Obesity and Next Generation Food Pyramid

Are Obesity and the Food Pyramid related?

I wanted to let you know about some new changes taking place out there. I have never loved the USDA's current food pyramid. It is heavily into grains and people use it to justify eating junk food. Well, I need grains, but alas cookies do not count! Well, the USDA has made some new guidelines and will publish a new food pyramid later this year! Wow, I won't have to recommend the Mediterranean Food Pyramid anymore! Maybe? Well, here are their new recommendations:

•  Enjoy your food, but eat less.
•  Avoid over-sized portions.
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables (The half plate rule)
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

These healthy diet habits are not difficult to incorporate into your life!

Another very scary piece of info I ran into was on the Obesity.org site. There have been a lot of studies done on children and adults and exercise does not seem to help in the development of obesity. Eight year old kids that exercise heavily do not seem to be thinner or have better BMI's than those eight year olds that do not exercise. That does not mean exercise is not important because it is very important for your general health, but not that helpful if you are overweight or obese or hoping not to become. What are we to do as a society?

I believe that you are what you eat! It is of extreme importance to eat healthy, avoid sugar and processed foods, develop a meal plan for calories and follow it with your family, and follow the above guidelines by the USDA. Practice portion control, eat less, follow the half plate rule, go for low fat milk products and watch salt intake and stop drinking sugary drinks. Please do not buy them for your family. The average person drinks 450 calories of drinks per day and that adds up to 45 pounds of weight gain per year! Each person needs have a food policy that says, "I don't drink calories!" I was at a dinner last week and there were various sodas, and only one diet soda that had caffeine. When the hostess asked me what I would like to drink, I said "I would love a glass of water!" It was not that hard. This one "food policy" that you develop for yourself, could be the difference between obesity and health!

Yes, I do believe that Obesity is related to food choices more than exercise habits. It is hard to make a general rule, because I believe that there are other causes too. Obesity is complicated, and I do not believe that scientists totally understand what causes it, at this point. Dieting and Genetics and Hormones are all factors to be considered too!

Various Health Tips

One of the most helpful qualities in life is the love of learning! Read everything you can get your hands on, because there is so much helpful information out there! I was at my local pharmacy today, and they had free booklets you could take. I took them and learned lots I did not know! Did you know:

• If you eat a daily serving of nuts (about a handful) instead of red meat you can lower your risk of heart disease by 30%. Don't overdo this because they are fattening. 
• Walking for just ten minutes at a fast pace delivers immediate benefits in burning calories and fat and maintaining healthy glucose levels.
• Vit D supplements may get you through the winter flu-free.
• Water-soluble cinnamon extract decreases fasting glucose in prediabetes, according to a recent USDA study. 
• Start your day with oatmeal. It will move unhealthy LDL cholesterol out of your bloodstream.
• If you do not like fish, take an algae-based omega 3 supplement that contains the same omegas as fish oil.
• Break your multivitamin in half and take half at breakfast and half at dinner to get a steady supply of vitamins and minerals all day long.
• Control Diabetes with a good nights sleep.
• Black rice, which is a whole grain with a nutty flavor is loaded with healthy antioxidants and is a new superfood. It may better than blueberries and you can get it at health food stores and Asian food markets, and some supermarkets!
• If you eat flaxseed, whole grains and berries, you can drop your risk of breast cancer if you are post-menopausal by 14%.
• 3.5 ounces of fish food on your plate twice a week will lower depression.
• Count your blessings each day and write down something you are grateful for. Your gratitude journal will help you be more optimistic, healthier and exercise more.
• Eat at least one cup of cooked dark green leafy veggies (Kale, spinach and chard) or four cups of raw each day. This can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 14 percent. Cook them in a pan over low heat in a bit of olive oil until wilted.

Well, I am off to write in my gratitude journal, that I am glad I picked up these health brochures today and took the time to read them. I want to try black rice. Yummy! I am encouraged to eat more kale and spinach, which I love and try chard! Be a learner, it could save your life one day! Blessed to be a blessing! Kerry

Long term weight loss

Most of the people who diet, gain their weight back. The national weight loss registry reports that only 5% of people keep the weight off long term. Here is a list of the qualities found in people who did keep the weight off long term:

• They expect failure and keep trying.
• Do not deny themselves; they eat some for taste but not to get full.
• Weigh themselves often.
• Exercise for 1 hour a day. One out of four people walks briskly.
• They add extra bits of physical activity into their daily routine.
• A high carbohydrate/low fat diet works best for most of the people in the registry.
• Eat five small meals per day.

