We're Fat, Sick & Getting Closer to Death. Why?

We're stuck at our desks for eight hours a day, we're not moving our bodies and our diets are made of mainly processed crap.

Well, that sucks.

This is all according to a recent study.  Even more depressing: obese women average about 11 seconds of exercise a day, resulting in about one hour per year while obese men get about 3.6 hours of exercise per year.

In the era of constant streams of information (including blogs like these) telling us that exercise will change our lives and help us live longer, where is the disconnect?  Why are people not getting the message and taking control of their health?

The study's lead author, Edward Archer a nutrition and obesity researcher at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, intimates we're that kind of lazy.

"We've engineered physical activity out of our daily lives and that's causing the health disparities that we have in this country," Archer tells HealthDay.

Think about it, so much of our every day life is automated and engineered to make us lazier: the remote control, being able to control our lives with our laptops and iPads, drive through everything.  You get the idea.

What does the multitude of wonderful technological innovations encourage us to do?  Spend more time at our desks, getting sicker, fatter and closer to death.  It's a slippery slope.

True words

The thing is, exercise is freaking awesome.  No other way to put it.  It's freaking awesome.  Nothing eliminates stress, makes you feel better about yourself and makes you look better than exercise.

Don't have enough time to workout?  Bullsh&%.  You do.  You just don't make it a priority.  It doesn't have to be 90 minutes every day.  You can get in great shape exercising 30 minutes most days of the week while mixing in a longer pilates class, a game of tennis, a round of golf or whatever floats your fitness boat once or twice.

Exercise is truly nature's antidepressant.  Make the commitment to do it five days a week and notice how much better you feel about yourself.  The improved physical appearance is simply a nice bonus.

Be honest: why do you struggle with making a commitment to exercise?

Have We Already Given Up On Our 2014 Fitness Goals?

I asked that question this Saturday when I was able to find a parking spot for my 10:30am yoga class at 10:22 at Equinox.  

Stick with me.  This was the first Saturday of 2014 that the parking lot wasn't completely full and I didn't have to arrive at the gym at 10:15 to get a spot for the 10:30 class.  In fact, the class wasn't even nearly full.  I wasn't stuck in the corner near the dirty yoga mats.  I was able to secure a spot smack dab in the middle of the room. 

This got me wondering: Have we already given up on our 2014 resolutions to get in better shape?

Experts say most people give up just after a month.  I know that sticking to a diet and staying committed to an exercise program isn't easy.  It's much easier to cancel a 6am workout in favor of an extra half hour of sleep in or go to happy hour after work versus a hitting the gym on a Monday. 

I am not a doctor, scientist or medical professional but I do have years of "exercise experience" and acquired knowledge.  When you exercise your body releases chemicals called endorphins.  These endorphins trigger a positive feeling in the body.  You know that "runner's high"?  Thank those endorphins.  Exercise truly is nature's antidepressant and the fountain of youth.  

Fighting through a barre class!

You do not have to kill yourself exercising, either.  I've said this a million times on this blog but there are a number of ways you can get your heart pumping, burn some calories and do your body some good: 

• Run, walk or bike outside.  Just move. 
• Take a class - I fell back in love with yoga and barre classes in 2014.   
• Work out with a trainer - I started working out once a week with trainer, Steve Burgess, and it has truly changed my exercise game.  I've learned so much. 
• Download the {free!} Nike Training Club app and do one of its workouts. 
• Hula hoop - it's a workout.  Promise.

My workout log

Another trick?  Try logging your workouts.  It's a great way to set goals for yourself and monitor your progress.  I have logged my workouts since college.  There's nothing better than looking back over the past few years, seeing what you did on a particular day and how you felt about it.

The Takeaway
Don't give up on those resolutions to get in better shape.  It's one of the best things you can do for yourself to make you feel better in an instant.   The weight you lose or extra muscle you gain are simply a nice bonus.  

Diet Tip #21: Make Sure You Eat Enough to Lose Weight

If eating less helps you lose weight, then eating a LOT less will help you lose weight faster, right?

Don't starve in anticipation of a big meal

Not so fast.

When your body doesn't get enough quality nutrition, it switches into starvation and conservation mode.  Meaning, it slows down your metabolism so that when you do eat, your body will burn the calories at a slower pace.  This helps you conserve what energy your body does have.

Additionally, if you are eating next to nothing the likelihood of you bingeing and blowing it all is high.

