Archive for February, 2009

Baked Lays Scoop Corn Chips : A Great Low Fat Snack

We were in Marc’s a week ago, and I decided that I was going to start back up making my all natural, home made salsa at home since I like it so much more than the jarred stuff anyways, and can pretty much make it for the same price as the high quality jarred stuff, or less at home anyways.  I wanted to find a more healthful, low fat corn chip to go with it though.  After looking at some gourmet brands that claimed to be made with “whole corn” or “whole grain”, I opted instead for the Baked Lays brand of Scoops corn chips because they had less calories, less fat and more fiber than the other brands I was looking at.

That’s what you always want to look for by the way, when you’re comparison shopping for snack or meal foods at the grocery store, you always want to check out the fiber content, the serving size, the fat grams, and the calories per serving.  Make sure they don’t pull any of the tiny serving size trickery either, because you could then unknowingly be buying a food that has a lot more fat or calories without even knowing it, which defeats the purpose of comparing labels anyways.

The Baked Scoops have 2 grams of fiber for 14 chips, 110 calories, and almost zero fat, so they are a good snack food, as long as you don’t venture too far outside that 14 count for the chips, which is easy when you’re loading up each chip with healthful salsa, like I happen to do.  They have a good flavor too, they do taste a bit “healthier” and drier than their fried counterparts, but they have a nice little salty kick to them that satisfies that craving for salty snacks we all get.

I make my own salsa to go with them which consists of a large can of diced tomatoes, salsa dried herb blend, lots of fresh cilantro, chopped garlic, a small onion, and some lime juice.  I might sprinkle in a teaspoon of sugar to sweeten it up a bit too.  I put all that in my mini Cuisinart food processor and voila, you’ve got a great, high antioxidant, low calories snack to munch on that makes it feel like you’re indulging in a Mexican feast.

It Doesn’t Take Much Extra Weight to Increase Heart Risk

While it is true that the more weight you pack on, the more your heart health risk goes up incrementally along with the extra pounds you pack on, it’s also true that it doesn’t take much extra weight on your body, for both men and women, for you to increase your heart risk.  This means that even if you are just a little bit overweight, you may be adding to your heart risk without necessarily even knowing about it.  When I say a little overweight, apparently the findings now are that this amount only has to be about seven pounds overweight in order for you to add to your risk of heart failure.

Heart failure is basically when your heart gives out and cannot pump blood to the entire body, and it many times is due to undue stress on the body, such as excess fat, especially the type that is in the belly area – I believe this is called visceral fat, and also many times some areas of the heart die off and are no longer able to function and pump blood, cutting off oxygen to the brain and ultimately leading to brain death.

For the average man, for example, for every extra 7 pounds he puts on over hid ideal and normal weight, his heart disease risk increases by about eleven percent with every 20 years that passes.  You can see how those numbers would certainly add up I’m sure.  So, weight gain, compounded with the natural aging process of the body and typical weakening of the organs to begin with, is definitely a deadly combination.  You can also see why weight control becomes more of a life and death issue, especially as we get older and why maintenance is emphasized.

What BMI constitutes obesity usually?  A BMI of 30 or over puts you in a high risk category.  This means that your fat ratio to your height and your weight is too high, and that your weight in relation to your height is too high, which puts you at higher risk for heart failure.  The BMI is a good measure for you to look at when assessing your overall weight goals, and it actually is included with the Wii Fit game that you can buy for the Wii gaming system.  My boyfriend and I will check our BMI with this nifty little device every so often, making sure that we are staying within a certain healthy range, just for good measure.

How to Avoid Eating Binges

For some reason, when I get on a bad food eating binge, it can never be limited to just one day, unless I happen to be exercising some serious self control and there is just the right sun and moon alignment, and my hormones aren’t playing some cruel tricks on my appetite, I’m going on the binge for at least a few days, heck sometimes my eating-bad binges can last for weeks, and I’ll admit that I can’t stand myself when this happens.

I feel like I’m in a bumper car careening out of control, the brakes aren’t working, and I’m speeding uncontrollable to the wall.  I know I’m going to hit the wall, but somehow I don’t have the facilities to be able to stop my descent to the loss of control over my sweets and starch cravings.  The one thing that does comfort me is that most of my women friends tend to agree with me.  This is why women find it extremely hard to control their weight – many times even more so than men.

There was just a recent study done that proved this fact – that women are probably just genetically driven to give in to their cravings more than men, and hypothesized, although could not conclude definitely, that it was most likely some innate sense that we have to eat and have a higher body fat count than men because we do give birth to children, and childbearing is rough on the body.

This is why women tend to have more fat on the thighs and upper arms as well.  It’s all hormonally driven most likely, according to most research, and this accounts for why a lot of women struggle with the willpower aspect of losing weight and keeping it off.  We simply have have a greater drive to eat and therefore do not necessarily have the same level of self control when it comes to indulging.  I do have some tips though for helping to stave off a one day binge turning into a few days or even a few weeks.  Constantly remind yourself of what you are really doing to your body, which is essentially yo yo dieting.

