The Mediterranean and Paleo diets both have their strong devotees and their fervent critics. Midtown Athletic Club in Rochester Nutritionist Sarah Guilbert takes over the blog to compare two popular diet patterns to help you discern which, if either, is the healthiest option for you.

The word “diet” tends to be associated with negative self-image and restriction (“I can’t blow my diet” or “I need to go on a diet and lose these love handles”). It also implies that eating habits are temporary when healthy eating should be an enduring and sustainable lifestyle.

An “eating pattern,” however, is comprised of lifestyle eating habits that serve as a guide to how many servings of different foods you should have each day. Both the Mediterranean Diet and the Paleo Diet fall into the “eating pattern” category.

Before we dive into the specific aspects of each diet, keep in mind that I never recommend one specific eating pattern for everyone. There are benefits and drawbacks to every way of eating. It’s important to find one that is balanced, sustainable, enjoyable, and tailored to your specific needs.

Now let’s take a closer look at these two popular eating patterns.

Mediterranean

Longitudinal evidence has demonstrated that the Mediterranean eating pattern lowers your risk of many developing several diseases, including cancer and heart disease (1, 2, 3).

The Mediterranean eating pattern pyramid divides foods into ones that you should eat at every meal, foods that you should eat every day, and foods that you should eat weekly. It emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olives/olive oil, nuts, and seeds. It encourages limiting starchy vegetables, red meat, and processed meat. White meat, fish, and legumes fall in the middle, with approximately two servings per week of each recommended.

The Mediterranean eating pattern is a good choice for many other reasons. It promotes whole/natural foods, increased fruit and vegetable intake, and it does not restrict any major food groups. It emphasizes cardio-protective fats and encourages limiting the types of fats that have been shown to negatively affect your health (saturated fat and trans fat). The eating pattern promotes the consumption of healthy fat and fiber, which will help promote satiety, and includes potassium-rich food, because it is primarily plant-based and includes many fruits and vegetables.

One criticism of the Mediterranean eating pattern is that it can be low-to-moderate in protein, which is a concern for athletes. It limits white meat to two servings/week and places fish/eggs higher up on the pyramid, which implies that they should be eaten less frequently (although it recommends having at least two servings of fish/week).

For the sample breakdown menu shown below, lunch was low in protein (14 grams). Athletes who require 25-30g protein per meal may need to add more protein to their plates.

Paleo

The Paleo Diet boasts that it is the “world’s healthiest diet, based on wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups that our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Stone Age” (5). It aims to improve overall health, promote weight loss, and lower disease risk (6). It is a relatively new diet and does not have the longitudinal data that other eating patterns have to support it.

Image via athleanx.com

Let’s look at the breakdown of a typical day. The Paleo eating pattern encourages meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, and fruits (mostly berries and melons). It excludes grains, dairy, legumes, added sugar, and salt because people living in the Paleolithic age would not have eaten those foods.

The Paleo eating pattern has many benefits. Natural foods and limited processed foods are a big part of this eating pattern, which helps to lower empty calorie intake and reduce sodium intake. It also emphasizes vegetable consumption and is higher in protein than the Mediterranean Diet. This combination will increase satiety and may promote weight loss. The Paleo eating pattern promotes the consumption of lots of fiber (the sample menu below has 47 grams), which can help healthy gastrointestinal function and lower cholesterol levels.

However, this much fiber may be a shock if new followers of the eating pattern try to increase their intake too quickly. Fiber intake should be increased gradually and should be coupled with increased water intake. The typical Paleo eating pattern is also high in potassium, which helps prevent hypertension. By encouraging nuts, the Paleo eating pattern also includes many heart-healthy fats, like the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in almonds.

On the negative side, this eating pattern eliminates multiple key food groups (dairy, grains, legumes). In a study of over 75,000 women, Harvard researchers showed that including 2-to-3 servings of whole grains per day correlated with a 30% lower risk of having a heart attack or dying from heart disease (8).

