Fiber Every Day Helps Shed the Pounds Away

Now that the holiday is over let’s get back on our previous topic, breakfast! Have you been able to make breakfast a part of your daily life? If you have, do you notice a difference in how you feel? If not, what is stopping you? Let me know how things are going. Adding breakfast into your daily routine is definitely worth all of the added health benefits.

You might have noticed whenever I mentioned adding starch or bread sources into your breakfast, I encouraged high fiber sources. There is a reason for this. Fiber is one of nature‘s miracle phytonutrients, which is a component found in food that has added health benefits. Fiber is the part of complex carbohydrates that your body cannot breakdown, or digest, and therefore is not absorbed into the bloodstream. Since your body cannot absorb fiber, it is not able to absorb the calories or some of the carbohydrates from fiber. The most common complaint about fiber is the side effects of bloating and gas. Gas increases because our bodies do not have enough of enzymes needed to break down fiber. Have no fear, there are nonprescription items like Beano or gas-X to help relieve these side effects until your body gets acclimated. Increasing your intake of fluid, especially non-carbonated fluids like water and tea, will also help alleviate the unwanted side effects. Studies show that fiber can help lower cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, weight and certain cancer risks.  Fiber is found in the plant sources in our diet, such as fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, nuts and seeds. There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. On a food label it will list how much “Dietary Fiber” there is in a product and then below breakdown how much of the dietary fiber is from soluble versus insoluble food sources. Both types of fiber have their benefits and play an important role in overall health.  

Soluble fiber is found in foods such as oat bran, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas, some fruits and vegetables, and barley. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and when cooked the food source will have a tendency to develop a soft and mushy texture. Studies show that soluble fiber aids in slowing digestion and helping you to fill full longer. It is also thought to have more of an impact on cholesterol, especially LDL or “BAD” cholesterol, than insoluble fiber.  Soluble fiber lowers cholesterol by binding to dietary cholesterol in the intestines and stopping its absorption. As a result, the liver pulls more cholesterol from the blood stream to keep its needed supply adequate and blood cholesterol levels drop. Another benefit to soluble fiber is especially found in people who have diabetes. Eating more soluble fiber helps to control the post meal blood sugar spike because it slows the overall digestion, or absorption, of food.

Insoluble fiber is found in foods such as wheat bran, vegetables, and whole grains. Insoluble fiber holds water and adds bulk and when cooked the texture of the food source becomes chewy and tough. As a result, it promotes bowel regularity and helps to move unwanted waste through the intestines and out of the body. By limiting the body’s exposure to unwanted waste, it is thought to decrease the risk of certain cancers, such as colon cancer. The bulking effect of insoluble fiber is beneficial for people who suffer from intestinal diseases such as diverticulitis, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and hemorrhoids. Insoluble fiber is also thought to help balance out the body’s pH in the intestines to help promote healthy bacterial growth which strengthens the intestinal tract. The gastrointestinal tract is a very important and a large part of our immune system.

Regardless of what type of fiber you are eating, foods high in fiber seem to be lower in fat, sugar and overall calories, while high in other essential nutrients. Foods high in fiber usually contain more anti-oxidants, iron, magnesium, B vitamins and protein. Studies are also looking into the health benefits of other phytonutrients found in high fiber foods such as lignan and phytic acid. People who consume a high fiber diet seem to have smaller waist lines.  Why you might ask? It is thought that it is because foods high in fiber help to satisfy your hunger longer because of how they expand in the stomach and intestines. As a result, people who eat high fiber diets have a tendency to eat less overall calories. In fact, studies show consuming a high fiber food or bar with 2 glasses of water 30 minutes before a meal will help lower overall calorie consumption and lead to weight loss.

Have I convinced you to add more fiber into your diet? Good! Just make sure you add fiber slowly. The average American barely eats 7-10 grams of fiber per day. Adding fiber too quickly can increase and worsen the unwanted side effects. It is recommended to aim for a goal of 25 to 40 grams of fiber per day. Be careful, because consuming more than 55 grams of fiber per day can actually decrease your absorption of essential vitamins, minerals and necessary fat. Remember breakfast is a great time to add foods that are high in fiber. Foods that have 5 grams of dietary fiber or more are considered high fiber foods. Try to avoid, or limit, foods that have less than 3 grams of fiber per serving. When adding fiber to your diet, make sure you increase your overall fluid and water intake and increase your activity level. More exercise or activity will help keep the fiber moving and limit constipation.

Need help figuring out how to increase your fiber consumption? Check out the following resource:

www.fiberone.com

Have a wonderful week!

