Fiber One 90-Calorie Brownies Are Yummy!

 I heard about these Fiber One Brownies and thought I would give them a try. I'm always looking for some redeeming value in a sweet food with otherwise empty calories. It's nice to be able to feel like I'm getting something good-for-you while enjoying a tasty treat. And with only 90 Calories, what have you got to lose?

What a great surprise these were! A really decent sized brownie (I was expecting something half the size) that is moist and cakey. It sure doesn't taste like fiber, but each yummy individually-wrapped brownie--drizzled with peanut butter frosting--has 5 grams of fiber.

I would eat these even if they couldn't boast 20 percent of the daily fiber recommendation, since they have only 90 calories. It's not easy to find something that tastes so good and lasts more than two bites with under a hundred calories.

I will definitely be picking up more of these next time I go to the grocery store.

Ratings on the Most Popular Diets!

I love this ratings article from U.S.News on the top 20 most popular diets and how healthy they are. The panel of experts included registered dietitians, physicians, and others who specialize in healthy eating behaviors and food science.
I found it interesting that only two of the diets worked for the thousands of people surveyed who had tried the diets: Weight Watchers (which received a 4.4 out of 5 rating, and was ranked #6 for healthy diets), and a modified form of the Atkins diet called Eco-Atkins (ranking #15 and rated 3.1 out of 5 starts).
Click on the name of any diet and it brings you to a page showing how it rates for ease of following, support, nutrition, balance, and other factors.
The number one diet: The DASH diet plan, formulated for preventing high blood pressure. This diet is high in fiber, potassium and calcium; low in sodium and fat; composed of very nutritionally dense foods. It only received 3 stars for how easy it is to follow, but is healthy for virtually anyone who wants to lose weight, control diabetes, control hypertension, and eat for a healthy heart.

Visit this article and do some research before you start your next eating plan!
http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-healthy-eating-diets

How Will I Get Through Halloween Without Eating Candy?

This is a tough time of year if you're someone who likes to watch your intake of calories. It's only the beginning of being surrounded by tempting treats: People inviting you to parties, bringing in leftover candy from trick-or-treaters, leading up to more and more cookies and candies from Thanksgiving through Christmas. What's a sensible person to do?

Personally, I buy candy I don't like. I'm unusual in the sense that I'm not a big fan of chocolate. For me, buying Snickers fun-size bars or Milky Ways is not going to tempt me when they're around for the kiddies. If you are a chocoholic, what kind of candy doesn't interest you? Maybe candy corn does nothing for you (one of my favorites!), or the popular Sponge-Bob Crabby Patties turn you off. Choose whatever bags of candy you find least interesting so the temptation won't be there.
If you do have candy in the house that tempts you, ask someone to hide it for you so it will be out of sight. I usually hide treats from my family members in the potholder drawer where I know they will never venture. They'll know a place you won't look, too, like ... well, I don't want to give away any secrets!
So, the first step: Buy candy you aren't interested in, and second, have someone else be "keeper of the candy" until Halloween is over.
Have leftovers? Bring them to your workplace or, better yet, donate them to your local food pantry where they will toss a few pieces in with every family's grocery bag.

"I Can't Afford to Eat Healthy" Might Just be Another Excuse

As a registered dietitian, "I can't afford to buy healthy food" is a response I hear all too often from people who have diets too high in calories, fat, sodium, or some other nutrient that should be consumed in moderation. I would be tempted to be empathetic if they were just 20 pounds overweight and not 50, or if they didn't spend so much money on cigarettes, alcohol or other "extras" like acrylic nail manicures and tattoos.

When the patients I saw in a hospital a few years ago regularly told me, "I can't follow this low fat/low sugar/low salt [fill in the appropriate healthy diet] prescription because I rely on assistance from food stamps/the local food pantry/the soup kitchen," I set out to rectify the situation in my own town: I signed up to volunteer at my local food pantry.

The other volunteers at the food pantry made me feel welcome and were excited to show me around. I explained that I wanted to help re-organize the standard food list to include special foods for people who had to follow diets for their medical conditions. "They should be able to have healthy options to choose from, like canned fruit packed in its own juice instead of in heavy syrup, low-sodium canned soups, and whole grain products," I informed them. 

"Oh, we have those," the staff told me. "All they have to do is let us know what they're looking for and we're happy to provide the alternative selections. We regularly stock cereals without added sugar, whole grain breads and rice, low sodium products and sugar-free beverages."

Through my weeks volunteering over a period of two years, I seldom found anyone who would ask for "special diet food". There were signs up announcing the presence of a Registered Dietitian to help guide the patrons for healthier choices depending on their diet needs, and occasionally someone would have questions about losing weight or lowering their blood pressure. For the most part, though, the staff would be frustrated at the poor choices made by the customers. While there were a range of varieties available (people couldn't be forced to take brown rice over white, fruit juice over punch, or chicken over hot dogs), the vast majority of our disadvantaged citizens opted for convenience over health. When local farms would drop off cases of fresh vegetables, they would pile up during the week until the staff took them home on the weekend in lieu of tossing them out because they grew rotten. "But I don't want to have to peel vegetables and cook them," the clients would complain. "I just want something I can open and serve." I'm not sure why they were too busy to cook, since the majority were unemployed.

