My favorite magazine....

I don't think you can find a single Dietitian out there who does not gush over Cooking Light magazine. I am one of them, and here goes -

Cooking Light magazine really manages to capture the happy side of being healthy; after a few issues, you really start to get the feel for a balanced way of living, without any of those pesky "should's" and "shouldn'ts". It is never preachy, and doesn't fall for the latest fad diet - it simply celebrates good food and good living.

They also have a great website with a search engine for recipes (free!). I love the reader's comments and rating, too - they help when trying to choose a recipe. (the search engine switches over to Myrecipes.com, but it will tell you where each recipe originally came from, including the issue it came from).

I'm going to try this five-star rated recipe for Classic Potato Salad this week (my husband and I both grabbed bags of potatoes on our individual shopping trips, so we're up to our eyeballs in taters). What will you make next?

Soda and beans

I love this kind of nutrition advice, especially when it's based on actual research:

Researchers at the University of Southern California working with overweight Latino teenagers concluded that making small changes similar to cutting out one can of soda a day and adding just a half cup of beans a day can make a big difference in health.

These simple dietary changes do two things - cutting out one can of soda a day wipes out 150 calories of pure sugar - it's the equivalent of about 10 teaspoons of sugar that the teens are no longer taking in. Adding just one half cup of beans a day will add in about 7 grams of fiber and about 7 grams of protein - both fiber and protein are very helpful in keeping us full for longer.

The take-home message is that it doesn't have to be huge to make a difference - adding in some nutrient dense foods like beans, vegetables, whole grains and whole fruit really helps; calories can be shaven off in all kinds of places without making you feel deprived or unsatisfied - a can of soda less here, a slice of low-fat cheese there.

If you're in Arizona, tune in to Arizona Midday on Weds, June 24 (Channel 12 from 1-2), when I'll be giving tips for sneaking in nutrition, including a recipe from the Meal Makeover Moms website (with their permission, of course!) for Cheesy Black Bean Burgers - getting in those beans can be yummy!

A Whole World in Your Belly

Did you know that the human body is made up of 10 trillion cells? If you think that's mind-boggling, now consider this: there are ten times that many bacteria living inside of your intestines. Some experts have labeled this universe in your gut as the "forgotten organ", because these little guys do all kinds of stuff for our bodies. In fact, the activity of bacteria in your colon makes the colon the most metabollically active organ in your body!

Some of the activity of these bugs can be annoying - for example, they help to digest some of the food that we can't digest - this makes more of the calories we eat available to us, but also can cause bloating and gas from the gas they release after eating. But, they do so much more for us, and science is really just now figuring out the whats and hows; it's very complicated, because it kind of depends on "who" is the dominant strain in your gut (they estimate that you have between 300 to 1000 different strains in there). Bacteria eat, they fight, they release all kinds of by-products; everything they do has an effect on the host (us!).

The science is still new, but having a gut-full of "good" bacteria seems to be helpful at keeping our immune system running properly, and may even be linked to whether or not we become obese!

So, how to develop and nurture a bellyful of the good guys? It is likely related to our overall and longterm diet - and it is likely most beneficial to eat a plant-based diet over the long term. Yes, it comes back to the fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. It also seems to be helful to eat what is termed "fermented foods" - yogurt, buttermilk, kefir, and sauerkraut for example.


By the way, one of the theories to explain why exclusively breastfed babies tend to end up as lean adults is that they are allowed to "grow" the right mix of gut bacteria and establish a nice strong colony of the good guys. Fascinating, right? Now, go have your beans today!

As if!

Right out of college, I had a job doing nutrition counseling. I was so green, I really felt like I was making it up as I went along. But, one client stuck with me, I think because we were both surprised that I actually helped her a little.

She wanted to eat better, but hated to go to the grocery store. Now, there are a lot of different ways to eat healthy, but if you won't step foot into the grocery store, you've put up a wall that is just too high to climb. You simply have to go to the grocery store, or be lucky enough to have someone do it for you. I tried to problem solve with her, only to be met with "yeah, buts...". Finally, I said "Here's what I want you to do - for the next couple of weeks, I want you to pretend you don't hate going to the grocery store, and then go". It was a weird suggestion, but it was weird enough that she didn't have a "yeah, but" to give me.

The next time I saw her she told me that it worked - she pretended not to hate the grocery store, went grocery shopping, and found out that it wasn't that bad.

A lot of the healthy habits that we would like to have are sabotaged by our own "stinkin' thinkin". How many times have I grumbled about hating to exercise - making it feel like I'm walking through thick mud just to get my bum on that treadmill - only to remember that it's really not that bad, and actually feels good once it's done.

Next time you find yourself hating something that's actually good for you, try this trick - act as if you don't hate it. Teachers use this technique when they assign students a debate topic that is opposite of what the student really believes. When you are forced to act as if you believe something, you actually end up closer to believing it.

Have a plan

One of the first things a person does when trying to eat healthy is to "load up on fruits and vegetables". In fact, if you look inside any magazine that offers healthy eating tips, you will probably find this exact mandate offerred as advice. The problem is that there is rarely a plan in place to use all of those fruits and veggies - and so, they sit. And go bad. And the well-intentions to eat better turn to frustration as money and food are thrown away.

