Swimsuit Season? Already??

With Memorial Day Weekend behind us, swimsuit season is upon us! But no need to panic. Whether you’re seeking a better beach body or just a healthier lifestyle overall, here are some quick nutrition tips to feeling better and looking better this summer.

·         Keep a Food Log: No need to calorie count – unless you have a particular love for accounting. Simply recording your food intake helps you stay accountable to yourself. After all, most people already have an innate sense of what a healthful diet looks like. Look for patterns like plentiful fruit and vegetable consumption, less eating out, and smaller portion sizes to ensure your diet isn’t sabotaging your summer.

·         Drink Fewer Calories: Sugar sweetened beverages like lemonade, fruit cocktail, sweetened iced tea, soda, and sports drinks run rampant in the summertime; stick to water to not only cut out those excess calories but also stay hydrated during those warm months. Additionally, keep alcohol to a minimum (if you chose to drink at all). Drinking in moderation means no more than 1 drink per day for women (who make less alcohol dehydrogenase and have less lean body mass) and no more than 2 drinks per day for men. Alcohol packs in calories, as alcohol contains 7 calories per gram while carbohydrates and protein only contain 4 calories per gram. That’s nearly as calorie-dense as fat, which packs in 9 calories per gram. Binge drinking (drinking 4 or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting for females or 5 or more drinks for men) is especially associated with abdominal fat – not usually the desired summer look!

·         Eat Whole Grains: Cut out the refined starches and replace them with fiber-filled whole grains. This means looking for the word “whole” in the ingredients list. If the word isn’t there, then the food is typically an imposter! (Exceptions to this rule include oatmeal, wheatberries, and brown rice.) Start with switching to all 100% whole grain bread, and follow with other frequently consumed grains, like cereal, pasta, and rice. This will vastly increase your fiber intake, filling you up on fewer calories automatically – no calorie counting required. Just be sure to give yourself a chance at feeling full on smaller portions by serving yourself a little less than normal and eating more slowly. Using smaller plates and bowls can help with this.

·         Put Away the Salt: Fight bloat by reducing sodium intake. Remember, salt included in your diet is not just what you use at the dinner table or at the stove, but also what has been added by manufacturers. Most of the sodium in our diets comes from processed foods (such as boxed foods, canned foods, and pickled foods) as well as restaurant foods. By eating foods that are closer to their natural state (such as using dried kidney beans and herbs and spices instead of using a canned chili bean product), you can significantly decrease the amount of sodium in your diet. Since water follows sodium in the body, this can also lead to less bloating.

·         Lay Off the Sugar: Added sugar packs in empty calories, and can hide in all sorts of foods. Check ingredients lists for culprits, and avoid any foods that list sugar, syrup, cane juice, honey, molasses, agave, nectar, malt, or any words ending in –ose (like fructose, sucrose, maltose, etc). Some foods contain natural sugars – for example, milk has a sugar called lactose in it, and fruit contain natural fructose as well. It’s the added sugars that need to be eliminated; that’s why the ingredient list is so important. Keep in mind a teaspoon of sugar is equal to 4g of sugar (or 16 calories), while a tablespoon of sugar is equal to 12g of sugar (or about 50 calories).  Watch what you’re adding to your morning coffee or cereal – that all adds up too!

·         Eat More Fruits, Veggies, and Beans: Add them to salads, have them for snacks, puree them and sneak them into dishes, whatever it takes – just get them into your diet! It will not only fill you up for fewer calories, but also give you countless benefits from phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals, and both soluble and insoluble fiber. Fresh and frozen fruits and veggies are your best options, but rinsed canned vegetables or fruits canned in their own juices are great options as well. As for beans and legumes, either rinse canned beans before using them or pick dried instead.

Remember, numbers follow, they don’t lead. Sure, you can use extreme diets to drop a few pounds quickly, but unless you make lifestyle changes, those pounds will creep back. Instead, focus on making lasting behavior changes to your health to find your best version of yourself.

Don’t forget exercise either! No ladies, resistance training won’t bulk you up, I promise. And although we can’t target fat burn, we can target muscle building. This means countless crunches may not get rid of all tummy flab, but it will define your stomach as well as strengthen your core. Add in plenty of stretching to make those muscles long and lean, and include daily cardio to torch calories and keep your heart and lungs healthy.

Last but not least, always remember the benefits of confidence and good posture – wherever life takes you, from career to parenthood to beach vacations, put your shoulders back, head up, and smile. I learned this one from my mother J

Thanks for reading!

