5 Strategies for Healthy Living

It's hard as hell to do everything exactly the way the experts tell us to, but anyone can do better. Some painless ways to trick yourself toward health:

Slash sugar and salt intake just by reading.
Labels, that is. You'll be shocked at how many foods—ketchup, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, juices, cereals—are loaded with hidden sugar (a.k.a. glucose, fructose, sucrose, and the ubiquitous high-fructose corn syrup). The same goes for sodium: Abandon canned chicken noodle soup (a whopping 1,780 milligrams of salt per cup) for low-sodium minestrone or vegetable (a mere 290).
Also take a minute to gauge the number of servings per container, this helps you limit how much you should consume.

Drink yourself skinnier.
There are about 144 calories in six ounces of white wine, 136 in 12 ounces of soda, 380 in a mocha Frappuccino( a devilish fav of mine), and—caramba!—as many as 740 in a frozen margarita. Make water or seltzer your beverage of choice. If you must go with someone and SHARE. I almost always go to Starbucks and share my tall decaf frapuccino with my girls. Sometimes when I have a sweet craving, an 2oz is enough to satisfy it.

Don't cut out, cut back.
You can have your cake and eat it, too—on weekends. 200 fewer calories a day translates to nearly 2 pounds a month. So what, you ask? That's around 20 pounds a year, that's what. Enjoy the way weight loss creeps up on you—the same way weight gain did. But increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat—without frying, buttering, or drenching them in oil.

Whatever exercise you're doing, do more.
You say you're too out of shape, too busy, too tired, too poor? Sisters, observe your feet. Already attached, always available, and free. Use them to walk to work (and eventually up the stairs), around the block at lunch, and down the hall when you need to talk to a colleague instead of using the phone or e-mail. Walk from the farthest parking place at the mall, and walk on the weekend with friends and family. Walk around the house while you're on the phone.
For me, I never settle into the couch for up to 2hrs( watching a movie/ using my laptop) without doing 20leg lifts.

Pop a pill.
Take a basic, one-a-day multivitamin (with 400 micrograms of folic acid if you're of childbearing age). Ditto a calcium supplement; we need 1,000 milligrams a day until menopause and 1,200 thereafter (ask your doctor if she thinks it should be more and when to start annual bone density scans). Add B12 if you're over 50.Make sure you are getting adequate Calcium & Vitamin D.


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Making the Most Of Your Metabolism

Eat More, Burn Better

Of course, the diet advice we'd all love to hear is, "Eat more, and lose more weight!" But what really works is, "Eat more often, and you'll lose more weight." Small but frequent meals help keep your metabolism in high gear, and that means you'll burn more calories overall.

When you put too many hours between meals, your metabolism actually slows down to compensate.

If you then eat a huge meal—at the same time your metabolism is functioning as if you're starving—your body wants to hold on to every calorie.

While this won't make much difference on an occasional basis, Kimball says, make it a way of life and it can get harder to lose or maintain weight.

Kimball's advice is borne out by the findings of a study that was presented at the 2005 annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine. Researchers from Georgia State University reported that when athletes ate snacks totaling about 250 calories each, three times a day, they had greater energy output then when they didn't snack.

The study also found that snacking helped the athletes eat less at each of their three regular meals. The final result was a higher metabolic rate, a lower caloric intake and reduction in body fat.

Revving Your Engine

Though some of the factors affecting metabolic rate can't be changed, happily, there are ways to maximize the metabolism you're born with—even when you're dieting.

Among the best ways is exercise. This includes aerobic workouts to burn more calories in the short term and weight training to build the muscles that will boost your metabolism in the long run.

"Since muscle burns more calories than fat—even while at rest—the more muscles you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate, which means the more calories your body will be burning just to sustain you," Kimball says.

Personal fitness trainer Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS, ACE, notes that every pound of muscle in our bodies burns 35 calories a day, while each pound of fat burns just 2 calories per day.

While 30 minutes of aerobic exercise may burn more calories than 30 minutes of weight training, Calabrese says, "in the hours following the cessation of exercise, the weight training has a longer-lasting effect on boosting metabolism."

Having extra muscle also means you can eat more and gain less.