We've been there haven't we?  We're going out to a big dinner and we decide to eat next to nothing during the day.  Yet when we get to dinner, we devour the bread basket or chips and salsa and make bad food choices.  We end up eating way too much and feeling guilty about it afterwards.  This, in turn, makes the experience unpleasant.

Now, we've all seen the skinny folks who starve themselves.  That's borderline eating disorder and a completely different issue.

I'm focusing on consuming adequate amounts of quality foods, to help you be as healthy as you can be and maintain a good weight that's right for your body.

Diet Tip #20: Check for Sneaky Sugar

Tuesday we focused on snack swaps you can make when you're craving sugar.  Today let's be more proactive.

Sugar can be the devil.  It's a devil I love and battle every day.  Excessive sugar can damage your heart, cause diabetes and much more.  It's not like one cookie killed anyone.  Moderate indulgences are fine but it's hard to be moderate when it comes to the white stuff.

That legal crack is everywhere.

If you start checking nutrition labels you will be shocked when you learn about the amount of sugar in some of your favorite foods that you thought were naturally sugar free.

In fact, among the changes the FDA recently suggested the White House make regarding food labels was to address added sugar.  Most food labels only list "Sugar" which is a combination of added and natural sugars.  One proposed change is that the amount of added sugar be clearly labelled. This will help you determine how much sugar comes from a natural source and how much is added.

Still, it's good to check for what I like to call "sneaky sugars".

Any time you see a word ending in -"ose" that's added sugar.  Dextrose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, glucose?  All forms of sugar.  Beware of other forms such as cane syrup, cane juice, corn syrup, malt syrup, honey, molasses, fruit juice concentrate or brown sugar.

Then there are foods you wouldn't think have much sugar but do:

Fat-free salad dressings, crackers, bread, spaghetti sauce, instant oatmeal (a sugar BOMB), yogurt (another bomb), frozen dinners, cereals, ketchup and barbecue sauce.

Look at these two examples from my cupboard:

On the left is a box of All Bran cereal while on the right is a box of Back to Nature Crispy Wheat crackers, two things you generally wouldn't consider "sweet" food items.  The cereal has six grams of sugar per serving while the crackers have four. 

This barbecue sauce has nine grams of sugar per serving. 

How much should sugar you consume? 

The American Heart Association recommends nine teaspoons for men and six for women per day.  You can blow your wad in a regular 12-ounce soda when you realize it has 10 teaspoons of sugar.  

The thing is, sugar is listed in grams on most nutrition labels.  A gram and teaspoon are two different units of measurement.  A gram measures mass (aka weight) while a teaspoon measures volume.

How do you know how much you're consuming?  In general, there are about four grams of sugar per teaspoon. 

4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon 

The Takeaway

Again, moderate consumption of any of these items won't hurt you.  It's the cumulative effect and overindulgence that does damage.  Just be mindful of your overall sugar consumption each day.

I'll be fighting that battle against the White Devil right along with you.

Diet Tip #18: Brush Your Teeth

If you're fighting a craving, brush your teeth.  Doing this signals your brain that you won't be eating for a while.   Brushing your teeth also gives you that minty fresh breath, something that doesn't mix with chips, candy or whatever it is you might be craving.

Brush those teeth to fight cravings!

I am a nighttime eater.  This trick has worked for me time and again to help fight those evening urges.

Not only does this diet tip give you fresh breath and improve your oral hygiene, it might also help you lose weight.

Try it just once and see how it works.

Diet Tip #16: Learn How Many Calories You Should Be Eating Daily

Even if you hate math and numbers you should have a decent working knowledge of calories and how many calories you should be eating.  It's not that hard.  There are calculators galore to help you.

What is a calorie?
A calorie, technically, is 4.18400 joules, you could round it up to 4.19.  In English?  It's the amount of energy required to raise one gram of water by one degree Celsius.

As it relates to nutrition, calories refer to energy consumption through eating and drinking and energy usage through physical activity.  Think of it as the amount of energy you get from eating something.

Different types of food have different calorie counts:

• Fats have nine calories per gram 
• Carbohydrates and proteins have four calories per gram 
• Alcohol has seven calories per gram

How many calories should you be eating daily? 
This is different for every person.  It's important to know how many you need so you can plan your eating strategy for the day and week.