If you have lost weight and do not want to gain it back these are some ideas that have worked for successful people who have kept their weight off long term!

Food Policies for Kerry

This is my list of food policies that I try to practice. I call it my cheat sheet and review it often because these are the areas I most often fail in.

1. Flip my calories and try to eat most of my calories early on in the day. I feel a lot better eating this way.
2. Eat smaller meals and 2 snacks rather than grazing to keep my blood sugar more balanced. Remember that big meals spike blood sugar and I will be hungrier.
3. Eat breakfast when I first get up to speed up my metabolism and I will eat less later on.
4. Work on not eating after dinner. Use strategies from my list of other things to do besides eat, if I am struggling.
5. Pay attention to whether I am emotionally or physically hungry and practice eating until I am satisfied and not stuffed.
6. Don't deprive myself of the foods that I love but eat them in moderation with no guilt attached and be flexible.
7. Use the half plate rules and make sure I prepare enough veggies and salads to fill our plates half full.
8. Know proper portion sizes for the main foods that I eat and choose wisely most of the time.
9. Use my restaurant/fast food guide for the restaurants I visit.
10. Cut out most white stuff and processed foods and eat more whole grains. Ditch the empty calories most of the time because there is no place that they fit in on my meal plan.
11. Be in touch with my feelings and do not eat when I am emotional but solve my problems rather than eating my way through them.
12. Check out the markets for lower calorie foods that I love if I do not want to do without them. Safeway angel food cake and strawberries/cool whip is awesome and less than 150 calories!
13. Get rid of thinking that there are forbidden foods. If I want it, I can have it but just a small piece. I can eat it again whenever I want.
14. Try and walk daily for thirty minutes and do weights and the ball 3 times per week.
15. Take calcium and Vit. D daily.

This is a simple list but it has a solution for most of the areas that I struggle in. It is kind of a changing list and if an area is under control, I will delete it. I would suggest that everyone develops their own food policy list similar to mine, that has their polices on it. It takes a lot of pressure off to know what your policies are, rather than having to make the same decisions and face the same struggles over and over. 

Check out the website! It has a few more pages every day! Kerry

 

New Products

KerryHey there everyone!

 I was at Trader Joe's today looking around for inspiration! Found some new products, at least I had not seen them before. They were all one serving and located in the freezer section:

Reduced Guilt Mac'n Cheese        270 calories                             $1.99

Reduced Guilt Sole                       190 calories                             $2.99

Reduced Guilt Roasted

Vegetable Couscous                     250 calories                             $2.69

Reduced Guilt Baked Ziti              320 calories                             $1.99

All of these entrees would be great lunch choices that you could just stick in the microwave at work. They all looked good especially the couscous and sole. They are way healthier than eating fast food and less caloric. They must be good because people were loading up on them!

Also started looking at the rest of the freezer section and there are many great entrees for lunches or dinners in a pinch. They may seem more pricey than cooking from scratch but they are cheaper than eating out.

They had some single serving items that looked great!

Garden Vegetable Lasagna for 290 calories and it serves one but I could not find the price.

Spinach and Vegetable Lasagna for 340 calories for $1.99

Chicken Lasagna for 290 calories. It is the same size as the Garden and Spinach Lasagna so I assumed that it was one serving but when I checked it was actually two servings so I was almost tricked. It would be almost 600 calories for the serving. I would think most of us would eat the entire thing. I would much rather go for the garden or spinach lasagna and get a double portion! I like volume!

Watch the serving size because the manufacturers try to trick us by making the stats look really low and hope that we miss the serving size.

Check out the new website that my lovely sister is making for me!!

