March 2006
March 4, 2006 - Potatoes and Portion Control
With National Nutrition Month® upon us, the US Potato Board has issued a press release promoting the importance of portion control when dieting, and that potatoes just happen to be low in calories, high in vitamin C and give a relatively high amount of fiber.
"I call it the perfect diet food in a peel," says Robin Miller, nutritionist, cookbook author and host of "Quick Fix Meals" on the Food Network.
Indeed as you can see below, boiled potatoes come in at 107 calories, and they do offer a high level of nutrients to your body while also being relatively low in calories.
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National Nutrition Month® Healthy Recipes
March 12, 2006 - Fresh Fruit and Vegetables
Fruit and vegetables - loved by some, hated by others.
Whatever you think about them, they are necessary for a well-balanced diet.
I was watching a documentary about good nutrition tonight. While we were watching it, my husband told me that he was talking to a friend who had gone to L.A. recently and that they had commented that they found it hard to find fresh fruit and vegetables. It was only when they were about to leave that they found a fruit market.
Living here in Australia, we have a ready supply of fresh fruit and vegetables, they are sold in our supermarkets, as well as in specialized fruit and vegetables stores. If you're keen you can also go to one of the big fresh produce markets to buy them at a cheaper price.
I was a little shocked. Although thinking about it, perhaps they (tourists) just didn't know where to look. But I was also puzzled as to why fruit and vegetables were not offered at the supermarket.
So my question to you is, do you find it difficult to find and buy fresh fruit and vegetables ? If so, do you think that this contributes to the fact that you eat more processed foods ? Do you think that fresh fruit and vegetables should be sold at regular supermarkets where you purchase your non-perishable food supplies.
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March 15, 2006 - GOT MILK ?
What's a girl to think about milk.
I definitely see that milk is a nutritious food, but could it be considered a food good for weight loss ?
The dairy industry thinks so.
Others are not so sure.
There is evidence to support both camps. [1,2] Personally I don't drink milk, I drink calcium fortified soy milk instead, however, this is because my husband suffers from a milk intolerance and I just drink what he has - it saves buying two sets of milk every week.
But I do make sure that I eat low fat cheese and yogurt daily. Not just for the calcium, but also for the pro-biotics in the yogurt to aid in good digestion and the growth of the good bacteria.
There is definitely nothing wrong with eating low fat dairy foods within a well-balanced diet when you're losing weight, which in effect is what interested parties in the dairy industry are saying, but then what if you broadened this line of thinking and said the same for bananas. Could you eat bananas within a well-balanced diet and lose weight - could you then say that eating bananas was the reason you lost weight ? I guess that is very simplified, but you see what I am saying.
Milk and calcium may well play a role in weight loss and weight maintenance, but it is still not certain. So I guess until the researchers figure out the whole story, I'll just continue enjoying my low fat yogurt and cheese and tomato sandwiches.
[1] Swapnil N Rajpathak, Eric B Rimm, Bernard Rosner, Walter C Willett and Frank B Hu Calcium and dairy intakes in relation to long-term weight gain in US men American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 83, No. 3, 559-566, March 2006
[2] Zemel MB. The role of dairy foods in weight management. J Am Coll Nutr. 2005 Dec;24(6 Suppl):537S-46S.
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March 21, 2006 - Dieting Versus Changing Habits
The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like,
and do what you'd rather not.
- Mark Twain
Ever get the feeling that unless you control every aspect of your existence and make sure you don't enjoy yourself with your favorite foods and drinks and tough it out at the gym, you'll never lose weight.
I'd like to challenge this.
Losing weight is hard work and is really emotionally draining, but it doesn't have to be a totally negative experience.
It can be positive. Those who successfully change their long term habits and start eating healthy foods, which they also like and incorporate more activity into their lifestyles which they also like, will obviously be more likely to succeed in their long term weight maintenance.
Learn to love your lifestyle, make the most of it, enjoy the food you eat - don't make yourself feel guilty for the cake you had with friends - have fun and share half of it with your partner.
By all means join a gym, but also get involved in a team sport - it's a great way to meet or keep up with friends and get some exercise. These are all things that you can do to bring your energy balance into the negative range without making yourself feel like you're in some way being punished.
Changing for the long term needs to be our goal, not spending our days depriving ourselves of food and mindlessly riding our stationary exercise bikes.
March 24, 2006 - The Best Way To Lose Weight and Burn Fat
We all want to burn fat for different reasons, some of us want to get rid of unsightly fat deposits, some of us just want to maintain a healthier lifestyle and some of us just want to feel good again. Whatever your reason, burning fat can be elusive if you don't take the right steps forward.
I'd like to outline a few of the steps that should be taken at the outset of a respectable weight loss program.
The first thing to do (I am saying this both because I am not a Doctor or a Dietitian and am not aware of all your circumstances, as this is beyond the scope of this website) is to make absolutely sure with your doctor that there is no underlying medical reason why you've gained weight and that it is safe for you to diet and exercise normally.