The intent of the advice is valid - fruits and veggies are indeed the rock-stars of the food world. If you focus on just that one thing - eating more of your fruits and veggies - you will end up eating a healthier diet. The problem is the fact that they are perishable. You can buy a box of Twinkies without having to worry about eating them in the next few days. Those Twinkies can languish for years, or even centuries, if you believe the tales.

The best way to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet is to do a little pre-planning. Instead of just hurling random produce into your cart at the market, think ahead of time - what kind of fruit would you like to add to your cereal in the morning? What kind of vegetable can you add to your typical turkey sandwich? Before you throw those kiwifruit into your basket, think about when specifically you plan to eat them.

Don't forget about the other forms of fruits and veggies - frozen, canned, and dried; these versions can also be healthy (sometimes even healthier - more on that later) - and they help stretch the time between grocery visits.

More Fruit, Please!

I just finished a project where I analyzed four days of diet records for ten different women; the only information I knew about the women was their age, height and weight. Their diets ranged from pretty darn good to downright negligent of nutrition.

My takeaway from this assignment was a reminder of something that the research has long declared - we don't eat enough fruits or vegetables. Not one of these women were eating enough of either, and most of the women skipped fruit altogether some days.

Now, I think I have revealed before that I am not a perfect eater - not even close. But, doing these records really served to remind me that it's not that hard to do just a little better, and motivated me to keep trying to do better. And you can, too - here's what I recommend:

* try adding a fruit or a vegetable to each meal, even if it's just a glass of 100% juice with breakfast, veggies to your turkey sandwich at lunch, and a big handful of baby carrots with the pizza you ordered.
* try to snack on fruit or vegetables at least once a day (this one's hard for me, but worth shooting for - of course, the trick is to have the food on hand and to not have less desirable food on hand at the same time)
* add fruits or veggies whenever possible - frozen berries to oatmeal or ice cream, canned corn to Hamburger Helper, veggie pizza, grated carrots to meatloaf, etc. Don't knock yourself out, because then you'll burn out and give up. Just think creatively when you're cooking and see if you can add the good stuff to your dish.
* Try to order veggies instead of fries at restaurants - I remember doing this at a restaurant, and the waitress looked at me knowingly and said "oh, you're doing the low-carb thing, huh?" I wasn't - I just wanted the asparagus instead of the fries..... but, I digress.

The Slacker Breakfast

Our mama's had it right - breakfast is the most important meal of the day, y'all!

It's true - research has shown that breakfast eaters tend to be skinnier throughout life; breakfast eaters also tend to eat a better overall diet.

I grew up in a house where breakfast was mandatory, and stayed a breakfast eater for most of my life, until I started working from home. Then, I let it slide a bit, and found myself starving by about 10am, every morning. I mean, STARVING. And, it was stealth hunger too - I didn't realize it was coming on until it had me in it's steely grips.

These days, I have to make a conscious effort to eat breakfast - my morning coffee tends to dull the hunger pangs, and the day gets busy in a hurry. But, on the days that I eat a good breakfast, I'm more able to make better choices for lunch and snacks because I'm not frantic hungry.

Here's some tips for breakfast:

If you are OK with cereal, find one with a little bit of fiber - raisin bran is great, and oatmeal is fantastic. Even if you need to resort to the little packets of sweetened oatmeal, it is still oatmeal and will give you a dose of fiber. One of my favorite breakfasts when it's cold is oatmeal with frozen raspberries thrown on top, a little dab of brown sugar, maybe some almonds, cooked with skim milk - YUM.

Another great breakfast item is yogurt - portable and mixable. Try mixing yogurt with berries and a low-fat granola. Or, mix up a smoothie the night before, give it a shake in the morning, and drink your breakfast on the way to work.

Other great options: hard boiled eggs, pita with hummus, peanut butter and jelly (or banana, my favorite) sandwich, fruit and cheese, nuts, bagel with low-fat cream cheese and tomatoes... other ideas?

Slacker Golden Rule #3

Commit to building small, healthy habits.

Once you are comfortable eating only when you are hungry and stopping when you are full (Golden Rule #1), and you've given yourself permission to eat what you like and to eat only what you like (Golden Rule #2), it's time to move on to building healthy habits. Which habits you work on will depend on you - there are plenty to choose from, and they all can make a difference. Here's a list of possibilities:

- eat breakfast every day
- eat fruits and/or veggies at every meal
- snack on fruits and veggies
- drink a lot of water
- drink less soda
- move your body every day
- eat together as a family more often
- eat more home-prepared meals
- add more fiber to your meals
- take a multivitamin every day
- take a calcium supplement, especially if you’re not a milk drinker
- stop smoking
- build muscles with weight training or resistance training
- sit down to eat
- avoid eating in the car
- eat out less often
- eat a variety of food, from all of the food groups
- avoid “grazing”
- avoid eating in front of the TV
- try new recipes
- cut down on salt
- other? ________________________________

The point is to keep challenging yourself to take just a little bit better care of yourself than you did yesterday; you deserve it!