Adds Yanagisawa: "We don't tell people to exercise while dieting only to burn calories—we also know that exercise builds muscle, and that is what will help you burn more calories and maintain the weight loss you work so hard to achieve."

Some women fear they'll "bulk up" with weight training. But Calabrese, author of Feminine, Fit and Firm, says not to worry. "Women don't have the hormones necessary to develop those huge muscles, so you can feel good about doing weight training," she says.

Four Weeks to Healthy Eating: WEEK FOUR

Week Four: Get Protein
In the past three weeks, you have learned how vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and low-fat dairy can help you fill your plate with quality nutrients that don't pack a lot of calories. Now it's time to address protein. Getting enough is not something most of us need to worry about, but selecting well is.

Your goal is to eat five to six ounces of lean and healthy protein a day. Eat it all in one meal (most restaurant servings of protein are at least five ounces), or eat smaller portions throughout the day. I often tell clients to divide their plate into quarters: Three quarters should be filled with whole grains and vegetables; one quarter should be a serving of protein—such as shrimp, fish, chicken, beans, tofu, lean cuts of beef, or pork—about the size of a deck of cards. Poultry and meat can take little time to cook (grilling and searing in a hot, nonstick pan) or a lot of hands-off time (braising and stewing until they are fork-tender and flavorful).

Some high-protein foods are rich in protective nutrients, such as the omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts and fish like wild salmon. Use nuts as a garnish to add flavor, texture, and toastiness to salad, or eat a small handful as a snack. Beans are a near-perfect food—high in protein, fiber, B vitamins, iron, calcium, and magnesium, and very low in fat. Puree them into dips and spreads, or add them to salads, soups, stews, and casseroles for extra protein oomph.


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What is Metabolism

"It's my metabolism!"

Sound familiar? If you're carrying some extra pounds (and having a hard time losing them), it's tempting to put the blame on a sluggish metabolism.

But is your metabolism really the reason it's often so hard to lose weight? And, more importantly, is there anything you can do about it?

The good news is, there are things you can do to help boost your body's calorie-burning power.

What Is Metabolism?

Your metabolism, experts say, involves a complex network of hormones and enzymes that not only convert food into fuel but also affect how efficiently you burn that fuel.

"The process of metabolism establishes the rate at which we burn our calories and, ultimately, how quickly we gain weight or how easily we lose it," says Robert Yanagisawa, MD, director of the Medically Supervised Weight Management Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

Your metabolism is influenced by your age (metabolism naturally slows about 5 percent per decade after age 40), your sex (men generally burn more calories at rest than women) and your proportion of lean body mass (the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate tends to be). Heredity makes a difference.

Some people just burn calories at a slower rate than others, a defect in the thyroid gland can slow metabolism, though this problem is relatively rare.

And here's a fact that may surprise you: The more weight you carry, the faster your metabolism is likely running.

"The simple fact is that the extra weight causes your body to work harder just to sustain itself at rest, so in most instances, the metabolism is always running a bit faster.

That's one reason it's almost always easiest to lose weight at the start of a diet and harder later on. When you are very overweight, your metabolism is already running so high that any small cut in calories will result in an immediate loss.

Then, when you lose significant amounts of body fat and muscle, your body needs fewer calories to sustain itself. That helps explain why it's so easy to regain weight after you've worked to lose it.

If two people both weigh 250 pounds, and one got there by dieting down from 350 and the other one was always at 250, the one who got there by cutting calories is going to have a slower metabolism. That means they will require fewer calories to maintain their weight than the person who never went beyond 250 pounds.

So your take-away from this issue is:

• Build more muscle than fat (muscle toning exercises).
  
• If you need to lose weight pace yourself and do not do it drastically.
• Have you checked your thyroid lately?
• Eating a fruit between meals can sometime trick your body into burning mode especially if it burns more than you take in foodwise.
  

Four Weeks to Healthy Eating: WEEK THREE

Week Three: Get the Perks of Dairy—Without All the Fat

This week, add some reduced-fat dairy, which will cream up your cooking and get healthy calcium into your diet (approximately 75 percent of adult Americans don't get the recommended daily allowance). Studies show not only that calcium helps prevent osteoporosis but that getting enough calcium each day (1,000 milligrams from ages 19 to 50 and 1,200 milligrams after age 50), along with adequate vitamin D (200 IU; 400 IU after age 50), helps control weight, lowers blood pressure, and may prevent certain types of cancer.