You are making your blood sugar go up and down, up and down, and this can be the cause of many different types of diseases, including diabetes, and can even lend itself to things like cancers and autoimmune diseases.  Be self aware when you are eating at all times.  Practice this by forcing yourself to think about everything you eat, then visualize exactly what this food is going to physically look like when it is broken down by your body.

If you can visualize those pieces of chocolate clinging to your thighs, or maybe making your skin look bad, then you are more likely to actually weigh the food options before cramming it down your throat. Heck, if you need visual stimulation, go online and surf pictures of some women you admire and think are gorgeous, and remind yourself that you are only your most beautiful  and confident self when you can put the foods in your body that deserve to be there.

Lastly, if you have a history of over eating or an eating disorder such as bulimia or binge eating, try taking the natural supplement called 5htp, which is a known precursor to seratonin.  Studies have been done that strongly suggest that those with eating disorders that involve bingeing have low levels of seratonin in the body, and 5htp is a natural way to help boost seratonin levels and keep them stable throughout the day.

Get Motivated to Lose Weight : Look at Before and After Pics

Well, my boyfriend and I are on our journey to lose all holiday related weight and then some right now, and I just got a major boost of encouragement and a renewed sense of purpose by looking at some before and after pictures of regular people who lost a lot of weight through sheer determination, a healthy diet, reduced calories, and exercise.  Because all three of those I feel are needed for long term health and associated weight stability, it truly is an inspiration that these people did this on their own and realized how much better they feel.

One story hit me especially.  It was about a woman who was in a relationship for several years and felt that she could eat whatever she wanted because she was comfortable in the relationship and felt loved.  Not that I don’t feel that being loved is a bad thing, but when we become complacent with a higher weight and compromised health because we are happy and content, that does present a problem for both parties.

That’s why I really love doing this with my boyfriend, I feel that we support eachother in our weight loss goals, and that we even have a friendly little “competition” going to see who can lose the most weight the fastest, who works out more, and so on and so forth.  He’s a guy though, and men do tend to lose weight faster than women do, so he’s kicking my butt in that arena, I’m reluctant to admit.  We’ve both lost a good amount of weight though within about one month.  He’s dropped ten pounds and I’m working on dropping my eighth pound, and I feel much better, lighter and happier.

Looking at random before and after pictures of others who have done it makes you realize that although weight loss may be painful at first, you soon see and feel the benefits of eating healthier, exercising, and enjoying the side effects of losing weight.  It also occurred to me that there is a “detox” period where you will most definitely be craving all that naughty food, almost unbearably at times, but once you’re past that, it’s not that bad.  Also, maintenance isn’t so bad because you can reintroduce some of the foods you avoided like the plague when you were dieting hard core, you just can’t go crazy with them or you’ll find yourself in the weightloss candidate boat before you know it.

My Favorite Lean Cuisines For Lunch

I have to admit, I am one of the most averse to the “teeny tiny” prepackaged meals that are avaiable in your grocer’s frozen section that I know. Every time I had ever tried one of these frozen meals that are usually 300 calories or under, I thought, ok, now bring on the rest of the meal, because that wasn’t an entree, that was an appetizer! But, now that I’ve seriously cut calories, and my live in boyfriend is on board too, we’ve started to really stock up on these easy lunches because they’re tasty, they’re easy and fast, and they’re cost effective.

Peanut Products to Still Be Wary Of

With the ever expanding recall of peanut related food products, it’s no wonder that I got so paranoid last week that I threw out of a couple glass jars of Planters roasted peanuts.  I remember my boyfriend complaining that he had eaten a few handfulls of them a couple of times and though it was odd that he had gastrointestinal discomfort and his belly got enormous and uncomfortable for hours afterwards, but we didn’t think anything of it at the time because it was about a month ago and none of the salmonella warnings had taken place yet.

I thought maybe he had developed a peanut allergy of some sort, because he said it happened to him both times he ate peanuts, and that still may be true, but I find it strange that it never happened when he ate peanuts before, especially since we practically subsisted off of them when we were doing the low carb diet thing a couple years back and he didn’t have any issues.

Well, there are tons of products now on the salmonella peanut recall list, including candy bars, diet and nutrition bars, peanut butter, and most any other product that even has traces of the nuts in them.  So far, six people have died, and an untold number of people have been affected with salmonella poisoning, and the peanut plant that is blamed for the outbreak has apparently laid off most of it’s workers which made a peanut paste and manufactured the peanuts and shut down production.

It’s too bad this had to happen.  Salmonella usually does not affect those that are in good health, but it can attack those that are younger and have not developed strong immune systems yet, and it can be particularly dangerous to the elderly.

Pasta Sales Up In Devastated Economy

Uh-oh, this could spell trouble for America’s waistline!  Pasta sales have picked up quite a bit from the economy being in shambles as of late.  And who can blame people for loading up on this delectable stuff?  I certainly know that if I didn’t want to be consistently over my target weight, I’d eat the stuff every day – loaded with those fattening but yummy sauces that seems to be made of mostly butters and heavy creams.

