Although Alicia Silverstone is a huge proponent of vegan eating, she admits that she sometimes lets herself eat something that contains animal products. Dairy is her weakness, reports FitPerez. “If I was at a party and there was a tray of cheese sitting there and I had had drinks, then I might have a bite,” said Silverstone.
Although she’s author of a cookbook of her favorite vegan recipes, The Kind Diet, the actress doesn’t feel too guilty about these little indulgences in her otherwise strict vegan diet. “It’s human. It’s a really good reminder that sometimes you need to have what you remember is this good thing,” Alicia says. “Because then you have it, and you’re like, ‘Actually that wasn’t better than the recipes in my book.”
With the cold weather rolling in, there’s no better time for a hearty bowl of soup. While some cream-based soups can be calorie traps, making your own soup at home is fast, economical and healthy, because you can control what ingredients and how much of them you put into the soup.
To shake up your soup routine, try some of our favorite techniques, including adding new vegetables to your favorite chowders, skipping the meat in your favorite chili and cutting down on the cream. You’ll still have that satisfying bowl of soup that will help take away the chill right up until spring.
Creamy Broccoli Soup: If the cold weather leaves you craving creamy, comforting soups, you can skip the cream, flour and butter that give most cream soups their velvety textures. Use white bean puree to add depth and consistency to a lightened-up cream of broccoli soup that delivers fiber and nutrients along with taste. (more…)
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.
I bet you didn’t know that November 15 is “Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day” or that November 29 is “Throw Out Your Leftovers Day.” But I bet you do know that your refrigerator is crammed with foods that don’t fit well with your desire to eat healthy and lose weight.
So please join me, Mr. Bad Food, for our first annual “out with the old, in with the new” push for a healthier tomorrow – and an easier start to our next great weight loss attempt.
It’s time to turn a cold shoulder to the 10 worst foods in your fridge.
1. Mayo– If you’re like me, more is better when it comes to mayo. So while a little won’t hurt you, a lot will. A quarter-cup of mayo will make your sandwich savory, but at the cost of an extra 360 calories and 40 grams of fat. (more…)
It appears that a little “pat on the back,” positive reinforcement, or constructive criticism are all good things for weight loss. People who take part in online weight loss programs see better results when they receive feedback.
A study, which included 179 people who were taking part in Shape Up RI, an annual online 12-week community weight-loss competition in Rhode Island, found that people who had a computer-generated feedback component lost the most weight.
The study had three groups: one with just the standard Shape Up RI program, another with the standard program and additional video lessons, and those with both of these plus added feedback. The group that lost the most weight, 7.7 pounds on average, had all three components to their program. (more…)
There’s a war going on between public officials, health advocates and the fast food industry. Fast food is winning.
San Francisco is supporting a measure to ban toys in fast food meals. The measure, designed to combat childhood obesity, is set to take place in December 2024.
But for anyone quick to make a knee-jerk reaction about the politics behind all of this, remember we now live in a black and white society where issues are supported purely by liberals or conservatives; and San Francisco’s mayor wants to veto the measure.
“Parents, not politicians, should decide what their children eat,” he said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The social libertarian in me sides with the mayor, in part because there are parents who take part in the occasional drive-thru with their kids (including the person typing these words), but don’t overdo it. Should our decisions be taken out of our hands because of other people’s overindulgences? (more…)
In the latest push to get New Yorkers to eat better, city Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking on salt. The mayor previously launched several visceral attacks on sodas and other sugary beverages. Now, he’s urging city residents to cut down on their intake of sodium. The new campaign targets frozen dinners and canned soups, and features images of these foods surrounded by heaps of salt. The images are accompanied by messages like “Excessive can lead to heart attack and stroke.”
Excess salt in one’s diet can potentially lead to a number of serious health conditions, like high blood pressure and other cardiovascular conditions. WPIX reports that 23,000 deaths are caused by cardiovascular-related conditions in New York City alone.
