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Tag Archives: diet
Are You Ready for the Super Bowel?
No, the title of this story does not contain a typo.
Let’s face it — estimates show that a basic Super Bowl extravaganza could contribute a whopping 3,000 calories, the majority of which is derived from fatty, fried foods. But before you scroll to another article, let me say that this is not one of those “don’t eat this” and “eat lots of that” stories. I’m thinking way beyond that point — I’m here to tell you what you need to do to help those wings and things get out of your body once you’ve swallowed them!
To prevent that potentially uncomfortable, bloated feeling, here are a few tips that are sure to move you … even if your team doesn’t score any goals! Continue reading
Strip Teas- The Naked Truth About Tea
Comfort food delivers just what it describes: a taste that pacifies the mind and body. This week, when I asked my patients what ‘comfort food’ means to them, I heard responses like brownies, ice cream, meatloaf, and mashed potatoes. For me … it’s tea.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not one for passing up a bubbly molten lava cake, but when it comes to choosing a trusted companion, it’s a soothing steamy mug of tea that greets me on a chilly morning, acts as a speed bump to unnecessary snacking in the late afternoon, and lets me know that dinner is done in the evening. My personal favorites include Tazo’s Passion with a sprig of fresh mint and drizzle of agave, or a basic Earl Gray with some warmed milk and honey. Perhaps the toughest part about drinking tea is deciding which one to select while strolling down the ever-expanding tea aisle in the supermarket—and being prepared to lay down some cash for the fancier brands.
[See Diets That Don't Work—And A Look At What Does]
You’ll find teas that profess to calm your mood, lull you to sleep, ease constipation, boost energy, improve immunity, and help you speak with an English accent (just kidding about that one). Although these health claims are not clearly labeled on the box, their benefits are implied in their names, like Smooth Move, Sleepytime, or Tummy Tamer. The options for tea-lovers seem limitless, and these tasty brews bring lots of good reasons to get into hot water with their surprising health benefits. Continue reading
Diets That Don’t Work — And A Look At What Does
Fad diets are just that: fads. Although I still like my hula-hoop and I’d enjoy dancing the twist, fads are only successful while they last, and then … they’re gone. Diets, on the other hand, cannot be fads. We don’t want good health to come and go, nor do we want to shoot for success that will be temporary and perhaps even cause more harm than good.
[See Google's Most Popular Diets of 2012: Hit or Miss?]
For more than three decades, I’ve been highlighting the warning signs of potentially damaging diets to my clients. Here are some tips to help you proceed with caution as you’re trying to drop pounds safely: Continue reading
Does End of World Mean End of Diet?
So if tomorrow was the end of the world what would you eat today? Would you make a big salad with lots of veggies and fruit so that you could go on to your next life with a healthy frame of mind? Or perhaps instead, you’re the type that will order a big bowl of Fettuccine Alfredo tonight and definitely not ask for sauce on the side.
Whatever you decide, you don’t have to wait for an apocalypse to enjoy your favorite dish. If you choose wisely most of the time, you can also enjoy wearing your favorite size. Balance on your plate, and in your life, should be on your menu everyday.
So what would I have if I knew tomorrow was dooms day? I’d go for the most expensive bottle of red wine I could find, enjoy every bite of butter melted over a steamy bowl of pasta, have a cappuccino made with whole milk and a sprinkle of cocoa, finished off with a warm dark chocolate molten lava cake!
Meanwhile, I’m baking cookies that I’ll call, “Oh Mayan Cookies” made with the Cacao Nibs shown above — very appropriate.
How to Beat 5 Embarrassing Ailments With Your Diet
Surrounded by cellphones, search engines, and apps at our fingertips, we expect to get everything we seek with lightening speed. But it’s not just information we want quickly—we also expectweight-loss diets to take effect immediately, and we want our workouts to make us look like body builders as soon as we join the gym.
You may never have to pick up a telephone book or encyclopedia again; but when it comes to losing and maintaining your weight, you’ll need to put in some time. On the other hand, there are some digestive problems that can be controlled in a relatively short period of time just by manipulating some foods in your diet. Although these tips may not “cure” your digestive conditions, this quick reference guide may help keep some of the following ailments from disrupting your daily routines. Continue reading
Don’t Let Halloween Get Scary at the Scale
Halloween brings back fun family memories and I was thrilled to be interviewed for this story below. Don’t let this holiday derail your diet!
‘Oops, I ate the Halloween candy!’ Holding back when it comes to candy and kids.
BY: KAREN SPRINGEN
OCTOBER 15, 2012
When you trick or treat for Halloween, do you sneak some of the kids’ candy for yourself? Maybe you dip into the supply of Reese’s Pieces you bought to “give away.” Or maybe you sample some of the sweets your kids collect. You don’t mean to do it. Honest. But every year you find yourself saying, “Oops, I did it again. I ate the Halloween candy!”
You could avoid temptation by not giving out any treats. But do you want to be the Halloween Grinch? Nah. So to find out how you (and I) can be part of the holiday without getting a Peppermint Patty belly, I talked with registered dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix, author of Read It Before You Eat It: How to Decode Food Labels and Make the Healthiest Choice Every Time. Excerpts:
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Tagged candy, diet, Halloween, kids, nutrition, trick or treat, weight
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Wrestling With Their Weight
“My friend just told me that he has to lose 10 pounds by next week … isn’t that unhealthy?” asked my 17-year-old son. Perplexed and troubled, he went on to say that unless his friend“starved” himself, he wouldn’t “make his weight” for his wrestling team.