Anna

Product of the Week: Triscuit Thin Crisps

Have you ever checked out the ingredients of your favorite brand of cracker? It can be frustrating to discover that most of the crackers that line grocery store shelves are loaded with bad fats, sugar, and refined grains and offer little (if any) nutritional value. Among the few truly whole-grain crackers, I have always favored Triscuits, which are loaded with filling fiber yet manage to not taste like cardboard. The downside is that one serving of regular Triscuits is only 6 crackers, totaling to around 120 calories. Doesn’t seem like much of a snack, does it?

Recently, I discovered Triscuit Thin Crisps, which have the same ingredients as the original square crackers, but sport a smaller, thinner triangle shape. A serving of the Thin Crisps is 15 crackers for around 130 calories – a significantly more snack-like serving, if you ask me.

And check out the ingredients: Whole grain soft white winter wheat, soybean oil, salt.

That’s it! As far as crackers go, this is about as nutritious as it gets. 3g of fiber, 3g of protein, no sugar, and 100% whole grain.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading,

Anna

*Please note: I am not paid in any way for any product endorsement at this time. I just like to share!

Recipe: Homemade Pizza

A lot of people talk about “good foods” and “bad foods.” I’m a dietitian who doesn’t think about food in such a black-and-white way. I believe just about anything can fit into a healthy lifestyle, as long as portion, moderation, variety, and preparation methods are all considered.

Pizza is a good example of this. I love pizza. I REALLY love pizza, actually. And I don’t think for a second that it’s an “off-limits” food entirely. Here’s my recipe for pizza that can definitely fit within an overall healthy lifestyle.

Ingredients:

·         One 6” whole grain pita

·         About 2 Tbsp pasta or pizza sauce

·         1/8 to 1/4 cup shredded white cheese (like mozzarella, pizza blend, or parmesan)

·         Finely diced fresh veggies (whatever is in your fridge - zucchini, onion, tomato, bell pepper, olives, mushrooms, jalapeno peppers, etc)

·         Grated parmesan, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

1.       Assemble pizza by layering sauce, cheese, and toppings.

2.       Bake at 350* on a cookie sheet (I recommend not using aluminum foil for this – otherwise the bottom doesn’t really crisp) for about 20-30 minutes, or until cheese begins to brown slightly and veggies are tender.

By using a whole grain pita as the crust, limiting your cheese, and using all veggie toppings, you’ve made a version of pizza that is higher in fiber, lower in fat and cholesterol, and more nutrient dense – that means more nutrition for fewer calories. Additionally, homemade pizza can be made in a flash, is much cheaper than buying a ready-made one, and cuts out the preservatives and sodium found in frozen and restaurant pizzas.

Having a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to stop eating the foods you love; usually, recipes just require a little thoughtful tweaking and an eye to portion size to balance your plate and your diet.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading!

Anna

12 Ways to FINALLY Get Healthy – And Yes, Lose Weight and Keep It Off!

People are always asking me how to lose weight, especially in the months leading up to swimsuit season. You probably already know that eating less and moving more leads to weight loss; however, health is more than just a number on the scale or a dress size. Instead of focusing only on your weight, pursue a healthier lifestyle – it will lead to weight loss as well as a better overall quality of life.

Here are a few specific guidelines that lead to a significantly healthier lifestyle.

1.      Determine your motivating factor. This is of utmost importance. Don’t ask yourself the question, “Why does my wife want me to lose weight?” Ask yourself why YOU want to lose weight. This reason needs to be important enough to keep you motivated as you pursue your health goals. It needs to be big enough to help you help you maintain those changes for the long term. You can definitely have more than one reason, but be sure to keep them clear, concise, and personal. They can serve as a self-empowering mantra when faced with temptations to veer off the path to a healthier lifestyle.

 

2.      Keep a food & activity journal. It doesn’t have to be every single day, but studies do show that journaling can help keep your diet on track and support lasting weight loss. You don’t have to do calorie counts and run all the numbers, but maintaining a food log keeps you accountable to yourself. You can look for overall patterns of being more active, or eating more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, and fewer sweets or fatty snacks, for example. If you are interested in keeping track of specific numbers, try a website like livestrong.com, sparkpeople.com, or a phone app, or you can crank out the numbers yourself using a site like calorieking.com. However, all that accounting can wear a person down, and really isn’t necessary unless you are doing everything you think you can and still feel like you aren’t seeing any results.
  

