Reversing My 3 Meals, an Experiment

It is common knowledge that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” I fail to understand why so many people skip it anyway.

BREAKFAST

A quick review of why we should all be eating breakfast: Your body’s metabolism burns calories for you all the time, even when you are physically inactive. It takes energy (calories) to do things like digest food, pump blood throughout the body and to maintain normal body temperature. Overnight, your metabolism goes into a state of hibernation — i t s l o w s w a y d o w n — burning fewer calories. When you wake up in the morning, your metabolism does not wake up with you. Guess what wakes your metabolism? Food! The sooner you eat something,  the sooner your metabolism revs up for the day and the more calories you burn throughout the day.

LUNCH

I recently read that your metabolism slows as the day wanes, so the meal you eat when your metabolism is at it’s slowest is dinner. It makes sense then to eat your largest meal in the morning, fueling your day, and your smallest meal at night, so as not to overload what your metabolism can handle. Funny that people usually, and purposefully, eat in reverse, eating a light breakfast and lunch and saving room, and calories, for dinner.

DINNER

Perhaps this week, if my boyfriend allows, I’ll eat dinner for breakfast and my usual cereal and fruit for dinner. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Headache Trigger Foods

I posted a while back about Deepak Chopra’s instant headache remedy. I’ve tried it on occasion and it hasn’t really worked for me. But when I’ve got a headache, it’s hard for me to meditate like that.

I came across this article and thought it might help me reduce the number of headaches I get in the first place. The title sounds promising, “Identifying Food Triggers for Migraines.” It seems like you’re going to come away from the article knowing what to stay away from.

Nope. It’s not that easy. Elizabeth M. Ward, MS, RD, begins by saying that headaches are caused my a number of things like stress and irregular sleep patterns and that there is very little scientific data to make claims about certain foods causing headaches. On top of that, my food triggers may be different from your food triggers, so it’s impossible to come up with a universal list of trigger-foods. Even more bad news, you may not get a headache for several hours up to several days after eating your trigger food.

Some of the popular thought-to-be headache food-triggers are alcohol (no surprise there!), caffeine (although caffeine may also help a headache), chocolate (really?), tyramine, MSG and artificial sweeteners.

Personally, the only one I’ve noticed a connection with is alcohol.

Cool headache fact: Ward says that chocolate may not be a headache-starter, but that craving chocolate may be a sign that a headache is already on the way.

Another cool headache fact: Dr. Scott Fishman, a pain expert, says that headaches that come soon after waking may be fueled by depression. Although, I often wake up with a headache and I don’t think that’s depression-related.

Bottom-line: Headache triggers differ for everybody. Maybe certain foods trigger your headaches, but don’t rule out stress, depression, significant life changes, sleep patterns, bright lights, heat, changes in air pressure… the list goes on and on. My advice, unless you have a gut feeling that a specific food or group of foods triggers your headache, don’t cut food out of your diet. It can be stressful to avoid certain foods and groups off foods and remember, stress causes headaches too!

Product Review: “Craft Ice Cream”- Arctic Zero

I woke up sick today. What do I like to do when I’m sick? Eat. Eating makes me feel better. At least, I always think it will. Ice cream is good for soothing a sore throat, so I decided it was time for a trip to Whole Foods for some of this Arctic Zero 150-calorie-per-pint ice cream I’ve seen advertisements for.

I bought the Vanilla Maple flavor as I figured vanilla is an easy flavor to compare to other vanilla ice creams I’ve tasted. The Arctic Zero website boasts that this product is gluten free, fat free, low sugar, suitable for lactose intolerants, natural and organic, low glycemic and suitable for diabetics, full of protein and fiber, free of genetically modified organisms and so good you won’t know it’s healthy.

Pretty hard to believe, but I’ve seen some raving reviews on the net about this stuff. I couldn’t wait to sit on the couch and soothe my throat with this guilt-free dessert.

Look: It looked a little icy and hard. The color is off-white; I wanted something pure white, like a vanilla bean ice cream, although I suppose it is the maple that imparts this color.

Taste: The taste is fake. Sweet, but fake. The maple is very strong. I gave it a few more minutes and tasted it again, but same thing.

Texture: When it first comes out of the freezer, Arctic Zero is hard as a rock. It was icy like a sorbet. I let it thaw a bit and tried it again. It was softer, but a little gooey, like old sorbet that’s been thawed and frozen over and over again.

Overall: The upside is that you won’t even want to eat the full pint because it is so bad. No worries over wasting your calories or feeling guilty. 🙂 I’ve seen great reviews for some of the other flavors — maybe you want to try them. As for me, I’d rather have a sore throat.