Kerry

Week 6 of Simple Lifestyle Changes

Well everyone! It is the end of the 6 weeks of Lifestyle Changes. I hope that you have all incorporated a few of these simple changes! I would advise you to create a Journal Roadmap sheet using the information you have garnered from the previous weeks. You should have identified your helpful and unhelpful behaviors, activities, situations, and times that are hardest for you, and your triggers and feelings that are difficult. Fill out a cheat sheet for all of the ideas and helps that most apply to you.

Also, include on your cheat sheet the main changes that you hope to make in the coming months. Even if you are only working consistently on a few of these changes, you should see success as you are more aware of your choices, habits and patterns. Remember a great idea is to work on three habits per month as it takes a month to create a new habit. If you do this for a year, you will have 36 new habits incorporated into your life fairly easily.

I will share my personal cheat sheet with you tomorrow to give you an idea of how to do this!

Blessings!

Kerry

Journal Questions

I posted some questions a couple of weeks ago that you could begin to ask yourself when looking at your journals. Here are some more questions to ask yourself. If you are not journaling about what and why you eat, I would encourage you to try to journal at least a couple of times per week for awareness purposes. Your observations can give you areas to work on to change rather than dieting!

Did you try to decrease portions a little bit?
Did you observe the 20 minute rule or eat a few nuts or soup before your dinner?
Did you try to increase fruits and veggies and observe the half plate rule?
Did you eat breakfast daily, add a protein source, healthy grain or a fruit?
Did you try to cook healthy meals rather than grab and go?
Did you eat healthy pre-plated snacks rather than grazing?
Did you clean out your cupboards of all junk food?
Did you try to eat your meals on smaller dishes and bowls?
Did you try to come up with any strategies to help with emotional eating?
Did you notice the times during the week where you ate when you were not hungry?
Did you try to eat 100% whole grain bread and healthy cereals or try any new grains like quinoa or couscous?
Did you try to increase fiber in your diet?
Did you try any new salads or stir fry your veggies with fresh herbs?
Did you find that your cravings were improving?
Did you notice any new food triggers?
Did you notice any situations that were difficult food wise?
Did you try to address your feelings in a manner that did not involve food?
Did you look for lower calorie versions or recipes for foods that you love to keep them in your life?

There are tons of questions that you can ask yourselves when you journal. Your journal provides a road map that shows where there are detours. If you can learn the detours, you can devise strategies to avoid the detours. We are all different and there is not one set plan that will work for each of us but great strategies will trump willpower every time.

Journaling is the best predictor of weight loss! As you ask yourselves these questions, you can begin to understand yourself and develop a personal plan!

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

Week 5 of Simple Lifestyle Changes

Another Happy Monday Everyone,
The goal of this 6 week mini tutorial is to help you make some simple lifestyle changes and to help you to see that a total diet redo might not be necessary. It is all about keeping the really great foods in your life that you love on a limited basis and looking for those triggers in your life that cause you to look to food. Keep working on being aware of what triggers you to eat. Develop some great strategies to use when you are in a situation that triggers are bombarding you!
Some other Diet Advice would be:

• Add more fish into your diet and lower-fat protein sources.
• Limit fat to between 20% to 30% of your foods. (Basically cut way down on the processed foods and add more veggies. We eat by volume which is great because veggie dishes and salads take up a lot of room on your plate. Your visual brain will be happy!)
• Continue to decrease eating fried foods. Never a good idea!
• Do not fall prey to deceptive advertising. Remember that low fat does not mean low calorie. A bag of fat free licorice is very pricey calorie wise and will start the cravings. Skip entire aisles of the market and shop the outer edge where the healthy foods are placed. 
• Continue to work on seeing processed foods as poison. They literally poison your body and cause you to experience severe cravings for sugar.
• Eat smaller meals to keep your blood sugar under control. This will keep you full longer and help with cravings.
• Continue to experiment with meatless meals, soups, healthy bean chilies, and new veggie type salads or Mediterranean dishes.
• Choose low or non fat milk, yogurts and cheeses. Non fat cheese is not great but the lower fat versions are fairly good. Watch yogurts. Some are very caloric. There are some great Greek yogurts with 100 calories a serving. Many of the yogurts are very high sugar. Try other milk sources also. The Soy light Milks and Almond Milks are great choices.
• Buy ready made or prepared fruits and veggies rather than junk food or chips. Many people tell me eating healthy is too pricey. But have you priced out some of the specialty chips per pound that we all load up on. You could be eating steak!
• Review previous weeks as a reminder and make sure you are incorporating some of these changes into your life.