This study took place over ten years (compared to the ten days that some of the Paleo studies were conducted).  Yes, Americans tend to eat too much processed grains; however, this does not mean that grains should be eliminated from the diet completely.

Another negative aspect is that this diet is excessively high in protein. Based on the 1,800-calorie plan outlined below, a Paleo eater would be getting 151g protein/day on the low end (there is an optional added 3 ounces of fish if protein intake was not satisfying for the day).

Generally acceptable protein intake ranges from .8-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram that you weigh. For example, a 130 pound person would have an upper limit on protein intake of 118g protein/day. This diet also excludes the major source of calcium in the diet: dairy products.  Inadequate calcium intake can lead to developing osteopenia and can also be detrimental to heart health (9).

Which Is Best?

The Mediterranean eating pattern is a much more established, balanced way of eating for lifelong health. I would recommend it to most clients, but would also recommend increasing protein slightly at mealtimes. Is the Paleo diet the worst eating pattern out there? No. However, I would not recommend it unless it was modified slightly to reduce protein intake and include at least three servings of whole grains and two servings of dairy products daily. This would ensure that followers of this eating pattern obtain adequate healthy fuel and calcium sources while not overdoing it with protein.

Image via www.naturalhealthadvisory.com

In a future post, I will compare two diets: Advocare and The South Beach Diet. If you would like me to examine other eating patterns and diets, leave a comment on this post.

References:

(1) Couto E, Boffetta P, Lagiou P, & Ferrari P et.al.  Medierranean dietary pattern and cancer risk in the EPIC cohort.  April 26, 2011.  Br J Cancer 104(9): 1493-9.  Retrieved March 11, 2013 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21468044.

(2) Mitrou P, Kipnis V, Thiebaut A, & Reedy J et al.  Mediterranean dietary pattern and prediction of all cause mortality in a US population.  December 24, 2007.  Arch Intern Med (3) 167(22): 2461-2468.  Retrieved March 11, 2013, from http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=770019.

(4) USNews Health.  Medierranean Diet-Sample Menu.  Retrieved March 11, 2013, from http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/mediterranean-diet/menu.

(5) Innocenzi, L.  Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  Should we eat like our caveman ancestors?  Retrieved on March 11, 2013, from http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6442471551.

(6) The Paleo Diet.  Retrieved on March 11, 2013, from www.thepaleodiet.com.

(7) Life Expectancy-what is life expectancy.  Retrieved on March 11, 2013, from http://www.news-medical.net/health/Life-Expectancy-What-is-Life-Expectancy.aspx.

(8)  Harvard School of Public Health.  Health gains from whole grains. 2013.  Retrieved on March 11, 2013, from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/health-gains-from-whole-grains/#references.

(9) Office of Dietary Supplements: National Institutes of Health.  Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Calcium.  November 16, 2012.  Retrieved on March 11, 2013, from http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Calcium-HealthProfessional/.

(10) Clark, S.  Body Building.  What is the Paleo Diet?  Dec 29, 2010.  Retrieved on March 11, 2013, from http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/what-is-the-paleo-diet.html.

March is National Nutrition Month, and today is Registered Dietitian Day, which was created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to increase the awareness of registered dietitians as indispensable providers of food and nutrition services and to recognize them for their commitment to helping people enjoy healthy lives.

To celebrate, Midtown Athletic Club in Rochester Nutritionist Sarah Guilbert is back to talk about how to properly fuel up for your workout, and what you should eat post-workout as well.

The Importance of Snack Planning

Pre-workout nutrition is important for ensuring that you have adequate energy stores (through carbohydrates) to fuel your workout. Consuming a moderate amount of protein  before your workout is thought to increase muscle mass and strength performance.

Post-workout nutrition is important for repleting your carbohydrate stores (glycogen) in your muscles,  repairing muscle damage, and helping to synthesize muscle mass through protein.

How Much Do I Need?

The number of carbohydrates that you’ll need will vary slightly depending on whether you are trying to lose/maintain weight (30g carbs/10-15g protein) or build more mass (40-50g carbs/15g protein). If you have a long workout day, try to get slightly higher carbohydrate repletion so that your glycogen stores are refueled optimally for the next workout.

