New! Eat Out, Eat Well – The Guide to Eating Healthy at Any Restaurant, Has Arrived
Announcing the arrival of my newest book, Eat Out, Eat Well – The Guide to Eating Healthy at Any Restaurant, published by the American Diabetes Association, available online from ADA's book store or from my amazon a-store.
I’m no stranger to this topic, that’s for sure! I’ve been fine-tuning my advice on strategies and tactics for healthy restaurant eating for more than two decades. My first book on the subject, The Restaurant Companion, was published 25 years ago. Wow!
Changes in types of restaurant fare, the frequency of eating restaurant meals increased availability of nutrition information online and much more has changed and thus the need for a totally refreshed book - now THE go-to resource for assembling all types of healthy meals and snacks in just about any type of restaurant, from fast food to fast casual, to upscale dining and numerous ethnic cuisines.
From Vaccinations to Nutrition, Same Rule Applies – Rely on Science
If you’re like me, once in while you read an article or hear a report that resonates with your thinking and hits the nail on the head.
On Sunday morning (2/8/15) I did just that. The article, “Revoke the License of Any Doctor Who Opposes Vaccination", by Arthur L. Caplan, PhD, the director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center’s Department of Population Health was in The Washington Post’s Outlook section. The article focused on the current media frenzy about vaccinations, specifically the measles vaccination. But several of Caplan’s points resonated with me on a broader level and have relevance to the debates about science and research in my profession, the field of nutrition and specifically, diabetes nutrition management.
Restaurant Meals with Kids – Treat Them to Healthy Teachable Moments
Our kids are growing up with restaurant meals a frequent feature of their food repertoire. That’s truer than ever before. And it’s likely to increase not decrease.
Why?
Restaurant foods, whether you eat them in, take them home or eat them on a ball field, are accessible 24/7/365 today. Our pace of life is faster than ever and 
convenience-driven, particularly when it comes to food. The digital age will forge ahead with technologies to make it even easier and less energy expending to order restaurant foods fast. Meals will be ready and waiting for you in restaurants with the touch of an app. You’ll place your order in sit down restaurants with a digital device.
You get the picture.
Pile on the sad fact that kids aren’t learning near enough about how to purchase and prepare foods. They’re lack of motivation is understandable with restaurant foods a plenty whenever, whereever. A catch-22, for sure!
THE TRUTHS about Keeping Pounds at Bay
Losing weight is one tough challenge, but not as tough, research shows, as keeping those lost pounds at bay over time. What are the THE TRUTHS about keeping lost pounds at bay?
Research shows that the most weight most people, on average, lose, even with pretty constant expert support, is about 6 to 10% from your starting weight. Example: 200 pounds that's 12 to 20 pounds. For sure, some people lose more (but do they keep the weight off?). Losing this 6 to 10% of weight hardly seems worth it compared to those triple digit losses touted by the Biggest Loser TV show or some weight loss plans.
Research also shows people lose these 12 to 20 pounds by about the 6 months to 1 year point of their effort. It’s simply tough to lose more weight. Read Weight Loss, Control: Expectations vs. Research-based Realities.
How I Eat Healthy #3: Chop Once, Two Tricks to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
To eat healthy now a days takes time, skills and effort! You’ve got to stock up, plan, navigate the supermarket aisles, chop (I do lots of chopping!), prep foods and cook. And if you eat restaurants foods (in or take out), another feat is to put together healthy restaurant meals. Yes, a constant, but rewarding, challenge!
In this blog series, How I Eat Healthy, I’ll share how I, as a mother, wife and chief of shopping, planning and cooking for my busy family, make eating healthy happen every day (or at least most days – no claims of perfection here!). I’ll offer up my time-honed tips and time-saving tactics you can use to set yourself and/or your family to Eat Well, Live Healthy! And please share your tips and tactics on twitter using the hashtag: #howIeathealthy.
#3: Chop Once, Two Tricks to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
As far as I’m concerned (and I think many other nutrition experts would agree), if there’s one thing that’s an open and shut case when it comes to nutrition research and healthier eating advice, its – yes, eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each and every day. A few more servings, if you've got the calories to spare, will be even healther.
On the Road Again: Restaurant Meals…How to Deal?
I’ve just returned from a relaxing vacation…ahhh!
