Losing weight, a sure bet

John Hamaski tried a lot of things to lose weight but nothing really worked. The 38-year-old lawyer from San Francisco began several diets and enlisted in a gym. "It didn't work, I just stayed fat." Hamaski, who is about 1.56m tall and weighed 84kg, suffered from obesity.

What saved Hamaski just in time was Fatbet.net. In February he and five friends bet on losing 9.9kg in eight weeks. "I became very competitive, it was a matter of honor," the Californian says. Every day Hamaski and his friends had to register their weight on the website. They also invited their families and other friends to follow the collective slimming online.

"There was a lot of pressure, I didn't want to be a loser." Thanks to the bet, Hamaski forced himself to eat a balanced diet and to exercise six times a week. In the end, he actually won the bet. "In April I was down to 74kg."

Hamaski's story is not an isolated case in the United States. Thousands of Americans use websites like Fatbet.net as another option to traditional diet programs, such as Weight Watchers, Atkins and Slim Fast.

"These bets are working wonders. People don't want to lose and they really succeed in reducing their weight," believes Fatbet founder Adam Orkand, 40. Since launching the website in January 2008, about 6,000 users have signed up on Fatbet.net. Most of them are successful: 80 percent win their bets by losing a few pounds.

But if someone tries to lose 50 pounds (23kg) at once it certainly won't work. On average every Fatbet user loses 14 pounds (6kg) - without paying any fees because the website is financed through ads.

"The most important thing is the wager," explains Orkand. "It has to be something that you definitely don't want to lose." There are no limits, wagers can be anything: Losers have to let their beards grow, sing embarrassing songs in karaoke bars or run naked through a city center. But often it is all about honor - or cash.

It is scientifically well-founded that the expectation of winning money helps someone to lose pounds. Kevin Volpp, professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, found that slimming is easier for people if they earn $600.

Volpp's survey inspired makemoneylosingweight.com. This website has existed since the beginning of 2008 and promotes the slogan "You can never be too rich or too thin". When starting a bet the users have to pay an optional amount of money into a pool. At the end losers go away empty-handed, but the winner takes it all: the money and his weight loss.

StickK.com is similar in concept to makemoneylosingweight.com. One third of the wagers on this website are also monetary. But users can decide if they want to donate the money to a charity - or an "anti-charity", an organization they really hate. It is because of the latter option that the George W. Bush library and the National Rifle Organization (NRA) receive unexpected donations.

But StickK.com is not just about slimming, it is also about getting rid of other vices. Twenty percent of the 33,000 users bet to exercise regularly, 5 percent want to quit smoking. Unlike on Fatbet.net or Makemoneylosingweight.com, the StickK-users have to agree to a contract which can be terminated only in exceptional cases.

"People need an incentive to stick with it and to achieve their goal," says StickK founder Jordan Goldberg, 25, in explaining the strict rules.

However, Elisa Zied from the American Dietetic Association (ADA) regards these "bet your fat away" websites very skeptically. "They are a helper for those who like to compete with themselves," the expert says, "but for those who think of it as a quick fix I would say, forget about it."

taken from : China Daily


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Cutting out sugary drinks helps weight loss

NEW YORK – When it comes to losing weight, what you drink may be more important than what you eat, according to new research; it shows that cutting back on sugar-laden drinks is associated with weight loss and seems to have a bigger impact on weight than cutting back on solid foods.

"Consumption of liquid calories from beverages has increased in parallel with the obesity epidemic in the US population," Dr. Benjamin Caballero of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues point out in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"Our study supports policy recommendations and public health efforts to reduce intakes of liquid calories, particularly from sugar-sweetened beverages, in the general population," they conclude.

The researchers examined how changes in beverage consumption over 18 months affected the weight of 810 adults who participated in a behavior intervention study.

They divided beverages into seven categories based on calorie content and nutritional composition: sugar-sweetened beverages (regular soft drinks, fruit drinks, fruit punch, or high-calorie beverages sweetened with sugar); diet drinks (diet soda and other "diet" drinks sweetened with artificial sweeteners); milk (whole milk, 2 percent reduced-fat milk, 1 percent low-fat milk, and skim milk); 100 percent juice (100 percent fruit and vegetable juice); coffee and tea with sugar; coffee and tea without sugar; and alcoholic beverages.

Sugar-sweetened beverages were the leading source of liquid calories among study subjects.

Overall, the researchers found that cutting back on liquid calories was associated with a weight loss of 0.6 pounds (0.25 kg) at 6 months and 0.5 pounds (0.24 kg) at 18 months.

Of the seven types of beverages examined, sugar-sweetened beverages were the only type significantly associated with weight loss. Among sugar-sweetened beverages, cutting out just 1 serving daily was associated with a weight loss of 1.1 pounds (0.49 kg) at 6 months and 1.4 pounds (0.65 kg) at 18 months.

"The weight-loss effect of a reduction in liquid calorie intake was stronger than that of a reduction in solid food intake," Caballero and colleagues report.

The results "support recommendations to limit liquid calorie intake among adults and to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption as a means to accomplish weight loss or avoid excess weight gain," they conclude.

taken from : China Daily


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Have your cake -- and eat it, too

A pastry chief fills Christmas cakes known as "rosco de reyes" with whipped cream in a pastry factory in Burgos, northern Spain January 5, 2008.[Agencies]

TORONTO - The holiday season is here and for those who overindulge, the guilt trips are sure to follow. But it doesn't have to be that way. With the right strategy, you most certainly can have your cake and eat it, too.

Andy Bellatti, a nutrition graduate student at New York University, has some tips for surviving the eating season with your waistline in tact. First, remember that much of it is in your head.

Stop thinking of the holiday season as being five or six weeks long, said Bellatti, who blogs about diet and nutrition at Small Bites. Instead, focus on specific days, like Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. "If you already have it in your mind that those are the days when things are going to be off course," he said, "it's going to be a lot easier."

At the same time, an attitude of deprivation could set you up for failure. "If you know you like pumpkin pie why would you ever tell yourself you're not going to have any?" he asked.

And convincing yourself that you won't make a single "bad" choice during the holidays is self-sabotaging, he added: "It's very easy to say that when you don't have any food in front of you. But when you're there, and you see other people eating it and they're savoring it and telling you how good it is, it gets very hard."

Go ahead and have that pumpkin pie but go back to your regular eating patterns the next day. "There's too much of this thinking that 'Well, I've already gone overboard -- I might as well keep going.' That's problematic," he said.

Another trap "over-indulgers" fall into is the emotional. Bellatti said you should be aware of why you are eating something. "Be aware of your mind state, and think as you're eating, 'Am I eating this because I'm enjoying it, or am I eating it because I want to yell at my sister who gets on my nerves?'" If you know you tend to eat or drink due to boredom or stress, try stationing yourself somewhere other than beside the bar or the food table, he suggested - get what you want, and then take your plate or glass and go to another part of the room.

Instead of trying to "save up" your calories during the day by avoiding food before an event, have a small filling snack, one with some fiber and protein, before going out; Bellatti suggested nuts, cereal or oatmeal. If you're not starving when you arrive, he explained, you'll have better control when you do hit the food table. Besides, it's never a good idea to drink on an empty stomach.

Alcohol can be a major source of empty calories during the holidays, particularly if drinking also leads you to overeat. The drinks themselves are generally not filling, and can have more calories than one might expect - a six-ounce glass of white wine has 120 calories, a bottle of beer has 150 calories, and cocktails can have anywhere from 125 calories in a Bloody Mary to 475 calories in a Rum Eggnog. Bellatti suggested alternating drinks with water or seltzer to cut down on your intake.