Unfortunately, this is not atypical. Anywhere from one-quarter to two-thirds of high school wrestlers use fasting, excessive exercise, unbalanced diets, and voluntary dehydration as techniques to help them achieve a fighting weight, according to some estimates. Ironically, these behaviors only sap athletes of the strength and energy needed to compete in this sport—and they’re particularly dangerous for still-growing teens, who demand calories to fuel both mind and body. Furthermore, an improper diet can have a profoundly negative impact on learning and focusing at a time when students can barely afford to divert their attention from college applications and SAT’s to rigorous after-school workouts and weekend tournaments.
In his 2001 report published in Contemporary Pediatrics, “Aiming for Healthy Weight for Wrestlers and Other Athletes,” the late Vito Perriello, Jr., a pediatrician and pioneer in the field of sports medicine, wrote that participants of “weight-sensitive sports” are likelier to engage in unhealthy eating practices than are other athletes. Wrestlers in particular “feel that to succeed they must punish themselves in order to make themselves tougher,” wrote Perriello, adding that they think they’ll also “gain an advantage by competing at a lower weight.” However, studies have determined that wrestling performance is optimal at one’s ideal weight versus a lower weight, since the latter could cause weakness and reduced endurance. Continue reading
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Tagged calories, dehydration, diet, dietitian, exercise, weight, wrestling
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Breaking Your Fast Without Breaking Your Diet
According to Jewish tradition, everything a person does is written in the Book of Life. No deed goes unrecorded, whether good or evil. During the Ten Days of Penitence, beginning with Rosh Hashanah this Sunday and leading up to the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, we reflect on days past, as well as ponder the future.
These High Holy Days are a time for deep thought, self-examination, and contemplation. What better occasion to look back on the past year and ask yourself: Did I take care of my body?Am I making the healthiest food choices for myself and my family?Am I setting a good example when it comes to my eating habits?
For some people the sound of the shofar—a ram’s horn whose blast signals the end of Yom Kippur—is like the sound of a gunshot before a race: There’s a mad dash from temple to table after evening services. Following the Yom Kippur fast, there seems to be a feeling of “entitlement” to eat one meal that’s the size of three! Would you ever think of going into a restaurant and ordering some cantaloupe, a dish of pickled herring in cream sauce, one bagel with cream cheese and lox, another bagel with whitefish salad, and then topping it off with a piece of babka and a few cups of coffee? I’ve never seen this ordered by one person in one sitting when dining out, but I have certainly seen this array of food consumed countless times by friends and relatives (who shall remain nameless) at my table.
So, you ask, how can you make this diet-challenged event guilt free? Continue reading
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Tagged diet, holidays, nutrition, Rosh Hashanah, tradition, weight loss, Yom Kippur
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Hungry…or Just Bored?
Can you recognize the difference between a physical craving and an emotional longing for food? Sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart. A stressful day may bring on the urge for a gooey bedtime snack, but if that desire had struck two hours after a filling dinner, it’s more likely that eating would be an attempt to satisfy your mind, not your stomach.
Let’s look at the discrepancy between being hungry and having the hunger for food. A physical craving is based upon actual hunger, created by the body’s real need for food. You may feel your stomach rumble, or you may have a headache and feel weak or find it difficult to concentrate. Once you eat, you should feel “full” and stop eating.
An emotional craving, on the other hand, is often triggered by needs other than true hunger, like stress, boredom, or loneliness. These types of cravings can also be created by environmental cues such as a tempting television commercial, the scent of a food, or the sight of your favorite dish (even if you’re not hungry). Emotionally driven cravings are rarely satisfied, no matter how much you eat, because it’s not food that you need to “fulfill” you. Food, at that point, will only make you feel full and filled.
When you eat for the wrong reason, it often leads to binge eating, weight gain, and guilty feelings… not good side dishes to a meal. But these strategies can help you decide whether to respond when you could swear that food is calling out your name: Continue reading
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Tagged bored, calories, cravings, cues, diet, emotions, environment, nutrition, self-talk, snack, stress, television, thirst
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Portions…Not Potatoes
I don’t know about you, but even though many of my favorite magazines have online versions…I still like to comb through the stands and hold the shiny, colorful, solid version in my hand when I read one. As with a title of a book, it’s often the cover of a magazine that acts like a magnet to potential buyers. But in the case of the May 14th issue of Newsweek, the message here was ‘buyer beware.’
As seen above, the image of a baby holding an order of fries was meant to indicate that potatoes are the problem fueling the obesity crisis our country faces. If this national health issue were as simple as pointing a finger at one food, or one food group, the solution to the issue would have already been solved. Whether you’re a carb lover or fat fighter, it doesn’t matter — the answer to our problem is not a single answer; it’s a list of many small steps we need to take to clean up our plates.
Getting back to that cover story, I couldn’t help but write a Letter to the Editor of Newsweek and I thought I’d share my thoughts with you:
“RE: ‘The New Obesity Campaigns Have It All Wrong’
To the Editor,
This time you superimposed the wrong photo on your cover (May14.) Americans are not overweight because of any one particular food. Perhaps that baby on the cover should have been holding a dinner plate the size of a manhole cover instead of fries, since our true problem is oversized portions…not potatoes.
As an independent Nutrition Communications consultant for the Alliance for Potato Research and Education (APRE) we know studies show that our population, particularly children, are not getting enough of certain nutrients like potassium and fiber; potatoes are one of the richest sources of both. Let’s not point fingers at veggies as the problem when they may very well be part of the solution.”
I’m not saying that the addition of potatoes alone will make your diet perfect, but I am saying that if you want to enhance your intake of potassium, fiber, vitamin C and other valuable nutrients…perhaps you shouldn’t pass them up in the produce aisle.