Achieve Your Goals

I often discount the little changes you can make within your diet. In my counseling class, we practiced goal setting. We learned to set the smallest possible goal with a new client, especially one who is lacking motivation. You want your client to achieve that goal because achievement promotes self-efficacy and self-confidence, thus increasing motivation and the likelihood of future successes. When I say the smallest possible, achievable goal, I really mean it.

An example: “I will keep the salt shaker off the kitchen table four days of the week.” For some, this might seem easy. But for others, with little motivation, or who really love salting their dinners, this could be difficult. Another example: “I will use skim milk in my first cup of coffee every day this week.”

Courtesy of cartoonstudio.co.uk

We tend to look at the big picture and make these unachievable, overarching generalizations. For instance, “I won’t eat sweets this week.” What does that even mean? What constitutes a sweet? Is jelly on your toast considered a sweet? Is toast itself considered a sweet since many breads contain sugar? Is this goal achievable? For someone who loves sugar (like myself), this kind of goal would never work (I know because I’ve tried).

Starting today, I’m setting goals for myself instead of for clients. My first goal. Every Wednesday for the next four weeks, I will set one achievable nutrition goal and one achievable fitness goal. If you want to set goals too, make sure they are SMART!

My nutrition goal: I will eat five servings of fruit and vegetables five days this week.

My fitness goal: I will perform cardiovascular activity for 150 minutes this week.

Disclaimer: These goals are not as small as they could be, but they are achievable for me. Make your goals as small as they need to be so they are achievable for you.

What are your goals?

My “Paula Deen opinion”

Because I think we all have one.

Last week I wrote about the speculation of Paula Deen having diabetes. About an hour after I published that, I saw Al Roker interview her on the TODAY show. Deen revealed she has known about her Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis for three years, but wanted to “keep [the information] close to my chest,” whatever that means.

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I do understand wanting to keep such information private until Deen figures out what that diagnosis means for her lifestyle and career. But three years?

I was a little sickened that Deen, in her response to Roker’s very first question, came out about her relationship with a pharmaceutical company and asked those with diabetes to visit the website for her new program “Diabetes in a New Light.” What put me over the edge, was her promise that, “I’m gonna be there for you and help you manage every day of your life with this.”

Now, Paula! You built an empire on fatty food. And nothing about your food empire has changed since you were diagnosed. How qualified are you to help counsel others with diabetes?

She makes it sound as if she will continue to eat these horrible foods because she is taking this fantastic little pill that will counteract all the saturated and trans fat, all the cholesterol, sodium and simple sugars she puts into her mouth.

As a national icon and a role model in the kitchen of many Americans, I just wish Deen would take a healthy approach to resolving her diabetes.

 

“Strange Fruit Burns Fat”

Or not…? I’ve been seeing these ads online recently — banners at the top of my screen — for “Strange Fruit Burns Fat” or “Miracle Weight-Loss Fruit.” I never actually clicked on the ad, but I came across this article today about African mangoes. Apparently, there is a whole business out there for the selling of African mango extract, which is said to reduce visceral fat (the fat around your abdomen) drastically. It also aids in stress reduction. Who really cares about stress though? All consumers want is a quick body fix. Yeah!

A bottle of these pills, at GNC anyway, can cost you $60, or 50 cents per capsule. Or, at the daily dosage of 4 capsules, $2 per day. Plus, we don’t yet know the implications of long-term use. (But like I said, who really cares? All we want is a quick body fix.) That’s a pretty steep price and kind of a risk in my opinion.

I’ve got a different “magical” cure for belly fat — eating fresh fruit and fresh vegetables in an array of colors and eating whole grains and lean protein. Add a little cardiovascular exercise? Yep. There it goes. Bye, bye belly fat.

Bottom line: Don’t fall for the expensive gimmicks. Save your $60 a month for the grocery store and a gym membership.

Paula Deen and Her Diabetes

I’ve heard on the radio news recently that Paula Deen is going to announce that she has Type II Diabetes. This is eight months after the National Enquirer released the story about her “deadly disease.”

It is hardly surprising that Deen may have developed the condition, considering that risk factors for Type II Diabetes include being overweight and eating foods high in saturated and trans fat. Isn’t she known for these things? Deep-Fried Stuffing on a Stick anyone? Krispy Kreme Burger?

 

The question is: If she has known about her diabetes for eight months, why has she not seemed to change any of her habits? Yes, the National Enquirer can be a bit dramatic, but diabetes can be deadly. Not to mention many of the disease’s other complications, like blindness, foot amputations, kidney failure…

It will be interesting to see what happens after Deen makes her announcement (assuming there is one to make). Will she keep going like nothing has changed? She has built an empire on her rich, fatty recipes after all. Or will she change her ways, revamp her recipes and slim down? Would she quit the business altogether?