If you're hosting a holiday event, try to be realistic about how much food you really need for the number of guests you have, Bellatti advised. "For some reason people think that a Christmas dinner should be for a battalion, and they end up making so much food." At one holiday dinner he attended there were seven pies for the eight guests.

If you do have snacks still around at the end of the party, try sending some home with your guests, he said, particularly if you know the foods are problematic for you. And remember that there will inevitably be some treats left for tomorrow, which means you don't have to eat them all at once.

Most of all, Bellatti said, it's important not to get too caught up in the details. If your diet is good on the whole, a few treats - whether during the holidays or the rest of the year - are okay, and may even help you stay on track. "As long as your overall diet patterns are fine and healthy," he said, "having a donut on Monday and Friday is not going to be the end of you."

Taken From : China Daily


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Weight loss easier when you get paid for it

Losing weight is easier when there is money on the line, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They said weight-loss programs that reward people with money -- and remind them of the cash they stand to lose if they fail -- provided a powerful incentive to lose weight compared with more conventional approaches.

Dr. Kevin Volpp of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine was looking for an effective way to treat obesity, a growing problem that carries serious health risks.

He said many weight-loss programs fail because people are being asked to make sacrifices now for rewards in the future.

"We wanted to create a reward system which gave them rewards in the present," said Volpp, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Volpp and colleagues studied two kinds of incentive programs for weight loss. One was a lottery-based design in which participants played a lottery and were allowed to collect their winnings if they met their weight-loss target.

The lotteries were running daily, and people were told what their winnings would have been if they had met their weight-loss target.

"There is a very strong sense of loss aversion," the theory that people are highly motivated to avoid losses, Volpp said in a telephone interview.

"The idea was to create a mechanism where loss aversion would help drive people's motivation," he said.

The other was a deposit contract, in which participants invested a small amount of their own money -- between 1 cent and $3 per day -- which they would lose at the end of the month if they failed to reach their goals. People in this group also got a bonus if they met their goal.

"You only received your reward at the end of the month if your weight was below the stated goal for the month," Volpp said.

The researchers assigned 57 obese but otherwise healthy people to one of these two groups or a control group, in which people were simply weighed at the end of each month. All were aiming to lose 16 pounds (7.26 kg) by the end of four months.

People in the incentive groups lost far more weight than those who got no pay for their efforts, with about half of the participants in each group meeting their weight loss goals.

People in the lottery program earned a total of $378.49 and lost about 13 pounds (5.9 kg), while people in the deposit group got $272.80 and lost 14 pounds (6.35 kg).

Those in the control group, who were merely rewarded by better-fitting jeans, lost about 4 pounds after four months.

Volpp said the studies were highly effective at producing short-term weight loss, but when the money stopped flowing, the weight began to creep back on.

"We need to establish whether they can be effective in sustaining weight loss as well," he said.
Taken From : China Daily


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Dim slim

By Fiona Lee (China Daily)

What makes Chinese people so skinny? Is it all due to genes? A more active lifestyle? In her new book, Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories, British writer Lorraine Clissold set out to discover what it was that kept the Chinese so skinny when they were eating large, delicious meals, while she and her British and American counterparts were suffering on bland salads and still not managing to lose weight.

Interviewed from her home in North Yorkshire, Clissold's ultimate answer for the secret to the slim Chinese physique is not surprising: the traditional Chinese diet, supported by a strong cultural background.

Humorous and insightful, Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories is a thought-provoking analysis of what makes the Chinese diet work. Drawing on Clissold's 10 years in Beijing as a teacher of Chinese cooking and presenter of a cooking program on CCTV, it will likely have many readers re-examining their lifestyles and eating habits.

Although it isn't your usual dieting book, it also includes tips and recipes for non-Chinese readers so they can incorporate some of the healthier aspects of Chinese diet into their lives.

Clissold lays out several ideas for why the Chinese diet is so healthy, ranging from what is actually eaten to attitudes toward food.

Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories is a thought-provoking analysis of the Chinese diet.

Vegetables play a much stronger role in Chinese cuisine than in a British or American one. Instead of being relegated to limp supporting roles, vegetables are much likely to be stars of the show, and appreciated on their own with meat used as a flavoring or side dish.

Taking in liquid food also plays an important role. Chinese and Western ideas about soup are extremely different. Western soups are often hearty and sometimes even "a meal in its own right," but Chinese soups tend to be based on simple broths, providing a liquid element to the meal that is full of nutrients.

"By drinking the liquid in which the vegetables are cooked, Chinese diners ensure that no vitamins are lost during the cooking process," she says.

Clissold also believes that China has a much stronger culture of eating as an enjoyable communal activity, making every meal an occasion.

She says that while she has always been fascinated by food, British attitudes toward food were often based on guilt over how many calories were consumed, and unhealthy cycles of guiltily eating rich meals only to punish herself by having a bland meal afterwards.

"In China," she says, "I found myself surrounded by people who enjoyed eating, ate until they were full three times a day and never worried about getting fat or talked about cutting back to compensate after a good meal."

One of the most intriguing parts of Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories is in Clissold's examination of how Chinese food culture is influenced by Taoist ideas about food and the body.

"Chinese people have never doubted that what you eat is directly related to your state of health. They eat to nourish the whole body, rather than being concerned with just its outer shape, which is the case with many Western diet regimes," she says.

She describes the need for balance in a diet, balancing out both yin and yang foods as well as the five flavors: sweet, pungent, salty, sour and bitter. Each flavor affects a different organ; for instance, sweet flavors affect the spleen and the stomach, while bitter flavors affect the heart and the small intestine.

"The right amount of a flavor will benefit an organ; too much will put it out of kilter and damage the organ." she says. "A good Chinese diet will feature a mixture of yin and yang foods and the five flavors."

Even a properly cooked, traditional Chinese meal will reflect this kind of balance, as no one flavor will overwhelm the others, or a bitter dish may balance out a sweeter one.

Clissold believes that Westerners tend to overindulge in particular flavors in their diet, leading to bodies that Taoist food theory would consider unbalanced and dysfunctional.

Graphic by Luo Jie.

"Sweet (and bland) foods are the pre-dominant flavors in most Western diets, which is why many Western waistbands are stretched to the limit and digestive disorders are so common."

She also compares the way that Chinese food is holistic with Western ideas of breaking down foods to their nutritional components, a notion that does not acknowledge that foods work in tandem with each other.

"Modern nutritionists break a meal down into proteins, carbohydrates and fats," she says. "There is increasing awareness of the need for vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients but the Western nutrition model combined with the ready availability of food in the West tends to promote very limited eating."

One surprising discovery that Clissold made during her research was that the Chinese actually consume 30 percent more calories than Westerners but stay 20 percent slimmer, a claim originally made by T. Colin Campbell in The China Study, a comprehensive survey that examined the link between diet and disease in China and other countries.

The China Study debunked the idea that the Chinese are thinner because of a more active lifestyle and therefore consume more to maintain this lifestyle. In fact, to make its point, the survey compared the least active group of Chinese, office workers who led sedentary lives, with a more active group of average Americans who exercised moderately.

But even as The China Study extolled the way that rural Chinese ate, one danger that Clissold sees is that as China modernizes, the Chinese themselves are moving away from their own traditional diets with their accumulated knowledge and falling into Western practices of eating on the run, snacking, buying processed foods and consuming empty calories, leading to the diseases of the industrialized world: cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Still, she ends her book on an optimistic note about the role of foreign influences in Chinese cuisine, saying, "I have faith that the influence will not be long-term. Chinese culture has done a pretty good job of withstanding invasion to date."