Timing and Delivery

Pre-workout snacks should be eaten 30-60 minutes before you begin exercising.  Post-workout recovery eating is optimal within 30 minutes of exercise completion.  Note that liquid nutrition will get into your muscles faster than solid food because solid food has to be broken down more and has a longer transit time through the GI tract.

Which Type of Protein is Best?

Whey protein is quickly absorbed by muscles and has also been shown to have a greater effect on stimulating muscle protein synthesis than casein and soy.  However, slower-absorbed proteins do have their benefits for providing repletion to muscles for a longer period of time after a workout.

Snack Ideas

Here are some appropriate pre- and post-workout snack options, whether you like to add protein to your shakes, have cottage cheese and fruit, or go old-school with skim milk and fruit smoothie.  Try one and let us know what you think!

Strawberry protein shake

12 oz skim milk

1 cup strawberries

1 cup ice

177 calories, 13g protein, 30g carbs

Tropical fruit smoothie

4 oz vanilla non-fat Greek yogurt

1 cup mixed tropical fruit (frozen)

4 oz vanilla almond milk

½ cup ice

195 calories, 10g protein, 38g carbs

Chunky Monkey*

½ large banana

8 oz chocolate soymilk

1 T peanut butter

1 cup ice

276 calories, 10g protein, 38g carbs

Berry Vanilla Smoothie

¾ cup blueberries

¾ cup blackberries

4 oz light vanilla soymilk

½ scoop vanilla protein powder

1 cup ice

193 calories, 15g protein, 34g carbs

6 oz flavored fat-free Greek yogurt + ½ banana

201 calories, 15g protein, 36g carbs

6 oz vanilla yogurt + ¼ cup granola

228 calories, 11g protein, 39g carbs

4 oz 1% cottage cheese + 1 cup mango

187 calories, 15g protein, 32g carbs

1/4 cup egg whites + 2 slices toast

187 calories, 12g protein, 30g carbs

*The fat in peanut butter will delay gastric emptying and may cause GI distress if you have a sensitive stomach.  This one is better to have post-workout.

References: Kleiner, S and Greenwood-Robinson, M.  Power Eating (3^rd Edition).  Champaign: Human Kinetics, 2006. Stuart M. Phillips & Luc J.C. Van Loon (2011): Dietary protein for athletes: From requirements to optimum adaptation. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29:sup1, S29-S38. Retrieved on March 11, 2013, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02640414.2011.619204

Midtown Athletic Club in Rochester, NY Nutritionist Sarah Guilbert takes over the blog to talk about dietary changes you can make right now to improve not only your heart health, but also your overall quality of life as well.

Today is Go Red for Women day to promote women’s heart health. I have the pleasure of working in the Cardiac Care Unit at the University of Rochester Medical Center, where I speak with patients about heart-healthy diet strategies after they have had a heart attack or other cardiac event.

Here are the dietary strategies I share with them. Please use them to make healthy food choices to protect your heart on Go Red for Women Day and every day.

Foods That Promote Heart Health

Fruits and Vegetables: Produce has dietary fiber, which is important for lowering cholesterol levels. Those whose diets are rich in fruits and vegetables often have lower blood pressure. Try adding a cup of berries to your regular breakfast, or enjoy some raw veggies with hummus as a mid-afternoon snack.

Nuts: Studies have shown that nut consumption correlates with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. Eat walnuts, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids (more on these next), pistachios, or almonds to keep your heart strong and healthy.

Salmon and Tuna: These two fish have high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are a type of essential fatty acid that have a number of health benefits, including reducing your risk of death from coronary artery disease, reducing inflammation, and potentially lowering your risk for chronic disease. Fish intake also correlates with lower risk for cardiovascular disease in general.