Determining how many you need can be a complex formula but there are calculators to help you do it.   Woo-Hoo! Try this one.  It's easy.

For me, I need about 2200 calories per day to maintain my weight.  If you want to lose weight, enter your desired weight in the weight category.  So, if I wanted to lose 10 pounds, I would need about 2100 calories a day to do that.  That's not a big difference.

If I wanted to drop 1-2 pounds per week, I would reduce my calorie consumption by about 500 calories per day.

See?  Easy math!

Diet Tip #14: Go Green One Night a Week with 7 Easy Veggie Dinner Ideas

Or red or purple or orange, whatever color floats your boat.

One night a week have a vegetable-based dinner.  That's it!  It's so much easier and more delicious than you think.

We know we need to eat more vegetables but we don't do it.  This gets you in the habit.

Stumped on what to make?  Here are some ideas:

• Spaghetti squash with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil.
• A veggie-based soup - I love my kale, lentil & sweet potato.
• A mish-mash of steamed vegetables - broccoli, sweet potato, cauliflower, brussel sprouts....you get the idea.  Top with any seasoning you like. 
• A huge veggie salad - use a dark lettuce and go wild creating a big vegetable mix featuring onions, tomatoes, avocado, carrots, celery, beets, mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts, whatever rocks your veggie world.
• Steamed cauliflower with mustard - I could eat this as a meal almost every day.
• Deep dish polenta pizza, recipe courtesy of Cooking Light. 
• Eggplant Mexicano, recipe courtesy of Readers' Digest. 

Diet Tip #13: Nix the Artificial Sweetener

You might think you're doing yourself a favor using artificial sweeteners to make your favorite beverages sweeter. You're not.  Not only are you ingesting fake crap, you might also be making yourself fatter.

Studies show that artificial sweeteners stimulate your appetite and can increase your cravings for carbs.

So what can you do?  Nix the fake sweet stuff.  Don't replace it with sugar just nix it.  Have your coffee or tea without sweetener.  Novel concept, right?

I pitched this idea to a friend looking to lose weight and she asked "But how can I sweeten my drinks?"

My advice?  Let your appetite mature.  We're no longer children.  We don't need sweet drinks, sweet tea, sweet juices or sweet coffee all the time.  Once in a blue moon?  Fine.  Every day.  No.

Once your taste buds get accustomed to coffee with milk or naturally brewed tea without sweetener, fake or real, you will cringe at the taste of the pink, blue or even the yellow stuff.

You won't miss it all.  Promise.

Diet Tip #12: Don't Diet to Lose Weight

Mediterranean Diet Pyramid/Courtesy OldwaysSpt.org

If you're looking for an overall approach to eating, try the Mediterranean Diet.  It's so easy to adopt and a realistic way to eat, not diet, for a lifetime.

To succeed at losing weight, don't diet. 

What does this mean?  First and foremost, studies show that if you do radical changes to lose weight in a short period of time, you're probably going to fail.

Instead, adopt a different approach to eating.  Simple as that.  A quick change will not result in longterm weight loss.  Focus on making smart food decisions that your grandmother told you to do:

• Eat more vegetables and fruits
• Limit the amount of sugar and processed foods you consume 
• If you can't pronounce, don't eat it
• Don't drink your calories water and herbal tea are your friends

This is all easy to do.  You can still enjoy your favorite indulgences (cheese fries, pizza, hamburgers) once or twice a week, not once or twice a day. 

Diet Tip #11: Eat Vegetables as Snacks

For some reason, I was starving at 10am today.  Maybe because I didn't have much dinner Wednesday night but even after a substantial 7am breakfast my stomach was growling only three hours later.

It's easy to fall into the trap of a carbohydrate rich snack.  Vending machines offer them and they're more convenient to grab and go.  I love crackers as much as the next person but they're not a good diet staple.

We also know that our diets need to include more vegetables and fruits.  Snacking is a perfect time to incorporate them into your diet.  Vegetables might take a few more minutes to prepare but the payoff is worth it.

Here are some easy snack ideas to satisfy your appetite AND get more vegetables into your diet:

Edamame

• Edamame - okay it's a soybean but it's green....and not crackers.  It's actually what I had for a snack today at 10am. 
• Baby carrots with hummus 
• Red bell peppers and hummus - a perfect snack match 
• Raw cucumber slices - don't knock these until you try them, they're delicious.  You could eat the cucumber whole.  Be prepared to be the butt of a few jokes, though. 
• Celery with any type of dip or topping - salsa, greek yogurt with spices or topped with peanut butter and raisins (LOVE ants on a log) 
• Raw or lightly steamed broccoli with salsa - another one of my favorite snacks

Diet Tip #10: Use Your Non-Dominant Hand

This simple diet trick is along the lines of putting your fork down between bites and is just as effective.