XOXO! The Dietnista

Holiday Tips & Tricks – Surviving the Holidays When Trying to Lose Weight

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Are you ready for the holidays?  I know this week we are supposed to talk about lunch, but with Thanksgiving just around the corner I thought it would be a better idea to discuss some holiday survival tips.

Did you know that the average American gains over 5 pounds during the holidays? What is even more amazing is that it takes consuming 3500 more calories to gain 1 pound of weight. That means the average American consumes over 17,500 calories more during the holidays than throughout the rest of the year. This is most likely due to holiday foods being higher in fat and sugar.  When you stop and think about it, we don’t just consume these higher calorie foods on the day of the holiday itself, but the days to follow because of leftovers. As a result, you can see how easy it is to consume over 17,500 more calories without meaning to. Here are some survival tips to deal with the holidays to help you avoid the increase calorie consumption and its’ unwanted side effects.

First…..Modify your typical holiday recipes so starting out there are fewer calories.  If you are not sure how many calories are in your favorite recipes, check out www.sparkrecipes.com to get the nutritional breakdown.

To reduce sugar:

To keep the recipes sweet, use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar to reduce the overall calories in the recipe. Make sure that you are using the version of sweetener that can be used in baked goods. Splenda and Equal both make a version of sugar and brown sugar that can be used in cooking. Limit/Avoid all sweeteners that contain sugar alcohols. These can cause unwanted side effects such as: gas, bloating, loose stools, and diarrhea. Everyone has a different tolerance level before the side effects take place. Sugar Alcohols are any words that end in “-tol”.  Check the ingredients list of all sugar substitutes and “sugar free” or “no sugar added” foods to see if they contain sugar alcohols. Another way to give the allusion of sweetness is using extracts such as vanilla or peppermint. Some common spices, such as nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and allspice, help enhance the sweetness as well.

When using fruit in recipes, use fresh or frozen fruit and limit the canned or dried. If you do use canned fruits make sure that they are in their own juice instead of in syrup, even if it is light syrup.  This is another way to limit the unwanted calories.

To reduce fat:

Lighten up the ingredients during preparation when there are lower fat options available (e.g. skim milk, low fat sour cream, fat free condensed milk, 2% cheese, light butter, light cream cheese, etc.).  Try using pureed fruits, such as prunes or applesauce as half of the needed oil, shortening, margarine or butter in the recipes. Instead of using fat in recipes to add flavor, try calorie free seasonings and herbs.

Making turkey soup or stew for the holidays? Try to make it ahead of schedule so that you can put it in the refrigerator. The fat will harden on the top of the soup and you can scoop it out before reheating.  This will also work with any canned vegetables or soups that contain fat. You can tell that a canned product contains fat by looking at the food label. Where it says “total fat” anything over 5 grams is considered a serving of fat.

Limit alcohol intake. Remember that all alcohol digests as a fat, not as a carbohydrate like most people think. The other problem with alcohol is the average person has a tendency to consume 60% more calories when drinking. As a result you are getting extra calories from the alcohol itself and the appetite increase that it causes.

To increase fiber:

Use whole wheat flour/pastas/bread and rice in recipes where these products are needed. You can also add in fiber supplements such as Benefiber, Metamucil and Konsol Psyllium fiber to increase fiber content.  In some instances you can use products such as, Fiber One, All Bran or oatmeal to enhance your crust or breading in your recipes.

Add extra vegetables and beans to soups and casseroles. Try to use non-starchy vegetables, such as artichokes, asparagus, green beans, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, green onions, greens, mushrooms, stewed okra, onions, pea pods, peppers, radishes, sauerkraut, spinach, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips, water chestnuts, and zucchini, to avoid adding extra calories into the recipe.

To reduce salt:

When using canned foods that contain sodium, pour the contents of the can into a strainer and run water over them. This will help to wash a lot of the salt off the food.

Finally…..to avoid holiday weight gain….. Get moving.

Try to double your exercise routine the weeks before and the weeks right after the holidays. This will help to limit the impact that the unintentional calories can have on weight and overall health. Remember it takes 3500 calories to gain a pound of weight. So when trying to lose, you have to burn 3500 extra calories to lose 1 pound of weight. Frustrating, I know.

Most importantly, enjoy the time with family and friends.  I hope all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

XOXO! The Dietnista

Breakfast fuels champions!

Still keeping track of your food and fluid intake? I know by this point it probably feels tedious, but I promise it will help you to make changes in your overall lifestyle and health.  The more we understand about our daily patterns the better we are at changing them.

