Diet and Nutrition

Weight Loss Comes Down to Simple Math

Maruchy Lachance is president of Running Ninja!, a lifestyle brand for runners by runners. Running Ninja! offers a wide variety of apparel and gifts for runners to keep you happy and inspired while you’re on the run.

A week ago I was involved in a spirited conversation about which weight loss plan works best. I am a fan of the system that encourages taking responsibility by attending meetings, weigh-ins and preparing your own food. My friend prefers getting out of her own way. This is why she has someone else manage her diet. Her food is delivered to her weekly, in perfect portions and caloric amounts. While engaging in this discussion another friend chimed in: “If you can do basic math, you can lose weight.” He said, suddenly demystifying the entire process. (more…)

Posted on December 12, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Healthy Eating Strategies for Holiday Celebrations

Mary Hartley, RD, MPH, Director of Nutrition at Calorie Count has answered thousands of diet and nutrition questions from Calorie Count members. And that’s not counting the advice she has given countless others during her 30-year career as a professional dietitian. Mary provides accurate and wise diet advice in a no-nonsense way to address the physical and personal barriers to reaching and maintaining ideal weight.

Calorie Count Members find it challenging to maintain their new lifestyle changes during the holidays. Here are a few of our readers’ favorite “Ask Mary Q+As” about coping with holiday food.

Ask Mary: How do I handle eating at a party?

Handle all parties the same way. Don’t go to the party famished and don’t overdo the alcohol because both behaviors open the door to indiscriminate eating. Look over the entire table before joining the serving line. If you are eating a full meal, choose several items in reasonable portions to make up a balanced meal. Look for the vegetables and skip the foods that are breaded and fried or covered in sauce, cream, butter, or cheese. Leave the serving area to eat while seated where you can converse. At a cocktail party, choose only the offerings that you love the best. Take a small portion and think about how great you’ll look and feel at a healthy weight.

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Posted on December 11, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Take a Break for Weight Loss Motivation

John McGran, chief editor at Diet-to-Go, has been covering the fields of diet, fitness and health since 2000. He writes from the perspective of a dieter rather than a dietitian.

When you get to a point with your diet where you feel like screaming, “Gimme a break!”… well, that’s exactly what you may need to do: Stop your diet and take a break. The experts will tell you that stopping and restarting your diet is sometimes the best way to bust through a weight plateau or to simply recharge your motivation.

No one is telling you that a diet break is a free pass to start eating anything and everything you want. It’s more a chance to relax a little and stop counting points or calories. You should still eat smart and healthy, but you don’t have to think about it for a stretch of time. (more…)

Posted on December 10, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Can Asperger’s Syndrome Be Helped by a Gluten-Free Diet?

Gluten-free dietThere have been a variety of diets that claim to lessen the symptoms of Autism, particularly the gluten-free/casein-free diet, or GFCF diet. Many parents of children with Asperger’s Syndrome, a different but similar pervasive development disorder, have also reported beneficial results from giving their child a GFCP diet.

Those who endorse the GFCP diet believe that children with Asperger’s syndrome and Autism are extra-sensitive to Gluten, which is found is wheat, and casein, which is found in dairy. The theory is that children with these disorders are unable to properly digest these substances, and that the undigested molecules become peptides that adversely affect the brain.

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Posted on December 10, 2023 by Margaret

Food for Thought: Imagining Food May Help With Weight Loss

With all those unhealthy treats around this time of year, temptation seems to be everywhere — from grandma’s cookies to your aunt’s egg nog to that tasty finger-food at your neighbor’s annual holiday party. But what if the secret to not overindulging wasn’t based on will power or self control, but rather a simple trick of the mind? It may seem like this type of Jedi-like behavior is right out of the Star Wars series, but research says that your brain can be a powerful ally in losing weight — if you use it the right way.

For many people who are trying to lose weight, visualizing yourself eating a not-so-healthy treat seems more like torture than a weight-loss strategy, but according to new research, scientists have found that imagining yourself eating a certain food may actually help you reduce your consumption of that food by decreasing your appetite for it. Talk about fascinating!