What is it?

Use your non-dominant hand when you eat.  If you're right-handed use your left hand and vice versa.  It's much harder than you would think.

Using your non-dominant hand forces you to eat more slowly, something which is proven to help you lose weight.  A study by TCU determined that those who eat slowly consume 88 fewer calories than speed eaters.  That's not a ton per meal but over time....there's a theme here....it adds up.

The Takeaway
Use your non-dominant hand while you're eating and while you're at it, put down your fork between bites.  This won't take away from the enjoyment of the meal.  On the contrary, eating slowly will likely enhance the experience.

Is Your Salad Making You Fat?

We have the best intentions when we make a salad or order one in a restaurant. We think we're being virtuous ordering those greens with a bit of cheese and a few croutons.  How about some bacon bits and ranch dressing? Before you know it you have a salad on your plate that has more calories and saturated fat than a hamburger.

You can get fat eating salads. Really. If you add creamy salad dressing, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, croutons and bacon bits, you're adding hundred, if not thousand, of calories. Dr. Oz warns us of the fat salad, too, claiming that some women get half their daily calories from salad dressing.  Salad dressing = the emptiest of calories.

Okay, so how do you avoid the fat salad? Simple. Don't use that nasty salad dressing from a bottle or the fattening dressings they offer in restaurants. When I was fat, I lived on fat-free salad dressing.

Use salsa, balsamic vinegar or olive oil with a bit of salt and lemon as your dressing. Simple as that. (Tweet this).

Other Things to Nix
While we're at it, forgo the croutons and bacon. They are both empty calories. And if you're going to have cheese, have a flavorful one so that you need less of it. No cheddar or Monterey Jack. Have some feta, blue cheese or goat cheese. These all add a lot of flavor without a lot of calories.

Feta cheese

The Takeaway

• Don't eat bottled or restaurant salad dressing. Use salsa, vinegar (I love balsamic) or olive oiul & lemon. 
• Nix the croutons, bacon bits and bland cheese. 
• Opt for flavorful cheese, if you must have it, like feta, blue cheese or goat cheese. Just a bit to add some complexity.  

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Diet Tip #6: Wear Tight Clothing to Eat Less

Are you someone who doesn't have an "off switch" when it comes to food?  I am.  I could eat an entire head of broccoli dipped in queso (weird, I know), a jumbo bag of Lay's original potato chips or a basket of gourmet cookies in one sitting.  I am a recovering fat girl and could easily be one again if I wasn't vigilant about making quality food choices.

One of the most effective tips I've ever used when trying to eat less and engage that "off switch" is to wear tight clothing.

Stick with me.

I am not talking hoochie clothes.  I am referring to clothing that has a waistband or certain rigidity to it so that it will be constricting if you overindulge in food.

When you wear stretchy pants, flowing moo-moos or other loose-fitting clothing your waistline can expand if you eat too much.  There's a reason you see people in sweatpants at the all-you-can-eat buffets.

The Takeaway

SPANX High Power Shaping Brief

If you're in situation in which you will be presented with copious amounts of food, try tightening up.  Wear form-fitting pants, a slim-cut jacket, an a-line skirt or your SPANX.  You won't be comfortable eating a lot and you'll feel better about yourself for not doing so.

This tip works. Try it.

 

Diet Tip #5: Lose Weight by Eating A Good Breakfast

Green smoothie

I know we start the day with the best intentions, then happy hour rolls around and we've had two margaritas, a bowl of queso and a taco.  Or at least I have.

So if we wake up with good intentions to eat healthfully throughout the course of the day, take advantage of it and eat a quality breakfast.  Study after study shows that eating a well-balanced breakfast starts your day on the right note, helps you concentrate better and gives you more energy.  Breakfast doesn't have to be a huge ordeal.  Just make it a nutrient-filled offering that honors your intentions.

The finished product!

When I was fat, I avoided breakfast, thinking I would "save calories".  I would wind up hungry and binge later in the day.  Every now and then I'll skip breakfast but most days, I get in a green smoothie.  If I'm hungrier, I'll eat something more substantial.