Last week we explored the importance of eating 3 meals a day. This week we are going to begin to examine the importance of each meal and discuss the nutritional goals for the meals. Let’s start with the most important meal of the day….you guessed it…..BREAKFAST. Look at your daily food and fluid log. How many days in the past 2 weeks have you eaten breakfast?  If you skipped breakfast, I want you to write down why? Was it lack of time? Not hungry? Not sure what to eat? Skipping breakfast to cut back on calories? What?

You should be hungry within 30 minutes to 1 hr after waking up in the morning. This is a good thing!  Hunger pangs after a long period without eating help you to know that your metabolism is working. It also helps to tell you when your body is low on glucose (i.e. your body’s gasoline, or energy source).  Your body needs a fresh supply of glucose after a long period without eating.  Organs, such as your brain and heart cannot store glucose and therefore rely on you to routinely refuel them.  Studies show that people who eat breakfast are usually more productive and have the ability to concentrate better and problem solve. As a result breakfast eaters have a better attitude towards work and daily living activities.  Studies also show that people who skip breakfast have a tendency to be more moody, fatigued and distracted throughout the day. Both points are shown to be true in children and teenagers, as well as adults.  Remember children follow their parents habits….so if you start eating breakfast, they will too.

Now the question becomes….what should you eat for breakfast? If you are not a breakfast eater, then start small. Get your body used to the idea of eating breakfast. Our bodies are very smart and learn to adapt to the environment we give them. If you do not eat breakfast your body will adjust and figure out how to compensate. The bad thing is your body always overcompensates. Studies show that people who do not eat breakfast have a tendency to eat more throughout the rest of the day and tend to eat more fat calories especially, which in excess, the body stores as fat.  As a result, people who do not eat breakfast have a tendency to battle their weight. 

If you already eat breakfast…..perfect!   Let me see if I can give you some guidance on what foods to choose.  It is recommended for most people to consume the following:

1 serving of Fruit= 15 grams Carbohydrate

Examples:  Small apple, Clementine, 15 grapes, 10 cherries, half of a small banana, half of an orange or grapefruit, 1 cup of berries, small peach or plum, or any fruit that is the size of a tennis ball or can fit into a tennis ball

2 servings of high fiber Starch/bread = 30 grams Carbohydrate and >4 grams Dietary Fiber

Examples:  1 cup of high fiber cereal (more than 4 grams fiber/serving), 1 cup of oatmeal cooked, 1 pre-packaged high fiber oatmeal (more than 4 grams fiber/serving), 2 slices of whole wheat toast,  1 bagel thin, 1 sandwich thin, or 1 whole wheat English muffin

1 serving of milk/dairy (preferably fat free) = 15 grams Carbohydrate

Examples:  8 ounces of cow’s milk, 6 ounces of yogurt, 8 ounces of soy milk, or 8 ounces of almond milk

1 Fat serving, if you did not consume any from your dairy source (preferably mono- or poly- unsaturated) = 5 grams of fat

Examples:  2 teaspoons of peanut butter, 6-10 nuts, 2 tablespoons of light cream cheese, 2 pecans or walnuts, or 1 wedge of light laughing cow cheese

Remember…. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and can help you achieve success in weight loss and improving your overall health! Breakfast fuels champions!

XOXO!

The Dietnista

Eating Every 4 to 6 hours a Day Can Help You Shed the Pounds Away

Happy Tuesday!  I hope you had a good week last week and a great weekend!

How did this week’s challenge go? Were you able to keep up with everything you ate? Did you notice any eating patterns? Were you able to find the nutritional break down on your meals? Did anything surprise you? How many calories did you eat on average per day?  How many grams of Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat and Fiber did you consume on average per day?

My goal is to help you break down your diet and figure out eating patterns that you can change to improve your overall health and achieve your personal goals.  Together, over the next couple of weeks, we will walk through your diet and help you to achieve this goal. Continue to keep track of what you are eating.

Let’s start out by looking at the basics. Did you eat three meals a day every day this week? 

A big mistake that most people make when dieting is in order to decrease calories, they will skip meals. This is never a good idea.  Picture your body like a car. You would never get in the car and try to drive across country with the gas tank sitting on empty, right?  Right! The car would break down on the side of the road and you would ruin your engine.  Your body is the same way. Calories are your bodies “gasoline” (or energy) source.  With the right breakdown in calories, you can help your body to run more efficiently and smoothly. Now on the opposite side of the equation, you wouldn’t sit at the gas station and overfill your car with gasoline so that gas was spilling onto the concrete, right? Right! It is the same idea with your body. There is a fine line that when crossed, you have over-consumed food and therefore consumed too many calories, which will contribute to weight gain.