(China Daily 11/26/2008 page19)

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Love for life makes diet diehards eat less

(China Daily) Inspired by animal experiments showing that underfeeding enhances vitality and prolongs life by 30 percent or more, the US-based Calorie Restriction Society is slashing calorie intake in a bid to beat back the clock and halt the ageing process.

Society member Bob Cavanaugh said: "Some people are doing it strictly to enhance longevity," Cavanaugh said from his home near Moorehead City in North Carolina.

"Others do it to avoid age-related disease, or because they already have diabetes, high cholesterol or clogged arteries and want to clean up their bodies by using diet."

A worldwide epidemic of obesity-related diseases has put a spotlight over the last decade on the link between food and health.

"In rich countries, 90 percent of the population probably eats, on average, about 50 percent too much," noted Christiaan Leeuwenburgh, head of the biology of aeging division at the University of Florida's College of Medicine.

"Even if they were to reduce their calorie intake by half, they would still only be at baseline, the optimal balance between energy input and output." he said.

A wealth of scientific evidence has confirmed that maintaining that balance helps prevent type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

But experiments with both animals and humans have also shown that pushing one's calorie intake 10 to 20 percent below that baseline threshold - without lowering nutrients - may provide additional health advantages.

Luigi Fontana, a professor in the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, has led or co-authored more than a dozen studies on reduced calorie intake in humans.

He is also one of a handful of researchers studying long-term impacts by monitoring a group of nearly 50 adults who have been on calorie restriction diets for at least a decade.

"Most are middle-aged, but they have the cardiovascular profile of a teenager," he said.

Blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and insulin levels are all low while so-called "good" cholesterol remains high, he said. Diabetes and cancer rates are down too.

Studies published earlier this year point to other, specifically age-related, benefits as well.

One shows that cutting calorie intake 20 percent cut damage in DNA and RNA caused by oxidation in half compared to control groups.

Oxidative damage to DNA, proteins and other cellular building blocks accumulate over time and are thought to be a major driver of ageing.

A second study by Fontana, published in July in Aeging Cell, shows that a combination of calorie reduction and limiting protein intake lowers levels of insulin-like growth factor, commonly known as IFG-1.

IFG-1 is a high-risk marker for prostate, breast and colon cancer, and plays a key role in regulating cell growth linked to the ageing process.

Cavanaugh, 61, an ex-marine, started the diet eight years ago after a 15-year history of high cholesterol and blood pressure.

At first he improvised. "I designed a diet I thought was very nutritious, but I had a problem with hunger and would sometimes go on candy binges," he said.

"My level of vitality soared," he said, insisting he has more energy today than 20 years ago.


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Fast way to getting fat

People who gobble down their food and eat until they feel full are three times more likely to get fat compared with people who eat slowly and modestly.

Changing patterns of behavior, driven by the advent of fast food and cheap food, are widely to blame for the obesity pandemic, according to Japanese researchers.

The Osaka University study recruited 1,122 men and 2,165 women aged between 30 and 69 and asked them to closely track their eating habits and body mass index (BMI), a benchmark of obesity.

Around half of each gender said they ate until they were full, while just under half of the men, and just over a third of the women, said they ate quickly.

Those who ate until they were full were twice as likely to be overweight and those who both ate quickly and until they were full were three times likelier to be overweight.

"The combination of the two eating behaviors had a supra-additive effect on being overweight," the study reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

The study distinguished between people who ate until full and those who reported binge eating. Intriguingly, it found those who ate until full had in fact a higher calorie intake than those who gorged.

In a commentary, also carried by the BMJ, Australian nutritionists Elizabeth Denney-Wilson and Karen Campbell suggested that the drive to eat quickly was a genetic survival mechanism - humans are hardwired to over-consume energy when it is available.

This mechanism has run into problems, though, with food that is cheap and instantly available and eaten swiftly, they argued.

"It may be that the changing sociology of food consumption, with fewer families eating together, more people eating while distracted (for example, while watching television), and people eating 'fast food' while on the go all promote eating quickly," said Denney-Wilson and Campbell.

"Furthermore, the increased availability of relatively inexpensive food, which is more energy-dense and served in substantially larger portions, may promote eating beyond satiety."


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A great drink - but beware the pitfalls

Three cups of tea contain the equivalent amount of anti-oxidants found in six apples.

(China Daily) Tea is my cure-all: Earl Grey when I need soothing; green tea as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up: pu'er tea if I'm feeling a bit posh and a good strong cup of English Breakfast tea (in fact from India or Africa) to wake me up first thing.

Of course there is a huge variety of teas available both in China and internationally, but all of these true teas are made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant in one form or another.

Infusions made with different plants (ie chrysanthemum, jasmine, chamomile) are not technically "tea" but instead should really be referred to as a "tisane".

True tea is split into three categories.

First up are both green and white teas which are made from young leaves and buds - these are then steamed or burned to deactivate some of the innate chemicals.

The second category is oolong tea - here, leaves are bruised and crushed, then allowed to oxidise awhile before they are heated and dried.

The final group is black tea, where the leaves are rolled and broken extensively, and allowed to oxidise completely before drying. These are referred to (technically incorrectly) as fermented teas.

Teas from all these groups have a number of extremely beneficial health properties and are a rich source of many different natural compounds called flavonoids. Green tea is much higher in flavanols called catechins, while black tea contains greater amounts of theaflavins and thearubigins. All types of tea contain good amounts of similarly named flavonols like quercetin and rutin.

All you need to know is that these all have potent anti-oxidants which can help to protect you against heart disease, stroke, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Of course, tea should not be considered a replacement for fruit and vegetables that contain other nutrients, but a 1999 study showed that three cups of tea contain the equivalent amount of anti-oxidants found in six apples.

Tea plants gather fluoride in their leaves and so may contribute significant amounts to the daily intake of tea drinkers. In the US, the recommended "Adequate Intake" (AI) of fluoride is 3-4 mg per day for adults and 0.7-2.0 mg for children. A cup of tea contains around 0.3mg-0.5mg, and this figure doubles if the water used is already fluoridated.

Fluoride's chief role is in reducing dental cavities, although it also contributes to healthy bones and protecting against osteoporosis. In addition to fluoride, the flavonoids and tannins in tea can reduce the harmful activity of bacteria in the mouth, so all in all, tea (without sugar) can help to keep your teeth healthy.

Camellia sinensis contains caffeine, so all teas (unless they go through a decaffeinating process) will contain caffeine. Green tea tends to have slightly less than oolong and black teas. An average cup of black tea (around 200ml) has about 40mg caffeine - this is compared to a cup of brewed coffee, which has about 100mg. That leaves room for 7-8 cups of tea per day as 300mg caffeine per day is considered a safe intake for adults.

Caffeine can act as a diuretic (causing you to lose water) but only if consumed in large amounts at one time ie 6-8 cups, or 250-300mg caffeine. On the other hand, tea drunk in a lesser quantity can make a valuable contribution to daily fluid intake.

People suffering from anaemia (iron deficiency) should be careful when they drink tea - the tea's tannins heavily reduce iron absorption from the food you are eating. This effect is even greater if you have milk in your tea, as the calcium competes with iron for absorption. Conclusion? Have your cuppa in between meals, not with them.