Your goal is to eat three to four servings a day of low-fat cheeses, yogurt, and 1 percent or skim milk; the calcium in dairy products is the most readily absorbed by your body. If you're lactose intolerant, fortified soy products—particularly those with calcium malate—are a fine substitute in cooking and often contain similar amounts of protein, vitamin D, and calcium. I do not recommend fat-free dairy products, particularly cheese; instead of getting creamy, bubbly, and brown in recipes, it can turn rubbery and tasteless.

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The Way to Eat: Diet Tweaks That Make a Difference

All it takes is 10 minutes here and there to make a dramatic change for the better in your diet.

There are two ways to improve the quality of what you eat: You could study nutrition theory thoroughly, abandon most of what you've been doing until now, and retool your diet from stem to stern. Or you could keep things simple by making just one small change at a time.

Take breakfast, for example. Sitting down to one—if you don't already—can be your first ten-minute intervention. Numerous studies have found that skipping breakfast is linked to overweight and obesity. Women seem to be especially responsive to the benefits: A study of 4,218 adults found that eating breakfast meant that women—but not men—were far more likely to have a body mass index under 25, putting them comfortably in the healthy weight category.

If you do eat breakfast, then the next change is even simpler. When you're at the supermarket, spend some time picking out a whole grain cereal—look for one that delivers about five grams of fiber per serving. (You can save time by going with one of my favorites—cereals by Nature's Path, Kashi, and Barbara's Bakery.) Then buy some skim milk and fruit. Now you have a meal that takes all of 60 seconds to prepare yet delivers protein, complex carbohydrates, and a hearty dose of fiber, calcium, and antioxidants. A whole grain breakfast seems to have special benefits. Research published earlier this year found that women who got at least one serving of whole grains a day—a cup of whole grain cold cereal, for example, or one slice of whole grain bread—weighed less and had slimmer waists than those who ate none. Remarkably, more than two-thirds of the 2,000-plus women in the study failed to get that crucial serving.

For many people, dinner is the place to cut corners. Cooking a meal at the end of a long day sounds daunting, but it may not be as challenging as you think. A study out of UCLA suggests that putting together a home-cooked dinner on average takes only about ten minutes more of hands-on time than using mainly prepackaged dishes. If you go to the store with a few recipes in mind, you'll have what you need at your fingertips each evening. A dinner of grilled fresh fish with a light citrus marinade (orange juice, olive oil, and dill), steamed green beans, whole grain bread with herb-infused olive oil for dipping, mixed green salad, glass of wine, and a square of dark chocolate for dessert would actually take less time to prepare than a frozen pizza.

Most important, the dishes you make will be much healthier. Processed food, fast food, and takeout often have too much salt and sugar. The fish dinner I described above contains most of the items that make up the "polymeal"—a collection of foods (fish, almonds, wine, dark chocolate, garlic, fruits, and vegetables) that researchers have suggested can lower heart disease risk by 76 percent.

Four Weeks to Healthy Eating: WEEK TWO

Week Two: Defy Your White Flour Urge

Until recently, it seemed that only nutritionists (and cereal box labels) used the words whole grain. Now delicious whole grain soups, desserts, and breads—bursting with color, texture and flavor—have become popular. It's also widely known that they have the power to deliver key antioxidants.

Your weekly goal is to make sure that half of your grain servings per day (three to five one-ounce servings) are whole grains such as wild rice, brown rice, barley, bulgur, corn (polenta), faro, quinoa, wheat berries, or whole wheat couscous. Whole grain foods are not refined, which means they contain all three parts of the grain, including the two lost in the refining process—the outer layer, bran, which provides fiber, B vitamins, and antioxidants; and the germ, the nutrient-packed inner portion, containing protein, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The endosperm, the starchy part of the grain left in refined products such as white flour, contains some protein and lots of carbs but few nutrients. Look for the word whole on the ingredient list, followed by the name of the grain.

