Everyone knows that physical activity is just as important to healthy living as a good diet. The problem with physical activity, though, is that it doesn’t come with a label. It’s hard to equate a certain number of minutes of any specific activity to how many calories are burned – especially when the caloric value is based on weight.

Enter the “Calorie Burn Calculator” from HealthStatus!

The mission of HeathStatus is to enable people to quickly and easily determine and track the status of their health and health risks compared to U.S. national averages, and scientific standards – and one of the ways that they do this is by providing specific calculators to take a quick snapshot of a person’s health. For the “Calorie Burn Counter” simply enter a weight, choose an activity, and enter the total number of minutes – and the number of calories burned is automatically calculated.

You can access the “Calorie Burn Counter” calculator by using this link: Calorie Burn Counter

Happy Exercising ~

That cute little bag of goodies just can’t seem bad, but it packs a punch with calories and sugar, especially when we typically can’t have just one.  Wonder how much that Halloween staple staring at you in the kitchen really has with those excess calories?

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) – or corn syrup that has been broken down and processed to form a ratio-specific blend of fructose and glucose – has become the go-to sweetener for the United States food industry. Two of the main reasons for this are that the high fructose blend, in comparison to sucrose (or table sugar), is sweeter in taste and cheaper to produce.

In today’s grocery store you will find HFCS listed in the ingredient list for almost any processed food that you purchase – from breads and cereals to lunch meats and yogurts. The significance of this continues to be argued. Read more →

If the only way you’re able to stomach your veggies is with a tasty salad dressing, then it’s definitely a do! However, there are some things that you should remember:

Almost all salad dressings have their fair share of sodium – be mindful.

Almost all salad dressings have fat – just remember some have more unsaturated fat (think oily dressings) and some have more saturated fat (think creamy dressings).

The typical serving size is two tablespoons – ignoring the serving size just negates all the good things you are doing for your body by eating veggies in the first place.

So, two ways to make sure you’re sticking to your allotted serving size:

Put your salad in a container with the recommended serving size and toss until it’s all mixed together (and evenly coated).

Get your dressing on the side and coat your fork with it before each bite (trust me – you’d be surprised how well this one works).

One of the concepts stressed to our Optifast patients in the “Making the Transition” class is that minimizing variety is helpful when re-introducing food back into the diet.

Recently, however, it has been pointed out to me that this concept is a bit confusing – as most of the time it’s the opposite advice that one hears (such as “eat a variety of fruits and vegetables”).

So what gives??

While it is necessary to eat a variety of foods in order to get all the vitamins and minerals that a body needs to function properly, it may seem overwhelming to have to think about (or be tempted with) variety – especially if an individual hasn’t had to deal with “real” food for three months. For this reason, we encourage meal planning with only a small selection of foods at first. It may seem boring or counter-productive to limit choices when the ultimate goal is to eat a calorically appropriate daily diet that provides all necessary nutrients; but, at least initially, it may be the best approach for the transition period.

Be assured that by the time our Optifast patients reach the end of their transition period, they will have hopefully picked up many tips and tools to create and enjoy a multitude of different meal options that keep them happy and healthy…because it’s true: variety IS the spice of life!

Back in May, I posted about the Volumetrics Eating Plan. Well, it’s back in the news!

Taken straight from the Dole Nutrition Institute August Newsletter:

Professor Barbara Rolls, famous proponent of the Volumetrics approach to dieting, led a team of investigators to find out what would happen when they added different proportions of various puréed vegetables to a variety of meals consumed by volunteers. The researchers served up three meals a day to 41 young men and women in a food lab for three weeks. In addition to conventionally prepared entrees, there were versions in which added puréed vegetables had decreased overall calorie content by either 15% or 25%. For practical purposes, this would be the equivalent of adding 1 cup of carrot purée to a carrot bread recipe, or 1 cup of cauliflower purée to a chicken-vegetable casserole.

Diners of the regular and veg-supplemented meals felt equally satisfied. Not only did the purée have no adverse impact on the taste/texture experience, some actually preferred the puréed veg versions. Most importantly: Those people with the highest amount of purée added ended up consuming a whopping 357 fewer calories a day, on average! Those with less purée still consumed 202 fewer calories daily than those eating the standard meals. In other words, the more purée you add, the fewer calories you consume, the more weight you lose — all without sacrificing taste or fullness! An added bonus: The vegetable purée also increases nutrient density, which as Professor Bruce Ames has indicated, may help signal the brain that you’ve eaten enough.

Bottom line: While eating additional vegetables outright — e.g., starting with a salad — is an effective weight loss strategy, those who don’t like veggies that much to begin with might find it harder to maintain. By puréeing and adding vegetables to dishes, you won’t notice the difference on your plate, but you will notice a difference in your waistline!