3.      Find a support group/person. Whether it’s a health professional, relative, neighbor, friend, spouse, or someone you meet through a weight loss group or forum, it’s so important to find someone (or a group of people) who will offer their help and support in your journey to a healthier way of living. Additionally, those people who most closely affect your health habits (such as significant others or household members) need to be clued in that you are trying to make changes; letting them know about your new lifestyle gives them the ability to show support by not begging you to try a new fast food restaurant, buy you big boxes of chocolate to show their affections, or asking to drive to the corner market instead of walk or bike. Having a support system adds accountability to your lifestyle – not just to yourself, but with someone else. Make sure this person is a positive influence in your life, not someone who will bring you down when you have bumps in the road.

4.      Eat regularly spaced small meals and snacks throughout the day. Eating only 2-3 square meals a day makes your blood sugar peak and drop drastically after each meal, which leads to energy bursts and crashes as well as a decreased ability to portion control at mealtimes. Eating regularly throughout the day keeps hunger in check and has been shown to support weight management and helps curb hunger. See my blog on snacks for more information.

5.      Read your labels and ingredient lists. What we don’t want is to simply assume that a food is healthy without first examining the ingredients and label. The exception? Fresh fruits and vegetables. Those are always good choices. Remember, saturated and trans fats are the bad fats (see blog entry on fats here), added sugar is a no-no, and we want all our grains to be whole (check out more about label reading in my entry about picking a healthy cereal). Overall, the more unpronounceable ingredients there are on the ingredients list, the more processed it is. We want as many fresh, whole ingredients as possible.

6.      Eat more plant foods and drink plenty of water. This means fruits, veggies, beans & legumes, tofu, nuts & seeds, and whole grains. These foods provide fiber, vitamins, minerals, and lots of phytonutrients as well. Plant foods are completely cholesterol-free since cholesterol only comes from animal foods; most are also low in saturated fat. You don’t have to eat completely vegetarian to reap the benefits of plant foods, just shift your animal food to plant food ratio! Drinking more water will keep your body hydrated and ensure you don't mistake thirst for hunger.

7.      Lead an active lifestyle. Just move more. Taking your dog for a walk, your child to the park, going for a hike through a nearby metro park, walking around the zoo, gardening, biking to a friend’s house, taking the stairs at work, mowing the lawn, exergaming, vacuuming; all these add up to an active lifestyle. It isn’t exercise, but it does keep you from living a sedentary life.

8.      Make time to exercise most days of the week. And be realistic about your expectations! Gentlemen, you may never look like Vin Diesel. Ladies, you may never be a size two. Instead of going into the gym with unrealistic expectations of losing 5 pounds in a day, having cut abs and Michelle Obama arms, and finally fitting into those skinny jeans by this weekend, aim to gain self-confidence in yourself and in your body. Fixating on a “right” size will just lead to frustration and negative associations with working out. It’s easy to think being a certain weight will lead to happiness in all other realms of your life, but that isn’t how it works. When you exercise, think of what you are doing for your heart, for your longevity and long-term mobility. Learn to take pride in your body and its ability to carry you farther, lift more weight, or become more flexible. Exercise to clear your mind, help your body, find a sense of peace, create a routine, and sleep better, and stop worrying about those skinny jeans. Most health experts recommend fitting in at least 150 minutes of moderate to intense exercise each week, so work on increasing those minutes week by week until you hit your goal.

9.      Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. This may sound impossible for some, but it really is the best thing to do for your health – and your weight. Neglecting your sleep schedule can mean messing up the amount of certain hormones your body makes while you’re sleeping, including hormones involved with signaling hunger, appetite, and satiety. Turn off the TV, put down your work, and get into bed at a decent hour; sleep needs to be a priority in your life.

10.  Limit the salty snacks, savory desserts, fast food/eating out, and sugary drinks – in short, lay off the junk food. This is an obvious one. Is it a food that is going to help you or hurt you? Are you eating it to fuel your body or your appetite?

11.  Eat appropriate portion sizes. Use smaller plates, smaller cups, smaller utensils. Serve yourself. Look at serving sizes on food labels for guides. Think quality, not quantity. Eat more slowly and don’t go back for seconds until at least 20 minutes as passed. All in all, eat less of the not-so-great stuff and pile high the fruits and veggies. MyPlate (the new food "pyramid") is a good example of what a balanced meal can look like. 

 

12.  Stay positive. Staying optimistic about your progress and dealing with obstacles as they come greatly improves the chances of turning your lifestyle around permanently – as well as losing those extra pounds and keeping them off. Negative self-talk puts you at risk of falling back to old habits. When you see a number on the scale you don’t like, or if you really veered off your diet for a day (or a month), instead of talking down to yourself and focusing on the bad, think about the ways you can get back on the wagon and what has worked for you in the past. Studies show that people who were more positive throughout a weight loss journey were the ones that managed to achieve their weight goals and keep those extra pounds off for the long run.

Thanks for reading!

Anna