To make sure that you have enough fuel for your body and to help limit hunger, you should try to eat every 4 to 6 hours during the time you are awake.  This will help keep your energy level up and gas tank full.  Now to make sure that you don’t consume too many calories, let’s make it simple. If you are a female, take your goal weight and multiply it by 10. If you are a male, take your goal weight and multiply by 11. That should be the amount of calories that you try to consume per day to achieve your weight loss goal. Example:  Female - If your goal weight is 150 lbs......take 150 x 10= 1500 calories daily. This is the maximum amount of calories that you are trying to reach per day to facilitate weight loss. The bare minimum amount of calories that any one should eat without medical supervision is 1200 calories. Anything less than a 1200 calories diet needs to be discussed with your doctor.

Please keep in mind that I understand everyone has individual needs when it comes to their health. So if you have any specific questions please let me know and I will try to answer it as best I can without having all of your medical history and health concerns. The advice I give is general advice.

This week’s challenge: Figure out what your realistic target weight is. Where would you feel comfortable in your own skin? Where would you be happy? Take that number and multiply it by 10 and try to limit your daily calories to that amount.  If your target weight requires you to eat less than 1200 calories based on the calculation, I would recommend increasing your exercise to achieve your weight loss goal. Current research shows that just losing 5% to 15% of your weight can help drastically reduce your risk of health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and high cholesterol.

Need helping tracking your food? Check out the following I-phone apps and websites:

www.myfitnesspal.com (also an app for iPhone)

www.my-calorie-counter.com

www.caloriecount.com (also an app for iPhone)

“Lose It!“ app on iPhone

Don't forget to "Like" me on Facebook to stay up-to-date on my Dietnista Tips of the Day. 

Good luck!

The Dietnista

To lose weight, or not to lose weight...that is the question.

Hello again!  Let’s start with the topic that is on most people’s minds...weight loss.

I know that you are probably hoping that I give you this simple weight loss secret that will help you to shed all the weight you want in minutes, maybe even seconds.  I wish!  If it were that simple I would be a millionaire by now and America would not be the fattest nation in the world. The fact is a lot of diets out there simply do not work, at least in the long term. Many diets label 1 food group as the enemy. The reason people are overweight.  They claim that you can eat all the protein and fat you want, and you will still lose weight as long as you avoid Carbohydrates.  If that was true, why wouldn’t we just remove all of the carbohydrates from the American diet? Wouldn’t that fix the problem? As I am sure you can tell I am being sarcastic.

People tell me all the time that high protein, low carbohydrate diets helped them to lose weight fast. However, when you ask them how long they have been able to keep the weight off, most will admit that they have gained back most of the weight they lost, if not more. The frustrating thing is it is not their fault that they gained the weight back. The body was not meant to live without Carbohydrates.  Let me put these diets into a different perspective. If I gave you 2 chocolate candy bars, and told you that is all you could eat in a day, would you lose weight? YES. But would you be healthy? NO. Would you be able to live the rest of your life only eating 2 chocolate candy bars a day? NO. Without getting too technical, this is an exaggerated metaphor as to why these high protein, low carbohydrate diets seem to work in the short but leads to long term failure and health issues.

Did you know many studies are looking at the link between high protein, low carbohydrate diets as the cause for the increased risk of diabetes, heart disease (high cholesterol/stroke risk), and kidney disease?  It is even thought that eating too much protein can cause your skin to wrinkle faster. There are now many websites and books dedicated to educating America about the dangers of these fad diets.  The only thing that all diets have in common that is necessary for weight loss is calorie restriction.  There is not one food group that is “BAD” for you or one food group that is “GOOD” for you.  It is all about balance and moderation.  Calories in vs. Calories out.  I believe in the philosophy that small changes in your lifestyle can lead to big results, without feeling like you are depriving yourself.  As you continue to read my blog, you will notice that there are very few things that I will ever recommend you avoid completely.

This week’s dare: write down everything you eat and drink on a daily basis for the next 7 days. Try to keep a detailed log. Try to measure food and look up the nutrition when possible. If you can, keep track of the Carbohydrates, Protein, fat and fiber. Below are some sources you can use to look up information:

Calorie King book and website (www.calorieking.com)

www.sparkpeople.com

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

Good luck!  :-)