My green smoothie features almond milk, a banana, spinach or kale, dark berries and chia seeds or flax seeds.  If all else fails the rest of the day and I eat nothing but cheese fries, I know that I will have at least consumed some healthy vegetables and fruit to get the day going.

Other quick & easy breakfast recipes: 

• Quick oatmeal (NOT sugar-laden instant) with a variety of toppings - apples, berries, banana, dried apricots, etc.  Top with some peanut butter and cinnamon.  Delicious. 
• A veggie and egg white omelet with a side of berries - again, takes all of five minutes to prepare. 
• Hard boiled eggs with salsa - don't knock it till you've tried it.  Hard boiled eggs are an easy make-ahead item. 
• A high-fiber cereal with some berries or a banana - a 2005 Harvard Health study indicated that high fiber cereals can help men reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, stroke, intestinal polyps and colon caner.  Look for a cereal with at least six grams of fiber per serving and is low in sugar.  Fiber One and All Bran are solid choices.  (A friend of mine calls these "colon blow"...that's another story) 

Personally, I tend to binge on cereal and am rarely satiated by it.  For some, it works.  Me?  Not so much.

Eating on the run?  Here are four breakfast options:

• Starbucks Feta and Spinach Wrap - one of my favorite breakfast items clocking in at 290 calories, 10 grams fat, 3.5 sat fat, 4 grams sugar, 19 grams protein.  
• Starbucks Classic Whole Grain Oatmeal - forgo the brown sugar they give you. This weighs in at 160 calories, 4 grams of fiber & 0 grams of sugar.  Adding nuts and raisins will affect these numbers. 
• McDonald's Fruit & Maple Oatmeal - nix the cranberry/raisin blend and light cream to get it down to 200 calories and only 16 grams of sugar.  
• Dunkin' Donuts Egg White Flatbread - 280 calories, 8 grams fat, 3 gram sat fat, 18 grams protein, 4 grams sugar.

The Takeaway

Get that good food in your stomach first thing on most mornings.  Your body (and waistline) will thank you later in the day. 

Daily Diet Tip #3: Eat Dessert, Just Not All of It

Neiman Marcus Red Velvet Rose Cake

This is one of those "well, duh" diet tips but it's one we tend to follow in theory, rather than at the table.

Go ahead and eat the rich, decadent dessert but don't eat all of it.  Eat only three bites.  You don't need every last bite of the key lime pie, chocolate cherry bundt cake or (in my case) Baklava Ice Cream Cake from Ziziki's.

This is how it works:

1. Order dessert or, if you're at home, put it on the table.  Make the presentation nice.  
2. Take a normal-size bite. 
3. Put down your fork.  Remember that one? 
4. Slowly savor your dessert. 
5. Repeat steps 2 through 5 two more times.
6. After your third bite, put down the fork for good and push away the plate.
7. Enjoy what you just had and be proud of the fact you didn't gorge.

 Studies show that the first and last bites are the most rewarding. 

That's it!  It works.  Try it the next time you go out to eat or make dessert at home.  It's a truly effective method to lose weight or maintain your hard-earned weight loss.

Try This Trick When Dining Out Diet to Help You Lose Weight

Heading to a nice dinner this weekend to continue your New Year's celebration?  You can still maintain your 2014 weight loss resolution and enjoy your evening out with this simple tip that has helped me drop more than 50 pounds and keep it off for more than a decade.

What is it?  When it comes to ordering your food, think two....appetizers that is.  Order an appetizer, salad, soup or side as your, well, appetizer and another appetizer as your entree.

We know that restaurant portions are way too big.  Appetizer portions are just about right and, many times, more interesting than entree offerings.  If your dining companion is eating a full entree with side items, have a bite or two.  It's much more fun to share AND you won't miss the extra calories of a full portion.

Here are some real world examples:

Al Biernat's Menu

Al Biernat's is one of my favorite splurge spots.  When I was pregnant, I ate an entire order of their fabulous macaroni & cheese AND au gratín potatoes.  In one sitting.  Yep.  It was heaven.  I digress.  They have a diverse starter and salad menu.  Here are a few "healthier dinner" options:

• Mozzarella, Amelia's Farm Tomato, Avocado, Basil, Balsamic Demi salad to start followed by Steamed P.E.I. Mussels & Littleneck Clams in White Wine (my personal favorite)
• Soup of the Day followed by Teriyaki Marinated Natural Texas Quail, Roasted Mushrooms & Pickled Ginger
• Baked Goat Cheese, Portabella Mushrooms & Sweet Garlic with Al's Salad (another favorite).  