If you have any questions, contact me through facebook and I will be happy to answer them. 

http://www.facebook.com/lifestylesoln

Have a great week everyone! Kerry

FEAR OF THE MIGHTY SCALE

Many people are afraid of their bathroom scale. It holds great power over them and the thought of finding that the scale shows a few extra pounds is so overwhelming that they do not weigh. I wanted to clear up a few misconceptions about your scale weight.

1. Your weight is not a fixed number but varies daily. Yeah, we all know that. Why the freak out then? Most of us find that our weight will fluctuate within a few pounds. This is simply a product of how much salt you ate or your hormones most days and not true weight gain. Do not freak out and binge eat!

2. The best way to control your weight is to know yourself. What is your weight range. If you normally weigh between 140 and 144, then do not freak out at 144. Consistently track your weight weekly and as long as you are in that range you are ok. When you need to worry is when your weight is consistently 142 to 146. You probably have gained two pounds. So there are times when you feel lighter at 142 when you are in your lower 4 pound span, than 142 when you are in your upper 4 pound span. Claim a four pound block that is your range. When you are hitting the upper range and going a bit beyond, that is the time to clean up your eating for a bit.

3. The best way to tell if you are gaining a few pounds is by your clothes. Are they tight? You could be 142 and your pants fit great or 142 and your pants are tight! If they are tight, you probably gained a few pounds, even though the scale does not register it.

4. WEIGHT GAIN DOES NOT SHOW UP OVERNIGHT BUT TAKES A FEW DAYS TO HIT. I believe this fact is not known or we ignore it. Most people weigh the day after "pigging out" and say "Whew, I did not gain any weight!" Then they purposely eat healthy for a couple of days and weigh. They have gained a couple of pounds. They say "I may as well eat because when I pigged out I did not gain a pound, but when I ate healthy I gained. I am soooooo depressed. I must make myself feel better by eating a bag of my comfort chips!" A little exaggeration but isn't this what we do?

5. If you track your weight gain or loss it will not be a straight line but a zig zag line going up and down. That is just how our bodies work.

6. The important thing is to claim your pound range. Most people stop weighing when they reach their weight goal and then hope for the best. Keep weighing weekly and do not live in a dream world!

If your pants are tight you are probably gaining weight even if you scale does not register it yet (Unless you accidentally put your jeans in the dryer!) The most helpful hint I have for not gaining weight is to never buy bigger clothes. When you hit the high end of your weight gain, add more veggies and be mindful of your carbohydrates and you will be a winner!

Bugs,Bugs,Bugs

If someone asked you, "Would you eat a bug?" What would you say? If you are like most of us, you would say "Of course not! Gross!"

Well, most of us consume bugs and way worse things on a daily basis as we consume processed food. I wanted to let you know just a few facts I garnered from the FDA website a couple of years ago. They may be a bit different now, but similar.

The FDA allows:
5 fly eggs per 500 gm of tomatoes
600 mites per 100 gm broccoli
400 insect fragments or 11 rodent hairs per gm of cinnamon
30 insect fragments or 1 rodent hair per 100 gm peanut butter
1 rodent pellet in one sample or 2 rodent hairs per pound of popcorn
6% rotten potatoes in potato chips
20% moldy fruit in canned pineapple

For everyones sake, I am leaving out the bug allowances for chocolate! These are just a few, but the FDA does have bug allowances for most processed foods and inspectors that try to test and make sure companies are following these "strict" rules. (Another story there!)

What can we do? Stop Eating? Not too practical! I would suggest that we eat real food rather than processed. Then you will know what it contains. It is simple to cut up a real pineapple and it tastes so much better than canned. Any ideas? Post in on FB because Blogspot does not allow you to post comments unless you have a Blogspot acct. So sorry! I am in the process of changing to a new place to blog. I will keep you updated!

I keep telling you guys that processed food is bad for you and I bet you never knew the whole story before!

Week 4 of Simple Lifestyle Changes

This is our 4th week of looking for some ways that we can make some simple lifestyle solutions that can make a big difference in our health and eating! 