Diet Components to Limit for Heart Health

Total Fat: Keep your daily total fat intake within a moderate range, or within 25-35% of your daily calories.  For a 1,500- calorie diet, this is approximately 40-to-60 grams of fat per day. For a 2,000-calorie diet, this is approximately 55-to-75 grams of fat per day.

Bad Fats: Keep saturated fat to <7% of your daily calories. Limiting fried foods, fatty cuts of meat, and added butter will help you reach this goal. Trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, should be limited to <1% of your calories, and ideally, you should consume foods with trans fats at all. Try to avoid margarine, commercial baked goods (like pies and cakes), and fried foods in order to limit your trans fats consumption.

Dietary Cholesterol: Limit the amount of cholesterol you eat because high levels of cholesterol consumption correlates with higher levels of LDL cholesterol in plasma. Stick to less than 200-to-300 milligrams per day. Limit consumption of egg yolks to four per week, avoid fatty meat products, and limit shellfish consumption to better manage your cholesterol intake.

Sodium: Too much dietary sodium can raise blood pressure and cause the heart to work harder. Limit your intake to <2,000 milligrams per day. 1,500 milligrams per day or less is ideal.  Also, avoid these high sodium foods: canned items (especially soups and sauces), prepared foods/restaurant food, frozen dinners, snack items (chips, crackers, popcorn), condiments and sauces, deli meat (especially ham), and cheese.

Heart disease takes the lives of 1 in 3 women each year. According to the American Heart Association, studies show that healthy choices have resulted in 330 fewer women dying from heart disease per day. Make these changes to your diet, exercise regularly, and you’ll place yourself on the right track to a long and healthy life.

For even more ways you can protect your heart, check out these tips.

References
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  Nutrition therapy to reduce sodium and cholesterol (n.d.).  Retrieved January 25, 2013, from http://nutritioncaremanual.org/vault/editor/Docs/NutritionTherapytoReduceCholesterolSodium2.pdf

Elrich, S. University of Maryland Medical Center.  Omega 3 fatty acids.  (2011, May 10).  Retrieved January 27, 2013,  from http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/omega-3-000316.htm

Lichtenstein A, Appel L, Brands, M, Carnethon M, Daniels S, Franch HA, et al. Diet and lifestyle recommendations revision 2006: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee. Circulation.  (2006, June).  Retrieved January 27, 2013, from http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/114/1/82.full.pdf.

What do you do to keep your heart healthy and strong?

What does it mean to be fit?

For many of us, being fit means maintaining a healthy weight with diet and exercise.

However, the “healthy weight = fit” idea omits and misrepresents several important components of what being truly fit means. In biological terms, “being fit” means “being able to provide for one’s own life and wellbeing; the fittest are those who can do so the best.”  Now that’s a little closer to what we should be working toward.  Not just being fit to the point of sufficiency, but being the fittest.

So, the question is: What can you do to be the fittest you can be, or to obtain the best quality of life possible?

To answer that question, we’ll examine the five components of physical fitness.  That’s right, there are five.  Not just “fitting into my favorite jeans,” “being able to run a marathon,” or “bench pressing twice my body weight.” Our definitions are from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Body Composition: This refers to the relative amount of muscle, fat, bone, and other vital parts of the body. Body composition can provide a better evaluation of overall health than weight or BMI alone, so it is important to maintain a level of body fat that is neither too low (below 3-5% for men and 8-12% for women), nor too high (above 20-25% for men and 29-35% for women).

A variety of body fat measurement tools exist including calipers and bio-electrical impedance devices, and although some are more accurate and expensive than others, all can help you monitor changes.

Tip: Have a body fat analysis performed to know your starting point, and begin implementing small, healthy diet and exercise changes to improve body composition.

Cardiorespiratory Endurance: Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability of the body’s circulatory and respiratory systems to supply fuel during physical activity.  This means being able to sustain an elevated heart rate.  Activities like walking, swimming, and bicycling will all lead to improvement, and the good news is that the activity you choose does not necessarily have to be strenuous (at least initially).

Tip: choose an activity you enjoy and start slowly, increasing the intensity and duration over time.