I employ this approach consistently at Al Biernat's and am always satisfied.  Al's is wonderful but not something we can afford to do every week. 

Let's look at a place like Hillstone (which I still call Houston's).   I actually order two side items every time I visit: the kale salad along with black beans and rice.  It's one of my favorite meals and, at $12, is a substantial and healthy option.  Here are some others: 

• Focaccia bread plate followed by the Grilled Artichoke. 
• Couscous and seasonal vegetables, ordered together.     

Craving Italian?  Maggiano's Little Italy, anyone?  They have a ton of great options: 

Courtesy Maggiano's Little Italy

• You could start with one of their side items like that Asparagus, Spinach or Broccolini (ask them to go light on the oil) and have the side order of Angel Hair Aglio Olio as an entree
• Tuscan Chicken Sausage & Orzo Soup followed by the Tomato Caprese salad.
• Bruschetta followed by the Jumbo Lump Crabcakes
• Start with Stuffed Mushrooms and have the Chicken & Roasted Pepper Flatbread

These are just examples.  You get the idea.  Try this approach once or twice and you'd be surprise at how you won't miss an entree when you dine out.  

Double Bonus?  This approach is friendlier on the wallet.  Eating sides and appetizers is normally less expensive than eating entrees.

Interestingly, I examined restaurants like Applebee's and Chili's.  Their appetizer options were consistently fried or cheese-filled items.  In this instance, it would make sense to stick with an entree from their "light" menu or a salad (hold the dressing - eat with salsa or vinegar) and enjoy one of those items.  The portions are still big, so I suggest taking some of it home.

And, remember, put that fork down between every bite.

Thank you for reading!  Have a great weekend. 

The Top Diet Trends for 2014

I hate diets.  Okay, that's a lie.  I like learning about them.  

Truthfully speaking, we're all on "diets".  Webster defines the word "diet" as "the food or drink regularly consumed".  See.  We're all on diets. 

The thing is you can consume a healthful diet or a crappy one.  Why not go healthy?  It's much easier to take your medicine in the form of great food that is full of nutrients than it is to take expensive medicine in the form of pills in effort to treat some obesity-related illness.

Remember: it's easier to prevent disease than it is to treat it.  Think about that.  

Okay, on to the fun stuff.  What is on the nutritional experts radar this year?  Today's Dietitian surveyed more than 500 registered dietitians to find out and determined the 14 top diet trends for 2014.  Ancient grains like quinoa that will continue to be cool.  Woo-hoo.  

Quinoa salad

Here is a snippet of the top diet scoop you'll talking about, hearing about and eating in 2014: 

1. The no-wheat movement: consumers will continue to nix the wheat and adopt Paleo (the most Googled diet of 2013, btw), gluten-free or "wheat belly" diets in 2014. 
2. Add kale, coconut or chia seeds: throw it them in a smoothie.  You know we love this.  
3. Low fat no more: thank God.  Dietitians think that the "low fat diet" will be the least discussed in 2014. Low carb remains strong.  For the record, I got fat eating low fat. 
4. Fruits and veggies are the way to go: did we really need dietitians to tell us this?  You know my thoughts on the thing.  Go Mediterranean or go home. 

So, really, the "top diet trends" of 2014 aren't all that new.  It's still basic, common sense advice that our grandmothers gave us: eat your fruits and vegetables, hold off on the sugar, don't eat too much and get outside to play.  

Sounds like a good plan if you ask me!

Have a wonderful 2014!  Make it your best year yet.

The Biggest Diet News of 2013

I feel like diet news is nothing new.  We all know what we need to do, right?

• Eat real food: fruits, veggies, nuts, fish
• Avoid the fake stuff loaded with sugar, white flour and processed crap 
• Move more  

We know all this.  To paraphrase Nike: we just don't do it.

I'm right there with ya.  The season of holiday indulgence has left me with little extra muffin top and we're not even through Christmas!

Still there is always a new discovery or scientific data that might have us rethinking our approach to a healthful diet.

Health magazine (which is FABULOUS) profiled the "15 Biggest Diet and Weight Loss Stories of 2013."

