Daily Diet Blog

April 30, 2008

Reducing Red Meat Always a Good Idea

Filed under: Health News — EatingToLive @ 5:14 am

Dietitians have long been discouraging the consumption fo large amounts of red meat and processed red meats.  Consumption of large quantities of red or processed meats has been linked to high cholesterol levels and a higher chance of obesity.  Red meats include beef, pork and lamb.  Processed red meats include cold cuts, ham, sausage, bacon and hot dogs.
Cancer experts from the American Institute for Cancer Research have been studying the effect of diet as it relates to cancer occurrence.  This Institute concluded the risk of developing colon cancer increases by 42% for every 3.5 oz. of processed red meat eaten per day.  The American Institute for Cancer Research recommends avoiding all processed red meat except on rare special occasions.
The recommendations by cancer experts, after reviewing red meat consumption and it’s link to colon cancer, is to limit red meat consumption to 18 oz. or less per week.  In the United States, we eat far more red meat than 18 oz.per week.  As an alternative to red meat or processed red meat, it is recommended that we substitute poultry or fish as our source of protein for main entrees at lunch or dinner.  Meatless meals, made with soy or vegetables can also be hearty and filling.
For decades now, Americans have been shifting away from their peak consumption of red and processed meats.  According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Reasearch Service, we have dropped our annual consumption of red meat by an average of 14 pounds per year per person. 
While this is definitely progress away from a meat that although it has some nutritional value, it is still very difficult to digest and also has a bad reputation for increasing cancer risks, and must be reduced even further to be of a true health benefit.  Still, according to cancer experts, we need to drop that statistic further. Consuming more fish and poultry and fruits and vegetables and further decreasing our red meat and processed red meat will decrease our risk of developing colon cancer.

April 27, 2008

Spice Up Your Meals

Filed under: Low Cal Ideas — EatingToLive @ 7:38 pm

Usually, when you think of nutritional sources of antioxidants, a variety of food choices come to mind.  In addition to antioxidant rich foods, such as blueberries, everyday spices and seasonings add not only flavor to your foods, but increase your antioxidant intake at the same time.
 

The addition of herbs and spices also has the benefit of enhancing food’s flavor without adding fat or calories.  Spices are only recently being studied for their nutritional value to us.  Areas of research on the study of spices realated to our health include certain spice’s possible ability to reduce inflammation, boost our metabolism and promote a feeling of fullness after we eat.
 

Some of the ordinary everyday spices that appear to have the greatest possible benefit to our health are ginger, cinnamon, oregano, red popper, thyme, tumeric and rosemary.  Herbs and spices are categorized as fruits and vegetables and since we eat them in a dehydrated form, they deliver lots of antioxidants in small portions.
 

Adding a variety of spices to the entrees you enjoy eating anyway can be very simple and will only make your meal more palatable as well as better for your health.  For example, cinnamon is a welcome addition to cereal, oatmeal or toast for your breakfast meal.  Oregano can easily be added at lunch or dinner meals.  Oregano enhances the flavor of soups, salad dressings and any Italian food.
 

Ginger and cinnamon are wonderful flavor additives for any fruit or dessert.  At dinnertime or lunchtime, side dishes such as roasted or mashed potatoes can be livened up with a sprinkling of rosemary leaves.  Rosemary is also a delicious seasoning for any chicken or poultry dish.
 

By adding spices to your food, you’ll be adding flavor and enjoyability to your meals without the calories and with lots of antioxidants.  Overall, adding spices to your diet is a very health conscious strategy.

April 25, 2008

Ali Vincent Wins Biggest Loser

Filed under: Weight Loss — EatingToLive @ 7:54 pm

I don’t watch the show, but have a friend who is an avid fan of “The Biggest Loser” television show where ordinary people compete against one another to see who can lose the most weight and the winner takes home a cash prize, as well as a new self esteem and health thanks to dramatic, needed weight loss. 

I’d say that’s a win/win situation, and while I’m generally not a huge fan of “exploitational” reality tv, I’d say this show has something special because not only do the contestants learn to eat right and exercise and get their bodies into the prime shape it should be in for their own happiness and longevity, but it also has inspired many others to do that same, and that’s what America needs right now at the peak of the obesity epidemic - inspiration to get back to basics and whip ourselves back into shape. 

We need to kick processed and fast foods to the curb to do that, and that takes a lot more work and discipline than many of us think, especially those of us with busy lives and lots of stress, who use food as a crutch.  Ali Vincent was  cute girl who had over hundred pounds to lose to become her healthiest self, and shed down to a good size and good body fat ratio to be in the best of health. 