This nutrition-related column is written by Nina Lenton, a qualified dietitian living and working in Beijing. Contact her at nina_lenton@hotmail.com.


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Thoughts for food -- new diet guidelines considered

By Terri Coles

Toronto (Reuters) - Every five years, the U.S. government issues revised guidelines for how you should eat, and thoughts are now going into new recommendations to be released two years from now.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) work together to revise the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a document that is the cornerstone of the government's nutrition policy and education.

Americans probably best know the dietary guidelines for their information on healthy eating, but they also provide the scientific basis for government funding, nutrition policy, dietary education and public health initiatives. They also are used by the food industry in marketing and product development, because they emphasize particular areas of interest for consumers.

Because of their wide reach, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are an important tool for fighting obesity and conditions like heart disease, from government policies right down to the food choices you make in your home.

The first edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans was released in 1980, and it has been revised every five years since then. The changes reflect changes in scientific knowledge and medical opinion, such as an increased emphasis on whole grains or guidelines to focus on reducing dietary fat and added sugar.

The next revisions for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are due in 2010, and the process is now underway. The USDA and HHS have announced their intent to put together a Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which will determine if a revision to the 2005 guidelines is needed; if so, it will then develop recommendations for changes to be brought to the USDA and HHS.

Along with general nutrition advice, the USDA and HHS have indicated that they are looking for advice from experts in epidemiology, nutrition biochemistry, physiology and the prevention of chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They will also pay particular attention to obesity, which has increased in Americans over the past thirty years. Two-thirds of adults in the U.S. are now either obese or overweight.

A lot has changed on the dietary landscape since the 2005 edition: added nutrients like omega-3s and probiotics are now commonplace, organic foods continue to grow in popularity and sales, and the accepted conventional wisdom of the value of a low-fat diet has been questioned. The guidelines have to make sense of these messages while satisfying industry, medical and scientific concerns.

A new edition of the dietary guidelines should focus on simplification and eliminating inconsistencies, said Parke Wilde, a food economist who blogs at U.S. Food Policy. The last edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released in 2005, was more complicated than previous editions, Wilde wrote at U.S. Food Policy, and focused more on nutrients than specific foods, when an emphasis on real foods would be preferable.

"Alongside any recommendation about a nutrient, the Guidelines should immediately explain the leading food sources of that nutrient," Wilde wrote. "For example, saturated fat comes predominantly from meat, butter, and cheese, and to a lesser extent from vegetable oils."

As well, the guidelines should clarify its messages around advertising to help consumers decipher nutritional marketing messages, Wilde advised on the blog. Foods like milk and meat are often advertised directly to consumers via industry-run programs that promote increased consumption. And many foods are now marketed under a variety of labeling systems that promote their health benefits or added nutrients. It's important for the guidelines to explain which of these messages might be inconsistent with its recommendations, Wilde wrote.

Nutrients are likely to be of particular focus in the new guidelines, said Dr. Katherine A. Beals, associate professor at the University of Utah, at the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference last year. Beals singled out omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and fiber as nutrients of particular interest.

What remains to be seen is whether or not the new recommendations will find their way into American kitchens; previous studies have indicated that they don't, at least not to the degree suggested by the Dietary Guidelines. A report by the USDA found that Americans do not meet the dietary recommendations, and a study by researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York questioned the benefit of the guidelines.

The Yeshiva University study, published in January in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, said that writers for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans should use explicit standards of evidence in making their nutritional recommendations, and that previous recommendations may have actually had a negative impact on public health. For example, the 1995 dietary recommendation to lower fat intake has been followed by a rise in carbohydrate consumption, and a subsequent rise in obesity. Care must be taken to ensure that the same mistakes aren't repeated in the 2010 guidelines, the researchers advised.

The first meeting of the advisory committee will be held this month, on October 30 and 31. The public can also comment on the process and the 2010 guidelines until the advisory committee completes its report: www.usda.gov/

Do you follow the Dietary Guidelines for Americans? Let us know: HealthMatters@reuters.com

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Fruits and Vegetables and Weight Management

How to Use Fruits and Vegetables to Help Manage Your Weight

Fruits and vegetables are part of a well-balanced and healthy eating plan. There are many different ways to lose or maintain a healthy weight. Using more fruits and vegetables along with whole grains and lean meats, nuts, and beans is a safe and healthy one. Helping control your weight is not the only benefit of eating more fruits and vegetables. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of some types of cancer and other chronic diseases. Fruits and vegetables also provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health.

To lose weight, you must eat fewer calories than your body uses.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to eat less food. You can create lower-calorie versions of some of your favorite dishes by substituting low-calorie fruits and vegetables in place of higher-calorie ingredients. The water and fiber in fruits and vegetables will add volume to your dishes, so you can eat the same amount of food with fewer calories. Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories and are filling.

Here are some simple ways to cut calories and eat fruits and vegetables throughout your day:

Breakfast: Start the Day Right

• Substitute some spinach, onions, or mushrooms for one of the eggs or half of the cheese in your morning omelet. The vegetables will add volume and flavor to the dish with fewer calories than the egg or cheese.
• Cut back on the amount of cereal in your bowl to make room for some cut-up bananas, peaches, or strawberries. You can still eat a full bowl, but with fewer calories.

Lighten Up Your Lunch

• Substitute vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, or onions for 2 ounces of the cheese and 2 ounces of the meat in your sandwich, wrap, or burrito. The new version will fill you up with fewer calories than the original.
• Add a cup of chopped vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, beans, or red peppers, in place of 2 ounces of the meat or 1 cup of noodles in your favorite broth-based soup. The vegetables will help fill you up, so you won’t miss those extra calories.

Dinner

• Add in 1 cup of chopped vegetables such as broccoli, tomatoes, squash, onions, or peppers, while removing 1 cup of the rice or pasta in your favorite dish. The dish with the vegetables will be just as satisfying but have fewer calories than the same amount of the original version.
• Take a good look at your dinner plate. Vegetables, fruit, and whole grains should take up the largest portion of your plate. If they do not, replace some of the meat, cheese, white pasta, or rice with legumes, steamed broccoli, asparagus, greens, or another favorite vegetable. This will reduce the total calories in your meal without reducing the amount of food you eat. BUT remember to use a normal- or small-size plate — not a platter. The total number of calories that you eat counts, even if a good proportion of them come from fruits and vegetables.

Smart Snacks

• Most healthy eating plans allow for one or two small snacks a day. Choosing most fruits and vegetables will allow you to eat a snack with only 100 calories.

About 100 Calories or Less a medium-size apple (72 calories) a medium-size banana (105 calories) 1 cup steamed green beans (44 calories) 1 cup blueberries (83 calories) 1 cup grapes (100 calories) 1 cup carrots (45 calories), broccoli (30 calories), or bell peppers (30 calories) with 2 tbsp. hummus (46 calories)

The fruits and vegetables in the box above all have about 100 or fewer calories.
Instead of a high-calorie snack from a vending machine, bring some cut-up vegetables or fruit from home. One snack-sized bag of corn chips (1 ounce) has the same number of calories as a small apple, 1 cup of whole strawberries, AND 1 cup of carrots with 1/4 cup of low-calorie dip. Substitute one or two of these options for the chips, and you will have a satisfying snack with fewer calories.

Remember: Substitution is the key.
It’s true that fruits and vegetables are lower in calories than many other foods, but they do contain some calories. If you start eating fruits and vegetables in addition to what you usually eat, you are adding calories and may gain weight. The key is substitution. Eat fruits and vegetables instead of some other higher-calorie food.