Some of the Interesting Ones: 
Make sleep a major priority - Researchers at UT Southwestern Med Center determined that not enough sleep causes us to eat more and gain weight.  Think about it.  You just crave crap when you're sleep-deprived.

I am also hearing from more and more women that sleep is their "secret weapon" to staying beautiful.  {Shameless Plug Alert: Check out my new website TheBestBeautySecrets.com}.

Ditch the Diet Stuff - fake sweeteners might make you crave sugar even more.

Anti-inflammatory foods

Fight the Flame - focus on anti-inflammatory plant-based foods.  "Anti-inflammation is the key to disease protection, regardless of weight."  This is big news and might explain why some overweight adults remain healthy. What are anti-inflammatory foods?  All the stuff you think: fatty fish, dark leafy greens, berries, nuts.  Think colors of the rainbow.

The Takeaway
This is a great read if you're gearing up for "getting back on the wagon" in 2014.

I say, though, why wait?  Start now.

If you make plant-based foods a mainstay of your diet and indulge moderately (better said: when it's REALLY worth it) you can fit back into your skinny jeans on New Year's Eve....and won't have to start 2014 on a crash diet.

The best way to do this?  Adopt a Mediterranean approach to eating.  It works.

Take the Pain Out of Home Juicing with This Easy Trick

Before juice bars became the 2013 version of the cupcake and yogurt shop boom, I was quite the home juicer. From kale blends and green lemonade to pineapple mint juice and a grape lemon medley, I could have opened my own juice bar with all the mixing I was doing.

Green Lemonade

Why did I stop doing it so religiously?  For one, the ubiquity of juice bars and offerings from Whole Foods made the process easier.  Mainly, I hated the beating of cleaning my Breville Juice Extractor.  It sounds lazy but cleaning the pulp out of the feeder chute and the blade is a pain.  The leftover pulp in the pulp collector can sometimes attract fruit flies if the weather is warm.  It's just a whip.

One way to ease the pain is to place a grocery store produce bag in the pulp collector.  This makes cleaning this portion of the juicer a breeze, serves as a great way to recycle those bags and collects the majority of the pulp in a bag that can be tied shut so it doesn't attract fruit flies.  The video illustrates how to use the bag.

You still have to clean the blade, which can be a challenge, but it makes one step of the process easier.

Looking for homemade juice ideas?  Try this one:

• One bunch of kale - this provides vitamins A, C and K
• One half a pear - vitamins A, B1, B2, C, E, folate and niacin
• One entire celery heart, think about 6 stalks with leaves and all - this provides a bevy of vitamins B1, B2, and B6

That mixtures yields this tasty green juice:

YUM! 

4 Easy Ways to Exercise While Stuck at Your Desk All Day

You know the feeling.  That sloth-like, achy-back, sore-hips sense that grips you when you're stuck at your desk, in an uncomfortable chair for eight hours a day or more.

Studies repeatedly tells us that sitting at our desks for an extended period of time will kill us.  Nice.

So how you do combat the effects of sitting in a chair all day or prevent what I like to call "wide-ass desk booty"? I envision my booty getting wider and flatter, like a pancake, the longer I sit behind a desk.

Treadmill Desk/Courtesy LifeSpan Fitness

If you don't have one of those fancy (or expensive!) treadmill desks, here are great ways to sneak in exercise:

• Take the long way to get some water or use the restroom.  
• Try to move for at least five minutes every hour.  For example: at 8:55 do 100 jumping jacks, 9:55 100 squats, 10:55 100 tricep dips, 11:55 100 desk pushups and so on.  Find a private space if you don't want co-workers to make fun of you. 
• Don't laugh at this one: contract your abs while sitting at your desk.  If you don't want to get on the floor and do traditional situps, simply contract you're stomach muscles as if your bracing for a punch.  Do it for thirty seconds at a time throughout the day.  It's effective. 
• Do a series of yoga poses and stretches.  A simple half moon stretch or cat cow pose feels amazing. 

Cat Cow Pose/Courtesy LapBandSurgery.com

Mountain Pose/Courtesy: Yogr.com

Entrepreneur Magazine has some additional suggestions like visiting the park during your lunch hour, incorporating fitness into meetings AND working out at your desk.  Sound familiar? 

The mini-break you take to get the blood moving is worth it.  It will make you feel better and likely more productive when you plop back down.