Flexibility: Flexibility is the range of motion around a joint.  Maintaining good flexibility helps protect the muscles and joints from injury in all kinds of activity.  A basic stretching program, such as 10-15 minutes of light stretching for the upper body, lower body, and core after a workout, may be all you need to improve this oft-neglected fitness component.  Yoga and Pilates classes can also add more structure to your flexibility program.

Tip: the key to improving flexibility is to make time for it! Add 10 minutes to the end of your workout to stretch or take 10-minute walking/stretching breaks at work.

Muscular Endurance: Muscular endurance is the ability of the muscle to continue to perform without fatigue.  You can improve muscular endurance by doing sustained activities such as walking, swimming, or bicycling.  When it comes to weight training, completing longer sets (12-25 repetitions) would be considered working in the endurance range.

Tip: look for opportunities to activate your muscles outside the club.  For example, walk to the grocery store and flex those biceps by carrying groceries.

Muscular Strength: Muscular strength is the ability of the muscles to exert force during an activity.  Sorry to those of you who want to stick to the treadmill, but this means using your muscles against resistance, whether that comes in the form of a dumbbell, resistance band, or your own body weight against gravity.

Tip: take the stairs instead of the elevator, or do some pushups during TV commercial breaks.

To be truly, “totally fit” we need to focus on all five components of physical fitness. Not only will we be healthier overall, but we will also enjoy the benefits of reduced risk of injury and disease prevention (osteoporosis, diabetes, etc.).  The added bonus?  Improving any single area of fitness will help the others improve as well.

So what are you waiting for?!  What areas of physical fitness are you focusing on right now?

College students have plenty to worry about these days, with finding a job in a tough economy topping the list. Between the job search, studying, campus activities, and time spent “living the college life,” it’s easy to put your health on the back burner.

Courtesy of life-without-fat.com.

And that’s okay, right? I mean, you’re young, and your body can handle the stress of too little sleep and exercise, and too much unhealthy food…

Or can it?

In truth, it’s only a matter of time before the poor health choices you make as a young adult catch up with you.  Your health is no one’s responsibility but your own and maintaining it takes constant effort.  Learn that lesson now and you will set yourself up for success in the years to come.

Here are 3 of the most common health mistakes college students make and how you can avoid them:

Eating Too Much Junk Food: Dorm cafeterias put soft-serve ice cream machines and waffle makers at your finger tips, and campus convenience stores provide all of the salty snacks and sugary sodas you could ever want to propel yourself through late night study sessions.  Add in a few midnight pizza runs and party binges and you’ve created quite a mess for your body to clean up.

In fact, according to teenshealth.org, studies have shown that snacking between 8PM and 4AM is a leading contributor to weight gain.

Avoid It: Eat at regular times without skipping meals and incorporate plenty of nutrient-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Pay attention to portion sizes and nutrition labels (many dorm menus provide them) and limit your intake of high-calorie foods, including alcohol.

If you are up late, fuel your food cravings with lower calorie fruits, vegetables, or sugar-free drinks.  Your body will thank you for it!

Not Exercising Enough: Without high school sports or gym class programmed into your daily schedule, many college students let exercise fall by the wayside.  Combining lower activity levels with increased caloric intake makes putting on the “freshman 15″ a real possibility.

Avoid It: Take at least 30 minutes every day to do something active, such as walking, jogging, swimming, taking a group exercise class or working out at the campus gym.  Also get up and stretch or walk around if you catch yourself sitting for an extended period of time.

Researchers have found that students who exercise at least 3 days a week are more likely to report better physical health, as well as greater happiness, than those who do not exercise. Students who stay active are also more likely to report using their time productively. If just a little bit of exercise can help boost your health and your grades, it sounds like a no-brainer.

Courtesy of darlington.ac.uk.

Sleeping Too Little (and No, Naps Don’t Count): From studying and other school-related activities to social outings and noisy roommates, it’s hard to avoid poor nights of sleep in college.  Among other consequences, a lack of quality sleep can lead to increased stress levels and weight gain.