More Tips for Making Fruits and Vegetables Part of Your Weight Management Plan

Eat fruits and vegetables the way nature provided—or with fat-free or low-fat cooking techniques.
Try steaming your vegetables, using low-calorie or low-fat dressings, and using herbs and spices to add flavor. Some cooking techniques, such as breading
and frying, or using high-fat dressings or sauces will greatly increase the calories and fat in the dish. And eat your fruit raw to enjoy its natural sweetness.

Canned or frozen fruits and vegetables are good options when fresh produce is not available.
However, be careful to choose those without added sugar, syrup, cream sauces, or other ingredients that will add calories.

Choose whole fruit over fruit drinks and juices. Fruit juices have lost fiber from the fruit.
It is better to eat the whole fruit because it contains the added fiber that helps you feel full. One 6-ounce serving of orange juice has 85 calories, compared to just 65 calories in a medium orange.

Whole fruit gives you a bigger size snack than the same fruit dried—for the same number of calories.
A small box of raisins (1/4 cup) is about 100 calories. For the same number of calories, you can eat 1 cup of grapes.

Related Resources

Check out these Web sites for more information about how fruits and vegetables
can help you manage your weight:

FruitsandVeggiesMatter.gov

Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005

US Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Practice

Taken From : http://www.cdc.gov



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The Health Benefits of Fiber in the Diet

Dietary fiber offers many health benefits. Here's how to include more in your diet.

Eat more fiber. You've probably heard it before. But do you know why fiber is so good for your health?

Dietary fiber — found mainly in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes — is probably best known for its ability to prevent or relieve constipation. But fiber can provide other health benefits as well, such as lowering your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

If you need to add more fiber to your diet, don't worry. Increasing the amount you eat each day isn't difficult. Find out how much dietary fiber you need and ways to include more high-fiber foods into your daily meals and snacks.
What is dietary fiber?

Dietary fiber, also known as roughage or bulk, includes all parts of plant foods that your body can't digest or absorb. Unlike other food components such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates — which your body breaks down and absorbs — fiber isn't digested by your body. Therefore, it passes virtually unchanged through your stomach and small intestine and into your colon.

Fiber is often classified into two categories: those that don't dissolve in water (insoluble fiber) and those that do (soluble fiber).

• Insoluble fiber. This type of fiber promotes the movement of material through your digestive system and increases stool bulk, so it can be of benefit to those who struggle with constipation or irregular stools. Whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, nuts and many vegetables are good sources of insoluble fiber.
• Soluble fiber. This type of fiber dissolves in water to form a gel-like material. It can help lower blood cholesterol and glucose levels. You can find generous quantities of soluble fiber in oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits, carrots, barley and psyllium.

The amount of each type of fiber varies in different plant foods. To receive the greatest health benefit, eat a wide variety of high-fiber foods.

Benefits of a high-fiber diet

A high-fiber diet has many benefits, which include:

• Prevents constipation. Dietary fiber increases the weight and size of your stool and softens it. A bulky stool is easier to pass, decreasing your chance of constipation. If you have loose, watery stools, fiber may also help to solidify the stool because it absorbs water and adds bulk to stool.
• Lowers your risk of digestive conditions. A high-fiber diet may lower your risk of specific disorders, such as hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome and the development of small pouches in your colon (diverticular disease).
• Lowers blood cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber found in beans, oats, flaxseed and oat bran may help lower total blood cholesterol levels by lowering low-density lipoprotein, or "bad," cholesterol levels.
• Controls blood sugar levels. Fiber, particularly soluble fiber, can slow the absorption of sugar, which for people with diabetes, can help improve blood sugar levels. A high-fiber diet may also reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• Aids in weight loss. High-fiber foods generally require more chewing time, which gives your body time to register when you're no longer hungry, so you're less likely to overeat. Also, a high-fiber diet tends to make a meal feel larger and linger longer, so you stay full for a greater amount of time. And high-fiber diets also tend to be less "energy dense," which means they have fewer calories for the same volume of food.
• Uncertain effect on colorectal cancer. Evidence that dietary fiber reduces colorectal cancer is mixed — some studies show benefit, some show nothing and even some show greater risk. If you're concerned about preventing colorectal cancer, adopt or stick with a colon cancer screening regimen. Regular testing for and removal of colon polyps can prevent colon cancer.

How much fiber do you need?

How much fiber do you need each day? The National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, which provides science-based advice on matters of medicine and health, gives the following daily recommendations for adults:

	Age 50 and younger	Age 51 and older
Men	38 grams	30 grams
Women	25 grams	21 grams

Your best fiber choices

If you aren't getting enough fiber each day, you may need to boost your intake. Good choices include:

• Grains and whole-grain products
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Beans, peas and other legumes
• Nuts and seeds

Refined or processed foods — such as fruit juice, white bread and pasta, and non-whole-grain cereals — are lower in fiber content. The grain-refining process removes the outer coat (bran) from the grain, which lowers its fiber content. Similarly, removing the skin from fruits and vegetables decreases their fiber content.

So what foods are your best bets? This list shows the amount of dietary fiber in several types of foods.

Food item	Fiber content in grams*
Split peas, cooked, 1 cup	16.3
Red kidney beans, boiled, 1 cup	13.1
Raspberries, raw, 1 cup	8.0
Whole-wheat spaghetti, 1 cup	6.3
Oat bran muffin, medium	5.2
Pear, medium with skin	5.1
Broccoli, boiled, 1 cup	5.1
Apple, medium with skin	4.4
Oatmeal, quick, regular or instant, cooked, 1 cup	4.0
Green beans, cooked, 1 cup	4.0
Brown rice, cooked, 1 cup	3.5
Popcorn, air-popped, 2 cups	2.3
Whole-wheat bread, one slice	1.9

*Fiber content can vary between brands.
Source: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, 2007

Whole foods rather than fiber supplements are generally better. Fiber supplements — such as Metamucil, Citrucel and FiberCon — don't provide the vitamins, minerals and other beneficial nutrients that high-fiber foods do. However, some people may still need a fiber supplement if dietary changes aren't sufficient, or if they have certain medical conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome. Check with your doctor if you feel you need to take fiber supplements.

Tips for fitting in fiber

Need ideas for high-fiber meals and snacks? Try these suggestions:

• Start your day with a high-fiber breakfast cereal — 5 or more grams of fiber per serving. Opt for cereals with "bran" or "fiber" in the name. Or add a few tablespoons of unprocessed wheat bran to your favorite cereal.
• Add crushed bran cereal or unprocessed wheat bran to baked products such as meatloaf, breads, muffins, casseroles, cakes and cookies. You can also use bran products as a crunchy topping for casseroles, salads or cooked vegetables.
• Switch to whole-grain breads. These breads list whole wheat, whole-wheat flour or another whole grain as the first ingredient on the label. Look for a brand with at least 2 grams of dietary fiber per serving.
• Substitute whole-grain flour for half or all of the white flour when baking bread. Whole-grain flour is heavier than white flour. In yeast breads, use a bit more yeast or let the dough rise longer. When using baking powder, increase it by 1 teaspoon for every 3 cups of whole-grain flour.
• Eat more whole grains and whole-grain products. Experiment with brown rice, barley, whole-wheat pasta and bulgur.
• Take advantage of ready-to-use vegetables. Mix chopped frozen broccoli into prepared spaghetti sauce. Snack on baby carrots.
• Eat more beans, peas and lentils. Add kidney beans to canned soup or a green salad. Or make nachos with refried black beans, baked tortilla chips and salsa.
• Eat fruit at every meal. Apples, bananas, oranges, pears and berries are good sources of fiber.
• Make snacks count. Fresh and dried fruit, raw vegetables, and low-fat popcorn and whole-grain crackers are all good choices.