If there is not any other medical reason, then the best way to lose weight and burn fat is to use diet and exercise together. Use the following steps to help.
Step 1: Go to this page here http://www.savvy-fat-burning-food.com/weight-loss-glossary-r.html#rmr and calculate your resting metabolic rate using the Harris and Benedict Formula. You then need to multiply this by your current activity factor:
| Sedentary: | 1.2 |
| Lightly Active: | 1.375 |
| Moderately Active: | 1.55 |
| Very Active: | 1.725 |
| Extremely Active: | 1.9 |
The figure that you come out with is the amount of kJ that you need to consume in order to maintain your body weight.
If you want to lose weight and burn fat, you must consume this amount of kilojoules (kJ) less 15-20%, but not reduce your intake by more than 2000kJ.
Step 2: You also need to exercise. Cardio exercise is a great way for women to burn fat, but strength training or weights is also great for maintaining muscle mass and retaining good bone structure which is very important. So I'd highly recommend that you do both types of exercise. If you just reduce you caloric intake, you may just reduce your metabolism and not lose weight at all.
Step 3: Eat from a variety of food sources.
Drink plenty of water and make sure you are getting enough fruit and vegetables. If not you may need a vitamin supplement.
If you aren't eating the required three servings of dairy per day, try to get yourself to eat three servings, daily.
While research is still being done into dairy and weight loss and is very controversial with some research disputing the dairy weight loss claims, preliminary research has shown that when individuals have not been consuming dairy and they start to consume three servings of low fat dairy per day, they may experience weight loss.
Three serves of low fat dairy per day is a healthy eating habit and so will, amongst other things help to make your bones stronger. - It may help you to lose weight IF you are deficient in calcium. Please be careful though, because if you consume too much dairy low fat or otherwise, it is likely to just lead to more weight gain.
That's the last thing anyone wants. Unless of course, the weight gain is all muscle !
No individual food, including dairy has been proven overwhelmingly to burn fat and induce weight loss over the long term. See my post on Got Milk
So if you want to burn fat faster and fast track your weight loss, take a few minutes to do your maths and find out if your eating too many or not enough calories, make a conscious effort to eat from all food groups and find an exercise program incorporating both strength and cardio exercise.
So if you want to burn fat faster and fast track your weight loss, take a few minutes to do your maths and find out if your eating too many or not enough calories, make a conscious effort to eat from all food groups and find an exercise program incorporating both strength and cardio exercise.
I am thinking of launching within the next couple of months (which doesn't help you know, but may if you are still finding it difficult) specific diet plans that you can use to help lose weight along with an exercise routine that will be designed specifically for your goals.
A similar service is available here at Dietwatch if you are interested, it will provide dietitian approved diet plans and track your exercise, but does not provide exercise routines. It's probably the next best thing in providing services of both diet and exercise.
If you'd like to know more about specific diet plans and exercise routines designed to burn fat, sign up to the newsletter to be notified when this service becomes available.
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March 27, 2006 - Myth: ALL Fast Food Is Bad For You
With the coming of the "health food" rage, even fast food giants like McDonalds see that feeding their customers trans-fatty acid laden food can be hazardous to the health of the fast food giant, with law suits being brought against it and customers starting to shy away from it in favor of the more healthful fast food options.
Now more than ever, fast food options are available when you go to eat out, which is great.
One fast food outlet that I particularly frequent, if I am caught out at lunch time (although I make it a point to eat at home) is Subway.
Now most people have heard of Subway, if not - here is a little background. Subway is a fast food sandwich franchise chain that allows its customer to pick and choose from a variety of breads, meats, and salads to make up either a "foot long" or "six inch" submarine sandwich.
If you have heard of Subway, you've more than likely seen the commercials with Jared, the man who ate nothing but low-fat subway sandwiches and lost 245 pounds. It's reported that Jared also skipped breakfast and limited his caloric intake to 1,000 calories per day, which is not a healthy eating approach to diet, but would have accounted for a lot of the weight loss.
There are definitely some things that I don't like about Subway, the fact that in Australia, they sell choc. chip cookies and sodas along with your sandwich, but the benefit of eating out at Subway, is that you can pick and choose. You can choose not to have mayonnaise on your sandwich, you can choose not to have cheese and at least in Australia, where I live, they don't smother the bread in butter or margarine. That makes for a low fat sandwich. See the nutritional panel at NutritionData for a Six Inch Ham Subway Sandwich
So next time you're out and it's lunch time, and you can't wait to get home, Subway may be a healthy and fast option.
Subway have a variety of sandwiches with less than 6 grams of fat, but not all their sandwiches are low fat, so be careful. Their Classic BMT has 24 grams of fat.
