Daily Diet Blog

July 30, 2008

Good Carbs : What Are They?

Filed under: Dieting Trends — EatingToLive @ 5:10 pm

If you haven’t heard by now the term “good carbs” and “bad carbs”, well you might just be living underneath a rock somewhere, seeing how the most popular diets over the past year or two have been ones that focus not totally on low carb foods soleley, or even on carb loading and foresaking a lot of proteins and fats, but rather they focus on a good balance, mostly of course focusing our carb consumption on what are called good carbs, instead of bad carbs.

“Good carbs” or healthier and more diet friendly carbohydrates, are foods that are relatively speaking, high in their carbohydrate count, but they are what is termed by some, “slow burning”. This means your body does not just burn through them faster than you can bat an eyelash, but rather they burn off/are used up slower than simple carbs, which make them a better blood sugar stabilizer and leads to longer periods where you remain feeling full and satisfied.

You know what that means, it means that you end up eating less in quantity because what you are eating is satisfying for longer periods of time. Some of the foods that are in the “good carbs” category are beans and some legumes (like my personal favorite, black beans), brown rice, whole grain breads, some whole grain pastas, high fiber and low sugar fruits and veggies and basically any other high fiber and low fat food you can think of that you can eat a lot of without expending a large amount of your daily caloric allowance.

One of my personal favorites (incidentally, vegetarian) dishes is actually a good fit for a good carb and high fiber dish, and that is brown rice and black beans. It’s great too because not only is it low fat and high fiber, but it also can be made to taste great and is satisfying and filling.

July 27, 2008

Tasty, Low Cal Vegetarian Chili

Filed under: Low Cal Ideas — EatingToLive @ 6:47 am

Got another tasty, low calorie recipe that’s super easy to make for ya, and it happens to be vegetarian as well, so for any of you who don’t like to eat soy, you could substitute the soy meat crumbles with ground turkey, but the soy meat crumbles are good and are a very low fat, high protein, easily digested option to meat, so just keep that in mind too.

Here’s what you’ll need for the easy recipe :

One can of black beans

One can of finely chopped tomatoes, preferably the kind that are recipe ready - I like Del Monte’s with green peppers and onions added because it adds extra flavor and texture to my recipes.  You can even use two cans of tomatoes if you want, it will just make it slightly soupier, which is always fine.

One bag of MorningStar vegetarian soy crumbles

One large can of tomato puree

Chili Powder

One half onion, chopped fine

Garlic paste or garlic minced - about a teaspoon, for taste and added healthy benefits - garlic’s great for you!

Teaspoon of Cumin, teaspoon of sage

Seasoned salt to taste

Dash of worcesteshire sauce

All you do it blend everything together - since the “meat” substitute needs no browning, this recipe is super fast and easy, since you can basically just throw all the ingredients in a big pot and simmer away.  I simmered mine for almost two hours, then I usually let it sit in the fridge overnight before I take my first bowl, since it’s always better the second day after all the falvors meld together.  Oh, and I like to add a bit of olive oil to mine as well, maybe a tablespoon or so to the whole pot, for good measure since it gives you that dash of omega 3 you need!

July 24, 2008

New York Calorie Count Begins

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 9:29 pm

The new law in New York is in full effect now, with restaurants not obeying the new rule that the calories of any given product that is on a menu must be in the same size and font as the name of the dish being subject to a fine that’s pretty hefty.  The new rule has some restaurants hemming and hawing that it might hurt business and others, mostly chains, have already made the switch over since they tend to have the time and resources to get this kind of stuff done quicker and more efficiently.

It has left many people with shell shock about how their favorite foods are high in calories, a lot higher than they thought they were.  I know for me personally, once I find out that some of my favorite foods have lots of calories, it does make a difference in how much of that food I consume and how often, unless I happen to not give a care about calorie intake at all that particular day.

The hope by New York is that this will help with the obesity rates, and more specifically, the rate of diabetes the city has, by educating people and making them more aware of the food choices they are making by letting them know in a direct way, what percentage of their daily calorie intake they are opting to eat by purchasing a given food product, and hopefully diverting them to higher quality, lower calorie foods by putting it all right out there to see. 

In theory it sounds great, but time will tell whether this new rule actually makes an impact on the eating habits of New Yorkers, or if it just wears off after a little while.  And, who knows, if it takes off and makes serious changes in New York, we may see this type of rule being adopted in other major cities, or perhaps even passed state wide in some states.  Maybe they should start with the southern states, since they have the highest rates of obesity and diabetes. 