Research shows that adding even a moderate amount of whole grain to your diet every day—whole grain cereal topped with fruit for breakfast, toasty multigrain bread at lunch, and a pilaf or grain salad for dinner—significantly reduces the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and digestive system and hormone-related cancers.

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4 Ways to Put Your Diet First

The holidays aren't the only time people screw up their eating habits. A Boston College study of dieting women found that more than half reported feeling pressure to eat in all social settings. But there was a crucial difference in the way they responded: Sixty percent of successful dieters used positive statements to shore up their resolve, while nearly two-thirds of the failed dieters reported worries about what other people were thinking (and half looked for reasons to rationalize overeating). Here, examples of the psychological traps we set for ourselves and how to respond.

You Feel: Concerned that people will notice you're not eating as much.

Tell Yourself: "So what? I'm entitled to eat however I please." And if someone wants to know why, you can say, "I'm trying to eat healthier," and change the subject.

You Feel: Rude for turning down a second helping.

Tell Yourself: "Taking care of my health is more important than pleasing the host."

You Feel: That you've been good and deserve a treat.

Tell Yourself: "Every decision I make about food counts. I can find other ways to celebrate a special occasion."

You Feel: Everyone is staring at you, pressuring you to eat.

Tell Yourself: "Be strong—smart eating is more important than everyone's approval." Follow that with a firm, "No, thanks." Repeat if necessary.

Four Weeks to Healthy Eating: WEEK ONE

Four Weeks to Healthy Eating

Week One: Make a Produce-Aisle Hit List

Eating more fruits and vegetables is one of the most important dietary habits you can adopt to prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension and to manage your weight. Vegetables in particular will cost you little in the way of calories while offering huge health benefits.

Your weekly goal is to eat five to nine servings of fruits and veggies a day. That's not as challenging as it may seem. The serving sizes are reasonable—one medium-size fruit, a half cup of cooked vegetables, three-quarters of a cup of 100-percent juice, one cup of raw leafy vegetables, a quarter cup of dried fruit. Mix fruit into your breakfast cereal, add lettuce and tomato to your sandwich (with a side of a vegetable-based soup), eat a piece of fruit in the afternoon and a vegetable side at dinner, and you've taken care of at least five servings.

Before shopping, write down the names of five richly colored vegetables and fruits that you really like, then add to the list two that you're curious about and are willing to try.


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The Health Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup

As I continued to dig up information on why High Fructose Corn Syrup is bad for my health, this article provided the concise information I needed:

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) isn't just bad for your weight, it's bad for your health in general. Here's an undisputed medical fact: You can survive on an intravenous drip of glucose. But replace the glucose with fructose, and you'd get a fatty liver.

That's because fructose is the source of the chemical building blocks of cholesterol and triglyceride production. And fructose just isn't digested, absorbed, or metabolized in the same way as glucose. Instead, it goes right to your cells without the help of insulin.

The result? Fructose moves right into fat production -- so it spikes your triglycerides but lowers your HDL ("good") cholesterol. It also increases your levels of small, dense LDL (called LDL-B) cholesterol, which is much more dangerous than regular LDL ("bad") cholesterol.

The science is clear: Fructose consumption is associated with insulin resistance, increased calorie intake, impaired metabolism, weight gain, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

And there's one more problem: The corn used in HFCS is typically genetically altered -- it has 13 carbon molecules, not 12. And we have no good long-term data on the effects of eating all that altered corn!

By now, you can probably guess my bottom line: Avoid high fructose corn syrup!

Easier said than done? Not necessarily.

Steps to reduce your intake of High Fructose Syrup:

1. Minimize your intake of all sugars, whatever the source.

2. Remove sweetened drinks ("liquid candy"), including sodas and sweetened fruit drinks.

3. Eat a whole-food, real-food diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, and seeds and healthy fats like olive oil and fish oil.

4. When you do use sugar, choose natural sweeteners such as those found in fruit. (Yes, fruit contains fructose, but it's also rich in antioxidants, fiber, and other healthy compounds.) Or try agave nectar, a natural sugar that your body may metabolize better.

5. If you see a food with "high fructose corn-syrup" on the label, put it back on the shelf. You will be doing yourself a favor.