We traveled the highways and byways of upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Boston, Western Mass, and Pennsylvania Dutch country. We ate B&B breakfasts, standard fare breakfasts at anywhere America hotels; lunches and dinners at cutsy bistros, American style restaurants and as much ethnic fare as we could find…with an ice cream cone and a few yummy desserts indulged in.
All those meals enjoyed at friends and family members homes or with friends and/or family at restaurants, however, took a toll on my health goals (for myself and my family), sharpened my negotiating skills with my immediate family members (you’ve got to understand I’m known as the food police or the kinder name for me is the Portion Control Queen).
While I enjoyed not having to plan, shop, cook, and serve meals for a couple of weeks, all these restaurant meals had an impact on my wits, but didn’t take a toll on our collective waistlines!
How I Eat Healthy #2: The Shopping Trip
To eat healthy now a days takes time, skills and effort! You’ve got to stock up, plan, navigate the supermarket aisles, chop (I do lots of chopping!), prep foods and cook. And if you eat restaurants foods (in or take out), another feat is to put together healthy restaurant meals. Yes, a constant, but rewarding, challenge!
In this blog series, How I Eat Healthy, I’ll share how I, as a mother, wife and chief of shopping, planning and cooking for my busy family, make eating healthy happen every day (or at least most days – no claims of perfection here!). I’ll offer up my time-honed tips and time-saving tactics you can use to set yourself and/or your family to Eat Well, Live Healthy! And please share your tips and tactics on twitter using the hashtag: #howIeathealthy.
#2: The Supermarket Trip: As I said in How I Eat Healthy #1 Stocking Up you’ve got to set your home up for success. Step two in this process is to shop regularly and, even more importantly, shop smart.
How I Eat Healthy: #1 Stocking Up
To eat healthy now a days takes time, skills and effort! You’ve got to stock up, plan, navigate the supermarket aisles, chop (I do lots of chopping!), prep foods and cook. And if you eat restaurants foods (in or take out), another feat is to put together healthy restaurant meals. Yes, a constant, but rewarding, challenge!
In this blog series, How I Eat Healthy, I’ll share how I, as a mother, wife and chief of shopping, planning and cooking for my busy family, make eating healthy happen every day (or at least most days – no claims of perfection here!). I’ll offer up my time-honed tips and time-saving tactics you can use to set yourself and/or your family to Eat Well, Live Healthy! And please share your tips and tactics on twitter using #howIeathealthy.
#1 Stocking Up: To eat healthy day in, day out, you’ve got to set your home up for success. Step one is to regularly stock up on the foods you’ll need.
Why Should Diabetes Advocates Enter This Food Fight?
What’s wrong with these two conflicting realities? And, why should diabetes advocates care (and take action)?
Reality 1: A food fight is raging on Capitol Hill because some members of the House of Representatives want to put the brakes on several requirements for school foods and meals which went into effect with the implementation of the Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 (12/13/10). (Read more background below.).
Reality 2: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced updated figures for diabetes in the U.S. Top line: there’s been yet another uptick. Now more than 29 million American are estimated to have diabetes, up from 26 million in 2010. Another 86 million adults – more than one in three U.S. adults – have prediabetes (for more on prediabetes). Fifteen to 30 percent of people with prediabetes will develop type 2 within five years. To stats on the related childhood obesity: one out of every three American children is overweight or obese. Many children, who eat half their calories at school, consume a diet too high in saturated fat, sodium, and sugars, and too low in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Do Diet Drinks Cause Weight Gain? New Study Repeats NOT LIkely
Are you under the impression, though counter intuitive, that downing diet drinks will add pounds to your hips and scale? The root of this notion stems from several large observational studies, which over the last several years, have fed the media’s hunger for headlines to paint diet beverages and low calorie sweeteners as the dieter’s devil.
Yet, when most experts analyze these observational studies as a group their conclusions, such as those from Pereira, conclude this is “an artifact of reverse causality.”(1) In the case of diet beverages this means that the people in these studies at higher risk for weight gain, obesity and/or type 2 diabetes may be more likely to increase their intake of diet beverages to attempt to reduce their disease risks. It doesn’t prove cause and effect.
Maybe, just maybe, due to one more prospective randomized control study (studies which can test cause and effect) published by Peters, et al., on May 27, 2014, people who wisely count their calories and opt for calorie free vs. calorie and sugar-loaded beverages, will finally be at ease sipping diet beverages.(2)