Use this link (www.dole.com/NewsletterFullVersion/tabid/1306/Default.aspx?Id=124&pr=1) to check out more nutrition news from the Dole Institute.

For more info on puréed recipes, go to your favorite online recipe source (www.food.com is one of my favorites) and search for “puréed vegetable recipes”.

As farfetched as this title might sound, there are child advocates who are suggesting extremely obese kids may need to be taken from their parents and be placed temporarily in foster care.  Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist, wrote an opinion published in the Journal of the American Medical Association supporting temporary placement of extremely obese children under government control for the purpose of helping the child lose weight.

Obviously, this approach reflects the views of a few individuals regarding the best way to intervene and help a relatively small percentage of the obese population (about 2 million children in the U.S. are extremely obese).  But it DOES help to underscore the dramatic increase in childhood obesity and the dire consequences if something isn’t done about it.

Peak Life for Kids is our way of being part of the fight against childhood obesity.  This program is designed to provide parents and their children tools to help them enjoy a nutritionally healthier, more physically fit lifestyle.  There is help and hope in this fight and we are excited to be a part of the solution!

It depends on your preference.

Just keep in mind, however, that in one teaspoon of Texas Pete hot sauce there are 100 mg of sodium and in one teaspoon of Kikkoman soy sauce there are 306 mg of sodium…

A low-sodium diet – based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 – is 1,500mg or less a day, and is recommended for those persons who are 51 and older and those of any age who are African American or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. Further, this recommendation applies to about half of the U.S. population (including children and the majority of adults) since virtually all Americans consume more sodium than they need – with the estimated average intake of sodium for all Americans ages 2 years and older being approximately 3,400 mg per day.

Regardless of which flavors your prefer, there ARE ways to achieve them using low-sodium or sodium-free seasonings; and maintaining a low-sodium diet is crucial to maintaining your health.

Check out the Harvard School of Public Health’s webpage on salt substitutes for more information on how to transition to a lower-sodium diet.

While ANY exercise is considered beneficial to your body and your health, to get the most heart-healthy rewards, you need to stay in the “zone.” What do you mean by zone? Heart rate zone, that is! Your optimal exercise range is usually between 40-80% of your maximum heart rate. In this zone, you will experience the greatest calorie burn and the most effective cardiovascular benefits. Many heart rate monitors measure maximum heart rate and calories burned.

Here is a simple formula you can use to find your heart rate zone range:
220- your age= maximum heart rate (MHR)
MHR x 0.5 = 50% of MHR
MHR x 0.8 = 80% of MHR
For example, if you are 40 years old, your MHR would be 180 (220-40). Your heart rate range should be between 90-144 beats per minute, based on the calculations above.

Want some more workout advice? Here are 3 tips to help keep you in shape this summer:

1. Perform exercises that use multiple muscle groups at the same time for max calorie burn in each workout session. For example, perform squats and shoulder presses instead of just shoulder presses.
2.  Complete workouts in circuits. This will require you to move faster and maintain an elevated heart rate in order to burn more calories in a short amount of time.
3. Try combination moves such as lunges with bicep curls, deadlifts and upright rows, squats and shoulder presses, and plank and rows in order to save time and get results fast!

Remember, you can eat through ANY amount of exercise if you are careful with what you are putting into your body.

Ever wonder why some people are able to keep their weight off, while others put it right back on over the period of a few months? Genetics is not always to blame, it is actually a matter of learning several lifestyle habits to keep your weight in check. (If you still have some pounds to shed too, these 3 secrets will help you too!)

#1: Keep Moving!
If you’re serious about keeping the weight off, you need to be serious about your active lifestyle. Keep your activity level high, whether you go to the gym or like the outdoors. Your workouts should consist of cardiovascular, strength training, and stretching. Even when you’re out the of gym, make an effort to move as much as possible by taking the stairs, parking farther away while shopping, or doing jumping jacks during commercial breaks.

#2: Limit TV Time
The average person watches over 35 hours of TV each week. People who maintain weight loss for a long period of time, however, watch 7 hours or less each week. TV watching encourages mindless snacking and keeps you in a sedentary position. Spending less time in front of the TV will assume that you are being more active than being a coach potato.

#3: Forget All-Or-Nothing Mentality
No one is perfects, not even you! There will be days when you eat more than you should have. There are also days when you miss a workout. But, don’t let small slip-ups send you into a lifelong tailspin of sabotage. If you have a “bad” day, simply get back into your healthy lifestyle routine the next day, rather than letting yourself slide back into your old habits.

Remember- you worked hard to be where you are now, so you deserve to keep it this way!