Avoid It: Do the best you can to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, and aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. Don’t rely on naps or power 10+ hour sleep sessions to catch up on missed sleep.  Finally, avoid caffeine and alcohol too close to bedtime, as well as other stimulating activities such as exercise, TV, texting and Facebook.

One of the most important things you can do for yourself this school year is to keep your health on track. If your health is not already a priority, begin introducing positive changes slowly and build healthy habits now.  You’ve got a lot of off-campus years ahead of you, and it’s up to you to make sure that you will be healthy enough to enjoy them.

What are your tips to help stay healthy on campus?

If you spent the weeks leading up to the summer season getting “swimsuit-ready” only to realize that mid-way through the summer, you’ve put on a few pounds, you’re not alone. Experts agree that summer weight gain is common among both adults and children.

Check out some easy ways to avoid the pitfalls, so you can stay healthy, fit, and ready to put on those skinny jeans this fall.

1. Plan Meals and Snacks.

Summer’s laid-back feel and variable schedule can derail your motivation and ability to plan and prepare healthy meals and snacks. However, maintaining a healthy menu and eating schedule over the summer is key to controlling  your weight.

Schedule time during your day to shop for and prepare healthy foods. This might actually help you feel less stressed, because both your mind and body will appreciate a nutritious energy boost.

Courtesy of katrinalantznovelist.blogspot.com

2. Watch What You Eat at Summer Parties.

From your son’s graduation celebration, to your cousin’s wedding, to the family backyard BBQ, summer calendars are packed with events that include an unlimited amount of fatty, sugary foods.

To avoid overindulging, focus on catching up with family and friends. Don’t overload your plate, and avoid going back for seconds and thirds. You will have more time for conversation and ready to take on the next activity!

3. Limit Summer Treats.

It’s perfectly healthy to enjoy an ice cream cone once a week, but if that cone is accompanied by a frappuccino here and a margarita there (even one made from our healthy recipe), the extra calories can add up quickly. Less obvious, or seemingly “healthier” options, such as frozen yogurt, lemonade or Gatorade, and light beer, can also lead to weight gain.

With a little willpower and planning, you can decide for yourself when it’s okay to enjoy a refreshing summer treat, and when to say, “I’ll try it next time!”

4. Maintain Your Exercise Routine.

When regular schedules are thrown out of the window, as they often are during the summer, it’s easy to let your daily trip to the gym fall by the wayside. Staying active with regular exercise will ward off extra pounds and preserve your fitness.

Summer is a great time to enjoy a wide variety of fitness activities – from the pool, tennis court, and golf course, to regular classes and exercise equipment at the gym. The bonus? You can do many of these activities with friends and family who need to exercise too!

5. Have a Goal.

Spending the hot summer months inside a cool, air-conditioned house, moving from the couch to the computer with stops at the fridge in between is a quick way to gain weight. Avoid falling into this rut by aiming for specific goals.

Combine physical goals, such as training for a summer 5K or learning a new sport, with activity-based goals, such as volunteering, working a summer job, or taking a class. Keeping goals in mind may just be the motivation you need to stay energized, healthy, and slim this season.

What strategies keep you and your family healthy over the summer?

Dane Robinson, a NASM-certified Personal Trainer & Performance-Enhancement Specialist at Midtown Athletic Club in Windy Hill, and an accomplished Arena Football League Player, takes over the blog today to talk about how to create a healthier margarita.

The margarita is a classic staple of the American summertime gathering.

When made correctly, it’s a simple, three-ingredient drink that when consumed responsibly won’t derail your health and fitness goals.

Unfortunately, grocery and liquor store shelves are stocked with unhealthy margarita products that are not only unnecessary, but also bad for your body.

Fortunately, it’s quite easy to create a healthier margarita.

1.  Lose the Cans

If your margarita-flavored drink comes in a can, chances are it contains bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical linked to serious health problems, such as cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, obesity, and a whole host of other diseases. Plus, consuming a margarita from anything other than its signature glass is just plain wrong.