The sandwiches with less than 6 grams of fat are:
- Under 6 Ham Subway Sandwich;
- Under 6 Roast Beef Subway Sandwich;
- Under 6 Roasted Chicken Breast Subway Sandwich;
- Under 6 Subway Club Sandwich;
- Under 6 Turkey Breast & Ham Sandwich;
- Under 6 Turkey Breast Sandwich;
- Under 6 Veggie Delight Sandwich;
- Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich.
So its a myth that all fast food is bad for you, but you must be on your guard to pick the food that is low fat as opposed to the food that may look similar but has much more fat in it.
March 28, 2006 - Why Short Term Diet's Don't Work !
Going on a diet and reducing your caloric intake is a good way to start losing weight, but often it's the way that you go about the caloric restriction that will make all the difference.
The kinds of diets that offer a one or two week diet to help you to lose weight aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
As you can see in the graph, if you diet for three days or less, you might lose weight, but it will be all water.
It is only when you reach about the 21st day of caloric restriction that your body actually starts to burn fat !
Research also shows if you diet for just three days or less, that fat burning decreases slightly if you also limit the amount of water you consume.
What does this all mean for you. It means that when dieting, choose diets that you can live with for long periods of time, and make sure that you drink water to burn the most amount of fat possible..
Source:
McArdle, Katch, Katch (1985) Exercise Physiology Lea Febiger Philadelphia p. 554.
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March 30, 2006 - The No Diet Way to Lose Weight and Keep it off
Yes, you read it right - no diets!
The first step in this weight management program is to gather all of your old fad diets, quick weight loss remedies, and "magic cures". Once you have them all together in a nice, neat pile- throw them into the trash! One thing we have learned in the last 20-30 years is diets don’t work and actually can make things worse. Fad diets may provide short term weight loss but they are generally too difficult to stick with for a lifetime. The majority of people who lose weight on fad diets regain that weight within 3 to 5 years.
Over time this yo-yo dieting effect can slow your metabolism, the way our bodies burn the calories from the food that we eat. Most fad diets require you to significantly restrict your caloric intake by limiting or even eliminating specific foods from your diet. They lead you to believe that it is these specific foods that are causing you to gain weight. The fact is; a cookie or a slice of French bread is not responsible for weight gain. It is the total number of calories that you consume in a day compared to the amount of calories you use as energy. The calories you don’t use as energy turn into stored fat and over time this translates into more body weight.
Yes, its true consuming excess carbohydrates can result in large insulin spikes and cause you to store fat more readily and stimulate your appetite. However, does this mean that everyone in America is eating too many carbohydrates? Not necessarily. Does this mean we need to completely eliminate all carbohydrates from our diet? Absolutely not. It means we need to learn how to eat the right kind of carbohydrates and the right amount.
It’s also true that eating excess fat can make us gain weight because fat carries more calories than protein and carbohydrates, but does this mean that everyone’s issue is too much fat? Once again, no. Therefore, we must approach weight management on an individual basis because not everyone is eating too many calories from bread. Just the same, not everyone is consuming too many calories from cookies. We are all individuals and our eating habits are all unique which is why the one size fits all diet plans don’t work. The ultimate key to success is balance.
Balance is providing the appropriate amount of calories, nutrients, and (don’t forget) enjoyment from our meals. In a balanced diet, there are no perfect days, no foods are omitted, and you don’t have to starve yourself. It may simply be that you’ve been eating too many starchy foods and too little fat. This may have stimulated your appetite and caused you to consume more than your body needs. Or vice versa, it may be that you are consuming too many fats and too little fruits and vegetables which can cause you to have a high calorie level with a fairly small intake of food. Perhaps you’ve been eating the right balance but with too large of portion sizes. These are the kinds of things that throw us off balance and cause us to consume more calories than we utilize for energy.
Let’s take an example.
Unbalanced Day
Breakfast: skip (too busy)
Large latte
Snack: chips from vending machine
Lunch: (restaurant) hamburger and large French fries
Dinner: 8 oz steak and 2 cups mashed potatoes
Dessert: large bowl of ice-cream (1-2 cups)
Meal Makeover
Breakfast: bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, 1 cup low fat milk
Snack: apple, 1 oz peanuts
Lunch: (restaurant) turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with a bowl vegetable soup
Dinner: 3 oz steak (size of a deck of cards), 1 cup mashed potatoes, and a large salad w/1 TB vinaigrette dressing
Dessert: small bowl of frozen yogurt or sorbet (1/2- 1 cup)
The original meals were heavy in high fat foods, large in portion sizes, (beef, French fries, chips, and ice-cream) and low in fiber. The balance was off. By making these changes we saved approximately 800 calories while still enjoying steak, mashed potatoes, and dessert! Not to mention you get to eat more when you incorporate more plant based foods since they are much lower in calories. We also improved the nutrient content by adding more fiber/vitamins/minerals/and antioxidants with increased fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
So, give yourself a break from the yo-yoing effects of fad diets and start balancing your meals for lifelong weight loss.
© Meri Raffetto, 2004
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