Paula, I’m rooting for option number two. Be a role-model for all of those people out there who may be suffering just like you. Be a leader!

Selections from “The 27 Rules of Conquering the Gym”

This article is seriously good. It’s from the Wall Street Journal. The writer’s got a good sense of humor.

A ton of articles pop up at the beginning of January about the best diets, how to make and stick to your goals, how to lose weight, etc. They all say the same thing: Weight Watchers is the best diet, set small goals, don’t expect weight loss to be easy, make small changes… This article is just a little bit different.

Here are a few of my favorite tips Jason Gay shares:

“1. A gym is not designed to make you feel instantly better about yourself. If a gym wanted to make you feel instantly better about yourself, it would be a bar.”

“4. No one in the history of gyms has ever lost a pound while reading “The New Yorker” and slowly pedaling a recumbent bicycle. No one.” (This was particularly funny because as I sweat through my spinning interval training yesterday, the man on the bike next to me was reading the New York Times and cycling leisurely.

“12. Nope, that’s not a “recovery energy bar with antioxidant dark chocolate.” That’s a chocolate bar.” SO TRUE! This gym I went to yesterday had a juice bar and every kind of “energy bar” ever made. Most of those things are just extra calories that no one needs unless you just had a 2+ hour cardio session.

“14. You can take 10 Minute Abs, 20 Minute Abs, and 30 Minute Abs. There is also Stop Eating Pizza and Eating Sheet Cake Abs–but that’s super tough!”

“25. Fact: Thinking about going to the gym burns between 0 and 0 calories.”

 

Note: It has been a while since I last blogged. Fall classes + homework + 30 hour work weeks really caught up with me. I know I’ll be busy this semester (add in training for the NYC Triathlon in July), but I’ll try to maintain this blog.

Hot Dogs — The New Cigarette?

I mentioned last week in my post “Things Dr. Oz said” that he compared eating a hot dog to smoking a cigarette. Well I’ve just come across a USA Today article that says the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recently unveiled a billboard picturing hot dogs in a cigarette pack that says, “Warning: Hot dogs can wreck your health.”

The billboard can be seen near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were 1.1 million hot dogs were sold during the Indy 500 last year.

The American Institute for Cancer Research reported in 2007 that consuming 1.7 ounces of processed meat (about one hot dog) per day can increase the risk of colorectal cancer by 21 percent. They have also been linked to prostate and ovarian cancer, leukemia and diabetes. According to Dr. Oz, this is because processed meats contain sodium nitrate, a preservative that also happens to be a carcinogen.

This IS serious! But why stop at hot dogs. What about deli meats? Bacon? Sausage? Americans may consume a lot of hot dogs, but they don’t eat a pack a day like a smoker might go through cigarettes. However, the combination of hot dogs, deli sandwiches and breakfast meats can have negative health effects. Take my boyfriend, for instance, who, in a typical day, might eat a breakfast of Canadian bacon and Irish sausages with eggs and then eat two ham or turkey sandwiches for lunch. A diet like this might need to be rethought. But there is no one who eats a hot dog a day.

Interesting facts about hot dog consumption:

• Americans will eat enough hot dogs at major league ballparks this year to stretch to and from Citizens Bank Park in Philly and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, the two sites of the 2008 world series. And that’s only MLB! Think about football games, concerts, the minor leagues…
• On July 4th, Americans will enjoy 150 million hot dogs, enough to stretch from D.C. to L.A. over five times.
• Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, or “Hot Dog Season,” 818 hot dogs are consumed every second in America.

Deepak Chopra’s Instant Headache Remedy

Deepak Chopra is a guest on The Dr. Oz Show today, along with Dr. Andrew Weil. They are discussing holistic remedies for common concerns. And I believe in holistic medicine for the most part. At least, I believe in the power of the mind and what it can do for your health.

The most interesting/amazing remedy I saw was headache relief courtesy of Chopra. I have chronic headaches from late spring through early fall — headaches that don’t get relief from any OTC medicine. I’m definitely going to try this. Basically, follow these steps:

• Close your eyes and stand with hands in front of you, palms upward.
• Focus on your breathing and slowly begin to focus your energy on your heart. Feel your heart beat and focus your energy there.
• Tell your heart to slow down.
• Now more the focus of your energy slowly from your heart out to your finger tips.
• Feel your finger tips throb with your heart beat.

Ta da! You have just redirected blood from your brain to your extremities. You have slowed down your heart rate and your blood pressure and your headache is gone. Instantly.

Does it work?