2. Bypass the Bar Mix

While convenient, store-bought sour mixes are loaded with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is linked to diabetes, decreased liver function, and the growth of cancer cells. Recently, HFCS was also shown to decrease cognitive function following just six weeks of consumption.

3. Ditch the Dyes

If it’s not organic, chances are those pre-made margarita mixes you see on store shelves contain food dyes, most notably Yellow #5 and Red #40. Derived from petroleum and linked to cancer and hyper-activity, food dyes are bad news.

4. Embrace Your Inner Bartender

You may think you need a mixology degree to make a mean margarita, but an authentic, chemical-free margarita is actually a breeze to make. Once you’ve assembled the ingredients, the only other things you need are a shaker and a dish for the optional coarse salt.

5. Create the Drink

The best and most healthful margarita is one made from organic ingredients whenever possible.

Here’s how to do it:

Rub the rim of a margarita glass with a lime slice, and then dip the rim in coarse salt.

Add the following to a shaker:

1 1/2 ounces of tequila
1/2 an ounce of Triple Sec
Juice from one large lime
Coarse salt for rim of glass

Combine the ingredients, pour into the glass, and enjoy!

Courtesy of favim.com

A recent study published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture  revealed that although junk food was found to be cheaper per calorie, healthy foods (foods from specific food groups whose nutritional values fell below a maximum amount of saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium) were cheaper by portion size and weight. In other words, it costs less to put healthy food on your plate than junk food when you adhere to serving sizes.

Here’s an example. According to this Mark Bittman column, four “complete” meals from the leading fast food restaurant cost just under $30. But you can easily feed four-to-six people with a roast chicken, vegetables, salad, and milk for under $14. Choose a meal of rice and beans instead, and your total bill goes down about $5 more.

You might think, “that’s all well and good, but it still feels like junk food is cheaper and easier to put on the table. Why is that, and what can I do about it?”.  In a country whose obesity-related medical expenses already cost $147 billion per year, that is one of the billion dollar questions.

The answer is complex. But that doesn’t mean we’re powerless.

Here are some steps we can take now to curb the ever-widening effects of our “junk food” culture:

Ignore Manipulative Food Marketing: Fast food companies alone spent $4.2 billion on marketing in 2009, and the Food and Beverage industry as a whole has done a pretty good job convincing consumers that the foods they sell are cheap, convenient, and tasty.

It’s important to recognize that the tactics used are just that – ways of enticing you to buy products. Their bottom line doesn’t care if you enjoyed your burger after you bought it, or if it caused you to gain weight. But, your body cares, and who would you rather listen to?

Banish the Fast-Food Habit: Sixty years ago food was less plentiful and more expensive than it is today. Now, in part because of the overabundance of food, Americans dine out about five times per week. We have to reverse this trend. Our bodies do not need large portions of oil-saturated foods, a staple in many fast food restaurants.

We can also get more comfortable saying “no” to our kids, who sadly, are unfair targets of manipulative marketing. We need to show them that grilled chicken and potatoes can taste just as good as chicken nuggets and fries.

Know Your Options: Healthy food can be cheap and convenient too; it just takes a little more knowledge and forethought than ordering a Value Meal.  The cost of organic produce and $5 loaves of hearty whole-grain bread (vs. $2 white loaves) can be discouraging, but buying store brands and in-season produce, and taking advantage of coupons and sales can help keep costs low.

Embrace substitutions. Less expensive, conventionally grown foods can still be healthy, and brown rice is an alternative whole grain that costs under $1 per bag. Take 10 minutes to plan your trip to the store, and you can be in and out in less time than it would take for you to wait in a drive-thru line. Plus, you’ll have a smaller tab!

Get Cooking: Americans are watching more cooking shows, but spending less time in the kitchen. What’s wrong with this picture? There is a misconception that cooking takes lots of time and skill. Stock “staple” items, such as rice and beans, chicken breasts (which freeze well), and spices. Also, invest in a good knife and large cutting board, and use the Internet to find healthy and easy recipes you can prepare in 15-minutes or less.