• Work on identifying triggers and patterns in your eating. Avoid your triggers and devise a plan.
• Be mindful of portion control and servings from the food pyramid. (I much prefer the Mediterranean food Pyramid)
• Devise your food choices for breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks and make sure they fit into your menu plan. (If you have not done this already)
• Try adding lean protein to each meal especially breakfast. 
• Keep adding fiber into your diet. Fiber makes you feel full and slows digestion. Aim for 35 grams of fiber per day! Trader Joe's High Fiber cereal is 9gm. for 2/3 cup. Eat a cup and you are over a third of the way there. Cereal can be your afternoon snack! It keeps you going for hours.
• Continue to decrease eating processed foods and sugar. These are empty calories and cause your blood sugar to spike which tells your fat cells to store fat. Not a good thing! I BELIEVE THIS IS THE BIGGEST AREA MOST OF US CAN IMPROVE ON.
• Be mindful of eating out. Devise a menu planner to keep in your car of your favorite restaurants. Know what you will eat before you enter because looking at the menu can be dangerous!
• Keep working on increasing fruits and especially veggies in your diet. Half of your plate should be veggies and potatoes, corn and peas count as your carbohydrate choice not your veggie choice.
• Do nothing else while eating but enjoy your food. Calories should be tasted and not mindlessly eaten. Remember to eat at the table only.
• Try to work in beans, lentils or peas as a great protein and fiber choice.
• It is great to be eating small mini meals (snacks) in between your meals. Aim for 100 to 200 calories and make them healthy.

These are just a few of the changes that you can make. Remember just making 3 changes per month and making them a habit is huge. The more you know, the more you can eat! I am for that!

Planning Ahead

Most of us do very little planning in the eating department. Today is "Superbowl Sunday"! Most of us will go to parties unprepared and be willing to gorge on the foods placed in front of us! Most of those snacks will be loaded with fat and not real food. I am not against eating a few goodies but who wants to eat 1000's of extra junk calories. So everyone, bring some healthy options. You will be amazed at how popular they will be and how great they taste after eating junk.

I am going over to a friends to watch the Superbowl. I am bringing celery, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower and a Trader Joe's spicy hummus. It will be great! Plus, I am taking a fresh pineapple that I am cutting up in chunks. I am also taking tortilla chips with fresh salsa and guacamole. Tortilla chips are my very favorite junk food so rather than fill up on some type of junk I do not love, I am taking junk food that I love! Be picky and if you are going to eat junk food calories, choose ones that are your favorites! Life needs to be fun and is not about denial. You just need to be sane most of the time!

Happy Snacking! Remember to eat some healthy snacks too!

How to Lose Weight

I read a great article this month in Readers Digest of all places written by Gary Taubes. He asks a very important question. "If obesity researchers are so smart, why are we so large?" They have said "Do not eat fat" and "calories in" must equal "calories out" and our obesity rates have hit 33% of the population!!

Taubes believes that the experts are wrong. He believes that we must answer the question of why we are overeating and believes that we have developed a disorder in how our fat tissue is regulated. Diets do not work but they are pushed for those overweight. Cut your calories and you will be a success. If you cut your calories, you will be hungry all of the time and your body will learn to work on less. Plus, it is impossible to count calories. If you are off by 20 calories a day, you will gain 20 pounds in 10 years and 100 pounds in 50 years. Exercising more also increases your hunger. Is there hope?

Taubes believes it is refined carbohydrates and starches that are making us fat. They raise our insulin levels. Insulin is the hormone that regulates our fat tissue. It stores the excess sugar in our fat cells and does not like to release it, therefore by eating lots of processed carbohydrates and sugar, our fat cells get fatter.

Taubes says that in most of the studies a low-carbohydrate diet does better than a low-fat, low calorie diet.

The five guidelines for eating a low-carb diet from the New Atkins book are:
1. Don't try to limit fat.

2. Say good bye to pasta, bread and rice. To lose weight most people must stay under 20 grams of net carbs per day.You can add more carbs in when you reach your goal.

3. Be picky about vegetables. Potatoes, corn and peas are off limits. You can have up to 4 cups a day of leafy greens and 2 cups of broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers, okra and Brussels sprouts.