Over a hundred pounds is a TON of weightloss, no matter how heavy you start off as, and Ali pulled through, reportedly with a great attitude that she WAS the winner from the beginning, and a great desire to become the first female contestant to win the weight loss reality show.  The show follows the contestants through eating, through their ups and downs, exercising, and mental support, and even with that, it’s still a relatively short time frame to be expected to lose almost half of your body weight.  I can’t even imagine losing that much, so kudos to Ali for becoming the first female victor! 

April 22, 2008

Meatless, Healthy Side Dish and Snack Idea

Filed under: Low Cal Ideas — EatingToLive @ 6:18 am

I had ordered takeout from a local restaurant from where I work, an Indian restaurant that makes all kinds of healthy meals that include a lot of indian seasonings, and mostly vegetables that are light and low in calories, making it an ideal place to go if you want a light, non belt-busting meal while at work or out with friends for dinner.  It gave me an idea to make something for much less money at home like what they made and what I ordered. 

It’s delicious, and it’s made with low calorie ingredients and foods that are high in omega 3 fatty acids, so you will feel fuller and get the heart health benefit as well as the added benefit of healthy fat burning that comes with the proper combining of foods with omega 3’s and fibers. 

The two foods I’m talking about are a cucumber and tomato salad, and hummus.  Humus is a low fat dip that is really popular right now as a snack food and a low fat and calorie alternative to fattening dairy and sour cream dips.  Below I’ve included my spin on these two recipes because they are easy and you can find these ingredients in any grocery store without making special trips to organic stores.

Easy Hummus recipe :

1 can of chick peas (also called garbanzo beans) - I prefer organic, which can also be found at the grocers. 

2 tablespoons of olive oil - preferably organic, and preferably extra virgin olive oil for best flavor and best health benefits

1 teaspoon lemon juice fresh squeezed.

couple shakes of pepper and sea salt

Tahini or sesame seed oil, flavored to liking

crushed garlic - one tablespoon or 3 cloves of garlic crushed in a garlic press

Blend all of these ingredients together.  I like to dip either whole wheat pita pieces in this, or slices of cucumber.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad :

Dice one cucumber into small cubes, do the same with about two fresh, ripe tomatoes.  Then, dice about 1/4 small onion.  Add this all in a bowl with a lid on it.  Add about two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of either fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, about one fourth of a packet of Good Seasonings Italian dressing dry powder mix, and a touch of crushed garlic to taste, as well as a little cumin and ground pepper, and also you can add some parsley for taste as well.  Shake it all up with the lid on, and voila, you’ve got a nice side dish that feeds 2-4 people, depending on the size of the veggies you sliced and diced. 

 

April 19, 2008

Obese People are Feeling the Discrimination More

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 7:10 pm

Obese people, that is, a category of weight that tops people into a class medically where they are considered to be in a definite group of people who are more likely to suffer health problems and who, as a result, need to get on a healthy diet and exercise regimen asap, are saying that they feel the discrimination factor getting worse as America seems to focus more and more on the obesity problem here that is rampant in the US. 

According to studies done by folks at ivy league school Yale University, exactly opposite of what you’d think holds true in today’s current society.  Although the obesity trend is on the rise over the past decade here in the US, you’d think that tolerance toward obese people would be increasing as well, but in fact obese people report feeling more discriminated against now than they did just ten years ago, suggesting the inverse of what we would think the trend is holds true in this case.

Respndents to the survey have been surveyed twice within a ten year time span, and asked if they feel discriminated against in various scenarios such as home buying, applying for a job or loan and other social situations in which you can expect to be assessed, but supposedly weight and appearance shouldn’t matter as much.  They responded that they currently feel more discrimination now than they did before interestingly enough. 

People who said the reason they felt discriminated against was their weight, and this percentage went up around five percent from the last time this survey was done, meaning that more people are at least pegging their weight as the reason they may get shabby service in a restaurant, get stared at, or perhaps may even be called names or laughed at.  And I highly doubt this is a case of mass paranoia, there probably really is something to this phenomena, it’s just difficult to say why it is happening the opposite of how logic would dictate. 

April 16, 2008

Low Calorie, Low Fat and Low Sugar Breakfast Idea

Filed under: Low Cal Ideas — EatingToLive @ 10:02 am

Well, I have two thoughts to share with you today.  First has nothing to do with my breakfast idea, which by the way happens to be a scrumptious treat that almost seems like you’re indulging in a sumptious dessert instead of eating a healthy, balanced breakfast, but it has to do with something that a coworker forwarded to me that I thought was a novel idea.