If you have time to watch your favorite TV show, you have 15 minutes to prepare dinner for your family. Try it for a month and see if your bills and your belt stay a little tighter.

Courtesy of jcburrou.hubpages.com

We don’t like to hear that healthy food is cheaper than junk food because it gives us one less excuse to eat junk. While it’s easy to go out and eat 5,000+ calories a day, our bodies simply can’t handle that lifestyle, even with exercise. Our choices impact the quality of our lives, and it’s up to us to embrace a healthier lifestyle that doesn’t include junk food products.

Do you think it’s possible to eat healthy on a budget? What challenges have you faced in providing healthy meals for your family, and how have you overcome them?

As the obesity epidemic grows in scope, so too does the “blame game.” Lack of exercise, over-consumption of food, sedentary work environments, lifestyle choices, biological predispositions, genes…the list of possible culprits for America’s fatness goes on.

Fast food is a common target. Earlier this month, an advocacy group launched a campaign petitioning 26 hospitals across the country to remove a major fast food restaurant from their cafeterias with the aim of sending a “better message” to consumers.

Some of the reasoning behind the group’s initiative comes from a 2006 study published in the journal Pediatrics that concluded that allowing fast food centers to operate in hospitals not only affects guests’ consumption of fast food on the day of their visit, but also unintentionally boosts the perception of the “healthfulness” of fast food in general. Here’s more research that supports the initiative:

• The prevalence of obesity-related diseases has risen sharply over the past thirty years, and the number of fast food restaurants in America has more than doubled over the same period (The National Bureau of Economic Research).
• Studies have shown that “consumption of fast food among children in the US seems to have an adverse effect on dietary quality in ways that plausibly could increase risk for obesity.”
• Studies have shown that increased proximity to fast food restaurants is linked to an increase in obesity.

Courtesy of wagnerfpa.wordpress.com.

So being near to fast food increases the likelihood of obesity, but will removing fast food from hospitals (and other institutions and neighborhoods) help solve the problem?

Consider this:

• The New York Times recently reported that studies have shown that “there is no relationship between the type of food being sold in a neighborhood and obesity among its children and adolescents.”
• Restrictive “diets” and the “diet mentality” in general do not lead to long-term effective weight-loss. What does work, according to a recent study by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, is eating less fat, exercising more, using prescription weight loss medications, or participating in commercial weight loss programs.
• Calling for removal of fast food from hospitals sends the message that fast food restaurants are “bad” and can be blamed for obesity, lessening personal responsibility for our own health.

Blaming fast food restaurants for obesity can place us on a slippery slope.  Should we remove buses from our streets to force people to choose the less convenient, but “healthier” walking or biking options?  After all, sitting for long periods of time is correlated with obesity, and most adults do not get the recommended level of exercise.

Similarly, while we should limit consumption of fast food, we can’t eliminate it from the American diet as long as there is a demand for convenient, inexpensive, and (arguably) tasty food.  We need to improve health through education and develop incentives that encourage healthy lifestyle decisions, proper nutrition, and exercise.

Perhaps a partnership between hospitals and Weight Watchers (or other proven commercial weight loss programs), or the establishment of walking groups or active events within hospital walls, could promote lasting change.

We won’t make any progress in the fight against obesity by playing the blame game at the expense of taking responsibility for our health into our own hands.

Courtesy of www.topnews.in.

What do you think? Will restricting fast food lead to a decrease in obesity? How can we as individuals, families, and institutions promote a healthier America?

Courtesy of eatright.org.

March is National Nutrition Month, and this year, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is urging Americans to “Get Your Plate In Shape.” With the help of the “My Plate” model, which replaced the Food Pyramid in June 2011, the experts are giving us a reminder of the healthy nutrition goals we have heard before:

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
• Make at least half of your grains whole grains
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat dairy
• Vary your protein choices
• Cut back on sodium and empty calories from solid fats and added sugars
• Eat less
• Exercise more