If you weren't aware of HFCS and its potential risks before, you certainly are now. I hope you'll use this new awareness to improve your diet -- and your health.

What do you think?Have you had problems with HFCS before? Has consuming HFCS made you fat? Or, has stopping consumption of HFCS-containing foods and beverages helped you improve your health or lose weight?

This article armed with a plausible argument for rejecting HFCS infused foods. I stopped rambling and sounding wacky when people questioned my reasons. I hope it has the same effect for you too.
Once again, I am grateful to Mark Hyman, MD for his article clarifying this subject.

What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?

When I decided to get serious about what I was eating, one of he ingredients I considered "foreign" to my body was High Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS). I was very diligent about eliminating foods that had it as an ingredient. As a result I might have become a pain to friends, family and even strangers. Declining a food item from someone who eats it can be insulting. People take it very personally. As a result, I had to justify my reason. Of course half way through, I would lose my audience. I was happy running the risk of looking a little wacky. One tends to lose more friends if you are a condescending know-it-all. Wacky people tend to keep their friends :-).

As news spread of the health risks in HFCS, more people started avoiding it and the corn lobbyists became alarmed. They quickly released a commercial was released in the U.S where a mom questioned the danger in HFCS. "It's just sugar" she declared. My thoughts were, if it's "just sugar" why not use sugar instead of a lab created equivalent? What are the benefits, if any, of HFCS. The article below explain all that we need to know about this ingredient. You be the judge...

Is one type of sugar worse for you than another?

Even if you've never heard of HFCS, you've almost certainly eaten it. This highly processed, chemically altered sweetener was created by a Japanese scientist in a lab in 1971 and has been used in almost all processed and prepackaged foods ever since.

HFCS consumption has skyrocketed in the last 25 years, up a whopping 1,000 percent since its creation. And no wonder! You'll find it in everything from soft drinks and yogurt to cookies and crackers. In fact, HFCS now represents more than 40 percent of the caloric sweeteners added to foods and beverages.

It is not a coincidence that this country's obesity rates have more than doubled during that time period?

HFCS is bad for your health -- and your weight -- in several ways.

First, you'll usually find large amounts of HFCS in energy dense foods -- those that are high in calories but not much else. That's just another name for foods that are processed, junk, and high in refined carbohydrates and sugar.

And we know that when people eat energy dense food, they tend to take in more calories than people who eat higher amounts of what I call nutrient dense food.

That's because nutrient dense food gives you more bang for your nutritional buck. For example, the classic energy dense beverage, a soft drink, weighs far less than a pound of asparagus but has a lot more calories.

So if you eat a plant-based, whole-food diet of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains, you can eat a lot more and weigh a lot less! (Not to mention avoid nearly all the age-related diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and dementia.)

Of course, the obesity epidemic has many causes, including reduced levels of physical activity, increased portion sizes, eating outside the home and at fast-food restaurants, and our overall "toxic food environment." But we do know that the introduction of HFCS into the food supply is associated with the beginning of the obesity epidemic.

Don't believe it?

Well, consider this: Even a slight difference of an extra 100 calories a day can add up to a 10-pound weight gain in just one year. And the average American drinks 440 12-ounce cans of HFCS-laced soda each year!

The second reason that HCFS is bad news for your waistline and your health?

It makes you eat MORE!Yes, you read that right. HFCS actually increases your appetite.

Regular table sugar is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose, while -- as its name implies -- HFCS is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. Doesn't seem like a big difference, but it can have HUGE effects on your appetite.

When you eat fructose, it doesn't set into motion the chemical reactions and hormones that tell your brain you are full. For instance, fructose doesn't stimulate insulin secretion or the increase in leptin (the hormone that makes you feel full). While glucose is transported into the brain, affecting brain signals that control or limit appetite, fructose is not.

Plus, fructose doesn't reduce ghrelin, a stomach hormone that stimulates appetite. And fructose may also decrease adiponectin levels, which is a hormone made by fat cells that helps make you more sensitive to insulin and helps control your weight and appetite.

What does all that mean? Simply put, when you eat more fructose you don't feel full -- so you keep eating!

The next Blog will discuss more on The Health Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup

I am grateful to Mark Hyman, MD for his article clarifying this subject.

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