July 21, 2008

Low Carb Diet Proves Successful in Cholesterol Lowering

Filed under: Dieting Trends — EatingToLive @ 7:48 am

In a new, and very extensive research study on the benefits to be had by the various popular diets out there today, including the still-popular Atkins style approach, the Meditteranean diet and the low fat diet, a conclusion has been reached that many doctors and nutritionists have not agreed with or conceded to at least over the last decade. That is that the low carb diet results in just as much, if not more, cholesterol level lowering as it’s other diet counterparts.

This is a significant win for those that advocate the low carb diet, specifically the Atkins approach which is a somewhat hard nosed approach to the low carb diet that I happen to not agree with fully because it limits certain foods that are high in antioxidant and disease prevention value.

The interesting part about the study is that it is actually the longest and most controlled one ever done on comparing diets like this, since it was done in an isolated environment and many of the participants stuck to their respective diets for two full years, which is almost unheard of on such a large scale.

The low carb diet and the Mediterranean (which in effect acts as a carb blocker, working to offset carb intake) resulted in the best and most consistent weight loss goals, while the low fat resulted in the lowest weight loss, however, they all resulted in a reduction of bad cholesterol levels, which is counter to what many thought about low carb diets, because they do not really limits fats that much, but instead focus solely on carbohydrate intake.

An interesting note though on that, is that the people on the low carb diets in the study actually were encouraged to try to make their protein a vegetable, rather than animal source, so I’m not really sure what impact that has on the whole outcome of the cholesterol testing. Another interesting note is that the women seemed to have more success on the Mediterranean diets in their weightloss, which was attributed to them having more experiences and knowledge about dieting and proper food selection.

July 19, 2008

Diabetes On the Rise

Filed under: Health News — EatingToLive @ 11:12 am

Diabetes, or an increased blood sugar level, is on the rise in the U. S. at an alarming rate.   One of the reasons cited for this rapid rise is that more people are being diagnosed with this medical condition.  Actually, the worst case scenario is if you are diabetic and are not aware of it since you would not be taking measures to control your blood glucose.
Are there things you can do to try to avoid being part of this grim statistic?  Absolutely, you can work with your physician to control some of the risk factors associated with diabetes.
Have your blood glucose levels checked regularly to see if you are at a high risk.  If your blood sugar levels become higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetic you would be classified as pre- diabetic.
At this point, you could take natural steps to avoid beconing diabetic.  Of utmost importance is attaining and maintaining a healthy weight.  Other important measures you should take are eating healthy and exercising.  These changes should be complete lifestyle changes and not just a crash diet and exercising for several weeks or months.
When approaching the weight loss issue, set a goal and a realistic time frame to achieve it.  Even a small amount of weight loss will help you to better control your blood glucose.
Keep your dietary intake high in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fat free milk, lean meats, poultry and fish.  Avoid foods high in saturated fats, cholesterol, trans fats or foods with added salt or sugar.
Reasons for the increase, besides better diagnosis of diabetes, are more people being overweight and sedentary and having high blood pressure and high cholesterol.  Raising awareness of the diabetes increase will hopefully help to curb incidence of this disease.
Diabetes, when uncontrolled, can lead to vision problems, circulatory problems and often kidney problems and failure.  It is imperative that, if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, you make lifestyle changes to control your blood sugar for your overall health and longevity.

July 16, 2008

Belly Fat Linked to Pancreatic Cancer

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 8:39 pm

In addition to being strongly linked to higher rates of heart disease in both women and men, having excess belly fat, or the body type where most of the weight is distributed in the mid section, or the “pear” shape as it has been termed, is now being linked to another deadly disease.  Actually, a very deadly one that has hit the news full force since Patrick Swayze’s battle went public, it’s pancreatic cancer, or cancer of the pancreas. 

New studies in women are showing that women who carry most of their excess weight around the midsection have as much as a 70% higher chance of getting pancreatic cancer than women who do not hold most of their weight concentrated in the belly.  That is not only significant from a statistical perspective, but mind bogglingly huge!  It not only shows that belly fat can be deadly, but it shows a direct, huge reduction in the risk simply by keeping that waistline trim.

And, with pancreatic cancer having a high mortality rate and being among the top five cancer related deaths in the US, this is definitely something that men and women allover are going to want to pay attention to.  They are even saying that the excess body fat around the midsection may predict the increased likelihood of pancreatic cancer better than the BMI body measurement. 

It’s just one more reason that keeping that waist in check is important.  It’s becoming clearer and clearer that weight management is not just a vanity issue any more, but with these new studies being published all the time about it’s relationship to deadly disease and debilitating illnesses, it has really gotten across that we as a human race were not meant for obesity, it’s just how we’ve evolved and our society that has cultivated this environment of fatty foods as well as a sedentary lifestyle. 

July 8, 2008

Big, Carb Packed Breakfast Best for Weight?