The novel idea is a restaurant in the sky.  Yep, a restaurant, fully functioning, where you eat, suspended by what I assume is a crane of some sort, in the sky!  Actually I saw the picture of it with people all sitting around tables at seat and chefs and food at the tip of the table (I hope they were all strapped in somehow, that’s actually scary!), for a meal in the sky.  It must be pricey, because it seemed like the website catered to corporate meetings and high-priced client meals for big names and those with bigger wallets. 

I honestly don’t think that’d be for me. I don’t even think I’d be able to enjoy my food, for fear the whole thing might just collapse.  And I want to know how these people stay in their seats I guess, that would be my main concern.  I’m not a fan of tall heights, as you can see, and my vertigo is getting worse with age. 

OK, on to my most recent breakfast creation.  I love this - I’ve been eating it for the past few mornings and I think I might make it my new regular breakfast since I’ve burned out on yogurt and berries for now.  I take two pre-made cups of the Jell-O brand sugar free pudding in chocolate - but you could choose any flavor you like.  Those are each 60 calories, adding up to 120 for the pudding. 

I then heap on blackberries that I find in the frozen section, without any added sugar.  You can of course use fresh, I just use frozen because of the convenience.  I of course thaw them before I add them to my yogurt, so I might leave the bag in my fridge for the week and just keep taking from it.  I then sprinkle on about a tablespoon of raw slivered almonds for a nice crunch. 

Let me tell you, it’s not only filling, but it’s very low fat, the only sugar in it is natural from the berries and should have minimal impact on your blood sugar, and the almonds add the omega 3 factor for added fullness and satiety.  Also, the almonds represent a great way to help burn fat as a supplement for health and fitness and fat loss.  You’re probably looking at about a 250 calorie breakfast, which is perfect!  I’m telling you, this keeps me full until my mid morning snack, and not many breakfasts can do that (that are healthy anyways). 

 

April 13, 2008

Man Credits Low Carb Diet with 500 Pound Weight Loss

Filed under: Dieting Trends, Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 2:34 pm

We all hem and haw about losing that last five, ten or fifteen pounds, don’t we?  I’m not excluding myself by the way, I constantly find myself saying “if I could just lose five more, I’d be happy”.  But what about people who are morbidly obese and find themselves having to lose hundreds of pounds?  How hard would that be?  I’m sure most of us who just have a few extra pounds on us can’t even fathom how hard that would be. 

We think that because people who became morbidly obese must have eaten so much to become that way, that just cutting down wouldnt’ be that hard and the weight would shed with no problem.  That isn’t always the case though, since many of them have developed insulin resistence and also have problems with a stalled metabolism.  They may require double time work and calorie cutting to lose those pounds, so for them it’s actually many times harder than it is for a person who is a normal weight to just lose a few. 

Imagine how tought it must have been for a man to lose over 500, almost 600 pounds of weight - that’s a lot of weight for anyone to lose!  Well, the world’s former “fattest man” alive credit a low carb diet with helping him to shed around 570 pounds of weight, and hopefully saving his life and heading off a multitude of health problems in the interim. 

Low carb diets can be helped with carb blockers that work by helping to block the affects of carbs, since they help to block the blood stream from being flooded with insulin, which is what happens when we eat high sugar or high carb foods.  They break down too quickly in the blood stream and cause a chain reaction that ends in weight gain ultimately by increasing hormone levels that make us eat more and make us feel full for less time, tricking us into thinking we are in a constant state of hunger.

Manuel Oribe lost his weight following the low carb diet, and plans on losing the balance of his weight, around another 300 pounds or so, by following an even stricter regimen of peanuts, fish soup and grapefruit.  He refused gastric bypass surgery in favor of following a natural diet method that allowed him to lose the weight naturally, which is commendable. 

He was bedridden for six years and had to quit his job as a mechanic because of his obesity, and he admits he stuffed down pizzas, burgers and other highly fattening and addictive foods to become over one thousand pounds and earn the title of the world’s fattest (known) man, and he’s determined to get to a healthy weight, of about 265 pounds, with the help of a natural, healthy diet.  Good for him! 

April 11, 2008

Hoodia Gum a Great Appetite Buster

Filed under: Herbal Supplements — EatingToLive @ 12:17 pm

I’ve been chewing the hoodia gum before and in between meals as a means to banish my seemingly neverending appetite as of late, and it really seems to be doing the trick for the last few days at both staving off my appetite and making me feel fuller faster when I do eat.  It kind of works on a two fold system, at least for me. 

Number one, the appetite suppressant gum with hoodia keeps my mouth busy.  They say that one of the reasons Americans eat too much is because we have somewhat of an oral fixation.  In other words, we like to have something in our mouth a lot.  It calms us, it makes us feel as though we are eating something and satisfying a craving.  This gum does that on a purely functional level.  But it also does something a little more than just your average stick of sugarless gum.