In the last two weeks, I’ve had about a million people ask me if turkey can make you tired. Let me tell you, all at once, that turkey dinners have received an unwarranted reputation. It’s true that turkey contains an amino acid by the name of tryptophan. It’s also true that tryptophan is known for inducing sleep. Logically, one could come to the conclusion that turkey’s tryptophan makes you tired after Thanksgiving dinner. Scientifically, your post-feast fatigue is more likely derived from different sources.
In order to induce sleep, large amounts of tryptophan must reach the body’s neuro-center, the brain. To accomplish this, the tryptophan must be taken on an empty stomach. When consumed as part of a meal (like your Thanksgiving feast) tryptophan simply cannot produce sleep-inducing effects. According to National Geographic News, “Turkey isn’t even unusually high in tryptophan. Many foods, such as beef or soybeans, boast higher concentrations.” Given the facts, it’s still impossible to ignore the after-dinner burnout that Americans face on Thanksgiving Day. (more…)
This week, the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) released two complementary reports that revealed some head-turning information about America’s fruit and vegetable consumption. The 2024 Gap Analysis, which analyzed America’s fruit and vegetable consumption and a second report that examined consumer attitudes towards eating fruits and veggies reported that the “gap” between the fruits and vegetables that Americans should eat and what they are actually eating is costing Americans $56 billion per year in related health care costs.
“Fruit and vegetable consumption is low for a compilation of reasons,” said Elizabeth Pivonka, Ph.D., R.D., president and CEO of PBH. “Despite the fact that fruits and vegetables are convenient, people are cooking less and eating out more, where there are fewer fruits and vegetables available. Restaurants account for only 3% of fruit and 15% of vegetables that are consumed.” (more…)
Pamela Ofstein is the Director of Nutrition Services at eDiets.com, a leading provider of weight loss services, information and products.
Stress is often part of our lives. It’s hard to avoid and we unfortunately face it practically every day. But even when times get tough, there are ways to deal with it and reach our goals (in this case, weight loss).
First, recognize what you are already doing to help you reach your goal and give credit where credit is due.
Steps like walking should become a regular habit. Next, move on to making another small change, such as keeping a water bottle with you at all times to make sure you are staying hydrated; keeping cut up veggies around to snack on during the day; breathing slowly for a few minutes to de-stress (count back from 10); etc. (more…)
When I first opened the new Biggest Loser Dessert Cookbook, I just kept thinking “I want it! I want it! I want it!”. When I told the book’s author, Chef Devin Alexander, she enthusiastically replied “You can have it! You can have it! You can have it!”. The author behind many other Biggest Loser cookbooks and several of her own, says it’s because this is the first cookbook of its kind. All the recipe ingredients are all-natural and unprocessed, not to mention low in calories, fat and with hardly any saturated fat.
Too good to be true? Maybe, but the good news is it’s true!
Devin spent the summer working on this top secret project at the request of Biggest Loser. They gave her some unheard of rules that would have left her with a dessert cookbook without any chocolate syrup or whipped cream, as examples. She told herself to revolutionize, and she did. The results include her own creations for a chocolate syrup (unsweetened cocoa powder and agave nectar), her own “Cut the Crap” Whipped Topping (egg whites and agave), as well as the one recipe in the book she is most proud of, “New”-Tella, a natural alternative to that “other” hazelnut spread that she says “is actually kind of good for you.”
Listen now as Devin talks to us about how these desserts can complement your diet, how she used a variety of ingredients to maintain the textures and flavors people love, and how substitutions can work in your home baking.
Dunkin’ Donuts announced last week that they will be offering a new twist on their popular mini-doughnuts: the Pancake Bite. Each Pancake Bite contains a small ball of sausage wrapped in a maple-flavored “pancake” coating. This “breakfast snack” is being promoted as a “poppable” and convenient way to enjoy a pancake and sausage breakfast without the effort of cooking it, or even sitting down as a table. “You can take with you on the go, in the car, at work or any time day or night,” said Dunkin’ Brands’ Executive Chef Stan Frankenthaler in the press release.
First of all, the idea of a “breakfast snack” already spells out diet disaster. The name implies that you’ll be snacking on Pancake Bites after you’ve already eaten your morning meal. Plus, “eating on the go” is less likely to leave you feeling full and satisfied, and more likely to consume additional calories.
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