect.

The shopping and festive activities can wreck havoc with your sleep patterns. According to the article, getting less than 8 hours of sleep a night can alter the levels of insulin and ghrelin in your body and lead to overeating.

To help you enjoy your holidays without the excess bulge, I will be posting a daily Holiday Party Tip starting tomorrow.

Holiday Gifts Made Deliciously Easy

2009-12-10T05:50:00.000-08:00

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE HOLIDAY,

WHEN ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE, NOT A PERSON

WAS WRAPPING -- THEY WERE SHOPPING BY

MOUSE.

Stumped and stressed as to what to get everyone this year? Here
is my list of Holiday Gifts Made Deliciously Easy to help make
this season less anxious and more fun.

Click here for a list of fun ideas.

Watch this Fox Segment.

General Mills to Reduce Sugar In Cereals

2009-12-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

General Mills just announced that they will be reducing the amount of sugar in their cereals that are advertised to children. These cereals will soon have less than 10 grams of sugar in each serving. Over the last few years they have reduced the sugar in many of their cereals by as much as 20 percent.

For example, a serving of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios had 13 grams of sugar per serving in 2007 and currently contains 11 grams per serving. In the future, a serving will have less than 10 grams.

For more information, visit the General Mills Website

Here is a Fox TV Segment on kid-friendly, healthy cereals.

Tip No. 6 to Trim Turkey Day Weight Gain

2009-11-25T07:13:00.000-08:00

Tip No. 6: Cut Out the Loafing

Instead of watching football on the couch all afternoon -- eating the leftovers during the time-outs -- why don't you gather up the crew for a family scrimmage or take a long walk?

Taking a 45-minute walk could use up almost 250 calories, a moderate chunk of the day's eating.

This is probably the best holiday tradition you could start.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tip No. 5 To Trim Turkey Day Weight Gain

2009-11-24T07:28:00.001-08:00

Tip No. 5: Trim the picking.

While your first plate of turkey is typically moderate and sensible, it's the third and fourth helpings that get ridiculous. That's because the food becomes the entertainment. Rather, take the turkey out of its spotlight in the middle of the dinner table.

Serve dinner buffet style and fill the table with more flowers than edibles. My favorite is to carve out a pumpkin and fill it with fresh flowers. Feast your eyes on those rather than the food.

Beware of cleanup....the time when mindless nibbling often occurs. To avoid this, serve the food in covered serving dishes, which will keep it warm and then allow you to put leftovers directly into the refrigerator without clean up and temptation.

Check back tomorrow for the last tip!

Tip No. 4 to Trim Turkey Day Weight Gain

2009-11-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

Tip No. 4. Trim the alcohol.

A glass of wine can be enjoyable with dinner, but let's face it: Alcohol adds more calories to your Turkey Day feast. On top of that, spirits can weaken your willpower, especially when consumed on an empty stomach.

Save the first toast for when the turkey is served and sip four ounces instead of the usual five or six ounces. Use a smaller wine glass to help you stay on track.

Check back tomorrow for Tip No. 5.

Tip No 3. to Trim Turkey Day Weight Gain

2009-11-22T05:34:00.000-08:00

Tip No. 3: Trim the amount of food you eat.

We stuff ourselves silly on Thanksgiving because we're afraid we'll have to wait another 12 months before we can indulge in the whole turkey thing again.

Try to remember that this is America. If you want a turkey with stuffing and apple pie a la mode in July, it's yours for the asking. In fact, if we all got in the habit of repeating this meal a few times throughout the year, it probably wouldn't have that "Last Supper" appeal to it.

Challenge yourself to eat at least 25 percent less this year, and the calories and fat won't be so astronomical. Consider serving your Turkey Day on smaller plates. This is the easiest way to consume 25 percent less without much of an effort.

Check back tomorrow for Tip No. 4.

Tip No. 2 to Trim Turkey Day Weight Gain

2009-11-19T17:18:00.001-08:00

Tip No. 2: Trim the amount of food you serve on Thanksgiving.

Take a head count. How many pilgrims and Indians are you really feeding? I bet it's a lot less than the first Thanksgiving. I know you want leftovers because they're the best part of the whole holiday, but do you really need a 20-pound bird for a party of six?

Make an executive decision to serve fewer dishes. It isn't mandatory to have mashed and sweet potatoes, nor do you have to serve both whole cranberry sauce and the gelatinous kind that fans out like an ostrich's tail.

And what about those pies? How many varieties have to be served for it to be Thanksgiving? (Does anyone actually eat mincemeat pie?)

Better Bet: Serve only one dessert.

Look for Tip No. 3 over the weekend.

Six Tips To Trim Turkey Day Weight Gain

2009-11-19T04:24:00.000-08:00

Starting today and up until Thanksgiving, I will be posting:

"Six Tips to Trim Turkey Day Weight Gain".

Tip No. 1: Carve out an earlier time to eat.

When Thanksgiving dinner is served at 2 or 3 p.m., we tend to skip lunch in an attempt to make room for a few extra dinner calories. Has this ever really worked? Not in my house. By the time dinner finally rolls around, the smell of roasting turkey has permeated every pore of my skin, and I am transformed into an uncontrollable eating machine.

To avoid this, have a light lunch to help you keep to more civilized portions. Or better yet, move up the start of dinner to high noon on the East Coast, that's immediately after Santa brings up the rear of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Check back tomorrow for Tip No. 2.

Breakfast Cereals That Make the Nutrition Grade

2009-11-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

With little kitchen prep and clean up, cereals are an ideal fastfood in the morning. An USDA report shows that ready-to-eat cereals are a top breakfast choice and are more popular than breads, bagels, and other bakery items among Americans in the wee hours of the morning.

Beware: Not all cereals are create equal. Your cereal should contain:

Whole Grains (contains "100% whole grains" or "whole grains" are the predominate source of grains listed in the ingredients).
At least 2 grams of fiber per serving.
No more than 2 teaspoons of added sugar (8 grams of sugar on the Nutrition Facts Panel) per serving.

These brands make the nutrition grade:

Cheerios
Mulitgrain Cheerios
Wheat Chex
Multi Brand Chex
Grape Nuts
Shredded Wheat
Life
Wheaties
Kashi Go Lean
Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs
Kashi 7 Whole Grain Flakes