Archive for the ‘Healthy Eating’ Category

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Pound?   Doesn’t it feel like at least seven pounds of weight gain, all of it blubber?

A lot of us start indulging at Thanksgiving (some at Halloween) and don’t stop the free style calorie fest until those onerous New Year’s Resolutions.  Then, because we feel guilty about indulgences, we swear we won’t touch another cookie or piece of cake or candy until we lose massive amounts of weight.

That resolution is doomed to fail because it is unrealistic.  Banning something entirely (unless it is for very specific reasons) equates to deprivation. That almost always leads to you know what: admitting you can’t stand it and chowing down on a box of cookies, half a pie, or three candy bars (definitely super-sized) in a row.

Some Facts

A study of holiday related weight gain published in The New England Journal of Medicine found:

• 85% of the study’s participants made no effort to control their calorie intake
• the average weight gain between Thanksgiving and New Year’s was slightly less than a pound
• participants thought they had gained four times as much
• less than 10% gained five pounds or more
• participants who gained the most weight were more likely to already be overweight or obese

The problem is that most of us don’t lose that extra pound that attaches itself  during the holidays. That means that some of midlife weight gain can be explained by holiday eating.

And, for those of us already overweight, the news is worse. Although the average holiday gain is only one pound, people who are already overweight tend to gain a lot more – one study found five or more pounds during the holidays.

Something To Think About

You need to eat 3,500 extra calories to gain a pound. The average Christmas dinner has about 956 calories. What packs on the weight?

Most of the extra calories don’t come from the “day of” holiday meal but from the nibbling during the holiday season. It’s way too easy to add on 500 extra calories a day which means a pound in a week (7 x 500 = 3500 calories, or 1 pound).

Some Common 500 (around) Calorie Indulgences

•                12 ounces of eggnog

•                1 piece of pecan pie

•                3 ounces of mixed nuts

•                22.5 Hershey’s Kisses

•                Starbucks Venti Peppermint Mocha with whipped cream

•                4 glasses (5oz.) of wine

•                10 regular size candy canes

•                2-3 large Christmas cookies

Some Questions To Ask Yourself

• Do I really want it or does it look good, smell good, or just mean Christmas?
• Is it worth the calories?
• Do I need all of it (or any of it) to be happy?
• What is most important to me?

Answer your questions and decide what you want to do.  Eat mindfully and enjoy.

Happy Holidays!

Chocolate bark at the receptionist’s desk.  Candy canes at the dry cleaners.  A rotating selection of Christmas cookies on just about everyone’s desk.  Happy holiday food gifts from grateful clients.  And that doesn’t include the fantastic spreads at holiday parties and family events!

It’s All So Tempting

It‘s incredibly difficult not to nibble your way through the day when you have all of these treats tempting you at every turn.  How many times do your senses need to be assaulted by the sight of sparkly cookies and the holiday scent of eggnog or spiced roasted nuts before your hand reaches out and the treat is popped into your mouth?

Be Realistic

It’s the holidays and even though some of these treats are a week’s worth of calories, by depriving yourself of them you are denying yourself the tradition of celebrating with food.

Make the distinction between mindful indulgence in the spirit of celebration as opposed to mindless indulgence in the spirit of trying to taste everything or to soothe your psyche by eating.  The first is part of the nurturing, sharing, and communal spirit of eating, the latter is an element of overeating.

Nix The Restrictive Thinking

Creating a restrictive mentality by denying yourself a treat that has always been part of your holiday celebration means it’s just a matter of time until you start an eating fest that only ends when there’s no more left to taste. Think of this:  what would it be like to swear that you won’t eat a single Christmas cookie when those cookies have been a part of your Christmas since you were a little kid when you baked them with your Mom?

Pick One – And Make It Special

You know that you are going to indulge.  Pick your treat, limit it to one, and enjoy it.  To help control the temptation, decide early in the day what your treat will be and stick with your decision. If you wait until later in the day when all the food is right in front of you and you’re hungry and tired, you’ll find that your resolve is not quite as strong!

Make an informed choice, too.  Being informed doesn’t deprive you of deliciousness, but does arm you with an element of control.  If you know the calorie count of certain foods, you can make the best choice.  For instance, perhaps you enjoy both wine and eggnog.  If you know that one cup of eggnog has around 343 calories and 19 grams of fat and a five ounce glass of red wine has around 125 calories and no fat – which would you choose?

There are many online sites that will give you the calorie count for specific foods, but I find that keeping a calorie counter book for quick checks is very helpful.  One that lists just about everything, including restaurant food, is the 2011 edition of The Calorie King, Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter.

I might as well have

• Another drink
• Dessert at lunch and dinner
• A second helping
• Both pieces of pie
• A bacon cheeseburger

The Possibilities Are Endless

So, you’re thinking, “I already blew it by shoving a gazillion calories into my mouth, so what the heck, I might as well have (insert your choice here).”