But, since pasta is very fattening, especially when eaten every day or in large quantities, due to it’s high glycemic index, little to no fiber content, and the large amount of calories and carbs for the teeniest servings, I don’t indulge all that often these days since I’m trying to lose weight and then subsequently keep my weight under control.

Pasta sales which were frequently undermined by the low carb trends and glycemic index awareness (why is most of America still overweight then, I never did quite get that), have shot up about 5% from last year, which is quite impressive considering their relative demise over the past ten or so years.

This has also made the price of wheat, the base ingredient in pastas, to go up.  Yep, it’s the same thing that you find in bread and lots of other products based on grains, so you can expect those prices to be impacted as well unfortunately.  I hope that this doesn’t affect us too much, because a lot of professional financial gurus are saying that with the depressed dollar and all the other financials going on right now we may get hit with ridiculous inflation here coming up soon as well, which is something this economy just does not need right now.  Inflation usually means food prices go up too.

Pasta is such an easy to make product, and you can diversify it a lot, from your typical boxed macaroni and cheese to the more sophisticated uses of pasta, it’s cheap and very easy to make – you just throw it in a boiling pot of water, wait a few minutes, and it’s done.  The simplicity isn’t what’s selling it so much right now in this economic climate though, it’s mostly cost effectiveness.

Gender Differences in Hunger Control

When it comes to diets and the ability to stay with them, there are gender differences in the capacity to manage and control appetite.  The obesity rate is up for both men and women in this country.  However, percentage wise the obesity rate is even higher for women.

Supression of hunger is more difficult for women than it is for men.  This is the subject of a recent study done by Gene-Jack Wang of Brookhaven National Laboratory aimed at finding out why some people gain weight and others don’t in response to overeating.

Within the study, there were 13 women and 10 men required to fast ovenight and then brain scans were done to determine how their brains reacted to their favorite foods.  In addition to the fasting, they were taught a technique called cognitive inhibition to quell thoughts of eating.

The men and women both reported subjectively that their hunger was decreased.  However, brain scans showed high activity in response to food in the women’s brains but the activity of the hunger centers for the men actually decreased.

Theories for this difference note that women may be biologically wired to eat when food is available in addition to how female hormones react with the hunger center in the brain. The purpose of this study was to come up with a meaningful treatment in combatting obesity.  The emphasis should be on controlling food desires and our reactions to food.

Gender differences show that women are even more tempted by tasty food presented to them and are more prone to overeat in reaction to emotional distress.  The more knowledge we have on how our brains respond to food stimulus, the better equipped we will be on how to suppress our desire to overeat for reward or to calm emotional distress.

Could You Be “Programmed” to Eat Too Much?

There is a newer interesting theory out there now that those that consistently overeat suffer from something called EFS, or external food sensitivity, which makes them feel hungry when they aren’t really hungry, upon seeing foods that look appealing . Say if you weren’t really all that hungry, but were faced with a large slice of what looked like very moist and tasty chocolate cake, you might be more inclined to eat that whole piece of cake because it looked really good if you had a high EFS, versus someone who didn’t really have a button go off every time they saw an appetizing food.

I guess you could say that all of us suffer from EFS to some degree, but there are those of us that simply give in to it more often, or the connection in our brains to eat things that look appealing is just too overwhelming for us to ignore, so we find ourselves gobbling down that aforementioned piece of delectable chocolate cake before our brains can even rationalize that we do not need it.  We feel more hungry, simply from seeing a food that looks good, rather than listening to the physiological underpinnings that create hungre in our bodies and tell us when more caloric intake is needed to function on a level that’s acceptable and efficient.

I personally think I may be somewhere higher than the middle when it comes to my sensitivity to the sight of food that I find to be appetizing looking.  I know that it’s very hard for me to resist when we go to a restaurant, or a buffet, certain foods that are really good looking, but if I just don’t see it or smell it, I don’t need it.  That makes me think I may have an issue with connecting my real hunger to my perceived hunger, as people with EFS are .

Because brain scans showed that the areas associated with hunger and the sight of something appealing, but subjects did not report being any hungrier than their counterparts, the scientists concluded that people with high food sensitivity as it relates to the sight of the food actually be a sort of addiction.  I’ve always believed that overeating is a sort of addiction, and one that can be harder to overcome than many substance abuse addictions, or even smoking, because of the pervasiveness of availability of food here in the US, and because we use food for so many social reasons and social functions.

Food is definitely what we make it.  It can be our best friend or our worst enemy.  The right foods can heal the body and make us appear healthy, thin and agile, making our bodies warriors against aging, while the wrong foods rob of us our youth and our health, and create a whole set of emotional problems and issues with self esteem of their own.  Food must definitely be used wisely, and eaten in moderation, or else we put ourselves at risk for obesity.