Recently in the hospital where I work I had a 250-pound woman explain why she couldn't lose weight: "I can't afford fresh fruits and vegetables," she said.  I asked, "Can you afford canned fruit and frozen vegetables?" and she said, "yes." Okay, next excuse?
By the way, she also refused to stop buying her cans of cola because she 'had' to have at least 3 a day.

Just because you can get dollar meals at fast food restaurants doesn't mean "food that is bad for you is cheaper". How about foregoing soda and chips and using that money to buy fruit and vegetables? How about making choices that make sense, like drinking skim milk instead of fruit punch or beer?

Not being able to afford "healthy" food is a poor excuse for being overweight. Fresh food that is not processed and can be prepared to be low in calories, sodium and sugar does not have to be expensive; no one is suggested you buy organic milk or salmon steaks when non-fat dry milk and canned tuna provide similar nutrients and cost less than half as much.

Need help planning healthy meals on a budget? There are plenty of resources available. Don't have a computer to look these up? Your local library will let you sign on there for hours. Start with the USDA's "Thrifty Meal Plan" download which provides shopping tips, recipes, and menus on a budget. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/publications/foodplans/miscpubs/foodplansrecipebook.pdf

Then think about what you can trade off to make purchases that are better for you. That's what will save you money in the long run.

What Diet Products Really Work?

Do some research before you buy (and try) those herbal supplements, fat blocker pills, or painful injections that promise to melt the fat away. Here is a page on the FDA's site with specifics about diet products so you can find all the answers with just one click! click here

Are We Sending Mixed Messages?

 I received this picture in my email the other day, among several from a group called "Friends of Irony"... Yes, isn't it ironic, the seriousness of the billboard declaring that childhood obesity is a real health issue, with the happy girl underneath proudly displaying two bags full of fast food! The fast food picture features--not a yogurt parfait or a carton of low-fat milk (no, that might be a decent message)--but a huge order of fries, a soda, and a sandwich that looks like it contains a fried chicken patty.
Are we sending mixed messages?
Do we tell people to eat healthy foods and then rationalize why burgers and fries are okay sometimes? Are you telling your kids one thing but then showing them something else? Should the schools go back to serving a balanced meal without letting kids have the choice of burgers from the grill or chips from the vending machine?
Post your comments and let's get a discussion going: How do you think we can help raise this generation to make healthier choices and live longer without chronic diseases popping up in their 20's!

Surrounded by Food--No Wonder We're Fat

One of the reasons our society is struggling with obesity is because of our innate drive to obtain food, coupled with the present-day availability of food. It makes sense that we want food whenever we see it; this is part of what has kept the human race surviving for so long. We get the energy and nutrition we need from food, and in the remote past (thankfully not recently for most of us) food wasn't always available. We had to eat it when we saw it.
Now, however, it's become a different story. Food is wherever we are. We store food from the grocery store in our house indefinitely, perhaps in pantries, and perhaps on the table next to where we watch TV.
For the times we are out of the house we stash some in our purse or backpack or in our desk drawers at work.
If we're going to be on the road, we stash a snack in our glove compartment. That's just in case there isn't a convenient fast food drive-thru window nearby on our daily travels.
If we stop to get gasoline, we can run into the attached market to get a high-calorie coffee drink, some pizza, donuts, or packaged snacks for the road.
When we go to school--from primary grades through college campuses--we can find hot food stands, fast food counters, and vending machines overflowing with a vast selection of mini-meals and snacks.
If we visit a sick friend in the hospital or stop by an office building there's usually a cafeteria available--if not there are certainly vending machines.
And now, this weekend, I have really seen it all--not just a vending machine with snacks in the hotel where I stopped to spend the night in Springfield, Illinois; not just a vending machine to dispense a drink in case I needed something to quench my thirst in the hours between having dinner and retiring for the night. No, gentle readers, it was a vending machine that dispensed hot fast food.  Just in case I awoke during the night, before the continental breakfast service started at 6 am, and was too befuddled to make my way across the street to the Bob Evans or the McDonald's... or perhaps they were closed at this hour? Just in case, there is a vending machine in the hotel that will dispense for me a plate of hot wings, or a chicken sandwich, or french fries smothered with cheese.  On the outside chance that I had forgotten to pack some snacks to tide me over, or if I didn't find in the vending machine selection of candy bars and pretzels anything that I thought could possibly satisfy my hunger, and just in case I couldn't survive waiting the few hours until toast and cereal were available... thank goodness, I can get some hot and filling food RIGHT NOW!