The appetite suppressing ingredients in it are SLOWLY released into the blood stream, rather than like a pill, absorbed very quickly and then given only so much time to work in the body and prevent you from overeating.  Instead, because this hoodia is in gum form, the saliva allows our bodies to break it down over time, and it’s almost like a built in time release formula, meaning it will release slowly into the system and take longer for your body to “use it up”, and you will be given greater appetite control for hours instead of just an hour or two. 

Because of the slow release and your saliva distributing it through the blood stream more effectively, you get hours of controlled appetite.  Plus, you can pop a new piece in your mouth just like regular gum any time when you feel you need a little extra willpower or you might just go for that giant hunk of chocolate cake your coworker brought in. 

Keeping your mouth busy coupled with the natural appetite suppressing powers of the gum itself is a great way to keep the appetite down so you consume less calories and can shed the weight you need to.  Or heck, it’s even great for people who just want to maintain a certain weight! 

April 9, 2008

Costa Rica Bans Burger King Ad

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 6:57 am

When I saw little Costa Rica in the headlines on a national news website, of course I had to read it, since I just went there a few months ago with my sister and fell in love with the place (who wouldn’t, it’s beautiful and untouched).  The headline confused me though, because I was not sure why exactly the Burger King ad could have been banned.  I’ve seen plenty of Burger King commercials here in the US, and while they might not be great, I certainly can’t say I ever found any of them “offensive” enough to be banned. 

The headline said the ad was banned for violence, so I read on.  I thought maybe they banned it because the food is fattening and salty, but of course that wasn’t it :)   Well, it’s actually kind of comical, because it has to do with that crazy plastic looking “king” they have in their commercials now that kind of gives me the heebiejeebees for reasons unknown to me and known only by my quirky subconscience.

In the ad, which is actually a spin off of ones I’ve heard on the radio here in the US, mothers who are mad that their kids prefer the Burger King food, or a certain sandwich, over their own home made food, try to run over the plastic king and also try to hire contract killers to kill him. 

This apparently is going over the line a bit in Costa Rica, so they banned it.  Hey, you know what?  Good for them!  I guess I don’t like censorship, but if kids are watching this stuff, I’m not so sure it’s good for them to see moms hiring contract killers to kill a man just because they prefer his food over theirs, ya know?

April 7, 2008

Hormel Ready Made Roasts, Meats Easy and Fit Dinner

Filed under: Low Cal Ideas — EatingToLive @ 10:35 am

I have made one of the best discoveries in the grocery store for convenience and tasty low fat meal ideas that are easy and fast.  Well, at least for myself, so I figured I’d share it in case this sounds like something that might be right up your alley as well.  I for one am extremely busy on the week days.  I have a 9-5 job, and I come home and have a million and one other things to do that require immediate attention almost as soon as I walk in the door after work. 

I rarely have time to whip up a real meal, one that I cook from scratch, so I rely on easy, ready made foods primarily that will only take a few minutes to prepare or something that I can put in the microwave that will be done in just a few minutes that I can add with a veggie side and also one of my favorites, a low fat cream based soup, to fill us up.  I found the meat centerpiece for our dinners at the local Giant Eagle here because my boyfriend had made them a staple when I was gone on a trip for a week and he had to fend for himself with dinners.

They are the Hormel prepared meats that can usually be found in the referigerated section of grocery stores, where the bacons and sausage products are usually found, or at least in that same general vicinity.  They come in a variety of types, my favorites being the meatloaf and the beef roast au jus.  They’re not bad on carbs, and are pretty low fat as well, and are the perfect serving size for two people. 

I like that, because we tend to overeat if I just make a whole roast myself, so this limits our portion sizes to a good amount of calories so we are not gorging ourselves at dinner, which is the worst time to gorge oneself since the calories don’t have time to be burnt off as they do when you eat during the day.  The other varieties of the Hormel ready made main dish meats are Swedish meatballs, turkey with gravy (haven’t tried this one yet), and a savory pork roast au jus. 

I was fortunate enough to find these on sale just a few days ago, and bought them in bulk, so we have a whole freezer of them now, and it gives me peace of mind knowing that I have all these dinners already premade essentially, so I won’t have to think of easy dinners to make for these coming weeks after work has already stressed me out. 

Like I said, they’re good, because for us, whom it seems like has a constant need for natural appetite suppressants because our appetites are so big, it’s a perfect size, and you can just add easily made side dishes of veggies to them and you have a whole decent meal that’s not too caloric. 

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