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 8:15 pm

Well, it may seem counterintuitive to some, including me, but apparently eating a big, high carb breakfast may be the ticket to eating less throughout the day, and even more surprising, may be the best way to beat further carb cravings throughout the day.  You’d think that starting off with carbs would fuel your hunger, but apparently the opposite is shown as being true. 

I read on in this article that was recently in the news advocating high carb, large breakfasts, and thought about those days when I happen to eat a larger breakfast and thought it did seem to be true in my case, since if I eat a smaller, more restricted and low carb, high protein breakfast, I do seem to eat more throughout the day, and in fact I even crave more sugar throughout the day.  Carb blockers work on the assumption that someone has taken in too many excess carbs and can work to help burn those off, but those are for later in the day. 

But the real killer is snacking all the way almost until you go to bed, which can happen when you deprive yourself earlier in the day, when it’s actually better to load on the majority of the day’s calories, since you still have the rest of the day to burn those naughty little calories off.  Here’s the trick though, researchers are advocating the large breakfast that is more high in carbs, because they say it’s especially effective if, for the remainder of the day, the dieter eats low carb foods and a low calorie menu.

They say that because of the early load up, it actually works to the dieter’s benefit since they’ve already had their fill of fruits and veggies, or wheat products, all which tend to be high carb, and that since they’ve had their fill in the morning, they then do not crave these foods which are harder to burn off later in the day.  The key is though, to not take the big breakfast as a cue for the rest of the day, and instead stick to that lower calorie, lower carb regimen for the rest of the day, when the body is not burning off all the calories.

Research has shown that low carb diets do not work in the long term because they actually slow the metabolism down and fuel the cravings for sugars and carbs, so that when the person goes off, they really go off, and usually people who try this type of diet return to obesity, whereas if they follow the general rule of big breakfast, controlled the rest of the day, they will keep that weight off for the rest of the day.   

July 6, 2008

Cleveland Clinic Offers Free Weight Watchers, More

Filed under: Weight Loss — EatingToLive @ 5:32 pm

As the guidepost in the medical community, especially the most highly respected cardiac care provider, the Cleveland Clinic, which I happen to live fairly close to, all things considered, is offering their employees free health programs, including free Weight Watchers, for those who choose, as an effort to strive to be the epitome of the ultimate health institution by showing that they want their employees to be healthy so they can provide the best healthcare to their patients.

They stand by the credo that a happier and healthier employee provides the best healthcare possible to their patients, and not only do they offer free programs to help people lose weight and maintain healthy weights, but they also offer smoking cessation programs for those who want to quit smoking, and they actually do not hire smokers to begin with (I guess this means their smoking cessation programs are for people who started smoking after they started the job?)

At any rate, the Cleveland Clinic is definitely setting the standard in health care in so many fields and is world reknowned for being an excellent facility for those who are sick, need the best healthcare possible, and for experimentation and medical research.  This just goes to show that they have given a whole new level of commitment to their patients, by making sure their staff is well cared for so they in turn give their patients top notch care.

Hopefully other large companies, especially those in the service industries, will follow suit and start offering employees free wellness and health programs, and include weight loss in these curriculums, especially since obesity is still such a huge problem here in the US. 

July 3, 2008

Low Fat, High Taste Green Bean Recipe

Filed under: Low Cal Ideas — EatingToLive @ 5:02 am

What’s that saying, that most recipes are born of boredom and “cleaning the cupboard out”. Oh wait, that’s my own credo, not anything else anyone said. This new gem of a green bean recipe is very simple actually, and was born of both boredom and desperation one day when the only veggie I had left in the freezer to make was whole green beans (I used Bird’s Eye, in my opinion, the best non-organic brand), and we needed a veggie to go with our meat, but I wanted to make something that was flavorful and yet not loaded with fat or butter or salt.

So here’s the recipe ingredients for this impromptu, tasty green bean dish with zero fat :

Whole green beans - Bird’s Eye are best I think.

Powdered Cumin spice (a popular Indian spice, very tasty, and very good for you)

Either seasoned salt or some sort of multi purpose seasoning with a little salt added

Garlic powder - I like California Style, with the green fleck in it too, but I don’t know what they are

Half an onion, chopped or slivered julienne style

Lot’s of butter flavored non fat cooking spray

So as you can see, as long as you have the green beans around, you really only need to keep a few other staples around - the cumin is key, but you could probably improvise with the other spices. I just take the beans and throw them in a large, deep frying pan that has a tight fitting lid, with the bottom sprayed generously with Pam (butter flavored). I put my onions in too right off the bat.

I then flavor with the spices mentioned above to my taste, and spray the Pam again generously over the beans and other ingredients, coating the beans and other ingredients for flavor and protection against burning. Put the lid on tight, this creates a steaming environment so they soften up enough. Sautee all ingredients for about 20 minutes, or until soft enough. What you get is a savory green bean dish with NO FAT!

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