High-fiber foods are good for your health. But adding too much fiber too quickly can cause intestinal gas, abdominal bloating and cramping. Increase fiber in your diet gradually over a period of a few weeks. This allows the natural bacteria in your digestive system to adjust to the change. Also, drink plenty of water. Fiber works best when it absorbs water, making your stool soft and bulky. Without the added water, you could become constipated.

Taken From : http://www.mayoclinic.com

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Five Steps to Becoming Vegetarian or Vegan

Thinking about making a change in your diet? Vegetarianism, which is a diet that comes in many forms from vegan, which eliminates all animal products, including dairy, and ovo-lacto, a diet in which only meat is eliminated. Vegetarianism in one of the many methods people are choosing to improve health, increase energy, and reduce the risk of certain diseases. However, if you’re a meat eater, or even if you’re a vegetarian that eats dairy products, you should make the change to vegetarian or vegan diet gradually, so that you won’t shock your body and become inconsistent in your eating habits. Here are ten steps to help you adopt and maintain a healthy vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

#1: Make sure you’re completely aware of your decision.


Why exactly are you becoming vegetarian? Are you trying to lose weight? Is the vegetarian diet recommended by your doctor? Be sure that you know exactly why you’re becoming vegetarian, as well as the benefits of your new diet choice. This will motivate you to actually begin taking action towards becoming vegetarian or vegan. Many vegetarians tend to skip this step when trying to adjust to a vegan diet, and end up getting frustrated with themselves after they discover they don’t have the willpower to stop eating dairy right away. Even though vegetarians may not eat meat, becoming vegan is still a major diet change, and patience is necessary in order for the process to be effective.

#2: Pay attention to how you feel after you eat.

Just because you’ve decided to become vegetarian or vegan doesn’t mean you’re going to start tomorrow. So, for the next week or so, pay close attention to how you feel after each meal while consuming the foods you normally do. If you tend to feel very sluggish after breakfast, or are unable to concentrate as well after lunch, it could very well be a result of your diet, so think of meal alternatives while you’re adhering to your body’s signs; be sure to write them down so you don’t forget. You may even want to make a list of the pros and cons of vegetarianism, just to keep motivated.

#3: Purchase Vegan and Vegetarian Cookbooks and Magazines.

If you spend money on a cookbook or a vegetarian lifestyle magazine, you’re more likely to actually use it. Browse through the books to look at the presentation of the food, and be sure to read any captions that will tell you about specific nutritional benefits of each meal. This will also give you realistic vegetarian and vegan recipe ideas; sometimes photographs of certain foods can make you feel like preparing the same meal is next to impossible; however, when you see the ingredients, you may not feel so intimidated.

#4: Start eliminating certain things from your diet.

If you’re trying to become vegetarian, try to eliminate one thing from your diet each week, and be sure to have a replacement. If you’re taking beef or pork out of your diet, replace it with chicken or turkey. After a week or so of poultry, try only eating fish. Then, you may be ready to switch to tofu or other soy-based meat substitutes. If you’re becoming vegan, try eliminating one dairy product from your diet per week; it may be easier to start with something you don’t consume on a daily basis. Start with treats like yogurt or ice cream (and replace these things with soy-based products), then gradually move to milk, eggs, and cheese. If you have something to put in the cupboards in place of the items you’re giving up, you’ll be less likely to cheat on your diet.

#5: Take yourself seriously; start living in your new diet.

If you don’t take this diet change seriously, no one else will. Try a new vegetarian recipe each week for dinner, or increase your snack intake daily (of fruits, vegetables, and nuts, of course). When you’re invited to parties or get-togethers, bring a vegetarian dish. If you’re the only one in your house that is converting to a vegetarian diet, set your food aside while you’re cooking for your family. These small changes will let your friends and family know that this change is very important to you, and they’ll be more likely to be supportive if they know you want to stick to it.
taken from www.googobits.com



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A low salt diet and healthy eating - low sodium foodsWatch out for the white stuff - reduce sodium salt in your diet

The amount of salt - sodium chloride - that we eat has a direct effect on our health and blood pressure. The more salt we eat the higher our blood pressure. This is true, not only in people with high blood pressure, but also in people with normal blood pressure. A high sodium salt intake also causes other health damage, such as greater retention of water in your body, which leads to swelling of the ankles and weight gain. Too much salt also worsens thinning of the bones (osteoporosis), asthma and kidney disease and is closely related to cancer of the stomach. Therefore, everyone should cut the amount of salt they eat to improve their health.

The Food Standards Agency issued salt intake targets for adults and children in 2003. The advice is based on a report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). The target for adults is to cut their salt intake from the current amount of 10-12 grams per day (two teaspoonfuls) to 5-6 grams a day (1 teaspoonful) or less. Salt intakes for children depend upon their age, but are considerably less than for adults. If you can reduce your salt intake more this will lower your blood pressure further.

The main source of salt in the UK diet is salt added in food processing and manufacture. This accounts for around 80% of our salt intake and is hidden in foods, e.g. bread, some cereals, meat products and ready prepared meals Many people in the UK have reduced or stopped adding salt at the table and in cooking, but are unaware of the very large amounts of salt in processed food, many of which have a salt concentration approaching or equal to that of sea water.

How can I reduce the amount of salt I eat?

The salt - sodium chloride - that you put in your own cooking or add at the table is obvious, but only a fraction of our salt intake comes from salt that we add. The rest comes from salt hidden in food, ie processed, restaurant, canteen food, etc. Most people are completely unaware that these foods contains so much, for example, bread is the biggest source of salt in the UK diet, and makes up one-quarter of our intake. You can either cut down or cut out processed foods or read the label on processed foods and only eat those that do not contain large amounts of added salt.

To see the impact on lowering your blood pressure by reducing salt in your diet many people find encouragement in regularly measuring their own blood pressure with automatic digital home monitors - follow this link for much more information about recommended accurate machines.

Your taste buds get used to the large amount of salt in processed foods. When you stop, food with less salt will taste bland. However, your taste buds adapt very quickly so that after about three weeks you will find that food with much less salt in has a strong salty taste and foods with a lot of added salt taste very unpleasant.

Ways to cut down the amount of salt you eat:

>Do not add salt to your food at the table

Sea salt, rock salt and garlic salt are almost identical to salt and should not be used. Most sauces used at the table are also very high in salt, eg, tomato ketchup & soy sauce.

Do not add salt to cooking

This includes not adding salt to the water you use for vegetables, pasta and rice etc, and avoiding stock cubes, gravy browning, soy sauce and salted dried fish, all of which are very high in salt.

Instead of salt try other flavourings and use fresh foods

Any fresh, frozen or dried herbs

All spices

Lemon and lime juice

Vinegar

Red or white wine,

Cider or beer Onions,

garlic, shallots, ginger, chilies, etc

Avoid manufactured or processed foods that have salt added

This is the most difficult to do as there is a large amount of salt in processed or packaged foods and it is difficult to know from the food labels how much has been added. For example, the main source of salt in our diet in the United Kingdom comes from bread and some breakfast cereals.

Read the salt label on food

Salt is sodium and chloride. At the moment most food labels only state the amount of sodium in the food. This is shown as fractions of a gram of sodium per 100 grams of food.