4. Get rid of hidden sugars like fruits, juices, soda, cakes and candies. You might be able to keep diet sodas, light beer, dry wine, and sugar free sweets.

5. Eat as much as you want of protein and fat. Stop eating when you are full.

This is a very interesting article. If Gary Taubes is correct, and I suspect he is, nutrition books as we know them will have to be rewritten. I will research this info. more in the next couple of weeks and let you know what I find. In the mean time, keep the carbs under control!

A New Mindset

Happy Friday Everyone,
When we think of losing weight, we think about what we need to eat. That is important. I have found that the most important aspect of weight loss is our thinking. Lets face it, our thoughts get us into trouble. They seem to sabotage us daily.  Who has not thought, I think I will eat that because I am celebrating something, I can start over tomorrow, all my friends are eating that, I deserve it, just a bit won't matter. On and on our thoughts lead us to where we did not want to go. What can we do? We have got to develop ways to counteract these sabotaging thoughts.

All of us face many triggers daily relating to food. These triggers cause sabotaging thoughts. Many of us do not even recognize the triggers or the thoughts that lead us to eat. The first step is to learn to recognize the triggers that cause you to eat. Any thing that triggers you to eat can be a trigger. It could be a type of food, place, time, craving, hunger, day of the week, smell, friend, really anything. If you are journaling you will begin to see these triggers fairly easily. Once you see the trigger watch what your thoughts are telling you. As you learn to recognize these sabotaging thoughts, you can then begin to develop some helpful responses that you can tell yourself. The trick is to develop positive self talk that leads you to make better choices. It is something that you must practice over time.

I believe that long term success with weight control is dependent on whether you can learn to recognize your triggers and thoughts and feelings and then develop ways to make positive choices. This is a learning process and you will improve the more you practice!

Have a great weekend!

Cooking and Recipes

One of the biggest things that we struggle with is what to cook. Cooking is day in and day out and it gets old quickly. I wanted to give you a few pointers for success!
1. It is really important to get rid of old cookbooks that do not include the statistics. Why eat a dish that is 1000 calories when there is a lower version for 300 calories.
2. Some of my favorite cookbooks are ones that are written for Diabetics (they eat the way most of us should), Fresh meals with mostly fresh veggies Cookbooks, Mediterranean cookbooks, and Cookbooks for Low carb meals. Go for the ones with lots of photos so you can see how great the veggies look. Don't be afraid to add extra veggies that you have on hand or make substitutions!
3. Cook a soup meal with a broth base at least once a week. Add your meat and tons of frozen or fresh veggies and maybe some brown rice or pearl barley and fresh cilantro, parsley or cilantro (really any herbs you love). Cook a huge pot of soup and you have your lunches for the rest of the week. If you make a vegetable soup you can serve it as part of your meal for the rest of the week in a small soup bowl that can count as one of your veggies.
4. Cook at least one meal using only beans or lentils. I make white chili, tortilla soup or chili at least once a week. Once again make a huge pot and use the leftovers for lunches.
5. Grab some grated or sliced veggies to use in your meals. I buy grated carrots, cabbage, broccoli slaw, and I always have bags of frozen grated zucchini that I have on hand to use for quick meals. You can find lots of ready made veggies for less money than you think. I put cabbage in all of my soups and we have coleslaw weekly. Also use the broccoli slaw as salads or in soups. I use the zucchini in tacos, soups, and spaghetti sauces. I call it my stealthy healthy. So far no one has realized that our tacos contain zucchini! Hope they are not blog reading or there could be trouble!!!
6. Make your meals simple. Many times I will quarter an orange on each persons plate or chunked fresh pineapple, strawberries or any fruit.
7. Try making salads with no lettuce. Our favorite salad is chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and a few green olives and cilantro with Trader Joe's balsamic vinaigrette. Very quick!
8. I make tons of stir fries. This is my go to meal when I can't think. I just pull out what ever fresh veggies I have on hand and chop them and cook them each separate till they are crisp. Stir fry your meat and then add everything back in and add Yoshida's sauce and your meal is done. I do not even serve rice always and we love it.
Hope this Helps! My chicken/veggie soup is done! Happy cooking!