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Posted on December 10, 2023 by Jennipher

Streamline Your Breakfast Routine to Start Your Day Right

Breakfast is the first thing we’re supposed to eat in the morning and the fuel that we need to power through the day. Ideally, breakfast should be a nutritious meal, but some dietitians and fitness experts tell their clients that they are better off eating anything – even a donut! – than skipping the meal entirely.

Even if you’re strapped for time in the morning, there are still ways to eat a healthy breakfast that don’t include the drive-thru.

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Posted on December 10, 2023 by Maris

Salad Dressing May Not Break Your Healthy Diet

Salads are a convenient and tasty way to make sure you’re getting enough vegetables in your diet but sometimes, the addition of salad dressing can add fat and empty calories to your otherwise healthy plate.

Luckily, recent studies show that some salad dressing varieties, like types made with vegetable oils, can actually help your body absorb nutrients.

According to Patricia Groziak, M.S., R.D., the senior nutrition manager for Unilever, the presence of dietary fat is important for the body’s absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamins A and E.

“A variety of studies have looked at the body’s absorption of these vitamins from common food sources, including raw vegetable salads,” said Groziak. “Research has shown that absorption of carotenoids (vitamin A) and vitamin E is greater when salad vegetables are eaten with full-fat or reduced-fat dressings as compared with a dressing that contained no oil.”

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Posted on December 9, 2023 by Maris

The Confusing Glycemic Index Diet Explained

For years, diet researchers have suggested that a high-protein,  low glycemic index diet may work best for losing pounds and maintaining a healthy body weight. Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that while many people attempt a high protein, low glycemic diet, they may not understand exactly how the diet actually works.

The glycemic index is a diet plan meant to lower insulin levels and insulin resistance, increase energy and lower stress. Initially developed to help diabetes patients maintain stable insulin levels, a high glycemic index food is above 70, while a medium food is from 55 to 70 and a low glycemic index food is below 55. Overall, the glycemic index refers to how fast carbohydrates are broken down in the body.

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Posted on December 9, 2023 by Maris

Sneaky Ways to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

It’s no secret that Americans’ diets could use some improvement. Currently, the USDA recommends that for the average 2,000-calorie diet, individuals should consumer 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables per day.

The USDA also reported that good nutrition is vital to good health and is essential for the healthy growth and development of children and adolescents. To help improve your current health and prevent certain disease, there are plenty of easy ways to eat a little more green in your diet.

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Posted on December 9, 2023 by Maris

Mother’s Diet During Pregnancy Has Lasting Influence on Children

The old adage of “you are what you eat” holds some truth to it, but it holds an even deeper meaning for pregnant women. It’s more like “you and your unborn child are what you eat.”

According to a two-year study, a pregnant woman’s diet has a direct impact on their unborn baby’s brain and their future eating and drinking habits. They are also “sensitized” to the smells and flavors of those foods.

The researchers say that this is the first study to examine what happens to the brain after steady exposure to flavors in utero and early in postnatal life. They examined pregnant mice, giving one group a bland diet and another a flavored diet. At their weaning age, the pups who had the flavored diet had significantly larger glomeruli, the brain’s factory which processes smells. This meant that their sense of smell was changed depending on the mother’s diet. (more…)

Posted on December 9, 2023 by Jason

Get More Fiber in Your Diet the Natural Way

Even though the American Heart Association recommends 25-30 grams of dietary fiber daily to help prevent disease and regulate bodily functions, it has been reported that nine out of ten Americans still consume only about half that amount.

As  consumers seek more ways to consume fiber, food companies are responding by reformulating products to include more whole grains and fiber supplements to soups, yogurts, granola bars, baking mixes and even Splenda, a zero-calorie sweetener made from sucralose.

While it’s certainly positive to see people consuming more fiber, Tanya Zuckerbrot, MS, RD, the author of bestselling The F-Factor Diet and SkinnyInTheCity.com cautions that as fiber becomes a nutrition trend, companies are adding  fiber to foods that are inherently not healthy.

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Posted on December 8, 2023 by Maris