You need to multiply the sodium concentration by 2.5 in order to convert it to salt, ie, sodium and chloride.

In other words, 1 gram of sodium = 2.5 grams of salt.

A simple guideline is avoid foods that contain more than 0.2 grams of sodium per 100 grams of food and choose foods that contain less than 0.1 grams of sodium per 100 grams.

The aim is to get your salt intake to less than 5 to 6 grams a day (or lower if possible), which is the same as 2 grams of sodium (one teaspoonful).

Cutting down on salt is well worth it. The lower your salt intake, the better your health and the lower your blood pressure is likely to be and, once you are used to it, the food that you eat tastes fantastic, with real natural flavours.

Keep off the salt - reduce the sodium in your diet!

taken from www.davidgregory.org



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A Healthy Diet

Why should I try to have a healthy diet?

Having a healthy diet is one of the most important things you can do to help your overall health. Along with physical activity, your diet is the key factor that affects your weight. Having a healthy weight for your height is important. Being overweight or obese increases your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, breathing problems, arthritis, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea (breathing problems while sleeping), osteoarthritis, and some cancers. You can find out if you're overweight or obese by figuring out your body mass index (BMI). Women with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight, whereas women with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese. All adults (aged 18 years or older) who have a BMI of 25 or more are considered at risk for premature death and disability from being overweight or obese. These health risks increase as the BMI rises. Your health care provider can help you figure out your body mass, or you can go to www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm.


Having a healthy diet is sometimes easier said than done. It is tempting to eat less healthy foods because they might be easier to get or prepare, or they satisfy a craving. Between family and work or school, you are probably balancing a hundred things at once. Taking time to buy the ingredients for and cooking a healthy meal sometimes falls last on your list. But you should know that it isn't hard to make simple changes to improve your diet. And you can make sense of the mounds of nutrition information out there. A little learning and planning can help you find a diet to fit your lifestyle, and maybe you can have some fun in the process!
How can I start planning a healthy diet for me and my family?

You can start planning a healthy diet by looking at the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 (http://www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines) by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The best way to give your body the balanced nutrition it needs is by eating a variety of nutrient-packed foods every day. Just be sure to stay within your daily calorie needs.

	Focus on fruits. Eat a variety of fruits – whether fresh, frozen, canned or dried – rather than fruit juice for most of your fruit choices. For a 2,000 calorie diet, you will need 2 cups of fruit each day (for example, 1 small banana, 1 large orange, and 1/4 cup of dried apricots or peaches).
	Vary your veggies. Eat more dark green veggies, such as broccoli, kale, and other dark leafy greens; orange veggies, such as carrots, sweetpotatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash; and beans and peas, such as pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, split peas and lentils.
	Get your calcium-rich foods. Get 3 cups of low-fat or fat-free milk – or an equivalent amount of low-fat yogurt and/or low-fat cheese (1 1/2 ounces of cheese equals one cup of milk) – every day. For kids aged 2 to 8, it's 2 cups of milk. If you don't or can't consume milk, choose lactose-free milk products and/or calcium-fortified foods and beverages.
	Make half your grains whole. Eat at least 3 ounces of whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta every day. One ounce is about 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of breakfast cereal, or 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta. Look to see that grains such as wheat, rice, oats, or corn are referred to as 'whole' in the list of ingredients.
	Go lean with protein. Choose lean meats and poultry. Bake it, broil it, or grill it. And vary your protein choices – with more fish, beans, peas, nuts and seeds.

What are the most important steps to a healthy diet?

The basic steps to good nutrition come from a diet that:

• helps you either lose weight or keeps your BMI in the "healthy" range.

• is balanced overall, with foods from all food groups, with lots of delicious fruits, vegetables, whole-grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products.

• is low in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. Keep total fat intake between 20 to 35 percent of calories, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.

• includes a variety of grains daily, especially whole-grains, a good source of fiber.

• includes a variety of fruits and vegetables (two cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables per day are recommended for a 2,000 calorie diet).

• has a small number of calories from added sugars (like in candy, cookies, and cakes).

• has foods prepared with less sodium or salt (aim for no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, or about one teaspoon of salt per day).

• does not include more than one drink per day (two drinks per day for men) if you drink alcoholic beverages.

I know a healthy diet means I should control my fat intake, but I'm confused by all the different kinds of fats in foods! How do I know which ones are ok and which ones to avoid?

There are different kinds of fats in our foods. Some can hurt our health, while others aren't so bad – some are even good for you! Here's what you need to know:

• Monounsaturated fats (canola, olive and peanut oils, and avocados) and polyunsaturated fats (safflower, sesame, sunflower seeds, and many other nuts and seeds) don't raise your LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels but can raise your HDL ("good") cholesterol levels. To keep healthy, it is best to choose foods with these fats.

• Saturated fat, trans fatty acids, and dietary cholesterol raise your LDL ("bad") blood cholesterol levels, which can lead to heart disease. Saturated fat is found mostly in food from animals, like beef, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, whole milk dairy products, cheeses, and from some plants, such as tropical oils. Tropical oils include coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils that are found in commercial cakes, cookies, and salty snack foods. Unlike other plant oils, these oils have a lot of saturated fatty acids. Some processed foods (such as frozen dinners and canned foods) can be quite high in saturated fat — it' s best to check package labels before purchasing these types of foods.

• Trans fatty acids (TFAs) are formed during the process of making cooking oils, margarine, and shortening and are in commercially fried foods, baked goods, cookies, and crackers. Some are naturally found in small amounts in some animal products, such as beef, pork, lamb, and the butterfat in butter and milk. In studies, TFAs tend to raise our total blood cholesterol. TFAs also tend to raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol. One study found that the four main sources of trans fatty acids in women's diets come from margarine, meat (beef, pork, or lamb), cookies, and white bread. At this time, TFAs are not listed on nutrition labels, but that will soon change. Although it might take a couple of years to begin seeing it, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now asking food manufacturers to begin labeling TFA content. And some food manufacturers are announcing they are taking TFAs out of their food.

I'm concerned about heart disease. Is there a special diet to help prevent or control it?

Heart disease is the #1 killer of both women and men. Eating a heart-healthy diet is key to help reduce your risk factors for heart disease, like high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, overweight, and obesity. It also will help you control these conditions if you already have them.

Here are some general guidelines for heart-healthy eating:

• Choose foods low in saturated and trans fats. Foods low in saturated fat include fruits, vegetables, whole grain foods, and low-fat or nonfat dairy products. Try to avoid commercially fried and baked goods such as crackers and cookies.

• Choose a diet moderate in total fat. Keep total fat intake between 20 to 35 percent of calories. You don't have to eliminate all fat from your diet! This will give you enough calories to satisfy your hunger, which can help you to eat fewer calories, stay at a healthy weight, and lower your blood cholesterol level. To keep your total fat intake moderate, try to substitute unsaturated fat for saturated fat.

• Choose foods low in cholesterol. Try to eat fruit, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or nonfat dairy products, and moderate amounts of lean meats, skinless poultry, and fish. Eat plenty of soluble fiber, which may help lower your LDL ("bad") blood cholesterol. Good sources are oat bran, oatmeal, beans, peas, rice bran, barley, citrus fruits, and strawberries. Insoluble fiber will not help your blood cholesterol level but is still good for healthy bowel function. Good sources of insoluble fiber are whole wheat breads, kidney beans, almonds, beets, carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and apple skin.