The problem is that you’re compounding the problem.  The gazillion calories turn into day after day of a gazillion calories despite your good intentions every morning.  The scale starts its inevitable upward creep and your pants keep getting tighter.  And, it keeps getting harder and harder to control your eating.

What To Do

There are lots of choices – and you have to choose what’s going to work best for you.  Unfortunately, most of us decide to go pure Spartan and cut out everything that we really like to eat.  A total denial of goodness.  Guess what.  That kind of strategy not only doesn’t work, it probably ends up backfiring in a big way.

Make Some Realistic Choices

Instead of denying yourself everything that tastes good, how about making some personal rules.

Especially during the holiday season telling yourself that you will not have a single Christmas cookie or glass of cheer is really like spitting into the wind.

Instead, think about some trade-offs. If you have a drink, limit it to one and allow yourself a small piece of dessert.  If you invade the bread basket, skip the dessert.  Have two vegetables with some lean protein instead of a big plate of pasta and allow yourself a glass of wine.  The rules are yours.  Just set them before you find yourself in an eating situation – and then commit to them.

Try One Or Two Of  These Tactics, Too

These are some tactics that work for many people.  Perhaps you can incorporate one or two of them into your daily routine.

• Drink water, especially before meals.  It fills you up and hydrates you.
• Exercise for ten minutes.  Jump rope, march in place, get up and walk around during every television commercial.  It all adds up – and makes you feel better.  Just don’t exercise over to the fridge.
• Open the door and take a walk. Don’t worry about how long or how far you go – stick your nose out the door and follow with your body.  Small amounts add up and you’ve distracted yourself from eating.
• Check the nutrition facts of foods you are likely to eat before you go out so you can make informed choices.
• Take the stairs whenever you can.  Use the bathroom on another floor and take the stairs to get there.

Try coming up with some other rules, distractors, and motivators of your own.  Don’t overload yourself with choices.  Pick a few and stick to them.

And, if you blew it – realize that everybody does at some point.  Recognize it, don’t dwell on it, and put some personal rules in place.  Honestly, having your own rules and a plan really works!

The season of sugar plum fairies, ribbon candy, and sparkly cookies (and even fruit cake)  is upon us.  For about the past ten years we’ve been warned about watching how much sugar we’re eating and we still haven’t really listened.

According to the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee, Americans average 475 calories from added sugars every day.  That’s a lot more than the recommended daily max of 100 calories (six teaspoons) from added sugars for women and 150 calories (nine teaspoons) for men.  Think of it this way, that extra added 475 calories of sugar is the equivalent of 30 teaspoons a day.

A big problem with added sugars is that they both add calories and those “empty” calories displace the other nutritious foods.

Where Do Our Calories Come From?

Added sugars and solid fats account for about 35% of the calories in the average American’s diet. The recommended maximum is 5-15%.

About 36% of the added sugars come from sugary soft drinks — so cutting back on them is a good place to start trimming.

Natural vs. Added Sugars

Natural sugars are found in foods like milk and yogurt (lactose) and in fruit (fructose) as well as in many other foods. Because these sugars are found along with other healthy components in the foods, they’re considered okay.

Unfortunately, nutrition labels don’t differentiate between natural and added sugars.  Look for any form of sugar in the food’s ingredient list.

Look for all forms (typical sugars end in –ose like lactose, glucose, fructose) including brown, raw, or invert sugar and/or “syrup” including corn, high fructose corn, and malt syrup. Also look for honey, molasses, agave nectar, evaporated cane juice, and fruit juice concentrate.  Don’t be fooled by these. They sound healthy but are really just other forms of sugar.

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Examples Of Foods With Added Sugar

A 16 ounce soda has about 11 teaspoons of added sugar. Although most of our extra added sugar comes from soda, sweetened beverages like fruit drinks, sports drinks, and teas; desserts; candy; and breakfast cereals all contribute.

Here are some examples of the added sugar in some common foods. This is just the added sugar, not the natural sugar that might also be in these foods.

• Cola, 8 oz. 22 grams

• Cranberry juice cocktail, 8 oz., 20 grams

• Chocolate Milk, reduced-fat, 8 oz., 14 grams

• Tea, instant, sugar-sweetened, 8 oz., 21 grams

• Applesauce, sweetened (1 cup), 16 grams

• Baked beans, canned (1 cup), 15 grams

• Oreo-type cookies (3), 12 grams

• Cranberries, dried (1/3 cup), 25 grams

• Fruit cocktail in syrup (1 cup), 26 grams

• Granola bar (1 oz), 12 grams

• Jellybeans, (1 oz, 10 large), 20 grams

• Popcorn, caramel-coated (1 oz), 15 grams

• Fruit yogurt (6 oz container), 19 grams