• The American Heart Association also recommends that you try to eat at least two servings of fish per week (especially fatty fish like salmon and lake trout) because they are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which may help lower blood cholesterol. Some types of fish, such as swordfish, shark, or king mackerel, may contain high levels of mercury and other environmental contaminants that can damage the brain and nervous system, especially in developing fetuses. Children, pregnant, and breastfeeding women should limit how much fish they eat to no more than 12 ounces per week.

• You also can eat omega-3 fatty acids from plant sources, such as from tofu, soybeans, canola, walnuts, and flaxseed (these contain alpha-linolenic acid, a less potent form of omega-3 fatty acid).

• Cut down on sodium. If you have high blood pressure as well as high blood cholesterol — and many people do — your health care provider may tell you to cut down on sodium or salt. Even if you don't have high blood pressure or cholesterol, try to have no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium each day. The DASH Diet also recommends a lower level of 1,500 mg of sodium a day. You can choose low-sodium foods, which will also help lower your cholesterol, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or nonfat dairy products, and moderate amounts of lean meat. To flavor your food, reach for herbs and spices rather than high-sodium table salt. Be sure to read the labels of seasoning mixes because some contain salt.

• Watch your body weight. It is not uncommon for overweight people to have higher blood cholesterol than people who are not overweight. When you reduce the fat in your diet, you cut down not only on cholesterol and saturated fat but on calories as well. This will help you to lose weight and improve your blood cholesterol, both of which will reduce your risk for heart disease.
  

If you are healthy, but would like to keep your cholesterol low, you can follow this diet:
Heart Healthy Diet
http://nhlbisupport.com/cgi-bin/chd1/step1intro.cgi

If you currently have high cholesterol, here is a diet you can follow to help lower your LDL cholesterol:
Therapeutic Lifestyles Changes (TLC) Diet
http://nhlbisupport.com/chd1/tlc_lifestyles.htm

If you need to lower high blood pressure, you can follow:
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/

Many diets say to limit my sodium to an amount measured in milligrams per day, but exactly how much salt is that?

Salt is also labeled as sodium chloride. Soda, sodium bicarbonate, and the symbol "Na" on food labels mean the product contains sodium. Here are some general guidelines:

1/4 teaspoon salt = 600 milligrams (mg) sodium
1/2 teaspoon salt = 1,200 mg sodium
3/4 teaspoon salt = 1,800 mg sodium
1 teaspoon salt = 2,300 mg sodium
1 teaspoon baking soda = 1,000 mg sodium

It's hard to know if my portions are too big or too small for a healthy diet. Do I have to measure everything I'm eating?

It can be hard to learn if your portions of food are putting you over amounts of things you're trying to control. It doesn't help that sizes for everything from bananas to soft drinks have gotten larger in the past 20 years. It's not enough to eat the right kinds of food to maintain a healthy weight or to lose weight. Eating the right amount of food at each meal is just as important. If you are a healthy eater, it is possible to sabotage your efforts by eating more than the recommended amount of food. A serving is a specific amount of food, and it might be smaller than you realize. Here are some examples:

• A serving of meat (boneless, cooked weight) is two to three ounces, or roughly the size of the palm of your hand, a deck of cards, or an audiocassette tape.
• A serving of chopped vegetables or fruit is 1/2 cup, or approximately half a baseball or a rounded handful.
• A serving of fresh fruit is one medium piece, or the size of a baseball.
• A serving of cooked pasta, rice, or cereal is 1/2 cup, or half a baseball or a rounded handful.
• A serving of cooked beans is 1/2 cup, or half a baseball or a rounded handful.
• A serving of nuts is 1/3 cup, or a level handful for an average adult.
• A serving of peanut butter is two tablespoons, about the size of a golf ball.

I'm confused by all of the labels I see on foods, like "fat free" and "low calorie." What do these terms mean?

Terms like these are on many food packages. Here are some definitions based on one serving of a food. If you eat more than one serving, you will go over these levels of calories, fat, cholesterol, and sodium.

Calorie-free: fewer than 5 calories
Low calorie: 40 calories or fewer
Reduced calorie: at least 25% fewer calories than the regular food item has
Fat free: less than ½ gram of fat
Low fat: 3 grams of fat or fewer
Reduced fat: at least 25% less fat than the regular food item has
Cholesterol free: fewer than 2 milligrams cholesterol and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat
Low cholesterol: 20 milligrams or fewer cholesterol and 2 grams or less saturated fat
Sodium free: fewer than 5 milligrams sodium
Very low sodium: fewer than 35 milligrams sodium
Low sodium: fewer than 140 milligrams sodium
High fiber: 5 grams or more fiber

How can I follow a healthy diet if I eat out a lot?

The American Heart Association gives these tips for a healthy diet, even when you aren't cooking at home:

• Ask the server to make substitutions, like having steamed vegetables instead of fries.
• Pick lean meat, fish, or skinless chicken.
• Make sure your entrée is broiled, baked, grilled, steamed, or poached instead of fried.
• Ask for baked, boiled, or roasted potatoes instead of fried.
• Order lots of vegetable side dishes and ask that any sauces or butter be left off.
• Ask for low-calorie salad dressing or a lemon to squeeze on your salad instead of dressing.
• Order fresh fruit or fruit sorbet in place of cake, pie, or ice cream desserts.

Taken From : http://www.womenshealth.gov

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Coffee, tea...or milk?

Find out which one helps with weight goals.

By Dairy Farmers of Canada

Coffee, tea...or milk?
People often plan their food choices for the day but they don't always think about what they're drinking. And they should.

While water is important to health, research shows that beverages supply 14 to 18% of our calories every day, says registered dietitian Lois Ferguson. "What that means is beverages can really add up and play an important part in achieving and maintaining your healthy weight."

What are you drinking?
It's a good idea to start thinking about the different beverages you drink during the day, says Lois. Water, tea and milk are all great choices, and milk specifically can help with healthy weight goals. "In fact, studies show that women who drink milk or milk-based beverages regularly tend to be leaner than women who don't."

How to drink more milk
"Adding more milk products to your diet is really quite easy, delicious and nutritious," says Lois.
• Start your day with a quick, great-tasting smoothie for breakfast.
• Always drink a glass of milk with your lunch.
• After you work out, get in the habit of recharging your energy with a carton of chocolate milk.

Make sure you're drinking enough milk every day. For tasty ideas on how to do that, visit yourhealthyweight.ca.

Taken From : http://www.canadianliving.com

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Thumbs down on fad diets

Here’s what works...you’ll be surprised!

By Dairy Farmers of Canada

Thumbs down on fad diets
Scientific studies have proven time and again that fad diets don’t work. They are simply ineffective over the long term, says registered dietitian Zannat Reza. “Yes, you lose weight quickly in the beginning…but most people gain it back again. This leads to a vicious cycle called ‘the yoyo effect’ where a person loses, then gains weight back, loses it again… and so on. It’s frustrating and demoralizing.”

Fad diets are unhealthy for other reasons, too
Many fad diets leave out entire food groups – and therefore key nutrients. For example, cutting foods such as milk products means you will miss the 15 natural-source essential nutrients that milk products provide such as calcium. At the same time, over 30 studies have shown that including milk products can actually help you reach and stay at a healthy weight.

There’s no secret to healthy weight loss
Take a sensible approach to your goals and remember that small changes lead to long-term results. “Eat healthy, get regular activity and set realistic goals,” says Zannat. “You didn’t gain 20 pounds in two weeks so thinking you can lose it that quickly is unrealistic.”

For information about fad diets, visit yourhealthyweight.ca.

Taken From : canadianliving.com
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